HERMETIC RECREATIONS

Anonymous, 19th century (around 1820?)

Tracking

SCHOLIES

by the same anonymous author

Folios 1039 to 1054 from the collection of manuscripts on the side Ms. 362 in the central library of the Museum of Natural History

The sciences, like things, experience the vicissitudes of time, and degenerate rather than acquire growth. Systematic men, welcomed on all sides, have sown disorder in the vast field of the imagination, and the most bizarre flowers have been the product of it: these flowers have finally taken such favor as the best books, the most beautiful speeches are deemed worthless if not adorned with them.
The science from which all the others derive, that of Nature, has fallen into such disrepute that today we strike with ridicule all those who we know are delivered to it.

By means of the laws of affinity, one claims to solve all problems; the Elements are either multiplied or annihilated; and those who admit them without restriction are placed, with those who have treated of them, in the rank of the ignorant, or of men out of their senses.

Without rejecting the affinities, bases of the new chemical philosophy, I believe them at least useless for the purpose that a true friend of truth proposes to attain. I mean to speak here of the knowledge of the first causes on which all science must be based, and which we affect to despise like a certain Fox in the Fable, who ignored the grapes he could not take: moreover, these laws of affinity which modern scientists put so much emphasis on, although they do not lead to the source of our admirable fountain of life, are far from being the object of new discoveries: I appeal to all those of them who have good faith ; and were at least recognized by the fact, when they were not yet recognized by the words.

The Elements have a Centrum Centri which all eyes cannot see; and they also have a Centrum Commune which the so-called scholars dare not approach for fear of revealing their turpitude (the light).

This caustic heat, accompanied by light, which is commonly called fire, is not the Element of this name, of which the sages wanted to speak. In this circumstance, we take the effects for the cause, and we go further than the rhetoricians, who at least take the part for the whole.

Fire is an eminently subtle fluid, proceeding directly from light and which is called, sometimes Electric, sometimes Galvanic or Magnetic etc., according to its various modifications, or rather, it is the light itself derived from its source and from which it remains detached. It is neither cold nor hot, and heat or cold are not bodies, whatever M. Azais may say, but simple effects of movement or rest.
Motion alone produces heat with all its consequences, good or bad, which everyone is capable of applying; and fire, because of its greater subtlety, is also fit to receive the impulse and to commute it to other bodies.

Air, Water and Earth are only the immediate and successive consequences of the formation of fire. Light detached from its focus, accumulated by loss of motion and repressed by a new and continual emission of its substance, has given itself different forms which we have distinguished. In language, the simplest of these forms have been called Elementals.

Light, principle of life and movement, can be considered as the unique act of creation; all the rest is only the consequence. This is what Hermes wanted to demonstrate, when he said in his Emerald Tablet: “What is above is similar to. what is below, and what is below is like what is above, to make by means of these two things the miracle of one thing. »

The All in all things of BV is only an abbreviated quotation of this proposition and of the truth which it contains which all the wise men of antiquity recognized, the Universe signifying the returned or reversed unit received its name from it. I can also quote in support of my assertion, the Gospel of Saint John, where it is said: " the light was in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" ; for its moral application only justifies the fact which served as its basis.

Gaseous and aeriform substances are chaotic rather than elemental in nature, and easily invert into the Element to which they are closest. Meteors of all kinds, without excepting aerolites or stones of Air, take their origin from them, however their form is entirely aerial, and shows that they are dependent on this Element; but, as all that shines is not Gold, all that has the lightness and appearance of air, is not air: it is the Medium from which these substances take their form to whom this denomination belongs.

Water, even that of rain and Dew, is only a compound of gaseous substances to which fire and the action of light have given the form of water; but it is the form and not the substance that must be considered here as an Element, and by form I mean what makes the link, and which also makes that of all bodies, even glass.
Nor is the Earth that we cultivate the Element that we make it represent. She is in fact only a great pile of debris from the bodies of the three Kingdoms in the path of destruction; it is true to say that it contains some portions of the first and elementary earth, for independently of that which the water continually furnishes it, it itself resumes its form by its daily destruction. Thus the end of all things resembles its beginning and death becomes the principle of a new life: this is what the ancients recognized and experienced, and what they represented to us in the form of the serpent which bites its tail, to perpetuate the memory.

So when you read some treatise of the ancients on the study of Nature, do not understand as an element the raw, indigestible and deadly substances that I have just pointed out to you, but look for the Centrum Centri . by some ingenious processes and from your own funds; for the wise want it so, both to prevent abuses and the profanation of this science, by means of which society could be upset and annihilated. So do not be afraid to devote yourself to the study of our science, and use all the efforts of reasoning to deepen it and know its mysteries, since there is only this way to get out of the labyrinth in which you are perhaps slightly engaged.Above all, do not wait for any proof of what we say, because no one will be tempted to give it to you: I want to talk about this irrevocable proof that experience gives but since others have acquired it by the only means that I am giving you, do not despair of success; I even dare to guarantee it to you,
“Turn over the elements, says Aristotle, and you will find what you are looking for”. This proposal, one of the most important having set the minds in motion, everyone began to search for a raw material to reach this goal, thinking well that the isolated Elements could not lead to it, while a body which was entirely composed of them, and still in its state of simplicity, was the only one that could reasonably be implemented to seek the point of perfection. By dint of searching, some have finally found him; but finding nothing in Nature capable of dissolving it, despite its simplicity and not being able to extract its elements by any other means, they took it into their heads to go back to their common source having drawn from it, they finally came to the end of their plan.

Rest assured, therefore, that without the igneous water composed of the pure light of the sun and the moon, it will be impossible for you to overcome the numerous obstacles which will multiply again before your eyes, when you attempt the passage of this famous Strait which leads to the sea of ​​the sages, this water which some rightly call universal spirit and which the Englishman Dikinson has sufficiently made known, is of such great virtue and penetration, that all the bodies which are touched by it, easily return to their first being.

I have already made it known that it was not rainwater or Dew water which was suitable for this operation, I will add here that it is not either the water of a species of mushroom commonly called Flos Coeli or Flower of Heaven and which is very improperly taken for Nostoch of the ancients, but an admirable water drawn by artifice from the rays of the sun and the moon . I would also say that the salts and other magnets that we use to draw moisture from the air are good for nothing in this circumstance and that there is only the fire of Nature that we can usefully use here.This fire enclosed in the center of all bodies needs a certain movement to acquire this attractive and universal property which is so necessary to you, and there is only one body in the world where it is found with this condition, but it is so common that it is met with wherever man can go; that is why I think it will not be difficult for you to meet him.

