A belief in the existence of persons endowed with abnormal or
extraordinary psychic faculties or magical powers, by which they can produce
wonderful effects, such as are not to be explained by the commonly accepted
theories of external science, is nothing new. The Bible and the "Acta
Sanctorum" are full of accounts of so-called "miracles," a term
which signifies something wonderful, but for all that not anything contrary to
the laws of nature. Such "wonders" are performed by the power of the
spiritually awakened will. The Yoga philosophy gives a specification of these
powers, and describes how they may be acquired.
To those powers belongs the art of making oneself invisible; of leaving
one's body at will and returning to it again; of projecting one's soul to a
distant place; of prolonging physical life for a long period of time; of
transforming base metals into pure gold by alchemical means; of creating
subjective illusions which appear to the spectators as objective realities, and
of performing numerous other feats, such as belong to the department of Magic,
white or black.
There is sufficient evidence going to show that during the time of the
Middle Ages there were numerous people existing in whom such psychic faculties
had been more or less developed. It was a time during which the imagination of
the people as a whole was more active and more directed toward the supersensual
and metaphysical aspect of the world.
There was more of the true faith, and likewise more superstition to be
found than at present, and faith as well as fear are active powers, capable to
produce results on the astral plane. From the true faith, the result of
spiritual knowledge, spring the powers of the Adept; from fear and
superstition, the phenomena of obsession and sorcery. Persons in possession of
magic powers, and especially those who were supposed to know the secrets of
Alchemy, were called "Adepts," "Rosicrucians," or
"Philosophers," and the greatest of them were supposed to belong to
some secret and mysterious society, called "the Brotherhood of the Golden and Rosy Cross."
If we allow a great deal of poetical liberty in the descriptions of the
members of this fabulous order, charging it to the fruitful imagination of the
writers living at the time of the "knights errant," nevertheless,
there remains a considerable amount of historical evidence going to show that
there were persons endowed with abnormal powers; although there is no evidence
whatever that they were united among themselves by any external association or
sect.
Neither would such a farce ever be necessary among those whose internal
senses were opened, and who would be drawn together by the ties of the spirit.
Having the power of interior perception, they would surely not need any
external passwords and signs. The true brothers of the Golden and Rosy Cross
were and still are a spiritual society, and therefore the effort made at that
time of finding a real and living, indisputably true Rosicrucian, were as
unavailing as was at a more recent period the effort made by a certain London
society of proving the existence of real and living Adepts.
The Rosicrucians have been celebrated in prose and in verse; and their
virtues have been extolled by some, while others have denounced them as
impostors. Some writers describe them as beings of a superior character,
possessed of apparently supernatural knowledge and powers, as men of noble
appearance and exercising an invisible but irresistible influence over all with
whom they come into contact. They describe them as having the power to read the
hearts of men, and to cure the diseases of their bodies by wonderful medicines,
or merely by the touch of their hands. They are loved by all and they love all;
but their hearts are invulnerable to sexual love. They never marry.
They are sometimes described as being of fabulous age, and still
appearing in the full vigour of manhood; as being great travellers and speaking
the language of each country where they temporarily reside, as fluently and
correctly as if it were their own native tongue; as possessing the power of
rendering themselves invisible, and again, as often appearing unexpectedly,
when their presence is most urgently needed. They are possessed of immense
treasures, and have the power to transmute base metals into gold, and yet they
despise riches and are contented to live in poverty. They are the wisest of all
men, and the knowledge of even the most learned cannot be compared with what
they know.
They do nothing whatever for the purpose of obtaining fame, for they are
dear to ambition; nevertheless their fame spreads wherever they appear. They
are universally honored, but they seek not for honor, and prefer to remain
unnoticed. Palaces are at their disposal, but they prefer the hut of a beggar.
