• What is Alchemy
• So, who was Edward Talbot, or Kelley
• The role of  Český Krumlov
• Glass factory in Svetla nad Sazavou
• Prague: Heart of Alchemy and the Science of the Sacred
• Roger Green and the streets of Prague
• John Dee, The Alchemical Museum, “The House of the Donkey and Cradle” and the Old Clock Tower
• John Dee, Edward Kelly and the Enochian Angelic Language
• Iva Maresova and the CD “Enochian Calling”
• Enochian Ritual with Dr. Burns and Alan j Moore
• when-beautiful-minds-talk-to-higher-intelligences and other links

What is Alchemy

Alchemy is one of the world's oldest traditions -- a unique blend of science and spirituality and is often referred to as divine chemistry. Alchemy offers a way of living in accord with the basic patterns of the universe, which can result in magical transformations in your life and has the potential to create a new vision of the world.

Alchemy is the art and science of gathering, fixing and concentrating the vital current - that which bathes the world and is responsible for all life. It allows, among other things, to certain mutations of the vegetable, mineral and animal worlds to form highly effective medicaments.

The word alchemy comes from the Arabic ‘al kima’. The great Egyptian adept king Thoth (and the feminine consort Ma-at), named by the Greeks as Hermes Trismegistus (As Above, So Below, As within, So without) are thought to have been the founders of the art. Since ancient Egyptian times, alchemists have worked in secret to produce something called the Philosopher's Stone, or the Elixir of Life, what the Egyptian's called Mfkzt, or what Mozes called Manna. The earliest use of the modern word Alchemy is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, the Astronomer, who lived in the fourth century, in the time of the Emperor Constantine. However, regardless of where the word ‘alchemy' began, it has come to mean a very special form of spiritual development. 

Simply, Alchemy is the art of transmutation and can be thought of as the raising of vibrations. In the physical sense, we hear stories of old disseminating the idea of turning ‘lead into gold’. The metaphor here is the idea of transforming something from a gross, unrefined state to a perfect and purified form and this process has come to be known as transmutation.  Through the learning, understanding and application of alchemical principles, modern science and quantum physics can return to its roots, that of an inseparable universe, and where the role of consciousness and ethics has a hand in working with matter. "Paracelsus summarized this rather well when he pointed out that the alchemical transmutation was impossible unless the alchemist HIMSELF was in the process of transformation.”- Manley Palmer Hall

Turning base metals into gold can also be viewed as more than a chemical operation carried out with laboratory equipment, as we read more into alchemical literature we see that a great deal of the work is aimed at a mental and spiritual level and transmutation of the Soul.

So, who was Edward Talbot, or Kelley

"So, who was Edward Talbot, or Kelley, and why do we know so little about him?  He appears on stage as an apparent con man, then rises to become a Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, a landed noble of Bohemia and apparently achieves the grand transmutation, the magnum opus of alchemical science. Most of what we know about Kelley comes through the filter of Dr. Dee, who is not always the most reliable source. One of the few scholarly attempts at resolving this enigma, Michael Wilding’s “A Biography of Edward Kelly, the English Alchemist and Associate of Dr. John Dee,” concludes that the “errors, distortions, fabrications, and defamations in existing accounts of the life of Edward Kelley are too many for individual refutation.  Even the most responsible commentators and historians have, upon dealing with Kelly, repeated these unsubstantiated and generally derogatory stories.”

-- Vincent Bridges, An Alchemical Enigma: The Rose and Fall of Sir Edward Kelley, p. 1.

The role of  Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov is one of the most beautiful small towns in Europe. Rich in history and architecture, it has been designated by UNESCO as a world historical monument. Although largely forgotten in the West until recently, it was the center of alchemical study during the Renaissance under the guidance of Count Wilem Rozmberk.  Idyllically situated in a valley in the Blansky Forrest and encircled by the crystal-clear Vltava river that you can see from just about every vantage point, this town will delight you with its little old town square, gardens, and lovely restaurants dotted along the river.

