MYTHO-HERMETIC DICTIONARY

Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernety

in which we find the fabulous allegories of the poet the metaphors, the enigmas and the barbaric terms of the Hermetic philosophers explained.


1787



PREFACE.

Never did Science need a Dictionary more than Hermetic Philosophy. Those into whose hands fall the Books made on this subject, cannot support the reading of them for only half an hour; the barbarous names found there seem devoid of meaning, and the equivocal terms which are purposely placed in almost every sentence present no definite meaning. The Authors warn themselves that they should not be taken literally; that they have given a thousand names to the same thing; that their Works are nothing but a tissue of enigmas, metaphors, allegories, presented even under the veil of ambiguous terms, and that one must be wary of places which seem easy to understand on first reading. They make everything a mystery, and seem to have written only not to be heard. They protest, however, that they write only to instruct, and to instruct in a Science which they call the key to all the others. The love of God, of neighbour, of truth, puts the pen in their hand: the recognition of a favor so signal as that of having received from the Creator the intelligence of such a high mystery, does not allow them not to be silent. But they received it, they add, in the shadow of mystery; it would even be a crime worthy of anathema to lift the veil which hid him from the eyes of the vulgar. Could they dispense with writing mysteriously? If this Science in its simplicity were exposed to the light of day, women, even children would want to put it to the test: the stupidest peasant would leave his plow to plow the field of Mars like Jason:

It was therefore necessary to keep this Science in obscurity, to speak of it only through hieroglyphics, through fictions, in imitation of the ancient priests of Egypt, the Brahmans of India, the first philosophers of Greece and of all countries. , as soon as one felt the need not to upset all the order and harmony established in civil society. In this they followed the advice of the Sage.

It is inappropriate to treat the Hermetic Philosophers as mad: is it not making oneself truly ridiculous to decide boldly that the object of their Science is a chimera, because one cannot penetrate it? , or are we completely unaware of it? That's judging like a color blind. What use should sensible people make of the critical judgments of some Censors on this matter, since all the merit of these judgments consists in the cold seasoning of a few good words in the shadow of which they hide their ignorance, and that they sow for lack of good seed, to deceive imbecile readers, always ready to applaud them? Are they worth the expense of an answer? No: we can just send them to the school of the Sage (2).

I would like that before displaying their contempt for the Hermetic Philosophy, they take the trouble to learn about it. Without this precaution they will justly attract the reproach, that fools despise Science and your Wisdom, and that they feed only on ignorance; and I will say to them with Horace: Odi prophanum. vulgus, and arceo. It is indeed about these same mysteries that the ancient priests said: Procul o procul este prophani!

My Treatise on Egyptian and Greek Fables develops some of these mysteries. From the obligation in which I was to speak the language of the Philosophers, there resulted an obscurity which can only be dispelled by a particular explanation of the terms which they employ, and of the metaphors which are so familiar to them. The form of Dictionary seemed to me the best, with all the more reason that it can serve as a Reasoned Table, by the references that I took care to insert, when it was a question of clarifying fables already explained.

Many people look at Paracelsic Medicine as a branch of Hermetic Science; and Paracelsus, its Author, having, like the Disciples of Hermes, made use of barbaric terms, or taken from other languages, I thought it would be of service to the Public to give an explanation of them according to the sense in which they were heard by Martin Rulland, Johnson, Planiscampi, Becker, Blanchard and many others. If I have not always quoted these Authors, any more than the Hermetic Philosophers, I have recalled them often enough to convince the Reader that I ordinarily speak only from them. Those who have read them carefully will easily recognize them.

So that the reader can judge that my explanations of the terms and metaphors of the Philosophers, are not arbitrary and of my invention, I will report here some of their texts with which he can compare them. He will see there, moreover, that they all agree among themselves, although they express themselves differently.

The Sages, says Isaac Hollandais, gave many different names to the stone. After they had opened and spiritualized the matter, they called it a vile Thing. When they had sublimated him they gave him the names Serpent and Venomous Beasts. Having calcined it, they named it Salt or something like that. Was it dissolved, it took the name of Water, and they said it was everywhere. When it was reduced to oil, they called it a Slimy Thing, and it is sold everywhere. After freezing it, they named it Earth, and claimed it was common to poor and rich. When it had acquired a white color, they gave it the name of Lait virginal, and those of any other white thing that may be. When it changed from white to red, they called it Fire and all the names of red things. Thus in the denominations which they gave to the stone, they have in regard to the various states where it is until perfection. Book. I. ch 126. works on Minerals.

