Post by Empress Palpatine on Dec 29, 2009 23:42:54 GMT -6
One of the most impressive scenes in the Star Wars films is when Palpatine lets loose a blast of Sith lightning. It is always at that moment that my heart beats a little faster. There is an excitement about it. There is power. That is probably why I like to go outside and watch the lightning when a storm comes and think of Palpatine.
In Star Wars, the lightning is always associated with the Sith. Perhaps that is due to its association with power. In ancient lore, it is often associated with the power of God or gods. Every Sith would wish to do what Palpatine did with the lightning.
This particular power has a long history in ancient lore. In modern times it is called electricity, and we do not give it much thought anymore. We just warm our coffee and run our computers on it. All the sense of mystery is gone. Perhaps this is a mistake because electricity is taken so for granted that we are missing something.
The alchemists regarded it as a precious secret. The following are quotes from Albert Pike, a famous Freemason:
"The prima materia of the Great Work, in the Superior World, is enthusiasm and activity; in the intermediate world, intelligence and industry; in the lower world, labor: in Science, it is the Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, which by turns volatilized and fixed, compose the AZOTH of the Sages.
The Sulphur corresponds with the elementary form of the Fire; Mercury with the Air and Water; and Salt with the Earth.
The Great Work is, above all things, the creation of man by himself; that is to say, the full and entire conquest which he effects of his faculties and his future. It is, above all, the perfect emancipation of his will, which assures him the universal empire of Azoth, and the domain of magnetism, that is, complete power over the universal Magical agent.
This Magical agent, which the Ancient Hermetic philosophers disguised under the name of 'Prima Materia,' determines the forms of the modifiable Substance; and the Alchemists said that by means of it they could attain the transmutation of metals and the universal medicine.
There are two Hermetic operations, one spiritual, the other material, dependent the one on the other.
The whole Hermetic Science is contained in the dogma of Hermes, engraven originally, it is said, on a tablet of emerald. Its sentences that relate to operating the Great Work are as follows:
'Thou shalt separate the earth from fire, the subtle from the gross, gently, with much industry.
'It ascends from earth to Heaven, and again descends to earth, and receives the force of things above and below.
'Thou shalt by this means possess the glory of the whole world, and therefore all obscurity shall flee away from thee.
'This is the potent force of all force, for it will overcome everything subtle, and penetrate everything solid.
'So the world was created.'
Pike goes on:
"All the Masters in Alchemy who have written of the Great Work, have employed symbolic and figurative expressions; being constrained to do so, as well to repel the profane from a work that would be dangerous for them, as to be well undestood by Adepts, in revealing to them the whole world of analogies governed by the single and sovereign dogma of Hermes.
So, in their language, gold and silver are the King and Queen, or the Sun and Moon; Sulphur, the flying Eagle; Mercury, the Man-woman, winged, bearded, mounted on a cube, and crowned with flames; Matter or Salt, the winged Dragon; the Metals in ebullition, Lions of different colors; and finally, the entire work has for its symbols the Pelican and the Phoenix.
The Hermetic Art is, therefore, at the same time a religion, a philosophy, and a natural science. As a religion, it is that of the Ancient Magi and the Initiates of all ages; as a philosophy, we may find its principles in the school of Alexandria and the theories of Pythagoras; as a science, we must inquire for its processes of Paracelsus, Nicholas Flamel, and Raymond Lulle.
The science is a real one only for those who admit and understand the philosophy and the religion; and its process will succeed only for the Adept who has attained the the sovereignty of will, and so become King of the elementary world: for the grand agent of the operation of the Sun, is that force described in the Symbol of Hermes, of the table of emerald; it is the universal magical power; the spiritual fiery, motive power; it is the Od, according to the Hebrews, and the Astral light, according to others." (773-775, MORALS AND DOGMA by Albert Pike, 1871)
Pike goes on to describe further the Alchemists' work and equates this astral light, azoth, or od with magnetism and electricity.
"The 'elementary fire,' that comes primarily by attraction, is evidently Electricity or the Electric Force, primarily developed as magnetism, and in which is perhaps the secret of life or the vital force." (p. 791)
As Pike wrote this, the world of science was discovering new facts about the nature of electricity and magnetism. This no doubt grabbed Pike's attention. In the 19th century, electricity still seemed very much like magic. Only today has it become mundane, and yet the Sith lightning of Palpatine reminds us of its magical and mysterious roots. Perhaps the alchemy of old and the science of new can be combined to bring power and understanding to the aspiring Sith!