(We will derive great benefit from comparing this passage where this famous nostoc is highlighted, with the lines dedicated to it by Fulcanelli in his "Mystery of the Cathedrals"; or even Eugène Canseliet in his "Alchimie Explained on His Classical Texts" and his "Deux Logis alchimies"; or also Grassot, in his "Lumière Tired du Chaos"; or Pierre Dujols, alias Magophon, in his "Hypotypose du Mutus Liber" and finally Per nety, in various places. - LAT) Mr. Bruno de Lansac, author of the commentary on the work entitled Light out of darkness ,

said learnedly that fire lives on air and that it is in the places where the air abounds the most that one must look for the Sulfur of the wise; for he calls this water indifferently sulfur or mercury, especially since it contains both and enjoys their properties. However, these words are not to be taken quite literally. I recommend only to follow this author attentively when reviewing the Kingdoms of Nature, he gives a precise demonstration of the use and usefulness of this element for the maintenance of each of them. This well-thought-out chapter will be of great help to amateurs of science, and I cannot strongly urge them to make it the object of a particular study.

I said that light was the common source, not only of the Elements, but also of all that exists, and that it is to it, as to its principle, that everything must relate. The Sun and the fixed Stars which send it to us in such profusion are like its generators; but the Moon placed intermediately, tempering it with its humidity, communicates to it a generative virtue by means of which everything is regenerated here below.

Everyone knows today that the light that the moon sends us, is only a borrowing from that of the Sun, to which the light of the other stars comes to mingle. The Moon is therefore the common receptacle or focus of which all philosophers have heard: it is the source of their living water. If therefore you want to reduce the sun's rays to water, choose the moment when the moon transmits them to us with abundance, that is to say when it is full, or when it is approaching its full: you will have by this medium the igneous water of the rays of the Sun and the Moon in its greatest strength.

But there are still certain essential provisions to fulfill, without which you would only produce clear and useless water.

There is only a proper time to make this harvest of astral spirits. It is the one where Nature regenerates; for at this time the atmosphere is completely filled with the universal spirit. Trees and Plants which grow green again, and Animals which give themselves up to the pressing need of generation, make us particularly aware of its benign influence. Spring and autumn are therefore the seasons you should choose for this work; but, spring especially is preferable. Summer, because of the excessive heat which dilates and drives out this spirit, and winter because of the cold which retains it and prevents it from exhaling, are hors d'oeuvres. In the south of France the work can be started in March and resumed in September;but in Paris and in the rest of the kingdom,

It should now be known that the astral influence is preferably felt towards the North; that it is towards the North that the magnetic needle constantly turns, and that it is also towards the North that the Electric, Galvanic and Magnetic fluids carry all their efforts, it is therefore also towards this region that you will turn your device, because experience has proven that on any other side you would not find this spirit.

It is also necessary that the sky be clear and that there should be no wind, other than the restless coolness of the night, for without that one would only obtain a very weak spirit and incapable of action.

One can begin the work as soon as the sun has set, and continue it all night; but, it must be stopped when it rises, because its light disperses the spirit, and one collects nothing more than a useless and harmful phlegm.

The Philosophers have hitherto kept these things very secret; they spoke of it only very obscurely, and always under the veil of allegory. D'Espagnet, the Cosmopolite and a few others have made ingenious descriptions of the season of spring.

Nicolas Flamel, to designate the northern region, feigned a trip to Santiago de Compostela, whence he returned with a converted Jewish doctor who, after teaching him the greatest peculiarities of the work, died in Orleans where he had him buried in Sainte-Croix.

We see in the sky the Milky Way which runs from noon to the North where it forms two branches whose direction is variable due to the movement of the earth, and whose variation the Compass follows. This Milky Way is vulgarly called the Way of Saint James, because the pilgrims designate it thus, and because it serves them as a guide during the Night for their great journey; it is also the guide of the Hermetic philosopher who recognizes it in the south where it takes its source, and follows it towards the North where its Mouth is. The converted Jewish doctor is the Mercury he finds on his way, and who as we know, reveals all the secrets of the Art, when we own it. Flamel designates him as a doctor, because he purges the metals from their leprosy and is truly a medicine. He makes him a converted Jew, because the Light takes its source in the East and he makes a just use of it. Finally, he had him die in Orléans and buried in Sainte-Croix to announce his fixation: what the Cross marking the four cardinal points of the atmosphere shows more positively. It is thus a lie of the author of the book having for title Hermippus Redivivus tending to accredit his imbecile system, that the quotation which he made of the alleged voyage of N. Flamel and which he dares to support from the relation which was made to him by two Adepts calling themselves his friends and affirming his long existence.

BV makes Adolf say, coming out of an underground passage in Rome, and holding in his hand the little lead box containing the parabolic figure of old Adam: "In my extreme delight, I looked to the south where the warm lions are, and then I turned to the north where the bears are. "

Saint Didier, author of the Hermetic Triumph, in his Letter to the Disciples of Hermes, says that “the study of this science is like a path in the sands where one must lead oneself by the North Star”.

This Star has always been considered the sure guide of our philosophy, and it is she who led the shepherds to the Crib where the Savior of the world rested. There are works entitled The Star or Philosopher of the North, but the misuse that is made of this emblem by too many pseudonymous authors, in order to give themselves prominence and make themselves sought after, have covered it with so much disfavor that it has lost much of its value.

Be aware, however, that the astral spirit being the foster father of the stone, it is necessary to collect a large quantity of it. This harvest cannot be done all at once, which is why we will employ all the time that the work lasts, which is at least three years; for we must not confine ourselves to what the authors say about the times, their speeches being only fabrics of enigmas or allegories of which I will give the explanation elsewhere. Let us return to the main Subject of Philosophy.

All the wise agree in saying, and it is an indisputable truth, that the work is made of a single thing to which nothing extraneous is added and from which there is nothing to subtract but filth and superfluities. This is how B. Trevisan expresses himself; and his saying, which he borrowed from the philosophers who preceded him, was unanimously supported and repeated by all who followed him.
Many people, misunderstanding this unity of stone, place in a vessel which they call a philosophical egg, a single material of their choice, which they hold over a lamp fire or any other they imagine, and thus await its dissolution in vain. Others make amalgams, and are not better advised. They make no progress for many reasons, the main ones being:

1) They work on dead matter; and when it comes to the true subject of philosophy, the vase and the fire are not proportionate to it.

2) They do not know that from the beginning until the end of the work, our matter is double, I mean that it has an agent and a patient without which there would be no action in the vessel that the agent serves as male, and the patient as female, and that both together, although separated by their Nature, constitute only one body which is named for this purpose Rebis or two things in one .

3) Finally, their work is quite the opposite of that of Nature; for they know neither how to dissolve, nor putrefy, nor distill, nor sublimate, nor any of our operations. However, they continue to undertake, saying to themselves: this work is that of Nature to which we only need to lend a hand, it is up to her to complete it. Walking thus blind, and with so much confidence, they cannot fail to bump into each other at every step they take in such a dark maze.