They are not proud of their personal attributes, but it is the majesty of the
divine principle manifesting itself in them, and shining even through the
material envelope called the physical body, which surrounds them with an aura
commanding the respect and veneration of all who approach. The glory of
supermundane light which shines through their forms is so great that they may
even appear luminous in darkness. (1)
Anecdote
The following is taken from a book
entitled "Hermippus Redivivus," which we will abbreviate as
much as possible:
« The Sieur Paul Lucas, who, by the order
of Louis XIV., travelled through Greece and Africa in search of antiquities,
says:
"Being at Broussa, we went to a
little mosque. We were introduced into a cloister, where we found four
Dervishes, who invited us to their dinner. One of these, who said that he was
of the country of the Usbeks (a Tartar tribe) appeared to me more learned than
the rest; and I verily believe he
spoke all the languages of the world.
After we had conversed for a time in
the Turkish language, he asked me whether I could speak Latin, Spanish or
Italian. We then spoke in Italian; but he noticed by my accent that this was
not my mother tongue, and when I told him that I was a native of France, he
spoke to me in as good French as if he had been brought up at Paris. I asked
him how long he had stayed in France, and he answered that he had never been
there, but that he desired to visit that country. This man was so learned that,
judging from his discourse, he seemed to have lived at least a century; but
according to his external appearance he was not more than thirty years of age.
He told us that he was one of seven
friends who had wandered all over the world with a view of perfecting their
studies; that at parting they always appointed another meeting at the end of
twenty years in a certain town, and that the first who came would wait for the
rest. I perceived that Broussa was the place appointed for their present
meeting. There were a few of them present already, and they seemed to converse
with each other with a freedom which spoke of old acquaintance rather than
merely accidental meeting.
We spoke of religion, natural
philosophy, chemistry, alchemy and the Kabala. I told him that the latter, and
especially the notion of the 'Philosopher's Stone,' were considered by modern
savants as mere chimeras. He seemed to know all about it, and answered:
-
"The true sage
hears all things without being scandalized at them; but though he may have so
much politeness as not to shock any ignorant person by his denial when they
talk of such things; yet, let me ask you whether you think that he is obliged
to sink his understanding to a level with vulgar minds because they are not
able to raise their thoughts to an altitude equal to his?
When I speak of a sage, I mean that kind of a man to
whom alone the title "philosopher" properly belongs. He has no sort
of tie to the world; he sees all things die and revive without concern; he has
more riches in his power than the greatest of kings, but he tramples them under
his feet, and this generous contempt sets him even in the midst of indigence
above the power of events."
I said:
-
"With all these fine maxims, the sage dies as well as
other people. What imports it, therefore, to me when I die, to have been either
a fool or a philosopher, if wisdom has no prerogative over folly, and one is no
more a shield against death than the other?"
He answered:
-
"Alas! I see you
are absolutely unacquainted with our sublime science, and have never known true
philosophy. Learn from me, then, my friend, that such an one as I have
described dies indeed, for death is a debt which Nature enacts, and from which
therefore no man can be exempt; yet he dies not before his utmost time is
fixed. But then you must observe that this period approaches near a thousand
years, and to the end of that time a sage may live. He arrives at that end
through the knowledge he has of the true medicine. Thus he is able to ward off
whatever may impede the animal functions of his body or injure the temperature
of his nature; and is enabled to acquire the knowledge of whatever comes within
the cognizance of man.
Aboriginal man knew the secrets of Nature by the use
of his reason, but it was this same reason which blotted his knowledge again
from his mind, for having attained this kind of natural knowledge, he began to
mingle with it his own notions and ideas. This created a confusion which was
the effect of a foolish curiosity, and he reduced thereby the work of the
Creator to a state of imperfection; and this is the error which the true sage
attempts to redress. The other animals act only by their instinct, which they
have preserved as they obtained it at first, and they live as long now as they
did when they first came into existence. Man is a great deal more perfect than
they; but has he still preserved that prerogative which he had in the
beginning, or has he not lost long ago the glorious privilege of living a
thousand years, which, with so much care, he should have studied to preserve?
This the true sages have accomplished, and that you
may no more be led into mistakes, let me, assure you that this is what they
call the Philosopher's Stone which is not a chimerical science, but a real
thing. It is, however, known to a few only, and indeed it is impossible that it
should be made known to the most of mankind, whom avarice or debauchery
destroys, or whom an impetuous desire of life prematurely kills."
