Note on Semita Semitae - The Path of the Path

The Path of Path - Version 1 translated from Latin
The Path of Path - Version 2
Semita Semitae - Latin Version

HERE BEGINS
THE PATH OF THE PATH (Semita Semitae).

And it is a brief and concise tract, yet useful to the understanding, in which is chiefly revealed—though subtly to the keen observer—the vegetable stone, entirely hidden from others.

Venerable Father, incline your holy ears and understand that Mercury is the seed of all metals, cooked and imperfect in the womb of the earth by sulphurous heat. And according to the diversity of this sulfuric nature, different metals are generated in the earth.

Side Note: The cause of the diversity of metals.

Thus, their primordial matter is one, and naturally operates differently depending on greater or lesser activity, burning or non-burning. In this, all philosophers agree.

This I will demonstrate in this way:
It is certain that every thing is made from and returns to that from which it is resolved. This is a true example and analogy.
If ice is transformed into water through heat, then it must first have been water.

Side Note: The sign of the mineral stone.

But all metals are turned into Mercury—therefore, Mercury is their first matter.

Side Note: The first matter of metals.

I will later teach the method of conversion. Once this is understood, it resolves the opinion of those who claim the species of metals cannot be changed—which is true as they say, unless they are reduced to their first matter.
But this reduction is easy, as I will show. And then, transmutation becomes easy and possible.

For everything that grows or is born multiplies within its species, like humans, trees, seeds, and such. For from one grain, a thousand are generated.
Thus, it is possible for a thing to increase to infinity.

From these statements, the subtle observer sees that the philosophers, though they spoke obscurely in their books, nevertheless spoke truth.

They said: Our stone is composed of body, soul, and spirit—and they speak truly. For:

The imperfect body they compared to a human body, because it is weak.

The water they called the spirit, and rightly so, because it gives life to the imperfect and dead body—life it previously lacked—and it brings it into a better form.

The ferment they called the soul, which, as shall be said later, likewise gives life to the imperfect body and elevates and transforms it into its own nature.

The philosopher says:
"Transform the natures, and you will find what you seek." And this is true.

For in our work, we first make the coarse subtle, i.e., we make earth from water, and so we transform the natures, making the upper lower—which happens when the spirit becomes body, and conversely, the body becomes spirit.

Side Notes: The vessel is one, it is our water.

Also, our stone, as the philosophers say, is made from one thing and in one vessel, and this is true. For the entire magistery is made with our water and from it. For it dissolves bodies, as has been said, but not by that kind of dissolution as the ignorant believe—namely, that it is turned into cloud-water. And it calcines them as well and reduces them into earth. It incinerates these same bodies, transforms them, incinerates them, whitens them, and purifies them—according to the words of Morienus, who says that Azoth and fire cleanse Laton, that is, they wash it, and completely strip away its obscurity. For Laton is the impure body; Azoth is living silver.

And it joins diverse bodies prepared in the aforementioned manner, with such a conjunction that neither fire nor any force can separate them through the burning of fire. And the one rushing into the other, the transformation refines the bodies—not by vulgar refinement, as the idiots or unskilled believe, thinking that to sublime means to ascend upwards.

Side Notes: Against vulgar sublimation.

And so they take calcined bodies and mix them with sublimated spirits, namely mercury, arsenic, sulfur, etc., and by strong fire make them sublime—that is, they make the bodies ascend with the spirits—and they say the bodies are then sublimated. And they are deceived, because they find the bodies still impure with the spirits, more so than before.

Therefore, our sublimation is not an ascent upwards; rather, the sublimation of the philosophers is to make from the vilest and most corrupt thing (from the earth) something purer, as when we say someone is sublimated into a bishop—that is, raised or placed in a more honorable state. In the same way we say that bodies are converted or exalted into another, that is, a better nature. Whence, to sublime is the same as to purify, and our water accomplishes this entirely. And so the philosophical sublimation must be understood, in which many have been deceived.

Side Notes: The effects of the water.

Our water also kills, illuminates, purifies, and vivifies; and it causes black colors to appear first during the mortification of the body when it is converted into earth, and afterwards many and various colors appear before the whitening, the end of which is whiteness.

Side Notes: The first blackness.

In the mixing of the water and the body of the ferment—that is, the prepared body—an infinite number of colors appear. And thus it appears that our magistery is from one and made with one; it is from four, and from three, one.

Whence, know, father, that the philosophers multiplied the names of the mixed stone in order to hide it. And they called the mixed stone both corporeal and spiritual, and they did not lie, as the wise can understand. For there is both body and spirit there; and the body is spiritual in the solution, and has become spirit; and it is corporeal again in the conjunction of the spirit with the body. And some call it ferment, some call it brass.

Side Notes: The stages of the stone in operation.

Morienus says: For the science of our art—that is, of the magistery—is similar to the order in the creation of man. For first is the union (coitus), second conception, third impregnation, fourth birth, fifth nourishment or nutrition.

Side Notes: The first stage.

These words I will make you understand: for our seed, which is argentum vivum (living silver, i.e. mercury), when it is joined to the earth—that is, to the imperfect body which is called the mother, because the earth is the mother of all the elements—then it is called coitus (union).

Side Notes: Coitus.

