FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ALCHEMIST | vol. 2

[esotericas 1561]

VOL. 2

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A FORAY INTO ALCHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY

 

EX OFFICINA ALCHYMISTAE

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BEING, BY NATURE OF ITS NAME AND ITS WRITING, AN INVESTIGATION INTO AND REFLECTION ON THE CONCEPTS OF THE MATERIAL, EMOTIONAL, AND DIVINE, AND THEIR NATURES IN RELATION TO LIFE, ALCHEMY, AND MAGIC.

 

-=  ҉  =-

 

PREFACE: ALCHEMICAL ALLEGORY & THE CONCEPT OF THE SPHERES

 

lchemical allegory is the use of symbols and narrative in order to relate Alchemical processes or philosophy. A hero’s journey of growth and change may symbolise the fundamental change that occurs during Alchemical processes. The idea of the Spheres is allegorical and stands as a tool for perception: one of many lenses through which an Alchemist may choose to view the world, according to her needs or her values. The Spheres are not to be interpreted as literal or concrete. Instead, they stand as symbols to provide meaning to Alchemical processes, and to guide the actions of an Alchemist.

 

he three Spheres of existence represent the world in which all Descendantkind lives. The Material is the Sphere in which most Descendants focus their lives, whether that be on satisfying the senses with indulgence, campaigning for political power, or accumulating wealth. Pervading invisibly through the Material Sphere is the Emotional Sphere: the Sphere in which emotion, souls, and the mind reside. Scholars, artists, philosophers, and Alchemists all direct their attentions on this Sphere instead, by interpreting and engaging with the abstraction it holds. Third and encasing both the previous is the Sphere of the Divine. Not Divine in a religious sense, but Divine simply to mean transcendent. The Divine Sphere is home to all things beyond the inherent scope of mortality: Aenguls, Daemons, Spirits, the Void, and the Creator. While the Material and Emotional Spheres are readily available to the Descendant, the Divine is (or should be) entirely separate from mortal existence. Mages of many varieties, plane-walkers, and priests all engage with the Divine.

 

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I

 

he most tangible Sphere is that of the Material. It is the home of the senses, of solidity, of objects. The Material is experienced through the five senses: touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound. As is the case with denizens of the Emotional Sphere, those of the Material are wholly mortal, and are subject to the cycle of birth, life, and death that all mortal things are subject to. Not only Descendants, but animals, plants, the ground beneath one’s feet–all of Material existence is made and destroyed and re-made as the wheels of time turn endlessly. 

 

he core inhabitants of the Material Sphere are ones lacking proper souls, both organic and inorganic. Plants, animals, fungi, yes–but also soil, water, stone, metals, gemstones. With few exceptions, in the case of things like Aurum and blood, these inhabitants are restrained to the Material Sphere. 

 

t is the unique gift of Descendants to exist simultaneously in both the Material and Emotional Spheres, bound by both their soul and their body. However because a Descendant’s perception is mainly done via the body and the five senses, the Material is the primary lens through which a Descendant experiences the world. It is through their effects on the Material Sphere that an ordinary Descendant might perceive the existence of the Emotional or Divine Spheres. 

 

hat is not to say that the Emotional and the Material are entirely separate from one another. Both the body and the soul exist somewhat between the two. Just as wandering spirits may put a chill into the air, or feelings of anger can cause a body to physically heat, the inverse is true as well. Aurum and blood are Material objects capable of interacting with the Emotional, through their interactions with the Material body.

 

his is one core distinction between an Alchemist and any other Descendant: through years of study and practice, an Alchemist is capable of perceiving and engaging with Alchemical Signs and Symbols without aid, despite said Signs and Symbols being by nature purely Emotional.

