Academia Iluministă (90)
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF BOOKS outlining the religion, politics and philosophy of the ancient and controversial secret society known as the Illuminati, of which the Greek polymath Pythagoras was the first official Grand Master. The society exists to this day and the author is a member, working under the pseudonym of “Adam Weishaupt” – the name of the Illuminati’s most notorious Grand Master.
The Illuminati’s religion is the most highly developed expression of Gnosticism and is called Illumination (alternatively, Illuminism). Dedicated to the pursuit of enlightenment, it has many parallels with the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. It rejects the Abrahamic religions of faith: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, considering these the work of the “Demiurge”; an inferior, cruel and wicked deity who deludes himself that he is the True God, and who has inflicted endless horrors on humanity.
If you wish to judge for yourself how deranged the Demiurge is, you need only read the Old Testament, the story of the Demiurge’s involvement with his “Chosen People”, the Hebrews. You may wonder why the “God of All” entered into an exclusive and partisan Covenant with a tribe in the Middle East several thousand years ago, why he promised them a land (Canaan) that belonged to others, and why he then actively participated with them in a genocidal war against the Canaanites. Even more bizarrely, according to Christian theology, he then dispatched all of those Hebrews, whom he had supported so fanatically, to Limbo – the edge of Hell – when they died. They couldn’t go to Heaven because they were indelibly marked by the “Original Sin” of Adam and Eve. Only the atonement provided by the agonising death of God’s “son”, Jesus Christ, could wipe the slate clean and allow the Hebrews to be released from Limbo. But there was a catch. Only those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour were eligible for Paradise.
Of course, the Chosen People of “God” have almost entirely rejected Jesus Christ. Therefore, from the Christian perspective, nearly all of the Chosen People are now in hell proper. Don’t you find God’s behaviour distinctly odd? Indeed, unbelievable? Don’t alarm bells start ringing? Doesn’t the behaviour of this God sound rather more like what would be expected of Satan?
Remember that this same “God” ordered Abraham to perform human sacrifice on his own son, Isaac. Abraham, rather than rejecting this monstrous command, rather than denouncing the creature that gave it as evil incarnate, agreed to butcher his own flesh and blood to demonstrate how slavishly and mindlessly obedient he was – the prototype of all psychopathic, fanatical “believers”.
Does God’s command to Abraham sound like something that would ever pass the lips of the True God? We pity you if you think it does because you are surely a creature of the Demiurge and one of the legions of the damned. If, however, you doubt the credentials of the Abrahamic God, you may be receptive to the message of the Illuminati and our future-oriented, rational, scientific, mathematical and dialectical religion of light – Illumination.
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Quotations:
“The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.” –Erich Fromm
“It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for it to abolish itself from below.” –Alexander II
“Virtue has its own reward, but no sale at the box office.” –Mae West
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Voices of the Movement:
This is a book featuring the thoughts of several ordinary men and women who took part in The Movement: a consciousness-raising initiative suggested by the Illuminati. Judge their contributions for yourself. These are people just like you. They have shown what they can do. What about you? What do you have to offer?
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Alchemy:
“SJ” sent us the following hypothesis concerning his studies in alchemy:
1. The goal of all authentic Religion (the word itself meaning to re-join) is to reunite one’s self with God; more specifically, with the shard of God hidden within/above/behind one’s outer self.
2. This shard of God constitutes one’s higher self, and has been called the Holy Guardian Angel, the Genius, the Daemon, the Guiding Star and many other names.
3. The alchemists hid their knowledge and practise of this “true religion” in symbol and the technical jargon of the day to avoid persecution.
4. They divided their techniques for achieving this unification with the Higher Self into two distinct “paths”: the “Wet” and the “Dry”. “It is called ‘Wet’ because it uses solvents and long incubation periods. This is opposed to the ‘Dry’ path which uses higher heats and generally no solvents.”
(http://alchymie.ca/
The wet path used “long incubation periods” and a “solvent” (that which dissolves), which meant that a) although the Work was safer, it took much longer to complete, and b) the internal components of the lesser self were gently broken up and dissolved into a “water” that could easily be recombined into new forms or states. The dry path was usually considered more dangerous as it simply used high “heat” to forcefully destroy and combine internal components, at the cost of safety but in a much shorter span of time. The path I am detailing is the Wet Path. It involves the Mercury that alchemists across the world refer to by a variety of names: Chi, Prana, Baraka, Mana, Aether, Orgone etc. An accumulation of this substance in the Body attracts its opposite, “Sulfur”, or the Soul of the alchemist. Gradually that Soulfire purifies the alchemist until he can withstand the indwelling of his own soul, now fully inhabiting the body. When the “Sulfur” and the alchemist unite, the goal has been achieved, the disciple has become the master, the lead has been purified and made into gold; the alchemist is now ready to help others on the path.
