Where it is Taught, how to prepare the salt of the White Elixir and red.
Take, in the Name of God, good sea salt because it is made from the sea; take a good one quantity and grind it very finely in a Mortar of stone: then take glass Cucurbites, and pour your salt: only take well water, and let it dissolve your salt in clear water; being all dissolved, then distill by the filter; that is, hang a felt of wool or fabric, in gourd; and let the other end hang down in a another glass next to her, placed as if it were under her, that she risk of falling into the water, which the felt or fabric will pull, and which must be as clear as silver: and when the water does not drip more, look if it is very clear; if not, filter to again in another glass, until it is clear or Crystalline: and when it is, put it in a pan of glass, put it on a sand fire, and let the water evaporate in succession, until it comes on it like a white salt: then take a stone chamber pot or earthen pot, as are drinking jars, and put the water and salt in them remaining, and leave on said oven, and let the steam go, and when it starts to dry, mix it with a stick, until it is very dry, otherwise it will clump or in block, and that it is well dried, crushed very finely in a stone Mortar, as before, then put it in a Melting Crucible, and put it in an incandescent furnace, or the said Four, which is an oven with which jewelers enamel their rings: the oven being very hot, take the crucibles which are filled with salt, and put them in the oven, and leave them until they are incandescent, and watch that these are not warmer on one side; if they are, turn them with a pair of foundry pliers: put a pot in the oven at once, what you can do for the better; and when this pot is at a glowing heat, take it out, and put it in another to be calcined.
Then, being cooled, put it back in your Mortar, and grind it as finely as you can, to the third time, then put it in the fire of the Oven at glowing, as aforesaid, two or three times blushing, and grinding each time in a Stone Mortar up to seven times, then put it in well water to dissolve it, until it is in clear water.
Then distill through the filter, until it's as clear as Crystal, then put again on your Oven to dry, and evaporate the water until the Salt forms, stirring with a stick as it was said before. And when everything is dry, put it to calcination again, as before, in the glassmaker's fire; and when the jars filled with salt, are all glowing with heat, then take them out and grind it into a powder, as before; and of again dissolve in water.
Distill again through the filter, as before: this will do so many times, that is, dissolve in water, then distil through the filter, then coagulate into dry salt, redden with fire: do this relentlessly until it comes to be fat, and that it melts on a plate of glowing Moon and if it does not not melt like wax, you have to dissolve it, distill it, coagulate, until it comes to that point or perfection, and you must be careful, lest it melt into the calcination; for then all your work would be wasted. Keep this for a great secret: and such a preparation does not belong than to salt, which is the wealth of this world. Otherwise you will never come to the perfect end of an Elixir, without such prepared salt, as above, i.e., Elixir white, nor yet to the color red.
Therefore, my beloved Son, the one who makes known the secrets of this salt, (that is to say) its solution, its freezing, distillation and calcination, and can thus understand, knows the entire secrets of philosophy natural, and the wife also; that is to say, how and from what way it must dissolve, distill, coagulate, and Calcirate. Therefore do not be discouraged from working in the preparation of this salt; because, at no great cost, you can learn here, to distill through the filter, dissolve, freeze, and calcine, and to form all the works that are necessary in this science.
When you come to the main work, you will not be to seek or to learn: so be patient and do not not be discouraged from work, until you have done your salt at this point as I have taught you before, until what he melts on a reddened silver plate, like wax in the fire, for without this salt your work is in vain; because he is the key to this science.
Where it is Taught as with this prepared salt one makes the Elixir to white.
Take two parts of Saltpeter, and one part of Alum, and distill it into strong water. Then take your salt prepared as much as you need in this work, and take as many Good Cup Moon as you have your salt.
Crush your Moon, in thin plates, and dissolve it in said eau forte, in a glass by itself.
Likewise your Salt, you must dissolve it in the said water strong on its own.
And when your Moon and your salt are dissolved in both glasses, put the two clear waters together, and note that you did not put more water necessary for the dissolution of these two materials, which will dissolve, and you will see your Moon falling to the bottom of the glass, white, like milk: take the glass properly, and shake it in your hand, and let it rest, and you will see your Moon as a rising green water; which you will take out and put in a another Vial of glass: then pour into it more strong water, which has no not, served, and done as above; put the green water in the first green water, shaking as before.
Do this before all your Moons are dissolved in green water, that no faeces remain in it; otherwise, your work will not be not perfect, and when you have everything in clear water, without faeces, put it in a glass curcurbite with a capital and a recipient, and Lut strongly: and when your Lut will be dry, put your curcurbite in the bath, and quickly do the bottom of your glass a lead strapping, like a strip; and let your Lut be dry, so as to increase your fire a little to distill by the flame, there will remain no more strength than in common water: and to find out, put a rag in the mouth of the Still: and when the rag begins to appear yellow, remove all heat from the oven, because then the spirits strong water begin to come.
