Alchemy - Maria the Jewess & Prophet - Greco Egyptian Alchemy & Hermetic Philosophy

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Make Sure to Subscribe & Consider supporting Esoterica by becoming a monthly Patron - www.patreon.com/esotericachannel or a one time donation - www.paypal.me/esotericachannel

[@smokescreenstings9683]

What about St. Germain for an episode?

[@sabrinadavis8355]

I'm am aspiring pastry chef and I love listening to your videos as I bake! I think its so neat that the Bain Marie (melting a mixture such as egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed above boiling water) has an alchemical history!!! So cool!

[@hedgehog3180]

It makes a lot of sense when you remember that cooking is just really complicated chemistry.

[@888bjxjs888]

Thank you for making this and for elevating Maria Prophetissima. I've been seeking sources of information on her in particular for quite some time. It's helpful to provide peripheral historical context and inferences about her world. In a discipline so heavily dominated by the voices of men, it cannot be said enough that women alchemists exist.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks for saying so and I agree. Also I think it's important to focus in on the world of Egypt (and Africa more generally) solidly grounded in history. For me, I really wanted to get across that not only was Mary the alchemist a woman, she was an African and Jewish woman. The role played by women in the history of esotericism often gets sidelined - and it's still happening, my episodes focusing on women are among the lowest viewed on my channel, sadly - and its important for scholars to do more to put them front and center and show the important role they played in the history (and future) of esotericism.

[@Nxyphoenix]

@@TheEsotericaChannel indeed , 👏👏👏👏🔥🔥 during my studies , I believe I have only come across her named included maybe once or So. But definitely not highlighted as a main early contributor , innovator, inspirer and influencer in such a field , not to mention her possible ethnic origins and religious/spiritual background . Amazing . Makes much more sense to me . Honestly In my opinion and understanding, women are natural alchemists and pair that with practical knowledge, it’s a supreme combination indeed . So much other connections were made in my mind due to this wonderful video . Indeed “mother Mary “ is also a very alchemical figure herself lol so the connection there is understandable too .

[@ArachneAnathema]

@@TheEsotericaChannel I am 61, and having thoroughly given up on religious practice, find myself drawn to esoterica and philosophy - and studying religion from a scholarly, anthropological angle. As an artist, I am fascinated with the power of symbols, which had led me to alchemy. This episode in particular inspires a desire to actually practice alchemy , though, I am unlikely at this point to have the opportunity to truly become well versed enough in chemistry to safely do so, or knowledgeable enough in the language of these ancient texts to authentically attempt it in the way I imagine I could. Thank you for giving me an avenue of wonder and inspiration, I have taken an embarrassing number of screen shots of images in your videos. It is my goal to become a Patreon member by the first month of the next year, if not sooner. This episode I am saving in my favorites.❤

[@rowandoyle7]

Man, it's amazing how much my lab owes to Maria - we study the organic chemistry of wine and whiskey, so her tools and skills are invaluable for us

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Now that's a cool job

[@ForksandFreaks]

Having been a lifetime scholar of early alchemy up to the 18th century, I have been excitedly waiting for this video! I can’t wait to watch it!!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Great - hope you find the episode interesting!

[@sophiafake-virus2456]

Can you manifest?

[@elem3ntkid]

great topic Dr., glad to see there was mention of Jung's psychology and alchemy. I don't know how interested you might be in Jung's psychology, but for future study or a future episode, Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis is an entire volume based around the alchemical symbol of the hermaprhodite. Definitely interesting stuff. Keep up the good work, love the content!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yep, Jung is super interesting. I don't have a deep knowledge of him honestly and I'm sure I'll get around to fixing that at some point.

[@SuspiciouslyGady]

@@TheEsotericaChannel please do. His work is very important! I'd also really enjoy an in depth dive into it

[@tinamillet4946]

Maria Hebrea said that nations perish out of the lack of alchemical knowledge. She was a great example for Jews seeking after a kosher alchemy.

[@hedgehog3180]

Given how vital chemistry is to the modern economy she wasn't exactly wrong.

