THE ALCHEMICAL WRITINGS
OF EDWARD KELLY
TWO EXCELLENT TREATIES
ON THE
STONE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
as well as
THE THEATER OF EARTH ASTRONOMY
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with emblematic figures
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Currently published for the first time
for the benefit of the Sons of Hermes
by JLMC
( namely John Lilly and Meric Casaubon)
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I
BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE
“I dare to hope,” affirms the subject of this preface, in his treatise entitled De Lapide Philosophorum, “that my life and my person will become sufficiently known to posterity for me to be counted among those who suffered much for love of truth." The justification modestly desired by Edward Kelly was not granted to him by the court of cassation to which he appealed. Posterity continues to perceive him as his contemporaries perceived him, as a fraudulent notary who rightly had his ears amputated; like a sordid imposter who took advantage of the immense credulity of the erudite Doctor Dee, and later involved his victim in transactions which permanently disgraced a great name in other respects; and finally as a supposed transmuter of metals who was treated too leniently by the emperor whom he duped. For example, the astrologer portrayed by Hudibras read
"Dee's prefaces before
The Devil, and Euclid in every sense,
And all these intrigues between him and Kelly,
Which Lexas and the Emperor could tell you."
This is at least false as far as Doctor Dee is concerned, and this falsehood can be proven. This is the verdict of posterity to the extent that it was interested in this subject; this is the verdict of the biographical dictionaries faithfully copying each other, following the easy process employed by these biographical dictionaries as soon as they deal with mages and prophets, alchemists and other teachers of secret medicines, and as a general rule of all the oracles of neighboring countries; and as soon as ignorant public opinion becomes interested in the subject it finds itself guided by the erudite stupidity of dictionaries.
Today, in presenting for the first time to the English reader the three very curious treatises constituting the principal literary remains of Edward Kelly, it is not necessary, because it would then be without any reason to subscribe to a blind defense of the alchemist who wrote them.
For the lover of scientific curiosities and unheard of things (NDT.In French in the text) in literature, the interest attached to it will not be altered by the charades or the crimes of the author. For anyone studying Hermetic antiquities it will become obvious, and perhaps already knows, that the value of the duo tractacus and their complement lies not in the fact that they are the work of an adept but in the following: they contain a careful or digestible summary of the alchemical philosophers, while the interest presented by the man himself lies in his temporary possession of the two tinctures of alchemical philosophy, and not in his capacity to compose them.
At the same time, the adventures and imprisonments of Kelly, with his passages from the worst of poverty to sudden wealth, a proscribed and wanted fugitive becoming a baron or marshal of Bohemia, then sinking again into disgrace and imprisonment, all this ending with a violent death, not to mention visions and transmutations, constitute the framework of a surprising story, drawing the vast contours of a life only possible in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Moreover, in this case as in many others, the student of transcendental history will hardly need to be informed that Doctor Dee's "seer" and discoverer of the so-called "Book of Saint Dunstan" was credited many iniquities which he does not seem to have committed. with his passages from the worst poverty to sudden wealth, a proscribed and wanted fugitive becoming a baron or marshal of Bohemia, then sinking again into disgrace and imprisonment, all this ending in a violent death, not to mention the visions and transmutations, constitute the framework of a surprising story, drawing the vast contours of a life only possible in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Moreover, in this case as in many others, the student of transcendental history will hardly need to be informed that Doctor Dee's "seer" and discoverer of the so-called "Book of Saint Dunstan" was credited many iniquities which he does not seem to have committed.
with his passages from the worst poverty to sudden wealth, a proscribed and wanted fugitive becoming a baron or marshal of Bohemia, then sinking again into disgrace and imprisonment, all this ending in a violent death, not to mention the visions and transmutations, constitute the framework of a surprising story, drawing the vast contours of a life only possible in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Moreover, in this case as in many others, the student of transcendental history will hardly need to be informed that Doctor Dee's "seer" and discoverer of the so-called "Book of Saint Dunstan" was credited many iniquities which he does not seem to have committed. proscribed and wanted fugitive becoming baron or marshal of Bohemia, then sinking again into disgrace and imprisonment, all this ending in a violent death, not to mention the visions and transmutations, constitute the framework of a surprising story, outline the vast contours of a life only possible in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Moreover, in this case as in many others, the student of transcendental history will hardly need to be informed that Doctor Dee's "seer" and discoverer of the so-called "Book of Saint Dunstan" was credited many iniquities which he does not seem to have committed.
If it is possible to provisionally put in parentheses the sole interest that these remains of Edward Kelly present in the eyes of the antiquary, and to show preferential attention towards this point of view from which the student of Hermeticism propose to consider them, it seems reasonable to us to affirm that the importance of this alchemist's life is entirely concentrated in his possession of the transmutatory powders and in the way in which he is supposed to have acquired them.
The other episodes of his existence can be treated with relative brevity.
Edward Kelly appears to have been born at Worcester, and according to Anthony à Wood (1), the event occurred at four o'clock in the afternoon on the first day of August 1555. This was the third year of the reign of Queen Mary. He was educated in his native town until the age of seventeen, at which age he is said to have gone to Oxford.
The records of this University do not mention any Edward Kelly appearing there at the period in question, and it is believed that his real name was Talbot. Three people bearing this name were admitted to Gloucester Hall at the time which interests us. Perhaps the University archives have not been properly searched, and, if not, the evidence of his stay at Oxford is of a very thin nature (2). If, in addition to the difficulty already mentioned, there are no other reasons to suppose that he changed his name, and no other seems available to us, perhaps it is wiser to refute his academic career than to admit the theory of the alias.
If he was at Oxford, it was only briefly, and he is supposed to have left suddenly.
Other accounts claim that he was raised as an apothecary and that in this way he acquired some skills in chemistry. It was more likely the profession of his father, who must have provided him with some knowledge during his childhood. At the end of his school studies, whether at Oxford or elsewhere, he seems to have taken up law, and to have settled in London or, according to another source, in Lancaster, but perhaps in both places.
It was certainly in the last one that his troubles began. He was a skilled writer, who had taken the trouble to familiarize himself with archaic English and, coming from Worcester, undoubtedly with Welsh. In fact, he was accused of using these talents to create false documents in the interest of a client. The accusation is very vague and is not based on anything that can be described as evidence. It is said, however, just as uncertainly, that he was pilloried at Lancaster, and also deprived of his ears. It is certain that he had serious problems because until the end of his life he was always more or less afraid of English justice, and seems sometimes to have preferred a foreign prison to the uncertain welcome he could expect back in his homeland.
Because this punishment that all his biographers assign to him, whether or not it was justified by his misdeeds, it seems reasonable to think that in one way or another it was evaded. The eminent position he subsequently occupied at the Court of Emperor Rudolph would hardly have been accessible to a man who had lost his ears. The credulity of royal persons at the end of the seventeenth century certainly facilitated many impostures on the part of the alchemists they protected, but not to the point of approving the philosophical illumination of an adept tarnished by the law. The other version therefore seems preferable, and according to this Kelly found refuge in Wales.
