Discription of the Stone

A forum to critically evaluate the idea put forwards by Teeter than the Philosopher's Stone was a metaphor for Fly Agaric.
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Discription of the Stone

Post by Amanita Research » Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:12 pm

Source: https://www.alchemywebsite.com/tcbdiscr.html
Original source and date unknown.

Though Daphne fly from Phoebus bright,
Yet shall they both be one,
And if you understand this right,
You have our hidden Stone.
For Daphne she is faire and white:
But Volatile is she;
Phoebus a fixed God of might,
And red as blood is he.
Daphne is a Water Nymph,
And hath of Moysture store,
Which Phoebus doth consume with heate,
And dryes her very sore.
They being dryed into one,
Of christall flood must drinke,
Till they be brought to a white Stone:
Which wash with Virgins milke,
So longe untill they flow as wax,
And no fume you can see,
Then have you all you neede to aske,
Praise God and thankfull be.


My interpretation presuming the philosopher's stone is indeed Amanita Muscaria, properly prepared:
This seems to describe something which is red (Phoebus) and fixed, white (Daphne) and mobile/volatile, and moist. Then you need to heat it until it's very dry. Then flood it with water (rehydrate it). I'm not sure on the next two lines regarding the "white stone" and "Virgin's milk". My current speculation is that it is some sort of lemon/acid tek. You you need to heat it until until you see no fumes (dehydrate it?) and it 'flows like wax'. It sounds like making a resin or similar from the tea.

If this is not talking about Amanita Muscaria and it's preparation, then it's a remarkable coincidence how similar it sounds.

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Re: Discription of the Stone

Post by e.risk » Thu May 12, 2022 6:22 pm

A few things stand out to me here! This seems a very profound and many layered poem! I’m impressed.

So first of all, depending on when this was written and when the use of the term “fly agaric” came about, the word fly in the first line is probably not an accident.

2- Phoebus was Apollo, the sun god. Wasn’t Soma also called the sun/a god? So that seems appropriate.

3- I thought at first that Daphne was another name for Diana, the moon goddess. So the line about the sun and moon being one had multiple layers of meaning but it seems I am wrong and in the myth she was a water nymph, pursued by Apollo because of Eros’s arrow, though she rejected his advances (also because of Eros, Because Apollo insulted Eros and this was his revenge.) in order to escape his pursuit, Daphne prayed to the gods/Mother Earth and was turned into “a nice short plant with excellent smell.” According to the myth the plant was Laurel, which was also the plant that the oracle of Delphi chewed to commune with the gods. Perhaps in the vein of substitutes for Soma? Or perhaps the plant was mis IDed? Not sure. Seems too much a coincidence though.

4- “ For Daphne she is faire and white:
But Volatile is she;
Phoebus a fixed God of might,
And red as blood is he.”
This also clearly indicates the sun and the moon. The moon is fair and white and “volatile” or “wandering” according to the ancients. The sun is a fixed star and obviously red. This is astrological/astronomical, which was highly connected to alchemy. Wasn’t there also something about soma being the plant “of the moon” while also regarded as the sun?

5- if Daphne is the moon, which is the emotions/the subconscious, and Phoebus is the sun, which is the logic/conscious, and knowing that “they are truly one and the same” is the same as “having our (philosophers) stone” then that is completely in line with occult/alchemical philosophy. The Golden Dawn (and possibly all derivatives of Alchemical thought except perhaps those which postulate that Amanita is the stone) very much believes that the union or marriage of the conscious and subconscious within the self into one United Will is the key and the metaphor of the stone. When you unite your subconscious and conscious mind and will then you have achieved enlightenment/gained the stone/turned your lead (subconscious sabotage) into gold (unified conscious will). Thus the multiple layers of meaning here, both this alchemical one and one which I think is also clearly present that the white mushroom (egg maybe?) and red mushroom are one and the same is the secret. (Perhaps especially since as AD describes in the mushroom entities, this mushroom contains the entities for both divine masculine and divine feminine?)

6- the bit about drying out Daphne’s moisture seems obviously about drying amanitas. The bit about the two being dried to a white stone I can’t quite explain. When they’re boiled don’t they turn all white or lose their color? Idk though. Seems a bit of a stretch.

7- “wash with virgins milk so long until they flow as wax” seems to me to be a reference to soma as well. Assuming of course that soma is AM and soma is yogurt and the philosophers stone is also AM. Which. Given all the Interconnectedness, is seeming more and more likely. Virgin didn’t used to mean “someone who hadn’t had sex” it just meant a young woman. Before birth control most young women were also new mothers and thus lactating. I personally would prefer yogurt made from cows milk rather than my own milk lol but then again I would prefer soma yogurt made with my own breastmilk over drinking someone else’s urine sooooo…. Different strokes? Lol

All in all it seems to me like a brilliantly multi layered poem about Amanita as the philosophers stone, the United will of the moon and sun, the volatile movement of both the white bits on the Amanita as it bursts from the egg and the astrological (and emotional) volatility of the moon both literally and metaphorically. I wish we knew more about who wrote this and when. If the author didn’t believe the stone was Amanita then it’s an unbelievable coincidence.

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Re: Discription of the Stone

Post by bfreed » Sat Mar 16, 2024 5:16 pm


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