Surprised at all I heard, I said:
-
"Would you, then, persuade me that all who have
possessed the Philosopher's Stone have likewise lived a thousand years?"
He answered me, gravely:
-
"Without doubt, for whenever a mortal is favored
with that blessing, it depends entirely on his own will whether he shall reach
that age of a thousand years, as in his state of innocence the first man might
have done."
I took the liberty to mention the
illustrious Flamel, who, I said, had possessed the Philosopher's Stone, but was
now dead as far as I knew. As I mentioned that name, he smiled at my
simplicity, and said with an air of mirth:
-
"Do you really believe Flamel is dead? No, no, my
friend, do not deceive yourself, for Flamel is living still. It is not above
three years ago since I left him and his wife in the Indies, and he is one of
my best friends."
He was going to tell me how he made
Flamel's acquaintance, but stopping himself, he said:
-
"That is little
to the purpose. I will rather give you his true history with respect to which,
in your country, I daresay, you are not very well acquainted.
A little before the time of Flamel there was a Jew of
our fraternity; but as through his whole life he had a most ardent affection
for his family, he could not help desiring to see them after it once came to
his knowledge that they were settled in France. We foresaw the danger of his
voyage, and did all we could to persuade him not to undertake that journey. We
succeeded for a while in detaining him; but at last the passion of seeing his
family grew so strong upon him that he went.
At the time of his departure, he made us a solemn
promise to return to us as soon as it was possible. He arrived at Paris, and
found there his father's descendants in the highest esteem among the Jews.
There was also a Rabbi, who was a true philosopher at heart, and who had long
been in search of the great secret. Our friend did not hesitate to make himself
known to his relatives, he entered into friendly relations with them, and gave
them an abundance of light.
But as the matter requires a long time to prepare it,
he put into writing the whole process, and, to convince his nephew that he had
not told him falsehoods, he made the "projection" in his presence of
some ninety pounds of base metal, and turned it into pure gold. The Rabbi, full
of admiration, did all he could to persuade our brother to remain with him, but
in vain; for the latter had made up his mind not to break the promise to return
to us.
When the Jew found this out, he changed his affection
into hatred, and his avarice stifling the admonitions of his conscience, he
resolved to extinguish one of the lights of the universe. Dissembling his black
design, he begged the sage to remain with him only for a few days. He then
executed his execrable purpose of murdering our brother, and made himself master
of his medicine.
Such horrible actions never remain very long
unpunished. Some other crimes he had committed came to light, the Jew was
imprisoned, convicted, and burned alive.
Soon after this a persecution of the Jews began in
France. Flamel, who was more reasonable than his enraged countrymen, and whose
honesty was known, became a friend of the Jews, and a Jewish merchant entrusted
him with all his books and papers, among which were those of the criminal who
had been burned alive, and also the book of our brother; which had never been
carefully examined by the merchant.
When Flamel examined that book, his curiosity became
aroused by certain figures contained therein, and he began to suspect that it
contained great secrets. He got the first leaf, which was written in Hebrew
translated, and from the little he learned from that, he became convinced that
his suspicion was well founded; but knowing also that great caution was
necessary, he took the following steps: He went into Spain, and, as Jews were settled
in many parts of that country, he applied in every place to which he came to
the most learned, and engaged each of them to translate a leaf of the book. Having
thus obtained a translation of the whole, he returned to France.
When he came home, he undertook with his wife the
prescribed labors, and in the progress of time they arrived at the secret, by
which they acquired immense riches, which they employed in building public
edifices, and in doing good to a great many people.
Fame is often accompanied by great dangers; but a true
sage knows how to extricate himself from all kind of perils. Flamel saw that he
was in danger of being suspected to possess the Philosopher's Stone, a
suspicion which might have caused the loss of his liberty, if not that of his
life, and he thought of means to escape all danger. By his advice, his wife
pretended to be dangerously sick, and when it was reported that she had died,
she had already safely passed the frontier of Switzerland. They buried in her
place a wooden image in one of the churches which he had founded.
