ALCHEMI CAL BIRD SYMBOLS

(Alchemical Operations Symbolized Through Bird Imagery) 2011_Dorian Taddei The following is a sequence of operations symbolized by the 4 (of the 5) bird symbols used in alchemy, as depicted in Michael Maiers emblematic art [Fig.1] from the 12 Keys of Basil Valentine. This is the 9th key plate. CCW from the top-center we have:

! Raven ! White Goose(Swan) ! Mallard(Peacock) ! Phoenix

The 9th Key of Basil Valentine (1618). Michael Maier [Fig1]

In the alchemical traditions of the renaissance, stages in the alchemical process of preparing the Elixir of Life were often depicted using birds as symbols. There are usually four stages of the Great Work depicted, and the fifth bird symbolizes the work completed. However, there are also two separate operation cycles,

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depending upon the minerals used to isolate and trap the QE associated with these minerals. The two types are the organic sedimentary magnesia (aka magnesian limestone, dolomite) and volcanic igneous. Each type contains a different set of the five essential di-atoms, or quinta essentia (QE). Dolomite usually contains Cu and Ag di-atoms, and igneous rock contains Rh, Ir and Au. In the third type of rock, a metamorphic stone, composed of the other two types recombined through the heat and pressure of geologic forces, like those along a continental plate combine in their liquid states to form more complex minerals. Thus, in metamorphic rock we have a mix which may include all five of the QE. Working with such stone the separation processes could be even more complex. In the Michael Maier emblematic art above we see the processing of the alchemists magnesia (called magnesian limestone in England, or more commonly dolomite). Unlike the Great Art of the Philosophers Stone, the absence of the fourth stage of five stages of the alchemical process (represented by the Pelican) is missing. This is because the object of this series of operations depicted in this emblematic art, is to isolate Green Dragon elementals (di-atoms (Cu and Ag), the two more easily captured of the five QE. Because of this, the Pelican a symbol generally used in depicting the processes of multiplying the Red Dragon (or gold/rhodium/iridium) di-atoms (shown during the renaissance as a pelican pecking itself to feed its young on its own blood) would not be needed. I explain this further below. I have taken the liberty of putting it into the sequential description of operations.

Stage 1: Raven or Crow (Color: black)

The Raven (or Crow) represents the beginning of the great work of alchemy: a dry oxidation process that blackens the stone being calcined, called Nigredo (to make black). This process is known as Calcination, a process of whereby prima materia ore was oxidized with high heat. The modern approach due to the easy access we have today of strong, concentrated acids is to use a concentrated, oxidizing reagent for this entire process. This was not an option anciently. Instead, the alchemists prima materia was subjected to a sustained heating maintained just below the prima materias melting point, but never reaching it. The result is a blackened stone ready for the second stage of oxidation.

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Calcination was also described by the the term Putrefaction or Caput Mortuem (dead head or worthies remainder). In some renaissance art, this first dry step in the oxidation process was symbolized by a skull (Caput Mortuem) or by the image of an alchemist dying within a flask. In the symbol of the Raven we have the purification of the base prima materia containing the active ingredient the Sulfur, trapped within the inert mineral Salt through death and subsequent rebirth. As death among living things facilitates the separation of the spirit from the physical body so through Putrefaction the Sulfur (the quinta essentia) is freed from the Salt in which it is trapped.

Stage 2: Swan or Goose (Color: white)

The next stage the second wet stage of the oxidation process was symbolized by a white Swan or Goose. The modern approach to oxidation due to the easy access we have today of strong, concentrated acids is to use an acid for the entire oxidation process, making Calcination unnecessary. This was not an option anciently. Anciently this second wet stage of the oxidation process, utilized the mild acid, sal ammoniac. Utilizing sal ammoniac, this second stage of oxidation process would yield chlorides of the metals in the magnesian limestone: calcium, magnesium, and small amounts of manganese and iron. This resulted in a clear liquid with a pale green tinge (one of the reasons they called this process the Green Dragon). Depending upon the acid used (sal ammoniac being the most common, but not necessarily the only reagent employed), some salts might be formed, precipitating out as a white solids. In the occidental alchemical traditions, this second stage of oxidation would be depicted by a white Swan (or Goose) representing the final separation of the active principle of Sulfur (the quinta essentia) from its alchemical Salt. This process is termed Dissolution. Dissolution begins with a putrefying fire, and ends with an aqueous solution saturated with metal ions. At the N Mojave rock art site, the alchemical formula for Amrita, employs these two symbols. The first of this the symbol of Aries (Calcination), followed by a symbol representing stage 1 of 2 in the dissolution process, is the symbol of Calcination, Aries. The second symbol for the final stage of Dissolution is a symbol meaning Extract Using Acid. [Fig2]

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Formula for Amrita (elixir of life) on a dolomite rock art panel, N Mojave Desert, USA [Fig2]

Esoteric-alchemic decipherment: Digest the prima materia here for the elixir of life [Fig3]

