IN PARIS,
Chez CHARLES SEVÊTRE, rue des Amandiers,
at the Pélican, near the Collège des Grassins.
Mr DC. XXXIII.
King's surgeon.
WITH PRIVILEGE OF THE KING
TO MESSIRE GEORGE DE SARRON SACONAY, LORD OF S. PRIS,
Chambonay, le Meage, & Bonnefons, second-lieutenant of the Company of Light Channels
of his Highness of Savoy, & Ordinary Gentleman of his Chamber.
SIR,
Several people in this century of Earth have thoughtlessly undertaken to transmute it into that of Saturn; but they did not notice that in the excess of their pretensions (instead of a happy success with which their imprudent hope had
loaded them) the impetuous riot of the waves of their ignorance, chimerical imaginations, suddenly precipitated them into the deep abysses of their total ruin. And unworthy that they are willing to eat of the Fruit of life have fallen into reprobate senses; & instead of being assisted by the Spirit of consolation, the bad Genius possessed their understanding causing them to lose all true knowledge.
So much so that by a disgust of spirit their illness has increased to this point of now believing a thing that is true & sometimes false. And persuading themselves to be in a true reasoning (without however having either the intelligence of the Ancients or the true principles) they have, deceiving themselves, deceived almost everyone. Now, to avoid their surprise, behold, by exposing the obscurity of the true Ancient Philosophers, I deceive their deceptions, and having fanned their mine, butchered their glials, and tore their nets, I put them to the last bay, and to the despair of power. never seduce anyone; not even those of easy credence.
It remains, SIR, that you allow my reasoning to court the virtue which accompanies & your doctrine & your experience: & agree that I give to the public this mine labor of painful research & laborious study under the confession of your Heroic name as having come from the ancient Houses de Sarron & de Saconay, & your profound knowledge touching what is treated there. For to whom more learned and more learned than you could I dedicate it? who have so much knowledge of the Nature of the Art, that I dare say that, like another Solomon, you have the intelligence of all that is between these two extremes the Cedar the Hyssop.
what if Demetria the Phalerian lived, he would no longer advise King Ptolemy to buy all the books dealing with Philosophy and History, but he would encourage him to retain you with him, you who have basically all that the others have in detail. That's not all, because if Minerva has lavished on you all that she had that was rare in her Cabinets; Mars has not been stingy with his influences: for, like Cléobule, he not only bestowed on you his fine size & excellent stature, but also, giving you his prowess, shared with you his generous heart & his Martial face. The services rendered to the King at the Sees of S. Jean, Clerac, Montauban, & throughout Languedoc against the Heretical Rebels, are fairly obvious testimonies of the greatness of your courage.
That if we recall the high feats of arms that you rendered in the service of his Highness of Savoy, in the defense of Versil, of Ast against the Spaniards who wanted to besiege them, we will see that Mars was fighting, under the auspices of this Prince, in your person, For is it not you who, wanting to recognize their countenance, took prisoner a Gendarme at the head of five hundred of their Masters?
Service which made known the intention of the enemy destroyed their purpose. Also the command that you received on the spot to go with all the Carabins of the army to skirmish the enemy made you appear and know so happy and valiant that having met him at the crossing of a river you forced him to retire in his shame and confusion. But what were you not doing at the headquarters of Non? who with five Masters of each Company of the army, pushed back five hundred Horses of the enemy until in the doors of Fellisan, with loss of good number of them & quantity of Prisoners.
This Hector des François, the late Connétable Desdiguière, would be an irreproachable witness to the virtue and generosity of your soul, and the strength of your arm, if he lived, to which by his command you sent them. Also did he cherish the Men of your merit so much that he was going to say that he had bought gold from all the Captains who had previously been Soldiers.
This great man had been, which is why he cherished you who passed through all these degrees of honor: Soldier, Ensign, Lieutenant & Captain, in the King's Guards, where you marked yourself the Infant of Mars, & the unique son of Belonne: notably at the Siege of Gradisque for the Venetians, where, being Captain of the Light Horses, you showed the prudence, strength, courage, magnanimity & virtue that a generous & valiant man can show in these occurrences.
Now, all that can be said about your rare merit far exceeds & the scope of my mind & the extent of this Epistle, I will end here, without any fear (since it is true that Mars & Minerva gave you everything they had that was rarest and most eminent) to place this child of my Spirit as guarantor under the Shield of your virtue. Receive it therefore, MONSIEUR & put it under the shelter of this Sacred Asylum: & when & when allow that he who produced it, & presents it to you, may be said forever, MONSIEUR, Your very humble & affectionate servant.
DAVID DE PLANIS CAMPY.
King's surgeon.
It is to you & for you, dear Children of the Golden Doctrine, that I open today the sacred secrets of the School of Transmutatory Philosophy, to show you there with the eye, & touch with your finger the true interpretation of all the Styles, which the inhabitants of the Chemical Mountain have used, to hide their leafy earth from the impious sworn enemies of God, & from the Learned Infants of Nature.
Their Allegories, Parables, Problems, Types, Enigmas, Natural Sayings, Fables, Portraits & Figures, will be perfectly explained there, & brought to light: the companions of the true exposition of the Matter, if one or more, its name, if one or more, its circumstances, its actions & operations, the place & time in which it is found: Consequently what is this Matter, & as it is really called. Then we will deduce the means of operating in this Art, if one or more & which.
And all in one hand, the Fire, the Furnace, the Vessel, Weight, Time & place of Operation: Together the Time of Perfection, the Signs, or Colors: finally the Birth, Increase & Projection of the Stone. What we do will see the agreement of all the true Secretaries of Nature who seemed to contradict each other; & by this means, having discovered the Truth of this Art, you will confess that it is licit, useful, honest, & virtuous, not in any way repugnant to the Faith of the Catholic, Apostolic & Roman Church.
That it is lawful, we have shown it in our Chemical Bouquet, where we report the authority of the Jurisconsults who approved it. Let him be honest, he no other proof is needed than his great Kings & Princes who have exercised him, whom we have also noticed in the same above-mentioned book: from which we can deduce that he is also virtuous. This Great Hermès, so often called three times Grand by his successors: would he have worked so hard to make us possessors of this Art, if he had not recognized it as honest & virtuous?
Pythagoras nicknamed Plutarque l'Enchanteur, would he have taught it publicly if he had not been lawful, honest & virtuous? the obscure Sentences, of which, or of his Disciples we still have today under the Title of Peat of the Philosophers. Moreover Aristotle by the letter that he wrote to Alexander the Great, makes us see the honesty of this Art, since he semond a Great King (such as this one) in search of icelui.
More than it is lawful & honest, David, Solomon, & Esdras, give us testimony of it. The first in Psalm eleven, the words of God are clean words, & pure as silver, examined by Fire, & purged from the earth seven times. The second in Eccles. Chap. 38. The Almighty has created the Medicine of the Earth, and the prudent Man will not despise it. The third, book 4. Chap.8. Ask Earth, & it will answer you that God gives a lot of Earth to make pots; but he will give a little powder to make Gold. Now, if the profane & sacred Kings were aware of it, the Holy personages were not unaware of it.
Saint Thomas practiced it, and he left something in writing which is still to be found today.
Morienus a good Hermit (who taught King Calid) exercised it. And so many others, which I omit for the sake of brevity, together with the fact that we have written quite amply about them in our aforesaid Chemical Bouquet: this is why we will come to its usefulness.
But is it so useful that I dare say that without it our life is that a death, our rest a torment, & agitation; our calm a restless Seaof foaming waves of all sorts of miseries. For besides that God makes us possessors by him of a perpetual source of wealth which never dries up, and of a non-failing health, only when it pleases God; he still gives us Science and Wisdom, which have the prerogative of giving us the Key to open the Cabinet of Nature, and make us possessors of its most hidden effects.
This is why we can say with truth that all the Arts have drawn from it, just as the greatest Sculptors once drew the best traits & lineaments of their works from the Statue of Policlitus alone. Such that being possessors of this Art, our life is surrounded by walls so strong, that we can say boldly, come when they will, illnesses come poverty, come Sorrows, worries, and loss, they will make no breach in this Citadel; which being proof against all the squalls of the Sea, all the accidents of the Earth, the changes of the Airs, and the influences of Heaven, defies all their effects; so much so that being filled with all that one can wish for on Earth, one aspires to nothing other than a fourth good which will last Eternally, which is the enjoyment of the Creator of all things.
Now his above-mentioned incomparable goods, which derive from him, show quite obviously that he is very useful and necessary, having need of nothing so much as the goods of the understanding, in order to make us different from his souls of mud, which aspire & breathe only for perishable, vain & nothingness things; for these alone can acquire the other two, namely wealth and health; those there for without sorrow & misery to flow the fabric of our life: those to preserve us in health, or to recover it being lost.
And to achieve such a great good, several people of all qualities and conditions have persisted in the search for the Powder that is called transmutation, without however knowing its Matter, nor the way to lead it to its perfection; also many of them deceived from their Compass, anchoring at all Waters, agitated by the wind of their errors, have strayed from the right path of Colchos, sailing to the Goulphe from their evident ruin: for it is a very true axiom, that , WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE IS SEARCHING, DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE WILL FIND.
Some others, of whom the number is very small, have sought this beautiful Art by methodical study & have come to the end of it, after hard work and long experience. And for that effect they are (having sacrificed to bass Juno) descended to the hollowest depth, where the old Demogorgon placed the throne of his Kingdom, whence he engrossed the belly of ancient Opis, by whose birth come so many good things in the World: There are also d Others who have reached it favored by Divine assistance & the help of their constellated ascendancy which from their birth pushes them in search of this admirable Art, as in the possession of their true heritage.
Fourthly, some have possessed it by the discovery of some Friend: Also outside these ways one will never succeed, know one, you will miss the other, a point breaks the center.
As for the first, few people for the present manage to do so; for the literal sense of the ancients is vain, and of the recent presumptuous. Touching the second, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Tobias, & St. Peter (who each spoke familiarly with their good Angel) died. As for the third, no man who has made such a perfect transmutation, or who hears the Ancients, will ever say it. Nevertheless in this depraved century, where vice walks the equal of Virtue where the Hearts of many burn incessantly with greed: we only see runners, deceivers, affronters, who impudently call themselves Philosophers; which, with their golden song, give those who listen to them the fruits of piperry & the vain odors of smoke in nothing.
We see only too many of them in our time, which, under a few twisted plots of the expeditions of L'Art Chimique, with a postage of Philosophy, secrets & experience, publish only false & erroneous recipes, which most often they don't hear themselves. One will say to have a projection of one weight in ten, the other in twenty: another will boast of strength of triplets & mediums for the Red, one at eighteen Carats, the other at twenty; this one to the Gold of Ecu, that one to the Gold of Ducat; & another in the highest color it ever was, A few others boast of possessing that support the cast; & the others to all judgments.
That if you crave for the White, they will not fail to sell you some, namely a White at ten Deniers, another at eleven, another at Argent de Teston, another at Blanc de Feu, and another at la Touche. These are followed by bearers of Tinctures, one of which will be named the work of such a Pope, King, Emperor, &c. to this end that we add more faith to it, and that we allow ourselves to be deceived on credit under the uncertain rumor that these Great Personages had these works or Tinctures. What a deplorable thing that the Great serve as a pretext and cover for vice! Hey ! let us take heed; because God is Just.
Miserable century, lost century, perverted century, accursed & unhappy century, where ingratitude & infidelity make men unworthy of the enjoyment of some precious treasure: Century of Mammon where avarice & the insatiable desire to have wealth, makes to indulge men in search of a thing from which they receive detriment. Here a little Hellebore Salt to purge the brains of these people; or else a little of that powder so much sung by the Ancients to temper their moods: a little, what am I saying?
but a lot, yes a lot; because if Arnault de Villeneuve, Raymond Lully, Roger Bacon, Ripley, Isaac, Geber, Morien, Paracelsus, & all the Chemical Philosophers were in France, they would not be enough to stop this tantalic hunger & thirst, even such, that truly the greatest number of the French sacrifice. Plutus; even a few yawn on the reverse of the Medals of Princes; & to my great regret the troop is too large.
These unfortunates, seeing that they cannot reach the Real, Throw themselves into Sophistries. So many Houses lost & ruined, by its runner prompters, who having spent uselessly after a vain search for all the good of some Gentleman, Lord, Bourgeois, Merchant, or other, go bankrupt in their names, & in their Furnaces, & leave our poor Lachrymists to the high road from the Hospital to despair, and some go to counterfeit money, to the gallows, to infamy for their miserable family; what cruelty? & if they look mediocre, they come small & poor:
Good God, there are people in France who know new ones, and elsewhere! how many times Lachrymists all over Europe. And who is the cause? these deceivers, these runners; the rope to these people the wheel to these murderers; a Provost, the Archers at their tail; for all the misfortune of France comes from them. Now for the purpose that henceforth we no longer lader to such affronters, and that we avoid great useless expenses, and the great miseries and poverty to which several good families are reduced, for having been shipwrecked in this harbour;
I have deliberated in this place to give them eyes, in order to see as in broad daylight among the dark night of their errors. And making them recognize the abuse & the lie, in which these pierced brains had enveloped them, giving them the true & sincere explanation of all the Sentences of the Philosophers, in particular of those which are the most obscure & difficult to hear: See, & in so that during this Jasonic navigation, they will not only conquer the Golden Fleece, but they will perfectly see the Aesonian restoration, & by this means will fill their Minds with the perfect knowledge of things.
I suspect that the most secret Hermetic Philosophers, who are in the Spagyric Senate, will rise up against me, saying that I do them wrong to divulge this Science which they have acquired by a long and laborious study. And in fact they would be right, if it seems to me, if the honor of God and public utility had no more authority than their particular consideration. The boredom that I bear in my Soul, to see the deceptions of its above-mentioned runners, makes me break the Chemical seal, & make an enemy of the Pythagorean silence, to disillusion the beautiful Spirits, to make them at the same time, by a Physical rolling, reduce the three Universal principles (well purified & conjoined in due proportion) in an incombustible Phoenix, animating by the Benefit of it the Soil: which nourished with the fat of the Sun, & with the dew of the Moon, by means of the Circular Wheel of the Elements shaped into a Hexagon by the Benefit of Art & Nature to render this Phoenix in Gold.
By which, favored from the Celestial Sun, one can come to the true Science of the Point & Centre; & starting from the perfect knowledge of Nature, as I said above. For since the Root & Foundation of all occult things consists of the Point, it is beyond doubt that the foundation of all the Arts & Natural Sciences cannot be drawn from elsewhere.
And it is all the more so (so that I can explain myself) that by its use one can (prolonging the brevity of our life) to go around the Circle of Nature, & fully understand all its secrets. For here is the Time that the Treasures of Wise Nature must be unearthed. The Law being intended for all Ages & Nations for the consummation of the Age; it is necessary that the most speculative employ all their efforts to come to the end of all that presents itself to our irons. But know & be assured that this will never happen, if not by the Grace & particular gift of God (as we have said above,) who can concede to whomever he wishes this inestimable prize by his infinite mercy; or by the discovery of a real Ædipus, who, unraveling the Enigmas of the Philosophers, charitably straightens those who have strayed from the traced path of Nature.
Do so, beautiful & rare Spirits, provision of the Grace of the Almighty; & then you will come, dear Infants of Nature, to taste the sweet Nectar picked in the sacred gardens of icelle. Come (because the light already lit is put on the Table) & leaving the confusion of the useless disputes of the Schools (because it is not through them that one acquires this great good, but in that of Nature, studying this great book of the university of the world, whose pages are all species of creatures, & the Art by Fire is the Fulani interpreter) make provision of fide & raciturnitate, in order to find the truth, that the least of the servants of God you promises to show with his grace.
But before entering this School (the opening of which I show more keenly than any have ever done) one must first be instructed in a most important point which the Chemical Philosophers have ever touched on, though never clearly explained by them .
This point consists in the true intelligence of their Matter; which, knowing perfectly, we will easily unravel all the Ambages from which they have veiled what many seek, and which few find.
To understand this well, you must remember that I said in my Morbific Hydra, and in my Chemical bouquet, speaking of the principles, that Eternal God in the Creation of things made a separation of the Waters from the Waters, and of the purest of these two he made three pure parts, the purest of which he placed on the Firmament, &c. of the second less pure he made the Firmament, the Planets, the Signs, & all the Stars: & of the third still less pure he created the four Elements, in which he flowed a Spirit of Life, which is like a fifth Element, principle & seed of Life to all things, by the maintenance & general virtue of which this low world is maintained.
He is called by true Philosophers Universal Spirit, created of God, who is in Heaven & Earth, found everywhere, known to few people, called by no one by his own name, veiled in an infinity of Enigmas & Figures, as we will say below, all of which suit him very well because of his omniformity, without which, neither neither Natural Magic nor Chemical Medicine nor transmutation can achieve their desired end. So much so that all the true Secretaries of Nature in the exact research they have made of their unique subject, have not amused themselves with External Elements: but having opened the Dungeon of Hippocrates, descended into the Well of Democritus, and unveiled the night of Orpheus, encountered this inner Element, proper and only Essence of Bodies, which alone is the foundation of all Life.
Now this Spirit, because it is Multiform, has been called Philosophers by all kinds of names that we can imagine; like, Quintessence, Elixir, Drinking Gold, Stone, Sky of the Philosophers, Mercury, Azoth, Water, Fire, Dew, & so many others that I would take too long to report them here; nevertheless understanding the same thing by very different names. Because they said it Quintessence, because it results from the temperament of the four Elements.
They called it Elixir, because it is an incomparable remedy for preserving life and driving out disease. They also said it par excellence Potable Gold, insofar as it equals the excellence of Gold: see what I say about it in my Treatise on Potable Gold.
They got it of abundant called stone for two reasons; one because it partakes of the Nature of Salt, in which, as the firmest foundation of things, reside the other Virtues. The other because of its perpetual & invincible duration.
They then named it Sky, especially since it far surpasses the Nature of the Elements. It is also he who gives power to act to all natural things. They called it Mercury, because it adapts to everything, taking Nature from everything it mixes with, producing all bodies, some with a clearer and incorruptible life, others with a more pure and incorruptible life. order, subject to corruption & failure; all according to the predisposition of Matter.
They named it Azoth, because it is Universal Medicine. Dew, because our Matter being elevations from the Universal Spirit, passing through the Air borrows a seminal force & life from it, which is known only to the Son of Science. Water, because water is the seed of the Life of all Creatures. Fire, because it purifies all heterogeneities; or else because it makes all the Generations: & it is when it leaves a ray of Celestial Heat to the terrestrial humidity.
But as this Vital Spirit metallizes, vegetates, & Animalizes, & this in an infinity of different species, the Philosophers who have taken it for the Unique subject of their incomparable Medicine, have named it with all the names that can suit all the different species which are found in the three aforementioned genera.
This is why when they say that their Matter is vegetable, they are not lying; & say very true when they call it Animal: but they are very learned when they call it Mineral.
The Reason is, that as this Universal Spirit can neither subsist without a Body, of whatever species it may be (each of which Body it is like everything according to the rule of Philosophy that all things are in all). This Body, in order to meet this Spirit there with its required Virtue, must have a great purity and long duration, because it is certain that the more this Spirit of life finds Bodies full of perfection, the more it makes there a longer continuation of form & of life, wherefore the Heavens, the Stars & Gold, do not fail; however, everything is full of Gold, of Stars, and of the Heavens, because there is as much in the Waters and in the Earth as in high places: what we will show in our Harmony of the great and small World, God helping;
as well plain in our Treatise on Potable Gold, which will soon see the light of day for the ruin of its impostors who have hitherto imposed upon most of the world: whose words without fruit, & promises without effect have rather attracted hatred than admiration, & rejection & contempt than the wish & expectation of those who once wanted little & wanted to make themselves appeased in this rare & bold conquest of the Treasure of life.
