On The benefits of the Elixir according to Cyliani

The Legend of the Stone has spread everywhere: who has not heard at least once that the alchemists were looking for that magical elixir which turns vile metals into pure gold, and cures all kinds of diseases, gives youth, perfect health, and and extremely long life?I have just found in Cyliani, a french alchimist who wrote this work in 1831, a most interestic section on how the Elixir works its way in man.

Read carefully, You won't regret it.

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English Translation (see http://www.rexresearch.com/alchemy3/cyliani.htm )

"Everything that exists in the universe that is material or physical or purely mineral, even the gases, note this avowal". "Man is triune. His body or his shape is animated by a soul. This is the junction of diverse forces by the help of which the spirit imprints its shape or matter. The soul is directed by the Celestial Spirit which is an emanation of the divine action and, consequently, imperishable". "Only man’s form perishes. The spirit for which the soul serves as a tie or an envelope, separates itself and man’s form. Deprived of this vital celestial spirit, is delivered to the reaction of its constituent principles. Spirit and soul live then spiritually in seeking the centers that are suitable to them and, after the lapse of a certain time, man or the being or the spirit or the spiritual life which goes on always perfecting itself, separates itself from his soul or from his glorious envelope to enter into its universality. This means that man dies twice. This is to say, twice changes his form. But man or the spirit lives eternally. From what I have told you, you can now no longer doubt the immorality of the soul. "This is all that I am allowed to teach you now to satisfy your desires". "Now do you want to know how the Universal Medicine acts on the animal economy? Consider as I have just told you how only man’s form is mortal and you will see that only the solid aspect perishes. As these latter are all mineral, all can be regenerated by the principle or mineralizing spirit which, by its various modifications, forms the various products of this same principle and by its mysterious power which re-establishes the balance and allows the spirit freely to enter and to leave through our proper form just as water passes through a sponge. Because the upsets of our body only come, excepting mechanical disturbances, because the currents of life cannot circulate freely. But the virtue of the Universal Medicine is purely medicinal and nit surgical.It cannot replace an amputated limb or one that is entirely destroyed, which means that the person who takes it in good time, generally at the two equinoxes, can live without infirmities for several centuries unless nature has predestined a short duration of his life due to his physical make-up which never ceases to combat the efforts of life".

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Original French:Tout ce qui existe dans l'univers de matériel ou de physique est purement minéral; les gaz le sont eux mêmes; prends note de cet aveu.L'homme est un composé triple; son corps ou sa forme est animée d'une âme: celle-ci est la réunion de diverses forces à l'aide desquelles l'esprit régit sa forme ou la matière. L'âme est dirigée par l'esprit céleste qui est une émanation de l'action divine et par conséquent impérissable.L'homme ne périt jamais que par sa forme alors l'esprit auquel l'âme sert de lien ou d'enveloppe s'en sépare et sa forme, privée de l'esprit vital céleste, est livrée à la réaction de ses principes constitutifs. L'esprit et l'âme vivent alors spirituellement en recherchant les centres qui leur conviennent et au bout d'un certain temps l'homme ou l'être ou l'esprit ou la vie spirituelle, qui va toujours en se perfectionnant, se sépare de son âme ou de son enveloppe glorieuse pour rentrer dans son universalité, ce qui fait que l'homme meurt deux fois, c'est-à-dire change deux fois de forme. Mais l'homme ou l'esprit vit éternellement. D'après mon récit tu ne peux maintenant douter de l'immortalité de l'âme.Voilà tout ce qu'il m'est permis de t'apprendre ici pour satisfaire tes désirs.Maintenant veux-tu savoir comment la médecine universelle agit sur l'économie animale? Considère comme je viens de te le dire que la forme ou le corps de l'homme est seule mortelle, tu verras qu'il ne périt que du côté des solides. Comme ces derniers sont tous minéraux, tous peuvent être régénérés par le principe ou l'esprit minéralisateur, lequel par ses diverses modifications forme les divers produits que nous connaissons. Ils se trouvent donc tous ramenés à leur état primitif par l'action de ce même principe et de sa force étrangère, qui rétablit l'équilibre et permet à l'esprit d'entrer et de sortir librement à travers notre propre forme comme l'eau à travers une éponge; car le dérangement de notre corps ne vient uniquement, exception faite des indispositions mécaniques, que des courants de la vie qui ne peuvent librement circuler. Mais la vertu de la médecine universelle est purement médicinale et non chirurgicale, elle ne peut remettre un membre coupé ou détruit entièrement, ce qui fait que la personne qui en prend de bonne heure, habituellement aux deux équinoxes, peut vivre sans infirmités plusieurs siècles à moins que la nature n'ait prescrit une courte durée de son existence par son organisation, qui vient sans cesse contrarier les efforts de la vie.

Internal Work I: The Field of Cinnabar

-Focus on the Dantian-, -Sink Qi in the Dantian-, -Center yourself in the Dantian-. Practitioners of Internal Arts are reminded of these basic principles innumerable times during their practice.

But, what really is this Dantian after all? If you feel uncomfortable listening to the often muddy explanations on the life-force, you can just think of the dantian as the area near the belly, the ideal centre of gravity of the body, as well as the set of muscles and fasciae that make it up. It is, interestingly enough, what Joseph Pilates called the powerhouse of the body (and right he was).

If, on the other hand, without falling under the easy spell of New Age mumblings, you crave for more, keep on reading.

A good starting point is (as it is almost always the case) the etymology: Dāntián 丹田 (in Japanese Tanden) is a double word. The first character means elixir, and the second one field. It is thus the field of the elixir, the place where the alchemical process leading to the body's transformation takes its dutiful place. But there is more: Dān is actually a very specific substance, the red cinnabar, or mercury sulfide, the chemical HgS ( 丹 is made up of the root for well, and a dot inside, representing the cinnabar in its ore). Why then elixir? Students of western and eastern alchemy will immediately recognize the elixir par excellence, composed by the two main alchemical agents, sulphur and quicksilver.

Two agents, one result.

Summing up: the dantian is a crucible, the meeting place of two agents whose merging brings about the body's medicine, the sought-after elixir of long life and physical power. I have not said what the sulphur is, nor the mercury, and I am not going to. I shall stop here instead, and wish you good practice.

Time to focus on my own dantian.