This mixture of three things is called blessed stone, mineral, animal, vegetable, because it has no proper name. Mineral, because it is composed of mineral things; vegetal, because it lives, and vegetates; animal, because it has a body, a soul and a spirit, like animals. From his black underbelly he is called Fetid Black. It is still called in this state, Chaos, Origin of the World, Confused Mass, for me I call it Earth. Our water takes the names of the leaves of all the trees, of the trees themselves, and of everything that has a green color, in order to deceive the foolish. It is also called Holy water, the temperance of the Sages, Very sour vinegar, Dissoluble body, Gum of the Philosophers, Vile thing, dear, precious, Hard and opaque body, soft and transparent, Exaltation of water, Angle of the work. Observe that the Sun and the Moon are called the father and mother of the stone in the composition of the elixir, which in the operation of the same stone is called Earth or Nurse. Arnaud de Villeneuve, Comment. on Hortulain, p. 25 and 35.

The Stone of the Philosophers is one, but it is given an infinity of names, because it is aqueous, aerial, terrestrial, igneous, phlegmatic, angry; it is sulfur and quicksilver; the superfluities are changed into a true essence, with the help of our fire: and whoever wants to remove something from them, will never reach the perfection of the work. The philosophers have never unveiled this secret. Pontanus, Epistle.

Our stone is named in an infinity of ways, because it takes names from all black things. When it leaves the darkness, the names given to it recall things the sight of which brightens and gives pleasure, such as white and red. This is however only one thing. Riplée, ch 3. of the supplement. If you call it water, you are telling the truth; if you say it is not water, you are not wrongly denying it. Ibid. page 139.

When you cook these principles with caution and wisdom, you make them into a thing that takes many names. When it is red, it is called Fleur d'or, Ferment de l'or, Glue d'or, Sulfur red, Orpiment. When it is still raw, it is called Lead of Brass, Rod and Blade of Metal. The Philosophers call the bronze Coin, Ecu; and Lead blackness. Ibid. page 142.

Our water is called Eau de vie, Eau net, Permanent and perpetual water, and an infinity of other names. It is called Water of Life, because it gives life to dead bodies, and purifies and illuminates what is corrupt and defiled. Arnaud de Villeneuve, Mirror of Alchymy , pag.11 and 27.

Quicksilver is called the Father in the generation of metals, the true vine, Lead, Phoenix, Pelican, Tantalus, Daedalus, Serpent, Fountain, Well, Gate, Quicksilver of the philosophers, Rennet, Milk, Ferment, Serf fugitive and many other names. Desiderabile, p.71

While the work is still raw, our quicksilver is called Permanent Water, Lead, Moon Spit, Tin. When cooked it is called Silver, Magnesia, White Sulphur. When it has taken on the color red, it is given the names of Orpiment, of Coral, of Gold, of Ferment, of Stone, of Lucid Water. Ibid. p. 22.

Our water takes on four main colors; black like coal, the white like the fleur-de-lis, the yellow like the color of the swivel feet, and the red like the color of the ruby. We call the black Air, the white Earth, the yellow Water, and the red Fire. Ibid. p. page 100.

The lunar juice, the brandy, the quintessence, the ardent wine, the vegetable mercury are only one and the same thing. Lunar sap is made from our wine, known to few; it is with him that we make our dissolution and our drinkable gold; without it we can do nothing. Our stone is like animals, composed of body, soul and spirit. The imperfect body is called Body, the ferment Soul, and the water Spirit. The imperfect body is heavy, crippled and dead; water purges and purifies it by subtilizing and whitening it; the ferment gives life to the body, and gives it a better form. The body is Venus, or the female; the spirit is Mercury, or the male, and the soul is composed of the Sun and the Moon.

The water of the philosophers is called the Vase of Hermes; it is of her that they said, all the operations are done in our water; namely, sublimation, distillation, calcination, solution and fixation. They are made in this water as in an artificial vase: which is a great secret. Rosarium. Cambar, Ethelia, Orpiment, Zendrio, Ebsemeth, Magnesia, Chuhul are names of our sublimated Cambar quicksilver. When it has reached the whites, it is called Plomb d'Eburich, Magnesia, Brass blanc. Feel 54.

