DRAGON AND ALCHEMY

Feb. 18th, 2018 - The symbolism of the snake is very old and is found in almost all the origins of civilizations, on all continents. At the beginning of the world, appeared the dragons which are often
described as violent beasts that the Gods have to fight and defeat. Also in the Middle Ages, the troubadours were used to sing the exploits of knights in the pure heart facing terrible dragons. But has the dragon, this mythical creature, existed really?

Physically, in the Prehistory, it seems to have existed under the form of a flying snake... But if we go out of the Prehistory, and go earliest in the field of alchemy, sure the dragon has existed during more than a thousand years. In fact it was an allegory as testified numerous treaties of the year 600 which reports about numerous meetings of european alchemists. At the time they were talking about a snake that was supposed to appear into the glass of their alembics.

In fact the "alchemical" snake goes back to the time of Moses where lived a famous egyptian female magician who had the same name of the Queen Cleopatra and who left a treaty on "how manufacturing gold". For the initiated, the body of this snake at once dark and clear was in fact the illustration that the Good and evil in this world are united in matter. This is how the evil snake of Eden became a beneficial snake. For the alchemists, the snake changed into the dragon and its body made of light and darkness took a special meaning:

It is very venomous and yet it is perfect.
When it sees the sun’s rays,
It splashes its venom all around,
And fly to the heights with so much impetuosity
That no living creature can resist it ...

Sacrifice it, peel it from its skin,
separate the flesh from the bones,
and you will find what you are looking for.

In fact, the dragon is for the alchemists the Mercury which once precipitated and dissolved in its own liquid, then coagulates again. But before the miracle is accomplished on this metal that contains its own remedy, the "dragon" must be killed. The perfect gold of the philosopher can not be produced without a prior destruction. The mystic
initiate had to go through the same conditions: that is to that he could not conquer the state of grace without first destroying the passions of his body.

When he has smothered the black hydra in his heart, then he will be purified and the darkness will be transformed in whiteness. When the black color of the beast will fly in a black smoke, the Wise men will rejoice...

The Mercury of the alchemists is not the chemical substance we know but a volatile gasoline outlet that impregnates things (like the ether), and which proves to be at the origin of everything, as Sulfur and Salt.

Two schools of alchemists merged through the ages with their own quest. One we can definy as pure chemists searching for gold and other matter transmutation, the other searching for perfection that leads to the Wonderful. In fact, the dragon, this mythical beast, symbolises the search of the man having to superate his own weakness in order to reach terrestrial richness or richness of mind.

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