The Book of Breviary

of Sir George Ripley, Bridlington Cannon.

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With the philosophical Shortcut in the making
Philosophical Mercury and Elixirs.
London,
Printed for Cooper William,
pelican in Great Britain.
1683

Sir George Ripley's Breviary. The work of the totality of the composition of the philosophical stone, the great elixir, and the first solution of the raw body.

First take 30 lbs. weight of Sericon or Antimony, which will make about 21 lbs. of Gum, provided it is well dissolved, and the vinegar is very good, and dissolve each pound in a gallon of vinegar. twice distilled while still cold, and while in solution in a suitable glass vessel, stir it with a clean stick very often every day, the more often the better, and when it is well rid of its gangue1 at the bottom, then filter the liquor three times, which you will keep covering it tightly, and throw away the residue, because it is superfluous dirt which must be removed, and which does not enter into the work but are called "Terra damnata" (damned land).

The manufacture of our gum or green Lyon.
Then put all these cold liquors thus filtered in a suitable glass vessel, and place them in a bain-marie for evaporation at a moderate heat, this done, our Sericon will be coagulated in the form of a green gum called our green Lyon. , which gum will dry well, yet take care not to burn its flowers so as not to destroy its greenness.

The extraction of our menstrum, or blood from our green Lyon.
Then extract the said gum, and put it in a retort of thick glass, very well lute, and place it in your oven, and under it a first moderate fire, and thereafter you will see a weak water pass, let it run out; but when you see white smoke or vapour, then so put on a glass receiver, which should have a very large belly, and the mouth not wider than necessary to fit the neck of the retort, so that no smoke escapes from the receiver. Then increase your fire little by little until the smoke coming out is reddish, then continue the highest fire, until drops like blood pass and there is no more steam passing , and when this bleeding is over let it cool or turn the heat down little by little, and when all things are cold, then take the receiver, and close it very quickly, that the spirits not disappear, because this liquor will call, our blessed liquor, which liquor, you must enclose tightly in glass for afterwards. Look then into the neck of the retort, and in there you will find a hard white down, for it is the Freezing of a frosty vapor that has all sublimated, collect it diligently and keep it carefully, for it contains great secrets which will be shown hereafter, after the great work is finished.

The creation of our Base.
Then take out all the residues which remain in the retort, and are blackish as soot, these residues are called our dragon, from these residues, Calcine a pound or more according to your pleasure, in a hot and burning fire in a potters oven or glassmakers, or in a wind oven until they become a white lime, as white as snow, which white lime you will keep well, and clean, because it is called the foundation and the base of work, and will now be called Mars, and our fixed white earth or philosophical iron.

The calcination of black residue called our black dragon.
Then take all the rest of the aforementioned black residue or black dragon, and crush it as finely as can be done on a clean marble, or any other stone, and put on one side a burning coal, and the fire will slide to the through the residues in half an hour, and will char them to a citrine color, very glorious to behold.

The solution of said residues.
Then dissolve these Citrine colored residues in a good distilled vinegar, as you did before, and then strain them likewise, three times, and after evaporate them to a consistency of gum, and draw it out, then add more of our remover, now called, dragon's blood, and repeat this work in all points as before, until you have changed all or most of the residue into our blessed liquor, all such liquors being added to the first liquor or Menstrue, called the blood of the green Lyon, and place all this liquor in a glass vessel for fourteen days to Putrefy, and then proceed to the separation of the elements, because now we have all the stone fire in this liquor blessed, who before lived hidden in the residues, which secret all philosophers marvelously hide.

The separation of the elements of which the first is air, and is also counted our Fire-Water, and our attractive water.
Then put all the said putrefied solvent into a distiller of fine Venetian glass suitable for the quantity, put on the capital, and wrestle the distiller with a fine linen cloth soaked in egg white, and then place the whole in the bath. -marie, put on a receiver, which must be of great length so that the spirit cannot exhale outwards, and with a very temperate heat, separate the elements from each other, and then the Air element will come first, which is an Oil.