The philosophers have given many different names to this stone, in order to obscure science because when it has been put in the physical vase, it takes different names according to the various colors that occur to it: during putrefaction it is called Saturn, and after Magnesia. Mirror by Arnaud de Villeneuve.

Leafy Earth, White Sulphur, White Smoke, Orpiment, Magnesia and Ethel mean the same thing. The body is called Iron, Mars, Carmot, Almagra, Vitriol, Blood, Red Oil, Red Urine, Youth, Noon, Summer, Male, and several other names given to it respectively to the color and its properties. Ibid.


Operations.

"Our magisterium is made of a single thing, by a single voice, and by a single operation", Lilium. "You need only one thing, namely our water; and only one decoction, which is to cook: there is only one vase for the white and for the red", Alphidius.

"Though the Sages speak of many things and various names, yet they have heard of only one thing, one disposition, and one way", Morien.

White and red come from the same root, without mixing things of another nature. We don't add anything extraneous to it, and we don't take anything away, except superfluities during preparation. Ibid. Rhasis after saying the same thing, adds: This matter dissolves itself, marries, whitens, reddens, becomes black, saffron, and works itself up to the perfection of the work. Know that if you take anything other than our brass, and work it with anything other than our water, you will not succeed. Peat.

Of the number of Matters which compose the Magisterium Our stone must be made of the Sun and the Moon: of these two one must be a red male, and a white female. Isaac Hollandais, liv.I.ch.61.

The conjunction of the Sun and the Moon makes our stone; the Sun draws substance from the Moon, and gives it its own color and nature. Which is done by the fire of the stone. Raymond Lully, Codicille.

Our stone is not made of an individual thing, but of two things, which being the same make only one. The same.

The Sun is its father, and the Moon its mother. The wind carried it in its belly. Hermes. There enters into our magisterium only the brother and the sister, that is to say, the agent and the patient, the sulfur and the mercury. Aegidius of Vadis.

Our quicksilver is clear water, our arsenic is pure silver, and our sulfur is very pure gold. All the perfection of the magisterium consists in these three things.

There is only one stone; this unique thing is not one in number, but in kind; as the male and the female alone are sufficient to engender, so the Stone of the Philosophers is made of two things, of the spirit and of the soul, which are the Sun and the Moon; a third is added to it, the metallic body, without this number of two being increased, because this metallic body is composed of two others. Scala Philosophorum.

In our compound are the Sun and Moon in virtue and potency, and Mercury in nature. Ludud puerorum, pag.137.

Join your dearest son to his white sister in equal parts, and give them a potion of love, which they shall drink until they get drunk, and until they are reduced to very fine powder. Remember, however, that pure and clean things unite only with those which are pure: without this attention, they would engender children different from themselves, and impure. Aristotle the Chemist.

The Dragon dies only mixed with his brother and his sister. Rosarium.

Three things suffice for the whole magisterium, namely the white smoke, the celestial water, and the green lion, that is to say, the brass of Hermes, and the fetid water which is the mother of metals, with which the elixir is made from the beginning to the end. Ibid.

The matter of the Philosophers is water, but a water composed of three things: the Sun is the male, the Moon is the female, and the Mercury is the sperm. Because to generate, in addition to the male and the female, it is necessary a seed. Ibid

Only one filthy body enters our magisterium, the Philosophers commonly call it Green Lion. It is the medium or medium for joining the tinctures between the Sun and the Moon. These two material and formal principles must be dissolved. Rippled.

Nothing is begotten except by its kind, and fruits only produce like fruits. The water of the philosophers is the ferment of the bodies, and the bodies are their earth, even after they have become black by the preparation of the fire. The Philosophers then give them the name of Black Fire; and in the second operation, those of Mountain Charcoal, Pitch, Antimony, Alkali, Alchali Salt, Marcasite, Magnesia, Argent-Vif extracted from Cambar, their Lime, Glass and Mondified Water. Rofinus at the end of the first book to Euthicte.

Join a living male with a living female, so that they form a sperm, and beget a fruit of their kind. Cosmopolitan.

