THE PHILOSOPHICAL MANSIONS VOLUME 1

BY

FULCANELLI

AND THE HERMETIC SYMBOLISM
IN ITS RELATIONS WITH SACRED ART
AND THE ESOTERISM OF THE GREAT WORK

Original plates by Julien Champagne

1930


FIRST VOLUME


TABLE OF CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE


I - HISTORY AND MONUMENT

II - MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE

III - MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY

IV - THE LEGENDARY LABORATORY

V - CHEMISTRY AND PHILOSOPHY

VI - THE HERMETIC CABAL

VII - ALCHEMY AND SPAGYRY

THE LISIEUX SALAMANDER (I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII)

THE ALCHEMICAL MYTH OF ADAM AND EVE

LOUIS D'ESTISSAC (I - II - III - IV - V - VI)

THE MAN OF THE WOODS



HISTORY AND MONUMENT

I

Paradoxical in its manifestations, disconcerting in its signs, the Middle Ages offers the sagacity of its admirers the resolution of a singular misinterpretation. How to reconcile the irreconcilable? How to reconcile the testimony of historical facts with that of medieval works?

The chroniclers paint this unhappy time for us in the darkest colors. These are, for several centuries, only invasions, wars, famines, epidemics. And yet the monuments—faithful and sincere witnesses to those cloudy times—bear no trace of such scourges. Quite the contrary, they seem to have been built in the enthusiasm of a powerful inspiration of ideal and faith, by a people happy to live, within a flourishing and strongly organized society.

Should we doubt the veracity of historical accounts, the authenticity of the events they relate and believe, with the wisdom of nations, that happy peoples have no history? Unless, without completely refuting all of history, one prefers to discover, in a relative absence of incidents, the justification of medieval obscurity.

Be that as it may, what remains undeniable is that all the Gothic buildings without exception reflect a serenity, an expansiveness, an unequaled nobility. If one closely examines the expression of the statuary in particular, one will quickly be edified on the peaceful character, on the pure tranquility which emanate from its figures. All are calm and smiling, pleasant and good natured. Lapidary, silent and good company humanity. Women have this plumpness which sufficiently indicates, in their models, the excellence of a rich and substantial diet. The children are chubby, plump, fulfilled. Priests, deacons, capuchins, provider brothers, clerics and cantors sport a jovial face or the pleasing silhouette of their potbellied dignity. Their interpreters,—those marvelous and modest image cutters, — do not deceive us and cannot be mistaken. They take their type from everyday life, among the people who bustle around them and among whom they themselves live. Many of these figures, picked at random from the alley, from the tavern or from the school, from the sacristy or from the studio, are perhaps loaded or too pronounced, but in the picturesque note, with concern for character, for a cheerful sense, for broad form. Grotesque, if you will, but grotesque joyful and full of teaching. Satires of people who like to laugh, drink, sing and "go high". Masterpieces of a realistic school, deeply human and sure of its mastery, conscious of its means, ignoring however what is pain, misery, oppression or slavery. This is so true that you will have no trouble digging around, questioning the ogival statuary, you will never discover a figure of Christ whose expression reveals real suffering. You will agree with us that thelatomi took enormous pains to endow their crucified with a serious countenance without always succeeding. The best, barely emaciated, have their eyelids closed and seem to be resting. On our cathedrals, the scenes of the Last Judgment show grimacing, counterfeit, monstrous demons, more comic than terrible; as for the damned, cursed anesthetized, they cook slowly, in their pot, without vain regret or real pain.

These free, virile and healthy images clearly prove that the artists of the Middle Ages did not know the depressing spectacle of human misery. If the people had suffered, if the masses had groaned in misfortune, the monuments would have preserved the memory of it. Now, we know that art, that superior expression of civilized humanity, can develop freely only under the cover of a stable and secure peace. Like science, art cannot exercise its genius in the atmosphere of troubled societies. All the higher manifestations of human thought are there; revolutions, wars, upheavals are fatal to them. They claim the security that comes from order and harmony, in order to grow, flourish and bear fruit. Such strong reasons urge us to accept only with circumspection the medieval events reported by History. And we confess that the affirmation of a "series of calamities, disasters, ruins accumulated over one hundred and forty-six years" seems to us really excessive. There is an inexplicable anomaly here, since it was precisely during this unfortunate Hundred Years War, which extended from the year 1337 to the year 1453, that the richest buildings of our flamboyant style were built. It is the culminating point, the apogee of form and boldness, the marvelous phase where the spirit, divine flame, imposes its signature on the latest creations of Gothic thought. It is the period of completion of the great basilicas; but other important monuments, collegiate or abbey, of religious architecture are also erected: the abbeys of Solesmes, Cluny, Saint-Riquier, the Chartreuse of Dijon, Saint-Wulfran d'Abbeville, Saint-Étienne de Beauvais, etc. We see remarkable civil buildings rising from the ground, from the Hospice de Beaune to the Palais de Justice in Rouen and the town hall in Compiègne; from the hotels built almost everywhere by Jacques Coeur, to the belfries of the free cities, Béthune, Douai, Dunkirk, etc. In our big cities, the alleys dig their narrow bed under the agglomeration of corbelled gables, turrets and balconies, carved wooden houses, stone dwellings with delicately decorated facades. And everywhere, under the safeguard of the corporations, trades develop; everywhere the companions compete in skill; everywhere emulation multiplies masterpieces. The University trains brilliant students, and his fame spreads over the old world; famous doctors, illustrious scholars spread and propagate the benefits of science and philosophy; the spagyrists amass, in the silence of the laboratory, the materials which will later serve as the basis for our chemistry; great Adepts give hermetic truth a new impetus… What ardor deployed in all branches of human activity! And what wealth, what fertility, what powerful faith, what confidence in the future shines through in this desire to build, to create, to seek and to discover in full invasion, in this miserable country of France subjected to foreign domination, and which knows all the horrors of an interminable war! propagate the benefits of science and philosophy; the spagyrists amass, in the silence of the laboratory, the materials which will later serve as the basis for our chemistry; great Adepts give hermetic truth a new impetus… What ardor deployed in all branches of human activity! And what wealth, what fertility, what powerful faith, what confidence in the future shines through in this desire to build, to create, to seek and to discover in full invasion, in this miserable country of France subjected to foreign domination, and which knows all the horrors of an interminable war! propagate the benefits of science and philosophy; the spagyrists amass, in the silence of the laboratory, the materials which will later serve as the basis for our chemistry; great Adepts give hermetic truth a new impetus… What ardor deployed in all branches of human activity! And what wealth, what fertility, what powerful faith, what confidence in the future shines through in this desire to build, to create, to seek and to discover in full invasion, in this miserable country of France subjected to foreign domination, and which knows all the horrors of an interminable war! the materials that will later serve as the basis for our chemistry; great Adepts give hermetic truth a new impetus… What ardor deployed in all branches of human activity! And what wealth, what fertility, what powerful faith, what confidence in the future shines through in this desire to build, to create, to seek and to discover in full invasion, in this miserable country of France subjected to foreign domination, and which knows all the horrors of an interminable war! the materials that will later serve as the basis for our chemistry; great Adepts give hermetic truth a new impetus… What ardor deployed in all branches of human activity! And what wealth, what fertility, what powerful faith, what confidence in the future shines through in this desire to build, to create, to seek and to discover in full invasion, in this miserable country of France subjected to foreign domination, and which knows all the horrors of an interminable war!

In truth, we don't understand...

It will also be explained why our preference remains acquired in the Middle Ages, as revealed to us by Gothic buildings, rather than at this same period as described by historians.

It is easy to fabricate texts and documents from scratch, old charters with warm patinas, archaic-looking parchments and seals, even some sumptuous book of hours, annotated in its margins, beautifully illuminated with padlocks, borders and miniatures. Montmartre delivers to whomever wishes, and according to the price offered, the unknown Rembrandt or the authentic Teniers. A skilled craftsman from the Halles district shapes, with dizzying verve and mastery, small Egyptian deities of solid gold and bronze, marvels of imitation that some antique dealers are fighting over. Who doesn't remember the famous tiara of Saitaphernès… Falsification and counterfeiting are as old as the world, and History, abhorring a chronological void, has sometimes had to call them to its aid. A very learned 17th century Jesuit, Father Jean Hardouin was not afraid to denounce as apocryphal quantities of Greek and Roman coins and medals, minted during the Renaissance period, buried with the aim of “filling in” large historical gaps. Anatole de Montaiglon tells us that Jacques de Bie published, in 1639, a folio volume accompanied by plates and entitled:The Families of France , illustrated by the monuments of ancient and modern medals, "which has, he says, more medals invented than real." » [Anatole de Montaiglon. Preface from the Curiosites of Paris , reprinted from the original edition of 1716. Paris, 1883.] Let us agree that, to provide history with the documentation it lacked, Jacques de Bie used a faster and more economical process than that which was denounced by Father Hardouin. Victor Hugo, citing the four Histoires de France the most famous around 1830, - those of Dupleix, Mézeray, Vély and Father Daniel - says of the latter that the author, "a Jesuit famous for his descriptions of battles, has made in twenty years a history where there is no other merit than erudition, and in which the Comte de Boulainvilliers hardly found more than ten thousand errors". [Victor Hugo, Mixed Literature and Philosophy . Paris, Veurne, 1841, p. 31.] We know that Caligula erected in the year 40, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, the tower of Odre “to deceive future generations on an alleged descent of Caligula in Great Britain. » [ Anthyme Saint-Paul .] Converted into a lighthouse (turris ardens) by one of his successors, the tower of Odre collapsed in 1645.

What historian will provide us with the reason—superficial or profound—advocated by the sovereigns of England to justify the quality and title of kings of France which they retained until the eighteenth century? And yet, English coinage of this period still bears the imprint of such pretension. [According to English historians, the kings of England bore the title of kings of France until 1453. Perhaps they sought to justify it by the possession of Calais, which they lost in 1558. They continued however until the Revolution to claim the quality of French sovereigns. Jusserand said of Henry VIII, named Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo XI in 1521, that “This willful and unscrupulous prince considered that what was good to take was good to keep; it was a reasoning which he had applied to the kingdom of England itself, and in conclusion of which he had dispossessed, imprisoned and killed his cousin Richard VI. All English monarchs practiced this principle, because all professed the selfish axiom:What I love, I keep , and acted accordingly.]

Formerly, on the school benches, we were taught that the first French king was called Pharamond, and the year 420 was fixed as the date of his accession. Today, the royal genealogy begins at Clodion le Chevelu, because it was recognized that his father, Pharamond, had never reigned. But, in these remote times of the 5th century, are we quite sure of the authenticity of the documents relating to the actions of Clodion? Will these not be disputed some day, before being relegated to the domain of legends and fables?

For Huysmans, History is “the most solemn of lies and the most childish of lures. — "Events," he said, "are, for a man of talent, only a springboard for ideas and style, since all are mitigated or worsened, according to the needs of a cause or according to the temperament of the writer who handles them." As for the documents which support them, it is worse still, because none of them is irreducible, and all are revisable. If they are not apocryphal, others, no less certain, unearth themselves later who controvert them, while waiting for themselves to be demonetized by the exhumation of no less certain archives. » [JK Huysmans, There . Paris, Plon, 1891. c. II.]

The tombs of historical figures are also controversial sources of information. We have seen it more than once. [Let those who love historical memories please take the trouble, for their edification, to request from the town hall of Dourdan (Seine-et-Oise) an extract from the civil status register, with indication of the folio, of the death certificate of Roustam-Pasha (Roustan), Mameluck of Napoleon I. Roustan died at Dourdan in 1845, aged fifty-five.] The inhabitants of Bergamo experienced, in 1922, such an unpleasant surprise. Could they believe that their local celebrity, this fiery condottiere Bartholomeo Coleoni who filled the Italian annals with his warlike whims in the 15th century, was only a legendary shadow? Now, on a doubt from the king, visiting Bergamo, the municipality moved the mausoleum adorned with the famous equestrian statue, opened the tomb, and all the assistants noted, not without amazement, that it was empty… In France, at least, one does not push casualness so far; authentic or not, our graves contain bones. Amédée de Ponthieu says that the sarcophagus of François Myron, Parisian city councilor from 1604, was found during the demolition of the house bearing number 13 rue d'Arcole, a building erected on the foundations of the Sainte-Marine church, in which he had been buried. “The lead beer, writes the author, has the shape of a strangled ellipse… The epitaph was erased. When we lifted the lid of the coffin, we found only a skeleton surrounded by a blackish soot, mixed with dust… Strangely enough, we did not discover either the insignia of his office, neither his sword, nor his ring, etc., nor even traces of his coat of arms… However, the commission of Fine Arts, through the mouth of its experts, declared that it was indeed the great Parisian aedile, and these illustrious relics were lowered into the vaults of Notre-Dame. » [Amédée de Ponthieu, Legends of Old Paris , Paris, Bachelin-Deflorenne, 1867.] A testimony of similar value is reported by Fernand Bournon in his work Paris-Atlas . "We will only speak for the record," he says, "of the house located on the Quai aux Fleurs, where it bears the numbers 9-11, and which an inscription, without the shadow of authenticity or even likelihood, indicates as the former dwelling of Héloïse and Abelard in 1118, rebuilt in 1849. Such statements engraved on the marble are a challenge to common sense. Let us hasten to recognize that, in his historical distortions, Father Loriquet displays less boldness!

Allow us here a digression intended to clarify and define our thought. It is a very tenacious prejudice which, for a long time, attributed to the learned Pascal the paternity of the wheelbarrow. And, although the falsity of this attribution is demonstrated today, the fact remains that the great majority of the people persist in believing it to be founded. Ask a schoolboy, he will answer you that this practical vehicle, known to all, owes its design to the illustrious physicist. Among the mischievous, rowdy and often distracted individuals of the small school world, it is above all because of this alleged realization that the name of Pascal imposes itself on young minds. Many primaries, indeed, ignorant of what were Descartes, Michelangelo, Denis Papin or Torricelli, won't hesitate for a second about Pascal. It would be interesting to know why our children, among so many admirable discoveries whose daily application they have before their eyes, know Pascal and his wheelbarrow rather than the men of genius to whom we owe steam, the electric battery, beet sugar and the stearic candle. Is it because the wheelbarrow touches them more closely, interests them more, is more familiar to them? Maybe. Be that as it may, the vulgar error propagated by the elementary history books could easily be unmasked: one only had to leaf through a few illuminated manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries, several of which depict medieval cultivators using wheelbarrows. [See National Library, mss. 2090, 2091 and 2092, French funds. These three volumes originally formed a single work, which was offered to King Philippe le Long in 1317 by Gilles de Pontoise, abbot of Saint-Denis. These illuminations and miniatures are reproduced in black in the work of Henry Martin, entitled Legend of Saint-Denis. Paris, Champion, 1908.] And even without undertaking such delicate research, a glance at the monuments would have made it possible to establish the truth. Among the motifs decorating an archivolt in the northern porch of the cathedral of Beauvais, for example, an old rustic from the 15th century is represented there pushing his wheelbarrow, a wheelbarrow of a model similar to those we use today (pl. I). These illuminations and miniatures are reproduced in black in the work of Henry Martin, entitled Legend of Saint-Denis. Paris, Champion, 1908.] And even without undertaking such delicate research, a glance at the monuments would have made it possible to establish the truth. Among the motifs decorating an archivolt in the northern porch of the cathedral of Beauvais, for example, an old rustic from the 15th century is represented there pushing his wheelbarrow, a wheelbarrow of a model similar to those we use today (pl. I). These illuminations and miniatures are reproduced in black in the work of Henry Martin, entitled Legend of Saint-Denis. Paris, Champion, 1908.] And even without undertaking such delicate research, a glance at the monuments would have made it possible to establish the truth. Among the motifs decorating an archivolt in the northern porch of the cathedral of Beauvais, for example, an old rustic from the 15th century is represented there pushing his wheelbarrow, a wheelbarrow of a model similar to those we use today (pl. I).



BEAUVAIS
Saint-Pierre Cathedral
Archivolt of the northern porch
Man pushing a wheelbarrow
Plate I


The same utensil can also be seen on agricultural scenes forming the subject of two sculpted misericords, coming from the stalls of the abbey of Saint-Lucien, near Beauvais (1492-1500). [These stalls, preserved in the Cluny museum, bear the numbers B. 399 and B. 414.] Moreover, if the truth obliges us to refuse Pascal the benefit of a very ancient invention, several centuries prior to his birth, it can in no way diminish the greatness and the power of his genius. The immortal author of Pensées, of the calculation of probabilities, the inventor of the hydraulic press, the calculating machine, etc., commands our admiration by superior works and discoveries of a scale other than that of the wheelbarrow. But what is important to bring out, what counts only for us, is that, in the search for truth,

M. André Geiger arrives at a parallel conclusion when, struck by the inexplicable homage paid by Hadrian to the statue of Nero, he does justice to the iniquitous accusations made against this emperor and against Tiberius. Like us, he denies any credence to the purposely falsified historical reports of these so-called human monsters, and does not hesitate to write: “I trust monuments and logic more than stories. »

If, as we have said, the faking of a text, the writing of a chronicle require only a little skill and know-how, on the other hand it is impossible to build a cathedral. Let us address ourselves to the buildings, they will furnish us with more serious, better indications. There, at least, we will see our characters "represented to the living", fixed on stone or on wood, with their real physiognomy, their costume and their gestures, whether they figure in sacred scenes or compose profane subjects. We will contact them and it won't take long to love them. Sometimes we will question the harvester of the thirteenth century, who sharpens his scythe at the gate of Paris, sometimes the apothecary of the fifteenth century, who, in the stalls of Amiens, pounded who knows what drug in his wooden mortar. His neighbour, the drunkard with the flowery nose, is no stranger to us; we remember having several times, during our wanderings, met this merry drinker. Would it not be our man who exclaimed, in full "Mystery", in front of the spectacle of the miracle of Jesus at the Wedding at Cana:

“If scavoye do what he does,
All the Sea of ​​Galilee
Would be bored [today] in moulted wine;
And never on earth would have
Drop of water, would not rain
Nothing from heaven that all was wine? »

And this beggar, escaped from the Court of Miracles, without any other stigma of distress than his rags and his lice, we also recognize him. It is he whom the Confreres de la Passion stage at the feet of Christ, and who, lamentably, delivers this soliloquy:

“I look at my flags [rags]
His [Si l'on] threw some stitches into it;
I hear so much: yawn him, yawn!
– There is a denier ne demy…
A poor man never touched Amy. »

Despite all that has been written, we must, willy-nilly, accustom ourselves to the truth that at the beginning of the Middle Ages society was already rising to the superior degree of civilization and splendour. John of Salisbury, who visited Paris in 1176, expresses the most sincere enthusiasm on this subject in his Polycreation. "When I saw," he said, "the abundance of provisions, the gaiety of the people, the good behavior of the clergy, the majesty and glory of the whole Church, the various occupations of the men admitted to the study of philosophy, I seemed to see this Jacob's ladder, whose summit reached heaven and where the angels ascended and descended. I was forced to admit that truly, the Lord was in this place and that I did not know it. This passage from a poet also came to mind: Happy is he to whom this place is assigned for exile! "["Parisius cum viderem victualium copiam, lætitiam populi, reverentiam cleri, et totus ecclesiae majestatem et gloriam, et variam occupationes philosophantium, admiratus velut illam scalam Jacob, cujus summitas cœlum tangebat, eratque via ascendentium et descendentium angelorum, coactus sum profiteri quod sere Dominus est in loco ipso, et ego nesciebam. Illud quoque poeticum ad mentem repeats: felix exilium cui locus iste datur! »] Illud quoque poeticum ad mentem repeats: felix exilium cui locus iste datur! »] Illud quoque poeticum ad mentem repeats: felix exilium cui locus iste datur! »]


II

MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE

No one today disputes the high value of medieval works. But who will ever be able to reason the strange contempt of which they were victims until the 19th century? Who will tell us why, since the Renaissance, the elite of artists, scholars and thinkers made it a point of honor to affect the most complete indifference for the bold creations of an era misunderstood, original among all and so magnificently expressive of French genius? What was, what could be the deep cause of the reversal of opinion, then of the banishment, of the exclusion which weighed so long on Gothic art? – Should we incriminate ignorance, caprice, perversion of taste? We do not know. A French writer, Charles de Rémusat, thinks he discovers the primary reason for this unjust disdain in the absence of literature, which is surprising. “The Renaissance, he assures us, despised the Middle Ages, because true French literature, that which succeeded, erased its last traces. And yet the France of the Middle Ages offers a striking spectacle. His genius was lofty and severe. He took pleasure in serious meditations, in deep researches; he expounded, in graceless and dull language, sublime truths and subtle hypotheses. He produced a singularly philosophical literature. No doubt this literature has exercised the human mind more than it has served it. In vain have men of the first order successively illustrated it; for modern generations, their works are as if void. It was because they had the spirit and the ideas, but not the talent to speak well in a language which was not borrowed. Scott Erigena recalls in certain moments Plato; philosophical freedom has hardly been carried further than he, and he rises boldly in that region of the clouds where truth only shines by flashes of lightning; he thought for himself in the ninth century. Saint Anselm is an original metaphysician whose scholarly idealism regenerates vulgar beliefs, and he conceived and realized the audacious thought of directly attaining the notion of divinity. He is the theologian of pure reason. Saint Bernard is sometimes brilliant and ingenious, sometimes serious and pathetic. A mystic like Fénelon, he resembles an active and popular Bossuet, who dominates the century by speech and commands kings instead of praising and serving them. His sad rival, his noble victim, Abelard, brought into the exposition of dialectical science an unknown rigor and a relative lucidity, which attest to a nervous and supple mind, made to understand and explain everything. He is a great promoter of ideas. Héloïse forced a dry and pedantic language to render the delicacies of an elite intelligence, the pains of the proudest and most tender soul, the transports of a desperate passion. John of Salisbury is a clairvoyant critic to whom the human spirit is a spectacle and who describes it in its progress, in its movements, in its returns, with premature truth and impartiality. He seems to have divined this talent of our time, this art of making intellectual society stand before you in order to judge it... Saint Thomas, embracing all the philosophy of his time in one go, has at times exceeded that of ours; he bound all human science in a perpetual syllogism and unwound it entirely in continuous reasoning, thus realizing the union of a vast mind and a logical mind. Gerson, finally, Gerson, the theologian whom sentiment disputes with deduction, who understood and neglected philosophy, knew how to subjugate reason without humiliating it, to captivate hearts without offending minds, finally to imitate the God who makes himself believed by making himself loved. All these men, and I do not name all their equals, were great and their works admirable. To be admired, to maintain a constant influence on later literature, what did they lack? It is neither science, nor thought, nor genius; I'm afraid it's only one thing, style.

“French literature does not come from them. It does not claim their authority, it does not adorn itself with their names; it has only gloried in erasing them. » [Charles de Rémusat, Critics and Literary Studies.]

From which we can conclude that, if the Middle Ages shared the spirit, the Renaissance took malicious pleasure in imprisoning us in the letter...

What Charles de Rémusat says is very judicious, at least as far as the first medieval period is concerned, when intellectuality appears subject to Byzantine influence and still imbued with Roman doctrines. A century later, the same reasoning loses much of its value; one cannot deny, for example, to the works of the cycle of the Round Table , a certain charm released from an already more neat form. Thibaut, Count of Champagne, in his Songs of the King of Navarre , Guillaume de Lorris and Jehan Clopinel, authors of the Roman de la Rose, all our trouvères and troubadours of the 13th and 14th centuries, without having the haughty genius of the learned philosophers their ancestors, pleasantly know how to use their language and often express themselves with the grace and the flexibility which characterize the literature of our days.

We therefore do not see why the Renaissance held rigor in the Middle Ages and took note of its alleged literary deficiency to proscribe it and reject it in the chaos of the nascent civilizations, barely emerging from barbarism.

As for us, we believe that medieval thought is revealed as being essentially scientific and nothing else. Art and literature are for her only the humble servants of traditional science. Their express mission is to translate symbolically the truths that the Middle Ages received from antiquity and of which it remained the faithful depositary. Subject to purely allegorical expression, held under the imperative will of the same parable which removes the Christian mystery from the profane, art and literature bear witness to an obvious embarrassment and display a certain stiffness; but the solidity and simplicity of their craftsmanship contribute in spite of everything to giving them an undeniable originality. Certainly, the observer will never find the image of Christ attractive, as presented to us by the Romanesque porches, where Jesus, in the center of the mystical almond, appears surrounded by the four Gospel animals. It suffices for us that his divinity be underlined by his own emblems and thus announces itself as revealing a secret teaching. We admire the Gothic masterpieces for their nobility and the boldness of their expression; if they do not have the delicate perfection of the form, they possess in the supreme degree the initiatic power of a learned and transcendent philosophy. They are serious and austere productions, not light, graceful, pleasant motifs, such as those which art, from the Renaissance, was pleased to lavish upon us. But, while the latter aspire only to flatter the eye or to charm the senses, the artistic and literary works of the Middle Ages are supported by a superior, true and concrete thought, the cornerstone of an immutable science, indestructible basis of Religion. If we had to define these two tendencies, one deep, the other superficial, we would say that Gothic art is entirely due to the scholarly majesty of its buildings and the Renaissance to the pleasant adornment of its dwellings.

The medieval colossus did not crumble in one piece during the decline of the 15th century. In several places, his genius was able to resist the imposition of new directives for a long time. We see its agony continue until the middle of the following century and find, in some buildings of this period, the philosophical impulse, the fund of wisdom which generated, for three centuries, so many imperishable works. Also, without taking into account their more recent construction, we will dwell on these works of lesser importance, but of similar significance, with the hope of recognizing in them the secret idea, symbolically expressed, of their authors.

