The Philosophical and Initiatic Mountain of the Adepts:

The Philosophical and Initiatic Mountain of the Adepts: (Stephan Michelspacher's, Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchimya) Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.🌹 ''Rosae Crucis fraternitati dicata edita, quo hac in materia amplius nil desideratum=''Published and dedicated to the Brotherhood of the Rosy Croos, so that Nothing more is lacking in this matter'' (Dedication, Latin edition 1616) "Above the stars of God, I will lift up my throne, and I will sit on the mountain of reunion, in the remotest parts of the north." (Isaiah 14:13) Stephan Michelspacher's Kabbalistic Metallurgical Work or Chymic Kabbalah originally appears in 1615. (press-David Francke in Augsburg) There is the Latin edition = Cabala, Speculum Artis et Naturae, in Alchymia of 1616. Michelspacher is a Lutheran and Paracelsian physician located in Tyrol in the early 17th century. In the work, metallurgical elements and sacred mining are fused with Paracelsian, Kabbalistic, alchemical-astrological ideas. The celestial Powers are incarnated between the angles of the polished and sacred Stone. Around 1613-1619 he created an important publishing house in Augsburg. He was a friend-brother of the Rose🌹 of Daniel Mogling like his other brother of the Rose, Johann Remmelin (1583-1632). They are brothers of the Flowery Order of the Ancestral Rose, some engravers, alchemists, doctors and Hermetics with the sole purpose of illustrating the path that the Adept must travel when he finds the Door to the Temple. The invention of the printing press stimulated the publication and dissemination of books, manuscripts and alchemical engravings. You have to know how to touch to get in... and knowing how to ask to find a way to polish the rough stone and internalize the lapis philosophorum; Philosophers' Stone and Angle Head. ''... the stone that the builders rejected has become the head of an angle" (Luke 20:17-18) We must return to the original path and purpose of the Philosophy of the Sacred Stone, true Initiatory Path. The important thing, in the images we see, is that they will always be able to say more than what could be said with words. Simplifying to the maximum degree...Let us look at the iconography and, above all, interpret it from another hermetic-Masonic-alchemical angle, since the Adept enters "Lost Steps" and bandaged at the Door of the Temple-Mountain Gate of the Amphitheater of Wisdom, symbols and instruments of transmission of knowledge. Truly the sacred mountain is the enclosure where the symbolism of the sacred stone is hidden from profane vision, which is "House at the base of Heaven-Earth", and the mountain (as we can see) is seated on the watery element of water (water of chaos). It is the "watery and nourishing moisture of the stone". As we have already seen, the temple-mountain is at the center of the world, and it is there that the astrological planets "gods" descend to earth and mount the Cosmic Planet. "The territory, the city, the temple or palace, because it is located in the 'center of the world'', that is, at the summit of the Cosmic Mountain, is considered to be the highest place in the world, the only one not flooded by the flood". (Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols, p.p.45-46) Consequently, the hare (raw material) seeks the mercurial hiding place and indicates that the mountain uterus can only be accessed through a cave to enter the Adept in the process of correspondences between certain determined planets, plants, rocks-metals = primary matter lapidis. The mountain of the philosopher's links heaven and earth and at the same time, ladder and possibility of spiritual ascension or the path of perfection. Hermes-Mercury is 'spiritus mercurialis' that is marked on the path of ascension thanks to its proximity to the sun. And it is interesting to note that it is the entrance to the path of ascension that takes place in gradual stages = ladder and returns to the transcendent state of purification. Thus, for example, the Temple and Palace is accessed through 7 steps = scala polished and significant lapidis of initiatory Degrees and the precise time to reach the Solar Mercury. As we have already seen, the constitution of man according to Paracelsus, is constituted by 7 Principles or modifications of a Primordial and universal Essence of ascension and transformation. There is no need to insist any more: Every Path of the initiate to the temple = Athanor is a solar path in search of the Light. In any case, this symbolism of the center is associated with the number 7 or alchemical-planetary levels of the cosmos. Let us remember the Mithra scale and its 7 steps. (each with an alchemical planetary-metallic symbol). As you can see in the image; The work begins in May under the sign of Taurus according to the zodiacal circle of the image, but There is no presence of a rigorous zodiacal order, since the image refers to the well-known planetary personification. In 1613 Michelspacher