Our water is celestial water, which does not wet the hands; it's not vulgar water, but it almost looks like rainwater. The body is the gold that gives the seed. The Moon (which is not vulgar money) receives the seed of gold. The same.


Operations.

The names of decoction, commixtion, mixture, sublimation, contrition, desiccation, ignition, dealbation, rubification, and whatever other name we may call the operation, it is only one regimen which is simply called decoction and contrition. Alanus.

Know that all the operations called putrefaction, solution, coagulation, ablution and fixation, consist in the only sublimation, which is done in a single vase, and not in several, in a single furnace. Arnaud de Villeneuve.

To resolve, to calcine, to dissolve, to sublimate, to dye, to wash, to cook, to refresh, to sprinkle, to extract, to coagulate, to moisten, to imbibe, to fix, to grind, to reduce to powder, to distil, to dry, are the same thing. The same. Be careful not to think that when we speak of sublimation, or that we indeed sublimate, we mean to speak of the separation of the matter which is at the bottom of the vessel from that which is above. In our sublimation the fixed parts do not rise, but only the volatile. Alanus. The intrusion, the submersion, the conjunction, the complexion, the composition and the mixture are, in our Art, only the same thing. Avicenna.


Fire.

Remember to always give a very low heat; the work could be longer. Isaac Hollandais, book I. c. 9.

Each time the stone changes color, you will increase the fire little by little, until everything remains fixed in the background. The same.

Our fire is mineral and equal; it is continual; it does not rise in vapors unless it is excited too much; it partakes of sulphur; it is taken from elsewhere than matter; it dissolves everything, destroys, freezes, calcines; and this fire, with a gentle fire, completes the work. Pontanus. The Trevisan says the same thing in the same terms.

The fire of the first degree is like that of the hen brooding her eggs to hatch chicks, or like the natural heat that digests food to turn it into the substance of bodies, or like that of manure, or finally like that of Sun in Aries. This is why some Philosophers have said that the work must be begun with the Sun being in this sign, and the moon in that of Taurus. This degree of fire must last until whiteness; when it appears, one increases the fire little by little until the perfect desiccation of the stone: this heat is similar to that of the Sun when it passes from the sign of Taurus to that of Gemini. The stone being dried and reduced to ashes, the fire is fortified until it becomes perfectly red, and takes on the royal mantle. This heat compares and is the same as that of the Sun in the sign of Leo. Scala philosophorum, pag.107.

Mercury is fire; which made the Philosopher say: Know that mercury is a fire, which burns bodies much better than common fire. Rosarium.

The heat of your fire must be that of the heat of the Sun in the month of July; so that by a gentle and long cooking, your water thickens, and changes into black earth. The same.

Our quicksilver is a fire that burns every body with more effect than common fire; he mortifies them at the same time; it reduces to powder, and kills all that is mixed with it. Peat.

Of the Vase.

The vase of the Philosophers is their water. Hermes, Ludus puerorum.

We only need one vessel, one stove, and one operation or regimen; which must be understood after the first preparation of the stone. Flamel. The Author of the Rosary expresses himself in absolutely the same terms.

The vases required for the work are called Aludel, Crible, Sieve, Mortar, because the material is ground there, purified and perfected there. Calid.

The vase must be round, with a long neck, a narrow orifice, made of glass, or of a clay of the same nature, and which has the capacity; the opening will be sealed. Bachon.

Time.

It takes us a year to reach the goal of our hopes. We could not form our lime in less time. Rippled.

The time required for the perfection of the elixir is at least one year. Rosary.

The Philosophers have determined several lengths of time for the cooking of our Art. Some have fixed it at a year, others at a month, others at three days, still others at only one. But just as we call a day the duration of the time that the sun takes to traverse the sky from the east to the west, the Sages named a day the interval which elapses from the beginning of the cooking. until the end. Those who speak of a month have regard to the course of the Sun in a sign of the Zodiac. Those who mention three days, consider the beginning, the middle and the end of the work: and finally those who fix this time at a year, say it with regard to the four colors which form their four seasons. Anonymous.

Colours.

When you see the darkness, rest assured that the true conjunction is made. Before the true white color manifests, the matter will take on all the most beautiful colors in the world at the same time. You will see on the edges of the material of the stone, like oriental gemstones, and like fish eyes. So rest assured that true whiteness will not be long in coming. Isaac Dutch.

