Kabbalah-of-the-Golden-Dawn-Pat-Zalewski - D Ank Unlimited

Alchemy and the Kabbalah 165
Seven-Stage System of Alchemy
These relate to the Double Letters and are in fact a further refinement
of the above three-stage generalization, arranged in this order: Letter
- Stage - Planet
1. Peh - Calcination - Mars
Calcination is the process of reducing the size of the material
worked with (Prima Materia-first matter) by fire, through
four stages which can be seen by the color of the matter ar
each stage: The Blackening, Whitening, Yellowing, and Reddening.
The first stage, the Blackening, is obtained by direct
burning, while the other three stages are through the process
of a consistent heat. Through this process pulverization occurs
and impurities are removed which makes the matter ready for
the next step.
2. Kaph - Sublimation - Jupiter
Sublimation takes place when the matter is placed in a container
(usually made of glass with a long neck above it) over a
heated element. The vapor or essence is then extracted from
the matter and remains in the top of the neck for a short time,
then descends back down the tube to the matter (which is at
the bottom of the flask) from which it was derived. This step
actually covers the steps of separation and exaltation in
alchemy. Part of the essence is taken from the matter,
strengthened, then returned to it, changing the matter in its
composition.
3. Daleth - Solution - Venus
Solution is the aspect when the matter is dissolved in the liquid
as a result of the previous step of sublimation.
4. Gimel- Putrefication - Moon
Putrefication, to a certain extent, is still part of the dissolution
process, where great care must be taken that the matter being
dissolved must be stopped at a certain point in the experiment
when complete separation has occurred, for at this critical level
an entirely new substance has been formed or transmuted.
5. Beth - Distillation - Mercury
Distillation covers other steps as well and relates to the separation
of the spirit, through the vapor from the matter through
a distillation train, with a receptacle at the end to catch the
liquid. It is the separation of the volatile from the non-