For the transformation of all metals
The infinite mercy of the true God wanted to redeem the human race to send his only son to shed his blood on the tree of the cross. O fountain of mercy, grant us to achieve this great Work, for without your help we cannot achieve it. Your will be done. Amen.
Take some very good wine that is neither brazant nor sophisticated, which will putrefy for twelve or fifteen days in a very ample glass vessel, and stopper it with the seal of Hermes, so that it does not breathe at all. It is necessary to put it in the water bath, being plunged no further than the height of the wine. After pulling it, put it in a clean glass vessel with its capital, and seal the joints well, and being well closed, put it in a light bath, in which there is so much water, that it covers the whole Lunar, then distill it little by little until you see the said veins or sign, which will be like tears or drops of flowing blood, but clear as crystal, and so you will continue as long as you see the said veins or sign, and as its death will begin to come, which mortifies the aforesaid spirit, the tears will begin to do this round, and will no longer flow through the capital, having the appearance of a pearl. Then remove the container, and seal it although it does not breathe, and keep it in the coldest place you can. Thus you will have separated his soul, how long there is still of his death. In this way you will continue the said distillations. After you have received his death, that is to say his phlegm, which will be odoriferous. Thus you will continue as long as the matter remains at the bottom like a big black melted honey or pitch, take care that it does not exude, if not with this sign, and after you will separate the elements of our B or wine. Thus you will have drawn the form as I have told you, and in the same way will be able to draw it from any individual, namely from animals and plants.
Take the soul kept in a cold place in a vessel, and put it to distil in the bath, and take half of it, or as long as you see these very precious veins coming, and thus you will rectify it ten times, always governing yourself by the aforesaid signs, and at the third or fourth time as the aforesaid veins will appear, raise your distillation, without distilling any more, but see if it burns the flag, and if it does not burn it, start the magisterium again, as long as you have the aforesaid sign, and as it will burn the flag, you will distill it apart from it four or five times, and thus you will have the way to rectify the matter, namely the aforesaid Soul signified by C which is of such great virtue that the human tongue cannot express the secret that God has put in it, therefore it must be kept well sealed in the coldest place that can be found.
Having declared the manner of separating our fiery spirit, from its death, preventing its power, know that it nevertheless has the power to dissolve the two luminaries, and reduce them indeed if it is not sharpened, as we will teach, I believe that the preparation will be done in the chapter that we will generally do in E. But for the sole purpose that you do not waste your time, you must immediately have our Spirit, foresee the time that you will suddenly practical, and for this subject we have it signified in this chapter by two letters, viz. DD, signifying you by the one its simple sharpening, and by the other its royal sharpening, or else salt drawn from the Honeycomb, which sharpened you will be sure not to waste your time and expense.
Take therefore the honeycomb of young flies, which will be white, and put it in putrefaction in a large vessel in the bath with its capital, and let it boil for an hour every day. Afterwards you will make it a temperate fire, and thus you will leave it for fifteen natural days, then you will put so much C on top that the material floats four fingers above it. Then close with its antenos and put it in putrefaction for the space of three days, then put the capital with the container and the joints being well stoppered, let it distill by the bath, and when it is distilled, or that of eight parts seven will be distilled. However the most infallible sign is that you will see the veins come as tears, as we said in chapter B. Then you will remove the tearful part in this second operation, and as the tearful part comes, take out your container, and seal it well. let it have no air, and put it in a cold place, it will be clean to be sharpened. Then put another container and let it distill by this heat, and as it will no longer want to distill, do not increase the heat, so remove the container and keep it well stoppered, because this second water or phlegm will serve you to draw its precious salt. Put afterwards in ashes, and distill by fire of the third degree, and when by this fire you will have the oil, you will let it cool, then grind the matter, and put it in an earthen vessel which is not sealed and endures the fire of reverberation for eight days, or when the matter seems to you calcined, which you will find in the color of ashes, on which you pour so much of its phlegm, that it floats by two fingers, and stop it with its antenos, and put it in the bath for three days. Then pour it gently into another clean vessel, then pour over again phlegm, stopper with its antenos. Return to the bath as before and so you will do so many times, that you have all drawn its precious salt which will be whiter than snow, and it is it the salt with which we sharpen our simple C, it is it which yawns the beginning of make the two luminaries vegetate, and reduce them to quintessence, with which you can also sharpen and increase its water, which has the power to make vegetate all earthly metals, and with this alone you can meet your needs. Be secretive and thank God. Afterwards you must take all your verses which you will put in a clean vessel to be distilled by a light bath, and at the bottom you will have your snow-white salt, which afterwards you will redissolve, repeat, freeze three times, and by this means it will be pure to do all your operations. Now to sharpen, take an ounce of the very precious salt taken from the honeycomb, which you grind and put in a vessel, and above it four parts of C, that is to say its first spirit which you will stopper with its antenos, and well the joints of it, then put it in putrefaction for two natural days. Afterwards you will remove its antenos and put its capitals and container on it, and distill it over a light ash fire, when it has ceased know the weight of the salt remaining at the bottom of the vessel and pour over it four parts of the said simple C, then putrefy and distill by ashes, and start the magisterium again until all the salt has passed with his celestial spirit or else C, and by this means you can sharpen and increase as much as you want, but be warned that a little very precious salt, like a top four part C, namely of first spirit is enough, and so you can do as much as you want, and this is the true and right practice that must be sealed to the ignorant.
Take a large glass vessel and put a pound or two of C in it, stopper it well, as you know, and put it to circulate in the bath or in the liquid. But be warned when you change your fient that you do not interrupt the circulation too much, and thus must circulate for 30 natural days at the end of which you will find your white matter like a crystal with a hypostasis at the bottom of the vessel like a ball of cotton that you will pour gently into another vessel and keep it well stoppered and thus you will have our vegetal menstruation and our simple sky which has so much virtue that human language cannot tell. With it we make real calcination and dissolution of the two luminaries by conservation of their radical humidity because it reduces power in effect all the perfect and imperfect metals. I know very well my son that you will find it strange that I have not written down the shape of the vessel, but I have left in your house several of my vessels and circulatory systems, one of which will be clean there.
The marvelous principle of all the other principles of this science is glorious vegetable Mercury, that is to say the preparation and washing of its precious plain earth of all virtue.
For this effect take the matter which has remained in your bottom as big thick honey or as black pitch, as we said in chapter B and on it put so much of its death, namely phlegm, that it floats four fingers and continue thus as long as its tincture or superfluous unctuous part, dissolves and comes out all by distillation as before, then let cool in a humid place, there will be red pebbles at the bottom of the vessel, then pour gently by inclination, and take the said pebbles, then pour back on the material of the new phlegm and continue the distillation as long as no more pebbles pass, and even mix and always dry as long as you have drawn the tincture, and then you will remain a white earth which you will wipe in the sun or heat. similar. Which afterwards you grind and put in a vessel with its water or C that it floats four fingers then stopper with its antenos, and putrefy for three days, then distill lightly by the ashes and so by this regime of fire you will let it distill until it no longer makes veins, and starting to make veins, raise your container and stopper it and put another one in it, and continue the distillation with a little stronger fire, as long as death passes , then allow the vessel to cool, and you will find the hard matter, which you will carefully draw from the vessel, and grind it then put back into its vessel, and over its supernatant C three fingers, and stopper with its antenos, then put in putrefaction for three days, and give him his capital, and distill as before, until he makes the veins in the hat. Then change container and continue your operations as long as the matter remains white, and that it does not make smoke, by putting it on a very hot iron blade. Afterwards have a glass in the shape of an apple, or round ball, in which you will put the aforementioned earth, sealing its mouth well, and put it in digestion of ashes, or else calcination. And thus you will have the most precious earth, which will be fit to receive its soul, or spirit with the conservation of the radical humidity, and nutriment of it. Know my son that with this only means, and copulative ferment, that is to say the soul of the aforesaid body organized from it, as we will show you in particular, namely to the composition of medicines, everything is done.