And when the earth retains somewhat of the living silver with itself, then it is called conception, and when the male acts upon the female—that is, when the living silver acts upon the earth—

Side Notes: Conception.

And this is what the philosophers have said: that our magistery is nothing other than male and female, and their conjunction.

Side Notes: The earth passes from the spirit.

Then with the coming of water—that is, the living silver—into the earth, it grows and increases, because the earth is whitened, and this is called impregnation.

Side Notes: Impregnation.

Then the ferment is coagulated—that is, it is joined with the imperfect prepared body, as has been said—until they become one in color and appearance, and this is called birth, because then our stone is born, which is called

Side Notes: Birth. The King.

The King by the philosophers, as is said in the Turba Philosophorum: "Honor our king, coming from the fire, crowned with a golden diadem, and bow to him until he reaches the perfect age of perfection"—that is, by nourishing him until he arrives at full maturity.

Side Notes: That the Sun and Moon are the father and mother.

Whose father is the Sun, and the mother is the Moon. Let the Moon be understood as the imperfect body, and the Sun as the perfect body.

Side Notes: Nourishment.

Fifth and last comes nourishment, because the more it is nourished, the more it grows. It is nourished with its own milk—that is, the seed from which it came in the beginning. The living silver is imbibed often and again, until it drinks two parts, or as much as is sufficient.

Now follows the practice.

Let us now descend to the practical part, as I said before. The bodies must be reduced to the prima materia (first matter), in order for transmutation to happen. And finally I will show you the reason for the foregoing: Therefore, I ask you, son, do not scorn my practice, because in it lies our entire magistery, as I have seen with hidden faith.

Take one libra (pound) of lead, and make clean filings, and mix it with four librae of our purified water, grinding and incorporating it with a little salt and vinegar, until all becomes an amalgam.

Place it in a large quantity of aqua vitae—that is, of Mercury—and place all in a vessel over the fire of our ashes, that is, purified ashes. And make a very slow internal fire for one natural day. Then allow it to cool. And when you find it cooled, strain the water along with all that is in it through a linen cloth until that which has been resolved from the body passes through the cloth. The part which cannot pass through should be set aside.

Then take that which remained in the cloth, and again, with new blessed water, place it on the fire in the aforementioned vessel for a natural day. Afterwards, strain as before. And so repeat as many times as necessary, until the whole body is converted into water—that is, into the prima materia, which is our water.

When this is done, place all that water in a glass vessel, and cook over a slow fire until you see blackness appear on its surface, which you should gently remove daily, collecting it, until the whole body is dissolved into pure earth. Repeat this process as often and as well as you can, cooking again and removing the blackness until none appears, and the water—that is, the argentum vivum—appears clear. Then you have the water and the earth.

Next, take all this earth, that is, the blackness you have collected, and place it in a glass vessel, and pour over it the previously mentioned blessed water until nothing protrudes and it floats above it. Cook them with gentle heat for ten days, grind it, and add water again, and continue cooking in this manner—coagulating the earth and thickening it with the water—without adding any other water. Cook it over a strong fire as before, until the earth becomes white and clear.

When it has been purified and whitened as said, cook the aqua vitae, which has been thickened with the said coagulated earth by gentle heat, with a strong fire in a flask, with an alembic placed on top, until whatever water was present descends through the alembic, and the earth remains calcined.

Then take a fourth part of any ferment, for example: if there is one pound of the imperfect body (i.e., lead), you will take three pounds of ferment—that is, the Sun or the Moon. And that ferment must be dissolved and made into earth, just as the imperfect body was, and prepared in the same way and order. Join them together, and imbibe them with the aforementioned blessed water—that is, the water which rose through the alembic—and cook for three days or more. Then imbibe again with its water and cook as before. Repeat this as many times as necessary until these two bodies remain as one—that is, until they are reduced to one.

You will know this because the color no longer changes in them. Then, by pouring the aforementioned water gradually over them until they have drunk as much as they can always with fresh water being given—because in this union of the bodies, the spirit is mixed with them and becomes one with them, and is converted into their nature—those bodies having been cleansed.

And so the seed is transformed along with those prepared or purified bodies, which previously could not happen because of their uncleanness and grossness. And in them it grows and increases, so that it may be multiplied in great abundance.

From which they were first created, namely into living silver, just as ice is converted into water from which it first was. Behold, by the grace of God, you now have the first element, which is water, and that is, namely, the reduction of the body into the first matter. The second word: which becomes earth, and this is what the philosophers said: “The emergence of earth meets water.” Thus you have the second element, which is earth. The third word is the purification of the earth, about which Morienus says: “This water with the earth rots and is purified,” etc. The Philosopher says: “Join the dry with the moist.” The dry is earth, the moist is water. Behold, now you have water by itself, and earth by itself, and whitened earth with water.

The fourth word is that the water can evaporate, by sublimation or ascension, that same earth becomes airy, which before was thickened with the earth and coagulated. And thus you have earth, water, and air. This is what the philosopher said in the Book of the Turba: “Whiten it.”

Side Notes: Separation of sulfur from living silver.

