Know any books on the subject of alchemy that are written from the perspective of a more LHP approach?
Most of the books I know are more from A more RHP perspective… well besides the references to alchemy in Koettings material and in the ONA MSS
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Ona doesn’t concrete on texts If I recall, I believe R. A. M. S. Digital (Restorers of Alchemichal Manuscripts Society) editorial have lots of alchemical texts on his site on sale
Anything pertaining to Daoist philosophy
None of the Alchemy books really have anything that is strictly RHP, it is just that the rhetoric is askew toward it. However, when dealing with energy, there is NO RHP or LHP energy, just RHP or LHP acts. So when dealing with something like the Taoist philosophies, you aren’t going to see much absorption or “dark” energy simply because that’s not a dichotomy of much importance when it comes to the energy itself. The energy is just chi, jing, shen, or whatever else it may transform into. What you do with it is completely up to you, but the energy itself doesn’t have those dichotomies of light- vs dark on them.
This is ultimately why ideas like LHP and RHP have to be left in the kiddie pool after a certain point in ascent. Maybe it is just me, but from my recent experiences, I am starting to question how many people are actually entering the theta state, or how many people might even know the significance of the lower state of delta. I’m just asking because a lot of this stuff seems obvious once you get into these states, but folks seem way too confused to me for having supposedly familiarity with the states. Not a particular criticism of anyone here on this thread, just in general from my observations.
My 2 cents on the matter…
You can’t really find anything that is LHP in alchemy as this is a matter that has nothing to do with this particular esoteric Art & Science. Whereas magic is practiced for whatever individual purposes each magus has, alchemy is practiced for the purpose of alchemy. Put differently, magic can be used for “good” as well as “evil” - i.e., you can use it to heal an ailment or you can use it to harm or kill another person. Alchemical workings are executed for the purpose of the workings themselves and thus one does not conduct alchemical work for “evil” or “good” purposes.
This being said, of course you can make “evil” use of alchemy by conducting work that would yield a potent acid which you could then hurl in someone’s face. But this would hardly constitute “evil alchemy” as it was not the work itself that was “evil”, but what you - in a more mundane sense - did with products thereof afterwards.
So terms such as RHP and LHP simply do not apply to alchemy because these are not relevant paths with respect to what alchemy is and how the Art & Science works. And as for your, Icarus, assumption that alchemical works are more RHP oriented, this pertains directly to the ultimate purpose of alchemy, which - along with the etheric knowledge, understanding and mastery of life, matter and existence in general - is spiritual development. While this was not always the first and foremost goal of all who practiced alchemy in the past (or even among some alchemists of today), spiritual alchemical transmutation goes hand-in-hand with the external/material alchemical transmutations that take place in the lab. It is the ultimate safeguard in alchemy; that he who has not reached the sufficient vibratory level himself will never succeed in manipulating the same outside of him. As Paracelsus said: ‘He will never succeed in transmuting without, that which he hasn’t transmuted within.’
It is commonly argued, additionally, among alchemists that it is precisely due to the incorrect motivation behind certain individuals practicing this Art that they never succeeded in achieving the Magnum Opus - the confection of the Philosopher’s Stone. If their focus remains one of a material nature, they lose sight of the reality behind things and this prevents them from moving in the right direction and thus find what they seek.
There is a reason why alchemical literature is filled with spiritual and divine references; a reason that goes beyond merely (though also does include) cryptic language for purposes of concealing our teachings from the uninitiated.
This is very likely what you have picked up on and thereby concluded that alchemy is very RHP oriented. But as you see… this is simply due to the nature of this Science.
I hope this was of some help - in spite of this thread being quite old now.
T.
If you’re looking for personal alchemy that’s based on the “self-deification” definition of LHP (which is my personal take on it) then that could be constructed on the basis of turning all the dross in your life into empowerment, which is a skill authors like David Neagle and Joe Vitale teach to a very refined level (Joe Vitale has also moved from RHP “submission” to the Divine, to becoming the master of your own life, in his book The Key he talks about how he made this transition without using the terms RHP/LHP at all).
I would say the self-deification approach assumes your perfected godself is the “gold” towards which you aspire, and the concept you’re a victim or pawn of other entities (including fate, “God” and karma) is the lower element (heavy, and toxic) which you’re transmuting via a union of opposites (“good” and “evil”), until you stand alone as the shining divine being in mastery of your universe, and you truly accept that all those things existed in your universe to serve you, educate you, and empower you.
Although I haven’t completely got there myself, my first steps along the path were inspired by Neagle and Vitale as much as by any traditionally “occult” author, and they’ve allowed me to transmute unhappy past memories into empowering gold, so I’m not speaking theoretically here but from really beneficial personal experience.
Once I accepted responsibility for past experiences, I was able to also see where the power lay in them - had I blamed them on “other people” or the “ye works of ye devil” (to use an old example) I would continue to be giving my power away.
On a more purely occult/spiritual theme, there are references to Saturn (the planet whose element is lead) as being all things undesirable in some of the early Zoroastrian writings, stuff from (arguably) the dawn of modern dualism, and I find this total insanity because Saturn is the great remover of all (false) obstacles and restrictions, and meanwhile the Sun and fire in that system is (as you’re no doubt aware) considered divine and pure.
So perhaps planetary workings along those lines would be a good method to approach alchemy from, if you’re on a self-deification path?
It’s a method of working that’s uncontaminated by an author’s ideas about worshipping a god, doing things only in its name and by the grace of its will, etc., and you could work through the planetary elements, or devise a system or pathworking around them.