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China is the only country today that has fully implemented certain disciplines of inner alchemy for the masses – perhaps the most unexpected turn of events ever in the long history of this secret science. After the Maoist revolution, China found itself with less than half of its former medical practitioners, while the population increased during the Mao era from 400 to 800 million. The government needed to come up with a solution for the medical crisis in order not to face the potential of a counter-revolution. The Chinese approach was radical: Taoists, Tai Chi and Chi Gung teachers who had basically no interest whatsoever in making their secrets public were told to design Tai Chi and Chi Gung programs for the health of the general population or face the extermination of their entire clan. The blackmail worked, a populist system of great efficacy was developed and from the mid 1950s to this day, about 200 million people in mainland China practice Tai Chi or Chi Gung, which literally means ‘energy work’.10
Chinese alchemists are convinced that at least some of their brethren actually had become xian, or immortals. And despite the communist revolution and the official doctrine of atheism, these Xian have kept a place in the heart of the general population: The Eight Immortals rank among the most popular figures in Chinese folklore today.
In part two of this series, we shall gain some insights into the basic concepts of alchemy and how they apply to us today.
Raoul Tollmann grew up in Austria. The son of two university geologists, he was introduced at early age to the mineral kingdom. A near death experience at age 14 put him on the spiritual path; his natural scientific bent eventually led him to apprenticeship under two contemporary alchemists. In 2001 he founded AlchemiaNova, a company that produces his alchemical gem elixirs and noble gas waters. For more information: alchemianova.com
Footnotes
1 Principe, Lawrence M.: The Aspiring Adept – Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest, Princeton 1998, Princeton University Press
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2 Two books and numerous articles by the late Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs (Cambridge University Press 1975 and Smithsonian Institution Libraries 1990) on the alchemical preoccupation of Sir Isaac Newton ushered in a completely new view of the man and his life. Reported symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning suggest that Sir Isaac is likely one of the many casualties of alchemical experimentation. Robert Boyle’s ill health and demise are well covered in Lawrence Principe’s book “The Aspiring Adept”
3 More on Egyptian Alchemy can be found in: Brier, Bob: Ancient Egyptian Magic, New York 1981, Quill
4 The disconnect of spirit from our contemporary sciences found its worst expression in the materialistic psychologies of Wundt and Pavlov, and for traditional alchemists it is with great delight to observe that today’s movers and shakers of the material science of physics, particularly quantum physics, are finally connecting back to the realm of the non-material
5 Several authors have compiled documents of independent third-party witnessed miraculous cures as well as metallic transmutations performed by various adepts of medieval Europe; books for further study are: Sadoul, Jacques: Alchemists and Gold, New York 1972, Putnam, as well as Doberer, K.K.: The Goldmakers – 10,000 Years of Alchemy, Westport, Connecticut 1972, Greenwood Press Reprint
6 Mookerji, Kaviraj Bhudeb (editor): Rasa-Jala-Nidhi or Ocean of Indian Chemistry & Alchemy, 5 vol., India : several editions by several publishers available
7 Saraswati, Sunyata and Avinasha, Bodhi: Jewel in the Lotus – The Tantric Path to Higher Consciousness, California 1996, Sunstar Publ.
8 Frantzis, B.K.: Opening The Energy Gates of Your Body – The Tao of Energy Enhancement Series, Berkeley, California 1993, North Atlantic Books
9 Preciously little of the vast alchemical heritage of the Middle Kingdom has been translated into Western languages; three of the more readable works on Chinese lab alchemy are: Ware, James R.: Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of A.D. 320, the Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1966, The M.I.T. Press, and: Sivin, Nathan: Chinese Alchemy - Preliminary Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1968, Harvard University Press, as well as: Johnson, Obed Simon: Study of Chinese Alchemy, Shanghai, China 1928, The Commercial Press.
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