[holygirl (OP)]

I have always been interested in the lost knowledge of ancient times. I read various books on the topics that no longer people talk about. I have been a regular user of forgottenbooks.org and they have released some great books which had been lost in print. Last week i visited the website again and i saw that they have released a new book on Alchemy which had been lost in prints. The book of Aquarius is the name of the book and its about the knowledge and power of alchemy. I had always been interested in alchemists and so i downloaded the ebook which was free. I read the book and i became a fan instantly. The author seems to know a lot about Alchemy and power of nature. I am so impressed by the author and his writing and read some pages over and over again. I would like to quote a few lines from the book here..

The purpose of this book is to release one particular secret, which has been kept hidden for the last 12,000 years. The Philosophers' Stone, Elixir of Life, Fountain of Youth, Ambrosia, Soma, Amrita, Nectar of Immortality. These are different names for the same thing.

Throughout history this secret has been used by a very few to extend their lives hundreds of years in perfect health, with access to unlimited wealth, among many other miraculous properties. Some kept the secret because they understood that the time was not right for the secret to be free for all people, but most kept the secret out of their own jealousy, ignorance, egotism and corruption.

The Stone's history and the history of the human race up until this day is a strange story full of secret societies, hooded cloaks, and mystical symbols. Such theatrics are childish and shallow. It's pointless to look for the light in the shadows.

The Philosophers' Stone operates and is made by entirely natural and scientific means. Truth is always simple, beautiful and easy to understand.

The Philosophers' Stone is real; you can make it at home. The Stone makes old people young, heals all forms of sickness and disease, extends your life, turns any metal into gold, and more, as you will learn. This isn't a myth or a metaphor, it's a fact.

Don't judge this book before you've read it. This is not one of those airy fairy books written in all kinds of mystical language, filling pages with words that makes sentences but not sense. This book will make more sense than anything you've ever read before.

The age of secrets is over. I'm writing this book in common English. There's no need for mystical language or metaphor. This book contains no hidden meaning or codes; everything is stated plainly and directly, in the shortest and simplest of words necessary to convey the meaning.

I know not many people will believe this. But i would like it if people just take a look at the book. I am working to make my own philosopher’s stone and i would like to have some fellow members of the forum to be interested in the idea. The Pdf and the audiobook version of the book is free and can be downloaded from the website
newbielink:http://www.bookofaquarius.forgottenbooks.org [nonactive]

Please read the book at least once and let me know what you think about it. I would like to discuss this topic with other people. Cheers.

[RD]

The purpose of this book is to release one particular secret, which has been kept hidden for the last 12,000 years. The Philosophers' Stone, Elixir of Life, Fountain of Youth, Ambrosia...

Ambrosia is no secret: it's readily available in the UK ...

[damocles]

Think about Southern Europe in the Middle Ages, perhaps around 1200. The society has few technological skills. But people are living among the decaying remains of a golden age of the past. There are works of architecture, of art, and even of science in plain view that they know they cannot match. They look back to the days of the Greek Philosophers and the Roman empire and Roman Engineering. Because they are essentially a Christian culture they are also looking back to an age when God walked on the Earth.

There is little wonder that they should be looking for lost wisdom and knowledge among the ancient writings.

Such technological skill as the society does have consists in jealously guarded secrets passed down from master craftsman to apprentice through the generations -- the masons, who were able to build the great cathedrals of Europe; the metalworkers, who kept alive the skills of making useful weapons and tools, and so on.

There is little wonder that they should be expecting to find the wisdom of the ancients in the form of coded mnemonics.

And that is the basis of alchemy, and why it was an understandable and perhaps even appropriate pursuit in mediaeval Europe.

But the Renaissance came to Europe. It came with voyages of exploration that provided contact with other cultures. It came with the Muslim migration/invasion from North Africa, and the sharing of more advanced scientific knowledge that they brought with them. And it came when individuals recognised the limitations of seeking knowledge in the past, and gained the confidence to do their own experimentation and discovery (e.g. Paracelsus).

Modern science arises out of the renaissance culture -- it is about careful observation and experimentation, and not about seeking lost knowledge in ancient writings and the like. In many ways alchemy is the very antithesis of modern science. But the claims of alchemy, if they can ever be expressed precisely enough, should be thoroughly tested using the techniques of modern science. The real problem is to find any solid and clearly expressed claim in all of the ancient and modern alchemical writings that can be scientifically tested.

[RD]

holykelly could have been blocked from posting as they were recorded as a forum spammer five days ago ...

