Secrets of Metals - (284)

Introduction

There is certainly a secret as to the existence of metals. Why do they exist, what are they really and what function do they fulfil in creation. They must certainly fulfil a function.

After researching a little it seems that the planets have some sort of relation with the planets and one of their secrets is to do with the relationship among the planets. Master Samael gave a lecture titled the “The Metallic Planets of Alchemy”. Honestly that lecture title always confused me, I could never understand the connection between metals and planets and why the planets are important in the Alchemy. So then this post is about expanding a little on that line of how the metals are related to the planets.

The diagram below shows the particular metals related to the planets.

A Little about the Diagram Above

Where in the diagram it mentions the cross as being corrosive, perhaps as we know the cross has to do with combinations of the opposite polarities, and it is true each of those metals with a cross in their symbol seem to combine quit readily with other elements, thus they corrode easily. Such metals are, copper, lead and mercury.

Rudolf Steiner on the Secrets of Metals

Here below is an excerpt taken from one of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures where he explains the three secrets that were given to the students of Aristotle. The second secret was the secret of metals. Rudolf Steiner essentially says that the secret of metals is really that they are bridges between us and the Earth and the planets. They are like representations of the planets here on Earth and they are agents that relate the Earth to the planets, mainly the planets of the Solar System.

Here below is the excerpt:

 “When the pupil had been made sufficiently acquainted with the secrets of the moon, revealed to him by the plants growing out of the earth, he was led on further to the metals of the earth, to the principal metals, Lead, Tin, Iron, Gold, Copper, Quicksilver, Silver, as I explained to you in the last lecture in a different connection. When he had developed such an intensified life of feeling as I have indicated, he then made himself acquainted with the metals, and experienced what they so mysteriously relate; and through the metals he experienced the secrets of the entire planetary system. For lead told him about Saturn, tin about Jupiter, iron about Mars, gold about the Sun, copper about Venus, quicksilver about Mercury, and again silver about the Moon, in so far as she does not stand in close relationship with the earth, but belongs to the whole cosmos. Just as the blossoms revealed their secret to the pupil, so now he learned the metallic secret. First he learnt the secret of the plants, secondly that of the metals.

This secret of the metals which was given in the Eleusinian Mysteries, through that mighty planetary globe which, as I described in the last lecture surrounded the male statue, this secret of the metals still formed part of the instruction given, even at the time of Aristotle; and in this secret of the metals there was revealed the secret of the planets. Man's feelings were not then so coarse as they are today. When he approached the metal lead it did not merely appear in its lead-grey colour to the eye, but the lead-grey made a peculiar impression upon the inner eye. In a certain sense the leaden-grey colour of the fresh metal lead extinguished the other colours, and he felt that he participated in this lead-grey metallity. He came into another condition of consciousness and experienced something different from the present. He was filled with a feeling, a mood, as if the whole pre-earthly period of the earth rose before him. It was as if the present were toned down through the lead-greyness. Saturn nature revealed itself.

As regards gold, we know that according to external analogies the ancients saw in gold a representative of the sun. That was in truth not merely an external play of analogy that the sun was regarded as something precious in the heavens and gold as something valuable on earth. Really, nothing is too stupid for the man of today when he wishes to regard the ancients as stupid. When man regarded the metal gold, with its self-contained shining yellow colour, its modest mien and yet proud standing in the world, he actually felt how this is related to the entire blood-circulation of man. He felt in the quality of gold: “Thou art within that, thou feelest thyself as part of that.” Through this feeling he came gradually to comprehend the nature of the sun; he felt the relationship of the quality of gold with that which works from the sun in the blood of man.

Thus he gained a perception of the entire planetary system by means of the different metals, and the pupil, who did not think about these things as intellectually as we do today, conceived the following formula:

I think about the metals;

They reveal their relationship with the planets

They are subdued by the earth; for they are born of the air.

Actually the metals which are today in the earth came out of the cosmos in an airy form, and only gradually became fluidic during the ancient Moon-period. They came over in airy form when the earth was in the ancient Sun-condition; they attained a fluid form during the Moon-period, and then they became subdued by the earth and reduced to solid form during the earth evolution. That was the second secret which was revealed to the pupil.”

Conclusion

A very interesting excerpt I find, there it is said that indeed metals do have a reason to exist and they do serve an esoteric function besides the numerous and countless human physical applications and uses. The metals are envoys of the planets here on Earth, they put the Earth and the human being in touch with the spiritual value, characteristics and forces of each planet.

Furthermore this excerpt provided a glimpse on the origin of metals, saying that they descended from the ancient Earth-Moon round where they were originally in that round gaseous and later solidified in this current round or stage of the unfolding of creation.

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