Page 434 - The_secret_teachings_of_all_ages_Neat

"Then the Sage said: 'Put away your rings and ornaments, and take off your shoes, and
follow me.' And Alexander did so, and choosing out three from the Princes, and leaving
the rest to await his return, he followed the Sage, and came to the Trees of the Sun and
Moon. The Tree of the Sun has leaves of red gold, the Tree of the Moon has leaves of
silver, and they are very great, and Alexander, at the suggestion of the Sage questioned
the Trees, asking if he should return in triumph to Macedon? to which the Trees gave
answer, No, but that he should live yet another year and eight months, after which he
should die by a poisoned cup. And when he inquired, Who was he who should give him
that poison? he received no reply, and the Tree of the Moon said to him, that his Mother,
after a most shameful and unhappy death, should lie long unburied, but that happiness
was in store for his sisters." (See The Book of Enoch, The Second Messenger of God.)

In all probability, the so-called talking trees were merely strips of wood with tables of
letters upon them, by means of which oracles were evoked. At one time books written
upon wood were called "talking trees." The difficulty in deciding the origin of alchemy is
directly due to ignoring the lost continent of Atlantis. The Great Arcanum was the most
prized of the secrets of the Atlantean priestcraft. When the land of Atlas sank,
hierophants of the Fire Mystery brought the formula to Egypt, where it remained for
centuries in the possession of the sages and philosophers. It gradually moved into Europe,
where its secrets are still preserved intact.

Click to enlarge
THE LEAVES OF HERMES' SACRED TREE.
Redrawn from an original manuscript dated 1577.

In his Key to Alchemy, Samuel Norton divides into fourteen parts the processes or states through which the
alchemical substances pass from the time they are first placed in the test tube until ready as medicine for
plants, minerals, or men:

1. Solution, the act of passing from a gaseous or solid condition, into one of liquidity.

2. Filtration, the mechanical separation of a liquid from the undissolved particles suspended in it.

3. Evaporation, the changing or converting from a liquid or solid state into a vaporous state with the aid of
heat.

4. Distillation, an operation by which a volatile liquid may be separated from substances which it holds in
solution.

5. Separation, the operation of disuniting or decomposing substances.