We will spend some time walking through the township, taking in the rich evocative atmosphere of old Bohemia, with its winding cobbled streets, viewing the ancient medieval buildings and small alleys that transport us to another time and another place! It almost feels like the upheavals of European history of the past few hundred years have passed it by.

We can have guided tour through the spectacular 13th century castle “Krumlovsky Zamek” known as the “Pearl of the Renaissance” and learn the history of the Czech noble Vilem Rozmberk who was born on March 10, 1535, in Schützendorf Castle in Austria. His parents ranked among the most powerful and influential people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and held castles and properties throughout the north central section of the realm. Wilhelm, their oldest son, was educated at a private school in Bohemia and spent the years from 1544 to 1550 at a bishopric college in Passau. After finishing his studies, he went to Vienna and was welcomed into the court of emperor Ferdinand I von Habsburg. Later, when Rudolf II took power, Vilem became a diplomat in his court. He would also become the highest royal officer in Prague in the service of emperor Maxmilian II.

This full cycle, brings us back to the birth place of the International Alchemy Guild that Aurelius, our alchemy teacher currently belongs to. This modern Alchemy Guild grew from a small group of practicing alchemists from Austria and Czechoslovakia who began holding informal meetings in Vienna in the 1970s. Members of this group traced their lineage back to Wilhelm von Rosenberg, a sixteenth-century nobleman who founded a group of freethinking alchemists made up of both spiritual and practical alchemists, as well as any of their fellow craftsmen who had been outcast or persecuted by political or Church authorities.

We can visit the biggest Rozmberks' castle "Rozmberk" and the two fantastic monasteries Cistercian Vyssi Brod and Zlata koruna and the nearby beautiful labyrinth.
We will also visit the Moldavite museum, an incredible display of the 15 million years old moldavite olive green crystals which were formed by the impact of a giant meteorite. Most of the rocks, melted by the impact and cooled while they were airborne, fell in central Bohemia.

Some say, this is the prime reason that alchemy developed in this land, long before anywhere else in the world. Did the ancient alchemists use moldavite as part of their “Philosopher’s Stone? Is this the reason John Dee and Edward Kelly and so many others were attracted to Bohemia? Be sure to ask our traveling alchemist Aurelius Electrum this vital question when you are here with us in Český Krumlov!

This is also where your poor author of these notes, Roger Green, had a powerful “I have been here before’ deja vu experience one evening in 1996, traveling to Český Krumlov for the first time from over the border from Austria, visiting one night for dinner with his Feng Shui students. He knew then he had a deep relationship to the land of the Bohemes (the old tribe was called Bois or Boji) and has been teaching and working there ever since!

Glass factory in Svetla nad Sazavou
On our journey, we will make a visit to a very special glass factory in Svetla nad Sazavou. Their showroom is a fairytale place!  You will have a tour of the factory and witness the tradition of glass blowing and cutting that has made the Czech people so famous in the world. Some of our teachings in the Alchemy of Prague event are about the lost secrets of making “the alchemy” glass from ancient Bohemia (they don’t know how it was done and they have not been able to replicate it) Will our group solve this mystery?

Prague: Heart of Alchemy and the Science of the Sacred

So rich and beautiful was Prague five centuries ago that it was called "The Golden City" (die Goldene Stad) - and the name, like its beauty, has remained.  The fame of the “crossroads of the medieval world” spread along the great highways and rivers of Europe and fired the imagination of generations of poets, peasants, artists, philosophers and alchemists.

The architecture of this fairytale city, dominated by a great castle, ancient pinnacles and spires of gold-filled churches, captures a mysterious mystical quality rarely encountered in the world today. Legend has it that Princess Libuse, who could tell the future, founded Prague on the spot where she saw a man carving a threshold, in Czech called a ‘Prah’, for his house. Nicknames for Prague have included "the Mother of Cities" (Praga mater urbium,)   and "City of a Hundred Spires".
The greatest flourishing of Alchemy in Europe came during the reign of Rudolf II (1575 -1611) when important Czech and foreign alchemists lived in Bohemia. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo, the alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee, the poetess Elizabeth Jane Weston, and many others.

