Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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| One of my favorite alchemical manuscripts from medieval times is the Aurelia Occulta, published in Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum IV by Elias Ashmole (1659), which has a poem about Mercuris, as the dragon. Aurelia Occulta - “I am the poison-dripping dragon who is everywhere and can be cheaply had. That upon which I rest, and that which rests upon me will be found within me by those who pursue their investigations in accordance with the rules of the Art. My water and fire destroy and put together; from my body you may extract the green lion and the red. But if you do not have exact knowledge of me, you will destroy your five senses with my fire. From my snout there comes a spreading poison that has brought death to many. Therefore you should skillfully separate the coarse from the fine, if you do not wish to suffer utter poverty. I bestow on you the powers of the male and the female, and also those of heaven and earth. The mysteries of my art must be handled with courage and greatness of mind if you would conquer me by the power of fire, for already many have come to grief, their riches and labour lost. I am the egg of nature, known only to the wise, who in piety and modesty bring forth from me the microcosm, which was prepared for mankind by Almighty God, but given only to the few, while the many long for it in vain, that they may do good to the poor with my treasure and not fasten their souls to the perishable gold. By the philosophers I am named Mercurius, my spouse is the philosophic gold, I am the old dragon, found everywhere on the globe of the earth, father and mother, young and old, very strong and very weak, death and resurrection, visible and invisible, hard and soft, I descend into the earth and ascend to the heavens, I am the highest and the lowest, the lightest and the heaviest, often the order of nature is reversed in me, as regards colour, number, weight, and measure, I contain the light of nature; I am dark and light; I come forth from heaven and earth; I am known and yet do not exist at all. By virtue of the sun's rays all colours shine in me, and all metals. I am the carbuncle of the sun, the most noble purified earth, through which you may change copper, iron, tin, and lead into gold.” - Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum IV, Elias Ashmole (1659) |
From the Miscellaneous Treatises on Alchemy, which includes John Lydgate’s “The Churl and the Bird,” from England, Late 1400's, which shows a bird, above a serpent, above a bull horns, above a toad (70e). This appears to perfectly illustrate the secret symbolism. All of them symbolize the mushroom..png) (70e) Miscellaneous treatises on alchemy, including John Lydgate’s ‘The Churl and the Bird.’ England, Late 1400's An alchemical tract titled Cabala Mineralis, by Rabbi Simeon Ben Cantara, supposedly published in the 1700’s, contains the dragon and urine recycling elements wit hdistictive imagery, which becomes useful in helping isolate the Philosopher Stone. One of the images presented is that of a man urinating into a cup and another shows a dragon biting its tail (74a). |
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