Isaac Newton & The Royal Society

One thing some don’t know is that Isaac newton was a alchemist. Many today in the 20th century would say, who? Isaac newton, oh yes! The guy who discovered gravity and watched apples fall from trees! No… He was much more than that. Newton was a alchemy crazed maniac that never got sleep, nor ever had sex. Yes you heard me right, Isaac Newton was a virgin till death. He was a very peculiar man with many secrets. For him, all was distraction unless it involved his search to unlock God’s mathematical codes. Newton was not just one of our founding fathers of the most important scientific discoveries changing the course of history, he was an alchemist and a very religious man.

‘Though best known for his studies on gravity and his laws of motion, Newton also Remarkably wrote more than a million words of alchemical notes throughout his lifetime, historians have estimated” -Voelkel

Isaac Newton

This portrait shows Isaac newton at the peak of his powers, age 46, just after he unveiled the theory of gravitation.

Today, many remember the innocent apple tree story, meanwhile in newton’s time, he was jotting down notes on alchemical terms such as; “The Green Lion”, “Philosophical murcury” and the “Menstrual blood of a sordid whore”. ‘This language was so strange, and Newton’s scientific reputation was so high, that the temptation was to assume that the odd phrases merely indicate the difficulty of describing new techniques in an antique vocabulary.’ … - The Clockwork Universe

NOVA: I think what makes a lot of people think of alchemy as black magic is this bizarre language—phrases like “the Green Dragon" or the “menstrual blood of the sordid whore." 

NEWMAN: Yes.

NOVA: It's mind-boggling to think of Newton writing those phrases. 

NEWMAN: Well, this was the enigmatic language of alchemy. I mean “enigmatic" in a quite strict sense: it was a riddling language. The best way to look at these metaphors is in the light of riddles. So the "menstrual blood of the sordid whore" is decipherable. It means simply the metalline form of antimony. That is the "menstrual blood" that's extracted from the "sordid whore," which is the ore of antimony. 

The Renaissance scholars named alchemy the ‘Ars Divina’ (the sacred art) for it truly was an art; and a peering into life’s greatest secrets. And for a mind like Newton; this only made sense to peer into the invisible forces of nature and solve the puzzle of alchemy.

“Alchemy was the ultimate riddle which provided a challenge to Newton that he just couldn’t resist.”

For 250 silent years, Newtons journals laid untouched and unseen. “Catherine and John Conduitt wanted to secure Newton’s reputation not only as a genius but also as a Christian. A cursory glance at his millions of words of religious writings had convinced them there was plenty of evidence of Newton’s lifelong and exemplary Christian faith.” … “However, It wasn't until 1936 when Newton’s Corpus Obscura finally saw the light of day, at a Sotheby’s auction. The manuscripts, which were displayed in a total of 329 lots, were consigned by Gerard Wallop, the 9th Earl of Portsmouth. He had obtained the material from Newton’s family where they remained sheltered for two centuries.” And then came along John Maynard—‘a famed British economist of the early 20th century’, who eventually declared that “Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians.” It did not take long for this to be known, once the journals were revealed to the public. This discovery was truly enlightening and richly fascinating. Newton not only dabbled in the alchemical arts; he breathed it. Lived it. For decades. It is said one of Newton’s assistants would watch him with reverence but without understanding. ‘Whatever his aim might be, I was not able to penetrate into, but his pains, his diligence at those times made me think he aimed at something beyond the reach of human art & industry’. And this was indeed so. Much of his time was spent deciphering old Alchemical manuscripts and copying them in his notebooks; one of these texts he extracted from was the ‘Turba Philosophorum’ in Zetzner’s edition of Theatrum chemicum. And another being a central key to understanding Newton’s ideas; called the Clavis. Upon the multitude of Newton’s alchemical experiments a few of them were things like dissolving mercury in nitric acid; or heating mercury and various metals upon a furnace or producing a sort of ‘living’ mercury that made gold swell. In 1670 he had made the ‘Star Regulus’ by examining and applying the works of Starkey. He also chose to study the Bible on end- seeking to foretell the times of the apocalypse and searching for keys in the dimensions of Solomon’s temple. He was actually much more invested in the age we live in now than his own time. The Newton papers show that he believed the end of the times to be in 2060, 38 years from now as i’m writing this. It is crazy to think, a man like Newton, a genius who has so heavily influenced our world, had such theories like these ones 300 years ago. And these theories were not just ‘thought up’, they were carefully calculated and studied upon. Newton knew their was symbology and codes hidden within the Bible; secrets only master kabbalists could tell. One of these hidden codes was the structure of the Temple of Solomon. And Newton heavily believed the architecture and dimensions of Solomon’s Temple held coded ancient secrets about God and the Universe.

“The ‘Solomon’s Temple’ manuscript is arguably the most outstanding item in the Babson Collection and was written at a time when the determination of the dimensions of Solomon’s Temple was a major puzzle in theological inquiry.” 

Isaac Newton, a treatise or remarks on Solomon’s Temple.

“The notes also show Newton attempting to uncover the timing of the apocalypse and delving into prophecies as he tried to unlock codes he believed were hidden in the Bible. He believed that if he could crack the royal cubit, he would be able to reconstruct the sacred cubit of the Hebrews, and work out the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, which he believed would help him understand the size of Earth.”