Some time afterwards he used the same stratagem for
himself and joined his wife. You know that there could have been no great
difficulty in doing this, since in every country, if a man has sufficient
money, physicians and priests are always at his service, ready to say or do
whatever he directs them. He moreover left a last will and testament, directing
that a pyramid should be erected to his memory and that of his wife. Since that
time both have led a philosophic life, residing sometimes in one country and
sometimes in another. This, depend upon my word, is the true history of Flamel
and his wife."
»
(Cid's observation: I am suspicious about this story because the
theosophical instructors explained that currently the maximum that human
physical life can be prolonged is almost 400 years, however to achieve that
feat it is already required to be a very high adept. And on the creation of gold, this issue is
detailed below.)
Famous Occultists
The well-known fact that the Adepts
and alchemists of the middle ages were continually subject to persecutions, to
imprisonment, punishment, torture and death, is the cause that the names of
only few of them became publicly known.
One reputed alchemist was the Count de Saint Germain, who lived in
1770 at the Court of France. He appeared to be, about forty years of age; some
said he was ninety, he himself gave his age as being 370 years. He possessed
the art of making artificial diamonds and precious stones, he was clairvoyant,
could read people's thoughts and foretell future events. He possessed an
"album," in which many of the most celebrated persons of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had signed their names; he was able to write
with both hands at one and the same time, with each on different subjects.
A somewhat similar character was the
Count Cagliostro, whose physical form was born in Italy and received the name Giuseppe Balsamo. The latter was
incarcerated in the castle San Angelo
at Rome, and is believed to have died in one of its dungeons. The
problem of Cagliostro will not be solved by our historians until they study the
true nature of man in its normal and abnormal aspects, when they may, perhaps,
discover the fact that two personalities may inhabit one physical organism, and
that a man may, perhaps, be a Cagliostro at one time and a Balsamo
at another. (2)
I have carefully read the
proceedings of the trial of the renowned Count
Cagliostro before the tribunal of the inquisition in Rome, and I have
found no proof whatever of his having been an impostor. To everyone acquainted
with even the elementary teachings of occultism, the phenomena which occurred
in his presence do not appear at all unexplainable, or as having been the
products of imposture; but what appears wonderful is the illogical consequence
and ignorance of the witnesses for the prosecution, who admit the occurrence of
phenomena in his presence, which could not have been produced by his tricks,
while in the same breath they denounce him to be an impostor.
To arts of this kind belongs that of:
- making pure gold or silver artificially;
- transforming base metals into nobler ones;
- preparing a Universal Panacea out of the principle of Life;
-
curing
all diseases;
- preparing a lamp which, by the manner in which it burns, indicates the
state of health of an absent friend, with whom it is sympathetically connected;
- producing a similar sympathetic or magnetic connection between a person
and a jewel, a tree, or a mirror; of producing a living miniature image of the
world in a closed glass globe;
- causing the forms of vegetables or animals to reappear out of their
ashes after they have been burnt;
- producing artificially man (Homunculi) without the assistance of a
female organism;
- preparing a fluid, which rises and falls within the bottle where it is
contained, according to the increasing or decreasing moon;
- preparing a glass wherein it will thunder, and lightning will appear,
whenever the same takes place in the air; of producing an inextinguishable magic
fire, an ever-burning lamp; a magic mirror, where events can be seen taking
place in any other part of the world;
- a perpetuum mobile, whose
rotation is caused by the rotation of the earth;
- a divining rod, for finding water or minerals, or whatever one wishes to
find;
- a magic ring, which warns the wearer of any approaching danger, and reveals
to him many secrets;
- causing love or hate at will;
- making pearls, diamonds, or any other jewels, which cannot be
distinguished from natural ones, or causing them to grow larger;
- obtaining power over the elemental spirits of Nature and causing them to
render services;
- causing the astral spectres of dead persons to appear and talk and
answer questions, and many other similar feats, too numerous to mention.
We call that wonderful which is not
within our experience, and the causes of which we cannot explain; we are daily
surrounded by marvels, and witnessing the most marvellous phenomena, the causes
of which we cannot explain; but we do not look at them with a sceptical eye,
nor are we at ail surprised that they occur. On the contrary, we should be
extremely surprised if they once ceased to occur; this merely because we are
accustomed to see such things every day.
