THE EMERALD TABLE
Or
Summary of the Great Work

Literal copy of the Kabbalah, a manuscript of the noble LS

Whole doctrine of my venerable Master .....


Johann Friedrich von Meyer

1801


Gray and dark matter is good too.


Operations:

1 – Calcination.
2 – Elimination.
3 – Distillation.
4 – Exposure.
5 – Distillation.
6 – Cohobation by divine power.
7 – Separation.
8 – Purification.
9 – Membership.
10 – Multiply.


The philosophers did not follow one single path. Some have not ruled out that the material for the Work could be obtained by the shortest route, calcination; this is why they had to carry out more dissolutions by the wet method. We have absolutely no need for that calcination if we have, by means of true calcination, prepared and arranged the raw material in such a way that it dissolves while bathing in its own natural bonds and can produce the Sacred Earth, and with it successively the Mercury and the incombustible Sulphur. If you were at my house, you could see this with your own eyes and be completely convinced of it.

To guide you in this reading, you must constantly bear in mind the general laws of the philosophers. This is why you must never let yourself be deceived by the confused meaning of words; whether in such a place there are the words Calcination, Putrefaction, Sublimation, Rectification, or any other term, that must be all the same to you; according to the context, or according to the general laws and the operations of which I have indicated the order, you must recognize, and know, of which operation it is a question and what term should be, in truth, employed there.

The famous Caput mortuumhas many meanings. Sometimes this is called the calcined matter, sometimes the earth purified by washing, and even the sacred earth. To tell the truth, this designation can only be applied to the residue which remains after the distillation, when the Sacred Earth has been fertilized by the Spirit that is known and can no longer be made volatile. For though some say Venus is imprisoned therein like green Vitriol in a martialized earth and though some call it Fixed Salt of Wisdom, they do so only to confuse unworthy operators so that the Art remains hidden. Also the most sincere add that this Salt or Body of Vitriol,

The term Wisdom used here is a very relevant warning not to be deceived. I don't have the Clauder at hand to explain the passage that refers to it. But it must undoubtedly be seen in it as proof that a single distillation is not enough to dissolve all the Sacred Earth and collect all the Sulfur and all the Mercury therein. Both must eventually pass into the state of white and red vapour; thereupon, once both have been specially purified and rectified to the maximum, they should be brought together in the philosophical furnace so that they putrefy.

If you can obtain a beautiful colored Lixivium from the calcined matter, you may be sure that you have taken properly that first step which the philosophers describe in a very veiled way or even completely pass over in silence, and of which however all the rest depends.

I will here indicate to you a process which is indispensable to the first operation; by following it, you will be convinced that there is no other possible way in the world, and that the one I reveal here is the only one.

1) Take 6 to 8 ounces of our matter, such as one can find it in the ground, fresh and humid, without the rain having remained there. Grind it into a powder and extract the Radical Moisture from it. Keep this one carefully; it smells of burnt sulfur with tonic essences.

2) The earth must remain in the retort for one or two hours on the fire even if no more drop escapes. Once cooled, remove it. But before the total cooling, it is necessary to remove, the front part of the vase and to stop this one well, so that the magnetic earth does not attract to it either its radical humidity or the humidity of the air.

3) The earth which remains in an iron pan or a crucible is then calcined until incandescence, first on a moderate fire, then stronger, in order to eliminate all the combustible sulphurous impurities. As long as it has been brought to incandescence in the retort, there always remains some humidity from which it must be completely rid. This is why, during calcination, the fire must be gradually increased so that the material does not vitrify in whole or in part. It is the degree of calcination, as in making malt, that matters most. We will always realize this later on by carrying out several tests.

4) Then, the earth is reduced to powder in a stone or glass mortar and washed with rainwater or simply with water from a well. Here, we obtain a cloudy Lixivium of the color of the earth, but already showing some whiteness. As soon as the earth has been digested for 24 hours at a moderate temperature using this one, stirring several times, it is put, when the coarsest parts have settled, in a retort to dry. by filtering and that the water comes out until it is completely dry.

5) The remaining earth is powdered again and washed again with rainwater. Sometimes, one already obtains a Lixivium of a beautiful light yellow; if it is not and it appears cloudy like the first time, we proceed again as in number 4.

6) We reduce the remaining product again and we wash it again as before, which makes it possible to obtain this very clear Lixivium and of a beautiful yellow, our Wine or Vinegar.

7) The light yellow and clear Lixivia are removed from the retort and filtered; the remainder then appears sometimes reddish-white, sometimes white, sometimes brownish; either color is the same, as long as it tastes salty.

8) This remaining product is not bulky, but its action is great. We water it again with Radical Humidity, we dissolve it and we obtain a solution comparable to the finest wine of Malaga, although more reddish. It is our true Wine or Vinegar of reinforced wine, but which it is necessary to reinforce still more.

9) The remaining product, when filtered again, should be coffee brown and liquefy easily in air.

Here we are on the threshold of the Great Work and we have all the materials in hand to build this great edifice. Write down as best you can the general laws and principles to be followed here:

a) Our Work is easy, child's play, woman's work, but infinitely difficult to discover.

b) One must follow nature and avoid all excess; she then leads us herself and shows us the way forward.

c) Everything is done from Unity.

10) Salt, oil, vinegar and hundreds of other denominations are reduced to one and the same thing. There is one thing that must constantly be dissolved and coagulated and to which nothing foreign must be left. This is precisely the easy way, woman's work, child's play.

11) The brown-coffee earth finally obtained must be impregnated with the celestial Spirit and acquire the Force which operates everything , which puts Mercury and Sulfur together before our eyes and gives them the power to finally separate as one. the other.

12) To attract the Spirit, there is no need for the intervention of the Artist, it happens by itself in the calm of the night or in a cool cellar. But every ray of daylight or sun must be carefully avoided, otherwise the essence of the Spirit, hastening to return to its origin, would evaporate and be lost.

13) To obtain finally, from this sacred fertilized Earth, simultaneously Sulfur and Mercury or to make them pass from one state to another, there is a hidden knack; this is the greatest secret and seldom has anyone revealed it, notwithstanding the fact that the thing could be known from vulgar chemistry. I will say more: he who operates with dirty hands will fall and reap no fruit, even if he knows the most delicate operations flawlessly.

14) Above all, you must constantly think about tempering the external fire as much as possible and cleaning your containers very carefully. It is better to work a few extra days than to see the labor of several weeks lost in a few moments.


15) We put this fertilized sacred Earth in a retort and we attract towards the mouth the Spirit which is in it. Small instruments are needed because the mass of matter is most often reduced, whatever quantity one has tried to obtain.