The Treasury of Philosophy teaches us the holiness of him to whom all things are and belong, Heaven, Earth and Sea, and all those other things that are created. From him proceed all the Treasures of Wisdom, being he alone the Creator of all, and who from Nothingness had the power to draw all things, by binding and uniting the heterogeneous things with the homogeneous ones, and granting them together, although different. By his goodness, he wanted, with certain Medicines, to restore health to infirm Creatures, and to give perfection to imperfect things. What the Sages, or ancient Philosophers, fully understood, and that by two means, as they wrote in their Books.
Of these two means one is true, and the other is false: and the true is written in obscure terms, so that they are understood only by the Wise, wishing to hide their Science from the Wicked, who could have made it a wrong use.
Know then that our Science consists in the knowledge of the four Elements, whose qualities are reciprocally changed in each other; whereupon the Philosophers are of a similar sentiment. And know again that in all things created below Heaven there are four Elements, not visible to sight, but existing in effect; by means of which, under color of Elementary doctrine, the Philosophers taught their Science, seeming to understand by the four Elements many things, such as Blood, Hair, Hair, Eggs, Urine and other Matter, of which I made no account when I came to hear their writings.
Having thus recognized the true Matter, or Sperm and Seed of all the Metals, and what it is that the Mercury cooks and congeals in the Belly of the Earth, by the heat of the Sulphur, which cooks it by its own virtue, and by the Multiplication of which different Metals are produced and procreate in the Earth; for their Seed or Matter is alike, yet these various Metals differ by accidental action, namely by cooking and food greater or less, more or less temperate, more or less burning, which the Philosophers commonly affirm OK. For it is certain that all things are of that into which they are resolved by their dissolution; as can be seen by Ice which, being formed of Water, resolves into Water by heat. If it is manifest that Ice, being Water, was converted into Water, likewise the Metals, which in their principles were Mercury, are also converted into Mercury; what I will demonstrate in this Discourse.
This supposed, we will easily resolve the Argument of Aristotle, who says in the Book of Meteors: Know all Artists that the Species of Metals cannot be transmuted, if they are not reduced to their first Matter: reduction of which we will speak in the following.
The Multiplication of Metals is easy, but not their Transmutation; for everything that is born in the Earth and grows there, multiplies; what is seen in Plants, Trees and Animals; for from one grain, a thousand grains are born; from a Tree, there proceed a thousand Branches, or to put it better, an infinity of other Trees, and from a single Man was made the procreation of all the Human Kind.
All things thus increasing and multiplying by their Species, in the same way Metal can increase and multiply and that without any difference. Aristotle asks if this increase and multiplication takes place in natural or artificial mines. Now it is certain that all Metals are born and grow in the Earth. Therefore it is possible that an increase and a multiplication to infinity takes place in them. But this can only be done by what is perfect in the Moon, or order of the Metals, in the generation and perfection of which is the perfect Medicine, which is the Elixir of the Philosophers, which can only be done by a Proper Means or Interposed Thing, because there is no Movement from one Extremity to another Extremity, except by a Means which is proper to them. I have known the nature of this Means, or Mediant Thing, which contains the Extremities, which are Sulfur and Mercury. From one and from the other the Elixir is made and accomplished by the mediant Thing, which must be naturally purified, more cooked, better digested, better, more perfect, and consequently more immediate.
So, my dear Reader, be careful not to err and miss, because Man will only reap the like of what he has sown. So now you see what the Stone of the Philosophers is, and you know the Means by which it can be achieved. Always remember that nothing foreign is put or added to his Composition, and, on the contrary, that superfluous things are removed; and that nothing suits our Secret, except that which is near and of its nature. So I have just explained to you the Sentences and Sayings of the Ancients with their obscure Words hidden under Enigmas and Parables. What I did, so that you judge that I have heard the Doctrine of the Philosophers well, and that you understand that they have written nothing but truth.
The first Word of the Philosophers is what they called Solution and Foundation of Art. Thus, says Mary, Sister of Moses, and Prophetess, mollify a Gum, and conjoin it with a Gum by a true marriage: and you shall make it like running Water; says the Prophet: if you do not convert the corporeal thing into incorporeal, you labor in vain. Parmenides, or Egadimenes, speaking of this Solution or Conversion, says in Peat, that some, on hearing of such a Solution, think and believe that it is Sea Water, but that if they had read the Books, and if they had understood them well, they would understand that it is permanent Water, which cannot be permanent without being dissolved, joined and doing the same thing with its Body; for the Solution of the Philosophers is not Imbibition of Water, but Conversion and Mutation of Bodies into Water, even as they were first created; know in Mercury, just as Ice is converted into liquid Water, from which it had its Essence. Thus, by the grace of God, you already have an Element, which is Water, as you have the reduction of the Body into liquid Water.
