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Elixirs of Immortal Life a Deadly Obsession


rashore

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Blood-red cinnabar and gleaming gold; fickle mercury and fiery sulphur: these were the ingredients of immortality, according the Chinese alchemists of the Tang dynasty. They are also deadly poisons. No fewer than six Tang emperors died after downing elixirs meant to grant them eternal life.

The emperors were not alone in their obsession. The pursuit of immortality fascinated scholars and statesmen alike. The famous poet Po Chu-i, for one, was obsessed with creating the elixir. He spent hours of his life bending over an alembic, stirring concoctions of mercury and cinnabar.

https://daily.jstor.org/elixir-immortal-life-deadly-obsessions/

 

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White powder gold.

Harte

 

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Have kids. Heaps and heaps. That way your genes and DNA lives forever. That’s immortality.

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Now here we have a topic dear to my immortal soul. Although I'm of the opinion that we need no elixirs of any kind to attain immortality. Long ago, I was convinced by a very reliable source that we all have an immortal soul.

Is the subject of immortality limited to Chinese elixirs only? Or can anyone participate, in a general sort of way, with any source or references that have immortality at its core, in essence? 

And is it not self-contradictory to mingle in anything "deathly," obsessions or otherwise, with the very concept of immortality? How can anything immortal suffer death? Unless one or the other, death, or immortality is just an illusion. We cannot have both, unless death is the illusion, and not immortality. Because the reality of something immortal can bear the illusion of death, but not otherwise. As the reality of death cannot bear the illusion of immortality, it just won't be able to, once dead it cannot bear an illusion or anything else, for that matter.

But I'm slightly dyslectic, and not just with text, as I'm also thoughtfully dyslectic, and sometimes I have difficulty with thinking sequentially, as I think out of order and create chaos in my mind. Therefore my reasoning is not reliably orderly nor straight, when it comes to circular ideas, such as the cycle of life and death. We are told that in nature everything is a continuous cycle of life and death, except perhaps for the beginning and end of nature itself., since we are told it had no beginning, and therefore no end. Because we need to ask, how can anything have an end, if it had not began in the first place? But then, be have better define just what death and life are in nature. Or is, as they may be the same thing, at one point or the other?    

Kudos to the moderator, Rashore, for initiating this very interesting topic! May it never end!

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3 minutes ago, Captain Risky said:

Have kids. Heaps and heaps. That way your genes and DNA lives forever. That’s immortality.

And if you have a lot of kids,every day feels like a lifetime.

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1 hour ago, kmt_sesh said:

You want immortality? Mummification is the answer, of course.

Well, I agree that a mummy may linger around for ages, but is that really immortality?

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5 minutes ago, Pettytalk said:

Now here we have a topic dear to my immortal soul. Although I'm of the opinion that we need no elixirs of any kind to attain immortality. Long ago, I was convinced by a very reliable source that we all have an immortal soul.

Is the subject of immortality limited to Chinese elixirs only? Or can anyone participate, in a general sort of way, with any source or references that have immortality at its core, in essence? 

And is it not self-contradictory to mingle in anything "deathly," obsessions or otherwise, with the very concept of immortality? How can anything immortal suffer death? Unless one or the other, death, or immortality is just an illusion. We cannot have both, unless death is the illusion, and not immortality. Because the reality of something immortal can bear the illusion of death, but not otherwise. As the reality of death cannot bear the illusion of immortality, it just won't be able to, once dead it cannot bear an illusion or anything else, for that matter.

But I'm slightly dyslectic, and not just with text, as I'm also thoughtfully dyslectic, and sometimes I have difficulty with thinking sequentially, as I think out of order and create chaos in my mind. Therefore my reasoning is not reliably orderly nor straight, when it comes to circular ideas, such as the cycle of life and death. We are told that in nature everything is a continuous cycle of life and death, except perhaps for the beginning and end of nature itself., since we are told it had no beginning, and therefore no end. Because we need to ask, how can anything have an end, if it had not began in the first place? But then, be have better define just what death and life are in nature. Or is, as they may be the same thing, at one point or the other?    

Kudos to the moderator, Rashore, for initiating this very interesting topic! May it never end!

I think to solve an alchemy problem one needs to use hermetic principles. As above so below. If it can end then it has a beginning. But is alchemy really about changing lead into gold and the secret of immortality or changing one self into something greater and accepting life and death as one cycle?

