Sethos
A diviner, who was deprived of his sight by the Emperor Manuel because of his addiction to Magic. It is said that the Emperor Andronicus Comnenus obtained through him by hydromancy an answer to the question of who was to succeed him. The evil spirit gave the letters "SI" in reply; and on being asked when, said before the Feast of the exaltation of the Cross. This prediction was fulfilled, for before the date mentioned Isaac Angelus had thrown Andronicus to be torn in pieces by the mob. When the devil spells, he spells backwards, so that "SI" may quite fairly be taken to represent Isaac according to the laws of magic!
Setna, Papyrus of: A papyrus of very ancient date, dealing with the personality of Prince Setna Kha-em-ust, son of Rameses II. of Egypt, and said to have been discovered by him under the head of a mummy in the Necropolis at Memphis. Says Wiedemann concerning it: The first text, which has been known to us since 1867, tells that this prince, being skilled and zealous in the practice of necromancy, was one day exhibiting his acquirements to the learned men of the court, when an old man told him of a magic book containing two spells written by the hand of Thoth himself, the god of wisdom. He who repeated the first spell bewitched thereby heaven and earth and the realm of night, the mountains and the depth of the sea; he knew the fowls of the air and every creeping thing; he saw the fishes, for a divine power brought them up out of the depth. He who read the second spell should have power to resume his earthly shape, even though he dwelt in the grave; to see the sun rising in the sky with all the gods and the moon in the form wherein she displays herself. Setna inquired where this book was to be found, and learned that it was lying in the tomb of Nefer-ka-Ptah, a son of King Mer-neb-ptah (who is nowhere else named), and that any attempt to take away the book would certainly meet with obstinate resistance. These difficulties did not withhold Setna from the adventure. He entered the tomb of Nefer-ka-Ptah, where he found not only the dead man, but the Ka of his wife Ahuri and their son, though these latter had been buried in Koptos. But as in many other tales among many other peoples, success brought no blessing to the man who had disturbed the repose of the dead. Setna fell in love with the daughter of a priest at Memphis, who turned out to be a witch, and took advantage of his intimate connection with her to bring him to ignominy and wretchedness. At length the prince recognised and repented of the sacrilege he had committed in carrying off the book, and brought it back to Nefer-ka-Ptah. In the hope of atoning to some extent for his sin he journeyed to Koptos, and finding the graves of the wife and child of Nefer-ka-Ptah, he solemnly restored their mummies to the tomb of the father and husband, carefully closing the tomb he had so sacrilegiously disturbed. The second text, edited two years ago by Griffith from a London papyrus, is also genuinely Egyptian in its details. Three magic tales, interwoven one with another, are brought into connection with Saosiri, the supernaturally born son of Setna. In the first, Saosiri, who was greatly Setna's superior in the arts of magic, led his father down into the underworld. They penetrated into the judgment-hall of Osiris, where the sights they saw convinced Setna that a glorious future awaited the poor man who should cleave to righteousness, while he who led an evil life on earth, though rich and powerful, must expect a terrible doom. Saosiri next succeeded in saving his father, and with him all Egypt, from great difficulty by reading without breaking the seal of a closed letter brought by an Ethiopian magician, whom he thus forced to recognise the superior power of Egypt. The last part of the text tells of a powerful magician once dwelling in Ethiopia who modelled in wax a litter with four bearers to whom he gave his lifè. He sent them to Egypt, and at his command they sought out Pharaoh in his palace, carried him off to Ethiopia, and, after giving him five hundred blows with a cudgel, conveyed him during the same night back to Memphis. Next morning the king displayed the weals on his back to his courtiers, one of whom, Horus by name, was sufficiently skilled in the use of amulets to ward off by their means an immediate repetition of the outrage. Horus then set forth to bring from Hermopolis, the all-powerful magic book of the god Thoth, and by its aid he succeeded in treating the Ethiopian king as the Ethiopian sorcerer had treated Pharaoh. The foreign magician then hastened to Egypt to engage in a contest with Horus in magic tricks. His skill was shown to be inferior, and in the end he and his mother received permission to return to Ethiopia under a solemn promise not to set foot on Egyptian territory for a space of fifteen hundred years.
