Shall we talk about the significance of gold in alchemy?
Sidebar first: In Egypt, where alchemy as we know it had its origin, gold was valued less than glass.
It’s pretty significant in modern science too. Indeed, it is. The alchemical interest in gold really had nothing to do with making themselves wealthy. For alchemists, their interest was in the stability and persistence of gold. As far as chemical and thus material processes go, gold is indestructible, immortal if you will.
Transfers both heat and electricity better than any other element. Yes.
Did Egypt have the world’s first mad scientists I wonder? They had the world’s first electrical batteries as far as anyone knows.
Like the arc of the covenant. Indeed, good connection. Electromagnetic (EM) fields can produce a sense of supernatural presence even now. We now have a machine that can do it.
How did they attempt to create the philosophers stone and why did they want it? Ok, both questions relate to the philosophers stone. The scientific version of the philosophers stone would be the unified field theory. They wanted either to create the philosophers stone or at least to understand it as a way of getting a handle on the ultimate nature of reality to understand why we live in such an unstable world, which is why they liked gold symbolism. It seemed to provide evidence for their intuition that stability could be achieved in our reality if the right circumstances were arrived at.
They didn’t see gold like we do. Gold was a state of being that anything could in theory achieve. If you arrived at human gold you would have godlike man. If the land achieved a gold state, it would never suffer blight or dangerous upheaval. It is what gave rise to the concept of gold standard as it relates to finished products. It had nothing to do with monetary value. They tried to train artisans to a point that their work was consistent and of real lasting worth. That is what gold standard meant. This is why people used to comment that old things, like old houses and such, were built to last. They were still trying to hold to that standard.
So that’s where the legend of the philosophers stone turned lead into gold came from. Exactly. It turned base, soft mutable matter, into persistent and pure ideal. Lead was poisonous and alchemists knew it even then. You can ingest gold with no ill effect. It’s even still used in some medical injections.
Fancy restaurants put gold leaf on cakes. Yes, indeed, and it is edible. It doesn’t taste like much though. People used to ingest gold because they believed it had medicinal qualities. More specifically it was thought to purify the bloodstream of any possible disease. It was a panacea.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~