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Franklin, Plato and the Higher Guardian Angel:
“If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.” –Benjamin Franklin
Here, Franklin gives away several key secrets to the philosopher’s stone and alchemy in general. He speaks apparently of the acquisition of wealth; but in a higher sense his statement is the key to obtaining contact with one’s potential self, one’s guiding star. As a prelude, let us say that the goal of alchemy was the same as that of every other initiatory and esoteric system of teaching since time immemorial; the acquisition of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
That alchemists were ever ready to wax poetical about their lovely Mercury, which they declared was the secret and key to their Art, is abundantly clear from even the most cursory glance at their writings. We here take their meaning, or it should be said, one of their manifold meanings of that term, to refer to what in primitive societies is called “Mana”. What is Mana? This is a Polynesian word meaning the life force, associated with high social status and ritual power. It might be equated with the ever-present Quintessence, the Natural Soul, the “Anima Mundi”, the Chi, Prana, Baraka, Breath, Dew, or Heavenly Water. It is the “Aether”, and just as in the fanciful stories of Wizards and their machinations, it is and was the secret power source for everything that the Alchemists wrought. When Abraham was asked to shield his face, for it “shone too brightly” with the glory of God, it was this that he was manifesting. When Christ stilled the tempestuous waters, it was this which was the vehicle of his Will. The Polynesians saw it as imbuing everything. Shamans effected their healing and divination through it. It is the invisible yet very real connective tissue woven through everything.
It is my hypothesis that the mystical Work undertaken by the Alchemists was contact and gradual unification with one’s Guiding Star, and further that this “Mercury of the Wise” was the primary Agent and Faculty utilized to that end.
“Therefore, we may consequently state that this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence … a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related.” –Plato
The human body utilizes this vital force just as the rest of the cosmos does, as the buffer between Intelligence and Physicality. Because of its central location, it is affected by aberrations from either end, and usually relays these conflicts from one end of the Self to the other. Trouble in the Mind often finds its way into the Body, and vice versa. Also, due to its central importance, a superabundance of it equates with better health and functioning for both Mind and Body. In was thus the focus of the Alchemists’ Work. To better understand Franklin’s statement, and the Quest for Unification with the Genius, it’s necessary to examine this energy from two perspectives; its production or generation, and its expenditure or utilization. Some things which produce this substance are: eating, sleeping, breathing, meaningful labour. Some things which expend this substance are: sex, injury, sickness, frivolous labour.
Thus the subtle meaning of Franklin’s message may be interpreted as: Accrue the Mercury of the Wise by favouring input of this substance and eschewing its output and you will obtain the philosopher’s stone. Now, the philosopher’s stone was said to provide aid and succour to all three aspects of the self i.e. the body, heart (soul) and mind. To understand how this all relates to the quest for the Holy Guardian Angel, it is necessary to posit the Mercury of the Wise in a new light, yet still congruent with the preceding. Mapping the components of the self with the classical elements:
Body = Earth
“Mind” = Air
Mercury = Water
Holy Guardian Angel = Fire.
Mind is placed in quotes because Mind was seen as simply the pattern of interference created between the Aetheric Self (Water) and the “Spirit” Self (Fire); thus it was, just as the element of Wind, merely a “placeholder” or stopgap element, not really considered as “real” or pertinent as the remaining three, except in its natural propensity as a sort of prismatic scaffolding or channelling rig for the upper forces. The Water of the Wise really does act as a sort of internal, “spiritual” lubricant, something which greases the wheels between upper and lower, an agent which facilitates contact and mediation. In this respect, it truly becomes the keystone of the Work, the lesser portion of which was only ever intended to cleanse, purify and ready oneself for the greater portion, that portion being the actual contact and conversation. Through the utilization of the Living Waters, one makes ready and fit the vessels both corporeal and incorporeal to receive the celestial fire, which if placed in an unprepared vessel would burn and crack that vessel.
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ADAPTIVE TRANSMUTATION PROCEDURES OF THE WORK
Adaptive Behaviour: a type of behaviour that is used to adjust to another type of behaviour or situation. This is often characterized by a kind of behaviour that allows an individual to change a non-constructive or disruptive behaviour to something more constructive. These behaviours are most often social or personal behaviours.