Therefore take good care of your work, lest that your fire is too hot, that no spirits come out of your water; otherwise you will fail in your work. Afterwards, let your glass and the Oven stand and cool for two hours: then take off the capital of your curcurbite, and have a glass stopper that can pass right into the mouth of your curcurbite, in which is your medicine, fight quickly with Lut, or white wax: put it in your Fire of sand, or hot ashes, not very hot.
Then just take some Beaten Cup Moon in Plates very thin and cut them into small pieces, and put one little at a time until dissolved; and when it is dissolved, add more until dissolved also. And so let your glass rest in ashes warm; and observe, that no Air comes out of your glass nor cement.
This nutrition must continue until it dissolves more, but remain in the glass the undissolved two or three days of time, and then your medicine is fed like a child in the mother's womb.
Then you can let your glass cool, and you understand, without it being nourished medicine cannot not engender; and therefore it is necessary that she be nourished, that she may obtain force of generation: and when your glass will be cooled, lute your Glass well with a good Lut, that can endure water, which I will let you know in a chapter apart, and let the Lut dry by itself; Then put the glass in the Bain Marie, to putrefy forty long days by holding it in heat, such as the sun in summer: a great fire that can destroy your medicine. So let your fire always be in this heat: which remains a great medical secret.
And within forty days your medicine will be dissolved; and if it is not dissolved in forty days, let it rest longer until it is dissolved, because it is the principle of all the work: because the dissolution is done by heat and humidity, and coagulation by heat and extraction.
This point being obtained, you have the key to the room, and it is blessed of God who arrives at this point.
For it is a sign of goodness, in every Dissolution and Freezing, you increase your medicine and degree: to the first time, she's gonna do a one in seven ounce projection, and dissolved and frozen again; An ounce will project onto fourteen ounces, and the third time on 28 ounces.
And so it will then double at the projection by each Dissolution and Freezing. But you understand that the Freezing that comes from heat, is not Freezing perfect; but it must freeze in the glass or in the bulb with heat, (i.e.) in hot ashes, and by therefore, when your medicine is dissolved in your glass, let it cool; then take her out of her bath, and dry your glass.
And take a good look at your Luts that they are tight, with no slits for do not let the spirits escape; put it in your Fire ashes: so light your oven, and let not your fire increase, that you can hold your finger in the Ashes: and then let it sit for 24 hours to freeze; whether she is not clotted in this time, you can leave her rest longer; and when you see that it is frozen, give thanks to God, and rejoice; because she is ready to project in this way.
Take for the projection, red copper the best one can get, and take from him his blush, which serves him not in this work: which you will do next in this way.
Beat your Venus in thin plates, and cut it into small pieces, anoint it with this paste or porridge.
Take white Arsenic and spray it on a stone of marble with oil of tartar, whether thick as like a porridge; and with this matter anoint your coins with (copper) Venus: take a good sea salt, and put some of it in a low crucible, and put your pieces of (copper) Venus on him: then put salt on it, and the (copper) Venus above, Stratum super-stratum, until all your pot is full, and up in your Pot, let there be a good amount of Salt: take a flat tile, and make a round lid for the jar, and lute well; and when the Lut is dry, place it in a kiln over a calcining fire for twenty-four hours.
Then let it cool, then break your crucible open, and throw the matter that is in your crucible into hot water, and mix with your hand, until the pieces are clean and the water is cool. Then, dry them, and pound them in an Iron Mortar, as fine as you can. Then put your Venus, so crushed, in a canvas bag which is closed, and round like a ball. Afterwards, take fat clay which is mixed with hair, and coat your bag with it, barely, so that it can dry; and when he is dry, coat again and again, because when it is dry, your clay should be thick like a pot. Then when your clay is lute on your canvas, take a small wooden spade, and put it across your Lut in the bag, that little end may remain within the copper Venus.
Then put the round ball of (copper) Venus in a another crucible, the wooden spade down; but you have to remind you to put in your crushed Venus, Anatron, Verne, Saltpetre, Then put this Pot in a large oven to melt, and the Venus will melt and run into the Pot, in which it must stay: then the Venus must be good and white like the Moon, and must be profitable in this work: which, without this work of preparation, would not do what you would like from your projection.