Another example of these symbols being used interchangeably to represent oxidation processes, is found about a 100 miles south of the N. Mojave rock art site, is found in a volcanic tank (small erosion channel or canyon), where the

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ancient (Asian) symbol for the QE, is depicted in the form of a distillation array (as a stack of five spheres representing the condenser pelicans of the distillation column). [Fig3] Dissolution was a purifying phase of the alchemical process. Powerful mineral acids can be used instead of Calcination using fire (as we use today), but anciently Sal Ammoniac (ammonium chloride) was used as a mild oxidizer to finish the job begun in the Calcination process of the alchemists ovens. Naturally our symbolic bird is a White Swan for it represents the Purification of the alchemists solution, and so it is also included under this stage. The black (Nigredo) calcined rock appeared to magically undergo a resurrection, from dead to renewed to a new life, becoming soluble and disappearing. Any residual metallic salts not soluble in water would precipitate generally as a white material. Especially in ancient times, the Putrified prima materia underwent Dissolution in a solution of sal ammoniac and distilled water. As this ammonia chloride purified the solution containing the alchemical Sulfur, the volatility of sal ammoniac insured that the dissolved ammonia would separate itself from the water as a gas, gracefully rising into the air as a Swan.

Stage 3: Mallard Duck/Peacock (rainbow hued)

The Green Dragon elixirs (the first of two major stages in the production of the lapis philosophorum) were made using dolomitic limestone. Among the metals found in conjunction with Ca (calcium) and Mg (magnesium) in dolomite, are manganese and iron, and additionally, copper (often as malachite, but also as pure copper veins) and zinc can be found as ores in the proximity of dolomite deposits. The alchemist would take the solution of chlorides resulting from the first stages of his process (using Sal Ammoniac), and add to this sodium hydroxide (lye) or potassium hydroxide (potash). As these powerful bases reduced the magnesium ions to hydroxides, other metals present such as manganese and copper would pass through numerous oxidation states as well, producing vivid color changes. These Oxidation stages were symbolized in alchemy by the appropriate imagery of the peacock's tail, or the colors of a mallard (male) ducks plumage, with their brilliant, iridescent colors. However, in the renaissance in Europe (far from lands where the peacocks symbology was developed where peacocks were indigenous), alchemists like Michael Maier substituted another bird, the Mallard (or wild drake) duck. [Fig4]

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Mallard (Drake) Duck decoy from an Oregon Museum [Fig4]

By the end of this cycle the quinta essentia has been successfully trapped in the alchemical Mercury. To the alchemist, this Mercury was a carrier of metals: this carrier was a metal hydroxide floc, primarily Magnesium hydroxide, depending upon the source mineral and processing. Hence, this stage of the alchemical process was called Fixation, and was also associated with this floc. Since the hydroxides began to form as higher pH levels were reached, the Peacock or Mallard duck stage includes the beginning of the Coagulation process as well.

Stage 4 (missing): The Pelican (red on white)

In all examples of alchemical dating from the Medieval period, the 4th stage of alchemical emblematic art is depicted by the ubiquitous image of the Pelican shown stabbing its breast with its beak, sacrificing itself, in order to nourish its young with its own blood. This became a major symbol for the concept of Christ sacrificing himself on the cross as well. This imagery can be seen in most major European Cathedrals for this reason. Blood is universally recognized as that which sustains life. The quinta essentia likewise vitalizes and extends the life of man, and so there is a symbolic overlap between the ideas of alchemy and spiritual evolution and at-one-ment. This is appropriate.

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Opus Medico Chymicum (1618). Johann Daniel Mylius [Fig.5]

Just as the Pelican stores and carries fish in its pouched bill, so the hydroxide floc becomes the carrier of the quinta essentia, intended to nourish Mankind. OMMPA di-atoms do not bond with other substances and so cannot be precipitated out of solution. Hence, OMMPAs need to be trapped. This is why the Pelican, with its long fluffy white flight feathers, symbolized the white hydroxide floc containing the alchemical Sulfur (QE). The modern pseudo-alchemical movement that uses the non-acronym ORMUS to describe the floc, misleads many into thinking that this quinta essentia of the alchemists was the floc itself. Alchemists knew better. The quinta essentia are electrically neutral and CANNOT SHARE ELECTRONS with other atoms. They are completely chemically neutral, and it this were not so they simply would have no efficacy within the human body.

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The Rosicrucian alchemists of the Renaissance had been trusted with ancient knowledge. There was not a single one of them that appears legitimate that was NOT associated with the Rosicrucians, leading to the inescapable conclusion that someone (at least symbolically, if not literally, Christian Rosenkreuz) passed this information on. The science we have been able to decipher from alchemical emblems and the writings left by various Rosicrucians suggests that this was the only channel of transmission of this ancient wisdom in Europe, and that it was either 500 years ahead of its time, or came from wisdom passed on since the Golden Age. Hidden in the work of Michael Maier, for example, is information 100-450 years ahead of its time. This is repeated in other esoteric artwork and written records from the same period (early 17th century).