There, it is extremely probable that he took an assumed name, but whether Talbot became Kelly or whether Kelly merged for a time with Talbot, or some other name, is an alchemical mystery that the past will keep within itself. In Wales, he seems to have embraced a nomadic life, staying in obscure taverns, and after some time he must have gradually moved to the surroundings of the historic Glastonbury Abbey (3). What happened to him there was in fact destined to become the critical point in the life of this fugitive, and was abundantly recounted by his biographers: if in the present text we base ourselves on the story of the writer (NDT.In French in the text) French scientist Louis Figuier,
He will stay, among other places, in an isolated inn in the mountains, and there it happened that he was shown an old manuscript that no one in the village could decipher. Kelly had a good, if not sad, reason to be familiar with the mysteries of ancient writing (5), and he saw at once that not only was the text written in Old Welsh (6) but also that it dealt with the transmutation of metals.
He researched the history of this bibliographical rarity and learned that his discovery was linked to one of those outbursts of religious fanaticism quite common during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The sepulcher of a bishop buried in a neighboring church had been violated, the zeal of a Protestant not being incompatible with the desire to exhume hidden treasures. In any case, the sacrilegious act was only rewarded by the alchemical manuscript that the looters could not read, as well as by two small ivory cassettes containing respectively a red powder and a white powder, both equally useless in their eyes.
In their anger, they broke the receptacle of the red powder and much of the contents were lost. What remained, as well as the second cassette and the document already cited, they took to the innkeeper who was apparently mischievous enough to exchange them for a bottle of wine. The manuscript was kept as a curiosity to display to foreigners stopping at the inn; the intact cassette served as a toy for the innkeeper's children; the rest of the red powder seems to have been miraculously preserved in its broken receptacle; and it happened, in due time, that Kelly, in his capacity as a stranger, examined the whole of the treasure.
If Kelly had started out as an apothecary, he undoubtedly had some knowledge of chemistry (7), and there were at the time, relatively to the subject of Alchemy, few people who had never heard of red and white dyes, Magnum Opus instruments. He knew enough of them to desire to possess them, and offered a guinea of all to the innkeeper who accepted. that in his capacity as a stranger Kelly examined the entire treasure.
If Kelly had started out as an apothecary, he undoubtedly had some knowledge of chemistry (7), and there were at the time, relatively to the subject of Alchemy, few people who had never heard of red and white dyes, Magnum Opus instruments. He knew enough of them to desire to possess them, and offered a guinea of all to the innkeeper who accepted.
Such is the story of the discovery, stripped of a few elaborations due to French finesse. Now, Nash (8), responsible for the history of the pillory, does not provide any date relating to the alleged mutilation of Edward Kelly, but one can think that if it took place, it was around 1580. If the above-mentioned mutilation is ruled out, the same date will serve as our starting point for wanderings in Wales. After he had secured the Hermetic treasures, we do not really know what he did for some time; when he reappears it is in the company of Doctor John Dee.
Figuier, always embroidering on the insights of incapable and unimaginative biographers, tells us how, unable to use his treasures due to his alleged ignorance of chemistry, he resorts to his old friend Dee, wrote to him on this subject, received a favorable response and immediately set off for London. Whether he wrote or not, he was clearly installed there in the fall of 1582.
It is difficult to say whether or not this was a first meeting. Lenglet du Fresnoy, who was truly careful in collecting his data, states that Kelly was really a London solicitor and that Dee was his old friend and neighbor (9). It is supposed that they began to work together and in December 1579 it is said that in the laboratory of a goldsmith they accomplished a metallic transmutation proving that the richness of Kelly's dye was unique among two hundred times sixty -twelve thousand two hundred and thirty others; but it is specified "that they lost a lot of gold during their experiments before measuring the extent of its power."
If we accept this date, Kelly was then twenty-four years old, and her companion was about thirty years older than her. But dates are not easy to piece together at this time, and Dr. Dee's journals make no mention of the subject until several years have passed (10). There is, of course, no reason to doubt that they experimented fairly quickly with the powder, and as Dr. Dee's bona fides cannot be seriously questioned in view of later accounts, he must have considered the results as being satisfactory; it is further evident, in the light of his own memorandum, designed for his personal use and not intended for publication, that not only was he convinced of the authenticity of Kelly's transmutations but also that he held in high esteem the Alchemical talent of his companion, and seems to have always received his communications on the subject with gratitude and reverence (11).
But it also appears that both in England during the period concerned and later abroad, Dr. Dee was much more deeply and lastingly interested in the mysteries of visions in crystal than in the making of the metallic magnum opus. His allusions to Alchemy are extremely rare, but on the other hand his communications with angels and planetary spirits, invisible intelligences of all kinds and of all ranks, were recorded by him with the most scrupulous and exhaustive fidelity. They were subsequently deciphered, ordered and published in a large folio; and constitute to this day not only the most prolific source of information regarding the Dee-Kelly relationship, but also - despite our modern wonders - the most curious account existing in the English language of an alleged trade with the world of spirits.
And, whatever the contrary assertions of sensational biographers like Louis Figuier, adding for effect, it was in short not as an alchemist but as a crystal seer that Edward Kelly presented himself to Doctor Mortlake. It is also in this capacity that he influenced his companion above all. It is indifferent for the purposes of this preface which, let us remember, is not intended to advocate for its subject, to rule on the authenticity or not of Edward Kelly's visions.
In the present state of our knowledge of psychology, imperfect as it still is, on the one hand it is too late to deny that a state of lucidity can frequently be induced through crystals and other similarly transparent bodies; while it is obvious on the other hand, from the very history of our subject, that beyond the single fact and the possibilities that can reasonably be linked to it, nothing truly important has ever resulted such experiments. Edward Kelly may have lost his ears for counterfeiting, or deserved to have them cut off, and yet have been an authentic clairvoyant, because the faculty in no way presupposes superior or even passable morality in its possessor.
He may have been innocent of any other illegal practices, and yet have shamefully abused his friend. There is only one fact of importance for this preface: Edward Kelly, apparently without it being due to his merits, acquired the two tinctures of Hermetic philosophy. Guilty or martyr, seer or fraudulent conjurer, knave or saint, it matters little in comparison. He may also have explained the dyes in his possession through romantic fiction, but this in itself is of no importance. At the same time, with regard to his visions, it must be recognized that he was a high-level clairvoyant, or else a man who had a genius for lying (12).
Between the period of his supposed departure from Oxford and the end of his thirty-fifth year, he was accused of so many crimes, none of which could have been committed without considerable training, that, supposing an extraordinary capacity for evil, Despite everything, it is quite difficult to believe that he was able to do so much in such a short time. The list includes necromancy, dealing with the devil, counterfeiting (already mentioned), and issuing counterfeit money (13).