Take seven ounces of this prepared Venus and put it in a crucible, and put it in the highest degree of fire that you can, in a large oven: put an ounce of good cup moon; and when everything is melted, as above, put an ounce of your medicine or Elixir on it, and quickly stir with stick; but let no Iron come to her: and when it is well incorporated, then take it and pour it into ingot; you have the best moon in the world, conform in all tests and examinations, and she is much more fine, than that which comes out of the Earth. Once you have finished this work, give thanks to God, and remember the poor.
Of the properties of salt, in which way it is the key to this science
My beloved Son, although our Salt is the key principle of this science, he cannot do well, even if it was made fusible like butter, without join it with the Sol or the Moon; otherwise, there is no generation: therefore it must be prepared by itself, and, after joining the Sol or the Moon, before doing any projection on any imperfect metal, to make them perfect.
But, you will have prepared it by itself, and after joined the Moon cup with him, as mentioned and written in the other chapter; It is therefore necessary that the body that you are going to project above, be clean, as aforesaid, and then live with the Moon spouse.
Because imperfect bodies are called dead, saving the Sol and Moon: they are called life, and realized; and the same living body that we throw away, or project with it, we let us call leaven or leaven, and which must make our body imperfect perfect; and therefore they must be all three joined together, or else there will be no transmutation. Thus, I will only finish the composition of the White Elixir, and now will start with the Red Elixir.
Where it is Taught, the composition of the red elixir.
Take, in the Name of God, as much of our prepared salt which you find good, and dissolve it in this water strong. Take two parts of good Vitriol, and one part fine saltpetre; and put as much salt in your water as water will dissolve it, let there be no faeces left, but let it be dissolved and transformed into clear water: then fine Sol, which is passed through Cement seven times, which I will let you know in the sixth chapter: take a part of the Soil which is so passed through cementum, and two parts of your infusible salt prepared; but let your salt first be dissolved in said water, as above: then put in your Sol, which is will thus dissolve in the said water: and when your Sol is dissolved, then put your glass in the hot ashes; Thus will dissolve best in clear water.
Then put clear water in another glass; apart, and put more etching on your Sol: Do this until that you put it all in clear water in the other separate glass; and that no undissolved substance remains in the bottom. Then work with the one you made in the job to the white and pull the Phlegm out of it to the bath in such heat that the spirits do not come out, or no strength or acidity, and do it in every way, as in the work at white ; and you must nurture the medicine in its own matter, which is, with the Fine Ground, which you have spent seven times by cement, made as thin as you can in laminates, and feed your medicine with him, as much as he will eat; then place it on hot ashes to coagulate.
Then, put it to putrefy fifteen days in the Bath, do not not your fire too strong within fifteen days, it must be dissolve: then freeze it on hot ashes; what will be done in twenty-four hours.
Do in all things as in the aforementioned White Elixir; for its first dissolution and Freezing it must fall for one ounce in twenty-eight; and so double.
This Elixir should only be projected on a good Moon prepared, as hereinafter will be taught, that is to say, who has the weight of the Ground, and a sonority, like Saturn; so that he does lack of nothing, only the color and the fixing, that our Elixir must give to him, by the grace of God.
Where it is Taught to make the projection with the red Elixir.
My beloved Son, if you want to transmute the Moon in Sol, take some fine Cup Moon which is prepared, in the chapter written below, made without sound or ringing, and heavy in weight: what I tell you will teach.
Take seven ounces of this Moon, and melt it into a crucible; and being well melted, put in it an ounce of fine Sol which has gone through cement seven times, as I learn it hereafter: for there is no Sol, in the world finer than this, to serve in this Science. Where is he increased in Color by our Cementation, and when it is well melted with the Moon, stir it with a wooden stick; but not iron, otherwise it would harm the projection. These two being well mixed together, put an ounce of your Red Elixir stir well and mix together, as above, with a wooden stick: then take it and throw it into an ingot mold, and you will find it to be from Sol to twenty-four carats, which will pass all the proofs, finer and better than the one who comes from the Mines. Praise God for his wonders.
Where the composition of cement for the floor is taught.