[@hedgehog3180]

It's interesting how a lot of her inventions and the basic principles behind them are still used in chemistry, sorta like an Archimedes of chemistry.

[@endtimespreaching8872]

The grafting together of divine feminine and masculine waa the ultimate goal of the early alchemists. The symbology cannot be denied.

[@kulled]

what symbology?

[@hedgehog3180]

Also I gotta say that I love your occasional jokes and personal comments, it adds a lot to the video.

[@monika1234ify]

I am quite pleased that I found this wonderful scholar on such a chilly morning in Indiana. As I work on my own process of transmutation into music, I am certain his knowledge and history will be a wonderful accompaniment :)

[@LadyCoyKoi]

I love how you get into many important figures in these studies and subject matter. All too often History tends to overlook at how eccentric and esoteric studies influences Historical events and daily life of the people in the past, especially European History. Also, all too often women and children aren't included in History. You get in there and pull out as much information as possible and share it with the world, like a true Historian should. Thank you.

[@thornsilverhollysong1715]

Truly, who among us doesn't know more about Hellenistic alchemy than modern Chemistry? (At least after this video. Thanks!) One must have *priorities*.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Ha! I really am tempted to see about building a real kerotakis and trying to re-create one of these experiments - without it exploding and....well, covering me with boiling hot mercury and sulfuric acid. That would really ruin one's day.

[@thornsilverhollysong1715]

@@TheEsotericaChannel Sounds like prime video content to me :eyes: Though I would certainly not wish your day ruined either chemically or alchemically.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@TheEsotericaChannel You should totally collab with one of the chemistry channels to do something like that.

[@NGC-catseye]

Women everywhere say Thank you Dr Sledge 🙏

[@steadyeddy6526]

Her axiom runs, " One becomes Two, Two becomes Three, and out of the Third, comes The One as the Fourth. " Jung used the same formula for his works on the integration of the personality .

[@stefanmckannon1634]

I loved the shirt design so much it inspired me to purchase it for my wife in honor of our upcoming anniversary. Something something remarkable women.. My experience with Spring has not been a pleasant one, unfortunately.

[@VOCATUS123]

This is an amazing video. One becomes two, from the two comes three, and out of the three comes the fourth. Jung used this idea to describe the quaternity and the ideas of wholeness and individuation. And he used the image and idea of Ouroboros frequently in his Collected Works

[@brooklyn7722]

Fantastic video. Absolutely surprised at some of the characters, or should I say people you mentioned here. I'm always learning something new which I love.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I'm so glad - such wonderful people from the past and so worth knowing about. I'm glad I'm getting their voices out there and that folks are finding the content worthwhile!

[@adriannawallace565]

Wonderfully done again, sir! I appreciate your content and dedication. Thank you for continuing to impress. Blessings!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for supporting the channel! Maria was really was an amazing person!

[@DaEsch]

Hey Justin! I love your channel, have been bingewatching for like two weeks now. I study philosophy and I do know the dream of walking through Alexandria, especially the library. I saw a video recently, where an archeologist reviewed the Assasins Creed version of Alexandria (and Athens) and said, it would be suprisingly accurate from what we know. Maybe consider playing it or watching a walkthrough! My philologist husband played it and said the accents are somewhat goofy, considering they weren’t even speaking English and it does not make sense, but we love the game. ❤

[@hedgehog3180]

The AC series usually plays fast and loose with history itself but the locations are remarkably accurate, like I played AC Revelations before a family vacation to Turkey and I ended up being better at navigating Istanbul than my dad because of it.

[@DaEsch]

@@hedgehog3180 Yeah, the depiction of people and circumstance is a mess, but it’s a great game to take a walk. 😂

[@carlpope6541]

Thank Dr. for helping me better understand the influence of esotericism and its history on the production of Western culture.

[@lonapopoki1181]

Inspiring post ‼️Thank You Maria's Spirit of Arnold's song Gift to me arcane secrets - how Magic must be distilled Three resins of white flowers bygone A Plutonis man to hold - now Our heartfelt comforts fulfilled

[@SergioBecerraII]

Now this was very educational. Thank you.

[@GR-kt4le]

Happy Woman's History Month

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

You too!