Our Water-Fire or the attractive Water thus made.
When all the first element is distilled, then in another suitable distiller, rectify it, that is, distill it 7 more times, and until it burns a clean Linen cloth dipped in it , when it is put into the flame, which then is called our rectified fiery water, and is also called our attractive water, which must be kept in a very (hermetically) tightly closed container, otherwise the Spirit which is very subtle would escape. Rectifying the fiery water often, there will come the AER into a white oil floating above the water, and which will leave behind a yellow oil which with a stronger fire will also come. Put a little finely ground sublimate in an iron dish, and in the cold it will dissolve in water, and then filter it, and pour over it a part of the fiery water, and it will attract to itself all the mercury in form a supernatant green oil, which you will separate and put in a retort, and first distill a water, and after that will come a thick green oil which is the Oil of Mercury. Dampness or stone water.

Then extract then, the moisture or water from the stone into another container, which liquor will be very white, and then extract it with a very low heat of Bath, until no remains in the bottom of the distiller, than an oily substance as thick as pitch, keep this water in a suitable glass container tightly closed. Note that when the liquor turns white, you have to plug in another receiver, until all this element has passed, two or three drops of this black liquid oil given in brandy cures all the interior poisons.

Our Human Blood is thus made and rectified.
Then put our fiery water on this black and liquid matter, stir them well together, and leave them thus well covered, for 3 hours then decant and filter, put on it the fresh fiery water and repeat this operation 3 times, and then distill it again with a temperate fire of Bain, and so do this three times, and then it will be called the rectified Blood of Man, which workers in the secrets of nature seek, and so the elements are exalted in the virtue of their quintessence, namely Humidity which is water and air, leave this blood preserved for a season.

The Oil or the fire, or the earth of the stone.
Then then put the Moisture or Water on the black and soft matter or earth of the stone, leave them to be well mixed together, and then distill the whole until it remains in the bottom, a drier and black earth which is the Earth of the stone, preserve the Oil with the Water for one season, in any case close hermetically.

Burning Water.
Then reduce this black earth to powder, and mix it with the blood of man, and thus leave them 3 hours, then distill them on ashes, with a good fire, and repeat this work 3 times, and then it will be called the rectified Fire Water, and thus three of the elements will be exalted in the virtue of the quintessence, namely, water, air and fire.

Earth.
Then calcine the black, dry earth, in a reverberatory furnace, until it becomes a very fine white lime.
The water of life which is our mercury and our Luna.
Then mix with this white lime hot water, and distill them with a strong fire just as before, and still calcine the earth which remains at the bottom of the distiller, and then distill them again with a strong fire as before, and calcine them again, and thus distill and calcine 7 times until all the substance of the lime has risen upwards, thus have you the brandy rectified and made indeed more spiritual, and so are the 4 elements exalted in the virtue of their quintessence. This water will dissolve all bodies and putrefy them and purge them, and it is our mercury and our Luna, and whoever thinks there is another water, is ignorant and foolish, and will never be able to come to this effect. The great secret or Particular of Sr George Ripley, for the aid of those who made the Mercury of the Philosophers and whose poverty prevents them from proceeding with the red or white elixir Take Ceruse or Cream of the finest Cornish Pewter, reduce it to a fine white lime, put it in a suitable glass still, and pour over it a suitable quantity of our mercury, which is our perfect Luna, then distill the mercury. lime and re-soak it with it, and re-distill, and iterate until the lime becomes subtle and oily, and so subtle that it will run like wax over a heated copper strip, without smudging. evaporate, and will change the copper into fine silver, for the malleability and whiteness of tin are removed through our mercury, and then fixed in it, by virtue of which it becomes hard and clean, and can be allied to hard molten bodies and is almost as malleable as pure as silver. This work is very profitable and easy to conduct. Use it until you are rich, and I pray for you our Lord, that you will let you come to the great Work, and that his heart will be disposed towards you, according to the practice which I have written and likewise proved. For that, thank God.

The Oil which is the element of Fire, and our red mercury.
The Humidity and the Oil reserved above will be distilled with a moderate fire of Bath, and the red Oil which will remain at the bottom will be diligently kept in a hermetically sealed glass container, because it is the element of Fire. , and the Water will again be rectified, and the same work reiterated, until there remains no more of our red Luna in it. The work of Putrefaction.

When all your elements are thus separated, then take all the reserved white charred residues first, called Mars, and put enough of them in a glass container so as to barely fill it halfway, and pour over it as many our fiery water rectified so as to cover the white lime, and that done, close immediately with a blind capital, and place it in a cold place, until the lime has drunk up all the liquor, which it will do in 8 days, then imbibe it again with the same quantity of similar ardent water (aqua ardens) leave it eight days more, and thus repeat the work, from 8 days to 8 days, until the same lime n drink more; but still remains liquid, so seal the top of the glass container tightly and place it in a bain-marie with temperate heat from putrefaction.

