Reading Chapter 03 THE HERMETIC WISDOM, 17th Dec. 2014

Study Circle 06 on 

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt  (Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Reading Chapter 03

THE HERMETIC WISDOM

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)

Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

Sitting 05 - Chapter 02 Nature Language of Alchemy 10th Dec, 2014

Study Circle 05 on 

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt  (Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Reading Chapter 02
Nature & Language Of Alchemy

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)

Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

Extract 

CHAPTER 2

NATURE AND LANGUAGE OF ALCHEMY

' In my book on the principles and methods of sacred art I more than once had occasion to refer to alchemy, by way of comparison, when considering artistic creation as it appears within a sacred tradition, not from the point of view of its outward aesthetic aspect, but as an inward process whose goal is the ripening, ‘transmuta­tion’, or rebirth of the soul of the artist himself. Alchemy too was called an art — even the ‘royal art’ (ars regia) — by its masters, and, with its image of the transmutation of base metals into the noble metals gold and silver, serves as a highly evocative symbol of the inward process referred to. In fact alchemy may be called the art of the trans­mutations of the soul. In saying this I am not seeking to deny that alchemists also knew and practised metallurgi­cal procedures such as the purification and alloying of metals; their real work, however, for which all these procedures were merely the outward supports or ‘opera­tional’ symbols, was the transmutation of the soul. The testimony of the alchemists on this point is unanimous.'

Date: Wednesday 10th December 2014

Time:  6: 30 pm

Venue: Hast-o-Neest (31-G, Gulberg II)

Participants: Kausar Ali, Irshad-ul-Mujeeb, Farhan Khan, Mubarika, Mehr, Anum, Saba, Uzair, Mian farooq, Shaihan, Zoya, Taimoor, 

Contact: 0300 849 3170

Alchemy - Study Circle Sitting 04- 3rd Dec 2014, 6:30pm

Study Circle 04 on 

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt  (Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Reading Chapter 02
Nature & Language Of Alchemy

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)

Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

'In fact alchemy may be called the art of the trans­mutations of the soul. In saying this I am not seeking to deny that alchemists also knew and practised metallurgi­cal procedures such as the purification and alloying of metals; their real work, however, for which all these procedures were merely the outward supports or ‘opera­tional’ symbols, was the transmutation of the soul.' (Pg.23)

Date: Wednesday 3rd December 2014
Time:  6: 30 pm
Venue: Hast-o-Neest (31-G, Gulberg II)
Participants: Mubarika, Mehr, Uzair, Mian farooq, Shaihan, Zoya, Taimoor, 


Contact: 0300 849 3170

Alchemy - Study Circle Sitting 03- 25th Nov 2014

Study Circle 03 on 

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt  (Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Reading Chapter 01

THE ORIGIN OF WESTERN ALCHEMY

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)

Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

Participants

Irshad, Mubarika, Kausar, Saba, Mehr, Bushra, Raza. 

Highlights:

- Completed Reading of Chapter 1 : The Origin of Western Alchemy

- Reading of an extract from 'Tazkira-e-Ghausiya'- the biography of Ghous Ali Shah Qalandar of Panipat.

-Extracts from Alchemy:

Extract 01

'Even more easily did the Hermetic art enter into the spiritual world of Islam. The latter was always ready in principle to recognize any pre-Islamic art which appeared under the aspect ‘wisdom’ (hikmah) as a heritage of earlier prophets. Thus in the Islamic world Hermes Trismegistos is often identified with Enoch (Idris).

It was the doctrine of the ‘oneness of existence’ (wahdat­ al-wujud) — the esoteric interpretation of the Islamic con­fession of faith — which gave to Hermetism a new spiritual axis, or, in other words, re-established its original spiritual horizon in all its fullness and freed it from the suffocation of late Hellenistic ‘naturalism’.'

Extract 02

'The seventeenth century has often been regarded as mark­ing the full flowering of European Hermetism. In reality, however, its decadence had already begun in the fifteenth century, and proceeded apace with the humanistic and already fundamentally rationalistic development of West­ern thought, by which any spiritual and intuitive univer­sality of outlook was deprived of its very basis.'

Extract 03

'In general, European alchemy following the Renaissance had a fragmented character; as a spiritual art, the meta­physical background was lacking. This is especially true of its last remnants in the eighteenth century — even despite the fact that, amongst all the ‘charcoal burners’, men of real genius such as Newton and Goethe concerned themselves with it — though unsuccessfully.

At this point it seems opportune to state categorically that there can be no ‘freethinking’ alchemy hostile to the Church, for the first prerequisite of every spiritual art is that it should recognize everything that the human condition, in its pre-eminence and in its precariousness, needs by way of means of salvation.' 

