ALCHEMY AND ITS CHINESE ORIGIN AS REVEALED

BY ITS ETYMOLOGY, DOCTRINES AND SYMBOLS

THE Problem. A critical survey of the literature on the history of alchemy reveals that a recurring problem has been facing the authors in different forms. It is the origin of the name, alchemy, which, in some way, should connote the science it represents. In other words there is the question, what was alchemy to begin with, and where did it originate. Reviewing past achievements on the subject, Hopkins (1; p. V.) concluded _that, "the fundamental work of fact finding has been so difficult and time consuming that no real history of alchemy has yet been written. " This was said as late as 1934. Until then it was accepted that alchemy began merely as a craft invented by some Alexandrian Egyptians, other than the Greeks. Hopkins comments that, "in the beginning alchemy was far from being philosophical. It was just an ordinary art like that of the carpenter or blacksmith. It was on this primitive side of its character that it was derived from Egypt. " He thus confirmed the accepted origin of alchemy, to which he added another, a far more important, thereby deserving no little credit. The other element, according to Hopkins, was Greek philosophy, and he attached so much importance to it that, he named his book, " Alchemy, child of Greek philosophy. " He (1 ; p. 2) states that, " alchemy is a form of philosophy applied to technique,," which is certainly an impressive statement. Further, he (on p. 2) writes that, " the theories of alchemy consisted of notions inherited from a diluted form of philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. the ideas woven into a working hypothesis explained the marvels achieved by the artisans." Finding alchemy to have been painted without any make-up of philosophy, Hopkins offered, in 1934, a new picture, as he claimed it to be later on (2; 424). Instead of finding much support his theory, on the contrary, excited controversy in which Davis (2) tried to trace the origin of alchemy to China. Whatever light Hopkins might have thrown on the subject, when Taylor (3; 16) came to reveal the situation, he had to confess that, " it may at once be said that alchemy still remains an unsolved problem ." This amounts to admitting, in 1951, the same what Hopkins found in 1934. It might be stated at the very beginning that, both Hopkins and Davis are partly right and a compromise between their views leads to the correct origin of alchemy.

Now every author, who has written on the history of alchemy, found the genesis of its name so important as to have devoted the very first pages to its elucidation. On the contrary, Hopkins (1) treats it in a most cursory manner, disposing it of in a few lines, on p. 94 and Taylor (3) even surpasses him by dispensing with the controversial problem altogether. The omission was so obvious that Wilson (4), when he came to review Taylor's book, could not but critically notice it and supply what was badly missing. Further no one has ventured to explain how, according to all standard works of reference, alchemy is both , the art of gold making, as also that of acquiring immortality. That two such virtues should pertain to the same art does strike as something strange. To keep such vital questions open is indeed to confess that, alchemy still remains an unsolved problem.

2.        Immortality, the objective of herbalism. Primitive society had to face hard life from limited availability of foodstuffs. The aged males were felt as burden on bread winners and were inclemently handled. In India, and perhaps elsewhere also, they had to retire as solitary denizens of a forest. But the human mind, reluctant to resign to death, made these ascetics live on dreams of rejuvenation or on hopes of returning to the good old days of happy youth. The desire for rejuvenation then tried to set the clock of life back by three or four decades so that the dreamer could believe in an ever recurring youth, nothing short of immortality. These two concepts are really one for, what we know is rejuvenation and what we imagine is immortality.

The use of fresh herbs had been the system of medicine at the time. It was also the age of Animism according to which even plants have a soul or life-essence, such that it can be donated to a human being to increase his life span. Belief in such herbs existed all over the world. In Greece it was Ambrosia; in Iran and India, Homa or Soma ; and in China, a mushroom called Chih. Now just as blood transfusion can prolong life, hut has to be repeated, so was the case with a juice like Soma. A potion of Soma merely added so many units of life-essence to the stock of receiver's life and had therefore to be taken at regular intervals. It will be seen that, the use of Soma was supported by the philosophy of Animism which maintained that herbs have souls and these are transferable.

3.        Alchemy plans the synthesis of a single dose drug of immortality : The obvious dependence of immortality on Soma makes  the latter no drug of immortality. What was required was a single dose of medicine conferring immortality for ever. The Chinese herbalists first began to inquire into the limitations of a juice like Soma. Now they believed not only in Animism but more so in Dualism. This could explain why no herbal extract could be the ideal drug of immortality. Animism originated by extending the constitution of man as established at first. Since Life = Body + soul ( as a whole), a plant and a mineral all came to possess body and soul. Later on it was established that, man owes his birth directly to a father and mother and thus has a dual origin. The same constitution was now applied to each and every thing in the universe, creating a principle of Masculinity, called Yang (light) in Chinese, and that of Feminality, Yin (darkness). This was true even of the soul, as a whole, which became dual natured, with a male-soul and a female-soul. The male-soul is called Ruh in Arabic, and is translated as Spirit; the female-soul Nafas or Soul-specific. To avoid confusion soul as a whole is written here with a small "s", but Soul specific, or Nafas, with a capital "S". Nafas imparts form and individuality while Ruh longevity. The Sanskrit word for Nafas, as a soul, is Atma, and it is also used to express individuality. Nafas is qualitatively different from species to species, and Ruh quantitatively different from individual to individual. Illustrations will explain the difference between Soul specific and Spirit. A perennial plant, like Ephedra, the Soma herb of the Aryans, would have a poor Nafas, being a delicate plant; but its Rub would be powerful since it is perennial. The same would be the case with a crippled old man. That he is already superannuated speaks in favour of his having a strong life-prolonging element or Ruh, but being infirm his Nafas must be poor. If we go now to the mineral world and consider copper, for example, its solidity leaves us in no doubt that its Nafas is strong. But it is liable to rust which is the expression of a poor Ruh. We thus realize that plants are strong in spirit and metals strong in Soul. But if Soma is calcined with copper, heat will drive away the weak elements first; the weak herbal Nafas and the weak metalic Ruh will disappear at once. After such a partial vacuum the strong Herbal. Spirit will unite with the powerful Metallic-Soul. On the contrary, dropping Soma on copper,in the cold, would have no effect, as the metallic Spirit has been evacuated to be replaced by that of Soma. The spirit of Soma should not merely mix but combine with the Soul of copper. The constitution of calcined Soma-copper complex would then reveal a well balanced pair of Ruh-Nafas, where both are strong enough to 'form an inseparable union, not a mixture. Just as the union of Adam/Eve means the creation of the immortal human race, the union of Ruh/Nafas in Soma/copper complex means the creation of a hermaphrodite or a bisexual soul which can alone continue to increase in totality. Once the soul acquires generative powers it can also make its vehicle immortal. Since here copper is the vehicle this becomes an everlasting metal which is gold. If man takes the Soma-copper complex, as drug, he becomes immortal. The objectives of alchemy, of making gold and imparting longevity, are clearly seen as the resultants of the same preparation, Lest the fact may escape notice it must be pointed out that synthetic gold is a live metal, or a metal with life and fertility. If man was created out of "dust", synthetic gold was "created" out of copper. Synthetic gold is a kind of ferment; if seeded into mercury or any amalgam it converts the latter again into gold. This is because the life-essence here is self reproductive. In Soma the soul was mainly "male" or Ruh; in synthetic gold it is bisexual capable of self-generation. This explains how Soma had to be consumed from time to time, while the Soma copper complex would suffice being taken only once. Nevertheless it does bring into prominence the importance of Soma, which, so to say, gives life to copper. Moreover, of the two, synthesizing gold and making man immortal, the former gives the immediate and more spectacular result, hence the juice was called the gold making juice. In fact, while gold was really everlasting and resistant even to fire, the immortal man could not stand such an ordeal. Thus the more appropriate name for the juice was not the immortalizing-juice hut instead the gold-making-juice. This term in Southern China is called Kim-Iya. It became a loan word in Arabic as Ki-Miya. With the addition of "Al", as the definite article, it resulted as Al-kimiya, modified in Europe into alchemy. We see, by now, how Davis was right in tracing the origin of alchemy to China, and Hopkins in looking upon it as a philosophy applied to technique. This philosophy, however, was Animism and Dualism, also found in the writings of Plato and Aristotle, but far more so in those of China.

4. Alchemy, an offshoot of Herbalism : What, however, could not be confirmed was the much older theory that, alchemy, in the beginning, was the craft of gilding bronze statues (4), allied to gold-smithy. It was, on the contrary, the invention of ascetics trying to doctor themselves and fighting infirmity in the face of advancing age. The objective before alchemy was longevity, and according to technique, it was pharmaceutical chemistry of its age. The only active principle it recognized was Spirit or Ruh, and herbs as living entities were conceived as donors of the life-prolonging agent. Thus early alchemy depended upon herbs for the active principle alchemy had to deal with which was Ruh. Trismosin (5 ; 29), a famous alchemist of middle ages, writes that, "the herb, Berissa, if put into mercury changes it into perfect silver." From Gildemeister (6 ; 535) we learn again that, Kotschy, during his travels in Cyprus, sometime before 1862, met the Turkish "Pasha of Nicosia, who spoke eloquently over flowers and at times over Kimiya, a plant, having the property of transforming metals into gold." just as Soma really means a juice but is also a plant, so is Kimiya, a juice, and in the above case, again its herb. It may be noted that Firdousi, uses Kimiya, as the herb of immortality. This is because ontainers, being the more obvious, are often made to represent their contents. Herbs contained the juice and the juice contained the Spirit or the male-soul. Thus we find independently of each other that, the herb or its juice confers immorality and the same also transforms a base metal into a noble one.

