From an Initiatic Lecture on Alchemy:
"Al - the; Komia - Secret thing. Also another:- the Egyptian and Chaldean :Al or EI - God; Cham- - sun. In other words alchemy is the God influence or solar influence expressed in Nature."
Nature to the alchemists was a substance that was apart from the divine. This was why they referred to the "natura naturans" the naturing of nature. It was because they believed matter or sarx to be made of cold inanimate material. This was a viewpoint of the middle age alchemists because of Orthodoxy and Theological beliefs in a Creator God.
God to the alchemists was embedded in the words AL or EL according to our initiatic lecture. This is significant when we see that angels end their names in the EL as in RAPHA EL or MICHA EL .
The names of Arch Angels are in fact attributes that are "god attributes" these are the different powerhouses that emanate from the almighty all. So when we are practicing alchemy we are "dissolving" or forms of thinking that are not influenced by the solar or "dry" way of the Great Work.
So why is this particular meditation located on the Strength card. We have here selected the "Strength" or Force card of Robert Place. In Mr Place's Alchemical Tarot the image of Strength is given its beautiful Alchemical meaning from the "Golden Tripod" in the 1600's. This was the process of "fermentation" or FERMENTIO.
Fermentation was the basis of alchemy and is where transmutation occurs. Fermenting rots and dissolves a substance into another form , similar to the butterfly and its oozing forward from a cocoon to a beautiful Monarch. In this process the first thing is literally burned off and is Putrefied to a point where it is no longer available as its previous form, but is 'transformed'. This was what was believed in the 1600's to happen to "cold matter", but as we have previously mentioned this is a Theist way of viewing the Duality of Spirit and Matter, as the alchemists of the 1600's were discovering "to make gold you first must start with gold" This is a subtle change but is significant because the alchemical furnace is the Heart. It is in this 'heart' that the work of alchemy is done. This 'gold' existed before the process was begun or initiated, because its by this heart that the work of the heart can be done.
In the Fermentatio and Putrifactio the Great work of Blackening was done, In Nigredo the work of purification was resting upon the solving of the hearts enigma. In our hearts we are unified with all humanity, and it was through the heart that our old ways of thinking and living were being killed off, the great secret was therefore the work of connecting the natural and human "heart" to the divine Heart. In this Work, GOLD from gold is accomplished.
In Gnosis
Tim.