We read in the Gospel that there came no lilies on brambles, nor figs instead of grapes; that such is the seed, and such will be the fruit; but that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit, and that, for that, it must be cut down and thrown into the fire; but these reasons do not affect them, and they are none the less persuaded of success. However seeing the bad end of their work, they should mend their ways and recognize their fault; but, far from it, they attribute it to some accident which they could not foresee, and return with even more courage to their foolish work. But, let these ignoramuses swell at leisure with vain fumes and only concern ourselves with the choice of a due matter and its preparation.

It is less a question of reviewing the substances of the three Kingdoms, than of examining their composition, to know what they were formed from. At first glance, this difficulty seems insurmountable. It is large, indeed, but not as large as one might imagine; because:

1) We do not need for this work, neither Alembic, nor Retorts, even less Salts, ardent Spirits, acids or Corrosives etc.

2) We know moreover that all the things of this world have the same origin, and that they only differ between them by the mixture of the Elements, but such as I described them above.

Thirdly, it only remains for us to seek the exact point of their formation.
Consider that Heaven and Earth first existed; that Heaven serving as agent or male, and Earth as patient or female gave birth to all things. However, they were not distinct from each other, and at first they formed only a dark and abominable mass; but the light having been separated from it, and the two having been established, the mass moved and gave signs of life. The Elements were formed, the Universe and all that it contains then appeared; and this admirable order of things has existed since that time, and will remain so until it pleases the Sovereign Mediator to change it.

Life such as one wishes to consider it, is only a combat of two substances, or a continual exchange of light and darkness, one of these substances alternately takes the place of the other, is sometimes made function of male and sometimes of female; so that when it pleases the divine author, everything changes into pure light or everything returns into Cimmerian darkness, which shows that light and darkness are one and the same. thing, changed in form and value by the development or the contraction of the substance, that from there comes a mutual attraction from which springs, with the movement, the elementary inversion of the substance.
Who lives aures audiendi, audiat
Consider now that in the same way and from the same matter from which the world was created, the work of the sages is brought to light, and that it is for this reason that it has received the name of small world or Microcosm. Thus, I have told you in a few words all that you have to do for this great enterprise.

Take therefore the first earth which is only a pure light surrounded by darkness, and reduce it to its principles with the stone torn without hands from the summit of the mountain, in order to recognize in it three distinct substances which are salt, sulfur and mercury, which being skilfully conjoined with the two of which matter is formed, namely Heaven and Earth, form an admirable Quintessence whose virtues are infinite and incomprehensible.

This marvelous stone appeared in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and came to break and reduce to powder a great statue which he saw standing before him, and whose head was of the purest gold, whose chest, shoulders and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron and the clay was amalgamated therein with human seed, but which was not adherent to them, any more than iron cannot be mixed with clay.

Nebuchadnezzar, justly frightened by this vision, summoned all the Magi of his Kingdom, and demanded of them, under pain of death, that they divine his dream and give a correct interpretation of it; none of them could overcome it. There was only one young man named Daniel, filled with the spirit of God, in all the Kingdom, who could fulfill his request (Daniel, chap. 2, v. 18).

This dream can be applied entirely to the Work of the sages, and serve as a Parabolic figure. We will see, for example, in the Magi of Babylon, the peat of false scholars striving in vain to understand science, wishing nevertheless to persuade that they possess it, and leading into lost paths those who give themselves up to them in too good faith: in Daniel a son of wisdom, to whom all the secrets of Nature are known, and who can give a sound and true explanation.
The statue will be our Metallic Tree from its top to its root in which Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury are still confused as metals of first origin. Iron and clay mixed with human seed will represent the Work of Nature figured by the hand of man;and the Stone cut without hands from the top of the mountain, and coming to break the feet of the statue and reduce it to impalpable powder, will be taken either for the thunderbolt launched by Jupiter, or for the scythe of Saturn which you must exchange skillfully for the trident of Neptune, by means of a certain key which I will give you, until Pluto showing himself jealous of it, and blowing from the depths of his caverns shows in his turn his power, by drying up the waters, and reducing the tree to ashes or dust which you will sow and from which many precious stones will come.

The Ancients, jealous of their secrecy, spoke of matter in its various aspects, in order to deceive the credulity of miserly people and ambitious people who only dream of power and devastation. They confused with the subject of philosophy their first matter which is obtained only after a lot of time and long work. Not being in any way part of their desire, I wanted you to get to grips with this much-sought-after subject and put it on purpose naked before your eyes, to dispense you from looking for it any longer. I hope you will be grateful to me for my frankness, and that you will make the most of it, warning you, however, to add a little grain of salt to my words, to make them more sensitive to you.

Ferrara paints this subject as a stone which is not stone, which is hard and soft, and which is of no price; but if you want to believe me, you will be more attached to what the Count of Treviso has said about it, because he showed himself less envious than anyone, having painted this subject at great length in his Arca Aperta, and having made a very extensive description of the matters which are not proper to our Work, in another work . I will then give you the advice of the illustrious commentator of the Light emerging from darkness, Mr. Bruno de Lansac: "Choose, he says, a material that has a metallic shine" , and I will add that it is neither metal nor mineral, otherwise it would serve no purpose.You will know moreover that this brilliance is only the stamp of matter and what reveals it to the eyes of the sage, and you will take care to take the fruit instead of the root; for not only is it immature, but in an opposite hypothesis, it would still only give you a wildling from which you would derive no advantage.

Disbanding is the first thing you need to do, because you have to unbind the body to bring the enemies to grips. But fire and water will be greatly needed here, especially since these elements are already enemies of their Nature and only ask to test their strength.

The spirit, of which I spoke to you above, is a fire overcome by the water which you will use for this purpose. You will fill the Vase of Nature with it and distill it over a very slow fire to dephlegm it. You will find something fixed at the bottom that you will be careful not to remove. You will pour new spirit over it in the same proportion, and you will thus continue the distillation, until the vessel can no longer contain it, and everything remains fixed at the bottom. By continuing the fire to the same degree, you will soon perceive in your vessel some agitation in potency, but also in action, and that there is a metallic splendor. »
Agitation caused by a light South-West wind which will be followed by a very pleasant rain. The wind and the rain going always increasing you will see more in the vessel only like a sea which will be more and more agitated until finally the pacified elements, all returns in the order of Nature. But day has given way to Night, the darkness is growing and the ship is pitch black. This Night is the fiftieth, and it seemed triple to the sailors because of the fatigue they suffered. Day is beginning to dawn, the horizon is clear and cloudless; the day will be wonderful.

This way of expressing themselves is common to almost all ancient authors, and it is not uncommon to find readers who take these discourses literally. The wind and the rain are for them realities, and their credulity embraces for them the smallest details of allegory. This one, which I am going to put back in the right direction, will make it easier for them to understand others.

