Isis the Prophetess to her son Horus.

1. — "When you were about to leave, my son, to measure yourself in combat with the treacherous Typhon about the kingship of your father, having gone myself to Hormanouthi [metropolis?] of the sacred art of Egypt, I remained there for a considerable time.

Now, by the permission of opportunities and according to the necessary course of the movement of the spheres, it happened that one of the angels who reside in the first firmament, having seen me from above, wanted to unite himself with me in a love affair.

He had already advanced, he was about to reach the goal, but I did not yield to him, because I wanted to learn from his lips the preparation of gold and silver.

Now when I questioned him about this, he said that it was not permitted for him to explain in this regard, for these mysteries surpass all description, but that on the morrow an angel greater than he, Amnael, would come to me, and that he would be powerful enough to answer my question.

2. — He added that this angel would wear his own sign on his head, and that he would exhibit a vase not coated with pitch filled with transparent water. And he refused to tell me the truth.

3. — The next day having appeared and the sun being in the middle of its course, the angel superior to the preceding, Amnael, came down to me, enamoured of me with the same desire of love, and far from containing his impatience, he hastened towards the end for which he had come. But I, nevertheless, was concerned to question him about these things.

4. — As he continued to delay, I did not give up, but I triumphed over his covetousness until he had shown me the sign he had on his head and had made to me, generously and without hiding anything, the revelation of the mysteries sought.

5. — He therefore finally decided to show me the sign and he began the revelation of the mysteries. And, having passed to the warnings and the oaths, he said to me:
I adjure you by heavenearth, light and darkness.
I adjure thee by fire, water, air and earth.
I adjure thee by the height of heaven and the depth of Tartarus.
I adjure thee by Hermes and Anubis, the howl of Cerberus and the guardian serpent.
I adjure thee by this famous boat and the ferryman of Acheron.
I adjure thee by the Three Goddesses of Fate, by their whips and by their swords.

6. — When he had made me swear by these words, he enjoined me not to communicate the revelation to any other than my beloved and legitimate son, so that he may be you and you, him.

Go then, observe, and question Acharas the plowman and learn from him what is sown and what is reaped, and you will learn that he who sows wheat will also reap wheat, and he who sows barley will reap

7. — Having heard this discourse, my child, learn to know the entire fabrication ( δημιουϱίγιαν ) generation of these things, and know that it is the condition of man to sow a man, of the lion a lion, of the dog a dog, and if it happens that one of these beings is produced against the natural order, it is engendered in the state of a monster and it will not be able to subsist.

For one nature rejoices over another nature, and one nature conquers another nature.

8. — Thus, having had a share in this divine power and having been favored with this divine presence, illuminated themselves also in consequence of the request of Isis, having made their preparation with the aid of the ores alone without employing other substances, (the alchemists) attained the goal, from the fact that the matter added was of the same nature as that which was prepared. For just as, as I have said, wheat begets wheat and a man sows a man, so also gold reaps gold, like its like.

So this is what the mystery revealed to you.

9. — Having therefore taken mercury... » (Operation recipes follow...)