Nicholas Flamel

Nicholas Flamel (www.wikipedia.org)

Many believe that Nicholas Flamel's life was merely myth. This is of course not true and his story is among the most controversial in history for the idea that there may be truth to his accomplishments because of evidence but also that there also may be fiction for the lack of evidence. Also even if you turn all theological proof to the wind, you may still hold his name in high regard for how much of a philanthropist he was in life. Though it may be a story or it may not is entirely up to the reader. If you've never heard of this man, Nicholas Flamel was a famed French Alchemist that lived in the early fifteenth century. He is one of the few alchemists actually believed to have achieved the recipe to create gold and to be blessed with everlasting life.

Flamel was supposedly given a mysterious book from a drifter for no real, or written, reason. It was an untitled book written by Abraham the Jew who was indeed an ancestor of the Jewish religion and was written about in the book of Genesis. Flamel devoted the remainder of his life to one purpose. To read and understand the mysterious Kabbalistic symbols that the book's pages were utterly riddled with. To start off he ventured to surrounding universities in search of someone to decipher the pages and as he did so he managed to consult some of the highest Muslim and Jewish authorities that Spain had to offer, until one day where he had met a man known as Canches who was rumored to be an adept, or someone that studied the same teachings as the biblical wise men.

Apparently the wise man was also a practicing doctor merely passing and meeting Flamel by the luck of the draw. The man claimed he knew how to read the ancient language and understand the archaic symbols. Flamel really had no other option but to believe Canches and for good reason. Sadly upon nearing the book's end, Canches had grown very ill and died. The only question left was, "Did Nicholas figure the book out, did he figure out that the contents of the book really were instructions on achieving endless gold and immortality?" Did he have enough to no longer need the Wise Man who was now buried in Orleans?

Flamel returned to his home and with his wife, Pernella, in France. No one really could understand where his sudden generosity had leapt forth from, for he'd suddenly began to deal out a vast amount of money to things such as Churches and Hospitals. He claimed that he gained this money only through being successful at his practice. This is wholly believable, since not long after his return (the date is not exact) he had passed away. No one knows exactly what happened to his tomb but many believe that it was either vandalized, or he truly did achieve immortality for the fact that his body is not present in that tomb. His gravesite is near his home in France known as Musee' de Cluny. His tomb stone once had arcane symbols written upon them, but they were soon vandalized and stolen by people in search of the Philosopher's Stone.

Nicholas Flamel is indeed not just a fictional character. His life was one of goodness and knowledge seeking, and he believed in using a science that still had a loosely based religious standing. That is why Nicholas Flamel has made a change in my life.