It is these refuges of ancient esotericism, these asylums of traditional science, which have become extremely rare today, which, without taking into account their affectation or their usefulness, we classify in hermetic iconology, among the artistic guardians of the high philosophical truths.

Do we want an example? Here is the admirable tympanum which, in the distant 12th century, decorated the front door of an old Reims house (pl. II).




REIMS - LAPIDARY MUSEUM
Tympanum of a 12th century house
Plate II


[This tympanum is preserved in the Lapidary Museum of Reims, established in the premises of the civil hospital (former abbey of Saint-Remi, rue Simon). It was discovered around 1857, during the construction of the prison, in the foundations of the so-called house of Christianity in Reims, located on the Place du Parvis, and which bore the inscription: Fides, Spes, Caritas. This house belonged to the chapter.]

The subject, very transparent, would easily do without description. Under a large arcade, with two other geminates, a master teaches his disciple and points to him, on the pages of an open book, the passage he is commenting on. Below, a young and vigorous athlete strangles a monstrous animal—perhaps a dragon—of which only the head and neck are visible. He sits next to two tightly entwined youngsters. Science thus appears as the dominator of Force and Love, opposing the superiority of the spirit to the physical manifestations of power and feeling.

How to admit that a construction signed with such a thought did not belong to some unknown philosopher? Why would we deny this bas-relief the credit of a symbolic conception emanating from a cultivated brain, from an educated man asserting his taste for study and preaching by example? We would therefore certainly be making the greatest mistake in excluding this dwelling, with its characteristic frontispiece, from the number of emblematic works that we propose to study under the general title of Philosopher's Residences .


III

MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY

Of all the sciences cultivated in the Middle Ages, none, very certainly, had more vogue and was more in honor than the science of alchemy. Such is the name under which was concealed, among the Arabs, the sacred or sacerdotal Art, which they had inherited from the Egyptians and which the medieval West was subsequently to welcome with so much enthusiasm.

Many controversies have arisen over the various etymologies attributed to the word alchemy . Pierre-Jean Fabre, in his Abrégé des Secrets chymiques , wants him to recall the name of Cham, son of Noah, who would have been its first craftsman, and writes it alchamie. The anonymous author of a curious manuscript thinks that “the word alchemy is derived from als, which in Greek means salt, and from chymie, which means fusion; and thus it is well said, because the salt which is so admirable is usurped. » [ The Cabalistic Interruption of Sleep or the Unveiling of the Paintings of Antiquity… Mss. with figures from the 18th century, biblioth. de l'Arsenal, No. 2520 (175 SAF). — National Library, former French collection, no. 670 (71235), 17th century. — Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, no. 2267, treatise II, 18th century.] But if salt is called ἅλς in the Greek language, χειµεία, put for χυμεία, alchemy, has no other meaning than that of juice or mood. Others discover its origin in the first denomination of the land of Egypt, homeland of Sacred Art, Kymie or Chemi. Napoleon Landais finds no difference between the two words chemistry and alchemy; he only adds that the prefix al cannot be confused with the Arabic article and simply signifies a marvelous virtue. Those who support the opposite thesis using the article al and the noun chemistry, intend to designate the chemistry par excellence or hyperchemistry of modern occultists. If we were to bring our personal opinion into this debate, we would say that the phonetic Kabbalah recognizes a close relationship between the Greek words Χειµεία, Χυμεία and Χεῦμα, which indicates what flows, streams, flows, and particularly marks molten metal, the fusion itself, as well as any work made of molten metal. That would be a brief and succinct definition of alchemy as a metallurgical technique. [Even this definition would be more appropriate to archemy or voarchadumy, that part of the science which teaches the transmutation of metals into each other, than to alchemy properly so called.] But we know, on the other hand, that the name and the thing are based on the permutation of form by light, fire or spirit; such is,

Born in the East, homeland of mystery and the marvelous, alchemical science spread to the West by three main routes of penetration: Byzantine, Mediterranean, Hispanic. It was above all the result of the Arab conquests. This curious, studious people, eager for philosophy and culture, a civilizing people par excellence, forms the hyphen, the chain that connects Eastern antiquity to the Western Middle Ages. It plays, in fact, in the history of human progress, a role comparable to that exercised by the Phoenicians mercantis between Egypt and Assyria. The Arabs, educators of the Greeks and Persians, transmitted to Europe the science of Egypt and Babylon, augmented by their own acquisitions, through the European continent (Byzantine route) and around the 8th century of our era. On the other hand, the Arab influence exercised its action in our regions on the return of expeditions from Palestine (Mediterranean route), and it was the Crusaders of the 12th century who imported most of the ancient knowledge. Finally, closer to us, at the dawn of the 13th century, new elements of civilization, science and art, coming around the 8th century from northern Africa, spread to Spain (Hispanic way) and came to increase the first contributions of the Greco-Byzantine hearth.

At first shy, hesitant, the alchemy gradually becomes aware of itself and does not take long to strengthen. It tends to impose itself, and this exotic, transplanted in our soil, acclimatizes there marvelously, develops there with so much vigor that one soon sees it open out in an exuberant flowering. Its extension, its progress, are marvellous. It was scarcely cultivated—and only in the shade of monastic cells—in the twelfth century; in the fourteenth century, it spread everywhere, radiating to all social classes where it shines with the greatest brilliance. Each country offers mysterious science a nursery of fervent disciples and each condition hastens to sacrifice to it. Nobility, upper middle class indulge in it. Scholars, monks, princes, prelates profess it; it is not up to tradespeople and small craftsmen, goldsmiths, gentlemen glassmakers, enamellers, apothecaries who do not feel the irresistible desire to handle retort. If one does not work on it in broad daylight, — the royal authority pursues the prompters and the popes fulminate against them [Cf. the bubbleSpondent pariter , launched against the alchemists by Pope John XXII, in 1317, who, however, had written his very singular Ars transmutatoria metallorum.], — we do not stop studying it under the cloak. We eagerly seek the society of philosophers, real or pretended. These undertake long journeys, with the intention of increasing their store of knowledge, or correspond, by means of cipher, from country to country, from kingdom to kingdom. There is a dispute over the manuscripts of the great Adepts, those of the Panapolitan Zozime, of Ostanes, of Synesius; the copies of Geber, of Rhazes, of Artephius. The books of Morien, of Marie la Prophétesse, the fragments of Hermès are negotiated at a price of gold. The fever seizes the intellectuals and, with the fraternities, the lodges, the initiatory centers, the prompters grow and multiply. Few families escape the pernicious lure of the golden chimera; very rare are those who do not count among their bosom some practicing alchemist, some hunter of the impossible. The imagination is given free rein.The Auri sacra fames ruins the noble, despairs the commoner, starves whoever gets caught in it, and benefits only the charlatan. “Abbots, bishops, doctors, solitaries, writes Lenglet-Dufresnoy, all made it their occupation; it was the madness of the time, and we know that each century has one of its own; but unfortunately this one has reigned longer than the others and has not even entirely passed away. [Lenglet-Dufresnoy, History of Hermetic Philosophy . Paris, Coustelier, 1742.]

With what passion, what breath, what hopes does cursed science envelop the Gothic cities sleeping under the stars! Subterranean and secret fermentation which, as soon as night falls, peoples the deep cellars with strange pulsations, exhales intermittently from the basement windows, rises in sulphurous volutes to the top of the gables!

After the famous name of Artephius (around 1130), the fame of the masters who succeeded him consecrates the hermetic reality and stimulates the ardor of the applicants for the Adeptate. It was, in the 13th century, the illustrious English monk Roger Bacon, whom his disciples nicknamed Doctor admirabilis (1214-1292), and whose enormous reputation became universal; France comes next with Alain de l'Isle, doctor of Paris and monk of Cîteaux (died around 1298); Christophe le Parisien (around 1260) and master Arnaud de Villeneuve (1245-1310), while Thomas d'Aquin, — Doctor angelicus, — (1225) and the monk Ferrari (1280) shine in Italy.

The 14th century saw a whole plethora of artists emerge. Raymon Lully, — Doctor illuminatus, — Spanish Franciscan monk (1235-1315); Jean Daustin, English philosopher; Jean Cremer, Abbot of Westminster; Richard, nicknamed Robert the Englishman, author of the Correctum alchymiae (around 1330); the Italian Pierre Bon from Lombardy; French Pope John XXII (1244-1317); Guillaume de Paris, instigator of the hermetic bas-reliefs of the porch of Notre-Dame, Jehan de Mehun, known as Clopinel, one of the authors of the Roman de la Rose (1280-1364); Grasseus, surnamed Hortulanus, commentator on the Emerald Tablet (1358); finally, the most famous and the most popular of the philosophers of our country, the alchemist Nicolas Flamel (1330-1417).

The fifteenth century marks the glorious period of science and still surpasses the precedents, as much by the value as by the number of masters who illustrated it. Among these, we should cite in the first rank Basil Valentine, Benedictine monk of the Abbey of St. Peter, at Erfurth, Electorate of Mainz (c. 1413), the most considerable artist 16 perhaps that hermetic art has ever produced; his compatriot, Abbé Trithème; Isaac the Dutchman (1408); the two Englishmen Thomas Norton and Georges Ripley; Lambsprinck; Georges Aurach, of Strasbourg (1415); the Calabrian monk Lacini (1459), and the noble Bernard Trévisan (1406-1490), who devoted fifty-six years of his life to the pursuit of the Work, and whose name will remain in alchemical history as a symbol of stubbornness, constancy, irreducible perseverance.

From this moment, Hermeticism fell into discredit. His very partisans, embittered by the failure, turned against him. Attacked from all sides, its prestige disappears; enthusiasm wanes, opinion changes. Practical operations, collected, gathered then revealed and taught, allow dissidents to support the thesis of alchemical nothingness, to ruin philosophy by laying the foundations of our chemistry. Seton, Vinceslas Lavinius of Moravia, Zachaire, Paracelsus are, in the 16th century, the only known heirs of Egyptian esotericism, which the Renaissance denied after having corrupted it. Let us pay, in passing, a supreme homage to the ardent defender of ancient truths that was Paracelsus; the Grand Tribune deserves our eternal gratitude for his final and courageous intervention. Although futile,

Hermetic art prolongs its agony until the 17th century and finally dies out, not without having given the Western world three large-scale offspring: Lascaris, the President of Espagnet and the mysterious Eyrenée Philalethe, a living enigma whose true personality could never be discovered.


IV

THE LEGENDARY LABORATORY

With its procession of mystery and the unknown, under its veil of illuminism and the marvellous, alchemy evokes a whole past of distant stories, wondrous tales, surprising testimonies. Its singular theories, its strange recipes, the secular fame of its great masters, the passionate controversies it aroused, the favor it enjoyed in the Middle Ages, its obscure, enigmatic, paradoxical literature, seem to us today to give off the smell of mold, of the rarefied air acquired, through long contact with the years, by empty sepulchers, dead flowers, abandoned dwellings, yellowed parchments.

The alchemist? – A meditative old man, with a serious forehead and crowned with white hair, a pale and ravaged silhouette, an original character of a vanished humanity and a forgotten world; a stubborn recluse, hunched over by study, vigils, persevering research, the obstinate deciphering of the enigmas of high science. Such is the philosopher whom the imagination of the poet and the brush of the artist have been pleased to represent to us.

His laboratory – cellar, cell or old crypt – barely lights up with a sad day, which is still diffused by the multiple nets of dusty spiders. It is there, however, that in the midst of the silence the prodigy, little by little, is accomplished. The indefatigable nature, better than in its rocky abysses, works under the prudent safeguard of man, with the help of the stars and by the grace of God. Occult work, thankless and cyclopean task, of a nightmare magnitude! At the center of this in pace , a being, a scientist for whom nothing else exists, monitors, attentive and patient, the successive phases of the Great Work...

As our eyes become accustomed, a thousand things come out of the shadows, are born and take shape. Where are we, Lord? Would it be in the lair of Polyphemus or in the cave of Vulcan?

Near us, an extinguished forge, covered with dust and scale; the horn, the hammer, the pliers, the forces, the hooks; rusty ingot molds; the rough and powerful tools of the metallurgist came to run aground there. In one corner, large, heavily ironed books—like antiphonaries—with signs sealed with old lead; ashen manuscripts, grimoires overlapping pell-mell, flabby volumes, riddled with notes and formulas, stained from the incipit to the explicit. Vials, potbellied like good monks, filled with opalescent emulsions, glaucous, eruginous or incarnadin liquids, exhale these acid stench whose bitterness constricts the throat and stings the nostril.

On the stove hood are lined up curious oblong vessels, with short pegs, stuffed and hooded with wax; matrass, with iridescent spheres of metallic deposits, stretch their necks sometimes slender and cylindrical, sometimes flared or swollen; the greenish retorts, retortes and pottery cuines rub shoulders with crucibles of reddish and flamed earth. At the bottom, posed on their spangles all along a stone cornice, hyaline and elegant philosophical eggs contrast with the massive and plump gourd, – praegnans cucurbita .

Damn! Here are now anatomical pieces, skeletal fragments: blackened, toothless skulls, repugnant in their rictus from beyond the grave; human fetuses suspended, desiccated, curled up, miserable wastes offering to the gaze their tiny bodies, their parchment heads, snickering and pitiful. These round, glassy and golden eyes are those of an owl with faded plumage, which neighbors the alligator, a giant salamander, another important symbol of the practice. The hideous reptile emerges from an obscure retreat, stretches the chain of its vertebrae on its stubby legs and directs the bony abyss of fearsome jawbones towards the arcades.

Placed without order, at random, on the floor of the oven, see these vitrified, aludel or sublimatory pots; those thick-walled pelicans; those hells resembling large eggs of which one would see one of the chalazes; those olive groves buried right in the arena, against the athanor with its light smoke climbing the ogival vault. Here, the copper still, – homo galeatus , – smeared with green smudges; there, the descenders, the concurbs and their antenos, the two brothers or twins of cohobation; coil vessels; heavy mortars of cast iron and marble; a large bellows with wrinkled leather sides, near a heap of mittens, tiles, cups, evaporators...

Chaotic heap of archaic instruments, bizarre materials, outdated utensils; shambles of all the sciences, jumble of impressive fauna! And, hovering over this disorder, fixed to the keystone, pendant with outstretched wings, the great raven, hieroglyph of material death and its decompositions, mysterious emblem of mysterious operations.

Curious also the wall, or at least what remains of it. Mystical inscriptions fill the voids: Hic lapis est subtus te, supra te, erga te and circa te  ; mnemonic verses are intertwined there, engraved at the whim of the stylus on the soft stone; one of them predominates, dug in Gothic cursive: Azoth et ignis tibi sufficiunt  ; Hebrew characters; circles interspersed with triangles, interspersed with quadrilaterals like Gnostic signatures. Here, a thought, based on the dogma of unity, sums up the whole philosophy: Omnia ab uno et in unum omnia. Elsewhere, the image of the scythe, emblem of the thirteenth arcana and of the house of Saturn; the Star of Solomon; the symbol of the Crayfish, obsecration of the evil spirit; a few passages from Zoroaster, testimonies of the high antiquity of the accursed sciences. Finally, located in the luminous field of the ventilator, and more readable in this maze of inaccuracies, the hermetic ternary: Sal, Sulphur, Mercurius ...

Such is the legendary picture of the alchemist and his laboratory. Fantastic vision, devoid of truth, taken from the popular imagination and reproduced in old almanacs, treasures of peddling.

Prompters, magicians, wizards, astrologers, necromancers?

– Anathema and curse!


V

CHEMISTRY AND PHILOSOPHY

Chemistry is, unquestionably, the science of facts, as alchemy is that of causes. The first, limited to the material domain, is based on experience; the second preferably takes its directives from philosophy. If one has for object the study of natural bodies, the other tries to penetrate the mysterious dynamism which presides over their transformations. This is what makes their essential difference and allows us to say that alchemy, compared to our positive science, the only one admitted and taught today, is a spiritualist chemistry, because it allows us to glimpse God through the darkness of substance.

Moreover, it does not seem to us sufficient to know exactly how to recognize and classify facts; it is still necessary to question nature in order to learn from it under what conditions, and under the influence of what will, its multiple productions take place. The philosophical mind cannot, in fact, be satisfied with a simple possibility of identifying bodies; he demands knowledge of the secret of their elaboration. Half-opening the door of the laboratory where nature mixes the elements is good; to discover the occult force under the influence of which his labor is accomplished is better. We are obviously far from knowing all the natural bodies and their combinations, since we discover new ones daily; but we know enough, however, to temporarily abandon the study of inert matter and direct our research towards the unknown animator, agent of so many marvels.

To say, for example, that two volumes of hydrogen combined with one volume of oxygen give water, is to state a chemical banality. And yet, who will teach us why the result of this combination presents, with a special state, characteristics which the gases which produced it do not possess? What is the agent which imposes on the compound its new specificity and forces the water, solidified by the cold, to always crystallize in the same system? On the other hand, if the fact is undeniable and rigorously controlled, why is it impossible for us to reproduce it by simply reading the formula responsible for explaining its mechanism? Because it lacks, in the H²O notation, the essential agent capable of causing the intimate union of the gaseous elements, that is to say fire. Gold, we defy the most skilful chemist to manufacture synthetic water by mixing oxygen with hydrogen in the volumes indicated: the two gases will always refuse to combine. To succeed in the experiment, it is essential to involve fire, either in the form of a spark, or in that of a body in ignition or likely to be brought to incandescence (platinum foam). Thus we recognize, without being able to oppose our thesis the slightest serious argument, that the chemical formula of water is, if not false, at least incomplete and truncated. And the elemental agent fire, without which no combination can be effected, being excluded from chemical notation, the whole of science proves to be incomplete and incapable of furnishing, by its formulas, a logical and true explanation of the phenomena studied. “Physical chemistry, writes A. Étard, involves the majority of research minds; it is she who touches most closely on the profound truths; it is she who will slowly deliver to us the laws capable of changing all our systems and our formulas. But, by its very importance, this kind of chemistry is the most abstract and the most mysterious there is; the best intelligences cannot, during the brief moments of creative thought, arrive at the contention and comparison of all the great known facts. Faced with this impossibility, we resort to mathematical representations. These representations are most often perfect in their methods and their results; but in the application to what is profoundly unknown, mathematics cannot be made to discover truths the elements of which have not been entrusted to them. The most gifted man misstates the problem he does not understand. If these problems could be correctly put into equation, there would be hope of solving them. But, in the state of ignorance in which we find ourselves, we find ourselves inevitably reduced to introducing numerous constants, to neglecting terms, to applying hypotheses… The equation is perhaps no longer correct in all respects; we console ourselves, however, because it leads to a solution; but it is a temporary halt to the progress of science when such solutions impose themselves for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration. Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, If these problems could be correctly put into equation, there would be hope of solving them. But, in the state of ignorance in which we find ourselves, we find ourselves inevitably reduced to introducing numerous constants, to neglecting terms, to applying hypotheses… The equation is perhaps no longer correct in all respects; we console ourselves, however, because it leads to a solution; but it is a temporary halt to the progress of science when such solutions impose themselves for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration. Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, If these problems could be correctly put into equation, there would be hope of solving them. But, in the state of ignorance in which we find ourselves, we find ourselves inevitably reduced to introducing numerous constants, to neglecting terms, to applying hypotheses… The equation is perhaps no longer correct in all respects; we console ourselves, however, because it leads to a solution; but it is a temporary halt to the progress of science when such solutions impose themselves for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration. Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, to neglect terms, to apply hypotheses… The equation may no longer be correct in all respects; we console ourselves, however, because it leads to a solution; but it is a temporary halt to the progress of science when such solutions impose themselves for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration. Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, to neglect terms, to apply hypotheses… The equation may no longer be correct in all respects; we console ourselves, however, because it leads to a solution; but it is a temporary halt to the progress of science when such solutions impose themselves for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration. Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay, Much work is being done in this direction, which takes time and leads to contradictory theories, destined to be forgotten. " [AT. delay,Annual Review of Pure Chemistry , in the Revue des Sciences , Sept. 30, 1896, p. 775.]

These famous theories, which were invoked for so long and opposed to Hermetic conceptions, today see their solidity greatly compromised. Sincere scholars, belonging to the school that created these same hypotheses – considered as certainties – no longer grant them more than a very relative value; their field of action narrows in parallel with the reduction in their investigative power. This is what Mr. Émile Picard expresses, with this frankness revealing the true scientific spirit, in the Revue des Deux Mondes. “As for theories, he writes, they no longer propose to give a causal explanation of reality itself, but only to translate this into images or mathematical symbols. We ask the working tools that are theories to coordinate, at least for a time, known phenomena and to predict new ones. When their fecundity is exhausted, efforts are made to make them undergo the transformations made necessary by the discovery of new facts. Thus, unlike philosophy, which anticipates the facts, ensures the orientation of ideas and their practical connection, theory, conceived after the fact, modified according to the results of experience, as and when acquired, always reflects the uncertainty of provisional things and gives modern science the character of a perpetual empiricism. Quantities of chemical facts, seriously observed, resist logic and defy all reasoning. “Cupric iodide, for example, says J. Duclaux, spontaneously decomposes into iodine and cuprous iodide. Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, seriously observed, resist logic and defy reasoning. “Cupric iodide, for example, says J. Duclaux, spontaneously decomposes into iodine and cuprous iodide. Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, seriously observed, resist logic and defy reasoning. “Cupric iodide, for example, says J. Duclaux, spontaneously decomposes into iodine and cuprous iodide. Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, “Cupric iodide, for example, says J. Duclaux, spontaneously decomposes into iodine and cuprous iodide. Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, “Cupric iodide, for example, says J. Duclaux, spontaneously decomposes into iodine and cuprous iodide. Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, Iodine being an oxidant and cuprous salts being reducing, this decomposition is inexplicable. The formation of extremely unstable compounds, such as nitrogen chloride, is also inexplicable. We do not understand either why gold, which resists acids and alkalis, even concentrated and hot ones, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of cyanide of potassium; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, even concentrated and hot, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of potassium cyanide; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux, even concentrated and hot, dissolves in a dilute and cold solution of potassium cyanide; why hydrogen sulphide is more volatile than water; why sulfur chloride, composed of two elements each of which combines with potassium with incandescence, has no action on this metal. » [J. Duclaux,The Chemistry of Living Matter . Paris, Alcan, 1910, p. 14.]

We have just spoken of fire; again, we consider it only in its vulgar form, and not in its spiritual essence, which is introduced into bodies at the very moment of their appearance on the physical plane. What we wish to demonstrate, without departing from the alchemical domain, is the serious error which dominates all current science and prevents it from recognizing this universal principle which animates substance, to whatever kingdom it belongs. Yet it manifests itself around us, before our eyes, either through the new properties that matter inherits from it, or through the phenomena that accompany its release. Light – rarefied and spiritualized fire – has the same virtues and the same chemical power as coarse elementary fire. An experiment, directed towards the synthetic realization of hydrochloric acid (Cl H) starting from its components, demonstrates it sufficiently. If we enclose in a glass flask equal volumes of chlorine gas and hydrogen, the two gases will retain their own individuality as long as the flask which contains them is kept in the dark. Already, in diffused light, their combination takes place little by little; but if the vessel is exposed to direct solar rays, it shatters under the thrust of a violent explosion. their combination takes place little by little; but if the vessel is exposed to direct solar rays, it shatters under the thrust of a violent explosion. their combination takes place little by little; but if the vessel is exposed to direct solar rays, it shatters under the thrust of a violent explosion.

It will be objected that fire, considered as a simple catalyst, is not an integral part of the substance and that consequently it cannot be indicated in the expression of chemical formulas. The argument is more specious than true, since experience itself invalidates it. Here is a piece of sugar, the equation of which bears no equivalent of fire; if we break it in the dark, we will see a blue spark spring from it. Where does it come from? Where was it enclosed, if not in the crystalline texture of sucrose? – We talked about water; let us throw on its surface a fragment of potassium: it ignites spontaneously and burns with energy. Where was this visible flame hiding? Whether in water, air or metal, it matters little; the essential fact is that it potentially exists within one or other of these bodies, or even all of them. What is phosphorus, carrier of light and generator of fire? How do moths, lampyres and fireflies transform part of their vital energy into light? What obliges the salts of uranium, of cerium, of zirconium, to become fluorescent when they have been subjected to the action of solar light? By what mysterious synchronism does barium platinum cyanide shine on contact with Roentgen rays? to fluoresce when subjected to the action of sunlight? By what mysterious synchronism does barium platinum cyanide shine on contact with Roentgen rays? to fluoresce when subjected to the action of sunlight? By what mysterious synchronism does barium platinum cyanide shine on contact with Roentgen rays?

And let no one come and talk to us about oxidation in the normal order of igneous phenomena: that would be postponing the question instead of resolving it. Oxidation is a result, not a cause; it is a combination subjected to an active principle, to an agent. If certain energetic oxidations liberate heat or fire, it is most certainly because this fire was first engaged there. The electric fluid, silent, dark and cold, runs through its metallic conductor without influencing it otherwise or manifesting its passage. But, should he encounter resistance, the energy immediately reveals itself with the qualities and under the aspect of fire. A lamp filament becomes incandescent, the coal of a retort ignites, the most refractory metal wire melts on the spot. Now, isn't electricity a real fire, a mighty fire? From where does it derive its origin, if not from the decomposition (batteries) or the disintegration of metals (dynamos), bodies eminently charged with the igneous principle? Let us detach a particle of steel or iron by grinding, striking it against a flint, and we will see the spark thus released shine. We know enough about the pneumatic lighter, based on the property that atmospheric air has of igniting by simple compression. Liquids themselves are often veritable reservoirs of fire. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. if not from the decomposition (batteries) or the disintegration of metals (dynamos), bodies eminently charged with the igneous principle? Let us detach a particle of steel or iron by grinding, striking it against a flint, and we will see the spark thus released shine. We know enough about the pneumatic lighter, based on the property that atmospheric air has of igniting by simple compression. Liquids themselves are often veritable reservoirs of fire. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. if not from the decomposition (batteries) or the disintegration of metals (dynamos), bodies eminently charged with the igneous principle? Let us detach a particle of steel or iron by grinding, striking it against a flint, and we will see the spark thus released shine. We know enough about the pneumatic lighter, based on the property that atmospheric air has of igniting by simple compression. Liquids themselves are often veritable reservoirs of fire. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. and we will see the spark thus set free shine. We know enough about the pneumatic lighter, based on the property that atmospheric air has of igniting by simple compression. Liquids themselves are often veritable reservoirs of fire. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. and we will see the spark thus set free shine. We know enough about the pneumatic lighter, based on the property that atmospheric air has of igniting by simple compression. Liquids themselves are often veritable reservoirs of fire. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc. It is enough to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on the essence of turpentine to provoke its ignition. In the category of salts, let us cite for memory fulminates, nitrocellulose, potash picrate, etc.