On September 21, 1583, Edward Kelly and his protector left England for the continent. Various reasons have been given for this move, such as that Kelly lived in continual fear for his freedom and even his life; that they could not continue their alchemical experiments in the best conditions by remaining in their own country; that such operations were likely to give them a sad reputation and make them liable to the superstitious fury of the populace; that Doctor Dee, in particular, had been disappointed in his expectation of a reasonably hoped-for promotion. All these causes may have contributed to making their departure desirable or they may not have been influenced by any of them.
Dee enjoyed considerable favor at court, particularly among royals, and there is little reason to suppose that he undertook his journey to seek dignity, or that he envisaged a lasting absence, the point being that he left his library behind, in his cottage at Mortlake.
His wife and child accompanied him, as did Kelly's family, who seems to have gotten married - although we do not know on what date. This troupe worthy of attention was completed by Lord Albert Alasko, a Polish nobleman who had sought and finally contracted intimacy with Doctor Dee during a prolonged stay in England (14). Whether or not he was interested in the alchemical experiments of the two friends does not emerge from the testimony, although this could be reasonably assumed. On the other hand, like Dee himself, he was deeply impressed by the spiritual revelations coming from the crystal, and the records show him as a regular and active participant in clairvoyance sessions.
The entire journey appears to have been undertaken at the request of Lord Albert Alasko, who invited them to visit him at his castle near Krakow. Hostile biographers like Louis Figuier have therefore portrayed him as the dupe of the two accomplices, whom they shamelessly plundered, tiring of the kindness of their host until he got rid of them, not without great difficulty. , their victim not being able to tolerate them any longer, being practically ruined by their rapacity. There is not a shred of proof of any of this.
It is certain that they did not reach Krakow before March 13, 1584. Hardly had they reached northern Germany when Doctor Dee was informed of the destruction of his library at Mortlake by a pack of madmen, who took advantage of the magician's absence to take revenge on his personal effects. The sequestration of his income and property seems to have shortly followed this act of vandalism.
As we have already seen, there is a gap in the "Private Diary" at this period, and this gap is only imperfectly filled by the "True and Faithful Relation", devoted to the visions in the crystal. The circumstances in which they left the Polish nobleman are not mentioned, but the date of their departure is fixed by the "Faithful Relation" at the first day of August 1584, new style.
It seems obvious to us that, like Doctor Dee, he experienced the irrational violence inherent in Kelly's temperament; but there is no evidence that they parted on bad terms. The visions and revelations in the crystal continued during the journey as at Mortlake, with the greatest regularity and persistence, whether arising from the fantastic mediumship of the seer or from the diversity of his imaginative resources, but were soon destined to be sullied by a despicable report.
It is also certain that during this period the alchemical experiments which were supposed to be the aim of their journey do not seem to have been pursued. It is even argued that, despite the Donum Dei, both families sometimes had to face great poverty. They finally went to Prague, and arrived there seven days after their departure from Krakow. There, everyone spoke of Alchemy, many practiced it, half of the population believed in the wonders relating to it, and the supposed processes were superior in number to the adepts themselves.
Inevitably, the possessor of the Bishop's powder, obtained during the excavations in Wales, intended to shine in this city full of hierophants, and Edward Kelly came among them as the Elijah Artist predicted years before by Paracelsus, and always awaited by his disciples. In a very short time, all of Prague was in rapture, because the adept Kelly carried out transmutations almost everywhere, as for example in the residence of Thaddaeus de Hazek, the imperial physician, even going so far as to initiate disciples like Nicholas Barnaud and Marshal Rosenberg to the process, if not is in secret itself.
Many authorities, including the famous Gassendi, have been cited in support of these lavish transmutations, but some of them offer uncertain commentary or remain completely silent (15). Be that as it may, the whole company suddenly and excessively became opulent, extremely lavish and endowed with magnificent suites. They were invited to the Court of Emperor Rudolph II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and went there, Kelly hoping to dazzle the potentate with his transmutations and be made marshal as a result.
Doctor Dee, who knew nothing about Alchemy, remained in relative silence while his companion multiplied his crazy expenses and the enemies of his sudden success. The philosopher and the alchemist soon could no longer stand each other and a clear break had to occur, a break whose explanation must be sought in the corrupt morals of the young man. In April 1587, while at Trobona, a naked woman, whose apparition was described by Kelly, ordered the "seer" and his master to enjoy "their two wives in common." Kelly persuaded Dee of the bona fides of the spirit and, after some hesitation, a solemn contract was drawn up, in accordance with the intimation,
In the meantime, the powder, diminishing by excessive projection, was exhausted, squandered even more by the vain efforts to increase it; and when the Emperor ordered his guest to produce it in suitable quantities, all the experiments failed. Until now, Kelly had bragged about being a follower; he had paraded his powers everywhere; he was not the simple legatee of the Stone - he was a competent and enlightened master.
The Emperor believed all this, and he even believed in it until the end; the helplessness of the exhausted alchemist was mistaken for stubbornness, and the guest became a prisoner. It is said that he was locked up in a dungeon in Zobeslau Castle. In order to regain his freedom, he promised to make the Stone, on the condition of being able to return to Prague and consult Dr. Dee there. He was therefore allowed to return to this city, but his house was guarded and, as the new experiments aimed at composing a transmutative powder proved more vain than ever, the alchemist seized with rage indulged in a futile attempt to escape which only resulted in the murder of one of the guards.
A second imprisonment, this time at Zerner Castle, was the consequence of this outburst of violence. Doctor Dee returned to England alone, but on a date inconsistent with certain alleged incidents in the seer's life. The two friends seem to have parted on friendly terms and corresponded after their separation (16). At the request of the philosopher of Mortlake, Queen Elizabeth claimed the alchemist as one of her subjects but the Emperor apologized for not being able to release him due to the murder he had committed.
Kelly's second imprisonment, according to generally accepted dates, lasted until 1597, when he attempted to escape using a rope. Unfortunately, he fell from such a height that the resulting injuries led to his death at the age of forty-two (17). His treatise on the “Philosophers’ Stone” was the fruit of his forced leisure time but it did not appease his jailer. The other pamphlets contained in this volume were undoubtedly written earlier.
Before knowing Kelly, Dr. Dee did not concern himself with Alchemy, but from his return to England until his death in 1608, he abstained from the experiments which plunged his seer into trouble, and was content to be Director of Manchester, to be persecuted by the Members of the College and to suffer other affronts with the patience of an enlightened philosopher.
His treatise on the "Philosophers' Stone" was the fruit of his forced leisure time but it did not appease his jailer. The other pamphlets contained in this volume were undoubtedly written earlier. Before knowing Kelly, Dr. Dee did not concern himself with Alchemy, but from his return to England until his death in 1608, he abstained from the experiments which plunged his seer into trouble, and was content to be Director of Manchester, to be persecuted by the Members of the College and to suffer other affronts with the patience of an enlightened philosopher. His treatise on the “Philosophers’ Stone” was the fruit of his forced leisure time but it did not appease his jailer.
The other pamphlets contained in this volume were undoubtedly written earlier. Before knowing Kelly, Dr. Dee did not concern himself with Alchemy, but from his return to England until his death in 1608, he abstained from the experiments which plunged his seer into trouble, and was content to be Director of Manchester, to be persecuted by the Members of the College and to suffer other affronts with the patience of an enlightened philosopher.