5.      Kimiya equated with Rasayana, both being substances : The etymology of alchemy having been much debated it is most desirable that an independent confirmation be offered to settle this controversy. We have seen that Kimiya is fresh plant-juice and not a decoction. It should be untouched by heat to preserve its Spirit. The Sanskrit name of alchemy is Rasayana. (Sir) P. C. Ray (7) explains its etymology as being compounded by the words Rasa, signifying Mercury and Ayana, the Way. The Way to Mercury, according to him, would be a science. Now just as in Arabic Kimiya is first a substance and then a science, so is Rasayana in Hindu medicine, a mercurial, as also the science of alchemy. Concrete notions do undergo abstraction which explains how the name of a substance was transferred to the science pertaining to that substance. Rasa, in Sanskrit, means Juice in the first instance, Mercury is its secondary meaning. Rasa, therefore, is identical with the Chinese word, Iya, of the term Kim-Iya. Ayana means Path, but also Abode, which here would be paraphrased as the container. Thus Rasa-Ayana can be correctly rendered as Juice-Container. Rasa, the juice, can itself be subjected to abstraction, when it would signify the active principle of the juice, which was Spirit or Ruh. Rasa would then mean a volatile principle, the Spirit in the juice, and as such would again require some abode like its herb previously. Rasa-Ayana, by the secondary meaning of Rasa, as Spirit, would accordingly connote, the abode of life-essence. Thus Rasa-Ayana can be correctly translated as Juice-incorporate, and paraphrased as Spirit-incorporate, the conferrer of longevity. Kimiya, the gold making Juice, is the designation of a substance as the initial product; Rasayana, the Juice incorporate, is its name as the final product. Kimiya is a drug of immortality, so is Rasayana, each a vehicle of the life prolonging Spirit ; both are substances, in fact drugs.

6.      Alchemy imitates creation : Creation can signify the creation of matter itself, but more often it means creation of life, equated with the phenomenon of animation. This is popularly known by the origin of man from "dust". The philosophy of Animism assumes the transference of soul from a donor to another as its recipient. When applied to alchemy it can signify the soul of Soma entering the body of copper. Now there is also another property of life, which is fertility, the power to reproduce its kind which makes the species immortal, an important consideration for the alchemist. Dualism generalizes this virtue. Just as the human race became immortal on Adam and Eve coming together on the face of the world, any well balanced pair of opposites should be capable of generating some kind of totality. Even the soul, with its male and female elements, can go on increasing when it is called the Cosmic soul. All that is required is to find a suitable pair of opposites and bring them into union. Among some such pairs are the following : Man/ Woman, Yang/Yin, Spirit/Soul, Sulphur/Mercury, Sun/Moon and Heaven/Earth. Particularly the last seems to have been universally recognized as the Creator-Benefactor. One of the early Upanishads, Brahadaranyaka (vi. 2.2) speaks of the creator as, "Father sky and Mother earth". This is because there has been dualism even in India but nothing compared to that of China. No wonder then that Dore (8 ; Vol. V, p. observes that, "at present Heaven and Earth (in China) are worshipped instead of the creator." He forgets that, according to Dualism, the Creator=Heaven+Earth. We have learnt that in the synthesis of ferment-gold, by far the more important factor was the juice, the donor of Yang-element. Likewise in the constitution of the creator the more potent element is Heaven. Thus while the orthodox adherents of Dualism worship Heaven+Earth together, as their creator, others, not so dominated by it, equate Creator=Heaven. Accordingly we do use the term, "Heaven knows", as a perfect synonym of "God knows". Dore (8 ; Vol. V, p. 512) proceeds to explain that, "in the Book of Changes, Yin-king, (it is found that), when Heaven and Earth exert their influences all things are transformed and vivified." And to vivify is to transform something dead into something living, to create. If synthesis is the result of a substance interacting with another substance, creation means a substance reacting with a soul. The soul can be donated, as by Soma or by the herbo-metallic complex, or created de novo, by a pair of Yang/ Yin functioning as its co-generators. As bachelor and maiden the pair remained non-productive but as husband/wife they can generate a soul. However the soul, their issue, can be absorbed back and permeating their bodies transform them into unity which becomes a self-generative hermaphrodite. Whereas formerly each partner was dependent upon the other for generating their kind, the hermaphrodite is bisexual by constitution and thereby self-reproductive. Moreover while the two progenitors were mortal, with the body and soul easily separable, their issue, or the two now as one hermaphrodite, represents unity, both of the soul and of its vehicle, the body. The body is obviously one for it cannot be cut into a male half and a female half, and so is the soul. Later on fig. 12 is constructed on the same plan and a word may be dropped here in advance. All this is of course allegory. Interpreting it in alchemical terms the pair of progemtors were sulphur and mercury, which in vermilion, are separable, but give rise to gold, when the resultant is unity, and a living entity. This should not be very surprizing for, according to animism, all metals are living things but it was dualism which, when applied, further made a metal self-reproductive, so that ferment-gold became capable of increasing its totality. Vermilion, with ,sulphur, and its opposite, mercury, represent a loose mixture, but gold, as a hermaphrodite, is a bisexual unity, where sulphur and mercury cannot be separated. Thus to make gold is to induce a pair of opposites as Yang/Yin to generate a soul which, in turn, would transform or fuse them into one. Such an idea does exist in mysticism and to apply it to alchemy means, in the words of Hopkins that, "alchemy is a form of philosophy applied to technique."

In order to plan his technique the alchemist tried to study nature's methods of creation and obtain a clue. The phenomenon of spontaneous generation seemed most promising. Mushrooms are known to grow overnight for which the clarification offered had been that, some Yang matter accidentally comes into contact with plant-debris, as its Yin, and thereby life-essence is generated. This now forms a trinity with its two progenitors and transforms them into mushrooms. The soul, then is the creative or the transforming agent, for here to transform is to create. On the same model it has even assumed as experimentally possible to mix some curd with cowdung when the life essence created would give rise to scorpio is. If all this be correct, chemical gold, with the simple life of a ferment, more latent than obvious, should be easier to produce than generating vivacious scorpions. It must be evident that alchemy tries to imitate creation. Dante, among others, fully realized this, but modern literature on alchemy never mentions that, the alchemist looked upon ordinary gold as fossil gold and his own as animated copper, or live-gold.

7. Dualism selects the progenitors of alchemical gold : In the making of gold a herb like Soma was required. All plants even of the same species do not have the same quantum of life-essence. This makes selection so difficult that the proper material is to be considered nonexisting. To overcome this difficulty the alchemist exploited dualism and tried to generate the soul de novo. by inducing procreation, as already mentioned. What the synthesis of gold now required was the choice of the right pair of progenitors : What should be the Yang/Yin which can most easily produce gold ?

Now blood has been conceived as life and redness equated with life essence. The one substance, above all, which approaches blood in this respect is cinnabar or vermilion. Its components are sulphur and mercury. As vermilion they represent a mixture being easily separable into its elements. What remains to be done is to induce them to fuse into unity. Death means separation of parts, of body and soul, while if the constitution is homogeneous there is no part to remove and hence the substance is immune to "death" and becomes everlasting. Mercuric sulphide therefore needs an active or ever increasing soul to impart unity which then makes it the permanent substance, gold. In effect it means that a soul has to be generated by sulphur and mercury as male and female respectively. The soul would then transform them into a hermaphrodite as gold and also occupy it, making it a live-metal.

8.            Conditions for creating the soul by procreation : If animism has considered sulphur and mercury as substances to be living entities, dualism further makes them procreative as husband and wife when a quantum of life-essence results as their issue. But before they got "married" they had been bachelor and maiden and as such need being awakened with an urge to function as marriage partners. This means to the alchemist that, the progenitors of gold must be activated or brought to a nascent state when they become reactive and thus tend to unite as one. When Yang/Yin can generate a soul this alone can unite the two and enter into their joint-body. There are, however, other stages preceding the final one and the alchemist has expressed them in allegorical pictures. The first stage is visualized as husband and wife completely undressed, preparatory to procreation. The next stage depicts diem actually enjoying the nuptial bed. The third or last stage shows the two as the hermaphrodite when the generated soul has fused the two into one. In the absence of such an explanation the illustrations, reproduced from medieval writers, who were actively engaged in alchemical experiments, has had a mere decorative value.

9.            Reproduction and its earliest resultant: Going deeper into the origin of life, that of the individual himself is traceable not to a pair of progenitors as male/female but to sperm/ovum or rather to them as a fertilized egg. This really is the first result of their union. When male/ female have been sublimated into Yang/Yin, their egg, correspondingly, has been looked upon as the Cosmic egg, the Sanskrit name for it being Brahma-Anda, which becomes the source of existence. Besides the married couple and the hermaphrodite, Cosmic egg is the third important object to be depicted in alchemical literature. We all know that to boil an egg is to destroy the life germ. In other words the transformation of latent into active life is dependant on time and temperature as critical factors. The alchemist tried to observe them also in his experiments. I have myself been witness to an 80 year old alchemist lying on his death bed and watching his mixture being brooded by the gentle heat of a kerosine lamp, kept burning night and day for weeks, until he died to terminate his last unsuccessful experiment.

10.       A cult of immortality based on procreation: Soul is the agency that animates and confers immortality or longevity. Overlooking the quantitative aspect we can state that :

Procreation = Creation = Longevity

There have been people who believed :

Procreation = longevity

and others that :

Procreation= Immortality

 Both these beliefs can be independently shown to have been current in the past. In China and in India there have been cults of longevity founded on the theory that life-essence can be generated by erotic exercises and at the same time be assimilated by the body to prolong life. A similar cult exists when, by breathing excercises and holding the breath as long as possible, the Yang content of the atmosphere can be acquired by the body to prolong life. Here the life essence is found dispersed in the atmosphere, ready to be assimilated. Reverting to the previous case it may be stated that, some old people, in their dotage, do become husbands of young wives and temporarily enjoy the feeling of rejuvenation which theoretically is but a phase of immortality. It must, however, be recorded that even in the past medical authorities have condemned such unions. Nevertheless the fact remains that heretic cults did thrive exploiting sexual intercourse as a means of prolonging life. As a by-product of the belief that procreation can generate life-essence there has arisen in India an erotic temple art. This, however, is highly restricted and never tolerated in any Hindu household. If dualism is carried to its logical conclusion, procreation can be equated with the birth of a life essence. We shall presently see that the soul generated by procreation has been actually conceived as inducing resurrection.