 

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II

 

he Emotional Sphere is home to not only souls, but metaphor, creative thought, feelings, symbols, and other abstractions. Many aspects of the Emotional Sphere are confined within the Material body, but yet others are entirely outside of it. Beyond the internal experience of feelings, thought, and other such things, the Emotional Sphere’s influence on the Material is one much more subtle. It is the unnameable quality that separates life with all its beauty and triumphs and ugliness and sorrows from simple blank existence. The lack of a soul, and thus the absence of connection to the Emotional Sphere, is what separates false lifeforms from true lifeforms, be those undead, mechanical, or something else entirely.

 

ust as the Material world has its own unending cycle of energy, the Emotional does as well. Given the Material existence of most Descendents, this energy remains largely separate from the Material Sphere, however some mages choose to interfere with the Emotional plane to tap into this power. Those mages get their power not from Aengudaemons or the Void, but from something residing in the Emotional plane, be that by harnessing the souls of the dead, harvesting from the blood of Descendants, or any other of the potentially myriad means. I do not claim to know of them all. 

 

nlike those mages, the Alchemist does not take from the Emotional, to serve their own gain. Instead, by Extracting Symbols from her reagents, an Alchemist is transforming them from Material to Emotional, and then harnessing the abstract, vague nature of the Emotional to shape the Symbols into whatever Material brew she wishes to create. 

 

longside things such as psychology, the arts, and other studies that unite the Emotional and Material, Alchemy is one of the few pursuits which engages the full spectrum of Descendent experience.

 

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III

 

lthough the Emotional and Material Spheres may exist alongside one another, the Divine is wholly separate. If the Emotional and Material were the air and water that form clouds, the Divine would be the sky in which they floated. It surrounds and encapsulates the world as we know it.

 

ot strictly Divine in the religious sense of ‘from or of God, or a god,’ the Divine Sphere is instead Divine in its fundamental separation from the mortal. It holds any and all forms of existence that transcend the other two planes. By nature harnessing this Sphere is forbidden to Descendants, as the Descendant existence is tied wholly to the Emotional and Material. Those who choose to ignore (or perhaps in their minds, surpass) their nature and attempt to subject the power of the Divine to their will are frequently unstable, and this use and abuse of Divine power can so often lead to the corruption of both the body and the soul. 

 

he residents of the Divine are those above mortality, beyond the cycle of time. They are forbidden both the benefits of life, as well as its detriments. To be Divine is to forgo pain and pleasure, joy and sadness, life and death.

 

t was by Divine hands that the mortal world was shaped, and it will be by Divine hands that it is destroyed.

 

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

 

reiterate that these concepts of Material, Spiritual, and Divine are concepts alone. Do not interpret this as claims to their existence, but instead as an exploration of their meaning. Instead it is through understanding the Material and Spiritual that one might come to understand what Alchemy is, and by understanding the Divine to understand what Alchemy is not.

 

o be good without knowledge is to be weak. To be knowledgeable without goodness is to be a danger. It is only when these faculties are united that we may truly serve Mankind.

 

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SIGNED,

 

 

Spoiler

JESUS CHRIST, was this a boatload of writing. Initially inspired by a lesson I gave a few weeks back, this concept sort of spiralled. I shouldn’t need to say this both OOC and IRP, but I will to be sure. 

 

None of this is canon lore. All of this is IRP theorising and philosophising based on the author's in-rp knowledge and views. Please nobody come after me saying that any of this isn’t lore-compliant. That’s not the point.

 

Anyways, that said–I always felt like Alchemy needed a bit more meat to its lore. IRL historical Alchemy is full of crazy shit and cool ideas, and it’s something LOTC Alchemy is really lacking. So here’s my piece. Or.. one of my pieces.

 

We shall see, there may be more to come.

 

[Laeonathan 4068]

Spoiler

I didnt read it but it looks super dope

 

[PanicZealot 229]

He looked at the document visibly confused after trying to read it. "Perhaps all that fighting messed up my head, because this makes no sense"

 

[DISCOLIQUID 1974]

A woman in cerulean veil set down the beautiful article & meant to seek this "Alchemist" at once.