Take, in the name of God, the finest gold you can get, one ounce; and melt with it the redder venus and the best you can get, one ounce: and when these two are well melted together, throw them in an ingot mold, and when it is cold, beat it in thin plates, not thicker, than a crown, and with a pair of jewelers shears cut them into pieces the size of a silver coin, and put them in strong red wine vinegar, 24 hours time: then take old tiles that have been in the sun for a long time, and put them into subtle powder, and pass them through a fine sieve: then take common salt which is dissolved once, distilled through the filter, and once well reddened in the fire, and reduced to powder, and passed through a sieve: then take Vitriol Romain, and redefine it as I will show you below: take very red wine vinegar, distilled in a Still of glass: and in this vinegar you will dissolve your Vitriol: distil very clear by filter,: put it on ashes hot enough to coagulate or dry out, that the water evaporates, and you will find your Vitriol placed in the bottom: then take a new earthen pot or dish, and put your Vitriol in it this one, and put it on a slow fire, and mix well with a stick, and if it is reddened, and like a red wax like the blood; let it cool, and turn it into powder, and pass it through a sieve, and in the same water you take some green from Spain, or Verdigris, and dissolve it in distilled vinegar, then evaporate it, and dry it: then redden it in the fire, do all the aforesaid things on the Vitriol: then take as much Armoniac salt, and dissolve it in red wine vinegar which is not distilled: so take of all these powder stuff se resembling a lot, and sprinkle lightly on the vinegar, in which the Armoniac salt is dissolved; And that there is has as much dissolved Armoniac salt as the other parts: so take a crucible, and throw into the bottom of your crucible a layer of your cementum, and your Sol-Venus plates on the cementum, so that the plates do not touch each other: so put more of your cement powder on those, and thus stratum super stratum, until the Pot is full: that the top layer is Cement.
Then take a slab of stone, and make a cover just for the mouth of the crucible, make a small hole on the lid, or the Armoniac salt will shatter your crucible, or make pop the lid, and when you've made that hole, fight promptly together: and when your Lut is dry, place it in your Wind Oven, and first give it a little two hours fire, two hours stronger; and so increase still fire, until you see the red crucible bright; and so leave it in the heat 24 hours time: let your oven cool down; and take it out, and open your jar, and you will find your laminates increased in color.
First, my son, if you do this job in the oven Lamppost, to make your fire: the first half hour, a small charcoal fire; and the other time, a fire of dry wood, which must be smoke-free; and work in furnaces high one meter above the earth, and in this way you must cement your gold seven times, each time in new crucibles, and with fresh new powder or Cement, each time you melt your Ground with new Venus, and rolling into plates like previously; in each Cement your Venus must be consumed, and in the Sol there will be nothing left of Venus, but stain and color, and your Sol will always hold its first weight, but its color is so high that none will judge let it be Sol; and you will understand that if there were too many Moon, having become soundless, and increased in weight, fused with said Sol, it would look like Sol. But I don't advise not to do so; in various fonts, it will lose its color, and will turn white as mentioned above, because your fixed Elixir, or medium, is not put in: therefore do not advise you to do so; Because in the end he will be the shame of his master; and by chance he will bring to Peril of his life, should he be sold for good Soil. By therefore keep to it, and see that you were not using the falsity.
Where it is Taught to make your Moon soundless, heavy in the weight, like the aforementioned Sol.
My beloved Son, Take Vitriol, and distill it strong water, and dissolve salt Armoniac in it, as much as it can dissolve; put it on the hot ashes, and put therein as much sulfur as salt Armoniac; and shake it with your hands, tightly covering your glass that no spirit comes out of it, and set it on ashes, and lute a marquee there with a recipient, and make a fire appropriate underneath, until the water distills out of the vessel: let it cool, and remove the water, and cap the led from the marquee swiftly, that no air comes out and make a stronger fire: then the sulfur and the Armoniac salt will sublimate at the top of the marquee; keep them well then take thin Cup Moon, and melt it in a crucible, and put this sublimation on your Moon three times, stirring well together in the crucible with a wooden stick, but not iron, and it will make your Moon heavy in weight, and with a dull noise, like the Sol: and you will understand that if you have ten ounces of Moon, you will throw an ounce of this glorious powder, stirring as above, and if your Moon is black, (which it will be) it will be a good sign: then cast it in Ingot, and quench it in water, and it will turn blue: then leave it in jeweler's water (which is made with tartar and common salt) an hour of time, it will turn white as before, and so is your Moon ready to receive your Red Elixir.
Where it is Taught the difference between the Elixir, And the great Stone of the Philosophers.
My beloved Son, Our white and red Elixir are called stones and not stones; it is a way of speak, they are not perfect stones, like is our great stone of the philosophers, which we call major and the great perfect stone, and a perfect work serving all imperfect metals: to transmute them into true beautiful Sol and Moon after the previous preparation; because if she is prepared in the Moon, so she will always put them in Moon: because each of them engenders its like: which, great Stone, I will teach you to do, in its place thereafter, if it pleases Almighty God. There large stone which is used for the red work, or for the Ground, is called Lapis Philosophorum major; and in white, we calls it Lunar; but the Elixirs are called Stones and not stones; but we call them, Sales Elixirs, they are Elixirs of salt, because they are composed of salt, i.e., great sea salt, which is clarified by dissolving and freezing, as previously taught; and also with another salt called saltpeter, which must be combined with salt which is in the depth of the body of the Ground, when the Tincture is given to him by cement.