Take one ounce of silver from a cup and calcined, signified in this place by Q, as it will be said in the chapter of H, take two ounces of gold signified by P similarly calcined according to the content in the said chapter, and each of if you put yourself apart in a vessel, then take our E, circulated or else simple quintessence, and pour it on the said lime, as long as it floats four fingers, stopper with its antenos, and put in the bath by two days, and for another two days, and for another two days in ashes, and as you will see the waters take on a little color, you will empty them each one by itself indifferently, and put this solution in the bath, the vessels well stopper, afterwards on the limes which are not dissolved will return E there again, stopping it with its antenos, then will put it in ashes as you did before, and this will continue, as long as this solar and lunar body is reduced to water. Afterwards take the compound of gold and silver and put each one apart in its urinal, and distill it by bath. Then the bodies will remain at the bottom of the vessel in oil. Then take the waters distilled by the two luminaries, and put in it so much vegetable sulfur, which are the weights of gold and silver, then rest for two days in the bath to dissolve the salt well. Being dissolved, set each one apart, that is to say, each defeat the waters on the metals remaining at the bottom of the vessel in oil: but be warned that the sulfur that you will have dissolved in the aforesaid waters, is that which we will teach you in chapter L, namely that which is drawn from wine, and thus you will put them in putrefaction for eight days, then draw water by the bath each one separately. Afterwards you will put so much that it floats by two fingers, & stopper with its antenos, & afterwards put on the cap & distill in ashes: & as you will see that the waters will have passed with a small fire, increase its fire a little, & will pass the air into its water: let afterwards cool the vessel, & pour new water over it, stopping with the antenos & in the bath for one night, then removing the antenos, put the cap & container, & distill by ashes as above, & so will do until you have drawn the juice of the two luminaries, namely gold & silver. Then take the land & keep it; But the infallible sign will be when you put a little of this earth on a very hot blade, and it will not give off smoke. This will be the assurance that the land will have been well examined, which you will keep in a pale or glass ball, both together in digestion of ashes. Then they will be ready to receive their Mercury, which we will teach in Chap. L. Afterwards you will take the two juices which you will combine in a still, and will pass them together once through the ashes, & if there remains a little lime or earth, it must be put with the aforementioned kept earth, & so you will do six times: & having drawn all these filths which will remain with the earth, you will always put them, as above. Then take a large vessel, or one of our glass traps, which is strong & at least two palms high, in this you will put your compound menstruation, & seal it well, & its small hole also with a glass stopper , then afterwards with egg mucus, scrambled paper & quicklime, you will wrap it while letting it dry, & then you will seal it again on top with our wax Wax made of pitch & mastic. & circulate to the Philosopher's bath, which we showed you, when we did the circulation of simple menses being in Venice, & let circulate for forty days, & when it is about the end you will see this menstruation or mercury which will be shiny & more fragrant than anything else of this century. This, my son, has the power to dissolve the two luminaries, & reduce them in power indeed. Know my son, that of him alone, with his red or white ferment, you can by their circulation make branches of great projection. This is what Raymond Lully deals with in his Accusatory Epistle, when he says that after the dissolution made of the Sun, and rising after the water by the bath at a very slow fire, that this gold is made spiritual, which never may reduce to a body.
And if in iceluy you put a hundred parts of vulgar Mercury, it will freeze into good gold or silver according to its ferment. To the advantage that this gold be mixed in suitable water, and giving it to drink to the sick of any infirmity whatsoever, in a short time will return to its first temperament. Know, my son, that it is this which causes the hoary hairs of any Old Man to fall out, counterguarding him until the end which is ordained to him by (God) but in order to achieve transmutation, because it suffices for health that the gold is dissolved with the Menstrue, each pound must put in it two ounces of Mercury, as we will teach in Chapter X. Know that with it putrefaction takes place. But be warned that since it will be calcined, it must not be used for the human body, but only for the transmutation of metals as you will see in the following Chapter. Believe that I have taught you everything that is included in the book of Raymond Lully, & with this practice that I am showing you, it is impossible to fail: therefore I beg you to want always to have the Eternal God before your eyes.
My son, we hold that the calcination or else discontiuation of the metals is very necessary: otherwise their dissolution would be very troublesome to do, & to achieve this, take common mercury, & wash it with salt & vinegar, then put in a crucible, making an amalgam with gold; namely one part of gold & six of Mercury: as much will you do with the lunar body; however it is quite certain that the lunar body wants more Mercury to reduce it, than it does for the solar, being well amalgamated like a piece of butter, so much that spreading it on the palm of the hand, you you won't feel anything firm. Then put it on a linen or chamois flag, pressing it down as much as you can. Afterwards have double the common salt prepared, & grind them together, then put in a retort, if you want to preserve your Mercury, otherwise put in a wide earth vessel. And spreading & extending everywhere, & then you will put it in the fire, giving it little by little as the mercury exhales. After that, wash your lime with twice distilled common water, so many times that all the salt is out. Finally, what your gold will remain red & impalpable: after have your vegetable water, where its death is not, & put some above, as long as it floats four fingers, then give it fire, thus you will do four times. Then will remain your perfectly calcined Sun & Moon. Know that this way of calcining is excellent over all others, being useful to the human body, and to the transmutation of metals.
Copper is calcined with prepared common salt, making bed upon bed, & putting it in the reverberation furnace for three days; then washing it in hot water, softening it as above.
Iron calcines with sulfur & vinegar, which is signified by S.
Tin is calcined with prepared salt, & is signified by V.
Lead, like tin, signified by T.
This is the doctrine of calcination, assation, or subtiliation at dissolution, with preservation of the radical humor.
The dissolution of the Metals is necessary for the first part of the Magisterium. For this take the body of the calcined Sun or Moon: then having as much sublimated Vegetable mercury, as we will say in Chapter L. And let the aforementioned Vegetable be reduced to water with E. said in the preceding Chapter, & being reduced to water take the aforesaid lime, & water it in a glass vessel, as long as it floats by two fingers: then put the antenos well sealed on an ash fire by twelve hours at the slow heat. Afterwards remove the antenos, put the still, & draw out all the moisture that can be drawn out through the bath: then when the matter has been wiped off, remove it from the vessel, & grind it very hard in a glass mortar, with the pestle of even, by washing your mortar with the water, or oil of sulfur mentioned above, & once again watering your lime as above, digest, distill, & grind, as long as it has acquired the three parts of the above-mentioned vegetable sulphurous substance . But note again that the aforesaid oil can be made with the vegetable prepared earth, that is to say when their oils will be separated, & when this earth will remain white as snow, according to what we taught you in the Chapter signified by F, that is to say, by doing the work, as it is declared. But let us return to our fact. Immediately you will have acquired the three parts of the sulphurous substance, as said is, then pour over the matter, so great quantity of compound menstruation, signified by H. that it floats three fingers: then put the antenos, & stopper the joints well, & put in a boiling bath slowly for the space of two natural days, & after another two days on the fire of ashes. And so you will see that the whole or the greater part will dissolve in the aforesaid body, or compound. After the decantation, you will separate well acortement, lest the faeces do not become cloudy, in a clear vessel which can well be blocked, & keep it in bath which is well blocked; the rest of the body which has remained with you so as not to be dissolved, you will dry it in the vessel at a slight heat like that of the Sun.
Afterwards you will do all the aforesaid operations, as long as it is finished dissolving, namely by putting the Menstrue so that it no longer takes on colors, & you will be left with a useless earth, which is the one that holds this bark together, or very small skins that hold the vegetative virtue locked up in the two luminaries. This fact put the composition or dissolved body into putrefaction, as you will see in its following Chapter signified by K. put Mercury in it, as we said. But wishing to proceed with the transmutation, it is necessary when you have dissolved the solar compound. Afterwards, it must be circulated twenty days in the bath, & twenty in ashes, & the said circulation must be done in a vessel such as we have said above, That is to say in a trap or cucurbite, & as it will be circulated the forty days, thus as the first water shows colors in the color of its ferment, when it comes to this point it will only show itself white, & will remain at the bottom a red gum, like a fine ruby, & the instrumental water, which remained on the gum will be white, which will be poured out, & then you will put the said gum in the bath, i.e. being in the same vessel, & the bath must be somewhat boiling, & it will dissolve in four or five days, in very red oil: then you will put it in ashes for two days, & it will freeze in the same gum as before. Thus you will do three times, dissolving & freezing. And by this means you will have reduced our medicine, or great major composition, to cure any bodily disease of any corruption, such as leprosy & other disease. And it is the real potable gold, of which Raymond Lully spoke in several places. It has the property of retaining radical moisture, guards against putrefaction, and does not allow the hoary man to come. This gold dissolves in water or soup to make it drink: but the safest thing is to dissolve it in our vegetable. But wanting to proceed with the transmutation, or else with the branch, it is necessary that the Mentstrue be calcined, & to do all the aforesaid operations, namely fermenting it & circulating as above, & being reduced to oil, you will pour it wisely, in a round vessel with long neck. Afterwards you will make the projection in this way, namely a part of this oil, & a hundred parts of Mercury washed with vinegar, & put it in the above vessel, & stopper it well, then in the fire of ashes for twenty days. Afterwards it must be refined by a strong cinder: each pound of the above-mentioned congealed metal wants a pound of Saturn, and thus you will have gold or silver according to what your ferment has been.