The second Word of the Philosophers is that Water becomes Earth by light cooking, continued until Blackness, or black color appears above. For, as Avicenna says in the Chapter of Humours, the heat producing its action in a humid body engenders and makes the Color appear black as we see in the Lime that we commonly make. Wherefore, says Monalibus, he enjoins those who shall come after him to make corporeal things uncorporeal, by Dissolution, in which care must be taken carefully lest the Spirit be converted into smoke, and evaporate by too much heat. Mary, the Prophetess, also says: keep the Spirit well, and take care that nothing goes up in smoke, by tempering and measuring the fire in proportion to the heat of the Sun in the month of July, so that by a long and sweet decoction, the Water thickens into Black Earth. By this means you will have another Element, which is the Earth.
The third Word of the Philosophers is the Mondification or Purification of the Earth, of which Morien says: this Earth with its Water comes to Putrefaction, mondifies itself, cleanses itself, and when it is well cleansed, the whole Secret, by the help of God , will be well governed. So says Hermes: Azot and Fire whiten Brass, and remove its blackness. And Morien said concerning it: Whiten the Brass, and break your Books, lest your hearts be broken. It is the Composition of all the wise Philosophers, and the third part of the whole Work. Add then, as it is said in Peat, the dryness of the Black Earth with the humidity of its own Water; and cook it until it turns white. You thus have Water and Earth with whitened Water.
The fourth Word (of the Philosophers is Water, which will be able to rise by Sublimation, when it is thickened and coagulated, or conjoined with the Earth. By this means you have Earth, Water and Air, and that is what Philippus says in Peat: Blanch it, and distil it speedily by fire, till there come forth a Spirit, which ye shall find in it, which is called the Ashes of Hermes. why Morien also says: do not despise the Ash, for it is the Diadem of your heart, and a permanent Ash.And in the Book called Lilium, it is written: the fire being increased by good regime and government, after one has reached White, one reaches Cinefation, that is to say, the color of Ash, which is called Calcined Earth. is of the nature of fire. And in this way you have four Elements, namely Water dissolved in Earth dissolved, and subtle Air in calcined Fire. Of these four Elements, says Aristotle also, in his Book of Regime and Government Princes: when you have had Water from Air, Air from Fire, and Fire from Earth, then you will have fully and perfectly all the Art of the Philosopher; and, as Morien says, it is the end of the first Composition.
Let us now pass to the second Composition, which teaches Weight, and which shows how to dye and vivify the first Composition. Which makes Calib say: no one has been able until now, or will be able to afterwards, to dye the Leafy Earth, if not with Gold. This is why Hermes says: sow your Gold in leafy white Earth, which is made, by Calcination, of the nature of subtle Fire and of the nature of Air. So we sow Gold in this Earth, when we put the Tincture of Gold there; but of itself) nor of its own virtue, Gold can never perfectly tint another Body) if by Art it is not made perfect itself. Which makes Morien say: although our Stone already has the Tincture in itself naturally, nevertheless the Gold in body has no motion of itself, if before it does not receive a greater perfection from the Art and from certain Operation. . Geber, in the Book of Roots, also says: the Operation is done, so that the Tincture of Gold may be made better and more perfect than it is perfect itself in its own nature; and also so that it is made Elixir, according to the Allegory or the obscure Language of the Sages; let it be made jam, composed of a kind of Stone, and let it be made a Medicine, to heal, purge and transform or transmute all Bodies into true Moon. But to know if we need Gold alone, and no other Body, let us listen to Hermes, who says: in the first composition his Father is the Sun, and the Mother is the Moon: the Father is hot and dry, engendering Tincture ; and his Mother is cold and damp, nurturing what has been heard. For this reason the Sun and the Moon are of themselves and of their nature difficult to fuse; and when they are conjoined, as gold soldering is done, then they are promptly dissolved. For this Mary says: take the Body, throw on it the clear Mercury, which is not taken nor retained except by putrefaction; and also take the Tincture of the Spirit, and approach it to the fire until all is founded, and immediately cast upon him his Wife, who is the Moon. Therefore, if one of them were dyed in our Stone, the Medicine would never come easily, would not become liquid, and would not give a Tincture; but the Mercury would flee and go up in smoke, because there would be no Body in it fit to receive the Tincture. Now, the main Secret is to have the Medicine before the Mercury becomes fugitive by liquefaction. It is true that the conjunction of these two Bodies is necessary in our Work. So, as Geber says in the Perfect Book of Art: it is the most precious of Metals, because it is the Tincture of red, transmuting all bodies; and since it is the Leaven that converts the whole Dough into its nature, it should be cooked; it is the Soul which conjoins the Spirit with the Body; for just as the human Body without Soul is dead and motionless, so the Body is impure without Leaven, which is its Soul; for the Leaven of the prepared Body converts into its nature all the Dough, and there is no other