LIBER SECRETISSIMUS
GEORGE RIPLEY
All the work of the composition of the Philosopher's Stone and the Great Elixir and the first solution of the gross bodies.
Take our Artificial Antimony, and not natural Antimony as it comes from the earth, for it is too dry for our work, and has too little moisture, or oiliness in it, but take shall I say our Antimony Artificial, which is abundantly filled with the Dew of the Heavens and the fat and unctuousness of the earth, in which precious Oils and rich Mercurys are by nature closely enclosed, and hidden from the eyes of all the ignorant who scoff at the marvelous and great mysteries of Almighty God, so that they cannot see, nor understand, what he has hidden in the most obvious, common and contemptible beginning of all Things throughout the World.
For our Antimonial Body is only to be revealed to children of the Art, who firmly believe in the abiding truth of it, and out of brotherly love and charity we say, that it is made of one Sulphur, and two Mercurys , which are otherwise called by the Sage Philosophers, Sun, Moon and Mercury, or as some of them more plainly say, Salt, Sulfur and Mercury, which are the three different and distinct substances and bodies, though for the most part we let us call them a single Thing, because at the end of our work they are made a single thing, which is our admirable Elixir, and they have each of them an origin, and tend together to the same end. Also if we did not have in our work a ternary aspect of these Planets, and did not begin our work with a Trinity, all would be useless work and without profit.
Also if you wish to work well in our Art, we wish you to begin with our mineral Trinity, and by this our Artificial Antimony is made. Take then from the first beginning of this work, these three noble Parents, who are immediately imbued with the strong and subtle qualities of the four elements, and in their mature and natural proportions, in which proportions you must not stray, for if you you can never reduce these bodies to our true Chaos, and you will be forced to start over again, which will be a painful discouragement to you). Put them in a good strong curcurbite or glass vessel, and close it well at the top, so that no spirit will exhale, for if they find an opening to evaporate, you will fail, for you will lose. and dissipate the flowers of our Gold. When this Vessel is well closed, put it in the oven of the Philosophers, in the Ashes or in the sand with a temperate fire below, during the space of a Philosophical Month, which is six whole weeks, and during this time our gross bodies will be dissolved and mortified and will be ready for a more royal generation. During the time of this dissolution and putrefaction our three noble Parents, unnatural assassins of each one of them, will not spare themselves any cruelty to extract the vital blood from each one of them, and therefore are cooked in their own shed blood, and they become soft and tender, like butter, and are made of one thing, without difference or distinction. When you have brought your work to this point, thank God and be happy that by his Grace and Mercy you have obtained our black and tenebrous Chaos, which is the true Thing written by all the Philosophers, our confused mass, and the primordial ground of all our Secrets, for in him lies invisible, our Gold and our Silver, our Sulfur and Mercurys, our Crystalline Water, our Oils and Tinctures, and our four Elements which you must make visible and apparent to the eyes of all, for otherwise nothing can be fulfilled, and you will never be able to obtain the hope of your silver and golden desire. These Mercurys, Waters, Oils, Tinctures, and Elements, make them visible and evident.
After the above Months have elapsed, your vessel being cold, open it, and cap it with a capital, place it in our Bath, fit the vessel to the opening of the capital, close the joints tightly, and draw out all the tasteless and insipid water, which you will put aside in a tightly stoppered flask, put a new container, and in the ash bath and by a stronger fire, draw out all the White smoke, which is called our Air, Tincture of Silver and Virginal Milk, which you will also keep separately in a tightly stoppered bottle. Then finally put a new container, and in the sand bath with the strongest fire you can make, separate the red smoke, which is called our natural fire, our golden Tincture and radical humidity of the Elemental bodies, continue the fire as long that there are no more red drops or vapors, then reduce the fire by degrees, close the container tightly with wax, so that the spirits cannot escape, for this is called our Blessed Liquor, and believe me there is no more potent poison in all the World than this, therefore keep it closed, and do not touch it until we point it out. It is now the work of Art, for Division and Separation is the only work of Art and the Artist, and not of Nature; for here Nature is forced by the skill of the Worker, to renounce and separate herself from her beloved Elements, which she keeps preciously chained and enclosed in her entrails, and which by the violence of the external fire have been by force extracted from it. Truly the first Work of Solution and Mortification is Nature's only operation, for Matters being enclosed in their dungeon, there Nature attenuates, dissolves and putrefies them, and forces them to retrograde again into their own first matter, which is a viscous humor and substance, from which in the beginning the four elements were formed and begotten. And in this first work, the Artist is nothing but a maker of fire, who gives Nature the strength and the power to work on materials, because without fire to excite Nature could not do nothing, but it would remain useless and waiting, and this with regard to the coldness of Mercury, because the cold prevails, the heat remains chained and impassive, but when the external fire activates and provokes the indignation of the ardent Menstrue Salé , she seizes the oily and unctuous body of the Sulphur, and extracts its natural heat and its fiery part, and then both embrace and work the cold Mercury, and they grind and disperse all its limbs into smaller flying atoms in the rays of the Sun, and then heat becomes predominant.
