Comary
COMARIO BOOK
PHILOSOPHER AND HIGH PRIEST WHO TAUGHT CLEOPATRA THE DIVINE THE SACRED ART OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
(excerpts)
The Greek text of the "Book of Comarius" gives the impression of being a translation from another language, or, perhaps, it was written by someone whose Greek was incorrect. It is certainly far from classical Greek. There are, in addition, textual corruptions introduced by the scribes. Texts that were intended for practical use were often interpolated. The successive owners of said manuals were undoubtedly true alchemists and probably annotated their copies. Or, if they copied a text, they tended to delete material that was of little interest to them. Hence these treatises have survived in different versions or "recensions" and it is impossible to reconstruct an archetype.
An additional problem was created by the gaps, apparently deliberate, left in such texts by authors unwilling to reveal all the secrets of their art, forcing their readers to study with a teacher. Some things are expected to be explained later, but the explanations never arrive, either because the text is incomplete or because the author forgets his promise. We find the same difficulty in astrological literature: none of the treatises we possess is a complete manual that allows the beginner to become a master by following a series of guidelines and practical examples. This was apparently not the way to teach these subjects.
The "Book of Comario" is dedicated to "Cleopatra the Divine", also called "the Learned", but not necessarily the famous queen. The prayer at the beginning, with its unmistakable Christian character, must be considered a later addition, perhaps by a Byzantine monk who copied, or edited, a pagan treatise. For a long time alchemy was banned by the church as a form of magic: conversely monasteries, as centers of learning, were probably among the only places where alchemy could be studied and where texts were available. The sentence in this text was perhaps intended to give an edifying character to the work and place it above all suspicion. Comario begins with a brief cosmogony and then returns to practical matters such as metals, colors, and apparatus. A group of philosophers (that is, scientists) then appear and Cleopatra communicates to them the knowledge she has received from Comarius.
From the more practical precepts, the reader is led to general discourses on the wonders of nature. The symbolism is rich, the language mystical, and the constant exhortations to the reader to pay attention to what cannot really be understood increases the reader's frustration. In the final part, alchemy is described as the key to the mystery of the resurrection, another reason for a Christian to study the subject, although the concept of resurrection is, of course, older than the "Gospels."
Georg Luck
Introduction taken from his book "Arcana Mundi, Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds". Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1985.
Lord, Almighty God, Creator of all nature, Creator and maker of all celestial beings and above the celestial ones, blessed and eternal Sovereign! We celebrate you, we bless you, we praise you, we adore the sublimity of your kingdom. For you are the beginning and the end, and all visible and invisible creatures obey you, because you have created them. Since your eternal kingdom has been created as something that is subject to you [?], we ask you, most merciful of sovereigns, in the name of your unspeakable love for humanity, to illuminate our minds and our hearts, so that May we also glorify you as our one true God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, with your Holy Spirit, kind and life-giving, now and forever. Amen.
I begin this book with the story concerning silver and gold that was transmitted by Comarius, the philosopher, to Cleopatra, the learned woman. The book in question does not include demonstrations regarding lights and substances. The book is about the teachings of Comarius, the philosopher, addressed to Cleopatra, the learned woman.
Comarius, the philosopher, shows mystical philosophy to Cleopatra. He is sitting on a throne. He is devoted to mystical philosophy [?]. He even now [?] He has spoken to those who understand mystical intuition, and with his hand has indicated how everything is one and consists of four elements.
As an [intellectual] exercise he said: "The earth has been placed on the waters, the waters on the tops of the mountains. Now take the earth that is on the waters, Cleopatra, and make a spiritual body with it, the spirit of aluminite These things are like earth and fire, in relation of heat to fire, and dryness to earth. The waters that are found on the tops of mountains are like air in relation to cold, water to its humidity. "Look, from one pearl, Cleopatra, and from another you get all [the technique of] dye."
