Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Crucible & The Wand of Power

by David Griffin

The Wand of Power

When it came to the construction of my Magical Wand, I was a perfectionist in every way.

Every letter of every Magical Name of Power for this Wand was hand cut by a Master goldsmith.

I insisted on using only gold actually provided by me, produced through alchemical transmutation by virtue of the Philosopher's Stone, then rectified and multiplied into a state of absolute purity.

Nonetheless, I still insisted on testing every single ounce of gold immediately prior to its use in my goldsmith's workshop.

For an alchemist or even for a goldsmith, it is quite simple to check the purity of gold. Here is how:
Place a piece gold in a crucible and heat it until it melts. 100% pure gold, in its molten state shines with a brilliant, yellow white light much like the Sun. This is why Gold in alchemy has always corresponded to the Sun. This is also why Gold is considered by alchemists as the noblest of all metals.
On the other hand, with molten gold, even the slightest impurity becomes immediately visible as dark spots, much like dark sunspots across the face of of the Sun. By this method, even normal 24k gold is revealed as highly impure for alchemical and magical purposes!
My poor goldsmith! Spotting such impurities is a simple matter. Removing them is another matter altogether sometimes requiring laborious rectification...

...And for gold for my magical implements, I would accept nothing less than ABSOLUTE purity. Even the slightest impurity revealed by the above test was enough for me to require additional purification of the gold.

Patrick, my goldsmith, was a Chinese immigrant, sent in advance to get his family and their fortune out of Hong Kong, prior to its return to the Communists. Patrick had never experienced such an odd client like me.

On the one hand, I gave Patrick plenty of work - work that stretched his skills to the limit and sometimes even beyond - and, of course, I paid him top dollar for his services.

On the other hand - Patrick had never experienced such a demanding client as me either. I insisted on testing, over and over, the purity every single ounce of gold prior to its use. As I was traveling as a Tour Director, I did not have easy access to my own alchemical laboratory. I therefore taught Patrick how to rectify gold by alchemical means, and required him to perform any necessary operations to reach a state of ABSOLUTE purity in any gold for use on my Wand or any other Objects of Magical Power.

Moreover, every operation involving any piece of my Wand needed to be performed at extremely precise times - according to precise Lunar or Solar cycles. Patrick humored me and always followed my instructions precisely - no matter how strange they may have seemed to him.

These Solar and Lunar cycles culminated in the completion of my Magic Wand, when I quickly mounted the Gold and Silver tips on the Wand under the light of Total Solar Eclipse in Baja California in 1991.
And so it was that under the light of this perfect Conjunctio of Sun and Moon that The Wand of Power was born...

... But this is a story for another day! Keep coming back and tell your friends about this blog.

Don't miss the next exciting chapter of the Misadventures of a Golden Dawn Magus, all about my mishaps with:

"The Black Sun & The Wand of Power"

4 comments:

  1. Care G.H. Frater LeS:
    Great story--interesting photos. Finding such an obedient goldsmith is more amusing than the actual process of purifying the gold--but did he realize that under your tutelage it was He that was being transmuted, rectified, and purified for the Great Work? It was he that became the vessel through which the energies of the elements were being harnessed. Speaking of elements...the wand appears to be an elemental wand constructed in the four color scales of the "Sephirotic worlds" hierarchy. But then again, I can't see the obverse sides and the lettering is difficult to read. An enlarged, animated "gif" of the wand is more in order than a still. Then again, it could be a modern version of a lotus wand of sorts; but I can't help feeling that the wand is very related to the color scales used for the Enochian tablets. So, what type of wand is it?

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  2. You are correct in your observations. The Wand of Power is a Chief Adept's Wand, yet with certain modifications, particularly that the Divine and Archangelic names have been inlaid in pure gold. The wand, in its color scheme, has four elemental sections, with Spirit (white) between. The tips are white and black, the top ending in the point of a diamond and the bottom ending in black onyx.

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  3. Um, so what did you transmute into Gold? Lead? If so, please give me one break.

    Signed,
    Nell Carter

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  4. @ Niel Carter

    For the true meaning of the transmutation of lead into gold, see my article on "The True Nature of Hermetic Alchemy" at:
    http://www.golden-dawn.com/eu/displaycontent.aspx?pageid=102-true-nature-of-hermetic-alchemy

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