And quickly sublimate it with fire, until the spirit goes out from it, that is, the living silver, which you will find in it, which is called the Bird of Hermes and the Chick of Hermogenes. And the calcined earth remains at the bottom, which is the fiery force, that is, of fiery nature. And so you have the four elements, that is: earth, fire, and that calcined earth which is the powder, of which Morienus says: “Do not despise the ash that is at the bottom, because it is in the lower place, and it is the earth of the body, because it is your seed, for in it is the diadem of order.”

Afterward, place the ferment with the aforementioned earth, which ferment the philosophers call the soul. And this is because just as the human body is worth nothing without the soul—indeed it is like dead earth—so too the unclean body is worth nothing without its ferment, that is, its soul.

For the ferment prepares the imperfect body and converts it to its own nature, as has been said. And the ferment is nothing other than the Sun and the Moon, only these planets being appropriate and aligned in natural similarity. And this is what Morienus says: “Unless you cleanse and whiten the unclean body and place the soul into it, you have directed nothing in the magistery.” And then the spirit is joined and rejoices with them, and is fixed. Because the water is altered, and all coarse things become subtle.

Side Notes: Fixation of the spirit.

And this is what Astanus says in the Turba: “The spirit is not joined to the bodies until they are perfectly stripped of their impurities.” And in this conjunction, the greatest miracles appear, because all the colors which can be imagined in the world appear, and the imperfect body is colored with the color of the ferment, fixed through the ferment, as Barsen says.

O holy father, may God increase in you the spirit of understanding, so that you may consider in your mind what I am about to say. For the elements are not generated except from their own seed. The seed, however, is living silver.

Side Notes: The seed of metals.

As is evident in the generation of man, for there is no mixture of anything unless by seed; and in vegetables, unless by seed, regarding their generation and growth. Others, observing more subtly, sublimate Mercury and fix it and join it with bodies, and yet find nothing. The cause of the error is this: the seed cannot be transformed, neither as it is nor as it was, nor does it profit unless it is cast into the womb of a woman.

Thus Mechardus the Philosopher says: “Unless the stone is cast into the womb of the woman to nourish it, it does not succeed.” O my father, thus you have the true description of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Praise be to God.

The little treatise of Arnold of Villanova, sent to Pope Benedict XI, ends, 1533.

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Note on Semita semitae

The Path of the Path

Arnauld de Villeneuve

Here begins the Path of the Path treated short, brief, succinct, useful to whoever will understand it. Skilled seekers will find there some of the Vegetable Stone which the other Philosophers have carefully hidden.

Venerable Father, piously listen to me. Learn that Mercury is the cooked sperm of all metals; imperfect sperm, when it comes out of the earth, because of a certain sulphurous heat. According to its degree of sulfuration, it engenders the various metals in the bosom of the earth. There is therefore only one raw material of metals, following a more or less strong natural action, depending on the degree of cooking, it takes on different forms.

All philosophers agree on this point. Here is the demonstration: Each thing is composed of the elements into which it can be decomposed. Let's cite an example that is impossible to deny and easy to understand: ice with the help of heat resolves into water, therefore it is water, Now, all metals resolve into Mercury; therefore this Mercury is the prime matter of all metals.

I will later teach how to do this transmutation, thus destroying the opinion of those who claim that the form of metals cannot be changed. They would be right if metals could not be reduced to their prime matter, but I will show that this reduction to prime matter is easy and that transmutation is possible and feasible. For everything that is born, everything that grows, multiplies according to its kind, like trees, men, grasses. One seed can produce a thousand other seeds. So it is possible to multiply things ad infinitum.

From what precedes, whoever analyzes things will see that if the Philosophers spoke in an obscure way, at least they told the truth. They said indeed that our Stone has a soul, a body and a spirit, which is true. They compared his imperfect body to the body, because it is without power by itself; they called Water a vital spirit, because it gives to the body, imperfect in itself and inert, the life which it did not have before and because it perfects its form. They called the ferment soul, because as we will see later, it also gave life to the imperfect body, it perfects it and changes it into its own nature.

imperfect in itself and inert, the life which it had not before and that it perfects its form. They called the ferment soul, because as we will see later, it also gave life to the imperfect body, it perfects it and changes it into its own nature. imperfect in itself and inert, the life which it had not before and that it perfects its form. They called the ferment soul, because as we will see later, it also gave life to the imperfect body, it perfects it and changes it into its own nature.

The philosopher says: “Change natures and you will find what you are looking for. " This is true. For in our magisterium we draw first the subtle from the thick, the spirit from the body, and finally the dry from the wet, that is to say the earth from the Water, this is how we change natures; what was below we put above, so that the spirit becomes body, then the body becomes spirit.

The philosophers also say that we make our Stone from a single thing and with a single vessel; And they are right. All our magisterium is drawn from our Water and it is done with it. It dissolves the metals themselves, but it is not by changing into the water of the cloud, as the ignorant believe. It calcines and reduces to earth. She turns bodies to ashes, she incinerates, whitens and cleans, according to what Morien says: "The Azoth and the fire cleanse the Brass, that is to say wash it and completely remove its blackness. Brass is an impure body, azoth is quicksilver.

Our Water unites different bodies between them, if they have been prepared as it has just been said; this union is such that neither fire nor any other force can separate them by the combustion of their igneous principle. This transmutation subtilizes the bodies, but this is not the vulgar sublimation of the simple-minded, the inexperienced people, for whom to sublimate is to elevate. These people take calcined bodies, mix them with sublimable spirits, that is to say mercury, arsenic, sulfur etc., and they sublimate the whole with the help of strong heat.

