DIALOGUE
BETWEEN NATURE
AND THE SON OF PHILOSOPHY
Dialogus inter naturam et filium Philosophiae
Aegidius of Vadis
***
Frankfurt, 1595
Aegidius of Vadis has his friend NSPD
Do not be surprised, O most excellent of men, that, ignorant of all science, I undertake a work so great beyond my strength; for virtue has so much power that not only does it exalt an ardent love and a great desire for things that one does not know, but it makes even the most numb ignoramus wish to deepen all the sciences.
Among all these, I must not, as friends are wont to say, forget you, you who are so endowed with virtue that I could not act without first disclosing to men of honor, moreover in below you, the virtue that is innate in you .
I doubt whether there is, apart from adulation, any one among the living to whom, I take God to witness, it could be better attributed.
I see several of them who, by a brilliant way of speaking or writing, claim great honors for themselves, although they show only fine words or pure fables and frivolous things. They do not act like the elect, but like children or young people. If anyone presents promises and gold, they do not prize gold, which is of great price and value, and prefer apples and nuts, which are inferior to it. It is Achilles' favorite Grace.
If someone were to talk about the secrets of Nature using affected and elaborate words which, far from belonging to this thing, are only chatter, he would undoubtedly be like the one who only touches on the nut shell without tasting the fruit.
That's why their way of speaking is comparable with that. Enough eloquence, and too little wisdom.
If I blame them, it is as much because of their ignorance for the barbarity of their speeches, which they themselves qualify as stammering or solecisms. As much as they want to talk about the shell in elegant words, so I delight in the inner sweetness of the nut, albeit unadorned.
They stick to the outside, and I clearly perceive the outside and the inside.
Therefore, my confidence in you is so great that these pages should be printed in your name. Cheerfully accept my offer, however modest, love me in return as usual.
from the Royal Library of Richemont, July 17, 1521
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
As I had exhausted myself with fatigue for several years in penetrating the secrets of Nature, I finally examined more carefully the irregular, circuitous or direct routes, the sentences, the allegories and the proverbs which had occupied me, for the Philosophers are so judgmental and not content with just one idea. They present so many ambiguities that it seems that no one can flatter himself of reaching the desired end. Which made me think that it was better to fight with death against the spooky spirits and to fight with Nature.
The Philosophers having especially said "Nature will instruct you...", having therefore questioned and consulted it in a thousand and a thousand ways, God willing to inspire me, it finally appeared to me, but clothed and adorned with so many different manners that at first I was not a little stupefied on looking at her. For all the languages of men would not suffice to explain its various forms. She, however, wishing to give me some consolation, gave me this obliging discourse: "Do not be afraid, my Son, for I am," she said, "the Nature which you have sought with so much care and have sent to you by order of God. So take courage and rejoice, for I will make you happy in two ways. First, in that you know how merciful God is to you, who are a vile sinner,since it makes you worthy to see me with the eyes of your body, although you are inexperienced and very weakly instructed in the sciences. Secondly, I will give you very consoling satisfactions by answering all the things of which you can doubt. Ask me, then, as you please, and I will discover to you all that you are permitted to know”.
To me, O good and divine Nature! Forgive me, I implore you, if my stammerings are not worthy of giving you thanks. Because, as you said just now, I have very little education in letters. I will continue nevertheless, and I give thanks to God who, by his immense liberality, places you at my disposal; and then I will ask you about all my uncertainties. And she said to me: "Go on, my Son, do not delay in going back to what you have known: I am going to wait for the end of the prayer...".
PRAY
O Lord God Almighty, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, grant to Your servant, though he be unworthy, to know You, to desire You above all things, to live according to Your holy laws and to fulfill the course of this present life.
I firmly believe, I authentically confess that You are the source and origin of universal good, of all honest desire, of knowledge of all operation and of reasonable perseverance, for You created the first man perfect in his natures and sufficiently endowed with science; You gave Your servants Bezaleel and Oholiab the knowledge of all operations on the manufacture of metals. You gave direction to Your servant Solomon and You inspired the sublime "Ask and you will obtain, knock and it will be opened to you".
So, You, merciful God, my preserver and my protector, I beg You and implore You to enlighten my intelligence so that I can ask You for the things that are to the glory and praise of Your most holy Name. May it not displease Your divine goodness, I beg You, that I, an unworthy sinner, ask Your mercy that You design to enlighten me on the knowledge of natural things. And, as You cannot be known directly, but by Your glorious effects, grant me, O most merciful God, the faculty of knowing and thus of accomplishing Your works effectively, with ornament, without being diverted by the world or the spirits. clever, with an unchangingly permanent and fixed heart in You.
AMEN .
CHAPTER I
In which Nature teaches the Son of Art what is the matter of the Stone, saying that from the end of the intention results the principle of the work.
The sound:
“After having, O divine Nature, rendered thanks to my God for all his benefits, I will ask you if you design to answer me”.
Nature:
“Propose, my Son, with the help of God I will answer your doubts. »
The sound:
“Since I have found favor with you, tell me, I beseech you, O Divine, why the Philosophers do not name in their books the matter from which their stone is generated. I have read several of their treatises, but I do not remember having understood that any of them named it. »
Nature:
“Learn, my Son, that all the Philosophers have named it openly in their books; but, as they speak only for the Philosophers and in their name, those who are not initiated into philosophy do not perceive what they call it. And their subtlety consists only in the madness and rudeness of the ignorant. Listen to my speeches, and I'll show you what they call her by word of mouth. Do you not know the sentence of ARisToTE, which says: "The acts of the assets are arranged in the patient: therefore the form acts only according to the arrangement of the matter". Understand that. »
The sound:
“Then, O Divine.”
Nature:
“You already see how they name it; for if you say what you want to do, you will see clearly, you will conceive and you will examine carefully what you seek, because from the end that one proposes to oneself necessarily results its principle. »
The sound:
“I intend to produce the Sun and the Moon. »
Nature:
“Notice first how you have named the principles of your operation, expressing your intention, which is to produce Gold and Silver, which must themselves be the principle of your operation: as if you had said wanting to produce a man, you would have appointed your agent at the same time. In this way, you would miss only the patient suitable for this operation, because, just as it is not possible to produce a man without a man, one does not produce gold or silver without gold. and without money; for every like produces its like. »
CHAPTER II
In this second chapter, Nature says that minerals are of a hermaphrodite nature because they have both sexes, that is to say, sulfur and quicksilver, and that the increase of a thing depends on its principle.