The vase of Nature is the prepared earth which must be watered with one's spirit. It is said to be a vessel, and indeed it is, since it contains. The spirit that is added to it is not a foreign thing since everything came from it, and our earth is formed from it; this is why it is said to bring the child back into the mother's womb: which can only be done by tearing its entrails. Our land must also be divided into its most small parts to bring to light its great riches, and so it will happen, if you often fill it with its spirit and let it dry up as many times. In this operation, the phlegm evaporates, but the spirit remains and incorporates itself with the earth which it saltifies until saturation is complete; then the spirit that is added, no longer able to be contained, reacts on that which the earth has fixed and obliges it to dissolve, as salt would do; this is why this dissolution is compared to a sea; and because the added spirit is joined to an altering and corrupting humidity, there results from its mixture a movement of fermentation which is followed by putrefaction, and consequently regeneration, because fermentation changes the bodies of Nature, and in putrefaction,
What moisture Matter can contain, without pouring it out, is the measure to be observed for imbibitions, and what we call the weight of Nature.

The matter serving as a vase also serves as a furnace, since the spirit that you introduce into it is a natural fire which cooks it and digests it to serve me, to the end, with philosophical expressions.

No less than fifty ablutions are required; for each ablution until perfect desiccation is counted as a natural or philosophical day; so that our days can last a week depending on the season, the quality and the quantity of material submitted to work. The great secret of the Sages to shorten time is to divide matter, so that the days have less length.

Although we do not use vulgar fire for our operations, it is nevertheless certain that we need a sufficiently high temperature so that evaporation can take place and that the matter does not languish, and is not lost. It is therefore useful and indispensable, during the winter, and in the place of work, to make a little fire, but not enough to heat the material, which would be worse than not having any; because the spirit would be cast out and could not be replaced. The temperature must not exceed fifteen degrees of Réaumur (18° C).

When one has thus operated and the matter dissolves, it blackens as it goes. One only adds to it in these various times the spirit necessary to maintain its fermentative fire; and when the matter begins to ferment, it must be abandoned to its own fire, until the perfect whiteness where it arrives by itself.

The matter is not liquid like Brouet, but thick and black like pitch or boot polish; it swells, rises in the Goblet, gives Bubbles which are compared to fish eyes and which must not be burst, for they contain the animating spirit.
After fermentation, the material collapses; it is then shiny as pitch, and of the finest black; it is the sign of putrefaction which is called crow's head. It then dries out little by little and changes to an ash gray color. Soon a Capillary circle of the most dazzling whiteness appears around the ship. This Circle widens more and more until the whole is of perfect whiteness.

Before this whiteness arrives, some colors appear on the material, among which the green predominates, but they are not very pronounced, and are only transient and of short duration. They are nevertheless compared to the Iris or rainbow. It is only in the subsequent operations that they have a very pronounced character.
You have passed in review, without realizing it, our different kinds of fires. The first, up to fermentation, is called bain-marie, or sea bath, because it operates, in a way, only a saline solution. The second is called manure heat, and now you know the reason for it. The third is called ash fire; and finally the fourth light of Lamppost. We still have other kinds of fires, but whoever knows the first, undoubtedly knows all the others. Besides, we will point them out in passing.
You will notice here that this work resembles that of gardeners watering their gardens. What happens in this circumstance? The vegetable earth which, as I have observed to you from the beginning, is formed only of the remains of bodies, deteriorates and decomposes by recessive dryness and humidity, and furnishes a salt and a spirit of which the Plant is nourished by means of the water which it absorbs and which is the conductor.

I come back to the bleached matter which is still far from the goal to which you must lead it.

Nevertheless, the main lock is open, all that remains is to enter the sanctuary, but always with caution so as not to fail, and be obliged to stop on such a fine path.

This white powder or regenerated matter is the Mercury still child, and to which it is necessary to give eagle wings to the head and to the heels, that is to say from the feet to the head, so that it can fly, and rise to the highest region which is Heaven. It must be sublimated as many times as in its dissolution in the astral spirit, it will leave an earth behind which will rush and which you will have to collect with great care. Philalethes calls these sublimations eagles; the more so as the mercury acquires each time a great subtlety, and it compares the earth that the Mercury throws back, to the tail that the vulgar mercury leaves behind him, as long as it is not sufficiently purified."Wash," he said, "your mercury, and purify it with salt and vinegar, until it leaves no tail behind it, by flowing on a flat surface. We will soon know what he means by salt and vinegar and we already have a glimpse of it.

When the Mercury is dissolved in the astral spirit, and the earth has been separated by decantation and lotion, so as not to lose anything, the solution is placed in a cool place, and a deposit of three salts is made, namely, one cottony, which floats on the surface and which is mercury; the second which is pointed and of the nature of Nitre, and which is between two waters; and the third which is a fixed and mineral salt which settles at the bottom.

In the state in which we see Mercury here, it would draw the tincture from plants, and make medicine of it. He is a doctor himself, for if you put a grain's worth of it at the foot of an almost dead tree and water it, it would regain new vigor; but it would be eating up his wheat grass to stop there; we have to continue the work.
As for the two other salts, they are reduced to mercury similar to the first, by continuing the operation. For this purpose, when the salts have been separated, one dissolves the second species in the astral spirit to sprinkle the fixed salt, dissolve it, ferment and putrefy it: and as it would not be in sufficient abundance to complete the operation, one completes the imbibitions with the dissolved Mercury, and one proceeds as the first time, by the weights of nature.
The weight, if we pay attention to it, differs here from the first, because the earth only needed to be watered; but here it is necessary that the salt be dissolved and fixed until it can no longer receive moisture, that it ferments, that it rots and gives the same results as above, that is to say a Mercury which you will wash and from which you will separate the earth to join it with the first.
To sublimate the Mercury, you will separate it in two, you will dissolve one half by the astral spirit, and you will by means of it perform ablutions on the Fixed Part , as I have just taught you. You will continue your ablutions until perfect dissolution, and then you will leave to ferment and putrefy as before.

Here you have the mercury of the second eagle; if you go thus up to the seventh, inclusive, this mercury will be very suitable for dissolving gold, and it will dissolve it without heat or boiling, and in the manner in which ice melts in hot water; you will lead him up to the ninth inclusive, and you will give him all the exaltation of which he is likely in order to be able to operate greater things. But, I warn you that if you wanted to go further, it would dissolve even the flints by simple contact and you would not find any more vase to contain it.
At each sublimation or eagle, you will separate the starchy black earth as the first time, and you will join it to the first to make the use of it that I will indicate to you in the second work; for the first has been used entirely in the manner of our mercury: but it is that which requires the most time. It is also the most difficult, which is why it is compared to the labors of Hercules, of which it is moreover only the correct application: and when it is finished, the rest is no longer regarded as anything but a woman's work and a child's game. It is no longer a question, in fact, of washing the brass, or of making an impastation, which applies very well either to the women who take care of the laundry, or to the children who make dumplings and figures of clay or soaked earth.Lavare et impastare, in hoc consistet magisterium sapientum.

