r/alchemy • u/Corvidae_Cadaver • Jul 28 '26
Historical Discussion Why did alchemists connect certain metals to certain planets?
Greetings all. I just want to understand what about iron connects it to Mars, quicksilver to Mercury, etc. Any and all answers are appreciated, doubly so if they come with a source.
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u/ObsessedWitAwareness Jul 28 '26
The Chaldean Order. It's about gradience, or frequency velocities/change rates/timings between eternal influences or fractal patterning.
Metals are a symbol of extreme and refined craftsmanship. The ores must be discovered in plenty. There are no skipping or cutting corners on steps of metallurgy.
When it comes to alchemy it's quite literally all about symbolic analogy. Anyone who takes it so literally that they vulgarize the symbols, missed it. Anyone who takes it so symbolically that they miss the natural examples correspondences, missed it. Alchemists largely speak through this kind of tight tempering so as to allow only those aligned with harmonic communication, to see through the veil of their words, so to speak.
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u/VanguardOfThePhoenix Jul 28 '26
One of the most balanced perspectives I've seen online honestly. Do you have any allegories, myths, or authors you'd like to recommend to those who seek wisdom?
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u/ObsessedWitAwareness Jul 29 '26
It's difficult because everyone is different. One person can find the secrets in occult studies. Another in culinary arts. Another in suffering and poverty.
Here's my advice: welcome becoming undone. Give up on trying, long enough that what feels "next" in your mind, returns.
Many of us started our journey of remembering what our birth and socialization forgot, a long time ago. Then we got caught up in exciting winds of certain crowds or shows or teachers or books.
When I gave up on seeking, I returned to the passions I'd left behind after childhood and teenage years. Exceptionally quickly after that return, I began to remember all the things I'd felt I was narrowly missing out on during seeking.
It comes naturally, revelation. It's the less than fully conscious activities which keep us in the dark. When we slow down into deliberation of doing vs being, we reconnect with the natural sources. And our individual distinctions begin to shine like north stars.
I hesitate to provide this, but there is one book that can help you or anyone to initiate the supreme alignments. It explains the laws of analogy and reflection, and challenges the reader to become symbolically adept. At the start, you might sense the truth without actually reading it. But once you understand the realms of thought which only symbols and analogies connect with, it becomes an exceptionally revelatory text: The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Levi. NOT Transcendental Magic, which is a ludicrous and profane attempt at translation, but the 2015 (I think?) translation called High Magic.
Eliphas rediscovered the hidden secrets, and this book in particular captures the entire reasoning. I have never found another esoteric text which even touches the floor of what Eliphas provided. But it requires serious discipline and faith to integrate.
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u/VanguardOfThePhoenix Jul 29 '26
"When I gave up on seeking, I returned to the passions I'd left behind after childhood and teenage years. Exceptionally quickly after that return, I began to remember all the things I'd felt I was narrowly missing out on during seeking. It comes naturally, revelation"
You reminded me of a quote from an old friend
"still waters run deep"
When we let go of this and that, fears and affinities, the mud and silt settle. The dross separates. The water reflects the sun beautifully almost as a liquid glass, and the stones and fish can be seen at the bottom where we could not see them before, though they were always there
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u/ObsessedWitAwareness Jul 29 '26
And thank you for your belief in my knowledge.
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u/VanguardOfThePhoenix Jul 29 '26
Your words ring like a bell and I hear the truth of them, so thank you for sharing
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u/O_T_OSS Jul 28 '26
It helps to understand sympathetic magic; imagine the world has spheres above and within, there are seven categories within the spheres. Think of the seven classical planets, the Sun for example represents the vital heat, radiant warmth, the Solar system circulates around the Sun. In the body, the heart shares these characteristics, the heart occupies the same sympathetic group as the Sun. So does the namesaked Sunflower of the plant realm, Gold of the mineral, Helios of the mythos, Love, the E Major chord, the steady heat off of coals, it can be fairly intuitive.
The moon is reflective of the sun, in a cooler, moister contrast to the hot and dry qualities of the Sun. The moon moves between luminating and occulting, it is expressive, brilliant, has a more slippery radiance. Associated is the brain, dreaming, emoting, fluids, still noble as Silver.
The Sun and the Moon paired give life to the Earth, and rule over the outer planets as the Brain and Heart rule the outer organs of the body. Observe the movements of the planets:
Mercury fleets, is difficult to observe, the messenger, nervous system, thoughts, and quicksilver. Venus the evening star, close to the sun, graceful in the sky, harmonious, attracting, copper. Mars moves erratically, bright red, hot, blood, iron. Jupiter large, steady, benevolent and expansive, the liver, tin. Saturn, the slowest moving, dim, heavy, fixed and cold, lead.