[@brooklyn7722]

Hahahahahahahahaha Yea, I thought that was funny

[@georgem7502]

Thank you doctor, quality once again. I’ll become a Patron whenever I find a job (unlikely in the current lockdown...)

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I hope you find rewarding work and soon - thanks for supporting the channel in any form. I appreciate it!

[@broganwoodman]

Same

[@LlamaOccident]

Fascinating video. Probably enjoyed this one the most. Early alchemy is so interesting compared to the goofy charlatan wizards of medieval times, although those are fun too. Had no idea one of the most influential alchemists was a Jewish woman. It’s baffling that no one ever brought that up, but then again alchemists aren’t exactly around these days to propagate their traditions.

[@jswjanjan]

Thank you Dr. J. Wonderful as always. 🌞👍🇨🇦

[@hulksmash849]

Fascinating as always Dr Sledge.

[@pentegarn1]

I think the first time I heard about Maria the Jewess was in Andy Collin's "The Black Alchemist". Which was a great account of two guys psychic investigation into some weird stuff going on in the English countryside.

[@jesscorbin5981]

Can you list some of the towns?

[@cynthiadawn5806]

What a great intersection for me! I came across Becoming Gold 2 years ago and was so engrossed. I wondered if you had read it. Your work here is so fulfilling to take in! Thank you once again.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Zosimust be Friday again.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

t h i s g u y - - - ^

[@tedhand6237]

@@TheEsotericaChannel ZOSMG

[@bredmond812]

I just keep listening to these videos. It's slowly sinking in. I'll have to watch a few times. Thanks for the great content

[@boyscoutalchemist]

That just washed my week away wonderfully thanks. Ready for the weekend now.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

:) Thanks for watching, Peter!

[@SolvableMattB]

Excellent, truly awesome

[@joshuaarnold744]

Love thy humor brother

[@SpiralBreeze]

I had no idea about the Bain-Marie! I’ll fondly thank her next time I melt chocolate.

[@drewmagick6919]

I've been looking forward to this lecture. It turned out to exceed my best expectations. Well done sir!

[@MiguelAngelo-sn9ug]

That was very insightful. Thank you

[@maria369]

My name is Maria and I just found out about her. This is really exciting! Thank you for another amazing video.....handsome clone 😜😃♥️♥️♥️ Edit: I'm Greek by the way Hahaha 😁

[@WeRNthisToGetHer]

Man. My algorithms are really tryin to tell me something, lately. I have chill bumps. These things come up just as I'm needing them to. Like breadcrumbs of manna in heaven.

[@brandonbaker4383]

Engagement metric +1 thank you for your ‘Work’

[@waytoblue625]

Thank you sir 🙏

[@drphosferrous]

This is great stuff. Thanks for posting! I didn't know she predated Jabir

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yep, by a few centuries at least. Super neat person!

[@AlexusMagnum]

You're not the only one who dreams about The walking tour in Alexandria in about 200 CE. . .

[@ForbiddenHistories]

Very excited to discover your excellent channel! Subscribed & looking forward to more. 🙌

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Really appreciate your work as well, Dr. Sommer!

[@troytice8354]

@@TheEsotericaChannel Cross over! Cross over! Cross over!

[@rosshalper6708]

Thank you!

[@greenlionalchemy2425]

Good show!

[@larknessr7286]

we also use her name in spanish: baño maria

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Oh nice - it's interesting that only English doesn't seem to use it....even German!

[@sandrosilva1798]

Also in portuguese

[@hedgehog3180]

@@TheEsotericaChannel It isn't used in Danish either so English isn't entirely alone.

[@gunkwretch3697]

The Sledge Hammer, smashing through obscurity

[@xxalexx16xx]

Thanks!

[@hedgehog3180]

7:13 tbf Hebrew letters are constantly used in modern math and physics as variables and so on, similar to how Greek letters are used so there might be something similar going on there.

[@arrowfitzgibbon7775]

i've been conceptualizing sulphur and salt as "male" and "female," with the elastic mercury being the product of the conjunction :O interesting.