The Feng Shui of Prague is based on it being surrounded by seven hills, similar to the seven hills of Rome, and the seven hills of Dublin's "Loves Body” written by James Joyce. Seven church sites occupy the seven hills of Prague - and the ancient plan of this powerful location was to establish a pattern of five sacred sites inside and seven on the outside- making the symbol of the “Rosy Cross” an almost perfect geometric symmetry.

Prague is widely considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe with preserved examples from all periods of its history and is among the most visited cities on the continent. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. According to Guinness Book of World Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. The site offers historic towers, cathedrals, bridges and verdant hills.
We will have a walking tour of Prague, visiting the famous Astronomical Clock located in the mystical town square, the Prague Castle where we will study its constellation alignments, and the famous Charles Bridge and many other ‘special off the track locations” where only our local guide Eliska Bridges can reveal their hidden secrets.

The Czech Republic boasts more than 2,000 preserved castles and chateaux, more per square mile than any other country.

Roger Green and the streets of Prague

Your host and sponsor Roger Green, has taught in Prague every year since 1998. He has sponsored Feng Shui, Sacred Geometry and Ecology conferences in Prague and Budapest. His New York based “Academy Healing Nutrition” now has a branch of its curriculum running in Prague. Also, each year in Prague he teaches modules from his classical Feng Shui trainings.

In 2009 he sponsored the first “Alchemy of Prague” event, where he invited the foremost esoteric historian, Vincent Bridges, from South Carolina, USA.  Vincent ended up living in Sir Edward Kelley's house, tower and alchemical crypts and was the curator to the newly renovated Alchemical Museum and the House of the Donkey and Cradle theater and bar, where our alchemical training with Aurelius Electrum will take place.

Vincent was in the process of finishing some major manuscripts based on the missing years of William Shakespeare and also a book on the life of John Dee and a book on Edward Kelley. Sadly, Vincent passed away July 2014 in Prague, on the night of his gala performance of his play at the Donkey and Cradle.

Some of his life´s work will live on through his friend and translator Eva and his partner Eliska, who will be your guides in Prague and on the tours of old Bohemia.  His colleagues from the USA, Dr Teresa Burns and Alan Moore, will conduct an Enochian Angelic Language Ritual workshop as part of the event in honor of Vincent’s work in this field.

The 2018 Alchemy of Prague event is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and teacher Vincent Bridges. We invite you to join us and meet others who share and love this attunement and respect for Nature, Esoteric Spirituality and the Devine.

John Dee, The Alchemical Museum, “The House of the Donkey and Cradle” and the Old Clock Tower

The tower of Kelly's house, where they did their magical work, is an eight-side octagon and each corner point exactly to the eight points of the compass. We are never really sure whether Edward Kelley (along with his colleague, royal alchemist John Dee) ever really did discover the correct recipe for the Philosopher's Stone that allegedly turns everything it touches into gold. However, Bridges found (through his extensive research in the archives of the Palace) that there are court records that Kelly carried out three effective transformations before court officials and passed each with flying colors.

What was the inspiration behind the Hermetic ideas in the Rosicrucian manifesto? Who were the precursors of the Rosicrucian Enlightenment? The Elizabethan magus and Christian kabbalist John Dee (1527-1608) was the adviser of Queen Elizabeth I, renown as a philosopher, mathematician, geographer and navigator. A scholar-magician in the Renaissance tradition, he was immersed in the occult arts and the influence of supernatural powers. We join John Dee and Edward Kelley on their continental mission which was inspired by hopes of a major spiritual upheaval and religious reconciliation. His practice of angel-magic and the development of the Enochian-Ophanic-Angelic Language and alchemy would throw important light on the later Rosicrucian furor. Prague was also a major center of Jewish life and esoteric studies in the 16th Century. It was the home of Rabbi Judah Loewe, the scholar kabbalist reputed to have created the Golem. Alchemists and occultists gathered in Bohemia from all over Europe to exchange ideas and experiences.