Leaven than those things appropriate to the Sun and the Moon, ruling over all the other Planets. Similarly these two Bodies rule over all the other Bodies, and convert them into their own nature, and that is why they are called leaven or Leaven; for without this Ferment the Gums cannot be amended or corrected, as Meridius writes, saying: this cannot be amended or corrected, if it is not first refined by Art and by Operation. And thereupon Hermes said: my son, extract and attract the own Shadow of the rays of the Sun, that is to say, the Earthness or earthly Nature. Thus the preparation and subtiliation of the Ferment or Leaven is necessary to us, as we can understand by the Similarity of a Child, who, as to his creation, is born perfect, but cannot come to perfection from Operation or Life, s he is first fed with a little milk, and then given more little by little, carefully increasing his food. This is what we must do with regard to our Stone. Take therefore in the name of God the fourth part of the Ferment of the Sun, that is to say a part of this Ferment and three parts of the imperfect Body, namely of the Moon, and dissolve the Ferment until it is made as Imperfect body. Let the Vessel be blocked exactly, as it should be, and let all things be well prepared, as Hermes recommends, saying: take at the beginning of your Work recent and equal parts of the premix; mix it all together, and poke or burn it once until they are fitted as if by marriage, and the Conception is made in them in the bottom of the Vessel, and the Generation of the begotten thing is made in the air. What makes Morien say: make in the beginning that the red Light receives and takes the white smoke, in a Vessel, by firm Conjunction, without anything being able to exhale from it.
The sixth Word of the Philosophers is when you conjoin the fourth part of the subtilized Ferment with three parts of the bleached Earth, and that after you come to imbibe it with its own Water as before, cook it often, and by repetition, until so that of two Bodies there is only one without any diversity of Colors. On this subject Morien says: when the white Body is calcined, put in it the fourth part of the Ferment of Gold; for the Leaven, namely the Gold, is like the Leaven of the Bread, which converts into its nature the whole mass of the Dough. So cook it in its own Water until it is made a Thing and a dry Body. For, as Mary says: when the Air touches it and strikes it, it will freeze it, and a Body will be made; that is the Secret. Know that when you give the Ferment to his Body, you are giving him his Soul. That's what Morien also says: if you don't put and push the cleansed Body to the bottom, if you don't make it white, and don't put the Soul in it, you have learned nothing, and hear nothing in this Secret. It is therefore necessary to make commixtion of the Ferment with the pure and clean Body, and not with a dirty and impure Body. For, as Bafius says, these Bodies cannot receive each other nor mingle together, if they are not previously well cleaned and well purged; because the Body does not receive the Spirit, nor the Spirit receives the Body, so that the Spiritual becomes Corporeal, and the Corporeal Spiritual, if, before their commixtion, they have not been well cleansed and perfectly purified from all filth and impurity; but when they are well cleansed and well purged, the Spirit suddenly embraces the Body, and the Body likewise embraces the Spirit, and by their mutual embracing, achieves a perfect Operation of the Work.
The Alteration happens in this way by nature, and what was thick and gross becomes subtle and attenuated. This is what Ascanius also says in the Peat: the Spirit does not join the Body, until the Body is perfectly purged and cleansed of its filth and its filth.
As for the hour of the Conjunction, we see several miraculous things appear. Then the imperfect Body, by means of the Ferment, takes on a firm and permanent Color, and this Ferment is the Soul of the imperfect Body: and the Spirit, by means of the Soul, unites with the Body, and becomes with him in the color of the Ferment, which does the same with them. This sweet Elixir, as Avicenna says, is tinted with its own Tincture, immersed and submerged in its Oil, and fixed with its Lime, of which we have found Water, such as Quicksilver is between the Minerals, and its Oil such as Sulfur or Arsenic; but, in the Minerals, the Operation is still better, more abundant and more subtle. Mary also says of these Wheels or Mutations: there are only marvelous things in this Work, because there enter into it four Stones, from which a King holds the regime and the government. Hence it is manifest to him who has the subtle understanding, and who weighs the words of the Philosophers, that what they have written with so much obscurity is at last clarified; for they say that our Stone is composed of four Elements, and have compared it to the Elements.
We have shown that there are four Elements in our Stone; for, as Rasis says: all things which are under the Heaven of the Moon, and which the sovereign Creator has created, partake of the four Elements; not that these Elements are apparent to sight, but are known by their effects; for the Stone is a single Thing, a single Substance, a Root, a Nature, as Hermes teaches us, saying: begin, in the name of God, and know the nature of our Stone, for it proceeds from the Root of its Matter, because it is of this Root and in this Root, and nothing enters it which has not proceeded from it, and which has not come out of it. Indeed, nothing suits a thing except that which is nearer to its nature, because each thing loves its like.
