Unlike “light”—which is mentioned at every turn in Baroque alchemical treatises—no one ever speaks of sound. Yet you tell me that it was precisely that sonic phenomenon occurring during the supreme phase of the last cooking that led Fulcanelli to assert that Alchemy is physics.
The Baroque era represented Alchemy’s so-called swan song—that is, its decline accompanied by a final craze. And yet, the saying “light heard with the ears” must be attributed to the Baroque era. Although I do not recall the author, it is one of the most intriguing definitions used to describe this mysterious “movement”—which, in fact, represents the true “missing link” for understanding alchemy up to the conclusion of the Final Cooking. It was back in the era of the School of Alexandria—that is, roughly a millennium before the Baroque period—that Ostanes was dubbed the “Sovereign of the Seven Sounds”. This title fits perfectly; for the legendary Ostanes, it signifies the full realization of that formidable musical scale. If you are referring to Fulcanelli’s statement—well, yes, I do believe he was indeed referring to the auditory phenomenon associated with the final cooking. Fulcanelli (though virtually everyone in his circle identified him as J.J. Champagne) was known to be a skilled metallurgist—a detail of no small significance, considering that the dry path manifests itself primarily through sounds, whether they be crackling, whistling, rumbling, or whispering. He was, therefore, accustomed to these chemical signals. But what occurs at the culmination of the alchemical operations transcends all imagination and is clearly a phenomenon to be ascribed to physics.
And yet, precisely during the Alexandrian era, a Neoplatonist—Iamblichus—spoke openly of Photagogy, or attraction of light. However, we did not mention the four vocal invocations required during the procedure.
Indeed, we did not mention the invocations required during the rite. The sonic component was not merely to create a dramatic atmosphere; rather, it was an integral—if not dominant—part of the process.
And it could not have been otherwise: Iamblichus writes as much in his Mysteries of Ancient Egypt.
You said it. Peculiar to ancient Egypt. Had it not been a revelatory book, it would not have stirred up such consternation among its contemporaries. To this day, we are unable to distinguish reality from fantasy.
Let me ask you right away: should an alchemist be familiar with the physics of music?
Of course, it is an extremely interesting branch of scientific knowledge, but for the average alchemists mentioned above, it is not only unnecessary but even undesirable: how could they continue working at their furnaces while being aware of the dynamics of sound oscillations? It would be nonsensical—not to mention an almost unmanageable overload of information.
I imagine that someone with deep expertise in the physics of music would likely set aside classical alchemy to try and reach the musical phenomenon of the final “cooking” stage immediately, without wasting time on the alchemical work.
You’re right; that is exactly how the matter could play out. But, as I will explain in other sections, the astonishing aspect of the final phase is “making the philosophical egg sing” thanks to its increases in weight—and, above all, “making the cosmic return instrument sing”. In short, this is not a matter of artificially constructing an oscillatory system. However, if anyone wishes to attempt this scientific undertaking, they are free to do so. Let them bear in mind, though, that this is a “private” channel that cannot be stimulated at human command.
Would you like to touch upon the modern physics of music?
No. The modern physics of music is an enormously vast discipline; it’s like asking me to teach a course on modern chemistry. Alchemy is something else entirely—it doesn’t require all that baggage of information.
So, I’ll ask you some questions that intrigue me, leaving all the educational stuff aside. Is it possible that, for alchemists, sound is a form of reserve oscillation, just as it appears to be for physicists? For example, engineers are adapting tools to manipulate sound waves by translating ideas from optics to acoustics.
If it were as you suggest—that is, if the sound were a reserve oscillation—it would be not only fascinating but also fully justified by the fluid nature of the private channel through which this communication seems to take place between the alchemist and… I don’t know how to define it… the One, an Archetype, Memory?
However, I wonder how physicists and alchemists can regard sound as a form of reserve oscillation—given that sound consists of rapid pressure fluctuations in air, water, or solid material, whereas light consists of vibrations in electric and magnetic fields.