The charred bodies are carried away by the spirits and they say they are sublimated. But what is their disappointment, when they find impure bodies with their spirits more impure than before! Our sublimation is not to elevate; the sublimation of the Philosophers is an operation which makes something vile and corrupted (by the earth) something purer, Likewise when it is commonly said: So and so was raised to the Episcopate... by " elevated” means that he has been exalted and placed in a more honorable position. In the same way we say that the bodies have changed in nature, that is to say that they have been exalted, that their essence has become purer; we see therefore that to sublimate is the same thing as to purify; this is what our Water does.

This is how we should understand our philosophical sublimation on which many have been mistaken.

Now, our Water mortifies, illuminates, cleanses and vivifies; it first causes black colors to appear during the mortification of the body, then come many and varied colors, and finally whiteness. In the mixture of Water and the ferment of the body, that is to say of the prepared body, an infinity of colors appear.
This is how our Magisterium is taken from one, is made with one, and it is made up of four and three are in one.

Learn again, venerable Father, that the philosophers have multiplied the names of the Mixed Stone to hide it better. They said it is bodily and spiritual, and they didn't lie, the Sages will understand. For it has a spirit and a body; the body is spiritual only in solution and the spirit has become corporeal through its union with the body. Some call it ferment, others Brass.

Morien says: “The science of our Magisterium is comparable in everything to the procreation of man. First, coitus. Second, the design. Third, imbibition. Fourth, birth. Fifthly, nutrition or diet. I will explain these words to you. Our sperm, which is Mercury, unites with the earth, that is to say with the imperfect body, also called Mother-Earth (the earth being the mother of all the elements). This is what we mean by coitus.

Then when the earth has retained in itself a little Mercury, we say that there is conception. When we say that the male acts on the female, we must understand by that that the Mercury acts on the earth. This is why the Philosophers have said that our magisterium is male and female and that it results from the union of these two principles.

After the addition of Water, that is to say Mercury, the earth grows and increases while whitening, we then say that there is imbibition. Then the ferment coagulates, that is, it joins with the imperfect body, prepared as it has been said, until its color and appearance are uniform, this is birth, because that at this moment appears our Stone whom the Philosophers have called: the King, as it is said in the Peat “Honor our King coming out of the fire, crowned with a diadem of gold; obey him until he has reached the age of perfection, feed him until he is great. His father is the Sun, his mother is the Moon; the Moon is the imperfect body. The Sun is the perfect body. »

Fifth and last comes food, the more it is fed, the more it grows. Now, he feeds on his milk, that is to say on the sperm which engendered him in the beginning. it is therefore necessary to imbibe it with Mercury, until it has drunk two parts of it, or more if necessary.

NOW FOLLOWS PRACTICE

Now let's move on to practice, as I announced above. And first all bodies must be brought back to prime matter to make transmutation possible. Here I am going to show you everything that has been said above. I therefore beg you, O my son, not to disdain my Practice, because in it is hidden all our Magisterium, as I have seen it there in my occult faith.

Take a pound of Gold, reduce it to very shiny filings, mix it with four parts of our Purified Water, grinding it and incorporating it with a little salt and vinegar, until the everything is mixed together. The gold has therefore been well amalgamated, put it in a large quantity of Eau-de-vie, that is to say of Mercury and put it all in the Urinal on our purified center; make a very slow fire below for a whole day; then let it cool, and when it will be cold, take the Water and all that is with it, filter through a linen cloth, until the liquid part has passed through the Cloth.

Put aside what will remain on the cloth, collect it and having put it in a new quantity of Holy Water in the same vase as above, heat it for a whole day, then filter as before. Repeat this until the whole body is converted into Water, that is to say into the raw material which is our Water.

This done, take all this Water, put it in a glass vase and cook over a slow fire until you see blackness appear on its surface; you will skillfully remove the black particles. Continue until the whole body is changed into a pure land. The more you repeat this operation, the better it will be. Anneal then, removing the blackness, until the darkness has disappeared, and Water, that is to say our Mercury, appears bright. It is then that you will have Earth and Water.

Then take all this earth, that is to say the darkness that you have collected; put it in a glass vessel, pour Holy Water over it, so that nothing rises above the surface of the water, nothing floats; and heated over low heat for ten days; then crush and put back new Water; anneal the earth thus coagulated and thickened without adding water. Finally, cook over high heat, always in the same vase, until the clay becomes white and shiny.

Having therefore whitened and coagulated our earth, take the Water of Life which has been thickened with the aid of a slight heat by the coagulated earth, cook it over a violent fire in a good cucurbit equipped with its capital, until until all the water in the mixture has passed into the container and the calcined earth remains in the curcurbite. Then take three parts for four of a ferment, that is to say that if you have taken a pound of the imperfect body or of gold, you will take three pounds of ferment, that is to say of Sun or moon.

