The Diary of an Alchemist

By Douglas M. Baker

The Diary of an Alchemist

In its attempt to demonstrate the applicability of the fundamental principles of Mysticism to the things of the physical realm Alchemy apparently failed and ended its days in fraud. It appears, however, that this true aim of alchemistic art - particularly the demonstration of the validity of the theory that all the various forms of matter are produced by an evolutionary process from some one primal element or quintessence -- is being realised by recent research in the domain of physics and chemical science.

The object of the alchemist's search was to satisfy their material needs, their intellectual capacities, and their spiritual yearning. Alchemists of the nobler sort always made the first of these objects subsidiary to the other two".

There is a distinct difference between what may be called esoteric and exoteric alchemy. The latter has an outer and more direct approach in which transmutation is attempted through the employment of purely physical forces. This has been the main attraction for the quacks and the curious, and has succeeded in concealing (mercifully) the esoteric approach to alchemy.

The true alchemist is someone capable of radiating his essence, thus affecting the centermost being of those about him. This work, biographical in nature, reveals the author's own struggle in working the basic theme of alchemy, which is the acceptance and expression of Cosmic Fire in the service of humanity.

This is the path of a fire-god .... his birth, initiation into and baptism by Fire. The alchemists saw the likeness of it in so many chemical reactions in their laboratories that they were struck by certain parallels. After all, they were witnessing the birth of modern chemistry with all its inorganic phenomena of amalgams, silver, gold and mercurial platings, without any of the rationale which a chemist possesses today.

This thoroughly researched volume contains many excerpts from the author's diary, images, lists and drawings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker eBooks Publishing
• Release date: Apr 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781625690210

Douglas M. Baker

Dr. Douglas M. Baker. English born and raised in South Africa has done extensive scientific research into those hinterlands of the mind which one might call psi-semantics. He graduated in the Arts & Humanities in South Africa and qualified in medicine at Sheffield University (UK) in 1964. Having taught in the East End schools of London for 10 years, he began his tour of the Western world giving lectures and seminars in Esoteric Healing, Esoteric Anatomy, Esoteric Astrology, Esoteric Psychology, Esoteric Science and Metaphysics. He, more than any other, set in motion the trends towards alternative methods of medicine which have transformed that field in Britain today. As medical advisor to the De la Warr laboratories in Oxford, he undertook research into Biomagnetism and quantum physics their effects on the human aura and dark matter, producing the book by the same name in conjunction with George de la Warr. Through the years he has given more than 15,000 lectures and attracted people from all over the world to his Esoteric Science Festivals and International Summer Schools staged in America, Canada, England, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. His transformative experiences during the Second World War, when twice severely wounded, set the pattern for his life long investigations into the Powers Latent in Man. His extensive esoteric writings are said to be the largest collection in the world produced by a living author. He has written over 100 books, many of which have been translated into the 9 European languages at https://www.douglasbaker.com, and his list of downloadable MP3 audio lectures available at www.douglasbaker.org, include 500 live lectures given around the world and on a vast range of subjects. He has led the field in esoteric astrology, producing with a team, his magnum opus, a Dictionary of Astrology for the 21st Century in three volumes. This is in addition to the already existing 11 volume set of books on the same subject.

Book preview

Table of Contents

THE DIARY OF AN ALCHEMIST

Section One - ALCHEMIST UNDER FIRE

The Swan as a symbol of Alchemy.

The Law of Infinite Supply

SYMBOL OF ALCHEMICAL WORK

The Law of Economy Symbol

Section Two – ALCHEMIST IN THE CRUCIBLE

SPIRITUAL STATUS

The Diary & Symbols

The Central Fire Applied

The Fire Manifests

Appendices

APPENDIX I

The Meaning of Alchemy

1. The Aim of Alchemy.

2. The Transcendental Theory of Alchemy.

3. Failure of the Transcendental Theory.

4. The Qualifications of the Adept.

5. Alchemistic Language.

6. Alchemists of a Mystical Type

7. The Meaning of Alchemy.

8. Opinions of Other Writers

9. The Basic Idea of Alchemy.

10. The Law of Analogy.

11. The Dual Nature of Alchemy.

12. Body, Soul and Spirit.

13. Alchemy, Mysticism and Modem Science.

APPENDIX II

ALCHEMY : Divine, Mortal and Mineral.

The Alchemy of Nuclear Fission

The Alchemy of Radionics

The History of Alchemy

Alchemy Related to Astrology

Vibratory Quality

Evolution and Alchemy

Definition of Alchemy

Alchemy and the Four Elements

APPENDIX III

The Testimony of Alchemists

The Testimony of van Helmont.

The Testimony of Helvetius.

COUNT CAGLIOSTRO

APPENDIX IV

ALCHEMY and the Solar System

FIRE BY FRICTION

FIRE IN ESSENCE

THE THIRD OUTPOURING

MAGNETISM

THE DIARY OF AN ALCHEMIST

by

Dr. Douglas M. Baker

B.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., F.Z.S.

Copyright © April, 1977 by Douglas Baker

Printed Edition ISBN 9780906006092

Little Elephant,

High Road, Essendon,

Herts, AL9 6HR, England.

This is the only authorised eBook of the printed edition.

© Copyright Dr. Douglas M. Baker 2011

eBook ISBN 9781625690210

Published by Baker eBooks Publishing

Many audio lectures and some of the images and charts used here can be downloaded in higher definition for free from our website https://www.douglasbaker.org.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

INTRODUCTION

ALCHEMISTS

In its attempt to demonstrate the applicability of the fundamental principles of Mysticism to the things of the physical realm Alchemy apparently failed and ended its days in fraud. It appears, however, that this true aim of alchemistic art - particularly the demonstration of the validity of the theory that all the various forms of matter are produced by an evolutionary process from some one primal element or quintessence -- is being realised by recent research in the domain of physics and chemical science.

