Introduction  

"And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot. And thereby hangs a tale." [William Shakespeare]

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
[Woody Allen]

"Since alchemy is performed by the Self and the Self is the only living God, we could say that alchemy is autotheistic." [Jean Fenelon]

"Autotheism is a possible monotheistic religious belief, that one's self is God, particularly the Christian view that one's self is Jesus Christ incarnate. This would be a grave sin in nearly all Christian sects and churches, unless, of course, it is Christ himself who holds this belief, in which case it would be true (from within the Christian perspective). Autotheism can be thought of as being a type of suitheism; it being to suitheism as monotheism is to theism. Conversely, it can also be contrasted to suitheism, as monotheism is to polytheism. It is probable that most autotheists have been Christians or at least monotheists, and are more likely to be solipsists, at least to a greater extant than most mere suitheists, who have tended to be polytheistic pagans or satanists." [Wikipedia]

"The Koran is the only book of faith I know that has no kernels of alchemy. Being alchemically sterile, the Koran is therefor completely atheistic." [J. Rand]

1.

"It seems that whenever fire and water come together in myth, some powerful androgynous deity is born, with great creative/transformational potential. (...) Skanda, the Warrior God and patron of lovers from India, was born out of a spark of fire (Agni, the fire god, along with Siva, both fathered him) when it fell into the river Ganges (which is a goddess, Ganga), and was then mothered by the six Pleyades." [Sadaaya]

2.

"Like Thoth (the Father of Alchemy), Skanda too was conceived through homosexual union." 
[ www.garyosborn.moonfruit.com ]

3.

"The elements of Fire and Water bring harmony and blessings, and they help us unite oppossites within ourselves. I'm still figuring out what exactly that means, and what mysteries lie behind this. Some clues that I have are that Skanda is a deity of alchemy, transformation, and change." [Sadaaya]

4.

"It's ironic that I am being associated with the homosexuality/resurretion subject which is not my forte and something I would rather not be associated with." [Gary Osborn in August 2006]

5.

"The Stone being rejected because of the homosexual connotations the Paris 4 have recently given to it is quite a unique statement and a revolutionary explanation and one I'm trying to get my head around." [Gary Osborn 6 months later]

6.

"The role of sacred homosexuality was lost." [Institute for Gnostic Studies]

7.

"We don't know why there is a period of 14 (!) years between the Kundalini and the Night of the Soul. Perhaps the top chakra is in a way preparing the body/soul for the Night of the Soul. [The Paris 4 in part 2 of the Forbidden Letters, section 1]

8.

"Within the crown-chakra the Christ Stone magnetizes the head centers and crystallizes in the brain ventricles, resulting in the manifestation of hormones and nectars of a spiritual quality that flows into the blood stream, raising the vibratory rate of the body's atomic-structure." [Luxamore]

9.

"It's a possibility that the Stone is produced of the old microcosmic head. And that the head placed back after the Kundalini-fire is again that Stone. This would mean that there are as many Grails as there are human heads." [John Raven on the Forbidden Letters]

 
[ Salome with the head of St. John the Baptist by Bernardino Luini ]

10.

"Our man is on the floor on his back. He had his eyes closed during the whole resurrection. A 'thread' (very thin) is closing around his neck. The head is decapitated by that 'thread'. The stone is produced about where the liver is. The stone ignites the Kundalini-fire. [Forbidden Letters, part 2, section 12]

11.

''Was Baphomet really a severed head? And if so, who or what could it represent?'  [Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince]

12.

"In certain grail-lore heads are taken off and replaced by other heads. Now, we are not talking about the head of flesh to be taken off. That would be lethal of course. It is the microcosmic, subtle head, interwoven in the head of flesh, that is taken off and replaced after the [kundalini] fire by a new subtle head, the Christ." [The Paris 4 in the fourth Forbidden Letter]

13.

"In my opinion, the Baphomet idol is an invention of those who persecuted the Knights Templar. I wouldn't place too much emphasis on it." [Philip Coppens in June 2007]

14.

"I am working on a book about the Grail. This will be like nothing previously written about it - and will not only argue, but prove, that the Grail story was not a literary invention, but reality: these were real characters, and I know who they are - were. Anyone who therefore has ever written that the Grail story was a literary invention, will decide to either ignore or ridicule the book without reading it." [Philip Coppens in June 2007]

  
[ Munich Manuscript G - 1250 ]

15.

"The [Forbidden] Letters clearly demonstrate that the Grailbooks are not about historical events, but vehicles for alchemy." [Jerry Norton]

16.

"If the solipsists are right, that the universe, including the minds of others, is entirely the creation of the mind, then this would mean everybody is fundamentally not only God, but also alone. You need a good stomach to think this really through: our loved ones being only a phenomenon produced by our mind; at the same time you not being the phenomenon of the mind of somebody else." [John Raven]

17.

"According to Gardiner’s theory, while the Old Testament’s Ark of the Covenant supposedly held God’s laws and covenant with the Hebrews as lead by Moses, the Virgin Mary became the New Testament vessel for the new Law Giver—Jesus."[Becky Holdorf on Philip Gardiner's latest work 'The Ark, the Shroud and Mary]

18.

"Virtually all the commentators simply cannot cut the emotional umbilical cord tying them to the idealistic image of the Nazarene Jesus they have created in their minds." [N. Carter]

19.