What makes Plato say: it is a Substance and an Essence, which are only one thing, Hot and Dry, Cold and Humid; what makes it called small World, because of him, with him and by him are all the Metals; and he is like a Tree) whose Branches, Leaves, Flowers and Fruits are of him, in him, with him and through him. It is certain that no thing is engendered except from its like, or from something similar to its Species, and which is homogeneous with it, I mean of the same nature. So such a thing is only one and similar, and not diverse and divided; but the Philosophers have given to this Stone the names of the corporeal things of all the Species. This is why, says Pythagoras, this Stone is called by all names, which nevertheless has only one name which is proper to it.
This Moon, Soul and Water, is called by many names, though it has only one true. But) as Perrier says: leave the plurality of obscure and dark names; for it is only one Nature, which overcomes all things, and not various Natures. Truly, there is only one Nature, which germinates and multiplies itself. This is why, as Diomedes says, we must understand that Nature only amends, corrects itself in its Nature, into which we must not introduce any heterogeneous or foreign thing, which cannot amend or correct it; but let it itself, as I have just said, germinate and multiply, as Mary teaches us, saying: White Kibrit and Wet Lime, which are only a Thing and a Root, are the Roots of this Art; and the Philosophers have called these things by many names, which nevertheless are only one thing. What Morien confirms, by saying: I tell you the truth, nothing misled the new Philosophers so much as the plurality of names; but know that these names are only the Colors which appear in the Conjunction; and thus you will not err in the way of the Work. For finally, although the Philosophers have multiplied the names and their Sentences, nevertheless they understand only one thing, only one way, only one means of operating, only one demonstration of Colors, and notice that this diversity of Colors does not appear or show itself except in the time of the Conjunction of the Soul with the Body. At once only, says Morien, the fire renews in him various Colors. The Philosophers also said that our Stone is composed of Body, Soul and Spirit, and they said the truth, because the Body, imperfect in itself, is a serious, heavy, shapeless, sick and dead Body.
Water is the Spirit, which purges, refines and whitens the Body. The Ferment is the Soul, which gives life to the imperfect Body, which it did not have before, and which restores to it a better and more excellent form. The Body is Venus and woman; and the Spirit is Mercury. This is why Morien says: one cannot have Mercury, except Bodies dissolved by liquefaction, not by a vulgar and common liquefaction, but only by that which remains permanent, until the Mari and the Woman united together; which lasts until white or whitening; and notice that the Body is entirely liquefied and melted when darkness appears in the Cooking. Which makes Bonellus say: when you see that the darkness is eminent, and that it begins to appear on the Water, know that the Body is already liquefied and dissolved. Cook it in its Water with a moderate heat, until it dries up with the like steam, and there will be made of it a thing which will introduce perfection into itself; but the Spirit converts the sublimated and penetrated Body to itself, and for this reason it is called Water of Life, Permanent and Penetrating Water. This is why, says Dardarius in the Peat, Mercury is permanent Water, without which nothing is done; for its virtue is a spiritual Blood conjoined with the Body which it changes into Spirit by the mixture which is made of them; and being reduced to one, they change into each other; for the Body incorporates the Spirit, and the Spirit transmutes the Body into Spirit, dyes it and colors it like Blood: because everything that has Spirit has Blood also, and Blood is a spiritual humor, which strengthens the Nature. And know that the more the Body is cooked and tempered or washed in its own mood, the clearer, purer and better it will appear. But, as Morien says, nothing can take away Brass's shadow than Azoth, when it is cooked with it until it makes it colored and white like Fish's eyes; for then he waits for his virtue to be transmuted into the nature of his Ferment.
But notice that the Ferment is the fixed Water, which tints and colors the Stone, vivifies it, embraces it and retains it. This is why Mary says: the Fixed Body is Matter of Saturn, comprising digestion and separation of Tinctures and Colors, without which Fixed Body our Secret achieves no effect, until the Sun and the Moon are conjoined. into a Body; for, as Euclid says, the artifice of this Art consists only in the Sun and the Mercury; which being fit and conjoined together have an infinite Tincture; because in the Work a Color is acquired mixed and diffused into a white thing, and is converted in great part from white into a citrine Color; what one can experience by throwing Blood among milk and water. Now then, as the Fire is already mixed with the Water, they will be four. Then make it all one, and you will achieve what you are looking for; for then a Body shall be made fire weak and not weak, and peace be upon it; but from the beginning to the end, the Preparation of these things is the praiseworthy fixed Water; for she manifestly shows her Tincture in her Projection: and she is the Mediatrix, or the Middle Thing, between the contrary Things, and she is herself the Beginning, the Middle, and the End, or the First, Middle, and Final Thing. Whoever hears this understands the Doctrine of the Sages.
