ALCHEMY

Alchemy is generally defined as an art which aims to change impure metals into silver or gold. The goal of the Great Work of alchemy, called also the Art, is the "Philosopher's Stone".

The Stone was viewed as a magical touchstone that could immediately perfect any substance or situation. The Philosopher's Stone has been associated with the Salt of the World, the Astral Body, the Elixir, and even Jesus Christ.

The Elixir of the alchemists has essentially the same ability to perfect any substance. When applied to the human body, the Elixir cures diseases and restores youth. The alchemists' dream is to attain knowledge of the mysterious Philosopher's Stone, or "that Elixir by which such wonders are performed".

The basis of all the alchemical transformations required to obtain the Stone (called the Great Work) is seven-stepped formula described by the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes The Tablet probably first appeared in the West in editions of the psuedo-Aristotlean Secretum Secretorum which was actually a translation of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar, a book of advice to kings which was translated into latin by Johannes Hispalensis c. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c.1243. Other translations of the Tablet may have been made during the same period by Plato of Tivoli and Hugh of Santalla, perhaps from different sources.

• The Emerald Tablet of Hermes - Translation

1. This true without lying, certain & most true. That which is below is like that which is above & that wch is above is like yet which is below to do ye miracles of one only thing.

2. And as all things have been & arose from one by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

3. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.
4. The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here.

5. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.

6. It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior & inferior.

7. By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

8. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing. So was ye world created.

9. From this are & do come admirable adaptaions whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.
10. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.
11. That which I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is accomplished & ended.

• Translation of Issac Newton c. 1680

Seven Steps of the Philosopher's Stone Formula Although the alchemists went to great pains to conceal the true order of the steps of the formula for making the Stone, the correct order according to the Emerald Tablet is: Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, Coagulation. The first four steps take place Below, in the realm of matter. The last three steps take place Above, in the realm of mind and creative imagination.

BLACK WORK
Saturn / black crow perching on top of a skull / Visita = Putrefaction Jupiter / black crow watching itself dissolving / Interiora = Dissolution

WHITE WORK
Mars / two white soul birds retrieving the remains / Terra = Separation Sun / ascending soul & spirit birds leave Earth and lift the five-spiked crown / Rectificanto = Conjunction
RED WORK
Venus / soul & spirit birds nest in a tree and brood over their egg / Inveniens = Fermentation Mercury / unicorn lying in front of a rose bush / Occultum = Distillation Moon / androgynous youth emerging from an open grave / Lapidem = Coagulation.

The Stone of the Philosophers

There are two primary ways of knowing reality:
1. The rational, deductive, argumentative, intellectual thinking that is accepted by the science and our patriarchal Western culture. The alchemists called this Solar Consciousness and assigned it many code words, such as the Sun, Sulfur, the King, the Father, Spirit, and ultimately, the One Mind of the universe. This involves left-brain activity like linear thought, schematics, formulae, arguments and logic.
2. The intuitive way of thinking, also called intelligence of the heart, a non-linear, image-driven way of thinking that is an accepted tool of the arts and religion. The alchemists called the other way of knowing Lunar Consciousness. Among its many symbols are the Moon, Mercury, the Queen, the Holy Ghost, Soul, and ultimately, the One Thing of the universe. This involves right-brain activity dealing with drawings, paintings, mandalas, symbols, music, and meditation.The alchemists believed that perfection could only be achieved by working with both Solar and Lunar ways of knowing and ultimately uniting them in a third state of Stellar Consciousness. Stellar Consciousness is a state of incorruptible wisdom symbolized by the heroic Child that resulted from the marriage of the King and Queen, as well as by Salt, Gold, the Philosopher's Stone, the Astral Body, and of course, the Stars themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS [UFOs]

For the last sixty years stories of UFOs, Flying Saucers, Aliens and Cover-ups have intrigued the World.
UFO, is any flying object that cannot be identified by the observer and have been spotted in many different places around the world.

Reports of unusual aerial phenomena date back to ancient times, but modern reports and first official investigations began during World War II with sightings of so-called foo fighters by Allied airplane crews and in 1946 with widespread sightings of European "ghost rockets." UFO reports became even more common after the first widely publicized United States UFO sighting, by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in the summer of 1947. Many tens of thousands of UFO reports have since been made worldwide.

The notion that unidentified objects or lights in the sky might be craft from other worlds appears to have been first suggested following the earliest wave of such sightings.

In the post 1947 era however, explanations for the saucers, or "flying disks" as they were also known at the time, included natural phenomena, such as Venus or unusual clouds, illusions, hoaxes, balloons, prototype aircraft and secret weapons (friendly or hostile), and the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The last possibility was not initially given much credence but rapidly gained favor as a result of intense media speculation.

From the outset, the systematic investigation of UFOs was made problematic by the fact that the alleged phenomenon was both transient and unpredictable. Although data were plentiful, these largely took the form of individual and uncorroborated eyewitness reports – a notoriously unreliable source of information. Yet enough sightings were made by what appeared to be reliable, experienced observers, including military personnel and police officers, for the phenomenon to be taken seriously (see Roswell Incident; Mantell, Captain Thomas F.). The United States military, concerned about a possible threat to national security and following the recommendations of General Twining, launched the first of its investigations, Project Sign. This was followed by Project Grudge and, finally, beginning in 1952, Project Blue Book.