Without multiplying examples further, we see that it would be puerile to maintain that fire, because we cannot perceive it directly in matter, is not really there in a latent state. The old alchemists, who had more knowledge from traditional sources than we are willing to give them, asserted that the sun is a cold star and that its rays are dark. [Conf. Cosmopolitan or New Chemical Light, Paris, 1669, p. 50.] Nothing seems more paradoxical or more contrary to appearance, and yet nothing is more true. A few moments of reflection allow us to be convinced of this. If the sun were a globe of fire, as we are taught, it would suffice to approach it, however slightly, to experience the effect of increasing heat. It is precisely the opposite that takes place. The high mountains remain capped with snow despite the heat of summer. In the high regions of the atmosphere, when the star passes through the zenith, the cupola of the aerostats is covered with frost and their passengers suffer from very sharp cold. Thus, experience shows that the temperature drops as the altitude increases. Light itself is made perceptible to us only insofar as we find ourselves placed in the field of its radiation. Are we situated outside the radiant beam, its action ceases for our eyes. It is a well-known fact that an observer, gazing at the sky from the bottom of a well and at the hour of noon, sees the nocturnal and starry firmament.

Where do heat and light come from? — From the simple shock of cold and dark vibrations against the gaseous molecules of our atmosphere. And as the resistance increases in direct proportion to the density of the medium, the heat and the light are stronger on the earth's surface than at great altitudes, because the layers of air are also denser there. Such, at least, is the physical explanation of the phenomenon. In reality, and according to the hermetic theory, the opposition to the vibratory movement, the reaction are only the first causes of an effect which results in the liberation of the luminous and igneous atoms from the atmospheric air. Under the action of the vibratory bombardment, the spirit, freed from the body, takes on for our senses the physical qualities characteristic of its active phase: luminosity, radiance, warmth.

Thus, the only criticism that can be addressed to chemical science is that it does not take into account the igneous agent, spiritual principle and basis of energy, under the influence of which all material transformations take place. It is the systematic exclusion of this spirit, superior will and hidden dynamism of things, which deprives modern chemistry of the philosophical character that ancient alchemy possesses. "You believe," wrote M. Henri Hélier to ML Olivier, "in the indefinite fruitfulness of experience." Without a doubt ; but the experimentation has always allowed itself to be led by a preconceived idea, by a philosophy. Idea often almost absurd in appearance, philosophy sometimes bizarre and disconcerting in its signs. "If I told you how I made my discoveries," said Faraday, "you would take me for an imbecile." » All the great chemists thus had ideas behind their heads that they were careful not to make known… It is from their work that we have drawn our current methods and theories; they are its most precious result, they were not its origin. » [Letter on Chemical Philosophy , in the Revue des Sciences , 30 Dec. 1896, p. 1227.]

“The still, with its serious and poised airs, says an anonymous philosopher, has won a huge clientele in chemistry. Try to rely on him: he is an unfaithful depositary and a usurer. You entrust him with a perfectly healthy object, endowed with indisputable natural properties, having a form which constitutes its existence; it returns it to you formless, in dust or gas, and it claims to return everything to you when it has kept everything, minus the weight which is nothing since it comes from a cause independent of the body itself. And the scholars' union sanctions this horrible wear and tear! You give it wine, it gives you back tannin, alcohol and water in equal weight. What's missing? The taste, that is to say the only thing that makes it wine, and so on. "Because you have drawn three things from wine, gentlemen chemists, you say: wine is made of these three things. "Do it again, or I'll tell you: those are three things that make wine." “You can undo what you've done, but you'll never do what you've undone in the wild. Bodies resist you only in proportion as they are more strongly combined, and you call simple bodies all those which resist you: vanity!

“I like the microscope; it is content to show us things as they are, simply by extending our perception; it is therefore the scholars who give him advice. But when, immersed in the last details, these gentlemen come to bring the smallest grain or the smallest droplet to the microscope, the mocking instrument seems, by showing them living animals, to say to them: Analyze these for me. "So what is analysis?" Vanity, vanity!

"Finally, when a learned doctor cuts a scalpel into a corpse to search for the causes of the disease that has claimed a victim, with his help he finds only results. — For the cause of death is in that of life, and true medicine, that which Christ practiced naturally, and which is reborn scientifically with homeopathy, the medicine of similars, is studied on the spot. — Now, when it is a question of life, as there is nothing less like a living than a dead one, anatomy is the saddest of vanities.

“Are all instruments therefore a cause of error? Far from there ; but they indicate the truth within such a restricted limit that their truth is only a vanity. Therefore, it is impossible to attach an absolute truth to it. This is what I call the impossible of the real, and of which I take note in order to affirm the possible of the marvellous. [ How the Spirit Comes to the Tables, by a Man Who Has Not Lost His Mind . Paris, New Library, 1854, p. 150.]

Positive in its facts, the chemistry remains negative in its spirit. And this is precisely what differentiates it from hermetic science, whose proper domain includes above all the study of efficient causes, of their influences, of the modalities that they affect according to the milieus and the conditions. It is this study, exclusively philosophical, which allows man to penetrate the mystery of the facts, to understand their extent, to finally identify it with the Supreme Intelligence, soul of the Universe, Light, God. Thus alchemy, rising from the concrete to the abstract, from material positivism to pure spiritualism, widens the field of human knowledge, possibilities of action and achieves the union of God and Nature, of Creation and the Creator, of Science and Religion.

Please do not see in this discussion any unjust or tendentious criticism directed against chemists. We respect all workers, in whatever condition they belong, and personally profess the deepest admiration for the great scientists whose discoveries have so magnificently enriched modern science. But what men of good faith will regret with us are less the freely expressed differences of opinion than the unfortunate intentions of a narrow sectarianism, throwing discord between the partisans of one and the other doctrine. Life is too short, time too precious to waste in useless polemics, and it is hardly self honoring to despise the knowledge of others. It matters little, moreover, that so many seekers go astray,errare humanum est , goes the old adage, and illusion is often adorned with the diadem of truth. Those who persevere in spite of failure are therefore entitled to our full sympathy.

Unfortunately, the scientific spirit is a rare quality in the man of science, and we find this deficiency at the origin of the struggles that we point out. From the fact that a truth is neither demonstrated nor demonstrable using the means available to science, we cannot infer that it will never be. "The word impossible is not French," said Arago; we add that it is contrary to the true scientific spirit. To call something impossible because its actual possibility remains doubtful is to lack confidence in the future and deny progress. Isn't Lémery committing a serious imprudence when he dares to write, on the subject of the alkaest or universal solvent: "For me, I believe it to be imaginary, because I don't know of any." » [Lémery, Chemistry course, Paris, d'Houry, 1757.] Our chemist, it will be agreed, estimated at a high price the value and the extent of his knowledge. Harrys, refractory brain to hermetic thought, defined alchemy thus, without ever having wanted to study it: Ars sine arte, cujus principium est mentiri, medium laborare et finis mendicare [“An art without art, whose beginning is to lie, the middle to work, and the end to beg. ”].

Alongside these scholars locked in their ivory tower, alongside these men of undeniable merit, of course, but slaves to tenacious prejudices, others did not hesitate to give citizenship to the old science. Spinoza, Leibniz believed in the philosopher's stone, in the chrysopoeia. Pascal acquired the certainty of it. [Was Pascal an alchemist? Nothing authorizes us to claim it. What is most certain is that he must have carried out the transmutation himself, unless he had seen it take place before his eyes, in the laboratory of an Adept. The operation lasted two hours. This is what emerges from a curious autograph document on paper, written in mystical style, and which was found sewn into his habit during his burial. Here is the beginning, which is also the essential part:

+
The year of grace 1654,
Monday November 23, day of Saint Clement, pope and martyr, and others to the martyrologist,
Vigil of Saint Chrysogonus, martyr, and others,
From about half past ten in the evening until about half past midnight,
FIRE.
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,
No of Philosophers and Scholars.
Certainty, Certainty, Feeling. Joy. Peace.

We have deliberately underlined, although it is not in the original play, the word Chrysogonus , which the author uses to qualify transmutation; it is formed, in fact, of two Greek words, Χρυσός, gold, and γονή, generation. Death, which usually takes away the secret of men, was to deliver that of Pascal, philosophus per ignem.]

Closer to us, some minds of a high order, among others Sir Humphry Davy, thought that hermetic research could lead to unsuspected results. Jean-Baptiste Dumas, in his Lessons on Chemical Philosophy, is expressed in these terms: “Would it be permissible to admit simple isomeric bodies? This question closely touches on the transmutation of metals. Resolved in the affirmative, it would give a chance of success to the search for the philosopher's stone... Experience must therefore be consulted, and experience, it must be said, is not up to now in opposition to the possibility of the transmutation of simple bodies... It is even opposed to rejecting this idea as an absurdity which would be demonstrated by the current state of our knowledge. François-Vincent Raspail was a convinced alchemist, and the works of the classical philosophers occupied a prominent place among his other books. Ernest Bosc says that Auguste Cahours, member of the Academy of Sciences, had taught him that “his venerated master Chevreul professed the greatest esteem for our old alchemists; also, its rich library contained almost all the important works of the hermetic philosophers. [Chevreul bequeathed his hermetic library to our Natural History Museum.] It would even appear that the dean of the students of France, as Chevreul called himself, had learned a lot in these old books, and that he owed them some of his beautiful discoveries. The illustrious Chevreul, in fact, knew how to read between the lines much information which had passed unnoticed before him. » [Ernest Bosc, [Chevreul bequeathed his hermetic library to our Natural History Museum.] It would even appear that the dean of the students of France, as Chevreul called himself, had learned a lot in these old books, and that he owed them some of his beautiful discoveries. The illustrious Chevreul, in fact, knew how to read between the lines much information which had passed unnoticed before him. » [Ernest Bosc, [Chevreul bequeathed his hermetic library to our Natural History Museum.] It would even appear that the dean of the students of France, as Chevreul called himself, had learned a lot in these old books, and that he owed them some of his beautiful discoveries. The illustrious Chevreul, in fact, knew how to read between the lines much information which had passed unnoticed before him. » [Ernest Bosc,Dictionary of Orientalism, Occultism and Psychology . Volume I: art. Alchemy.] One of the most famous masters of chemical science, Marcellin Berthelot, was not content to adopt the opinion of the School. Unlike many of his colleagues, who speak boldly of alchemy without knowing it, he devoted more than twenty years to the patient study of the original texts, Greek and Arabic. And, from this long intercourse with the old masters, was born in him this conviction that “the hermetic principles, taken as a whole, are as tenable as the best modern theories”. If we were not bound by the promise we made to them, we could add to these scholars the names of certain scientific luminaries, entirely won over to the art of Hermes, but whose very situation obliges them to practice it only in secret.

Nowadays, and although the unity of substance—the basis of the doctrine taught since antiquity by all alchemists—is accepted and officially consecrated, it does not seem, however, that the idea of ​​transmutation has followed the same progression. The fact is all the more surprising in that one cannot accept one without considering the possibility of the other. On the other hand, given the great antiquity of the hermetic thesis, one would have some reason to think that over the centuries it could have been confirmed by experience. It is true that scholars generally disregard arguments of this order; the most reliable and well-supported testimonies seem suspect to them, either because they ignore them or because they prefer to ignore them. So that we are not accused of lending them some malevolent intention by distorting their thought, and to allow the reader to exercise his judgment in complete freedom, we will submit to his appreciation the opinions of modern scholars and philosophers on the subject which occupies us. Jean Finot having appealed to competent men, asked them the following question: In the present state of science, is metallic transmutation possible or realizable; can it even be considered as realized because of our knowledge? Here are the responses he received. [See asked them the following question: In the present state of science, is metallic transmutation possible or realizable; can it even be considered as realized because of our knowledge? Here are the responses he received. [See asked them the following question: In the present state of science, is metallic transmutation possible or realizable; can it even be considered as realized because of our knowledge? Here are the responses he received. [SeeLa Revue , no. 18, September 15, 1912, p. 162 et seq.]

— Doctor Max Nordeau. “Allow me to abstain from any discussion of the transmutation of matter. I adopt the dogma (it is one) of the unity of the latter, the hypothesis of the evolution of the chemical elements from the lightest atomic weight, to that increasingly heavy, and even the theory — imprudently called law — of the periodicity of Mendeleeff. I do not deny the theoretical possibility of artificially reproducing, by laboratory means, part of this evolution, produced naturally over billions or trillions of years by cosmic forces, and of transforming lighter metals into gold. But I do not believe that our century will witness the realization of the dream of the alchemists. »
- Henri Poincaré. "Science cannot and should never say never!" It may be that one day we will discover the principle of making gold, but for the moment the problem does not seem to be solved. »
— Mrs. M. Curie. — “If it is true that spontaneous atomic transformations have been observed with radioactive bodies (production of helium by these bodies, which you point out and which is perfectly exact), one can, on the other hand, assure us that no simple transformation of bodies has yet been obtained by the effort of men and thanks to the devices imagined by them. It is therefore currently quite useless to consider the possible consequences of the manufacture of gold. »
— Gustave Le Bon. "It is possible to transform steel into gold, as they say uranium is transformed into radium and helium, but these transformations will probably only involve billionths of milligrams, and it would then be much more economical to withdraw the gold from the sea which contains tons of it. »

Ten years later, a popular science magazine ["I know everything". Is the synthetic manufacture of gold possible? No. 194, February 15, 1922.], carrying out the same investigation, published the following opinions:

— Mr. Charles Richet, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, member of the Institute, winner of the Nobel Prize. "I confess to having no opinion on the matter." »
— Messrs. Urban and Jules Perrin. — “… Unless there is a revolution in the art of exploiting natural forces, synthetic gold — if it is not a chimera — will not be worth the trouble of being industrially exploited. »
— Mr. Charles Moureu. — “… The manufacture of gold is not an absurd hypothesis! This is about the only affirmation that a true scientist can issue… A scientist does not affirm anything a priori… Transmutation is a fact that we observe every day. »

To this thought so courageously expressed, the thought of a bold brain, endowed with the noblest scientific spirit and a profound sense of truth, we will oppose another, of a very different quality. This is the assessment of Mr. Henry Le Châtelier, member of the Institute, professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences. “I absolutely refuse, wrote the illustrious master, any interview on the subject of synthetic gold. I consider that it must derive from some attempted fraud, like the famous Lemoine diamonds. »

In truth, one could not with less words and amenity show so much contempt for the old Adepts, venerated masters of the current alchemists. For our author, who has probably never opened a hermetic book, transmutation is synonymous with charlatanism. Disciple of these great deceased, it seems quite natural that we should inherit their unfortunate reputation. Whatever; this is our glory, the only one moreover that deigns to grant us, when it finds the opportunity, qualified ignorance, proud of its trinkets: crosses, seals, palms and parchments. But let the donkey gravely carry its relics, and return to our subject.

The replies which we have just read—except that of M. Charles Moureu—are similar in substance. They flow from the same source. The academic spirit dictated them. Our scientists accept the theoretical possibility of transmutation; they refuse to believe in its material reality. They deny after asserting. It is a convenient means of remaining in the expectation, of not compromising oneself or departing from the domain of relativity.

Can we report atomic transformations involving a few molecules of substance? How can we recognize an absolute value in them, if we can only control them indirectly, through devious means? Is this a simple concession that the moderns make to the ancients? But we have never heard of hermetic science asking for alms. We know it rich enough in observations, sufficiently provided with positive facts not to be reduced to begging. Moreover, the theoretical idea that our chemists uphold today undoubtedly belongs to the alchemists. It is their own property, and no one can deny them the benefit of a recognized precedence of fifteen centuries. It was these men who were the first to demonstrate its effective realization, resulting from the unity of substance, invulnerable basis of their philosophy. Moreover, we ask why current science, endowed with multiple and powerful means, with rigorous methods served by precise and perfected tools, has it taken so long to recognize the veracity of the hermetic principle? Consequently, we are entitled to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. we ask why current science, endowed with multiple and powerful means, with rigorous methods served by precise and perfected tools, has it taken so long to recognize the veracity of the hermetic principle? Consequently, we are entitled to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. we ask why current science, endowed with multiple and powerful means, with rigorous methods served by precise and perfected tools, has it taken so long to recognize the veracity of the hermetic principle? Consequently, we are entitled to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. rigorous methods served by precise and perfected tools, did it take so long to recognize the veracity of the hermetic principle? Consequently, we are entitled to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. rigorous methods served by precise and perfected tools, did it take so long to recognize the veracity of the hermetic principle? Consequently, we are entitled to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. we have the right to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores. we have the right to conclude that the old alchemists, using very simple procedures, had nevertheless discovered, experimentally, the formal proof capable of imposing as an absolute truth the concept of metallic transmutation. Our predecessors were neither fools nor impostors, and the main idea that guided their work, the very one that is infiltrating the scientific spheres of our time, is foreign to the hypothetical principles whose fluctuations and vicissitudes it ignores.

We therefore assure, without prejudice, that the great scholars whose opinions we have reproduced are mistaken when they deny the lucrative result of transmutation. They misunderstand the constitution and the profound qualities of matter, although they think they have probed all its mysteries. Alas! the complexity of their theories, the mass of words created to explain the inexplicable, and above all the pernicious influence of a materialistic education push them to seek very far what is within their reach. Mathematicians for the most part, they lose in simplicity, in common sense, what they gain in human logic, in numeral rigor. They dream of imprisoning nature in a formula, of putting life into an equation. Thus, by successive deviations, do they unconsciously come to stray so far from the simple truth that they justify the harsh words of the Gospel: "They have eyes not to see and sense not to understand!" »

Would it be possible to bring these men back to a less complicated conception of things, to guide these lost people towards the light of the spiritualism which they lack? We are going to try it and say first of all, for the benefit of those who are willing to follow us, that we do not study living nature apart from its activity. Molecular and atomic analysis teaches nothing; it is incapable of solving the highest problem that a scientist can set himself: what is the essence of this invisible and mysterious dynamism which animates substance? Of life, indeed, what do we know, if not that we find its physical consequence in the phenomenon of movement? Now, everything is life and movement here below. Vital activity, very apparent in animals and plants, is hardly less so in the mineral kingdom, although it demands more acute attention from the observer. Metals, in fact, are living and sensitive bodies, witness the mercury thermometer, silver salts, fluorides, etc. What are expansion and contraction, if not two effects of metallic dynamism, two manifestations of mineral life? However, it is not enough for the philosopher to simply note the elongation of an iron bar subjected to heat, he must also seek out what occult will compels the metal to expand. We know that the latter, under the impression of caloric radiation, spreads its pores, distends its molecules, increases in surface and in volume; it blossoms in a way, as we do ourselves, under the action of the beneficial solar emanations. It cannot therefore be denied that such a reaction has a root cause, immaterial, because we could not explain, without this impulse, which other force would force the crystalline particles to leave their apparent inertia. This metallic will, the very soul of metal, is clearly demonstrated in one of the fine experiments carried out by M. Ch.-Ed. Guillaume. A calibrated steel bar is subjected to continuous and progressive traction, the power of which is recorded using the dynamograph. When the bar is about to yield, it manifests a constriction, the exact location of which is noted. The extension is stopped and the bar is restored to its original dimensions, then the test is resumed. This time, the strangulation occurs at a different point from the first. By continuing the same technique, we notice that all the points have been successively tested by yielding, one after the other, at the same pull. However, if the steel bar is calibrated one last time, by resuming the experiment at the beginning, it is found that it is necessary to use a force much greater than the first to cause the return of the symptoms of rupture. M. Ch.-Ed. Guillaume concludes from these tests, with much reason, that the metal behaved as an organic body would have done; he successively strengthened all his weak parts and purposely increased his coherence to better defend his threatened integrity. A similar lesson emerges from the study of crystallized saline compounds. If we break the edge of any crystal and plunge it, thus mutilated, into the mother water which produced it, we not only see it immediately repair its wound, but also grow with a greater speed than that of intact crystals. remained in the same solution. We find again an evident proof of metallic vitality in the fact that in America the railroad tracks show, for no apparent reason, the effects of a singular evolution. Nowhere are derailments more frequent or catastrophes more inexplicable. The engineers in charge of studying the cause of these multiple ruptures attribute it to the "premature ageing" of the steel. Under the probable influence of special climatic conditions, the metal ages quickly, early; it loses its elasticity, its malleability, its resistance; its tenacity and cohesion seem diminished to the point of making it dry and brittle. This metallic degeneration, moreover, is not just limited to rails; it also extends its ravages to the armor plates of battleships, which are generally put out of service after a few months of use. When tested, you are surprised to see them break into several pieces under the impact of a simple ball-and-socket breaker. The weakening of the vital energy, a normal and characteristic phase of decrepitude, of senility of the metal, is indeed the harbinger of its approaching death. Now, death, corollary of life, being the direct consequence of birth, it follows that metals and minerals manifest their submission to the law of predestination which governs all created beings. To be born, to live, to die or to be transformed are the three stages of a single period embracing all physical activity.

Such is the analogical truth that alchemy has endeavored to practice, and such is also the hermetic idea that it seemed to us necessary to put in relief first of all. Thus, philosophy teaches and experience demonstrates that metals, through their own seed, can be reproduced and developed in quantity. This is what the word of God reveals to us in Genesis, when the Creator transmits a part of his activity to the creatures issued from his very substance. Because the divine verb: grow and multiply , does not only apply to man, it targets all living beings spread throughout nature.


VII

THE HERMETIC CABAL

Alchemy is dark only because it is hidden. The philosophers who wanted to transmit to posterity the presentation of their doctrine and the fruit of their labors were careful not to divulge the art by presenting it in a common form, so that the layman could not misuse it. Also, it is by its difficulty of comprehension, by the mystery of its enigmas, the opacity of its parables that science saw itself relegated among daydreams, illusions and chimeras.

Admittedly, these old books in brown tones are not easy to penetrate. To claim to read them in the manner of ours would be to deceive oneself. However, the first impression one receives, however strange and confused it may seem, is nonetheless vibrant and persuasive. We guess there, through the allegorical language and the abundance of ambiguous nomenclature, this ray of truth, this deep conviction born of certain facts, duly observed and which owe nothing to the fanciful speculations of pure imagination.

We will doubtless be objected that the best hermetic works contain many lacunae, accumulate contradictions, are peppered with false recipes; we will be told that the modus operandivaries according to the authors and that, if the theoretical development is the same for all, on the other hand the descriptions of the bodies used rarely offer a rigorous similarity between them. We will answer that the philosophers had no other resources, to steal from some what they wanted to show to others, than this jumble of metaphors, of various symbols, this prolixity of terms, of capricious formulas drawn with the flow of the pen, expressed in clear language for the use of greedy or insane people. As for the argument concerning the practice, it falls of itself for this simple reason that the initial material being able to be envisaged under any one of the multiple aspects that it takes during the work, and the artists never describing only a part of the technique,

Moreover, we must not forget that the treatises that have come down to us were composed during the most beautiful alchemical period, that which embraces the last three centuries of the Middle Ages. Now, at that time, the popular mind, completely impregnated with oriental mysticism, delighted in the rebus, the symbolic veil, the allegorical expression. This disguise flattered the rebellious instinct of the people and furnished the satirical verve of the great with new food. He had therefore gained general favor and was to be found everywhere, firmly established at the different rungs of the social scale. It shone in witticisms in the conversation of cultured people, noble or bourgeois, and popularized among the hoodlum in naive puns. He embellished the sign of the shopkeepers with picturesque rebuses and seized the coat of arms of which he established the exoteric rules and the protocol; he imposed on art, on literature, above all on esotericism, his variegated costume of images, enigmas and emblems.

It is he who brought us this variety of curious signs, the number and singularity of which further add to the clearly original character of medieval French productions. Nothing shocks our modernism more than these signs of innkeepers oscillating on an axis of ironwork; we only recognize the letter O followed by a K cut by a line; but the drunkard of the fourteenth century made no mistake about it and entered, without hesitation, the great cabaret. The "hostelleries" often sported a golden lion frozen in a heraldic pose, which, for the pilgrim in search of lodging, meant that one "could sleep there", thanks to the double meaning of the image: in bed one sleeps. Édouard Fournier tells us that in Paris the rue du Bout-du-Monde still existed in the 17th century. “This name, adds the author, which came to her from the fact that she had long been very close to the city walls, had been figured as a rebus on the sign of a cabaret. There was represented a bone, a goat, a duke (bird), a world. [Édouard Fournier, Riddles of the streets of Paris . Paris, E. Dentu, 1860.]

Next to the coat of arms consisting of the coat of arms of the hereditary nobility, we discover another whose arms are only speaking and dependent on the rebus. The latter indicates the commoners, arrived by fortune to the rank of persons of condition. François Myron, Parisian aedile from 1604, thus wore “Gules with a round mirror”. An upstart of the same order, superior of the monastery of Saint-Barthélemy, in London, the prior Bolton, — who occupied the office from 1532 to 1539, — had had his arms carved on the bow window of the triforium, whence he supervised the pious exercises of his monks. We see an arrow (bolt) crossing a small barrel (tun), hence Bolton (pl. III).