Moreover, some Philosophers have said: if you do not convert the Bodies into my Body, and only do the incorporeal Things having no body, you will not have found the rule and the path of truth. And if the Philosophers tell the truth, it is in this Operation) because first the Body is made and becomes Water; so that the corporeal Thing becomes incorporeal, that is to say Spirit; and then in the Conjunction, the Spirit, that is to say the Water, becomes Body. And on this subject, Hermes says: convert and change the Natures, and you will find what you are looking for. Which is true, for in our Art we first make a thick Thing a thin Thing; that is to say, from the Body we make Water, after which from a wet Thing we make a dry one; namely, of Water we make Earth, and in this way we change and convert Natures; for out of a bodily thing we make a spiritual thing, and out of a spiritual thing we make a bodily thing. This is what the same Hermes says: our Work is the conversion and change of the Bodies of one Being into another Being, of one Thing into another thing, from weakness to strength, from size and thickness to thinness and softness, from corporality to spirituality, just as the Seed of Man being in the womb of Woman, there is, by their natural conjunction, mutation and change of one Thing into another Thing, until that the perfect Man was formed; for, as Aristotle says, every Generation makes things suitable in nature; which is constant, and even in the Generation of Metals. Which makes the Philosophers say: Do not allow any foreign thing to enter into it, neither Powder, nor Water, nor anything else; for if there enters into it something heterogeneous, and of a different nature; it will corrupt and destroy it entirely. This is confirmed by King Aros, saying: let it only be conglutinated with his noble Sulphur, which is similar to him, because it is his.
After which we make that which is above is the same as that which is below; that is to say, that the Spirit be made Body, and that the Body be made Spirit, as it is said at the beginning of our Work, and as we know it in the Sublimation; for then what is below is like what is above, and on the contrary, and the whole becomes earth. And it is for this reason that Hermes says: what is above by Sublimation is as what is below by Descension; and what is below by Constipation is like what is above by Ascension, to prepare miraculous things of a Thing.
Water and Earth are in the low place; Air and Fire rise to the high place. Water and Earth conceive and nourish, Air and Fire act, adjust, conjoin, and these four, in our Stone, agree and agree together, as Senior teaches us, saying that the four Elements are purified in our Stone: for in it the Water is fixed, the Air is still, the Earth is firm, and the Fire surrounds the whole. These four Natures, repugnant to each other, are in the Stone, and are engendered by it. It is therefore manifest, by what we have just reported, that our Stone is composed of the four Elements.
All the Philosophers have said that our Stone is of the four Elements, which contain Body, Soul and Spirit; and they say that these three things are of one Nature and one Matter and that they are with one Water and one Root. Certainly they tell the truth; because all our Work is done with our Water; and from it, in it, and through it are all necessary things; for it dissolves the Bodies, not by a vulgar and common Solution, as the Ignorant think that the melting Clouds are converted into Water: but by a truly Philosophical Solution, they are converted into an unctuous and glutinous Water, from which the Bodies have been procreate. What makes Socrates say: the life of any thing is Water, because this Water makes the Dissolution of the Body and the Spirit, and of a dead thing makes a living one. It is Vinegar very strong and sourer than sour itself. Cook it until it thickens; but take good care that the Vinegar does not turn into smoke, and that it does not get lost and evaporate altogether. Moreover, this same Water transforms and converts the Bodies into Ashes, pulverizes them and incises them.
Listen to what King Martas says about it: our Water freezes Bodies and turns them black, and this Water washes and cleanses all Bodies, removes all blackness, tints all white Matter and makes it red. It restores to all dead things perpetual life; and for this reason she is esteemed and exalted, for among all things it is she who performs the greatest and most marvelous Operations. Morien says: Azoth and Fire whiten the Brass, and take away all darkness. Brass is an impure and ill-defined Body; but the Azoth is Mercury. Moreover, this Water conjoins various Bodies after they are prepared, and this conjunction is such that the heat of the fire cannot overcome it. This same Water makes the marriage between the Body and the Ferment, changes them one into the other and defends them from the combustion of fire; for the Earth, being calcined and whitened, makes itself by rising upward, and becomes spiritual and of the nature of Air, by means of which it is a spiritual and aerial thing, incorruptible and penetrating. On which Hermes says: the Water of the Air being existing between the Sky and the Earth, it is the life of all things, because it is the Mediator between the Fire and the Water by the heat and by its humidity. By its heat, it is closer to Fire, and by its humidity, it is closer to Water. What makes him make the marriage between the Man and the Woman: because the Spirit, by its subtlety, has conformity with the Air. Water therefore Air vivifies the Dead, makes the marriage, and guarantees the Composition of the Combustion of the fire. And for this reason the Philosophers said: convert Water into Air, so that life may be made with life, because it is Life and Spirit when it entered.