11.       Immortality via resurrection: It has been explained that Adam represented a new soul in a new body, and the two elements, being merely mixed, he or man remained mortal. But when the old soul returns to its old body, as it happened with Jesus, body/soul fuse into one, due to the force of the soul anxious to return to its body. Being one by constitution nothing can now separate the two and resurrection leads to immortality. Thus to acquire immortality is to revive the dead which thus requires a living person to taste death if he aspires to become immortal. Even this theory has been carried out into practice and al-chemists have lost their lives at their own hands fully convinced that they would revive before the body decomposes and remain immortal ever after. Among those who have unwittingly committed suicide have been two Emperors of China, a land which further shows the highest record of such cases indirectly proving China to be the birth place of alchemy. Thus alchemy became not merely the art of acquiring immortality, but also that of inducing resurrection, for there was no other way to immortality. Likewise before copper could be changed into gold it had to be heated or "killed" and only then could it be revived by a Spirit donated by a juice like Kimiya. Whereas immortality means post-mortem life, longevity does not require premature death, and alchemists accordingly have changed their objective, from immortality to longevity.

12. Resurrection via procreation: If creation is animation resurrection is re-animation. In the former case soul enters the body for the first time, in the latter it re-enters for the second time. Both creation and resurrection depend upon the soul. When the Yang Spirit of the dead cannot be recalled it has to be generated de novo, it being remembered that Soul specific is always retained otherwise the individuality is lost. One way of generating Spirit is by procreation. A little insight into the phenomenon of resurrection is necessary for further discussion. The soul is dual natured. At death the male-soul flies upto Heaven while the female-soul lingers round the grave and may even inhabit the tombstone. The Ruh or Spirit on returning can contact the Nafas or Soul specific and the two, as the whole soul, can re-enter the dead body and revive it. Primitive people invented many ways of recalling the soul which to them meant recalling the reviving agency. Later on they realized that it is less difficult to generate the Spirit than to recall what is flown away and the easiest method of doing it appeared to be by way of procreation. Spirit being the agent that could not only induce resurrection but also creation it has been worshipped in every form. Sun worship was justified on the ground that it is the fountain head of Yang energy. Heaven or the sky is the equivalent of the Sun. Next come agencies that produce Spirit via procreation as already mentioned. Deities and emblems representing fertility have also been worshipped on that account. Fertility is synonymous with procreation which is the generator of the male-soul or life essence. The Spirit generated by procreation can thus also revive the dead. A case is being cited where the author has analysed the phenomenon of resurrection tracing it to procreation. Mrs. Strong (9:l22) points to a Roman "grave stele as being subjected to an anthropomorphizing process since the soul is conceived as resident within it. The stone, may by an easy transition, be made to assume the visible form of the inhabitant of the tomb. A curious figure in Berlin from Sardis presents the double process (of resurrection and procreation). On the one side of the sepulchral stone is transformed into the image of the man (whose body has been revived) and on the other the organs of generation (as producers of life-essence) are indicated." Briefly the man is resurrection personified and the generative organs, the life-essence, the former as effect, the latter as cause.

13.         Emblems of Yang/Yin as cogenerators of life-essence : The first evidence to support Chinese origin of alchemy is the etymology of the term Kimiya. Next come the doctrines, and thirdly the symbols of Yang and Yin which have persisted as relics in alchemical literature. We are now to study some symbols. Cheng (10) reproduced scenes engraved from a Chinese grave of the  Hen period, some time earlier than 300 A.D. One illustration is offered as fig. 1 here. The picture depicts procreation and the agents partaking are terrestrial deities in charge of the dead. Terrestrial deities are seen pairing like typical serpents in order to generate the life-essence required for reviving the dead. The male deity is to our right. He is holding an angular or "L" shaped mason's or carpenter's square. This instrument is meant for drawing a square which is the emblem of feminality. If the product, the figure of a square, is female, the instrument or the mason's square, as its producer, is also female. The male deity is holding a female symbol, not for himself, since he is offering the same to a recipient who is a female deity and its permanent owner. The female deity, to our left, is seen with a cross-like Chinese compass, an instrument meant for inscribing a circle, which is a symbol of masculinity. The compass as the producer of a circle automatically becomes a Yang symbol. The compass is a misfit in the hands of a female deity, who is however seen handing it over to a recipient not present in the scene, but can only be a male deity. The two symbols, compass and the square, as Yang/Yin, are cogenerators of life-essence, by virtue of their reproductive activity. On account of the importance of Yang and Yin their substitutes, circle and the square, derive their own value and in turn their producers, the Compass and the Square, all becoming creators in pair. On this account fig. 2 has been offered, being part of fig. 1 further enlarged, showing the Compass and the Square properly. It should be recorded further that Freemasonry has also adopted them as their emblem and fused one into the other as a symbol depicting male/female, in their dynamic phase, as generators of life-essence. That alchemy should also retain the same symbols permits one to see a common objective among Freemasonry, alchemy and Chinese mysticism.

14.         Symbolism equating procreation with generation of life-essence : A pair of serpents in their reproductive pose are seen again in fig. 3. This comes from an Arabic manuscript of the 12th Century reproduced by Thompson (11). Muslims are not expected to treat serpents with any respect, which the heathens do, yet as a genuine alchemist, the writer had to resort to a compromise which resulted in his stylizing the serpents to appear as such only on careful observation. Fig. 3 depicts the serpents pairing exactly as they do in fig. 1. If we remember two important concepts, form and function, form here depicts deities or immortals, as male/female serpents; but their function represents reproduction and this activity ultimately means creation of life-essence. Fig. 1 belongs to a grave so that the life essence was needed for reviving the dead. According to fig. 3 the life essence created would animate "dead" copper as live-gold.

15. Equivalents of Yang and Yin : It must be quite clear by now that Yang/Yin together are the generators of life essence, the element that imparts life as also that induces resurrection. One such pair is Sulphur/ Mercury which the alchemist found most convenient for his purpose. Circle and the geometrical figure of Square is another, correspondingly their instruments, the Compass and the Mason's Square. There is another pair worth mentioning. A triangle with its apex on the top represents Yang, while a triangle with its apex downwards incorporates the female principle, Yin. If they are intertwined into a six cornered figure they represent Yang/Yin in their dynamic phase, epuivalent to fig. 3, with the two serpents pairing. The same is the case with Compass and Square fused into a unit by itself. An intertwined pair of triangles is called Solomon's seal and is a favourite symbol of Freemasonism but next only to Compass and Square likewise intertwined. Thus it is best to realize that the pairs giv en below are few among many others considered to be generators of life essence and all are autonomous in the excercise of creative powers. The following equations serve as an index to what comes later on :

Yang+Yin=Creator=Life-essence

Compass-+Mason’ssquare=Creator
Interwined triangles = Creator

Sun +Moon=Creator

16. ^—  A test symbol interpreting alchemy : Translators regularly experience difficulty in finding equivalent terms for transporting an idea from one language into another. Often what should be exact turns out to be merely approximate. To minimise such a difference is to enjoy the self-confidence that the original text has been properly rendered. The • same should also be the case on paraphrasing a symbol into its description, revealing in the first instance, what it really incorporates. Symbol is an illustration in disguise and does need some kind of exposition. I was on the look out for a symbol which could serve as a test for the proper interpretation of alchemy. The result of such a study should incidentally reveal the origin of alchemy as well. This would serve as an independent confirmation that the analysis has been pushed to its ultimate limits. The composition, therefore, requires being dissolved into its parts, item by item, and the symbol interpreted as their integrated whole. Previous attempts in this direction have been most sketchy, invariably treating the symbols as attractive decorations. There have also been some vague interpretations trying to disguise rather than to reveal what was not obvious. As a test, a classical symbol has been selected, the one offered by Jamsthaler (12) in 1625. On account of its attractive appearance it has been reproduced by Jung (12) and by others and is being offered again as fig. 4 here. Jung comments upon it as a psychoanalyst using a special phraseology of his own. What is required, however, is to handle the picture as a masterpiece of alchemical symbolism and interpret it in ordinary language.

Fig. 4, like any picture, has its own setting, a dark background giving relief to an oval enclosure with some mysterious contents. By its unmistakable outline the curve is an egg. Now comes the interpretation which makes it the Cosmic-Egg or Brahma-Anda of Hindu mysticism. It contains the germ of all that exists, the creation and the creator. In an egg its contents are not developed. Art, however, means expressing what the artist desires. The composer has therefore taken the artist's license and presented a post-dated phenomenon. The Cosmic-egg, now fully formed, depicts the creator as the four cosmic elements, subdivided into two pairs, and creation likewise as two products, the micro-and macrocosm. The pair of creators occupy the basal portion, as foundation bearing the creation above. Of the two pairs the upper consists of a dragon, as the symbol of water, incorporating fire, which, as flames, is being spitted out, thus revealing fire to be the opposite of water. The animal has climbed a hill, in the form of a globe, which represents the earth. This bears a wing on either side, as the agency for flying in the air, thereby symbolizing the latter as wings. What is worth while observing is that the carrier of fire is water and not vice versa, and air is the flying force making earth the object that is being flown. The preferential treatment given to air and water is due to both these elements being celestial or spiritual, while fire and earth remaining terrestrials or coporeals. Nevertheless all the four are essential.

17. The differential positions of elements : Physics recognizes light as the fastest agency known. In alchemy, the male-soul, Ruh or Spirit, occupies the position of light and as a symbol the latter often depicts it. Spirit is the most energizing agency recognized in alchemy, in fact it is the creative one, the donor of life-essence. This at once brings us to consider the constitution of the soul. According to Animism, Life =Body+ Soul. But Dualism expands the last two into four factors when, Life=Male/Female (elements donated by Father/Mother) +Ruh/Nafs (Spirit/ Soul). To say that every entity has two elements is Animism; to say that they are four is Dualism. The Dualist further tried to specify the four constituents of life in terms of universal creative elements, and the corresponding equivalents are given below :

Elements of Microcosm : Elements of Macrocosm

Male soul                           :         Air

Female soul                       :         Water

Male corporeal element       :         Fire

Female corporeal element   :         Earth

We are now in a position to see, in fig. 4, how Jamsthaler tried to divide the elements into his two pairs. The diagram below makes the contents self-explanatory.