You will first have to dissolve this ferment, reduce it to earth and repeat in a word the same operations as for the imperfect body. Only then will you unite them, soak them with the Water that has passed through the vessel, and cook for three days or more. Imbibe again, anneal and repeat this operation until these two bodies remain united, that is to say become one. You will weigh. Their color will not have changed. Then you will pour on them the already named Water, little by little, until they absorb no more. In this union of bodies, the Spirit becomes incorporated with them and as they have been purified, it changes into their own nature. This is how the germ is transformed in purified bodies, which would not have happened before because of their grossness and impurities. The spirit grows in them, it increases and multiplies.

RECAPITULATION

Now, venerable Father, I will return to what I have said by applying it to the preparations of the ancient Philosophers and to their teachings, so obscure, so incomprehensible. However weigh the words of the Philosophers, you will understand and you will confess that they have spoken the truth.

The first word of our Magisterium or of The Work is the reduction of Mercury (the body), that is, the reduction of copper or another metal into Mercury. This is what the Philosophers call solution, which is the foundation of the Art, as Franciscus says: "If you do not dissolve bodies, you labor in vain." It is this solution of which Parmenides speaks in the Peat of the Philosophers. On hearing the word solution, the ignorant immediately think of Cloud Water. But if they had read our books, if they had understood them, they would know that, our Water is permanent, and that separated from its body it therefore becomes immutable, Therefore the solution of the Philosophers is not the Water of the cloud, but it is the conversion of bodies into Water from which they were first procreated, that is, into Mercury. Likewise the ice changes into the water which first gave birth to it.
Behold then that by the grace of God you know the first element which is Water and the reduction of this same Body into prime matter.

The second word is "What is made of the earth". That's what the Philosophers said. “Water comes out of the earth. You will thus have the second element which is the earth.

The third word of the Philosophers is the purification of the Stone. Morien says on this subject: “This Water putrefies and purifies itself with the earth, etc. The Philosopher says: “Unite the dry with the moist; now, the dry is the earth, the humid is the water. You will already have the Water and the earth in itself and the earth whitened with the Water.

The fourth saying is that Water can evaporate by sublimation or ascension. It becomes aerial again by separating from the earth with which it was previously coagulated and joined; and thus you will have Earth, Air and Water. This is what the Philosopher says in the Peat: "Whiten it and sublimate it in a lively fire until it escapes a spirit which is the Mercury." That is why it is called bird of Hermes and chicken of Hermogenes. You will find at the bottom a calcined earth, it is an igneous force, that is to say of an igneous nature.

You will therefore have the four elements, earth, fire and this calcined earth which is the powder of which Morien speaks. “Do not despise the powder that is at the bottom because it is in a low place. It is the earth of the body, it is your sperm and in it is the crowning of the Work.

Then with the aforesaid earth put the ferment, this ferment that the Philosophers call the soul: and here is why: just as the body of man is nothing without his soul, in the same way the dead earth or filthy body is nothing without ferment, that is, without its soul.

For the ferment prepares the imperfect body, changes it into its own nature, as has been said. There are no other ferments than the Sun and the Moon, these two neighboring planets coming together in their natural properties. This is what makes Morien say: "If you don't cleanse, if you don't whiten the filthy body and don't give it a soul, you won't have done anything for the Magisterium." The spirit is then united with the soul and the body, it rejoices with them and settles down. Water alters, and what was thick becomes subtle. »

Here is what Astanus says in the Peat of the Philosophers : “The spirit joins the bodies only when the latter have been perfectly purified of their impurities. In this union appear the greatest miracles, because all the imaginable colors then show themselves and the imperfect body takes, according to Barsen, the color of the ferment, while the ferment itself remains unaltered,

O Father full of piety, may God increase in you the spirit of intelligence so that you weigh well what I am going to say: the elements can only be generated by their own sperm. Now this sperm is Mercury. Consider the man who can only be begotten by the aid of sperm, the plants which can only be born by a seed, as much as is necessary for generation and growth.

There are some who, believing they are doing for the best, sublimate the Mercury, fix it, unite it to other bodies, and yet they find nothing. Here is why: a sperm cannot change, it remains as it was; and it produces its effect only when it is carried into the woman's womb. This is why the Philosopher Mechardus says: “If our Stone is not put in the womb of the female, in order to be nourished there, it will not increase.

O my Father, here you are, according to your desire, in possession of the Stone of the Philosophers.

Glory to God.

Here ends the little treatise by Arnauld de Villeneuve, given to the Pope, Benedict XI, in the year 1303

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LATIN VERSION

INCIPIT
SEMITA SEMITAE.

Et est tractatulus breuis ¢ compendiosus simul ¢ vtilis intelligenti, in quo principaliter pro parte prodit lapidem vegetabilem ab alijs pænitus absconditum subtiliter intuenti:

Reuerende pater pias aures inclina, & intellige quod Mercurius est sperma omnium metallorum decoctum, & imperfectum in ventre terræ calore sulphureo, & secundum varietatem sulphuream ipsius, metalla in terra generantur diuersa.

Side Notes: Causa differentiæ metallorum.

Et sic ipsorum primordialis materia est vna, & naturaliter sola actione maiori vel minori, adurente vel non adurente diuersimode operatur, & in hoc omnes philosophi concordant Et hoc demonstrabo taliter: Quia certum est, quod omnisres de eo & ex eo est in quod resoluitur, & est verum exemplum & consimile. Si glacies commutatur in aquam mediante calore, ergo, prius fuit aqua:

Side Notes: Signum lapidis mineralis.

