For most people born and raised in the age of modern science the term alchemy conjures up images of dusty old eccentrics in tattered clothes huddled over bubbling caldrons of amalgamated goo in the hapless attempt to turn lead into gold. We are commonly taught that alchemy is the predecessor to modern chemistry but that any resemblance to the bonafide science of chemistry as we know it today is purely coincidental. Alchemy, we are told, was a peculiar admixture of superstition and natural science that more often than not came down on the wrong side of scientific fact owing to its predisposition for spiritualistic interpretations of nature and natural laws. While alchemy may have laid the foundation stones of modern chemistry, it is most often treated as a cursory chapter in the evolution of science overall, worthy of mention only in passing.

Modern science would probably prefer to disavow this chapter altogether if it were not for the fact that a significant number of its players also happen to have been directly responsible for the advance of modern science itself and simply cannot be dismissed out of hand. Individuals such as Albert Magnus, Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Paracelsus and a host of others have played such an integral part in the evolution of modern science that it would simply be impossible to exclude them and still have an intelligible lineage left intact. From the very first appearance of alchemy in Europe there has existed a venomous fellowship of opposition to its principles as well as its proponents. Outspoken alchemists have had to walk a thin line in order to avoid becoming targets of inquisition, arrest and execution. They have not always succeeded in avoiding these threats. While the severity of these hazards has lessened somewhat over the years, the same opposition is alive as ever. The strategy these days seems to be to discredit alchemy en masse by way of distortional historical revisionisms that portray it as the ultimate antithesis to pure scientific method. The net result is that we have very little reason to trust modern science's interpretations of alchemical science at this point as its focus is alarmingly narrow and its conclusions strangely skewed.

Perhaps the surest way to avoid succumbing to an unnecessarily biased view of alchemical science is to consciously attempt to develop a more global perspective from the outset. In general, the best way to achieve this is to explore the written works of alchemists themselves but we have to be careful in this approach not to restrict our sources unnecessarily. There has been a considerable push of late to confine the realm of alchemy to the work of western European alchemists alone which limits us to a body of work dating from around the mid 1100's and excludes the work of the Hermetic Alchemists, East Indian Alchemists, Chinese Alchemists and a host of other groups that would take us much further back in time and afford us a much broader perspective on the matter. While the desire to see alchemy established as a legitimized academic is certainly understandable in itself, adopting a blatantly Eurocentric approach to the subject is a poor way to proceed and is reminiscent of the folly of western philosophy which finds itself today in the laughable position of having no clear way of determining whether Taoism, for instance, can be classed as a "legitimate" philosophical system. This must certainly cause a good many Taoists to question whether western philosophy can be considered to possess so much as a lick of common sense

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It may go without saying that the broadest definition of alchemy on an intuitive level is that alchemy is and has been an investigative discipline focused on the elemental constitution of things both physical and spiritual.  By in large, alchemists have always sought to understand and master the various mysteries of nature by breaking things down into their most basic elemental components and recombining them anew. In this respect alchemy can perhaps be defined as an "essentialist" approach to Gnosis (sacred knowledge) to the extent that all things in nature are seen as unique blends of an original and universal set of core elemental properties and immutable first natures. Central to most schools of alchemy has been the notion of a spirit-element from which all other elemental properties derive and must ultimately return. This notion of a spirit-element establishes a dualistic aspect to all things corporeal since everything in existence is subsequently perceived as only outwardly distinguishable from every other thing, while inwardly all things are ultimately one and the same. The persistence of this principle has traditionally polarized alchemy itself into opposing but cooperative camps of  External and Internal doctrine. Taoist alchemy, for instance, historically includes both Wai Dan (external alchemy) and Nei Dan (internal alchemy) schools which have permeated the various branches of Taoism overall. East Indian alchemy is roughly divided into Ayurvedic and Tantric schools while European alchemy traditionally includes both exoteric and esoteric aspects of theory and practice. Throughout all, this whole idea of nature as a dualistic manifestation of an a priori spirit-element is one of the most defining characteristics of alchemical science on a global scale. Long-sought treasures such as the Elixir of Life , the Universal Solvent, The Philosopher's Stone and others all derive from this notion of a central spirit-element underscoring all physical matter.