Air as male should lead the earth as female which it does. But water or dragon, as female, contains fire, the male, merely as a part. The preference thus imparted to water is a problem pressing for solution. Water is both a spiritual element and a female. Evidently its spiritual nature is a more weighty factor than its female character. Alchemy essentially tries to spiritualize or sublimate each and every thing and at such a spiritual element is given preference over a corporeal or terrestrial one, be it male. Let us briefly consider the two passible combinations as pairs resulting from the four elements :

Second possibility:

B. 1.                    Air               Water     Both spirituals

male     female

B. 2.                    Fire             Earth     Both corporeals

male     female

In combinations "A", Air/Earth, as a pair, dominates the other, Water/Fire. This is the arrangement revealed by fig. 4. Between the two, Air, as male and spiritual, dominates Earth, which is terrestrial and female, its exact opposite. This is not so clear on considering fig. 4, but becomes more obvious while fig. 9 is being analysed. Now we know that water can quench fire more easily than fire can evaporate water. Water is therefore more powerful and is symbolized as the dragon which is incorporating fire as a part. Above all water is more important for life than fire. When the Greek Philosophers began recognizing elements water was the first to be accepted. Even Rigveda had assigned the identical priority to water long before Thacls did the same. What the philosophers recognized as elements was believed to be souls or creative-essences previously. Water, later as element, had been accepted as life-essenee or donor of life. This archaic concept still persists in Bengali literature where water means Life. It finds mention on p. 24, in the part devoted to composition of Mian Muhammad Abdul Hamid's book, Adhunik Bangala Rachana, New Age Publication, Dacca (date not given), Thus water, as an element dominant over fire, also harmonizes with the other independent consideration that water, coming from the clouds, is celestial, whereas fire is terrestrial.

We now come to the other arrangements "B", which seems equally logical. Here the spirival elements, Air/Water, dominate the corporeal pair Fire/Earth. Between themselves water is not the exact opposite of air, water becomes steam or gas which is by no means unlike air. On the contrary air as the lightest is the opposite of earth which is the heaviest. Moreover when we come to fuse minor elements into major ones Air/ Water both as celestials can easily unite as Major/Minor for they represent Male/Female between themsleves. On the other hand in the arrangement " B " the corresponding pair, Air/Fire, represents both as males. We shall see later that fig. 9 shows a disc divided half and half. Its white patch, as air, absorbs as a dot, the minor element, water. 1 his is because Air is male and water is female and both are celestials, which enables them being placed together in the same half. In the arrangement " A " Air/Earth represent two opposites as Male/Female, as also Gelestial/Terrestrial, and thus Air as celestial cannot absorb Earth as a terrestrial. To bring home the two differences there is the male /female as brother/sister as also brother/sister-in-law. The former is genetically the same but not functionally so. The arrangement " A " reveals the functional opposites, which is what the alchemist believed in.

The globe of earth, in fig. 4, bears two trigonometrical figures, a triangle bearing the number 3 and a square the number 4. In Chinese symbolism triangle, with its apex upwards, is Yang, while the square is Yin. Then, Triangle+ Square .-Yang f Yin. Accordingly Triangle/Square become a pair generating life-essence, and earth is energized thereby. This addition makes earth, which is terrestrial and female, a more spiritualized entity. It has been seen that water, the other female, is likewise energized by a pair of wings which its dragon is made to bear. In the pair Earth/ Air the wings belong exclusively to Air, so that, Earth needed an energizer of its own. It is evident that water could have been represented by a dragon which has no wings. A winged dragon therefore suggests its more sublime form. Thus the two females, water as winged dragon, and earth, bearing Triangle/Square, have been energized and thereby made nearer to their males. That females can be soul-less and need to be activated strikes as an absurd possibility to be considered. It must be mentioned in this connection that some time, about 1912, a committee of Muslim divines met at Lucknow to discuss, with all seriousness, if Women have Ruh, or Spirit, for Adam alone is the direct creation of the Lord, by his Breath or Spirit, while Eve has quite a different origin, the nature of which required exact elucidation. The alchemist, however, was bent on sublimating each and every thing possible and the analysis of his symbolism, represents even the females, water and earth, as energized entities.

18. Choice of the Dragon in symbolizing Water : We can picture earth as globe, air as wings, fire as flames, but by no means so easily dragon as water. It has further to be shown, each independently, that water is a female and likewise dragon, though it is a fierce looking creature. This takes us to the first conception of the soul and to its carrier, the serpent. Man's earliest conception of death made it prolonged sleep which thus implied a deferred awakening. Now the early man was a hunter. The animals he killed died by losing blood. Blood vapours arose from spilt blood, became miniature clouds and disappeared in heaven. The primitive man interpreted this phenomenon as the exit of an element, as clouds, depriving the body of its life. Thus arose the first conception, Vapours =Soul. This, automatically, made clouds a collection of souls. The concept of Vapours as soul, had to be extended to explain all deaths. But those that died in the open field allowed their souls to escape in heaven, as clouds, while those that died in their homes had their souls buried with them underground. Later on it was believed that the male soul went towards heaven and the female soul lingered below. In any case the soul was divided between Heaven and Earth either as parts or as wholes. In the latter case arose the problem where to store the souls so that these may not escape easily. The dead can awake any time and the souls must be ever available. The serpent moults annually, which suggested that it renews its body every year and is therefore immortal. Being always alive it can become the proper custodian of returnable souls. Moreover the serpent lives underground and can accept the souls to become their mobile treasury. Souls themselves are immortal and so is the serpent, their carrier, independently of each other. These two notions, of an immortal carrier and an everlasting soul, became fused when, Serpent =Soul, and as such the donor of life-essence. In fig. 1 a pair of serpents are donating life-essence to revive the dead. In fig. 3 they are generating the same element to transform dead-copper into live-gold. Further snake, as carrier of ancestral souls, gave rise to snake worship so that :

Snake-worship = Ancester-worship

We have seen above that the serpent can also donate life-essence and thus became a miniature creator. As generator of life-essence and as carrier of ancestral souls the snake gave rise to snake worship all over the world, Greece and China inclusive.

The dead underground deposited their souls in the safe custody of the snake. But what about the availability of the souls floating as clouds. The only possibility was to depute the serpent, already a custodian of souls, to bring the others from the mass of clouds. The serpent being a legless animal needed a pair of legs to climb over the mountains of clouds and such a serpent became the dragon. When two legs did not suffice another pair was given. However, even four legs did not make him equal to his task, and a pair of wings had to be bestowed, enabling him to chase the clouds and send the souls of the dead as wanted. The dragon, wingless or winged, thus became the master of the clouds and the two are invariably depicted together, as shepherd and the sheep. It must be mentioned that all the types of dragons exist in alchemical symbolism.

The serpent was a terrestrial creature but being transformed into a dragon became a celestial one. The serpent was a female creature and the daragon could not but retain the constitution of that reptile. To store the souls below was the task of the serpent, to store the souls above was the task of the dragon. Briefly the serpent, in form and in duty, as soul-carrier, had its counter-part, in the dragon, as the soul-custodian. Both became donors of life-essence. If snake gave rise to ancestor worship the dragon gave rise to consolidated ancestor-worship which far exceeds any form of ancestor worship any where. This could happen only in China where other forms of ancestor worship were already more pr pular than elsewhere. It is now easy to realize how Jamsthaler's dragon came to own four legs and two wings, as the best of his race.

We have still to see how the dragon came to symbolize water. The main reasons for respecting our parents is for their benevolent behaviour. And we also continue to remember the dead as our ex-benefactors. But human nature is greedy and expects that even dead souls, be they as clouds, would continue to pour their blessings. All that the clouds could do was to descend as rain and fertilize the pastures to provide herbage for the grazing animals and thus their food. Recapitulating the course some souls underwent, they started as blood-vapours, became clouds, then rain, and finally became water. Briefly, Souls =Water. If we summarize the parallel evolution of the dragon, it starts as a legless serpent, gets two legs, then four, finally a pair of wings, becomes the Dragon as seen in fig. 4. Briefly Dragon, as transformed serpent, remains female, but as the denizen of clouds becomes celestial. By function Dragon is Rain-donor. It is quite easy to see now, that Dragon, the soul-custodian, brings souls as water. It is also possible to explain how water, by itself, represents a female element, but this is not a problem raised by the symbol, fig. 4. After blood-vapours had become the soul, there arose another rival soul, as breath or Air. The final compromise resulted in assigning masculinity to the finer agent, Air, and feminality to the less subtle, Vapours. Between the two, Air and Vapours, the former became Yang and the latter Yin, which made condensed vapours or water female. Thus Dragon is celestial-female and so is Water.

In an earlier communication I had maintained that Dragon is female, and Phoenix male. A friendly critic pointed out that Dragon is a ferocious looking creature while Phoenix is not. Moreover Dragon is the emblem that decorated the royal costume of the Emperor of China, whereas that of the Empress was Phoenix. The reasons for this must be different. Whatever considerations I had for considering the Dragon to be female and Phoenix male are briefly expressed in the following series where each unit corresponds to the others.

1.                 South Direction=Element Air =Deity Phoenix =Warm temperament = Celestial male =Breath-Soul = Spirit

2.                 East Direction=Element Water=Diety Dragon=Moist temperament=Celestial female =Vaporous-Soul=Soul (Specific)

I have recently discovered a statement by a famous English alchemist who did look upon the Dragon as a female. The authority is none else than Thomas Vaughan who wrote a book, Aula Lucis, in the middle of the 17th Cent. The following quotation from Vanghan is found on p. 354 of A.P. Sinnett's book, The growth of the soul, published by the Theosophical Society, London, in 1896. Vaughan says, "in the bottom of this well (which was) our sealed fountain lies an old dragon stretched long and fast asleep. Awake her if you can and make her, drink, for by this she will recover her youth and be serviceable to you for ever." It is to be noted that the dragon is a female, and her environment is water, and rejuvenation the objective of alchemy.

19. The hermaphrodite as a symbol: The four elements, in fig. 4, as the creator, having been considered it is time to turn to creation. This is represented by micro and macrocosm. The major space is devoted to microcosm as being the more important. Here man is represented by a hermaphrodite as the immortal human race. Immortality has resulted from reproductivity. The hermaphrodite becomes half husband and half wife, a bisexual self generating unit. It functions like a parthenogenetic organism but being essentially hermaphrodite it is male/ female as one, and not merely a female. A bisexual constitution is really attributed to the soul and the hermaphrodite is its expression. To reveal that the male-soul and female-soul have been fused into one, as the hermaphrodite would be bodily, is to show that the resultant soul, as unity, is inseparable and so would be its vehicle, the body. With a soul ever growing the body will get a constant supply of life-essence. The hermaphrodite therefore represents the immortal man. In the same way Jesus, who having undergone resurrection, can represent immortality. In fig. 4 the immortal man is hermaphrodite; in fig. 6, Jesus.