In Star Wars, the lightning is always associated with the Sith. Perhaps that is due to its association with power. In ancient lore, it is often associated with the power of God or gods. Every Sith would wish to do what Palpatine did with the lightning.
This particular power has a long history in ancient lore. In modern times it is called electricity, and we do not give it much thought anymore. We just warm our coffee and run our computers on it. All the sense of mystery is gone. Perhaps this is a mistake because electricity is taken so for granted that we are missing something.
The alchemists regarded it as a precious secret. The following are quotes from Albert Pike, a famous Freemason:
"The prima materia of the Great Work, in the Superior World, is enthusiasm and activity; in the intermediate world, intelligence and industry; in the lower world, labor: in Science, it is the Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, which by turns volatilized and fixed, compose the AZOTH of the Sages.
The Sulphur corresponds with the elementary form of the Fire; Mercury with the Air and Water; and Salt with the Earth.
The Great Work is, above all things, the creation of man by himself; that is to say, the full and entire conquest which he effects of his faculties and his future. It is, above all, the perfect emancipation of his will, which assures him the universal empire of Azoth, and the domain of magnetism, that is, complete power over the universal Magical agent.
This Magical agent, which the Ancient Hermetic philosophers disguised under the name of 'Prima Materia,' determines the forms of the modifiable Substance; and the Alchemists said that by means of it they could attain the transmutation of metals and the universal medicine.
There are two Hermetic operations, one spiritual, the other material, dependent the one on the other.
The whole Hermetic Science is contained in the dogma of Hermes, engraven originally, it is said, on a tablet of emerald. Its sentences that relate to operating the Great Work are as follows:
'Thou shalt separate the earth from fire, the subtle from the gross, gently, with much industry.
'It ascends from earth to Heaven, and again descends to earth, and receives the force of things above and below.
'Thou shalt by this means possess the glory of the whole world, and therefore all obscurity shall flee away from thee.
'This is the potent force of all force, for it will overcome everything subtle, and penetrate everything solid.
'So the world was created.'
Pike goes on:
"All the Masters in Alchemy who have written of the Great Work, have employed symbolic and figurative expressions; being constrained to do so, as well to repel the profane from a work that would be dangerous for them, as to be well undestood by Adepts, in revealing to them the whole world of analogies governed by the single and sovereign dogma of Hermes.
So, in their language, gold and silver are the King and Queen, or the Sun and Moon; Sulphur, the flying Eagle; Mercury, the Man-woman, winged, bearded, mounted on a cube, and crowned with flames; Matter or Salt, the winged Dragon; the Metals in ebullition, Lions of different colors; and finally, the entire work has for its symbols the Pelican and the Phoenix.
The Hermetic Art is, therefore, at the same time a religion, a philosophy, and a natural science. As a religion, it is that of the Ancient Magi and the Initiates of all ages; as a philosophy, we may find its principles in the school of Alexandria and the theories of Pythagoras; as a science, we must inquire for its processes of Paracelsus, Nicholas Flamel, and Raymond Lulle.
The science is a real one only for those who admit and understand the philosophy and the religion; and its process will succeed only for the Adept who has attained the the sovereignty of will, and so become King of the elementary world: for the grand agent of the operation of the Sun, is that force described in the Symbol of Hermes, of the table of emerald; it is the universal magical power; the spiritual fiery, motive power; it is the Od, according to the Hebrews, and the Astral light, according to others." (773-775, MORALS AND DOGMA by Albert Pike, 1871)
Pike goes on to describe further the Alchemists' work and equates this astral light, azoth, or od with magnetism and electricity.
"The 'elementary fire,' that comes primarily by attraction, is evidently Electricity or the Electric Force, primarily developed as magnetism, and in which is perhaps the secret of life or the vital force." (p. 791)
As Pike wrote this, the world of science was discovering new facts about the nature of electricity and magnetism. This no doubt grabbed Pike's attention. In the 19th century, electricity still seemed very much like magic. Only today has it become mundane, and yet the Sith lightning of Palpatine reminds us of its magical and mysterious roots. Perhaps the alchemy of old and the science of new can be combined to bring power and understanding to the aspiring Sith!