Alchemy is the Ancient Egyptian Science of Spiritual Forces and how they affect both matter and living entities.
According to the ancient Egyptians, "Spirit" and "Matter" are two expressions of the same Principle: pronounced "Neteru" in Egyptian, and "Natura" or Nature in later tongues. According to Egyptian Alchemy, every thing has a spirit to it; and every spirit has SOME FORM of body. The profound attainments of the Ancient Egyptians were created by a people who knew the spirits within Elemental Matter, and could talk them into revealing their secrets to mankind.
This process of talking to matter was symbolized to Egypt in THE PYRAMIDAL FORM, and was said to involve "four stages" (the four triangular faces of the Pyramid) requiring the application of five great spiritual forces emmenated by THE PRINCIPLE SHAPES OF GEOMETRY (symbolisd by the five actual sides of the Pyramid.) Those seeking to rediscover the truths of Alchemy are thus faced with two possible starting places; THE FOUR PHASES OF THE GREAT WORK, and THE FIVE SPIRITUAL SOLIDS.
Before outlining these Forces and Geometries, it is well to be reminded that Physical Alchemy did in fact lead to the discovery of Chemistry. The primary study of the pre-chemical Alchemists was the study of "How To Harness The Spirit Within Matter Into The Service Of Mankind."
1) Duad: Unified Duality
The first thing one needs to accept is that "every thing" is a life, and "every life" is part "thing."
There are a small number of "Original Creative Forces" each of which ia a Unified Duality composed of LIFE and a SPECIFIC GEOMETRIC SHAPE. These were later identified as th Five Platonic Solids of classical western science. But to the Ancient Egyptians they were "The Fathers of All Other Natures." The Five Causal Geometries are:
Meaning "a Four-sided Solid," the Tetrahedron is the appliance by which direct communication can be established between oneself and any other "self" whether spiritual or material in form. Plato identified the "static" Tetrahedron as a pyramidal form whose base and sides are each a triangle, though that is the "only" possible Tetrahedral shape.
This Twelve-sided Solid or Dodecahedral object is recognized by all of the ancient Master Alchemists as the most Causal of Geometries. It equates with a direct Command from God in its effect on the subject-matter when the alembic (the vessel or reaction-chamber of Alchemy where elemental transformations occur) containing it is placed within such a geometry. Again, There are several ways of arriving at a 12-sided Solid. Only one of those were recognized as "perfect" by Plato.
The Cube or "Six-sided Solid" is used to cause subject-matter to become "pliant" of form. Allowing the Alchemist to "channel" into it instructions for a more desireable form that it should take. Once that form has become "idealized" or approximating the intended goal, this geometry is immediately replaced by:
Meaning a "Five-sided Solid" the pyramid is the most famous and visable of the Egyptian Alchemical Geometries, since it was used on a grand scale to induce Preservation of Form for royalty.
The final essential in any "new creation" is that it be able to relate with the rest of Reality. This "Twenty-sided Solid" bestows that ability. While Plato identified this shape as angular and precise as an Abstract Ideal, it is really the ancestral form of the Sphere.
Each Neteru or Spiritual force in the Universe is described as a Composite Being made up of some "non-human" but living form, conjoined to a "human" other half. While it may well be that this anthromorphic view of Nature is simply all we can "See," it is because we are ourselves human-shaped (and thus can only relate with something as "intelligent" if it has human shape). The end result is the same as if these Anthropomorphic Nature-Forces actually are half-man/half-animal lifeforms
The process of talking to "the lesser gods" of The Egyptian pantheon involves learning the anthormorphic form of the nature they embody, and then opening a dialogue with them by use of the Original Creative Geometries. This allows one to transmute or alter your relation to them, by "Spiritual Alchemy." Likewise, the same approach is used for "talking" to Matter. One must learn the true Nature of its element-form, and then use the "Causal Geometries" to open a dialogue with them. while it has become traditional to refer to this process of Neteru-contact as "The Old Egyptian Religion." This is actually a misnomer. It was in fact not "religion:" but a totemic science, part of the larger science that we today inherit as "Spiritual Alchemy."
2) Tetramorphic Progression: The Four Stages
Once any Nature has been contacted by use of alchemical forces, there begins a "Four-stage" evolutionary process that leads in fixed steps to whatever goal one has set-out to attain. These four stages are represented as "The Ascending Scale Of Alchemical Colors." While it may seem improbable to the inexperienced mind, each Alchemically-triggered evolutionary phase actually does produce some manifestation of the color of that phase of alchemy. The Four Color-Phases are:
In this initial stage, the "subject" seems both confused and vague. Disorder is the keynote, and one may wonder if any good could come of this! Patient observation soon reveals an emerging "Product" though it is quite primitive and only slowly does it move towards your goal.
In the second stage, the emerging product enters a rather extreme period of "purging," as it sheds the confusion and vagueness of its origins, though it may seem to have completely missed the intended direction of evolution. Further patience reveals that this stage has further solidified the Product as a workable nucleus which can be later turned into a more desireable direction of growth.
Now in the third stage the Alchemy becomes quite apparent, the formerly rather distorted product now begins to show clear signs that it is moving in the desired direction of growth. Patience is less needed now than is "caution." The alchemy here can be sometimes quite explosive and fast-paced. At times, one may feel that it is all getting quite out of hand, and then suddenly..
The product solidifies into a functioning or "living" Reality that fulfills the goal intended. One may be tempted to think the work "done" when it attains this stage, but it may need to "cool" or temper into final form over a brief period of functional use. Sudden "proofs" of the final product's desirability emerge, to inform the Alchemist that his Great Work has been attained.