Our Water therefore sublimates the Bodies, not by vulgar Sublimation, as the Ignorant think, who believe that our Sublimation rises above; by means of which they take calcined bodies, which they mix with sublime spirits, such as sulphur, mercury, water, sal ammoniac and arsenic, which they conjoin together; so that by dint of fire, they make such a Sublimation that the Bodies rise above with the Spirits, and then say that the Spirits and the Bodies are sublimated, purged and purified of all their superfluities, but they are deceived, because after their Sublimation, they find the whole more impure than it was before, because Art is weaker than Nature, Albert the Great, in his Book of Minerals, says on this subject: when foreign humors are purged of the substance of Sulfur by the artifice of Nature, Art cannot purge them further, because the artifice of Nature is more subtle than that of Art. This is why our Sublimation is that of the Philosophers, by which of a small and corrupt Thing we make a great, pure, perfect, and very excellent Thing. When we say: this has risen to such a Dignity, in the same way we say: the Bodies are sublimated, that is to say, subtilized and changed into another nature. So that to sublimate is the same thing as to subtilize, which our Water does perfectly. Whereupon Morien said: our Water takes away the stench of the dead Body, in which there is no Soul; and when this Water will have whitened the Soul, and will have sublimated it while keeping the Body, it removes from this Body all bad smell.
Take, says Alchimedes, the Matter of its own Mines, and sublimate it in its high places; send it to the highest of its Mountains, and reduce it to its Roots. So, to sublimate is nothing else than to sublimate a gross Matter. Whereupon Hermès says: sublime subtly and ingeniously, and separates the subtle from the thick; for from Earth it ascends to Heaven and then descends again to Earth, to penetrate into the lower ones of gravity and heaviness, in order to remain there and to stop there. Understand then in this way the Sublimation of the Philosophers, because in this many are mistaken.
Moreover, our Water mortifies the Bodies, vivifies them, brings them to the West, and then makes them return to the East. It causes the Colors to appear black in mortification, when these Bodies are converted into Earth, by means of putrefaction. After that, many and various Colors appear before whitening, the end of which is whiteness, which is stable and permanent. For just as a grain of Wheat being sown in the ground produces many other grains, if it rots and mortifies there, and on the contrary, that it produces nothing there if it does not die there. not, so also the Seeds of all things which are born and grow on the earth change and putrefy; and if corruption sets in them, immediately they germinate and multiply in a Seed like that from which they had their roots and their beginnings. The same happens to our Water; it feeds, putrefies and corrupts itself; and then sprouting, it resurrects and quickens itself. Calib says on this subject: when I saw the Water congealing itself, I knew that Science was certain, and I believed by this sign that the Secret was true. So cook this Water with its Body, until its moisture is dried up by the fire; and dry it up in this way until it can be recognized that it has collected its Spirits, and that it will have made its home in the Root of its Element. What will be when you have mortified the white and tender Body; then Water will be spiritual, having the power to convert Natures into other Natures; and then again, it will vivify the dead bodies, making them sprout and bear fruit.
Moreover, our Water is of various and admirable Colors, and they appear and show themselves in such great number that it is not possible to believe it nor to think it. It is then that the Spirit adjusts itself with the Body by means of the Soul. The Spirit is also the bond of the Soul; and the Soul extracted and drawn from the Bodies is the Tincture of Water. On this Senior says: in the Water is the Tincture of the Dyers, which Water goes from above the Cloth by drying, and the clean Tincture remains there by impression. It is the same with this Water or Soul, which brings the Tincture, or the sea on the white Earth, altered and leafy or in foam. Hermès calls this Eau d'Ecume d'Or, or Saffron Flower, because it tints the calcined Earth. This is why, he says, sow Gold in leafy white Earth. From there one proceeds to spiritual Water, and the Soul dwells with the Body, which is the Tincture of the Sun. This Soul is like a subtle smoke, which shows itself only by its effect; and its action is a manifestation of Colors; and the fire is begotten of the fire, and is nourished in the fire, and he is the son of the fire, and for that he must return to the fire, lest he fear the fire, just as the child returns to its Mother's breasts.
