Die Alchemie. Das ist die Lehre von den grossen Geheim-Mitteln der Alchemisten und den Speculationen, welche man an sie knüpfte

the celestial lights, which are drawn over to Varuna the god of the sky and cosmic order, the focus is less on the lights themselves than on their attachment to the firmament. Varuna did not make the Siebengestirn the Seven Stars or Pleiades, he set them in the heavens; he did not make the moon, but it wanders according to his laws. And he did not make the sun, but he made a broad path for it in which it should wander. He made this path so that "the sun might set its feet in the bottomless," which means that if the firmament were not there, the sun would have no ground, no base, and no support.

Varuna knows the twelve months and the one that arises in addition. In this reaching over from Varuna to Agni the god of fire, the focus is not so much on the Zodiacus Zodiac as it is on the moon. It is not so much about the months that arise from the sun passing through the twelve signs of heaven, but rather about the months linked to the phases of the moon: in a word, not about the months of the solar year, but those of the lunar year. Were this not so, Varuna would not need to know the one month that arises in addition, which is the Schaltmonat intercalary or leap month. We require the intercalary month for the lunar year, but not for the solar year.

3. Agni, the god of sun, moon, and stars. As such, however, he is not depicted prominently, because the lights of heaven are already claimed by Varuna. If one gets to the bottom of this claim on Varuna's part, it appears that for Varuna, as the god of the night, it is more about drawing the moon and stars to himself than drawing the sun. The sun can therefore most likely remain with Agni. This is then taken into view, as Agni is pushed into the foreground as the god of the sun. As such, he is the youth. This recalls Psalm 19, verse 6: "And the same (the sun) comes out like a bridegroom from his chamber." As such, he brings treasures to mankind and specifically nourishment from the gods: the fruit-bearing power of the sun. As such, he protects mankind against enemies and the Raxas Rakshasas or demons, whom he burns: the scorching power of the sun. As such, he is the mediator between men and gods. Namely, as the sun rises, it goes from the place where the heavenly dome stands upon the earth to the heavenly regions; as it sets, it goes from the heavenly regions to the earth: thus the mediation between heaven and earth, between gods and men, is established.

More than sun, moon, and stars taken generally, Agni stands as one who always dwells with all men. For either it is day, then Agni is with men as the sun, or it is night, then he is with men as the moon and stars. And likewise, as sun, moon, and stars taken generally, he stands as one whose brilliance purifies mankind.

Meanwhile, these are all more or less vague relationships; Agni is not depicted prominently in them as the god of sun, moon, and stars. But it is precisely toward such a non-prominent depiction of Agni that things are headed. One should compare what was said at the beginning regarding Varuna.

The depiction of the specific Agni recedes even further into the background as he is perceived as a sacrificial priest. This perception leans on Agni as the god of the sun. The sun is perceived as the world-fire, as a primary representative of fire, and from fire, a jump is made to the sacrificial fire. In a theistic perception of cosmology, the jump from fire to sacrificial fire is very close. As a sacrificial priest, Agni wakes the gods and leads them to the sacrifice in his chariot drawn by red mares. Therefore, he is called the messenger and the caller. Here, a jump is made back from the sacrificial fire to the sun, specifically the rising sun. It is assumed that the gods perform their most important sacrifice when the sun rises.

What is now taken from Agni with one hand is given to him with the other: that is,

deities are placed at his side who, so to speak, step into the breach for him. These are placed at his side:

The sun god, Sûra, Sûrya, and whatever the names are called that intend the sun god. Through the sun god or sun gods, Agni is meant to be pushed into the foreground as the god of the sun, a state of affairs given by the fact that the moon and stars are left to Varuna as the god of night. The sun god, moreover, has red horses, quite analogous to how Agni has red mares. Their number is seven, which sevenfold number is naturally based on the seven Arcana secret remedies or substances.

The goddess of the dawn, Ushas. By being perceived as the daughter of heaven, she is generally assigned a place in Indian celestial cosmology. By being perceived as the daughter of the sun, she is specifically assigned her place next to Agni as the sun god. By being born from the night, she is specifically given her place next to Agni as the god of the moon and stars. Regarding the latter, the dawn is a middle thing between night and day, between the moon and stars on one side and the sun on the other. The dawn assigned to Agni takes the night-space, the moon, and the stars from Varuna and shifts them to Agni. That Ushas stands at Agni's side is marked by the fact that red cows or even horses are given to her as an attribute.

