Although Alchemy speaks through allegories, it cannot be understood by the symbolists, because Alchemy is not a cryptography to decipher, but a gift from God, as its adepts state.
We know today the "modus operandi" of this millenarian science that is able to transform the vulgar man of the Earth into an authentic Solar Man.
The science of Alchemy has its rules and its objective principles, the same as the other sciences. The thing is that the principles of the "hermetic art" are not known by the scientists of the materialistic science. In order to know the hermetic art, it is necessary to study the alchemic symbolism, which is connected with the Hebraic Kabbalah. Thus Alchemy and Kabbalah go together forming a doctrinaire whole that can only be understood by those who really long to know the reality, by those who long to know that which is divine and inhabits in the depths of the human creature.
Alchemy cannot be studied from an intellectual point of view. A critical spirit connected with a serious and conscious mystique is required, and nowadays this is only found in Gnosis.
As PHILALETES says: «You who know these things, do you possess the Stone? I possess it. I did not receive it from anybody, but from my God».
All instruments that alchemists bequeathed humanity through their engravings and ancient texts are in truth inside the man himself. Today we can understand all about the "Ars Magna" - as the adepts called the Alchemy- thanks to the work of the V.M. Samael Aun Weor.
Alchemy has been practiced since the ancient times in different cultures and epochs of humanity. We state below some venerable names of those who knew how to enter the amphitheatre of the science of transmutations:
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1) Nicholas Valois. Norman alchemist. He wrote about Alchemy in 1449. One of his works is "Cinc Livres", which is in the "Library of the Arsenal" in Paris.
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2) Cornelius Agrippa. He was born in 1486. He is the author of the work "Arbatel's magic". His three books of Occult Philosophy were published in 1533. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim died in 1535.
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3) George Ripley. English Adept of the 15th century and author of "The twelve doors of Alchemy".
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4) Giordano Bruno. He was born in Nola, next to the Vesuvius, Italy (1548-1600 ). Author of "On the infinite universe and the worlds"; he was burnt in Rome, in the bonfire, as an unrepentant heretic. For «the Nolense» - as he liked to call himself- God's mind expresses itself in the cosmos, and we can understand it by means of mathematical and geometric diagrams.
He wrote in "On the cause, the infinite and the one": «These philosophers (Pythagoras and Solomon) met their friend, the wisdom, when they discovered this unity. Because wisdom, truth and unity are all the same ». His other works were "On the revolutions of the celestial orbs", published in 1543, and "The Dinner of Ashes", published in 1548
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| 5) Bernard Trevisan. Count of the brand “Trevisana”, a small county of the Venetian states. He was born in 1406 and died in 1490. He made the Stone two times. His most known works are "The parole délaissée" (also known with its Latin name "Verbum dimissum"), "The natural philosophy of metals", which is in the Library "Des Philosophes Chimique" of Paris; "The Treatise of the nature of the philosophical egg", and "The green dream".
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6) Irenaeus Philaletes. English alchemist of the 17th century that possessed the Stone. Many hermeticists affirm that he attained immortality. Fulcanelli says that his main work, "Introitus", is the most systematic, complete and wise work that Alchemy has ever produced. It was published with its complete title of "The open entrance to the closed palace of the king"..
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7) Basil Valentine. Famous German Adept who lived in the 14th century. He was a Benedictine monk; he is also known under the name of «The monk of Erfurt», because he lived in the convent of Saint Peter of that city. His most well-known works are "The twelve keys of philosophy" and "The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony".
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8) Roger Bacon. British Adept and Franciscan monk of the 13th century. He studied at the University of Montpellier, in which also studied in that time Albertus Magnus, Arnold of Villanova and Raymond Lully.
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9) Paracelsus (1493-1541). Very famous hermetic doctor, doctor and alchemist, whose art of curing derived from the Hermetic conception of the cosmos and the man. He was also an outstanding fortuneteller and magician. His alchemic works were published by his faithful disciple: Gerard Dorn, and they are kept in the library "Chemicae Curiosae de Magnet" (2 vols., Geneve, 1702). His more important works are the "Elaviustotius philosophiae alchimicae", "Physique du Trismegiste" and "Physique de la Genese".
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10) Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perrenelle. Famous Adept of the 14th century. Among his works we can mention the following ones: "The Book of the Washers", "The Philosophic Summary" and "The Desired Desire" (which is an explanation of the hieroglyphic figures of the Cemetery of the Holy Innocents, in Paris).
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11) The Cosmopolite. We know very little about the Cosmopolite's identity, except that he was Scottish; probably his name was Alexander Sethon. His most outstanding work was "The new chemical light".
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| 12) Geber. Latinized form of his Arabic name: Yabir Ibn Hziyan.