What if people in times past had understood the sense of this salt, they had come to the end of their work: but for lack of understanding, they changed the words of the philosophers, who said, Our Stone is Stone and is not a stone; because they thought of the Elixirs, which means that those who were uneducated did not understand it; and they have named their salt, which is our nature salt which we have spoken before: our salt of Wisdom, which is, when it is prepared: our Menstrual; with which the glory of our medicine is nourished, as the child is in the vagina of its mother. They also call, a king, and this noble salt, and this living water, or Oil of Grace, and the most precious water secret and nearest, the mercury that dissolves; glory is the mercury of the philosophers, and it dissolves all the bodies of metals, and there is a medicine, and the first beginning of the rock; and he is living water and living brimstone; he is the lord and the Master of all salts, and without him the others do not have the full powers to do something perfect; he binds and unbinds, he joins the man with the woman; it changes a species in another, and makes the bodies, spirits; and the minds, bodies, and he can do anything in compositions, and make stone perfect philosophers.
Where it is Taught, that our Sol and Moon are alive, and the Sol and Lune des Mines are dead.
My son, you must understand, that our Sol and Moon are alive, and these that are in the Mines are dead, and this is the soil of the earth not as good as our Soil which is made by this Science; because our Sol has in it three things, (i.e.) one soul, body and spirit: without these three things which, he cannot be made of transmutation, only one cannot; they must therefore be all three together, if we want to do well. And understand, no one can do any transmutation with the corruption of the perfect bodies, i.e., the Ground and the Moon: because we take the Spirit from the perfect bodies, through our semen, or our etching, and the same spirit is carried in our water, that is to our dissolved salt, which is our dissolving: for the case where the mother received the semen, that is, the sperm from imperfect bodies with her menstruum in her body; so it will receive no life until the soul has entered it: we also do what nature asks, we let's conjoin this together, until it becomes water clear without faeces, and we draw the simple phlegm to the bath or to ashes; and afterwards, that we put the soul in it, or nourished with Sol or Moon, as required by your medicine, then they are ready to engender their fellows; and then we put them into putrefaction the said time mentioned: then, it is mind and soul perfectly made, and copulation is done; and then, when we project on all bodies imperfect or to the said metals, then this Spirit or medicine takes for himself a body, and he is then called a Spirit, a soul and a body, which is then alive.
And this instruction (my beloved Son) that gives you, this that you should know, that our Sol and Moon live, and that those of the Earth or the Mines are dead: and also, that you must know, that our white or red Elixir, are not other thing that spiritual, or a Spirit: which, when cast upon a corpse with soul, brings it back to life; that glory is next multiplied and increased in goodness and perfection; and that in him is accomplished only by accident, which in the earth makes him default; (i.e.) that the disease which is obtained in the earth, is removed by our medicine or Red Elixir or white: what we do in this way; We take, at the Name of God, our Earth or metal, it is a body imperfect, and melt it with a perfect body or Corpus which is our leaven, with which we will prepare our dough; then we throw on it Our Elixir, which is our Spirit; which then makes it perfect, and a living body or metal: but the great stone of the philosophers, which I will teach you below after to compound, and to do perfectly; which is one if great strength and power, whether corpse or metal, not only makes alive and perfect, but also makes with the same metal Medicine, transmutes any other metal imperfect to perfect, and it does that even in a blink of eye: so it may be called, and is, The Wealth of Everything the world. However, do we conclude the first part of this book, to say, the composition of the White and Red Elixirs.
