1. You have to understand very well, precisely the true goal of Alchemy.
It's NOT the Stone, it's NOT gold. It's ALL about Spirituality.
It's a spiritual understanding before everything else, this understanding, translated into a "lab language", can lead to the Stone, this Fruit, leads you to the Core/Source of the Matrix.
We create a medium, a bridge, to pass from the periphery to the Center.
2. You have to erase all false concepts : Virgin Vision
Empty your cup, remove your glasses & filters : toughts, believes, ideas, concepts, culture, informations, etc. Put them aside for a moment. until a new, higher, clearer vision comes.
Be empty, not knowing.
Be humble. No, you don't know. Because if it was the case, you would have the Stone now.
3. You have to develop a profound understanding of Nature through meditation (Hermetical Vision)
What do you know about the polarities in the Universe ? Genesis ? Structures of forms ? Compositions of matters ? Cycles ?
What do you know about all this in Nature ?
Keep asking "why this, why that"... Keep asking ! Seek for answers ! Nature is the Book of all books. learn to read it ! Decypher it ! Be passionnate about that.
4. Learn to hold the Hemetical Paradox and think out of the box.
"You have to die a lot in order to be immortal." This is an Hermetical Paradox.
Put the concepts in all possible senses. Try them all.
5. Work in the Lab.
Matter is a great teacher. And Spiritus too ... One can learn a lot with simple experiments in the lab. Only if one can learn from mistakes and success. If one can understand what "happened", then it's okay !
6. Work in the Oratorium.
The laws in Theurgy and Astrology, and Alchemy are the same. Work in an energetical way too. In, and out, lab, and oratirium. This makes equilibrium.
Oratorium is reading, praying, doing Theurgy, and Astrology, studying Hermetics, and developping the Hermetical understanding of the Universe. It's also practicing some yoga for example.
7. Keep or seek your inner child & fairy Tales taste.
The Fairy Tales mind is important. Totally opposed to the Scientific Vision, it is nonetheless rational.
It can open your vision, your soul to something else. It's not by chance that old Alchemists put their secrets in fairy tales !
8. Take notes & photos.
Keep records of your experiments. Take photos. It's sometime important to have a record in order to see a detail, etc.
9. Learn english, latin, german, french, or italian ... etc, if necessary.
But it is not a necessity. But it is better to read texts in the first language.
Now, the only language you have to speak perfectly is the language of Nature Itself.
10. Saturate your spirit with Alchemical Symbols/engravings.
Make a collection of images, paintings, engravings, etc. And meditate on them, look at them, enjoy them. You can have dreams about them, seeing new engravings in your dreams ... look at differences, and common points. You can paint them, draw them. print them and put them in your lab.
11. See Alchemy everywhere. Make your Vision of the process wider.
Open your mind. Alchemy = Nature, and Nature is expressed everytime, everywhere, and the Archetypes, analogies, are found in a lot of mediums like novels, Sci-fi, tv shows, music, films ...some of these mediums speak sometime more openly of the Alchemical secrets than Alchemical books themselves !
12. Keep hope. Never give up : like Thomas Edison.
Always put on the fire your work. Again and again.
Try, try and try again. until you succeed. You want it ? So work for it. No secret.
13. Details, details, details in lab/oratorium.
There is no such thing as details in Alchemy.
Maybe in engravings... sometime.
A detail can kill you.
A detail can make you mad. So please, try to open your vision and to encompass the "whole" thing before putting in practice something.
14. Never beleive without experimenting it.
Either it is your though, or the informations of someone else, always go to the lab, and put it into practice. Confirm it, or not. Matter, lab, never lie.
When you think you "get it", now, it's time to practice and to see if, actually, you get it or not. And sometime practice can make you a step farther.
15. Take care of yourself.
In all your dimensions, take care of yourself. Body, soul/emotions, mind and spirituality. One cannot approach the understanding of the Stone with a low vibration.
Be healthy, in body, mind, soul. Develop Presence to the Now. Keep cool. Enjoy life. Do what you have to do. Don't bypass your life for the Stone.
Everything interfere on everything, everytime. Cultivate positivity in all the areas of your life.
So, stay tuned to what's going on around you, be "aware" (merci Jean Claude VanDamme lol).
16. Stick to the good authors.
Denys Zachaire, Jean D'Espagnet, Nicolas Flamel, Limojon de St Didier, Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, Cosmopolite, Bernard de la Marche Trévisan, Michael Maier, Lambsprink, Raymond Lulle, Arnaud de Villeneuve, Trismosin ... etc etc!
17. Get the Principles before the recipe !
Plenty of recipes everywhere. But the laws, principles, they are the basics. If you have them all, you have the short cut, you don't loose time money, and energy. Knowledge is power, and shortcut too !
18. Keep it simple !
Please, keep it simple ! How many times we have Alchemists getting lost in the most complicated labyrinth ever ... and they made it ! All by themselves !
