How did a simple Parisian book scribe become wealthier than the King of France?

Nicolas Flamel was a French alchemist who lived in fifteenth century Paris. His life is no myth: his house, built in 1407, still stands, at 51 Rue de Montmorency, where it’s been made into a cafe. His deeds, though, really are the stuff of legends.

Flamel is supposed to have been the most accomplished of the European alchemists. His own writings claim he succeeded in the two magical goals of alchemy: he made the Philosopher’s Stone and the Red Elixir–he and his wife Perenelle achieved immortality!

As a book dealer and scribe (one who copies books) Flamel trafficked in Muslim texts and ancient tomes. He was an experienced broker, an expert in authenticity who would read and learn what he could from each work. One day he received a very mysterious book from a close friend, written by an ancient person known as Abraham the Jew. The book was full of kabbalistic words in Greek and Hebrew. Flamel made it his life’s work to understand the text. He traveled to universities in Andalusia, to Cordoba (conquered by Christians in1236) and to the pilgrim shrine at Santiago de Compostela to consult with Jewish and Muslim authorities.

In Spain he met a mysterious teacher, Master Canches, who was a practicing physician. He helped Flamel understand the obscure symbols in the manuscript. The “master” was rumored to be an adept, or wise, man who had studied the same teaching as the Three Wise Men of the Bible. From this fount of ancient knowledge Flamel was able to learn key translations and eventually decipher the coded text guarding the secrets of how to create the magnum opus and “perfect” metal into gold.

After his return from Spain, Flamel did in fact become fabulously wealthy. He bought property and endowed hospitals and churches with the proceeds from his alchemical work. He caused arcane alchemical signs to be written on his tombstone, which is preserved at the Musée de Cluny in Paris. His tomb is empty–some say it was sacked by looters in search of his alchemical secrets. But then, if he achieved immortality, his tomb may be vacant for another reason.

Here’s the “Eagle with Hermaphrodite” which is both male and female, night and day, sun and moon holding the bat and the rabbit. Duality is a core concept in the Emerald Table written by Egyptian wizard Hermes Trimestigus whose lost knowledge is at the heart of the mystery of medieval alchemy.