An alchemist witnesses the transformations from one physical realm to another. The very fact that this is possible further reinforces the theory of an unassailable private channel.
Even though light is much faster than sound, sound can affect light, even if it doesn’t happen the other way around. For example, sound waves can cause mirrors to vibrate in sensitive optics experiments. The effect can generate a refractive index in the glass that varies sinusoidally, following the pattern of the sound wave. Today scientists treat sound like light, that is a wavelength. Military engineers started with sonar, then medical engineers with ultrasound. Now physicists are beginning to suspect that sound waves can move objects. However, sound waves are far from the power of electromagnetic waves.
Surely, sound waves are far from the power of electromagnetic waves. But an alchemist would say that they are all part of the same ocean, which produces gigantic waves in the open sea and gentle undertows on the shore. Ultimately it is movement, and we observe only the effects and not the distant causes. For example, the first known sacred buildings are known for being funerary. Now it seems that archaeologists have discovered that mysterious acoustic waves seem to be “imprisoned” in ancient tombs, and that these “waves” cannot be eliminated. The Romans would have said “for everlasting memory”.
Even Schwaller de Lubitz had attempted to construct a unified theory of light and sound.
Schwaller de Lubitz, who, it should be said, had a degree in chemistry, understood that a piece was still missing from the Fulcanellis’ alchemical theory and had the intuition that it was necessary to go to Egypt to rediscover the ancient Egyptian priests’ Alchemy. We know how it went: Schwaller de Lubitz was not ashamed to say that many of his “discoveries” were based on his wife’s mediumship. This was obviously not enough to “rediscover” the ancient Egyptian Alchemy. However, the Schwallers at least intuited a way forward, that is, that the entire sequence of possible oscillations was used by the ancient alchemists. From gamma rays to infrasound. But how the ancients had managed to do it was and remains a mystery to this day. I am not surprised that “everything” could be used alchemically. In fact, the interruption of a given wavelength would have meant the interruption of the entire “private channel” between the cosmic archetype and the alchemist. We know that Schwaller de Lubitz developed a whole scale of light-sound interactions, but perhaps the author himself was not very satisfied with it.
It seems that sound travels further at night independent of temperature. Calm night no wind at a temperature that any day may be, the sound travels faster. The only thing absent is light.
The only thing absent is sunlight, the boisterous force of the cosmos. We have seen how the Spiritus Mundi, or spirit of the world, descends preferably at night, given that during the day the sun causes it to hover in the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
Could Luc Montagnier’s incomprehensible and unrepeatable experiment be the exemplification of the alchemical “miracle”, which is nothing other than the creation of the world?
The results of that experiment – the creation of a DNA twin by induction from a sealed container of distilled water placed next to another sealed container of distilled water, but containing the original DNA, where both were surrounded by a weak 7 Hz electromagnetic field via a solenoid. Patent US2010323391 – could give alchemical meaning to the mythologies of all time: “In the beginning was the sound”. However, alchemists know that sound was already an advanced stage of Creation.
Could the discovery that biological residues of a deceased person’s mind generate or receive sound impulses for some time provide a scientific basis for the alchemical idea of “sound” as the basis of immortal memory?
I will only say that alchemical, theurgic, and mythological literature are full of examples that might seem the case – just think of the myths of Genesis, of a bit of all cultures.
It seems that even a single cell, in its own small way, can “enjoy” sound or movement.
In fact, it has also been discovered that biological cells have micro sound receptors and transmitters, which obviously cannot be compared to the macro scale of the complex receiving and transmitting apparatus of an entire living being. Ultimately, even a small cell “enjoys” sound or movement.
Not only cells, but also tiny particles seem to enjoy sound. In fact, a quasi-particle, called Phonon, seems sensitive to sound…
Indeed. However, I prefer to delve into the topic of phonons in the section dedicated to time and memory.
Could diffractions and interferences, both light and sound, represent a model of alchemical “sources”?