The digestion of the white stone.
So in this temperate Bath leave your compound in the glass container without moving it for 150 whole days, and until the stone in the glass becomes the first pippin, and after that whitish green, and after that very white like fish eyes, which is then our flowing Sulfur of Nature, and is not evaporated in the fire, and our white stone is ready to be fermented.

Another secret private of Sr. George Ripley.
Take the Sulfur of Nature above, and squirt a quantity on a very hot plate of glass, and the glass will take on a silver color, and this color will not be removed by any Art.

The digestion of the red stone.
Then take out the white stone and divide it into two parts, and find out their true weight of each half, one half is reserved for white work, the other half is put in the glass container, and seal it again with the seal of Hermes, and put it in cineration which is a hotter fire, and leave it there without moving it in this digestion, until it becomes red, and of a color purple, so you will have the red stone also ready to be fermented. The preparation of the ferment for the White Stone.

Then take silver well purged of all Metals, and other impurities which may be joined to it, and dissolve it in as much of our Luna, which is our mercury, as the amount of your silver, and no more, as precisely as you can, and place it well covered on the hot ashes, and when it is completely dissolved, the whole liquor will be green, then rectify our mercury another two or three times more, so that none of our mercury will be kept in it, then seal the Oil of Luna, and you will place it in the bath to putrefy, until it shows all the colors, and in the end will come the crystalline whiteness, which is then the ferment of the white ferments .

Fermentation of Pierre Blanche.
Then put this half of the White Stone previously reserved for the white work in a suitable glass bottle, and knowing its weight, put as much of the Moon ferment mentioned above in the glass bottle with the stone, as can contain. the 4th part of the said stone, and in the said well-luted glass vial fix them together, in a closed fixing vessel under fire, which will be done well in 2 or 3 days.

The Inceration of the White Stone.
When they are thus fixed together, and become a very fine powder, make the incision, that is to say, soak the fine powder with the White Oil of our stone, which is our Luna by pouring it drop- drop by drop, until the stone is oily, then freeze it, and soak it again, and in this way repeat this work, until this stone becomes liquid in the fire like wax, when it is put on a hot copper dish and does not evaporate, and freeze it until it is hard, white and transparent like crystal, then it is a medicine of the third degree, and the perfect white stone, transmuting all metallic bodies, and principally copper and iron, into pure and perfect silver. Preparation of Red ferment.

Take then likewise very pure gold, first purged of all other metals which may be joined to it, with ten parts of antimony, and then dissolve it in our mercury or dissolving liquor, as above when you you have made the Moon, and when it is perfectly dissolved, the liquor will be citrine in color; then in a similar way, again rectify our mercury or dissolving liquor, and then seal all the Oil of the ferment of gold in a suitable container, and place it in the bain-marie to putrefy, which likewise will become black, and must not never be moved during digestion, until it turns white, and then will be replaced then in a stronger fire without opening the glass container, and then keep it until it changes color and becomes citrine, which is also the ferment of ferments for working red.

The fermentation of the Pierre Rouge.
Then with the other half of the stone before reddening, digestion, and reserved for red-working, put as much of the gold ferment mentioned above as the 4th part of the said stone can contain, and then fix- them as you did for the Pierre au blanc, under a fire in a fixative vessel which will be very well done in two or three days.

The work of Inceration for red.
When they are thus fixed together, and thereby become a very fine powder, incise, that is to say, soak it, so that it drinks the red Oil of our stone, then freeze it again, and soak it again, and freeze, repeat this work often until it flows like wax in the fire; but does not evaporate when put on a hot copper dish, and then freeze until hard, transparent, light red in color and like a Ruby or Hyacinth, which is then medicine of the third degree, and the perfect red stone, transmuting all bodies, and particularly mercury, lead and silver into pure gold, like that which comes from the mine. So you realized the manufacture of the stone of the philosophers, white or red, which is the great secret of the philosophers. These stones should be kept in several glass flasks, or boxes in a warm, or at least dry place, as you store sugar, because they are such soft and oily substances, that they are likely to dissolve in a moist place which must be preserved as I have shown.

