The Orchard of Honor and Pleasure Garden

Written by Hams

This little-known text was distributed by PSI and then taken up in various places, we assume that it was taken from a collection, ? from Ms.1091 Link to the catalog ofWellcomeor ms. 0457(7.1) Link to the catalog of theUniversity Library of Bologna.

As we were unable to consult the original ms. , we leave the text as found (with some corrections) and cannot, therefore, ensure the integrity of the text.

In the name of God, the almighty father, here is declared the work, science of the philosophers, by which one can arrive at the understanding of the stone of the philosophers, which was created as soon as man was made, not that it was in its perfect virtue and goodness; but the matter was made, which afterwards the philosophers governed by art and made to come into its goodness and value, and then used it at their will, which matter we call philosophical earth, because it does not come, except by the means of the philosophers.

For there is no one who knows it, except he be a natural philosopher, and although it is in all places and visible to all, yet it is unknown to all. Know then that when it comes out of its mine, it is red as blood by the heat that is in it; for it abounding in a mine, abounds also its heat and without it, there is also no heat; and yet, the philosophical earth also carries all its heat with it, and gives life to the mine, and contains in itself body, soul and spirit.

And everything that has spirit has blood and participates in its nature of the four elements. It is hot and dry from fire, the air which is hot and moist, and the water which is moist and cold, the earth which is cold and dry. Thus naturally contains the four elements and the four complexions of quicksilver, sulphur, sun and moon in power and invisibly, and nevertheless are worth more than the common sun, moon, mercury and sulphur, because they are dead, having no power to generate, and those of our stone are alive; and can generate, having body, soul and spirit.

And comes out of its mine red as blood, clear as common mercury. This is why it is called philosophical mercury: and when the said mercury, or philosophical earth has remained half an hour outside its mine, it stops in it and floats. Then it can separate itself into several parts, so that a citrine water comes out of the said earth, which must be thrown away; because it is its superfluidity; and it remains pure and clean to make our stone. The philosophers have called this mine a fountain containing seven main streams; and the philosophical earth which comes out of it, they have called it water of life, and rightly so, because it gives life to the mine from which it comes, like blood to the human body.

For without blood, man has no soul or spirit, and the spirit of the blood is the philosophical dew which follows it and keeps it clear, moist and flowing; and without the said philosophical dew, it would remain dry and curdled in the veins of the body, and as long as it flows, the soul remains there and gives life to the body and the use of reason.

But if he is deprived of blood, man dies and returns to the earth from which he was created; which, if you knew, has very great and sovereign virtues. For when God created him, he gave him medicine to cure himself of all the infirmities that can happen to the human body, in order to avoid death until the end of the days that God ended for him. Now then, if we knew the great medicines that can be made of the human body, we would not let it rot and be buried like this; but we would take its substance, and we would govern it as the ancients did by their good understanding; and many goods remain to be done because of the brevity of human life and diseases that come about through excess of debauchery and lust. Man nevertheless carries his medicine and does not know how to cure himself.

Know then that I, a student of medicine at the college, served a great and very learned Jewish physician who performed extraordinary cures every day, cured leprosy and every other disease, so that he was held as a saint and performed miracles. I, seeing all this, prayed to God that he would give me the love of my master, so that he would teach me medicine by experience; and he always urged me to study on the composition of the human body, both for medicine and for the secret of the philosophers.

And showing me great experiments, as to ordinary medicine but not touching the secret of the philosophers. Except, to see it put into operation and medicine. And here are the wonders of him that I could not believe. In the space of a month, he began to make a syrup for himself which was old and decrepit, and swore to me that it was 200 years old, which I could not believe; and when he had made it, he taught it to me, which I will also teach you hereafter, and made a bath in a certain sign and influence, at the conjunction of the Virgin in which he bathed for 40 days, keeping good regimen, and using his syrup or medicine made of the human body, as I will say, so much that I saw him appear young from day to day; and at the 40th , he seemed a man of 20 years.

The white beard fell and he recovered all his previous strength and warmth; and he promised himself to live as long as man ever did, if God permitted it and let nature do it by means of her bath and medicine. Then I begged him more than ever to declare to me the secret of the philosophers. He answered me that he did not declare himself even from father to son, if the person was not pious and learned; that he would do it however but that it was not time to declare to me the secret of the philosophical stone; that I study as he had told me and recommended the human body, that I would find what I asked of him.

I took leave of him, and came to the city of Strasbourg, and there began to seek the secret of the philosopher's stone. And remembering the subject of the human body, I found the subject of the said stone; but after I was two years learning to govern fire and the means of distilling the four elements which is the principal of all matter. Finally, remembering the fire of the ancient philosophers, I found what I asked for.

