Powers of the Secret Fire
The identity of the Secret Fire was known and concealed ever since the invention of writing in the Thothian epoch. “In allegories and fables,” remarks Pernety, “the philosophers have given to this Secret Fire the names sword, lance, arrows, javelin, etc. It is the Fire which Prometheus stole from heaven, which Vulcan employed to form the thunderbolts of Jupiter, and the golden throne of Zeus.”
The Secret Fire is therefore “thought” in its highest sense — equivalent to the god Thoth, the first alchemist who speaks only the true Word, which through intonation and vibration acts on matter to create new incarnations of Mind. To some extent, this divine power is shared by humans in the power of inspired thought and imagination. This fact was one of the greatest secrets of the alchemists.