Seton (or Sethon) Alexander, vas one of the very few alchemists who succeeded in the great experiment of the transmutation of metals. He took his name from the village of Seton, which is stated to have been in the vicinity of Edinburgh and close to the sea-shore, so that one may reasonably conclude that the little fishing community of Port Seton is meant, although Camden in his Brittania states that that was the name of his house. In the year 1601, the crew of a Dutch vessel had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast near his dwelling, and Seton personally rescued several of them, lodged them in his house, and treated them with great kindness, ultimately sending them back to Holland at his own expense. In the following year he visited Holland, and renewed his acquaintance with at least one of the ship-wrecked crew, James Haussen, the pilot, who lived at Arksun. Haussen, determined on repaying him for the hospitality he had received in Scotland, entertained him for some time in his house, and to him Seton disclosed the information that he was a master of the art of alchemy, and proved his words by performing several transmutations. Haussen, full of the matter, confided it to one Venderlinden, a physician of Enkhuysen, to whom he showed a piece of gold which he had himself seen transmuted from lead. Seton This Venderlinden's grandson in turn, showed to the celebrated author, D. G. Morhoff, who wrote a letter concerning it to Langlet du Fresnoy, author of the Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique.
Seton visited Amsterdam and Rotterdam, travelled by sea to Italy, and thence through Switzerland to Germany, accompanied by a professed sceptic of alchemy, one Wolfgang Dienheim, whom he convinced of the error of his views at Basle before several of its principal inhabitants. This person has described Seton, and from the pen picture he gives of him we can discern a typical Scot of the seventeenth century. Seton," he says, was short but stout, and high-coloured, with a pointed beard, but despite his corpulence, his expression was spiritual and exalted." He was," adds Dienheim, "a native of Molier, in an island of the ocean." One wonders if Molier is the German's corruption of Lothian. 66 66 66 Several experiments of importance were now demonstrated by Seton. In one of these the celebrated physician Zwinger himself brought the lead which was to be transmuted from his own house. A common crucible was obtained at a goldsmith's, and ordinary sulphur was bought on the road to the house where the experiment was to take place. Seton handled none of these materials and took no part in the operation except to give to those who followed his directions a small packet of powder which transformed the lead into the purest gold of exactly the same weight. Zwinger appears to have been absolutely convinced of the genuine nature of the experiment, for he wrote an account of it to his friend Dr. Schobinger, which appears in Lonig's Ephemerides. Shortly after this Seton left Basle, and changing his name went to Strasbourg, whence he travelled to Cologne, lodging with one Anton Bordemann, who was by way of being an alchemist. In this city he was sufficiently imprudent to blazon his knowledge far and wide,-on one occasion producing six ounces of gold through the application of one grain of his magical powder. The circumstance seems to have made an impression on at least one of the savants of the Cathedral City, for Theobald de Hoghelande in his Historia Aliquot Transmutationis Mettalica, which was published at Cologne in 1604, alludes to it.
Seton then went to Hamburg, whence he travelled south to Munich, where something more important than alchemy engaged his attention, for he eloped with the daughter of a citizen, whom he married. The young Elector of Saxony, Christian II. had heard of Seton's brilliant alchemical successes and invited him to his court, but Seton, loath to leave his young wife, sent his friend, William Hamilton, probably a brother-Scot, in his stead, with a supply of the transmuting agent. In the presence of the whole Court, Hamilton undertook and carried through an experiment with perfect success and the gold then manufactured resisted every known test. This naturally only whetted the Elector's desire to see and converse with the magus, and a pressing invitation, which amounted to a command, was dispatched to Seton, who, thus rendered unable to refuse, betook himself to the electoral court. He was received there with every mark of honour, but it soon became evident to him that Christian II. had only invited him thither for the purpose of extracting from him the nature of his grand secret, but Seton, as an adept in the mysteries of alchemy, remained true to his high calling, and flatly refused to gratify the Elector's greed. Promises of preferment and threats were alike indifferent to him, and in the end the Elector, in a passion, ordered him to be imprisoned in a tower, where he was guarded by forty soldiers. There he was subjected to every conceivable species of torture, but all to no purpose. The rack, the fire, and the scourge, failed to extort from him the methods by which he had achieved the grand arcanum. Quite as exhausted as his victim, the Elector at last forbore, and left the unfortunate Scot in peace. At this juncture a Moravian chemist, Michael Sendivogius, who happened to be in Dresden heard of Seton's terrible experiences and possessed sufficient influence to obtain permission to visit him. Himself a searcher after the philosopher's stone, he sympathised deeply with the adept, and proposed to him that he should attempt to effect his rescue. To this Seton agreed, and promised that if he were fortunate enough to escape, he would reward Sendivogius with his secret. The Moravian travelled back to Cracow, where he resided, sold up his property, and returned to Dresden, where he lodged near Seton's place of confinement, entertaining the soldiers who guarded the