Some Philosophers have also called our Stone White Metal. This is why Ismindrius and Lucas said in the Peat: know, all of you who seek our Science, that there is no true Tincture except from our white Metal, which is not vulgar Metal; for this spoils and corrupts everything. To which it is added: but the Metal of the Philosophers whitens whatever it is associated with and makes it perfect. Which makes Plato say: all Gold is Metal, but not all Metal is Gold; for in the nature of Gold it is almost like Metal in weight and hardness; and in the nature of Metal, there is nothing other than what is in the nature of Gold by the corruption which is in the earth. But our Metal has Spirit, Body and Soul, and these three things are only one; for Spirit, Body and Soul are only one, especially since this Soul is Spirit by one, of one, with one, which is its Root. The Metal therefore of the Philosophers is their perfect and accomplished Elixir of Spirit, Body and Soul. It is for this reason that the same Philosophers gave different names to their Stone, so that it was heard only by the Learned, and that it was hidden from the Ignorant: but by some names they call it, and however different they may be, yet they are one and the same.
Morien says on this subject: there is an occult Stone, hidden and buried in the depths of a vile, abject, little prized Fountain, and it is covered with dung and excrement; and although it is only one) it is given all sorts of names. On which the wise Morien said: this Stone) not stone, is animated, and it has the virtue to procreate and to engender. This Stone is Bird, and not stone nor bird. This Stone is soft, and takes its beginning, its origin and its race from Saturn or Mars, Sun or Venus, and if it is Mars, Sun and Venus. This Stone alone is more resplendent and shining than all others) even more than the Moon; for now she is Silver, and afterwards will be Gold, receiving several Species and Forms, as from the Element of Water, Wine, Blood, Christalin) Milk, Virgin) Sperm or Man's Seed) Vinegar, Urine of Children, Stone or Gum of the Sun, and its general splendour. Orpiment constitutes and makes the first Element, It is sometimes called the Predicted Stone, the Sea purged and purified with its Sulphur. So that the Philosophers change and vary the names, because they do not want to manifest such a Secret to the Fools and the Ignorant, and they envelop this Secret in various forms and under different names, so that there is only the Sages and the Learned who can develop and understand it. The same Morien adds: our Stone is the Confection or Composition of our Secret, and it is similar in order to the Creation of Man. For, 1° Conjunction takes place, 2° Corruption, 3° Impregnation, 4" Childhood, 5° Nutriment. Hear and weigh well the words of this Philosopher, and you will not stray in the way. which leads to Truth.
Open your eyes, dear Reader, see and understand that the Semen of the Philosophers is living Water, and that their Earth is the imperfect Body; which Earth is called Mother, because it contains and includes all the Elements; and for this reason when the Sperm of Mercury is conjoined with the Earth of the Imperfect Body, then it is called the Conjunction; because in that time, the Body of Earth, or the Earth of the imperfect Body, dissolves into Water of Sperm, and becomes Water without any division. It is also said in another place: Solution of the Body and Freezing of the Spirit are two things; but they have only one operation, for the Spirit is frozen only by the Dissolution of the Body, and the Body is dissolved only by the Freezing of the Spirit. And when Body and Soul adjust and conjoin together, each of them acts against its actually alike Companion. Earth and Water provide us with an example; for when Water is added to Earth, this Water, by its humidity, strives to dissolve the Earth, and making it more subtle than it was before, it moistens it and makes it similar to itself, because it is more subtle than the Earth.
The Soul does the same thing in the Body, and it is in this way that the Water becomes thick with the Earth, and becomes similar to the Earth, as to thickness, because the Earth is thicker than the water. For this reason we conceive that between the Solution of the Earth, and the Freezing of the Spirit, there is no difference of time, nor of diversity in the Operation, so that one is done in the other. Now, then, as we know of no difference of time, nor of various ways of operating, in the Conjunction of Water with the Earth; in the same way, we do not know any difference in time, nor in various ways of operating, when the Seed of the Man mixes with the Sperm of the Woman, at the moment of their Conjunction; they are no longer separated from each other, and in the order of Nature there is only one Goal, one End, one Way, one Operation. King Merlin says on this subject: Conjunction supposes Mixtion, and Seeds mingle like Milk; what is noticed when the Mixtion is perfect, and from this perfect Mixtion follows the Generation.
It must be understood from what we have just said that when the Earth dissolves in black Powder, and that it begins to retain a little Mercury, it must be understood, I say, that it is the Male who exerts his action with the Female; that is, the Azoth with the Earth. Whereupon Arisleus says in the Peat: Men do not beget together, nor Women conceive alone; for Generation is only made by Male and Female; and Nature rejoices only when Males receive Females, because then Generation becomes, and not by madly adding to Natures other foreign and dissimilar Natures. So make your Son Gaber-tin conjoin with his sister Béya, who is a cold, gentle and tender Daughter. Gabertin is the Male, and Béya is the Female, who amends and corrects Gabertin, because he came from her. And although Gabertin is warmer than Béya, nevertheless there is no Generation without Béya; Gabertin having slept with Béya) he dies immediately; because Béya climbs on top of him) kisses him and locks him up in his belly, so that we no longer see anything of Gabertin. Béya therefore embraced Gabertin with such vehement love, that she entirely conceived him and transmuted him into his nature, and divided him into various parts. Here is what King Merlin says again: what was in the Conception like Milk, is changed and transmuted into Blood; what was white becomes black, and then comes the resplendent red.