LONDON - SAINT-BARTHELEMY
TRIFORIUM
CHURCH The Great Window of Prior Bolton
Plate III


In his Enigmas of the streets of Paris , Édouard Fournier, whom we have just quoted, after having introduced us to the disputes between Louis XIV and Louvois, during the construction of the Hôtel des Invalides, the latter wishing to place his "weapons" next to those of the king and coming up against the contrary orders of the monarch, tells us that Louvois "took his measures in another way to fix, at the Invalides, his memory in an immutable and telling way.

“Enter the main courtyard of the Hotel, look at the attics that crown the facades of the monumental quadrilateral; when you are at the fifth of those which line up at the top of the eastern span near the church, examine it well. The ornamentation is very special. A wolf is sculpted there, half-length; the legs fall on the opening of the bull's-eye, which they surround; the head is half hidden under a tuft of palm leaves, and the eyes are eagerly fixed on the ground of the court. There is there, without your suspecting it, a monumental pun, as was so often done for speaking weapons, and in this stone pun lies the revenge, the satisfaction of the vain minister. This wolf looks, this wolf sees; it is his emblem! So that there can be no doubt, he had sculpted on the attic next to it, on the right, a barrel of powder exploding, symbol of the war of which he was the impetuous minister; on the left attic, a plume of ostrich feathers, the attribute of a high and powerful lord, as he claimed to be; and again on two other garrets of the same span, an owl and a bat, birds of vigilance, his great virtue. Colbert, whose fortune had the same origin as that of Louvois, and who had no less vain pretensions of nobility, had taken the snake (coluber) as his emblem, as Louvois had chosen the wolf. » as he claimed to be; and again on two other garrets of the same span, an owl and a bat, birds of vigilance, his great virtue. Colbert, whose fortune had the same origin as that of Louvois, and who had no less vain pretensions of nobility, had taken the snake (coluber) as his emblem, as Louvois had chosen the wolf. » as he claimed to be; and again on two other garrets of the same span, an owl and a bat, birds of vigilance, his great virtue. Colbert, whose fortune had the same origin as that of Louvois, and who had no less vain pretensions of nobility, had taken the snake (coluber) as his emblem, as Louvois had chosen the wolf. »

The taste for the rebus, the last echo of the sacred language, has considerably weakened nowadays. It is no longer cultivated, and it is hardly still of interest to schoolchildren of the current generation. By ceasing to provide the science of the coat of arms with the means of deciphering its enigmas, the rebus has lost the esoteric value it once possessed. We find him today taking refuge in the back pages of magazines, where—a recreational pastime—his role is limited to the figurative expression of a few proverbs. One hardly notices, from time to time, a regular application, but frequently oriented towards a publicity goal, of this fallen art. Thus a large modern firm, specializing in the construction of sewing machines, adopted a well-known poster for its advertising. It represents a seated woman, working at a machine, in the center of a majestic S. We see above all the initial of the manufacturer, although the rebus is clear and of transparent meaning: this woman sews in her pregnancy, which is an allusion to the gentleness of the mechanism.

Time, which ruins and devours human works, has not spared the old hermetic language. Indifference, ignorance and oblivion have completed the disintegrating action of centuries. It cannot, however, be maintained that it is completely lost; some initiates keep its rules, know how to take advantage of the resources it offers in the transformation of secret truths or use it as a mnemonic key for teaching.

In the year 1843, the conscripts assigned to the 46th infantry regiment, garrisoned in Paris, could meet every week, crossing the courtyard of the Louis-Philippe barracks, an unusual professor. According to an eyewitness—one of our relatives, a non-commissioned officer at the time and who followed his lessons assiduously—he was still a young man, but of unkempt dress, with long hair falling in curls over his shoulders, and whose very expressive countenance bore the imprint of remarkable intelligence. He taught, in the evening, to soldiers who wanted it, the history of France, for a small fee, and used a method that he claimed was known from the highest antiquity. In reality, this course, so appealing to its listeners, was based on traditional phonetic cabala.

A few examples, chosen from those whose memory we have preserved, will give an idea of ​​the process.

After a short preamble on a dozen conventional signs intended, by their form and their assembly, to find all the historical dates, the professor drew a very simplified graph on the blackboard. This image, which was easily engraved in the memory, was in a way the complete symbol of the studied kingdom.

The first of these drawings showed a figure standing on top of a tower and holding a torch in his hand. On a horizontal line, figurative of the ground, three accessories rubbed shoulders: a chair, a stick, a plate. The explanation of the diagram was simple. What the man raises in his hand serves as a beacon: hand beacon, Pharamond.

The tower which supports it indicates the number 1: Pharamond was, it is said, the first king of France. Finally, the hieroglyphic chair of the number 4, the crozier, that of the number 2, the plate, sign of zero, give the number 420, the presumed date of the advent of the legendary sovereign.

[Here there is absolute identity of figuration and meaning with the cabala expressed in the engravings of certain old works, the Dream of Polyphile in particular. King Solomon is always represented there by a hand holding a willow branch: hand willow, Solomon. A daisy means sorry, etc. This is how it is necessary to analyze the sayings and ways of speaking of Pantagruel and Gargantua, if one wants to know all that is "mussed" in the work of the powerful initiate that was Rabelais.]

Clovis, we didn't know, was one of those urchins that you can only beat by using the hard way. Turbulent, aggressive, combative, quick to smash everything, he only dreamed of wounds and bumps. His good parents, both to subdue him and as a precaution, had screwed him to his chair. The whole court knew he was locked up, Clovis. The chair and two hunting bodies placed on the ground provided the date 466.

Clotaire, of an indolent nature, walked his melancholy in a field surrounded by walls. The unfortunate man thus found himself confined to his land: Clotaire.

Chilperic—we no longer know for what reason—was wiggling in a frying pan, like a simple gudgeon, screaming breathlessly: I'm perishing there!, hence Chilperic.

Dagobert borrowed the not very peaceful appearance of a warrior brandishing a dagger and wearing a hauberk.

Saint Louis—who would have believed it? — highly prized the polish and brilliance of freshly minted gold coins; so he spent his leisure time melting down his old louis to get new ones: Louis IX.

As for the little corporal—great and decadent—his coat of arms did not require the use of any personage. A table covered with its tablecloth and supporting a vulgar pan sufficed to identify it. Tablecloth and pan, Napoleon…

It is these puns, these puns associated or not with rebuses, which were used by the initiates as intermediaries for their verbal conversations. In acroamatic works, anagrams were reserved, sometimes to mask the author's personality, sometimes to disguise the title and conceal the guiding thought from the profane. This is the case in particular of a very curious little book so cleverly closed that it is impossible to know what its subject is. It is attributed to Tiphaigne de la Roche, and it bears this singular title Amilec or the seed of men . [This small 16vo work, very well written, but which bears neither place of publication nor publisher's name, was published around 1753.] It is an assemblage of the anagram and the pun. You have to read Alcmie or the cream of Aum. Neophytes will learn that this is a veritable treatise on alchemy, because in the thirteenth century one wrote alkimie, alkemie, alkmie; that the point of science revealed by the author relates to the extraction of the spirit enclosed in the first matter, or philosophical virgin, which bears the same sign as the celestial Virgin, the monogram AUM; that finally this extraction must be done by a process similar to that which makes it possible to separate the cream from the milk, which moreover teach Basil Valentin, Tollius, Philalethes and the characters of Liber Mutus. By removing the veil from the title it covers, we see how suggestive it is, since it announces the disclosure of the secret means, specific to obtaining this cream from virgin's milk, which few researchers have had the good fortune to possess. Tiphaigne de la Roche, almost unknown, was nevertheless one of the most learned Adepts of the 18th century. In another treatise, entitled Giphantie (anagram of Tiphaigne), he perfectly describes the photographic process and shows that he was aware of chemical manipulations concerning the development and fixing of the image, a century before the discovery of Daguerre and Niepce de Saint-Victor.

Among the anagrams intended to cover the name of their authors, we will point out that of Limojon de Saint-Didier: Dives sicut ardens , that is to say Sanctus Didiereus , and the motto of the President of Espagnet: Spes mea est in agno. Other philosophers preferred to dress in cabalistic pseudonyms relating more directly to the science they professed. Basil Valentine combines the Greek Βασιλεύς, king, with the Latin Valens, powerful, in order to indicate the surprising power of the philosopher's stone. Eirenée Philalethes appears to be composed of three Greek words: Εἰρηναῖος, peaceful, Φίλος, friend, and ἀλήθεια, truth; Philalethes thus presents himself as the peaceful friend of truth. Grassæus signs his works with the name of Hortulain, meaning the gardener (Hortulanus), — maritime gardens, he takes care to underline. Ferrari is a blacksmith monk (ferrarius) working metals. Musa, disciple of Calid, is Μύστης, the Initiate, while his master — our master at all — is the heat given off by the athanor (lat. calidus, burning). Haly indicates salt, in Greek ἅλς, andOvid's Metamorphoses are those of the philosophers' egg (ovum, ovi). Archelaus is rather a title of a work than an author's name; it is the stone principle, from the Greek Ἀρχή, principle, and λᾶος, stone. Marcel Palingène combines Mars, iron, ἥλιος, the sun and Palingenesia, regeneration, to designate that he realized the regeneration of the sun, or of gold, by iron. John Austri, Gratian, Stephen share the winds (austri), grace (gratia) and the crown (Στέφανος, Stephanus). Famanus takes as his emblem the famous chestnut, so renowned among the sages (Fama-nux), and John of Sacrobosco has especially in view the mysterious consecrated wood. Cyliani is the equivalent of Cyllenius, of Cyllene, mountain of Mercury, which caused this god to be nicknamed Cyllenian. As for the modest Gallinarius, he is content with the chicken coop and the barnyard, where the yellow chick,

Without completely abandoning these artifices of linguistics, the old masters, in writing their treatises, used above all the hermetic cabala, which they still called the language of the birds, of the gods, gaye science or gay scavoir. In this way, they were able to hide the principles of their science from the vulgar, by wrapping them in a cabalistic covering. This is an indisputable and well known thing. But what is generally ignored is that the idiom from which the authors borrowed their terms is archaic Greek, the mother tongue according to the plurality of the disciples of Hermes. The reason for which we do not notice the cabalistic intervention lies precisely in the fact that French comes directly from Greek. Consequently, all the words chosen in our language to define certain secrets, having their Greek orthographic or phonetic equivalents, it suffices to know them well to immediately discover the exact meaning, restored, of those. For if French, in substance, is truly Hellenic, its meaning has been modified over the course of the centuries, as it moved away from its source and before the radical transformation to which it was subjected by the Renaissance—a decadence hidden under the wordreform .

The imposition of Greek words concealed under corresponding French terms, of similar texture, but of more or less corrupt meaning, allows the investigator to easily penetrate the intimate thought of the masters and give him the key to the hermetic sanctuary. It is this means that we have used, following the example of the ancients, and to which we will frequently have recourse in the analysis of the symbolic works bequeathed by our ancestors.

Many philologists, no doubt, will not share our opinion and will remain assured, along with the popular masses, that our language is of Latin origin, solely because they received the first notion of it on the benches of college. We ourselves believed, and for a long time accepted as the expression of the truth, what our teachers taught. Only later, in seeking proof of this entirely conventional filiation, did we have to recognize the futility of our efforts and reject the error born of classical prejudice. Today, nothing can undermine our conviction, confirmed many times by the success obtained in the order of material phenomena and scientific results. This is why we strongly affirm, without denying the introduction of Latin elements into our idiom since the Roman conquest,

The defenders of neo-Latinism: Gaston Paris, Littré, Ménage, now oppose more far-sighted masters, with a broad and free spirit, such as Hins, J. Lefebvre, Louis de Fourcaud, Granier de Cassagnac, Abbé Espagnolle (J.-L. Dartois), etc. And we gladly accompany them, because, despite appearances, we know that they have seen the truth, judged soundly, that they are following the simple and straight path of truth, the only way capable of leading to great discoveries.

“In 1872, writes J.-L. Dartois, Granier de Cassagnac, in a work of marvelous erudition and pleasant style, which is entitled: History of the origins of the French language , brought home the inanity of the thesis of neo-Latinism, which claims to prove that French is evolved Latin. He showed that it was not tenable, that it shocked history, logic, common sense and, finally, that our idiom rejected it... the Senonese occupation (390-345 BC). —A. Champrosay,The Illuminated of Cabarose . Paris, 1920, p. 54.]

A few years later, M. Hins in turn proved, in a well-documented study published in the Revue de Linguistique , that of all the works of neo-Latinism it was only permissible to conclude that the kinship and not the filiation of the so-called neo-Latin languages ​​... Latinism, by establishing that Abbé Espagnolle, in his work The Origin of French, was in the truth; that our language, as the greatest scholars of the sixteenth century had foreseen, was Greek; that the Roman domination in Gaul had only covered it with a light coat of Latin without in any way altering its genius. Further on, the author adds: “If we ask neo-Latinism to kindly explain to us how the Gallic people, which included at least seven million people, were able to forget their national language and learn another, or rather change the Latin language into the Gallic language, which is more difficult; how legionnaires, who, for the most part, themselves did not know Latin and were stationed in entrenched camps, separated from each other by vast spaces, were nevertheless able to become the pedagogues of the Gallic tribes and teach them the language of Rome, that is to say, to operate in Gaul alone a prodigy that the other Roman legions could not accomplish anywhere else, neither in Asia, nor in Greece, nor in the British Isles; how, finally, the Basques and the Bretons were able to succeed in preserving their idioms, while their neighbours, the inhabitants of Béarn, Maine and Anjou, lost theirs and were obliged to speak Latin, what does he tell us? — This objection is so serious that it is Gaston Paris, the head of the School, who is responsible for answering it. “We neo-Latins are not obliged to resolve the difficulties that logic and history may raise; we are only concerned with the philological fact, and this fact dominates the question, since it alone proves the Latin origin of French, Italian, and Spanish. " " … Certainly, replies MJ Lefebvre, the philological fact would be decisive if it were well and duly established; but it is not at all. With all the subtleties in the world, neo-Latinism really only succeeds in noting this banal truth, namely that there is a fairly large quantity of Latin words in our language. However, no one has ever disputed this. »

As for the philological fact invoked, but in no way demonstrated, by M. Gaston Paris in an attempt to justify his thesis, J.-L. Dartois shows its non-existence by relying on the work of Petit-Radel. “To the so-called Latin philological fact, he writes, one can oppose the obvious Greek philological fact. This new philological fact, the only true one, the only demonstrable one, is of capital importance, because it proves, without question, that the tribes which came to populate the West of Europe were Pelasgic colonies, and confirms the beautiful discovery of Petit-Radel. It is known that this modest scholar read, in 1802, before the Institute, a remarkable work to prove that the monuments of polyhedral blocks which one meets in Greece, in Italy, in France, and until the bottom of Spain, and which one allotted to Cyclopes, are the work of Pelasgians. This demonstration convinced the Institute, and no doubt has since arisen about the origin of these monuments… The language of the Pelasgians was archaic Greek, composed mainly of Aeolian and Dorian dialects; and it is precisely this Greek that we find everywhere, in France, even in the Argot de Paris. » [J.-L. Dartois,Neo-Latinism . Paris, Society of Authors-Editors, 1909, p. 6.]

Bird language is a phonetic idiom based solely on assonance. No account is therefore taken of spelling, the very rigor of which serves as a brake on curious minds and makes unacceptable any speculation carried out outside the rules of grammar. “I am only attached to useful things,” said Saint Gregory in the sixth century, in a letter which serves as a preface to his Morals, without concerning myself either with the style, or the system of prepositions, or endings, because it is not worthy of a Christian to subject the words of Scripture to the rules of grammar. This means that the meaning of the sacred books is not literal, and that it is essential to know how to find their spirit by cabalistic interpretation, as we are accustomed to doing to understand alchemical works. The few authors who have spoken of the language of the Birds attribute to it the first place in the origin of languages. Its antiquity goes back to Adam, who would have used it to impose, according to God's order, the appropriate names, suitable to define the characteristics of created beings and things. De Cyrano Bergerac relates this tradition when, new inhabitant of a world close to the sun,

“I do not remember if I spoke to him first, said the great initiate, or if it was he who questioned me; but I have a very fresh memory, as if I were still listening to him, that he discoursed to me, for three long hours, in a language which I know I have never heard, and which has no connection with any of this world, which, however, I understood more quickly and more intelligibly than that of my nurse. He explained to me, when I had inquired about such a marvelous thing, that in the sciences there was a Truth, apart from which one was always far from the easy; that the more an idiom departed from this True, the more it was found below conception, and less easy to understand. “Similarly,” he continued, “in music, this Truth is never encountered until the soul, immediately uplifted, goes there blindly. We do not see it, but we feel that Nature sees it; and, without being able to understand in what way we are absorbed in it, it does not fail to delight us, and if we cannot notice where it is. The same goes for languages. Whoever encounters this truth of letters, words and sequence can never, in expressing himself, fall below his conception: he always speaks equal to his thought; and it is for not having the knowledge of this perfect idiom, that you remain short, not knowing the order nor the words which can express what you imagine. I told him that the first man of our world had undoubtedly used this language, because each name he had imposed on each thing declared its essence. He interrupted me and continued: “It is not merely necessary to express whatever the mind conceives, but without it one cannot be heard by all. As this idiom is the instinct or the voice of nature, it must be intelligible to all that lives within the scope of nature. This is why, if you had the intelligence, you could communicate and discourse of all your thoughts to the beasts, and the beasts, to you, of all theirs, because it is the very language of Nature, by which she makes herself heard to all the animals. [The famous founder of the order of the Franciscans, to which belonged the illustrious Adept Roger Bacon, knew perfectly the hermetic cabala; St. Francis of Assisi knew how to speak to birds.] May the ease with which you understand the meaning of a language that has never sounded to our ears no longer surprise you. When I speak, your soul encounters, in each of my words, this Truth that it is groping for; and although her reason does not hear her, she has Nature at home, which cannot fail to hear her. [From Cyrano Bergerac,The other world. Comic History of the States and Empires of the Sun. Paris, Bauche, 1910]

But this secret, universal, indefinite language, despite the importance and the truth of its expression, is in reality of Greek origin and genius, as our author teaches us in his History of the Birds .. He makes the secular oaks speak,—an allusion to the language used by the Druids (Δρυΐδης, from Δρῦς, oak),—in this way: “Consider the oaks where we feel that you hold your sight fastened: it is we who speak to you; and, if you are surprised that we speak a language used in the world from which you come, know that our first fathers originated there; they lived in Epirus, in the forest of Dodona, where their natural goodness invited them to render oracles to the afflicted who consulted them. They had, for this purpose, learned the Greek language, the most universal that was then, in order to be heard. The hermetic cabala was known in Egypt, at least in the priestly caste, as evidenced by the invocation of the Leiden Papyrus: “… I invoke you, the most powerful of the gods, who created everything; you, born of yourself, who sees everything, without being able to be seen... I invoke you under the name that you possess in the language of the birds, in that of the hieroglyphs, in that of the Jews, in that of the Egyptians, in that of the Cynocephali,... in that of the hawks, in the hieratic language. We still find this idiom among the Incas, sovereigns of Peru until the time of the Spanish conquest; ancient writers call itlengua general (universal language) and lengua cortesana (court language), that is to say diplomatic language, because it conceals a double meaning corresponding to a double science, one apparent, the other deep (διπλῇ, double, and μάθη, science). “The cabala, says the Abbé Perroquet, was an introduction to the study of all the sciences. [Parrot, Priest, The Life and Martyrdom of the Illuminated Doctor, Blessed Raymond Lully . Vendome, 1667.]

By presenting to us the powerful figure of Roger Bacon, whose genius shines, in the intellectual firmament of the 13th century, like a star of the first magnitude, Armand Parrot describes to us by what work he was able to acquire the synthesis of the ancient languages ​​and to possess such extensive practice of the mother tongue that he could, by means of it, teach in a short time the idioms reputed to be the most thankless. [Armand Parrot. Roger Bacon, his person, his genius, his works and his contemporaries. Paris, A. Picard, 1894, p. 48 and 49.] This, it will be agreed, is a truly marvelous feature of this universal language, which appears to us both as the best key to the sciences and the most perfect method of humanism. “Bacon, writes the author, knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic; and, having thus placed himself in a position to draw a rich instruction from ancient literature, he had acquired a reasoned knowledge of the two vulgar languages ​​which he needed to know, that of his native country and that of France. From these particular grammars, a mind such as his could not fail to rise to the general theory of language; he had opened up the two sources from which they flow, and which are, on the one hand, the positive composition of several idioms, and on the other, the philosophical analysis of the human understanding, the natural history of its faculties and its conceptions. So we see him applied, almost alone throughout his century, to comparing vocabularies, to comparing syntaxes, to researching the relations of language with thought, to measuring the influence that character, movements, the varied forms of speech exert on the habits and opinions of peoples. He thus went back to the origins of all the simple or complex, fixed or variable, true or erroneous notions that speech expressed. This universal grammar seemed to him to be the true logic, the best philosophy; he attributed so much power to it that with the help of such science he believed himself capable of teaching Greek or Hebrew in three days, as well as to his young disciple, Jean de Paris, he had learned in one year what had cost him forty. [See Epist.De Laude sacrae Scripturae , ad Clement IV. — De Gérando, Comparative History of the Systems of Philosophy , t. IV, ch. XXVII, p. 541. — Literary History of France, t. XX, p. 233-234.] “Lightning speed of the education of common sense! Strange power, says M. Michelet, of drawing, with the electric spark, the science pre-existing in the brain of man! »


VII

ALCHEMY AND SPAGYRY

It is to be presumed that a good number of learned chemists—and certain alchemists as well—will not share our point of view. It can't stop us. Were we to pass for a resolute partisan of the most subversive theories, we would not be afraid to develop our thoughts here, believing that truth has many other attractions than a vulgar prejudice, and that it remains preferable, in its very nakedness, to the best painted, the most sumptuously dressed error.

All the authors who have written, since Lavoisier, on chemical history, agree in professing that our chemistry comes, by direct descent, from the old alchemy. Consequently, the origin of one merges with the origin of the other. To such an extent that current science would be indebted for the positive facts on which it was built, to the patient labor of the ancient alchemists.

This hypothesis, to which one could have granted only a relative and conventional value, being admitted today as demonstrated truth, the alchemical science, stripped of its own fund, loses everything that was likely to motivate its existence, to justify its raison d'être. Seen like this, from a distance, under the legendary mists and the veil of centuries, it only offers a vague, nebulous form, without consistency. Imprecise phantom, lying specter, the marvelous and disappointing chimera well deserves to be relegated to the rank of illusions of yesteryear, false sciences, as a very eminent professor wishes. [See Illusion and False Sciences , by Professor Edmond-Marie-Léopold Bouty, in the journal Science et Vie , December 1913.]

But, where proofs would be necessary, where facts assert themselves to be indispensable, one is content to oppose to the hermetic "pretensions" a petition of principle. The School, peremptory, does not discuss, it decides. Well ! we certify, in our turn, by proposing to demonstrate it, that the learned men who, in good faith, espoused and propagated this hypothesis, deceived themselves through ignorance or lack of penetration. Only partially understanding the books they were studying, they mistook appearance for reality. Let us therefore say clearly, since so many educated and sincere people seem to ignore it, that the real ancestor of our chemistry is the ancient spagyrics, and not hermetic science itself. There is, indeed, a deep abyss between spagyrics and alchemy. This is precisely what we are going to try to bring out, — as much at least as it will be expedient to do so without overstepping the permitted bounds. We hope, however, to push the analysis far enough and provide enough details to support our thesis, happy in addition to give the chemists who are enemies of the bias a testimony of our goodwill and our concern.

In the Middle Ages—probably even in Greek antiquity, if we refer to the works of Zozime and Ostanes—there were two degrees, two orders of research in chemical science: spagyrics and archechemistry. These two branches of the same exoteric art were diffused in the working class by the practice of the laboratory. Metallurgists, goldsmiths, painters, ceramists, glassmakers, dyers, distillers, enamellers, potters, etc., had to be provided, as much as apothecaries, with sufficient spagyric knowledge. They supplemented them themselves, thereafter, in the exercise of their profession. As for the archemists, they formed a special category, more restricted, also more obscure, among the ancient chemists. The goal they pursued presented some analogy with that of the alchemists, but the materials and means at their disposal to reach it were only chemical materials and means. Transmute metals into each other; to produce gold and silver starting from vulgar ores or saline metallic compounds; to force the gold potentially contained in the silver, the silver in the tin, to become actual and extractable, that is what the archemist had in view. He was, ultimately, a spagyrist confined to the mineral kingdom and who voluntarily abandoned animal quintessences and vegetable alkaloids. However, the medieval regulations forbidding to possess at home, without preliminary authorization, furnaces and chemical utensils, quantity of craftsmen, their finished work, studied, manipulated, experimented in secret in their cellar or their attic.small individuals , according to the somewhat disdainful expression of the alchemists for these sides unworthy of the philosopher. Let us recognize, without despising these useful researchers, that the happiest often only derived a mediocre benefit from them, and that the same process, followed at first by success, then gave only null or uncertain results.

Nevertheless, in spite of their errors – or rather because of them – it is they, the archemists, who provided spagyrists first, then modern chemistry, with the facts, the methods, the operations it needed. They are, these men tormented by the desire to delve into everything and learn everything, the true founders of a splendid and perfect science, which they endowed with correct observations, exact reactions, skilful manipulations, painfully acquired knacks. Let us salute very low these pioneers, these precursors, these great workers and let us never forget what they did for us.