We are surrounded by phenomena of an
occult and magic nature, and we live in a laboratory of alchemy. We see how out
of a hard little stone —kernel or seed— a germ appears, and grows into a big
tree, although we are sure that there was no such tree in the kernel; and what
would be still more astonishing if it were not of daily occurrence, is that out
of a certain kind of seed a certain species of plant only will grow, and no
other.
We see how out of an egg a living
bird appears, and yet if we examine the same kind of egg as long as it is
fresh, and open it, we find therein nothing living, and nothing that resembles
a bird. We also know that the parent bird does not put a bird into the egg
after it is laid, for we may hatch out eggs by artificial heat, and thus
produce birds out of the egg, and there is surely no bird in the heat. We see
how out of a vegetable substance animal substance can grow, for we feed our
cattle on grass, hay, and corn, and yet we are certain that there is no flesh
in the grass or corn.
We see the ever-burning light of the
sun spending its heat year after year. We know of nobody who supplies him with
fuel, and yet it seems to have always the same temperature. We know that the
globe whereon we live revolves and flies with tremendous velocity through
space, and yet we do not feel it move, nor do we fall head foremost down in the
abyss of space when at night it turns the dark side away from the sun; we see
that the storm blows down houses and trees, and yet that which does the damage
is nothing but thin air; we see the body of water of our rivers and lakes, and
if we attempt to step on its surface we sink; but a few weeks or months
afterwards we may try it again and find it as hard as rock, able to bear the
weight of the skating crowd.
There are a thousand other similar
marvels in Nature, too numerous to mention.
There are many stories told of the
Adepts, and the wonderful things they sometimes performed:
- how, in mid-winter, they caused beautiful flowers to grow out of the
floor of a room, or produced a shower of roses in places where no roses were to
be found;
- how some of them were seen simultaneously in two different places
speaking and acting in each;
- how they sometimes were attended and served by "supernatural"
beings appearing in human forms;
- how they were sometimes able to read the future, or see what was going
on at a place hundreds of miles away from them;
- how they could speak languages which they had never studied;
- knew the contents of books which they had never read;
- could swallow poison without being harmed;
- make themselves invisible and visible at will;
-
etc.,
etc.
Creating gold
But the most interesting parts of
our research, and at the same time the most pertinent to our object in view,
will be historical accounts referring to their ability to make pure gold in an
artificial manner — or, to speak more correctly, to transmute other metals into
gold, and make gold grow. We shall therefore give a few abbreviated accounts of
such authenticated facts:
1. The following account is taken
from the acta of the judicial faculty of Leipzig, whose legal decision
was given in August, 1715. (Responsio Juridica Facultis Juridicæ Lipsiensis.)
A few years ago a man arrived late
in the evening at the residence of the Countess of Erbach, the castle of
Tankerstein, and asked to be permitted to enter it, and to hide there a
few days, as he had accidentally killed a deer belonging to the Palatine
of Palatia, who was, therefore, pursuing him to take his life, and he
asked to be protected.
The Countess at first refused; but
when she saw the man she was so much impressed with his noble appearance that
she consented, and the stranger was given a room, where he stayed for a few
days. After that he asked for an interview with the Countess, and when admitted
to her presence, he expressed his thanks for the protection given to him, and
offered that, as a token of his gratitude, he would transmute her silver ware
into gold.
The Countess at first could not
believe that such a thing was possible, but she at last consented to have an
experiment made with a silver tankard, which the stranger melted and transmuted
into gold. She thereupon sent this gold to the city and had it tested by a
goldsmith, who found it to be gold of the purest kind. She then permitted the
stranger to melt and transmute all her silver spoons, plates, dishes, etc.,
into gold, which he did, and finally he took his leave and went away, having
received a comparatively small sum of money as a gift from the Countess.
Soon after this event, the husband
of the Countess, who seems to have been a spendthrift, and who had been away
from home for several years, serving as an officer in some foreign country,
returned, because he had heard that his wife had become suddenly rich. He
claimed half of the gold for himself, but the Countess refused to acknowledge
his claims.
