Hinduism - What Are The Indications Of Mercury In Hindu Astrology And Alchemy?

 


Mercury is a planet in the zodiac. 

In Indian alchemy, elemental mercury plays a crucial role.

The universe is seen in Hindu alchemy as a succession of bipolar opposites in conflict with one another.

The unification of these competing forces leads to spiritual advancement and the termination of reincarnation (samsara).

Hindu tantra, a hidden, ritual-based religious discipline, shares this paradigm of combining or transcending antagonistic energies.

Hatha yoga, which is centered on a sequence of physical exercises that are also said to alter the subtle body, has a similar idea.

The merger of the sun and the moon is the dominating metaphor for this clash of opposites.

The sun and the moon are linked to other opposing principles through a complex network of relationships.

Mercury is conceived as the semen of the god Shiva, and thus full of healing power, in accordance with this bipolar symbolism.

It's also associated with the moon (possibly due to its bright silvery hue), healing and restorative properties, and the nectar of immortality.

The goddess Shakti's uterine blood is associated with the element sulfur.

The aspirant's body is purified and refined when mercury and sulfur are mixed and consumed, eventually making it immortal.

Modern descriptions of this practice caution that it should only be done under the supervision of one's guru (spiritual teacher); otherwise, these combinations will be harmful, as mercury is a poison in and of itself.

Obscure Religious Cults, by Shashibhushan B. Dasgupta, was published in 1962, and The Alchemical Body, by David Gordon White, was published in 1996.


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