Sed omnia metalla conuertuntur in Mercurium, ergo iste Mercurius est prima materia eorum.

Side note . Prima materaia metallorum

Modum autem convertendi infra docebo, Illo habito, solvitur opinio eorum, qui dicunt species metallorum converti non posse, & hoc verum est, vt ipsi dicunt, nisi in materiam primam reducantur. Reductio autem ipsorum est facilis in primam materiam vt ostendam. Et transmutatio est facilis & possibilis. Nam omne crescens vel nascens multiplicatur in sua specie, vt homines, arbores, grana & huiusmodi. Nam ex vno grano mille generantur. Ergo possibile est augeri res usque in infinitum. Ex praedictis apparet subtiliter intuenti, philosophos in suis libris dixisse obscure sed vera. Dixerunt enim quod lapis noster est ex corpore & anima & spiritu, & verum dicunt. Nam corpus imperfectum comparaverunt corpori propter hoc quod est infirmum, & aquam spiritum dixerunt, & vere spiritus est, quia corpori imperfecto & per se mortuo vita tribuit, quam prius non habebat, & in meliorem formam producit. Fermentum animam dixerunt, quod sicut infra dicetur corpori imperfecto similiter vitam tribuit, et in sui natura elevat et convertit. Philosophus dicit: couerte naturas, et quod quaeris invenies, & hoc est verum; Nam in nostro magisterio primo, facimus de grosso gracile, i. De aqua terra & sic naturas couertimus & facimus superius inferius, quod fit quando spiritus efficitur corpus, & econuerso corpus fit spiritus.

Side Notes: Vas unum est aqua nostra.

Item lapis noster vt dicit philosophi fit ex vna re, & in vno vase, & ve ridicut. Nam totum magisterium fit cũ aqua nostra, et ex ea. Nam ipsa corpora soluit vt dictum est, non tamen ea solutione prout credunt ignari scilicet quod conuertatur in aquam nubis. Et ipsa eadecalcinat, & in terrã reducit. Ipsa eadẽ corpora incineratê transformat, & ea incinerat, & dealbat, & mundificat iuxta verbum Morienis, qui ait: Quod azoth & ignis Latonem mundificat, id est, abluunt, & eius obscuritatem pœnitus ab eo eripiunt. Laton enim est corpus immundum, azoth argētum viuũ. Et corpora diuersa coniungit, preparata modo prædicto, coniunctione tali, quod nec ignis nec actus potest ea separare ab igneitatis combustione, & eorum vnum irruendo in aliud mutatio subtiliat corpora, non subtiliatione vulgari, vt idiotæ siue inexperti credentes, sic quod sublimare sit superius ascendere.

Side Notes: Contra sublimationem vulgarem.

Et ideo accipiunt corpora calcinata, & admiscent spiritibus sublimatis, scilicet Mercurio arsenico & sulphure &c. & faciunt per ignem fortẽ sublimare. i. corpora ascendere cũ spiritibus, et dicũt quod corpora tũc sunt sublimata. Et sunt delusi, quia adhuc inueniũt corpora immũda cũ spiritib. plus qđ fuissent prius. Ideo nostrũ sublimare nõ est sursum ascendere: sed sublimare philosophorum est de re vilissima & corrupta (a terra)

Side Notes: Philosophiea sublimatio.

alteram facere magis puram, vt cum dicimus ille est sublimatus in episcopũ, id est in digniori statu exaltatus seu positus, Sic etiam dicimus corpora in aliam, id est meliorem naturam conuersam, seu exaltatam, vnde sublimare est idem est quod subtiliare, quod totum facit aqua nostra. Et sic intelligenda est sublimatio philosophica, in qua multi sunt decepti.

Side Notes: Effectus aquæ.

Aqua etiam nostra mortificat, illuminat, mundificat, & viuificat, & apparere facit colores nigros primo in mortificatione corporis, dum in terrã cõuertitur, & postmodum apparent multi colores, & varij ante dealbationem, quorum omnium finis albedo.

Side Notes: Nigredo prima.

In commixtione vero aquæ & corporis fermenti, id est præparati corporis infiniti colores apparent. Et sic apparet quod nostrum magisterium est ex vno & cum vno fit, est ex quator, & ex tribus vnum.
Vnde scias pater quod philosophi multiplicauerunt nomina mixti lapidis, & hoc, vt absconderent eum. Et dixerunt lapidem mixtum corporeum & spiritualem, & non sunt mentiti, prout sapiens intelligere potest. Nam ibi est corpus & spiritus, & corpus tantum est spirituale in solutione, & spiritus factus est, & corporale est in coniunctione spiritus cum corpore. Et fermentum quidam vocant,quidam vocant ipsum æs.

Side Notes: Gradus lapidis in operatione.

Morienes dicit: Quia scientia nostri ingenij, id est magisterij assimulatur ordini in creatione hominis. Nam primo fit coitus, secundo conceptio, tertio imprægnatio, quartum est ortus, quintum est nutrimentum vel nutritio.

Side Notes: Primus gradus.