Hence in this First Work the Operator is nothing but the faithful administrator of Nature, which in this case can be effected by the simplest and most illiterate man in the World.
But in the secret work of the conjunction of our Elements, Nature and Art go together hand in hand, for here the Artist finds and imbibes, and Nature fixes and freezes, which we will show below. later, when we talk about this book.
The first work of the solution reduces our Trinity and our Antimonial compound into a green gum, called the Green Lion, which gum dries moderately, but be careful not to burn its flowers, or destroy its greenness, for in it dwells his Soul, which is our main Secret. And our second work manifests those things, which were previously hidden from view, and makes visible and distinct our four elements. But in this second work, if you extract our Air and our fire with phlegmatic water, they will be more naturally and easily drawn from their infernal prison, and with less loss of their Spirits than by the first way described.
After the division is perfectly celebrated, you must find on the sides of the Cucurbite, and also in the top of the Alembic, a white frost like the freezing of a vapour, or like sublimed Mercury, which you will keep with circumspection into a tightly stoppered bottle of glass, for in it lies hidden a great secret, by which you will be able to shorten your work, in half the time, and in half the labor, than one could do it otherwise, which will allow it to be do with greater benefit and ease and at less expense.
Of the Purification of our Base.
It is more than certain, that the outer fire is a great friend to us, and its nature is such, that it cannot endure any impurity in anything, therefore on the day of Judgment, the Elemental fire will purify, cleanse and burn. all the impure earth on which we walk, and purge it of all its filth and filth.
So must it be the same in our work. This is why after the separation of our Water, Air and Fire out of our earth, remove the black faeces which remain at the bottom of our Vessel, which is called Our Dragon, and grind them into subtle powder, in two crucibles lute together, in a potter's kiln, or glass kiln, or wind furnace, until it is whitish or gray, this Lime must be kept apart, because it is the Base and the Foundation of our Work, it is now called mars, and our Fixed White Earth.
Of the Purification of our Failing Water.
But lest you waste time and wait, while the Earth is calcined, distill the Water which was first drawn from our Compound, and this seven times, until it is clear. like the Crystal, but do this with it alone, and add nothing else to it, and then you will have our pure river of Water of Life, which has the power and virtue to revive the dead body whence it was taken , and make it white and shiny like pure Alabaster. As with our other Fiery Waters, they are so fixed and permanent, that no fire can again raise them from their substance, but they will remain in the fire, until the Last Judgment without any loss or exhalation.
All things being henceforth purified outward as well as within, now begins the work of Art and Nature, in which one must inseparably help the other, for if they refuse to s to help each other, all previous sweats and labors are of no use, for Nature cannot join our disjointed elements without the assistance of an expert Artist; nor the Artist can coagulate the elements put together without Nature, therefore Nature implores the help of the Artist with an Adjuna me, and ego adjunabose. And therefore the Artist having seen before what Nature has done for him, in dissolving and purifying the bodies, is ready to help him.
From the Work of the Conjunction of the Elements.
Take the faeces mentioned above called mars, or Our Dragon, which devours its own tail, and put them in a glass vessel without fear of half filling it, and pour over it our rectified water of Life in sufficient quantity to cover the powdered Lime, this done, immediately close the vessel with a blind capital, duly attached to the rest of the body, and put it in the hot ashes, until the Lime has drunk and coagulated all the Liquor, which shall be done in eight days, then from eight to eight days imbibe the said Lime with its own water, and when it drinks no more, but is very white and shines like the Eyes of Fishes, and shall be full of Blades Crystallines, then, the said Lime being very dry, take it out of the vessel, and separate from it, all the Crystalline Blades, and grind them into Powder; put that powder which we call nature's sulphur, or foliated earth, into another vessel, and pour upon it our White smoke called Virginal Milk, by a moderate fire coagulate them together, and continue this Work till almost all the Air has been drunk, and become fixed and permanent. Then take out the material, and put it into powder and incise it drop by drop with the part of its Reserved Air, until it becomes liquid like Honey and melts and flows like Wax, on a charcoal and does not evaporate, then you have the perfect White Stone, and the Silver Medicine, which transmutes all bodies of imperfect metals into the true and perfect Moon.