published the famous work Catoptron Microcosmicum (a book of complex Paracelsian human anatomy). Work in which the macrocosm-microcosm relationship is discussed as a reflection of antagonistic zodiacal astrological forces and the language of the sky and its zodiacal psychic qualities. In initiates tradition of Mysteries, the adeptus when to the ritual = (Blindfolded-Bandage o ''hoodwinked''). "In this holy and most true Science, he is lost in the darkness of the night, for whom the Sun does not shine; it's in thick darkness...'' (Novum Lumen chymicum) The journeyman finds himself lost among "Lost Steps" - without Ariadne's thread - in search of the path or path that leads him to the sacred mountain of Hermes = Mount Hermon = Mount Hermes. ''... the blindfolded man does not see the way." You cannot see the climbing ladder; you must be guided. More importantly: Path of Light that leads to progressive and escalating ascension in the search for light. ''... the experience of Light radically changes the ontological status of the subject, opening him up to the world of spirit". (Mircea Eliade, Mephistopheles and The Androgyne-conceptual and thematic of Jacob's ladder, p.96) In fact, Solomon's Temple-Mountain was built on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, so figuratively the mountain embodies the wisdom attained from the center of all the Mountain of Hermes = Mount Hermon = (Thing Dedicated; Forbidden thing). The Mountain is the cornerstone of the Temple and the rock of Jerusalem, according to Eliade, penetrates deeply into the underground waters of aquatic chaos. (Mircea Eliade, Occultism, Witchcraft and Cultural Fashions, p.51) The Arab brothers call it Jebel esh-Sheik=Montaña of the Ancient of the Gray Beard or Jebel eth Thalj=Montaña of the Snow, since its "Dew of the Spirit of May" is "like good oil that descends on the beards... and reaches to the edge of his garments..." The celestial dew is ''coeli flower''= Flower of the Sky and is collected as celestial agriculture on precise astrological dates. However, it is a highly allegorical language that must be taken in a total mystical-analogical sense. Master Gobineau de Montluisant confirms; "By the Ram and the Bull, as well as the Twins, placed one above the other, and who reign in the months of March, April, and May, they teach that it is at that time that the alchemical Sage must go out to meet matter, and catch it at the instant when it descends from the sky and the aerial fluid." (Esprit Gobineau de Montluisant: Very Curious Explanation of the Enigmas and Hieroglyphic Figures that are in the Grand Portal of the Metropolitan Church of Notre-Dame de Paris) However, Michelspacher's iconography explains the development of the arduous alchemical ascension process of "gradual operations". So, the image picks up and captures Jacob's sense of ladder and a complex worldview of up and down in absolute uniqueness. ''The which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above.'' 7 Planetary Gods = 7 Metals. We can see at the top Hermes-Hiram (HRM) herald of messengers, Father of Freemasonry and vehicle of initiation and of the process of alchemical compounds to obtain gold. Mercury on a Hexagonal Fountain winged and in his right hand – Caduceus and in his left – the Stars (6 Points). Hermes mercurial is filius macrocosmi and son of the Cosmos. 'aurum nostrum non est aurum vulgi''. And under the Fountain and mountsan acronym=''VWIWV''= Meaning='Unser Wasser ist Wasser Unser=Our Water is Water Ours... According to metallurgical symbolism, the scheme evidences the scala philosophorum or cosmic mountain from whose "metallic body" and initial mound as "rough stone" the soul = Mercury and Sulphur = Spirit must be extracted. "To tell you everything in a few words, know, my Son, that the Quintessence and the hidden of our Stone is nothing but our viscous, celestial and glorious Soul, which we draw by our Magisterium from the only Mine that generates it..." (Morienus: Dialogue of King Khalid with the Hermitan Morienus: Library of the Philosophers Chymicum) Undoubtedly, one of the 5 main symbols of the alchemical = hermetic bestiary appears above: the Phoenix (raven, swan, basilisk, pelican and phoenix). It is climbed to the Mount of the adepts by means of 7 Principles = Calcination, Sublimation, Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, coagulation and Tinctura. The Phoenix is the crowning of the Work and image on the dome, it is avis Hermetis that arises from the stellar Sun-Moon duality and a reflection of alchemical marriage. 1. Calcinar = (calx-burning process in the Athanor and first Operation of purification of substances; usually changes the composition in the athanor. 