The Alchemists' Council, page 1
Contents
Prima Materia
Orders of the Alchemists’ Council
Prologue
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
For the Initiates
Jessica, Jayde, and Sarah.
And for Jen/Nikki,
whose conjunction brought
this book to the outside world.
The Alchemists’ Council
forbids you to read this book.
prima materia
Long ago — so very long ago that the truth of the matter now exists only as a primordial myth — the Lapis and the Flaw were co-equivalents known in their conjunction as the Calculus Macula. Quintessence — the fifth and most sublime element, the very breath of life and life everlasting — flowed between the two in a harmony of such congruence that everything, above and below, naturally maintained perfect elemental balance. The sapphire Lapis and the ruby Flaw entwined to illuminate in deepest amethyst the concurrence of all. No Council existed. No Council needed to exist. Everything simply and absolutely existed without intention. Without intention, conflict remained unknown.
But one day — so the story goes — a being named Aralia spontaneously gained intention and thought itself to be better than all other beings. Aralia stood beside the Calculus Macula and proclaimed possession thereof. In response to Aralia’s new-found intention, another being — this one named Osmanthus — disagreed, claiming itself to be better than all other beings, including Aralia, and demanding possession of the Calculus Macula for itself. Thus individual intention bred conflict between one and the other, and the harmony among all beings began to dissolve. At first the Dissolution, as it became known, progressed slowly. But within what is now considered a mere fragment of time, the progress hastened. Before long, other beings, of their own volition, intentionally chose sides, and the Crystalline Wars began.
For the first several years of the Crystalline Wars, the Calculus Macula remained virtually unchanged. On rare occasion, a vigilant observer noticed a slight fluctuation — a movement of colours, a purple hue along the border between cobalt and crimson. These observations were initially dismissed — a trick of the light, many said. But one day, the truth could no longer be denied. On that day, the deep blue, which had until that point mutually co-existed with the blood-red in the Calculus Macula, spread itself to well over half the total area. Thereafter, even the most casual observer understood that victories by Aralia increased the blue of the Calculus Macula, whereas victories by Osmanthus increased the red. For many years thereafter the blue and the red increased or receded in accordance to the battles waged between Aralia and Osmanthus.
Angry and saddened by the slaughter, Aralia and Osmanthus finally agreed to end the Wars. They proclaimed a truce and arranged to divide the Calculus Macula equally between them. Though their decision was both admirable and honourable, their proclamation came too late. By the time a truce had been called, no one other than Aralia and Osmanthus was willing to relinquish being an individual with intention, to return to being unified as One.
Recognizing the chaos they had created, and realizing that the battle for supremacy would never cease among the beings of their world, Aralia and Osmanthus stood atop the Calculus Macula and embraced. This action was more than a mere symbolic gesture of their desired return to congruence. Having fought for years over the Calculus Macula, they had come to understand its power. Combining its influence over the elements with their pure intention for congruence, Aralia and Osmanthus conjoined as One.
The surge in elemental energy created by the First Conjunction was so extraordinarily powerful that the Prima Materia — the very world in which Aralia, Osmanthus, and all other beings existed — fractured into three dimensions, only two of which maintained access to the Calculus Macula. One of these two was claimed by the Aralians, the other by the Osmanthians. The third dimension ultimately and of necessity became the responsibility of whoever controlled the Calculus Macula. The beings of this third dimension, in their lack of proximity to the Calculus Macula, never again understood the truth of their existence.
From the end of the Crystalline Wars through the thousands of years leading to the current era of Eirenaeus, only those alchemists initiated to the Council ever become true masters of alchemy. For the uninitiated, alchemy remains shrouded — a mystery both arcane and exquisitely beautiful, visible yet hidden amidst the pages of ancient manuscripts, inscribed with meticulously inked calligraphy, illuminated with the vibrancy of gemstones and gold. Only the privileged few of the outside world lay hand to such manuscripts — scholars in pursuit of knowledge and unique theories — but even these few are so far removed from the truth of alchemy that not a single alchemist has ever taken an alchemical scholar seriously. One or two of the privileged may glimpse a fragment of truth if, for example, such a scholar were to observe British Library MS Additional 5025 at precisely the right moment on the right day. But even then such a scholar would most likely attribute the apparent movement of the silver dragon to a fatigue-induced illusion rather than to ceremonial rites of the Alchemists’ Council.
But for the Initiate, an alternative world awaits. They walk among you, Initiate potentials, moving through life measured by successes and failures, by bus tickets and coffee cups and outdated technology. They walk among you until they are read, until the Council seeks and finds and interprets in its manuscripts one of the chosen few, until a member of the Council touches this one, stone to skin, with a Lapidarian pendant strung on a silver cord. Once touched, the Initiate is forever altered, and Council dimension thereafter unfolds. From the intricately carved turrets of the border walls to the resin-imbued trees of the Amber Garden, from the silver-inlaid floor of Council Chambers to the crimson velvet and mahogany chairs of the North Library, the Initiate takes preliminary steps along the well-trodden paths of the Elders.