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II
THE BOOK OF SAINT DUNSTAN
The student of alchemical literature will of course be curious to know whether the mysterious Glastonbury manuscript is supposed to have survived. Tradition has attributed to him the title placed here at the head, and there is the following testimony, to be considered despite all its imperfections, which constitutes an explanation.
Glastonbury Abbey was founded by Saint Dunstan but he does not appear to have been buried there, despite his relics being supposedly transported from Canterbury. We can nevertheless deduce from tradition that the remains of the exhumed bishop were those of the saint himself. Saint Dunstan was supposed to have been an alchemist, was considered the patron saint of goldsmiths; but an anonymous compiler of manuscripts from the seventeenth century affirms "that he had no other elixir or Philosopher's Stone than the gold and silver obtained thanks to the profits of fishing, from which goldwork and silverware came, as well as these same metals in bars, destined for the kingdom.
For the development of this activity, he recommended that three days a week be devoted to fishing, which also caused more abstinence, hence the proverb of after which Saint Dunstan took the devil by the nose with his own pincers."
The "Book of Saint Dunstan" is sometimes mentioned in Dr. Dee's journals, in connection with the "powder found during excavations in England", and it is so in such a way that it leads us to reasonably conclude that this title was that of the Glastonbury manuscript. A work bearing the same title is constantly cited by the son of the philosopher Mortlake, Arthur Dee, notably in his Fasciculus Chemicus.
The British Museum has a manuscript copy, in Latin, of another treatise attributed to the same author, under the title Arca Arcanorum, followed by the Tractatus Maximi Domini Dunstani, Episcopi Cantuariensis, veri philosophi, by Lapide Philosophico (Treatise of the Grand Master DUNSTAN , bishop of Canterbury, true philosopher, on the Philosopher's Stone).
Various manuscripts which have come down to us, both in Latin and in English, presenting great differences in dates as well as in the nature of their contents, are however attributed to Saint Dunstan. The first edition was printed at Cassel in 1649. Some ignorant critics have gone so far as to regard Kelly's own treatise as the authentic Glastonbury manuscript.
Others, ignoring the connection with the saint, have been inclined to think that two treatises in verse, included by Elias Ashmole in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, constituted the original treatise - although not recorded in the original language .
There is hardly any way to prove this hypothesis but there is nothing impossible about it; and if we reject it, the verses in question can certainly be considered as other literary remains of Edward Kelly; either way, they deserve a place here. Some ignorant critics have gone so far as to regard Kelly's own treatise as the authentic Glastonbury manuscript. Others, ignoring the connection with the saint, have been inclined to think that two treatises in verse, included by Elias Ashmole in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, constituted the original treatise - although not recorded in the original language .
There is hardly any way to prove this hypothesis but there is nothing impossible about it; and if we reject it, the verses in question can certainly be considered as other literary remains of Edward Kelly; either way, they deserve a place here. Some ignorant critics have gone so far as to regard Kelly's own treatise as the authentic Glastonbury manuscript. Others, ignoring the connection with the saint, have been inclined to think that two treatises in verse, included by Elias Ashmole in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, constituted the original treatise - although not recorded in the original language .
There is hardly any way to prove this hypothesis but there is nothing impossible about it; and if we reject it, the verses in question can certainly be considered as other literary remains of Edward Kelly; either way, they deserve a place here. included by Elias Ashmole in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, constituted the original treatise - although not recorded in the original language.
There is hardly any way to prove this hypothesis but there is nothing impossible about it; and if we reject it, the verses in question can certainly be considered as other literary remains of Edward Kelly; either way, they deserve a place here. included by Elias Ashmole in the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, constituted the original treatise - although not recorded in the original language.
There is hardly any way to prove this hypothesis but there is nothing impossible about it; and if we reject it, the verses in question can certainly be considered as other literary remains of Edward Kelly; either way, they deserve a place here.
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THE WORK OF SIR EDWARD KELLY
All you happy philosophers who would like to be,
And who night and day on Geber's grill
Waste the shavings of the ancient Tree of Hermes,
Imagining yourself changing them into precious oil,
The more you work, the more you lose and strip yourself;
To you, I say, however learned you may be,
Go burn your Books and come learn from me.
Although in the face of my Book alone you have read ten,
It matters little, for I have heard that
The greatest clerics are not the wisest men:
It happened that a lion obeyed a stupid mouse.
By my good will will you be dismayed,
And although I write much less suavely than Tully,
you will notice that I follow in Lulle's footsteps.
It is good for you to think how your envy
And your conceit guarantee vain hopes;
You spare no expense, you don't want coals for the fire,
You know the virtues of Heliotrope;
You consider yourself richer than the Pope;
Whether a thing exists above or below,
You know it, its materia prima.
The Elixir of life and the precious Stone,
You know them as well as you know how to make an apple;
If it works, then let it go.
You know the colors, black, brown, bay, and spotted;
Control yourself when you begin to get agitated,
Swearing and saying: What is this?
Yet you continue to work, but the work never comes to fruition.
No, no, my friends, it is not boastful words,
Nor powerful wishes that attract this sacred talent;
It is obtained by grace and not by swords,
Nor by great reading, nor by remaining motionless for a long time,
Nor by foolish self-importance, nor by omnipotence of the will,
But by grace, I said, it is obtained gets;
Seek therefore grace, that your folly may be subdued.
It is not a ruinous thing, I assure you,
That which generates Magnesia of its kind;
Although she herself is made pure by leprosy,
His eyes clearer if previously struck by blindness,
And who will first be able to open the fortress of the earth,
He will very quickly know that the truth I have spoken
About sweet Magnesia, wife of the most gold pure.
Now, what we mean by man and wife is in fact
The agent and the patient, however one and not two,
As Adam's Eve was, I point out to you,
Flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones -
Such is the union of our precious Stone;
As Adam slept before his wife was created,
so is our Peter; nothing more can be said about it.
In this you see how it came about
that first there was man,
Thus Adam was first, principal,
And always remained a man of perfect slime;
Then man and woman were joined together and adjusted,
And each loving the other had direct control over him,
And they increased their race when God had blessed them.
Like man our Peter is hidden to sleep,
Until his bride is fully fashioned;
Then he awakens, and joyfully he attends to
His newly created bride for whom he has paid so dearly;
And when to such perfection they are carried,
He rejoices in such a pretty bride,
Whose value is greater than half the world.
I suspect you don't understand yet
What man or woman truly means,
And yet I know that you are fooling yourself
By saying to yourself that it is surely Sulfur and Mercury;
And it does, but certainly not the ordinary ones;
For the essential Mercury is really the true wife
Who kills herself in order to give birth to her child.
First and foremost, she welcomes the man,
Her perfect love soon makes her conceive,
Then with all her strength and despite their love,
She does everything to take his life,
Once she has done so , she will not leave,
But will work with kindness like an affectionate wife
Until she gives birth to him again.
