NEW CD: In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone

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The “Philosopher’s Stone”, reputed to be hard as stone and malleable as wax, is a legendary alchemical tool, capable of turning base metals into gold—which we’ve seen can be a metaphor for ‘enlightenment’. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixer of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality—all of which fit in nicely with alchemy processes in general being metaphors for  ‘enlightenment’.

“The stone, also referred to as the “tincture,” or the “powder” (Greek xerion, which passed through Latin into Arabic as elixir), was allied to an elixir of life, believed by alchemists to be a liquid derived from it. Inasmuch as alchemy was concerned not only with the search for a method of upgrading less valuable metals but also of perfecting the human soul, the philosopher’s stone was thought to cure illnesses, prolong life, and bring about spiritual revitalization. The philosopher’s stone, described variously, was sometimes said to be a common substance, found everywhere but unrecognized and unappreciated.”¹

What a wish list! Wealth. Spiritual renewal. Longevity. Health. Even an elixir of life! In essence, the philosopher’s stone offers all human values. The Philosopher’s Stone is like gold, but even better. Gold is a means to all material wealth, but the philosopher’s stone is a means to all ends, a universal means. And it’s lying around for the taking. It’s everywhere! If you have the wit merely to recognize it and learn how to use it, then all ends are within your reach. We needn’t wonder why those who believed in the philosopher’s stone devoted their lives to finding it. What higher ideal could they seek? What better end could a man set himself than a universal means?

The search for the Philosopher’s Stone occupied some of the finest minds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Isaac Newton (1643–1727: yes, the famous physicist!) was deeply interested in alchemy and particularly interested in finding the Philosopher’s Stone.² And, according to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280)  is said to have discovered the philosopher’s stone and passed it to his pupil Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–1274: yes, the famous Catholic theologian!) shortly before Magnus’ death.

And just pure speculation: in the  ‘Sword in the Stone‘, might the stone from which young Arthur pulled Excalibur and proved his right to the English throne be related to the Philosopher’s Stone?

More generally, isn’t the never ending search for the Philosopher’s Stone, in all of its guises, one of our quintessentially human qualities: never satisfied with the status quo—always picking away at the chains that bind us all—longer life, better health, more comfort, more knowledge, more Art, more spirituality, more more more! That quality has been both our Great Glory and our Great Curse.

In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone is scored for glass armonica and symphony orchestra.

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1. Encyc. Brit., 15th ed., 1976↩
2. NOVA: Newton’s Dark Secrets (2005) USA: PBS↩

New Music: “The Harmony of the Birth of the World”

We’ve discussed Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) in a previous blog. The music piece featured in today’s blog is based on another of his images: “The Harmony of the Birth of the World” (originally a black-and-white engraving, hand-colored for your viewing pleasure by yours truly):

To write a piece about Creation that’s only a few minutes long seems almost preposterous—Haydn takes a couple hours of music in his oratorio Creation, and even God Himself took 6 whole days to create the Cosmos! But I like to think about how these Archetypal Stories continue to re-enact themselves today, in my own life. If we’re “created in the image of God”, does the Genesis story say something about how my own acts of creation unfold?

Here is one imagination of that. You may have another, and tomorrow I could likely have yet another still! But here’s one for today:

• I first start with ‘darkness’—before any creation commences or insight occurs.
• Then I have an ‘idea’—Light is a frequent metaphor for ideas (including the light bulb turning on over your head).
• Then this idea begins to give structure to whatever it’s about (separating the firmaments): it begins to give structure to the notes if it’s a piece of music, it begins to give structure to personal decisions if it’s an idea about how to move forward in my life. At this stage I can separate elements in my life into “this furthers my Idea” (the firmament ABOVE) and “this hinders my Idea” (the firmament BELOW) and start making choices accordingly.
• And, any really Good Idea brings forth lots of implied additional ideas as it works itself out—it’s “fruitful and multiplies”.

Another thought: a rather a tacit assumption from the Genesis story is that God stopped creating after Creation. But the story only says that He rested on one day—not that He took the rest of Eternity off! Perhaps after a day of rest, He gets right back to work creating some more? Hmm…

The piece opens with a single note ‘E’. This has a definite symbolic significance:

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the cosmos—it accounts for about 75% of the universe’s elemental mass. Stars are mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state, and our Sun accounts for 99.9% of the total mass of our solar system—the earth and other planets are just the tiniest dust motes floating around our Solar Candle.

Hydrogen generates a spectral line at 1420.40575 MHz due to changes in its energy state.  These changes actually occur very rarely, but there’s just so darn much hydrogen in this Really Big Cosmos that there’s a constant 1420.40575 MHz “hum” going on all the time as a cosmic background whistle. If we were to transpose this “hum” down into the audio range (20 octaves more or less), its closest note (in standard Western tuning) is ‘E’, so that’s the sustained note with which the piece begins.

And much more. But I can’t give away all my secrets! <wink!>

So here we are, starting a new year. We’ve just completed our ‘6 days of creation’ called 2008, and the whole world takes a deep breath at the Winter Holy-Days—a ‘day of rest’—before plunging into the next ‘6 days’ called 2009. This piece is my wish to you for a blessed new year!

“The Harmony of the Birth of the World” is scored for symphony orchestra and pipe organ (see Kircher’s image).

• Here's the the whole piece (12:30)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds

VOTE ON THIS PIECE!
I like it!	74
I don't like it!	71

Sincerely,

william

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As always, MP3s are on the 'honor system'—if my music does something for you, do a little monetary something for me and And/or kindly  Email This Post to a friend!

New Music: “The Alchemical Tree”

As I mentioned in last week’s post, alchemy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was about much more than “changing lead into gold”–in addition to being proto-science concerned with medicine through metallurgy through proto-chemistry, within its literature there is also a stream called ‘inner alchemy’ for which that metaphor was about ‘changing the lead of the human heart into Gold‘. In other words, it was a way for folks to talk about the Spiritual Path under the radar of the religious authorities (back when heresy was potentially a capital offense–and a barbarically excruciating one at that).

Here’s an image from the Quinta Essentia by Thurneisser (1530–96):

Until you get some familiarity with the ‘language’ of these alchemical images, it’s hard to even know where to begin. So here’s is one interpretation—and by no means the only one:

The tree: what do trees do? They have their roots in the earth, but they reach for the heavens.

The birds: their natural abode is the heavens.

The dragon: unlike western children’s bedtime stories, dragons in the alchemical literature are not necessarily evil and destructive.  And the natural abode of dragons is also the heavens. But this one is on the earth. And kneeling (as well as a dragon can kneel!)… and instead of breathing out fire, it’s drinking in water. And the result of that is that the Alchemical Tree is blossoming…

Again, my hints at ‘interpretation’ have no more authority than anyone else’s. But it’s a place to start!

Here’s my companion piece. It’s scored for chamber orchestra (strings, french horns, flute, oboe, clarinet, harp, celesta, finger cymbals):

• Here's the the whole piece (5:44)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds

VOTE ON THIS PIECE!
I like it!	41
I don't like it!	39

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As always, MP3s are on the 'honor system'—if my music does something for you, do a little monetary something for me and And/or kindly  Email This Post to a friend!