Know that I want to compare the whole generation of the stone to that of man. So that you may understand well, know that the sperm of man is the purest blood that is in him, which being in the matrix of the woman, putrefies. At the end of 40 days, a mass of human flesh is made, from which is then formed the heart, the brain, the liver and membranes and the parts, and finally the whole body of the man, which is nourished in the womb of the woman until it is strong enough to break the development and be born into the world. And this at the end of nine months, where the woman does it naturally.

Then feeds and suckles with her milk, as long as it is strong and large to take and digest more solid meat. Thus you see naturally how man engenders man, and each his fellow.

Know that the philosophers have called man mercury, because as mercury is the sperm of all metals, so man is the sperm of man. And woman is called earth because the child is engendered and nourished in the womb of the woman, as metals and plants are nourished in the earth; and they have called it living earth and rightly because it has the power to engender more noble and excellent fruit than the other earth which they have called dead earth.

They also called the man sulphur and the woman mercury; the gold sun and the silver moon, as being the noblest of all the seven metals, just as these two are the noblest planets of the zodiac. They also said that much more should the man be called sun and the woman moon, than the metals which are made to serve them, as also all that is upon the earth, as God himself has commanded.

We must therefore take the philosophical earth in our so-called pure and clean mine without filthiness which is called philosophical mercury, in which are in power sun and moon, and which mercury contains the sperm of man and medicine of metals. As the blood makes the sperm of generation of man, if it is put in the matrix of the woman, it is by its nature to engender its like, and on the contrary, if it is put elsewhere than in its ordered place, it does not make or profit in any way: in the same way if our philosophical earth is put in its right matrix, it must engender an elixir, or medicine to cure all the infirmities of the human body and the leprosy of imperfect metals.

So on the contrary, if it is placed elsewhere than in its mother, or legitimate matrix, it will never be generated and will never come to perfection. For we know and are acquainted with several non-philosophical persons who have known the matter and the true subject of the stone, and have worked there according to their intelligence or the process of the books they had, have separated the four elements by distillation, have made appear several colors by putrefaction, and the three principal colors which are black, white and citrine by calcination, nevertheless they have found nothing of perfection; and the cause is that they had put the said philosophical earth outside its true mother, or matrix, and have produced nothing at all.

Therefore they have despised the true sperm of the said stone and have composed false books according to their fancy. Read then the books of the true philosophers and adepts; remember my words well and you will attain what you desire. Know that there is no metal on earth in which the true sperm or mercury abounds in itself to engender the noble king flourishing in honor and wealth who is the true philosopher's stone.

So it is that which I have said which is red as blood, and take it with your own hands, when you will, and as much as you will, without destroying the mineral. Take then the said sperm, or philosopher's earth, and put it in a phial; let it be half full only, so that the elements can distill well at ease, very tightly stoppered, that nothing can enter or escape, which put on a very slow fire, that is to say on a horse fire, so that it has a thickness of a foot on all sides above and below, and leave it there for 40 days, then increase the fire from month to month, distill the four elements which is the principal of the whole work.

And if you give the fire as it should be, at the end of 40 or 50 days, you will begin to see several and diverse colors, and all the matter taken in a loaf all perforated with some white sparks. And sometimes, the matter is all black underneath, and all around you will see a very clear water, which is a sign of perfection, because it is the true mercury which circuits and surrounds the matter to succeed in generating the noble son, or fruit.

Sometimes you will see the matter green and of several other colors, which denotes that the elements are beginning to distill; and before the matter becomes perfectly black, you will see several small white spots, like ant eggs at the bottom of the flask.

And know that until all the water is drunk and the humidity consumed, there will be no perfection; and it will hardly be drunk in two or three years. I tell you that if at the end of 40 or 50 days you see this humidity consumed, you must not go forward in the work; because the matter is burned. You must take more and begin again, giving it heat equal to that of the mother who carries her child. It must not be less because that would delay the work, although it would not spoil.

When at the end of two years or more you will see the humidity consumed and that the matter will take the blackness which is the element of the earth, then will begin to form the noble dolphin, to which you will continue its heat which is its food, as is fitting. At the end of 36 or 38 months, more or less, according to the fire that you will give it, you will see the said body and matter white as snow, well sublimated in dignity, where it will be elixir to white to make projection, being the stone to the perfect white which is the color of the air, or attributed to the air in this art.

If you want red powder, you must continue the fire from degree to degree, until it has acquired the color which is attributed to fire in this art; and then you will have the elixir, or stone accomplished to red, which the more remains in the fire, the more will increase its virtue. For it is of the nature of the salamander which feeds on fire: and then will be engendered a king with a triple crown, as a true emperor, flourishing in honor and wealth, which he will provide more than all the kings of the earth.