Another interesting thing is, Boyle was the one to teach Newton Alchemy. Him and Robert Boyle both studied the works of the alchemist Eirenaeus Philalethes; who produced some of the most significant writings on alchemy in the 17th century. However, it seems Newton and Boyle did not always agree on the “upheld secrecy” of hermetic matters. In the year that Boyle and Newton met, 1675, Newton had written privately to the Secretary of the Royal Society; in regards to Boyle’s disturbing statements on ‘philosophical sulphur heating gold by alchemical power’;

“I urge that it not be communicated without immense damage to the world if there should be any verity in the hermetic writers, therefor I question with great wisdom of the noble author (Robert Boyle) will sway him to high silence till he shall be resolved what consequence the thing may be.”… Newton ends this letter with: “I have been so free as to shoot my bolt-but pray keep this letter private to yourself.”

Later on Newton did claim to have remarkable success developing the ‘philosophical mercury’ for producing gold and an effective sulphur. It is also clear from the 17th century manuscript that he had the ‘Recipe for the Philosophers Stone’

This page shows two steps (“periods”) in the manufacture of the philosophers’ stone that were drawn from a work by the obscure German alchemist Erasmus Rothmaler.”

NOVA: Did Newton think that he made progress in developing the philosophers' stone? 

NEWMAN: Yes, I think that's quite clear. If you look at his manuscripts, there are stages of development that you can isolate. In his experimental notebooks, there are entries where he says “I found the caduceus of Mercury today" and this sort of thing that reflect real discoveries that he's made in the laboratory.

This 17th century manuscript contains instructions that Newton copied from another Alchemist’s writings, as well as descriptions of newtons own experiments. (image credit: Chemical Heritage Foundation) If you look closely you will find the symbols for mercury.

NOVA: You've said that Newton's alchemy is still a great unsolved mystery. Why?

NEWMAN: In part because his experimental notebooks are so cryptic. These experimental notebooks pick up in 1678, and there is a story that there was a fire in Newton's laboratory immediately before that. So it's likely that we would have more materials if they hadn't been destroyed in this conflagration. Also, Newton doesn't bother to explain his terminology; being Newton, he expects to know his terminology.

With all that being said, where does the Royal Society come in? Well, this was more than just a science based agenda let me tell you. This was - to Newton and many other philosophers - mysteries that had been “long lost to man” that needed to be recovered. The Royal Society began because of Bacon’s New Atlantis- because of this belief in a long lost civilization of knowledge and of truth. And Bacon is behind it all. This was Bacon’s Invisible College.

And this is where it gets pretty fascinating. In letters in 1646 and 1647 to his friend, Samuel Hartlib, Boyle refers to "our invisible college" or "our philosophical college" to describe their meetings when they sat at Gresham College studying the works of Bacon… “The cornerstones of the invisible, or as they term themselves, the Invisible College, do now and then honor me with their company… men of so capacious and searching spirits, that school philosophy is but the lowest region of their knowledge”. This shows Boyle’s view of the Invisible College as a group of learned men dedicated to knowledge “beyond what was traditionally taught”.

“The origins of The Royal Society lie in an ‘invisible college’ of natural philosophers who began meeting in the mid-1640s to discuss the new philosophy of promoting knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment, which we now call science.”

hmmm.. ‘The Invisible College’ doesn't this sound familiar? Where was this concept of an ‘invisible college’? Ah, yes… wasn’t it the Rosicrucian Manifestos that circulated around Germany in the early 17th century? Yes. Yes it was. And didn’t the Rosicrucians also claim to have the Philosophers Stone and universal knowledge? Yes, yes they did.

Confessio Fraternitatis (1615)

“Although now the time has come that we may appear publicly and freely confess ourselves, we still find it advisable, in consideration of some of our circumstances… to keep our knowledge hidden and to remain in secret as the Invisible College.”

“Fludd and Francis Bacon spread esoteric thought through Rosicrucian channels. This esoteric thought came full circle back to England when Johann Valentin Andrea created the lodge system to protect the Rosicrucians, and some of these lodges emigrated to England. These later became the “Invisible College of the Rosicrucians", and later became the famous Royal Society. " - ‘Be Wise As Serpents’ By Fritz Springmeier.

Twenty years after Bacon’s death in 1626, his "Invisible College" of followers formed a society of learned men, which in 1660 became the Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge. Which then got royal sponsorship by the infamous Charles II… and here is something important to note:

“In Stuart England, the early Freemasons of Charles I and Charles II were men of philosophy, astronomy, physics, architecture, chemistry and generally advanced learning. Many were members of the country's most important scientific academy, the Royal Society, which had been styled The Invisible College after it was forced underground during the Cromwellian Protectorate. Early members included Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren and Samuel Pepys," -Laurence Gardner.

In conclusion to this, I would like to also add that Isaac Newton as well reportedly not only read the Rosicrucian Manifestos but commented upon them, leaving his notes inside the books themselves. Francis Yates writes of this in her book, ‘The Rosicrucian Enlightenment’.

“Isaac Newton had read the Rosicrucian Manifestos, and his copy of the ‘Fama Fraternitatis’ had written notes in the margins, indicating that he had taken interest in the manifestos and their implications.”

With all of this being said, Isaac Newton was no conservative christian, or just a scientist. And mistakenly, many christians say Isaac newton was a christian scientist. But what they fail to understand, is he was a Rosicrucian and an alchemist. To fully understand his entire quest of studies, one must truly understand the history of his era, and the bringing about of the Rosicrucian Protestant scheme. For the two are but one. For this time period was the bringing about of science and religion becoming one, and the Rosicrucians were at the heart of it all.