Jewish letters
or
philosophical, historical and critical correspondence
between a Jewish traveler and his correspondents
in various places, by the Marquis d'Argens
LETTER 151
Aaron Monceca, to Isaac Onis, Karaite, formerly Rabbi of Constantinople. I found in England, my dear Isaac, the cabalist with whom I became acquainted in Hamburg.
After congratulating him on his happy arrival, I begged him to allow me to have a few conversations with him during his stay in London. I consent, he said to me, with great pleasure to what you wish; and I won't hide any mysteries of art from you.
Charmed by his offers, and to be able to know clearly if his science had anything real, I thanked him in the most tender and expressive terms. I want, he replied, to begin today to develop for you the first principles of hermetic philosophy. Let's go for a walk in some remote place, so as not to be interrupted in our speeches.
At these words, I followed my new master, and we went and sat down in the most hidden corner of a public garden, but usually very deserted. No sooner had we been seated than the cabalist, raising his eyes to heaven, remained silent for a few minutes, as if in contemplation. Then, coming to himself, he sighed deeply, and asked me if I had ever read any books that dealt with art? I answered him, that I had traversed several of them, but so obscure, that they had disgusted me to want to guess the hidden meanings of them. These words made the cabalist breathe another sigh. This, he told me, is what causes the wickedness of men.
The wise are compelled to veil and hide the knowledge of the treasures they possess, and to deprive many honest people of the opportunity to partake in them, for fear that the wicked and the profane will take advantage of them. All scholarly scrutinizers of nature have therefore been forced to write with such obscurity that it is impossible for one to penetrate the meaning of their discourse, unless one is enlightened by the mind of the Almighty, or by some master of the art. Also these illustrious philosophers have confessed that they wrote only for the dear children of the golden doctrine. Agmon, the great Agmon, towards the end of the peat, is explained in these terms: if we had not multiplied the names of art, etc.These reasons, continued the cabalist, are, as you see, quite essential, so that they should oblige the philosophers not to write in a manner which was intelligible to other persons than to those who are initiated into the secret mysteries. But what ought most to induce them to keep silence is the barbarous and inhuman way in which we have used with regard to those who are guilty of some indiscretion.
There are a number of tragic stories, which should serve as examples. The unfortunate Hermit, who discovered himself in bragardin, died by the hand of this bandit. Richard the English, after confiding his secret to a king of England, was executed in the Tower of London.You see by this how many philosophers are interested in keeping silent, or in speaking only in a way that is heard only by their companions and their disciples. What is the point then, I asked the cabalist, of writing books on your art, since they can only be understood by those who have no need of them, already knowing what they contain. You should not publish works, which only end up driving several characters crazy to get rich, and reducing them to extreme poverty: a just punishment for not having known how to content themselves with an honest good, which could suffice for their needs. I see, my new master answered me, that you have imagined that the books of secret science are much more unintelligible than they are.For, although they are written in a very obscure manner, it is nevertheless not impossible, with the help of the Almighty, without whom men can do nothing, to rise to the knowledge of the matters with which they treat, and to divine the true meaning of their riddles. This is what I am going to make clear to you, by giving you the key to all the different styles used by philosophers. But, to make their intelligence easier for you, I will discover to you without any disguise the fundamental principle of the philosophical art. When the eternal being, continued the cabalist, created the universe, he made a separation of the waters from the waters. He then divided the purest of these first two parts into three other parts.Of the purest of these parts, he made what exists on the firmament: of the second, he made the firmament, the planets, the signs, and all the stars; and from the third he created the four elements, into which flowed a spirit of life, which must be regarded as a fifth element, the principle, the seed, the maintenance, and the operative virtue of all that is in the universe. He then divided the purest of these first two parts into three other parts. Of the purest of these parts, he made what exists on the firmament: of the second, he made the firmament, the planets, the signs, and all the stars;and from the third he created the four elements, into which flowed a spirit of life, which must be regarded as a fifth element, the principle, the seed, the maintenance, and the operative virtue of all that is in the universe. He then divided the purest of these first two parts into three other parts. Of the purest of these parts, he made what exists on the firmament: of the second, he made the firmament, the planets, the signs, and all the stars; and from the third he created the four elements, into which flowed a spirit of life, which must be regarded as a fifth element, the principle, the seed, the maintenance, and the operative virtue of all that is in the universe.
It is this fifth element ignored by the general of men, which true philosophers have called universal spirit, natural magic, quintessence, elixir, potable gold, stone, mercury, azoth, water, fire, dew, etc. They used all these different names, the better to hide their secrets; though it is nevertheless true, that all these different denominations suit the subject to which they give them. When they call this element quintessence, it is because it results from the assembly of the four elements. When they gave it the name of elixir, it was because of its admirable properties, to preserve life, and chase away diseases. They also gave it the title of potable gold, because it equals the excellence of gold.It should be noted that the philosophers do not contradict each other, when they assert that their matter is vegetable, animal, and mineral. For, as this universal spirit, or this fifth element, cannot subsist without a body of whatever kind, and as no body can in the same way exist if it does not vivify it, it is diffused in all the different elements, and produces equally the vegetable, animal, and mineral faculties.
