Symbols ana a

⁶ Cf. Berthelot, Intnxlucrinn, 84.

the first descending arc are dissolved in the Moon C. This is an allusion to the immersion of the reflective waking consciousness in certain vital energies, design nated by the term zd (fivcixdv. The successive ascending arc rejoins Jupiter _> to which corresponds in the external consciousness the vis agcndi-zo TZpaxvtxov (we could also call it the "will," in its narrow modern sense); this is dissolved in Mercury $ as in the energy frequently infraconscious, of the subtle intellect that runs invisibly through the woof of the common psychic processes—to i-pfjr)V£iniK6v. It returns to rise up to Mars d\ as ardor animosicads - to Ovpixov— which finds its dissolvent in Venus Q—rd iniOop^Tixov, after which the descend' ing arc enters the renascence or reminiscence of the solar 0 consciousness, which begins to shine out through the dark masses of the body's prison.

Now follows the second movement, starting from the exact center O. The Sun, as vircus, ios, ferment, "stem," virile force of "rectification," etc., projects itself onto Venus and transforms her into Mars. With this power it agitates and fixates the Mercury and from it extracts the Jupiter. Finally it descends into the radical power of the Waters, understood as the outer limit of the vital force C irradiating "Our Earth" and with that, it reascends, rejoins Saturn and recognizes it as the God of the "Golden Age.” Thereby—and in accord with the gnostic precept—that which is above is extended to that which is below, and that which is below is carried above. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in this phase are '’regenera­tions," noble metals no longer dead, out of which is produced an elixir of treble potency, capable of curing the "incurable disease of privation," that is, of the state of necessary materialism (see pages 77-78), of the three kingdoms, mineral, veg­etable, and animal.
Here essentially are the deep entifications of man, and because of the not only symbolic and analogical but also magical correspondence of these entities with the kingdoms of nature in the true sense, this can also signify an introduction of consciousness into those nonphysical entities, of which these three kingdoms are the cosmic avenues of perception. "Mars" must be recognized, then, as that which is manifested tangibly in the form of the collective energies of animality; "Jupiter," as that which is reflected in the structures and growths determined by the nature of the forces of plants; while "Saturn," would be the "gods" that produce the world of metals, salts, and crystals within the mineral Earth:⁴⁴⁴ together these planets constitute the triad of the great Uranian Gods.
The other three planets or principles, below the Sun or heart, act as dissolvents of the three vulgar suprasolar forms and represent macrocosmically that which corresponds to the human subconscious. They are the "nedier" powers where the principle of chaos dwells. The "dissolution" that the initiate confronts as he descends into these interior* tertac is equivalent to thar dissolution which, at the moment of natural death, returns the individual principles of the human being to the original impersonal macrocosmic roots whence they derived and on which they were fed. This region can properly be called the realm of Hades, that is, where the dead go, and when the portal is opened—not by a stream flowing down from the upper to the lower, but, on the contrary, by a nether force moving toward the higher spheres, the faculties of the. awakened higher consciousness then occurs the phenomenology of mediums, diabolical possession, confused and instinctual clair­voyance, visionary and nebulous mysticism with its angels, demons, and divers apparitions. This hybrid result of noncorporeal experiences mixed with repercus­sions of organic states and subjective residues, cakes the form of uncontrolled and schizophrenic imagination.
This danger is greater in the methods of the wet path because these try to seek the objective precisely through the ascending path that the power of the liberated dissolving waters open. We have to insist here on what we have already said about anything deriving from the presence of unreduced elements, whether their presence is due to an inadequate preparation of the material or to insufficient energy of the awakened forces, which in the wet path are necessary to neutralize completely ("decapitate") every faculty of the external human consciousness.
However, when the current descends from the upper spheres, bringing with it a "quintessence”—obtained by means of asceticism and purification—of the facul­ties of the higher level of awakening, which have become independent of all infrasensible and affective influence, then such a "quintessence’' acts as one of those chemical reagents a single drop of which is enough to clarify and make transparent certain very muddy solutions. The light is extended through the netherworld and its dark and vague forms change into definite and divine forms of the higher world: the one and the other being ultimately—as the septenary declares—the same reality that presents itself in two different states or experiences.⁴⁴⁵
Let us add a few words about the correspondences between the metals, gods, and centers of power in man from the practical point of view. In the same way that the energies of a "god” are expressed in the processes that form those metals in the bosom of the earth that traditionally were consecrated to it; and, moreover, as they are manifested also in the kinds of life energies which in man are expressed by designated organs and centers—so between certain forces locked in the body and certain metals there exist analogical relations of a "magical" (sympathetic) type, which serve as a basis for three distinct practical possibilities.
First, the introduction into the organism of certain metallic substances in given doses and forms, when the consciousness has been "refined” enough to be able to accompany and surprise what happens behind the scenes of the densest corpore­ality, can serve to introduce the same consciousness into the corresponding "cen­ters” that have been especially energized by those substances. Moreover, if the imagination has a certain independence of the corporeal senses, it is possible for the resultant experience to be dramatized in the form of visions of f igures and divini­ties, often utilizing the images that the operator keeps latent in his subconscious as vestiges of his faith or tradition ⁴⁴⁶ As can be seen, this brings us again, in a certain way and at least from a more precise direction of efficacy, to the technique of the "sacred beverages” and the "corrosive waters” in general (see pages 135-137).
Vice versa, once the consciousnesses sleeping in designated centers or organs of the human body have been extracted, it is possible thereby to be introduced into the "mysteries” of the forces acting occultly in the corresponding metal natures. Or in more mythological terms, it is propitious to contact the gods under whose influences these metals are formed, This is one of che fundamental premises for the operations of alchemy, strictly speaking; that is to say, the actual transmutation of real metals by means oi the hermetic power (see page 202).
Finally by certain rites known to ceremonial magic and theurgy, or by other techniques not excluding cases that seem to be in the category of spontaneous phenomena or "revelations,” it is possible to arrive at the beginning of an experi­ence that takes on the form of a god and whereby one can be introduced into the "mysteries,” either of the body or of designated metals. This can go so far as to provide the illusion of a transmission of wisdom on the part of a being considered to be real and existing in it. This is, in any case, the foundation of ancient traditions within memory, according to which certain divinities taught men the sciences and arts, but kept the secrets of them to themselves (an echo of this is preserved in Christianity in the form of the "protector” saints of certain human activities), in the traditional world it is this aspect of that organic and Unitarian conception of the universe by virtue of which every art and craft also had grades of initiation that conferred a sacred mystery upon it.
In this way physiology was, in ancient times, also a mystic theology; and theology was at the same time a "physics,” an introduction to the actual interior knowledge of nature. And it was also a ''medicine,”⁴⁴⁷ as much in the practical matter-of-course sense as in the transcendental sense; and this double sense, incon­ceivable to the modern mentality, reveals the synthetic point of view of sacred science, which can be reached only through the spirit.