Transmutation:
1. The act or an instance of transmuting; transformation.
2. The supposed conversion of base metals into gold or silver in alchemy.
Transmute: To change from one form, nature, substance, or state into another; to transform.
On Quintessence:
Quintessence, “Philosophical Mercury” or “Divine Water” symbolizes what is referred to as “Prana” in the Eastern Systems (aka Baraka, Chi, Aether, Orgone etc.), and is considered ubiquitous throughout nature and the Universe. Different types of matter and life collect and store more or less of this substance, but living creatures more than anything act as huge batteries for it, storing it up.
Physical Matter is said to be as porous to it as Earth is to Water. Entire systems of Eastern medicine and philosophy have been developed around this sole concept. In the West, traces of it can be found in our religious literature but largely all evidence of it has succumbed to either the ravages of time or the editor’s pen, while in the East a knowledge and acceptance of it has been very much kept alive. The only notable exception to this dearth of Western wisdom on the subject must be attributed to Wilhelm Reich, a direct disciple of Freud. He claimed to have discovered something very similar to the energy or radiation which would go into the makeup of the Bio-Aetheric double, and indeed according to his observations was present in all things. However, his experiments and conclusions were vilified, his books burned and he died in prison. When this substance persists in a certain pattern, place or person for extended periods of time, it can begin to take on the shape or characteristics of that pattern. This phenomenon is responsible for the concept of the “Bioaetheric Double”, also known as the “Astral Body”, the “Doppelganger”, the “Twin”, etc. In sleep, it is said to become “loosened” from the body, and upon death it is said to dissipate after a predetermined length of time.
It seems appropriate to surmise that all the machinations of the Lesser or Vulgar Waters (see below) take place within, through and by the direct agency of the Greater or Philosophical Water, or the Divine Mercury. That being said, it becomes appropriate, in a sense, to equate the one with the other, since the one cannot work without the other. This seems to have implications in health, psychology and regeneration.
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First Doctrine of Adaptive Transmutation:
(Doctrine of the Self)
“There are 4 Principles of Self; they are, in descending order: Soul, Mind, Spirit and Body.”
Notes on First Doctrine.
This is taken as the general result of a vast collation, cross-reference and comparison of every major esoteric and occult body, philosophy and teaching over the course of the main activity of these bodies. As to the names and their attendant concepts attributed to each thing; there seems oftentimes to be an uncertainty as to whether Soul belongs (as given in this scheme) in place of Spirit, and Spirit in Soul’s place. To this I give merely the usages of these words in their most colloquial sense, as in, “He has a lively Spirit,” or, “The horse was Spirited.” It is never said, “This horse is very Souled,” or, “This horse has a lot of Soul,” except in cases where a quality of depth or greatness of time or character is meant, as in, “Old Soul.” Properly situated, the four components of the Self relate to things we have all experienced, to greater and lesser degrees, and thus to things we can all readily agree to being part and parcel of our beings.
The “Soul” corresponds to that most ancient of things, the “Self” you were before you were born, and the one you will return to after you die. In primal cultures, these are dubbed “ancestors,” for this same reason. It is the eternal spark, embedded in the depths of your manifold self.
While the Soul and “Lesser Self” become separated by the process of Incarnation, the link between the two can never be severed, and it is the aim of the work of Regeneration (Adaptive Transmutation) to reacquaint these two long lost friends until the two become one.
In esoteric circles, Air is never really regarded as an element proper, but rather as a buffer or circumstantial intermediary between Fire and Water, and as such the “Mind” can quite easily be regarded as simply the Interference Pattern between the Eternal Soul (Fire) and the Temporal Spirit (Water). This can perhaps explain some of the peculiarities of the Mind.
“Water” addresses the central components of the self, the sexual drive, willpower, emotions, intellect and imagination; the things that make up in large part the core of man’s internal self. These things comprise a layer between the innermost component (the Divine Spark/Mind), and the outermost extremities (reality/Body). They are collectively grouped in systems like Alchemy and Kabbalah (where they are referred to as “Zeir Anpin”, meaning Lesser Countenance or the Lesser Self) because they all rely for their health, maintenance and development on the presence of the Divine or Celestial Waters, the Heavenly Mercury; Aether. Together, they form a major portion of man’s psychological make-up, and bridge the gap between Inner and Outer. They’re tackled collectively, relative to one another, when cleansing them.
The physical form is the receptacle of all other elements. It is the outermost lying shell, the ultimate bound, the husk which contains all other things. Every element has its representative in the body, whether it be through electromagnetism, biochemistry or unknown yet scientifically real forces.