Hæc verba faciam te intelligere: quoniam sperma nostrum quod est argentum viuum, cum terræ coniungitur, scilicet corpori imperfecto quæ terra mater dicitur, quia terra est mater omnium elementorum, tunc coitus dicitur.

Side Notes: Coitus.

Cumqƺ terra aliquantulum secum retinet argentum viuũ, tunc dicitur conceptio, et cum masculus agit in fœminam id est, argētum viuum in terram.

Side Notes: Conceptio.

Et hoc est quod philosophi dixerunt, quod magisterium nostrum non est nisi masculus & fœmina, & ipsorum coniunctio.

Side Notes: Terra transit a spiritu

Adueniente ergo aqua, id est, argento viuo in terra crescit & augmentatur, quia terra dealbatur, & tunc impregnatio vocatur.

Side Notes: Impregnatio.

Deinde fermentum coagulatur, id est coniungitur cum corpore imperfecto præparato, vt dictum est, quosqƺ fiat vnum colore & aspectu, & tunc dicitur ortus, quia tunc natus est lapis noster, qui vocatur

Side Notes: Ortus. Rex.

Rex a philosophis, vt dicitur in turba philosophorum: Honorate regem nostrum ab igne venientem diademate aureo coronatum, & inclinate ei vsque ad perfectam perfectionis ætatem, scilicet ipsum alimentando quousqƺ ad perfectam perueniat ætatem,

Side notes: Quod sit pater et mater Sol Luna

Cuius pater est sol, mater vero luna, Luna pro corpore imperfecto accipiatur, sol vero pro corpore perfecto.

Side notes: Alimentu

Quinto & vltimo sequitur alimentum, quia quanto magis nutritur, tanto magis augmentatur. Nutritur autem lacte suo, id est, spermate, ex quo fuit ab initio. Imbibitur autem argentum viuum sæpe & sepius, quousqƺ duas partes bibat vel quod sufficiat.

Sequitur nunc practica.

Descendamus nunc ad practicam sicut prius dixi. Debent autem corpora ad primam materiam deduci, ad hoc, vt fiat transmutatio. Et vltimo ostendam tibi præmissorum rationem: Rogo ergo te fili vt practicam meam non vilipendas, quia in ea latet totum magisterium nostrum, sicut fide occulta vidi Accipe precñ libram vnam, & fit limatura munda, & misce cum quatuor libris aquæ nostræ mundatæ, terendo, & incorporando cum sale modico & aceto, quousque totum fiat amalgama, pone ipsum in multam quantitatem aquæ vitæ, id est Mercurii, & pone totum in vrinali supra ignem cineris nostri, id est, purgati cineris, & fac interius lentissimum ignem per diem naturalem tunc permitte infrigidari, & quando inuenies infrigidatum, cola aquam transcum omnibus quę in ea sunt per pannum lineum, donec pertranseat per pannum illud, quod de corpore fuerit resolutum, pars vero que non poterit exire, ponatur ad partem.
Deinde recipe illud quod remansit in panno, & iterum cum noua aqua benedicta reponas ad ignem cum vase prædicto per diem naturalem, postea cola vt prius. Et sic toties reitera, donec totum corpus in aquam conuertatur, id est in primam materiam, quæ est aqua nostra Quo facto totam illam aquam pone in vase vitreo, & decoque super ignem lentum, quousqƺ videas in superficie eius nigredinem apparere, quam remoue subtiliter quotidie colligendo, donec totum corpus soluatur in terram meram, & toties quoties melius potes, & iterum coquendo & nigredinem tollendo quousque nil appareat nigredinis, & aqua, id est, argentum viuum appareat clara, tunc habes aquam & terram.

Deinde accipe totam terram istam, id est, nigredinem quam collegisti, & pone ipsam in vase vitreo, & superfunde de aqua prædicta benedicta, donec nihil emineat, & natet super eam, & coque ea tamdiu leui igne per decem dies, tere, & iterum impone aquam, & coque sic deinceps, id est, terram sic coagulatâ & cum aqua inspissatam sine appositione alterius aquæ decoques forti igne, vt supra, quousqƺ terra fiat alba & clara, Qua mundificata & dealbata vt dictum est, aqua vitæ quæ cum dicta terra coagulata mediante calore leui inspissata fuerit, decoque forti igne in cucurbita forti, alembico super posito, donec quicquid aquę ibi fuerit, descendat per alembicum, & terra remaneat calcinata. Tunc accipe de fermento quocunqƺ quartam sui partem, puta, si libra fuerit corporis imperfecti scilicet precij, accipies ex fermento scilicet sole vel luna libras tres. Et illud fermentum it solutum, & terra factum, sicut corpus imperfectum, & eodem modo & ordine præparatum in simul coniunge, & imbibe cum aqua benedicta prædicta, id est, cum aqua quæ ascendit alembicum, & coque per tres dies autplures, tunc iterum aqua sua imbibe, & coque vt prius, & hoc tocies reitera, quousqƺ hæc duo corpora vnum remaneat, id est in vnum re reducantur. Quod perpendes, color non variatur in eis, Deinde super eas fundendo aquam prædictam per se paulatim, quousqƺ dum bibat quantum possit bibere semper dando eis nouam aquã, Nam in ista coniunctione corporum spiritus miscetur cum eis & fit vnum cum eis, & conuertitur in naturã ipsorum, corporibus prædictis mundatis: Et sic germen conuertitur cum corporibus prædictis moderatis vel mundatis, quod ante non poterant propter eorum immunditiam & grossitiem, & in eis crescit & suum augmentat, vt in ea multiplicetur multitudine magna.