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1 minute ago, Captain Risky said:

I think to solve an alchemy problem one needs to use hermetic principles. As above so below. If it can end then it has a beginning. But is alchemy really about changing lead into gold and the secret of immortality or changing one self into something greater and accepting life and death as one cycle?

Can lead be turned into gold? Paracelsus, or an old Egyptian idea? You are playing right into the hands of the Egyptology experts. Can orichalcum be turned into mountain copper?

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4 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Alchemy amounts to early chemistry. 

For a fellow that keeps complaining about redundancy, have you other than just those two links? What kind of poker game is this, placebo effect and magic are wild?

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1 hour ago, Pettytalk said:

Can lead be turned into gold? Paracelsus, or an old Egyptian idea? You are playing right into the hands of the Egyptology experts. Can orichalcum be turned into mountain copper?

Possibly. But more importantly will your posts ever make sense?

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1 minute ago, Captain Risky said:

Possibly. But more importantly will your posts ever make sense?

Some day you'll grow up, mentally, and there will no more questions to ask. In fact, we are all on that journey, each of us growing at our own individual, and sweet pace. Remember, my son, the journey itself is more fun than reaching the mecca of the all-knowing state, as knowing everything is boring, because there is nothing else to learn. Ask Harte to translate, as he may understand me all too well. Perhaps because he may be of the Moslem faith, and has made the once in a lifetime recommended/mandated journey to Mecca.

But I need to get some sleep now, and have to log off, Tomorrow will be another day, and another story, and more questions and answers to be had and given. We all share in our sorrows and joy, as we are all one, although too many. To ask anyone to make sense is impossible, and a senseless effort, because we are all full of bullish senses. I have my bulls  and you got yours. But to tell you the truth, sometimes I understand myself more than I do you, If that makes any sense to you. But I won't ask, and I'll just say goodnight, goodnight Captain Risky!

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3 hours ago, Pettytalk said:

Can lead be turned into gold? Paracelsus, or an old Egyptian idea? You are playing right into the hands of the Egyptology experts. Can orichalcum be turned into mountain copper?

Egyptians weren't into alchemy.  That was the Greeks and Romans.

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3 hours ago, Captain Risky said:

I think to solve an alchemy problem one needs to use hermetic principles. As above so below. If it can end then it has a beginning. But is alchemy really about changing lead into gold and the secret of immortality or changing one self into something greater and accepting life and death as one cycle?

Well, sort of. It’s not about accepting death per se (alchemy’s goal is an immortal body after all). I’m sort of surprised I agree with you about this as much as I do. 

—Jaylemurph 

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12 minutes ago, Kenemet said:

Egyptians weren't into alchemy.  That was the Greeks and Romans.

Hermes Trismigestus was totally Egyptian. 

And totally real. Absolutely. 

—Jaylemurph 

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32 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

Hermes Trismigestus was totally Egyptian. 

And totally real. Absolutely. 

—Jaylemurph 

Yes, his name for example is TOTES Egyptian.

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5 hours ago, Pettytalk said:

Well, I agree that a mummy may linger around for ages, but is that really immortality?

not unless there is memory in those mummified cells. 

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1 hour ago, Kenemet said:

Egyptians weren't into alchemy.  That was the Greeks and Romans.

wasn't Hermes Trismigestus a greek amalgamation of Apollo and Thoth? i think it was. my reading also leeds me to believe that the Egyptians weren't interested in alchemy. 

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1 hour ago, jaylemurph said:

Hermes Trismigestus was totally Egyptian. 

And totally real. Absolutely. 

—Jaylemurph 

nah mate you're thinking of herpes trismigestus...

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12 minutes ago, Captain Risky said:

nah mate you're thinking of herpes trismigestus...

And his arch nemesis: Penciclovir Docasonol.

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6 hours ago, Pettytalk said:

For a fellow that keeps complaining about redundancy, have you other than just those two links? What kind of poker game is this, placebo effect and magic are wild?

Don't like facts do you. Chemistry and metallurgy got their start within alchemy. Magick is just self help/personal development with extra steps. The alchemists of old mixed magick with science. 

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7 hours ago, Pettytalk said:

Well, I agree that a mummy may linger around for ages, but is that really immortality?

You would have to understand the Egyptian way of thinking on that..Of course they were not the first to mummify but they carried it to a whole other level thats for sure. Immortality is a lot like beauty it's in the eye's of the beholder.

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