Cleopatra took what Comarius had written and began to put into practice the instructions of other philosophers, to divide into four parts this beautiful philosophy [?], the one [that teaches that] matter was derived from natural things, just as it has been taught and discovered, and an idea of the operations of their difference [?]. Thus [they say?], searching for the beautiful philosophy we have seen that it consists of four parts, and thus we have discovered [?] the general idea of their nature, the first being black, the second being white, the third being yellow, the fourth [?] the purple or cemented. On the other hand, each of these things does not exist by itself in the elements generally, but they depend[?] generally on the elements, [and so?] we have a center in which we can proceed systematically. Therefore, between the black and the white, the yellow and the purple [?] or cemented, there is the maceration and washing [?] of the species. In white and yellow there is the technique of gold casting, and between white and yellow there is the duality of the composition.
The work is carried out by applying a hemispherical apparatus, whose first experiment consists of separating the liquids from the oxides [?], and it takes a long time.
Next comes maceration, which consists [?] of a mixture of water and moistened [?] rust.
Third, the dissolution of the species, which are burned seven times in an "Askelón container." This is how one operates in the process of whitening and blackening of species by the action of fire.
Fourthly is the process of yellowing by which one mixes [the substance?] with other yellow liquids and produces wax [?] to yellow, in order to achieve the desired goal.
In fifth place comes fusion, which goes from yellow to gold. For the gilding you must, as I mentioned before, divide the composition into two halves. Once divided into two halves, one of the parts is mixed with yellow and white liquids, and can then be tinted according to the purpose in mind.
Again, if fermentation is a foundation [of species?], that is, foundation and fermentation [constitute the?] perfect transmutation of the composition of browning.
This is the way you, too, should proceed, my friends, when you wish to use this wonderful technique. Look at the nature of plants and their origin. Some come from the mountains and emerge from the earth; others come from the valleys; others from the plains. Watch how they develop, since you must [?] collect them at the right time, and on special days; Collect them on the islands in the sea and from the highest places. Look at the air that serves them and the food around them to ensure that they are not damaged and die. Look at the divine water that moistens them and the air that governs them, once they have been incorporated into an essence.
Ostanes and his followers answered Cleopatra: "In you is hidden the whole terrible and strange mystery. Enlighten us about everything in general but especially about the elements. Tell us how the highest descends to the lowest, and how the lowest ascends to the highest and how one in the middle must approach the highest to unite with him and what is the element that acts in them. And tell us how the holy waters descend from above to see the dead that lies around, chained, possessed by the darkness within Hades, and how the remedy of life comes to them and brings them out of sleep and makes them conscious, and how the new waters flow into them, the beginning of the bed [or, descends?] and is born in the bed [or, descends?] and approaching the fire, and a cloud transports us, and rising from the sea the cloud ascends that carries the waters"
Considering what had been revealed to them, the philosophers rejoiced.
Cleopatra tells them: "When the waters come they awaken the bodies and the spirits that are locked up in them and are weak. Since they again suffer oppression, and again they will be locked up in Hades, and soon they grow and ascend and become different." and glorious colors like flowers in spring, and spring itself rejoices and is glad at the beauty with which they are clothed.
""For you the learned I declare: When you take plants and elements and stones from their places, they appear to be ripe and [are] not yet ripe; because it is the fire that tests everything. When they are clothed in glory and shine with the colors of fire, it will be when you see them as the greatest through their hidden glory, and [you will see] their exquisite beauty, and the fusion [will be] transformed into divinity, since they are They feed in the fire, just as an embryo fed in the womb grows slowly. When the appointed month approaches, nothing will prevent its birth. Such is the power of this admirable art. They are wounded in Hades and in the tomb in which they lie by the waves and ripples that follow each other, but when the tomb is opened, he will ascend from Hades like the baby from the mother's womb. When philosophers have contemplated the beauties [of this], just as an enchanted mother [contemplates] the newborn to whom she has just given birth, she seeks to nourish, like a baby, this art, [but] with water in instead of with milk. Art imitates [or is like] a baby and, like the baby, it takes shape and (there comes a time) when it is perfect in every way. Here is the mystery affirmed.