[@sketchportraitstudio6368]

Great! At last we have an alchemist that did some real alchemy and developed useful chemicals such as acids. It begs the question though, dont you think that they would have tried to keep their formulas and methods secret? We do the same thing today and commercialism was no different in ancient times in fact if anything it was more brutal! How do you think they did that and what evidence do we have?

[@helenbostock2350]

I think she was a cook. Like me one day she might have seen some mold in a can. She imagined took her on a journey of studing it. What mole why can it heal the body. What other can nature produce Can we play with natural. It a through in my mind when I saw moled in a tin in my kitchen. I recycle. Egyptian has its right way to use this product. History is fascinating.

[@jbaquinones]

Great video. To be honest I was hoping you were going to find some cool obscure book somewhere that spoke more about Maria the great.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Sadly, we only got Zosimus really. But, that stuff is really neat just the same.

[@jbaquinones]

@@TheEsotericaChannel true. But the fact that Maimonides quotes Aristotle so much and they also spoke of Maria gives me hope that we can find the Jewish Hellenic link in there somewhere. I hope I guess.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

@@jbaquinones Who knows what secrets the sands of Egypt still hold?

[@hedgehog3180]

12:21 hell yeah!

[@ZANTARRADO]

Another day and wonder ful exposition. I have long been intrigued by Alexandrian alchemy and don't subscribe to the view alchemy largely came out of a Roman context. I think the link from ancient Egyptian via Alexandria and thence through Arabia is obvious.

[@buffy377]

Could you cover Hildegard van Bingen?

[@Wolv94]

Are you a professor? I have not watched all of your videos, but I would be interested to know more about how you got to this point in your life. What educational path did you take? What is your profession? What drew you to all of these topics?

[@emekaume]

"Maria The Jewess" sounds like an intense title, much more than "Maria the female Jew".

[@lensorcellement]

Fascinating!!!!!!

[@hellojupiter.mynameiswine.8116]

Hello Dr. Sledge. Can you please cover some of the texts written by Paracelsus?

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Absolutley!

[@TomCarberry413]

Very interesting video and channel. I subscribed. The Surah Maryam, Quran 19, refers to Mary the mother of Jesus as the sister of Aaron. 19:28. Islam also refers to Maryam as the daughter of Imran (Amran), the father of Moses and Aaron. Quran 3; Ex 6:20. Modern scholarly consensus rejects the identity of Miriam the Prophetess, Maria the Prophetess, and the Virgin Mary but I think the idea has validity. In logic one calls reasoning by consensus the bandwagon fallacy. The most difficult of all fallacies to overcome because of human nature and our desire to belong to the group, particularly groups we spent years trying to join, like academia. Thomas Kuhn discusses this phenomenon in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The Cathar text called The Secret Supper or the Interrogatio Iohannis, a conversation with Jesus, says: "But when Satan learned that I had come down to this world, he sent his angel to take Three pieces of wood. These he gave to the prophet Moses for my crucifixion. This wood they have kept for me until the present." In this version Moses has his sister's child crucified (or his followers; I think followers). It shortens history by a couple thousand years also. The alchemist Isaac Newton spent most of his life trying to prove historical time needed massive shortening. The Russian mathematician Anatoly Fomenko argues that our historical records go back no more than a thousand years. Who knows? Not me. I have made a few videos trying to sort it out. Strange that Abraham's son Isaac went blind and Abraham ben David of Posquieres, the great Kabbalist, had a son named Isaac the Blind, another major Kabbalist.

[@thoth_amon]

wonder if turning lead into gold could also be a metaphor for giving things value, or selling something, perception of value, marketing, pet rock anyone?

[@jazzagazza742]

It refers to the process of purification

[@thoth_amon]

@@jazzagazza742 "purification", that is just a term they used for separation, even when the people used this same method for their perspective of "spirituality", which is also just another term for a mental state, which separates what they see as the negative emotions/mental attitudes and "beliefs" from what they see as good ones, which is also the same as social engineering, or even training animals to do tricks, the sub-conscience mind doesn't see things in a linear way, it always looks for patterns and some form of structure in everything, this is why a lot of the esoteric stuff, like gematria, and other things are used, this is not really a connection, but sometimes you can glean new ideas and see things a different way, and think in a different way about things using this as an inspiration of sorts, if you view dr sledges' material in more of an "evolution of perspectives and thought", you can even see it in a different way also

[@jazzagazza742]

@@thoth_amon Yes, purification is an act of separation, I agree. And I totally agree about that subconscious mind and esoteric stuff too. Like how you said inspiration and new ideas/perspectives can come from meaningful connections and coincidences from the subconscious mind. The same way you use tarot cards and like you said gematria.

