The First Matter

I had to think about this alchemical emblem from Michael Maiers "Atalanta Fugiens" lately.
I tried to interpret this on my own for many times, and knowing that although i do not yet possess the initiatic keys to unlock the mysteries of Alchemy in its whole, i think its nonetheless good to draw conclusions and to share them, even if i may be on the wrong track.

This emblem is connected with the saying that the Stone is everywhere, is omnipresent, its there for everyone, and many do dismiss it as worthless. Its also said that children play with it in the streets.
On this picture you can see cubical stones in the air, in the water, and on the earthen ground.
Therefore, the Stone must be something that is closely connected with the alchemical elements, and especially not with one element but the sum of them all.
Now, the first premise to work alchemy is the discovery of the First Matter.
Without having discovered the First Matter properly, an Alchemist is not able to get the Great Work started.
I believe that the First Matter in turn is closely connected to the Quintessence (which is another term for alchemical Spirit, Azoth or Akasha).
It is also said that the quintessence is not to be confused with the totality or synthesis of the elements, and their interplay and mixing, but rather its understood as generating the elements, as being the principal source of them.
This reminds me of the function of our apparatus of perception, of which our senses are the clients.
By studying the conclusions of modern brainresearch, we find out that reality as we perceive it, with material objects inclusive our bodies as being solid and the material world as something that does exist objectively outside ourselves, is just the interpretation of our perception apparatus, our brain. There is no objective universe as we perceive it.
Its just the brain that interprets the world around us as being a material universe with us as being separately functioning individuals in it.
There i see a close parallel to the nature of the Quintessence.
The quintessence is not the synthesis of the elements, but rather the quintessence is the generator and source of the elements.
Or to put it another way:
Our Quintessence (the nature of our mind) coagulates the impulses that flow through our senses into objective reality.
Reality in turn is perceived as something that exists outside of us, with us being its product, but in truth reality (the perception of a solid materiality) is born out of the Quintessence, our mind.
The perception of reality as we know it is due to the function of consciousness in our body.

I believe to discover the First Matter means to see and experience the world as it really is.
Here, the kabbalistic scheme is of great help to intellectually grasp this idea.
According to the kabbalistic dogma, the material Universe (Malkuth) is just the most condensed form of an all-pervading, omnipresent energy: Light.
The source of this Ain Soph Auor, this limitless ocean of Light, is God. God is the All-One, and as the Emerald Tablet of Hermes puts it: All things are from One, by the contemplation of One, so from this One Thing come all things by adaption.
So, a premise to discover the First Matter could be the realisation that our Quintessence is the generator of material reality and binds us to the perception of being separate from the One.
The actual discovery of the First Matter enables us to be freed from this perception, to clear the mind from the illusion that we are separate.
Would the mind be freed from its physical limitations, we would be able to perceive the Universe as it really is: an ocean of Light in varying degrees of vibration.

Therefore i think that the whole Outer Order process of the Golden Dawn enables the hermetic student to discover the First Matter, and therefore truly is a preparation for hermetic Alchemy, by practically studying and experiencing the effects of the alchemical elements, the planets and signs and the alchemical principles, which are different modes of vibrations of the One.
This leads to find out about the true nature of Spirit, which is the Quintessence, and often termed as Chaos and Emptiness at once.
I believe that the discovery of the First Matter to be not only an intellectual quest, but rather an impressing spiritual experience which may correspond to the Knowledge of the Holy Guardian Angel.
The Angel is the Divine Spark that is latent in every human being, and it is the link to the All-One or God, just like Jesus said that nobody reaches the Father than through him.
The Angel tears down the illusion of being separate from this Divine Core.
This may lead to the experience that the whole universe is truly born out of the One and that the One is our intrinsic nature, a fact that the Rose Cross (Spirit nailed to the cross of the elements) in the middle of the emblem hints at.


L.e.N.e.