Here is the reason for which I say that the Philosophers are very advanced in the knowledge of Nature when they call their Matter Mineral, because it is certain that in Metals is all that the Philosophers seek, & in particular in Gold; because as it is the purest of all Terrestrial Bodies it holds also the most of that vital heat, Solar Fire, & Celestial. But because they all warn us that the common Gold is not their Gold, we must beware of looking for it elsewhere than in the Matrix of the Mother, in which we will find a Body in the form of Salt in whose womb lies that Virgin Earth which has not yet produced anything, into which is converted the Universal Spirit spread over the Terrestrial Body, and from which all things are generated.
For although this Matter is so Spiritual, Celestial, invisible, & occult that it seems that the senses are deprived of its knowledge, nevertheless by the benefit of the Art following Nature the Spirits can corporealize themselves (being certain that Nature does not nothing where there is some hidden Spirituality) as well as the Spiritualized Bodies, because if the Spirits are principles of the Bodies it is necessary that the Bodies retain something of the quality or condition of their parents, this Spirituality lies in the Virtues & hidden power which show their effects in several ways, either by means of artificial appropriations or preparations, or by that of natural operations.
That it is not thus we see that a Body does not nourish another Body, but it is this vital Fire which is contained in them which associates itself with the vital Fire of the others & becomes corporealized: Example that one takes care with the quantity of the meats that a man will eat, & to the quantity of the excrements that he will give up, & it will be found that the Thousandth part has only remained in him, which cannot be other than the portion of this Universal Spirit contained in the Food.
He who will take the trouble to seek this Spirit, & develop it with his own spirit, he who is very full of life & abundant in heat, will cleanse & purify all things, especially as he will separate in them what will be dissimilar to them, & will preserve what which will be of their Nature in such a way that it will seem to privilege them of immortality.
But of this Universal Spirit & its effects more fully in my plot of the aforesaid Drinking Gold. As for all the circumstances alleged at the beginning of this Preface, they will be dealt with in great detail below, when the occasion arises by explaining the difficulties and obscurities of Art. But before coming to that, I here warn the Christian Reader of two things; one, that all that I will say about it will be of the humility of my Spirit, vanity having never brought me to this point of persuading me to know more than all those who have told me preceded; on the contrary, I consider myself much more infirm than them; so the goal is none other than to enlighten those who might be lost in the diversity of philosophical opinions contained in the books we have of them. The other, that all those who will read this Book will please be content with what they will find in it, for I protest never to say more, to anyone, than what will be found in my works, because I was deceived, revenge be to God; which I beg with all my heart to enlighten the erring ones to their true knowledge. Amen.
Why the Philosophers have veiled this Art.
IT has seemed to me very proper, before coming to the styles with which the Philosophers have treated this Art, to state the reasons why they have thus [2] veiled it; which will serve as a great light for the understanding of the rest. For all the wise Watchers of Nature, when it has been a question of describing their great Secret to us, it has been with so much obscurity that it is held as constant the impossibility of hearing their writings except favored by the grace of the Almighty , by the true discovery that some Sage will make of it, or by revelation; as we said in the Preface.
But why did they shade their secrets like this? the reasons for this are endless in their books themselves, not the least of which follow. Agmon towards the end of the Peat, says, if we had not multiplied the names in this Art, without need however, all to the children would profane it & would make fun of it. If I wanted, Rasis said, to reveal this boldly, there would no longer be any difference between the learned and the ignorant.
If the Kings, [3] (continues Frittes) understood our Secret, they would prevent anyone other than themselves from knowing about it, and by chance they would become Tyrants. Who would divulge this Secret, says Augurel, would be the cause of the annihilation of the other Arts, because no one would want to do anything anymore. It is why Rarson, in Peat, says that God has done well to seal this Art to the people;
In order, he says, that the world does not perish. The Philosophers, says Zeno, have hidden this precious Medicine, because it vivifies and preserves in a temperament of equality all things. But men exempt & freed from the attacks of disease could only die, so to speak, of violent death , or decree, no doubt they would indulge in all kinds of impieties, of which those who would have divulged this Secret would be guilty. There are still many other reasons which have obliged [4] the possessors of this Art to veil it; know, the various & unfortunate ends suffered by those who declared it bluntly:
Example of the Hermit who discovered himself at Bragardin, who died by the hand of this exile, after he had made him possessor of his inestimable wealth. Secondly, of Richard the Englishman, who after having deposited his Secret in the hands of a King of England was unfortunately put to death in the Tower of London. And not to stray from this one, Raymond Luller received the same treatment for his ease; for seeing that Edward had not kept his promise to turn his arms against the infidels, he went to Africa to preach the Faith of Jesus Christ, where he was flayed alive.
I cannot pass here the 15th death of Jacques Coeur who, in consideration of this secret which he possessed, obtained of Charles VI, power [5] to forge pure silver coins, which were Gross worth three sols, nicknamed Jacques Cœur: on the reverse of which were three hearts which were his coat of arms, & of which we sometimes see some: & however we put him to death: But what happened to Adam ab Bodenstein for having communicated his secret to the Lords of Venice, and to the Foucres of Ausbourg?
Now, to abbreviate these examples, what happened to you, dear Foenix of our age? To have communicated yourself too humanely to this Tiraneau, who in return treated you so inhumanly? treatment which was the cause of your deplorable end. I cannot ignore the story of this death, because the people he would be appropriate to name are still alive. So I cannot dwell any longer on the reasons which obliged the Hermetic Philosophers to veil their divine [6] Art: However those who would like to see more of it read Lombard Ferrarien's precious Marguerite, as also the Treatise on the difficulties of Art of Melchior d'Olande, and they will be satisfied. Only I would say that he who speaks of divine favor enjoys this incomparable Treasure would be meaningless if he divulged it, having in him, with him, and for him, what can make a man happy and filled with felicity. Glory to God.
It should be noted here before proceeding further, that those who have treated of this Art, for reasons aforesaid, have spoken of it in terms greatly difficult to understand; that if sometimes they wanted to explain them, it was by others more obscure; which I do not do in this place, because I wish to show this Diana quite naked, washing herself in the streams of truth, which does not need [7] testimonies to those who have a purified mind;
For the truth seen and recognized no longer needs proof. What if he Someone was found to bring reasons contrary to these, although they had some appearance of plausibility, if it is nevertheless, as the Philosopher says, that it is better to adhere to the truth than to the opinion of men. Although, as to known Lombard Ferrarien, this Art cannot be denied by valid reasons, nor proven; because, as this great personage assures us, the terms for proving whether this Art exists are the same for proving as it is, that is to say, it is declared very boldly.
Witness Arnauld de Villeneuve which having been defeated by Raymond Lully, said to him, you have defeated me by your arguments, & I want to defeat you by experience, & then he showed him the projection. However, the philosophers, not wanting to show it, did not also put it in proof, not that they lacked sufficient reasons, but the above-mentioned causes diverted them from it, for fear of being forced to do like Arnauld de Villeneuve.
However, taking only the above into consideration, I will make no scruple to elucidate the most significant [8] obscurities of the Art; not really all of them, but the most necessary; by means of which we can expose all the others. So listen carefully to the rest of my speeches, and you will achieve what I wish for you, with the help of God; to which Father;
Son & Saint
Spirit be honor & glory forever and ever. Amen.
Of the nature of Art, & as the Philosophers have veiled what it was.
Those who have dealt with the Arts & Sciences have been careful to give them a very clear & intelligible order, beginning with general things to finish with special ones. But in this Art we have done quite the contrary, for sometimes we have started at the end & Finished at the beginning: [9] & all this with so little order that, having absolutely determined which it was, they put their Readers to the despair of ever being able to understand anything about it. So let's hear what they say.
The key to our work, says Aristenes, is to make money. Of the same opinion is Parmenides, when he says, O men of wisdom! learn to make the Coinage of our Brass. These two here have assured that our Art is to make Money. Let's hear Zimon, who says that their Art is to dispose & perfect Plombblanc. Theophilus says it is an Art to make Gold. And Obsemegamus that it is an Art to make Coins.
Was it necessary to take so much trouble, Philosophers my friends? to tell us that it is an Art to make Money, Gold, and Ecus. And how will you agree with Socrates, who says in Peat that this Art cannot be better explained than by the fable of Mysille? which being condemned to death by the black stones, these were converted into white ones by Hercules.
On the contrary others say that this Art is a work of Woman & Child's play. And several others, that it is the conversion of the Elements. What, then, can we believe in the diversity of your opinions? For though you all swear to tell the truth, yet your various ways of speaking trouble your Disciples;
so much so that there are few who can penetrate the true intelligence of your writings. Let us give them attacks, however, and let us see what a painful exercise, and a laborious study, joined to a true reasoning (by the grace of the Eternal) have taught us about it; Glory be to him. [11]
Who is there of such subtle understanding who is not astonished at the approach of the labyrinth of so many confused opinions? But who is the one who will believe that among so many contrarieties there is some truth? Let us try, however, to show in these discords harmonious chords; & raising the curtain of their shadow let us discover the truth of their words.
Know then that when the Philosophers say that it is an Art to make Money, and Ecus, they mean to inform the material of their Stone: Cartout as well as the Coiner prints with his die, the mark of the Prince on Gold , & gives it the form & value of Ecu, in the same way the Artists give the Form to their Matter by the instruments of their Art.
The same is it, when they have said that it was to perfect the White Lead, because to perfect in this place is nothing else than to inform; for a thing having reached its final perfection it can be said to have its Form. By white Lead is meant the Matter [12] of the Philosophers, which may be called Lead, because it is capable of the form of Lead, as well as of any other Form. Whereupon it should be noted that when the Philosophers name their matter Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Lead, Saltpetre, Salt, Antimony, Orpiment, Arsenic, &c. that they mean the same thing, and that they do not contradict each other for that, and for the above-mentioned reason, as also in my Preface.
But especially as this Lead is once said to be white, and some formerly black, would remain here to say why; But because we will speak of it fully hereafter in its place, we will content ourselves here with explaining the fable of the children of Saturn; which will lead us to what Parmenides means when he says that we learn to make Gold from our Brass.
The Fable therefore says that Saturn had four children, namely Jupiter, Juno, Neptune & Pluto; which are taken by the Philosophers for the four Elements, namely Jupiter for Fire, Juno for Air, Neptune for Water, & Pluto for Earth. However, the generative parts of Saturn having been cited as being cut by Jupiter, that is to say, the spirit or sulphurous essence being [13] flowed from Heaven, fell on the Sea, that is to say, shhh on the Salt (for the Sea is nothing other than Salt resolves & liquid) which of them together engendered Venus, namely Vitriol, which is the principle & the foundation of our Gold, for it is the principal, indeed total substance of it, more particularly than of any other of the Metals: so much so that it communicates itself to all as being their internal. & radical Sulphur, without which no Quicksilver could be frozen, & notably in Metal.
What would have peradventure caused Paracelsus to call it in his book De vita longa, the first Metal: however, this is more properly referred to Lead. Now there is a great agreement between Vitriol and Iron, in that one converts the other into fine Copper: which hardly deviates from what Homer, at 5 of the Iliad; says that the children of the Giant Aloeus, namely Othus & Ephialtes bound Mars with chains of copper & held him thus for thirteen months, until Mercury went to deliver him: For this transmutation simply cannot be done without Mercury.
Gold touching bronze, it can easily be converted into Gold, & Silver as Geber says, at 36 Chap. of its Sum. If that [14] even it is the own Tincture that can graduate Gold higher than Nature, & push it to infinite redness, as the same Philosopher says in 18. Chap. furnaces.
That if ever this metamorphosis was well understood by any Philosopher, it was by Paracelsus, when he says in the treatise on the Philosophical Tincture, ad si copia idest unitate: (namely Heaven, for nothing is more uniform than it) per dualitatem (the Salt) in ternario (the Vitriol which is made of the two assembled for the composition of a third represented by the trident of Neptune God of the Sea) cum aequali permutation until deducere; tuam iter ad meridiem (the heat which is strongest in the place of the Southern parts) dirigas oportet & sic in cypro votumconfsequeris tuum. Now this Vitriol coming to, this encounter in the Earth with quicksilver, this assembly procreates all the Metals & Metallic substances: this is why in the work of the art which begins or Nature completes hers, the Vitriol being mixed with Mercury composes a substance which is the beginning of the transmutatory work: as can be seen in Morienus, & the great Rosary of Arnault. There being nothing in this world [15] as George Ripley English testifies in his treatise entitled Pupilla artis Chymica) that can draw the pure sulphurous substance from Vitriol than Quicksilver: which Rupescissa has amply dealt with in his Practice.
Now it must be noted eternally, that these two substances joined together produce a child who has wings at the head, & at the feet, which receiving a last action or effort of Nature, produces the perfect Gold, Sky, or Sulphur: whose seed or generative part is cut off by the scythe of Saturn, which is the acuteness of our so much desired Water, without which the Spirit or Tincture of Gold could never be conveniently separated from its body, to be afterwards replanted in a Salt of the most noble Vegetable Nature, where it ends up volatilizing, increases & increases in color to infinity. And this is the Germ which falls from Heaven into the Sea, of which this forms Venus or the Philosophical Vitriol, otherwise called in Arabic Ziniar, which in this Arabesque language signifies light of beauty, so it tints all other Metals into Gold: besides is the sovereign Medicine of the human body.
Here is our Gold of our Bronze: but it seems to me to have dwelled on this explanation too much [16], let us come to the others.
From this Fable we fall into that of Mysille, where it should be noted that by the black beans, made white by Hercules, we must understand the imperfect Metals made perfect by our winged Mercury, which is the Hercules that the Philosopher hears in this place: for as Hercules purged the Earth of Monsters, even our Mercury with his virtue purges the stinking & infected Sulphurs, that is to say purifies & vivifies them. Because before our Gold appears, it is necessary that a less perfect form give way to a more perfect one: what we will deduce all now speaking of the conversion of the Elements. As for what they say is a Woman's Work & a Child's Play, that is explained one by the other, for this one is that one, and that one is that one.
Children take of the Earth, then piss on it soften it & turn it into Mortar: our work is none other than bringing Water with the Earth. The Woman in her work, note in her work, contributes patient matter, & disposes it to the reception of the agent: & what are we doing? really something else. [17]
As to what they say that this Art is the conversion of the Elements; it must be understood that Matter must receive from degree to degree the qualities of the Elements before coming to its maturity and perfection, which the Ignorant explain in their fashion in this way. It is necessary, they say, first to draw Water from Matter, & separate her apart; then a white oil which they call Air; after which they withdraw one of red color which they name Fire, remaining at the bottom their vessel the Earth: here is their way of separating the Elements, which the Philosophers never heard. But by their separation of Elements, they heard that their Matter passed from imperfection to perfection.
Now, as before coming from one extremity to the other, it is necessary to go through the means, especially since a contrary cannot receive the quality of its contrary if it does not first change in nature and complexion, the Philosophers have made this change by this word conversion of the Elements. What we have deduced in our Morbific Hydra; where I say, that to achieve this so much desired end, it is necessary to convert the two baseElements [18] coarse & material, Water & Earth: the dry namely of the Earth, & the cold of Water: then downgrade from the two spiritual & formal highs, Air & Fire, humid & hot to reach Virtue & Spirit.
In what we must consider a double practice, one of separation, the other of reunion. This one is done by rising by subtiliation, rarefaction, dissolution, distillation & sublimation: as when Earth is transmuted into Water, Water into Air, & Air into Fire; every tenfold in proportion, according to Timaeus in his Book of the Soul of the World; but more distinctly Raymond Lully in his Testamentary Practice. This, which is the reunion, is done by descending again, by inspissation, condensation, descension, calcination, & fixation: as Fire does in Air, Air in Water, & Water in Earth, where all must eventually become & relate in this Art. Being, this Earth, the Universal Mother & Sustainer of all things, & the dearest Spouse of the Starry Sky, as Homer ascribes to her in his Hymn: but more suitably Humes in his Emerald Table, where all this great [19] well expressed: Nutrix eius Terra est, he says, vis eiusintegra est si versa fuerit in Terram. Separabis Terram ab Igne, sustite a spisso. - His nurse is the Earth, he says, his strength is complete if it is turned to the Earth. You will separate the Earth from the Fire, stand from the thick.
Suaviter cum magno ingenio ascendit to Terra in Coelum; iterumque descended inTerram: & recipit vim superiorum & inferiorum. - He ascended gently from Earth to Heaven with great genius; and again he descended into the Earth: and received the power of the superiors and inferiors. To what we could frame the rise of the Sun on our Horizon, until it has reached the Meridian: & its descent, then afterwards, from Noon until Midnight, at the part of the North, where the second hour of the night: & from there draw great Cabalistic Secrets, but that is reserved in our book entitled, La triple Clef du Cabinet de la Nature, which will soon see the light of day, God helping, to which Father, Son, &S. Spirit be given all honor, glory & praise. Amen. [20]
Of the various Styles with which the Philosophers have obscured this Art.
Whatever we have shown above, notwithstanding the various opinions of the Philosophers, how this Art is; nevertheless I find that to be a trifle if we do not pass on to the understanding of the other obscurities. For what would the Reader benefit from simply knowing that this Art is, if he did not know anything else, he would therefore be a true Artist. Any more than he who knows that there is a Theology, or view Medicine, will not be for that neither one nor the other. Because the difference is great to know [21] that a thing is, and to know as it is.
For example, it will not be enough for someone who wants to be a Navigator to know that there is an Art of Sailing on the Sea, and would never be a good Master there, if he did not come to full knowledge of it through Practice. Similarly if someone having heard by chance that there is an Art composed of certain Precepts, by which duly & faithfully observed one can produce Gold, will not however be a good Artist; but besides that, you have to know what Material you have to take, what Instruments to use, and what path you have to follow to achieve it.
Now to be able to enter into this intelligence by oneself, it is very difficult, even impossible, because the Philosophers, in the description of their Precepts, have spoken so obscurely, and in such ways.
different, & by styles so diverse, that it is very necessary that it [22] be taught to us by someone who knows it. What I oblige myself to do faithfully in this place, choosing an example of each style which the ancient philosophers used, to better authorize our remarks. Note that we do not explain the style, because it does not need it, but the Secret contained under it. Let us therefore give them attacks, and begin, in the name of God, with Allegory.
Allegorical Style.
MERLIN, speaking in an Allegorical style says, that a certain King desirous of overcoming the others, prepared for war against them & having [23] to mount a Horse, he asked to drink Water which he loved very much, which also cherished.
From which this King, having drunk repeatedly, cannot mount a Horse, but found himself so weighed down that he ordered, to cool off, that he be put in a room clear as crystal, & icelle in a hot & dry place continuously tempered by a day & one night when, he says, I will sweat very much & this Water that I drank will dry up in me, & thus I will be delivered from the oppression that I feel.
What they had done, and the room opened, they found him half dead. But to bring him back from this swoon, they administered a little humifying Medicine, & having put him back in his room in the same place, & for the same time as above, they finally found him dead: what amazed those who had [24] him in custody, gave him a Compound Medicine of a part of Sel Armoniac, & two of Nitre Alexandrin, which this King had not sooner taken than he began to cry aloud, saying, where are all my enemies?
know that I have power to destroy them, if obedient they do not come to me without delay. What heard by them they came hastily to prostrate themselves before him, & he honored them (instead of an ignominious death) very all with the Crowns & Kingdoms which he had acquired by the will of God.
I do not doubt that many have interpreted this King desiring to overcome others to be Gold, the reason being, they say, that just as a King is the first of Men in his Kingdom, so also the Gold is the first of the Metals.
I do not deny that the King of the Philosophers may sometimes be taken for Gold, but not common Gold, but their own; like when they say, Honor our King coming from the Fire crowned with a red crown, and this should be understood as the perfection of the work. But in this place one must not hear of either of these Kings; but indeed of the Nature of this Universal Spirit, of which we spoke above in the Preface, which desires to overcome the other Natures, even & overcomes them.