Owing to the rich diversity of ideas to be found in alchemy across both space and time, it is useful to qualify the particular kind of alchemy we may happen to be addressing before diving headlong into any discussion of it as though that singular discussion might somehow automatically epitomize the whole. An enormous amount of reckless alchemical generalization has found easy expression over the years by hasty individuals seemingly banking on the fact that very few of their readers would ever be the wiser. Such careless inattention to detail ultimately does great harm to the study of alchemy in total and disallows us the freedom to draw our own intelligent comparisons and conclusions. When we speak of the Five Elemental Universe, for instance, we are not defining something which has been viewed the same way from all points compass. There exists both stark and subtle distinctions between the traditional Spirit, Fire, Water, Air, Earth system of Western Alchemy and the Iron, Fire, Water, Wood, Earth system of Eastern Alchemy, just to site one example. Not only are these elemental matrixes balanced quite differently, but the very way in which they were devised to begin with follows strikingly different methods as well. When dealing in complex heuristical projections of elemental universe, it is advisable to define ones base elemental terms as explicitly as possible and, whenever possible, in an historically accurate context. Modern theoretical alchemy owes its emergence to the historical well from which it springs and the better we can articulate new ideas in balanced proportion to those ideas of antiquity, the better we can elevate the knowledge and conversation of alchemy overall.

The term Mutational Alchemy initially derives from The Book of Changes or the I Ching which outlines a profoundly simple system of elements constructed from all possible combinations of Yin and Yang geomantic "fluxes" expressed symbolically and stacked together in vertically aligned structures, the simplest of which are called bigrams. Stacking yin-yang flux-lines three lines high yields the trigrams and stacking bigrams and trigrams in above and below relationships yields the tetragrams and the hexagrams, respectively. Thus from a simple binary mathematics a highly versatile and complex system of elements is born which not only achieves crystal clarity in terms of elemental property definition but also contains remarkable transformative qualities.  It happens that any one hexagram is inherently capable of transmuting into any other based upon the relative activity or inactivity of any of its line values. Whether a line value is stable (and at rest) or unstable (and about to change) can be determined numerically, based upon any of a number of methods for divining line values that allow for this distinction. This principle of "running  lines" was eventually standardized under King Wen towards the end of the Shang dynasty in ancient China, though it should be said that the association of complex mathematical properties to bigrams and trigrams dates back much further than this.  The study of these structures and the various ways in which they interact with one another is sometimes referred to as mutationism and a person specializing in such knowledge would subsequently be called a mutationist.

Recent cross-referencing of the binary mathematics of the geomantic I Ching with the binary mathematics of the DNA / RNA codex of life has produced a stunning parallel, creating a good deal of excitement for mutationists and geneticists alike.  It is not too great a stretch at this point to suggest that the I Ching may be the most natural bio-feedback system ever devised by human beings accessing the DNA code itself. Since the I Ching forms the mathematical matrix around which the entire system of eastern medicine is built, it is potentially of enormous consequence for us to determine just how far this mathematical parallel may extend. The I Ching's diagnostic and prognostic potential alone may be far greater than anything we ever previously anticipated. It is also apparent that where such a dynamic parallel may exist, it is essential for us to explore as many definitions of this ancient system of elements as possible and not content ourselves with so-called traditional values alone. Since binary elemental continuum is apparently the province of all DNA-based life, its intrinsic grammar and syntax should not be arbitrarily restricted to ancient Chinese interpretations exclusively. The reality is that we only have a glimpse thus far of how far-reaching this ancient system of elemental mathematics may be and it is the role of alchemy to explore and exploit this kind of transmutational potential for its positive applications both physical and spiritual.

The term Mutational Alchemy, then, denotes a specialized branch of alchemy whose objectives are to advance the full range of possibilities being offered in the realm of binary elements and to consolidate the various branches of alchemy into a unified elemental systemology that can ultimately account for all things in itself. As will be shown, the application of mutational alchemical principles refreshes and reinforces a wide range of traditionally mystical practices allowing for the assertion of genetically aligned formulas offering an unparalleled degree of mathematical precision. As a matter of form, it is essential that Mutational Alchemy turn its attention to the highest models of Completion it can find with an eye to finally resolving the physics of the Atman (or True Self) once and for all. We cannot seriously presume to accomplish something as lofty as True Will in life if we have no tenable notion of who we truly are or where we may be headed on a universal scale. While it may seem hopeless on the face of it to think that we can somehow suddenly ascertain things that may have never been fully ascertained before, it is nevertheless the natural business of alchemy to answer questions that seem to have no answer as it is to go where lesser science cannot readily go.

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