The time of this great and important operation is about two common years. And when it is finished, the apprenticeship of our masonry, because it is only this one of true, this apprenticeship ends, it gives way to the companionship whose tests are much shorter, and less harsh.

You finally have in your hands this universal Mercury of which the sages have spoken so much, by means of it you can attack Nature to the heart, and extract the medicines or tinctures of the three Kingdoms, giving them at the same time a fixity and perfection that they could not have. This Mercury is truly the force of all forces of which the learned Hermes Trismegistus spoke, it is the igneous dragon which destroys all things, the spirit of wine, or rather the brandy of Raymond of Lully, and the vinegar of Cosmopolitan. It dissolves and fixes at the same time, because it comes from the union of two fires in opposition to each other, although having the same origin. The first is an acid and cold fire, it is that which dissolves and produces fermentation;the second is alkaline and hot, it produces putrefaction and fixes the compound. This is why BV Douze clefs warns you to clearly distinguish cold from hot, in the application of your fires.

It is not, however, that the fermentative heat comes from the alkali rather than from the acid, since it is only a simple effect of motion, as you must have noticed at the beginning of this treatise; but because the presence of this alkali determines it and preserves it during putrefaction.

Mercury being only half a generation, we must now proceed to the exaltation of Sulfur. As Flamel and Le Trévisan did, you can take gold in sheets and extract the tincture from it by projecting it into your Mercury, which you will have dissolved beforehand. This path is not the noblest, but it is the shortest; it is only a particular tincture that one obtains, but the mercury universalizes it in the work and leads it to the same result.

It is no doubt much nobler to draw this universal tincture from matter. You will therefore take all your lands from the eagles, and you will proceed with them by further imbibitions with the astral spirit, until they turn red and are a reddish-brown. This is what philosophers call calcination. The Mercury dissolved and projected above will make the extraction of the Tincture, by means of which you will be able to proceed to the Philosophical Marriage which will make the perfection of the work, and will finish the work, except the multiplication which is only the abbreviated repetition.

This Tincture is the crown of the King which you must draw from the ashes, why the wise Pythagoras and after him many repeated “Do not despise the Ashes, because the crown of the King is found therein. This is where the custom of keeping the ashes of the dead comes from. BV says without his preface "that the crown of the King be of very pure gold"; and elsewhere he says: " It is a wreath taken from the ashes." The gold is this tincture of which we speak, and the ashes is the land of the eagles which you have set apart.

You must also know that the Mercury, which makes the extraction of this Tincture, is called Dry Water which does not wet the hands, because, although it is only a salt which does not wet, it alone has the virtue of dissolving all bodies, as water makes salts and gums. In appearance, water is said to be a solvent, but, in fact, it only divides. Dissolution takes place in all nature only by means of fermentation, while Mercury dispenses with it on the same occasions; but in higher things where the presence of water is of no effect, and fulfills its functions, and does like it only separate the bodies or substances to bring them together, and make them undergo fermentation, the only cause of dissolution. Moreover, dissolution is itself only a more extensive division of bodies,or an absolute disjunction, and the exact mixture of all their parts. It happens in this circumstance that the disjoined parts and of a nature opposed to each other coming to meet, collide and engage in a kind of combat to which we have given the name of fermentation, after which they unite again, but after having purged themselves of what was foreign to them which causes corruption, and prevents the union from being perfect; but after its entire separation, the union is so intimate that all the efforts of Nature to separate them would be nil and inspiring. So will the bodies and souls of the righteous be after the judgment and their purification.collide and engage in a kind of combat to which we have given the name of fermentation, after which they unite again, but after having purged themselves of what was foreign to them which causes corruption, and prevents the union from being perfect; but after its entire separation, the union is so intimate that all the efforts of Nature to separate them would be nil and inspiring. So will the bodies and souls of the righteous be after the judgment and their purification. collide and engage in a kind of combat to which we have given the name of fermentation, after which they unite again, but after having purged themselves of what was foreign to them which causes corruption, and prevents the union from being perfect;but after its entire separation, the union is so intimate that all the efforts of Nature to separate them would be nil and inspiring. So will the bodies and souls of the righteous be after the judgment and their purification. the union is so intimate that all the efforts of Nature to separate them would be nil and breathless. So will the bodies and souls of the righteous be after the judgment and their purification. the union is so intimate that all the efforts of Nature to separate them would be nil and breathless. So will the bodies and souls of the righteous be after the judgment and their purification.

After the extraction of the Tincture, there remains behind a refractory earth which we call damned earth, because, like sin, it causes death and suffering. It must be carefully rejected, for it is it which prevents the ingress of tincture, and which causes antipathy and enmity here below among beings.

The boiling which usually accompanies fermentation is represented in our books as a combat between two champions, one of whom must overcome the other, and put him to death; but this should not be taken quite literally. This boiling must be attributed only to the disengagement of gases which seek to bring themselves into equilibrium, either by mixing or by extension.

Likewise, when we speak of the Hermetic Seal, it should not be understood as the exact closure of the vessel: an imbecile closure which would be more harmful than useful, since it would prevent the manipulation as well as the separation and conjunction of the substances in the due times and proportions. We thus call the reunion of several substances in one, in such a way as to no longer be able to separate them: for with us, or in our language, to open is the same thing as to dissolve, and to close, the same thing as to fix. We have seven seals corresponding to seven planetary bodies, and whoever knows one, knows all the others.

We also use many terms familiar to vulgar chemistry; we must know, once and for all, that to distil, cohober, sublimate, calcine, reverberate, incinerate, etc. are with us from the beginning to the end only one and the same operation, which consists in dissolving and coagulating, which is the same thing as wetting and drying, and which the least apprentice knows how to do.

Now that you have the solution of the principal Enigmas which obscure our language and prevent or at least retard its understanding, I am going to explain to you what our philosophical marriage between Beya and Gabertin is. You should now know that the Red Tincture, which is the fixed Sulfur of the philosophers, and which they sometimes call Lion, sometimes spirit of wine or very sour vinegar, and sometimes orpiment here functions as male and is called Gabertine. Mercury or White Tincture which they call Moon, Silver, Brandy, Vinegar, Arsenic, Magnesia, Leafy Earth etc. acts as a female here and is called Beya.

You should also know that these two substances, Sulfur and Mercury that the little peasantcalls the two flowers, together constitute only one Mercury, called hermaphrodite, or rather androgynous, which means male and female; that in the operation which I am about to describe, they perform their functions alternately; that consequently they often gave to both the same names, but particularly that of Mercury, while making however a small essential difference to know; they then put before the name of Mercury the first word, to express the white tincture. they call this the Green Lion, and the Sulfur Red Lion. If they name Mercury eau-de-vie, vinegar, arsenic, magnesia, Moon, silver, they name by a fair comparison and proportion Red Tincture, Spirit of wine, very sour vinegar, orpiment, realgar, quick gold, Sun, etc.

