The Flowing Stones: Spiritual Glassblowing

Glassmaking and glassblowing have been with us from the time of the ancient Hebrews. Although the exact origin of the original silica/soda/lime/colorant chemistry are lost in the mists of legend over time, it is well-known that the early Jews originated the first Regenerative Furnace. (Telling name, that.) This revolutionary furnace design turned the fierce heat of its own flue gases back onto the batch within the furnace cavity prior to venting, producing a great thermal boost over non-regenerative designs.

The fuel of choice was wood - much wood. Certain speculative historians postulate that the scale of woodcutting operations made necessary by the ancient Israeli industrial furnaces over time is responsible for the deforestation of the formerly lush area of Israel which is now the Negev Desert. These calculations are based in part on estimates of fuel requirements the making of the ancient 9-ton glass slab which even today seals the grave of the beloved Holy Master of Beth Shearim.

The extreme heat thus produced was essential for fusion of the component ingredients into the yellow-hot, syrupy glass “melt”. The resulting glass was poured into round, flat ingots, which were slowly cooled to avoid explosive shattering. The annealed ingots were then shipped off by boat and profitably sold to the ancient Egyptians (who did not possess the secret of the regenerative furnace) for final manufacture into first-quality finished articles. “Raw” Israeli ingots and finished Egyptian blown glass goods may be seen in numerous museums today.

Today one need not deforest an entire region to work glass, but the Inner rewards of adopting this ancient technology are as specific and potent today as in ancient times. It may help to recall that the Master Alchemists of Prague and elsewhere, in order to carry out their own ritual purifications and sublimations, were required by necessity to first become glassblowers in their own right. Alembics, cucurbites, and the rest of the vitreous paraphernalia of the Noble Art were simply not commercially available to the practitioners of the day.

Alchemy, as you may recall, is the practical application of the ancient Hermetic maxim, “As above, so below; as without, so within.” Rightly understood, alchemy seeks to regenerate (there’s that word again!) the base “lead” of mundane human consciousness into the precious “gold” of Divine Illumination (still available centuries later at no particular increase in Price), bringing the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water (all of which are necessary to mundane glassmaking and glassblowing) to bear upon the Worker's symbolic Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury in preparing a fit place for the fifth element - Spirit - to find dwelling, take root and grow within the Worker.

These days, glass and glassblowing equipment are readily available to the beginner; numerous books are also available that provide historical perspective, general guidelines, and step-by-step instructions for setting up a glassblowing operation. This may concentrate on blowpipe-and-pontil-style “freehand” glassblowing (developed to its height in the ancient world by Ennion as documented by Kurinsky, and in the modern world by Littleton, Steuben and others) or laboratory/novelty lampwork as explicated in detail by Hammesfahr and Stong. Either way, make no mistake: the Inner alchemy is as available, genuine, and potent as the finished product is saleable. Ask any glassblower!