Then, present again, he repays his kindness,
On his head places a crown of glory,
And in his praise he writes poems,
Poems inspiring a tale to each poet,
And then for having killed him she is not not contrite,
For he by virtue of his affectionate wife
Not only lives but gives life.
But here I would like you to understand well
How he makes his concubine his wife,
Because if you do not know, there is no point in undertaking
This work, regarding that which for madmen is in no way ordinary,
And which sees you in atonement where there is struggle;
Therefore take off the man's cloth shirt,
To tell you from behind his back he doesn't want any wives,
On earth or sea, in water, air or fire,
Without their deaths he expects nothing from their lives.
Unless they live he wants to realize his main desire;
He forces them to learn the righteous death,
And when they have finally endured all the suffering,
They discover joys that were initially hidden from them.
For then they see the joy of gentleness increase;
They give birth to children splendid to see,
Who are healthy prisoners to be released,
And who give true light to the darkest bodies,
Their celestial tincture being of such great power;
Oh! he who could only discover such a treasure,
How can we doubt that his joy was excessive?
Now, thanks to this question I will quickly know
If you can tell who his wife really is -
Is she quick-footed, beautiful-faced, yes or no?
Flying or fixed, like you read in the books?
Should we feed her or is she the one who feeds?
Where is his place of rejoicing, where is his dwelling?
Terrestrial or celestial, or of a strange nation?
Is she poor? or does she have any wealth?
Gallant in his finery, or miserable in his clothes?
Is she sick? or is she in perfect health?
Gentle by nature? or is she quarrelsome?
Is she greedy? or does she like keg?
If you answer yes to any of these questions,
For sure you don't know his wife and have never seen her.
And I prove this to you and for good reason,
because truly she is none of that;
This question posed to you seems to you to be a mockery;
And yet it must be all of this to a certain extent:
Why to a certain extent and not totally you will see.
Because the true wife I speak of
Is the middle between all these opposites.
Just as flour and water come together,
It is not flour and water that is now in question, but dew,
Which when cooked is dew and no longer water:
And neither will henceforth leave the other;
The middle between the two is the wife, ours, but yet,
And in this hidden detail lies our secret -
That is enough, few words satisfy the wise.
Now, through this comparison I reveal here
A powerful secret, if you notice;
Name mercury water, imagine sulfur flour,
What flour I hear I wish the wise could say;
Cook them with skill, make them stay together,
And in your work do not be too hasty,
For the wife is not the time she is dough.
This lesson learned, allow me to entertain myself,
I will be all the better disposed for further instructions,
My mind turns, clear mechanism, towards another path;
I don't like to stifle sweet and secret thoughts -
You know, the child makes the mother,
So we must have a child,
Or else we have deceived ourselves about motherhood.
What will you say if I teach you a marvel,
And demonstrate that the mother is a child while being a mother?
Aren't you going to think that I'm going to
fool you with stupid things like some people do?
Would it be possible for the mother to wear the child's shoes?
In all good faith, it is in our philosophy,
and I will prove it later.
Ripley commands not to conduct this with disdain,
Patiently awaiting the authentic conjunction,
For, he says, in the air our child is born,
There he receives the holy anointing,
And with that a celestial function,
For after death he returns to life,
And that all full of everything, both husband, child, and wife.
As long as everything is earth, we say conception,
And the time of putrefaction is called childbirth;
Perfect conjunction (this is what men of art affirm),
The birth of woman from which all joy comes:
Who does not know this has little understanding;
When she is strong and shines pretty and magnificently,
It denotes the splendid wife to behold.
So; so you see that you are not deceived!
For, you will notice, I have proven by reason
How it concerns both the mother and the child,
Conception, gestation, childbirth, in each season;
I proclaimed them to you without treason,
Or without any equivocal or lying word,
And if you work, you will realize this truth.
It is truly this essential Mercury
Which is the principal supply of the Stone,
And not these crude amalgams recently generated -
These are only superficial Mercurys;
We are talking about this perfectly tinctorial menstruation;
It is truly the only thing
from which all benefit must arise.
If this does not satisfy you, remain disappointed in me,
Because I'm done. If reason does not manifest itself,
what can we say except that there will always be doubts?
Do what you can when stupidity is certain to win;
Let it be enough that it is the perfect base,
Namely the Stone to be dissolved:
How this is done I will tell you.
This is the Stone that Ripley tells you to obtain
(For before that there is no stone):
Be at my orders, do not forget my advice,
And he commands, abandon gross things,
If one has granted you the grace to avoid lamentation.
And stay true to that, don't let fantasy take hold of you,
Let reason rule, because fantasy will betray you.
So take this Stone, this wife, this child, all this,
Which will be gummy, crumbling, silky, soft;
On glass or porphyry grind it finely,
And, as you crush it, feed it frequently with Mercury,
But not to the point that Mercury covers it,
And equalize the parts, removing their seed which should be saved ;
Then they are buried one in the other in their tomb.
When you have it there and thus, as it is said,
Work in all respects as Nature did first,
Of the darkness you must not be afraid,
It will become white, you will then have passed the worst,
Unless you break your glass and be cursed;
But if you walk through darkness toward whiteness,
It will be white and sweet as starch.
This same situation has various names -
Like imbibition, nourishment, sublimation,
Climbing high mountains, also children's games,
And also aptly named exaltation,
When everything is nothing other than circulation
Of the four elements, whatever the noisy said of fools,
Obtained by heat applied to form and matter.
The earth is the vilest of all elements,
whose black is exalted in water;
And then we no longer call it earth but water,
Even though it seems black earthly matter,
Which in black dust will be scattered all around;
And when it has risen to the height of the water,
there it is truly said to be sublimated.
When this black mass has again become white,
Both inside and outside, like snow, and shining beautifully,
Then this son, this wife, this sky so clear,
This water earth sublimated into air,
When it is present, it Moreover,
She must prepare herself in the element of fire;
Then thank God for granting you what you desire.
This black, this white, we call this separation,
Which is not manual but elementary;
This is not simple mercurial sublimation,
But a true consubstantial work of Nature;
White is called natural conjunction,
Perfect and secret conjunction, not gross,
Which brings profit, like any other harm.
When you have turned this wheel three times,
Feeding it and working it as I said,
Then it will certainly flow like wax,
Delivering a dye that will not fade,
Withstanding all possible trials;
If wisely you can plan it and dispose of it freely,
Both honor and profit will come to you.
Your medicine fixed and perfectly flowing,
The white, you think, should increase in whiteness,
Thus red begets red, like the seed in the sowing
Begets its double, or as it happens among beasts,
And fire must be the true maker of peace,
For red or white ferment your medicine grows,
And perfectly tinted and soon softens.
That is to say, your medicine completed,
If white, melt silver and project it on,
If red, melt sun, because it is intended there,
The same and the same in no way reject each other ;
And at the sight of its purest aspect you will elect it:
One part of medicine for ten of ferment -
Only one for a thousand Jupiter.