But alchemy, we repeat, has nothing to do with these successive contributions. Only hermetic writings, misunderstood by profane investigators, were the indirect cause of discoveries that their authors had never foreseen. This is how Blaise de Vigenère obtained benzoic acid by sublimation of benzoin; that Brandt was able to extract phosphorus by looking for the alkaest in urine; that Basil Valentine, - prestigious Adept who did not despise spagyric attempts, - established the whole series of antimonial salts and produced the colloid of ruby ​​gold [Starting from pure gold trichloride, separated from chlorauric acid and slowly precipitated by a zinc salt united with potassium carbonate, in a "certain rainwater". Rainwater alone, collected at a given time, in a zinc container, is enough to form the ruby ​​colloid, that crystalloids are separated by dialysis, which we have tried many times and always with equal success.]; that Raymond Lully prepared acetone and Cassius the purple gold; that Glauber obtained sodium sulphate and that Van Helmont recognized the existence of gases. But, with the exception of Lully and Basile Valentin, all these researchers, wrongly classified among the alchemists, were only simple archemists or learned spagyrists. This is why a famous Adept, author of a classic work, can say with great reason: "If Hermes, the Father of the philosophers, resuscitated today with the subtle Geber, the profound Raymond Lully, they would not be regarded as Philosophers by our vulgar chymists who would hardly deign to put them among their disciples, because they would not know how to go about carrying out all these distillations, these circulations, these calcinations, and all these innumerable operations that our vulgar chemists have invented, for having misunderstood the allegorical writings of these Philosophers”. [Cosmopolitan or New Chemical Light . Paris, Jean d'Houry, 1669.] [The author designates here archemists and spagyrists under the general epithet of vulgar chemists, to differentiate them from true alchemists, also called Adepts (Adeptus, who acquired) or Chemical Philosophers.]

With their confused text, peppered with cabalistic expressions, the books remain the efficient and genuine cause of the gross misunderstanding that we are pointing out. Because, in spite of the warnings, the objurgations of their authors, the students persist in reading them according to the direction which they offer in the current language. They do not know that these texts are reserved for insiders and that it is essential, to understand them well, to hold the secret key. It is to discover this key that we must first work. Certainly, these old treatises contain, if not integral science, at least its philosophy, its principles, the art of applying them in accordance with natural laws. But if we do not know the occult meaning of the terms - what is, for example, Ares, what distinguishes him from Aries and brings him closer to Arles, Arnet and Albait - — strange qualifiers deliberately employed in the drafting of such works, one must be afraid of not hearing a thing or of letting oneself be infallibly deceived. We must not forget that this is an esoteric science. Consequently, a keen intelligence, an excellent memory, work and attention aided by a strong will are not sufficient qualities to hope to become learned in the matter. “Those are very deceived, writes Nicolas Grosparmy, who believe that we have made our books only for them; but we made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect. » [Nicolas Grosparmy. We must not forget that this is an esoteric science. Consequently, a keen intelligence, an excellent memory, work and attention aided by a strong will are not sufficient qualities to hope to become learned in the matter. “Those are very deceived, writes Nicolas Grosparmy, who believe that we have made our books only for them; but we made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect. » [Nicolas Grosparmy. We must not forget that this is an esoteric science. Consequently, a keen intelligence, an excellent memory, work and attention aided by a strong will are not sufficient qualities to hope to become learned in the matter. “Those are very deceived, writes Nicolas Grosparmy, who believe that we have made our books only for them; but we made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect. » [Nicolas Grosparmy. who believe that we have made our books only for them; but we made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect. » [Nicolas Grosparmy. who believe that we have made our books only for them; but we made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect. » [Nicolas Grosparmy.The Abridgement of Theory and the Secret of Secrets. Ms. of the Bibl. nat., nos. 12246, 12298, 12299, 14789, 19072. Bibl. From the Arsenal, No. 2516 (166 SAF). Rennes, 160, 161.] Batsdorff, at the beginning of his treatise, charitably warns the reader in these terms: “Every prudent man, he says, must first learn Science, if he can, that is to say the principles and means of operating, if not stop there, without foolishly using his time and his property… Now, I beg those who will read this little book, to believe my words. So I tell them once again that they will never learn this sublime science by means of books, and that it can only be learned by divine revelation, which is why it is called Divine Art, or else by means of a good and faithful master; and as there are very few to whom God has bestowed this grace, there are also few who teach it. » [Batsdorff.Ariadne's Filet . Paris, Laurent d'Houry, 1695, p. 2.] Finally, an anonymous 18th century author [ Clavicula Hermeticae Scientiae, ad hyperbores quodam horis subsecivis consignata. Anno 1732. Amstelodami, Petrus Mortieri, 1751, p. 51. [and note on page 343]] gives other reasons for the difficulty one experiences in deciphering the enigma: “But here, he writes, is the first and true cause why nature has hidden this open and royal palace from so many philosophers, even from those endowed with a very subtle mind; it is that, deviating, from their youth, from the simple path of nature by the conclusions of logic and metaphysics, and, deceived by the illusions of the very best books, they imagine and swear that this art is deeper, more difficult to know than any metaphysics, although ingenuous nature, in this path as in all the others, walks with a straight and very simple step. »

Such are the opinions of philosophers on their own works. How can we be surprised, then, that so many excellent chemists have taken the wrong road, that they have deluded themselves by discussing a science of which they were incapable of assimilating the most elementary notions? And would it not be doing service to others, to neophytes, to urge them to meditate on this great truth which the Imitation proclaims (book III, ch. II, v. 2), when it says, speaking of the sealed books:

“They may well make heard the sound of their words, but they do not give intelligence. They give the letter, but it is the Lord who discovers its meaning; they propose mysteries, but it is he who explains them. They show the way to be followed, but He gives strength to walk it. »

This is the stumbling block against which our chemists have stumbled. And we can affirm that if our scholars had understood the language of the old alchemists, the laws of the practice of Hermes would be known to them and the philosopher's stone would long ago have ceased to be considered chimerical.

We have assured above that the archemists regulated their work on the hermetic theory—at least such as they understood it—and that this was the starting point of experiments fruitful in purely chemical results. They thus prepared the acid solvents which we use, and, by the action of these on the metallic bases, obtained the saline series which we know. By then reducing these salts, either by other metals, by alkalis or charcoal, or by sugar or fatty substances, they found, without transformation, the basic elements which they had previously combined. But these attempts, as well as the methods which they claim, presented no difference with those which are commonly practiced in our laboratories. Some researchers, however, pushed their investigations much further; they singularly extended the field of chemical possibilities, even to such an extent that their results seem to us doubtful if not imaginary. It is true that these processes are often incomplete and shrouded in a mystery almost as dense as that of the Great Work. Our intention being, as we have announced, to be useful to students, we will go into this subject in some detail and will show that these prompter recipes offer more experimental certainty than one would be inclined to attribute to them. May the philosophers, our brothers, whose indulgence we claim, condescend to forgive us these disclosures. But, besides the fact that our oath is purely alchemy and that we strictly intend to remain on the spagyric ground, we wish, on the other hand,

The simplest archemical process consists in using the effect of violent reactions—those of the acids on the bases—in order to bring about, within the effervescence, the reunion of the pure parts, their irreducible assembly in the form of new bodies. It is thus possible, starting from a metal close to gold—preferably silver—to produce a small quantity of precious metal. Here, in this order of research, is an elementary operation whose success we certify, if our indications are followed correctly.

Pour into a glass retort, tall and tubed, one-third of its capacity of pure nitric acid. Adapt a container with a release tube to it and arrange the device on a sand bath. Operate under the fume cupboard. Heat the device slowly and without reaching the boiling point of the acid. Then cease the fire, open the tubing and introduce a light fraction of virgin silver, or cupel, which does not contain traces of gold. When the emission of nitrogen peroxide ceases and the effervescence has subsided, drop a second portion of pure silver into the liquor. Repeat the introduction of the metal in this way, without haste, until the boiling and the release of red vapors show little energy, signs of approaching saturation. Do not add anything more, leave to settle for half an hour, then decant carefully, in a beaker, your clear, still warm solution. You will find at the bottom of the retort a thin deposit in the form of black sand. Wash it with lukewarm distilled water, and drop it into a small porcelain capsule. You will recognize by testing that this precipitate is insoluble in hydrochloric acid, as it is in nitric acid. Aqua regia dissolves it and gives a magnificent yellow solution, absolutely similar to that of gold trichloride. Dilute this liquor with distilled water; precipitate with a blade of zinc, an amorphous, very fine, dull powder will be deposited, of a reddish-brown colour, identical to that which natural gold gives, reduced in the same way. Wash properly then dry this powdery precipitate. By compressing it on a sheet of glass or on the marble, it will give you a shiny blade,

In order to increase your tiny deposit by a new amount, you can repeat the operation as many times as you like. In this case, take the clear solution of silver nitrate extended from the first washing waters; reduce the metal by zinc or copper. Decant and wash abundantly when the reduction is complete. Dry this powdered silver and use it for your second dissolution. By continuing in this way, you will amass enough metal to make analysis more convenient. Moreover, you will be assured of its true production—even supposing that the silver first used contained some trace of gold.

But this simple body, so easily obtained although in small proportion, is it really gold? Our sincerity commits us to say no or, at least, not yet. For if it presents the most perfect external analogy with gold, and even most of its chemical properties and reactions, it nevertheless lacks an essential physical character, density. This gold is less heavy than natural gold, although its specific density is already greater than that of silver. We can therefore consider it not as the representative of a more or less unstable allotropic state of silver, but as young gold, nascent gold, which again reveals its recent formation. Moreover, the newly produced metal remains capable of taking and retaining, by contraction, the high density possessed by the adult metal. Archimists used a process which ensured that nascent gold had all the specific qualities of adult gold; they called this technique ripening or strengthening, and we know that mercury was the main agent. It is still cited in some ancient Latin manuscripts under the expression ofConfirmation .

It would be easy for us to make, on the subject of the operation which we have just indicated, several useful and consistent remarks, and to show on what philosophical principles rests, in this one, the direct production of the metal. We could also give some variants likely to increase the yield, but we would cross the limits that we have voluntarily imposed on ourselves. We will therefore leave it to researchers to discover them themselves and to submit their deductions to the control of experience. Our role is limited to presenting facts; modern archemists, spagyrists and chemists to conclude. [In this order of essays, one can note a curious fact which makes any attempt at industrialization impossible. The result, in fact, varies inversely with the quantity of metal employed. The more we act on large masses, the less product we harvest. The same phenomenon is observed with metallic and saline mixtures from which small quantities of gold are generally withdrawn. If the experiment usually succeeds by operating on a few grams of initial material, by working a tenfold mass, it is common to end in total failure. We searched for a long time, before discovering it, the reason for this singularity, which lies in the way in which the solvents behave as they become saturated. The precipitate appears shortly after the start, and until about the middle of the attack; it redissolves in part or in whole thereafter, according to the very importance of the volume of the acid.] The same phenomenon is observed with metallic and saline mixtures from which small quantities of gold are generally withdrawn. If the experiment usually succeeds by operating on a few grams of initial material, by working a tenfold mass, it is common to end in total failure. We searched for a long time, before discovering it, the reason for this singularity, which lies in the way in which the solvents behave as they become saturated. The precipitate appears shortly after the start, and until about the middle of the attack; it redissolves in part or in whole thereafter, according to the very importance of the volume of the acid.] The same phenomenon is observed with metallic and saline mixtures from which small quantities of gold are generally withdrawn. If the experiment usually succeeds by operating on a few grams of initial material, by working a tenfold mass, it is common to end in total failure. We searched for a long time, before discovering it, the reason for this singularity, which lies in the way in which the solvents behave as they become saturated. The precipitate appears shortly after the start, and until about the middle of the attack; it redissolves in part or in whole thereafter, according to the very importance of the volume of the acid.] it is common to end up in total failure. We searched for a long time, before discovering it, the reason for this singularity, which lies in the way in which the solvents behave as they become saturated. The precipitate appears shortly after the start, and until about the middle of the attack; it redissolves in part or in whole thereafter, according to the very importance of the volume of the acid.] it is common to end up in total failure. We searched for a long time, before discovering it, the reason for this singularity, which lies in the way in which the solvents behave as they become saturated. The precipitate appears shortly after the start, and until about the middle of the attack; it redissolves in part or in whole thereafter, according to the very importance of the volume of the acid.]

But there are, in archemy, other methods whose results come to bring the proof of the philosophical affirmations. They make it possible to carry out the decomposition of metallic bodies, long considered as simple elements. These processes, which the alchemists know, although they do not have to use them in the elaboration of the Great Work, have as their object the extraction of one of the two metallic radicals, sulfur and mercury.

Hermetic philosophy teaches us that bodies have no action on bodies, and that only spirits are active and penetrating. [Geber, in his Sum of Perfection of the Magisterium(Summa perfectionis Magisterii), thus speaks of the power that spirits have over bodies. “O son of the doctrine,” he exclaims, “if you want to make the bodies experience various changes, it is only with the help of the spirits that you will succeed (per spiritus ipsos fieri necesse est). When these spirits fix themselves on the bodies, they lose their form and their nature; they are no longer what they were. When we operate the separation, this is what happens: either the spirits escape alone, and the bodies where they were fixed remain, or the spirits and the bodies escape together at the same time. »] It is they, the spirits, these natural agents who cause, within matter, the transformations that we observe there. Gold, wisdom demonstrates by experience that bodies are only capable of forming among themselves temporary combinations that are easily reducible. Such is the case with alloys, some of which liquefy by simple fusion, and with all saline compounds. Likewise, alloyed metals retain their specific qualities in spite of the various properties which they affect in the state of association. We therefore understand of what use the spirits can be in the release of metallic sulfur or mercury, when we know that they alone are capable of overcoming the strong cohesion which closely binds these two principles together. the alloyed metals preserve their specific qualities in spite of the various properties which they affect in the state of association. We therefore understand of what use the spirits can be in the release of metallic sulfur or mercury, when we know that they alone are capable of overcoming the strong cohesion which closely binds these two principles together. the alloyed metals preserve their specific qualities in spite of the various properties which they affect in the state of association. We therefore understand of what use the spirits can be in the release of metallic sulfur or mercury, when we know that they alone are capable of overcoming the strong cohesion which closely binds these two principles together.

Previously, it is essential to know what the ancients designated by the generic and rather vague term of spirits.

For alchemists, spirits are real influences, though physically almost immaterial or imponderable. They act in a mysterious, inexplicable, unknowable but effective manner on the substances subjected to their action and prepared to receive them. The lunar radiance is one of these hermetic spirits.

As for the archemists, their conception turns out to be of a more concrete and more substantial order. Our old chemists include under the same heading all bodies, simple or complex, solid or liquid, endowed with a volatile quality capable of rendering them entirely sublimable. Metals, metalloids, salts, hydrogen carbides, etc., provide archemists with their contingent of spirits: mercury, arsenic, antimony and some of their compounds, sulphur, sal ammoniac, alcohol, ether, vegetable essences, etc.

In the extraction of metallic sulfur, the preferred technique is that which uses sublimation. Here, as an indication, are some ways of operating.

Dissolve pure silver in hot nitric acid, according to the manipulation previously described, then dilute this solution with hot distilled water. Decant the clear liquor, in order to separate, if necessary, the slight black deposit of which we have spoken. Leave to cool in the dark laboratory and pour into the liquor, little by little, either a filtered solution of sodium chloride, or pure hydrochloric acid. The silver chloride will fall to the bottom of the vase as a clotted white mass. After resting for twenty-four hours, decant the acidulated water that floats, wash quickly with cold water and let it dry spontaneously in a room where no light penetrates. Then weigh your silver salt to which you will intimately mix three times as much pure ammonium chloride. Introduce the whole into a glass retort, high, and of capacity such that the bottom alone is occupied by the saline mixture. Give the sand bath low heat and increase it by degrees. When the temperature is sufficient, the sal ammoniac will rise and furnish the vault and the neck of the apparatus with a firm layer. This sublimate, snow-white, rarely yellowish, would suggest that it contains nothing in particular. Skillfully cut the retort, carefully detach this white sublimate, dissolve it in distilled water, cold or hot. When the dissolution is complete, you will find at the bottom a very fine powder, of a brilliant red; it is a part of the sulfur of silver, or lunar sulfur, detached from the metal and volatilized by the sal ammoniac during its sublimation. Give the sand bath low heat and increase it by degrees. When the temperature is sufficient, the sal ammoniac will rise and furnish the vault and the neck of the apparatus with a firm layer. This sublimate, snow-white, rarely yellowish, would suggest that it contains nothing in particular. Skillfully cut the retort, carefully detach this white sublimate, dissolve it in distilled water, cold or hot. When the dissolution is complete, you will find at the bottom a very fine powder, of a brilliant red; it is a part of the sulfur of silver, or lunar sulfur, detached from the metal and volatilized by the sal ammoniac during its sublimation. Give the sand bath low heat and increase it by degrees. When the temperature is sufficient, the sal ammoniac will rise and furnish the vault and the neck of the apparatus with a firm layer. This sublimate, snow-white, rarely yellowish, would suggest that it contains nothing in particular. Skillfully cut the retort, carefully detach this white sublimate, dissolve it in distilled water, cold or hot. When the dissolution is complete, you will find at the bottom a very fine powder, of a brilliant red; it is a part of the sulfur of silver, or lunar sulfur, detached from the metal and volatilized by the sal ammoniac during its sublimation. would lead one to believe that it contains nothing in particular. Skillfully cut the retort, carefully detach this white sublimate, dissolve it in distilled water, cold or hot. When the dissolution is complete, you will find at the bottom a very fine powder, of a brilliant red; it is a part of the sulfur of silver, or lunar sulfur, detached from the metal and volatilized by the sal ammoniac during its sublimation. would lead one to believe that it contains nothing in particular. Skillfully cut the retort, carefully detach this white sublimate, dissolve it in distilled water, cold or hot. When the dissolution is complete, you will find at the bottom a very fine powder, of a brilliant red; it is a part of the sulfur of silver, or lunar sulfur, detached from the metal and volatilized by the sal ammoniac during its sublimation.

This operation, however, despite its simplicity, is not without major drawbacks. Beneath its easy appearance, it requires great skill, a great deal of caution in driving the fire. In the first place, if one does not wish to lose half or more of the metal employed, it is necessary above all to avoid the fusion of the salts. Now, if the temperature remains below the degree required to determine and maintain the fluidity of the mixture, there is no sublimation. On the other hand, as soon as this is established, the silver chloride, already very penetrating by itself, acquires, in contact with the sal ammoniac, such a mordant that it passes through the walls of the glass [It colors them in the mass with a red tint by transparency, green by reflection.] and escapes outside. Very frequently, the retort cracks when the vaporization phase begins, and sal ammoniac sublimes without. The artist does not even have the resource of sandstone, earthenware or porcelain retorts, which are even more porous than those of glass, especially since he must be able to constantly observe the progress of the reactions, if he wishes to be able to intervene at the opportune moment. There are therefore, in this method as in many others of the same order, certain secrets of practice which the archemists have prudently reserved for themselves. One of the best consists in dividing the mixture of chlorides by interposing an inert body, capable of thickening the salts and preventing their liquefaction. This material must not possess either a reducing quality or a catalytic virtue; it is also essential that it can easily be isolated from the caput mortuum. In the past, crushed brick and various absorbents such as tin pot, pumice stone, pulverized flint, etc. These substances, unfortunately, furnish a very impure sublimate. We give preference to a certain product, devoid of any affinity for silver and ammonium chlorides, which we extract from the bitumen of Judea. In addition to the purity of the sulfur obtained, the technique becomes very easy. It is convenient to reduce the residue to metallic silver and repeat the sublimations until the sulfur is completely extracted. The residual mass is then no longer reducible and appears in the form of a gray ash, soft, very soft, greasy to the touch, keeping the imprint of the finger, and which yields, in a short time, half of its weight of specific mercury. devoid of any affinity for the chlorides of silver and ammonium, which we obtain from the bitumen of Judea. In addition to the purity of the sulfur obtained, the technique becomes very easy. It is convenient to reduce the residue to metallic silver and repeat the sublimations until the sulfur is completely extracted. The residual mass is then no longer reducible and appears in the form of a gray ash, soft, very soft, greasy to the touch, keeping the imprint of the finger, and which yields, in a short time, half of its weight of specific mercury. devoid of any affinity for the chlorides of silver and ammonium, which we obtain from the bitumen of Judea. In addition to the purity of the sulfur obtained, the technique becomes very easy. It is convenient to reduce the residue to metallic silver and repeat the sublimations until the sulfur is completely extracted. The residual mass is then no longer reducible and appears in the form of a gray ash, soft, very soft, greasy to the touch, keeping the imprint of the finger, and which yields, in a short time, half of its weight of specific mercury.

This technique also applies to lead. Of a lower price, it offers the advantage of providing salts insensitive to light, which exempts the artist from operating in the dark; nor is it necessary to use impastation; finally, as lead is less fixed than silver, the yield in red sublimation is better and the time shortened. The only unfortunate side of the operation comes from the fact that the sal ammoniac forms, with the sulfur of the lead, a compact and so tenacious saline layer that one would think it had melted with the glass. Also it becomes laborious to detach it without crushing. As for the extract itself, it is of a beautiful red, coated in a strongly colored yellow sublimate, but very impure compared to that of silver. It is therefore important to purify it before using it. Its maturity is also less perfect,

All metals do not obey the same chemical agents. The process which is suitable for silver and lead cannot be applied to tin, copper, iron or gold. Moreover, the spirit capable of detaching and isolating the sulfur of a given metal will exert its action, in another metal, on the mercurial principle of this one. In the first case, the mercury will be strongly retained, while the sulfur will sublimate; in the second, the opposite phenomenon will be seen to occur. Hence the diversity of methods and the variety of metal decomposition techniques. It is moreover and above all the affinity that bodies show for each other, and these for spirits, which regulates its application. We know that silver and lead have a very marked sympathy together; the ores of argentiferous lead sufficiently prove it. Now, the affinity establishing the profound chemical identity of these bodies, it is logical to think that the same spirit, employed under the same conditions, will determine the same effects there. This is what takes place with iron and gold, which are linked by a close affinity; when Mexican prospectors come to discover a very red sandy soil, composed mostly of oxidized iron, they conclude that gold is not far away. Also, they consider this red earth as the mine and the mother of gold, and the best indication of a nearby vein. The fact seems however rather singular, given the physical differences of these metals. In the category of usual metallic bodies, gold is the rarest of them; iron, on the other hand, is certainly the most common, the one found everywhere, not only in the mines, where it occupies considerable and numerous lodgings, but still disseminated on the very surface of the ground. The clay owes its special coloring to it, sometimes yellow when the iron is there divided in the state of hydrate, sometimes red if it is in the form of sesquioxide, a color which is still exalted by cooking (bricks, tiles, pottery). Of all the classified ores, iron pyrite is the most common and best known. The black ferruginous masses, in balls of various sizes, in testaceous agglomerates, in kidneys, are frequently encountered in the fields, at the edge of the roads, on chalky ground. Country children are used to playing with these marcasites which, when broken, show a fibrous, crystalline and radiant texture. They sometimes contain small amounts of gold. meteorites, composed mainly of molten magnetic iron, prove that the interplanetary masses from which they come owe their structure mainly to iron. Some plants contain assimilable iron (wheat, watercress, lentils, beans, potatoes). Man and vertebrate animals owe the red color of their blood to iron and gold. It is, in fact, the iron salts which constitute the active element of hemoglobin. They are even so necessary for organic vitality that medicine and pharmacopoeia have always sought to provide depleted blood with the metallic compounds specific to its reconstitution (peptonate and iron carbonate). Among the people, the use has been preserved of water made ferruginous by the immersion of oxidized nails. Finally,

It didn't take much to engage the archemists to work on iron, with the intention of discovering the components of their dyes. Moreover, this metal can easily extract its constituents, sulphurous and mercurial, in a single manipulation, which is already very advantageous. The great, the enormous difficulty resides in the reunion of these elements, which, in spite of their purification, energetically refuse to combine to form a new body. But we will pass without analyzing or resolving this problem, since our subject is limited to establishing the proof that archemists have always used chemical materials implemented with the aid of chemical means and operations.

In the spagyric treatment of iron, it is the energetic reaction of acids, having a similar affinity for the metal, which is used to overcome the cohesion. One usually starts with martial pyrite or metal reduced to filings. In the latter case, we recommend using caution and caution. If you use pyrite, it will suffice to grind it as finely as possible and to redden this powder in the fire, only once, stirring it vigorously. Cooled, it is introduced into a large flask with four times its weight of aqua regia, and the whole is brought to the boil. At the end of an hour or two, one lets stand, one decants the liquor, then one pours on the magma a similar quantity of new aqua regia which one makes boil as previously. Boiling and decantation must be continued in this way until the pyrite appears white at the bottom of the vessel. All the extracts are then taken up, filtered through glass silk and concentrated by slow distillation in a tubular retort. When only about a third of the original volume remains, the tubing is opened and a certain quantity of pure sulfuric acid at 66° (60 grams for a total volume of extract from 500 grams of pyrite) is poured into it, in successive portions. It is then distilled until dry and, after having changed containers, the temperature is gradually increased. We will see oily drops distilling, red as blood, which represent the sulphurous tincture, then a beautiful white sublimate, which attaches to the vault and the neck under the aspect of crystalline down. This sublimate is a veritable salt of mercury—called by some archemists mercury of vitriol—which is easily reduced to fluid mercury by iron filings, quicklime, or anhydrous potassic carbonate. One can moreover immediately make sure that this sublimate indeed contains the specific mercury of iron, by rubbing the crystals on a copper blade: the amalgam is produced immediately and the metal appears silvery.