[@eliwazmoonsfire6303]

The pic at bottom left at 15:11 reminds me of a cross or ank or the symbol for antimony. Look at its top that T shape an the small circle above it. The bottom right one reminds me too of one of the pics in the riply scroll those holes are part of the sive of this furnace. Could she really been saint Germaine a woman poseing as a man at the time?

[@SHAX516]

Damn girl was not a joke.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Nope, she seemed pretty amazing.

[@georgewbushcenterforintell147]

I heard u mention a alchemist named Cleopatra do you have any videos on her ?

[@christopherlivinghhouse557]

What is the name of the movie about Maria? You mentioned that one exists but not the title. Thank you!

[@hedgehog3180]

16:56 I wonder if she believed this for purely religious reasons or if there was maybe some climate explanation. Like in a pre-industrial world where you don't have ACs or fumehoods the weather would certainly play a key role in any attempted chemistry. Reminds me of how Extractions & Ire had to deal with humidity adding a ton of water to his unpurified cubane since he was working out of a shed.

[@brendanschultz8186]

May I ask a stupid question? What does the material transformation of matter have to do with Religion, philosophy and esoterica. Pardon my ignorance but it feels like cooking recipes being provided in a church service...what am I missing plz? Thankyou in advance.

[@hedgehog3180]

Pre-modern people percieved these things through what we might call a spiritual lense so it is inherently religious.

[@ChefTinman]

Would you ever consider a patreon stretch goal so we could buy you the rights to use Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" as your theme song?

[@sophiafake-virus2456]

Or anything by Sister Sledge.

[@drjohndee4322]

Looking at the smoke in the picture of maria the jewes looks like hands praying ?

[@BlueArcStreaming]

'Now we're talkin' alchemy.'

[@crystalleebee]

You wouldn’t happen to know if any experiments have been done while using the glass container/boiling method while also applying different concentrated sound frequencies? Just curious 😂

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I don't think that's possible

[@hedgehog3180]

What do you mean by a concentrated sound frequency? Like a specific frequency aimed at a precise point with a parabolic reflector or just played at a really high volume?

[@saintissa1647]

Who is Saint Issa.... Very Little information. 🙏🙏🙏

[@jordansheen2571]

Was there any reason given for why alchemy only worked in March or April?

[@jesscorbin5981]

Yes! Go to a windy valley in that time and just do a breathing exercise for whatever ails you, and you will see how special that season is.

[@hedgehog3180]

It could be religious but I wonder if maybe it's just about the weather. In a time before indoor climate control, refrigerators and fume hoods the weather would matter a lot for whether a chemical reaction would work. A dry and somewhat windy but not too hot environment would probably be preferable since moisture can really mess with reactions and you need the wind for ventilation, and heat can change reaction speeds.

[@hedgehog3180]

Calling Hero the inventor of the steam engine is a bit misleading since the Aereopile was unable to perform useful work.

[@sophiafake-virus2456]

Being a bit broken to do the work, like the "wounded healer" shaman.

[@MrVladanbajic]

Common era?

[@p2k7777]

All the keywords in that title

[@hopefaithlove2022]

🙌🙏💜

[@arielyaniv]

Bitcoin wallet? Wonderful work 🔺

[@bonfireblu]

The name Maria has a kinship to music and sound. Its all a vibration.

[@tedhand6237]

Citation needed on the claim that alchemy was about spiritual transformation.I don't see much in any of the alchemists you mention that supports Atwood.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Mostly it wasn't - although in Zosimus I detect a very strong adjunct of religious philosophy that I think would count as 'spiritual' mixed in with his alchemical theories. I don't detect that so much in Maria. I think that 'spiritual' alchemy also re-appears (very) late in the alchemical tradition in Europe as well as described by Zuber in his diss. I think it's a very, very minority trend in alchemy and the Atwood/Jung readings are fundamentally ahistorical.