Your Jupiter blushes on the fire,
As soon as your medicine on him is cast,
Soon becomes like metallic wire,
For then he is fixed and melted by fire,
And of all your labors, this is the last;
Then, whether by reagent or etching it is tested,
The best gold, the best silver, will never endure as much.
Gross Mercury heated in a crucible Soon
hardens like sodden silver,
And on the sublime throne of the Moon is established.
Silver or gold as medicine has sealed,
And thus our great secret I have revealed,
Which many have seen, and I myself have worked,
And greatly I cherish it, while giving it gratis.
FINISHED. - EK
SIR ED. KELLEY
ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHAL STONE
Written especially for
his good friend, GS Bent
The celestial vault carries within it flower of nature -
Twice hidden, but the support is visible:
In which all the sperm of the lower bodies
Are very secret, although springing up once a year;
And as the earth with water are the causes,
From it there is only careless aridity.
No greater stream than that which flows quietly,
Nothing more fixed than the earth thrice digested,
No wind fresher than that in the service of one's will,
No profit more, so maintain this and be wise;
No better fortune, then dries the air to dust,
Because then you can stop and sleep to your heart's content.
I warn you however, so that you avoid failing,
First sublimate your heart with stinking water;
Then in a place which Phoebus only says
Let it be seen at noon, make sure you mix perfectly;
For nothing shines that does not want its light,
No doublet shines before it is brilliant.
Let no man guide you who does not know the way
Which the wise teach, and where Adrop leads,
The first of which is vast and easy prayer,
The other arduous and humble but at the beginning;
For surely these and no other will be heard
Where Apollo plucks the strings of his harp.
The learned example of God who plasters the heavens,
Reflecting the virtues of all the details,
In which the motive, in which all things are placed,
Holds all the virtues in all articulation,
And therefore the fifth essence can truly be said
All contain and yet be blank.
Remember also how the Gods began,
And how one in succession was the father of the other;
Then study their lives and kingdoms if you can,
Also their morals, and all their finery,
And if you do this knowing to what end,
The learned Sophia will not reject you.
If this my doctrine does not agree with your brain,
So I won't say anything even though I've said too much;
To tell the truth, it is good will, and not greed,
which prompted me to write these lines, although I am not writing for those
who grab wild apples when the best fruits appear,
and wonder what to choose at the time. best time of the year.
You can (my friend) say: what is this knowledge?
I will answer that this is what ancient medicine taught,
And although a thousand books before you have read,
It turns out that besides this they teach you nothing:
You might as well be blind and call me crazy,
But these rules will forever glorify their disciples.
To these very curious samples of Alchemy in verse, it is perhaps interesting to add one of the briefest treatises having been attributed to Saint Dunstan. The only selection criterion for the following experiments was brevity.
SAINT DUNSTAN:
FROM THE STONE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
I
Take the best light red gold mining, as much as you can get, and extract its spirit by means of a retort: this is Azoth and Acetum of the Philosophers, taken from the adequate mining, radically blossoming the prepared Sun.
II
Take the mineral of Venus or Saturn, and chase their spirit into a retort; each of them radically dissolves the gold, after its purification.
III
Take pulverized Saturn miner, or calcined common Saturn; extract its salt with Acetum or its antinae; purify it in the best way, so that it becomes transparent like crystal, and sweet like honey, and flowing like wax in the heat, and brittle when cold. This is the tree which is cut down, whose fruits are unhealthy, on which the branches of the Sun must be grafted.
IV
Take this earth that we find fallow in the fields, present everywhere in marshy lands, in which the astrals ejaculate their operations, adorned with all kinds of colors, presenting itself like a rainbow; extract from it what is purest and most subtle. This is the universal solvent applying to everything; and is all in all.
Take the mineral of the Sun and Mercury in equal quantities; grind them finely; pour the spirit of Mercury on it, covering it to a height of three fingers. Dissolved and digested at low heat.
VI
Take the best vitriol, or the vitriol of Venus; and drives out their spirit in a retort, white and red. With this red spirit, once rectified and purified, you can ferment and imbibe the subtle golden lime, and with the white spirit you can dissolve it once it has been purified.
VII
Take live Mercury; purify it and dissolve it in the spirit of alcoholic wine until its impurity is separated from it, and it becomes its utmost essence, transparent, peaceful and fluid, like the white gluten of the eagle ,
VIII
Extract the salt from the raw and calcined tartar; purify and clarify it often, until it becomes as clear as a tear in the eye and cannot be carried to a higher stage; you will be able to sharpen with his own spirit of wine, which dissolves Sun and Moon.
IX
Take violently toxic material or stone, called "kerg swaden", remains, or gangues of metals; extract his spirit with great circumspection; collect it so that it can become water, it reduces all the metals until they are drinkable.
x
Take air or heavenly dew, being well purified, ten parts, and subtle golden lime one part; subject it to digestion, dissolve, and coagulate.
XI
Take the urine of a healthy man, drinking only wine; and, in accordance with art, make this the salt of the microcosm; purify it properly, which should sharpen the spirit of wine to the point that it dissolves the Sun in an instant.
XII
Take the best in gold mining; spray it properly; seal it with the seal of Hermes; subject it to vaporous fire until you see it grow like a white and red rose.
XIII
Through this last experience he calls the Light. Take, in the name of the Lord, some Hungarian gold, which has been melted three times via antimony and rolled into very fine slices, in whatever quantity you wish, and make an amalgam with live Mercury; then calcines everything very subtly, with flowers of sulfur and spirit of burnt wine, until what remains is a subtle golden lime of purple color. Take one part of it, take two parts of the red substance already mentioned; grind everything very finely for an hour on heated marble; then cemented and calcined well by degrees for three hours in a fire chamber.
This work must be repeated three times; then pour the best rectified spirit on it, covering it to a height of three fingers; arrange it for gentle and warm digestion, for six days so that there is extraction; then the spirit of wine will be as dark as blood; turn away this dye, and pour others on it as long as it dyes; place all these dyed wine spirits in a flask, filling only a quarter of it, and seal it hermetically; disposes on vaporous fire of the first degree; may its heat be like that of the radiant sun of the month of July; leave things like this for forty days - and then you will get what you want.
and seal it tightly; disposes on vaporous fire of the first degree; may its heat be like that of the radiant sun of the month of July; leave things like this for forty days - and then you will get what you want. and seal it tightly; disposes on vaporous fire of the first degree; may its heat be like that of the radiant sun of the month of July; leave things like this for forty days - and then you will get what you want.
The author very strongly recommends this last experiment, affirming according to his experimental practice that this Aurum Potabile is the medicine closest to universal medicine, and, being consumed in the appropriate vehicles, it cures all diseases without causing no suffering.
Furthermore. - With this Aurum Potabile is prepared Antimony, so that it purifies from top to bottom, and expels all pernicious humors without any inconvenience, and is called purging gold.
With the help of this antimony we also make diaphoretic gold, driving away all malignant humors through perspiration; and we also make Mercurius Vitae with this Potable Gold (if it is maintained in prolonged digestion); the dosage depends on the nature of the person.