Take a vessel which is long & narrow, according to the quantity of dissolved metal, & in it put your solution: then mark it with the seal of Hermes. After having a large copper vessel with its lid, and that it has in the middle a floor with a hole in one of the sides a pipe to be able to put water there, which pipe make it be under the said floor, & on top of it floor lay & seat said ship upright without leaning. So cover it with its lid & give a moderate heat, as long as the matter goes up & down for forty natural days, at the end of which you will find your composition of Sun in ruby color with something hanging in black: sometimes it remains up to date obscure, this variation leads to money that will or will not be purged. Thus you will know in your mind the necessity of this putrefaction.
Take this putrefied composition of Sun & Moon, by the way we have taught in chapter K. & put to distillation in the bath, the joints of the vessel well stopped, & thus continue your distillation, as long as your matter of one & the other compound remains in oil. After raise the Hat & on the matter put so much of their waters that they float two fingers: stopper with its antenos, & after its Hat & container, & make distill by light ashes, & not distilling any more by this degree of heat increase the fire, & the air will pass into its water: then let the vessel cool, & keep what is in the container tightly stoppered, & set it aside. Then pour new water over the faeces which have remained at the bottom, & have not been able to pass to the distillation, & suddenly they will be resolved: stopper suddenly with the antenos as above, namely that it is by twelve o'clock in the bath. Then distil the joints being well closed, & keep the distillation with the other lively water. And so you will start this magisterium again up to fifteen times, as long as the earth does not give off any smoke, how much until at the seventh time, it will not give off any, but we do as much to make the earth more subtle, at this end may the part of it come to unite with its soul & sublimate with it. And be warned that to repeat this magisterium so many times, it could happen that the water is not enough, therefore taking all the distillations made by the ashes, & distilled them by the bath, & n takes two-thirds, of which you will work in the aforesaid burial if the water fails you: thus you will have reduced our Sun & our Moon to the true eclipse. Afterwards, the aforesaid clay, and the quantity of it, either yellow or white, each separately, well sealed and sealed, which you will put on the reverberation fire, such that the glass does not melt, and the leave for forty days, at the end of which let the vessel cool, and in this you will find your lands prepared to receive their Mercury. But be warned that the earth of the vegetable will be white, the earth of the Sun black, and that of the Moon chestnut approaching in the dark. Having drawn these lands, you must pillage them and grind them in a glass mortar, each one separately, and reduce them to impalpable powder, which you will keep in a glass vessel on hot ashes, each one separately, as long as your soul has been rectified. Take the compound of the Moon, & rectify it by seven distillations into light ashes, & all the filth or earth that it leaves will be put with its calcined earth; likewise you will distill water composed of the Sun, however different its rectification is from that of silver. For this take this water in which is its soul, & have it distilled by ashes, & what will remain at the bottom will be the fire which you will keep: thus you will rectify it seven times, always restoring the sludge with the fire, which you will keep , & thus you will have finished the rectification of the water. Take after the fire which has remained in you at the bottom, which will be like saffron, which you will calcine, as you made the earth, namely putting therein its water which it floats by two fingers, stopping it well with its antenos, & putting it afterwards in the bath for twelve hours, then distilling it finally by ashes. Thus doing seven times you will have your fire calcined and refined, which will be clean enough to rubify its sulphur.
But let us return to our prepared and reserved land. Take the earth as above, one or both apart & know the weight & water them with the tenth part with which the Moon is rectified, & stopper it with its antenos, & put in the bath: Namely that the vessel does not touch water within two fingers, & leave it thus as long as you see the water congealing on the well-animated earth. Afterwards remove the antenos, & put on its hat, & let its moisture exhale through light ashes, namely like the heat of the Sun. After water again with the tenth part, & stopper with the antenos, put in digestion, & as you will see the water congeal on it, raise the antenos, put on the hat, & extract its humidity, & for the third time give it its tenth part, & do as before, & to the fourth give the seventh part, & do as above. Then the Flowering Tree will begin to appear, namely by the fourth imbibition your black earth will appear, & thus appear all the colors, that one can imagine, & at the last you will see the pale white color stop, & thus you will begin again your magisterium as above, yawning the eighth, the seventh, the sixth, the fifth, and there you will stop, and so many times you will start this work again, until it has drunk all the water of the Moon. Then the hawk will have taken its wings, and will be ready to fly, that is to say to sublimate. Then you will take a little from a very hot blade, and see if the greater part will go up in smoke, which will be the sure sign that our bird will be ready to fly. Then pull the outside of the vessel, & grind it into a glass mortar with the same pestle, then put into a glass vessel that has a long neck, & a narrow thought, & that it is long & extended like the arm, stopper & put in ashes the three with the bump only covered, & will yawn small fire for three hours, & three others afterwards stronger. And so will continue for three days. Then our child will be born, which is called matter or leaven, and several other names. But be warned that in the above vessel it is of necessity that the cap enters within the neck of the hump. It must be well plugged with cotton, so that the blackbird does not fly into its capital, but remains at the bottom of the vessel, and what will rise higher will be a very white powder, which will rise to the bottom. half of the said vessel, will be like a sheet of talcum powder, & thus you will have all the signs by which it will be impossible for you to fail. I am quite certain that you are not ignorant of the fact that vegetable and animal sulfur must be dissolved. Take the vegetable soil prepared, as we have declared in Chapter F. And here water with its animated spirit the eighth part, & stopper with its antenos, & put in the bath as we have taught you minerals, & leave it by eight days. After raising the antenos, & hold the hat over it & put in light ashes like the heat of the Sun, & let out its humidity, which will be tasteless like hot water, & again soak it with the seventh part, bathe, then distill through ashes, then soak again with the sixth part digesting & distilling through ashes as above, then watering it with the fifth part, & the fourth making as above. But in this fourth part you will stop & imbibe it as long as it has drunk both parts of it, which you will then draw from the vessel, & having crushed it put a little on a hot blade, the most much of it will go up in smoke, then you will have a sure sign that the earth is clean. Therefore, you will put it in a proper vessel to sublimate. As we told you above in this Chapter of minerals. And hold the same regime of fire, it will sublimate the armoniacal salt of the philosophers & ours. It is the one who gives you the beginning to make the two luminaries vegetate, know for certain that without an animated vegetal ice, nothing is done in this magisterium, let all these ignoramuses who presume with their vulgar amalgams reduce the two Luminaries to first matter . We will nevertheless grant that common mercury is the father of all metals: but if it is not reduced to the first matter by means of the vegetable or the animal, and that this middle substance is drawn from it from which several times I have spoken to you, it is useless: but prepared, it is then very fit to receive any form, that is to say, to ferment gold or silver with all its operations.
