THE CHEMICAL JOUTS OF
BROTHER PERARDUA
AND THE SEVEN SPEARS
HE BROKEN

A.A.
Publish in class C





He slew Sieur Argon the Lazy.

Now Brother Perardua, though a mere Zealot of our ancient Order, had determined to proceed with the Magnum Opus, and procure a speck of the Powder, an ounce of the Elixir, and the Tincture of Double Efficacy. However, he did not fully grasp the Mystery of our Art, so he imposed the painful septenary regime on himself. Because without having the Bell of Electrum Magicum of Paracelsus, how could the follower even warn the Powers of the Work of his arrival?

But our brother, with a strong heart - he was indeed a soldier in many distant lands - cheerfully set out. He crowned his hoary head with five white lotus petals, as if to signify the purity of his body, and set out towards this place where neither field nor furrows exist; and this to sow a roll with twenty-two different seeds.

He slew the 1st Sieur Abjad le Saracen

Even his zeal and application did not allow him to collect more than seven plants, which shone in the dark; each plant bore a flower with seven petals - one would have taken them for stars; for if in truth they themselves were not dazzling, the place where they grew was of such blackness that they seemed to surpass the brightness of the sun. Then they were placed one above the other in a single straight line, attuning to the seven centers of his Intention, which he carried around him in a hollow tube at the thirty-two joints.

He slew Sieur Amorex the Desirous

These plants were gathered by our brother Perardua, as ordered by the mystical rites; and they were warmly heated in his still, but only with vegetable heat, while he constantly preserved their moistness, pouring into them drop by drop his lunar water, of which there remained seventy-three (minimum) of the seventy-eight offered By his father ; and they were carried on a camel through the desert to the place where he now was, the name of which is the Oasis of the Lion, just as the whole Diet which he fulfills to the end is in lion shape.

From then on this Lion was excessively thirsty, licking up all that dew. But against this the fire was equal, so he knew no discomfort.

He slew the Sieur Lionel the Guardian of the Marches

So he has now brought the Prime Matter to a degree of excellence beyond what is human; for without a doubt her dye was beautiful. First she wore the horns and crown of the mighty King Alexander; she also had wings of fine sapphire; her front was like a Lion, in which she partook of the highest Virtue, and her hindquarters were like that of a bull.

Moreover, she stood on the White Sphere and on the Red Cube; and it is impossible for an Elixir to surpass that, unless it follows our Path.

He slew the Sieur Merlin the Enchanter

However, our brother Perardua - become oh so skilled in handling the athanor! - decided to arrive at a higher Projection of our art. So he has subtly prepared a Red Dragon, or Igneous Flying Serpent as some alchemists call it, with which he will devour his Sphinx, fed with such care and ingenuity.

Around this Red Dragon was wrapped seven times the fire, which is proper to the seven silver stars. Besides, his head was very venomous and greedy, and eight flames surrounded him; for the Sphinx had two wings and four feet and two horns; but the Serpent is one, as the king is one.

He slew the Great Dragon called Curved

Now this work is entirely consumed and suppressed by this formidable heat which is in the mouth and the belly of the Dragon; and what comes out of it is by no means what went into it. Yet these twelve are the children of the twenty-two. So when he broke the cucurbit, he found no trace of the seven, only a button of melted gold – we call it that because it is not gold… Now this button has twelve faces, and twenty-four salient and re-entrant angles; and our Egyptian Brethren called it the Paving of the Firmament of Nu.

He slew King Astur of the Silver Arms

Now, this metal is in no way similar to earthly metals; Let the brethren beware, for many deceptions await them. There are three golden things: the merchant's mineral gold, which is only dross; vegetable gold which grows from the seed of the scroll by the virtue of Leo; and the animal gold that comes from the diet of the Dragon, and only the latter is the gold of the Philosopher. Because here is an Arcanum! I charge you to keep this subject secret; for the execrable brethren would pervert it if they could guess it.

This mineral Gold cannot be transformed into any other substance.

This Plant Gold is fluid; it must grow marvelously and be fixed in the Perfection of the Sphinx.

But the said Animal Gold happens to be unstable to a very high degree, it can neither increase nor decrease, nor can it remain what it is, or what it appears to be. For as a drop of unevenly cooled glass is pulverized with a simple touch into a thousand particles, so the being of this philosophical gold, with a simple touch, dissolves - often in a terrible explosion - or even with so much subtlety that no man can perceive, was his attention as precise as a needle for detail or as a necromancer's lens for precision....

However, this is where we come to the heart of the matter, because after the said explosion nothing remains of the seven or twelve or three Mother seeds which were hidden there. But somehow, mystically, the Other Ten are brought to light, albeit very faintly, as if the Brazen Serpent had become the Flaming Sword. Yet this is a puzzle; for in truth there was no connection whatsoever between them.

For this Animal Gold entirely disappears; there remains no button, no feather of the Wings of the Sphinx, no mark either of the Sower or of the Sowing. But under the Lightning everything disappeared, the Cucurbite, the Alembic and the Athanor completely shattered… and there was What he had set out to seek; And much more ! one grain of the Powder, three ounces of the Elixir, and Six drachmas of the Tincture of Double Effectiveness.

…Yet the brethren laughed at him; for he had put himself in grave danger; so much so that to this day the name of Perardua has fallen into oblivion, and those who come to speak of him cheerfully say Non Sine Fulmine (1).

(1) Non Sine Fulmine = Non without lightning.