The object of the alchemist’s search was to satisfy their material needs, their intellectual capacities, and their spiritual yearning. Alchemists of the nobler sort always made the first of these objects subsidiary to the other two".

There is a distinct difference between what may be called esoteric and exoteric alchemy. The latter has an outer and more direct approach in which transmutation is attempted through the employment of purely physical forces. This has been the main attraction for the quacks and the curious, and has succeeded in concealing (mercifully) the esoteric approach to alchemy.

The true alchemist is someone capable of radiating his essence, thus affecting the centermost being of those about him. This work, biographical in nature, reveals the author's own struggle in working the basic theme of alchemy, which is the acceptance and expression of Cosmic Fire in the service of humanity.

This is the path of a fire-god .... his birth, initiation into and baptism by Fire. The alchemists saw the likeness of it in so many chemical reactions in their laboratories that they were struck by certain parallels. After all, they were witnessing the birth of modern chemistry with all its inorganic phenomena of amalgams, silver, gold and mercurial platings, without any of the rationale which a chemist possesses today.

Section One - ALCHEMIST UNDER FIRE

We know so little about the phenomenon of fire, even scientifically. In fact, it would be true to say that man understands more about the fire of his inner nature than he does its physical expression.

It is hard to convince a materialistic world that when the alchemist talks about fire, he really means fire. We are inclined to associate fire with burning, with heat, with smoke and with flames because it is through these that our five senses come into contact with fire. This is the objective side of man's consciousness, but he has also a subjective consciousness which does not depend for its sustenance on the five senses, nor even the brain. There are qualities about subjective fire which place emphasis, therefore, not on burning, although there is a subjective burning ground . . . not on smoke, though there is the astral world of glamour . . '. not on flames, though the thoughts of man emanate from a Sea of Flame, of fire elementals. The reader will oblige the author if, whilst he peruses this book, he constantly recalls what has been stated here: that the subjective fires described are ho less real than the fires that confront us in the waking state. Man can control fire outwardly as has been demonstrated again and again through the phenomenon of fire-walking. The alchemist demonstrates his ability to control the inward fires, which sustain the totality of man.

Alchemy is the final and ultimate mystery that is to be revealed. The Master D. K. said that when Man conquered the summit of Mt. Everest, it would signal that the time had come for the release of all secrets concerning the mysteries. The real purpose of Alchemy was not so much to transmute base metals into gold, but to link Man directly with God. Egyptian pharaohs like Akhenaton, artists and poets sensed the relationship between the Fire in an atoms the Fire in a man, the Fire in the sun3 and the Fire in God, Himself. . .

"Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Guilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy ...'."

There is one underlying key to all alchemical phenomena whether in atom, in flower, or in man. "This is FIRE. In my diaries I referred to this energy of the universe with an arrow-headed S, thus:

It seemed to be a symbol that came to me after my third or fourth experience of that central fire. It was later that I discovered that the swan is the alchemical symbol for the fire of the alchemist. It was no dream about a swan that Socrates had the night before the young Plato came to him for tutoring. It was a massive deluge of the central Fire which he described symbolically as a swan'. In the East the swan, or hamsa*, is the common symbol, especially in Hindu Yoga;, for the spiritual Fire of Samadhi. It is the S of Christ, Chris-s-s-st. It is no coincidence that sounding the letter S has an effect on flame.

* Sanskrit. The individual soul, the cosmic soul.

The Swan as a symbol of Alchemy.

It is the snake-like tracts and the spine that take up the circulation of alchemical Fire, via smaller nadis to all parts of the body, the s-s-s-snake that is spelt with S. It is the stone of the alchemists, i.e. the philosopher's stone -- the same stone which was the symbol of Christ which the builders rejected. Man's consciousness in earlier days could not embrace the concept of a God made of Fire ....

My God is an all-consuming Fire

and; instead, preferred the concept of a Mes-s-s-s-siah, or Christ as the S-S-S-Son of God.

The ancients knew of radio activity and despite this quality demonstrated effectively by science right up to the process of that stemming from nuclear fission and from nuclear fusion, modern man cannot accept that some men, s-s-s-spiritual men, can radiate no less effectively on their own level as can a uranium atom on its.

In these diaries, any or all of these descriptions and symbols may be used, but they all represent the one divine flame from which the Monad originates and remains ever a part of ... It is Fohat - the Fohat that dig holes in matter and holds the seven planes together by its fiery force.

The pronunciation of the letter S requires the shaping of the mouth so that a very discreet jet of air is emitted. This is the divine breath, the fire snorted from the nostrils of the dragon, the audio-fiery torrent, seen as flame by the devas.

Swans and Fire - the two are synonymous in

the highest expressions of alchemical symbols.

The swan is mute but issues air forth as powerful hisses.

From a very early age, fire fascinated me. I felt that my destiny was tied up with expression of it. I can remember spending many hours building model galleons out of matchboxes, painting them and adding the sails and trimmings, sometimes throughout the night . . . and then, as the inevitable climax, setting the whole fleet alight as it floated bravely on the smooth surface of our fish pound". The fireboats set loose amongst the beflagged galleons were inspired by the stories of the Armada, an episode in Elizabethan history that stirred me greatly especially the ways the warning news of the Armada became spread from hill to hill ....

Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth;

High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the north;

And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still:

All night from tower to tower they sprang : they sprang from hill to hill:

Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales,

Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the story my hills of Wales,

Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height,

Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light,

Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane,

Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,

And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent;

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

I always associated those mighty galleons with swans, asleep and unwary of the trap laid