But beware of making a mistake by giving it a ferment: for the ferment must first be calcined & dissolved with the great major Mercury, as we have told you above, then imbibe it with the middle substance this being has the harshness fire, & since you will see that it will resist it, give it wood fire for the space of eight days, & then you will see if it flows like wax without smoking. It is the one of which Arnault de Villeneuve spoke in his Rosier, and is not blamed like certain fat ignorant & brainless people, when they say that in a single vessel & a single furnace it is possible to make & finish this magisterium, & that vulgar Mercury with its ferment: namely gold & silver, or one & the other, sublimates itself, & itself draws & vivifies. And on this subject believe some Philosophers, that the Sun & the Moon & Mercury are enough to make the good dough. But this inept bestial does not hear of the Philosophers, as we have told you several times: That he who is deprived of this menstrual part, should not prize nor estimate. And returning to tell them, my very dear son, it is true that when they say that the Sun, the Moon & Mercury suffice to make good paste, it is when the aforesaid bodies are reduced to their first matter by the means vegetable or animal: but it is understood that a single vessel ends & accomplishes all our magisterium, & more since it is turned in raw material, we can make & work several kinds, & we will show you the practice of composing Medicine. Now my son, I want to declare to you the secret of all secrets, which not a Modern Philosopher, nor an ancient one wanted to put in writing & light, & always in their words have said, that our stone comes out of the little world, that our stone is converted into salt water, and that it is the best medicine. Now I beg you, my son, to consider the love that I have for you putting my soul, ad ultimum terriblium, because we will put the practice at the first sight of all our books. Know that this is certainly the key to all our books, & that of the Ancient & Modern Philosophers, however much our father Raymond greatly exalted his lunar. And note that even though it has been used for the health of the human body, that with it can be done the true & certain transmutation of metals, but it is done clothing with that which I will reveal to you; & that it be true our Duke Raymond, having revealed this matter to the book which he calls the book of the secrets seals, to which this Doctor has illuminated the matter, keeping entirely the practice to the book entitled Vade mecum, & in an infinity of Volumes , which are not known to everyone. So now come to the secret of secrets. It is that you take urine from children of eight, ten or twelve years old, who drink wine & lead an equal life, that they are healthy & well-disposed by nature, which you will collect in a vessel of glasses, & will keep only no powder falls there, of which you will take a good and large quantity, which you will put in several glass vessels only two-thirds full, so that it can circulate better.
Afterwards you will put in all the half-bocal vessels this our C; as we taught in the Chapter of the said C. Namely that it be without death, afterwards close the vessel well with gummed wax, & put in putrefaction for fifteen days, at the end of which you will find the black matter, like vermilion wine separated from its earthiness, and know that the more it remains in putrefaction, the more it becomes black, and also know that it is necessary to change the fat from five days to five days. Then you will put it in a vessel: it is our Urinal described in the vegetable with its cap & container, its well-stoppered joints & you will distill up to the sign that we have described in Chapter B. But we will still give you a more ample sign, distil in two parts, then remove the container, & continue your distillation until it comes in the form of honey or pitch melted at the bottom of the vessel. Then take these two parts, which you have kept, and distill them again in the same bath. Take the three from the four parts, & throw away the rest, & distil again, & at the third time take the three from the four parts, & again distil the other three parts, for what is left you must throw away, & again distil for the fourth time, & take the four parts, the two, at the third time, & of the four parts, take three, & here three distil separately twice. And so you will have your fire rectified, from which we will extract the very sour vinegar of his beloved land. Then take the earth which has remained in the form of large honey or melted peas, on which you will put so much flower that it floats by three fingers, & cover it with its antenos, the joints well sealed with gummed wax, & the you will putrefy by three natural days: but take care that as soon as the vessel is well closed, you must remain and go about your business, so that the salt and vinegar come to dissolve, then remove the antenos that this vinegar does not give you. gives to the eyes with its acateze, distil with light ashes, & when by this heat you will have drawn its water, increase the fire by dint of wood, so that its oil & its soul pass together with its distilled water, of which a part will remain powdered on the earth. After leaving the above-mentioned vessel to cool & collect what is sublimated which you will put in its water, & having well stopped the vessel because it is the animated flower, drawn after its earth, which will have remained at the bottom, dry, grind the good on the prefect, then put it back in its vessel, on which you will pour so much flower that it floats two or three fingers, stopping it with the antenos & putting in putrefaction by three natural days. Then distill & increase the fire as above, with wood, & thus you will start this Magisterium so many times that the earth remains as clear butter, which you will calcine in fire of reverberation, as we have taught you about vegetable & mineral. And by this means you will have the animate earth prepared, which is full of such virtues that it cannot be sufficiently expressed. And we tell you that with this single thing, and its ferment, namely dissolved gold or silver, you will be able to help yourself greatly, as we will teach you at the end of the particulars in their composition.
Take the aforesaid animated flower, & rectify it three times, & let everything pass, & the earth that will remain to you throw it away, then distill in the bath, & take from the four parts three, distill again, & take them all, & so you will have the rectified animated flower: take after a large d vessel the length of an arm, & put the aforesaid rectified flower in it, then stopper with the still, & put the hat & its container, but the beak of the hat wants be wide & short, then you will give it light ash fire as long as all or most of it is sublimated or else it passes into its container, in the form of very precious salt, from which if you want to work with this one to sharpen our C. & circulating afterwards according to chapter DD & afterwards you will do all the operations that we taught you in the preceding chapter. So be sure to do it more quickly. But wishing to come to the sulfur of the nature of the animal, it is necessary that you suddenly sublimate that you will have rectified the animated flower, soak the earth according to the order that we have given you, namely with eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth & fourth part: then sublimate, & you will make of this second which you are used to the vegetable, namely dissolving one of the two luminaries or both, know my son that with that in a single vessel we have made this branch that we have told you, & will reply several times, in the composition of medicines: now I believe that it is impossible doing the aforesaid operations to fail. And it is true that the transmutation with the animal is shorter, & of less danger than the vegetable. But do not forget that suddenly that you will have rectified the first flower, you must divide it into two parts, one to draw the soul or the very sour vinegar from the earth: as it is said above, the other to sharpen & create its very precious menstruation & to circulate it, after calcining, dissolving, putrefying then pulling the mercurial part of the two gold & silver luminaries, & after creating the major menstruation, as we have taught the vegetable & in this chapter we have some for you said more than other philosophers have done in their thick volumes.
Take & collect the aforesaid sublimation, both the one that went up to the capital, as well as the one that remained in the middle of the vessel, & wanting to proceed to the white & the red, make it into two parts, & take one, & put it rubified in a vessel which we showed you in the creation of the aforesaid sulphur, & imbibe it with the water of the sun, in which the element of fire is dissolved substantially & essentially then on the said sulfur pour the fourth part stopping it with its antenos , & putting him in the bath on a natural day, then in the ashes by a light heat like the celestial sun, causing this little humidity to exhale, which will be without any color, & thus you will start your magisterium again with the fourth part, as long as you see our red sulfur like a fine ruby, & thus you will have ample doctrine to make the sulfur in nature & to rubify it, which you will keep in a long-necked egg sealed hermetically, as we have shown you above in digestion of ashes, until that we show you the composition of the medicines.
Having taught in the previous chapter how to reduce the two luminaries, Gold & Silver, to the first material, it remains to teach the oil to insert the aforementioned sulfurs, I have told you several times that the oil can be made of several kinds , & if made of one, it will be fit to insert T & V sulfur i.e. lead & tin, & if made of gold, it will be fit to insert R & S sulfur i.e. copper & iron , as you can see in the composition of the medicines or incineration. So my intention is, that you take the same sulfur that you would like to make the oil. And it will dissolve with seven major menstrual parts. And as much other vegetable sulfur, or animal, which rises the aforementioned mineral sulfur, & put it to circulate in one of our traps, as is said above, for thirty days in ashes, at the end of which you will find at the bottom from the vessel a very white or red oil depending on the sulfur that you will have put to dissolve & to circulate, & when you see this sign, draw it during the circulatory system, & put to distil by bath the small humidity which will be volatile, & at the bottom of the vessel will remain our oil, very white or very red, depending on the sulphur. With this, my very dear son, we insert the great medicine, which inserts with this oil, the power to transmute all metals, and the vulgar quicksilver washed and unwashed; in another way you can make the aforesaid oil, & much sooner & more worthy, how much that in the transmutation, there is not so broad authority, notwithstanding it is very easy: let us return to the point, take the lime of whatever metal you want, namely of the two luminaries, with it accompany as much of the medium substance as we will declare in chapter X, & torture it in a glass mortar with long contrition, then pour on it such a large quantity of simple menses that it floats three fingers, & after put it in digestion in the bath for three days, then for another three days put on the fire of alteration, that is to say in ashes, & what will be dissolved, you will pour it wisely into another vessel, lest the faeces become cloudy, which solution you must keep in the bath, & pour over the faeces which have not been dissolved again menstruation as above, & you will start again so many times that all or most of it dissolves, then putrefy, & after distill by light ashes. At the end increase the fire a little, then let the vessel cool, & being cold, remove the hat & its distilled water, then on the matter or body which has remained in the urinal, you must pour its distilled water as long as it floats by two fingers, stopper with its antenos & put in the bath for two days, & what will have dissolved there pour the wisely, & what will not be dissolved, finish on the ashes in light fire, afterwards pour again of its distilled water, then stopper with the antenos & put in the bath, & thus done as many times as all that will be soluble, dissolves or all the mercurial part. But to this end that you are well advised in all your infallible signs, it will be when the water will no longer take on the colors of its earth, or when the said earth, well wiped by putting a little on a hot blade, will not make any smoke, then you will be certain that it is deprived of its soul or of its Mercury. After circulating for twenty days in ashes in one of our traps, the time having passed, draw the menstrual water by the bath, from the said oil, & if in the said water had remained any color or metallic substance, you must pour some his death, as long as it seems to you that there is enough to discharge his menstruation, afterwards you will distill by the bath: either its substance, or its Mercurial part, will remain for you at the bottom of the vessel, which you will put with the one that remained to you before, & by this means you will have the second way of making oil to insert all the imperfect metals, which will be seen in the composition of medicines. The third oil is that which is made in the separation of the elements, namely of the two luminaries, which one you will want, after putting it into putrefaction for eight days, then distilling the water by bathing, & on the matter which has remained in your form of oil, or thick honey, & pour so much of its water that it floats by two fingers, stopping it with its antenos, & putting it afterwards in its still, to distil by light ashes, increasing the fire to the end, & afterwards letting the vessel cool: once again pour new water into it, stopping it with the antenos, distilling afterwards into light ashes, & thus start again as many times as you have extracted all its soul, or else its very precious mercury. The sure sign will be by putting this earth on a reddened blade, if it does not smoke, a sign that it will be deprived of its soul. Afterwards, on the distillations made by the ashes, pour into it double its death, then distill by the bath, & at the bottom you will remain a liquor or royal body oil, which you will accompany with as much vegetable or animal Mercury, which is worth as much reduced in water, as you know: & fixing it afterwards, & circulating it as we said above, & to warn you in any part of this water, it is necessary that all kinds of oils that we want to spread on their Mercury or sulphur, be fixed beforehand, & moreover you must know that there are several kinds of oils, as it was shown to you in the first Chapter.
