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I was very surprised to find that my views of the material state of my existence on Earth were reflected by the Gnostics and Alchemists.

According to Gnostic and Alchemical beliefs the soul was engaged in a 7 step process of ascendance up from the bowels of the Earth or the bowels of hell into the etheral realms aka heaven.

The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy and Mysticism by Alexander Roob

"In the cosmology of the gnostic Ophites, the sea-monster [Leviathan, Ouroboros) as the celestial, primordial water, forms the outermost circle of the world of creation, which is inaccessible to the experi-ence of the senses, and shuts it off from the divine world of love and light.

The Cabala, which is strongly indebted to gnostic teachings, also places a veil between God and creation. Jacob Bohme called this celestial veil the "Upper Water", and in Blake's mythology man has dwelt in the sea of time and space since the Flood.
In the gnostic view, earthly existence is a sphere of grim exile, and for Paracelsus it is even the place to which Lucifer was banished: Hell itself.
At birth the light-soul descends the ladder of the seven spheres to earth, in the process coarsened by the planets, which are seen as humble creator-gods and demons (archonts), and coated in dirty layers of matter.

Each planet impresses a negative property upon the soul as it passes, dulling it in the process: Venus immodesty. Mercury miserli- ness, Mars wrath, Jupiter vanity, etc.
After death the earthly body remains behind as a shell in Tar- tarus, and the soul rises through the region of air (Beemoth) and back up to the archontes, although these attempt to obstruct the soul's passage. Hence, precise knowledge (gnosis) of the passwords and signs is required to open the way to sevenfold purification.

The passage through the final sphere is the most difficult. According to Ophitic doctrine, this sphere's master is Saturn, the demiurge, the "accursed" god who created time and space. He is the serpent guarding paradise."

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Alchemical Awakening Forum

I did go a bit into this on my thread "Alchemy" and the alchemical birds as a ladder of the ascension into the ethereal. And Blake, and several alchemical texts, etc., if anyone is interested.

Please post more. Alchemy is such a great area of study and it really is all encompassing.

Exactly.
You start to look into it and see how it connects to so much.

yeah, right on. I started the alchemy forum to spread the knowledge. I've had such a great experience this past year and alchemy has helped sum up my awakening to the whys of life. I hope more people will experience this alchemical awakening state of spirituality.

Read The Alchemist by paulo coelo

Same here. Well there are different types of alchemy, the Great Work and the Lesser Work. I've always viewed some of the manuscripts as allegories and metaphors for spirituality (because it is applicable to that). Particularly the Great Work, that ties into the soul, and making the soul "golden".

Yes, this can apply to. Amazing to look at some of the alchemical creationism artwork with the great sphere's. Tells so much in pictures it's amazing.

This stuff fasinates me as well. I've done a little research on the Gnostics and alchemy. I'm still reading through Yelekiah's post which you should check out as well because its excellent.

I don't know if this makes any sense but it always seems to come down to thought. As if thought broke through the barriers and has the ability to break through the veil of the conscious reality which might not be the reality at all.

I had some pretty wild dreams about Alchemy (thought as abstract of the spirit) and "the veil." One dream I was told about being born with a veil that seperates us from the true reality. Another dream I was told that we are born into bondage. Last night another crazy one, that Eintein was doing a theory on enlightenment and was debating Buddha about thought and matter. There was so much info I had to write it all down....strange I know. But somehow I feel thought is the connection to everything like spirit that breaks through the barrier or veil after death but permantently perhaps when done in the human mind. Don't know if that makes sense at all. I'm just rambling.

Do you mean a permanent memory retention of some type from one existence to the next?

I'm really trying to understand myself. I could try to put it in words but I'd probably have to do a short theosis on it. Perhaps more of a permanent state of thought like just being thought and intergrated with everything else in a way. A state of enlightenment that is final as we know it in our terms. How final or permanent in eternity I can only compare it to our time. Its like this whole cause and affect up a ladder into virtual being of thought and enlightenment. Blah blah blah right?

I'm actually taking notes to better describe it to myself or for myself. Its like I see a clock and time, I can take the back off and see the mehanics and batteries but I cannot see the driving force. I can make sense of how the clock works on the whole but I can't break each element apart and grasp it....see what I mean?

Is the Blake being referred to in this thread William Blake (as in "The Tyger")?

Yes he is

I watch the show fullmetal alchemist and yet i cant transmute anything.....

Thanks, Yele.

Just wanted to be sure the reference was to Blake's philosophical alchemy, i.e. "Marriage of Heaven and Hell" and "No Natural Religion"...

And, now I need to watch Dead Man again.

- Michael

I don't believe that FMA has any place in real life. To me, some alchemical manuscripts were allegorical or spiritual metaphors.

Yes, Yele, I agree. Blake's ideas reflect that philosophical alchemy of human existence, Faith, the imagination, poetic expression (all "true" art, actually), and the like. He certainly employed allegory, symbolism, metaphor, multiplicity of reference, and synaesthesia. Just considering the contraries in Songs of Innocence and in Songs of Experience demonstrate Blake's veracity in articulating his vivid layers.

And... I did watch Dead Man again. Jarmusch captured Blake's "things" with unparalleled filmic genius.

I agree wholeheartedly. You are very perceptive.