My beloved Son, I have opened the truth to you, without leave whatever is necessary to be known from the composition of the Elixirs, which is the beginning and entry into the Great Stone of the Philosophers; And this Stone converts all imperfect metals, into metals fine Sol perfect, twenty-four carats; melt the metal you want to transform; and then cast upon him his leaven, that is, the Gold, when your stone is made in the work at red, and the gold should be cemented as above in the other book, and increased in color; it is, if you want, do melt down a hundred ounces of imperfect metal, then throw on he the ferment or leaven, which is of gold; mix them well together, and put more than one ounce of gold to the mass of metal; and being then well melted, and incorporated together, throw not more, but the amount of a pea of the red stone on him: also you will see, that this stone will transform this mass of metal, or hundred ounces, in the finest fine gold that can be in the world, of twenty-four carats, and which passes all the tests that men can do, better than that coming out of the mines. And you will understand that our Elixirs we have above mentioned, did not come to their full perfection, but it is the beginning of the white stone and red of the Philosophers: but if you want to make them perfect, as below I will teach you, the white is from transform all metals into silver, as red is declared, that is, when you have Melted the metal that you want to transform, you have to throw in an ounce of fine Cup Moon, which you made without sound, and heavy in weight, as this is previously stated in the other book; and when you have mixed them well with a stick, then thrown the size of a Pea from your white stone, and you will find it transformed into a very fine Moon, better than all what comes from the Earth: and if in case you have launched a ounce of your white stone or your red one hundred ounces of imperfect metals; it will be transformed into the Elixir or medicine, by which you can transform all imperfect metals in perfect Moon or Sol, after the beginning of your work: for your white begets only the Moon, and your red as Sol, and its projection is one in a thousand: that is, if you melt a thousand ounces of metals imperfect, you must put no more than an ounce of this last glorious Medicine, and it fixes in perfect Moon or Sol, better than anything that comes out of the Earth, passes all tests and examinations that can be made on him. And in the following, I will teach you the composition of these two stones for red and white, and I'll start first through red, then continue with white, which is called Lunaris.
The elixir of life.
You will take (my beloved Son) the red elixir here above described and put it in putrefaction for the time of forty days; so that your fire is always of regular heat, and no hotter once than a another, night and day, and Glory shall be made in the Bath Married; this time being over, you will see your Elixir dissolve in clear water, because you will have kept the fire continuously with a single heat: and your Elixir is dissolved in clear water, then you will dissolve the sublimed mercury in it, as I will make known to you hereafter; and dissolve as much of sublimated Mercury, that the Elixir weighs: and take care, that the spirits do not fly away as you can: gently shake it between your hands, without opening the glass; And take care that the glass does not break, by the force of the spirits; and lute the mouth of the glass quickly with a Lut who is strong, that he can bear the heat of the Bath, without to open: what I will let you know below in a separate chapter; and when the Lut is very dry, put the glass in the Bath, to putrefy for forty days, as above, by holding the fire of a heat without interruption the time of forty days and nights, as aforesaid. the forty days being over, see if everything is dissolved; if is not the case, let stand longer until everything is dissolved; and being all dissolved, let the Bath cool: and in in any case, make sure that your glass is not hot, lest your glass break: then take it out, and dry your glass, and put it on the ashes to congeal, and have your no hotter ashes, you will be able to suffer your finger down low bottom; and let it sit for twelve days, without getting anything out of it; but let the glass of the manner in which it was putrefied: and be careful, that the Lut does not break in any way, if it splits, relute it well again, that the Spirits do not fly away, and the twelve hours are over, it must be frozen, if your fire is well governed; if he is not is not, let stand longer, until it is frozen: and when it is frozen, the stone is fully realised, and perfectly finished, and these are the riches of the whole world. God let you be able to get it, and thank God almighty, good health of your soul, &c. My son, you will understand that Mercury is called Fontaine, and the first material of all metals, as it is really, and so we can't make ourselves great transmutation, without the Mercury being joined to it: one can do small Increases and Transmutations, like us we said it before in our Elixir; but he can't do great projection, because it is only one in seven, but when the mercury is put this one, and perfectly done, it makes projection to infinity, as it is written here before: it appears from it, that mercury is, as stated above, the beginning and increase of all metals, and so, my son, we take the Elixir, and mix it with our Mercury purified, and conjoin them together, with our salt purified, which is our sperm: set when they are linked together, now nor ever can they be separated from one another the other, for they are united and bound together, as well as the body and soul, if you do it yourself as well as we do we wrote it. And when these three, that is to say, that the Sol, which is the Ferment, with salt and mercury are joined together they will perfect all things that will be fused with them, they will remove the disease from the metal, and the heal; also they cure all the inconveniences of the organs humans; Like a grain of this stone, drunk with wine hot, if one goes to a warm bed, and one sweats, softens it, and will be incontinent, as if he had stood in cold water, and in three days he cures all of this disease: whatever it is. Therefore, one can feel happy in this world, to have received this treasure, and we must keep it secret, and to use it piously for the help of the poor; because there is no subject, which cannot be advanced in this science which makes many things: because there are many called, but few are chosen.