Parmenides in the Peat says, that Nature conquers & overcomes Nature. And Bassen, in the same place, put the King in the Bath so that he overcomes Nature. But this Nature to overcome the others must be prepared, that is to say perfect, because otherwise could not perfect the others. And this is what the Philosophers meant that their Elixir must possess greater perfection than anything on the Earth, that it may easily distribute that more to those who have less. Before riding on horseback; that is to say, before [26] sublimating oneself. He drinks the Water he loves; that is to say, of its Nature; for Nature loves & rejoices in its Nature. Natura Natura& laetatur, & Natura Naturam continet, & Natura Naturam vincit.
Water also loves the King: And it is what the Philosophers say that Nature only desires to be perfect. Of which, having drunk, he cannot ride a horse; that is to say, by this Pontic Water the fixed was made liquid, but not yet Volatile.
It being to be noted that this Water in this place is taken for the Chamber (& not for the glass vessel, as some have explained) & the hot & dry place of the King's Nature. In which & in which he must sweat, i.e. dissolve: then dry up the Water he has drunk, i.e. freeze: & thus is delivered, i.e. returned to its first being. And it is what a Philosopher said, be certain that although for a time this Thing loses its color at last it will recover it, because Nature has what she asks for. As for what is spoken of a day and a night: this must be understood by the Tower the superior Nature, and by the night the inferior, one taken for the King and the other for the 'Water of its Nature. Quod [27] inferius, is sicut id quod est superius: & quod est superius, est sicut id quod est inferius, perpetranda miracula rei unius, Said Hermes in his Emerald Table.
What is below is like what is above, & what is above is like what is below to perpetrate the miracles of a thing; that is to say, the secret work of Nature. The open Chamber, that is to say the lower Nature cultivated, in order to bring forth the upper by mode of Vegetation. What Augurel remarked very well, in these terms, you will take, he said, the Metal well purged at the depth of which is the Spirit, which oppressed under this mass desires only to be delivered & loosed from the bonds of this prison.
Because then, he says elsewhere, this Universal Nature sprouts from itself, and grows like the Plants. Those who have seen it vegetate in ten thousand small plants, of all kinds of colors, and this in the same vessel, will be able to testify if what above is true. They found the King half dead: that is to say, a passage from a weak Nature to a more perfect one: to which they administered a humifying Medicine: that is to say, the cibation which is done by the same Water.
that [28] above, because whatever it is venom it is also Medicine, making die & live: & so said a Philosopher, inquired what this Water was; that's the one, he said, vivifies: also by it, says Anaxagoras in the Peat, our Brass being inspired comes to life & multiplies like other things. Having put him back in his room, that is to say, with the aforesaid Water, they found him dead, that is to say that the Matter was entirely fixed.
Gave him a Medicine of Salt Armoniac & Nitre: that is to say gave him ingrès with its same Water, which is of its same Nature, because otherwise it would not produce the great effect that one expects from it, because, Natura non emendatur, nisi in sua Natura propria. The rest of the Allegory should be understood as Specific Projection. It was possible to say very beautiful things here, but for the sake of brevity I have put them back in my Treatise on the Triple Key of the Cabinet of Nature, which will soon see the light of day, helping God, to whom Father, Son, & H. Spirit be honor & glory forever and ever. Amen. [29]
Parabolic Style.
If the Allegory veils this Art, the Parable obscures it no less, as you will see from this Example. King Artus speaking in Parabolic style says, that a great Treasurer came ill with various diseases; namely, Pale Colors, Dropsy, & Paralysis. So much so that his Body from the top of the Head to the Chest was yellow; & from here to the thighs white; & from there to the knees Dropsical; & from here to the soles of the feet Paralytic.
Suffering from these illnesses, she commanded her Physician [30] to fetch for her on a mountain two herbs of incomparable virtue, which having been brought to her, she girded herself with them, and from then on found herself perfectly cured: in recognition of which she gave the said Physician of Incomparable Riches; from which, as he went away, he praised God with all his heart.
Great Secret is hidden in this Parable, which I will explain as succinctly as possible. We must therefore suppose that the seven Metals are like a body of which Gold, as the most precious and eminent, is the Chief; the Silver is the Body; the Thighs are Iron & Brass; the Legs Tin & Lead;
the Feet are Quicksilver. This Body is sick, that is to say imperfect: for although Nature always aspires to the best: nevertheless it has [31] left some in imperfection, the impurity of the Matrix being the cause, not Matter because it is the same. Now this Body desires two herbs to cure it. It should be noted here that it is a similarity taken from the suitability of the circumstances of the Matter of the Philosophers with that of the Plants: for just as the Plants have the faculty of vegetating, so this Stone has the power to increase and increase until ad infinitum (in a manner of speaking) if she is helped.
Besides, like Plants, remedies are prepared which cure the diseases of the Human Body; in the same way this Stone cures the diseases of the Metals. Now, when there are two Herbs, it is necessary to understand Matter, which being of two substances, has but one same root taken for the Universal Spirit, which some have called Mountain of Saturn, and some others their Perfect Brimstone, which partaker of the Nature of Fire holds the highest and most eminent place of all these companions, as the Mountains do above the Valleys.
In addition, one can say that these two Herbs signify, one the work in white, the other [32] in red, & the Mountain between the place from which they are drawn which is double, namely Metals & Furnaces. We see on this subject the philosophers who take almost all metals and furnaces for their mountains : rejoicing conjoin, conjoining color & perfect, &c.
As for these, it is in them & with them that this rare Operation this perfect, with which the Bodies of Metals mentioned above heal themselves, & are forever rich whoever possesses them: this is so easy to understand that I will pass over in the Problematic style. Glory be to the Trine-one, forever Amen. [33]
Problematic Style.
The three times great Hermes, speaking Problematically of this Science, says in these terms. I have considered the rare & excellent Philosopher's Bird, which flies perpetually at the sign of Ariès; if its main parts are divided, it will remain, although small, and although its obscurity is dominant, it is nevertheless complexioned with the Earth. That which causes it to appear various colors is called Brass, Lead, &c. Also being burned by vehement Fire at lesser number 4. Days, middle 7. & greater 20. is said to be Argentine Earth, [34] which has great whiteness & is called Air, Gum of Gold, & Red Sulfur .
Take a part of Air & put it with three of the apparent Gold, & put the whole thing in the Bath for a lesser number 10 Days, average 30. greater 40. the real Fire of the Dyers, repatriating the Pilgrims called Golden Fire, &c. Keep this excellent Sulphur, for it is useful for many things, and praise God.
This Bird is taken in three ways among the Chemical Philosophers, namely, concerning the quality of Matter, its preparation, and its perfection. Touching the quality of Matter, it is truly Volatile, because at the slightest approach of Fire it rises, so for then it participates in the Air which of Night is said Dew & Day Water, but rarefied Water, of which the frozen invisible [35] Spirit is more precious than all the Treasures of the World.
But this Air coming to be embodied (before the Artist took it for his work) it is necessary to decorporify it, Fac fixum volatile, say the Philosophers, &c. Finally it is said to be Volatile, when it is in its perfection, because it then has a great Virtue and vivacity to act on imperfect things. As for this Bird flying perpetually at the Sign of Ariès, the explanation is twofold: the first is that in its beginning this Matter is Volatile & Sublimating; the comparison being drawn from Ariès, because it is the first of the Signs, and what is more an Aerial Sign, of the Nature of which is our Stone, as we have said above.
The second is that our Universal Aquatic Balsamic Matter is drawn from the belly of Ariès; see see in my Morbific Hydra what I say become Arietis. As for the division of its parts, this should be understood as the 4. Elements, and this in the way we have spoken of it above, as also in the Treaty of Potable Gold. This word, small, is taken here for its Volatility, which one must accustom [36] little by little to the Fire, as one accustoms little Children, little by little, to the use of solid meat. Its darkness; that is to say, its little power in the beginning. He is complexioned with the Earth; that is to say that our Matter, although weak from then on, is nevertheless of the same Nature of Gold and Silver; & not only of them but of all the things that are in the World;
this is why he says that all colors will appear. As for what he then called Airain & Plomb, we explained it above. That him being burnt, that is to say, purified, &c. Touching the Days we will speak of it in its place. Is called Argentina Land; it is the same thing as above, that is to say purification; because our Air being mondified is said to be White Earth; Air, that is to say purified; Gold gum; that is to say frozen Air, following the example of the gums of the Trees which are only frozen Air.
Red sulphur, because being the Fire of the Philosophers it burns the imperfection of Metals Take one part of Air & put it with three of apparent Gold; Air taken for our had, & Gold for the Spirit of our Air. And all put in the Bath, that is to say in the Fire of [37] cibation, because without it our Pierre would never have a good liquation. Of Days it will be spoken of in its place. And you will have Brass which is the true Fire of the Dyers; that is, who gives the Tincture.
Repatriating the Pilgrims; that is to say which fixes in pure Gold all the imperfect Metals & in particular the Mercury which is said to be Pilgrim because of its Volatility: also it is called Fire of Gold, that is to say converting to its Nature all Metals, just as Fire converts to its Nature all that it devours. The rest is easy, because we must not fear that the one to whom God will give the grace to possess it, will give it to another. To the only God Triune in Truth, so honor & glory forever. Amen. [38]
Typical Style.
Arisleus, he who assembled the Peat, speaks Typically thus: Some, he said, walking by the Seashore, saw the Inhabitants of that district there lying mutually together & did not beget; planted Trees & did not bear fruit; sowed & nothing grew. To which they said if there were a Philosopher among you your Sons would multiply, your Trees would bear fruit & would not die, & your Fruits would not be extinguished, & would be Kings overcoming all your enemies.
And King Marin gave us his [39] Son Gabric, & we also asked him for his Sister Beya, who was a very white, tender, & amiable Girl; which we joined together, & immediately Gabric died. Seeing what, the King imprisoned us; & having had prayer from him by his Daughter Beya we were 80. Days in the Darkness of the Prison; then having passed all the Storms of the Sea, we told the King that his Son lived, of which we praised. God.
Explanation. §. 6. By those who lie together is understood the ignorant Alchemists who join metal with metal without distinction of quality, wherefore they do not produce that one Fruit which many seek & few find.
The same explanation can be given of those who plant & who sow. When [40] to these, Balgus in the Peat says, that those who plant the Mercury (which is said Tree by the Philosophers) & plant it in dry land not knowing how to water it will never bear fruit; because, as I said in my Morbific Hydra, the Earth will never bear Fruit if it is not watered & moistened with the rain of Heaven, which impregnates it & makes it fertile: as the 28. of Deuteronomy testifies.
The Lord God will open his very rich Treasury, to have Heaven, to give Rain to the Earth in proper & proper season. Touching those who sow and nothing grows, they are those who do not know not only what is the true Seed of the Philosophers, but also the way to make it rot in his Earth: For if the Grain, says the Savior of our Souls, is not thrown in Earth & dies there, it will never produce & multiply.
These false Chemicals are therefore toiling so much they will, because they will never, ever produce Gold if they sow the Grain of it in its Earth, which is the leafy Earth, called Mercury of the Philosophers: And there to make it rot which is the first of the secondsOperations, which the Chemicastrists falsely call black color. [41]
If you had a Philosopher, &c. that is to say, if you had a perfect knowledge of Art & Nature, you would arrive at the Generation & production of the incombustible Phoenix, which many seek & can often. It is this Child who perfectly resembles these Parents, because in his generation the propitious Agent & the willing Patient have been suitably joined: & this is what the Philosophers call Nature loving its Nature, the Male conjoined to the Female, Sulfur & Mercury, &vs.
Would be Kings, &c. It is certain that he who possesses this holy Gift of God is King, if not actually at least in power; for has he not the means of buying entire kingdoms if they were for sale? Who is there in the world who can better imitate the liberality of kings than he who possesses such a great treasure? But it must be purely for God, for the love of this good Heavenly Father, who is the sole Author of this good that he possesses.
Here is how we could explain this point, But the Philosophers only hear of the Metals for it is true [42] that this Stone overcomes the enemies of the purity of them, namely their combustible & impure Sulphur, & makes them all Triumphant Kings, that is to say - say in pure Gold. By Gabric & Beya his sister, are understood, by that one the Quicksilver, & by this one the very clear & white Water which is extracted from it: And it is what the Philosophers said that Sulfur & Mercury must be extracted from the same root. And conjoined them together, &c. that is to say that this fixed having been made Volatile (for it is impossible to make such a penetration & separation without powerfully rarefying Matter, & hence rendering it to the supreme point of all Volatility) is still made fixed.
As to what he died this has been explained above. Touching the Prison are the Vessels, containing & contained, as well as the Furnaces. By the 80. Days, it means the time of corruption, also signified by Darkness. The rest means the time taken until the work is completed; which is the Resurrection of that Gabric, Sulfur & Incombustible Oil, Fusible Salt, & Elixir of the Philosophers. The Glory to God. [43]
Enigmatic Style.
It is here where the rarest Spirits have sweated until now, and will sweat again in the future. For if the styles above alleged are difficult to understand, the Enigma impossible to explain; the reason is, that with the other styles only one explanation is most often given; but in this one often of infinite times; because the first ones contain only one darkness, but this one contains some innumerable.
It should also be noted that the Enigma can only rarely be understood by the person who made it; & I would dare to say that it is he, rather than [44] the other styles, which veiled this Art, in such a way that it is very difficult to penetrate to its true knowledge. Now, in order to be brief, as I proposed to myself at the beginning of this Book, I have decided not to bring back many of these Enigmas here; the reason is, that from the intelligence of the little that I will report one will be able to arrive at the entire knowledge of the others, which are infinite in the Books of the Philosophers.
Aristotle, or a supposed for him, says, binds hands to a Woman (who is nursing) from behind, so that she cannot afflict her Son, put on her hands a Toad, so that she suckles him until she dies in the Fire, & will remain a Toad heavy with milk.
Balgus in the Peat, says, take this White Tree, build him a Round House in which you will put [45] a hundred years old man. Leave it there, 80. days I tell you truly, he said, let this Old Man continue to eat of the Fruit of the Tree until he has become young.
Mystical Philosophy offers us a Phoenix burning in its nest opposite the Sun, the Soul of which is Si formam dederis formosus ero. And in the same Book the Matter of the Stone speaking says, that its Water is hidden in the living Fire which does not burn.
The Cosmopolitan, says, that traveling from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic, was thrown on the shore of a great Sea, where he did not know where to find the Fish Echneis. In which thought being, he saw the swimming Melosines with the Nymphs: then the Old Man Neptune with his Trident, who showed him two Mines, one of Gold and the other of Steel, then the Solar Tree, and the Lunar Tree. , [46] saying that the Water to water them was drawn from the rays of the Sun & the Moon.
Instead of Neptune appeared Saturn, who put in this Water the Fruit of the Solar Tree, which alone has the power to improve it in such a way that there will be no more need to plant or anter: for it can by its mere odor make the other six Trees similar to itself &c. the rest of the enigma will be understood enough in the production of the Soul or explanation of what little we have said of it above which is like its body. I pass, to shorten, an infinity of Enigmas which the Curious ones will be able to see ès Books of the Philosophers; wherefore we will give, aiding God, in the explanation of these. [47]
Bind the hands of a Woman, &c. This Woman who suckles her Son is the Mercurial Water which comes little by little to moisten the Sulphur, which is the Land of the Philosophers; which Earth that Water produced, that is why she is called her Son: And so they said that the Earth is produced from the thickness of the Water, Exgratifies aquae Terra concreatur, says Aristotle in the Peat.
As for the binding of the hands, it is understood from the disposition that this Water must be given, so that the Sulfur can be joined & perfected perfectly with it. Put on the hands a Toad &c. This Toad is Sulphur, so called because it is still only venom; that is to say, he is not reduced to that incomparable Virtue which we will require of him. Until she dies in the Fire; that's to say, that the fervor of his Ponticity be totally converted into the substance of Sulfur which the Philosopher here takes for Fire. And will remain a Toad big with milk, &c [48] that is to say, that the Sulfur has come to increase little by little in quality & Virtue, some call a great venom; because also for then it has power to exterminate all the imperfection of the Metals.
As for the White Tree, we must understand the Mercury extracted from the Antimony of the Philosophers; called white because of the purity it must have, which must also be understood for the round house that must be built for it, because then it is made into a perfect equality. In here we must house an old man; that is to say, to join another Mercury which excels, if possible, the aforesaid Mercury in whiteness, this is why he is called old: together with being extracted from the breasts of the Universal Mother, plains of the milk of this Universal Spirit, he can be called Old, because he is the specific Principle of all things. This him during the term of his perfect coction, understood by the 80. Days, never ceases to be transmuted into Sulfur which is understood by the food above; that it becomes young; that is to say, it acquires a perfect redness, which must be understood here for its eminent Virtue in reducing the imperfect to perfect.
Touching the Phoenix, from its motto, [49] it must be understood that it is the Spirit extracted from Gold calcined by the own odor of its Clear & inner Water. Which being like patient Matter, which some call Mercury, it demands its Form from the Sun; that is to say to the Sulfur which is like its Agent Matter; wherefore , If thou give me Form, saith he, I shall be formed in beauty; that is to say, I will surpass in beauty all that is most rare and eminent in the Metallic Genre.
As for this Water hidden in the living Fire which does not burn, we must understand the Mercury of the Philosophers, this true Androgyne, this unique subject which of itself and by itself, without any artifice is united with itself. Touching the Arctic & Antarctic Pole of Cosmopolite, we must understand the procedure of our work; know by the arctic, the solution & coagulation, which is what the Chimicasters call the color black: by the Antarctic, Sublimation called by them the color white, and the fixation called the color red. LaMer, is the vessel, sometimes taken for the Mercury or Air of the Philosophers: the Ecneis is the fixation of the work, which having come to this point stops all Volatility [50] so much that all the efforts of Fire cannot make it rise: And the Mélosynes are the various circumstances which meet in the Operation of icelle.
As for Neptune & his Trident, this must be understood by the three principal Virtues which are found in the perfect work; namely, to cure Animals, Plants, & Metals. Secondly, because our Matter is called Plant, Animal, & Mineral. Thirdly, because it consists of the three principles Salt, Sulfur & Mercury. Fourthly, it can be taken for the three principal emanations in the work, which some call colors.
Finally, one can truly say that these are the two Mercurys, and the Sulfur of the Philosophers, which, although three separate, are nevertheless drawn from the same root, which is denoted by the handle of the Trident which is one. This God of the Sea showed him two Mines, one of Gold and the other of Steel. By which we must understand the Air & the Fire: This one being alone the receptacle of the Mineral Water; which really is nothing but frozen Air; that's why if we do not know how to cook the Air without doubt we will fail, because it is [51] the true Matter of the Philosophers: Being very true that we must take the Water of our Dew from which is drawn the Saltpetre of the Philosophers, from which all things grow & they feed themselves.
The Matrix of which is the Center of the Sun & Moon; which are called Trees, because they are animated by the aforesaid Saltpetre; which being like the life of all things, it engenders & manifests the general Spirit, activating it to production. To which fits what Calid says very well, that the Miners of things have their roots in the Air, and their heads or summits in the Earth. But why did the Cosmopolite call this Air Gold? it is because it is very suitable for him, because of its citrine color, which is an average disposition between the white proper to Water, & red to Fire; following the Philosopher Rasis in his Light of Lights; Quoniam, he says, nulla nostro operi necessaria aqua nisi candida; necAër nisi crocus: added that the substance of Gold is very Airy, both for its great anaticity & temperature, and for the great conformity of the word Aurum (said thus from the similarity it has with the color of Aurora according to Festus ; [52] or in reverse as Varro wants, Aurora dicitur ante Solis ortum; eo quod ab igneSolis tum Aureo Aer aurescit) & from that of Aura which is a subtle Aerated vapor exhaling from the Earth like the breath from within the 'stomach.