Having warned you, & given the means in the previous Chapter, to make the sulfurs of each individual, namely Plant, Animal & Mineral, I know that by following what I have taught you above, it will be impossible for you to fail , & therefore do not depart from the terms of our doctrine. And however much we have put this present Chapter, nevertheless by formal experience it will be easier for you to follow the way given to you in Chapter L, than the manner which has been given to you in this present Chapter, because I recognize your impatience, of which I have reproached you several times. Let's get back to the point. You must take this putrefied compound, which one pleases you the most, and put it to distil in the bath. Continue this diet as long as all the water is distilled, & this is called elements of water, which you will keep with great diligence well corked, & similarly you will continue the above work, & will draw from it the second element called air, you will pour on the matter remained in the vessel, so much of its own water that it floats four fingers, & stopper it with its antenos, put in the bath for the space of three days, & after having read the Hat, distill slightly by ashes, & when you have distilled all the humidity of the aforesaid material, & it will be well wiped & dried let the vessel cool well in this first distillation, & this done you will pour so much of its own water on the said material that it floats with four fingers, as before: then putting it in the bath for three days in digestion, distil it by light ashes, & if you lack the instrumental water, take the distillation made by ashes & distill it by the bath, from which you will work in your said operations, so that you complete the tenth revolution mentioned above. And take care that at the bottom of the vessel the air will have remained, which must be kept well sealed, so that you have the perfect and entire doctrine of this magisterium, we will tell you that when all the element of water will be distilled by light fire, at the end increase the fire a little more, at the end that this air or part of the distilled iceluy joins & enters into its element of water, afterwards under separate one of the other as before. Now there remains the separation of the elements of fire, know that to want to separate the said elements, you must do all the imbibitions, burials & distillation on the material that remained, which you did before by pulling the element from air: true is that in distillations made by ashes, you must increase the fire by one point more, & we warn you more than if in the tenth revolution you have drawn the element of air to extract the 'fire element, there are fifteen & not less, & having completed all the said revolutions & operations, you will take all the distillations by ashes, & will distill them; & at the bottom of the vessel you will remain the element of fire in dry flour, & on said element of fire you will pour the element which holds in itself the said element of air both together; then you will put in a long & twisted neck to distil by honest ashes, & when you see the conjoined elements in the aforesaid distillation, at the bottom of the vessel you will remain like a big honey, which you will continue to distil with honest fire as you see frozen matter: know that it is our fire element. So stop the distillation at all, & know that in its two distillations you will have the second element of air, which is called the physical treasure in a real oil to insert the medicines, but that you remember that of the first may we still use it, and work on the compositions of the above-mentioned medicines: may you also remember how this second oil or air contributes a great deal to the bodily substance, therefore you must rectify it seven times per still , & by this means it will be perfect, which you will keep well corked, & the earths that you will have at the rectifications of the two airs, will join them with the element of fire, because they are part of iceluy: after you will take the element of water & again distil seven times by bath, & put the earths which you have remained to the above distillations with the element of earth. Then take the element of fire & calcine it, namely by throwing on the said fire five parts or more of the rectified water element, & start this again by distillation so as to infuse seven times, & by this means you will have the true calcination of the fire element, and will be able by the same means to calcine the earth element with its rectified water. Know my son that the element of this earth, & the element of fire agree in a similar way: that if you want to know the true signs when the earth will be calcined, you will be able to do so by Chapter L.
Now, my son, you have an ample knowledge & instruction of the separation & rectification of the elements, which way is universal as much to minerals as to plants & animals, & even that to plant & animal individuals, there is no need for such long preparations. as to the individuals of the metallic bodies: the reason is that the element is not so strongly linked in these vegetal & animal individuals, nor so united as they are to the metallic body of work: in such a way that we have given you ample knowledge & instruction of this separation of elements, & revealed many secrets, so I believe that you will have a good understanding of ours, & of all the ancient & modern Philosophers who have had knowledge of this science, which I beg you to want to use for your need, & of the poor of Jesus Christ.
My son, we will show you in this present chapter the fermentation of our precious sulphur, rubified & unrubified, according to the quality that it will be, as we showed you in chapter L. But you must first be warned in any case, & for this, you must take vulgar Mercury & sublimate it with common salt & Vitriol. And take a vessel in which there are three good fingers of vegetable water without its death, as we have taught above, & put your sublimated in iceluy, & above your antenos, then in putrefaction by three natural days, & that it boils slightly, then remove the antenos, & put its hat on it: then distil with light ashes, increasing the heat at the end, as long as the Mercury passes alive into its container, which you will wisely separate from the water, & again you will sublimate it with new materials from above named, which you will reiterate up to three times, but the last you wipe it wisely, & thus will have the mercury prepared, with which you will accompany the Sun & the Moon, according to the nature of the sulfur that you want to ferment. But whatever you want to do this way. Take a crucible which you will make red in the fire, then put the gold & heat it until it does not melt, then draw it from the fire, & put on it six parts of mercury prepared as above, stirring it with a stick, & suddenly putting it in a vessel of clear water, handling it afterwards with the hand, & will observe that if there was any part which was not well reduced to the form of paste or butter, it must of necessity be put back on the fire , as long as it is reduced in the form of butter, afterwards wipe it with a clean flag: then pass it with the same flag, as long as only the three parts of mercury & one of gold or silver remain . It must be in very fine beaten blades: after you will take a part of the very precious sulfur which you will want in white or red, & triturate it with this aforesaid amalgam, namely one part of sulfur, & four parts of amalgam aforesaid of ground silver gold. But for that purpose, which you must not miss, I say that you need one part of sulphur, three parts of Mercury, and one of gold or silver amalgamated as above: grind afterwards in a glass mortar with its pestle, by two or three hours, then put the whole in a glass vessel a palm high, which has the bottom a little round in the manner of an egg, & the top of the narrow vessel so that it can enter that the small fingers, blocking it with its antenos, then put it on the tripod of the secrets to light fire of three wires, but it is necessary to take care that the vessel is not covered with fine ashes, at the height of the material, & continue the fire by the space of six hours, this time done, turn off your lights, & let the ship cool by itself, & find all your matter in a very white or red powder, which you must soak, or feed with its red water or white, according to the quality of its sulphur, giving it the date part, putting it for two days in digestion, that is to say in the bath in the way you use in the creation of its sulphur, as you taught in chapter L.