As for the iron filings, it furnishes a sulfur of the color of gold, instead of being red, and a little—very little—of sublimated mercury. The process is the same, but with this slight difference that you have to throw pinches of filings into the aqua regia, previously heated, and wait, at each of them, until the effervescence has subsided. It is good to stir the bottom with a stirrer to prevent the filings from clumping together. After filtration and reduction by half, one adds—very little at a time, for the reaction is violent and the upheavals furious—sulfuric acid up to half the weight of the concentrated liquor. This is the dangerous side of the manipulation, because it happens quite often that the retort explodes or that it cracks at the level of the acids.

We will stop there the description of the processes on iron, considering that they are amply sufficient to support our thesis, and we will end the presentation of the spagyric processes with that of gold, which is, according to the opinion of all philosophers, the body most refractory to dissociation. It is a common axiom in spagyrics that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. But here a brief observation is in order.

Limiting only our desire to prove the chemical reality of archemical research, we will be careful not to teach, in plain language, how one can manufacture gold. The goal we pursue is of a higher order. And we prefer to remain in the pure alchemical realm, rather than commit the seeker to follow these bramble-covered paths lined with bogs. For the application of these methods, by strengthening the chemical principle of direct transmutations, cannot bear the slightest testimony in favor of the Great Work, the elaboration of which remains completely foreign to this same principle. That said, let's get back to our topic.

An old spagyric saying claims that the seed of gold is in gold itself; we will not contradict it, on condition that one knows what gold is in question, or how it is appropriate to grasp this seed released from vulgar gold. If one is ignorant of the last of these secrets, one will necessarily have to content oneself with witnessing the production of the phenomenon, without deriving any profit from it other than an objective certainty. Observe carefully what happens in the following operation, the execution of which presents no difficulty.

Dissolve pure gold in aqua regia; pour in sulfuric acid in a weight equal to half the weight of gold employed. There will only be a slight contraction. Shake the solution and introduce it into a non-tubulated glass retort, arranged on a sand bath. First give a moderate fire, so that the distillation of the acids takes place gently and without boiling. When nothing will distill any longer and the gold will appear at the bottom as a yellow, dull, dry and cavernous mass, change the container and gradually increase the heat of the hearth. You will see white vapors rising, opaque, light at first, then heavier and heavier. The former will condense into a beautiful yellow oil which will flow into the container; the seconds will sublimate and adorn the arch and the birth of the neck with fine crystals imitating the down of birds. Their color, a magnificent blood-red, takes on the brilliance of rubies when a ray of the sun or some bright light strikes them. These very deliquescent crystals, like the other gold salts, disintegrate into a yellow liquor as soon as the temperature drops...

We will not pursue the study of sublimations any further. As for the archemical processes known under the expression of Small particulars, these are, most often, random techniques. The best of these processes start from the metal products extracted by the means we have indicated. We shall find them scattered in profusion in a number of works of the second order and in the manuscripts of prompters. We will confine ourselves, for documentary purposes, to reproducing the particular that Basile Valentin points out, because, unlike the others, it is supported by solid and relevant philosophical reasons. The great Adept affirms, in this passage, that one can obtain a particular tincture by uniting the mercury of silver with the sulfur of copper through the intervention of salt of iron. "The Moon," he said, has in itself a fixed mercury by which it sustains the violence of fire longer than other imperfect metals; and the victory she wins shows how fixed she is, since the enchanting Saturn can take nothing away or diminish her. The lascivious Venus is well colored, and her whole body is almost only tint and color like that which the Sun has, which, because of its abundance, draws greatly on red. But as much as his body is leprous and sick, the fixed tincture cannot make its dwelling there, and the body flying away, the tincture must necessarily follow, for as it perishes, the soul cannot remain, its domicile being consumed by fire, appearing and leaving to it no seat and refuge, which on the contrary accompanied remains all with a fixed body. The fixed salt provides the warrior Mars with a hard, strong, solid and robust body, from which comes his magnanimity and great courage. This is why it is very difficult to overcome this valiant captain, because his body is so hard that it is difficult to hurt him. But if someone mixes his strength and hardness with the constancy of the Moon and the beauty of Venus, and harmonizes them by a spiritual means, he will be able to achieve not so badly a sweet harmony, by means of which the poor man, having used for this purpose some keys of our Art, after having climbed to the top of this ladder and reached the end of the Work, will be able to particularly gain his life. For the phlegmatic and humid nature of the Moon may be heated and desiccated by the hot and angry blood of Venus, and its great blackness corrected by the salt of Mars. » [The Twelve Keys of Philosophy . Paris, Pierre Moët, 1659, book. I, p. 34]

Among the archemists who used gold to increase it, using formulas which led them to success, we will cite the Venetian priest Pantheus [JA Pantheus, Ars et Theoria Transmutationis metallicae cum Voarchadumia Veneunt . Vivantium Gautherorium, 1550.]; Naxagoras, author of Alchymia denudata(1715); de Hocques; Duclos; Bernard de Labadye; Joseph du Chesne, baron de Morancé, ordinary physician to King Henry IV; Blaise de Vigenere; Bardin, from Le Havre (1638); Miss de Martinville (1610); Yardley, English inventor of a process transmitted to Mr. Garden, glove-maker in London, in 1716, then communicated by Mr. Ferdinand Hockley to Doctor Sigismond Bacstrom, and which was the subject of a letter from the latter to Mr. L. Sand, in 1804 ]; finally, the pious philanthropist Saint Vincent de Paul, founder of the Fathers of the Mission (1625), of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity (1634), etc.

Please allow us to dwell for a moment on this great and noble figure, as well as on his occult work, generally ignored.

We know that during a trip he made from Marseilles to Narbonne, Saint Vincent de Paul was captured by Barbary pirates and taken captive to Tunis. He was then twenty four years old.

[Born at Poux, near Dax, in 1581, biographers say he was born in 1576, although he himself gives his exact age, on various occasions, in his correspondence. This error is explained by the fact that with the complicity of prelates acting against the decisions of the Council of Trent, he was fraudulently passed off as being twenty-four years old, whereas he was only nineteen when he was ordained a priest in the year 1600.]

We are also assured that he managed to bring his last master, a renegade, back into the bosom of the Church, that he returned to France and stayed in Rome, where Pope Paul V received him with great respect. It was from this moment that he undertook his pious foundations and his charitable institutions. But what we are careful not to tell us is that the Father of the Foundlings , as he was called during his lifetime, had learned archechemistry during his captivity. Thus we explain, without the need for miraculous intervention, that the great apostle of Christian charity had the means to carry out his many philanthropic works. [He founded, Abbé Pétin tells us ( Hagiographic Dictionary , in Migne's Encyclopedia. Paris, 1850), a hospital for galley slaves, in Marseilles, established in Paris the houses of the Orphans, the Daughters of Providence, the Daughters of the Cross; the hospital of Jesus, of the Foundlings, the general hospital of La Salpêtrière. “Not to mention the general hospital of Sainte-Renne, which he founded in Burgundy, he helped several provinces, ravaged by famine and the plague; and the alms he sent to Lorraine and Champagne amounted to nearly two millions. He was, moreover, a practical, positive, resolute man, not neglecting his business, neither dreamy nor inclined to mysticism. For the rest, a deeply human soul beneath the harsh exterior of an active, tenacious, ambitious man.

We have two very suggestive letters from him in connection with his chemical work. The first, written to M. de Comet, lawyer at the presidial court of Dax, was published several times and analyzed by M. Georges Bois, in Le Péril occultiste (Paris, Victor Retaux, nd). It is written from Avignon and dated June 24, 1607. We will take this document, which is quite long, at the moment when Vincent de Paul, having completed the mission for which he was in Marseilles, was preparing to return to Toulouse.

“… Being on the point of leaving by land, he said, I was persuaded by a gentleman with whom I was lodged, to embark with him as far as Narbonnes, given the favor of the weather; to what I did rather to be there and to save, or better said, never to be there and lose everything. The wind was as favorable to us as was necessary to get us that day to Narbonne, which was to travel fifty leagues, if God had not permitted that three Turkish brigantines who skirted the Gulf of Leon (to catch the boats which came from Beaucaire, where there were fairs which are considered to be of the finest in Christendom), had not given chase and attacked us so vigorously that two or three of ours were killed and all the rest injured, and even me, who had an arrow shot that will serve as my clock for the rest of my life, had we not been compelled to surrender to these scoundrels and worse than tigers; the first bursts of rage from which were to chop our pilot into a thousand pieces for having lost one of the principalz of theirs, in addition to four or five forsatz that ours killed them. This fact, we chained ourselves, after thinking roughly of ourselves, pursued their point, making a thousand thefts, nevertheless giving freedom to those who surrendered without fighting, after having stolen them: and finally, loaded with goods, at the end of seven or eight days, took the road to Barbary, den and spelungue of thieves without the confession of the Grand Turk, where, on arriving, they exposed us for sale with minutes of our capture, which they say was made in a Spanish ship, because without this lie, we would have been freed by the consul that the King holds from there to free trade to the French. Their procedure at our sale was that after they had stripped us of all nudz, they gave us each a pair of brayes, a linen hocker, with a benote; took us through the town of Thunis, where they had come to sell us. Having made us do five or six tours through the town, the chain at the pass, they brought us back to the boat so that the merchants could come and see who could eat and who not, to show that our games were not mortal. This fact brought us back to the place where the merchants came to visit us just as one does when buying a horse or an ox, making us open our mouths to examine our teeth, feeling our ribs, probing our cheeks,

“I was sold to a fisherman, who was forced to get rid of me soon, for having nothing so contrary as the sea, and, since, by the fisherman to an old man, a spagyric doctor, a sovereign tyrant of quintessences, a very human and tractable man, who, so he told me, had worked for fifty years in search of the philosopher's stone, and in vain as to the stone, but very surely to other sorts of transmutation of metals. In witness of which, I have often seen him melt as much gold as silver together, put them in small laminates, and then put a bed of some powder, then another of laminates, and then another of powder in a crucible or goldsmiths' vase, hold it in the fire for twenty-four hours, then open it and find the silver has become gold; and more often still, to freeze or fix quicksilver into fine silver, which he sold to give to the poor. My occupation was to keep ten or twelve stoves burning, in which, thank God, I had no more pain than pleasure. He loved me very much, and took great pleasure in telling me about alchemy, and more about his law, to which he made every effort to attract me, promising me strength, wealth and all his knowledge. God always operated in me a belief of deliverance by the assiduous prayers that I made to him and to the Virgin Mary, by the only intercession of which I firmly believe to have been delivered. The hope and firm belief that I had in seeing you again, Monsieur, made me be assiduous in begging him to teach me the means of curing the gravel, in which I saw him perform miracles daily; what he fist,

“I was with this old man from the month of September 1605 until the month of August next, when he was captured and taken to the Grand Sultan, to work for him; but in vain, for he died of regret by the roads. He left me to his nephew, a true anthropomorphite, who sold me soon after the death of his uncle, because he heard that, like M. de Breve, ambassador for the King in Turkey, came, with good and express patents from the Grand Turk, to recover the Christian slaves. A renegade from Nice in Savoy, an enemy by nature, bought me and took me to his temat (thus is called the property that one holds as a sharecropper of the great lord, because the people have nothing, everything belongs to the Sultan). The location of this one was in the mountains, where the country is extremely hot and desert. »

After having converted this man, Vincent left with him, ten months later, "at the end of which, continues the scriptwriter, we escaped with a small skiff and we went on the twenty-eighth day of June to Aigues-Mortes, and soon afterwards to Avignon, where Monsignor the vice-legate publicly received the renegade, with tears in his eye and sobbing in his throat, in the church of Saint-Pierre, to the honor of God. and edification of the spectators. My dictated lord… does me the honor of loving and caressing greatly, for some secrets of alchemy that I have taught him, of which he is more important, he says, than if io gli avessi dato un monte di oro[“If I had given him a mountain of gold. »], because he worked all the time of his life, and he breathes no other contentment… — Vincent Depaul ». [We don't know why history and biographers persist in maintaining Vincent de Paul's fanciful spelling. This one doesn't need a particle to be noble among nobles. All his epistles are signed Depaul. We find this name written in this way on a Masonic summons reproduced on pages 130-131 of the Dictionary of Occultismby E. Desormes and Adrien Basile (Angers, Lachèse, 1897). We should not be surprised, moreover, that a lodge, obeying the code of charity and high fraternity which governed Masonry of the 18th century, placed itself under the nominal protection of the powerful philanthropist. The document in question, dated February 14, 1835, emanates from the Salut, Force, Union lodge , of the Chapter of the Disciples of Saint Vincent Depaul , attached to the Orient of Paris and founded in 1777.]

In January 1608, a second epistle, addressed from Rome to the same addressee, shows us Vincent de Paul initiating the vice-legate of Avignon, of whom we have just mentioned, and very well in court, thanks to his spagyric secrets. "... My state is therefore such, in a word, that I am in this city of Rome, where I am continuing my studies, maintained by my Lord the Vice-Legat, who was from Avignon, who does me the honor of loving myself and desiring my advancement, for having shown him many beautiful and curious things that I learned during my slavery from this old Turkish man to whom I wrote to you that I was sold, of the number of which curiosity is the beginning, not the total perfection of Archimedes' mirror; an artificial spring to make a death-test speak, which this wretch used to seduce the people, telling him that his god Mahomet makes him hear his will by this head, and a thousand other beautiful geometrical things, which I have learned from him, of which my said lord is so jealous that he does not even want me to accost anyone, for fear that he wants me to teach him, desiring to have alone the reputation of knowing these things, which he delights to show sometimes to His Holiness and to the cardinals. »

Despite the lack of credence he gives to the alchemists and their science, Georges Bois nevertheless recognizes that one cannot suspect the sincerity of the narrator, nor the reality of the experiments he has seen practiced. "He is a witness, he writes, who brings together all the guarantees that one can expect from an eyewitness, frequent, and in particular disinterested, a condition which is not encountered to the same degree among researchers who recount their own experiences and who are always preoccupied with a particular point of view. He's a good witness, but he's a man: he's not infallible. He could have been mistaken and mistaken for gold what was only an alloy of gold and silver. This is what we are led to believe, according to our present ideas, and the habit that we owe to our education of placing transmutation among the fables. But, if we simply weigh the testimony we are examining, error is not possible. It is clearly said that the alchemist melted together as much gold as silver: this is therefore the well-defined alloy. [One can all the less misunderstand the nature of this alloy as the silver causes a discoloration in the gold such that it cannot go unnoticed. However, it is here almost total, the metals being alloyed with equal weights, and the alloy appears white.] This alloy is rolled. Then the laminates are laid out in layers, separated by layers of some powder which is not otherwise described. This powder is not the philosopher's stone, but it has one of its properties: it operates the transmutation. It is heated for twenty-four hours, and the silver which entered the alloy is transformed into gold. This gold is resold and so on. There is no mistake in the distinction of metals. Moreover, it is improbable, the operation being frequent and the gold negotiated with merchants, that such an enormous error should have occurred so easily. Because at that time everyone believed in alchemy; and goldsmiths, bankers, merchants know very well how to distinguish pure gold from gold alloyed with other metals. Since Archimedes, everyone knows gold by the relationship between its volume and its weight. Counterfeiting princes deceive their subjects, but they do not deceive the scales of bankers, nor the art of assayers. One did not trade in gold by selling for gold what was not gold. It was, at the time we are talking about, in 1605, in Tunis, which was then one of the best-known markets in international trade, a fraud as difficult, as perilous as it would be today, for example, in London, Amsterdam, New York or Paris, where large gold payments are made in bullion. Such is the most demonstrative, in our opinion, of the facts that we have been able to find in support of the opinion of the alchemists on the reality of transmutation. »

As for the operation itself, it depends exclusively on archemy and is very similar to that which Pantheus teaches in his Voarchadumieand of which he designates the result under the name of gold of the two cementations. Because if Vincent de Paul has given the main lines of the process, he was careful, on the other hand, to describe the order and the way of operating. Anyone who, today, would try to achieve it, had he a perfect knowledge of the special cement, should note the failure. This is because gold, in order to acquire the faculty of transmuting the silver which is allied to it, needs first of all to be prepared, the cement acting only on the silver alone. Without this prior arrangement, the gold would remain inert within the electrum and could not transmit to the silver what it does not possess in its natural state. [Basil Valentine insists on the necessity of giving gold an overabundance of sulphur. "Gold does not dye," he said, "unless it is first dyed itself." »] The spagyrists call this preliminary work exaltation or transfusion, and it is also with the help of a cement applied by stratification that it is carried out. So that, the composition of this first cement being different from that of the second, the denomination assigned by Pantheus to the metal obtained is thus fully justified.

The secret of exaltation, without the knowledge of which one cannot succeed, consists in increasing—all at once or gradually—the normal color of pure gold by the sulfur of an imperfect metal, ordinarily copper. This supplies the precious metal with its own blood through a sort of chemical transfusion. The gold, overloaded with dye, then takes on the red appearance of coral and can give the specific mercury of silver the sulfur it lacks, thanks to the intermediary of the mineral spirits released from the cement during the work. This transmission of the excess sulfur retained by the exalted gold takes place little by little under the action of heat; it requires twenty-four to forty hours, depending on the skill of the craftsman and the volume of materials treated. It is necessary to pay a lot of attention to the fire regime, which must be continuous and strong enough, without ever reaching the degree of fusion of the alloy. We would run the risk, by heating too much, of volatilizing the silver and dissipating the sulfur introduced into the gold, this sulfur not having yet acquired a perfect fixity.

Finally, a third manipulation, deliberately omitted because an archemist has nothing to do with so many opinions, includes the brushing of the extracted laminae, their fusion and their cupellation. The pellet of pure gold manifests, on weighing, a more or less perceptible diminution, and which generally varies between one-fifth and one-fourth of the alloyed silver. Be that as it may, and despite this waste, the process still leaves a remunerative profit.

We will point out, in connection with exaltation, that coralline gold, obtained by any one of the various methods recommended, remains capable of transmuting directly, that is to say without the aid of subsequent cementation, a certain quantity of silver: about a quarter of its weight. However, as it is impossible to determine the exact value of the coefficient of auric power, the difficulty is circumvented by melting the red gold with a triple proportion of silver (inquartation) and submitting the rolled alloy to the starting operation.

After having said that the exaltation, based on the absorption of a certain portion of metallic sulfur by the mercury of gold, has the effect of considerably reinforcing the proper coloring of the metal, we will give some indications on the processes implemented for this purpose. These use the ability possessed by solar mercury to strongly retain a fraction of pure sulphur, when acting on the metallic mass, in order to dissociate the alloy originally formed. Thus, the gold fused with the copper, if it happens to be separated from it, never entirely abandons a parcel of tincture stolen from it. So that by often repeating the same action, the gold becomes richer and richer and can then yield this excess dye to the metal which is close to it, that is to say to the silver.

An experienced chemist, remarks Naxagoras, knows well enough that, if gold be purified twenty-four times or more, by the sulphide of antimony, it acquires a remarkable color, brilliance, and fineness. But there is a loss of metal, contrary to what happens with copper, because, in the purification, the mercury of the gold abandons part of its substance to the antimony, and the sulfur is then found to be superabundant, by imbalance of the natural proportions. This is what makes the process unusable and only allows one to expect from it a simple satisfaction of curiosity.

One also manages to exalt gold by first melting it with three times its weight of copper, then by decomposing the alloy, put in filings, by boiling nitric acid. Although this technique is laborious and expensive, given the volume of acid required, it is nevertheless one of the best and safest known.

However, if one has an energetic reducer and one knows how to use it during the actual fusion of gold and copper, the operation will be greatly simplified and one will not have to fear either loss of material or excessive labor, despite the indispensable repetitions that this method still requires. Finally, the artist, by studying these various means, will be able to discover better, even more effective ones. It will suffice for him, for example, to address himself to the sulfur directly extracted from the lead, to insert it in its raw state and to project it little by little into the molten gold, which will retain the pure part; unless he prefers to have recourse to iron, the specific sulfur of which is, of all the metals, that for which gold manifests the greatest affinity.

But it is enough. Work now who will; whether each maintains his opinion, follows or scorns our advice, it matters little to us. We will repeat one last time that, of all the operations voluntarily described in these pages, none relates, directly or indirectly, to traditional alchemy; none can be compared to his. A thick wall which separates the two sciences, an insurmountable obstacle to those who are familiar with chemical methods and formulas. We do not want to despair anyone, but the truth obliges us to say that these will never leave the paths of official chemistry, which devote themselves to spagyric research. Many moderns believe, in good faith, that they are resolutely deviating from chemical science because they explain its phenomena in a special way, without, however, employing any technique other than that of the learned men on whom their criticism is exercised. There was always, alas! of these wanderers and these abused, and it is for them undoubtedly that Jacques Tesson wrote these words full of truth: “Those which want to make our Work by digestions, by vulgar distillations and similar sublimations, and others by triturations; all of these are off the right path, in great error and pain, and deprive of ever attaining it, because all these names, and words, and ways of operating, are metaphorical names, words and ways. » [Jacques Tesson or Le Tesson. “Those who want to do our Work by digestions, by vulgar distillations and similar sublimations, and others by triturations; all of these are off the right path, in great error and pain, and deprive of ever attaining it, because all these names, and words, and ways of operating, are metaphorical names, words and ways. » [Jacques Tesson or Le Tesson. “Those who want to do our Work by digestions, by vulgar distillations and similar sublimations, and others by triturations; all of these are off the right path, in great error and pain, and deprive of ever attaining it, because all these names, and words, and ways of operating, are metaphorical names, words and ways. » [Jacques Tesson or Le Tesson. The Great and Excellent Work of the Sages, containing three treatises or dialogues: Dialogues du Lyon verd, du grand Thériaque et du Régime . 17th century ms. Library of Lyons, no. 971 (900).]

We therefore believe that we have fulfilled our purpose and demonstrated, as much as we have been able to do, that the ancestor of current chemistry is not old and simple alchemy, but ancient spagyrics, enriched by the successive contributions of Greek, Arab and medieval archemy.

And if one wishes to have some idea of ​​secret science, let one transfer one's thoughts to the work of the farmer and that of the microbiologist, for ours is placed under the dependence of analogous conditions. Now, just as nature gives the cultivator the earth and the grain, the microbiologist the agar-agar and the spore, so she furnishes the alchemist with the proper metallic ground and the suitable seed. If all the circumstances favorable to the steady progress of this special culture are rigorously observed, the harvest can only be abundant...

To sum up, the alchemical science, of an extreme simplicity in its materials and in its formula, nevertheless remains the most thankless, the most obscure of all, with regard to the exact knowledge of the required conditions, of the required influences. This is where its mysterious side lies, and it is towards the solution of this arduous problem that the efforts of all the sons of Hermes converge.


THE LISIEUX SALAMANDER

I

A small Norman town, which owes its many wooden houses, its corbelled gables, the picturesque medieval aspect that we know of, Lisieux, respectful of the past, offers us, among many other curiosities, a pretty and very interesting alchemist's residence.

Modest house, in truth, but which proves in its author the concern for humility that the happy beneficiaries of the hermetic treasure made a vow to respect during their entire lives. It is generally referred to as the “Manoir de la Salamandre” and occupies number 19 rue aux Fèves (pl. IV).




LISIEUX
MANOIR DE LA SALAMANDRE
The man at the corner post
Plate IV


Despite our research, we were unable to obtain any information on its first owners. We don't know them. No one knows, in Lisieux or elsewhere, by whom it was built in the 16th century, or which artists decorated it. In keeping with tradition, no doubt, the Salamander jealously guards its secret and that of the alchemist. It was, however, in 1834, the subject of a notice, but this is limited to the pure and simple description of the sculpted subjects that the tourist can admire on its facade. [See De Formeville, Note on a 16th century house, in Lisieux, drawn and lithographed by Challamel . Paris, Janet and Koepplin; Lisieux, Pigeon, 1834.] This notice and a few lines inserted in theMonumental statistics of Calvados , by M. de Caumont (Lisieux, volume V), represent everything that has appeared on the Manoir de la Salamandre. It is little, and we regret it. Because the tiny, but delicious hotel, built by the will of a true Adept, decorated with motifs borrowed from hermetic symbolism, from traditional allegory, deserves better. Well known to Lexovians, it is ignored by the general public, perhaps even by many art lovers, although its decoration, as much by its abundance and variety as by its good preservation, allows it to be ranked among the best buildings of its kind. There is an unfortunate gap here, and we will try to fill it by emphasizing both the artistic value of this elegant residence and the initiatory teaching that emerge from its sculptures.

The study of the motifs of the facade allows us to affirm, with the conviction born of a patient analysis, that the builder of the Manor was an educated alchemist, having given the measure of his talent, in other words an Adept possessor of the philosopher's stone. We also certify that his affiliation to some esoteric center having, with the dispersed order of the Templars, many points of contact, proves to be indisputable. But what could be this secret fraternity which prided itself on counting among its members the learned philosopher of Lisieux? We are forced to admit our ignorance and leave the question open. However, and although we have an invincible repugnance for the hypothesis, the likelihood, the relation of the dates and the proximity of the places suggest to us certain conjectures,

About a century before the construction of the Manor of Lisieux, three alchemist companions "plowed" in Flers (Orne) and carried out the Great Work there, in the year 1420. They were Nicolas de Grosparmy, gentleman, Nicolas or Noël Valois, also called Le Vallois, and a priest by the name of Pierre Vicot or Vitecoq. The latter describes himself as "chaplain and domestic servant of the sieur de Grosparmy". [See Bible. nat, ms. 14789 (3032): The Key to the Secrets of Philosophy , by Pierre Vicot, priest; XVIIIth century.] Only de Grosparmy possessed some fortune, with the title of Lord and that of Count of Flers. Yet it was Valois who first discovered the practice of the Work and taught it to his companions, as he suggests in his Five Books. He was then forty-five years old, which puts the date of his birth back to the year 1375. The three Adepts wrote various works between the years 1440 and 1450. [Nicolas de Grosparmy finishes the Abrégé de Théorique, providing the exact date of completion of this work: "which, he says, compiled and caused to be written and was perfected on the 29th day of December in the year one thousand four hundred and forty nine". See bibl. of Rennes, ms. 158 (125), p. 111.] None of these books has ever been printed. According to a note appended to manuscript no. 158 (125) of the library of Rennes, it would be a Norman gentleman, Mr. Bois Jeuffroy, who inherited all the original treatises of Nicolas de Grosparmy, Valois and Vicot. He sold the complete copy to “the late M. le Comte de Flers, for 1500 pounds and a prize horse”. This Comte de Flers and Baron de Tracy is Louis de Pellevé, who died in 1660, who was the great-grandson, on the women's side, of the author Grosparmy. [See Charles Verel. The Alchemists of Flers. Alençon, 1889, in-8° of 34 p., in the Bulletin of the Historical and Archaeological Society of the Orne .]