alchemist, and judiciously bribing those who were directly concerned in his imprisonment. At last he judged that the time was ripe to attempt Seton's salvation. He feasted the guards in a manner so liberal that all of them were soon in a condition of tipsy carelessness. He then hastened to the tower in which Seton was imprisoned, but found him unable to walk, through the severity of his tortures. He therefore supported him to a carriage which stood waiting, and which they gained without being observed. They halted at Seton's house to take up his wife, who had in her possession some of the all-important powder, and whipping up the horses, sped as swiftly as possible to Cracow, which they reached in safety. When quietly settled in that city, Sendivogius reminded Seton of his promise to assist him in in his alchemical projects, but was met with a stern refusal, Seton explaining to him that it was impossible for him as an adept to reveal to his rescuer the terms of such an awful mystery. The health of the alchemist was, however, shattered by the dreadful torments through which he had passed, and which he survived only for about two years, presenting the remains of his magical precipitate to his preserver. The possession of this powder only made Sendivogius more eager than ever to penetrate the mysteries of the grand arcanum. He married Seton's widow, perhaps with the idea that she was in possession of her late husband's occult knowledge, but if so he was doomed to disappointment for she was absolutely ignorant of the matter. Seton had left behind him, however, a treatise entitled The New Light of Alchymy, which Sendivogius laid hands on and published as his own. In its pages he thought he saw a method of increasing the powder, but to his intense disappointment and disgust, he only succeeded in lessening it. With what remained, however, he posed as a successful projector of the grand mystery, and proceeded with much splendour from court to court in a sort of triumphal procession. In his own country of Moravia, he was imprisoned, but escaped. His powder, however, was rapidly diminishing, but he still continued his experiments. Borel in his work on French Antiquities mentions that he saw a crown piece which had been partially dipped into a mixture of the powder dissolved in spirits of wine, and that the part steeped in the elixir was of gold, was porous, and was not soldered or otherwise tampered with. The powder done, Sendivogius degenerated into a mere charlatan, pretending that he could manufacture gold, and receiving large sums on the strength of being able to do so. He survived until the year 1646 when he died at Parma at the age of 84. Seton's New Light of Alchymy would appear, from an examination of it, to deny that the philosopher's stone was to be achieved by the successful transmutation of metals. It says:- "The extraction of the soul out of gold or silver, by. what vulgar way of alchymy soever, is but a mere fancy, On the contrary, he which, in a philosophical way, can without any fraud, and colourable deceit, make it that it Shelta Thari shall really tinge the basest metal, whether with gain or without gain, with the colour of gold or silver (abiding all requisite tryals whatever), hath the gates of Nature opened to him for the enquiring into further and higher secrets, and with the blessing of God to obtain them." Seven Stewards of Heaven, by whom God governs the world. They are known in works on Magic as the Olympian Spirits, and they govern the Olympian spheres, which are composed of one hundred and ninety-sixregions. Their names in the Olympian language are:-Arathron, the celestial spirit of Saturn, whose day is Saturday; Bethor, the angel of Jupiter, whose day is Monday; Phaleg, the prince of Mars, whose day is Tuesday, Och, the master of the Sun, whose day is Sunday; Hagith, the sovereign of Venus, whose day is Friday: Ophiel, the spirit of Mercury, who must be invoked on Wednesday; Phul, the administrator of affairs in the Moon, whose day is Monday. Each of these Seven Celestial Spirits may be invoked by magicians by the aid of ceremonies and preparations.
Sextus V., Pope, was one of the line of St. Peter accused of sorcery. De Thou says of him in his Histoire Universelle (tome XI.) "The Spaniards continued their vengeance against this Pontiff even after his death, and they forgot nothing in their anxiety to blacken his memory by the libels which they flung against him. Sextus, said they, who, by means of the magical art, was for a long time in confederacy with a demon, had made a compact with this enemy of humanity to give himself up to him, on condition he was made Pope, and allowed to reign six years. Sextus was raised to the chair of St. Peter, and during the five years he held sway in Rome he distinguished his pontificate by actions surpassing the feeble reach of the human intellect. Finally, at the end of this term, the Pope fell sick, and the devil arriving to keep him to his pact, Sextus inveighed strongly against his bad faith, reproaching him with the fact that the term they had agreed upon was not fulfilled, and that there still remained to him more than a twelve-month. But the devil reminded him that at the beginning of his pontificate he had condemned a man who, according to the laws, was too young by a year to suffer death, and that he had nevertheless caused him to be executed, saying that he would give him a year out of his own life; that this year, added to the other five, completed the six years which had been promised to him, and that in consequence he did very wrong to complain. Sextus, confused and unable to make any answer, remained mute, and turning himeslf towards the ruelle of his bed, prepared for death in the midst of the terrible mental agitation caused by the remorse of his conscience. For the rest," adds De Thou, with amiable frankness, I only mention this trait as a rumour spread by the Spaniards, and I should be very sorry to guarantee its truth."