Pacuviusin the same Varro, Terra exhaled Auram atque Auroram humectam. Further the conformity which the word Or or Aur has with the Hebrew Auer or Auir, shows us Gold to be suitably adapted to Air; for by removing the Iod it will remain Aur; &le Vau, there will be Air; to which symbolizes its color of golden yellow or citrine, as well as as I said, which is the true color of Gold, from which it also took its name. But this must be heard while the Gold remains in its Nature;
for when it comes to be separated its Sulphur, Soul, Spirit or Tincture (it is only one and the same thing) red with a par of Ruby, is called Fire; whence I shall take occasion to say that in the Element of Air all things are whole by the imagination of Fire; which Fire we must hear to be that other so-called Mine of Steel; Because according to Pantheus, in his Treatise on Chemical Art, the main seed of the Elixir, & of [53] all Metals, is none other than Mars, & Mars is nothing other than Fire to be a Sulphur. red hot & dry, & of easy combustion. What Alphidius confirms in the Treatise of Aurora consurgens, where he says that the Iron of the Philosophers is not drawn from the Magnet; because, he says, it is Fire.
What Raymond Lully affirms in the Book of Minerals saying that men could not sustain their lives without the Iron of the Philosophers, which is nothing other than Fire. And Senior, has dared to advance that Iron, which is Fire, generates Light & the Secret of Secrets. Let us therefore conclude that without Air & Fire nothing would not only be produced, but could not subsist. This is why François Georges Vénitien of the Order of Friars Minor, in the first Canticle of his Harmonie du Monde, chap 5. to 6. Ton, says, that Man lives with the rest of the sublunary things, & notably with the Metals, of a life coming from above which have beyond them a certain very occult & hidden Spirit which never or very rarely can be separated from them by any artifice, except by those to whom God has bestowed this grace. Enough now of these little notes [54] on the Gold & Steel of the Cosmopolitan, reserving the rest in a particular Book which we are making touching the true explanation of all the Treatises he has made in the metallic; that is why we will come to the rest.
The Solar & Lunar Trees are taken for the Mercurys of the Philosophers; one red, & the other white; which are called Trees because of their Vegetative faculty; & that indeed are those who produce for us the fruits that we ask for; For all that the Sages seek (say the Philosophers) is in Mercury. These Trees are watered with Water drawn from the rays of the Sun & the Moon.
This must be understood of the Universal Spirit, which is the Son of the Celestial Sun which is his Father & of the Moon who is his Mother, as the thrice-great Hermes says: this is why we have said in our Chemical Bouquet, speaking of Salt, that the Son on Earth has a Father in Heaven; Son who has the same revivifying faculties as the Father; for which reason Hermes says, that what is below is like what is above;
It being true that the more powerful the rays of the Celestial Sun, the more effective those of the Terrestrial. And when [55] their Rays join in this line, the corroborated Son of the Father manifests the Father, and this Father in quickening heat brings forth the productions of the Son. In which production it seems that Saturn is necessary, that is why it is said in the Riddle that Neptune went away & Saturn appeared in his place. On which it should be noted that it is represented by the Philosophers as an Old Man holding a Scythe, having for motto a Serpent, which curls up in a circular figure bites its tail, to denote its Virtue & regenerating Nature, by which it replenishes & engenders itself, however strong it is is still in round & inefficient growth.
It is said to be old because it is the principle of everything; also he is Son of Cœlie & of Vesta (who are Heaven & Earth) & Mary of Opis his Sister, who is this Helping & Preserving Virtue of everything; for his Children whom he devours and then vomits them up again, are the bodies to which he has given being in each of the three genera, which in their end are reduced to him to produce new ones; so that by this perpetual vicissitude, the order established from the Creation of the World can be maintained and preserved forever. [56]
Safaux is the biting ponticity with which he slices & devours everything; without which the Spirit or Tincture of Gold could never be conveniently separated from its Body, to be then replanted in a Salt of the noblest Vegetable Nature, where it completes Volatilization, increases it & increases in color until 'in infinity. Which alone has the power to communicate itself to the other six Metals, and to make it similar to the body from which it was extracted: this is why it is said in the Enigma that there will no longer be any need to plant other Trees; for the mere odor of this one has the power to make the other six like him. To our Debonnaire God be honored and glorified forever. Amen. [57]
Terms naturally said.
MARCILLE FICCIN, in her Livre de l'Art Chimique chap. 5. says, when you want to produce Gold, or Silver, take their seed; for to produce a man the seed of it is necessary: the like is of a Tree, of a Plant, of a Lion, &c. Look at a Child being suckled, says Euiganus in the Peat, & do not trouble him for in him is the Secret. And Bodillus in the same Peat, know that our work is not done without conjunction of Male & Female, & this by heat regime, Morienus says, that our work resembles the Formation of Man, &c. [58] here are some of those who draw their similarities from the actions of Nature in the production of Animals: Let us hear those who draw them from the same in the production of Vegetables.
The same Marcille Ficcin in his 3. chap. refusing the opinion of those who take Sulfur & Quicksilver (i.e. common) as principles of Metals, so said; it is manifest that the Plants are produced from the union of Water with the more subtle Earth, by means of the Solar Virtue; but if you wanted to produce it you will not take the Water & the Earth because you would not do anything with it, but rather you will take what is already produced, not all of its Body, but the Generative Virtue of this Plant which lies in its Seed .
The same will you observe in the production of your Elixir, &c. This not being understood by all, [59] many have taken, to produce this great work, Sulfur & Quicksilver, this one instead of Male, & this one for Female, led to this by Trevisan who says that Metals are made of Sulfur & Mercury. Others took Mercury & Vitriol, & several Arsenic, because they had read it thus in Geber & in Isaac Hollandais.
Now, as all those who have dealt with this Matter have been almost discordant on this point, they have nevertheless agreed in that they have all unanimously said that it is very necessary to know perfectly the Generation of Metals in order to achieve perfection. of our work. For what to shed some light let us come to the unveiling of their obscurities; wherefore the glory be given to the Author of all things. Amen. [60]
No one doubts that there is nothing produced in the three kingdoms of Nature without seed; & although it seems that in the animal kingdom there are produced insects without apparent Seed, as also in the Vegetable some Plants, nevertheless that is not done without the cooperation of the Universal Spirit; for it is certain that it is he who contains them all in himself; which produces them variously according to the diversities of the Matrixes which it meets with the Elements.
This is why Hippocrates believed that there was a General Foundation of all things, wherein are contained the seed-reasons of Nature, whence come the begettings, formations, nourishment, growth & other Natural actions, which he calls First Orc & abyss. The Platonics have called it Seed Nature. And the Aristotelians, Matter not scrambled with the qualities of the Elements, but very pure & as [61] Divine. Paracelsus calls it Vital Principle in Nature. And Pythagoras compares it to the unity from which all multitude proceeds: but from this more fully in my Treatise on Potable Gold.
It could here be alleged to me that although the Animals, & Plants are generated, by Seed, that nevertheless this is not found in the Minerals, and that therefore all that is produced in the three kingdoms is not so by seed, that of the Metals being unknown to us, and invisible? To which answer I say, that although the Seed of the Minerals is not seen that nevertheless it does not cease to be; for if, in order not to see it, it was not, it would also be necessary to say that Animal and Vegetable seeds do not exist because we do not see them; because it is only their Sperm that we see and not their Seed which is contained in this Sperm. All the Fruit of an Oak is not the seed of the Oak, but its Seed; for we see when the acorn is sown in the Earth, it remains although the Germ is outside, which is the effect of the Seed that this Sperm contained within, [62] because the Generation is done not in the Sperm but in the Seed which is the thousandth part of the Sperm. The same can be said of the Animal Seed, which is no more visible than that of the Vegetables, but so does the Sperm which contains it.
This being true, let us say, although the Seed of the Metals is not seen, it does not, however, cease to be contained in their Sperm. This Sperm is called Mercury which contains within itself a congealed Water vapor which is the Seed of Metals. This metallic Seed germinates by the seed reasons of Nature, from which coming out at prefix time it perpetuates its Species incessantly, because its Kind being preserved in the heart of the Spirit Universal his Generation never fails. See above in my Preface what I say more about this subject; as well amply in my Treatise on Potable Gold. This difficulty emptied, another seems to arise, and which one could object to me as follows: since the Seed of all the things which are of the three Sublunary Genres has issued from a small Universal Spirit, from which comes only in iceux are there good and profitable things to be found there? & other poisonous & harmful?
To which answer I say, that there are two powers in the first substance, one of life & conservation; the other deadly or destructive. Now the poisonous have attracted more of this destroying substance than of the preserving one, and it is by a sympathy of substances, Nature loving its Nature, with which it agrees in all its parts. Same solution can we give good & profitable things. From what above we can derive the reason why some metals are more perfect than others. For in their Generation their Sperm more or less participating in this destructive substance drew to itself more or less of the foul, combustible, venomous & destructive Sulphur, encountered in the pure or impure Wombs: but from this more fully in our Walk of the universe, therefore we will give to the rest.
Look at a child being nursed, &c. This should be understood only for liberation which should be done alternately gradually increasing, however, [64] just as food is increased for children as they grow older. This must still adapt to the Fire which must be governed by the same way as cibation, without interruption; this is why the alleged Philosophesus says that he must not be disturbed, for in him lies the whole Secret. And truly who will not be able to direct his Fire will never come to what he hopes for. The work is not done without conjunction of Male & Female, &c. This must be understood by the patient & agent Matter, called the Chemicals Sulfur & Mercury, the one taking the place of Male & this one of Female: the production of which will never manifest if their radical heat is not excited from potency into action.
And as the Earth, which is the receptacle of the Virtues & Celestial influences, never pushes by itself, without the help of the Engine, the Mineral Vapor on its surface to manifest it in a body of Salt; likewise the Earth of the Philosophers (although mingled with Water) will never produce its Sulfur or Physical Tincture, except by means of an exterior Agent which reduces from potency to action the exterior: because, say the Philosophers , that [65] unus agens non absolutus. Let's come to the rest.
Our work resembles the Formation of Man, &c. To explain this well we must first know that the operations necessary for our work are seven in number; Cementation, Fixation, Resolution, Digestion, Ascension, Coagulation, & Tincture. These seven Operations are found in the Generation of Man, before he has acquired his entire perfection; this is why Morienus takes this Work of Nature for similarity to that of Art: from which I have treated at length in my Bouquet Chimique, in chap. I, de la Fleur premierepag. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, & 20, where we will see this Matter treated with as much perfection as we could wish: what I do not wish to repeat again in this place to avoid prolixity, this is why the Good-natured Reader will have recourse to the aforementioned Book.
Touching on the rest of our Text, the Exposition will easily agree with what we have said above of the other parts of it. To the only Triune God in Unity be given all honour, glory & praise. Amen. [66]
Fabulous Style.
The Chemical Philosophers, who have made use of Fables to veil their Art, have particularly made use of those of Ovid. This is why they said that their work was the Fable of Daedalus, and of Icarus his Son. That she was Midas who transmuted everything into Gold by her touch. It's more Phoebus' fight with Python. They also used the Fable of Triphon, the Gorgon & her sisters; set of Perseus with his Pegasus. Brief of the Three-Headed Dog; of the Triphone Chimera; of the Dragon who guards the Golden Apples; of Hydra [67] with seven heads; de la Scylla with her six Dogs;
Naiads who walk on the dried Sand. And finally of Neptune which dormant Spermatized on the Earth which received its Seed. And to put it in a nutshell, I have opinion that all the fictions of the Poets are a veil by which the Philosophers have hidden the Physical work. And when they could no longer make use of Fabulous Fictions, they described it to us through Tableaux or Portraies; recreational thing, indeed, to those who hear it: of all of whom we will describe one, helping God, who will be less useful than delectable: but first let us give the explanation of the Fables above. [68]
Daedalus is the Fixed Sulphur, and his Son the Volatile Sulphur. These two here came out of the Labyrinth; that is to say, that these two Sulfurs came out of servitude: for Nature (as a Philosopher says in the Peat) having embraced her fellow man is made free. That's why these two fly away; that is to say, sublimate themselves. But Icarus flying too high; that is to say, subtilizing too much, the Sun burned its wings & fell into the Sea: which should mean that this Volatility ending by the means of the two Interior & exterior Agents becomes fixed with the fixed, Fac fixumvolatile & volatile fixum .
This is why it is said that his Father buried him in the Sand; that is to say, received it & fixed it with oneself.
Touching Midas, Ovid represents this King to us with a power, which he had received free of charge from Bacchus, to transmute everything he touched into Gold, so that his eating and drinking were transmuted into Gold; the Trees, the Plants [69] & everything he handled into Gold.
By Midas is meant the Physical Powder, which has the power to transmute everything into Gold; the Bread, that is to say the imperfect metallic Bodies; Water, that is to say the Spirits, like the Mercurys. The Plants, that is to say the green & imperfect Metals. As for what it says that Midas was dying of hunger, it is that our work being infinite is never exhausted in transmutation. We could here add the Golden Bough which, torn off, another came in its place: to be taken doubly, & for the Universal Spirit, & for the Stone ad infinitum.
It is said that Bacchus gave him this power; benign Reader, I beg you to read my Morbific Hydra in the seventh Book, & you will see that speaking of Water, which is the Menstrual of the World, I draw from it a sheet of Earth that few know; which alone reduced to liquor is the true solvent of gold; which solvent is called by the Philosophers, (and in particular by Raymond Lully in his Accurtatory) their Wine: Also it is from Water that Wine is made, as Empedocles would have it; and it is then that being well cut in the Vines, by the heat of the [70] Sun, it passes into the Grapes: by which the Philosopher Calisteno usually called it the Blood of the Earth.
Phoebus exterminated the Python with arrows; that is to say, the inner Agent being excited from without, the superabundant humidity of Mercury is destroyed. The Triphon is taken here for the hot & dry exhalation enclosed in the bowels of the Earth which takes the place of Form & Agent: And the Gorgon is the humid vapor which serves it as Matter & receptacle: the first taken for the Vitriolic Mineral Virtue which alone has the power to freeze the Mercurys, or the humid vapours, which is for the second, &c.
By the sisters of the Gorgon; namely, the first two Stheno, & Euryale, which were immortal; means Gold & Silver, which cannot be destroy nor corrupt (at least the Gold) neither by Fire nor in any other way whatsoever. And Medusa for the imperfect body or metal, especially since it is easy to resolve.
Perseus is taken here for the Fire, which by his action, by means of the sword, that is to say the Menstrue or dissolving liquor, [71] cuts off his Head: so much so that from the blood which therein strong come two substances; one fixed which is Sulphur, not the vulgar Volatile & edible; the other Volatile which is the Pegasus; that is to say, a Mercury which has wings: it being noted that it is not the vulgar Mercury, but the one which is known to us. Its two substances, which Hermes calls the Earth & the Sky, the low & the high, being governed & duly mixed, come to contemplate each other in a mediocrity so equal, uniform, & proportioned, that it can reduce the diseases & imperfections of the bodies, both human and metallic, to an entire cure & anatic & equal temperament.
It should be noted in passing, that although Aesculapius had learned the best of the Medicine of the Centaur Chiron, that nevertheless he did not work wonders, in the cure of diseases, until after having received from Minerva the blood of the Gorgon.
By the Three-Headed Dog begotten of Trifon & the Gorgon, like also the Chimera Triphone, we must understand the three substances of which all bodies are composed, & where they are resolved by the action of Fire, which separates, dissipates & alters all that that the heat of the Sun joins, [72] unites, & procreates: These substances are called by the Chemicals, Salt, Sulphur, & Mercury.
By the Dragon who guards the Golden Apples; & the seven-headed Hydra; together the Scylla which with its six Dogs on the part of embars (namely there fixed) makes the seventh; by them, I say; we mean the seven Metals of which the Dragon which is Mercury (notwithstanding that it is Volatile) is one, but left thus flowing & imperfect, by a providence of Nature, to serve them as a solvent, in order to corrupt & regenerate them to a more perfect substance.
As for the Naiads, they are usually taken for the Fountains, Rivers & Springs of Living Water; & the dryness of the Sand, for the Lands; because drought is the proper quality of the Earth. Now, inasmuch as it suits our subject very well, the Chemical Philosophers have taken it as a similarity of their material and their work; meaning by the Naiads the flowing Quicksilver which in its sublimations produces a kind of hair, in conformity with the Naiads which are commonly represented as the Water flowing from their hair. And by the dried Sand the Spirit [73] of Vitriol, which freezes & mortifies the said Mercury, just as the Earth freezes & dries up the Water that falls on it; for there is nothing hotter than Vitriol, so it is of the Nature of Fire, particularly completes the property of heat.
Now, as the Earth being watered with Water produces Herbs, and Flowers, each in its season: in the same way our Earth, watered with our Water, produces Flowers, that is to say our Gold; also being conducted with the above two it constitutes the principal Foundation & subject of this Art. And this is what Morienus very well remarked; for he means by his Morienus Romanus the Roman vitriol, called Atramentum; & by the servant Galip the Quicksilver; who is ordinarily called by the Chemicals, Servus fugitivus, who goes to seek & fetch this Morienus in the deserts & drags him out; for, as we have said above, nothing can draw the real Tincture from Roman Vitriol but Mercury alone.
And the King is Gold, as Hermes says in the seventh & last chapter of his Secrets: to which we can refer Apollo's friendship towards Hyacinthe transmuted into a Flower; that is to say [74] Gold brought back into Vegetable Nature; because it is then the beginning of all the great Medicines & rectifications, both of metallic bodies and of Humans. And not without cause said the Philosophers (speaking of Vitriol) Visitabis Interiora Terre, Rectificando, Invenies, OccultumLapidem Veram Medicinam (You will visit the interior of the Earth, Rectifying, and you will find the Hidden Stone of True Medicine); all of which Capital Letters make VITRIOLVM: & to show that this Mixte is worthy of great admiration, it is that it is found, without change of any Letter, in the Anagram of this word VITRIOL, L'OR. I VIT.
Let's move on to the rest. Firstly warning the reader here that he meditates on what Vitriol & what Mercury I here mean to speak of.
By the sleeping Neptune, &c. We must understand the Sea which consists of two substances, one salty and the other sweet, as one can easily discern by the separation of these both by Fire, in an Alembic or Retort, and by the heat of the Sun when one makes salt. The salt substance is fixed & the other volatile; that one oily & unctuous of Nature of Sulphur, or of Saltpetre; this one raw & cold, of Nature of Mercury, or of Salt Armoniac which contemplates, waters[75] & refreshes the heat & dryness of the other; for otherwise it could not be the subject of Generation, especially since corruption having no place in the fixed it is necessary to volatilize it before producing it for Generation. These two humidities, therefore, consistent with the Salt are communicated to all the Elementary compounds & are the cause of their production & maintenance; of which the most homogeneous of all, & of the strongest & solid composition even as inexterminable, are the Metals, in particular Gold. To God alone, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, all honor be given. Amen. [76]
Paintings & Portraits.
We depict a completely naked Virgin, beautiful par excellence, & in the prime of her age, ivory hair, black & white eyes, coraline mouth, her rounded & polished breasts, fertile in milk. She holds two burning torches, one in each hand. Under his Right Foot is a Stone of Gold, from which come out very clear flames. Under his left foot is a stone of silver, from which issues a fountain divided into several small streams. Under her right breast is the Sun; & under the left the Moon: & all around them [77] quantity of small fluttering Birds, some rising above & others descending below. Finally this Nymph is leaning with her back against a Tree laden with Flowers and Fruits.
Secondly, in the Tiare or Triumvir of the Philosophers, Hermes is depicted sitting in a chair; holding on his knees two Tables, in one of which are represented the Sun and the Moon; at the top of which are 2 Serpents in Circles devouring each other; one of them lying winged holds the upper place, and the other having no wings the lower. In the second Table are painted 3 Circles of various colors, in the middle of which is the representation of the Moon, at which two Suns dart their rays; one of which shoots only one, and the other two. And finally around the chair of Hermes flutter nine Eagles which have [78] each a Bow in their claws, with which they dart Sagettes into the Earth.