The sound:
“But how, O Divine? I see indeed that man is begotten from the union of man and woman, but in the production of gold and silver, I do not perceive any coupling. »
Nature:
“You must know, my Son, that any growth in plants, minerals or animals is brought from potency to act only by the union of form with matter, which takes the place of the masculine . and feminine. And if, in plants and minerals, there is no coupling, there is nevertheless an attraction between them which makes man know the form suitable for matter: for, as Plato says: "the forms are given according to the value of matter: no generation is suitable if things do not fit together in Nature. Minerals and vegetables are hermaphroditic by nature, and there takes place in them a coupling of form with matter as in animals". »
The sound:
“O Divine, I earnestly ask you to let me hear with your mouth how this coupling is done. »
Nature:
"Son, listen to what Plato said
"The increase of a thing is in that on which its principle depends...". Do you not see that the generation and development of man is by the menstrual blood, and his nutrition or education by the milk, which is twice-boiled blood, because it is different from the menses only by repeated coction. Planting is done in a similar way by the subtlety of earth and water. When you have the seed, entrust it to the earth so that, by means of its subtlety and its similar humidity, it may lead from power to action. Likewise consider the nature of the mineral body: it was made from whence it originated. Reduce it also to its own matter, as it was said of the plants, and you will accomplish your purpose. »
CHAPTER III
Nature teaches what is this matter necessary for the physical work: she gives the proof of it by example, as one will be able to see it while reading this third chapter.
The sound:
“O Divine, it seems impossible to me, if I wanted to, to reduce this mineral body to its first matter as it was. For the first matter, according to the Philosophers, is neither hot nor dry, neither cold nor humid. Thus, this reduction should be very far from the metals.”
Nature:
“How do you design the first material? I am not talking about the one which is very distant and which is called Hylé, but of the one which is called Chaos. Although you need a confused matter for the new form that you want to introduce, neither do you mean that of the natures from which the elements come, nor that coming from the qualities of these same elements, but only the next matter, which is called sperm in animals, semen in vegetables, sulfur and quicksilver in minerals. Supplied therefore to the Philosophers, because this first matter, very distant, is no more suited to create an ass than a metal. Thus, I want you to reduce to the first matter while preserving the species, even preserving the individual. For species are subject to sensible actions.Observe carefully the example of this reduction that I am going to give you: when men and women join together, they are then reduced to the first matter, because from their bodies are generated the raw sperms by which were first produced these same bodies which, however, are not destroyed as they would be if they were reduced to the remote first matter. You must therefore do the same in your work, That is to say, preserve the species. What you should particularly notice. are not destroyed as they would be if they were reduced to the remote first matter. You must therefore do the same in your work, That is to say, preserve the species. What you should particularly notice. »are not destroyed as they would be if they were reduced to the remote first matter. You must therefore do the same in your work, That is to say, preserve the species. What you should particularly notice. »
CHAPTER IV
What are Chaos and this material necessary for the Art. In addition, the material of the stone is likely to take all kinds of forms and is sold publicly.
Nature:
“Consider, my Son, that what you are looking for will be a fairly long work. But because I notice in you a propensity for these things, I will explain to you as briefly as possible what you desire. Learn then that the very distant matter is called Hyle and that it is the first principle of all things. I will report what Augustinus says about it. He expresses himself thus: "When I consider something shapeless, I do not understand at first anything of what I understood, because, just as in not seeing anything one sees the darkness and that in hearing nothing one hears the silence, it follows therefore that Hyle is what one perceives between something and nothing".
The other matter, which is not so far away, is called Chaos; because Chaos is a raw, indigestible mass in which all things are confused and mixed together. Some call it confused matter or mass, discontinuous in its origin; others call it the formless matter of heaven and earth, which at first was made of nothing, and from which all species and various forms were afterwards separately produced.
Lactantius defines it thus ‑ “Chaos is raw and disordered matter, a confused mass”. But in order that you better conceive this first matter which is necessary to you above all the others and without which you cannot accomplish your work, I will tell you more clearly what it is. Because,although the Most High had in the beginning prepared the four elements which were confused in it: earth and water, which are the heaviest, reached to the orbit of the moon, while air and fire, lighter than the other elements, descended to the center of the earth. This is why such matter was rightly said to be confusing.
Moreover, there remain in this world some parts of this confused matter, which is known to everyone and is publicly sold. There are few people, however, who recognize it as this chaos, this confused matter. This is why such matter was rightly said to be confusing. Moreover, there remain in this world some parts of this confused matter, which is known to everyone and is publicly sold.There are few people, however, who recognize it as this chaos, this confused matter. This is why such matter was rightly said to be confusing. Moreover, there remain in this world some parts of this confused matter, which is known to everyone and is publicly sold. There are few people, however, who recognize it as this chaos, this confused matter.
It is therefore necessary, my Son, to know it, since without it, as I said above, you would work in vain. Existing without form and being able to receive all forms, this chaos can easily receive the form you would like to attribute to it. And if you want to know more about it, see Raymond Lully in chapters 30 and 75 of his Testament, and you will find how God first created the quintessence in which all my works are universally understood; which, like the divine essence, he divided into three parts. He created the angels of the first, which is the purest, of the second the sky and the stars, and of the third the elementary world.
Do not believe, however, that when God created the earth he did so instantaneously without any succession of time and without previous matter, concerning the succession of kinds. I inform you here of that on the occasion of your work, which you must assimilate to this first division, because if you claim to complete it without division, your efforts will be in vain.
From this third part divided into five others, God first created the quintessence, and, from the other four, the four elements. So read the chapters alleged above and in time you will get all these things.
It remains, my Son, to deal with natures, which are simpler than the elements; you will therefore know that there are two natures: the nature of heat, which is active, and the nature of coldness, which is passive. Heat is generated by motion, and coldness, or the nature of coldness, is generated by the rest of the earth; read Avicenna in the Key to Wisdom and you will find all these things laid out in an attractive way. You will distinguish what is the simple, the simple compound, and the compound of the compound.
These two first natures are called simple, but their work is called simple of the simple, which is the nature of heat, coldness, humidity and dryness.And, in relation to the generation of these natures, he says that in the beginning the creator, without uttering the words, said: “Be made such a creature,” and it was immediately created. That creation, which could not be said to be large, small, subtle, gross, moving, resting, determined by any other quality or assimilated to anything, and in which all things potentially existed.
And, to put them into action, God created the second creature, which he judged to be called Light.I have already told you that the reduction of this matter of Avicenna to the qualities coming from the elements is too remote, but, having the first and close matter, you will make this reduction, because, to divide the elements, you will not necessarily miss of all other matters, confused matter except for the reasons given. neither small, nor subtle, nor gross, nor moving, nor resting, nor determined by any other quality or assimilated to anything, and in which all things potentially existed.
