¶10 The case of chemistry is perhaps even clearer and more characteristic; and, as regards moderns’ ignorance of alchemy, it is at least as great as with respect to astrology.1 True alchemy was essentially a science of the cosmological order, and, at the same time, it was also applicable to the human order, by virtue of the analogy of the ‘macrocosm’ and the ‘microcosm’; moreover, it was expressly constituted with a view to allowing a transposition into the purely spiritual domain, which conferred upon its teachings a symbolic value and a superior signification, and which made it one of the most complete types of the ‘traditional sciences’.2 What gave birth to modern chemistry is not this alchemy with which it has in sum no relation; it is a deformation, a deviation in the most rigorous sense of the word, a deviation to which gave rise, perhaps as early as the Middle Ages, the misunderstanding of certain persons who, incapable of penetrating the true meaning of symbols, took everything literally and, believing that it was only a matter of material operations, launched themselves into a more or less disordered experimentation.3 These were the ones whom the alchemists ironically called ‘blowers’ and ‘charcoal burners’, and who were the true precursors of present-day chemists; and thus it is that modern science builds itself with the aid of the debris of ancient sciences, with the materials cast off by the latter and abandoned to the ignorant and to the ‘profane’.4 Let us add further that the so‑called renovators of alchemy, of whom there are a few among our contemporaries, are on their side merely prolonging this same deviation, and that their researches are as far removed from traditional alchemy as those of the astrologers we alluded to earlier are from ancient astrology; and this is why we have the right to affirm that the ‘traditional sciences’ of the Occident are truly lost for moderns.5
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Summary

Guénon argues that modern chemistry is not descended from true alchemy but from a deformation and deviation of it, caused by those who misunderstood symbols literally and engaged in disordered material experimentation. He explains that true alchemy was a cosmological science applicable also to the human order through the analogy of macrocosm and microcosm, and it allowed transposition into the spiritual domain, making it a complete type of ‘traditional science’. Guénon identifies the ‘blowers’ and ‘charcoal burners’ (ironically named by alchemists) as the true precursors of modern chemists, so that modern science builds itself from the debris of ancient sciences abandoned to the ignorant. He adds that contemporary would-be renovators of alchemy merely prolong this same deviation, and concludes that the ‘traditional sciences’ of the Occident are truly lost to moderns.

General notes

  1. alchimie / chimie — Rendered as ‘alchemy / chemistry’. Guénon establishes a radical distinction between traditional alchemy (a complete science, at once cosmological, anthropological and spiritual) and modern chemistry (a material, quantitative science). Alchemy is not an empirical ‘proto‑chemistry’; it is a symbolic science whose material operations (for example the transmutation of metals) are only visible supports for spiritual realities. The ignorance of moderns in this regard is total, for they reduce alchemy to a primitive attempt to make gold. ↩︎
  2. macrocosme / microcosme — Rendered as ‘macrocosm / microcosm’. A universal traditional doctrine: the universe (macrocosm) and man (microcosm) are analogically structured. What is true of the great world is also true, mutatis mutandis, of the small world. Alchemy uses this analogy: operations on metals (macrocosmic) correspond to operations on the soul or spirit of the adept (microcosmic). The ‘transposition into the purely spiritual domain’ is the highest level of alchemy, where metallic symbols refer to the inner transformation of the human being (the ‘philosopher’s stone’ as a symbol of the accomplished spiritual state). ↩︎
  3. souffleurs / brûleurs de charbon — Rendered as ‘blowers / charcoal burners’. Pejorative terms used by traditional alchemists to designate those who limited themselves to material manipulations without understanding the spiritual meaning. These ‘blowers’ (who blew on the fire) and ‘charcoal burners’ are the direct ancestors of modern chemists. Guénon emphasises that modern chemistry does not arise from a progress of alchemy, but from a misunderstanding of alchemy: the ‘blowers’ took symbols for literal recipes, and thus laid the foundations of empirical chemistry. ↩︎
  4. débris / profanes — Rendered as ‘debris / profane’. Guénon compares the process to the construction of a building from ruins. Modern sciences use the ‘debris’ (material residues) of traditional sciences, but have lost the intelligible architecture. The ‘profane’ are those who are not initiated into the superior knowledges. In a traditional civilisation, the inferior aspects of a science are accessible to non‑initiates, but without the spiritual key. This is precisely what happened: the ‘blowers’ inherited the lowest part, stripped of its meaning. ↩︎
  5. renovateurs / perdus pour les modernes — Rendered as ‘renovators / lost for moderns’. Guénon rejects modern attempts at ‘restoration’ of alchemy (or astrology) as counterfeits. These so‑called renovators, even if they are well‑intentioned, are prisoners of the same materialist or psychological paradigm as the moderns they criticise. True traditional alchemy is ‘lost’ (irrecoverable) for the modern Occidental because it requires an initiation and an intellectual intuition that the modern mentality has atrophied. Guénon does not say it is lost forever, but that it is lost ‘for moderns’ — that is, for those who lack access to a living initiatic transmission. ↩︎