A strange lesson from a written book.

H. Aquilæ Thuringi.

You should know that one thing is of those which are the seven planets and that the least of them is drawn from its body the blood of the green lion, the water of life and is called by many names.

From this water a soil is prepared which is called a living sulfur, a cup of gold, silver and other metallic bodies.

In such earths there is fire and in water there is air; and the earth rots with its water until the four elements can be separated from them.

To complete the elixir it is enough to separate the water from the earth and to prepare it for the earth through calcination, but to rectify and coagulate the water through circulation, as has been indicated.

Therefore, when you read in the Philosophorum books take this or that, always understand this from this stone or from its isolated and separate parts: as if one says take Arsenicum, you understand the fire of the stone: before the sulfur you also understand the air sometimes the fire: before Salarmoniac, which does not dissolve the earth: and before Armoniac without addition, the air: before the Mercurio you understand the water or also the Mercurium alone: be careful of these and pay attention.

Before the Mercurio Sublimato I mean the water which has been sublimated by its salt and is to be coagulated again into a salt which is called the saltpeter and sulfur of Bacconis, which coagulates all mercury because it is its common sulphur.

If you read further from the philosophers, take mercury and beware of mercury: take sulfur, let go of arsenic and common sulfur: take philosophical lead, then go idly to the crowd: in front of the green lion, do not take vitriol or copper: in front of the sun, gold: in front of the silver moon.

In washdowns, beware of salts, corrosive and sharp waters that are not affected by metals; (because the metals themselves are called corrosives.)

In sublimation do not mix anything foreign with the lapide; in the distillation, do not take down the skin; do not extract the moisture during calcination; in the projection do not eat of the unclean. During the preparation, put the vessel in once, open it once, close it again once: if you do it more often, it is not good.

Be careful not to place Lapidem in the ranks of Mercurii, which Solomon contradicts in his proverbs.

For it is a stone a medicine, under the mineral name a work that changes in many ways, which when you get over it, do not do it in a common way but work in a hidden place so that no one takes notice of it and you cause offense even from men and God bring heavy judgment and vengeance upon you.

For if someone offers this art for sale, they will not have to console themselves with a long life: since it is more of a divine than human elixir which God only wants to have revealed to those who are worthy.

Therefore, take note of my teaching so that you may unite the fruit of gold and silver and enjoy the work of your hand and lead your life all the more happily to the praise and honor of the Most High God and to your own benefit: always remembering the psalm: When wealth comes to you So don't put your heart on it: but your heart should be based on God, who is far more than everything that is in the world. And let your desire be directed towards riches that do not grow stale but remain until eternal life, which the one who lives without end wants to communicate to us from eternity to eternity

Amen!