The Asvin Ashvins, the divine twin horsemen. With them, the focus is on the shining, the radiance of the heavenly lights, on the shining, radiant Agni. It is not the case, as Lassen Christian Lassen, a prominent 19th-century Indologist suggests, that they signify the rays of light preceding the dawn. No, they signify the rays of light of the sun, moon, and stars in general; that is why they come to the sacrifice in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, which Lassen himself points out. Here we have the rays of the rising sun, the sun standing high in the sky, and the setting sun. They also come three times in the night, which Lassen particularly notes in a remark. Well, with that we have them as the brilliance, as the rays of the moon and stars. The Ashvins are brought into various relations with the number three.

We therefore have the following state of affairs: Varuna preoccupies Agni, whereby Agni is pushed into the background. However, the sun god, the dawn, and the Ashvins bring him forward significantly from this background. In this way, the disadvantaged Agni can easily checkmate the rival Varuna. But the matter is not to be driven so far that Varuna is entirely pushed into the background. Varuna shall not succumb to Agni, and that is the reason that auxiliary gods are also placed at his side. Based on these auxiliary gods, he can measure himself against Agni, who moves along with his own auxiliary gods. As auxiliary gods of Varuna, we have:

The wind or the winds. We have already become acquainted with the relation of Varuna to the wind above. The firmament is perceived as air, and air again as wind. Standing out as the god of the wind is Rudra. He is also called the destroyer of men, and one implores him that his arrow, which kills cows and men, remain far away; that he may not kill old men and youths, sons and grandsons, father and mother. Thus, the focus is on the evil winds that bring diseases. But he is also implored to bring luck to men and herds; he carries the most excellent healing remedies in his hand. Thus, we have the wind that purifies the air.

The Vedic Vischnu Vishnu. Lassen lets himself be led onto thin ice by the Vedic scholars when he says Vishnu signifies the shining firmament, his highest place the midday part of it, and the other two the rising and the setting. Oh no; when the sky is not entirely covered with clouds, when the clouds pull along in such a way that one glimpses the firmament between them, then these patches of firmament are: Vishnu. We say the clouds "pull," the Indian says the clouds "stride." While clouds and patches of the firmament

are set in relation, it happens in such a way that the patches are pushed into the foreground, which is precisely what makes Vishnu possible. But as the patches of the firmament are pushed into the foreground, it is not the clouds that pull, but the patches of the firmament that pull, and thus we have the "far-striding Vishnu," in reference to whom it is said: "To your dwellings we would like to go, where the many-formed, wandering cows are; from there, the highest place of the far-striding god shines down mightily." Here, by cows, one is not to understand specifically the colorful, light clouds, as Lassen suggests, but the clouds in general. If three steps are now specifically sequenced to the far-striding Vishnu, we have nothing other than the number three pushed into the foreground, which we also encountered with the Ashvins.

For the sake of the rivalry between Varuna and Agni, both have now received auxiliary gods at their side. It is therefore also appropriate that Indra the king of the gods, so that he does not fall behind, receives his auxiliary gods. Strictly speaking, such a thing is of course not necessary, for it cannot be ignored that Indian divine cosmology places Indra highest as the oldest god, whereby the other deities are more or less all his auxiliary gods. However, for the sake of outward form, in order to be able to rival Varuna and Agni in specific auxiliary deities, Indra also receives his auxiliary gods. And such are, cosmologically—the relationship of the gods in the Vedas not directly connected with cosmology does not concern us here or at all from our alchemical standpoint—the Aptja Aptyas, the gods of water. That they stand in a special relation to Indra is connected to the fact that the waters swell through the rain (Indra).

The philosophical numbers belonging to the present phase are three and one. We have the 3 represented in the three main gods: Indra, Varuna, Agni, and in many secondary relations, such as with the Ashvins and Vishnu.

We have the 1 in that, even if we split the heaven into the firmament, the celestial lights, and the clouds, taken as a whole, we nevertheless have only one heaven.

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Indian Alchemy from the Point of View of Arcanology.

Compare again Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde Indian Antiquity.
Indian alchemy from the point of view of arcanology is of a later date than alchemy from the standpoint of cosmology. It leans on the trinity of gods: Brahma, Siva Shiva, Vischnu Vishnu (the latter of which is not to be confused with the Vishnu we encountered in the previous section). Here we have the theistic standpoint of alchemy such that the trinity of arcana: Acid. sulphur.-Natron sodium sulfate, Liquor hepatis liver of sulfur solution, Pulv. solaris Solar Powder is leaned directly upon the respective gods.

Lassen says the following:

"The means to let all three exist alongside each other and to summarize them (Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu) under a higher unity was offered by the view expressed in the Veda that the highest being has three states: creation, continuation, and destruction; the world is eternally in him, proceeds from him, and dissolves again in him. Brahma became the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer."

