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condition of consciousness which is characterized by the immediate acquisition of intuitive knowledge
and by the experiencing of an ineffable bliss which is unlike any other experience in life. At the same
time the realization of complete and absolute. freedom is obtained, as though every bond which tied one
to the world and linked the world to one's own self were severed. In a word, the mechanisms of
introjection and projection of psychic qualities are realized in full consciousness, and overcome. Having
thus experienced Samadhi, the Yogi, being free for the first time, detached, and no longer enslaved
either by extraneous or subjective circumstances, can envisage life as it really is. As a consequence he
can contemplate what further steps should be taken for his own evolution. And he will also see in a way
that few other beings can see how he may help and not hinder his fellow man.
The second Key of Eudoxus informs us that the unfolding of the nature of consciousness cannot be
undertaken without the preliminary dissolution of conscious restriction and inhibitions. The entire
mental sheath must be broken down in order that its psychic constituents may be rearranged in a
modified and better form. Following upon this, the sublimation of libido can be accomplished. This
condition of sublimation achieved, then the conversion of the elements is possible - that is,
reconstructing the Robe of Glory, the inner Body of Light - as well as the extraction and full realization
in consciousness of the three Principles. These three Principles have been likened to Selflessness, with
its opposite of Self for Mercury; Change, with its opposite of Stability for Sulphur ; and Sorrow, with its
implicit of Bliss for Salt. That is to say, these operations must permit the latent qualities and divine
powers dormant in the various levels of the psyche, unknown and unsuspected by the ego, to expand
and attain their maximum expression and development.
4. The Sun and Moon are astrological symbols for male and female, positive and negative, the
psychological equivalents of Consciousness and the Anima (or Animus) principle. The union of these
two dissevered constituents of the personality creates integrity and unity of being. And it is only the
whole man, the equilibriated and balanced individual, who can truly initiate. The distillation is the
spiritual energy which would circulate in such a person. It is this distillation which requires to be
manumitted to the prepared subject. There it can ferment, and after repeated transferences arouse that
interior secret fire of the spirit within the blood which will dissolve the dull and unpurified stone. The
great Sea of the Wise is, as we previously determined., the Collective Unconsciousness or the higher
divine Astral plane, the ubiquitous all-pervasive storehouse of magnetism vitality, feeling, and memory.
5. Dissolved in this way, into what, for lack of other and better words, may be termed a
homogeneous magnetic fluid, the Stone may well be called the Vine of the Wise. As these hermetic
processes go forward, and the fluidic substance matures and develops in the right direction, it is known
as the philosophical Wine. The Wine is extracted from the Vine - that is, the dissolved constituents of
the entire personality which, because of this dissolution, evinces a possibility of further and new growth.
The Wine represents the same substance symbolized by the Vine, but on a higher plane. Because of the
attention we have given to it, the wine we extract and develop from the grape vine is a higher
development of the source from which it came. In that sense it is an evolution. We could likewise
suggest that the Unconscious is the Vine, and the libido, which issues from the hidden depths of the
psyche, answers to the Wine of which Eudoxus so enigmatically speaks. So far as this alchemical Wine
is concerned, as it continues to be subjected to the coction and influence of the fire, further development
increases its virulence, so to speak, at which junction it is denominated as a most sharp Vinegar. It is an
acid fluid continuing the process of disintegration yet further and in a more subtle way invading the
entire mental and psychic sphere, as a preliminary to the reconstruction of the sphere of sensation on a
better and diviner plan.
Some mention must be made of the consequent alteration in the blood-stream caused by glandular
secretions stimulated and equilibriated by changes in both feeling and consciousness induced by the
Great Work. It is an empirical fact that mental and emotional changes are capable of inducing changes
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Israel Regardie - The Philosophers Stone
in the blood-stream and in the tissue structure of the physical body. We are all familiar with instances of
sudden and unexpected bad news at meal-times which has induced vomiting. The study of neurosis has
also provided us with innumerable examples of nervous and physical disturbances induced by adverse
psychic activity. It is a psychological fact that neurasthenia, constipation, indigestion, arthritis, pruritis,
and many other ailments are direct results of psychological causes. Sometimes to deal with the
psychogenic factors eliminates or relieves physical symptoms. At others, direct physical therapy of
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