As a last observation, I will point out to you that mercury is only a salt inverted into this mercurial substance; that Sulfur itself is never without Salt, any more than Salt without Mercury, which makes you see evidently three substances in one, which substances we call, for our convenience. Salt, Sulfur and Mercury.
To proceed with the philosophical marriage, you separate your Red Tincture in two, and let one part of it dry out, setting the other aside for the need. How many people have failed, for having ignored this precaution! They believed that to whiten the red, and to redden the white, was only an ordinary and necessary Continuation of the progress of the great Work, and that all this was done by itself. Let them therefore know that the red is nourished by the white and the white by the red; that the white is taken for the milk with which the newborn child is fed, or for the Virginal Robe. As for red, it expresses either the increase of fire, or the change of clothing, it is taken by some for the Royal Mantle.

You will therefore proceed to imbibitions on half of your Sulphur, which you will have left to dry out, with white Mercury, according to the weights and measures which you have already used, and will continue in this way until complete saturation and the matter remains liquid at the bottom of the vessel, that is to say muddy. If you have operated well, you will obtain in forty days the dissolution of the body following which will come fermentation and putrefaction .
In fermentation, matter swells, rises and makes a little noise like that of an anthill; and when putrefaction wants to happen, the matter collapses and blackens. It is only when she has arrived at the perfect darkness, called Raven's head, that she is in full putrefaction. This is only the first matter of our Work, matter which we find nowhere on the earth of the living, which we do not however create, but which is said to have flown above our heads, because the mercury having been sublimated nine times, the Sulfur still rose above it .

Philosophers take dissolution for the reign of Mercury; it is during this Reign that our metallic principles are allied together, but it is here as an appetizer; it is only here at the Reign of Saturn or during darkness that they begin to count, or take the beginning of the work, because the three principles are irrevocably linked and the Seal of Hermes is accomplished. It is the vase of Nature that must be closed and not an egg of crystal or any other material; and the closure does not mean the throat of a vase so that air cannot penetrate it, but the intimate junction of Salt and Sulfur and Mercury, so that they can no longer be separated by any art whatsoever.

There is no need for any external fire to arrive at whiteness, the matter by drying out arrives there by itself. First, it takes on the color of ash gray which is compared to Tin, and which is called the seal of Jupiter; then it arrives by degrees at whiteness; but before arriving there one perceives circularly on the matter various colors, red, yellow, blue and green which one compares with the iris or rainbow, and which others call the tail of the Peacock. These colors, which hardly last, are replaced by a film of a blackish brown which is streaked by desiccation and reveals the matter under a gray color: soon after, one sees on the edges of the vase a capillary circle of great whiteness;then, the Reign of Jupiter, announced by the color gray, and which the philosophers compare to the fire of ashes, ends, to make room for that of the Moon. This Circle expands successively until the perfect whiteness of the matter that the philosophers rightly call Moon or Silver, since a weight of this white medicine projected on 10 of silver, and then on 100 of another imperfect metal, transmutes this one into silver purer than that of the mines.

The money that is used in this circumstance, here takes the place of ferment, and without it there would be no transmutation, it is in this sense that we must understand what the Sages say: that without gold, no gold is feasible; they hear about the ferment.

This bleached earth has the appearance of a brilliant diamond powder and is divided into small blades: which is why the sages named it their leafy earth in which they recommend to sow their GOLD, it is as we see only half a generation, this is why it is necessary to continue the work if one wants to reach perfection.
It is necessary to give this ground the necessary culture before sowing gold there, otherwise it would not bear fruit.

We therefore recommence the imbibitions with white mercury, according to the measure previously observed. With the aid of a well-observed fire, the matter becomes more and more subtle, becomes covered with greenery, after which it begins to turn yellow and takes on an orange color that it could no longer exceed if the fire were not increased.

This greenery so praised by poets and so recommended by all philosophers is the reign of the beautiful Venus, which is followed by that of Mars, which is the color orange.

You remember having made two parts of your Red tincture: you have just whitened the first, it must now be reddened. So take the Tincture put in reserve, dissolve it by projecting philosophical mercury on it and proceed with this Tincture with imbibitions, until the matter arrives at a beautiful purple and dark poppy red.
Such is the medicine of the first order, as well with the White as with the Red, which cures all diseases when one uses it without addition of metal, in a vehicle suitable for the evil, according to the prudence required, and which with the addition, like ferment, of the two perfect metals, transmutes in gold or silver all the imperfect metals, such as copper, lead, tin etc.

Before attempting a projection, the material must be tested on a red-hot copper blade. If it melts without smoke it is in the desired state, otherwise the fire should be continued.

MULTIPLICATION

Multiplication is nothing other than the repetition of the whole Work, starting from the philosophical marriage. It is only necessary to take care to divide its matter in two in the Circle of whiteness and that of redness, in order to be able to proceed to the imbibitions on the remaining half with relatives of the same blood. Mercury, as well as the Red tincture in their first state, would here be too imperfect to be able to combine with our medicine.

You will take care, at each dissolution by Mercury, to separate a damned earth which precipitates and which you will reject with all the less scruple, as it is absolutely refractory, and it prevents the intrusion of matter into metals .

With all the conditions I have described above, without omitting anything, you will surely arrive at the much desired goal of Philosophy.

However, do not seek to exceed the sacred number of nine, because the matter, however fixed it may be, would have acquired such great fluidity and dilation that no vessel being able to contain it, it would be entirely lost.

On this, my brother, thank God for the grace he has given you, as I thank him for having been useful to you in your plans, if they are right, and that you remain in the paths of good.

END

SCHOLIES

(By the same anonymous author)


1st
Everything was water from the beginning: the Universe and everything it contains came out of the Waters.

2nd
Water is a compound of various principles, if it were not, it would not experience fermentation or putrefaction.

3rd
Fermented, rotten and dried up water forms a silt which can be called dry water.

4th
This Silt, this Dry Water, is the clay from which the Colossus of the world was formed.

5th
Clay is an unctuous, gray and heavy Earth from which Brick is made.

6th
The alkalescence and not the grease forms its lubricity, and makes it soapy.

7th
This is what makes it miscible with fatty substances, but not intimately: at the slightest heat, the fat separates.

8th
Clay is therefore not formally an alkali; but he has a quality akin to his nature. He holds the intermediary.

9th
It often passes to the state of chalk or lime, but imperfectly, it retains more or less its original form.

10th
Yellow, red, green soils, etc. are of this nature, but with the addition of mineral tincture.

11th
This Tincture is produced by mutation of a part of the first earth into vitriol of the nature of iron or copper.