From the youngest of the Initiates to the eldest of the Elders, true alchemists — those of the Alchemists’ Council — have worked together through the centuries not, as is the common misperception, to produce the Philosopher’s Stone. One cannot replicate the Stone. It has always already existed as the Lapis — the heart, the foundation, the divine manifestation responsible for the very fabric of Council dimension. Nor do true alchemists work to turn lead into gold. Though this feat of elemental transformation has long been misunderstood by outside practitioners as a foundational goal of alchemy, for the true alchemist such transmutation is mere child’s play, an exercise readily mastered by each Initiate within a few months of arrival in Council dimension.
No, a true alchemist works to maintain elemental balance, without which the outside world would collapse, without which life as we know it — life as you know it — would transform from the quintessential gold of existence to the elemental lead of decay. A true alchemist is master of both word and icon, inscribing and interpreting alchemical manuscripts through the ages. A true alchemist is both mystic and chemist, both magician and scientist. A true alchemist has genetic and elemental encoding that enables interaction with Quintessence — the transcendent fifth element, the metaphorical soul of the Lapis. This Quintessence, this ineffable force, is the very substance of life itself — the essence that allows for all and nothing, for (as the mystics would say) the divine nothing that is all.
Initiates of the Alchemists’ Council originate from all corners and cultures of the outside world; they speak with one another through Musurgia Universalis, the sacred language of the alchemists, the universal phonology intuited by all Initiates and facilitated by proximity to the Lapis. Once attuned to its rhythms, alchemists can communicate unhindered for extended periods even when — on official business or otherwise — they find themselves outside Council dimension. Thereafter, even the smallest fragment of — the tiniest drop of essence from — the Lapis enables communication not only among alchemists but also between alchemists and the people of the outside world, no matter their native tongues. Together the alchemists of the Alchemists’ Council transmute Quintessence into life-enhancing Elixir and Lapidarian ink — an immeasurably powerful substance that, when used to inscribe Musurgia Universalis by an alchemist equipped with pen and Lapis-forged nib, can construct or deconstruct the elemental foundation — the eco-systems, the environment — of the outside world.
Unlike the outside world, Council dimension is made manifest, perfected, and maintained by the Lapis itself. This alchemically sustained dimension is primeval yet pristine. The grounds are vast and lush and tinged with blue mist at dawn, the gardens abundant with cerulean flora. The courtyard fountain flows with essence-laden waters of the deepest wells, trickling through copper channels amidst the stone buildings — from the main Council Chambers to the edge of the redwood forest. Murals, in ruby and emerald, in citrine and sapphire, as vivid today as a thousand years ago, span the walls of the ritual chambers. The Initiate classroom, with its rosewood desks and terracotta floor, elicits awe in even the most reluctant of students who cross its threshold. Classroom walls are shelved from floor to ceiling with alchemical vessels and powders and liquors and crystals ground finer than the most precious of salts, with parchments and pens and inks so potent that they can change the world in a single point bled from pen to parchment. Su
The intricacies of Council dimension are visible only to those graced with the gift to see what is and what is not, to recognize both the ink and the page, to comprehend with and without words, to perceive beyond thought the message inscribed herein. Brush with your fingertips these letters extolled by the alchemists, and you will know with a certainty you have never before attained whether you are worthy to turn the page.
Orders of the
Alchemists’ Council
azoth magen (one) Guardian of the Council and Head of the Elder Council, the Magen rules supreme throughout Council dimension, proffers the gift of projection, of returning matured Quintessence to the Lapis through Final Ascension, of sacrificing life for life everlasting, of ushering in the dawn of each new Council.
azoths (two) Guardians of the Lapis and members of the Elder Council, Azoths proffer the gift of multiplication, of nourishing the Lapis, of ensuring the continued purity and potency of Quintessence.
rowans (two) Uniters of Opposites and members of the Elder Council, Rowans proffer the gift of conjunction, of shepherding two bodies into one, and of sealing the promise of each new Initiate to the Council.
novillian scribes (four) Interpreters of Providence, Distillers of Ink, and members of the Elder Council, Novillian Scribes proffer the gift of dissolution, of extracting Quintessential visions from the Lapis, of transforming the Lapis’s essence into Lapidarian ink, of reviewing and revising the work of Lapidarian Scribes.
lapidarian scribes (twelve) Masters of Inscription, Lapidarian Scribes proffer the gift of calcination, of inscribing Novillian visions onto parchment and into manuscripts, of preparing manuscripts for Novillian review and for interpretation by Readers through the generations.
readers (twenty-eight) Interpreters of Word and Image, Readers proffer the gift of exultation, of interpreting the text and icons on the page and, thereby, of advising the Elder Council on all matters affected by the manuscripts.
senior magistrates (sixteen) Professors of the Great Work, Senior Magistrates proffer the gift of crystallization, of transmitting their knowledge of the Great Work to the Junior Magistrates and Initiates.
junior magistrates (twenty) Graduates of the Great Work, Junior Magistrates proffer the gift of rectification, of maintaining purification, of ever increasing their knowledge of the Great Work, and transmitting their knowledge to all Initiates.
senior initiates (twelve) Senior Apprentices of the Great Work, Senior Initiates proffer the gift of purification, of purifying the body to receive Quintessence, of continuing engagement with the Lessons of the Great Work.
junior initiates (four) Junior Apprentices of the Great Work, Junior Initiates proffer the gift of purgation, of emptying the self, of releasing outside world influences, of initiating engagement with the Lessons of the Great Work.