Enough of these two Examples, because from the exposition of them one will be able to come to the full knowledge of the others, which are in great number in the Books of the Philosophers. Glory be to God. Amen.
This Virgin is none other than the Universal Spirit who is said in this place Virgin, because that he has not yet specified. The two torches that she has in her two hands are Gold and Silver in power, or rather the natural heat and the radical humor, taken by the Chemicals for the Sun and the Moon, which are the two torches illuminating the World. ; Also Gold & Silver are the two torches that illuminate the Metallic World. As for the beauty of its face, several colors can be seen; it is [79] that with the effects of Art imitating Nature, all the colors which are noticed mainly in Mixed Elementaries, if meet. All of which Mixed draw their maintenance from this Universal & inexhaustible Source, so often repeated in this Book;
It is why he was given two udders full of milk. By the stone of Or is understood the metallic Sulphur: & by its clear flames the purity which is in it, which always tends to the purity of the perfect Metals. Touching the Pierred'Argent & its Fountain divided into streams; it is explained by the Mercury which is Argentinian, that is to say pure, clear, and clean: Ice has been called to it by all the philosophers Fountain, because it greatly symbolizes with Water; & although he is very divided he still retains his Nature, & is still similar to himself as well as Water.
And though it seems that the diversity of Metals denies this truth, nevertheless it does not affect the purity of its essence; because the cause why he is thus diversified into several species, is the diversity of the pure or impure Matrixes which makes them such as we see: And this [80] is to be understood by the division of the streams.
By the Sun & the Moon represented under her breasts, this one on the right, & this one on the left; it is necessary to understand this generative & vivifying Virtue of all things, communicated from the rays of the Sun & the Moon, to this Virgin Earth which we sometimes see under a body of Salt; which gave occasion to the Philosophers to say that, in Sole & sale Naturae sunt omnia. Touching the Flying Birds, &c. This has a double explanation; one can be understood as accidental circumstances which meet in the progress of the great work (for although the root is unique, in large numbers) namely the Mercurial vapors which, agitated by the external Agent, rise & fall, as if circulating; which is signified by the ascent & descent of the Birds.
This Operation has been imitated, by Art, from Nature; for it is certain that the Universal Spirit already congealed into Salt form (i.e. citing encased in the Salt body we see & touch)[81] being liquefied by the moisture of the Moon its Mother , comes to sublimate himself & freeze his Father by the rays of the Sun; this is why Hermes says that his Father is the Sun & his Mother is the Moon; Pater eius is Sol, mater eius Luna, &c. And this is for the second explanation.
As for the Tree against which this Nymph is leaning, it is the first Matter root of our second Matter; one capable of specifying & the other already specified: what should be noted of any good Artist, &c.
By Hermes is understood a Philosopher who knows nothing of the Mysteries of Nature, of its infused, latent, interior, exterior, essential, accidental Virtues, the causes, the effects, the accidents, and the properties: and all this to come to the true knowledge of God, which cannot be known by any other way than by his works. This is why the two Tables which he holds on his knees, are; one the Book of God & Nature; which is decorated with a Sun to denote the superior Nature, in which it is necessary to consider the Archetypal World & the Celestial: Secondly, of a Moon taken for the Elementary World considering its movements [82] & vicissitudes, denoted by the Serpents which devour themselves: which in the second sense (being taken in this place for the Material of the work) denote one Gold & the other Quicksilver; namely Gold & Quicksilver of the Philosophers.
One of them which has no wings is taken for the fixed part, & the other which is winged for the Volatile: one Earth & the other Water: one Body & the other Spirit: one Air, the other Fire: Finally one Male & the other Female.
For it is true that in the Elementary World everything is accomplished by its two by means of the Seed or Air.
The second Table relates to the above; & can be called the Book of the big & small World: But as I deal very amply with this Matter in my Macro-micro-cosmic Harmony, as also in my Physics, the Reader is there envoy: This is why we will adapt only here the explanation of this second Table, to our low Chemical Astronomy.
Let us say then, that the three Circles contained in this second Table, are taken for the three Chemical principles, Salt, Sulphur, & Mercury; Body, Soul, & Spirit; Gold, Silver, & Mercury of the Philosophers. They are also taken for [83] the three principal circumstances which meet in the work, which some ill-advisedly call colours. Let us say again, in favor of the Children of Science, that these three Circles denote the three kingdoms, Animal, Vegetable, & Mineral. The image of the Moon which is in the middle is the Universal Spirit, capable of receiving such Specification as Nature pleases to give it, for at that time it is capable of all Forms, as the Moon is of impressions.
Two Suns radiate rays from this image, one one, and the other two; that is to say, the Celestial Sun specifies the Universal Spirit to make only simple Gold; but the Terrestrial Sun actually reducing the power of the inner agent (who are each taken for a Ray) does it more than Gold, even capable of communicating its Virtue to those who are not.
Finally, the nine Eagles which hover around the chair of Hermes, are the Celestial Bodies which dart their Virtues on Earth, denoted by the arrows which these Eagles launch. This can still be seen in our Lower Astronomy, in that the Spirits having separated from their bodies, they come to rejoin them, [84] more virtuous, powerful & vivifying than they were before. That if we want to give a final hand to this explanation let us say that by the Eagles & arrows, are understood the Virtues of our Stone; namely dissolutive, putrefactive, resolutive, digestive, sublimative, freezing, cementative fixative & teingitive.
Do not be surprised if I say that all these Virtues meet there in Pierreparfaite; for it is certain that it does all its actions upon a Body (whether Vegetable Metal or Animal) before making appear the effect of its destiny: Being very necessary that the disposition of the patient be proportionate to the effect of the agent; otherwise this Virtue not finding or being reduced in act its effect turns into Eclipse. To the only Triune God in Unity, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be rendered all honor & glory forever and ever. Amen.
End of the first section.
Material whether one or more.
Three kinds of Philosophers have greatly obscured this point; for some want only one Matter, others want two; & the third in [86] want several. Let us enter some of these three Classes, in this Chap. then we will give them an attack by the Exposition of their words. Morienus, says that the first & principal substance of this Matter is one; to which nothing is added or diminished.
Hermes, everything and all things come from one, so our Magisterium is made from one substance. Of the same opinion is Agmon in the Peat, when he says, be assured that it is only one thing, into which no strange thing enters. Maudinus does not stray from the latter's opinion, when he says in the same Peat, that there is only one Nature and one Matter which is true. This is followed by Mundus, saying that there is only one Tincture or Matter of the Philosophers.
Agadmon, Nature is satisfied with a Matter. Scytes, [87] know, O you Lovers of this Science, that the Principle of this Art is but one; and what is perfected here does not lie in the multitude of things. All above mentioned are followed by Arnault de Villeneuve in his Rosary, book. I. chap. 6. where he says, that our Art does not consist of several things but of one. In short Augurel at 3 of his Chrysopoeia, speaking of what is necessary for a perfect Artist, says that he only needs one Material, one Vessel, one Furnace, one Operation & one Fire. This Poet is followed another, in these Terms.
A Matter in a Vessel suits You to put in a Furnace.
Here is when to those who hold the first opinion, let's see those of the second. Ezeumon, in the Peat says, that our Art needs two Natures. This is followed by Zimon, who says that this Secret consists of Male & Female. [88] Rosinus, says that our Stone is said to be two things. Ascanius, in the same Peat, this Secret comes from the mixture or composition of two things. Bellus is of the number of those of the third opinion, when he says in the Peat, our Water, in which consists all our Secret, is made of several things. Finally, we read in Hermès that this work is made of all things from the World.
O deep obscurities! O priceless Daedalus! who will be the one who will conceive some opinion among so many opinions? principally if it is true that they are all telling the truth: which I will try to show, God helping, by three words of exposition; The Glory to God. [89]
To hear what above; it must be held as constant that the Matter which the Philosophers take is that of Nature. Now it is necessary to consider exactly whether it has one or more, and for then we will come to the perfect understanding of the various opinions mentioned above. And to start you have to remember what I said above in my Preface that the deformed Mass (which some have ignorantly called Chaos) was an abyss of Waters, from which God separating the pure from the impure, after of the purest the Firmament the Planets & the Signs had been made; from the less pure came the 4 Bodies which are the principal members of this World, that is to say the 4 Elements, to which God flowed a Spirit of life, which these Elements by their actions, by means of Nature, enclose in the Universal Matrix; which the.
Specifying Nature, she produces for us all that we see in three sublunary genera: For it is very certain that Nature does not immediately produce all Mixed, simple than compound, of the four Elements, but mediately, that is to say by the intervention of the aforesaid Universal Spirit. As it happens that one reads my Chemical Bouquet, Second Flower, chap. 2, dealing with the principles of Chemistry, & one will make satisfied.
Here, then, is this unique Matter; which Nature taking, the Artist, who imitates Nature, must also take it. But as Nature cannot in an instant produce the effect that she has intended herself to be a specific being, of herself she uses essentially two things, namely, vapor and exhalation; & it is to explain & hear the intention of those who say that two things are necessary.
But as this is not enough for Nature to come to the end of her work, she still employs several things in it; namely, the Motor, which reduces power into action the thing moved, which is the vapor; the two extremities, & the time during which the union of the passive beginning is made with the active end. And this is the sound conception of those who say that several things are necessary. Or if you want it more [91] intelligibly, Form, Matter & the uniting means, which some call act, & I Generation.
It should nevertheless be noted in passing, that Art can transmute Imperfect Metals into Gold without a new movement of generation, & corruption; but by the sole movement of alteration & separation of gross accidents, for Metals do not differ in species, but only in accidents. But of this more fully in my Treatise on Potable Gold.
Touching those of the last opinion, who say that it is made of all the things of the World; to understand them it is necessary to remember that we have said that Nature specifies the Universal Spirit in all the Mixtes which meet in the three sublunary Genres: for it is certain that as first Matter it is not merely susceptible of all Forms; but still it contains in itself all sorts of Seeds & Virtues, which it produces variously according to the diversity of the Matrixes that it encounters. Now this Spirit of life is so alive that when it separates from some species at the same time, it loses its specific form which [92] returns to its Chaos to be transplanted with Time into some other species.
From what above we will derive the true explanation of the opinion of Hermes, when he says that our work is made of all things. For since this Spirit of life is specified in all things, and the species destroyed here remains able to be specified to another, it will follow that the Artist, removing it from any species whatsoever, will be able to Specify it again (imitating Nature). ) in a species more noble than that from which he will have drawn it; this is unrequited. I could say very nice things here, but for brevity this is reserved for the above promised book. Glory & praise be given to our Triune God in Unity. Amen.[93]
From the Name of the Material, if one or more.
If the opinions of those whom I have alleged in chap. previous have obscured this Art by their unity & multiplicity of Matter those who have named it have done no less: For some say that it has only one name; the others that it has two, and the thirds that it has several, even & infinite. Let us enter some of them into this Chap. then, having heard them, we will see how they should be explained.
Morienus, says that our Matter has only a name which is proper to it alone. Eximidius in the Peat seems [94] to mean the same, when he says that all the names which have been given to this Matter are false, though true, for it has only one. Agmon, still wants the same in the Peat saying, be careful not to deceive yourself in the multiplication made, by men, of the names of this Matter, for it has only one. And a little lower, he warns that one does not deceive oneself after so many names.
And going further he affirms it again saying, that although we wanted to attribute several names to this Matter if it is, in truth, that it has only one. Here are those who say that it has only one name. Let's see who says she has more than one. Mundus in the Peat, says; Know, O investigators, that the Philosophers have named their Gum (that is to say their Matter) by several names.
Bellus, says as much, in the same Peat, This Water (which we must hear for Matter) has many [95] names. Nephritus says she has a thousand names. Ascaimon, gives him several. Eximanus, says that the Philosophers have given to their Matter, the name of all Metals. Which is confirmed by Anastratus when he says that they gave their Matter the name, not only of all Metals, but also of Minerals, Vegetables, & Animals. Let us see if from these various opinions we can draw some truth: Glory to God.
The Exposition of this chap. being Analogous to that of the precedent, I will not extend much on this diversity of opinions. Because that the Matter has only one name that is certain, namely, Spirit of life. What also have several, is beyond doubt, for she has as many as there are Mixed of which this Spirit is specified. And although we could here adapt all these circumstances in order to show [96] that according to them it receives diversity of names; nevertheless we wanted to make a chap. apart, in order to deduce everything in good order. To our God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit be honor & glory. Amen.
Circumstances of Matter.
In order to have the means to continue our accustomed brevity, I will content myself to bring in this place a small testimony of each circumstance, because to deduce them all I would never have done; so it seems to me somehow unnecessary; against the opinion however of Augurel, who wants the Artist to observe them all; although Arnaud de Villeneuve, in his Rosary, admonishes us not to [97] amuse ourselves with colors or circumstances.
As for the color, therefore, of Matter, many say that it is black, white, red, blue, green, Tyirian or purple in color; in short, of all the colors that are or can be. I do not mean here to speak of the colors which they say appear in the coction of it, because of which we will speak when it is time but only the color of Material that the Artist must take, by which we seek to know it.
Florus in the Peat, therefore, says that it is black, in these terms; the whiteness is hidden in the blackness of our Matter. Zimon, says she is red; DealbateRubeum, he said, whiten the red. And in the same Peat, he says it is red & white; Dealbate rubeum, & album in rubeum vertite, whiten the red [98] & redden the white. Rosinus says this thing is white in appearance & red in interior. At the great Rosary Matter speaking says; I am black, white, red, green, and I do not lie. And Dastin, the thing that has the red head, white feet, & black eyes is our real Matter.
Which is confirmed by Agmon on the end of the Peat, where he says, that Matter is white, black, red, color of Brass, color of Tyrian; in short, of all the colors of the world. Enough colors say weight.
Some say that Matter is a light thing, and others heavy.
Let us bring a testimony of each party only & begin with Morienus; which says that Pondus eius grave is; its weight is very heavy. This is confirmed in several places in the Peat, in these terms summiteponderosum sumum. [99] Take the Heavy Smoke. On the contrary Calid, chap.9. said, that this material is very light in weight. What is confirmed by Augurel, who says, that it is rare, light, agile, & volatile. And to contradict the two above opinions, Agmon says that it is light & heavy; all together ; this Matter, he says, is heavy, solid & immutable by Fire, immutable by Water, & immutable by Wind. It is also light, airy, spongy; mutable by Fire, mutable by Water, mutable by Wind.
As for Tact, Morienus says his Tact is soft; who in this opinion followed Mary; which says that her loton is soft. On the contrary, Geber, Arnauld de, Villeneuve; & Raymond Lully in his Testament, all assure that it is hard, & this in these terms; our bodies are very hard, and therefore they need [100] a long preparation and continual operation. That if we want to take the trouble to delirious all the Peat we will see in several places of it that it is ordered to soften it, and then on the contrary to harden it.
Touching the taste of it, some say it is very sweet, and others that it is very bitter. Its black color, says Florus, comes only from its bitterness. And Rosinus, says that its white color is produced only from its softness. This is why a Philosopher of this time, drawing a truth from these two opinions, apparently contrary, says that Matter has a sweet salty taste. There remains a small word of the smell.
Morienus, says that its odor is stinky, & similar to the odor of the Sepulchres of the dead. Now that it is not stinking, say several Suffragans in his opinion, it appears in [101] what is called Spiritus foetida, Aqua foetida, &c. Mundus says , on the contrary, that it has a sweet odor, which in putrefying is not filthy, nor foul smelling. I am silent, to put an end to the other circumstances, because they are without number; for some say that it is of an Arian ship, others Igneous, Terran, Aquatic; that it is a Body, a Spirit, a Soul; a Spirit Body; a Body Spirit; a non-body body a non-body body; that she is phlegmatic, angry, sanguine, & melancholic that she is healthy and sick; young watch; big small; poor rich; coldhot; wet dry; green, ripe; long, short; wide, narrow; deep & non-deep; large & small: & in a word, all the circumstances one can imagine meet in Matter.
Let us see if we can [102] give some light to these obscurities, in order to give glory to God.
The Matter of the Philosophers is white, red, & black, even & of all colors, as we have seen above, &c.
It should generally be understood in this way; that it exists under all the Mixed of whatever color they are. Example ; it is very certain (& the perfect Artists do not disavow this truth) that Antimony, which is black, contains as well, according to its extent this Spirit of life as Gold which is yellow, & Copper which is red according to theirs. That if we confess it to the said above we will not deny it to Mercury, nor to Silver, which are white. Now, as Matter cannot be perceived by the external senses; the Philosophers, to make it easier for us to understand, have used the colors that the bodies under which this Spirit rests can have: and as they can be infinite, even their colors are infinite. [103]
That if there were some philosopher who wanted to maintain that she had no of color, he will have to admit that truly our Matter being Air, and Air having no particular color, but quite capable of making them appear all, likewise our Stone has none of its own, but it does can receive as they may be. This is why philosophers, some say that it must be whitened, and others reddened, etc. that is, to dispose it to receive the form we wish to give it.
It is heavy & light, &c. This must be understood that our Matter participates in the fixed and in the volatile, the true balance of the Philosophers in which they weigh the two fatal Elements of this World, Water and Fire; who are the Father, & the Mother of all generations: For the Spirit of life lying only in heat & humidity can to be called Fire, in regard to Heavenly things; & ès Terrestrial Water. This is why Hernies calls it Wet Nature; saying that it is the body of darkness, and the sky that of light.
Also this Spirit, in low things, receives its naturalness; leading the celestial heat with the terrestrial humidity to make the Generations. [104]
But let us accommodate ourselves to the meaning of the less speculative, and take Mercury, principle and origin of Metals, supposing that it is the vulgar (for it is of the same Nature, although differing in perfection, from that of the Philosophers) there is does he nothing easier to rise at the approach of the fire? & yet is there anything more weighty? That if we enter into its composition we will find there a Sulfur & a Salt; that one of an igneous nature and therefore volatile; this one of terrestrial Nature & consequently heavy.
And nevertheless to the sense of sight this Mercury appears only as a thing, which by the aforesaid analysis is found to be light and heavy altogether. Some might object to me, that there are things lighter & easier to rise at the approach of Fire, than Mercury, & also heavier. than him.
For whoever considers the speed with which the refined Saltpetre rises at the slightest approach to the Fire, will no longer be of your opinion concerning the attribute of lightness which you give to Mercury. And who will notice that the Gold passing through the body of Mercury descends to the bottom of the vessel which contains it, will learn that there is something heavier than Mercury. [105]
To which I reply, that we must consider this heaviness & lightness in the same subject, not in two different subjects.
In short, the Philosophers said, that it was soft & hard, &c. It is said to be soft by similarity, because as a soft thing is capable of receiving the imprint of any mark, character, or figure whatsoever, so this Matter is susceptible of any form. It is said to be hard because it is cold, & dry, of earthly Nature. Not that I mean to say that she has this quality alone particularly, for she partakes of all the Elements equally (in that being hot & dry, salty in taste & pontic, this testifies that she is of the Fiery Nature It is also hot & humid because at the mere touch of Fire, as we have said above, it comes to ignite which manifests its Nature of Air. coldness & dampness; which is demonstrated by its white & shiny color as possible) but I mean that it appears to our eyes under an earthly body which is nevertheless of the Nature of Salt.
That if it is necessary to give a last hand to this [106] explanation, let us say that it is impossible to give perfection to Matter without first having disposed it to the reception of its form; suppose therefore that the Philosophers understood this disposition to be a softening (for the soft is more capable of receiving the impression of something, as we have said above, than the hard) this can only take place on a solid thing , which is what they recommend so much, Fac fixum volatile & volatile fixum. And here is the sense in which it is necessary to understand that they called it hard.