"From now on I will say clearly where the elements and plants are found. But first I will speak in riddles: Climb to the top of the ladder, to the mountain covered with trees, and look: there is a stone at the top. Take the arsenic of the stone and use it to whiten the divine form. And look: in the middle of the mountain, under the arsenic, is his wife, with whom he unites and in whom he finds pleasure. Nature enjoys in nature, and outside there is no union. He descends to the Egyptian Sea and brings from the sand, from its bowels, the so-called natron. Join these substances to it and they will make all the beauty of the color emerge; outside of it there is no union, because the handcuffed one is his At the same time, nature corresponds to nature, and when you have mixed everything in an equal proportion, then natures conquer natures and enjoy each other.
"Look, scientists, and learn. Here is the realization of the technique of bride and groom united and merged into one. Here are the plants and their varieties. Look, I have told you the whole truth and I will tell it to you again. You must look or understand that clouds rise from the sea carrying the blessed waters, and that they refresh the earth and make the seeds and flowers grow. In the same way, our cloud, coming from our element and carrying the divine waters, refreshes the plants and the elements and does not need anything else produced by any other soil.
"Here is the great mystery, brothers, the completely unknown [mystery]; here is the truth that has been revealed to you. Look carefully at how you sprinkle the ground, how you sprinkle the ground and cause its seeds to grow so that you may gather its fruit when it is ready." ripe.
"Listen now and understand and judge correctly what I say: take of the four elements the sublime arsenic and the humblest arsenic and the most sublime, white and red, in equal proportion, male and female, so that they remain united one to the other. Just as the bird incubates and brings the eggs to perfection by its heat, so you, too, must incubate and polish [bring to perfection?] your work by taking it outside and watering it with divine waters and [warming it?] in the sun. and in burning places, and you must cook it over a slow flame with the virginal milk and keep it [away] from the smoke... And lock it in Hades and stir it carefully until its structure solidifies and it does not spill out due to the fire. Then it you take out and when the soul and the spirit have joined one another and become one, you must pour it into solid silver, and you will have gold [of such quality] that not even the coffers of kings have.
"Here you have the mystery of the philosophers. Our fathers made us swear that we would never reveal or divulge it since it has divine form and power. Divine is that which is in union with God and carries out divine substances, in which the spirit is embodied and the mortal elements are animated; receiving the spirit that proceeds from them, they dominate one another and all are dominated. Just as the spirit of darkness, which is full of vanity and discouragement, he who has power about bodies and everything in nature, since the one who fled entered the one who did not flee, and the one who controlled entered the one who did not control, and they were united one in another.
"This mystery that we have learned, brothers, comes from God and from our father, Comarius, the Elder. Behold, I have told you, brothers, all the hidden truth [transmitted] by the many wise men and prophets"
The philosophers said to her: "Cleopatra, you have given us ecstasy by telling us what you have. Blessed be the breast that fed you!"
Again Cleopatra addressed them: "What I have told you concerns the heavenly bodies and the divine mysteries. Through their changes and transformations, natures change and are clothed [?] in an unknown glory, a supreme glory that does not exist." they had before"
The wise man said: "Tell us also this Cleopatra: Why is it written: 'The mystery of the hurricane... art is a body, and like a wheel on it; just like the mystery, and the course, and the pole, and houses and towers and the most glorious camps» [????]"
Cleopatra replied: "The philosophers were right in placing it [art] where it had been placed by the Demiurge and the Lord of all things. And behold, I tell you that the pole will run as a result of the four elements, and will never will stop. These things have been arranged in our country, in Ethiopia, and from here the plants, the stones and the sacred bodies will be taken; the one who put them here was a god, not a man. In each one the Demiurge placed the seed of power. One greens, another does not green; one is dry, the other moist; one tends to unite, the other to separate; one dominates, the other is subordinate; and when they meet, one dominates the other. Thus the only resulting nature seeks and dominates all natures, and this One conquers the nature of fire and earth and transforms its entire nature. And behold, I tell you what is beyond all of this: when it is in perfection, it is like a deadly drug that runs through the body. Because just when it enters your body, it circulates in [other] bodies. Through decomposition and heat, a drug is obtained that travels freely through all types of bodies. "The art of philosophy has reached this point."