In fig. 4, the hermaphrodite is further shown as the carrier of Com‑pass/Square. We know that two poles of a magnet can produce magnetism. Compass and Square serve as such poles for generating life-essence. Fig. 4 shows the European equivalents of those of China, in fig. 1, where they are used for inducing resurrection. In fig. 4 the male half is holding, in his right hand, the Compass, as the Yang element, and the female half, by her left hand, the Yin instrument, the mason's Square. With Compass/Square the hermaphrodite becomes also a creator. The label, REBIS, which the hermaphrodite bears, probably Latin, is undecip her. able at present.

Lastly we come to macrocosm or the universe. This again is eternal. It is likewise symbolized as the resultant of pairs, one equal of the other. It did not take long for the alchemist to imagine that since day and night are half and half, the sun is the opposite of the moon. With Sun and Moon as creators the work of creation can further continue. The following pairs of opposites are commonly known and are offered in a series where each unit means a donor of life essence :

Heaven/Earth = Sun/Moon Creator

The sun faces the male figure, the moon the female side of the hermaphrodite. Venus is on their heads. There are two planets on the right and two on the left, probably as two males and two females. My knowledge of astrology being nill I am unable to do justice to the distribution of the planets. Micro and Macrocosm though creations also carry the work of creation, i.e. function as creators.

20.            Compass/Square and Cock/Serpent as symbols in medical literature : An Italian engraving by L. Tintus (13) dated 1672, represents a physician whose portrait is decorated with symbols common to medicine and alchemy ; reproduced as fig. 5. Cock and Serpent as Yang/ Yin elements, have their place in many pharmaceutical works. They have also been found on a Greek grave of about 500 B.C., to serve as joint revivers of the dead. Such a pair is seen, in fig. 5 ; the Cock or Yang element to the right of the physician, and the Serpent, as female, to his left. Their positions as right and left show the Cock to be superior to the Serpent. At the bottom is another pair of Yang/Yin, to the right of the physician. Being inanimate this pair is placed below, which is the Compass, marked here with C, in black, and the Square, marked S, in white. There is also a measuring Rod as the accompaniment of the Square to further indicate its identity. Fig. 4 revealed the pair Compass/ Square as generators of the Cosmic soul. In fig. 5 the same serve as potential generators of life-essence, which any physician would be happy to have at hand to increase the longevity of his patient. It is indeed the same pair of agency, as in fig. 1, which were there to revive the dead.

In fig. 5, at its left bottom corner, there is a Violon and Bow musical instruments which symbolize harmony or balance between opposite sounds. This pair placed on the left of the central figure rank next to Compass/Square. There could as well have been a balance instead of the bow and violin ; see here a Balance in fig. 6. Thus Compass/Square and Violin/Bow, as lower units, Cock and Serpent, as upper ones, are all pairs of opposites. Fig. 5 was specially selected to show the presence of Compass/Square, the same as in fig. 4, and in fig. 2. Fig 5. has been taken from the beautifully illustrated Thesis of Dr. J. Schouten (13), a copy of which was kindly presented by Messrs Brocades-Stheeman & Pharmacia, Amsterdam, who are also its publishers; my thanks are due to them.

21.            Compass/Square in a design by Albert Magnus, the alchemist : The frame of the picture, fig. 6, taken from Jung (12), is shown by the outer larger rectangle and is thus not a part of the symbol. The next or inner rectangle, however, does belong to it. It has been mentioned before that, in Chinese mysticism, Circle is a yang element, and Rectangle or square a Yin. They together symbolize generators of life-essence and as symbol still persist in modern decorative art. The inner rectangle then is a female element, and immediately within it is the conspicuous large circle as male. Circle/Rectangle form a pair of Yang/Yin by themselves. At the right corner, on the top, there is the Compass, and as its opposite, also on the right, bottom, the Square, accompanied by the measuring rod to qualify the square. The Compass/Square here are sufficiently prominent and some explanation of their significance should have existed in the literature before. So far it seems to be non-existing. On the left top corner is Balance; the superior equivalent of Violin and Bow as expressing Harmony, the resultant of two opposites. Balance, or rather balancing, is so important in alchemy that Jabir, the founder of Arabian alchemy, has several treatises to his credit incorporating this title. Here balance suggests the generator of life essence. Its opposite corner below represents an Urn, the container of ash, when even bones have been reduced to that state. Urn means death. Briefly balance/Urn symbolize creator /Destroyer or life/Death as the exact equivalents of Compass/Square, the Yang/Yin pair.

The larger circle, in fig. 6, next to the inner rectangle, has already been explained as forming the pair, Circle/Rectangle=Male/Female. The circle, however, can be taken by itself. Its upper half is white representing Heaven, its lower half dark, symbolizing Earth. Heaven/Earth are duplicated by Sun, placed at the zenith, and by Moon, at the nadir, forming the pair Sun/Moon. Black/White again represent Night/Day or Darkness/Light as Yin/Yang. We thus find a set of units telescoped, each as a pair of Yang/Yin. The importance of each pair, as a generating set, creating life-essence has been made sufficiently clear. That we are made to face this intensively in fig. 6 is one example among many others.

The central, small circle, in fig. 6, represents the four elements, which occupy the core of the picture, as the Creator. Just outside the creator, as his direct expression, is the creation qualified as something eternal. Eternity was symbolized before, in fig. 4, as hermaphrodite ; here eternity is presonified as Jesus, as one who underwent resurrection and is now immortal. The creator or the circular disc, is constituted of four elements, seen in ascending order, with the basal two as Earth/Air supporting Water/Fire on their top, as the less important. Earth as the lowest and Fire as the topmost are in the same order in which they have been found in fig. 4. It must be clearly understood that the centre is occupied by the creator, equated by the four elements. And creation is expressed as eternity, the circular heaven as macrocosm and the immortal man or jesus, as microcosm. The top, in its middle, shows a juvenile face with number 1-5 and 6.10 in two rows. Probably it has some astrological significance unknown to me.

22. The Compass in the symbolism of Maier : fig. 7 is the composition of another master of alchemy, Maier (12), who first published it in 1618. In fig. 6 there is a rectangle enclosing a large circle. In fig. 7 the wall forms the Rectangle, while a mammoth Compass has drawn a huge Circle, so that this pair of Rectangle/Circle, in fig. 7, is the exact equivalent of the other in fig. 6. Earlier it has been explained that often Heaven/Earth =Heaven alone. Here the Compass as the agent that produces the Circle or Heaven has been given a dominant place as compared with the Rectangle or Earth which appears disguised as the square wall.

The circle, as also the compass, on account of their size, are so striking as to press for an explanation. Heaven, equated with the sky, being dome-shaped, is symbolized as the Circle. But there is no creator without creation. Creation is eternity, which is again symbolized as the circle, having no beginning and no end. Circle therefore is Heaven, the creator, and again Eternity, the creation. A careful examination of the circle, in fig. 7, however, shows that the circle here is represented a wie-bit incomplete; it is therefore creation, and not the creator; the creator here is obviously the Compass. But otherwise the circle, the complete circle, is the creator. Earth was believed to be flat, and further divided into four directions, South, North, East and West. A flat surface, having four directions, became a square, and this is the symbol of Earth. Thus arose the series : Heaven/Earth = Circle/Square — Male/Female. Earth, as the opposite of Heaven, became the idealized Cosmic female. If Heaven was a circle, Earth became a square. One has only to see the shape of the wall to realize how closely it approaches a square. Thus the wall is the Square, the opposite of the Circle which it bears. Heaven has been assigned the sublimated powers of the dominant male of ancient society. As examples of such a model are the Paterfamilias of a Roman family and the Shaikh of an ancient Arab clan. In fact a typical oriental view pictures the female as mere soil, while the male as the real life-bearing seed. The soil, or the Earth, as female, appears "ragged" as a weather beaten wall in fig. 7. Those who know oriental pomp are also familiar with the dark side that prevails in Harem life and the picture accordingly depicts the wall as a true symbol of the female, and not a caricature. Briefly we have the following series where each pair as such and each of its two components, are the equivalents of one another

Seed/Soil = Soul/Body = Male/Female = Heaven/Earth=Circle/ Square=Compass/Mason's Square.

Within the large circle, in fig. 7, there is a prominent triangle pointing upwards, which, like the circle, is a Yang element. The triangle, in turn, contains a square, enclosing a circle, and the latter two form a pair of Yin/Yang. The smaller circle, in its turn, encloses another pair of Yang/ Yin as husband/wife, nude enough to suggest being procreative partners and joint-donors of life-essence.

Husband/Wife, are enclosed further in the equivalent pair Circle/ Square, and this again in the Yang triangle, which is finally found in the Yang circle. There is no disadvantage in having two Yangs in excess but once a Yin factor is there it must at once have a corresponding Yang element. Fig. 7 shows at the bottom, left corner, to the right of the master's leg, a measuring rod. This is the accessory to the mason's Square. We can accept, the measuring Rod-mason's Square. Otherwise the Square would be the missing Yin element to match with the large Yang Compass. At the extreme left corner is a chart which the master used for drawing his symbols. A white paper with a Yang circle and a Yin square shows one matching the other. There is also another circle with the Seal of Solomon or twin triangles intertwined, facing upwards and downwards, thus forming an ideal Yang/Yin pair. There are thus a number of creative units distributed all over. The elements most conspicuous are the Compass and the Circle, as yang elements and the wall as Yin.

23.                   A symbol shared by Chinese mysticism and alchemy : A picture by the British alchemist, Norton (12), is reproduced as fig. 8. The tree represents life, and at its root there is a toad. In Chinese mysticism a popular symbol is the three legged toad. This would strike anomalous in Europe and accordingly it has been presented as the real toad. That it is a toad, and not a frog, is shown by its nodular surfaced back. To discuss it would be beyond our scope. The picture as a composition is rather unhappy. Thus the elements have been depicted as four circles, though all indicated. They enclose a Yang triangle or one pointing upwards, of which the three sides have been marked, Body, Spirit and Soul, making the Triangle=Life=Body +Spirit+Soul; it might be pointed out that Spirit=Animus and Soul =Anima. The trielemental equation is not that of an immortal man. Further the body should have also been splitted into its factors. The Triangle is a Yang-element while the Square inside is its Yin and this finally reveales in the centre a king, with a sceptre, as Yang. The picture, by specially incorporating the toad, reveals that alchemy originates from China and indeed from Taoism.

