The Varying Degrees of Fire [A Beginners Guide to Alchemy]

I have examined, and continue to observe, many fields of Alchemy, also known as The Art. I currently am a practitioner of the Spagyric field of Alchemy. Spagyric Alchemy is a practical form of The Art which aims to produce powerful medicaments from herbs and minerals using specific techniques which originated with Paracelsus. I will expound further upon the specifics of the workings of this Art as we advance in the study together. For now, we shall discuss Fire.

Alchemists throughout time have been referred to as the Masters of Fire. This is because Alchemists were seen to be working diligently through all hours of the day and night undertaking their experiments while consistently maintaining the performance of their fires. As well, the frequent use, mention, and return to in Alchemy too earned these practitioners the label just the same. Often times, those not versed within the practices of The Art received the names "puffers" as they sought to replicate the grand experiments of the Alchemists, stoking their fires and steadily increasing its heat while heavily relying on the puffing air of their bellows.

While the Alchemist is well aware of the commitment to tending the flames of their crucible, the Alchemist too is conscious of the degree of Fire necessary for the completion of the required operation. When one speaks of the appropriate degree of Fire which must be observed while undertaking each procedure within the parameters of The Art, this is not an attempt to convey simple elementary temperatures, rather this communicates one of four states of this Masculine Elemental.

Elementary Fire
Secret Fire
Central Fire
Celestial Fire

These are the varying degrees of Fire of which the Alchemist devotes to the crucible.

The Elementary Fire is that of the cognitive senses, the fire of our kiln. It is hot & dry. It is impure, thick, & burning. It reduces & separates. It is external of the practitioner & known only by the senses. Its home is here upon the Earth, held within this realm by our atmosphere.

The Secret Fire is much more peculiar in identity and not nearly as simple to pin down, nor master. The great minds of the past have referred to this heat as arrows, swords, lances, etc. It is the Fire which Prometheus stole from the gods. This fire penetrates all things, visible & invisible. It does not burn, isolate, or degrade. Nor is it innate & engendering. This Secret Fire spoken of refers to the higher consciousness, ideas from Above sent Below. Our people share in this divine ability through the power of inspired thoughts & imagination. The most common symbol used in describing the initiation of this sacred entrance of divine communion is the peacock's tail. This is because during Fermentatio, the fermentation process, an oily-slime builds across the surface of the substance inside of the Alchemist's flask which produces a sheen of shiny-rainbow colors. This marked the beginning of the first step wherein the gods intervened and worked alongside the Alchemist.

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Next, we approach the Central Fire. This heat burns without burning. Buried deep in all things. Though it is mixed it remains pure, in and of itself. "It engenders & enlightens sometimes without burning, and burns sometimes without giving any light." Antoine-Joseph Pernety. The Central Fire finds its way into all things through the impregnation of the Celestial Fire.

The Celestial Fire is the most pure of all four grades of our Fires, though it is also the least complex. It has found its abode within the ethereal realm, where it gives of light without burning. Though it is colorless & odorless, "it can be sensibly exhaled" - AJ Pernety. It is known only through its operations. This White Fire is known as God's Fiery Will.

Knowing when and how to access the correct grade of Fire is absolutely pertinent to appropriately applying the operations of Alchemy in one's life. The first stage of the Seven Operations of the Magnum Opus is Calcinatio, Calcination. This step introduces extreme heat to reduce the gross into ashes to be further purified and exalted in the process to follow.

Alchemy never seeks to remove any component, rather it seeks to transform, transmute, the whole into a rarified entity which slumbers within the depths of everything, great & small. The Calcinatio Operation is designed to overthrow our natural desires and developed habits of the psyche. This Fire destroys the original form of the gross object, diminishing the forces binding the subtle energies, allowing for their divine influence to be raised.

We as Alchemists of the Soul follow in suit, raising the heat of our crucibles through Shiva's divine Dance of Creation.

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