And, to put them into action, God created the second creature, which he judged to be called Light.I have already told you that the reduction of this matter of Avicenna to the qualities coming from the elements is too remote, but, having the first and close matter, you will make this reduction, because, to divide the elements, you will not necessarily miss of all other matters, confused matter except for the reasons given. neither small, nor subtle, nor gross, nor moving, nor resting, nor determined by any other quality or assimilated to anything, and in which all things potentially existed.
And, to put them into action, God created the second creature, which he judged to be called Light.I have already told you that the reduction of this matter of Avicenna to the qualities coming from the elements is too remote, but, having the first and close matter, you will make this reduction, because, to divide the elements, you will not necessarily miss of all other matters, confused matter except for the reasons given. to put them into action, God created the second creature, which he judged to be called Light.
I have already told you that the reduction of this matter of Avicenna to the qualities coming from the elements is too remote, but, having the first and close matter, you will make this reduction, because, to divide the elements, you will not necessarily miss of all other matters, confused matter except for the reasons given. »to put them into action, God created the second creature, which he judged to be called Light. I have already told you that the reduction of this matter of Avicenna to the qualities coming from the elements is too remote, but, having the first and close matter, you will make this reduction, because, to divide the elements, you will not necessarily miss of all other matters, confused matter except for the reasons given. the matter confused except for the reasons given. the matter confused except for the reasons given. »
The sound:
“Be filled with blessings, O divine Nature, I have carefully considered your words on this reduction to first matter, but I do not quite see how I can reincorporate bodies: in animals, the thing seems to me easy, by their seed produced indigestible in them, but in minerals, that escapes me. »
CHAPTER V
One does not take for this physical work the matter of which the metals are made. The creation of man is an example of this. Furthermore, one sees how things are generated in the bowels of the earth.
Nature:
“No wonder you can't conceive it; for you do not yet know what these bodies come from. »
The sound:
“That is true, O Divine, for I perceive that from some thing whatever results this matter, but I do not quite understand what its form will be, because the metals are homogeneous and one of their parts does not differ from their all. In the heterogeneous like animals and plants, it is quite different, because their seeds are quite noticeable. »
Nature:
"I have already told you, O my Son, that the increase of a thing is in that on which its principle depends."
The sound:
“If this be true, it follows that the form and matter of the metals or their increase must be found in sulfur and mercury, for, according to all the Philosophers, all metals have derived their origin from them. »
Nature:
“My Son, you have spoken the truth. We must not, however, take the matter of which the metals are, but that which is two. Let us take man for example, who, by the action of Nature, was made at the beginning of the mud of the earth. The first man was therefore not made of what he himself is, but of his sperm, which is his.
Let us take the same comparison in plants. The plant, as said above, is engendered, or rather produced, by the subtle earthy and watery blended together.
If, therefore, we take this earthy and this aqueous to produce it, however subtle they may be, we will never succeed. Let us therefore not take what it is itself, but its seed or its cuttings.
The minerals are formed of sulfur and quicksilver, which are in no way taken to produce your work. I am going to show you the reason for this by the composition of soap, which is made from water drawn from the ashes, passed through a sieve, and oil. For if only one of the agents is taken, whether the water is frozen or the lye is in salt, it is not possible to manufacture the soap. It is the same with sulphur, which, being at first water, the nature of which is cold and humid, then circulates by the heat of the sun and is changed into air, the nature of which is hot and humid, and finally into fire . , whose nature is hot and dry, with which the earth is then tempered: thus sulfur is made.
Conceive the same of Mercury, but in a different order, because the former is extremely hot, and the latter extremely cold. If, however, we could have this water of which they are composed before this circulation, it could then become a metal, as has been demonstrated with soap; which cannot happen any other way.
Thus we must conclude, as has been said for animals and plants, that we must not take what the metals are of, but what are two. If you have understood me, my Son, the sulfur and the quicksilver from which the stone is created are not what the metals are generated from, because the sulfur and the quicksilver are combustible. But they are generated by this thing which is two and which resists fire. »
CHAPTER VI
Nature teaches the Son of Art that matter cannot be made with the Mercury of the Philosophers and for what reason this is called Mercury of the Philosophers.
The sound:
“Certainly, O Divine, I am persuaded of the truth of all that you have said, for it seems evident in the light of the preceding comparisons. Nevertheless, I am even more embarrassed than before, because I cannot in any way understand what this shape should be.
The Philosophers say: "Take our mercury and our sulphur"; and you, Nature, say that they do not enter into our magisterium. So I don't know what I should take, because I don't know anything other than sulfur and quicksilver. »
Nature:
"My Son, the Philosophers, by saying 'take our mercury', imply that they are not speaking of the common mercury, for they specify 'our'. For the mercury is said to be of them as the son is said of the father who begot him, and Nature says, "It is not possible to bring their mercury from potency to act without the aid of the Philosopher" . »
CHAPTER VII
Nature teaches that everything has its opposite and that where there is attraction there will also be retention. It is the Art which manifests the attraction produced by the Magnet.
The sound:
“Tell me, I implore you, what is this mercury which is said to be the seed of metals. »
Nature:
“My Son, I hope that what I told you before will make you understand what matter is, because it results from the end of your intention. Learn then that each thing has some object which it hates and which it loves, which, by convention, is called attraction in stones, love and hatred in animals. Examine therefore what thing in the world is your closest matter in connection with attraction, knowing above all that the light bodies cannot be retained superiorly without the association of the serious, which are imperiously so.
Thus both, the grave and the light, between which there is attraction as between cause and effect, are necessary in the work. Thus man, looking at woman, attracts her and is attracted to her more than to other animals existing outside his genus and species.
Likewise, your stomach, having an appetite and seeing food, desires it far more than many other objects which are seen by the eyes. He desires what suits his nature. Know then that where there is attraction, there is also retention. Digestion is the result; therefore, the evacuation must also be in your work, in the same way and in the same order:
1. -in the top of the vase, as in the stomach;
2. - at its own centre, as in the liver;
3. - between its walls and its movement, as in the veins;
4. -in all parts of the body as in the limbs. »
The sound:
“I conceive, O Divine, that all created things have objects which they hate or which they love, and this is why the Philosopher says: “By having the symbol, the passage is easier”; however, on this occasion, it is contrary to the words of the Philosophers, who say that only one thing is necessary for the work, to which nothing is added and from which only the superfluities are removed. But if attraction is needed there, then two things must be needed. »
Nature:
“My Son, do you ignore the definition of the species which is cited in the number of different? Male and female do not differ in species, but only in number. Also, in this magisterium, there are no other differences. I will give you as an example the man himself, who is generated by the natural active sperm and by the unnatural passive sperm with the unnatural menstrual blood. And these sperms come originally from this same period. Moreover, the matrix in which they are received in this way does not differ from this blood, as well as the one and the other body of the man and the woman. See therefore that I operate similarly in a thing which differs from it only in the combination of the elements, imitate me then in your work and you will rejoice in it,
If you deviate from this path, you will never reach a good end, because I do not like miracles. You will thus know, my Son, that the attraction of iron by the magnet reveals and manifests to the eyes of the Sages the greatest part of my secrets: thus, you see by this that attraction does not exist only in animals, but also in stones.
Arrange therefore your matter with discernment and consider its nature well according to what has been said above. In this way you will know the form which is proper to it and which suits your work and, when you have it, you will lack nothing. »
CHAPTER VIII
What depuration is, and that without it, you can hardly do anything good in this Art. Because the whole magisterium consists in the preparation of the material. And that vulgar gold is not the material of stone.
The sound:
“O Divine, I conjure you to tell me why the Philosophers say that the sun must be exalted in the sign of Aries. The movement of Ariès must be observed there by the rising sun or by the sun gathering there.
Nature:
“Know, my Son, that the Philosophers do not say that the movement of heaven is moved by what can be at any hour and at any time susceptible to generation and corruption. They say that the sun above is exalted in the sign of Aries, which is the misfortune of Saturn, and the house of Mars, which is all angry; thus it is necessary that the lower sun be exalted in the house of Mars, that is to say in Aries, which is your furnace in which the frigidity is beaten down while the heat exalts your sun. »
The sound:
“How, O Divine? I do not understand that our sun is exalted by the heat of the furnace, because it is perfect, as all the Philosophers assure it. »
Nature:
"Conceive, my Son, that the sun is purified by the virtue of fire, that this purification is taken for exaltation by the Philosophers, and that the sun beginning in Aries to rise to its greatest height, in the same way your sun is always exalted until the end of the work. ”
The sound:
“Which sun do you mean, O Divine? »
Nature:
“I speak neither of the one above, nor of the one commonly called the sun, because, not being mixed, they cannot be beyond what they are; but I speak of the sun of the Philosophers, which is a base thing, of a low price, which can, by means of this magisterium, be exalted above gold, in infinite degrees, and becomes of a price infinite and an incomparable treasure. »
CHAPTER IX
Two are indispensably necessary in this Art, that is to say, the agent and the patient, because a simple does not act on itself.
The sound:
“Blessed be he who created us, O Divine, and be blessed in all works, for I am already beginning to know and consider your sublime operation by your superb speeches. Now that I have, from your instruction in matter and form and how to exalt our sun in Aries, please show me how form works while matter supports. For, if I am not mistaken, that is where the secret is hidden: since this action is necessary for a certain proportion of numbers and measures. »
Nature:
“What I say is true, my Son, for all the power of your magisterium consists in this, but, to understand it, you must know that this Science is that of the four elements, which treats best and most amply, and by above all the other sciences, of their analogy and their discordance.
Among these elements, some are excellent, others mediocre. Some are active, others passive, although they act in turn. Coincidence and discordance, which we conceive as symbolization, precepts of Art by which you know the reason why the agent acts and the matter is passive. For, according to Aristotle, any agent is more excellent than his patient. Thus, whatever the nature of your agent, his patient must always be his opposite. For example, if your matter is of a dry and cold nature, it is necessary that your agent be of a humid and hot nature, because the equal has no power over his equal. Pay attention to this. And know that the Philosophers have not hidden precisely what you seek now. »
The sound:
“O Divine Mercy, I earnestly beg you not to disdain to instruct me in this, which, in my opinion, must be the most difficult of all. »
Nature:
" You're right. Everything was created with numbers and measurements. No sane person doubts that. Nevertheless, these things are difficult to know perfectly, because no one can explain them, except the
chosen scholars, who are very rare and who put all their happiness in this. You who are weak and of mediocre intelligence, I will instruct you by familiar examples, like the generation of man, in which the male is said to be the agent, and the female, the patient.
If therefore the agent is more excellent than his patient, he must also have in him the most excellent elements, which are fire and air, and that the two others be in the patient. Only, they are not there in the same order. Because, as has already been said, an equal has no power over an equal. Hence it follows that if the woman is as hot as the man, no generation can result from them. The woman must therefore be very cold towards the man.
Thus, when you have matter, you will be able, by animating its nature, to find its agent more easily, while being careful not to leave the latitude of the species you are looking for.
The sound:
"I completely understand everything you're saying, but I don't see a way to give it its proper proportion. "
Nature:
“In truth, I find you rather stupid, but I will give you an example of your nature, similar to you. If someone ordered you to throw a stone that you find too heavy, you would tell him that you cannot throw it. You would do the same with regard to lightness. Examine then, by making the test, if the proportion is there between you and this thing. When you are hungry and you see food, you don't know how much you need, but when you eat it, you immediately feel by the strength of your stomach how much you need: do the same in your magisterium. »
The sound:
“Your speeches, O Divine, are assuredly very true. However, they in no way dispel my doubts: for I am certain that in these things as in others there is a certain definite weight. You inform me of it yourself, not by the cause which belongs to the Philosophers, but rather by that used by simple and unenlightened people. Because a warm and strong stomach can, while digesting, bring a kind of potency into action better than a cold and feeble stomach. And in these operations, I imagine that you observe a certain measure, a definite weight and number, and that is the cause of the whole effect.
CHAPTER X
This Science is a part of the Kabbalah and can be taught by oral transmission, provided one knows the proportion of the weights.
Nature:
“My Son, what you say is true. These things, however, can only be said or communicated to the God-fearing, and only by speech. For the writings are made for those who are worthy of them as well as for those who are worthy of them. What makes some say that this Science is a part of the cabal whose communication is interpreted by the speech. For the Philosophers, in dealing with this Science, have enveloped it in so many enigmas, so many detours, difficulties, emblems and doubts, that Pythagoras instructs as much on this subject by his silence as by his own words. written.
It is therefore here, under this shrub, that the hare is hidden, in that this proportion is the key to all the secrets. Because metals, which originate from a single root,are diversified by their different weights by this proportion alone. And precious stones differ from metals themselves in quality, warmth, lightness, fusion, only by means of this measure or proportion. What produces the metals between them produces by the same regime and in themselves the precious stones, however with different instruments and in various forms that it is up to me, as well as to the Artist, to provide. » as well as the Artist, to provide. » as well as the Artist, to provide. »
CHAPTER XI
How Nature governs all things, both lower and higher, by certain measures and proportions of the elements.
The sound:
“What do you mean, O divine, by various instruments and a different form? »
Nature:
“I mean that the place engenders and preserves what is placed there, as we see in the first book of Raymond Lully, by what begins the chapter; listen, my Son, to what he says about this proposition, for he explains it to you admirably by saying: "Such are the multiplication and the proportions that our Lord gave me to do the transmutation in Nature: a handful of earth and nine handfuls of air produce ten handfuls of water. A handful of water and nine handfuls of fire produce ten handfuls of air, thus ascending the life-giving ladder from the coarse nature to the simple and lofty nature. Likewise, a handful of fire and nine handfuls of water produce ten handfuls of air or death, which is living water, and again,
All Nature is governed by these weights. Understand then this doctrine, for it is that by which all measure and all temperance need be made; and it is necessary that it be done thus in this Art, it cannot be done otherwise. This proportion is the golden chain and the wheel of the circles of all the ages by which I, Nature, govern by turning and circulating by means of all my instruments. See Raymond Lully on this subject. »
CHAPTER XII
It is necessary in this Art to know the roots of the metals; this Science, being like the others, is easy to understand. We must pray to God, who is the giver of all Sciences.
The sound:
“Please, O Divine, instruct me, if you can, in a clearer and easier way, because what you have just said is too obscure. »
Nature:
“My Son, follow the advice of Avicenna, who says that “knowledge of metals and their roots makes this magisterium easily”. Examine their natures, and you will easily find what you desire. Learn, by knowledge of the species you seek, what proportion it must have, and ask no more questions about it, because it does not please my master that such things should be disclosed. But reflect carefully and implore the help of your creator so that his mercy designs to enlighten your intelligence, not on this part only, but also on all the others, so that by means of this magisterium you know them all together.
Whoever knows this Science by its works and by reasoning, almost all my secrets will be revealed to him. For this knowledge is the foundation of all the others.
I still want to teach you, my Son, that arithmeticians constitute their matter in the dyad or the binary, and the form in the monad or the unit. For Averroes , the commentator of Aristotle, says: "The lower proportion of higher things bound the double".
Thus, my Son, you questioned me wisely, for there are few who use these proportions, and even I do not see one among a thousand who considers what in his work will be the matter or what will be the form. And that is why they are justly disappointed, for their research is only on mercury, which having once understood to be quicksilver they do not inquire further about it, whether it be of two parts or of 'only one. It is enough for them only to find the way to mortify him, and then they think they have found the magisterium, while in reality they are further from it than ever. I can therefore only praise you for your uncertainty. »
CHAPTER XIII
All things lie in numbers, and even the elements are bound by certain numbers.
The sound:
"Certainly, Divine, I remember having read the beginning of the consolations of the philosophy of Boethus, and I do not think you say so without reason. I have seen, in some experiments, the elements combine by certain numbers, the results of which could not have taken place by any other. Besides, the Philosophers say wonders of numbers. Pic de la Mirandole elevates them to the point that one would not be afraid to say that through them one can achieve any science. I think the same. Also , I want to question you freely about them and only receive instructions from you that you think fit to give me. ”
Nature:
“Numbers hold many secrets, yet if you can imitate me in the things you desire to be instructed in, I may grant your prayers. »
The sound:
“I wish to have clarification on the body equalized, or rather to be equalized; for the Philosophers assert that our medicine can be rectified by means of all kinds of bodies, whether human, mineral or vegetable. So then, if it were not equalized, how could it give what it does not have? »
CHAPTER XIV
This Science, which leads to the knowledge of hidden things, deals with the search for natural things.
Nature:
"Certainly what you are looking for, my Son, is quite thorny, and I must warn you that I will only clear up your doubts, that I will only reveal all things on condition that you reveal them to no one who is worthy of them You will therefore know that this Science seeks my secrets more deeply than all the others, because of it alone I am imitated, as much in the generations as in the transmutations by the digestions or coctions listed below; which show how vegetables are in animals, animals in men, that is to say, how human flesh and blood are converted. Finally, this Science carefully seeks all kinds of combinations of the elements which are in the universe and which, according to Avicenna, are one hundred and forty- five in number,
The one hundred and forty five elements aforesaid can be reduced to twenty four combinations, which I will explain in order, and which will make you understand that there are qualities more or less agent or patient, by means of which you will find the way to equalize the elements in a body. And that is precisely what you are looking for.
Don't think, however, that this equalization can be done according to the quantity of lightness or heaviness, because the body thus mixed would have neither movement nor rest. It is therefore necessary that this mixture be made according to the substances and qualities of the elements as to the equalization of the virtue which operates in potency, because it is possible that one joins little fire to much earth so that what is earth have enough power to act, like that which is fire, and so of the others. When these things are thus mixed, the Philosophers have the equalized mixture, in which I delight exceedingly; because, of a body thus disposed, there is neither action nor passion, as you can see in gold, which cannot be corrupted, by the aforesaid reason of equalization.
So let's move on to these combinations. The first of these twenty-four combinations can therefore present either two larger elements and two smaller ones, or three larger ones and one smaller one, or three smaller ones and one larger one, or finally the equalized elements. This combination can be made neither by weight nor according to the qualities of quantities; it must therefore take place in relation to the virtues, and also to the active powers of these same qualities. For the unions apply to the powers in potency and to the virtues of the qualities, and not to the weight and the quantity in potency.Understand then that I am speaking here of the unions on the occasion of which I told you above that, if two elements are greater like fire and air, water and earth will be smaller. And here is the first combination.
Or, if fire and air are smaller, and water and earth are larger, it is the second combination. If fire and water are larger, and air and earth are smaller, this is the third combination. If fire and water are smaller, and air and earth larger, this is the fourth combination. If fire and earth are more abundant, air and water less abundant, this is the fifth combination. If fire and earth are less, air and water greater, this is the sixth combination. But if the air is combined with the water or with the earth as it was said of the fire, it will produce six combinations.
These combinations will not be different in the thing itself, but only in the way of combining. This is obvious, because if we say that the air and the water are greater, the earth and the fire smaller, it is the sixth combination. If air and water are said to be smaller, fire and earth larger, this is the fifth combination. If we say air and water larger, earth and fire smaller, it is the fourth combination; if it is the opposite, it is the third. If it is said that water and earth are greater, fire and air smaller, it is the second; and the opposite is the first.
Thus, you must understand that Avicenna, by veiling these combinations, supposedly twelve of them, which, in exact truth, reduce to six, which, if four are taken from each, produce twenty-four.
For, when we say that air and fire are more abundant, it is possible that this fire is more abundant than air, and that earth is even less abundant than water, and thus all these combinations can be vary in four ways according to the form which has just been said. For in the second combination, where it is said that the fire and the air are less, the water and the earth more abundant, it may be that the fire is very small, the air greater, the water more greater and the earth still more plentiful – which produces the first combination – or that the fire is very small, the air greater, the earth greater and the water still greater – hence the second combination – or that the air be small, the fire greater, water greater and earth greater - hence the third combination.You must thus design the other combinations by these examples. If you want, my Son, to know them all, read the great alchemy of Avicenna.”
CHAPTER XV
There are only four degrees in the things of Nature, and no more: gold is the last desired term of form and matter.
The sound:
“O Divine, it is not possible for me to explain the sweetness of your doctrine. I earnestly ask you to instruct me on this equalized body which is neither active nor passive, and in which you say you rest: for in this body is the last desired term of form and nature. »
Nature:
“Learn then, my Son, that the tempered equalized union depends on the quality of the quantities with regard to the active powers and that this quality is said to have its degrees, at least as regards human union, and that up to four according to the degree of power or, according to some, up to ten. Although the Latins admit only four with regard to human intelligence and union, degrees which, naturally, and according to them, can be tempered and equalized ad infinitum. You will thus have your equalization according to gold; you will equalize the work you are looking for in its own way and this will happen when you know its roots. By others, you would be disappointed. »
The sound:
“God helping, and by imitating your doctrine, I hope to reach the end that I desire: I conjure you, however, to explain to me these four degrees according to the meaning of human union. »
CHAPTER XVI
The Science of degrees is still continuing, and in what way one degree surpasses another.
Nature:
“Know, my Son, that the first degree relative to human union is that in which there is equality. The second exceeds equality. The third tends in some way towards lesion. And the fourth, because of its excess, hurts the meaning.
For example, when the water is well tempered, the cold also mixed with the hot in such a way that the senses delight in it, this is the first degree. Water that is not lukewarm enough is too cold and displeases the senses; it represents the second degree. If it is hot enough to insult the senses, it is the third degree. If it is boiling, it is the fourth degree.
These degrees can go to infinity: but as for us, it is in accordance with the increase of these qualities, especially in the fourth degree, that it concerns the domain of human union. When this union, alluded to above, is said to be equal and tempered, it is what best suits human nature, not that I consider or know what degree is necessary here in things,
For ginger is cold in sense, tact, and substance, and in the property of union it is hot and moist. Wine is cold and moist according to outward tact, substance and sense, and according to the property of union it is hot and dry.
You can understand by this that a magisterium is contrary to its occult. »
The sound:
“O Divine, how sweet are your words! So tell me something more about this equalization that I want so much, because you've got me so confused in these combinations that I don't know where to stop. »
Nature:
“If you wish to know more about this body equalized or to be equalized, listen to what the Philosophers think about this object. »
CHAPTER XVII
Where it is taught what is the squaring of the circle, which many scholars seek in vain, because they do not understand ARisToTE; several different objects are covered in this chapter.
Nature:
“Euclide, in the Rosary, expresses himself thus: “We could know the proportions of this water if we divided and multiplied the weight of the bodies into twelve parts”. A certain other also says: "If the container (the compound that contains) has two pounds, add two grains of prepared mercury..." and he adds: "Let the stone of the eagle be nine of ferment, it is that is , from the earth, because a small part of ferment corrupts the whole mass". Socrates says in the Peat: "If you put a little gold, there will come out a powerful and white tincture". Parmenides says: "One overcomes ten". Hali adds: "Know the weight and quantity of matter and add to it the moisture it may contain: the quantity of matter has no determined weight...".
Another puts it in verse: "Let the tenth part of things be full of germs." In the treaty which begins with "Thus the earth exists...", it is said: "The earth must drink as much as there is of the other mass...". Bacon says, speaking of the unions of bodies: "The spirit must be in proportion to the tenth part of the body". In another treatise it is said: "The proportion of the body is according to your proportion, but the proportion of the metal is the fifth and the sixth part of the medicine".
We find, at the beginning of a treatise: "Venerable father, understand by the four angles the four elements., and by twelve the third imbibitions: take the weights, turn the quadrangle in the circle, and you will have everything... ". More far, in the same treaty: "It is particularly to be noticed that in this case the weights are taken equalized and without angles, because we thus use the equalized line. Take therefore an equal weight of each of them". In another treatise in verse: "Let one take as much sulfur as the water of the river...". In the same treatise, with insistence, we read: "Make the quantity of the mother in the power of the son so that the ternary number attracts in him four returns Also listen to what is said
Hermes on this subject: "O Son of Science, know; therefore that the water must be weighed wisely, according to the proportion which I will teach: take therefore two-thirds of the humor and four parts of the southern redness, as many sehit which is the citrine earth and of the orpiment a half which is eight These enigmatic words are full of mysteries and present an obscure meaning.
Jean D'AuTuN, who was an excellent philosopher, wrote to a cardinal: "Establish unity through the divine dinary". Raymond Lully, in chapter 91, says: "And for this it is demonstrated that the vapor of the earthly menstruation and quicksilver must not exceed the weight of the pure metal, but be equal to it" and, in chapter 82: "Add to it the ninth part of the red head, whose nature is very hot, with two parts of the white foot". The Compagnon Benard also says: "God made one and ten which he multiplied ten times" and again: "Put the tenth part with the tenth part...". Arnauld de Villeneuve said: "Be neither prodigal nor miserly, but hold the happy medium. Another also said: "The higher the work, the less money it requires"."The weights that I propose therefore contain secrets: five weights of living Jupiter are linked by two; twenty times five weights of pure wine give wounds to Mars...". And one more: "There are twenty-four hours in the day, add one and there will be twenty-five".
My Son, I could quote many more of their words on this subject, but it seems to me that these may suffice to satisfy your doubts. If you conceive them, you will see that, although they diversify, they nevertheless all agree in meaning and intention. »
The sound:
"I return to you, O good Divine, many thanksgivings, not only for all your current benefits, but for all the previous ones. Because you have pleasantly and finely enlightened me, although the things you have just presented are rather obscure and even difficult , I hope, however, by their means and with the grace of God to achieve what I desire. I remember having read in the book of Marie, sister of Moise, "make the marriage of rubber with rubber..." and in Morien "make sure that the red woman seizes the white...", but he does not discover the way to
do, as you yourself have practiced in many ways.”
Nature:
“This Science is not like the others, because it should not be taught to everyone and there are few men who are worthy of such great favor. Thus one must, according to the usage of the ancients, communicate it only by riddles, parables, figures and the like. The Sages, chosen by God, know how to separate the grain from the chaff and perform the theriac of the serpent according to BAcON, already quoted: sees in the vipers, which contain a very great secret which can only be obtained with very great peril and difficulty".
I hide this Science which confuses most men who seek it. Few find it, while an infinite number get lost in it. However, nothing in the world is more true than it, and you, if you cannot understand the first lesson that I gave you, start it over and pray to the creator to design to enlighten your intelligence, and finally you will find what what you are looking for. »
CHAPTER XVIII
This Science is not acquired by recipes or vain studies, but by working, meditating and performing the very thing.
The sound:
“I implore you, O Divine, to design at least to develop one of your words for me. You said above twenty-four hours make the day, if we add one they make twenty-five. Though I think that's very true, yet I don't know what you mean by that."
Nature:
"You have not forgotten that the day is in your day by the shining sun. That your sun must bring this work to an end. Add to it a day of the moon which is mercury, and they will be twenty-five. Don' Do you see now what it is? ”
The sound:
“O Divine, I thank you again with all my strength, in truth we have great obligations towards the Philosophers who have transmitted this Science to us so that the prudent and the ingenious may become by acquiring it more devout towards God. Cato spoke well when he said: "He who has not tasted bitterness does not remember sweetness, he who refuses to fight to reign is not worthy of it, who could achieve victory without fighting?". »
CHAPTER XIX
In which it is taught what is the prime mover in natural things. How, from a seed sown, Nature multiplies it to infinity, and how Art imitates Nature. And that, the stone accomplished, one can lead it to the shape which one will want.
Nature:
“I see, my Son, that you are beginning to reflect. That's why I like to teach you. Know then that the first mover in me, Nature, is the vegetative spirit, which in vegetables is called aerial vapor, and in animals radical vapor or innate heat: and this is properly called the fire of nature. Don't think it's the hot, dry fire though. It is, on the contrary, as I said before, the natural fire, which is properly speaking hot and humid. And because of this, the Philosophers say that their stone is vegetable, since, without this spirit, it would neither grow nor sprout. »
The sound:
"What do you mean, O Divine, by growing and swarming, for I do not think it grows nor is it multiplied, except as bread grows by adding flour and other necessary things in its manufacture. "
Nature:
“My Son, you hear it badly. For the stone, That is to say the medicine which you seek, vegetates and multiplies like a grain of wheat thrown into good soil, which, when it is dead, nevertheless yields much fruit. Thus testifies the divine PAUL, what is sown does not bear fruit unless it is previously corrupted, until it is dead; thus, when corrupted, it can produce several other grains. You must understand the same way. For out of one grain, which is the least weight, there shall come, except the grain, a hundred thousand talents, which is the greatest weight. And even a thousand times a thousand talents, and so on to infinity without any determination of a number, according to the holy will to lead from power to action.
You see by this that the comparison with bread is not just, because the operation of bread, if we except fermentation, has no analogy with what is necessary for
this work, and so on others. If, in the example of the creation, or rather of the generation of man, there was not in the womb of the woman some menstruation, which is considered as the leaven, the generation of man would become impossible, just as the bread you gave as an example would hardly reach the flavor of bread if it were not baked. This is why, my Son, there are several secrets in fermentation, which would take a long time to describe.
And it is in the truth of this thing that the secret is hidden. For, when the stone is complete and perfect, you can, by means of this fermentation, lead it to any form you wish. See what the Philosophers say on this subject: "Everything fixed in the fixed changes into the nature of the fixed......Don't you see a sperm in all animals? And that it is produced by twice-cooked blood, and that before it produces various forms, put in various places? So reflect on what I said above, that the place spawns the placed.
Sperm is in all animals as mercury is in minerals. It is said to be mercury because of its admirable adherence, its mutability, it is so susceptible to any kind of form that it is always assimilated to whatever it is joined to. So in higher astronomy he is good with the good, bad and unfortunate with the wicked. Know then that this same Mercury cannot fear in the lower astronomy to be assimilated in the same way, for in the lower things he possesses everything in him, as in the higher ones,and I would have thought that you would have understood it if you had not expressed yourself above in such a way as to disabuse me of it. »
The sound:
“I remember, O Divine, having heard certain Philosophers say that he who has never been wrong has never started anything. Allow me to digress a little more before I start, for although you answer all my questions helpfully, I am still confused on many others, and I am even uncertain about what you said earlier, namely that one must have the vegetative spirit, because I cannot see such a spirit in minerals. »
CHAPTER XX
The medicine of the pharmacopeans is corruptible, the medicine of the physicists is incorruptible: the stone is multiplied by the multitude of spirits.
Nature:
“Listen, my Son, to what Raymond Lully and Jean de Rupescissa, his colleague, think on this subject in their quintessences. They say it is to want to preserve with a putrid thing that quickly corrupts, to want to restore form with a thing subject to deformity, to make incorruptible with a defective thing, to heal a sick person with a sick thing, to make clean with a thing dirty, imaginary and vain. But, with this medicine, you will be able to heal all infirmities, even the most desperate, to produce gold, silver and precious stones.
But it must not be made with a corruptible thing, like the medicines prepared at the apothecary, whose momentary virtue recedes at the first action it receives: because they do not change,but rather are changed into the substance of the mixture of which they are composed (by the digestion which overcomes them), though nevertheless they produce some action on certain subjects. And this because they are composed of things which suddenly become corrupted, as I said above.
Listen to what Roger Bacon says about it. He expresses himself thus, in his letter, on the way to ward off old age: "There are many things which only show their strength and their qualities by their form, their material, their essence, their color, their duration, their preservation and their corruption", because, as he himself says, "what is preserved for a long time preserves and what is quickly corrupted corrupts.
See therefore of what complexion and what power the stone must be, for if it is subject to corruption, you will labor in vain upon it and, as Job says: "Who could produce the pure from an impure power? By these considerations, you will be able to see clearly that the thing you seek must not be subject to corruption. and could no longer grow without this spirit? For, the cause lacking, the effect also lacking.
Likewise, how could you hope to multiply medicine infinitely with a small quantity of the stone without the virtue of its vegetable spirit? For I cannot make anything vegetate without it. The vegetable power is the first in man, except however the elementary power, and it has under it the generative power, under four other powers which I explained to you above, namely: the appetitive, the suspensive, the digestive and expulsive, which, being well proportioned, without any alteration and as I have arranged them, make the whole body of man healthy, and which complete this other so-called sensitive power.
By it first you judge all objects with its five external senses, then by the third which is the imaginative, then by the fourth, the rational.Because if the man sees some weakening in the vegetable power, his sensitive power is disturbed, because he believes to see what he does not see, to hear what he does not hear, his taste is not good and he distinguishes badly by smell, because , this power of the vegetable being altered, the other powers are altered or destroyed. Thus this vegetable power, or its spirit, is especially necessary to engender or produce medicine.
And if you do not know, as you have said, that this spirit exists in animals, seek it carefully both in bodies and in spirits and their environments. Because without him you will not succeed in anything.to hear what he does not hear, his taste is not good and he cannot distinguish badly by smell, because, this power of the vegetable being altered, the other powers are altered or destroyed. Thus this vegetable power, or its spirit, is especially necessary to engender or produce medicine. And if you do not know, as you have said, that this spirit exists in animals, seek it carefully both in bodies and in spirits and their environments. Because without him you will not succeed in anything.
to hear what he does not hear, his taste is not good and he cannot distinguish badly by smell, because, this power of the vegetable being altered, the other powers are altered or destroyed. Thus this vegetable power, or its spirit, is especially necessary to engender or produce medicine.And if you do not know, as you have said, that this spirit exists in animals, seek it carefully both in bodies and in spirits and their environments. Because without him you will not succeed in anything. And if you do not know, as you have said, that this spirit exists in animals, seek it carefully both in bodies and in spirits and their environments. Because without him you will not succeed in anything. And if you do not know, as you have said, that this spirit exists in animals, seek it carefully both in bodies and in spirits and their environments. Because without him you will not succeed in anything.
The sound:
“Certainly, O divine Nature, your words are very plausible at first sight, but then they are difficult to understand. I remember you said that medicine should equalize like gold: therefore it is not gold.”
Nature:
“I gave above the distinction of gold when speaking of the angels of the sun, and I said what is the sun which must be exalted with some reasons, because the vulgar sun does not exalt itself. What Pliny, in his natural history, explains by saying that the sun is, of all bodies, the most noble, that it experiences no loss by fire and that its matter resists all fires, all bonfires. Pay attention that if it were not equalized in its qualities, it could not endure the fire, nor its matter subsists.
That's why I told you that like its qualities, your medicine must necessarily be equalized. Gold is therefore not medicine, because it does not have in it this vegetable spirit of which I spoke to you, but it is its aid.Although Rhases says that the tincture is in the stones like the heart in the animals. Thus you clearly see what he is not himself, but is to be exalted by the Philosophers. For I myself have exalted him as much as possible.
That is why some call it precious and others vile and cheap. Exalt it therefore by sublimating it to its highest degree, for you will find it by attraction, as I have declared, and when you see it thus, you will be sure of having operated on one thing only, purity. being of one essence and impurity of many. For I myself have exalted him as much as possible.
That is why some call it precious and others vile and cheap.Exalt it therefore by sublimating it to its highest degree, for you will find it by attraction, as I have declared, and when you see it thus, you will be sure of having operated on one thing only, purity. being of one essence and impurity of many. For I myself have exalted him as much as possible.
That is why some call it precious and others vile and cheap. Exalt it therefore by sublimating it to its highest degree, for you will find it by attraction, as I have declared, and when you see it thus, you will be sure of having operated on one thing only, purity. being of one essence and impurity of many.
So try to have only one thing and not several, and finally, to satisfy you, I will discover this secret of all the Art by recapitulation.
Understand, my Son, that this Science is like food in food. I have previously spoken of the appetitive, the relative, and the digestive. I will try again to show you not only the way in which their digestion takes place, but also by what means food is changed into food. »
CHAPTER XXI
Digestion takes place by means of moist heat, but it is not enough in the work to have an external heat, it is also necessary to have that which is hidden in the material.
Nature:
“Conceive, my Son, that wherever there is a vegetative instrument, there is a sensitive motor, for digestion seems to take place through the properties of the motor and not of the instrument. And although the animal sometimes takes nourishment from the vegetable, those which suit it are nevertheless from the sensitive.
The conversion must therefore take place by means of its own natural heat which digests the food. Because we do not see any cause that can occur. It is not likely that this can be done by a single heat, because then digestion would be done rather by the fire of the hearths than by a natural heat. And if it were thus produced, it would not turn into blood, flesh and bone as experience shows. Some other hidden cause must be at work there,which does not appear at all, but nevertheless preserves the place and spawns what is placed there as it was said above; and, thereby, responds to this cause which is not disclosed.
However, it responds in some way to the uncertainties of men. Understand then, my Son, that external heat is not enough for you in your work, even if you have all the things that are necessary for it, with the heat that digests matter, unless you also have this cause. occult that I have just discovered to you clearly if you have understood me correctly.
As I said, this thing is hidden in the engine and not in the instrument. » respond to this cause which is not disclosed. However, it responds in some way to the uncertainties of men.Understand then, my Son, that external heat is not enough for you in your work, even if you have all the things that are necessary for it, with the heat that digests matter, unless you also have this cause. occult that I have just discovered to you clearly if you have understood me correctly.
As I said, this thing is hidden in the engine and not in the instrument. » respond to this cause which is not disclosed. However, it responds in some way to the uncertainties of men. Understand then, my Son, that external heat is not enough for you in your work, even if you have all the things that are necessary for it, with the heat that digests matter, unless you also have this cause. occult that I have just discovered to you clearly if you have understood me correctly.
As I said, this thing is hidden in the engine and not in the instrument. unless you also have this occult cause that I have just discovered for you clearly if you understood me correctly . As I said, this thing is hidden in the engine and not in the instrument. unless you also have this occult cause that I have just discovered for you clearly if you understood me correctly . As I said, this thing is hidden in the engine and not in the instrument. »
CHAPTER XXII
Nature teaches that everything has a soul or, what comes to the same thing, a vegetative spirit which moves the thing; that this Art does not depend on us, but on Almighty God, and that for this reason we must invoke it and pray.
The sound:
"O Divine, it seems to me that your words are profound, and you touch the goal with finesse, but I do not see how I can direct my operation according to this occult cause, unless what you say is the engine is not the cause of the effect and, in this case, the cause would be in the soul, which produces an effect only when it exists in its own body. Because nature rejoices only in its nature, as it is said of the spirits existing in their dead bodies For , although they cause movement, by eating, they do not digest by natural heat, which they do not have at all, and consequently not by that other occult cause of which you spoke to us.
Nature:
“My Son, you have answered perfectly, for it is so in truth. So join the soul with its body by means of the spirit, because the soul takes possession of its body only by means of its spirit. Whereas it is of its nature too distant from the body. And if the spirit, allegorically, is placed with both, the body will be attracted, though it is of itself inert and ineffectual and remote from the nature of the soul.
Understand then what I have told you if you want to reach the magisterium. But if you cannot grasp it at first sight, then pray to the creator that he designs to grant you his grace, with which your intelligence will be enlightened and you will accomplish your purpose.
Do not, however, seek this medicine to exalt and glorify yourself above others, as do the arrogant, the ambitious and those who put on display in their professions, because these kinds of people are reprobate not only of God, but of all, and of the Science itself which they are worthy to study.
Seek it instead only to serve God with all your strength, to know what he has done for the men of his own and good will, and how infinite he is in his mercy. This is how you will become worthy of the infinite graces of the Almighty, whose Most Holy Name be blessed. Amen. »
Germinal, year X
The Philosophers have done more to hide the Art than to discover it. The fact is that all of Science is based on metals and their roots. Because of this, they have worked to conceal the Art with particularities, opposites, names. As for me, applied to the study of Science, I offer what I have found in my travels: look carefully.
Bernardus a Portu Aquitanus