But these three adepts, who lived and worked in Flers in the first half of the 15th century, are quoted without the slightest reason as belonging to the 16th century. In the copy held by the Rennes library, however, it is clearly stated that they lived in the castle of Flers, which Grosparmy owned, "where they did the philosophical work and composed their books". The initial error, conscious or not, comes from an anonymous, author of notes entitled Remarks, written in the margins of some handwritten copies of Grosparmy's works, which belonged to the chemist Chevreul. The latter, without further controlling the fanciful chronology of these notes, reported the dates, systematically moved back a century by the anonymous writer, and all the authors, following him, peddled this unpardonable error. We will, briefly, set the record straight. Alfred de Caix, after saying that Louis de Pellevé died in distress in 1660, adds: [Alfred de Caix, Notice sur les alchimistes normands . Caen, F. Le Blanc-Hardel, 1868.] “According to the preceding document, the land of Flers was acquired from Nicolas de Grosparmy; but the author of the Remarksis here in contradiction with M. de la Ferrière, who quotes on the date of 1404 a Raoul de Grosparmy as lord of the place. » [Count Hector de la Ferrière, History of Flers, its lords, its industry . Paris, Dumoulin, 1855.] Nothing could be more true, although, on the other hand, Alfred de Caix seems to accept the falsified chronology of the unknown annotator. In 1404, Raoul de Grosparmy was effectively Lord of Beuville and Flers [Laroque, Histoire de la maison d'Harcourt, t. II, p. 1148.], and, although it is not known by what title he became its owner, the fact cannot be doubted. “Raoul de Grosparmy, writes Count Hector de la Ferrière, must be the father of Nicolas de Grosparmy, who, by Marie de Rœux, left three sons, Jehan de Grosparmy, Guillaume and Mathurin de Grosparmy, and a daughter, Guillemette de Grosparmy, married on January 8, 1496 to Germain de Grimouville. On this date, Nicolas de Grosparmy was dead, and Jehan de Grosparmy, Baron de Flers, his eldest son, and Guillaume de Grosparmy, his second son, granted their sister, in consideration of her marriage, three hundred pounds tournaments, cash, and an annuity of twenty pounds a year, redeemable for the price of four hundred pounds tournaments. » [ Chartier of the castle of Flers .]

This, then, is perfectly established: the dates given on the copies of the various manuscripts of Grosparmy and Valois are rigorously exact and absolutely authentic. Therefore, we could dispense with looking for the biographical and chronological concordance of Nicolas Valois, since it is demonstrated that he was the companion and the commensal of the lord-count of Flers. But it is still necessary to discover the origin of the error attributable to the commentator, so ill-informed, of the manuscripts of Chevreul. Let's say right away that it could come from an unfortunate homonymy, unless our anonymous, by rigging all the dates, wanted to honor Nicolas Valois with the sumptuous hotel in Caen, built by one of his successors.

Nicolas Valois is said to have acquired, towards the end of his life, the four estates of Escoville, Fontaines, Mesnil-Guillaume and Manneville. The fact, however, is by no means proven; no document confirms it, except the gratuitous and questionable assertion of the author of the Remarksabove. The old alchemist, craftsman of the fortune of the Le Vallois and lords of Escoville, lived as a sage, according to the precepts of philosophical discipline and morality. He who wrote, in 1445, for his son, that "patience is the ladder of philosophers, and humility the door to their garden", could hardly follow the example or lead the train of the powerful without failing in his convictions. It is therefore probable that at the age of seventy, devoid of any other material preoccupation than that of his works, he ended a life of hard work, calm and simplicity at the Château de Flers, in the company of the two friends with whom he had created the Great Work. His last years were, in fact, devoted to the writing of works intended to perfect the scientific education of his son, known only under the epithet of the "pious and noble knight", to whom Pierre Vicot gave the oral initiatory instruction. [Manuscript Works of Grosparmy, Valois and Vicot . Bible. of Rennes, ms. 160 (124); mad. 90, second book by Me Pierre de Vitecoq, priest: “To you, noble and valiant knight, I address and entrust to your hands the greatest secret that has ever been perceived by any living person…” Fol. 139, Summary by Me Pierre Vicot, with preface addressed to the "Noble and pious knight", son of Nicolas Valois.]

It is the priest Vicot who is effectively implied in this passage of the Valois manuscript: “In the name of Almighty God, know, my beloved son, the intention of nature by the teachings hereafter declare. When, in the last days of my life, my body ready to abandon my soul was only waiting for the hour of the Lord and of the last sigh, the desire took me to leave you as a Testament and last will, these words by which you will be taught many beautiful things touching the very worthy metallic transmutation... This is why I made you teach the principles of natural Philosophy, in order to make you more capable of this holy Science. » [ Works by Grosparmy, Valois and Vicot. Nat. Bible, mss. 12246 (2526), ​​12298 and 12299 (435), 17th century. — Arsenal Bible, ms. 2516 (166, SAF), 17th century. — See bibl. from Rennes; ms. 160 (124), fol. 139: “Follows the recapitulation of Me Pierre Vicot, priest… on the written precedents that he did to instruct the son of Sieur Le Vallois in this Science, after the death of the said Le Vallois, his father. »]

The Five Books of Nicolas Valois, at the beginning of which this passage appears, bear the date of 1445—no doubt that of their completion—which would lead one to think that the alchemist, contrary to the version of the author of the Notes, died in old age. We can suppose that his son, brought up and educated according to the rules of hermetic wisdom, had to content himself with acquiring the lands of the Escoville estate, or with receiving the income from them if he had inherited them from Nicolas Valois. Be that as it may, and although no written testimony comes to help us to fill this gap, one thing remains certain, it is that the son of the alchemist, Adept himself, never built all or part of this domain; he took no more steps for the ratification of the title which was attached to it; no one, finally, knows if he lived in Flers, like his father, or if he fixed his residence in Caen. It is probably to the first recognized possessor of the titles of squire and lord of Escoville, du Mesnil-Guillaume and other places to which the construction project for the Hôtel du Grand-Cheval was due, carried out by Nicolas Le Valois, his eldest son, in the town of Caen. In any case, we know from certain sources that Jean Le Valois, first of the name, grandson of Nicolas, "appeared on March 24, 1511, dressed in brigandine and salad, at the watch of the nobles of the bailiwick of Caen, according to a certificate from the Lieutenant General of the said bailiwick, dated the same day". He left Nicolas Le Valois, lord of Escoville and Mesnil-Guillaume, born in the year 1494, and married on April 7, 1534 to Marie du Val, who gave him as his son Louis de Valois, squire, lord of Escoville, born in Caen on September 18, 1536, who later became adviser-secretary to the king. we know from certain sources that Jean Le Valois, first of the name, grandson of Nicolas, "appeared on March 24, 1511, dressed in brigandine and salad, at the watch of the nobles of the bailiwick of Caen, according to a certificate from the Lieutenant General of the said bailiwick, dated the same day". He left Nicolas Le Valois, lord of Escoville and Mesnil-Guillaume, born in the year 1494, and married on April 7, 1534 to Marie du Val, who gave him as his son Louis de Valois, squire, lord of Escoville, born in Caen on September 18, 1536, who later became adviser-secretary to the king. we know from certain sources that Jean Le Valois, first of the name, grandson of Nicolas, "appeared on March 24, 1511, dressed in brigandine and salad, at the watch of the nobles of the bailiwick of Caen, according to a certificate from the Lieutenant General of the said bailiwick, dated the same day". He left Nicolas Le Valois, lord of Escoville and Mesnil-Guillaume, born in the year 1494, and married on April 7, 1534 to Marie du Val, who gave him as his son Louis de Valois, squire, lord of Escoville, born in Caen on September 18, 1536, who later became adviser-secretary to the king.

It was therefore Nicolas Le Valois, great-grandson of the alchemist of Flers, who undertook the work on the Hôtel d'Escoville, which took around ten years, from around 1530 to 1540. [Eugene de Robillard de Beaurepaire. Illustrated Caen, its history, its monuments . Caen, F. Leblanc-Hardel, 1896, p. 436.] It is to the same Nicolas Le Valois that our anonymous, perhaps deceived by the similarity of names, attributes the work of Nicolas Valois, his ancestor, by transporting to Caen what had Flers for theater. According to the report of de Bras ( Les Recherches et antiquitez de la ville de Caen, p. 132), Nicolas 72 Le Valois is said to have died young, in the year 1541. "Friday, King's Day, one thousand five hundred and forty-one," writes the old historian, Nicolas Le Valois, sieur d'Escoville, Fontaines, Mesnil-Guillaume and Manneville, the most opulent in the city at the time: as he was to sit at his table, in the hall of the Pavilion of this beautiful and superb dwelling, near the Carrefour Saint-Pierre , which he had built the previous year, while eating an oyster at the port of call, aged him about forty-seven, died suddenly of an apoplexy which suffocated him. »

In the locality, the Hotel d'Escoville was known as the Hotel du Grand-Cheval. [An inscription, engraved on the beautiful southern facade which forms the back of the courtyard, bears the date of 1535.] According to the testimony of Vauquelin des Yveteaux, Nicolas Le Valois, its owner, would have completed the Great Work there, "in the city where the hieroglyphs of the house which he built there and which one still sees there, in Saint-Pierre square, vis-à-vis the great church of this name, are proof of his science". “So there would be hieroglyphs, adds Robillard de Beaurepaire, in the sculptures of the Hôtel du Grand-Cheval; it would then be possible that all these details, which seem incoherent, had a very precise meaning for the author of the construction and for all the adepts of hermetic science, versed in the mysterious formulas of the ancient philosophers, the Magi, the Brahmins and the Cabalists. Unfortunately, of all the statues that decorated this elegant dwelling, the main room, from the alchemical point of view, "the one which, placed above the door, first caught the eye of the passer-by and had given its name to the dwelling, the Grand-Cheval, described and celebrated by all contemporary authors, no longer exists today". It was ruthlessly broken in 1793. In his work entitled described and celebrated by all contemporary authors, no longer exists today”. It was ruthlessly broken in 1793. In his work entitled described and celebrated by all contemporary authors, no longer exists today”. It was ruthlessly broken in 1793. In his work entitledLes Origines de Caen , Daniel Huet maintains that the equestrian statue belonged to a scene from the Apocalypse (ch. XIX, v. 11), against the opinion of Bardou, parish priest of Cormelles, who saw Pegasus there, and of de la Roque, who recognized in it the own effigy of Hercules. In a letter addressed to Daniel Huet by Father de la Ducquerie, the latter said that “the figure of the large horse which is on the frontispiece of the house of M. Le Valois d'Ecoville is not, as M. de la Roque believed, and several others after him, a Hercules; it is a vision of the Apocalypse. This is evidenced by the inscription which is below. On the thigh of this horseman are written these words of the Apocalypse: Rex Regum and Dominus Dominantium, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Another correspondent of the learned prelate of Avranches, the physician Dubourg, entered into more circumstantial details on this subject. “To answer your letter, he wrote, I begin to tell you that there are two representations in bas-relief, one at the top, where is represented this great horse in the air, with clouds under its forefeet. The man on it had a sword in front of him, but it is no longer there; he holds in his right hand a long rod of iron; above him and behind him, there appear in the air horsemen who follow him, and in front of him and above, an angel in the sun. Below the circle of the door, there is still a representation of the man on horseback, in small size, on a heap of dead bodies and horses that the birds eat. It is turned towards the East, opposite the other, and in front of it the false profette is represented there, and the dragon with several heads, and horsemen against whom the horseman seems to go. He turns his head backwards, as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the opposite the other, and in front of him the false profette is represented there, and the dragon with several heads, and horsemen against whom the horseman seems to go. He turns his head backwards, as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the opposite the other, and in front of him the false profette is represented there, and the dragon with several heads, and horsemen against whom the horseman seems to go. He turns his head backwards, as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the and the dragon with several heads, and riders against whom the rider seems to go. He turns his head backwards, as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the and the dragon with several heads, and riders against whom the rider seems to go. He turns his head backwards, as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the as if to see the representation of the false profette and the dragon, which enters an old castle, from which flames come out, in which this false profette is already half-bodied. There is writing on the thigh of the great horseman, and in several places, like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others taken from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others drawn from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is the like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and others drawn from chapter XIX of the Apocalypse. As these letters are not engraved, I believe that they were written not long ago, but there is a marble high up on which it is written: And that was his name, the Word of God”. [This Word of God, which is theVerbum demissum of Trévisan and the lost Word of the medieval Freemasons, designates the material secret of the Work, the revelation of which constitutes the Gift of God, and on the nature, the vulgar name or the use of which all the philosophers maintain an impenetrable silence. It is therefore obvious that the bas-relief which accompanied the inscription had to deal with the subject of the sages, and probably also with the manner of working on it. This is how one entered the Work, as well as the Hôtel d'Escoville, through the symbolic door of the Grand-Cheval.]

Our intention is not to undertake here the study of the symbolic statuary responsible for expressing or exposing the main mysteries of science. This well-known and often described philosopher's residence could be the subject of personal interpretations by lovers of sacred art. We shall confine ourselves to pointing out a few figures which are particularly instructive and worthy of interest. First of all, there is the dragon in the mutilated tympanum of the entrance door, on the left, under the peristyle which precedes the lantern staircase. On the side facade, two beautiful statues, representing David and Judith, should attract attention; the latter is accompanied by a contemporary six:

“We see here the potential
Of Judith the Virtuous
As by a haughty fact
Cut off the smoking test
Of Holofernes who happy
Jerusalem was defeated. »

Above these large figures are two scenes, one retracing the abduction of Europa, the other the deliverance of Andromeda by Perseus, which offer a meaning analogous to that of the fabulous abduction of Dejanira, followed by the death of Nessus, which we will analyze later, speaking of the myth of Adam and Eve. In another pavilion, we read on the interior frieze of a window: Marsyas victus obmutescit. “It is, says Robillard de Beaurepaire, an allusion to the musical tournament between Apollo and Marsyas, in which appear, as accomplices, the bearers of instruments that we distinguish above. [It is common to find, on the dwellings of alchemists, among other hermetic emblems, musicians or musical instruments. Among the disciples of Hermes, the alchemical science, we will say why in the course of the work, was called the Art of music.] Finally, to crown it all, above the lantern, a small figure, today very crude, in which Mr. Sauvageon, several years ago, thought he could recognize Apollo, god of day and light; and, below the cupola of the great lantern, in a kind of small temple, the very recognizable statue of Priapus. We would be, for example, adds the author, very embarrassed to explain what precise meaning must be attributed to the character with a serious countenance, whose head is a Hebrew turban; to the one who emerges so vigorously from a painted oculus, while his arm crosses the thickness of the entablature; to a very beautiful representation of Saint Cecilia playing the theorbo; to the blacksmiths whose hammers, at the bottom of the pilasters, strike on an absent anvil; to the exterior decorations, so original, of the service staircase, with the motto: while his arm crosses the thickness of the entablature; to a very beautiful representation of Saint Cecilia playing the theorbo; to the blacksmiths whose hammers, at the bottom of the pilasters, strike on an absent anvil; to the exterior decorations, so original, of the service staircase, with the motto: while his arm crosses the thickness of the entablature; to a very beautiful representation of Saint Cecilia playing the theorbo; to the blacksmiths whose hammers, at the bottom of the pilasters, strike on an absent anvil; to the exterior decorations, so original, of the service staircase, with the motto:Labor improbus omnia vincit … [“Scorned, the work triumphs over everything. »] It would perhaps not have been useless, in order to penetrate the meaning of all these sculptures, to inquire about the tendencies of the mind and the habitual occupations of the one who had thus lavished them on his dwelling. We know that the lord of Escoville was one of the richest men in Normandy; what is less known is that he had always devoted himself with passionate ardor to the mysterious researches of alchemy. »

From this succinct presentation, we must above all retain that there existed in Flers, in the 15th century, a core of hermetic philosophers; that they were able to form disciples, - which is confirmed by the science transmitted to the successors of Nicolas Valois, the lords of Escoville, - and create an initiatory center; that the city of Caen being at a roughly equal distance from Flers and Lisieux, it would be possible that the unknown Adept, retired to the Manoir de la Salamandre, had received his first instruction from some master belonging to the occult group of Flers or Caen.

There is, in this hypothesis, neither material impossibility, nor improbability; but we cannot, however, attribute to it any more value than might be expected from this kind of calculation. Also, we ask the reader to receive it as we offer it to him, that is to say with all the desirable circumspection, and under the title of simple probability.


II (The Salamander of Lisieux)

Here we are at the entrance, closed for a long time, of the pretty mansion.

The beauty of the style, the happy choice of motifs, the delicacy of the execution make this little door one of the most pleasing specimens of wood carving in the 16th century. It is a joy for the artist, as much as a treasure for the alchemist, that this hermetic paradigm exclusively devoted to the symbolism of the dry way, the only one that the authors have reserved without providing any explanation (pl. V).




LISIEUX
MANOR OF THE SALAMANDRE
Entrance door
Plate V


But, in order to make the students more aware of the particular value of the emblems analyzed, we will respect the order of the work without letting ourselves be guided by considerations of architectural logic or aesthetic order.

On the tympanum of the doorway with carved panels, there is an interesting allegorical group composed of a lion and a lioness facing each other. They both hold, by their forelegs, a human mask personifying the sun, surrounded by a creeper curved like a mirror handle. Lion and lioness, male principle and female virtue, reflect the physical expression of the two natures, of similar form, but of contrary properties, which the art must elect at the beginning of the practice. From their union, accomplished according to certain secret rules, comes this double nature, a mixed matter that the sages named androgyne, their hermaphrodite or Mirror of Art. It is this substance, both positive and negative, patient containing its own agent, which is the basis, the foundation of the Great Work. Of these two natures, considered separately, only that which plays the role of feminine matter is signed and alchemically named on the corbel bearing the projection of a beam from the upper floor. We see the figure of a winged dragon, with a curved tail in a loop. This dragon is the image and the symbol of the primitive and volatile body, true and only subject on which one must first of all work. Philosophers have given it a multitude of different names, besides that by which it is commonly known. This is what has caused and still causes so much embarrassment, so much confusion to beginners, especially to those who care little about principles and do not know how far the possibility of nature can extend. Despite the general opinion that our subject has never been designated, we affirm, on the contrary, that many works name it and that all describe it. But, if it is quoted in good authors, it cannot be maintained that it is underlined or shown expressly; often even, we find it classified among the bodies rejected as unsuitable or foreign to the Work. A classic method used by the Adepts to ward off the profane and hide from them the secret entrance to their garden.

Its traditional name, stone of the philosophers, describes this body well enough to serve as a useful basis for its identification. It is, in fact, truly stone, because it presents, on leaving the mine, the external characteristics common to all ores. It is the chaos of sages, in which the four elements are enclosed, but confused and disordered. He is our old man and the father of metals, these before him their origin, since he represents the first terrestrial metallic manifestation. It is our arsenic, cadmium, antimony, blende, galena, cinnabar, colcothar, aurichalcum, realgar, orpiment, calamine, tuthia, tartar, &c. All the minerals, through hermetic voice, brought him the homage of their name. It is still called black dragon covered with scales, poisonous snake, daughter of Saturn and "the most beloved of her children". This primary substance has seen its evolution interrupted by the interposition and penetration of a foul and combustible sulphur, which thickens the pure mercury, retains it and coagulates it. And, although it is entirely volatile, this primitive mercury, corporified under the siccative action of arsenical sulphur, takes on the appearance of a solid, black, dense, fibrous, brittle, friable mass, which its lack of utility renders vile, abject, contemptible in the eyes of men. In this subject - a poor relative of the family of metals - the enlightened artist nevertheless finds everything he needs to begin and perfect his great work, for he enters into it, say the authors, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the Work. Also, the ancients compared it to the Chaos of Creation, where the elements and the principles, darkness and light were confused, intertwined and incapable of reacting on each other. This is the reason why they symbolically depicted their matter in its first being under the figure of the world, which contained within itself the materials of our hermetic globe, or microcosm, assembled without order, without form, without rhythm or measure. [See Basil Valentine.The twelve Keys to Philosophy , editions of Minuit, 1956, ninth figure, p. 185.]

Our globe, reflection and mirror of the macrocosm, is therefore only a fragment of the primordial Chaos, destined, by the divine will, for elementary renewal in the three kingdoms, but which a series of mysterious circumstances has oriented and directed towards the mineral kingdom. Thus informed and specified, subject to the laws governing mineral evolution and progression, this chaos become body contains confusedly the purest seed and the closest substance there is to minerals and metals. Philosophical matter is therefore of mineral and metallic origin. Therefore, it should only be sought in the mineral and metallic root, which, says Basil Valentin in the book of the Twelve Keys, was reserved by the Creator and promised to the generation of metals alone. Consequently, whoever seeks the sacred stone of the philosophers with the hope of encountering this little world in substances foreign to the mineral and metallic kingdom, that one will never reach the end of his designs. And it is to divert the apprentice from the path of error that the ancient authors teach him to always follow nature. Because nature acts only in the species that is proper to it, develops and perfects itself only in itself and by itself, without any heterogeneous thing coming to hinder its progress or thwart the effect of its generative power.

On the left frame post of the door we are studying, a subject in high relief attracts and retains the attention. It depicts a man richly dressed in a sleeved doublet, wearing a kind of mortarboard, and the chest emblazoned with a shield showing the six-pointed star. This personage of condition, camped on the lid of an urn with pushed back walls, is used to indicate, according to the custom of the Middle Ages, the contents of the vessel. It is the substance which, during sublimations, rises above the water, which floats like an oil; it is Basile Valentin's Hyperion and Vitriol, the green lion of Ripley and Jacques Tesson, in a word, the real unknown of the great problem. This knight, of handsome appearance and celestial lineage, is no stranger to us: several hermetic engravings have made him familiar to us. Solomon Trismosin,Golden Toyson, shows him standing, his feet resting on the edges of two basins filled with water, which reflect the origin and source of this mysterious fountain; water of dual nature and property, issued from the milk of the Virgin and the blood of Christ; igneous water and aqueous fire, virtue of the two baptisms of which it is spoken in the Gospels: “For me, I baptize you in water; but there will come another more powerful than me, and I am not worthy to untie the cord of his sandals. It is he who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. He has the van in hand, and he will clean his area; he will gather the wheat into his barn, and he will burn the chaff in a fire that will never be extinguished. » [Saint Luke, ch. III, c. 16, 17. — Mark, ch. I, v. 6, 7, 8. — John, ch. I, v. 32 to 34. ] The manuscript of the Philosopher Solidonius reproduces the same subject under the image of a chalice full of water, from which two characters emerge half-length, in the center of a rather dense composition summarizing the entire work. As for the treatise on Azoth, it is an immense angel – that of the parable of Saint John in the Apocalypse – who treads the earth with one foot and the sea with the other, while he raises a flaming torch with his right hand and compresses, with his left, a skin inflated with air, clear figures of the quaternary of the first elements: earth, water, air, fire. The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, adorned with the cabalistic star and the motto in seven words of Vitriol: in the center of a rather dense composition summarizing the entire work. As for the treatise on Azoth, it is an immense angel – that of the parable of Saint John in the Apocalypse – who treads the earth with one foot and the sea with the other, while he raises a flaming torch with his right hand and compresses, with his left, a skin inflated with air, clear figures of the quaternary of the first elements: earth, water, air, fire. The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, adorned with the cabalistic star and the motto in seven words of Vitriol: in the center of a rather dense composition summarizing the entire work. As for the treatise on Azoth, it is an immense angel – that of the parable of Saint John in the Apocalypse – who treads the earth with one foot and the sea with the other, while he raises a flaming torch with his right hand and compresses, with his left, a skin inflated with air, clear figures of the quaternary of the first elements: earth, water, air, fire. The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, adorned with the cabalistic star and the motto in seven words of Vitriol: a skin swollen with air, clear figures of the quaternary of the prime elements: earth, water, air, fire. The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, adorned with the cabalistic star and the motto in seven words of Vitriol: a skin swollen with air, clear figures of the quaternary of the prime elements: earth, water, air, fire. The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, adorned with the cabalistic star and the motto in seven words of Vitriol:Visita Interiora Terrae, Rectificandoque, Invenies Occultum Lapidem. “I then saw, writes Saint John, another strong and powerful angel, who came down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, and having a rainbow on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little open book in his hand, and he put his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land. And he cried with a loud voice, like a roaring lion; and after he had cried, seven thunders broke their voice. And the seven thunders having resounded their voice, I was going to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Keep the words of the seven thunders sealed, and do not write them… And this voice which I had heard in heaven spoke to me again and said to me: Go and take the little open book which is in the hand of the angel who stands upright on the sea and on the earth. So I went to find the angel and I said to him: Give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and devour it; it will cause bitterness in your belly, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. [Revelation, ch. X, v. 1 to 4, 8 and 9. - This parable, very instructive, is reproduced with some variants, which specify its hermetic meaning, in the Vision which occurred while thinking of Ben Adam, at the time of the reign of the king of Adama, which was brought to light by Floretus at Bethabor. Bible. of the Arsenal, ms. 3022 (168, FAS) p. 14. Here is the part of the text likely to interest us: - This parable, very instructive, is reproduced with some variations, which specify its hermetic meaning, in the Vision that occurred while thinking of Ben Adam, at the time of the reign of the king of Adama, which was brought to light by Floretus at Bethabor. Bible. of the Arsenal, ms. 3022 (168, FAS) p. 14. Here is the part of the text likely to interest us: - This parable, very instructive, is reproduced with some variations, which specify its hermetic meaning, in the Vision that occurred while thinking of Ben Adam, at the time of the reign of the king of Adama, which was brought to light by Floretus at Bethabor. Bible. of the Arsenal, ms. 3022 (168, FAS) p. 14. Here is the part of the text likely to interest us:
“And again I heard a voice from heaven speaking to me, saying:
“Go, and take this open book, from the hand of this angel who stands on the sea and on the earth. — And I went to the angel and said to him: Give me this booklet. "And I took this booklet from the angel's hand, and gave it to him to devour." And, as he had eaten it, he had slices in the belly so strong, that it came out as black as coal; and as it was in this darkness, the sun shone clear as in the warmest midday, and thence changed its black form like white marble; until finally the sun being at its highest, it became all red like fire... And then it all vanished...
“And from the place where the angel was speaking, a hand arose holding a glass in which there seemed to be a powder of the color of a red rose… And I heard a great echo saying:
"Follow nature, follow nature!" ”.]

