Cicero - Self Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition_Part 01

The Zelator Grade
137
2. All physical manifestation exists by virtue of a Law of
Polarity or Duality. Any concept can be sufficiently defined
in relation to its opposite: male/female, sun/moon, spirit/
body, etc.
3. All physical manifestation, whether Vegetable, Animal or
Mineral (the so-called Three Kingdoms), is composed of
Spirit, Soul, and Body: thethree Alchemic Principles.
4. All Alchemical work, whether practical laboratory work
or spiritual Alchemy, consists of three basic evolutionary
processes: Separation, Purification, and Cohobation (or
recombination). These three evolutionary processes are
also the work of Nature.
5. All matter is composed of thefour Elements of Fire (thermal
energy), Water (liquid), Air (gas), and Earth (solid).
The knowledge and skillful use of the four Elements is an
essential part of Alchemical work.
6. The Quintessence or Fifth Essence is contained with the
four Elements but is not one of them. It is one of the Three
Essential Principles, also called the Philosophic Mercury.
7. Everything moves towards its preordained state of
perfection.
In its popular (limited) definition, Alchemy is an empirical science which
concerns itself with the transmutation of base metals into gold. For many the
word Alchemy conjures up an image of a crude laboratory where foolhardy
pseudo-scientists labor to tum lead into gold so that they may spend their lives
living in a state of luxury. However Alchemy's true definition encompasses the
doctrine of the transformation of humanity to a higher stage. The treatises of
Alchemy are not only chemical in nature, but also mystical and magical. Certainly
many Alchemists left behind a vast amount of information to prove the fact that
one version of Alchemy was primarily practical and chemical in nature. On the
other hand, the principal interest of many Alchemical philosophers was spiritual.
These Alchemists did not look merely for the substance of gold, they sought to
give the quality of gold to their own being-to transmute the base metals (gross
and impure parts of their own nature) to spiritual gold (wisdom). To them gold,
the metal which never tarnishes and cannot be corrupted by Fire or Water, was a
symbol of illumination and salvation.
Alchemy is the Art and Scienceof transformation. Thisis not an easily understood
art, because the primal mediumof Alchemical expression is through the use of
allegory and mythological symbols, which can be interpreted simultaneously both at
a material and a spiritual level. The primary goal of Alchemy is to bring all things,
including humanity, to its preordained state of perfection. To that end the Alchemi-