Drink of this, the Elixir.
Read of this, the Word Eternal.
from the Lapis to the Scribe;
from the Scribe to the Reader.
Long live the Quintessence.
Long live the Alchemists’ Council.
Prologue
five years ago
Dark trees and dark mountains. Dark clouds, waiting. She waited in an even darker place, against the flat rock of the cliff face, letting the wind shower her with drops of water pulled from the trees or sky. She would die today.
Amidst the ritual chanting of the Elder Council, she thought of her failures. She thought, in particular, of the one that had set her on a path she would not have otherwise imagined herself taking. She should have known better than to make such a mistake. But she had been selfish and believed it mattered — believed conjunction would be more meaningful with passion and attraction. Pride had decisively turned her away from Council protocol. And for what? Now she was alone and vulnerable to those who had witnessed her mistake. Now the one who came to her today, the one with whom she must finally conjoin, would be the one to know sacrifice. Two bodies conjoined in sacramental service to the Council. She needed to understand herself as such — as a means to an end. One body alone could no longer contain her ambitions. No attraction. No love. Conjunction in and of itself. Victory.
“Thus two shall be one,” the Elders declared.
The chanting slowed, transformed momentarily into a cacophony of individual voices, and then progressed to the harmonious yet nearly inaudible intonation of the “Sol und Luna.”
A figure emerged from the trees and moved past the Elders towards her. She turned, placed her palms against the cold rock face. She could feel warm breath against her neck. She could no longer hear the chanting. Then, sudden and harsh, she felt the other’s essence inside her before her body had time to prepare. She gasped in struggle until the darkness of the cliff turned to the light of conjunction — sulphur and mercury, red and white. Her cry — one piercing note of anguish — rang through the forest as the ineffable presence of self rushed out, purified in its escape. She was no longer the one she had been. She was dead. She was life everlasting.
“I am Cedar, Novillian Scribe of the Alchemists’ Council. I have carried my pendant three hundred and six years. On the final day of the Donum Dei of the 18th Council, I conjoined with Saule.”
Cedar stood in Azothian Chambers in a private meeting with Azoth Magen Ailanthus. He looked down at her from the dais, the emeralds and rubies of its high back glittering above Ailanthus’s head in the light of the kiln fire. Cedar had always admired this room, its low ceilings painted in silver and gold, creating an intimacy not found in the vaulted spaciousness of the main Council Chambers.
“What is your current mission?” Ailanthus asked.
“The recruitment of Jaden.”
“Where does Jade reside?”
“Jaden. According to the Readers, the manuscripts indicate a variant pronunciation. As to her whereabouts, I have all the Readers attempting to narrow the field. A rather extensive lacuna on the fifth folio of the Summum Bonum has caused delay.”
“And what is your plan to ensure success?”
“I thought perhaps you could help.”
Ailanthus smiled — a response that surprised Cedar.
“You are rare, Cedar. Your status is well earned.”
“Thank you.”
He walked to her, bowed his head, and extended a hand, palm up — waiting.
“Why?”
“You question me?”
“An innocent question, Azoth Magen. Forgive me.”
He needed to read her, she realized. And she had hesitated.
She withdrew the silver cord and pendant from beneath her robes, suddenly aware of the pendant’s weight — metal and stone resting momentarily in her hand. He accepted it as if she had offered it willingly.
“You are bound to her, though you have not yet met.”
“Yes, Azoth.” She paused, focusing her thoughts. “Jaden may be the one.”
“Jaden may be the one,” he repeated calmly, moving Cedar’s pendant from his palm to his forehead. “So you believe, and so we all must hope. But when you are as old as I am — when you have officiated at as many initiations as I have — little hope remains that the next Initiate will be the one.”
“Then I will maintain that hope for you, Azoth.”
Ailanthus smiled once again, lowering the pendant from his forehead. A few seconds passed before he returned it to her, his fingers momentarily brushing her palm. Here, in that brief exchange, in that rare moment of touch between Azoth Magen and Scribe, Cedar understood his intention in reading her. He needed to be certain that when the time was right, when the one for whom they had been waiting was ready, Cedar would graciously accept his decision to enact Final Ascension.
“Long live the Quintessence,” he said, his ancient fingers trembling slightly as he held them in traditional steepled position — the first position of the sacred gesture of the Ab Uno.