Besides visual sightings, cases sometimes have an indirect physical evidence like :
#Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites.
#Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, including some in the infrared spectrum .
# Recorded visual spectrograms # Recorded gravimetric and magnetic disturbances
#Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germination effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physical trace cases or crop circles) #Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects, including stalled cars, power black-outs, radio/TV interference, magnetic compass deflections, and aircraft navigation, communication, and engine disruption,etc.

There are different opinions about the UFO phenomenon. Among proponents, some of the more common explanations for UFOs are:

* The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) : that UFOs are best explained as being creatures from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth.
* The interdimensional hypothesis : advanced by astrophysicist Jacques Vallee, holds that these phenomena are visitations from other universes (or dimensions) that coexist separately alongside our own. It further proposes that they are a modern manifestation of entities or phenomena which have appeared throughout and possibly before recorded history, and which were previously explained as mythological or supernatural creatures.

It is an alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, which proposes that UFOs are from distant worlds in our own universe, as well as to the hypothesis that UFOs are merely terrestrial phenomena. This hypothesis is generally considered to be a fringe view, even among UFO researchers.

According to this theory, the phenomenon manifests itself as a control mechanism, whose function appears to be to challenge the observer's accepted notions of reality, by appearing to be things that common sense would disregard as being impossible, and in our modern age, as technological objects which always seem to appear to be one step ahead of our own technological horizon.
*The Paranormal/Occult Hypothesis
* The hypothesis that they are time machines or vehicles built in a future time.

Skeptics usually propose one of the following explanations:

* The man-made craft hypothesis
* The unknown natural phenomena hypothesis, e.g. ball lightning, sprites * The Psychological-Social Hypothesis * The Earthquake lights/Tectonic Strain hypothesis.

What appears interesting is that UFO sightings depend on the technological environment of their times. In the late 1800s, UFOs were described as airships larger, sturdier and more maneuverable than those commonly used. As planes were developed UFO descriptions involved those of planes with speed and maneuverability greater than in any known design. Nowadays UFOs are described as having many shapes, but are still described as performing maneuvers that no known contemporary aircraft is capable of doing; these include complete or near-complete silence when spotted, hovering, flight at very great speeds with very small turn radii, as well as the ability to make unusually rapid changes in altitude.

It should also be noted that UFOs are usually observed by untrained sky watchers and almost never by professional or amateur astronomers, people who spend inordinate amounts of time observing the heavens above. These untrained observers have been aided by the availability of inexpensive video cameras, yet despite the enormous increase in volume of such cameras, there has been a drop in the number of UFO observations. Anyway, one would think that astronomers would have spotted some of these alien craft by now. [Perhaps the crafty aliens know that good scientists are skeptical and inquisitive !]

GREATEST HOAX : BOOK OF MORMON

The Book of Mormon is one of the sacred texts of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is regarded by most, if not all, Latter Day Saint groups as divinely revealed and is named after the prophet–historian Mormon who, according to the text, compiled most of the book. It was published by the founder of the LDS movement, Joseph Smith, Jr., in March 1830 in Palmyra, New York, USA.

It is considered to be a divinely inspired book of equal value to the Bible. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, claimed that he was directed by an Angel to a hill near his home in which he found golden tablets containing the full text of the book. With the books he found two objects called the Urim and Thummim which he described as a pair of crystals joined in the form of a large pair of spectacles. Unfortunately, after Smith finished his translation, he had to return the tablets to the Angel, so there is no physical evidence that they ever existed.

WHY THE BOOK OF MORMON IS A FRAUD

First of all, despite claims to the contrary, the Book of Mormon is the work of man and is not inspired by God. Since its original publication there have been over 4,000 alterations made to this supposedly inspired writing. These changes include deletions of entire sections, the changing of characters named in the book, changes of the names of locations, and much more. Yet despite all these alterations, this book still contains numerous errors and contradictions.

The book refers to a group of Jews that moved to and settled in America where Jesus visited them. Some segments of the Book of Mormon contain sections copied directly from the King James version of the Bible - the Bible that was most popular at the time and used by Joseph Smith. One example is Mark 16:15-18 which is quoted nearly word-for-word in Mormon 9:22-24. In addition, the book mimics the literary and linguistic style of the King James Bible. Linguistic experts have stated that the entire book is written by one man, and is not written by a combination of authors (the prophets as claimed by Smith).

The Book of Mormon discusses metals being used in weapons, coins, and buildings. It mentions things such as chariots, swords, scimitars, and breastplates. It talks about crops of wheat and barley. It mentions the donkey, cattle, oxen, horse, pig, and elephants. It also talks about the use of linen and silk. There is absolutely NO archaeological evidence to support any of this.

The Book of Mormon claims that those who lived here used a calendar consisting of a seven-day week. Yet none of the archaeological evidence has ever produced any such calendar. The calendars that have been found mostly used a 20-day period, repeating over and over.