Fairy Tale From Sacred Psychology Sitting 01

From: 'Saat Paryon Ki Kahani aur Doosri Kahaniyaan'

Text: Zahid Hussain. Illustration: Amna Mahmud

(Ilqa Publications 2013, Lahore)

Alchemy - Study Circle Sitting 02- 18th Nov 2014

Study Circle 02 on 

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt

(Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Reading Chapter 01

THE ORIGIN OF WESTERN ALCHEMY

Extract: 'Gold and silver were already sacred metals, even before they became the measure of all commercial transactions. They are the earthly reflections of sun and moon, and thus also of all the realities of spirit and soul which are related to the heavenly pair. Until well into the Middle Ages the relative values of the two noble metals were determined by the relationship of the rotation times of the two heavenly bodies. Likewise, the oldest coins usually bear pictures or signs having some relation to the sun or its yearly rotation. For men of pre-rationalistic times the relationship be­tween the noble metals and the two great luminaries was obvious, and a whole world of mechanistic notions and prejudices was necessary to obscure the self-evident reality of this relationship and make it look like a mere aesthetic accident.'

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)
Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

Participants

Zameer, Mobina,  Imrana, Irshad,

Mubarika, Kausar, Ghina, Saba, Mehr, Shayan. 

Highlights:

Reading of Chapter 1 : The Origin of Western Alchemy

-Points Discussed: 

• An essential feature of Sacred Art and Knowledge is that it is transmitted orally, writing is usually a first sign of its decadence.
• Scholars have noted two currents in Alchemy:  The first is 'artisanal' in nature, where symbolism is secondary.  The other one is 'mystical alchemy'. In reality it is a case of one and the same tradition.
• For archaic humanity, metallurgy was not simply an invention but rather a 'revelation'. For them seeing everything in relation to the inner unity of man and the cosmos was obvious.
• Alchemy traces its descent back as a priestly art of the ancient Egyptians. It was in later Egyptian history in  Alexandria that Alchemy along with other cosmological arts and sciences, received the form in which it is now known to us.

-Reading of an extract from 'Irfan e Zaat'- a letter of Imam Razi on the nature of the soul.

• The Human Spirit has to pass many stages and go through different levels and  obstacles in order to receive Divine theophanies (Anwar-o-Tajjaliyaat) and experience Divine love and gnosis in its fullness.
• Those who experience 'The Station (Muqaam) of Divine Unity (Oneness)'  do not reveal it. 
• The mystics of highest degrees are unknown  and they live in continuous contemplation of Divine Unity and they have access to the heavenly realms.  
• The function of Dhikr (Remembrance of God) in Islamic mysticism is like extracting 'Inward Gold' (original state of the soul) hidden under the many-fold layers of the human soul.

(Report by Raheel Ahmed)

Alchemy - Study Circle Sitting 01 - 12th Nov 2014

Book:

Alchemy - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt

(Fons Vitae 1997, USA)

Conducted by:

Taimoor K. Mumtaz (Director)
Raheel Ahmed (Coordinator Sacred Psychology Program)

Participants (13):

Zameer, Mobina, Anwar Rasul, Imrana, Irshad-ul-Mujeeb

Mubarika, Mehr, Saba, Zeeshan, Monica, Student 01

& Student 02.

Highlights:

- Alchemy Book back-cover quote on original state of soul is like ‘Gold’:

'Muhyi ‘d-Dîn ibn 'Arabî regards gold as the symbol of the original and uncorrupted state (al-fitrah) of the soul, the form in which the human soul was 

created at the beginning. According to the Islamic conception the soul of every 

child uncon­sciously approaches this Adamic state, before being led away from it 

again by the errors imposed on it by adults.The uncorrupted state possesses

an inward equilibrium of forces. This is expressed by the stability of gold.'

- Boy who had no need of the Philosopher's Stone - Story of Alchemist, Boy & Philosopher's Stone (Sang-e-Paras).

- Sacred & Secular Views of Psychology. Outline of Traditional i.e. Pre-Modern or Sacred & 'Modern' or Secular Views of Psychology.

Traditional                                     Modern
Normalcy = Fitrah                   Normalcy='The Average Person'
= Original Adamic State           

Aim is to regain                       Modern Psychology lacks the concept of the Normal being 'above' us.
the Fitrah                                
 

 - The Psychological Symbolism of Fairy Tales: ' Saat Pariyon Ki Kahani' - ('The Story          of the Seven Fairies')

         Symbols Occuring in the story:

     1.      Well – Kuaan - Symbol of 'the Water of Life'/ 'Centre'/ Heart (Qalb) 

     2.      Number Symbolism - Number '7'.

     3.      Fairies in the Well – Pariyan - Symbols of the Spirit.

     4.      Hen which lays Golden Eggs - Gold Symbolises the 'Spiritual' / 'Supernatural'

     5.      Old Woman - 'The lower soul'/ Nafs-al-Ammara bis-Su/'The Soul Inciting to Evil'

   6.    Stick to tame Old Woman - 'The taming of the Nafs-al-Ammarah'