12th
The double action of the aerial spirit and the mineral spirit bring about these various mutations.

13th
The Astral, aerial and universal Spirit introduced into this subject, according to its purity, gives it a more or less noble form.

14th
Stone, marble, salts, Crystals and Minerals originate from this Earth.

15th
Clay is the natural and primary matrix of the whole world: the Astral Spirit is its seed.

16th
The Astral Spirit is unequivocally the light of the Sun and of the stars with which the air and the heavens are filled.

17th
In our earth system, the sun is the father of this spirit, the moon is the mother.

18th
The Moon is said to be the mother of the Astral Spirit, because its vivifying Light draws its source from the Sun.

19th
However, all the stars joining their light to it, its true name is the Universal Spirit.

20th
This spirit, which is a fire, must be dissolved by another fire, and become Water.

21st
This Spirit is collected in the great sea of ​​sages which is the air, by means of a magic steel which is of the same nature.

22nd
The central fire contained in all bodies is magic steel.

23rd
This magic word makes you see that it is not real steel, but that it is only called that by comparison.

24th
All living bodies draw air for their nourishment. The animal kingdom is where this attraction takes place most visibly.

25th
As soon as the astral spirit is attracted, it is reduced to water which the sages make their secret fire.

26th
Although all times are specific to this attraction, spring is the most suitable season, then autumn.

27th
At these two epochs, Nature is regenerated, and the air is more charged with this vital spirit.

28th
The Moon being the mother of this spirit, it is only when she shines that she gives it to us.

29th
Therefore, the greater its light, the more abundant that spirit.

30th
The Earth is round, and its motion is from west to east.

31st
The spirit pushed back towards the Poles by this movement, and finding its rest only towards the North, it takes refuge there.

32nd
The North being its homeland, it is in this region of the atmosphere that we must harvest it.

33rd
As soon as the Sun appears on the horizon, it drives out the spirit, one must cease work.

34th
Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of lentils, so divide his land.

35th
It is necessary to make rain on this earth the dew of the sky, that is to say the spirit, and that it is soaked with it.

36th
May the earth not be watered too much or too little, but may it remain wet.

37th
The amount of moisture the earth can hold is nature's weight. The earth that contains is the vase.

38th
Water should only be returned to the earth after it has completely dried up.

39th
Wet and dry, make up the natural day.

40th
Each moistening is called cohobation, and each desiccation distillation.

41st
At each imbibition, the central fire retains the spiritual portion of the Secret fire, the phlegm is entirely dissipated.

42nd
Or rather the acid and the Alkali do not conjoin to separate any more, because of the conformity of their Nature.

43rd
As long as the alkali dominates, the reign of dryness lasts: but the predominant acid in its turn causes humidity to reign.

44th
The predominance of acid leads to the dissolution of the body, and brings about fermentation.

45th
This fermentation is only a fight between the acid and the alkali during which they kill each other.

46th
The acid has however overcome the fixed since it has brought it to dissolution; but the fixed has also conquered the volatile spirit which remains without action.

47th
From acid and alkali united an androgynous or hermaphroditic nature is formed.

48th
Fermentation completed, Putrefaction follows, and puts the Seal to the first work.

49th
There were 50 Nereids or goddesses of humidity, 50 daughters of Danaus who married the 50 sons of Aegyptus.

50th
It takes 50 ablutions of the spirit on earth, or 50 marriages of acid and alkali, of heaven with earth, to obtain dissolution.

51st
The alkali, acting as female, overcomes 49 times its male, which is the spirit; but, with the 50th the forces coming to him to miss, it remains joint.

52nd
The ablution ceases as soon as the fermentation occurs. This fire is compared to a bain-marie.

53rd
The heat increasing in putrefaction is compared to that of manure.

54th
It is only in putrefaction that the conjunction is effected. The principles contained in a single substance can no longer be separated, and this is called Hermetic Seal.

55th
From coal which is black we make gray ashes, and from this ashes we get salt by continuation of the fire.

56th
The body blackened by putrefaction becomes gray and is compared to the ashes, then white and is the true salt of nature or the saltpetre of the sages, that is to say the Salt of their stone.

57th
The sages still compare their matter to soap, because apart from its particular properties it is like soap composed of an alkali to which the grease of Sulfur is joined.

58th
In the ashes, say the sages, is enclosed the diadem of our young king; in the remaining earth, after the extraction of salt, is sulphur.

59th
Sulfur manifests in this earth by its coction with our spirit or Secret fire.

60th
The philosophers call, external fire, the administration of the spirit to the body, of acid to Alkali or the excitation produced between salt and humidity.

61st
Geber defines sublimation the elevation by fire of a dry thing with adherence to the vessel, to express the putrefaction and exaltation of the substance, the fire, the dry thing, and the vessel being together the same thing.

62nd
The salt of the sages needs to be exalted to become their mercury. They have nine sublimations.

63rd
The sublimations are done like the first work, by the administration of external fire.

64th
Mercury must be made by Mercury, that is to say, the fire must be of the same substance as the body subjected to work.

65th
For this to be so, it is necessary to dissolve in the spirit part of the salt to make the Imbibitions.

66th
For this purpose, one makes, at each sublimation, two parts of his Salt, one remains dry, and one dissolves the other to soak.

67th
There thus takes place a new dissolution, fermentation and putrefaction all the more prompt as the salt is higher in dignity.

68th
These sublimations, which Philatethes calls his eagles, cannot exceed the number of nine.

69th
At each sublimation of the salt of nature or mercury, it always separates, by means of dissolution, a little earth which must be united with the first.

70th
It is all these lands together that we put with our mind, to have the sulphur.

71st
In this coction there is neither dissolution nor fermentation nor putrefaction to be expected, the body only blushes more and more and arrives at a brown color which is the last.

72nd
To have this Tincture the color of blood which is solar gold, or the very sour vinegar, or spirit of wine of R. Lulle etc. it is necessary to pour on the red earth, the philosophical Mercury to the height of two or three fingers; then it separates gently and floats the mercury like a Quintessence.

73rd
When one dissolves with the astral spirit, the salt which is the mercury, it is necessary to put the dissolution in a cool place, the mercury then collects on the surface of the spirit in the form of cream, but it is a salt, or a dry water which, although liquid does not wet the hands.

74th
There remain in the mind two kinds of salts other than mercury: namely, a nitrous salt and a fixed salt.

75th
By subjecting these salts to the work of eagles, and working them one through the other, they both arrive at a perfect mercurial form.

76th
There are two ways to get sulfur; the wet way, and the dry way.

77th
The wet way is the one I have just taught, it is the longest, but the most noble, because of the difficulties overcome.

78th
The dry way, as Flamel and B. Trevisan followed it, leads to the goal, although particular.

79th
It consists of separating the Tincture of common gold with the mercury of the 7th eagle.