There will be many who will boast in this science, but very few that bring it to a just end, because it may not be not the will of God: but you, my son, I have none doubt, as long as you follow these precepts that I left you in writing in this Treaty; and that you always persevere in work and experience you will soon see coming to an end perfect in this one, please Almighty God, for I have writing of this science, the just Treatise and the Truth, as I have made with my own hands, and brought to a perfect end, this than many people know in this City of Paris, even if I have always kept the secret until now: I I did it for certain reasons that I won't reveal to you. Take comfort then, and be patient, and do not think of the length of work; by working diligently you will come to the end sooner: study and read, nothing can come of it knowledge of this science; but only work: study gives man what to work with, and how he should follow nature in its work: for the end and profit from this science is manual labor: because a Shoemaker can't put a coin on his shoe with reading, but he must put his hands in it, and work to bring it to a perfect ending.
Where it is Taught, to sublimate mercury for the red elixir,
My beloved Son, take a pound of mercury, a pound of Roman vitriol, and grind the vitriol into powder; and then take a pound of common salt which either twice dissolved and distilled by the filter, and evaporated and calcined as taught above; then reduce them to powder in a stone mortar: do not use iron or metal in this work; because if you do, he will spoil it: and when your Mercury is mixed with the other water, with a continual agitation, that you no longer see the mercury, but that it is quite integrated into the other substance, you moisten it with red wine vinegar, but not too much; And dry them by fire, or by the Sun; then put them in a glass to be sublimated, which is well placed underneath, and place it on the hot ashes, and as long as your glass remains open and when you see the mouth of your glass become white in sublimation, or that your Mercury begins to fly up, take a cloth cloth filled with wool from cotton, and plug the hole above it, as surely as you can, but your glass must be high enough, that the le cotton which is in the mouth of the glass does not burn, because then you will consume your cork: when the glass is tightly corked: increase your heat a little for two hours: then a little more four hours; and after so big that your glass will be able to withstand it without melting, and thus maintain the fire in this degree for four hours, then leave it chill; and when your oven and the glass are cool, take it out, and break the opening, and you will find your Mercury above in the snow-white capital; and a part will remain above the feces remaining at the bottom, very beautiful and white: so take as neatly as you can, to both what is sublimated, and what is found in the background on faeces.
Now, to find out if you did well or not, take the sublime mercury, and weigh it, and see how much it has decreased compared to its starting weight: because if everything goes well, it will be only an ounce short for the weight of a pound, if more is missing, it is not well done: for you have done your fire too big at the beginning, or too small at the end. And if at the beginning the fire was too strong, then your Mercury has blown away with moisture, so the weight is low: and if at the end the fire was too big, it could be that your glass is melted or cracked with the force of fire, then your sublimation lost: and if in the end the fire was too small, then your Mercury will be on the faces, and so is your weight is decreased. So will you understand, that I found, when there is only one only ounce missing for a weight of one pound, rightly it is well sublimated.
Then take new Vitriol powder, &c. and mix in your sublimated Mercury herewith, as you did before, and sublimate again: and it must be done seven times in all respects, as before, or at the first time; and to each sublimation after the first, it decreases by a quarter of one ounce, if you have done things as above, and no more and when it sublimates in this way, as aforesaid, it is ready to be put into the Red Elixir, to make the stone of the philosophers.
Where it is Taught the sublimation of mercury to the Elixir in the white
My beloved Son, you understand that the sublimation of mercury, serving for the white stone, is done like the other before, in the third chapter: from the red stone, there is no other difference, but that you should put instead of Vitriol, Rock Alum, saltpetre, and purified salt, as it is previously written; and do in all points in the third chapter, up to seven times; then your Mercury is ready and perfect to join it to your Elixir, to make the white stone of the Philosophers.
Where it is Taught the preparation of the white stone over all the bodies.
My beloved Son, take, in the name of God, the Elixir white, and put it in the Bath to putrefy, the space of fourteen days and nights; and in that time your Elixir must be dissolved in clear water, if you have your regimen Fire with the heat like, she gotta hold on 'til let it be dissolved without faeces: then put your Mercury sublimated, as much as the weight of your Elixir.
Then take it, and shake it well between your hands, without your glass is not broken by the power of the Spirit and be sure to your glass before shaking it, whether it is well-luted or corked, let the spirits by no means fly away, for if they do, it will ruin your work.
That done, you'll lute it well with the Lut I talked about in the red elixir, and put it to putrefy in the Bath forty days, as you did in the third Elixir or Peter, and at that time it will be dissolved, if the fire was all that well-governed time; because he stayed well in the government of proper fire: and when it is well dissolved, put it to freeze as you did in the Stone red, and it must be frozen in twelve days in stone white of the philosophers: which will transmute all bodies imperfect in passing all tests and examinations; and it will make a better and finer Moon, than anything that comes from mines.