[@tedhand6237]

@@TheEsotericaChannel The thing is these spiritual elements that Zosimos mixes in aren't evidence in support of the idea that alchemy was primarily focused, or even focused at all, on "spiritual transformation," which is an idea that imho gets in the way of understanding whatever spiritual significance it actually has for him, and for late antique Hermetists generally. I think Zuber is probably right that Atwood's notions of spiritual alchemy can be traced to early modern spiritual alchemy, but his response to Newman and Principe has some problems. For example I don't think they're "essentializing" alchemy or that the new historiography is somehow not receptive to understanding religious dimensions of alchemy. They simply pointed out, correctly, than any view of alchemy as being essentially spiritual that rests on the idea that the chemistry doesn't work (and therefore the real meaning must be spiritual), is a non starter. Principe shows beyond doubt that Zosimos was a capable experimentalist who was asking questions that demonstrate a probing interest into what was happening chemically. Whatever the spiritual dimension of alchemy might have been (and we just don't have enough evidence to reconstruct it in the manner of an Atwood), we can be sure that for Zosimos alchemy was legit chemical science.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

@@tedhand6237 Totally agree about it being not being a primary focus. I also don't what they were doing was science but certainly experimental and fundamentally a laboratory affair. I just find that this debate gets framed by categories like 'spiritual' or 'scientific' that strike me as fundamentally (1) not well defined philosophically (or otherwise) and (2) just often clumsily applied. But I'm very sympathetic Newman and Principe - I just don't think it's an exhaustive account. Another way of putting it, is that making a sharp distinction between philosophy, religion and experimental science seems, to me at least, to distort the history of alchemy as well. Though, I think, not as badly as the Atwood-Jung distortion. This also drives my interest in a historical-materialist analysis of entrepreneurial alchemy, which I honestly think could prove important. If only I had the time and institutional support to do that research. Thanks for this thoughtful and important critical eye - I really appreciate it.

[@tedhand6237]

@@TheEsotericaChannel hey I appreciate your thoughtful reply to my admittedly nitpicky complaint. I don't think that N+P are conflating alchemy with "science" really either. Their intentions in writing that historiography paper were just to establish that alchemy was legit chemical knowledge, vs this notion of spiritual alchemy that rests on the idea the chemistry was pseudoscience--which didn't develop until after the Scientific Revolution! I've read a lot of papers by scholars arguing against N+P as if they're trying to rule out spiritual dimensions of alchemy, and I don't think any of these scholars are giving N+P a fair shake.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

@@tedhand6237 Fair point and NP. I think I make the same point about alchemy not being a 'pseudo-science' in my alchemy misconceptions episode, as well. You'd be surprised (or not...) about how many comments from, let's call them 'ascended masters,' I get when I make an alchemy episode about how 'this isn't really alchemy' because alchemy apparently had nothing to do with actually working in a lab. I think if these episodes can help to turn that tide at all to appreciating these alchemists on their own terms an how in debt we are to their research I will have not totally failed.

[@thaisspleen]

🩷🩷🩷

[@Granite]

becoming gold is a 50 dollar book.

[@AndreaSzabo7171]

🤔. 💖. 🙄

[@Sondergarden]

I knew they had atomic knowledge back then but I had no idea they knew about ionic bonds! There just had to be a more ancient source they were developing upon, maybe something long lost from ancient Africa

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I'm not sure they got that deep, a lot of 'know how' but less 'know that' in the ancient world.

[@Sondergarden]

Hang on, so she said “join the male and female and you will find what is sought.” I misheard that as “join the male and female and you will find what is SALT” referring to the extra electron in the anion (“male”) joining with the missing an electron of the cation (“female”) to crate an ionic bond aka salt

[@hedgehog3180]

@@Sondergarden Why would charges be gendered?

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

I imagine you get push back from conservative religious groups for dealing with such facsinating material...✋

[@LeoMadrid]

Thank you!