24.                   The symbol of Yang/Yin equated with the Cosmic egg: The Cosmic egg, Brahma-Anda in Sanskrit, is a symbol of everything that exists, creation and creator, but in the incipient or the undifferentiated embryonic stage. It is comparable to an egg with its two primordial constituents, the Yellow and the White. The Cosmic egg is not the symbol of existence but of its source as an egg should be. Such is the reading, by P. Carus (14), of the Yin/Yang symbol of Chinese mysticism, fig. 9, which can be applied at once to that of the Cosmic egg. The Natural philosophers used to toss a joke among themselves whether the hen came first or the egg. A parallel question would be if Brahma, the creator, came first or Brahma-Anda, when the answer would be brief and decisive: creator first but creation almost simultaneously. The human mind cannot conceive function without form. Creator represents the form and creation the function. Those who put such questions like the Natural philosophers above ignore the limitations of the human mind. And those who realize this most are the monists who accept the doctrine of unity of existence for which the Arabic term is Wandatul-Wujud, or Vedantism of Indian philosophy. Another form of the above question would be to ask whether matter came first or energy. If the answer be accepted as energy first then we can not picture to ourselves what it means. A more appreciable answer would be matter first, and correspondingly, i n our case, creator first. This answer appeals better to the common man. In fig. 4 the Cosmic egg presents the four elements as the creator thereby assigning them a fundamental position. Now the elements can be divided as celestials and terrestrials and again as males and females thereby making none of the four equal among one another. Air, as the celestial and male comes first. Earth becomes its other half, as terrestrial and female which must necessarily be the second. No element can excercise its full powers unless it meets with a partner just its opposite; as celestial its opposite must be terrestrial, as male its other half must be female. The statement strikes as verbosity unless it is supported by an illustration. Let us consider two virtues the exact opposites of each other. Benevolence, as the active, and Gratitude, as the passive, both being virtues they should meet easily. But the benefactor tends to be boastful or patronizing. The grateful tends to become a flatterer, or to over-estimate the gift, or to be ungrateful and underestimate the favour received. Likewise every husband and wife know that domestic life depends upon their mutual good-will. But how few are the married couple where the husband is not aggressive and dominant or henpecked by his wife. Thus to unite two opposites, even as virtues, is a real task.

Air, as a symbol of positive virtue, can represent a benefactor, or a husband, and Earth, as passive virtue, a grateful protege or a humble wife. Sublimating the concept of exact opposites we get to Yang/Yin, creators of life and creators of happiness as well. What has been called positive above is termed Yang, when it is given a Cosmic status, and likewise its passive or negative is equated with Yin. Then Positive/ Negative= Active/Passive Air/Earth. The series at once explains how Earth must come next to Air, as its other half, otherwise Air, cannot exercise its virtues. In fact we can even assume that Air ultimately gave rise to Earth, much as Adam is the progenitor of Eve, and the transformation of one element into another, is accepted by alchemy. Moreover Adam was not only the opposite of Eve but also her progenitor. Here, however, the purpose is to explain a symbol according to which Air comes first and its other half, Earth, as second. In fig. 9 the two halves White/ Black are Air/Earth which thus require their importance being explained as above. But it has also been made clear that Air can be the potential creator of Earth, in fact each Yang element is related thus towards its Yin partner. And just as Heaven has been equated with the creator before, atmosphere of the Heaven or Air can be equated with the Cosmic soul; it is celestial, it is male. Air is the Cosmic soul, Earth its body, content and container.

Fig. 4 allots Air/Earth a basic position and makes them the supporter of the other two Water/Fire, which rank next in importance. This, however, is disguised rather than obvious, and becomes clear when, in fig. 6, the symbols of these four elements are thoroughly analysed. But fig. 9 brings this difference quite boldly; Air/Earth of the major pair, become half and half of the total disc, Air as a White patch, and Earth as a Black patch, being male and female respectively. The minor elements as dots, comprise of Water as third, and Fire as fourth in importance. Water is a celestial element first and, female next. Water as female goes with Air as its male in the white patch for celestials, but is symbolized as a mere spot being a minor element. Thus in fig. 9 the white half depicts, Air, and its white spot, Water, both as celestials. That the illustration does not easily show a white spot on the white patch, of fig. 9, will be dealt with presently. Likewise Fire, though male, is terrestrial, and is symbolized as a dark dot on Earth, the dark half of the disc. Its place in fig .9 also awaits proper ellucidation. Briefly Air/Earth, the major elements, become patches and Water/Fire, the minor elements, mere spots. The celestial elements Air and Water, are assigned white colour, the terrestrials, Earth and Fire, black colour. To shorten further discussion the following table shows the salient points symbolized in figs. 4 and 9 :

The proper symbol of Yang/Yin, fig. 9, should be Red/Black. Redness symbolizes directly the colour of fresh blood which has been equated by the primitive man as life-essence or soul. Black is the colour of darkened blood where life is by no means present. Red/Black means Life/Death. But the contrast between White/Black can easily apply to any pair of opposites and as such is given preference by printers using black printing ink.

The point still pressing for solution is the incorporation of the minor elements, Water and Fire, in the symbol, fig. 9. For this purpose fig. 9, a circle, has been converted into a square, fig. 10, where it has been subjected to a system of division and the resultant units indicated. The White/Black halves of fig. 9, are shown as larger pieces in fig. 10, marked A, for Air, and E., for Earth, thus representing Air/Earth as White/Black. The smaller units are resultants of a double division and correspond to the eye-like spots in fig. 9, where the spots themselves comprise of a dot and a circle, naturally of different colours. In fig. 10, the lower unit, W., comprises of a white piece belonging to A., superimposed by a black and smaller triangle. It is marked W., for Water, which is celestial and as such basically the same as Air, A. The upper triangle, F., has a black rim, revealing a black and larger triangle being superimposed by a white and smaller one. The triangle F., Fire, basically belongs to Earth, both being terrestrials.

We have to see how these divisions, in fig. 10, have arisen, and how the four elements can be integrated into a whole to become identical with fig. 9. For this purpose fig. 11 is offered. The square WXZY has its four sides marked ; the vertical lines, left and right, as C. and T. stand for celestial and terrestrial respectively. The upper and lower lines M., and F. represent Male and Female. The vertical line MF cuts the square into two equal rectangles as basic units, the left rectangle bearing the full line C., is purely celestial, and the right rectangle, with its complete line T., intact, is terrestrial. After their vertical division we have two units, celestial and terrestrial, as left and right rectangles, WMFY and MXZF respectively.

Further, the square, fig. 11, is cut diagonally by the line XY when two equal triangles arise, WXY, as the upper one, and ZXY, as the lower. But the square was already cut into two rectangles, so the diagonal really cuts the rectangles, giving rise, on the left, to a major piece, WMOY, and a minor one, FOY. The major piece is marked A, and corresponds to A., in fig. 10, and the smaller piece FOY, is a triangle, shown shaded with vertical lines, in fig. 11, and corresponds to W., in fig. 10. In the same way the former right rectangle, of fig. 11, has been chipped off to deliver a minor portion, as a triangle shaded with horizontal lines, in fig. 11, and is identical with the piece, F., in fig. 10. The horizontal lines in MOX represent stratas of the Earth ; it is essentially terrestrial.

Let us now consider, in detail the nature of the four pieces, of the larger two and of the minor two. The larger upper piece, WMOY, has one line fully comprising the celestial side, C., but its upper side, WM, is only half the line, M, representing male. Thus it is a celestial male, celestial almost twice as much as the male. The celestial male unit is marked A., for Air. Attached to it is the triangle FOY. Its longest line or hypotenuse, OY, is sharing the celestial unit A., hence it is basically celestial. Its free side, YF, however, reveals it to be half of the female line YZ, or F., and therefore the triangle is female next. Thus the triangle OYF is celestial first and female next. Its celestial line, OY, is only slightly longer than the female line, FY, so the triangle, OFY, though celestial, is only of a minor order. Its free line, YF, as female, is almost as large as its celestial line, OY, hence its female character is nearly equal to its celestial nature. Thus we can say that the smaller unit, FOY, is celestial female, almost half and half. This explains how the corresponding piece, W., in fig. 10, shows a white broad margin and an equally large black triangle within. The unit is as much celestial or white, as it is female or black. Fig. 10, W., represents Water. The corresponding portion is OYF, is fig. 11, shaded with vertical lines to suggest Water as rain falling.

Let us transport a piece, like W., in fig. 10, to be incorporated into a larger white unit, like A., of fig. 10. We must note the exact details first. In the centre of the unit, W., fig. 10, there is a black triangle, then a white rim. The two features, as one, are :further given a black outline. This is the draughtsman's device to separate a white triangle from the white paper. All these we see clearly in the unit W., fig. 10. Now convert this black-upon-white triangle, with its black outline, into circular forms. There would result, first a black central dot, and next a white circle outside it, and thirdly a black outline as the outermost margin. Remembering these three elements we now try to insert them in the white half of fig. 9. The receiving surface being white, would require a black outline for the inserted unit which requires an outermost black circle already provided. Within the black circle comes the real dual-natured unit, a white circle with a black dot. Briefly W., fig. 10, with all its details, numbering three, are given circular forms when they become identical with the white complex spot seen in the white patch of fig. 9. The centre of the triangle W., fig. 10, is black, and so is the black dot in the white half of fig. 9. This central black dot in fig. 9, represents a _female element, while the white circle surrounding it a celestial element, and these together symbolize the female-celestial element, Water, W., fig. 10. In fig. 9, the white circle represents the white margin of W., fig. 10, and the black dot, the black triangle; W., fig. 10. The symbol suggests that Water is celestial first, the same as Air, and is placed accordingly in the white patch, Air, of fig. 9. The trielemental piece, W., fig. 10, has been equated with the spot in the white half of fig. 9. The white half of fig. 9, then represents Air, as the major, and Water, as the minor celestial element, both really white.