2. Sublimate = condensing vapours into solids without going through a liquid process. There are two forms; one at a distance and the other is a process that reforms matter in a splendid way and thus the vapors rise. 3.Solution=liquid mixture comprising a solvent and a distribution component=Lat. Solutium. Many times, in the process the substances coagulate, dissolve and attenuate. They are mixed and liquefied, secreted and separated by calcination and dissolution in Opus. 4. Putrefaction = phase of fermentation or dissolution associated with the process of decline of organic matter through solvent and the heat of fire. It is associated with digestion or dissolving substances by applying a gentle heat. 5. Distillation = by means of slow fire = Festina lens the separation of the metallic mixtures is achieved by taking them to a certain degree of "humidity" or elevation to ethereal forms condensed in the still to reach the Tinctura. 6. Coagulation = it is a process in liquids that merge and condense, reducing their state to solid; There are two ways: cold and hot. It is a synthesis and restitutive process. 7. Tinctura = Paracelsus was of opinion that the Tinctura behaved like the Rebis =''double-thing'' that makes Gold from Silver and other metals, in the same way it = Tinctura acts on the body-temple; he takes hold of what in him is disorder, disease and "rudeness" and manages to transform everything into the noble, pure and most enduring. Very specific and powerful arcane already contains certain essence, qualities and forms (also color). In Paracelsian medicine it restores health and power, blood and vital heat. It is the Ladder that leads from duality to the unity of the whole. ''If anyone will climbe that ladder, he shall come into a most wonderfull place, that hee shall see and have experience of many secrets in the transmutation of Natural Things''. (Paracelsus, De Natura rerum=Of the Nature of Things, 1650) For this reason, the philosopher's stone -lapis philosophorum- by its internal principles has an active generative principle that contains the power of metallic transmutation and healing of diseases. In this sense, it is engendered in the athanor (Opus) of the body-stone as a microcosm. The parallelism between the mountainand the cosmic symbolism that is found in its very structure since it is a mountainand sacred enclosure divided into a 4-part enclosure and the base of the stone in the four cosmic directions. The stone comes from 4 elements. 4 Elements circumd=circumambulatio in the image: Ignis=Fire. Aeris = Air. Terrae = Earth and Aqua = Water. It is aqua noster = our water and permanent water, the vessel from which the Stone arises. ''Lapis enim est haec ipsa permanent aqua, et dum aqua est, lapis non est''=''the stone is this permanent water, and it is not stone insofar as it is water''. (Rosarium🌹) The mountain is an image of the universe and a unifying symbol of contrasts of the foundation stone. It is located above water. Since the Stone is a hierophany, since it reveals a sacred and hidden reality that transcends it, Source of Wisdom and pure, healing power of the earth. Next to the stone we see flowers with Three petals in allusion to the Paracelsian Tria-prime and its three Principles of Everything = Salt-Sulphur-Mercury. Already in the temple we find the duality King and Queen and conjunction of the perfect marriage since without the alchemical experience of the contradictory there is no Magnum Opus or Royal Art. The separation of the sexes is a long tradition of original androgyny resulting from the fall and fragmentation of the coincidentia oppositorum. The conjunction is and symbolizes the consummation of the work. At the end of the temple above, hidden "in the Chamber of Secrets", is the Athanor—altar and sacred furnace of the sacred metallurgical mining process. The Queen holds in her hand Three Flowers = Tria prima: White Flower of Lunar Tint, Blue Flower of Wisdom and another... that I almost forgot. Albedo-Rubedo -Nigredo. Let us specify that the cosmic influence of the astrological powers is observed in the symbolic gradation on both sides of the mountain. The left side is Solar Planets. Venus with her flamboyant heart and reflecting mirror speculum veritatis. Mars in his armor and sacred flaming sword. Sun with its Scepter-insignia "always close to Mercury". On the mountain and its symbols, we find a certain zodiacal order where each zodiac sign corresponds to a chemical substance. Taurus = antimony, Libra = virid acris-green copper, green-gray, universal seed or raw material. Scorpio = vitriol. Leo=Cuprúm. Aries = sulphur-sulfur one of Three Principles. Virgo = ammoniac salt. Gemini = Cinnabar-cinabris or Sulfid form of mercury. Cancer = unknown-''orpiment??''. Sagittarius = Common salt. Pisces = Saltpetre = salt Prapuratum. Capricorn = Tartarus = Potassium Bitartrate and Aquarius = Alumen?/Aluminum. On the right-side Lunar Planets. Saturn with his Scythe and the child. Jupiter with its thunderbolts and scepter and Luna or Diana the huntress with spear or harpoon and hunting horn. It is the image of the hidden Temple of the Mountain of the Philosophers of Stone. The Philosophical and Initiate Mountain of the Adepts: (Stephan Michelspacher's, Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchimya) Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.🌹