"You will be given 'the right to eat from the tree of life [spine and brain/Bernier] that is in the garden of God,'[Revelation 2] and 'of the hidden manna.'[Ibid] A purely microcosmic manna, dispensed by the human brain. After all, 'Eden is in the brain,' (Carl Jung quoting the Naassenes) and 'the Father compared with the cerebrum.' (Carl Jung quoting the Sethians)" [John Raven on the Paula Johnson-article, section 29-31 http://www.world-mysteries.com/PhilipGardiner/forbidden_letters_20.htm ]

20.

"The nuptial union in the thalamus [Greek for inner chamber or bridal chamber/Bernier] signifies the hieros gamos (the alchemical wedding of the microcosmic male and female) and this in turn is the first step towards incarnation, towards the birth of the saviour who, since antiquity, was thought of as the filius solis et lunae (the son of the Sun and Moon), the filius sapientiae (the son of Wisdom), and the equivalent of Christ." [Carl Jung]

 
[ Drawing taken from Kalat (1992) ]

21.

"The word thalamus (bridal chamber) is Greek. We are told that the thalamus received its name in the second century from Claudius Galen, an Ionian Greek anatomist and Christian who had studied at the Great School in Alexandria, Egypt and was a doctor at the gymnasium attached to the local sanctuary at Asklepios." [Gary Osborn]

22.

"According to Gardiner Kundalini-experiencers [Kundalinees/Bernier] are suffering from psychosis." [Gary Osborn]

23.

"No, there are no links to the completely fraudulent Paris 4 on this website because it has all come from within the mind of one deluded and intimately psychotic and bipolar individual. Those who take it all seriously are being deluded themselves by a psychotic individual, which strangely attracts other psychotic individuals. Beware of the trap. Others have walked blind into it." [Philip Gardiner]

24.

"Anyone who thinks that the Paris 4 Letters are a fraud or a forgery is simply not paying attention."
[Jay Weidner]

25.

"The de la Censerie-article [ http://www.world-mysteries.com/PhilipGardiner/forbidden_letters_16.htm ] is a classic already. It has blown all Grailbooks to pieces." [John Raven]

26.

"The Great Work of Alchemy is not a work on the Self, as Philip Gardiner would have it, it is a work by the Self. The, in the words of Edward Edinger, ordering and unifying center of the total psyche, the central source of life energy, the foundation of our being, which is most simply described as God."
[Jerry Norton/italics Bernier]

27.

"That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did (Alyawma nakhtimu AAala afwahihimwatukallimuna aydeehim watashhadu arjuluhum bima kanooyaksiboona)." [surah 36:65 Ya-sin (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, Amana Corporation, 1989.)]

28.

"When Kundalini awakening and Self-Realization has occurred, a flow of energy in the form of cool vibrations starts flowing from the hands. This is what is signified in the above passage. Here Prophet Muhammad is talking of the coming Time - Time of Resurrection - which is in fact the present Age of Aquarius or Kundalini Awakening." [Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi]

29.

"It is not surprising that the energies released by spiritual transformation should manifest themselves on the hands since many cultures have seen the hand as a key to what is happening in a person's body and life. In Eastern schools of thought it is believed that the seven psycho-spiritual centres are reflected on the hands, just as the body itself may be a reflection of the macro-centres of the solar system; the planets which we see merely as enormous, decorative lumps of rock. These chakras, as they are known in Sanskrit, are located in parts of the body where there is a major plexus in the central nervous system and regulate the various organs of the body.

This vibratory awareness has been hinted at in Muslim scriptures for example the Koran predicts that at the time of Resurrection our 'hands will speak', 'That day, we set a seal on their mouths, but their hands will speak to us, and their hands bear witness to all that they did'.(...)

The hands register the state of our chakras which is a direct result of our attitudes and actions; this suggests a scenario in which the individual judges himself via an inbuilt process, rather than being sorted like a battery egg by a vengeful Father God. Naturally this process would happen at a very deep stratum of the unconscious and would not involve the ego." [Knowledge of Reality Magazine]

30.

"It's impossible to link 'the hands that will speak' to alchemy, since the Koran is contradictive here. In surah 36:65 a seal is set on the mouth and the hands replace the tongues, speaking. In 24:24 though the mouth is not sealed. Tongues, feet and hands will speak according to that surah. What's more, who ever heard of tongue-chakra's?" [J. Rand]

31.

"On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions (Yawma tashhadu AAalayhim alsinatuhumwaaydeehim waarjuluhum bima kanoo yaAAmaloona)." [surah 24:24 Light (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, Amana Corporation, 1989.)]

32.

"I know that famous part 'their hands will speak', and some would like to suggest that here the hand-chakra's are meant, or the hand registering the chakra's. But that doesn't work for me. Why be silent on the big chakra's and only mention hands?" [Forum]

33.

"People are so anxious to find alchemical traces in their Holy Books, that it is actually suggested that Moses burning the golden calf is alchemical metaphor. Nowhere in alchemy though the philosophical gold is burned. It is produced." [J. Rand]

34.

"I too have approached several alchemists about the Letters, and they all have been in favour of them; that what is being divulged in them is true. One said that the secrets of Alchemy are no longer secret. Simple as that." [Gary Osborn on July 12 2007]

  
[ Gary Osborn (with caduceus) ]

Copyright 2007
Note: Presented with permission