Consequently they said it was sweet & bitter. This should be understood as the salty & pontic taste which is presently noticeable in it, gives way (by the progress of Nature & Art) to the sweetness which it contains in power. And the Artist who knows how to extract from Salt (which because of its ponticity can be said to be bitter) a sugar as sweet as milk, will confess this truth with me. For it is certain that all Salts are composed of two substances, one viscous, sticky & unctuous of Nature of Air, which is sweet & nourishing (for there is nothing that nourishes only the sweet) the other says aduste, acrid, pongitive & mordicant of Nature of Fire, which [107] all the Chemicals hold to be laxative, & it is true, carrien does not loose who does not partake of Nature of Salt: But of this more fully in my Chemical Bouquet in the Fleur des Sels. This is how the same thing is called sweet & bitter.
Now this is not found only in the Anatomy of Salt, but also in that of Soot, and of the gourds, which are the most bitter things that one could meet in the three sublunary genera.
They said it afterwards, with a stinking and sweet smell, &c. this deserves no other explanation than that of taste: for it is certain that bitter things do not have a good smell, and sweet ones on the contrary. Our Matter, before it has received its perfect preparation, smells of the odor of a Sepulchre, and this is true, I say it without enigma or any figure; but after its preparation it has a sweeter smell than musk.
Finally, as for the other circumstances, we can draw an understanding of them from the explanations given above of the other difficulties, as also from those which we will give again hereafter, helping God. To whom Father, Son & Holy Spirit, be given all honour, glory & praise. Amen. [108]
Actions of Matter.
HERMES, speaking of the actions of Matter says, let it scream; saying, my Son help me & I will help you. And in the Peat, it is compared to two Fires which meeting one eats the other. And Hermes says she eats & devours herself. Arnault de Villeneuve, says she drinks. In short, it performs all the actions one could imagine; for it runs, it faults, it flies, it swims, it crawls, walks, grows, multiplies, dyes, & colors, etc. Let's see how to hear what above. Glory be to God. [109]
She speaks, this is said by translation, in which is always hidden the similarity: for which to hear it is necessary to suppose a rich man to be in extreme danger, which promises to abound with goods whoever delivers him from it. Our Matter, although rich, is in the misery of the tyrannical prisons of magnesia, from which it can only come out (although it naturally desires) by the help of the Artist, who will become rich by it, having reduced to the point where the philosophers desire it.
As for what it is compared to two Fires which destroy each other, the exposition of it must be similar to that which will be given to what follows, that it devours itself: this is why , let us say that it must mean the indificient growth of Matter, as we have said above in Paragraph seven of the first Section, or he will have recourse to it [110] to be satisfied. And to make it short we will say that what is said of her that she drinks, must receive same exposure as above.
Touching the rest of the actions, they must be understood generally in this way, that this Matter being specified in all things which can do the actions aforesaid, it may be called by their name. Now, because this has been particularized above, as the occasion has presented itself, it would only be pointless again to speak of it again in this place, which is why we will skip over it. To God, Trine in unity, be the glory and the praise. Amen. [111]
All philosophers in general have veiled these two terms place and time so much that they have never said a single word about them. Because some want let it be in the Water, the others in the Earth; some in the Air, and others in the Fire, several others in the Wind. Others want it to get caught in the Mountains, several in the Valleys, others in the Forests, and some along the paths, and in the droppings. In short, there are those who say that it is in ourselves: & finally in all the things of the world, Let's make it appear [112] to say a few in this Chap then we will come to their exposition.
Aristotle, in lib. Secreto says this Matter is everywhere. Alphidius, this Matter is found by the paths. Married. pr. this grass which grows in small mountains. Calid, this Matter is found everywhere, & in every man: & on the other hand he gives advice to enter the caves of the Mountains of India to draw this Matter there. Rosinus, says that everyone tramples her under foot, because, he says, she is found in the droppings & by the paths: And therefore, says the same, she is found everywhere, but particularly she is born in two Mountains: From which it seems to contradict, in libro de Divinis interpretationibus; where he says, that it dwells & remains in the Air: & on the other hand, that this Matter is in Man, remaining inseparably with him. Which is confirmed by Rasis; [113] This Matter, he says, is never separated from you.
And Mahomet, in the Peat, says that it is everywhere, and that the poor have it as much as the rich. Massarai, instead, says that it is found in the four Elements; that in a word it rests everywhere in the Sea, in the Earth, in the Mountains, Valleys, Air, Water, Fire, Salt, Sulphur, & Mercury.
Item, Hermes, says she is at the Winds; the Wind carries it in its belly, he says, in its Emerald Table. Finally Morienus questioned the King where this Matter was, answered that it was in him & that he was the Miner.
As for Time, Aristotle in the Book of Secrets to Alexander the Great, says that it is Of the place & time, in which Matter is found.
is found at all times: which is confirmed by Calid. Opinion which is not followed by all; for Augurel says that she is not at all times. [114]
We have so and so many times unraveled all these difficulties above, speaking of the Specification of the Universal Spirit, that it seems that this should suffice in this place, without extending ourselves further to the unraveling of these.
But especially as the particular knowledge of the things that we have to treat there is greatly necessary for those who want to sail in this Sea of Chemical Philosophy, we thought it good to speak about it a little deeply, which will not give less utility than pleasure.
Our Matter is therefore called Air, Fire, & Wind, Salt, Sea, Water, Sulphur, Mercury, Mountain, Valley, & that it is in us, in short everywhere, &c. this and true. But how can it be all of this together? here is how it should be understood. It is constant, among all the Philosophers, that Fire cannot subsist without Air, which is its food; & it is what Hermès wants to infer in its Pimandre when it calls Nature [115] moist, for vapor is the next Fire action; also its substance by the Air is converted into Water & is preserved in it (which will be for the explanation of those who say that it is in Water) which is thrown into the bowels of the Earth by the force of the Wind, immediate son of the Nature comes to excite the Chaos, which is the Air, to movement afresh, and excites the centric Fire to it; & this one separates, purges, digests, colors, & ripens any kind of seed, pushing them into the pure or impure Matrix from which comes the diversity of the Mixed. In that above the actions of the three principled principles are noticed, namely Sulfur by Fire, Salt by Air, & Mercury by Water.
Of all of which the Wind is like the cement & the glue joining together, the various Natures of the Elements, being like the Spirit & the instrument of the World; also he is the bearer of the Universal Spirit. For it is certain that the Spirit of life would not be found in anything here, below, without the universal Spirit, and the latter could not join there without their mediator, who is the Wind; this is why Job in 7. chap. calls his life Wind.
If the lively Wind is what we say the Spirit & the Soul; & is [116] said to be alive when this assembly is done without corruption:
But when there is such a conjunction of these two, namely of the Soul & of the Spirit, that a corruptible Body intervenes with, were one are separable from the Body.
The Wind therefore is Air, and the Air is therefore Wind: that if nothing of the three kingdoms in Nature can have life or movement without Air, as we see in the Animals which die and suffocate in the absence of it; & the very Plants which do not have an open & free Air become feeble & languishing in the respect of others; from which we can draw a consequence also for the Metals, because they live the same life as the above-named, as we have shown in somewhere in this work, as also in our treatise on Potable Gold.
That if nothing can live, I say, without Air, can we not conclude that it is everywhere vital & breather of life, which crosses & penetrates everything, binding, moving, & filling all things, to which it gives consistency, & by which is engendered & makes manifest the General Spirit enclosed in everything which imprinted & engrossed with Air is made more [117] powerful to spawn.
On just occasion, therefore, we have above called the Air Salt; for in Soli & Sale Natuae sunt omnia; also it is true, that Sine Sole & Sale nihil utilius. Now, why we put here the Sun with the Salt, it is because this one is Son of that one; & this one Father of this one; Patereius is sol. And this Sun must here be taken for the Sulfur of Chemicals; because as it represents here below in the Elementary world the Fire, likewise it denotes in the celestial the Sun; & passing to the intelligible World the Spirit S. this is why it is called divine Theion, which is the adjective of Salt; also it is most often taken in Scripture for the symbol of Wisdom (accipe Sal Sapientiae) because it is proportionate to Fire.
But Wisdom is the Divine Word; & the Word the first principle of the principles of all things which principles are denoted from the Hebrews by the three letters Mothers, Aleph, Mem, &Shin. the Aleph denoting the Salt from which all is produced here below, the Mem, the Mercurial substance of Water Nature, as the Iezirah wills, praeficit ipsum Mem aquis - He himself presides over the waters.
And the Shin the Spiritual Sulfur of Fire Nature, as the same above-mentioned book says, praeficit ipsum [118] Shin igni. What is very well suited to what puts in Lully after Alphide; Sal non est nisi Ignis, nec Ignis nisi Sulphur, nec Sulphurnisi Argentum vivum reductum in preciosam illam substantiam coelestemincorruptibilem quam nos vocamus lapidem nostrum - Salt is nothing but Fire, nor Fire but Sulphur, and Sulfur is not living Silver reduced to that precious celestial and incorruptible substance which we call our stone.
This is how this Salt, or rather Universal Spirit, contains the principles in itself; that if the principles, consequently all that is produced from them; wherefore we may call it by all the names of things which may be, For whether we take it, or in the Mountains (which are most often taken by the Chemicals for the Metals, as you see Calid advising to take it in the Mountains of India, which are taken for Mercury, because it is Indian in color; &Rosinus in two Mountains, which are the Sun & the Moon, Ferments of the two white and red stones) or in the Valleys, hear by the opening & preparation of metals; for otherwise shall we never possess what they contain) either in the Air, or in the Water, or in the Earth, or in the Sea, or in the Fire, or in ourselves, that is; always the same thing; for it does not differ in essence, but rather in accidents [119] from the nomination of which we are constrained to make use, because they are nearest to our senses; and this until we have extracted from it this Virgin Earth, which is enveloped & covered with it in a way of a Winter garment, it being as it were in the middle & center of it, as Raymond Lully says in his Testament, in centra omnium rerum inest quaedam terra virgo - in the center of all things there is a kind of virgin land.
Let's give an example of the bias, which we must have in order to manifest it to our senses, in order to close this discourse.
Let us therefore say that this separation must take place in a well-closed vessel, in such a way that it cannot in any way breathe. To which we are exhorted by Geber in his Summa, Chapter of Calcination; Modas Calcinationis, he says, Spiritum sit in vase undique clauso, ne aer subintrans inflamationem praestet - Let the spirit be in a vessel closed on all sides, so that the air coming in does not cause inflammation. And Raymond Lully in his last Testament Et Spiritus dispergantur per aera, quodqueritur enim non fieret - And the Spirits are dispersed through the air, for what is said would not be done.
Now if this Calcination is done Philosophically, according to the intention of the aforesaid Authors (that is to say with conservation of its Radical disposition) the Salt which will be extracted from it being sown, will produce its similar, as well as its own seed, & in the [120] same way as if he had not felt the Fire: especially, as the Philosopher Alphide wants, if it is extracted from some powerful vegetable which does not dissipate lightly, as could be Mint, Sage, Melissa, Marjoram, & such herbs.
And it is the bias as it is necessary to understand what we reported from the Philosophers at the end of the Chapter that we explain, which is found at all times, and which is not found at all times. At all times it is true that she is; but we cannot possess it all the time; either, or that we do not take the Body, in which it resides more abundantly, (that is to say with more Virtue; for although the poor have as much as the rich, as Mahomet says in the Peat, it is - to say that the imperfect have as many as the perfect, according to their extension;
nevertheless that of the perfect ones not being so muddled with Heterogeneity, we must seek it with more care than of the imperfect ones) or that we ignore the true bias of its preparation: to which we can add what is more virtuous in the elevation & return of the Sun, because then it elevates & strengthens more powerfully this Spirit of life of [121] all Nature than at other times. Or, to return to our example; we see, by the aforesaid experiment, that not exterminating the intrinsic forms of the Elementary compounds which are transmitted to them from Heaven, we possess this first Matter of all things; & therefore that of the true Philosophers.
It is therefore this Virgin Earth, or Heaven terrified which by its igneous subtlety purges & develops the radical mood of the Excrements, which try to suffocate our life. In a word, it is the Universal Spirit, that excellent Medicine which Solomon says is drawn from the Earth, and which the prudent Man will not despise.
Yes our first Matter is a Salt: that is to say that the Salt is the first Body by which it makes itself palpable & visible: of which Sel Raymond Lully hears speak in his Testament when he says; we have above stated that at the Center of the Earth is a Virgin Earth which contains a fifth Element which is the most eminent work of Nature: thus Nature is lodged at the Center of each thing. So the Salt is this Virgin Earth which has not yet produced anything; into which the Spirit of the World is converted. It is Salt that gives [122] Form to all things, & nothing can fall to the sense of sight nor touch except by Salt: nothing coagulates but Salt: & nothing but Salt congeals.
It is himself who gives hardness to Gold and to all the other Metals: this is why the Operator will no longer be without Salt (says Arnauld in his Breviary) than an Archer without a cord. It is this crystalline substance exalted by sublimation, & white above the snow, which occultly contains within itself the Sulphurous seed red as Scarlet; as it is said in Peat Mirati sunt Philosophi rabedinem in tanta albedine existentre: further called Animated Salt, Living Water, Dry Water, & Frozen Water: including Egyptian Moses in 2.. liv. of its director, Ch. 31. divisit Deus lumen & tenebras, & aqua ab aquis; & congelata is guta media - God divided light and darkness, and water from waters; and it is frozen in half.
This is what we say is truly the Matter on which & in which the true Philosophers must operate. To our good-natured God, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be honor & glory forever. Amen. [123]
Price of Matter.
Some say it is of great price; & the others, that it is vile & cheap: & others there are those who hold one & the other opinion. Of the first opinion is Baccaser, in Peat. What you seek, he said, is not vile price, for you seek a most excellent Treasure & gift from God. Mundus, in the same Peat; I say that our Gum is stronger than Gold, therefore those who know it hold it dearer than Gold; also she is more eminent than he, and more precious than the Pearls. Parmenides, we honor [124] this Nature because there is nothing so precious.
Zeno, foments the second opinion saying in Peat, what we seek publicly, & cheaply. Alphidius, know that God did not buy this. The same says Calid in his chap. 9 this Material is vile & cannot be bought: & confirming it in chap. 14. says it's not for sale. And Morienus says, that all that is bought expensive for this work is useless there, because its true Matter, he says tramples on his feet & finds himself among the manure-heaps. Which is confirmed by Geber; beware, he said, of depending on anything. Mahomet is among those who want both; our Matter is base, he says, in Peat, & is also very precious to those who know it. Brachescus says that it needs iron rust, and gold. Rosinus says it is as vile as [125] Lead, & as precious as what looks like heavy Plomben.
Cannot these words be the cause of error to the ignorant? yes truly & nevertheless their meaning is in conformity with the truth of Nature that we ask: what we will then pose of this Chapter. Helping God, to whom be honor and glory. Amen.
To fully understand what is above, it is necessary to consider Matter in three stages; 1. in its Mining; 2. out of his Mine; 3. carried out to perfection. In the first respect that we do not see & know it, it is said to be vile; for however many times one handles one's Miniere, one does not know or believe that it contains something so excellent.
And I pray you, is there anything more vile than droppings, however it is he who contains it in greater quantity, therefore, bluntly, [126] Morienus said she was in the dunghills. I know well that this passage of the corruption of Matter is explained, but here we are not speaking of its physical preparation, but only of its circumstances. Outside of its Mining, it is neither totally vile nor totally precious, but it participates a great deal in one and the other; for then it is indeed stripped of its Sphere, but not of its Heterogeneities.
But when its aluminous fat, and its Terrestrial Salt are separated from it by Art, remaining only the Æter, it is for when it is said to be very precious; even & more precious than Gold & Pearls; the reason is that the cause is always much more excellent than the effect: gold & the Pearls are produced from this Matter, by which it must be more excellent:
Also, without it the Earth would not produce anything; because everything that procreates, moves, & recreates in it, is caused by this Universal Spirit. In short, it is the dew of Heaven & the fat of the Earth, from which Isaac blesses his Son Jacob in Genesis27. De Rore Cædi & pinguedine Terræ, det tibi Deus, &c. Do not dare to look for other explanations, because, or I [127] am very much mistaken, these are the most certain.
But to end this Chap. & this Section all together, let us apostrophize the Philosophers a little & say to them: Philosophers my dear friends, then that in all the points above alleged you have only given obscurities, at least let those which follow be read with more intelligence ? the fear of being devoured by the Sphinx makes me address these words to you. However, the hope that I have that the favorable Genius who led me to the outcome of the difficulties mentioned above will not abandon me to the unveiling of his Enigmas, so that all fear banished from my Spirit, I will undertake with as much boldness the unraveling of the difficulties that follow that I have had the clarification of. Glory & praise be given to the Triune God in Unity, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
End of the second Section. [128]
Operations of this Art, if one or more; & what.
It is not enough to have seen above what Matter is, its circumstances, and the ambiguities with which it had been veiled. For if we do not put the [129] hand to work, it will never reduce its power to action unless Nature uses an engine, why will Art not use it who must imitate it? Now one of the principal instruments of which the Artist makes use is the Operation: but as the Philosophers, who have treated of it, are very different in their opinions (for some want only one, others want two, others four, other six; & finally, there are some who want twenty or thirty) it is necessary to deduce them each separately before coming to their understanding: but since they are many in number we will only talk about a few of them. some in this Chapter, & then we will come to the exposition of their words.
Arnault de Villeneuve, at the great Rosary, says that in our Magisterium there is only one regime. This is followed by Zimon in the Peat, who says that [130] our work is accomplished, with & by an operation. But Morienus wants two; Know, he says, that to perfect our Magisterium two operations are necessary, one of which ends, the other begins, which by its end gives perfection to the work. Alphide wants four which are Calcination, Sublimation, Fermentation, & Fixation. Geber asks for six; know, hunt, melt, incinerate, whiten, dissolve, & freeze. Raymond Lully in his Testament desires much more; for he wills calcination, dissolution, conjunction, putrefaction, freezing, cibation, sublimation, fermentation, exaltation, multiplication, &projection. Brazil is said everywhere in the Peat, that it is necessary to dissolve, to freeze, to corrupt, to regenerate, to whiten, to redden, to slay, to vivify, to wash, to moisten, to dry up, to burn, to calcine, to sublimate, to grind, to dye, to dissipate, [131] to divide , earth, separate, join & several others that will be found in the books of the Philosophers:
Even & very often extravagant operations, which seem to contradict each other, such as washing in fire, & burning in water; the latter taken for dissolution with our Mercury; & that one for purification with our Fire. Now to bring them all here I would never have done; because I touched those here only as an example, so that by having the true exposure the Reader can on this model facilitate the intelligence of the others.
I pass over in silence those who said that this operation was very difficult; such is Mostus in the Peat. And Hermès assures us that reducing the Sun & the Moon into a Body is easier than this Operation. On the contrary, Zimon & Socrates, in Peat, say it is so easy that a [132] Woman can do it, & a Child playing it. Praise be to God.
To understand well all the difficulties above, five or six words of intelligence will suffice. For when the Philosophers said that only one operation is necessary, they understood that when the conjunction of the Agent with the Patient is made, that from then on the hand has nothing more to disentangle with them; &; only Nature, with its external Agent, can transform the Agent from power into act. interior. But when they said that two operations, or even several, are necessary, this must mean the disposition that must be given to Matter beforehand.
Touching what they say it must be dissolved & coagulated; these are the circumstances which are observed in the action of the second operation, under these terms, fac fixum volatile, taken here for dissolution; & volatile fixum, taken for coagulation: in which two you will find all the others. For beneath the calcination, [133] pulverization, subtiliation, sublimation, & whitening, Volatility is understood. And under the conjunction, fermentation, cibation, exaltation, & conversion, is understood the perfect coagulation.
As for what Hermes says, that the Physical operation is more difficult than the conjunction of the Sun & the Moon, he means of the Sun & the Moon of the Philosophers, that is to say of their Agent & Patient; because indeed their conjunction (because it is done by the way of Nature) is much easier than not the conduct of its decoction, which must be done by the way of Art.