You will see its effect in the projection that will be declared to you. But, because several philosophers have erred for want of a good regime of fire and right separation of the four elements, because they had various kinds of fire, like streetlight, sublimation, rotation, lamp, bain-marie, fire of putrefaction with horse manure, and when they had putrefied for 40 days, they extracted the four elements by distillation, then brought the three philosophical colors by calcination, and found nothing, because they did not give it by the matrix, belly or due heat, and they exceeded that of the mother's belly.

Distillation done with wood or charcoal will never succeed. That is why if you want to administer the true heat of the woman, you must make two holes in the ground that are five feet deep and two or three feet wide, one of which you must fill with fresh horse dung and bury your flask in the middle, as I said, and after 12 to 15 days, fill the other pit with fresh dung, and put your flask in the middle as above, and continue this regimen until the end of the work.

For there is no other fire nearer to the womb of the woman than that. Wherefore philosophers call it philosophal, all having found it, and using no other for our art, and hiding it as much as they can. For it is the most secret thing.

It is therefore in this one that the four elements are distilled in a single vessel, well secret and well lute, without opening it further to add anything, nor to diminish anything, without making any trituration of the hands, nor sublimation, nor calcination, nor distillation, except to continue the same fire, as I have said until the end of its perfection, and which will be ready to make projection of it and preserve the body in health, and to cure the lepers of all diseases with the bath of youth.

Fermentation

After the philosopher's stone has become red, or vermilion, and sometimes brown or yellow, leave it nevertheless in its fire for seven weeks because there are seven metals and seven virtues of multiplication and fermentation with common mercury.

Several philosophers have written different kinds of fermentations and projections of the philosopher's stone, nevertheless they do not put all the virtues and powers that the said stone has; but I who have tested them, I say that there are 7 on mercury as said here, which is better than any of the other metals. For if you wanted fermentation on metal, with great difficulty could you enjoy it under the hammer.

Take then some mercury and wash it well with salt and +. After put a hundred ounces of it in a + on the fire. When it begins to boil and smoke, put in it an ounce of your stone or elixir, it will make some noise and throw out some fumes. When this is over, the mercury will be congealed and frangible into very red medicine, an ounce of which you will throw on 100 ounces of mercury washed and boiling in the crucible, and will still be medicine of which you will throw again on 100 ounces of mercury; and this 7 times, as I said.

In the seventh, one ounce cast on 100 of tin, lead and copper. For white on these three metals, and on 100 of moon for gold, and you will have gold better than that of the mine.

Note: When the medicine has risen up to 7 times, take a portion of it, and put it in a glass vase and cook it in the philosophical fire, until it has come of the color that it was before the projection. You can ferment it again with mercury washed up to 7 times, as I said of the 1st, and make projection after on silver.

So you will be able to digest part of the medicine, thus multiplying it infinitely. Let us give thanks to the Eternal who gave man the matter and the power to make it perfect to serve him as medicine.

The bath of youth and the syrup to use with medicine

Take in the month of April or May a large quantity of rosemary flowers and put them in a large glass vessel well stoppered, and bury it deep near a river for 40 days. Afterwards put them in horse feint, until they are dissolved in water.

Then pour the said water through a clean cloth, gently squeezing it out. Then put the said water with its vase in the sun for 2 months and until it becomes thick like syrup or oil called balm, which you will keep dearly for necessities. You must make a large quantity of rosemary water, that is to say, leaves and flowers by the still, and keep it for need.

After the first day of the sign of Virgo, take a bath. Put in it one part of rosemary water, three parts of good white wine and three parts of common water. Let it all warm up and put them in a suitable tub in which you will put many rosemary leaves, and enter the bath at seven or nine o'clock in the morning and do not come out until five o'clock in the evening.

The doors and windows must be well closed and sealed, so that no wind can enter. You must not leave the room for the said 40 days that you will take the baths. Each morning, as you will have remained in the bath, take a grain of our aforementioned medicine of blood mixed with two spoonfuls of syrup of rosemary flowers, neither eating nor drinking for two hours afterward; and at all times that you take the baths, the medicine and the syrup which will be the space of 40 days, you will observe the regimen that will be prescribed.

Before entering the bath, one must purge oneself well by the advice of a good doctor, then bleed oneself from the vein of the liver, and during the bath, use broths in coulis of good chaperon, veal and mutton chopped finely, as for a sick person, chicken, partridge, pigeons, quail, mutton, capon, young hares and roast rabbits, and drink red wine rather than white, because it makes blood better.

