Philosophers of Fire

Ellern (Ref 4, pp26—7 65—6) reports that Paracelsus (1490-1541), physician and philosopher on the nature of man and the origin of sickness, seems to have been the fust to discover the element of fire in the residue of the pyrogenic... 

Valentine, Basil. "The stone of fire." In Lives of the alchemystical philosophers, ed. Francis Barrett, 232-236., 1814. 

Starkey, George. "An epistolar discourse to the learned and deserving author of Galeno-pale. By George Starkey, M.D. and Philosopher by Fire. 

Hall, Manly Palmer. Melchizedeck the mystery of fire a treatise in three parts. Philosophical Research Soc, 1999. 54p. 

Harpur, Patrick. The philosophers secret fire a history of the imagination. Penguin, 2002. 

Philalethes says, in A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby. "The Philosopher s Stone is a certain heavenly, spiritual, penetrative, and fixed substance, which brings all metals to the perfection of gold or silver (according to the quality of the Medicine), and that by natural methods, which yet in their effects transcend Nature.. . Know then that it is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but only because, by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone. In species it is gold, more pure than the purest it is fixed and incombustible like a stone, but its appearance is that of very fine powder, impalpable to the touch, sweet to the taste, fragrant to the smell, in potency a most penetrative spirit, apparently dry and yet unctuous, and easily capable of tinging a plate of metal. If we say that its nature is spiritual, it would be no more than the truth if we described it as corporeal, the expression would be equally correct."... 

WHEEL This represents the sequence of the operations of the Hermetic Work. To turn a Wheel is to observe the Regime of Fire. To produce a circulation of the Wheel means to recommence the alchemical operations, whether by a production of the Stone or by its multiplication in quality. The Elementary Wheel of the Wise symbolizes the conversion of Philosophical Elements this represents a transmutation of Earth into Water, then of Water into Earth Water encloses Air and Earth contains Fire. ... 

From the secrets of Nature it is known that, when Winter comes, frogs and swallows hide under the water and remain lying there as if they were dead. With the renewed warmth of the Sun in Spring, feeling and movement return to them.. .. In the same way, the Philosophers speak of their Hermaphrodite, who lies in the dark and seems to be dead and needs so the warmth of fire. 

Thus we learn an important fact every self-respecting hermetic Hermaphrodite needs so the warmth of fire. This point made, then the discourse introduces the topic of a mythical bird, namely, the Phoenix [which] is unique it renews itself in the flames and rises revivified from the ashes. Nevertheless, explains Maier, the Phoenix is the Hermaphrodite with the mixed nature, of which the Philosophers speak it has a male nature and a female one, and one of these natures passes into the other by means of the addition of heat in this way, a woman becomes a man. Likewise, when a woman—Mona Lisa—becomes a goateed man, and specifically by means of the addition of [alchemical] heat, quite logically, File a chaud au queue ... 

From ancient times, humans have pondered what the universe is made of Early philosophers proposed fire, earth, water, and air either individually or in combination as the building blocks of nature. Lavoisier defined an element operationally as a substance that cannot be broken down chemically. Using this definition, the number of elements has increased from around 30 in Lavoisier s time to over 115 today. The initial search for elements involved classical methods such as replacement reactions, electrochemical separation, and chemical analysis. New methods such as spectroscopy greatly advanced the discovery of new elements during the twentieth century. The last half century has been marked by the synthesis of elements by humans. 

Both the material and the philosophical meanings of the word salt were in constant use, the context usually making clear the meaning intended. The real salt obtained by water extraction from the residue of fire analysis, like common salt, had taste solubility and taste came to be the chief properties by which salts were identified. By these criteria, liquid acids also came to be classed as salts. 

In 400 B.C., the Greeks explained that all matter was made of fire, earth, water, and air. A Greek philosopher, Democritus (460-370 B.C.), reasoned that matter was made of small, indivisible particles called atomos. Though the Greeks did not use experiments to test their ideas, the following scientists did, basing their atomic theories on experimental data ... 

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