The multiplication or increase in Virtue and quality of the aforementioned white and red stones.
If you are ready to exalt your medicine or stone in quantity or quality, then put your aforementioned white or red stone, or part of each in several glass vials suitable for the quantity, close the vial tightly, then hang it on a steamy water bath so that it does not touch the water, in this steam or hot breath, the stone which was already frozen in the glass vial will now be dissolved, then freeze it again on the hot ashes , and so dissolve again and freeze, and thus reiterate this work of dissolving and freezing, until at last the stone dissolved in the glass flask is frozen, as soon as it comes out of the pot of the Bain-Marie, and smells the cold air, without using any other way of freezing, and note the number of times in this work that you dissolve and freeze your medicine or stone, according to the number performed it will increase its virtue ten times in projection, so that if at the first ounce will convert 100 ounces, after the second solution, same conversion 1000, after the third conversion 10000, then the fourth time 100000, and after the fifth 1000000 parts of any imperfect metal into pure and true gold and silver in all reviews as much as any of Mine.

The way of projection.
Since it is very complicated to melt a thousandth of a thousandth part of any body, you will make the projection thus: Take 100 ounces of mercury first washed with salt, and Vinegar, and put it in a crucible, and place it over the fire, and when this body begins to become like hot wax, put in it an ounce of your elixir or the medicine prepared as I have taught you, on these hundred parts of mercury cleansed, and all the said mercury will become medicine, throw one ounce of this medicine on another 100 ounces of the other washed mercury, and it will be equally converted into medicine, throw another ounce of this frozen mercury 3 times, on another 100 ounces of washed mercury, and all will be converted into medicine, for the 4th time 1 ounce of this last frozen mercury, on another 100 ounces of the other washed mercury, and all of this will be converted into gold or silver, depending on whether your stone has been prepared, white or red, praise God.

Particular of the great work which saved half the labor and toil given by Mr. George Ripley.
The frosty white deposit or powder of which I spoke to you at the beginning, is found in the neck of the retort, after the extraction of the Menses, is like a sublimate, and it is Nature's perfect Sulphur, and therefore n 'need neither Putrefaction nor white digestion, of this sulfur take half, or the whole if you wish, and take as much Moon ferment, which is the Ferment of ferments which can contain the 4th part of said sulphur, seal them both together in a vessel, and fix them together under fire in a fixative vessel, which will be well done in three days, and when they have become a fine white powder, then incise them, that is that is, soak them with the white Oil of our stone, which is our mercury, freeze, and soak and repeat this work, and in all points do as you did in the white-work, as with the Great Elixir, because this sulfur is of the same nature, and you will thus have your white work perfectly done, and the stone in half the time, and with half the work; which is not only a precious jewel, but a big secret too.

Other Shortcut of red work done by sulfur mentioned above.
Take a half or all of this sulfur of nature, and dissolve it once with our red mercury, freeze again, and then seal it in the Vessel and place it in Cinerate (on ashes) until it is completely digested, and until it dresses in its purple color or Fiery Chariot, put in it as much ferment of the Sun, when it is the ferment of ferments, and until it can contain the 4th part of the said sulphur, then fix them together in the fire in a vessel to be fixed, which will be well done in 3 days, and when they have become very fine red powder, then incise, that is to say, imbibe- there with the red oil of our stone, which is our red mercury and red Luna, and the Fire of the stone, and continue doing in all points as in the aforementioned great work until the stone is hard, transparent in color like a ruby or Hyacinth entering the fire, and not evaporating, So have you with less work and expenditure of time, the perfect Red Stone, for which thank God. It is the pleasant and savory garden of the philosophers, which brings the sweet scent of white and red roses, the culmination of all the work of the philosophers, containing nothing superfluous or diminished in it, teaching to make infinitely golden or silver according as the medicine was prepared, having also the Virtue to heal equally all pains and diseases proceeding from both cold and hot causes, thanks to the subtlety of its nature, above all the medicines of the doctors, because it strengthens health, strengthens what is weak, and gives the old the appearance of youth, drives away all worries, and removes venom from the heart, it softens the arteries and the joints, dissolves everything in the lungs, cleanses the blood, purges the vessels, and keeps them clean, and if a disease lasts for a month, it cures it in a day, and if for a year, it cures it in 12 days, and if the problem is very old, it cures it cure in a month. To conclude, whoever possesses this medicine, possesses an incomparable treasure above all the treasures of the world, and God be praised.