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[imatfaal]

Think about Southern Europe in the Middle Ages, perhaps around 1200. The society has few technological skills. But people are living among the decaying remains of a golden age of the past. There are works of architecture, of art, and even of science in plain view that they know they cannot match. They look back to the days of the Greek Philosophers and the Roman empire and Roman Engineering. Because they are essentially a Christian culture they are also looking back to an age when God walked on the Earth.

architecture - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgos_Cathedral  1221AD
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art Madonna Enthroned with the Child, St Francis and Four Angels 1278-80 Fresco, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi
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science Roger Bacon - the progenitor of the scientific method, who tested and experimented (and even argued that the speed of light could not be infinite - although I am pretty sure he wasnt able to find a way of testing that in the 13th century.

I know exactly what you mean and tend to agree (and it must look as if I am picking over your posts for discrepancies)  but I think the dark ages are unduly hard done by. 

[damocles]

OK then Imatfaal!

Think about Southern Europe in the Middle Ages, perhaps around 1200. The society has few technological skills. But people are living among the decaying remains of a golden age of the past. There are works of architecture, of art, and even of science in plain view that they know they cannot match. They look back to the days of the Greek Philosophers and the Roman empire and Roman Engineering. Because they are essentially a Christian culture they are also looking back to an age when God walked on the Earth.

science Roger Bacon - the progenitor of the scientific method, who tested and experimented (and even argued that the speed of light could not be infinite - although I am pretty sure he wasnt able to find a way of testing that in the 13th century.

I know exactly what you mean and tend to agree (and it must look as if I am picking over your posts for discrepancies)  but I think the dark ages are unduly hard done by. 

I am not offended that you are coming up with discrepancies -- if done in a constructive manner (as you do) that sort of thing refines and enriches the discussion. But there are a couple of things I want to come back with. I had already referred to the great cathedrals of Europe:

Such technological skill as the society does have consists in jealously guarded secrets passed down from master craftsman to apprentice through the generations -- the masons, who were able to build the great cathedrals of Europe; the metalworkers, who kept alive the skills of making useful weapons and tools, and so on.

The piece of artwork you produce is absolutely beautiful. But it is iconic, not photographic. The people portrayed are wooden, and cartoon-like. The skills to produce realistic images of people, in particular, were available to the Greeks and Romans. But such images were regarded as pagan by the church. Jewish and Muslim culture forbade images of people at all; the Christian Church allowed only iconic images. It was only after the great schism in the eleventh century that the Western Church relaxed this attitude; the Eastern Church never did. The art of making realistic images of people was relearnt in the early renaissance, from Giotto through to its culmination in Michaelangelo.

And Roger Bacon? Well, perhaps he was the exception that proves the rule  [] He does stand out as a shining light. But he had little influence over the culture and attitudes of the times, and his work did not lead to anything direct and immediate. He has to be balanced against the conservative, and far more influential, contemporary philosophers. Most notably St. Thomas Aquinas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

I also think the Middle Ages are usually unfairly put down. But I do think it important to recognise that they were in general backward-looking rather than forward-looking times.

[imatfaal]

If I mention the p word (postmodernist) I will be laughed at and reviled - but I tend to think of the banding of history into rebirths, declines, dark ages etc are very much artefacts of trying to cram the big stories of past into one over-arching narrative that ends with us!  Perhaps it was more what was achieved through the view rather than the view itself - the dark ages stagnated through its fetishisation of the past, the renaissance was supercharged by it

On the architecture/masonic secrecy/guild thing - I think you are probably correct to an extent, but I believe human nature has changed little and I think it unlikely that purses of gold didnt loosen lips and spill trade secrets even then.  And it was also a good opportunity to post a really nice picture!

My late boss spent her life working on and demonstrating the similarities and parallels between prehistoric art from the greek islands and modern non-representation sculpture (to the extent of endowing a few museums to make her point).  I think similar parallels can be drawn between the art you label as simply "iconic" and early modernism in late 19c and early 20c.  Less concentration on the pictorial representation and more on the underlying emotion and unseen/unseeable reality that lies beneath the skin.

The philosophers who strictly followed the church's line and stuck to modified aristoleanism/neoplatonism were feted but there were others who took different lines or produced entirely new thoughts (often hidden amongst the dogma to keep themselves safe) dunn scotus, william of ockam - but again on whole you are correct

[Geezer]

This thread may have to be locked due to excessive erudition.

[Tomassci]

Does it work? Send there 4 unedited pics from various angles. Or it didn't happen. And spammer you are/touching keyboard with hands bare/this may be an ad/this will make mods mad.