The whole secret of the art therefore consists only in being able to find this vital spirit, and to put it in a condition to act freely on the bodies; because being full of life, and abundant in heat, he cleanses and purifies them, and definitely works the great work. The wise philosophers, who have written on the means of extracting and drawing from the other elements this prolific and vivifying seed, have employed various ways of stating themselves, obscure and veiled, which they have called styles. This is how Merlin used the allegorical, King Artus the parabolic, the great Hermes the problematic, Arsileus the typical, Balgus and the Cosmopolitan the enigmatic.Among so many different ways to interpret all these different styles, the key to the two main ones will be enough for you, to make it easy for you to get to know others. Merlin, speaking in allegorical style, writes, that a king, having drunk water, could not ride; that is to say, that, by a mixture made about water and earth, the matter is made liquid: and he adds, that this king, having taken a medicine of armoniacal salt and nitre, he was found dead; wanting to mark, that, by means of the specific projection, or of the spirit, which one had extracted from the elements, the matter, of liquid that it was, was entirely fixed and converted into gold, the fire of the furnace having consumed all wetness.The enigmatic style, used by Balgus and the Cosmopolitan, is as obscure as the allegorical for those who do not know this fifth element, this salt or this spirit, which I told you was the projection powder. To clear it up, look at a child being suckled, say these philosophers, and do not disturb it; because he has the secret of the art. These words signify, that the patient and active matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow older. and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane.I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them. To clear it up, look at a child being suckled, say these philosophers, and do not disturb it; because he has the secret of the art. These words signify, that the patient and active matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow older. and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them.To clear it up, look at a child being suckled, say these philosophers, and do not disturb it; because he has the secret of the art. These words signify, that the patient and active matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow older. and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them. say these philosophers, and do not trouble him; because he has the secret of the art.These words signify, that the patient and active matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow older. and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them. say these philosophers, and do not trouble him; because he has the secret of the art.These words signify, that the patient and active matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow older. and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them.that the patient and agent matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow up, you see now, continued the cabalist, that the books of the sages are not unintelligible to those who are initiated in the mysteries with which they treat; and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them.that the patient and agent matter, that is to say, the sulfur and the mercury, must be purified by a fire which must be carefully controlled, and that the quantity of food must be increased in the same way as the quantity of food is increased for children as they grow up, you see now, continued the cabalist, that the books of the sages are not unintelligible to those who are initiated in the mysteries with which they treat; and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them. you see now, continued the cabalist, that the books of the sages are not unintelligible to those who are initiated into the mysteries with which they treat;and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them. you see now, continued the cabalist, that the books of the sages are not unintelligible to those who are initiated into the mysteries with which they treat; and that they were right to hide them from the eyes of the profane. I am willing to pass on to your philosophers, I said to him, their obscurity, since you say that it is so necessary to them.
But, I still have a big doubt. I have great difficulty in believing that any of them could ever come to the end of extracting this vivifying salt from the other elements, and I think that they never made gold, although they boasted of being able to do so. You, for example, who are one of their famous disciples, do you know the secret of extracting this spirit of life, from this powder of projection, absolutely necessary for the transmutatory operation. All those, replied the cabalist, who know how to do the great work, are still far from executing this masterpiece. One finds hardly in each century one or two persons who are fortunate enough to be able to direct their fire with the correctness necessary to attain the end of the art.The slightest degree of heat more or less destroys the work of twenty or thirty years: and, whatever science one has, only God can foresee certain accidents which upset all human precautions. This is why, among the wise, we see so few who succeed.
I even confess to you that, although I have revealed to you the most hidden mysteries of art, I would not advise you to apply yourself to it: and, if I had not embraced it, I would not choose it today in preference to many other occupations. I have already eaten up considerable sums: but, if I have not yet found the means of making gold, I have discovered several other secrets, which reward me for my troubles, and urge me to pursue my enterprise.It would therefore be in vain, I retorted to the cabalist, for me to persuade you to quit such a deceptive profession. I will not tell you what you must have said to yourself several times. But, I will gladly take advantage of your complaisance, to learn some of your secrets, in these words,
However great, my dear Isaac, the madness of cabalists and artists may be, it must be confessed that we are nevertheless indebted to them for a great number of discoveries which have illustrated experimental physics.Because, by looking for their fifth element and their imaginary projection powder, they have provided physicists with the means to know how vitriolic and metallic waters coagulate in the bowels of the earth, and form minerals, metals, and stones, according to the various matrices they encounter. Chemistry has given a sensible idea of the vegetation of plants and of the growth of animals, by fermentations and by sublimations. She learned through distillations how the sun, after having rarefied the waters of the sea or other rivers, draws them into the air, where they form clouds, which then distill into rain or dew.So many discoveries, for which we are indebted to the study of chemistry, must make the mad researches of cabalists and artists dear to true philosophers, since they profit so usefully from their extravagance. Be well, my dear Isaac; live content and happy; and guard yourself carefully from the labyrinths of the philosopher's stone. my dear Isaac; live content and happy; and guard yourself carefully from the labyrinths of the philosopher's stone. my dear Isaac; live content and happy; and guard yourself carefully from the labyrinths of the philosopher's stone.
from London, this...
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