"This idea of 'a point in the sun' at the very center of the earth is at first sight both paradoxical and bizarre ...the strange idea of the sun growing out of the middle of the earth was fundamental to alchemical doctrine."
"Kelly did have the red powder. It is attested to by Dee
in both his personal diaries and in the Spirit Diaries."
In the home of the emperor's private physician Thaddaeus von Hajek (Hagecius) a special display was organised for a collection of highly placed individuals. With a single drop of blood-red liquid Kelly changed a previously heated pound of mercury into pure gold. On top of that a small dark red particle, like a ruby, remained, indicating that this small amount of tincture had still been too much. This success has been reported by various authors (6).
A detail in the above story could lead the reader to doubt its veracity, since it talks about a red liquid, whereas up to now Kelly was supposed to have owned a red powder. One could presume that the powder was of a liquifying nature and applied in its liquid state. A better explanation for this apparent inconsistency is that the powder was probably added to a liquid or gel.
Emperor Rudolf then invited the Brit and the experiment was repeated successfully in his presence. Being excited about the prospect of finally having the long sought secret, Rudolf named Kelly Knight of Bohemia, invited him to stay at his court and showed him many favours. Kelly did not contradict Rudolf's understanding that he was indeed an adept and knew the secret of making the tincture and Rudolf expected to learn this secret from him eventually. Kelly had placed himself in this predicament, since the old manuscript did not contain this secret and worse: Kelly had wasted his complete supply of powder by now. For a while he could escape the emperor's wrath with vague promises, but when, in 1591, it appeared that he was trying to flee, he was imprisoned in castle Zobeslau. "
"His deeds are described by De Delle in a short verse which is not included here. From these lines, which have been copied from the Manuscript, and are also found in Edelgeborne Jungfrau Alchimia, p. 68, it is clear that Emperor Rudolf was convinced of the power of Kelly's tincture, and believed that the owner knew the secret of its production. In addition, it appears that it was believed that some quantity of the powder still existed somewhere, and that this was searched for in vain (8). "
MERCURIC PYRO-ANTIMONATE
"According to the most consistent accounts it is a viscous amalgam of mercuric pyro-antimonate containing a small (~4%) amount of an actinide. This is used as a neutron provider and mirror whilst acting to compress the deuterium-tritium content of a 'pure fusion bomb' above its critical mass under the influence of trigger charges, producing a blast with a destruction radius of about 600 metres for a 500 cc bomb, flooding the area with fast neutrons, the fallout lasting for only about 2 days. Essentially, it would represent a strategic advance over the neutron bomb. Although the principal compound is almost completely undocumented, the metallic elements involved loom large in the history of alchemy and the descriptions of it bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the Philosopher's Stone (PS), right down to its being a form of 'fixed', i.e. thermally stable, mercury which can then be 'projected upon', i.e. amalgamated with, liquid mercury. The product in both cases is supposed to be remarkable for its high density, 20.20 g/cc in the case of RM 20:20. "
"My hypothesis concerning the utilisation of this substance as an agent for cold fission relies on two mechanisms. One is muon induced atomic fission (initiated by cosmic radiation) and the other is a neutron cascade due to the neutron mirror effect of mercuric ions trapped between antimony and lead atoms at temperatures in excess of mercury's normal boiling point. The analogy between the densification of tinted lead in the (so-called) alchemical gold and that of mercury, amalgamated in a 5 MW reactor with the pyro-antimonate, also represents an important condition for and strong constraint upon this hypothesis. It is the point at which RM and PS become crucially codependant on each other's existence. If the one never existed then, in all likelihood, the other never can.
Fortunately, at least one sulphide exists in the form of a mineral that combines mercury and antimony whilst the proximity of deposits of those metals in certain areas of China, the great antiquity of Chinese alchemy and the tendency of sulphides to form oxides as alteration products provide an, admittedly circumstantial, origin for the legend of the PS. According to my hypothesis it never required to be invented (always a dubious proposition given the universally acknowledged difficulties surrounding its production) but was originally found with, and mistaken for, cinnabar."
Hg2Sb2O7
Kelley's discourse on Terrestrial Astronomy, in which the planets are replaced by metals, and instead of an account of stellar influences we have the laws governing metallic conversion.
"Dee finally resolved the issue of the applicability of observable phenomena to occult phenomena through Bacon's contention that radiation was the root of all natural causation, and could explain both the manifest and the occult properties of light. Bacon's theories of radiation thus could account physically for the occult for the occult influence of celestial bodies in the terrestrial world."
" Dee was not solely interested in what we might call the physics of light; he was preoccupied as well with the metaphysics of light."
"The powers of the rays are determined by the bodies from which they flow, as well as upon the ones which they act, and the rays are known only through the effects they produce."
"Concerning Dee and the use of mirrors or light. John Dee had
a great interest in catoptrics, as is demonstrated in Roberts and
Watson's catalogue of his library which contains many Arabic
and scholastic resources. Catoptrics was a branch of the science
of optics initiated by the ancient Greeks and defined by
Archimedes as the study of the refraction and reflection of light-rays
by mirrors or prisms. In the medieval period, Roger Bacon, in
particular, dispersed and popularised catoptrical science through
his treatise "De speculis comburentibus". These optical theories
were important for the development of Dee's astronomy, but there
was one particular idea which may also have affected Dee's alchemy.
Bacon had stated in "De multiplicatione specierum" (I, i) that every
point on a luminous or coloured body sent forth the image of its
visible qualities as "species" in a succession of "multiplications"
which were transmitted through a medium such as light, or air,
to the eye of the viewer.
Dee's optical and astronomical treatise "Propaedeumata Aphoristica"
explains that by means of optical instruments it was possible to
collect the occult virtues of the stellar radiations, particularly
recommending the use of catoptrics in the making of theurgical sigils.
According to Dee, mirrors could imitate planetary influences,
increasing and decreasing the intensity of their radiations catoptrically
and imprinting their influences on matter."
"If you were skilled in 'catoptrics', you would be able, by art, to imprint the rays of any star much more strongly upon any matter subjected to it than nature itself does".
-John Dee: Propaedeumata Aphoristica , aphorism LII
"rays of celestial influence could have different effects in different receivers"
"The Consideratio quotes from the first thirteen theorems of the Monas Hieroglyphica, where Dee describes the composition of his hieroglyph, although Dee himself is never cited, and the word monas is replaced by “stella,” perhaps, as Susanna Akerman suggests, alluding to the woman holding the star at the end of the first edition of the Monas Hieroglyphica, and certainly, as Clulee indicates, developing the connection between astral optics and alchemy with quotes from Dee’s Propaedeumata Aphoristica."
John Dee: terrestrial astronomy = alchemy
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment