Hebdomas, Hebdomadum Kabalistarum, Magorum, Brachmanarum, Antiquorumque Omnium Sapientum Secreta Misteria

By Nicolas Le Valois d'Escoville

This 18th century manuscript is generally attributed to Nicolas Le Valois, lord of Escoville (15th - 16th century). It would therefore be a copy of a manuscript in the hand of Le Valois... subject to reservation.

In the first part, the Great Work is associated with a period of seven weeks, each day being accompanied by a stage, signified by an emblem and/or a legend, in Hebrew, Syriac, Latin or Greek languages. These engravings attached to a specific day are commented on, in French, in the second section of the manuscript. For ease of consultation, these comments from the second section are included under each engraving (maintaining the French spelling and syntax of the 18th century).

FIRST WEEK

First day (First week)
At the top of each page of the first six days there is in ancient Hebrew letters "Babilon - the first." Both characters are Saturn. The figure is a winged serpent which hangs its tail on a black square.

Day 2 (First week)
Two characters, one of Saturn and the other of Mercury. The figure is a circumference of a circle in which there is a square and another circumference within the square. Without writing, which means Cahos.

Day 3 (First week)
Two characters, one of Saturn and the other of Mercury. The figure is a black square in which there is a winged green snake with its tail hanging. Without writing.

Day 4 (First week)
Two characters, one of Saturn and the other of Mercury. The figure is a knife placed horizontally with a green blade and a black handle. Without writing.

Day 5 (First week)
Two characters, one of Saturn and the other of the Moon. The figure is an ear of corn on earth which is not yet ripe. Without writing.

Day 6 (First week)
Two characters, one of Saturn and the other of Venus. The figure is another overturned and ripe ear of wheat. Without writing. The 7th day is red.

SECOND WEEK

1st day (2nd week)
At the top of each page is written in the Chaldean language “From the beginning of Babilonne the first”. Two characters, the first of which is Mercury and the other Saturn, and below is written in Hebrew “The strength of Dagon, god of the Philistines”. The figure is a lion lying on its stomach and crowned.

2nd day (2nd week)
Two mercury characters. The Hebrew writing which means “Babylon the first”. The figure is a wall of dressed stone which is falling into ruin.

3rd day (2nd week)
Two mercury characters of different colors. The figure is a philosophical globe or egg, with a flaming fire, from which nine jets of water emerge, at the top of which is written in Hebrew “Fire without end”, and at the bottom in the same language “I die to live again without end”.

4th day (2nd week)
Two characters of mercury, below is a circumference surrounded on the left by nine rays, all black, and on the first the figure of mercury in white, at the bottom is written in Hebrew “The setting of the sun is the brightness of the ' east of star'.

5th day (2nd week)
At the top are the characters of Mercury and the Moon. The figure is a large crescent in which there is a rising sun with six points, three on each side of the middle ray, and at the bottom is written in Hebrew, “From the setting of the bright eastern star, and the bright one is the shining of the sun”.

6th day (2nd week)
At the top are the characters of Mercury and Venus, with a crescent and a radiant sun in gold, which rises in this crescent, and at the bottom is written in the Hebrew language “The setting of the bright and the east of the sun” . The seventh day is in red.

THIRD WEEK

First day (3rd week)
At the top of each page of the first six days there is written in Hebrew letters; The two characters are Mercury and Saturn. The figure is a scorpion, the Hebrew words are “From the earth”.

2nd day (3rd week)
At the top are mercury characters. The figure is a square in the shape of an altar on which there is a golden calf bearing on its belly the character of the moon, above it is written in Hebrew “It will be burned and then from this powder it will be made to drink to the people”.

3rd day (3rd week)
At the top are the characters of mercury. The figure is a circle cut in the middle of the upper part, and has like the tail of a dragon or flame of fire, and above it like vapors. The words in Hebrew are “It was cloudy in the brightness of the furnace, and there it was fire in the tabernacle”.

4th day (3rd week)
At the top are two mercury characters. The figure is a mountain from which, striking it with Moses' rod, a fountain emerges whose jet is white as alabaster. The words are “From the rock that was beaten with the rod of Moses there comes icy water of which all the people will drink and they will thirst no more”.

5th day (3rd week)
At the top are the characters of Mercury and the Moon. The figure is a house with an open double door and three windows above. The words are in Hebrew which mean “In the days of Solomon, silver was as common in Jerusalem as stones”.

6th day (3rd week)
At the top are the characters of Mercury and Venus. Above is written in Hebrew “The destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar”. The figure is a hovel of cut stone and ruined gold. Below it is written in the same language “It will be rebuilt again and will be greater than the first and from there it will be perpetuated and it will be honored”. The seventh day is in red.

FOURTH WEEK

First day (4th week)
At the top of each six-day page there is in Greek “After the law the second Babylon, that is to say paganism”. The two characters are those of Mercury and Saturn. The figure is a two-pronged fork. The words below are, in the same language, “Au Dieu Blutin”.

2nd day (4th week)
At the top are two mercury characters. The figure is a rod intertwined with two wingless serpents. The words in Greek are “I certainly have wings, some folded, others extended, my wings come to me from my mother, with all these wings united I take my flight, after which, they fold again; my mother and I are of illustrious birth. I have been glorified with her, and we will be together for ever and ever.”

3rd day (4th week)
At the top are two mercury characters. The figure is a rod intertwined with two winged serpents. The words in Greek are “As I rise from earth to heaven and descend from heaven to earth, I take my strength from above and below”.

4th day (4th week)
At the top are two characters of Mercury and the Moon. The figure is half the circumference of a circle which encloses the Phoenix. The Greek lyrics are “I die to live again”.

5th day (4th week)
At the top are two mercuries. The figure is a sun within which is a crescent with a rising sun. The words in Greek are “I am a woman and the mother of the sun, but this one, although it comes from me, is more perfect, more brilliant, more beautiful, more solid, distinguished among the most pleasant things. I have an illustrious birth from my father and it was given to me to have children”.

6th day (4th week)
At the top are the characters of Mercury and Venus. The figure is a half circle representing Cahos. The words in Greek are “Carrying my father in my womb I felt the discomforts that a pregnant woman experiences; my natural color which is that of the whitest snow will be changed to a brown color and I will be like a jaundiced person until I have given birth. The 7th day is in red.

FIFTH WEEK

1st day (5th week)
At the top of each page is written in Siriac “The law of grace”. The characters are the moon and Saturn. The words in the same languages are “I believe in God our father”. Without figure.

2nd day (5th week)
At the top are the characters of the moon and mercury. The words in Siriac are “Is the life-giving son born of the Virgin”.

3rd day (5th week)
At the top are the characters of the moon and mercury. Without figure. The words in Siriac are “To the quickening spirit or that the eternal Father has forgiven sins”.

4th day (5th week)
At the top are the characters of the moon and mercury. Without figure. The words in Siriac are “That the son died, was buried and descended into hell”.

5th day (5th week)
At the top are two moons. The Syriac words are “He rose again on the 3rd day and ascended into heaven”.

6th day (5th week)
At the top are the characters of the moon and Venus. The Syriac words mean “He is seated at the right hand of God from where he will come to judge the living and the dead”. The seventh day is in red.

SIXTH WEEK

First day (6th week)
At the top of each page is written in Latin “Under the 3rd Babylon the antichrist”. The characters are Venus and Saturn. The figure represents a puy from which it rises like smoke or clouds in which are grasshoppers. The words are in Latin: “Et aperuit puteum” and in French “And he opened the puy of the abyss and there rose from the bottom of the puy a smoke, like the smoke of a fiery furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke that came out of this well, and from this smoke came locusts on the earth, and to them was given power similar to that which scorpions have on the earth.

2nd day (6th week)
At the top are the characters of Venus and Mercury. The figure is in the form of a case on which we notice 7 circles containing 7 orange signs as follows, Saturn, 3 mercury in a row, the moon, Venus and the Sun. The Latin words mean “And no one in heaven or earth will be able to open the book or explain it.”

3rd day (6th week)
At the top is written “Antichrist”. The characters are Venus and Mercury. The figure is a lion. The Latin lyrics, “Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah.”

4th day (6th week)
At the top are the characters of Venus. The figure is a case on which there is a seated lion and on the bottom of this case there is a triangle which encloses the character of mercury. The Latin lyrics are “The lion of the tribe of Judah comes to open the book and explain the seven seals.”

5th day (6th week)
At the top are the characters of Venus and the Moon. The figure is an antichrist surrounded by the rays of the Sun. The words “antichrist”.

6th day (6th week) - Sheet 1

See leaflet 2

6th day (6th week) - Sheet 2
The characters are 2 Venus. The figure is a city flanked by four towers, the first of which is square having a door in the middle, we observe six mountains with the letters CAPEQV Without words. In the opposite part of this sixth leaf, there is the destruction of this same city. The 7th sheet is in red.

SEVENTH WEEK

This week's 7 sheets are in field poppy color. Without figure. Written with the exception of the first leaf which is in six different languages, namely ancient Hebrew, Chaldean, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac and Latin. The following words mean, the six different languages ​​above mean the same thing, that is, “The judgment, the first day of the week, the Sabbahot Sabbahot”.

THE TEXT OF THE MANUSCRIPT