The most compelling proof that Joseph Smith was perpetuating a fraud is the Book of Abraham. In 1835 Smith was able to use his Urim and Thummim to translate some Egyptian scrolls that he was given access to (at that time no one could read hieroglyphics). Upon inspection, Smith declared that they contained the Book of Abraham. He promptly translated the lot and it was accepted as scripture by the church. The scrolls vanished and everyone thought the story would end there. But it didn’t - in 1966 the original scrolls were found in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The scrolls turned out to be a standard Egyptian text that was often buried with the dead. To this day the Book of Abraham is a source of discomfort for the Mormon religion.

DO ANIMALS USE LANGUAGE ??

Canines as wolves and coyotes may adopt an aggressive posture, such as growling with their teeth bared, to indicate they will fight if necessary, and rattlesnakes use their well-known rattle to warn potential predators of their poisonous bite ; and on a rainy night concert of a frog fills the darkness.. these are but few examples of the way animals communicate. Sounds of nature are all around us.Some are funny, while some threatening . Are they coded messages ? Is it possible that they are using a language ?

Language is defined as a form of symbolic and creative communication . Animals use communication to attract mates, warn off predators, mark territory,to exchange information about food sources and to identify themselves. The study of animal communication is called zoosemiotics .

The sender and receiver of a communication may be of the same species or of different species. The majority of animal communication is intra specific (between two or more individuals of the same species). However, there are some important instances of inter specific communication as warning colouration , mimicry , stotting, etc.

Some predators communicate to prey in ways that change their behaviour and make them easier to catch, in effect deceiving them.

Inter species communication also occurs in various kinds of mutualism and symbiosis.

Various ways in which humans interpret the behaviour of domestic animals, or give commands to them, fit the definition of inter specific communication.

Another important forms of communication is bird song, usually performed mainly by males. It is just the best known case of vocal communication; other instances include the warning cries of many monkeys, the territorial calls of gibbons, and the mating calls of many species of frog.

IMITATION OF HUMANS

I guess the most fascinating to us are the animals that can imitate our speech - as parrots.They are so good at imitation that every sound we say they are capable of repeating it .Could it be a genuine form of communication ?

A psychologist Irene Pepperberg has bee trying to answer this question.She started with with very simple words as cork and carrot and then started teaching a grey parrot simple sentences.Soon it could respond to questions as What colour is the box ?. Now the parrot has the ability to distinguish between more than 300 objects by form , size and colour.

FORMS OF ANIMALS COMMUNICATION

It has been observed that all animal communication can be divided into :

Visual / Optical Communication - such as patterns of fur, colour change or sign language.

Auditory / Acoustic Communication - animals make lots of different sounds to communicate, as singing shouting ,ultra- or infra- sound calls. From the roar of a lion to the song of the whale, sound is a way for animals to "talk" to other animals.

Tactile Communication - animals use touch in many different ways. When a cat rubs up against you or a dog offers you its paw, they are communicating. Chicks beg food from their parents using this form .

Chemical Communication - animals emit certain chemicals and odours from them conveys the message, many animals mark their paths and territories this way ,as dogs.

Electrical Communication - sometimes animals , esp. some fishes send electrical signals to improve orientation.

EXAMPLES FROM NATURE

These are some examples of animal communication :

Species such as wasps that are capable of harming potential predators are often brightly coloured, and this modifies the behaviour of the predator, who either instinctively or as the result of experience will avoid attacking such an animal.

Hover flies are coloured in the same way as wasps, and although they are unable to sting, the strong avoidance of wasps by predators gives the hover fly some protection. This is an example of MIMICRY for protection.

In certain species of amphibians which have a brightly coloured belly, but on which the rest of their body is coloured to blend in with their surroundings. When confronted with a potential threat, they show their belly, indicating that they are poisonous in some way.

Some antelopes such as Thomson's gazelle in the presence of a predator run in a particular fashion , referred to as stotting ; it has been argued that this demonstrates to the predator that the particular prey individual is fit and healthy and therefore not worth pursuing.

The Herring Gull has a brightly coloured bill, yellow with a red spot on the lower mandible near the tip. When it returns to the nest with food, the parent stands over its chick and taps the bill on the ground in front of it; this elicits a begging response from a hungry chick (pecking at the red spot), which stimulates the parent to regurgitate food in front of it. The complete signal therefore involves a distinctive morphological feature (body part), the red-spotted bill, and a distinctive movement (tapping towards the ground) which makes the red spot highly visible to the chick.

However ,my favourite is the amazingly sophisticated communication that takes place among the honey-bees. When one of them discovers a source of food ,it returns to the hive and passes on the information.This is done by certain dances.Now here's the amazing part :If the food is located less than 100 m from the hive , the bee will dance around in a circle .If the distance is more , it becomes a waggling dance, in the form of figure of eight. The speed is supposed to indicate the distance of food. The orientation of the dance gives the direction of food.The bee through its dancing also reports the richness of the food to be found !!

The chief characteristic of animal communication is that every signal corresponds to only one message , and vice versa.To decide whether animals communicate by using language , scientists will have to decide the basic features of a language.