gold as other than metallic, of the same order of nature as the lead 
from which it had been made. That this gold should possess the 
power of multiplying itself, or of acting as a ferment upon other 
substances, seemed so absurd that he felt obliged to conclude that 
the alchemists who claimed these properties for their Gold must, 
after ail, hâve been referring not to Chemistry, but to some spiritual 
operations whose sanctity demanded some such symbolic veil as 
the cryptographie use of the language of the laboratory. 
The Master Therion is sanguine that his présent réduction 
of ail cases of the art of Magick to a single formula will both 
elucidate and vindicate Alchemy, while extending chemistry to 
cover ail classes of Change. 
There is an obvious condition which limits our proposed 
operations. This is that, as the formula of any Work eflfects the 
extraction and visualization of the Truth from any “First Matter”, 
the “Stone” or “Elixir” which results from our labours will be the 
pure and perfect Individual originally inhérent in the substance 
chosen, and nothing else. The most skilful gardener cannot 
produce lilies from the wild rose; his roses will always be roses, 
however he hâve perfected the properties of his stock. 
There is here no contradiction with our previous thesis of the 
ultimate unity of ail substance. It is true that Hobbs and Nobbs 
are both modifications of the Pleroma. Both vanish in the Pleroma 
when they attain Samadhi. But they are not interchangeable 
to the extent that they are individual modifications ; the initiate 
Hobbs is not the initiate Nobbs any more than Hobbs the 
haberdasher is Nobbs of “the nail and sarspan business as he got his 
money by”. Our skill in producing aniline dyes does not enable us 
to dispense with the original aniline, and use sugar instead. Thus 
the Alchemists said : “To make gold you must take gold”; their 
art was to bring each substance to the perfection of its own proper 
nature. 
No doubt, part of this process involved the withdrawal of the 
essence of the “First Matter” within the homogeneity of “Hyle”, 
just as initiation insists on the annihilation of the individual in the 
Impersonal Infinity of Existence to emerge once more as a less 
confused and deformed Eidolon of the Truth of Himself. This 
is the guarantee that he is uncontaminated by alien éléments. The 
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