The Alchemists spoke of the body as the dregs lying at the bottom of the Alembic, but they were careful and quick to append that in them was contained the whole of the work, and that they were invaluable and necessary to the latter stages of regeneration. Older perversions of Gnostic teachings imply that the body and its larger manifestation, the physical world, are things to be demonized; this is an aberration of original, pure and authentic teachings.
(Our comment: this statement is false. Authentic Gnosticism has always demonised the physical world, defining it as the creation of the wicked Demiurge. The writer is thinking of Hermeticism rather than Gnosticism. Whereas Gnosticism regards the material world as evil, Hermeticism maintains that matter may be perfected. Illuminism reflects both trains of thought by asserting that this is a fallen, wicked world ruled by the worst kind of people, but it is capable of redemption and salvation through the efforts of enlightened people.)
1st Stage: “ROTA ELEMENTIA”
Elements: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire
Goal: Basic Rotation of All Elements, Perception of Fire
Procedure: Arrange External Environment for Minimal Rotational Infringement
Work: 1) Individual Rotation: Here the object is to get each Element rotating individually. A natural overall cadence and rhythm of the system will emerge, but it is negligible and not the goal here. 2) Embody the Self: Via Rotation a fuller sense of the Self inhabiting the Body is obtained, which acts as the “gateway” for the 2nd Stage of the Work.
Notes: This stage is often the most difficult as the aspirant struggles against the natural inertia of bad habits acquired and often ingrained into the self by years of self-neglect and abuse. Fire is included here as it acts as the signifier of the successful rotation of all Elements; its presence or rotation, full or partial, should be felt upon the accomplishment of at least minimal rotation of all three of the lower elements. This level of the Work is the Black Stone.
2nd Stage: “TARO ELEMENTIA”
Elements: Earth, Water, Wind
Goal: Accumulation of Water
Procedure: Introversion, Focus, Dedication, Perseverance
Work: 1) Abandoning Fire (the Hermetic Seal): Once the basic rotation of all four Elements has been achieved, and sight has been caught of the Eternal Fire in the sky, that fire must be abandoned. For this 2nd stage of the Work it is too much a distraction, in much the same way that “castles in the sky” can distract a person from their more mundane, terrestrial chores and tasks, so too does the majesty of the fire, the lure of its flame serve as too great a nuisance for the more “terrestrial” earth and water based work. The abandonment of this fire serves as the famous Hermetic Seal on the “Vase” at this stage. 2) Fountain of Youth: Here the work is all about bringing Air (the Mind) and Earth (the Body) into equilibrium with Water (Aether), in that both Air and Earth should be specially tailored to bring about maximum production of the Water; that is this stages entire purpose.
Notes: Abandoning the fire is tantamount to a Rotation of the Elemental Wheel as a whole, in that the secondary qualities now put fire and earth at odds with one another, and earth and water in close congruence. Also, it should be noted that a great many arcana can be divulged from a careful study of the Elemental Wheel in light of the aforementioned knowledge. How Rotation is really a series of reversals in the highest-refined Aetheric Egg, the nature of the relations between the four elements, and many other things. This level of the Work is the White Stone.
3rd Stage: “TORA ELEMENTIA”
Elements: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Salt, Mercury, Sulfur, Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, Mercury, Silver, Gold
Goal: Destruction of Air as Steward, Inception and Crowning of Fire, Refinement of Metals
Procedure: Purification of the Seven Metals by the Secret Fire
Work: 1) Inception: The interference pattern that is the Mind is here slowly disassembled by the gradual introduction of the Fire (Higher Self) to the Elementary Body, aka the three lower elements. Through a process of bringing the Fire and Water into closer and closer proximity, “impurities” in the Air are gradually eliminated until it exists only as a scaffolding or “house” for the Celestial Fire. 2) Lesser Purification: Once this is done, and the Fire is in close enough proximity to the Lesser Elements of Earth and Water, purification can take place. The same process employed to perfect the Air is now repeated with Earth and Water. The Celestial Flame is brought into closer and closer proximity with each of these agents, until they become perfected, in the lesser and more general sense. When the Water and the Earth, together with the Fire, are refined enough to be considered “new” or reborn elements, they are referred to as the Tria Materia, or Salt, Mercury and Sulfur, and the second stage of purification can begin. 3) Greater Purification: Once the essential matrix of the Tria Materia is perfected, the system as a whole is ready to be tackled. With the new forms of perception and understanding gained via the general elimination of dross in the lower elements, the aspirant is ready to begin the greater and more protracted work of purifying the seven-fold body of man, depicted by the Seven Metals of the Alchemists. These too, just as Air, are only in discordance with Fire insofar as they contain things which contradict its edicts. These are unravelled and the Metals made complacent to the Flame.