Rooms & tunnels have been newly discovered in the crypts that have been sealed since the early 1600s. Vincent often spoke about the history of Edward Kelley in Prague as well as Prague itself being the center of magic and alchemy and also about the mysteries surrounding the famous astronomical & alchemical clock in the old town square of Prague (our group meeting point).

He was fascinated about the old clock which was constructed in 1410 which is covered in all sorts of Hermetic glyphs and symbols and carries mechanisms for three different kinds of time: Lunar time, Solar time and Sidereal time (the fixed stars) The mechanical clock was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, the latter a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University. Formerly, it was believed that the Orloj was constructed in 1490 by clockmaster Jan Růže (also called Hanuš); this is now known to be a historical mistake. A legend, recounted by Alois Jirásek, has it that the clockmaker Hanuš was blinded on the order of the Prague Councilors so that he could not repeat his work; in turn, he removed a key piece of the clock, and no one was able to repair it for the next hundred years.
 

John Dee, Edward Kelly and the Enochian Angelic Language

The body of work generally known today as Enochian is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating subjects of occult study.  During the last years of the 16th century, this language and the system accompanying it was received and recorded by Englishman John Dee -- considered by many the most educated man in England-- and his countryman, the alchemist Edward Kelley, as the two men travelled from London to different points on the European continent, most notably through Poland to Prague and Trebona in Bohemia.  They believed that what they were receiving through the technique of skrying was detailed instruction from Angelic beings. Many books and articles have delved into the origins, possible meanings, and uses of the techniques and seemingly talismanic objects constructed for their use, but the source of the material and interpretations of its meaning and uses has remained unclear for most of the more than 400 years that have elapsed since Dee and Kelley’s journey.  Unclear, that is until the relatively recent work of metaphysician and Enochian expert Vincent Bridges and collaborator Dan Winter, with the help of several of Vincent’s closest friends and magickal practicioners.  This has resulted in new theories, experimentation, and discoveries, leading to a deeper understanding of this rich and complex field of knowledge. 

Iva Maresova and the CD “Enochian Calling”

The vocal performances on this CD offer a unique experience to both lovers of music and students of Enochiana.  Performed by acclaimed Czech vocalist Iva Maresova, this recording of the 19 Ophanic Keys, better known as the Enochian Calls, comprise a new and unique interpretation of this culminating aspect of the Enochian corpus.  These were recorded in the magnificent Santini-designed Church of St. John of Nepomuk at Zelena Hora, in Zdar nad Savazou,  Moravia, Czech Republic.  A Unesco Heritage site, this edifice has both amazing acoustic properties and astounding energetics resulting from the powerful geophysical properties of the hill and surrounding area, which is then collected and amplified by Santini’s architectural rendering of the Church and its enveloping structure.  Accompanying Iva’s vocal performance is George Shaman on hang drum/ The result is an intensely moving performance with many revelations for the committed listener.

This recording was the culmination of a dream for Vincent Bridges, who was responsible for its production.  Unlike those before him, Bridges viewed the Enochian (or Ophanic or Angelic) work of Dee and Kelley not as an outgrowth of the western mystery tradition but as a literal intervention from outside.  He and his students viewed it as a transformative system best described in energetic states, where even the letters themselves functioning as waveguides.  They saw Enochian as a system of 4th dimensional and higher geometries that, when properly set up, worked almost automatically.  Just as the nucleus of human cells put out light or photon emissions that are automatically received by other cells, Bridges believed the “alchemy of light” generated by a correctly set-up Enochian Temple worked as a kind of bioenergetic machine provided to humans from the outside to help jump-start their own evolution.  These objects that are formed work automatically by their shape or function as they exist physically in higher dimensions; they sing “Evolve!” to those parts of us that already exist in higher realms.  That is radically different from any other understanding of what it is and how it works. 