III
THE ROSICRUCIANS AND DOCTOR DEE
It is clear from the first part of this preface that Doctor Dee was popularly regarded as an alchemist with the same lucidity presiding over his perception as a magician.
It is certain that he had some knowledge of chemistry before meeting Kelly, and we have seen that he carried out a phenomenal series of experiments relating to artificial lucidity through his famous crystal; but on the one hand he was not an alchemist and on the other did not deal with demons and was not a necromancer. He was in fact a scholar, a philosopher of mathematics, absorbed to some extent in the physics and metaphysics of the Hermetic tradition.
Note that he left no writings on Alchemy, and it is necessary to insist on this question because a hypothesis has recently been put forward which it is not useless to settle in these pages. It has been suggested that Doctor Dee was in reality the founder and leader of the mysterious Rosicrucian Brotherhood, which publicly manifested its existence some twenty years after the death of Edward Kelly but claimed to have been formed much earlier. Could Mortlake's philosopher claim this distinction, it would then be reasonably obvious that his companion must share with him the privilege of having given birth to one of the most curious historical mysteries.
That said, we know full well that, ruling out imaginative people who convince themselves that the Rosicrucians, like the Masonic Fraternity, date back to the period of the Flood, and are said to have propagated the inexplicable and the extravagant to all ages and under all skies - leaving them aside, it is fairly well known that the investigators of the Rosicrucian mystery searched on all sides for someone to whom to attribute authorship. As a result, few mystics of this period escaped their suspicion.
Until recently, Doctor Dee - whether because of unpleasant company or because he is a little too early in time - enjoyed total immunity; his turn, however, came, and for a time it seemed certain that he was the solvent party. Among the unpublished texts of Doctor Dee, some of his biographers have included a manuscript kept in the library of the British Museum, and devoted to the elucidation of certain Rosicrucian arcana.
It was included on the strength of the manuscript itself, which claims its authorship, but biographers knew nothing of the Rosicrucian problem, and it was admitted without examination or verification. However, today people are educated enough to realize that if this manuscript is truly to be attributed to the author of the Monas Hieroglyphica, then the Rosicrucians were clearly in evidence years before the publication of their manifestos, and they have logically concluded that it is Dee, as the first interpreter of their doctrine, who must be retained as the probable founder of the Fraternity, and this is in fact the latest hypothesis aimed at resolving the problem.
The manuscript consists of 501 folios, beautifully written, and illustrated with some alchemical symbols, Hermetic seals, etc. The most superficial examination proves that in any case it is not an autograph document, because the flowered title bears in an embellishment the date of March 12, 1713 (18). It is nevertheless possible to consider it as the transcription of a lost original; and the only criticism capable of demolishing this hypothesis, and proving the imposture practiced, would require an extraordinary knowledge of Rosicrucian and alchemical literature.
The work is divided into three parts, the first of which is alchemical and medical. She describes the Rosicrucians as undoubtedly the wisest of "nations", and argues that their contemplative order "introduced to the world angels, spirits, planets, and metals, I will insert here the letter of Doctor John Frederick Helvetius to Doctor Dee.
How in less than a quarter of an hour, by a tiny part of the Philosopher's Stone, a large piece of ordinary lead was transmuted into the purest resplendent gold. By Élie Artiste". But the Elie Artiste in question was the mysterious adept who gave the projection powder to Helvetius (19).
The second part of the manuscript is intended to be an alphabetical explanation of certain words difficult to understand in the writings of Doctor Dee The third contains a methodical apology for the Rosicrucian doctrines, as well as an explanation of the principles guiding the Fraternity.
We will readily admit that the manuscript as a whole is designed to mislead anyone who is not a well-equipped specialist; it is in fact a very curious counterfeit, all the more difficult to explain by its lack of valid reason. A critical examination of the first part reveals that it is nothing more than an adaptation of John Heydon's "Elharvareuna, or Rosicrucian Medicines of Metals", the text of which consists of a dialogue supposedly occurring between Eugenius Philalethes (ie, Thomas Vaughan) and Eugenius Theodidactus (ie, Heydon himself).
It was first printed in 1665. The second part cannot be accurately linked to any published work, but there is a great diversity of alchemical lexicons of which it is probably only an abridgement; In any case, it is absolutely certain that the words he sets out to explain do not appear in any of the surviving writings of Doctor Dee. The third part of the manuscript is the translation and adaptation of Themis Aurea by Michael Maier, published in 1618.
Apart from the now discredited claim of this extraordinary imposture, there is no reason to connect the philosopher of Mortlake in any way with the Rosicrucians. At the same time, it would not be beyond the reasonable limits of this biographical sketch to briefly examine the testimonies put forward on the question because, if it could be proven that Dee was a Rosicrucian, it is almost certain that Kelly, his inseparable as well as his inspiration in Alchemy, would also have been a member of the same fraternity.
And a Kelly of Rosicrucian obedience, intimately linked to the founder of the order, would undoubtedly have more interest than the sole "seer" of Doctor Dee, without prejudice to the philosopher of Mortlake or the possessor of the powder of Saint Dunstan.
(l) Athenae Oxoniensis, ed. 1813, p. 639-643.
(2) Thomas Allen's temporary secretary (Wood) at Gloucester Hall claimed that Kelly spent some time there.
(3) About 35 miles separate Glastonbury from the nearest part of South Wales.
(4) Alchemy and the Alchemists. Third edition, Paris, 1860, p. 232, et seq.
(5) This is an insinuation intended to support the accusation against Kelly that he was involved in the fraudulent preparation of old legal documents.
(6) Outside of Mr. Figuier's imagination, there is no reason to suppose that the manuscript was written in Welsh.
(7) Figuier observes that he was devoid of the most elementary notion of chemistry or transmutatory philosophy, but for that time Figuier was a Frenchman drawing largely on these internal sources sparing research on documents.
(8) History and Antiquities of Worcester, 2 vols., London, 1781, etc., Fol.
(9) There are a huge number of documents relating to the life of Doctor Dee, used in such an imperfect way that the biography of this singular man has not yet been really written. Having consulted them as far as possible for the purposes of this preface, they shed no light on this debatable point. The Autobiographical Tracts of Dr. John Dee, Warden of the College of Manchester, edited by Mr. James Crossley, were printed for the Chetham Society in 1851, but they contain no reference to Edward Kelly, nor to possible Alchemical experiments. In repudiating the magical practices attributed to him, he mentions certain "false information spread by George Ferrys and Prideaux, for the reading of the royal commissioners, and he obviously avoided any allusion that could be interpreted unfavorably. However, in the other (ie, the Private Diary), he tells us about his dreams, mysterious noises in his room, evil spirits, and alludes to various secrets of occult philosophy with the enthusiasm of a true partisan." The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee, and the Catalog of his Library of Manuscripts was edited by James Orchard Halliwell, FRS, on behalf of the Camden Society in 1842. Talbot's name is mentioned, sv, the 9 March 1582, and reappears once or twice subsequently, but there seems to be no reason to identify it with that of Edward Kelly, whose initials are not mentioned before 22 November 1582,
(10) The Private Diary ends on September 21, 1583 and resumes in July 1586 with the account of a transmutation carried out by Kelly during their stay abroad.
