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THE PRACTICE OF THE ANCIENT TURKISH FREEMASONS: THE KEY TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF ALCHEMY

IV. Conclusion

I have said everything that is to be said. We must only further discuss the pronunciation of the Arabic words. They are to be pronounced as they are written, the transcription is very precise. The S is pronounced like a Z, as is the Z also. So one does not say natzim but rather nazim. With words of more than one syllable the emphasis is on the second syllable, alam - alam. The CH is a guttural which may cause some difficulties. It is harder than the ch in German ach, and tends more toward the k-sound.

In Arabic the Science of the Key is also called the Science of the Scale: Ilm el Nazan. One also finds Ilm el Quimiya, the Science of Chemistry. This is extremely ancient material. Around 900 AD we find it in Venice, where the cornerstone of Freemasonry was laid when the Science assimilated the Syrian legend of Hiram Abif and linked the individual grades to the construction of the Temple of Solomon -- and thus the Science became a monopoly of the lodge.

The ancient Freemasons never thought of looking at it like that, as by that time the alchemistic books were too widely dissiminated. They placed great weight on secrecy, however, because it was feared that by giving up the secret they would expose themselves to to the mockery of the people. Now people can mock!

From an old treatise of the Austrian Freemason Lampspring, who lived around the middle of the 14th century, these words are given, which I had promised:

If you understand me right and well
Then you will be free of error,
Nothing is more important then this one thing,
In which everything else is concealed.
Therefore, do not turn your mind away.
Cooking, time and patience are necessary,
If you wish to pick the most noble fruit.
Time and work should not displease you
For seed and metal may only be cooked constantly and moderately.
From day to day, and perhaps all week long,
Then you will, in this unpretentious thing,
Find and perfect the whole work of philosophy,
Which certainly appears impossible to most men,
Because it concerns such a simple and easy work --
If we showed and made it known to others
Certainly we would be mocked by men, women and children
So be discreet and silent
Then you will live in peace and be without trouble
Not only with your neighbor, but also with God
Who gives the art and wishes to know it secretly.

Alchemy is traced back to Hermes Trismegistus -- one of his sayings is given in conclusion, and with it the explanation that a modern researcher gives: "If you do not take the corporeal condition from bodies, and if you do not reformulate the non-corporeal substances into bodies, you will not obtain what you expect." If you have read this book to its conclusion you will know what is meant by this -- and how Berthelot was mistaken when he explained: "If one does not remove the metallic condition from metals and if one does not extract metals from non-metallic materials, the transmutation of metals will not succeed."

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