Now we can briefly show how the upper triangle, F., in fig. 10, can be identified with the eye like spot in the black half of fig. 9. When, F., of fig. 10, is given a circular form a white spot would be surrounded by a black circle. But how can an object, with a black margin, be placed on a black background ? Taking the draughtsman's license another white circle would be added as the outermost margin so that this white circle separates the inserted unit from its black background. It is this addition which has to be tolerated as a necessary intrusion and has to be excluded from being reckoned as part of the symbol. With the addition of a marginal white circle, unit F., of fig. 10, can be placed on the black half of fig. 9, there finally modified to appear as a compound spot. Briefly the triangles W., and F., in fig. 10, are reduced to black and white miniature discs in fig. 9 and reveal the following details :

W. Water = (Black core+White circle)+Black circle, on a white background.

F. Fire=(White core+Black circle)+White circle, on a black background.

The brackets above include factors instrinsic to the symbols, and outside them additions made under artist's license. Finally all the four elements, seen in figs. 9 and 10, have been depicted as follows :

A. Air=Celestial male=All white, as A., fig. 10=White half in fig. 9.

W. Water=Celestial female=Black triangle with a white rim and a black outline, as W., fig. 10 =Block dot, in a white circle with a black circumference in the white patch of fig. 9.

E.        Earth=Terrestrial female=All black, as E., Fig. 10=Black half in fig. 9.

F.         Fire =Terrestrial male=White triangle with a black rim in fig. 10, to which must be added a white outline to indicate this unit on the black patch of fig. 9 =White dot in a black circle with an intermediary white circle to reveal the real unit against a black background, in fig. 9.

There is one more feature still remaining to be explained in fig. 9. It appears to represent only the four creative elements. Now where is creation? The French mathematician, Poincare, stated that axioms are definitions in disguise. Let us now go direct to the definition of the creator and clearly affirm that he who creates is the creator, so that creation must be there, be it in a disguised form. The creator, in fig. 9, is inside, when the creation must naturally be just outside, which in fact is the circle. The circle is a perfect curve, it has no beginning and no end, it symbolizes eternity. What the Cosmic creator has then created is eternity, one worthy of the other.

Lastly comes the form of the two halves of fig. 9. Their colours should be Red/Black. In print they are represented as Black/White, for Air/Earth, or Heaven/Earth, or Yin/Yang. But what about the peculiar forms of the two patches and the eye-like inclusions in each of them ? The two larger units are stylized serpents and the minor ones their eyes. We have seen that serpents were immortals in themselves, later they became custodians of souls, and finally donors of life essence, as for example, in fig. 1. In fig. 9 there are two stylized serpents, one chasing the other in a whorl, duplicating, in a more vivid form, the circle, and revealing no beginning, no end. The circle then becomes a static equivalent of the two serpents in whorl which thereby offer a dynamic picture. The creator, the serpents, and the circle, their creation, are dynamic and static phases, just as form and function are two phases of each other.

The difference between creator and creation now begins to approach practically to a zero. That is what the monists realized and that is what gave rise to the doctrine of the unity of existence. The point to reveal further is that fig. 9 can be equated with the Cosmic egg as they both belong to mysticism. The Cosmic egg, that has been illustrated in fig. 4, is precisely such a symbol although it originates from a master of alchemy, which goes to prove that alchemy is applied mysticism.

25. Ouroboros the earliest symbol of Alexandrian alchemy equated with the Chinese symbol of mysticism : The animist started probing into the nature of life and equated it with body and soul as its two elements. The dualist analysed the same but discovered two factors in the body and two in the soul and thus divided life into four elements. Finally came the monist who asked, why one should stop with Adam/Eve to get Yang/Yin and not inquire further. Apparently Eve was part of Adam so that only one is left as the ultimate source and what is one cannot be reduced any further. Such was the standpoint of monism. Adam was idealized as the ultimate progenitor of the human race. From this arose the conception of the creator as the Father of the universe, the one "Adam general" of creation. In fig. 4 there are two pairs of creators, in fig. 9 again the same, but Air alone is white and large, while the other elements are either black or mere dots. Fig. 9 is the symbol of the source of existence offered by dualism, but by giving preference to one factor it implicitly supports monism. Fig. 9 as a symbol depicts the creator, apparently as two serpents chasing each other in whorl. Fig. 12, the Ouroboros taken from Taylor (3), is a proper monist symbol, two serpents being changed into halves, and the two halves into one, like the hermaphrodite of fig. 4. We can separate fig. 9 into two separate serpents, but we cannot do the same with fig. 12, for two half serpents make no unit whatsoever. Let us imagine two serpents, one red and another white, one biting the tail of the other. Then let us cut each serpent into half. As one result we shall find a red serpent still biting the tail of the white serpent, but half their bodies would be missing. If we now join the cut ends there will be a coiled serpent, half-red and half-white, the red head biting its white tail. Such a picture exists in a MSS. on alchemy at Venice, dated about 1600 A.D., but its original is traced to about 300 A.D. Red is a Yang symbol and so is the head. Accordingly Head must be coloured Red ; it can never be black, for in this case it would be, Yin. In the absence of recognizing the importance of red colouration fig. 12 has been printed for convenience with black printing ink which makes the head black. This is how fig. 12 is also offered here but, with the necessary explanation, as "errata". Now it is admitted that Head and Tail represent the beginning and end of things. Therefore to have them both is to have all. Head has been symbolized as the Creator, and Tail as the creation ; and when Head and Tail meet, Creator and Creation become one. When the two are one, All is One existence. The short Greek text within fig. 12 precisely means All is One (Hopkins 1; p. 107). Thus fig. 12 becomes a symbol of mysticism both by its design and by the text it incorporates. In fact it becomes a symbol of the Unity of Existence or of Wandatul-Wujud. Fig. 12 would then be an improvement upon fig. 9, for the latter allows its elements to be separated as Circle and its Contents, the contents again into two units, while fig. 12 cannot be divided at all. If we separate the serpent, in fig. 12, into two, the entire symbol is destroyed. Thus arose from monism the symbol of a serpent biting its tail which is also found in ancient China.

Summary and Conclusions

Alchemy still persists as an unsolved problem. This is because its proper origin has not been established. At present it is believed to have been a craft like gold-smithy. Since this was not the case its etymology, doctrines and symbols bear no relationship with one another. In the first instance its name should be connotative. This can at last be traced to the Chinese term, Kimiya, meaning gold-making-Juice. Even its Sanskrit name Rasayana, is derived from the word Rasa, the juice, and itself means Juice-incorporate. Both Kimiya and Rasayana are substances first and only next sciences dealing with some juices.

Secondly comes the objective of alchemy supported by some doctrines. To appreciate them best is to ask, who founded alchemy. In ancient times foodstuffs were scarce. The aged were felt as burden upon the bread winners. They had consequently to retire into a forest as solitary ascetics. They were to collect their own ration ; while any long illness meant death from starvation. Their life made them yearn for youth and rejuvenation became their constant dream. They could not but give practical expression to it as their one pressing desire. The only medicines of the age were herbs. The ascetics came to believe that herbs like Soma could make them young and thus immortal. But like any drug Soma had to be taken regularly. Finding this irksome they conceived of a single dose drug of rejuvenation-cum-immortality. Thus arose alchemy.

The alchemist began by inquiring into the limitations of Soma. Its use was backed by Animism, according to which herbs and metals all had souls. These could be donated to man to add to his own life. But such a soul did not grow and Soma had to be taken like blood transfusions. The alchemist then saw a way of making the life-essence grow continuously so that once introduced it could last for ever.

Animism had attributed life to a herb as also to a metal. Dualism maintained that if these were really alive they must be fertile as well. As a result everything became either a male or a female, when each by itself could not be reproductive. This applied even to souls. The male-soul was called Ruh or Spirit, the donor of longevity, the female-soul was named Nafas or Soul specific, the donor of form or individuality. A perennial plant, like Ephedra or Soma, had a powerful Ruh but poor Nafas. On the contrary a metal with its solidity was the expression of a strong Nafas, but being liable to rust it was weak in Ruh. Then a Soma-Copper complex should have a well balanced soul where Ruh/Nafas would both be strong, making the soul self-reproductive. There are flowers like those of the date palm borne on different plants as male and female, while others with the two elements in the same organ. This was assumed to be the case with Ruh and Nafas in a herbo-metallic complex. But such a complex is not found in nature and to prepare one made alchemy an experimental science from its very start. The herbo-metallic complex then contains a self-reproductive soul which makes it everlasting. Its vehicle likewise assumes an eternal form. Since the Soma-copper complex already has a metal as its vehicle this becomes everlasting which means gold. The role of the herbal component in this transformation is that of a gold-making-juice for which the Chinese term is Kimiya. A

single dose of synthetic gold serves as an inoculum of the self generating soul and makes man immortal for ever. Synthetic gold was in reality the drug of rejuvenation-cum-immortality. The two objectives attributed to alchemy of making gold and rejuvenating man are thus the results of the same product.

It is also evident that the transformation of copper into gold occured when life essence was infused into it. Alchemical gold was something living and something fertile. It was a ferment. When seeded into mercury it would make the latter again into gold. In other words if man was created out of "dust", gold was created out of copper. Writers, like Dante, of an age when alchemy was popular, did realize that, the alchemist tried to imitate creation, but it has long since been forgotten that, to the alchemist, ordinary gold was mere fossil-gold. Alchemy then recognized only one active principle, soul and a self-generating one.

Living alone, struggling to maintain health, the old ascetic had his thoughts always focussed on death. Without hopes of a future, or of life after death, he could exist even for a day. This explains how philosophy took its birth and the first problem it had to attack was the nature of an immortal element in man. This was on the theoretical side. In its practical phase it made the dreamer conceive of Soma as the natural drug of immortality, but when it proved to be a mirage he became an alchemist, trying to invent drugs of rejuvenation. Whether he succeeded or not the quest kept him on hopes and accompanied by his dreams he could survive a hard life of solitude.