Then remove it from the bath, and for another two days keep it in light ashes. Afterwards, you must remove the antenos, and put on your hat to exhale this mediocre humidity, then plug the vessel with a little cotton, as you did when you sublimated its precious sulfur, giving it a fire of sublimation, and what happens will sublimate you will put it back down, & again you will soak with the four parts, putting in the bath as above, then in ashes, making afterward exhale its humidity as above. And so you will always begin again, as long as the sulfur no longer sublimates. Then you will withdraw from the vessel, & put it in another vessel which is round in the shape of an egg, which has the neck as long as the arm, then put it, in tripode arcanorum, of five threads, & thus you will continue the fire by four days, at the end of which you will withdraw it from under the vessel, and dissolve it with its white or red water, according to the sulphur. Then you will raise the water by the bath, then freeze it into ashes, thus you will do three times, namely dissolving, freezing, & in the last freezing, you will increase the fire of sublimation to it. And if some part sublimates itself, you will put it down as before, sublimating it so many times, & bringing it down until it remains fixed. Know my son that in this Chapter we have shown you the way of fermentation & multiplication, of which never did Philosopher speak with such great love, & holding this order be assured that you will have medicine which will walk on it an infinity sopra rotte of sopre has conquered such a great virtue that human language cannot tell, and we assure you that everything consists in sublimation, remerulation, or else vegetation. Leave those who work in another way. Now we want to warn you that it takes at least eighteen months for the white, & twenty four for the red, which you should not be surprised at but continue to the end. To return to our point, the medicine being dissolved, & frozen three times, you must keep it in a warm place, because there is nothing left to do, & need only incineration, as we will teach in his chapter. So that you will no longer have occasion to say that I have no affection for you, then that you see with what paternal love I taught you the truth.
Having told you in the preceding Chapter the true sublimation of sulfur with all the principal magisteriums of it, similarly fermentation & fixation of it, it now remains to declare to you the inceration, which we tell you is necessary, & tell you that for two reasons it was found. The first, because Medicine since its fixation is somewhat hard to fuse. The second, because being the sulphurous, sublimated, rubified, & fermented earth, it is ready to receive its soul or oil, which gives it liquefaction before the fugitive leaves. But let's get to the point. Take a vessel as high as an apple, or more, which you will fight with a great deal of sapience, namely the third part of the said urinal, & then you will dry it, & being dry you will grind your sulfur into a glass mortar, the pestle in the same way with a long trituration, then you will put it in your urinal, & pour over it the eighth part of your oil, which we have designated in Chapter M, namely this one, which is made according to the first way, stopping it with its antenos, putting it in tripode arcanorum, & the urinal inside: we do this for this purpose, that the closure & stopper does not appear, & of this way you will let it continue for three days, until you will see our oil being congealed in its sulphur, then imbibe it as above, & so you will continue your magisterium, as long as your sulfur melts with very little fire. But to give you a fuller sign, it is that you must render very little, & put some on a hot blade of iron or brass, & if it flows without smoke, then you will have the praise of the Almighty God your Magisterium. But if the blade smokes, you must start the magisterium again, and increase it a little fire, until you have reached the aforesaid signs. Now it remains to do the projection & don't be surprised if I don't show it to you because we have seen several who ignored it, & the way to do it, we have still seen those who had sublimated this sulfur of nature, of metals, which have ignored its fixation, or else the manner of making the said projection. And to that end that it does not happen to you, I will tell you the way, which is that you take an ounce of the said medicine, and put it on a hundred ounces of vulgar Mercury, washed or unwashed, but it must be put in a vessel fire-resistant earth. For when it begins to roast or smoke, then throw away your medicine, & all the Mercury will be reduced to medicine: & again take part of the said medicine, & throw it on a hundred other pieces of land, & all will be medicine, & afterwards take one more part of this last medicine, & throw it on a hundred parts of Mercury, or of some other metal, it will be converted entirely into gold or silver, according to the medicine. Now you have ample knowledge of multiplication, under & quantity. The multiplication in virtue is the one that I made for you in the dissolution of sulfur firmness & fixity, that is to say, by dissolving & congealing by three times, & as much as it dissolves & congeals, so much the more it increases in virtue , & each time is to gain the hundred, namely by dissolving & freezing, & know that each time medicine has the power to transmute a hundred parts of Mercury into powder: then a part of these 100 parts converts another 100 into good metal. And to that end that in this place you cannot fail, we will show you a general way. Know that whenever your medicine or individual transmutes one into powder by throwing this powder on Mercury, it has the power to transmute fifty parts, & so from hand to hand from one to the perfect number of ten parts, & if there were 15, he has the power to transmute 150 parts, & so you have to go multiplying up to the number of 100. Then you will have certain knowledge that he will have the power to transmute 1000. And by this means you will have the signs by which you can keep it indefinitely. The quantity multiplication is the one we showed you above with Mercury. Now you can know the breadth and extent of our magisterium, & all its foundations, which it seems to me impossible to teach you more easily. And for this cause, please do not fail to be silent, otherwise you will bring down the wrath of God on you. And for what we have called you judge of individuals or abbreviation, we will declare them to you hereafter, with the help of God. I send you the practice, which I recommend to you.
Take prepared vegetable soil as much as you please, then have as much of the middle stuff as we will teach you in Chapter X, which you grind in a glass mortar, as long as it looks the same, then have its leaven. which we taught you in Chapter G, which ferment is dissolved with E. Afterwards remove the water by the bath & its ferment dissolved, which enters the silver will remain in oil. It is quite true that you should not draw humidity except from the four parts, the three, and we say this for the purpose that the said ferment remains for you in oil, and not in bulk honey. Then take your said composition, & put it in a similar glass vessel as we have taught you in the rubification of sulphur, then give it the eighth part of the aforesaid ferment, that is to say, dissolved silver reduced to oil, stopping it with his antenos, setting him to ashes by twelve o'clock. Afterwards remove it & put on the screed, & exhale this little humidity which can be lonely, increasing the fire as long as it sublimates what can be sublimated, then let the vessel cool, which will be sublimated, put the bottom back on, & again so many times that matter no longer sublimates, but remains fixed in oil. Afterwards you will do the projection in this way. Take Mercury washed, as we taught in fermentation, & put it in a round glass vessel, namely part of the said medicine, & part of the said Mercury, & the said Mercury must be put first in the vessel, & then medicine. Then put on a fire with ashes, plug the vessel with cotton, & leave it like this for a fortnight, then have your ashes or cup, of size according to the quantity of your medicine that you want to reduce. And beware that for one ounce you need three pounds of lead, and it will give you 60 ounces of silver better than that of the mine. My son, this is the branch here that is called the first helper. And of this same kind you will be able to practice with gold, except that instead of where you put so much prepared earth, put as much medium substance, & after you will do all the above operations that you have done to the white, & same way also you will make the projection, and also the reduction.
Take three ounces of vegetable sublimated sulphur, which we taught you in Chapter L, & one ounce of calcined gold or silver, whichever you like, & half an ounce of Mercury, or of our middle substance. Then incorporate all this together in a mortar of glass by long contrition: then dissolve with the simple menses, & when it is reduced to water it seems to be the same thing to be seen in green or azure color, the compound being silver & being of dark red gold: then draw the water through the bath, that is to say its menstruation, & the body will remain at the bottom in the form of a large honey, which you will put in a round vessel, having the neck a fathom long, & only narrow as to fit the tip of the little finger, which will be hermetically sealed, then put on a light ash fire for 20 days. Afterwards increase the fire as long as it sublimates, & what will be mounted put back the bottom, & thus start again so many times that everything remains fixed at the bottom. Afterwards proceed with the dissolution & congealing, as we have taught you in medicine in particular of the first & in the same way do the projection, & also the reduction.
Take whichever you will of the two luminaries, & calcine it, as it is taught above: then have as much vegetable sulphur, or armoniac salt, which is worth as much, grinding them together in a small glass mortar with its pestle by long trituration. Then dissolve it with the major menstruation, as it is taught to you in its Chapter. Being dissolved put it to circulate for the space of twenty days in hot but light ashes, at the end of which to exhale the menstrual water, namely by putting cotton in the mouth of the vessel, at the end of which the water passes & not the metal, & as it will seem to you that the matter is put in oil or else in liquor, you will put it in a vial or else round vessel, & give it fire of ashes for twenty days at the end of which let it cool vessel, & receive the weight of this medicine: that if there is an ounce, put one hundred ounces of Mercury washed as above is said in the chapter on fermentation, & putting it in ashes that it boils slightly. Afterwards you will make the reduction, as we taught you to the particular superior in the cinder or large cup with three lead shots, & you will have gold or silver according to the ferment, which will be similar to that of the mine.