The secret of our true dissolution is the coal blackness made of the Sun and the Moon: this blackness indicates such an intimate conjunction and union of these two, that they will be inseparable in the future: they will change into a powder very white. Raymond Lully.

At the end of forty days that the matter will have been brought to a slow and mediocre heat, it will become black as pitch, what the Philosophers call Raven's Head, and the Mercury of the Sages. Alanus.

Heat acting on moisture produces first blackness, then whiteness, from this whiteness the color citrine, and from this the color red. Arnaud de Villeneuve.

Some have said that one sees during the course of the work all the colors one can imagine; but it is a sophism of the Philosophers, because the four main ones only appear. They only say it because these four are the source of all the others. The color red signifies blood and fire; citrine bile and air; white phlegm and water; black melancholy and earth. These four colors are the four elements. Rosary.

Enigmatic Style.

It would be madness to feed a donkey with lettuces or other rare herbs, say several philosophers, since the thistles are enough for him. The secret of the stone is precious enough to make it a mystery. Everything that can become harmful to the Society, although excellent in itself, must not be divulged, and one must speak of it only in mysterious terms. Chemical Harmony.

Our Science is like a part of the Kabbalah, it should only be taught clearly by mouth to mouth. Also the Philosophers have treated of it only by enigmas, by metaphors, by allegories, and by equivocal terms: one would guess as much in the silence of Pythagoras, as in their writings. Aegidius of Vadis, chap. 10. Prophetic, natural, spagyric and poetic secrets are mostly hidden under the same veil. Ibid.

Most of the Treatises composed on this (Hermetic) Science are so obscure and so enigmatic that they are unintelligible to anyone but their Authors. Margarita Novella.

Anyone who easily becomes disgusted with reading the books of philosophers is not made for science and will not succeed. One book clarifies another; one says what the other omitted. But you must not imagine that one reading of the same book is enough to understand it, two, three and even ten times repeated it is not capable of bringing to light what you want to learn. . Bacaser in Turba.

This science is a gift from God, and a mystery hidden in the books of the Philosophers, under the obscure veil of riddles, metaphors, parables and shrouded speeches, so that it does not come to the knowledge of fools who would abuse it. , and ignoramuses who do not bother to study Nature. Those who wish to achieve this must apply themselves to clearing their minds by reading with attention, and by meditating on the texts and sentences of the Philosophers, without amusing themselves with the letter, but with the meaning that it contains. Aurora Confurgens.

Resort to God, my son, turn your heart and your mind towards him, rather than towards the Art; for this Science is one of the greatest gifts of God, who favors whom He pleases. So love God with all your heart and with all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself; Ask God for this Science, earnestly and persistently, and He will grant it to you. Alanus.

All wisdom comes from God, and has been with him from all eternity. He therefore who desires wisdom must seek it in God, and ask him for it; because he distributes it abundantly, without reproach. He is the principle and the end, the height and the depth of all science, and the treasure of all wisdom; for from him, in him and through him are all things, and without him nothing good can be achieved. To him therefore be honor and glory forever and ever. Albert the Great in the preface to his treatise on Alchemy.

I could have multiplied the number of these texts of the Philosophers: one would find more than enough to form a large volume; but these will suffice to acquaint the reader with the way of explaining themselves of those who have written on the matter and the processes of the Hermetic Science. This thick cloud which one finds diffused in all their works, this affected obscurity, this mystery which so few people can penetrate, are indisputably the true reason which has made and still makes the Philosopher's Stone look like a chimera, in spite of the testimony of so many Authors. and facts known as certain that testify in favor of its reality. The Scholars, it is said, call it extravagance and madness. What to conclude from there? Wouldn't this be proof that those who are called scholars are far from knowing everything? And that they could more justly say of them what an ancient sage of Greece said of himself: I do not know so many things that I can say: I only know that I know nothing. Are we not aware, moreover, that extraordinary discoveries, such as, for example, that of gunpowder and its effects, at first found only scoffers and incredulous among the scientists themselves? What is called science often has its prejudices infinitely more difficult to overcome than ignorance itself. It seems to me that the greater the extent of genius and knowledge a man has, the less he must deny, and the more possibilities he must see in Nature. To be gullible, there is more to gain than to lose.