We are now left with alchemical symbolism. The earliest symbol of Western or Alexandrian alchemy is Ouroboros, a serpent biting its tail, fig. 12 here. It is also found in China as also in India, but as a recognized symbol of mysticism. Moreover the Ouroboros contains a short Greek text, meaning All is One. There is thus internal indication for the text to be brought into harmony with the symbol. It is recognized that head and tail signify beginning and end so that the two meeting together become One, when All is One. With the two ends as One there is no beginning and no end, it is eternity, a symbol of eternal life. In this paper it has been explained that the serpent was the soul-custodian and thus a soul-donor so that it functioned like a creator or giver of life-essence. By its nature it became the creator, by its form eternity or creation. When creator and creation become one, All is One. This in fact is the doctrine of the Unity of Existence, with the equivalent of the Persian Mystics' watch-word Hama-Ust, All is He (=One). Its half/half, as Creator/Creation or White/Black, cannot be separated any longer, the two represent an indivisible unity.

Fig. 4 again is the composition of an alchemist of medieval ages. It is in fact the quintessence of alchemy in picture and to interpret it is to explain alchemy. In the first instance it represents the Cosmic egg, with the four cosmic elements as the creator and micro- and macrocosm as the creation. The cosmic egg incorporates the creator and creation, much as an egg does its yellow and white, in other words as One. Microcosm is shown as a hermaphrodite carrying a Male/Female, well balanced Spirit/ Soul, soul which makes it self-generative. Just as the serpent, a creature, is again a creator, so is Microcosm, a creator wielding the weapons of creation, the Compass as the cosmic male agent and the Square as its other half. That these weapons generate life-essence to induce resurrection is shown in fig. 1. Compass/Square is a typical symbol of mysticism just as a coiled serpent is and both can be traced to China.

I he text which, so to say, illustrates fig. 12 and means All is One takes alchemy to mysticism. In support of such a conclusion there are other confirmatory statements available from a Greek MSS. on alchemy belonging to the 2nd cent. There is a Dialogue of Cleopatra, rendered by Taylor (3 ; p. 58), which begins by asking to "look at the nature of plants", as if to select only those like Soma or Kimiya from amongst them. Cleopatra asks the philosopher (who are alchemists or hakims rather than the physicians or tabibs), how the blessed waters (Abe Hayat of Persian mystics) visit corpses lying in the Hades and how the Medicine of Life reaches them, naturally to revive them, It is worth while mentioning here that Firdousi uses the word Kimiya as a herb meant for reviving the dead.

Besides the plants and the blessed water, the text mentions Medicine of Life. Whatever these may be their virtue is revealed by the last sentence of the Dialogue indicating that, "when the tomb is opened the dead issue from Hades as the babe from womb" due to the drugs having ultimately reached them. The phenomenon depicted is nothing else than that of resurrection, in fact of rebirth as accepted by orthodox mysticism. The sentence is reminiscent of what a Chinese alchemist has to say. As translated by Chao Yun-ts'ung (15) it is mentioned that, "the substance which enables you to return to the origin and go back to the initial state is a King of Medicine." The Greek medicine revives the dead taking him further back to the time when the womb delivered him, as a babe. The Chinese text uses a more refined language substituting for womb the term "initial state". In the first instance Alexandrian and Chinese alchemy both speak of medicines and then of drugs reviving the dead, like the Kimiya of Firdousi. Therefore we can equate, Medicine of Life (Greek)=King of Medicine (Chinese). Both being drugs of immortality we can affirm that alchemy tried to confirm immortality in this world by their means. The nature of these drugs is best explained by the following series of equivalents:

Natural Products

I. Divine Water =Abe Hayat=Soma=Kimiya (Chinese)

Preparations

2. Medicine of Life (Greek)=King of Medicine (Chinese)=Herbometallic complex =Synthetic gold= Chin=Tan (Chinese)

In trying to explain the text in fig. 12 we have to look upon alchemy as applied mysticism and the symbol itself as that of pure mysticism. This is true also of fig. 4. Further fig. 4 can be equated with fig. 9, the former represents Cosmic egg, the latter Cosmic soul, both symbols of the source of existence. And such has been alchemical symbolism.

S. Mandihassan

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      Hopkins, A. J. (1934): Alchemy, child of Greek philosophy.

2.      Hopkins, A. J. (1938): A defence of Egyptian alchemy. (Replies to Davis). Isis; 28:424

3.      Taylor, F. Sherwood (1951): The Alchemists.

4.      Wilson, W. J. (1951): Review of Taylor's book, above. Btn. Hist. Med.; 25:397.

5.      Trismosin, Solomon (1582): Splendor Solis. Edited by "J.K." Printed by Kegan Paul, Trubner & Co. no date, probably 1920.

6.      Gildemeister, J. (1876): Alchymie. Z.D.M.G.; 30:534.

7.      Ray, P.C., (1910). History of Hindu Chemistry, vol. I.

8.      Dore, H. (1914): Chinese Superstitions. Translated into English by M. Kennelly. Shanghai.

9.      Strong, Mrs. Arthur (1911): Apotheosis and After life, Art and Religion in the Roman Empire. London.

10.  Cheng Te-K'un (1957): Yin-Yang, Wu-Hsing and Han Art. Harvard T. Asiatic Stu. 20;162.

11.  Thompson, C. J. S. (1932): The Lure and Romance of Alchemy. p. 65,

12.  Jung, C.G. (1953): Psychology and Alchemy. London. Source of several figures reproduced here.

13.  Shouten, J. (1955): De Slangestaf van Asklepios Symbol der Geneeskunde. Brocades-Stheeman and Pharmacia. Amsterdam‑Meppel.

14.  Carus. P. (1902): Chinese Philosophy. The Open Court Pub. Co., Chicago, p. 34.

15.  Chao Yun-ts'ung (1939): Chang Po-tuan, on the understanding of the truth. Proc. Am. Aca. Arts and Sci.; 73:97.
 

FIGURES

1.      To the right, Fu-Hsi, a male deity, offering away, a female element, the Mason's Square ; to the left, the female, Nue-Hua, likewise disposing of a male emblem, the cross-shaped Chinese Compass. The pair, in reproductive phase, is generating life-essence to revive the dead in the grave. Original from a Chinese grave of 3rd cent. From Cheng (10).

2.      Mason's Square to our right and the Chinese Compass to our left, enlargements from fig. 2. The two are elements for generating life-essence.

3.      Stylized serpents intertwined and generating life-essence to transform dead copper into live-gold. Original in a 12th. cent. Arabic MSS. on alchemy. From Thompson (11).

4.      The Cosmic egg, with the creator and creation; creator, as four Cosmic elements, in two pairs, Air/Earth (Wings on a Globe) and Water/Fire (=Dragon spitting Flames); creation as microcosm, hermaphrodite; and as macrocosm, heavenly bodies. The Yang element or Compass is held by the male half, and the Mason's Square, as Yin, owned by the female half. The Compass/Square are identical with the same pair in fig. 2. Original by Jamsthaler, 1625. From Jung (12).

5.      Engraving by L. Tintus 1672, being the portrait of an Italian physician. Top corners show the Yang/Yin pair as Cock/ Serpent. The right bottom corner Violin and Bow as two supplementary opposites. The left bottom corner shows Compass, C., and Mason's Squar, S. From J. Schouten (13).

6.      At the core, a small circle, shows the Creator, as four Cosmic elements, with the basal pair, as Air/Earth, and the upper, as Water/Fire. Creation, as the immortal human race, here as Jesus, who underwent resurrection. He is a substitute for immortal hermaphrodite of fig. 4. Macrocosm is sky and earth, with sun and moon, as the White/ Black circle. Corners outside contain Compass/Square, to the right, and Balance and Urn, as life/Death, to our left. Original by Albert Magnus, 1650. From Jung (12).

7. The Compass, generating a Circle, both Yang elements. The Wall is rectangular, thus a Yin element. Instead of a Square there is the Mason's measuring rod, the white stick near the leg of the master. The large circle contains a Yang triangle, and within it, a Square/Circle, as Yin/Yang, further enclosing the pair, Man/Woman. This is the self generating immortal pair, and as a unit, the equal of the hermaphrodite in fig. 4. The major creator is the Compass, and creation, the Circle, symbolizing eternity. Another pair of soul generator is the human pair. Original by Maier, 1618. From Jung (12).

8. The tree symbolizes life. At the bottom is a toad, with its nodular surfaced skin; it is not a frog. Toad is an import symbol of Chinese Taoism. The centre shows the Yang triangle, and a Yin square, with the king as the more important Yang element. Original by the English alchemist, Norton, 1630. From Jung (12).

9. Chinese symbol of Yang/Yin, or of the Cosmic soul, as the symbol of the source of existence, i.e. of Creator/Creation. The contents, White/Black are Air/Earth, as the major pair of Cosmic elements, incorporating, as minor elements, Water, as the spot on the white patch, and Fire, as the spot in the black half. The circle is the unavoidable creation, which is eternity. From Carus (14).

10. Key to fig. 9. White/Black in fig. 10 correspond with White/ Black of fig. 9; A. is Air, E. is Earth. As Left/ Right divisions they are Celestial/Terrestrial which apples to A/E. White/Black scheme also makes them Male/Female, Air as celestial and male, is a white large patch, size and colour as indications. E. is terrestrial-female, the exact opposite, of the other half of Air. \V., Water, in fig. 10., is the spot in the white half of fig. 9. Water is shown in fig. 10 as a larger white triangle covered by a smaller black one, leaving the larger to appear as a white rim. Water is celestial more than female, but both these elements are almost equal F., Fire, dual coloured had a larger darker rim than the white central piece; fire is terrestrial more than male, but both nearly equal. Fire is the eye-like spot in the black half of fig. 9.

11. Key to the major and minor divisions of the square, fig. 10, explaining the two halves and minor dots of fig. 9. Line C. is celestial; T. terrestrial; M. for male; F. for female. The square is cut vertically and diagonally producing two large and two small units. A., Air, as celestial and male, is pure black. Triangle, with strata-like horizonatal lines, is terrestrial first and male next; it is Fire, F., of fig. 10. The triangle with vertical parallel lines, like rain falling is basically celestial, but almost as much female, it is Water, W., of fig. 10.

12. Serpent biting its own tail. It is the most equivalent of the dualist symbol of Yin/Yang, fig. 9. Fig. 12 expresses unity of existence. Fig. 9 shows the creator as quadri-elemental, two major and two minor, and creation disguised as the circle. Fig. 12 shows creator as the head, meeting creation as the tail, Creator and Creation are one; hence All is One, being the exact meaning of the Greek text within fig. 12. This symbol of the unity of existence is in fact the first symbol of Western alchemy. From Taylor (3).