(11) "May 10, 1588. EK revealed to me the great secret, thank God." Again: "August 24, 1580. Vidi divinam aquam demonstratione magnifici domini et amici mei incomparabilis, D. Ed. Kellei ante meridiem tertia hora." And again: "December 14. Mr. Edward Kelly gave me the water, the land, and everything."
(12) Disraeli, in his Amenities of Literature, observes that "the masquerade of his spiritual entities was truly remarkable for its fantastically minute appearance."
(13) In June 1583, a sentence was pronounced against him for having minted money, of which his companion declared him innocent. Whether this is a consequence of certain Alchemical experiments is not apparent, but, in any case, the accusation seems to have been unfounded or not to have led far, for no subsequent troubles appear which would have caused it to be originally. The accusation of necromancy may have some basis, and in this case, whatever odious moral character may be attributed to him on this point, it tends somewhere to prove that in occult matters he acted in good faith and believed in the effectiveness of these magical processes of which crystallomancy was a part. The primary source for the accusation appears to be John Weever's book, Discourse of Ancient Funereal Monuments, London, 1631, fol., pp. 45-46, where it is said that by the aid of incantations he compelled a poor man buried in the courtyard adjoining Law Church, near Wotton-in-the-Dale, to leave his grave (it is not question here of exhumation of the body but of evoking the spirit of the deceased) as well as to answer the questions he asked him. An original letter to Wood signed "Anonymous Philomusus", held in the Tanner collection at the Bodleian Library, claims that Weever's source was Kelly's accomplice at the time of this account. Since all kinds of magic were then commonly regarded as being of Satanic extraction, it is of course obvious that from this point of view Kelly had commerce with evil spirits. About it, there is an interesting quote in the Diary of Doctor Dee: "April 13, 1584, circa, 3 horam. After a brief prayer by me addressed to Christ that wisdom and truth might be administered by Nalvage (ie, one of the spirits of the crystal ), he appeared and spoke at length to EK, who initially remained silent on this point but ended up confessing to me at length that he had fraternally advised him to stop behaving like an idolater and a fornicator against God, by asking advice from who he asked for." Thereupon, “EK confessed that he had had dealings with the devil.” However one understands this admission, the kind of slander it engendered can be understood in the light of a passage from Sibley's Illustration of the Occult Sciences,
when he realized that his deputy Kelly was degrading himself through contact with the lowest and worst species of magical art, for the purposes of fraud and avaricious profit, he broke off all relations with him, and no longer wanted to be seen in his company. And it is believed that the doctor, shortly before his death, became aware that these invisible agents had deceived him, and that their pretension to act under the auspices of the angel Uriel, for the honor and glory of God was nothing but hypocrisy and the devil's illusion. Kelly, thus rejected and disconcerted by the Doctor, then devoted himself to the most vile and abject practices of the magical art; which seem to have had money and diabolical works as their main goals. Many perverse and abominable things have been reported about him, carried out by witchcraft and thanks to infernal spirits; but nothing more adjoining our present subject than what is mentioned by Weaver in his 'Funereal Monuments.' This one relates that Kelly, the Magician, as well as a certain Paul Waring, who assisted him as companion and associate in all his conspiracies, both went to the cemetery of Walton Ledale, in the province of Lancaster, knowing that one of those buried was believed to have hidden or buried a considerable sum of money, and had died without revealing where to anyone. They entered the cemetery at midnight sharp, and the grave having been pointed out to them the previous day, they conjured the spirit of the deceased by magical charms and incantations, until he appeared before them, and not only gratified their perverse and iniquity desires but also delivered curious prophecies concerning people in the neighborhood, which were very exactly and literally fulfilled. It was commonly reported that Kelly, having spent the time assigned to him by his pact with the devil, was seized at midnight by certain infernal spirits who carried him away from the sight of his wife and children, at the moment when he was hatching a pernicious design against the pastor of his parish, with whom he had great enmity." - This story is quite simply a web of lies, not only regarding the relationship between Dee and Kelly, but also about the the place and manner in which the alchemist died. Moreover, Kelly does not seem to have had any offspring.
(14) In the Private Diary, dated May 1st, we read the following statement: - Albertus Laski, Polonus, Palatinus Scradensis, venit Londinem. Compare with Donce manuscript 363, fol. 125. "In the year of our Lord God 1583, on the last day of April, the Duke or Prince of Vascos, in Poland, came to London and was lodged at Winchester House." It was at half past seven in the evening on May 13 that Dee made his acquaintance. He became a frequent, even daily, guest. The Autobiographical Tracts published by the Chetham Society contain the following information: "His Majesty (An. 1583, Julii ultimus) being informed by the right honorable Earl of Leicester, given that the same day in the morning he assured me that his honor and Lord Laski would dine with me within two days,
(15) The only findable testimony of Gassendi is contained in De Rebus Terrenis Inanimis, Lib. III., c. VI., Lugduni Batavorum, fol. 1658, vol. 2, p. 143. "Deinde manifesta sunt genera varia imposturarum, quibus versutiores fumivenduli illudere solent non modo simplicioribus, sed nonullis etiam ex iis, qui se putant oculatories (he has already spoken of the credulity of the partisans, more especially on the subject of the "falsies" of the alchemical literature), dum nempe non satis expected ad conditionem aut operantis, aut manus opus peragentis, etc., etc." This is the preface to the reference: - "obque asservatam, ut memorant, Pragae intra Thaddaei Haggicii aedeis Mercurii libram in aurum conversam, infusa a Kelleio Anglo unicâ liquoris rubicundissimâ guttulâ, cujus adhus vestigium sit, qua parte facta Tandi infusio.
(16) It seems certain that Dr. Dee remembered Kelly with some affection. Long after his return to England, on March 18, 1595, we find this passage in one of his journals: "Mr. Francis Garland came to visit me this morning, and we both conversed at length on the subject by Sir Edward Kelly."
(17) "John Weever claims that Queen Elizabeth sent in great secret Captain Peter Gwinne and a few others to persuade Kelly to return to his native country. Wanting to climb over a wall of his own house in Prague, he would have fallen, etc... L "It is said that his house bore his name to this day, and that it was once an ancient sanctuary." Athenae Oxoniensis.
(18) There is no separate title page. To the right of the upper margin, we find the motto: Qui vult secreta scire, debet secreta secrete custodire, and to the left, "The First Leaflet of Doctor Dee", which we find as a heading throughout the first part , after which a new pagination with the second begins. (19) See John Frederick Helvetius' Golden Calf, translated in The Hermetic Museum, Vol. II., p. 271, etc. This historic transmutation occurred at the end of 1666, almost fifty years after the death of Doctor Dee.
The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly - PDF
1676
written by Edward Kelly