The case came, therefore, before the
Court, and the husband supported his claims by the fact that he was the lord of
the territory (Dominus territorii) upon
which the castle belonging to his wife was located, and that according to the
laws of the country all treasures found upon that land were lawfully his. He
therefore requested that the gold should be sold, and from the proceeds new
silver ware should be bought for the Countess, and the surplus be given to him.
The defendant claimed that
artificially produced gold could not come under the consideration of a law
referring to buried treasures, and that therefore the said law could not be
applied in her case; that, moreover, the silver had been transmuted into gold
for her own benefit, and not for that of another, and she begged the Court to
be permitted to remain in undisturbed possession of it. The Court decided in
her favor.
2. Another authenticated case is
that of an Adept by the name of Sehfeld,
who lived in Rodaun, a small
place in the vicinity of Vienna.
He made gold out of tin and spent it freely. The proprietor of the house where
he resided, a man named Friedrich, gained the confidence of the Adept,
and told his family about the doings of Sehfeld. The consequence was that soon
rumors and gossip began to spread.
Sehfeld was accused of sorcery, and
appealed for protection to the Austrian Emperor, saying that he was engaged in
making certain chemical colors of which he possessed the secret. It is said
that Sehfeld paid 30,000 florins into the Imperial Treasury to obtain this
protection, which he enjoyed for several months. Friedrich and the members of
his family often were present when Sehfeld made gold, and they say that after
melting the tin, he sprinkled a small quantity of a red powder upon the molten
mass, when the latter began to foam and exhibited all kinds of colors.
After an hour or so it was allowed
to cool, and all the tin was then transmuted into pure gold. One day Friedrich
attempted to make the experiment himself. Having obtained some of the red
powder from Sehfeld, he melted the tin while Sehfeld was absent, and sprinkled
the powder upon it; but the latter had no effect upon the tin and did not mix
with it. After a while, Sehfeld entered the room where the experiment was made,
and as he entered the mass began to foam and turned into gold.
The security which he enjoyed did
not last long, for after a few months new rumors were put into circulation, the
envy, greed and jealousy of the neighbors were aroused, he was accused of practicing
unlawful sciences, and he was arrested at night and imprisoned in the fortress
of Temeswar, where he remained
over a year, sternly refusing to tell his secret, and saying that no amount of
physical torture would be able to make him reveal it.
The governor of the fortress of Temeswar, General Baron von Engelshofen, was so much charmed by the noble
appearance and open character of Sehfeld, that he went to Vienna and spoke to
the Emperor about Sehfeld, declaring his opinion that the latter was innocent.
The Emperor soon afterwards, while hunting boars in a forest near Rodan, sent
for Friedrich, and received from him a detailed account of his experiences with
Sehfeld, and became convinced that the latter was not a villain; but he would
not believe that he was able to make gold, and expressed his doubts to that
effect.
Upon this, Friedrich, who was an
honest man, exclaimed: « Oh! Your Majesty, if at this moment God were to
come down from heaven, and say, “Friedrich, you are mistaken; Sehfeld cannot
make gold!” I would answer him, “Dear God, it is nevertheless true that he can
make it, because I know it to be so.” »
Upon this, the Emperor, struck with
the sincerity of the man, ordered that Sehfeld should be permitted to go where
he pleased, and make whatever experiments he choose; but that he should not
leave Austria, and should always be accompanied by two trustworthy officers who
should never permit him to go out of their sight.
Two of the best and most trustworthy
officers belonging to noble families were selected for that purpose. He made
several little excursions in their company; but not long afterwards Sehfeld and
his two guards disappeared and never returned, nor has any trace of them ever
been discovered. The historian adds that it is not probable that those two rich
and noble officers would have sacrificed their career and also their reputation
by thus deserting without having a sufficient cause or inducement to do so.
Researches made in the house of
Friedrich seemed to indicate that Sehfeld prepared his red powder out of
some sky-blue minerals, probably some sulphuret of copper.