Notes:
This final level of the work is often referred to as Child’s or Woman’s Work, in that so long as one “toes the line” or Law of this stage, keeps all things within their proper bounds, the actual cleansing of each Metal is almost automatic. This level of the Work is the Red Stone.
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THE THREE PHASES OF THE ALCHEMICAL WORK
ROTA – Rotate / Wheel
Etymology: the work is here called Rotation and Wheel in that basic rotation of the wheels is essential and all-encompassing Panacea: every disease, internal or external, has as its basis a perversion of one or more of the elements. This was basically the doctrine of Paracelsus, and how he effected his miraculous cures, by administering to the latent, underlying causes.
TARO – Abandonment / Subtraction / Pathways
Etymology: subtraction here means the subtraction of Fire from the equation of self, as a sacrifice placed on the altar of Mercury, or towards the generation of the Celestial Dew. By pathways is meant the “opening of the ways”, as it is known in the east; the profusion of water cleanses the subtle body of some of its impurities. Abandonment here means something similar to Subtraction, in that a purposeful turning away from Fire must be undertaken in order to exalt Water.
Fountain of Youth: the accumulation of heavenly dew does indeed give one both the inward and outward appearance of youth. The ever flowing fountain is also indicative of both the mythical fountain as well as the goal of this 2nd degree, to create a veritable wellspring of internal celestial waters.
TORA – Law / Instruction / Revelation
Etymology: here the byword is Law, because at this stage of the work the risk of committing an error, taking a false step off the path, is enormous and the concomitant retaliatory backlash from the forces in play being misused or improperly handled can be dangerous or disastrous to the aspirant. To alleviate this dangerous condition, Instruction is essential. Revelation refers to the end-result and hopeful goal of this stage, but also to a possible form of instruction.
Philosopher’s Stone: the thing of things, this stone is both the result of a successful transmutation of the self, as well as being the tool used to transmute other metals, external to the self, with the stone’s “powder of projection”. The summum bonum of the whole of the work.
Taro Etymology from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://windowseat.ca/
http://
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Our Comment:
First of all, we must thank SJ for his fascinating article and all of the hard work he put in to prepare this material.
Jung regarded alchemy as a projection of the collective unconscious onto the external world, and the pursuit of the philosopher’s stone and the transmutation of base metal into gold as the process of individuation whereby we transform the Ego into the Self. Alchemy once served as an excellent means of disguising heresy under a bewildering jargon, impenetrable to anyone other than the initiates and adepts. However, it began to take on a life of its own and develop into a crazy hybrid of chemistry and mysticism. There is a specific type of alchemy that Illuminism still holds in the highest regard and keeps extremely secret, but what usually passes as alchemy is regarded as archaic and outmoded in relation to science, mathematics, philosophy and psychology. What does a discussion of the four ancient elements mean in an era of the Periodic Table, nuclear fusion and fission (scientific transmutation of the elements!)?
The supreme ability – controlling and manipulating matter with the mind – isn’t achieved through antique alchemy. If you find alchemical jargon stimulating and inspiring, by all means delve into this arcane subject and try to discover its secrets. However, it must be said that the alchemy you will find discussed in relevant books is a bit like Latin – a fascinating but dead language. The world has moved on. Mainstream alchemy was replaced by something much more powerful – chemistry – and the highest alchemy is now based on contemporary science and psychology, not on medieval manuscripts. Everything evolves and it can be counterproductive to keep looking to the past when the answers mostly lie in the present and the beyond.
Illuminism respects the past, but it doesn’t worship it. Humanity has much more knowledge now than in the days of Pythagoras. Which is the more profitable use of your time? – studying alchemy or quantum mechanics, the past or the future? Alchemy is Mythos and quantum mechanics Logos.
The past is seen as sexy and mysterious. Many people seriously believe that the ancients knew much more than modern humanity; that if only we could discover the greatest secrets of the ancients then we would know the Mind of God. Illuminism, on the other hand, teaches the gospel of the dialectic. The past provides necessary building blocks for the present, but the present is much more dialectically advanced than the past, so why look backwards to a time of greater ignorance rather than explore the incredible knowledge of the modern world? Be future-oriented, not past-obsessed.
Logos, not Mythos, is the path to knowledge. Old alchemy tells the story of spiritual transformation, but it does not actually deliver it. What is required is much more advanced knowledge based on Logos.
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