The Impregnation is done when the Earth is whitened by the predominance and government of Nature. The Water mixed with the Earth grows and multiplies, and the Generation is done with increase of new Lineage. So, it is necessary to wash and clean the blackened Earth, and whiten it with the heat of the fire. Whereupon said Haly: take what has descended to the bottom of the Vessel, and wash it and clean it well with the heat of the fire, until the blackness is removed from it, together with its thickness and its filth. Also cause it to come out, fly and resolve any addition of moisture until it becomes like very white lime, without any spot or filth appearing in it. Then the Earth is pure, and fit to receive the Soul. The impregnation, by corroborating and confronting what has been mutated and changed, promises us, after the Conception, something of greater perfection; and that which has been well purged and well cleansed, then binds together, and joins together in good peace.
The Childhood happens when the Ferment of the Soul adjusts itself with the Body, that is to say the Body or bleached Earth, so that of All there is made only One, as well in Substance as in Color. Then our Stone was born and made, having perpetual life. For then the Spirit is conjoined and adjusted with the Body by means of the Soul. This is the real Composition. Listen to Haly on this point: this, he says, is done with putrefaction and marriage, which marriage is nothing else but to mingle the subtle with the gross, and adjust and insert the Soul with the Body; and putrefaction is baking and roasting the Earth, and watering it till they mingle together, and all is made One. In these Matters, there is no diversity, variety or separation. Then, the Earth, being mixed with the Water, it will endeavor to retain what is thick, and the subtle will set about purging the Soul with fire, so that it can endure it and suffer it. . Likewise, the Spirit born in these Bodies will strive, and will desire to be poured out with them. Here is what King Merlin says:
The Nutrient is done when the Creature, being outside the belly, needs to be nourished. The first nourishment is Milk, with suitable warmth, so that what has just been born may be gradually comforted and corroborated, increasing the nourishment in proportion to the increase; for the more the Bones grow stronger, the more easily the Child reaches youth, and consequently a perfect age of strong Substance and great virtue.
We must operate in the same way in our Work. Know then that nothing can be engendered or procreate without heat; that excessive heat spoils and destroys the Compound; that the too-cold Bath drives out and drives away that which is conjoined to it, but that the heat which is tempered drives out, by its sweetness, the corrupting humors of the Body. Which makes Morien say: what is first born is brought to light, and then nourished and maintained.
Fire overcomes Water, and Phoenix administers and burns Nutrient. This is why our Stone is called the born son, about whom it is said in the Peat: honor your King, who comes from fire; crown him with a Diadem, and illumine him until he reaches a perfect age. Do not cause it to burn or leak from excessive heat; for if you provoke it with more heat than necessary, it will deprive you of its regime and its government. His Father is the Sun, and his Mother is the Moon. The Wind carries it in its womb, and the Earth is its Nurse. It is true that he is nourished by his own Milk, that is to say, by the Sperm of which he was made from the beginning. So be soaked and quenched often, and very often little by little, with his Mercury, until he drinks his fill and to his sufficiency. So, as Haly says, the Body causes the Tincture to be retained, and the Tincture makes the Color appear, and the Color causes the Tincture to be demonstrated, in which there is Light, Life and Nature. Which is the right and short way to arrive at the perfection of our Matter, even at the end of our Art, and at the consummation of our Work.
By all that I have just related, you can, my dear Reader, easily hear the obscure Words of the Philosophers and you will be able to know that they all agree together on this point, that there is no other means to operate wisely in our Art than what I have declared to you. Now then you already have the Solution of the Body, and the Reduction of it to its first Matter; then, you have the conversion of it into Earth; likewise you have the Whitening of the Black Earth, as you have the Subtlety or Mutation in the Air. For then the Distillation of the moisture that is in him takes place; and what rises and rises from the Earth is of the nature of Air, and the Earth remains charred; and so is the fire of Nature. You will also have the commixtion of Soul, Body and Spirit all together, and the conversion or mutation of one into the other; whence the Compound takes a great increase, the utility of which is more excellent than can be conceived, nor comprehended by any reasoning. Which is done with the help of the Lord, Unique Giver of all Treasures, and of all graces; who, in the Trinity, is one God, who reigns forever and ever.
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“If any one complain of the difficulty of our Art, let him know that in itself it is perfectly simple, and can present no obstacle to those who love God, and are held worthy by Him of this knowledge.”
Anonymous
The Golden Tract Concerning The Stone of the Philosophers
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