From Work to Red
When you have obtained our White Stone in the above manner, divide it into two equal parts, and on one of them put the fourth part of sublimated Mercury, both being pulverized, mix them well together, and put them in a well-luted vessel, and put them in your oven, and leave them there for the space of a month with a temperate fire, until they are only one body, then take in a part that you can project for your need, as for the other part you can always multiply it with sublimate, gold of Quicksilver which has been purified by Salt and Vinegar, until the end of your days, thus subtracting and multiplying according to your pleasure.
But for the Red, take the other reserved part of your White Stone, pulverize it, and put it into a vessel, pour over it some of our fiery water, or Golden Tincture, and coagulate them together over a moderate fire, lest your vessel be ruptured by the force of the venom and insurmountable power of our Red and fiery Mercury, do this once or twice, until it is perfectly fixed, then take out the matter and grind it into powder, and incinerate it. there in a crucible with the said Red Oil, or Ardent Water, until it flows like Wax, as it was done with the White Medicine, then you have our dark red stone similar to the color of Hematite , who is able to work miracles on earth, but it is not our intention to reveal them at this hour, leaving it to be experienced by those whom the Mighty God thinks are worthy to be taught, by this our brief and small book small, but concise and substantial, God to whom we owe perpetual thanks and praise, because you have endowed us with this Knowledge.
Shortcut of the Great Work, which saves half the Work and the Time.
The White powder, of which we have spoken before and of which we have told you to reserve, which is the perfect Sulfur of Nature, and the Foliated Earth, which requires neither imbibition nor digestion for the white; take it and grind it finely, then soak it with four parts of our aforesaid Air or Lait Virginal.
But observe at the same time, that you must have great supply of our Water, Air and Fire, and these extract out of five or six different compounds, or Chaos, so that after you have driven a Chaos out of the Furnace , you must presently put a new one, and that successively one after the other, and separate their elements, because otherwise you will want waters and oils for imbibition, inceration, and multiplication, and if your work must be interrupted for lack of such materials, all is lost and you will achieve nothing, for as soon as you begin you must proceed without stopping or interruption until the complete end.
But for our subject, having soaked the aforesaid Frost, and coagulate the whole over a low heat, until all is drunk, then soak and coagulate twice more until fixed, after that put into powder, and incise , with a little of our Air by drop, as you did for the white medicine before, until it flows like wax on a hot iron, and does not evaporate, then you have the perfect White Stone, made in half the time, and with half a month of labor, which is a precious jewel and a great Secret.
From Work Shortcut to Red.
Take the whole, or half, of our White Stone, made from the Frost mentioned, and pulverize it, put in a strong glass egg, and imbibe it with a little of our fiery Red Mercury, and put on a low heat, for fear of breaking the glass, coagulate into a dry powder, then soak and coagulate twice more until everything is firmly fixed, then take the material and pulverize it, and inset it with our aforesaid Oil drip into a strong crucible over moderate heat, until it flows like wax, as previously mentioned. Then you have the perfect Red Stone with less labor, expenditure of time and money, and this Secret has never before been unveiled by any of the Ancient Philosophers, for they were envious of their rare Mysteries, which we have now fully unveiled, for the honor of God, and for your good, so that you may perform the holy Work of Charity and Mercy, abundantly supplying and relieving orphans and widows, redeeming prisoners and captives, especially those who have suffered for the love of our Holy Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Our White Stone is Multiplied by repeated imbibition, coagulation, and inceration, with our Virginal Milk, for the more you do this, the more it increases in quantity, and it becomes in this way more subtle and penetrating, and converts more metal with a lesser amount.
Our Red Stone is multiplied in the same way, by repeated imbibition, coagulation, and inceration with our fiery Oil, or Red Mercury, and this way you can accuse it so much, that it will be able only for us to penetrate the metals, but also the hardest Stones, and any other Things said in Everyone.
Anyone will obtain these Medicines, will have incomparable Treasures, surpassing all the Treasures of this World.
FINISHED