Hello everyone, and welcome to our intellectual and literal journey through Alchemy.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for coming, also I know some of you live in other places on the globe, or may have made a serious effort to make it here this evening. This session will be sort of a hybrid of the two types we normally go through here, as we move through the lesson, there will be prompts periodically for questions and impressions, but please try to keep questions until after we move through the lesson or during an appropriate time. This way we can cover everything needed, and there is anequal opportunity for all to take in what is being conveyed as well as have questions answered. In our last session, we discussed the five aspects in Alchemy, which included the Four aspects, respectively Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. As Above, So Below - these correspond to the four kabbalistic worlds of Yod->He->Vav->He / Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, Assiah, and to our four aspects - these are: Will(Fire), Emotions(Water), Intellect(Air), and Body(Earth). The fifth aspect being that of Spirit (spiritual Fire), or quintessence. Fire is hot, creates pressure, and vibrates at a very high rate, it is for this reason it has always been a valuable tool for the Alchemist. As we move beyond the mere image of the Alchemist, as the beknighted proto-chemist of the 16th century, and more into realization of its spiritual aspects, we begin to understand the application of what may be normally thought of as material, but also spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. This is the deep meaning behind the Latin INRI - Igne Natura Renovatur Integra (By fire nature is restored in purity), or pure matter is restored by spirit; the Rosicrucian motto signifying that the working of the inner fire of the spirit, when operating free and unchained by its surrounding veils, reduces these veils into oneness with itself, so that pure, complete, or original nature is restored to its primordial essence. Thus, in its application to the human being, when a person lives entirely in the light or fire of the spirit or god within, all his veils of consciousness coalesce with the inner fire, so that his original spiritual being is restored and he becomes a god-man. At this time, I would like to share a relevant quote from MP Hall, who describes this concept of great importance - meditate for a moment on what is being said, and please share what impressions and inspirations come to you. "As one of the great alchemists fittingly observed, man's quest for gold is often his undoing, for he mistakes the alchemical process, believing them to be purely material. He does not realize that the Philosopher's Gold and the Philosopher's Stone, and the philosopher's Medicine exist in each of the four worlds and that the consummation of the experiment cannot be realized until it is successfully carried on in four worlds simultaneously according to one formula." -Manly P. Hall, the Secret Teachings of All Ages

The Alchemist's journey into The Great Work begins with the Fire of Spirit in Calcination, "which vanquishes every subtle thing, and penetrates every solid thing" as written in Emerald Tablet. So what does the Alchemist do with this Fire? Places themselves into the Fire! Please look over and meditate on picture #1 in the visuals, what impressions come to you?

Alchemy is the observation, study, an application of Nature and Natural/Cosmic Laws to help unfold Cosmic Purpose, it is in the service to the All that one undergoes such Initiation. On a Material level in Plant Alchemy, when Spirit dissolves to expose the essence, the Fire is subjected to the matter on the Material plane, turning it into a pure white ash (Alchemical Salt), which is then recombined back together with the Essence (Soul), and bound through Spirit - Solve Et Coagula (to dissolve and combine purified). If something still remains, more Spirit is used to provide fuel to Fire so that more, and increasingly difficult impurities to subdue can be Calcinated. In our body, this is using Fire to accomplish the burning off of impurities from over indulgence or in-action, a non-balance". But what happens when we begin to apply Fire to the next aspect, beyond the material,

is that we begin applying Fire to our Intellect (Air). Please look over and meditate on picture #2 in the visuals, this is what is being described in this very telling piece of Alchemical imagery. What impressions come to you through the image?

These are the impure parts of the mind that are being subjected to the heat and pressure of the Alchemists furnace, the impure parts of the Ego for example, false notions, and preconceptions etc...un-pure things of the mind. Take note however of what the Alchemist observed on the Material plane, that a pure white substance was left behind, so also is there a purity of Mind, a purity of Ego that takes place. The pure white ashes, no matter how much Fire was subjected to them, reached a point of purity and vibration so that even the vibrational rate of Fire it could easily withstand, and be unaffected. So also, can the mind be subjected to the same process, and bear with it the the pure white substance, left behind of impurities.

Please look over and meditate on picture #3 and #4 in the visuals

The Alchemist, excising their Will and applying it, makes a conscious choice of Free Will to make battle with the Dragon. You will notice in a wide variety of Alchemical imagery, the Dragon is never killed but instead subdued, that is because its pure essence remains no matter what, and so it remains, and has no reason to remove for that matter as its a pure part of the whole. As you might have guessed, the Fire is being used to gain Mastery, particularly of the Self. This Alchemical process continues to each of our aspects, next with your emotions, until the WHOLE of the self is purified. When we have completely Calcinated the aspects, we can, like the Alchemist observes on the Material plane, dissolve the pure aspects back into the Soul/Essence, with Spirit, through a process we will cover in our next session - Alchemical Dissolution.