Alchemist who lived in the 8th century of our era. His most famous work is "The utmost perfections of the Art", whose first known version is a translation dated on the 13th century. This work is kept at the library "Des Philosophes Chimiques", vol II, Paris, 1641-1672.
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13) Raymond Lully. He was born in the year of 1233, in Palma of Majorca, and he died stoned in Bujía (Tunisia), in 1315. He wrote a treatise of logic, "Ars Magna", which is an extraordinary study about the language, and whose sphere of influence reaches to the present-day symbology. Another of his works is "The Testament", which is divided into three parts: theory, practice and codicil. The theory is about the divine creation of man and the world; The practice is on the topic of nature, on the four elements and the quintessence or fifth substance, which is subtler than the four elements; the codicil is the most experimental part of the treatise, the laboratory work. There is a French translation of the codicil: "Le codicile", Léonce Bouyssou, La Haute Science, Paris, 1953.
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14) Arnold of Villanova. Alchemist of the 13th century that, according his own confession, attained the Philosopher's Stone. He wrote an important medical work titled: "The Alchemy", which is composed of five or six short treatises. The most important of them is "The treasure of the treasures" and "The philosophers' rosary". Don't mistake this treatise for another one with the same title, "The philosophers' rosary", that appeared a century later. Other works that are attributed to him are "The new light", "The flower of the flowers" and "Opera Omnia".
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15) Monsignor Jean de Meung. French alchemist of the 13th century. He took part in the creation of the famous "Román de la Rose", composed of 14,000 verses, which give a hermetic character to this collective work.
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16) The Master Albert the Great. Archbishop of Rastibona. Adept of the 13th century. His most important works is "Treatise of Alchemy".
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17) The Sage Morien (Morya). Alexandrine alchemist that lived in the 10th and 11th centuries. He wrote an outstanding work titled "Conversations with the king Calid". He is a Master of the Ray of Mars. He currently lives in the Himalaya, by the side of a path; in a humble house. He has many disciples, and his present body has an age of more than 900 years. He is a son of the Resurrection.
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18) Mary the Prophetess. Alexandrine alchemist of the 4th century, whom the following books are attributed to: "Practice of the alchemic art" and "Dialogue between Mary and Hermes", which are about the hermetic art.
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19) Hermes Trismegistus. who is considered as the Father of the Alchemy, also called the Hermetic Art in regarding to him. His identity is lost in the night of times, he is from the epoch of the pre-Pharaonic Egypt. The name Hermes Trismegistus comes from the Greek and literally means: «Mercury that is thrice greatest, or substance governed by three celestial and three sub-lunar united principles».
The work "The Emerald Tablet" is attributed to him. This is the most complete and concise summary of the Great Work.
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20) Johannes Trithemius. Benedictine German abbot, magician and alchemist of the 16th century. His masterpiece, "The Steneoganographia" is an unusual exposition of cryptographic techniques which could not be deciphered until the 20th century by the North American mathematician James A. Reeds.
He studied at Heidelberg's University, founded the Celtic Brotherhood - a secret society devoted to the study of astrology, numerology, languages and mathematics.
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21) Sanat Kumara. founder of the High School of Initiates of the Great Universal White Brotherhood. This great Being is one of the four Thrones that the Holy Bible speaks of.
He lives in Asia since a lot of millions of years ago with the same physical body that he brought to the Earth in the times of Lemuria. He is a son of the Resurrection.
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22) Kuthumi. He belongs to the Ray of Wisdom. He has an indecipherable age, and he has his sanctuary on the snowed summits of the Himalayas. He is another Resurrected.
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23) The Master D.K. (DJWAL KHUL). This Master belongs to the Ray of Mercury. He possesses the same body he had in the year of 1675. He helped Master H.P. Blavatsky by dictating to her a great part of “The Secret Doctrine”.
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24) Paul of Tarsus. This Master is currently incarnated. He is the Master Hilarion. This Master is the author of the book titled "Light on the Path". This Master belongs to the Ray of Science, he is a Master of the Ray of Mercury.
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25) Master Serapis. Master of the Ray of Venus. He is another son of the Resurrection, and he has a countless age. He governs the worldwide art.
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26) Master Rákóczy (Count Saint Germain, Roger Bacon, Francis Bacon). This Master commands the worldwide politics. At present he lives in Tibet and possesses the same physical body with which he was known during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries at all the European courts. He belongs to the Ray of Jupiter.
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27) Master Samael Aun Weor (20th century). Resurrected Master of the Ray of Mars, Avatar of the age of Aquarius and Hierophant of the ancient mysteries of Egypt. He is author of more than seventy works in the fields of Anthropology, Medicine, Psychology, Art, Science, Philosophy and unveiled Alchemy.
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Great characters of Universal Gnosticism 