3. An apothecary at Halle made the acquaintance of a
stranger, whom he found to be in possession of some chemical secrets. Having
been invited to visit the stranger in his lodgings he went there, and after
having talked about Alchemy, the claims of which the apothecary denied, the
stranger showed him a certain red powder, and offered to give some of it
to the apothecary so that the latter could make an experiment himself.
With a very little spoon he took
some of the powder out of the box wherein it was contained, but the apothecary
objected that such a small quantity would not be sufficient to make the
experiment. Upon this the stranger threw the powder back into the box, wiped
the spoon, to which some of the powder adhered, on a piece of cotton, wrapped
the cotton in a paper, and gave it to the apothecary, telling him that even
this would be sufficient for that purpose.
Having returned home, the apothecary
took a big silver spoon, melted it in a crucible, and threw the cotton upon it.
The molten metal began immediately to boil and to foam, and to exhibit the most
beautiful colors. After a while he took the crucible from the fire and poured
the metal into a mould.
The next morning he examined it and
found that it was the purest gold, and there were some ruby-red drops on the
top, which seemed to have been the surplus of the red powder which the metal
had not absorbed. The apothecary hurried immediately to the lodging of the
Adept to tell him of his success; but the latter had gone, and no one knew
where he went. A sum of money, more than sufficient to pay for his lodging, was
found upon the table in his room.
The silver which the apothecary employed
in this experiment weighed 1¼ ounces, and the gold which he gained weighed 1½
ounces, which he sold to a goldsmith for 36 thalers. The gain in weight was, therefore, 20 per cent., which
may be accounted for by the fact that the specific gravity of gold is greater
than that of silver. Unfortunately, the ruby-red pearls on the surface
of the gold were lost during the excitement caused by the discovery that the
mass was actual gold, else they might have been used to transmute a far greater
quantity of silver into gold.
4. During the reign of the Emperor Leopold, a monk of the Order
of St. Augustine, named Wenzel Seiler,
found a certain red powder in his convent, which proved to be the "Red
Lion" of the Alchemists. By means of this powder, Seiler transformed a
quantity of tin into gold in the presence of the Emperor and his Court.
The Emperor ordered that certain
medals were to be made of this artificially produced gold, and he divided them
out among the noblemen of his Court. He also, as a reward, gave to that monk
the title of Freiherr von Rheinburg, and appointed him as master of the
Imperial mint in Bohemia.
The medal, of which one is now in
the family of Count Leopold Hoffmann,
in Brieg, shows upon the top
the bust of the Emperor Leopold, with the following words: "Leopoldus
Dei Gratia Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus Germania Hungariæ et Bohemiæ Rex."
The reverse side is not stamped, but there is engraved thereon a verse, saying:
“Aus Wenzel Seilers Pulvers Mach Bin ich von Zinn zu Gold gemacht.”
5. The most indisputable proof (if
appearances can prove anything) of the possibility of transmuting base metals
into gold, may be seen by everyone who visits Vienna; it being a medal
preserved in the Imperial treasury chamber, and it is stated that this medal,
consisting originally of silver, has been partly transformed into gold, by
alchemical means, by the same Wenzel Seiler who was afterwards made a knight by
the Emperor Leopold I. and given the title Wenzeslaus Ritter von Reinburg.
The medal is of oval shape; its long
diameter is 37 and the short one 40 centimeters. Its specific gravity is 193,
and its weight 7,200.4 grammes. Its value is estimated to correspond to 2,055
Austrian ducats.
As indicated in the accompanying
figure, about one-third of the upper part is silver, and the remaining part
gold. The two incisions were made in 1883, for the purpose of examining the
medal, to see whether it was pure or merely gilded. The examination was made on
request of Professor A. Bauer, of Vienna.
One side of the medal shows the
portraits of the ancestors of the Emperor up to King Pharamund:
On the other side has the following
inscription:
Sacratissimo
Potentissimo et invictissimo
Romanorum imperatori
Leopoldo I.