80th
We thus gain over time two sublimations of mercury and the entire coction of the earth of the eagles.

81st
When we proceeded by the wet way, it is necessary to reject the ground which remains after the extraction of the Tincture. It is a damned and damaging land.

82nd
Whatever path you follow, you must proceed to the marriage of Sulfur and Mercury.

83rd
It is a New Heavens and a New Earth that you will marry together, and which will produce a new Jerusalem with a very powerful king.

84th
Take some of your Sulfur or Tincture, let it dry, and a soft, pleasant to the touch earth of a brownish red will be formed.

85th
Make your imbibitions with Mercury, as in the first operation, following the weight of Nature.

86th
After 40 Imbibitions which are deemed 40 days the body will dissolve, ferment and rot.

87th
It is these two Tinctures, one red the other white that the Little Peasant calls his two flowers and that others have called Grande and Petit Lunar

88th
It is necessary to bring this red tincture to whiteness by imbibitions with mercury.

89th
These imbibitions must be made in such a way that the earth remains firm, although wet.

90th
Science dwells in principles; but the art consists in knowing how to dissolve and rot.

91st
That one is past master who has reached the degree of putrefaction, because although it is the lowest of the Work, it is reputed to be the highest because of the difficulties it presents in reaching it.

92nd
The main step is taken to arrive at whiteness, which is a sovereign medicine against all sorts of evils.

93rd
It's not that there are still some difficulties to overcome, but they are not insurmountable.

94th
Whiteness is not immediately achieved, it must first be dissolved and blackened.

95th
It must be a radical dissolution, the body must be reduced to its smallest parts although it is not like river water or the like.

96th
It is wrong that some philosophers have spoken of blackening the white, for although the whiteness comes from the blackness, it is nevertheless the red that has whitened it and consequently the same that blackens it.

97
Moreover, this blackness is a tenebrous veil which covers the whiteness as well as the red.

98th
The dissolution is called the Seal of Mercury the bain-marie, the bath of the King. As for the putrefaction of which blackness is the symbol, it is goat or horse manure, and the Seal of Saturn.

99th
Dissolution is taken by some for the first matter of the sages, and putrefaction by others, in view of the essential and inseparable union of the two substances.

100th
Be that as it may, dissolution is properly the chaos of the sages, in which Heaven and Earth are enclosed, and putrefaction is their matter principle.

101st
It is only after 40 imbibitions that the body dissolves, ferments and rots.

102nd
This first blackness is called Raven's Head, Saturn or Lead of the philosophers.

103rd
As in the 1st labour, we stop administering the external fire when the dissolution is complete.

104th
Matter is guided by its own fire to the circle of whiteness which is the moon of the philosophers, Diana, Latona or the whitened Brass.

105th
The whiteness begins with a capillary circle that extends day by day to the center; but before arriving at whiteness, the matter passes from black to gray which is the intermediate color and which is called the fire of ashes, and the Seal of Jupiter.

106th
The transition from gray to white is marked by the appearance of several colors, among which green dominates: which has given whiteness the name of Green Lion.

107th
The wise call these colors Iris, or Peacock Tail.

108th
One compares this work until the whiteness, with the fire of Lamppost.

109th
The whiteness, which we said was the reign of the Moon, is only half a generation. The sages call it leafy earth for two main reasons.

110th
One is that when you look at it closely, it looks like sheets of shiny talcum powder.

111th
Second is that the putrefaction where she has just passed is the symbol of the winter during which the earth is covered with leaves from which a new earth is formed in the spring, which earth is called earth of the leaves.

112th
Since matter cannot go further by its own fire, it is necessary to begin the external fire again.

113th
To prepare in advance for the multiplication, it is necessary to separate the matter in two.

114th
We put one part aside, and we lead the other to the redness, continuing the work.

115th
We therefore resume here the work of imbibitions with mercury, observing the weights of Nature.

116th
Like the first time, the earth must remain whole at the bottom of the vessel.

117th
The matter gradually loses its whiteness and arrives at a green color which is compared to Vitriol, and which is called the Seal of Venus.

118th
By the continuity of the fire, it acquires a saffron yellow color which is the Seal of Mars.

119th
Since matter cannot acquire a greater redness by the same degree of fire, it must be increased.

120th
The fire is increased by soaking the body with stored red mercury.

121st
We continue this way until the material has acquired a brownish red.

122nd
Before arriving at this dark redness, it passes a beautiful color of purple.

123rd
Matter that has reached a very dark reddish brown color is the real fluid Gold of the sages, their sun, their universal medicine.

124th
Except multiplications, there are no more difficulties to overcome.

125th
We have two medicines; one white and the other red to cure any disease.

126th
These two medicines are not only useful to men, but to plants and minerals.

127th
An almost dead tree sprinkled with water in which a single heavy grain of this medicine will be dissolved, will come back to life, will flower, and will bear fruit.

128th
One does with this medicine an infinity of marvels above the natural power.

129th
If you project a grain of white medicine on ten of good silver, the whole will be medicine, one grain of which will transmute 100 of imperfect metals, into silver better than that of the mines.

130th
A grain of red medicine projected on good gold in fusion, will make gold in the same proportion.

131st
To make pearls larger and more beautiful than the natural ones, one only needs to dissolve some with mercury and then mold them.

132nd
In the same way, the weight and the beauty of the Diamond and the precious stones are increased.

133rd
Artificial Rubies, much brighter than the natural ones, are made by adding red dye.

134th
But only God can call bodies from death to life.

135th
The red tincture is the seventh and last Seal of Hermes which belongs to the Sun.

136th
One proceeds to the multiplication with parents of the same blood.

137th
One calls relative of the same blood the white and red dyes of the same operation.

138th
Mercury which has not been coupled with the red tincture is not capable of multiplying.

139th
The white and red medicines of the 1st degree are relative of the same blood, and can multiply.

140th
It is with this intention that we separate the medicines in two, in the Circles of whiteness and redness.

141st
One proceeds to the first multiplication by taking a part of red dye which one dissolves with the white put in reserve.

142nd
It is necessary beforehand to dissolve the white with the mercury to proceed to the imbibitions.

143rd
We then start the first work again with the same conditions and observing the weight of Nature.

144th
The pure separated from the impure each time shortens the time of the operation by half.

145th
The projection of this second medicine is done on a hundred of silver or gold, as a ferment, and then on a thousand of the imperfect metals.

146th
The weight and virtue of medicine increasing by ten with each multiplication, one ounce, of the ninth, will transmute a million into the very pure metal of gold or silver.

147th
The virtue of this medicine is so great that it can change the face of all sublunary Nature in an instant.

148th
It is so that the wicked do not approach it that the wise keep it so hidden.

149th
After the ninth multiplication medicine can no longer be contained; it flows through glass, like oil through paper.

150th
The whole Work is completed in 150 days, except the multiplications which can lead to two hundred.

END.