Where it is Taught to make the lut serving these works
Now, to do the Lut, so oft mentioned above, which must not be soaked in moisture and steam, and also another Lut which will keep your glasses from breaking in the fire; because you have to hold on against the heat of the fire; and in the first place, you will take egg whites as much as you need, and beat them until they are as fluid as water; then do them pass through a sponge with the hand, until it is clear like fountain water: from it take as much as will be necessary to temper the following powders; take some flower of flour hanging or sticking to the walls of the mill or adjoining rooms, commonly referred to in places beyond of the seas, eleven ounce flour dust, Bol Armoniac a quarter ounce, Sanguis Dragonis half a quarter ounce, hard cottage cheese, loose scales, one ounce; grind all these into a powder, and sift it finely through a sieve of bristles, and temper it with the egg whites, and with this fight your glasses with Lin pieces included in this Lut, in the form of a plaster, and therefore related to the materials of the top and the mouth of your glasses, and let it dry by himself. These Luts are used to fight the capitals on the distillation vessels, and also to fight the glasses you put to putrefaction, and to dissolution and also to coagulation.
And now to the other Lut mentioned before, which is used to fight your glasses, and shield them from the great heat of the fire, so that they do not break or melt, which will ruin your work: you will take potter's loam for this good Lut, which the Potters make the pots, and mix it with a little Sanguis Dragonis, from Bol-Armoniac, as much as half of Earth of the Potter, and dried lemon as much as half of Potter's earth; put all this each apart into powder fine, then moisten everything together with the egg whites well beaten; The blood of bulls is fine, or if you don't can't get bull's blood you can take that of the Sheep, then take strips of linen, and scrape plush, until you have as much as the BolArmoniac weighs, and then mix them, and temper them all together and beat them with a piece of cardboard, until let it be as soft as fine pastry; and with this Lut, you will fight your sublimations with virtue of this matter which holds in the fire; and also your glasses in which you distill your etchings, for he will defend them from fusion and rupture; and use it for all the things you have to do with great fire: for you cannot have better than this one, to defend your glasses against the force of the fire. Now I have written you enough Luts: and in this chapter, I will write in brief from philosophy as well moral than physical.
Where it is Taught the understanding of philosophy, as well than natural morality
My son, I have given you to hear in this book, and declared the whole philosophy, both red only white, so precisely and simply that I may allow me, because if I would have spoken to you briefly, I didn't want it, you would never have understood and so I thought it good to make it known to you in clear and reasonable, to declare the glory, to make you understand perfectly, to do this work, that , you will not impute to me no fault, if you do not come to the proper knowledge of this science; but the fault must be in yourself, and in no other man, for I have written, in the right words and simple and reasonable: but take care not to be as many men are, who believe themselves masters of all the sciences, when they never saw the door by which science is learned: but I wanted you to busy reading and studying this book, and that you imprint all these reasons on your heart, and then you were going to work with good and happy courage, and God will bless your step, if you want to serve him and pray to him, because it is your duty to do so; and also you must have a diligent care to keep the commandments of God: for, as I have often said, taking pains, and a job diligent, both of your body and soul, you will lead the stone to a perfect end: because the Philosophers have hidden this science, and wrote very obscurely, and colored it with many parables and riddles, that it is almost impossible to come to their understanding, without great instructions of others, masters of this science, or else by the great gift from God. This is why I wrote this book, of which you can learn the words and the reasons i leave behind me, so that you do not fall into any error, but come to the just end of this science.
My son, you understand that there are many books (written by the philosophers) remaining after their death; of which they wrote the truth, but in a very obscure sense, here, in a word, there to another: which has brought various men to great errors, thinking that they understand the meaning very well, when they were furthest away. Therefore, my Son beloved, through the great love I have for you, I believed good to open this science to you, so that you can beware of the obscure assertions of philosophers, and that you do the exercise; yourself in this book: because if you observe my precepts, there will come to you no error. But I desire for the salvation of your soul, that you do not forget the poor and in any case to keep well, not to divulge the secrets of this science to any greedy worldly man; because if you do, it will turn to your misfortune, for I have declared it to you, as I hope to be saved, from my salvation, the thing that my eyes have seen, and my hands have forged, and my fingers have taken: and I wrote this book by myself, and, and put in my name, as I was lying on my deathbed in the year 1431, May 7th.
Quote of the Day
“he is not wise that seekes in a thing what is not in it, and because neither gold nor Silver is in Allum or Salt, wee must not seek them there but in such things where gold and silver is to bee found.”
Arnold de Villa Nova
Chymicall treatise of the Ancient and highly illuminated Philosopher
Alchemical Books
Audio Books
Total visits