Arcanorum naturæ scrutatori curiosmo
Genuinum hoc veræ ac perfectæ
Metamorphoseos metallicë
specimen
pro exiguo anniversarii diei nominalis
mnemosyno
cum omnigenæ prosperitatis voto
humillima veneratione offert et dicat
Joannes Wenzeslaos de Reinburg
numini majestatique eius
devotissimus
anno Christi MDCLXXVII. die festo
S. Leopoldi
ognomine pii olim marchionis Austriæ
nunc autem patroni augustissimæ
Domus austriacæ
Benignissimi.
Potentissimo et invictissimo
Romanorum imperatori
Leopoldo I.
Arcanorum naturæ scrutatori curiosmo
Genuinum hoc veræ ac perfectæ
Metamorphoseos metallicë
specimen
pro exiguo anniversarii diei nominalis
mnemosyno
cum omnigenæ prosperitatis voto
humillima veneratione offert et dicat
Joannes Wenzeslaos de Reinburg
numini majestatique eius
devotissimus
anno Christi MDCLXXVII. die festo
S. Leopoldi
ognomine pii olim marchionis Austriæ
nunc autem patroni augustissimæ
Domus austriacæ
Benignissimi.
It seems, however, that there is
nothing perfectly reliable in this world of illusions, and it is therefore
necessary to state that Wenzel Seiler was afterwards regarded as an impostor,
and sent back to his monastery. Later on, however, the Emperor received him
again into his favor, and even paid his numerous debts, the existence of which
is quite incomprehensible if he actually had the power to make gold by
alchemical means.
(I am also suspicious of these
accounts because although the masters have explained that it is possible to
transform base metals into gold, that requires having reached a high level of
initiation, and an adept would not be doing the things that Franz Hartmann
mentioned in these stories.
Although perhaps there are also
secret techniques to achieve this transmutation without the need to be an
adept, but I see it unlikely because to transmute is necessary to modify the atomic
structure, something that at our level is extremely difficult to achieve.)
Footnotes
1. Before us is a paper, printed in
Leipzig, dated May 26th, 1761, which gives the latest news from Köln
(Cologne). It says:
« The two prophets who have
been imprisoned in this place are still keeping the attention of our citizens
on the alert. The court has not yet decided what shall be done. It is useless
to chain them, because they possess the wonderful power of bursting even the
strongest chains, as if they were threads of linen, and they have done so in
the presence of many. They can even in the darkest might see all objects in their prison, because there is an
unearthly light shining around their heads and coming out of their eyes,
which illuminates their surroundings.
They seem to be young men, and yet they say that they were at
Constantinople in the year 1453, at the time of Mohamed II.; they say that they
were intimately acquainted with the last Christian emperor at that place,
Constantine Palaeologus, and they are in possession of letters written by him
and his wife and sister. They say that at the time when they were at
Constantinople they were already over 300 years of age. They speak Persian and
Chinese and other languages fluently; they live on nothing but a little bread
and water. They performed some wonderful cures in the neighboring villages
before they were arrested; savage dogs and wild animals appear to treat them
with reverence; they seem to be well acquainted with the books written by the
ancient philosophers, and talk about Pythagoras with great respect. We do not
know what to think about these men. Etc., etc. »
2. Whether or not the body of a person may be inhabited simultaneously
or alternatively by two different individualities, may be a matter for doubt;
but the phenomena of obsession and hypnotism go to show that this is not
impossible. Cagliostro said that he was born in the East, and it is certain
that he had connections there; nevertheless, it was proved that he was born in
Italy, and that his name was Balsamo.
This would, of course, convict him at once among the ignorant of his
times and among our writers of encyclopedias as being an impostor.
Nevertheless, a more definite knowledge of the true constitution of man might
explain the mystery. That which is the fundamental reality in man; is the will.
The phenomena of so-called hypnotism show that the will of one person may be
made to act in another, and during the time that a person is obsessed by the will
of another, he is also under the influence of the memory of the latter.
Those acquainted with occult laws will not find it incredible that the
person of Balsamo was influenced and used by some eastern human spirit, whose
name was Cagliostro, and that during such times Balsamo believed himself to be,
and actually was, Cagliostro. Modern spiritualism has a legion of similar
facts.
(In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom, chapter 4)
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