When you have reduced the body or else ferment, into oil, and you have separated its menses, namely with cotton as we taught you in the previous Chapter & particular, know the weight of the oil which remained with you, s there is an ounce you will put six ounces of medium substance in it, then you will sublimate it inside a small body with its hat, & having closed the vessel with cotton, sublimate it, then let it cool, being cold open the vessel at the bottom of which you will find one part, & the other part sublimated, which you will put back down with the other, then squeeze them together, & sublimating it again, & starting again the aforesaid magisterium sublimating & putting down so many times that the compound remains fixed at the bottom & no longer sublimates, the sign is to put some on a hot blade as in front is said, to know if it does not smoke, but flows like wax, it is good. And then put one part out of a hundred of Mercury or else on such other imperfect metal as you like, and you will have gold or silver better than the mine, according to what the ferment has been.
Take as much middle substance as you please, when it is separated from defilement, as we taught you in Chapter X, & sublimate it so many times that it remains white, transparent & crystalline from which putting on a hot blade, it will flow like wax. Then you will put it on the fourth part of the two oils that we have taught you in the chapter of oils, signified by M, then you put or else make the incision according to what we have taught you in the chapter of O, & by this means you you will have a medicine, from which you will be able to take one part out of a hundred of Mercury & you will have pure gold or silver, according to your ferment. And know that the greatness of this magisterium is so strong & so far & in so many ways, that it would be impossible for us to teach you any further. So what I have told you is enough for you: for it is more than ever that Philosopher wanted only to think of saying.
I have taught you, my son, the great Medicine, & none of us experienced. Take therefore to make a particular of the imperfect metals, three ounces of R, & calcine it as we taught in Chapter H, dissolve with the simple menstruation, putrefy eight days, distill by bath, & the matter will remain corrupt to you, like big honey , on which you will put three ounces of animal salt sublimated with its cotton as we taught in Chapter L. After pouring back so much of its water, (namely that which you have drawn from above the said matter by the bath) that it surpasses by two fingers, stopping it with its antenos, putrefy again by 12 hours, then remove the antenos , put the capital, plug the joints, distil with light ashes: at the end increase the fire as long as a part sublimates into a very white powder: but when the vessel is cold, you will remove it wisely & put in a vessel of glass: then on the earth, which you will have remained at the bottom, you will draw & grind with an ounce of sublimated animal salt as above, then put the water, which you have drawn by the bath, on the said triturated matter, which it float by two fingers, then place your vessel with its antenos in putrefaction by 12 hours as above, then remove the antenos, put on the cap & container, & distill with light ashes increasing the fire as long as the part which can be sublimated is sublime, then let the vessel cool, & collect what you find sublimated, & start again so many times that the white powder no longer sublimates, & the earth remains without spirit at the bottom of the vessel, which you will experience with the warm light as above is taught, & thereby know if it is dead & deprived of its humidity, which earth you will regrind, then calcinerate in the reverberation fire according to chapter F, but be careful not to leave this earth in the said reverberation fire for more than 24 hours, that is to say the earth of imperfect metals, otherwise it would go away completely or vitrify. Therefore we warn you that the reverberation fire is not excessive. Now my son, you have the true & certain calcination or examination of the earths of imperfect metals. Take this white powder which is sublimated, & put it aside, & triturate it with its calcined earth in a glass mortar with its pestle by long trituration, then keep it in a tightly stoppered glass, until you have its water rectified as we will say. Take all the distillations made by ashes & have them distilled by the bath, seven times, & if there remains some earth at the bottom of the vessel or some liquor, throw it out, because it is its air, which prevents the conjunction water with its preserved earth, & give it the 8 part of this rectified water, & stopper with the antenos, put afterwards in digestion, then remove the antenos, & put in light ashes with its hat to make exhale the moisture there is, then soak it & do everything as above, & start this magisterium again, so many times that it has drunk all its water, then it will be suitable for sublimating, the true sign is the lamina, the largest will go up in smoke, it is the true sign of all the lands since they are soaked. Take this earth wisely from the vessel, & crush it & sublimate it as we taught in chapter L, & by this means you will have of all the imperfect metals their first matter or their natural sulfur, & by the same means you will be able to reduce the two other imperfect metals T & V to the first matter. with simple moon oil, as we taught you in the Chapter of O. And to that end that do not fail, it is done in this way. Take one ounce of sublimated sulfur of the above-mentioned imperfect metals, that is to say, which of the two you will please, or all together, which will be triturated with half an ounce of vegetable or animal soil prepared as above, as we have taught you or will teach in Chapter X, laugh everything together, then put in a vessel that we taught you in Chapter Z, & thus sublimate it so many times, always starting again as long as everything remains fixed, at the bottom of the vessel. After it is fixed, insert it with simple oil as taught in Chapter O. And by this means you will have other Particulars of imperfect metals with ample declaration & few words, of which medicine you will put a part out of 100 of R, or of S if the medicine is made of them, that is to say their sulfurs. And by this means will be made the sulfurs of T & V which will go on the said metals, as also on the Mercury if you will, for having put therein the average substance of it. Again my son you will be able to reduce in the same way P & Q, having the desire to use it to make Particular, except that the rectification of the water must be done by ashes, & all the lands which will remain in the aforementioned rectification must put on their land, & do after all the aforesaid operations that we have said of the imperfect ones: it is quite true, that they do not need inceration to be their air. By this means you have ample doctrine of our magisterium, however much it can be done in several other kinds for the extent of S, & for this, do not go beyond the aforesaid means, especially as following them from point to point , it is impossible for you to fail.