Do not eat fish, cheese, dairy products, you can eat almonds, prunes, raisins, candied with sugar, and fresh soft-boiled eggs. By continuing this diet, you will infallibly be brought back in strength and vigor at the end of 40 days as if you were only 25 years old.

Declarative Epistle of the Author to the Philosophers

I beg you to believe that I am true. This is my whole treatise of the orchard of honor. If there are any obscure terms, I want to explain them to you at this time. Note that instead of speaking of the substance of the human body, it is the food, the life of it: and when it is separated, it dies. It is the blood.

When I said that the humidity will only be consumed in 16 or 20 months, and sometimes in three years: but for that, do not stop pursuing your work until it is all consumed, because otherwise, you will not see anything in any perfection. Note that if you see at the end of the first 24 or 25 days water and philosopher's earth in the vase, it is a sign that the fire has not burned the flowers of matter and you can rejoice.

Note that the length of the perfection of the work most often comes from not having cleaned the earth of the philosophers of its superfluities: and sometimes, it will remain 5 or 6 years, without seeing any perfection there, and although its superfluities are well separated the work is still very long, but we will see the end.

If after the first 6 months your soil is not dissolved in water or oil, you must stir the vessel until the material is dissolved, because this shortens the time by 7 or 8 months.

In case you have done all this, if the humidity remains long to be consumed, and this when said earth has come out of a mine which is not very healthy and disposed, and in spite of this it remains long to be consumed, the order of nature wanting it thus, and God, to see if your intention persists in the good.

You will see no perfection until the whole humour is turned into dry whiteness which is perfection to white. If the earth be of a well disposed and healthy mineral, it will come all white in the form of thick oil, before all the moisture is consumed, which oil will congeal into the form of red colour as is said.

Since it begins to redden, it must continue the fire for two months, following the increase of ten days at a time, as the good philosophers have done, and as we understand. Then make the fermentation without which you will not be able to know the virtue and power of the stone. If you know how to do it well, you will multiply it to infinity; and you will be able to do it in the end by fire, if it is not for lack of food, without which the said stone dies of hunger, no longer being able to engender any fruit.

But with food, you will project it on imperfect metals. Whereupon the ancient philosophers said that the subject was a vile thing that the poor and the rich could have; that without it, no one could live, which is true.

Thus, in times past, the said science was so manifested that many shepherds, while guarding their sheep, made the philosophers' stone. Which was the cause that they were excited by the nobility. Since then, those who have succeeded in it have been rare, and even then they have written so obscurely that it is impossible to understand them.

When the stone was red, they called it the philosopher's stone or medicine of the human body. Since fermentation was made by mercury, they called it medicine of metals, and not of the human body, as it was before. In the said philosophical earth, since it is put under the regime of philosophical fire, it grows from day to day in goodness and virtue, and you will see that it becomes heavy as lead which is a very beautiful secret. Remember my words well because in doing so, you will find it true.

This is the end of my book and treatise on the orchard of honor, praying that it may inspire and give spirit to all those of our philosophical and natural art, and grant him the means to pursue it.

So be it
SgPmDHes
Sanguis hominis sani, oetatis anno XXX

And in a very small parcel of its preparation, for the use and effects which result from it, a single drop taken in a broth awakens the natural heat and the radical humidity, increases and strengthens them. There is no extreme access and paroxysm close to death which does not yield to the 5th drop in three different takings and potions.

The fruit of the confection is a fruit red as a ruby, or of the color of the finest garnet, or country poppy which is resolved into an elixir, or red oil. Its odor is amber and musk. All the healthiest odors cannot reach this harmony. It surpasses them all, delights the brain and the heart admirably, and charms our faculties and our senses in a delicious way.

This is why its nectar has been called the celestial ambrosia, because there is no remedy under heaven comparable to it in power and admirable virtue, not only because of its merits, but also because of its simplicity.

This universal medicine is the true balm, or catholicon of nature. It has been the subject of the praises that Solomon and all the wise have made of wisdom, which they have said, the life of all flesh and the health of the heart, the celestial arcanum which prolongs life beyond ordinary limits, the salutary remedy which fills man with happy days and the longest years, etc.

SOLI DEO GLORY

Marginal note: Observe that you must draw your philosopher's earth from a mine that the sun has made only 25, 30 or 35 revolutions at most, otherwise your earth would not have all its strength and virtue. Nature declines at that time. Moreover, there is a more propitious season in the year which is in the spring, from the 15th of April until the end of May. This is the surest time to have the earth with all its strength and virtue, having participated in the influences of the two luminaries which are the sun and the moon.