Maresova of course performs the calls with Czech phonetics, something Bridges thought was critical.  You will feel it!  Some may wonder: is this the same as doing the calls yourself?  No, of course not.  The most powerful effect for any individual, if that person knows how to set up and charge an Enochian temple space to do so, results from the resonance within his or her own body as that person vibrates the calls herself, and focuses on particular syllables and the energetics they create.  But the number of people globally who can do that is a very small, and the teachers few and far between.   The experience of listening to Iva, performing the calls in magickal space set up by bridges within the architecture of Santini will bathe you in energies that few are able to ever create on their own!   Iva’s singing, performed in a highly charged and energetically prepared space, draws powerfully on Enochian in a way that might take a solo student years to approach.  Her beautiful voice itself serves as a carrier wave…. for the energy of the calls, and of the powerful energetic transmitter that is Zelena Hora.

Enochian Ritual with Dr. Burns and Alan j Moore

In this day-long class and ritual, we will cover John Dee and Edward Kelley’s “conversations with angels,” and the magical systems they have engendered.    As Vincent Bridges and Terry Burns wrote in 2009:
Seldom do we find a precise date and location for the beginning of a magical tradition, but in the mid-1580’s, the original British agent 007, Dr. John Dee, and his enigmatic scryer Sir Edward Kelley received one of the most powerful yet mysterious systems of “angelic” magic ever known, what has become commonly known as the “Enochian” language and system of magic. Even critic and magician Donald Tyson, who thinks the “angels” conveyed their language with the sinister intent of bringing on the Christian Apocalypse, calls Dr. Dee’s angelic conversation diaries and transcription of the Enochian system “the most remarkable artifact in the history of spirit communication.

Conversing with angels to discover a secret control language of celestial mechanics—and, apparently, succeeding--is without linguistic precedent,i though we may think of a few tales that are similar if more modern. For instance, today universities hold week-long conferences on the recently discovered “lost” work of India's Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematical genius who filled notebooks with pages of mathematical formulas and relationships whispered in his ear by the Goddess Namagiri; high tech mathematicians aided with supercomputers still can’t solve many of the theorems he proved by scribbling numbers on a paper while his wife stuffed enough food in his mouth to keep him alive. Or we might think of the case of “Beautiful Mind” economist and Nobel-prize winner John Nash, who was famously asked, "How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?"  "Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did," he answered. "So I took them seriously." ii

Who is to say, when beautiful minds talk to higher intelligences, whether they are speaking to angels, extraterrestrials, a Goddess, or an intricate system somehow extruded from the light emitted by their own DNA?  The test should be in the mathematical integrity of the system, rather than the mythology in which it is dressed. Dee’s angels speak to us through a heavily Christian Hermetic tradition of angel magic, which one can embrace if one chooses, or discard if one finds it outdated, quaint, or discomfiting. Nevertheless, the integrity of the system holds in a way unheard of among such phenomena. The angels came looking for Dr. Dee, much as Michael Rene, the space visitor, sought out Sam Jaffe, the brilliant physicist, in the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still." What they communicated was a geometrical, symmetry- based, DNA- coded language pattern capable of producing a rapid expansion of consciousness and an increase in symbol coherent cognition. This unique language form also contains words or word fragments resembling some of the oldest roots of Sanskrit and ancient Egyptian. Dr. Dee understood the information's importance, but the rest of the world, in the late 16th century, was very much not interested.
 (Ophanic Revelation 1)
Participants will already know basic information about Dee and Kelley’s alchemical work from Monday.  We’ll start this day by connecting via Skype with Dan Winter, to discuss some of the science behind what is variously called Enochian, Angelic, or Ophanic.
Today, those who use or study the “Enochian” language and energetic system include scholars, angelology aficionados, and practicing ceremonial magicians, especially those involved in Renaissance magic or those initiated into systems such as the Golden Dawn, Argentum Astrum, or Ordo Templi Orientis, whose grade structures are based on systems that integrate Kabalah, sacred geometry, and Egyptian and European mythology with some components of the Enochian system.  