Green Dragon elixir Mg(OH)2 floc forming in reaction chamber [Fig6]

For example, the Hydroxide floc was often depicted in alchemical emblematic art and has been repeatedly mistaken for clouds. In the famous Opus Medico Chymicum (1618) by Johann Daniel Mylius, both the Lunar female (Green

ALCHEMI CAL BIRD SYMBOLS

Dragon) and Solar male (Red Dragon) figures are depicted chained to unusuallooking clouds which form around the geometric center (also containing bird imagery), and do not float in the sky as the other clouds do.[Fig5] These are not clouds being depicted, but hydroxide floc. Look closely at actual magnesium hydroxide floc in the laboratory. [Fig6] The real clouds (depicted in the open sky in Mylius depiction) are drawn realistically, and yet, the floc seems almost cartoonish. Once the student of true alchemy recognizes that this represents hydroxide floc, then it is understood that this is also depicted realistically, but does not represent clouds in the sky. Then there is no further confusion. The Pelican stage only applies to the making of the stone. As we are only attempting to describe the manufacture of the Green Dragon elixir in this article, this stage is not applicable, and this is why Michael Maier in his alchemical bird sequence illustrating the Green Dragon elixir does not include the Pelican stage. [Fig7]

Renaissance emblematic art depicting the Pelican literally and symbolically (alchemy) [Fig7]

In this stage the Green Dragon elixir has been purified and now forms a Menstruum. This is NOT a solvent, but has become a unique aqueous-aethericalchemical environment into which was added the Red Dragon solution consisting primarily of Rh, Ir and Au di-atoms. This Menstruum facilitates the Projection of the vibratory signals into this tuned environment, enabling the Multiplication of these di-atomic OMMPA compounds. In the alchemists closed distillation system (closed-looped Pelican), the process of Cohobation occurred. With the help of the Green Dragon menstruum altering the aqueous environment, the Red Dragon di-atomic signal can both be projected into the water, and amplified to, in order to drive the production of even more of these same OMMPA di-atoms. Longer chain atoms still present in solution undergo phase changes during evaporation, breaking longer chains and releasing monoatoms of the target metals. These mono-atoms are then free to recombine into

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di-atoms within the liquid in the flask, as signals favorable to the formation of Au, Ir and Rh di-atoms are created in this Menstruum. Hence Cohobation facilitates Projection and Multiplication in this fourth Stage of Alchemy. [Fig8] This process of the essence or life of the Red Dragon QE, being sacrificed to form more offspring (feeding its young), is not uncommon in alchemical, emblematic art. The blood of the Pelican (Au atoms emit red light when in suspension as colloids) as depicted in the famous Ripley Scroll as a dragon (rather than a pelican), is only one case in point.

Engravings depicting 2 stages critical to the production of the true lapis philosophorum. The understanding of the the depicted processes has been lost to modern alchemists. [Fig8]

Lost to the modern world, the connection between the closed Pelican and the Great Work is only comprehensible only if one understands the final stage of the Great Work. This stage is also linked to a specific type of oven known as a Anthanor oven. These apparatuses were essential to true alchemy, and the realization of the final stages of the Great Work: the production of the lapis philosophorum.

Stage 5: The Phoenix (gold)

The Phoenix symbolizes the completed alchemical process. At this point the alchemical Sulfur(aka quinta essentia) has become resurrected through flames, just as the Phoenix a bird who it was said builds a nest which is also its

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funeral pyre arises anew from the ashes transformed. There are two stages which now occur simultaneously: PROJECTION and MULTIPLICATION at the elixir vitae stage. These two processes are combined in the operation called Cohobation. This process is best exemplified in Natures creation of metamorphic rock. Finally, it is the conjoining of all five quinta essentia in the process called Coagulation which produces the Philosophers Stone. If we follow the colors on the Mallard from its wings upwards (rising) to its beak, we go from a black (nigredo/putrefaction) to white (dissolution), and then to warm blue through green (oxidation), and thence to yellow and back to white. Hence we see that this series of color stages progresses as follows: white ! black ! (clear) ! blue ! green ! yellow ! white. This process ends once the alchemical Sulfur (quinta essentia) has been freed from the Salt in the Phoenix stage. Thus we see depicted in these 5 birds, an esoteric shorthand for the basic processes of alchemy: Calcination/Putrefaction ! Dissolution ! Purification ! Fixation, and finally the process of Cohobation (which drives Projection and Multiplication) resulting in Coagulation. There are other intermediate processes, and these have been recorded in some alchemical treatises. Any list of processes, and the order of operations listed, should be understood to be dependent upon whether the alchemist used a Dry or Wet method of oxidation (or both), and the specifics of selected reagents used. And of course, the methods varied based upon the source mineral being processed. In the IX Key of Basil Valentine Michael Maier gives us only those required to produce the Green Dragon using a combination of Dry and Wet oxidation methods. )+