Finally touching on its facility, that it is only a work of Woman & Child's Play, we have explained it above in the exposition of Chapter 2, of the first Section. To our good-natured God, be honor and glory; centuries of centuries. Amen. [134]
Fire.
It is certain that the Artist, imitating Nature in this Art, can do nothing which worth without. Fire: this is why Calid says, that the composition of this Magisterium, is a conjunction or Marriage of the frozen Spirit with the dissolved Body, whose action & passion is on Fire. But what is this Fire? nobody ever told us about the apartment.
Some want the Fire to be gentle & slow; this is why certain Philosophers, in the Peat, forbid making violent Fire: Let us hear Custos, who says, that it is necessary to cook in a slow Fire, And Parmenides invites us [135] to learn how his Natures go from agreement in a soft & slow Fire. On the contrary Nicarus teaches us to make a Violent Fire. And Agmon, he who fixes everything with violent Fire deserves to be exalted above all others.
That if they are discordant to the rule & degree of Fire they are much more so touching the Matter of which it must be made. Here some want it to be the heat of the Sun, and some want it in the months of April and June; the other July & August, & so on. Rachaidil wants it to be Ash Fire. On the contrary Custos wants it to be the Bath; Put, he said, the citrine with his Sister at the Bath, & keep from heating it too much, Alphidius rejecting what on it wishes it to be horse manure, because, he says, being hot & humid it is the Wise Fires. Some others want [136] it to be the material Fire that we have; & hence, some want it to be made of oak coals, others of juniper, & others of tanner's clods, &c.
As for the order, Augurel wants it to be continued Night & Day in equal degree: because; said Morienus, if the Fire increases or decreases all is lost. These are followed by Roger Bacon, who says that Nature has given us an example of continual decoction, &c. But a few others; of which number is Rachaidibi, in his Fragment, says that Chemistry is an Art which works by five Fires; the first is white, he says; the second yellow, the third green; the fourth red like a Ruby; & the perfect fifth, & accomplishes the whole work. I leave here several other Fires (such as lamppost, fixation, calcination, distillation, solution [137] & coagulation) in order to come (helping God) to the explanation of the above alleged.
Here opens a fine opportunity to speak generally of the Fires, and of their excellence; but all the more so as I have dealt with it quite amply in my Chemical Bouquet, in the eighth Chapter of the Second Flower, the Reader is sent there. There we will see as Fire being the most excellent of all the Elements, neither Alchemy nor Natural Magic can reach their complete end without it.
For as he is the first worker & principle of things, so is he the molder of forms, driving things to the point where there is no further progression. There we will see how by the Fire God transmits from the intelligible World to the Celestial, and from it to the Elementary all the Treasures of Nature; so that by the communication of it everything moves & is moved, creates & recreates itself, vivifies & specifies itself, in as many particular lives as there are Matrixes, [138] of which the Embryo engrossed of the The Spirit of the World receives its perfection through a lively sympathy which the Father has with the Son. There will be seen the Analogy of Spiritual, Natural, & Material Fire with the three aforesaid; & as it is impossible to find in the Nature of things the vital Spirit, Balm of life, radical humor, otherwise quintessence of the learned, Pontanus would know what to say if he lived, since even in his own Epistle (wanting to make us wise at his expense) he says that although he worked on true Matter, that nevertheless he began again two hundred different times. And although he was equipped with the great patience required in this work, nevertheless this ignorance of the Fire cost him dear in work, time, and expense, so much this excellent Pilot can at the regulation of the Timon of our Jasonic Vessel.
Now, to this end, let us not be wise to the Phrygian, let us see if, giving the true bias of the sense of the aforesaid Philosophers, we can come to the knowledge of this external Agent.
Those who want a Feulent, are [139] not discordant to those who want it violent ; because these speak of the coction of the work in its beginning; & these of the fixing of it, which is theend of its preparation. Also this opinion is not different from that of those who want the Fire of the Sun, this being the months above alleged. Especially since the Fire of the Philosophers must be governed in the generation of their work as the Sun is conducted in the generation and production of things. Now it is certain that the Sun, in Spring, is accompanied by a soft and pleasant heat, in order to make all things germinate. After this heat gradually increasing in him, the leaves and the branches harden to endure more easily a greater heat; which acting the Flowers manifest; & always increasing produce the Fruits, & lead them by the increased degrees of its heat to a perfect maturity.
This same order is followed by the Philosophers, in that at the beginning of their Work they temper their Fire to the same degree of the heat of the April Sun; secondly to the Sun of June; third to that of July; & in the fourth[140] place at the Sun of August; ending as the Heatwave ends: during which Time the Sun is burning & ardent, even & the hottest of the whole Year: heat which is greatly necessary for it to perfectly ripen the Fruits of the Earth: Qui habet aures audiendi audiat.
As for what some want it to be a bath, or horse-dung, & the others Ash fire, coal, &c. they don't contradict each other. The opinion of those, is by similarity of the softness that our Fire must have in its beginning to the softness & temperance of the heat of the bath; for as in the bath rise & engender vapors which circulate all around the vessel containing & contained: in the same way the Fire of the Philosophers in its beginning, engenders vapors & pushes them on Matter, so much that they circulate it & surround equally to engender the most admirable work of Nature.
This can still be adapted to the effects of the Sun, in Spring, which generates, attracts & pushes vapours, circulating all over the Earth every day in order to engender all over the World. Who potest capere capiat. [141] Touching the Fire of ashes, & coal, this must be understood from the force that the Fire must have in the fixation of the work.
In short, there are those who want an equality in Fire, this must be understood from its continuity; for it is constant among all Philosophers that if the Fire is extinguished the work is lost. Because once our external Agent has reduced the inner power in action, it must never be extinguished, but rather increased little by little, according to the proportion of Matter changing from Nature to Nature. The experienced Trévisan gave very well to understand this Nature of Fire; when he says make Fire digesting, continual, non-violent, subtle, surrounding, airy, enclosed, incombustible & altering. From all this can be drawn the intelligence of what follows auchap. aforesaid of the diversity of the Fires; which give enough of themselves to be heard without my remaining here any longer at their explanation: added that their true intelligence can easily be collected from what is above. To the only God Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be honored, glory & praise forever. Amen. [142]
Du Four des Philosophes.
If the work has been great in explaining the above circumstances; I am of opinion that the pain will not be less in the intelligence of those who follow, for the Authors find themselves so discordant in regard to the construction of their Furnace, that hardly any truth can be drawn from it. Let us bring some of them into this Chap. so that by the explanation that we will give them one can understand something more assured at the Four of the Philosophers than until now one did not do.
Avicenna says that the whole work is perfected in a Furnace. And Bernard [143] Trévisan in his Epistle, wants three. Bacho, chap., 15, says that they must be as big as the Mountains where the Metals are made. And Flamel wants it very small, as well as he himself had it painted at the Charnier S. Innocent, â, Paris. Let us finish, because I did not deliberate to bring them all, so those here are enough; Praise be to God.
He who says that only one Furnace is needed is as true as he who says that three are needed: for one hears of that which contains only; & the other of what contains & of what is contained altogether. For it is certain that the Vessel, and the Matter enclosed in it, are called Furnaces by several Philosophers. Rosinus, Rasis, Calid, Pithagoras, & Morienus, sing nothing else except that one takes care not to suddenly ignite their Furnaces, because this haste will be harmful to them.
But this cannot be understood in several [144] separate Furnaces, because the making of the work is not done separately, but rather from a single Furnace containing the Vessel and the Matter.
Touching on the fact that some want them to be as big as Mountains and others small, this is only said figuratively; for just as Metals are made and perfected in the Mountains, the same makes the Artist his work in his Furnace, added that the Mountains are taken among the Philosophers, for the Metals subjects of this work (as we will say in the explanation of the following chapter speaking of the vessel) the sublimation of which represents to us that great Mountain where nothing strange grows, as well as we find in a little old book in French rhyme, entitled La Fontaine des amateurs de science, not to be rejected. It is found in the Mountain Where no strange thing grows, &c.
And this is to be understood by the raising of the celestial quintessence which is formed from the essence of the four Elements which, after having received, the force of the superior things [145] descends below to inform the body which languishes in the privation of its life. As for their smallness, that lies at the will of the Artist.
However, I will advise the Reader here, that the symmetry of the Furnace containing the vessel, must be so proportioned to the size of the vessel containing the Matter, that the Fire can be measured there clinically by the weight of the Air contained therein. And to know it, put the purity of Mercury in a proportionate vessel, and it in your Furnace; light the Fire there; if your Mercury sublimates, you have reached your first Degree of Fire. That if at the second the molten Lead remains there always such, make sure that your Furnaces will not deceive you. To the only God Triune in Unity, be honor & glory. Amen. [146]
Of the Vase, or Vessel of the Philosophers.
BACHON, imposes on us a necessity to have a Vessel to put our Matter. And Mary says, that if the Philosophers had never used it, they would never have come to the end of their work. but what is it? no one has ever talked about it clearly until now. Zimon, Anaxagoras, & Augurel, want it to be Hermès glass, & Geber, want it to be Earth.
Some want it to be large, and others small, some round, and others oval; some closed with the seal of Hermès, [147] & the other open. Such are Bacho, Marie, Mundus, Pandulphus, Ardarius, Afflictes Aziratus, Anastrarus, Obsemegamus, &c. Let us come to the day of their secret, if we can, and give glory to God.
What we said of the Furnaces in the preceding Chapter, can still be said of the Vessels here. Because for the Earth Vessel this can be accommodated to the container; & for that of Glass to the content. Which explains when & when their figure; the round for this one, & the oval for that one. Also their greatness; know smallness for this one, and greatness for that one. Finally, the closing for the small, and the opening for the big: because it is very necessary, in order to properly graduate the Fire, that it has certain openings known only to true Artists. Here is how this could be understood sanely [148] But in order to give a last hand to this Chapter, & contentment, to the Reader;
let us say, that when the Philosophers spoke of their Vessels, in the way above, they heard speak & of their Matter & of the Physical process which they insist on leading it to the perfection which they desire to draw from it, having called it quintessence or Azoth, Universal Medicine, which cures all diseases found in the three sublunary genera. Now that the Vessel of Earth is not understood for their Matter, it appears, in that all the Philosophers ask for a Sulphur, & a Mercury, a patient & an agent.
This is called Adamic or reddish Earth; & this one is called Virgin Earth which has not been defiled by any production; which is called Glass by Lulle & by Geber, in view of its extreme whiteness: here then is & the Vessel of Earth, & the Vessel of Glass. But to make this better understood let us take for example Gold, which consists of the four Elements so proportioned, that of all the other substances it if the most permanent in Fire (as being the Son of the Sun) cui rerum uni nihil igne perishes [148] but that must be understood for the progress of Nature: because for that of Art truly we learn that the Elements in Gold are convertible: because participating in Air & Fire, which Chemicals take for Spirit; & of Water & of Earth, taken by the same for the Body, it cannot be that the Fire manifests them to us in the decomposition of it:
we cannot know the things of which the compounds consist if we do not have the means of resolving them into these; compositionem rei aliquis scire nonpoterit, qui destructionem seu resolutionem illius ignoraverit, says Geber. Now these consist of his Soul or Tincture, which being red with Rubies is called Fire, or Sulphur. These consist of his Body, which being white as Snow is called Water, or Mercury.
And that is what Geber auchap means. of the calcination of the Sun. Omnis res rubea amota sua Tinctura remanet Alba. Whereupon it should be noted that after the Sulfur & the Mercury have been separated, an Earth remains, which can be vitrified with a strong [150] expression of Fire, & the rendering of the Nature of Gold, quost est inferius, est sicut when is inferius. And because by means one can associate Gold with glass, because they are as it were parallel to each other & conform in many things in that they are the last end of actions, one of Nature & the other from Art: Gold being produced from the Sun, which is the true instrument of Nature, and Glass from Fire on which depend all the principal artifices of Man. In after one & the other are entirely incombustible & inexterminable, when they are brought to the last degree of their perfect purification.
Also Job at 2.8. did not delay coupling Gold & Glass together, non a deaquabitur sapientiae aurum vel vitrum; which testifies enough that he brings them for the two most perfect substances of all others: this is why Raymond Lully inquired about the making of the Philosopher's Stone, & how one could achieve it, replied, ille qui seret facere vitrum ; because their ways of proceeding are similar.
Foundation that could be supported by what is said in the Apocalypse in two places of 21, chapter. the City of this Jerusalem [151] was pure and fine Gold, resembling pure glass. And a little further beyond the Place de la Cité was Orpur & clean as transparent Glass. Taken this way, we will encounter secrets whose effects will give admiration to the rarest spirits. And to touch on some appearances (which will serve as a foretaste of something more eminent) let us report here a vitrification of Gold so excellent that I am sure that the mystery will not be despised by the learned infants of Nature and the well-beings. beloved Sons of science.
First, the Glass Lead with a strong expression of Fire must be reduced from the bellows; the sign to know that it is enough is that it becomes covered as if with an oil, which, when cooled, is reduced to a certain orange-yellow gum transparent like glass, and of very tender fusion; but it no longer evaporates in the Fire; for fixed as it is, it is always more refined in it in the manner of glass & becomes permanent there. This glass thus cut to perfection, extracts the tint of all the Metals that are mixed in it; & for then it is reduced to a kind of dark & opaque enamel, which dissolves in distilled vinegar [152], in the particular color of the Metal with which it is animated: namely, if Silver, & Tin, in straw yellow: if Lead in verdant yellow, or Goose green: if Copper in an Emerald green: if of Iron in a red redder than blood: if of Gold in color of Hyacinth.
Now the solvent being separated by a slight evaporation; & the gum which remains put in a small well-struggled retort with its receptacle distills a big white & thick smoke, cold as an ice cube to the touch; which finally is reduced to a very fragrant oil, the color of the metal from which it is part, having the faculties & virtues of it reduced to vegetative Nature. Could we argue here that Lead will always remain there in fairly good quantities? To which I reply that Lead being analogous to Mercury, it has the property of being converted into what is applied to it; which is noticeable in this operation by the taste, smell, and color, which are the three Spirits of all simple, which are received there in everything as the Water of Life receives the quality of what has been infused into it. That if one has such a horror of this [153] Lead, one can by artifice separate it from it in such a way that there will not be any left over, and that with whatever Metal one wishes: but because we spoke above of the Gold let him pass this adventure again.
Take therefore eight parts of this vitrification of lead, add to it a part of gold, put them in a floored street oven, for two days: after which you will put back the eighth part of gold; then the whole at the lamppost as above; always thus reiterating the eighth part. And when they are in equal portions (which will happen at the eighth reiteration) it is only necessary to take half of the mass, adding to it the eighth of Gold: doing so, at the 30 or 40 reiteration there will be only gold ; which being by this means reduced to dissoluble vitrification, resolves then after itself, by the way of fermentation, in the same way that leaven raises & sours its own dough from which it comes. What Rodien did not ignore in his Treatise on the Three Words; mutatur (he says) spiritus istesufomus, aquosus, & adustivus (meaning of that of Lead) in nobilissimumcorpus (because it is fixed) & non fugit [154] amplius ab igne sed curvit ut oleum, &c.
Because above, you can easily understand the opening that is required for the ship; because if the Gold is never opened, we will never reach the goal we have in mind.
As for its closure with the seal of Hermès; it is nothing else than the patient Matter disposed which receives and embraces the proportioned agent, as a vessel of glass receives some liquor; or as if we had thrown a stone into Water, we see that the Water opens to embrace the stone, & at the same time closes, & reunites in such a way that we would never notice anything having passed through it. The same thing can still be noticed in Mercury (but more suitably) in which if you throw a portion of Gold, at the same time it embraces it & tightens it so much in its belly that we see nothing there but Mercury, &c.
Touching on the greatness & smallness that the Philosophers demand there, this must be understood of Matter & Form; the latter much greater, because of its Spirituality, than Matter. Now, as it is always increasing indeficient, it is said to be round; & because of its [155] oval actification. alone Triune God in Unity be honor & glory forever and ever. Amen.
Of the Weight of the Philosophers.
BETWEEN all the Philosophers who have treated of Transmutatory there are some who have observed king a weight in the Physical preparation, & the others not. Among those who have not observed the weight, is Calid, who to affirm his opinion asks that we show him what scales, & what weights to Nature in the bowels of the Earth in the production of Metals?
and then afterwards, he said, I will confess that at the marriage of our King it is necessary to observe the Justice of weight. This [156] opinion is followed by Augurel in the first of his Chrysopoeia, where he says that we should no longer observe weight & measure in the mixture of our Water & our Earth, that we observe it in the sowing of the seeds that we sow on the Earth . Among those who observe a weight Aristotle is not the last, when he says, that if one begins the work without observing a weight, he will arrive late in it; a sure sign that we will never come to the end of it. Confirming what Avicenna says, if there is too much dryness or humidity, the whole work will spoil.
And Arnauld, did not forget to also say his opinion, in these terms; if there is too much Water there will be a Sea of conturbation, and everything will be lost: if too little, everything will be burned, and will go to nothing. But what is more difficult to understand, that they want us to weigh Air & Fire. & such do Arnauld [157] in his Rosary, & Lully in his Testament; where they want this circumstance to be observed, not only for Air & Fire, but also for Water & Earth. And moreover (which is to break all the Books & throw them into the Fire) if they are discordant in that above, they are even more so in that which is of the order of this weight; for some want more Air than Fire, and others more Fire than Air. In a word, they have veiled this weight so much that they themselves cannot help saying that they have hidden nothing so much as this.
Here is briefly about the weight of the Philosophers. Let us give as succinctly as possible. will be possible for us, the exhibition: Glory be given to the Author of all things. [158]
To be unaware that Nature has a weight, a number, and a measure, would be to be well above the number of the inhabitants of the small Houses: and to deny it would be perfectly to increase their number. Now I cannot persuade myself that there is any legitimate Son of Science who is ignorant of this truth; & indeed all their books are full of it, they sing of nothing else than the need to know the weight; same the Spirit S. in the Sapience i j. warns us that God has made nothing except with weight, number & measure; Omnia in number, pondere, & mensuradisposuisti. But none of them has told us so far which apartment he was. Let us see then, if according to our design, we will be able to reveal some appearances.
Although Calid, Augurel, and several others were of the opinion that weight should not be observed in the making of their work; nevertheless they are not contrary to those who ask for one. Because as it is difficult to imitate [159] Nature only by following her, the first found it good to let her act at the choice of this weight: Example, someone wants to give a pint of Water the quantity of Salt that is necessary for him to make her Marine; & suppose that he does not know the quantity of Earth that this Water contains, & the quantity of Water that this Salt contains; that he still does not know the quantity of Air which is in this Water, and the quantity of Fire which is in this Salt: finally that he has no knowledge of their proportions, nor of the means of their alliance & concord; what will he do?
he will put a sufficient quantity of Salt in this Water, and will let them play together until the Water has impregnated itself sufficiently with the quantity of Salt that it can carry: thus Nature will have followed it perfectly.
That if we examine this procedure well, we will see that it conforms to those who want the observation of a weight. For if one takes the trouble to weigh the Water & the Salt before mixing them together, one will find that some of the most earthly (yet pure) Water is conducted with nine of the Water that the Salt contained; &that a part of the terrestrial Salt is mixed with nine parts of the aforesaid Water, [160] its Air being separated, which makes a part to receive nine of them of Fire which proceed from the Salt.
And this is what the Philosophers meant by the conversion of the Elements into lesser ones, and the lesser ones into nobler ones: so much so that according to them, ten parts of Fire turn into one of Air; ten of Air to one of Water; ten of Water to one of Earth. And by converting one of Earth into ten of Water; one of Water in ten of Air, & one of Air in ten of Fire; denary number, which is the most excellent in Nature.