Having promised you to declare to you and show you in particular the manner of preparing the vulgar Mercury, so that with it you can calcine your menses, because in it there will sublimate a little sulfur of nature, drawn from the two luminaries, as we have said, how much that with him alone since he is reduced in first matter, with vegetable water, or with animal menstruation can be done the transmutation, that is to say, when he is first reduced & fixed, & afterwards with oil of the Sun or of the Moon, which oil we have amply taught you in Chapter M, his own inceration, which in this place we call fermentation, we have taught in Chapter O. Now my son consider our grand magisterium, as these rules & operations consist, & see that it is not necessary to incrude the two luminaries, that is to say, to begin where nature has finished, as does the plowman , who prepares his earth, then puts the seed baked in the sun in his earth full of humors. In the same way it is necessary to retrograde, & open the vegetative virtue of gold, that is to say, that the Sage artist calcines these bodies, subtles them, discontinues them, then dissolves with the water full of humors, which is his reincrudation, from which a true putrefaction is born: afterwards follows all the operations above said of the magisterium. So much so that you have to believe for certain & true, that you have to re-incrust the gold & the silver: but the vulgar Mercury is of the opposite operation, because it has to be stripped, & afterwards it has to be sieved, in order to that you can have its middle substance, called by some its first matter, then give it one of the two luminaries reduced to oil, as we have taught, & this is called ferment, without which it is possible to do transmutation. Flee from these false Alchemists who make an amalgam, & think to retain it in fusion, since their Mercury is precipitated, but they are mistaken: the others want to dye the moon, & fix it, but abuse: the good Mercury comes from Spain , but not being able to have any, test the one you find, by making it flee by heat in a silver spoon, & if it leaves the white or yellow mark it will be good, & not if it leaves another color . Then take two pounds of vitriol, & with it sublimate it, then pour on it so much vegetable water without phlegm that it floats 2 fingers above the said sublimate, then you will boil for two hours in the bath & after distill by ashes, putting the receptacle in the retort, & in it will pass the vegetable water: then cover all your retorte with ashes, increasing the fire, then your vulgar Mercury will pass into the said vegetable water, then by inclination you will separate the water from the Mercury. And again you will sublimate, then pass it through the retort. At the third time you will wipe it with a clean flag, & will still sublimate it with new materials, namely 2 parts of vitriol, & one of Mercury, & one of prepared common salt, thus you will do seven times, always adding new matter to said Mercury, & throw out the faeces, but know that these 7 sublimations must be done in the aludel, & no other vessel, for what one could not separate an adutstive powder which rises in the aludel. To prevent you from failing I will repeat to you the 7 sublimations, which is that you must take a glass vessel with its antenos, its hat, with a pipion on top, & the said vessel must be half an arm high , & in it you will put our vitriol, after you will triturate it, then you will put the Mercury, & at the end the common salt prepared, mixing it very gently with a small stick lest the vessel break: then leave in its stove of ashes, putting its antenos on it, & giving it a small fire: but take into account that the vessel must only be covered with a third part of ashes, & the other two thirds uncovered, & thus you will open the fire, as long as the moisture comes out: then stopper the antenos pipon with a little cotton, & continue the fire as long as it sublimates. Then let your vessel cool, then take the sublimate, both the one that is in the antenos and the one that will be in the vessel, & if the vessel is not broken, you will clean it of its faeces, putting a little water in it lukewarm, & leaving it there for the space of 2 hours, & the faeces will dissolve: again put new materials & do as above, & repeat 7 times with new materials, & always separate your sublimate, which will finally pass by a sieve: after you put it in another vessel similar to the first, but it must be of three pieces, namely that it has its antenos, & its hat, because various operations are carried out in the same vessel:
your sublimated being in your said vessel, you will put there so much simple menses, that it floats three good fingers blocking it with the antenos, & the said menses can be vegetable or animal as you see fit, then you will put it in ashes that 'it boils lightly by 12 o'clock, then remove the antenos, & put on the cap, & distill by bath, all the menstruation, then remove the cap put back the antenos with its peg, & put it in ashes, covering the vessel of ashes as high as the material rises: then give it fire little by little, as long as the humidity has passed, plug the pestle with cotton, increase the fire as long as the material sublimates, & when it is sublimated, let it cool, & remove the antenos, & what will be sublimated to the said antenos pick it separately because it is not our consideration, but and this adjusting part which does not enter into our magisterium: after collect what is sublimated in half the vessel, which will seem like a crystal to you & take it wisely, because of the faeces of your vessel, then put your sublimated back into the same vessel, & once again put the same menses that you will have drawn from the bath, plugged as above with the antenos, do boil in ashes for half an hour as before, remove afterwards, put on the cap, distill while dry, put the antenos back, sublimate in ashes, remove the faeces, & the adjustive part that is in the antenos, take the sublimated which is half of the vessel, & all as is said, this first operation, which you will do 7 times, as long as there are no more faeces at the bottom of the vessel: having this sign take your substance & grind it, then put in a glass vessel, & over it pour such a large quantity of simple menses, animal or vegetable, that it floats three fingers, stopping it with its antenos, & putting in ashes for the space of 2 days that it boils slightly, & what will be dissolved you will take them wisely by inclination, & put in another vessel, & what will remain at the bottom of your vessel wipe it with a light ash heat, like that of the Sun: then pour new menses, clogging with the antenos: put in ashes, pour by inclination wisely as before: & this start again so many times that the soluble part dissolves, & at the bottom of the vessel you will remain an insoluble earth, which is of no value, which you will throw away. Then take what is dissolved, that is to say your melination, & distill with its menses by the bath, being distilled put the antenos in light ashes, increasing the fire as long as it sublimates: what will sublimate is called first matter, which is this middle substance with which we incalcinate our menses, with this we make an infinity of particulars. And is the mineral stone. But my son with infinite means you can practice one & the other mercury, as Raymond Lully says.
And unless the mineral is reduced to the first matter with vegetable or animal water, it is impossible to make of it anything good for the great composition that is in it, as you will know by practicing it as above taught. . But wanting to fix it, that is to say complete the decoating, you must have a vessel, like the one I taught you in the rubification of sulfur, and in it you will sublimate it, and what will sublimate it, put it down as long as it remains. fixed at the bottom in a white & transparent crystalline form, from which by putting on a hot blade it will flow like wax & will penetrate the blade, & from it you will work on it in your particulars, as we have shown you above. Moreover if you insert this first matter, thus described with one of the three oils, which we taught you in chapter M, you will see great effects & very great transmutations.
Besides, this first material or middle substance, can be fixed in this way, or finish decooking, that is to say not wanting to fix it in part, but grind it as we said above, take it & put it in a vessel, bathing him the fourth part of the moon or the sun dissolved by physical dissolution, i.e. with the major menstruation, then stopper it with his antenos & put in the bath for two days in the same way as you have done , when you wanted to make sulfur, namely in chapter L. At the end of two days remove it & remove its humidity by bathing in light ashes, then increase the fire, & sublimate, then putting down what will be sublimated, & again sublimating with the fourth part of the aforesaid gold or silver, dissolve as above, stopping it with its antenos, putting in the bath, removing the humidity, then increasing the fire so much & sublimating as above, & so you will do so many times that you have drawn the third part of the dissolved ferment or metal above, and that everything remains fixed at the bottom & fusible, which by putting on a hot blade will melt like wax, & will tint according to its ferment. When you have the aforesaid signs, you will have to dissolve the said medicine & freeze it three times, as we said in the composition of the great medicine, & then you will make the projection as we said in the same place, putting icelle a part on 100 of imperfect metal that it is or vulgar mercury. And by this means we have taught the whole, & said that it is the simple menstruation, & the compound menstruation. Plus the true way to reincondir all metals, & reduce them to their first matter, & with it make the true transmutation. In this last chapter the manner of decooking the vulgar mercury, or else of reducing it to first matter, or middle substance: & besides sent all the Alphabets of our books to know the violet, sommière & great lucid by persons of credence.
Having the practice of everything, serve God, & use it soberly on your behalf, but largely on the poor of Jesus Christ, putting everything back on the danger of your soul, if you do not keep secret what I have revealed to you more than paternally.
In Paris on July 7, 1466.
Means the infinite mercy of the true God.
The Lunar material, that is to say the Wine, from which our precious liquor is drawn.
The first spirit (separated from its phlegm) that burns at all the cotton wet with it. What being, it should be distilled once more, taking only two thirds, as will be seen in practice. Raymond says until he burns the sugar to the first quintessence pound.
The sharpening of our mind rectified, as you will see in the practice & preparation of the honeycomb, to sharpen the said mind.
Calcination, which is called Simple Vegetable Menstruation.
Our Mercury or earth & its preparation in general, as will be seen in practice.
The juice or juice of the two luminaries, of which we make true dissolution with conservation of their radical humidity, which is the life of these luminaries. And if the dissolution is not made with the aforesaid juice, it will never be physical dissolution but vulgar. In view of this we will comment on the physical or natural operations, & is called Compound Menstrue, Resolutive Menstrue, Vegetable Menstrue, Mineral Menstrue, Animal Menstrue, Living Water & as it will be circulated you will smell an odor so strong, that the tongue human cannot express it. Raymond says that there are two kinds of Menses, vegetable, Resolutive & Resolvable. The resolvent is double, one celestial, & the other not. The resolvable is a potential vapour, which is in any metallic body, combining sulfur & quicksilver which cannot be seen without the resolving.
The resolvent is a quintessence drawn from wine, or tartar, from the nature of which the resolvent produces its effect. Otherwise it is a fiery water perfectly rectified, by the virtue of which all bodies are dissolved, putrefied, purified, the elements divided, and the earth is exalted into a salt, by its marvelous attractive virtue, and which seeks another water than this one, he is mad & ignorant, & will never achieve any effect.
The calcination of the two luminaries; & all other imperfect metals.
The philosophical dissolution.
The real putrefaction.
Sulfur vivified & sublimated in general, both perfect and imperfect metals: & after individuals, vegetable & animal, which must be read & reread in its chapter.
Inceration, which is the golden oil, namely proper to incinerate.
The separation of elements in general.
Inceration called on the end fermentation.
Gold
money
The Copper
The Iron
The Lead
Tin
The vulgar mercury, from which comes the middle substance, to which one of the two luminaries must be yawned reduced to oil without which it is impossible to transmute.
Nicolas Flamel
1628
Quote of the Day
“There is yet one thing in the Metallick Kingdom of an admirable beginning, etc. though many Philosophers would have this vile price to be understood of our dissolving Menstruum”
Anonymous
Tomb of Semiramis
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