Diffraction can be intuitively “read” as a request for continuity by the wave front that experiences a discontinuity from the edge (or edges) of an obstacle, and they are known to give rise to new “sources”. Interference is a phenomenon due to the superposition, at a point in space, of two or more waves, in which the resulting wave at that point may be different from the sum of the intensities associated with each single starting wave. As far as we know, they could be considered new “sources”. In fact, it is interference and diffraction that spread the waves in space.
Today we know that ultrasound, sound waves with frequencies higher than those we can hear, can penetrate many materials and interact with objects in unique ways.
This is what’s called difference frequency generation. When two ultrasonic beams of slightly different frequencies, say 40 kHz and 39.5 kHz, overlap, they create a new sound wave, in this case 0.5 kHz, that people can hear. However, the sound can only be heard where the beams cross, while outside of that the ultrasonic waves remain silent. The researchers were able to narrow down where the sound is perceived by creating localized pockets of sound zones, called “audible enclaves”. They did this by using self-bending ultrasound beams, made of specialized materials called acoustic metasurfaces,
“The key phenomenon at play is what’s called difference frequency generation.” When two ultrasonic beams of slightly different frequencies, say 40 kHz and 39.5 kHz, overlap, they create a new sound wave, in this case 0.5 kHz, that people can hear. However, the sound can only be heard where the beams cross, with the ultrasonic waves remaining silent outside. The researchers were able to narrow down where the sound is perceived by creating localized pockets of sound zones, called “audible enclaves.” They did this by using ultrasound beams that can self-bend, thanks to specialized materials called acoustic metasurfaces. This means that it is possible to transmit the sound to a specific person or location without anyone else being able to hear. So far, researchers have managed to propagate the sound to a distance of about one meter from the target and reach a volume of about 60 decibels, equal to that of a conversation.
Might this theory about ultrasound, which can penetrate many materials and interact with objects in unique ways, provide some explanation for the Egyptian ritual of “god-making”?
Interesting question…
Ancient iconography presents many examples of what was called “resonance”…
Indeed. It was also called “echo”, even if it wasn’t a very fitting metaphor. Today we could call it a strange sound entanglement. But to better clarify what I mean I will quote an epigram from the Greek Anthology of Agathias Scholasticus: “A man is said to have asked the musician Androtion, an expert lyre player, the reason for the resonance between the nete and the hypate, claiming to be marvelous at how nature had established a bond of sympathy between taut and lifeless strings. To which Androtion, swearing that not even Aristoxenus had an answer, is said to have argued that the real reason lies in the fact that, since the strings come from the same sheep intestine and were all dried together, they behave like sisters, and resonate as if they were related, sharing the same family voice, since they are all legitimate daughters, born from the same womb.”
Why would this form of “sonic sisterhood” be interesting in Alchemy
You will understand it at the end of the Last Cooking of the Philosophical Egg.
It is proffered that the Universe is composed of Dark matter as a fractal resonance energy matrix of extremely low frequency standing waves. Although this hypothesis appears to conflict with the constant speed of light found in Einstein’s energy equation—given that there would be no vacuum in space (or of space itself) through which light could propagate. What do you think of it?
No alchemist would use such vocabulary. I struggle to understand you, yet I sense that this is a subject of the utmost interest. Now I will quote, to better illustrate what I mean: “Low-frequency standing waves are fixed patterns of high and low air pressure that form when low-frequency sound waves reflect between parallel surfaces, such as the walls of a room.” From what I’ve cited, it seems the problem is getting rid of low-frequency standing waves in a tiny room. This suggests two things to us: tradition recommends that alchemists must abandon the space where they have worked; they cannot continue to live there. Secondly, the first—and apparently the only—sacred buildings were tombs. These were structures where archaeologists have discovered the persistence of low-frequency standing waves that seem impossible to eliminate.
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Main Index: 4. Alchemy is Physics, not Chemistry. But we can’t figure out what it is.