Epic poetry recognizes these three gods as the highest alongside each other, but their unity does not emerge decisively, and the doctrine of the Trimûrti Trinity of the three great gods, the unity of the three great gods, must only be ascribed to the subsequent period. Also, Shiva is by no means exclusively the destroying god, as he should be according to the system. The Mahâbhârata Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty even proves that attempts were made to turn the two folk-gods (Shiva and Vishnu) into a single one by combining the names of both. Since this occurs in an invocation of Shiva, he appears here as the more powerful of the two, especially since a name of Brahma is also attributed to him, and he is represented as the highest god.

Now, Lassen, like our Indologists in general, has no inkling of the arcanological standpoint of the matter. That is why he throws himself into the arms of such dream-images.

One must first take the following into view. According to Indian-arcanological speculation, where one has the two arcana Acid. sulphur.-Natron sodium sulfate and Liquor hepatis liver of sulfur solution, one has the Pulv. solaris Solar Powder eo ipso by that very fact; Acid. sulphur.-Natron and Liquor hepatis are absorbed into the P. solaris. If one allows the P. solaris ruber Red Solar Powder, under whose inspiration the doctrine of the P. solaris is conceived, to disintegrate into its two parts, Sulphur aurat. golden sulfur of antimony and Hydrarg. oxyd. rubr. red mercuric oxide, we have the following relationship:

1. Sulphur auratum.
   a) To prepare it, one pours sulfuric acid into a solution of Schlippeschen Salzes Schlippe's salt. Thus, sulfuric acid is represented in the Sulphur aurat. Since the arcanum Acid. sulphur.-Natron is by its very nature about sulfuric acid, it is assumed that, since one has Acid. sulphur. on both sides, wherever one has the arcanum Acid. sulphur.-Natron, one also has the Sulphur aurat.
   b) To prepare it, one makes the solution of Schlippe's salt. For this, however, Natron carbonicum sodium carbonate is necessary. Since the arcanum Acid. sulphur.-Natron involves Natron, the sodium is represented in it as well as in the Sulphur aurat. And this is perceived such that where one has the Acid. sulphur.-Natron, one also has the Sulphur aurat.
   c) To prepare it, one makes the solution of Schlippe's salt. Sulfur and lime go into this. Sulfur and lime are also used to prepare the Liquor hepatis. Since one has sulfur and lime on both sides, this is perceived as if where one has the arcanum Liquor hepatis, one also has the Sulphur aurat.

2. Hydrargyrum oxydatum rubrum.
   a) During preparation, characteristic red vapors develop. Thus, one has smoke. But Acid. sulphur. crudum crude sulfuric acid also smokes. Since one now has smoke on both sides, this is perceived such that where one has the arcanum Acidum sulphur.-Natron, one also has the Hydrargyr. oxyd. rubr.
   b) The smoke, the air, is also represented in the Liquor hepatis. (Compare Empedokles Empedocles, the Greek philosopher). Thus, when one contrasts Liquor hepatis and Hydrargyr. oxyd. rubr., one immediately has smoke on both sides. And this is perceived such that where one has the arcanum Liquor hepatis, one also has the Hydrarg. oxyd. rubr.

Since, according to the touched-upon perception, where one has Acid. sulphur.-Natron and Liquor hepatis, one has Sulphur aurat. on the one hand and Hydrarg. oxyd. rubr. on the other, one has in total, where one has Acid. sulphur.-Natron and Liquor hepatis, also the P. solaris; and thus Acid. sulphur.-Natron and Liquor hepatis are absorbed into the P. solaris.

It now represents:

With this we have the state of affairs that just as the 3 arcana, Acid. sulphur.-Natron, Liquor hepatis, P. solaris stand alongside each other, so too the 3 gods Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma stand alongside each other; and thereby, just as Acid. sulphur.-Natron and Liquor hepatis are absorbed into P. solaris, so Shiva and Vishnu are absorbed into Brahma. As the Acid. sulphur.-Natron and the Liquor hep. are ideally represented in the P. solaris according to the preceding perception, so Shiva and Vishnu are ideally represented in Brahma. Brahma becomes the ideal in this way. He becomes the priest-god and has no earthly temple for his essence. A material polytheism was offered to the people with a generous hand, but the priests held to the ideality of the deity, which they believed they would profane if they surrendered it to the great masses.

We now want to characterize the individual of the 3 gods more closely.

1. Siva, the representative of Acid. sulphur.-Natron. First, it should be noted that if one says Acid. sul-