Recapitulatio omnium paredictorum.

Nunc reuertar pater reuerende ad prius dicta singulariter applicando super perfectiones philosophorum antiquorum, & verba eorum obscura importabilia & abscondita. Si vero iudices verba Philosophorum, intelliges, & ita verba protulisse affirmes.
Primum verbum nostri magisterij siue est operis argenti viui reductio (corporis) id est, cupri vel alij metalli, in argentum viuum reductio. Et istud est quod philosophi vocant solutionem, quæ est fundamentum artis, vt dicit Franciscus. Nisi corpora solueritis, inuanũ laboratis. De qua solutione loquit Parmenides in turma. Quam solutionem audientes ignari putant aquam nubis esse.

Side Notes: Nota corpus aquæ.

Si autem nostros libros legissent, & intellexissent, scirent vticƺ aquam esse permanentem, absqƺ suo corpore, cum quo coniuncta, facta est vnum permanens. Non est ergo solutio philosophorum aqua nubis, sed corporum in aquam liquida conuersio

Side Notes: Ecce Mercurium mineralem.

ex quo primo procreata fuerunt, scilicet in argentum viuum, Sicut glaties conuertitur in aquam, ex qua prius fuit. Ecce per Dei gratiam iam habes primum elementum, quod est aqua, & ipsius scilicet corporis in primam materiam reductio. Secundum verbum: Quod fit terra, & hoc est quod philosophi dixerũt: Egressio terrę aquã cõcurrit, Sic habes secundum elementum quod est terra. Tertium verbum est terræ mundificatio, de qua dicit Morienes: Hæc aqua cum terra putrescit & mundificatur &c. Philosophus: Iunge siccum humido, Siccum namque est terra, humidum vero aqua. Ecce iam habes aquam per se, & terram per se, & terram dealbatam cum aqua. Quartum verbum est, quod aqua possit euaporare, sublimatione siue ascensione efficitur ipsa terra aerea, quæ prius erat inspissata cum terra & coagulata, & sic habes terram, aquam & aerem: Hoc est quod philosophus dixit in libro turmæ. Ipsum dealbate.

Side Notes: Separatio sulphuris ab argento vivo.

Et cito igne sublimate, quousque ex eo exeat spiritus, id est argentum viuum, quod in eo inuenies, qui dicitur auis Hermetis, & pullus Hermogenis, & remanet terra calcinata in fundo quæ est vis ignea, id est, igneæ naturæ. Et sic habes quatuor elemēta, hoc est terra, ignis, & illa terra calcinata quae est puluis, de quo dicit Morienes: Cinerem qui in fundo est non vilipendas, quia est in inferiori loco, & est terra corporis, quia est sperma tuum, in eo enim est diadema ordinis.
Postmodum cum prædicta terra fermentum pone, quod scilicet fermetum philosophi animam vocant, Et hoc ideo, quia sicut corpus humanum sine anima nil valet, immo est sicut terra mortua, Sic & corpus immundum absque eius fermento, id est, eius anima, nil valet.
Nam fermentum corpus imperfectum præparat, & ad naturam suam cõuertit vt dictum est. Et non est fermentum nisi sol & luna, tantum istis appropriatis planetis conspirans in naturali similitudine. Et hoc est quod Morienes dicit: Nisi corpus immundum mundaueris ac dealbaueris, & in eo animam mittas, nil in magisterio direxisti. Et tunc spiritus coniungitur, & gaudet cum eis, & figitur. Quia alteratur aqua, & omnia grossa subtilia fiunt.

Side Notes: Fixio spiritus

Et hoc est quod dicit Astanus in turma, spiritus non coniungitur corporibus donec a suis immundicijs perfecte fuerint denudata. Et in hac coniunctione maxima apparent miracula, quia omnes colores qui in mundo excogitari possunt apparent, & corpus inperfectum colore fermenti, firmo mediante fermento coloratur, vt dicit Barsen. O pie pater augeat Deus in te spiritum intellectus, vt qđ dicturus sum mēte perpēdas. Elementa enim non generantur nisi ex proprio spermate, Sperma autem est argentum viuum,

Side Notes: Sperma metallorum.

Sicut patet in generatione hominis, quia non est alicuius rei commixtio, nisi per sperma, & in vegetabilibus nisi semen, quantum ad generationem & augmentationem ipsorum. Alij subtilius intuentes sublimant Mercurium, & figunt, & coniungunt cum corporibus, & tamen nihil inueniunt. Causa erroris est: Nam semen non potest permutari, nec prout est vel fuit, nec proficit nisi proijciatur in matricem mulieris, Sic Mechardus Philosophus dicit: Nisi proijciatur lapis in matricem mulieris, vt ipsum nutriat, non proficit. Omi pater sic habes votum descriptionem lapidis philosophorum Laus Deo.

Explicit tractatulus Arnoldi de noua Villa Papæ Benedicto vndecimo transmissus 1533.