Now it should be noted that in this number of ten there is always one, from which the nine proceed, and its nine always return to one; what Hermes touched very well in his Emerald Table, sicut omnes res suerunt meditatione unius, if omnes res natae suerunt ab hac una re adaptede. This one, therefore, added to a nine, which is a number multiplied by three, will make ten, which is the end of all numbers, as Aristotle very well remarked in 3, of Problems, Section 15.
So much so that in this revolutive number, circular & multiplicative, square & cubic, are understood Kabbalah, Magic, & Alchemy; say Elementary, Celestial, & supramundane, [161] or intelligible Science; as much for what it deals with separate intelligences and substances, as for what it is worthy, above all others, to be understood, as pouring into the knowledge of the Creator.
Now these three Sciences still represent the three parts of the small Man World ; namely, the intellect, Soul & Body, which is subject to alteration &corruption, as is the Elemental part. This must be understood in terms of numbers; to know the operative extracted from Matter related to the Elementary World for the first ternary: The formal Mediate to the Celestial for the second, & the rational or divine formal the intelligible for the third: which three assembled ternaries make nine. To which number adding one will make ten, which is for the gaze of God, because he is singularly pleased with this holy Ternary.
What Aristotle remarked in his Heaven & World books; where he says that we are instructed by Nature to honor God according to the number of three number which we hold from her for a Law & regulation, which shows us all sorts of extensions, both in numbers and figures, namely in length , width, depth, [162] which are the line, the area, & the cube.
That if we want to come from this number ten to the number thousand, which is the cube of ten, we only have to triple this nine, which will undoubtedly make 999, as the very well remarked by Vigenère; so much so that starting at the last ninth, a simple, formal & essential number within ten, we will attribute it to nine Orders of Angels, who are of the Intelligible World. And from there coming to the neuvenaire in the middle, which being already composed of tenenarians, in no way partakes of matter and form, we will attribute it to the nine heavens. And considering the third, which is Centenarians, even more composed & material to the nine Genres of Generables & Corruptibles in the Elemental World; which terminate in Man, who is like a passage from here to celestial things, and from there to intelligible things, where God is considered in the unity of his Essence, as the principle of all things, and the end of everything. And to show that his number is the most perfect, it is that in Holy Scripture he is always taken for the Mercy of God;
I will punish the Children in the third [163] & fourth generation of those who hate me; & will show mercy in a thousand Generations to those who love me & keep my Commandments. By what above is briefly, but quite sufficiently explained all the difficulties of weight, & no doubt that those well understood in Nature do not understand me enough: for although I do not open myself completely, nevertheless I diligently make known in its three Elemental, celestial, & intelligible Worlds, their Matter, their form & their Idea: their Patient, their Agent, their green line or Luz: the Body, the Soul & the Spirit: the Material, the Spiritual , & theGlorified. Only if you want it more earnestly; dissolved, to end, Gold in its Nature, secondly its Spirit or quintessence: thirdly, its Soul, or multiplicative Tincture: Which we can only achieve by the rejection of one & the other Binary, & reduction from the Ternary by the Quaternary, unity & final simplicity: reiiciatur binarius, & ternarius per quaternarium admonadis reducetur simplicitatem.
What Roger Bacon wanted to hear, when he their form & their Idea: their Patient, their Agent, their green line or Luz: the Body, the Soul & the Spirit: the Material, the Spiritual, & the Glorified. Only if you want it more earnestly; dissolved, to end, Gold in its Nature, secondly its Spirit or quintessence: thirdly, its Soul, or multiplicative Tincture: Which we can only achieve by the rejection of one & the other Binary, & reduction from the Ternary by the Quaternary, unity & final simplicity: reiiciatur binarius, & ternarius per quaternarium admonadis reducetur simplicitatem.
What Roger Bacon wanted to hear, when he their form & their Idea: their Patient, their Agent, their green line or Luz: the Body, the Soul & the Spirit: the Material, the Spiritual, & the Glorified. Only if you want it more earnestly; dissolved, to end, Gold in its Nature, secondly its Spirit or quintessence: thirdly, its Soul, or multiplicative Tincture: Which we can only achieve by the rejection of one & the other Binary, & reduction from the Ternary by the Quaternary, unity & final simplicity: reiiciatur binarius, & ternarius per quaternarium admonadis reducetur simplicitatem.
What Roger Bacon wanted to hear, when he to end, Gold in its Nature, secondly its Spirit or quintessence: thirdly, its Soul, or multiplicative Tincture: Which we can only achieve by the rejection of one & the other Binary, & reduction of the Ternary by the Quaternary, unity & final simplicity: reiiciatur binarius, & ternarius per quaternarium admonadis reducetur simplicitatem.
What Roger Bacon wanted to hear, when he to end, Gold in its Nature, secondly its Spirit or quintessence: thirdly, its Soul, or multiplicative Tincture: Which we can only achieve by the rejection of one & the other Binary, & reduction of the Ternary by the Quaternary, unity & final simplicity: reiiciatur binarius, & ternarius per quaternarium admonadis reducetur simplicitatem.
What Roger Bacon wanted to hear, when he said, per Elementorum conversionem Ternarius purificatus fiat. Spirit ; & this so clearly, that I fear I have been too easy: however I hope that it will be used to the glory of God; to whom, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be honor & glory forever. Amen.
Of the time & place of the Operation.
Almost all the Chemical Philosophers have assured us, that all time is not not fit to begin our work, this is why they want us to observe the influence & conjunction of certain Stars; as the conjunction of the Sun with the Moon; or else he with Mercury. Some want to subject us to observing the crescent moon; & the others its decrease. In short Zeno, & Zimon in the Peat, say that we must observe the Months, Years & Seasons, & govern our work by them, otherwise everything will perish.
Touching places, one wants it to be dark, the other light: some wet, and others dry: some in a particular place, and others everywhere. Let us give to their purpose, if we can, and give glory to God.
Everything above must be understood immediately from the second & third regime of the work; for by this conjunction of the Sun with the Moon, or [166] with Mercury, we must understand the cibation in the second, and the fermentation in the third, because then there is a conjunction of Gold with the universal solvent, which is called Moon by similarity ; for as all the influences of the celestial Bodies are going to be reduced to the Moon, so as to be transmitted from below to the inferiors; likewise all that the Bodies, or terrestrial planets have virtuous and radical in them, is communicated to this solvent.
The same is with Mercury; because sometimes (even & most often) the universal solvent is called Mercury by the Philosophers: So much so that when they speak of it, they call it Mercury because of its liquid & penetrating humidity, without leaving any trace, also joins its easy conversion to each of the Gods; this is why the Poets called him their Messenger: They also call him Moon, because of his whiteness.
Touching the waxing & waning of the Moon; it should not be understood that the Ancients spoke of the celestial Moon, but of the Moon of the Philosophers, which, like that of Heaven, grows & takes its light from its Sun: And the more the celestial Moon approaches the Sun [167] it decreases; likewise that of the Philosophers comes to decrease and lose its clarity as it is transformed into their Sun.
As for the observation of the Seasons, we have spoken about it quite extensively above, which is why we will skip over it to avoid repetition.
To make an end, places must be understood by Minerals & Metals, which are the real places to which our Pierre must practice. Their darkness being taken for the Heterogeneity of them & the clarity for their homogeneity: the wet & the dry are taken for the Agent & the Patient. And to end, it is true that it can be done in all places, that is to say that all Metals contain this Essence that we ask for; but there is one of them (which is not metal, nor properly Mineral) which contains it with more perfection, & from which we can withdraw it with more ease & abundance than from any other. Glory & praise once again given to God, Trine in Unity. Amen. [168]
From the Time of the Perfection of the Work.
As if it is necessary that what has a beginning and a progress should therefore have a state, or it limits its end, or its duration, its perfection and virtue, or its imperfection. In the same way in the work of the Philosophers (since it had a beginning & a progress) one must also notice there a time, in which it is accomplished & is led to its perfection. Now to achieve this, all the Masters in this Art have given indubitable rules; but so discordant (although in agreement, with each other, that until [169] now all those who wanted to derive some certainty from it have fallen into a labyrinth of error, or the lack of understanding of their Writings has led the baseness of their Spirit to an inevitable ruin. Let us introduce into this Chapter some of his obscure philosophers, then in his explanation we will try to give the true bias of their opinions.
A certain Anonymous, great philosopher, says that it takes two years, even, & he puts them at least time. Geber only wants one; the time for the perfection of the decoction of the Elixir, he says, is one year. Aristotle only wants one month; Cook, he says, for the space of a Philosophical Month.
If these are different in their particular, the others are not less so in the Peat; because in icelle Zimon only wants seven days; Mundus asks for fourteen. And [170] Theophilus requires forty-two. Balgus one hundred and eighty. And Socrates a hundred and fifty. In short, some only want three hours; & the others (strange thing) only want a moment. And nevertheless in these contradictions they are not discordant. Let's do it as it should be heard, and let's give thanks to God.
To take what above literally, as many have done, would be to want to possess this secret at the cost of our life; for it is said that the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens. Let us therefore stick to the essence of his words, and not to their surface; & let us see how the Ancients should explain themselves on this point.
Those who want two years must understand themselves thus; the Sun presides over the Day, and the Moon presides over the Night: the course of the former is one Year, and that of the latter is hardly less. Now the Philosophers begin their work with the Moon, and end by the Moon, because then the [171] virtue of their Medicine falls in projection on the white. Afterwards they begin at the Sun, & end at the Sun, especially since in this State the virtue of their Stone is to project into Gold. the turn of the Circle to come to the Major point is a Year. So here are two Years before possessing this Stone in red; but in Physics, & not of those which the Reader could hear, if it were not explained to him.
As for those who only ask for one, that must be understood as work simply, at one or the other Ferment.
Affecting those who only want seven days, fourteen, thirty, and forty-two: this should be understood as the first operation, and preparation of our Matter; for it should be noted that there are two operations; one preparatory &dispositive; which is this, which is done on various occasions, & in as much time as it is marked above: After which, the Spirit, the Soul, & the Body, being well purified, are rejoined by the weight of Nature, together, & then given to the second operation, which is the above [172] specified by two years: which cant be completed, to increase it to Infinite if one wants, one uses the number of one hundred fifty days, & one hundred and eighty, &c.
And for those who only want three hours, or even a moment, hear of the latest fermentative specification. Glory & praise be given to the Author of all things, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Signs, or colors at work.
The first sign which appears in the work of the Philosophers (so they say) is darkness; for which reason they called their Matter thus black from the name of all the black things, which can be perceived by the senses: namely, Atrament, Pitch, Lead, Antimony, which is the true [173] black of the Philosophers, & the Nigrum , Nigrius, Nigro by Raymond Lully.
Then they say that the second sign or color is whiteness, which gradually arrives at such candor that they have it.
called on this occasion, very white Arsenic Milk, very fine Silver, Mercury of the Philosophers, also is it their true solvent &c. Thirdly there appears, they say, a redness, which they have called Fusible Salt, Incombustible Oil, & Lion's Blood, &c. And that's when the work is in its perfection.
All of the above signs are described by Bassen en la Tourbe; Cook, he says, until the whole is black, then white, & finally red. This was followed by Zeno, in these terms; the colors or signs that appear are such;
The first day everything turns black, the second white, and the third similar to dried saffron. Cranses en la Tourbe [174] is of the same opinion, indeed, and he bid; for he says that it is necessary to blacken twice, to whiten twice, and to redden twice. This is followed by Miraldus, who having collected the satisfaction of the other good Authors in the Peat, says that it is necessary to blacken, whiten, & blush twice, bis nigrescit, bis albescit, bis rubescit.
These are followed by Florus; I want to show you the disposition of the Signs, said he: Therefore I tell you that the first sign of it is darkness; because when you see that everything will be black, be certain that in the belly of this blackness the whiteness is hidden: Then subtly extract this whiteness from the blackness; & that's it for the first decoction. In the second, put this whiteness in a vase, & cook everything gently, until the white of the white appears, & then be sure that the redness is hidden in this [175] whiteness.
Then you must not prevent its progress, but ignore the coction, until the red appears. To these the Moderns have added many others, such as grey, green, blue, and the color of the Peacock's tail; & several others that we will not report here because of brevity; added also that the aforesaid are the principal ones among the Philosophers. The glory be given to God all good. Amen.
For the understanding of this Chapter, I have deliberated to give it two or three biases, so that the Reader may better conceive the truth of my words. But before we come to that, I will state my opinion supported by solid reasons, to show that in the making of the work one should not take care of the colors, as [176] being separable & momentary accidents, & not Essential to the thing.
To begin with, let us say that color is nothing but a proportion of the Diaphanous with the Opaque in the surface of the natural body, excited by the effect of Fire, which adds to it the brilliance of the property that the Elements have to constitute. this object of view. So if the color will be nothing but the brilliance of the impression that more or less heat will have caused in some subject whatever. What having been granted to me, I can say that this color, which appears to sight, is outside Matter, and that it appears to us as long as Fire contributes its quality to it, and not otherwise, that it is only superficial, momentary & separable, & not Essentially united with the true substance of Matter, the property of which is to give colors, tastes, & odors, substantially, & inseparably from its subject, & not momentarily; & that therefore the colors alleged above should not be taken (even when they appear in the work) for figs Essentials of perfection from here.
What was very well known to Arnault de Villeneuve, [177] when he admonishes us, that even though we do not see all the colors that the Philosophers describe, that nevertheless we do not give up pursuing the work. Which obviously testifies that its colors are not of the Essence of our work.
This posed as constant, so let's say how one should hear its colors. Whereupon it must be noted eternally that they must be heard from our Matter before its preparation, for it is very true that it is black; from which blackness, in the first preparation, we draw a whiteness & then a redness, &c. In the second regime, blackness is taken for the alteration, or corruption of Matter passing through the medium to a more perfect virtue, which is called whiteness because of its purification: whence is born, by more exact preparation, this virtue of acting the purification of any Matter, of its Kind, whatsoever; this is why it has been called red: not insofar as it is so in color, but because of its virtue and effect: for as red is often taken for Fire, and Fire for red:
likewise this Matter. And as Fire acting on any Matter purifies it in such a way that no corruptible thing remains there, so that Matter acting on imperfect Metals cleanses and purifies them in such a way that no imperfection remains in them: And this is how you should hear its colors. From what above we can draw the intelligence of those who want blacken twice, whiten twice, & blush twice.
Because as many preparations, & purifications as one will give to this Matter; as many times as it will be blackened, whitened, & reddened: that is to say, as many times as it will pass from a perfection to a greater Virtue (this one being able to be said to be less pure than this one, & consequently rightfully placed under this attribute of darkness) as many times it will receive alteration, purification, and virtue. To the Trine a Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be rendered all honour, glory & praise forever and ever. Amen. [179]
Of the perfection or birth, increase & projection of the Stone.
What shall we say of the perfection or fulfillment of the Physical powder, which the Philosophers call the birth of their Child; for truly here we are assailed with greater difficulties than ever) since if we err in the circumstances of weight & diet, &c. this error can be corrected; but here it is not in our power. For they want us to be assured not only of the hour, but also of the moment of the birth of our [180] Peter, so they say (speaking naturally & nevertheless metaphorically) to infuse him with his soul: that if we fail at this moment to help him our work is lost. For this reason they want us to know the index days of the birth, in order to assist him in this passage; & after increase &multiply.
Now some have taught this increase in quantity; others in quality; & a few others in quality & quantity all together. If one teaches it to increase by ten parts, the other shows the way to produce it up to a hundred, even up to a thousand & ten thousand & thus up to infinity: From which increase come the contrarieties in the projection Some say that our Stone thus prepared can be projected, first one part out of ten, then over one hundred, one thousand) ten thousand & from there to infinity.
The others, that if the whole Sea were Mercury, [181] & if a grain of this powder were thrown into it, it would be converted into Gold. There is still another difficulty in the contrariety of the projection; for some want it to be made on Gold, others on Silver; others want Mercury; some lead; & several the Venus: & so of the other metals remaining. Seek whoever wants that in the Ancient Philosophers, for in this place I have said enough: it remains to come to the exposition, in order to facilitate all that one could find of it elsewhere; Glory be to God Amen.
The Time for the coction of the work expired, & all the colors appeared, the Philosophers say that their Stone must be born, which some call the birth of the Child; of which it is necessary to know precisely the hour & the moment what considered if they did not speak [182] by similarities, I would say that it cannot be; for de futuris contingentibucs non datur certa scientia: Apart from the fact that all things which have to be born are necessarily born in their Time, as a Philosopher has very well said in these terms, there is no other birth except when the Time is accomplished: Example of a Child, who, when the time of his organization is completed, appears in the World, & for then he must be clothed & covered in order to ward off the insults of the ambient Air: in the same way our Stone having received his first preparation, to come to the second diet, she must be dressed, clothed & covered; that is to say, surround it with fire lest it perish by cold.
But as it is not enough to have virtue the Child, but he must give food suitable to his Nature; in the same way it is necessary to give new menstruation to our Pierre. But as this Child grows in quantity by means of this meat which is administered to him, the same does our powder. Now, as this Child having reached his perfect quadrature, is not only believed in quantity, but also in quality & virtue of Man. In the same way also our Stone cannot be increased in quantity, [183] that it is not increased in quality: & thus do you have the explanation of these two opinions which seem to be contrary: because it is impossible that one is made only when & when & as the other arrives.
As for those who increase it up to ten, others up to a hundred, several up to a thousand, and some up to infinity. This is to be understood by the exposition as above; for the more a Son of good morals is brought up, the more virtuous will he be. Or else (to make it clearer) if I simply extract the Tincture of Antimony & administer it to leprosy, it will only work on ten parts of that disease: but if I purify it, & circulate in such so that I make it pass to the quintessence, then it will act on a hundred parts of this disease. And so the more I increase its Virtue by means of true Chemistry, the more effect it will have on this disease.
To this follows the projection as difficult to understand as the multiplication; but whoever has a good understanding will derive the true bias from it, following word for word the explanation given above for multiplication.
The last & greatest difficulty or obscurity is that some want [184] the Projection to be done on Gold, others on Silver; & so with other Metals, up to Quicksilver. Whereupon it must be noted (for the explanation of this obscurity) that each metal in particular is considered by the Philosophers to be all metal, either externally or internally, or in potency or indeed. So much so that Gold is said by them1 Mercury, Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, &Silver. Mercury is said, Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, Silver & Gold. Lead is says Mercury, Tin, Iron, Copper, Silver, & Gold. Tin is said to Mercury, Lead, Iron, Copper, Silver & Gold. Iron is said to Mercury, Lead, Tin, Copper, Silver, & Gold. Copper says Mercury, Lead, Tin, Iron, Silver, & Gold. And Silver says Mercury, Lead, Tin, Copper, Iron, & Gold . tell the truth: And note eternally, Readers, that I have exposed to you the greatest Secret of the Philosophers, for which you must give thanks to God: To whom Father, Son, & Holy Spirit be rendered all honor, glory, praises, Songs & Jubilations centuries of centuries. Amen.
END.
[185]
1 NL in which part of this Book do I speak of specific fermentation Philosophical Stanzas.
Who will quench the Ground in the Spirit Sharpened With its Natural Salt, to make it fickle,
Then the fixed fickle, will be well advised,
Because in doing so he knows & will do our Work.
But this Salt is the Juice drawn from the Sphere Of the old Saturnian, which gives anxious,
A milk from the double Breast of his globe of Earth,
Which each one touches, & sees without appearing in his eyes.
Nemo debet Artem possidere sine labore - No one should acquire art without effort. [186]
Quote of the Day
“Wherefore Hermes says, 'Sow your gold in white, flaky earth which by calcination has been made glowing, subtle, and volatile.' That is to say: Sow gold, i.e., the soul and quickening virtue, into the white earth, which by preparation has been made white and pure and freed from all its grossness. Thus natural gold is not the fermenting matter, but the philosopher's gold is the quickening ferment itself.”
Anonymous
Sounding of the Trumpet
Alchemical Books
Audio Books
Total visits