Yet despite wide present-day interest, explanations of Enochian and Enochian magic that both place it in its historical, political and esoteric context and look at the system in its entirety are few to none.   As far as we know, the only time that the entirety of the Enochian system has ever been assembled, up, and running was in Sedona in 1996;  Dan Winter and Vincent Bridges were among those present, and Bridges compiled the Complete Enochian Handbook as a guide for that working.  That handbook, later revised as part of The Ophanic Revelation, describes a complex multi-dimensional system that seems to function like a fourth dimensional computer able to interface with our three-dimensional modes of processing light waves into images and pressure waves into sounds:

[T]he Holy Table, Lamen, Seal of Ameth, Ring, Elemental Tablets, Tablet of Union, and Tablet of Nalvage [served] as the “communication hardware,” set up to run the programs given to Dee and Kelley. The group in Sedona set up the hardware and “ran” the basic operating system software, vibrating all 49 Enochian keys and ensuring that all interior and exterior aspects of the system matched perfectly so that 93 aethyrs resulted. The hardware and operating system platform interface via phase-locks and shared axes of symmetry between multidimensional geometric shapes and frequencies, and respond in truly interactive ways.

We will not attempt anything quite so bold!  We’ll instead step back a bit and look at the correspondences between the Angelic watchtowers and one of the oldest and seemingly simple talismanic symbols: the pentagram.  Our ritual work today will focus on using the pentagram in ritual to set up a space for the Enochian; for those interested in more advanced work, we’ll also touch briefly on Enochian pentagrams.  Alaerian will teach people how to cast and banish pentagrams and how this connects to Enochian work.

He and Terry Burns will also take us through a pictorial tour of the “hardware” used in what might be called an “Enochian installation,” an energetic space that uses the language and tools given to Dee and Kelly and sets them running like a four-dimensional machine.   They will will use the mathematics of John Dee and Buckminster Fuller to explain how pentagrams, pentagons, and pentatopes first self-organize into a dodecahedron (the “shape of the universe” according to Plato) and phase lock with the Enochian implements: the Seal of Amaeth, Holy Table, and Great Table of Earth.  They’ll also introduce Bridges concept of “Angels in the DNA,” which posits a connection between the Enochian alphabet and the organization of transfer RNA, which creates proteins according to a person’s DNA's blueprint.  (The same connection has been posited between transfer RNA and the I Ching.)

Next, those interested in “riding along” through some of the mysteries in a more interactive way can join in as Alaerian leads us through a group version of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram followed by an energy-raising exercise called the Middle Pillar (referring to the middle pillar on the kabalistic Tree of Life.)   After this, Alaerian will perform the Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram and the Opening of the Veil.  Once the Veil--which functions as a portal to higher dimensional energies--has been opened, he will perform the first two Angelic calls, as a way of providing participants with a direct experience of the sounds and feel of the Enochian.

Within this space, we will pause to savor that experience as Alaerian draws on and evokes the ambient energy musically with his harp.  After the Veil is closed, we’ll do an exercise to ground, and talk about what different people experienced. 

Time permitted, we may also discuss some of the events connected to John Dee and Edward Kelley’s continental tour, their mysterious heptagonal ritual, and about Kelley’s sudden rise and fall as a Golden Knight of the Holy Roman Empire.

For a detailed discussion of this, see Laycock, “Introduction.”
Nasar p. 1.

External Links

When-beautiful-minds-talk-to-higher-intelligences
http://vincentbridgeslegacy.com/when-beautiful-minds-talk-to-higher-inte...

Some added reading for those who want more information:

http://www.vincentbridgeslegacy.com/seeking-the-stone-the-secret-science...

http://www.vincentbridgeslegacy.com/the-mystery-of-the-prague-jerusalem-...

http://www.jwmt.org/v2n18/tablets.html

http://zastarouprahu.shop4you.cz/alchemy-and-rudolf-ii/produkt-4431/

Wilhelm von Rosenberg
http://www.encyklopedie.ckrumlov.cz/docs/en/osobno_vilzro.xml

Rudolf II. von Habsburg
http://www.encyklopedie.ckrumlov.cz/docs/en/osobno_ruiiha.xml