First Matter

When planning a compressor installation one of the first matters to be decided is whether there should be a central... 

Aurifontina chymica or, a collection of fourteen small treatises concerning the first matter of philosophers for the discovery of their (hitherto so much concealed) Mercury. Which many have studiously endeavoured to hide, but these to make manifest, for the benefit of mankind in general. London Printed for William Cooper, at the Pelican in Little-Britain, 1680. [22], 272, [4] p. 

The Privy seal of secrets, [plainly discovering the first matter of the philosophers -contents page] [which upon pain of damnation is not unadvisedly to be broken up, nor revealed to any but with great care and many cautions - own title page]." In Aurifontina chymica, 41]-52. London , 1680. 

Heydon, John. The wise-mans crown or, the glory of the Rosie-Cross. Shewing the wonderful power of Nature, with the full discovery of the true Coelum Terrae, or the first matter of metals, and their preparations into incredible medicines or elixirs that cure all diseases in young or old with the Regio Lucis, and holy houshold of Rosie Crucian philosophers. Communicated to the world by.. .. A servant of God, and secretary to Nature. .. London Printed for the author and are to be sold by Samuel Speed at the Rainbow in Fleetstreet, 1664. vp. 

Kelley, Edward], "The stone of the philosophers embracing the First Matter and the dual process for the vegetable and metallic tinctures." In Collectanea Chemica, ed. Arthur Edward Waite, 55-120., 1893. 

Waite, Arthur Edward. A new light of mysticism. Azoth or the star in the East. Embracing the first matter of the Magnum Opus, the evolution of Aphrodite-Urania, the supernatural generation of the Son of the Sun, and the alchemical transfiguration of humanity. London New York Madras Theosophical Publ. Soc The Path Theosophical Soc, 1893. xvi, 240p. 

Ali, S. Abdul-. Some notes on the doctrine of the first matter, with special reference to the works of Thomas Vaughan. JAlchem Soc 2, no. 10 (Feb 1914) 59-74. 

Hartmann, Franz. The mysterious First Matter. rhttp //www.alchemvlab.com/first matter.html. 

From his Alchemy (1984). Contents Spiritization of Matter The First Matter First Matter and the Ether of the ancients... 

INTRODUCTION TO ALCHEMY The Great Work begins here What Is alchemy Origins of alchemy History of alchemy Chronology of alchemy Alchemical theory The mysterious First Matter Secret fire of the alchemists The Philosopher s Stone The Axioms of alchemy Recommended books. Pages still under construction. 

Clark, Kenneth. The first matter. Hermetic J, no. 3 (Spring 1979) 29-35. Primarily based on Vaughan... 

Some hundreds of alchemical illustrations. Many of the headings below are subdivided (e g. Emerald Tablet consistes of sub-headings for The Emerald Tablet Original Emerald Tablet as a Monument to Mankind Materia Prima Lapidis cover of The Emerald Tablet First Matter of Heaven and Earth The Green Lion As Above, So Below The Ouroboros Powers of the Sun and Moon)... 

Emerald Tablet Modern Art Mandala Art Hermetic Art First Matter Art Fractal Art Calcination Art Lab Symbols Dissolution Art Flamel s Art Separation Art ... 

The connection between First Matter and the protyles is obvious. It remains for me to deal with the concept of the Four Elements. These are often thought to denote the hot, cold, moist and dry principles or qualities of bodies but we may also suppose that the elements, earth, water, air, and fire, represent respectively the solid, liquid, gaseous, and what may be called incandescent-gaseous states of matter, although this is by no means a satisfactory or complete interpretation. It must be confessed that the subject of the elements is a difficult one, and I have not yet found explanations for it in the language of modem science. (1913, 43-44)... 

Others, hearing that the First Matter is concentrated in the blood have followed more vile routes in their questing. These foolish and often cruel methods have included class and caste systems, eugenics and blood sacrifice. Subsequent beliefs in the so-called purity of blood (in either a particular family or racial grouping) have culminated in beliefs in superior master races, leading to the evils of tyranny and genocide. 

No strange breeding programs, crank diets, or way-out asceticism ever produced the immortal body of a Sage. No one is ever born an Adept. Eugenics help not at all, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the earth. The First Matter is perceived by liberated consciousness alone, by pure awareness, nurtured by bliss and motivated by compassion. 

When, in the preliminary exercises preceding the actual practice, practitioners build up the Tree of Life in their aura, the paths are formulated as a consequence, since they are subjective reactions to the objective power of the Sephiroth. The Fountain Breath exercise then unifies the influences of all the Paths and the Sephiroth. This happens because there is only One Power that flows through all the paths and manifests in a ten-fold aspect as the Sephiroth, the outpouring of the Most Holy One that is Mezla, grace, by which the worlds are nourished and sustained. For grace is not some abstract poetic metaphor, but an actual etheric, astral, and spiritual substance. Alchemy names it the water that burns and the fire that flows. It is the First Matter. 

At first, the First Matter is perceived in states of profound meditation, what Vajrayana calls states of deep abiding. This advanced meditative state is called the black of near attainment in Tibetan texts, so confirming the alchemical texts in their injunction that the black of the First Matter has to be reached before attainment can be near. Upon reaching this stage, subjective consciousness fails. The Tibetan manuals call this swooning a contemporary term would be to faint. However,... 

But what of the nature of the First Matter itself Jung says The basis of the opus, the prima materia, is one of the most famous secrets of alchemy. This is hardly surprising since it represents the unknown substance that carries the projection of the autonomous psychic content. 7 It is, as we stated before, omnipresent and the root substance of all forms. Oriental texts term it Akasha the alchemical texts of the Occident give it many names. Taoism, the alchemical practice of China, has the primal intuition that the universe must have some unborn origin (prima materia). This is given verbal form in the Tao Teh Ching, XXV ... 

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