Alchemical Consciousness and the Guardian of the Threshold
"and dark expresses the state of the body when its soul has been removed, in place of this the white smoke must burst forth (this new fluid state of consciousness) which multiplies its waters" Testament of Morienus. The final term of this phrase, that is "multiplies its waters", refers to the multiplication of dream states and visions that are no longer mitigated by the presence of the body, so the alchemist in this state can easily be deceived by dream images produced by himself, as often happens to us in the dream state. Therefore, the alchemist to overcome these illusions must do exactly what he did with the physical body: that is, put to rest, calm and subdue and, in a certain way, detach himself from his emotions and his own thoughts, while always remaining awake, but without them. By doing so he establishes dominion over what are called elements in man: that is, earth in reference to the physical body, water in reference to emotions, air in reference to thoughts. When alchemists speak of conquering the elements and establishing dominion over them, as a first meaning they refer to this procedure and to dominion over the elements in man before those outside him not yet individuated. The alchemist must "train to withdraw the senses from the physical world and open them to the etheric world, then to the astral one, after to the mental and finally to the pure spiritual one" T. Palamidessi, 6th Notebook of Archeosophy. Here then we have a process of progressive dissolution that will lead the Alchemist to "re-crude", to withdraw into himself more and more, freeing himself from the bonds of matter until the Alchemist finds himself in himself, with a certain degree of dissolution from matter. The term "re-crude" has various meanings, generally it is associated with the symbol of the Fountain of Youth. This symbol suggests the alchemist's communication with the Waters in a not yet differentiated state, with pure Mercury so that consciousness itself, by the action of this water, results as "rejuvenated" that is as it was before "aging" and falling into matter. Sometimes it is said that metals that are "dead" (individuated) must be re-cruded and thus become "alive" according to a technique we will see later. At a certain point in this procedure of progressive dissolution from matter the Alchemist sees himself, as in a mirror, sees the specter of himself as materialized in an entity external to him, the alchemist sees himself as he has conceived himself consciously and unconsciously. To this entity the Alchemists have given various names, sometimes diplomatic like mirror of art, loyal servant, subject of the wise or first old man who must become cherub according to the alchemical motto "yesterday's old man is tomorrow's cherub". But sometimes they have indicated it with less flattering terms: sometimes it is represented as a scaly vessel, sometimes as shadow of the body, sometimes as vampire, sometimes as a "black dragon, covered with scales, often covered with red dots, with penetrating, nauseating and toxic odor to which one must cut off the head so as not to remain poisoned by it", as if to suggest a release from it of an irrational and ancestral state of terror to which the alchemist must immediately cut off the head so as not to emerge terrified. Franz Hartmann in The Secret of the Great Work identifies this entity, which he calls "Guardian of the Threshold", as the main matter of the work, identifies it as the means but also the main obstacle in the realization of the Great Work. He also calls it by the name of Herod because "he tries in every way to prevent the birth of the Son of God". In this regard he says: "the first step (for the realization of the Great Work) is the conquest of the Guardian of the Threshold and the secret to such conquest lies in the substitution of self-love with love of the Eternal Good" To understand the profound reason for this indication one must understand what this entity is, who it is and how it was formed. The basic concept regarding this entity is that it is like the image of the processes of the Alchemist's consciousness that reflects and materializes in mercury. In this regard we report a series of passages written by T. Palamidessi in the 10th Notebook of Archeosophy which deals thoroughly with the subject: "...attention, prolonged concentration, meditation, lead to contemplation, and if this is directed egocentrically it creates the phantom, the Guardian with the attributes of narcissism." However, this entity is not only the result of all the conscious processes of the alchemist, which in reality represent only a small part of the forces that contribute to the production of this Guardian, in fact further on we read: "his spirit of conservation and attachment, like the mythological Narcissus, to his physical and psychic person and to everything that can satisfy it, consolidate more and more as entity, especially in favorable conditions." Therefore to the conscious processes must be added all those forces of which the Alchemist is not yet aware that act in the individual's subconscious. Here Hartmann's advice takes on a new meaning: the Alchemist, hindered by this "Guardian", instead of continuing to turn in on himself with an egocentric meditation that generates the phantom, must overcome attachment to his physical and psychic person and open his consciousness to divine contemplation, place his attention on divinity and make his soul theocentric, so that the reflected image impressed on this mercurial substance loses its dark color and instead takes on the appearance of a divine body, of an Angel of Light. "Only in theocentrism is the path that leads to Adeptship possible." T. Palamidessi 10th Notebook of Archeosophy. Here then is the reason for the alchemical motto "yesterday's old man who must become tomorrow's cherub", or "the Old Man"