This product, allegorically expressed by the angel or the man, — attribute of the evangelist Saint Matthew, — is none other than the mercury of the philosophers, of double nature and quality, partly fixed and material, partly volatile and spiritual, which suffices to begin, complete and multiply the work. This is the one and only material we need, without worrying about looking for anything else; but it is necessary to know, in order not to err, that it is from this mercury and its acquisition that authors generally begin their treatises. It is he who is the mine and the root of gold, and not the precious metal, absolutely useless and without employment in the way we are studying. Eyrenaeus Philalethe says, with great truth, that our mercury, barely mineral, is even less metallic, because it contains only the spirit or the metallic seed, while the body tends to move away from the mineral quality. It is, however, the spirit of gold, enclosed in a transparent, easily coagulable oil; the salt of metals, because every stone is salt, and the salt of our stone, because the stone of the philosophers, which is this mercury of which we speak, is the subject of the philosopher's stone. Hence it is that several Adepts, wishing to create confusion, have called it Nitre or Saltpeter (sal petri, stone salt), and copied the sign of one on the image of the other. Moreover, its crystalline structure, its physical resemblance to molten salt, its transparency have made it possible to assimilate it to salts and have given it all the names. It thus becomes, in turn, according to the will or the imagination of the writers, sea salt and rock salt, the alembroth salt, the salt of Saturn, the salt of salts. It is also the famous green vitriol, oleum vitri, which Pantheus describes as being chrysocolla, others borax or atincar; Roman vitriol because Ῥώμη, the Greek name for the Eternal City, means strength, vigour, power, domination; Pierre-Jean Fabre's mineral, because in it, he says, gold lives there (vitryol). He is also nicknamed Proteus, because of his metamorphoses during work, and also Chameleon (Χαμαιλέων, rampant lion), because he successively takes on all the colors of the spectrum. dominance; Pierre-Jean Fabre's mineral, because in it, he says, gold lives there (vitryol). He is also nicknamed Proteus, because of his metamorphoses during work, and also Chameleon (Χαμαιλέων, rampant lion), because he successively takes on all the colors of the spectrum. dominance; Pierre-Jean Fabre's mineral, because in it, he says, gold lives there (vitryol). He is also nicknamed Proteus, because of his metamorphoses during work, and also Chameleon (Χαμαιλέων, rampant lion), because he successively takes on all the colors of the spectrum.

Here is now the last decorative subject of our door. It is a salamander serving as a capital for the twisted column of the right leg. She seems to us to be, in a way, the protective fairy of this pleasant residence, because we find her sculpted on the corbel of the median pillar, located on the ground floor, and even on the skylight of the attic. It would even seem, given the desired repetition of the symbol, that our alchemist had a marked preference for this heraldic reptile. We do not pretend to insinuate, by this, that he was able to attribute to it the erotic and coarse meaning that Francis I valued so much; it would be to insult the artisan, to dishonor science, to outrage the truth like the debauchee of high race, but of low intellectuality, to whom we regret to owe even the paradoxical name of Renaissance.

[“Francis I is nicknamed the Father of Letters, and that for some favors he granted to three or four writers; but do we forget that this Father of Letters gave, in 1535, letters patent by which he prohibited printing under pain of the hart; that after having proscribed the printing press he established a censorship to prevent the publication and sale of books previously printed; that he attributed to the Sorbonne the right of inquisition on consciences; that, according to the royal edict, the possession of an old book condemned and proscribed by the Sorbonne exposed the possessors to the death penalty, if this book was found in his domicile, where the henchmen of the Sorbonne had the right to search; that he showed himself, throughout his reign, an implacable enemy of the independence of the mind and of the progress of enlightenment, as much as a fanatic protector of the most fiery theologians and of the scholastic absurdities most contrary to the true spirit of the Christian religion?… What encouragement for the sciences and the belles-lettres! One can only see in François Ier a brilliant madman who brought misfortune and shame to France. » Abbot of Montgaillard,History of France . Paris, Moutardier, 1827, t. I, p. 183.]

But a singular trait of human character leads man to cherish more that for which he has suffered and pained most; this reason would undoubtedly allow us to explain the triple employment of the salamander, hieroglyph of the secret fire of the sages. Indeed, among the ancillary products entering into the work as helpers or servants, none is more thankless to seek or more laborious to identify than this one. It is also possible, in accessory preparations, to employ, instead of the required adjuvants, certain substitutes capable of furnishing an analogous result; however, in the elaboration of mercury, nothing can substitute for the secret fire, for this spirit capable of animating it, exalting it and becoming one with it, after having extracted it from the filthy matter. “I would pity you very much, writes Limojon de Saint-Didier, if, like me, after having known the real matter, you have spent fifteen years entirely in work, in study and in meditation, without being able to extract from the stone the precious juice which it contains in its bosom, for want of knowing the secret fire of the wise, which causes water to flow from this dry and apparently arid plant which does not wet the hands. [Limojon de Saint-Didier.Letter to the True Disciples of Hermes , in the Hermetic Triumph. Amsterdam. Henry Wetstein, 1699, p. 150.] Without it, without this fire hidden in a saline form, the prepared matter could not be exhausted nor fulfill its functions as a mother, and our labor would remain forever chimerical and vain. Every generation asks for the help of its own agent, determined in the realm in which nature has placed it. And everything bears seed. Animals are born from an egg or a fertilized ovum; plants come from a seed made prolific; likewise, minerals and metals have for seed a metallic liquor fertilized by the mineral fire. This, then, is the active agent introduced by art into the mineral seed, and it is this, Philalethes tells us, "which first causes the axle to turn and the wheel to move." From there, it is easy to understand of what use is this metallic, invisible light,

Salamander, in Latin salamandra, comes from sal, salt, and from mandra, which means stable, and also rock hollow, solitude, hermitage. Salamandra is therefore the name of stable salt, rock salt or solitary salt. This word takes on another meaning in the Greek language, revealing the action it provokes. Σαλαμάνδρα appears formed from Σάλα, agitation, trouble, probably used for σάλος or ζάλη, agitated water, storm, fluctuation, and μάνδρα, which has the same meaning as in Latin. From these etymologies, we can draw the conclusion that salt, spirit or fire, originates in a stable, a hollow in the rock, a cave… That's enough. Lying on the straw of his crib, in the grotto of Bethlehem, isn't Jesus the new sun bringing light to the world? Isn't he God himself, under its carnal and perishable envelope? Who then said: I am the Spirit and I am the Life; I came to set things on fire?

This spiritual fire, informed and embodied in salt, is the hidden sulphur, because during its operation it never makes itself manifest or perceptible to our eyes. And yet this brimstone, however invisible it may be, is not an ingenious abstraction, an artifice of doctrine. We know how to isolate it, to extract it from the body which conceals it, by an occult means and under the aspect of a dry powder, which, in this state, becomes improper and without effect in the philosophical art. This pure fire, of the same essence as the specific sulfur of gold, but less digested, is, on the other hand, more abundant than that of the precious metal. This is why it easily unites with mercury in imperfect minerals and metals. Philalethes assures us that it is found hidden in the belly of Aries, or Aries, the constellation through which the sun travels in the month of April. Finally, to designate it even better, we will add that this Aries "which hides in itself the magic steel" ostensibly bears on its shield the image of the hermetic seal, a star with six rays. It is therefore in this very common matter, which seems simply useful to us, that we must seek the mysterious solar fire, subtle salt and spiritual sulphur, celestial light diffused in the darkness of the body, without which nothing can be done and which nothing can replace.

We have mentioned above the important place occupied, among the emblematic subjects of the small hotel in Lisieux, by the salamander, the particular sign of its modest and learned owner. We find it, we said, even on the skylight of the ridge, almost inaccessible and erected in the sky. She embraces the awl of the hat, between two dragons sculpted parallel on the wood of the cheeks (pl. VI).




LISIEUX
MANOIR DE LA SALAMANDRE
The Salamander and the two Dragons of the skylight
Plate VI


These two dragons, one wingless (ἄπτερος, without wings), the other chrysopteran (χρυσόπτερος, with golden wings), are those of which Nicolas Flamel speaks in his Hieroglyphic Figures, and which Michel Maïer ( Symbola aureae mensae, Francofurti, 1617) are seen as being, together with the globe surmounted by the cross, symbols peculiar to the style of the famous Adept. This simple observation demonstrates the extensive knowledge that the Lexovian artist had of the philosophical texts and of the symbolism specific to each of his predecessors. On the other hand, the very choice of the salamander leads us to think that our alchemist must have searched a long time and spent many years in the discovery of the secret fire. The hieroglyph conceals, in fact, the physico-chemical nature of the fruits of the garden of Hespera, fruits whose late maturity delights the sage only in his old age, and which he hardly picks except at the evening of life, at sunset (Ἑσπερίς) of a laborious and painful career. Each of these fruits is the result of a progressive condensation of the solar fire by the secret fire, incarnate word, celestial spirit embodied in all the things of this world. And it is the assembled and concentrated rays of this double fire that color and animate a pure, diaphanous, clarified, regenerated body, of brilliant radiance and admirable virtue.

Arrived at this point of exaltation, the igneous principle, material and spiritual, by its universality of action, becomes comparable to the bodies comprised in the three kingdoms of nature; it exercises its efficacy in animals and plants as well as within mineral and metallic bodies. This is the magic ruby, an agent endowed with igneous energy and subtlety, and clothed with the color and multiple properties of fire. It is there again the Oil of Christ or of crystal, the heraldic lizard which attracts, devours, vomits and furnishes the flame, stretched out on its patience like the old phoenix on its immortality.


III (The Salamander of Lisieux)

On the middle pillar of the ground floor, the visitor discovers a curious bas-relief. A monkey is busy eating the fruit of a young apple tree, barely taller than him (pl. VII).




LISIEUX
MANOIR DE LA SALAMANDRE
The Salamander and the Monkey at the Apple Tree
Plate VII


Before this subject, which translates for the initiate the perfect realization, we approach the Work by the end. The brilliant flowers, whose bright and shimmering colors were the delight of our craftsman, withered and died out one after the other; the fruits then took shape and, green as they were at the beginning, now offer themselves to him adorned with a brilliant purple envelope, a sure sign of their maturity and their excellence.

It is that the alchemist, in his patient work, must be the scrupulous imitator of nature, the monkey of creation, according to the genuine expression of several masters. Guided by analogy, he realizes on a small scale, with his limited means and in a restricted domain, what God did on a large scale in the cosmic universe. Here, the immense; there, the tiny one. At these two extremities, same thought, same effort, will similar in its relativity. God does everything from nothing: he creates. Man takes a part of this whole and multiplies it: he prolongs and continues. Thus the microcosm amplifies the macrocosm. Such is its goal, its raison d'etre; such seems to us to be his true earthly mission and the cause of his own salvation. Above, God; down, man. Between the immortal Creator and his perishable creature, all created Nature. Look for:

All classical authors are unanimous in recognizing that the Great Work is an abridgment, reduced to human proportions and possibilities, of the divine Work. And, as the Adept must bring to it the best of his qualities if he wants to bring it to a successful conclusion, it appears fair and equitable that he collect the fruits of the Tree of Life and make his profit from the marvelous apples of the garden of the Hesperides.

But since, obeying the whim or the desire of our philosopher, we are forced to begin at the very point where art and nature complete their task together, would it be acting blindly to worry about knowing first what we are looking for? And isn't it, in spite of the paradox, an excellent method that the one which begins with the end? — This one will find what he needs more easily, who will know clearly what he wants to obtain. There is much talk in occult circles of our time about the philosopher's stone, without knowing what it really is. Many educated people refer to the hermetic gem as a "mysterious body"; they have for it the opinion of certain spagyrists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who placed it among the number of abstract entities, qualified as non-beings or beings of reason. Let us therefore inquire in order to have, on this unknown body, an idea as close as possible to the truth; let us study the descriptions, rare and too succinct for our liking, which some philosophers have left us, and see what learned personages and faithful witnesses also report.

Let us say, beforehand, that the term philosopher's stone means, according to the sacred language, stone which bears the sign of the sun . Now, this solar sign is characterized by the red coloring, which can vary in intensity, as Basil Valentin says: “Its color draws from incarnate red to crimson, or else from ruby ​​color to pomegranate color; as for its weight, it weighs much more than it has quantity. » [ The Twelve Keys to Philosophy by Brother Basile Valentin, religious of the Order of Saint Benoist, dealing with true metallic medicine. Paris, Pierre Moet, 1659; Xth key, p. 121] So much for the color and for the density. The Cosmopolitan, whom Louis Figuier believes to be the alchemist known under the name of Sethon, and others under that of Michaël Sendivogius, describes to us his translucent aspect, his crystalline form and his fusibility in this passage: “If one found, he says, our subject in his last state of perfection, made and composed by nature; that it was fusible like wax or butter, and that its redness, its diaphaneity and clarity appeared on the outside, that would truly be our benoiste stone. [ Cosmopolitan or New Chemical Light . Paris, J. d'Houry, 1669. Treatise on salt, p. 64.] Its fusibility is such, in fact, that all authors have compared it to that of wax (64° centig.); "it melts in the flame of a candle", they repeat; some, for this reason, have even given it the name of great red wax. [In ms. lat. 5614 of the Bible. nat., which is composed of treatises by ancient philosophers, the third work is entitled: Modus faciendi Optimam Ceram rubeam .] To these physical characteristics, the stone adds powerful chemical properties, the power of penetration or ingres, the absolute fixity, the stainlessness which makes it incalcinable, an extreme resistance to fire, finally its irreducibility and its perfect indifference with regard to chemical agents. This is also what Henri Khunrath teaches us, in his Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Æternae, when he writes: “At last, when the Work has passed from the ashen color to pure white, then to yellow, you will see the philosopher's stone, our king raised above the rulers, emerge from his glassy sepulchre, rise from his bed and come on our worldly scene in his glorified body, that is to say regenerated and more than perfect; in other words, the brilliant carbuncle, very radiant with splendor, and whose very subtle and very purified parts, by the peace and harmony of the mixture, are inseparably linked and assembled into one; equal, diaphanous like crystal, compact and very ponderous, easily fusible in fire like resin, fluent like wax and more than quicksilver, but without emitting any smoke; piercing and penetrating solid and compact bodies, as oil penetrates paper; soluble and expandable in any liquor capable of softening it; crumbly like glass; the color of saffron when it is pulverized, but red like ruby ​​when it remains in a solid mass (which redness is the signature of perfect fixation and fixed perfection); coloring and dyeing constantly; fixed in the tribulations of all experiences, even in the trials by consuming brimstone and fiery waters, and by the very strong persecution of fire; ever lasting, incalcinable, and, like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (for she is in her own way all in all), and crying: Behold, I will restore all things. » but red like a ruby ​​when it remains as a solid mass (which redness is the signature of perfect fixation and fixed perfection); coloring and dyeing constantly; fixed in the tribulations of all experiences, even in the trials by consuming brimstone and fiery waters, and by the very strong persecution of fire; ever lasting, incalcinable, and, like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (for she is in her own way all in all), and crying: Behold, I will restore all things. » but red like a ruby ​​when it remains as a solid mass (which redness is the signature of perfect fixation and fixed perfection); coloring and dyeing constantly; fixed in the tribulations of all experiences, even in the trials by consuming brimstone and fiery waters, and by the very strong persecution of fire; ever lasting, incalcinable, and, like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (for she is in her own way all in all), and crying: Behold, I will restore all things. » and by the very strong persecution of the fire; ever lasting, incalcinable, and, like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (for she is in her own way all in all), and crying: Behold, I will restore all things. » and by the very strong persecution of the fire; ever lasting, incalcinable, and, like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (for she is in her own way all in all), and crying: Behold, I will restore all things. »

The English adventurer Edward Kelley, known as Talbot, who had acquired, around 1585, from an innkeeper, the philosopher's stone found in the tomb of a bishop, who was said to be very rich, was red and very heavy, but without any smell. However Berigard of Pisa says that a clever man gave him a large (3.82 grams) of a powder, the color of which was similar to that of the poppy, and which gave off the odor of calcined sea salt. [By evaporating a liter of sea water, heating the crystals obtained until complete dehydration and subjecting them to calcination in a porcelain capsule, the characteristic odor of iodine is clearly perceived.]

Helvétius (Jean-Frédéric Schweitzer) saw the stone, shown to him by a foreign Adept, on December 27, 1666, in the form of a sulfur-colored metalline. This product, pulverized, therefore came, as Khunrath says, from a red mass. In a transmutation made by Sethon, in July 1602, before Doctor Jacob Zwinger, the powder used was, according to Dienheim's report, "rather heavy, and of a color which appeared lemon-yellow". A year later, during a second projection at the goldsmith Hans de Kempen's in Cologne on August 11, 1603, the same artist used a red stone.

According to several trustworthy witnesses, the stone, obtained directly in powder, could affect a coloration as vivid as that which would be formed in a compact state. The fact is quite rare, but it can happen and is worth mentioning. It is thus that an Italian Adept who, in 1658, carried out the transmutation in front of the Protestant pastor Gros, at the goldsmith Bureau, in Geneva, used, according to the assistants, a red powder. Schmieder describes the stone that Bötticher got from Lascaris as a substance having the appearance of a red fire glass. However, Lascaris had given Domenico Manuel (Gaëtano) a powder similar to vermilion. Gustenhover's was also very red. As for the sample given by Lascaris to Dierbach, it was examined under the microscope by Counselor Dippel, and appeared composed of a multitude of small red or orange grains or crystals; this stone had a power equal to nearly six hundred times unity.

Jean-Baptiste Van Helmont, recounting the experience he had in 1618 in his laboratory in Vilvoorde, near Brussels, wrote: “I have seen and touched the philosopher's stone more than once; the color was like powdered saffron, but heavy and glistening like pulverized glass. This product, of which a quarter of a grain (13 milligr. 25) furnishes eight ounces of gold (244 gr. 72), exhibited a considerable energy: approximately 18470 times the unit.

In the order of tinctures, that is to say liquors obtained by solution of fatty metallic extracts, we have the account of Godwin Hermann Braun, of Osnabruck, who transmuted, in 1701, using a tincture having the appearance of an oil "fairly fluid and brown in color". The famous chemist Henckel reports, according to Valentini, the following anecdote: “There came one day, at a famous apothecary of Frankfort-on-the-Main, named Salwedel, a foreigner who had a brown dye, which had almost the odor of deer horn oil; [It is the characteristic odor of ammonia carbamate.] With four drops of this tincture, he changed a large amount of lead into 23 carat gold, 7 and a half grains. This same man gave a few drops of this tincture to this apothecary, who lodged him, and who then made similar gold, which he keeps in memory of this man, with the small bottle in which it was, and where one can still see marks of this dye. I had this bottle in my hands and then testify to everyone. » [J.-F. Henkel.Flora Saturnisans . Paris, JT Hérissant, 1760, chap. VIII, p. 158.]

Without contesting the veracity of these last two facts, we nevertheless refuse to place them among the transmutations carried out by the philosopher's stone in the special state of projection powder. All the dyes are there. Their subjection to a particular metal, their limited power, the specific characteristics that they present lead us to consider them as simple metallic products, extracted from vulgar metals by certain processes, called small particulars, which come under spagyrics and not alchemy . Moreover, these dyes, being metallic, have no other action than that of penetrating the metals alone which served as the basis for their preparation.

Let us therefore leave aside these processes and these dyes. What matters above all is to remember that the philosopher's stone is offered to us in the form of a crystalline body, diaphanous, red in mass, yellow after pulverization, which is dense and very fusible, although fixed at any temperature, and whose specific qualities make it incisive, ardent, penetrating, irreducible and incalcinable. Let us add that it is soluble in molten glass, but instantly volatilizes when projected on a molten metal. Here, united in a single subject, are physico-chemical properties which singularly separate it from its metallic nature and render its origin very nebulous. A little reflection will get us out of trouble. The masters of the art teach us that the purpose of their work is threefold. What they seek to achieve in the first place, it is Universal Medicine, or the Philosopher's Stone properly so called. Obtained in saline form, multiplied or not, it can only be used for the cure of human diseases, the preservation of health and the growth of plants. Soluble in any spirituous liquor, its solution takes the name of potable gold (although it does not contain the least atom of gold), because it takes on a magnificent yellow color. Its curative value and the diversity of its use in therapy make it a valuable aid in the treatment of serious and incurable ailments. It has no action on metals, except on gold and silver, with which it fixes itself and which it endows with its properties, but, consequently, is of no use for transmutation. However, if one exceeds the limit number of its multiplications, it changes form and, instead of returning to the solid and crystalline state on cooling, it remains fluid like quicksilver and absolutely incoagulable. In the dark, it then shines with a soft, red and phosphorescent glow, the brightness of which remains weaker than that of an ordinary night light. Universal Medicine has become the inextinguishable Light, the illuminating product of those perpetual lamps, which some authors have reported as having been found in some ancient burials. Thus radiant and liquid, the philosopher's stone is hardly likely, in our opinion, to be pushed further; wanting to amplify its igneous virtue would seem dangerous to us; the least one could fear would be to volatilize it and lose the benefit of considerable labor. Finally, if we ferment Universal Medicine, solid, with very pure gold or silver, by direct fusion, one obtains the Powder of projection, third form of the stone. It is a translucent mass, red or white depending on the chosen metal, pulverizable, suitable only for metallic transmutation. Oriented, determined and specified to the mineral kingdom, it is useless and without action for the other two kingdoms.

From the foregoing considerations, it clearly emerges that the Philosopher's Stone, or Universal Medicine, despite its undeniable metallic origin, is not made solely of metallic matter. If it were otherwise, and it were to be composed solely of metals, it would remain subject to the conditions which govern mineral nature and would have no need to be fermented to effect the transmutation. On the other hand, the fundamental axiom which teaches that bodies have no action on bodies would be false and paradoxical. Take the time and trouble to experiment, and you will recognize that metals do not act on other metals. Whether brought to the state of salts or ashes, of glasses or colloids, they will always retain their nature during the tests and, in the reduction,

Only metallic spirits have the privilege of altering, modifying and denaturing metallic bodies. They are the true promoters of all the bodily metamorphoses that can be observed there. But as these spirits, tenuous, extremely subtle and volatile, need a vehicle, an envelope capable of retaining them; that the matter must be very pure - to allow the spirit to remain there - and very fixed, in order to prevent its volatilization; that it must remain fusible, in order to promote ingres; that it is essential to ensure absolute resistance to reducing agents, it is easy to understand that this material cannot be sought only in the category of metals. This is why Basil Valentin recommends taking the spirit into the metallic root, and Bernard le Trevisan forbade the use of metals, minerals and their salts in the construction of the body. The reason is simple and self-evident. If the stone were composed of a metallic body and a spirit fixed on this body, the latter acting on the former as being of the same species, the whole would take the characteristic form of metal. One could, in this case, obtain gold or silver, or even an unknown metal, and nothing more. This is what archemists have always done obtain gold or silver, or even an unknown metal, and nothing more. This is what archemists have always done obtain gold or silver, or even an unknown metal, and nothing more. This is what archemists have always done(Sic. In some editions, it was erroneously indicated "alchemists" - Note of LAT) , because they were unaware of the universality and the essence of the agent they were looking for. However, what we ask, with all the philosophers, it is not the union of a body and a metallic spirit, but well the condensation, the agglomeration of this spirit in a coherent, tenacious and refractory envelope, able to coat it, to impregnate all the parts of it and to ensure an effective protection to him. It is this soul, spirit or fire collected, concentrated and coagulated in the purest, most resistant and most perfect of earthly matters, which we call our stone. And we can certify that any enterprise that does not have this spirit as its guide and this matter as its base will never lead to the proposed goal.


IV (The Salamander of Lisieux)

On the first floor of the manor of Lisieux, and carved into the left pillar of the facade, a primitive-looking man lifts and seems to want to take away a piece of fairly large size (pl. IV).




Plate IV


This symbol, which seems very obscure, however hides the most important of the secondary mysteries. We will even say that, through ignorance of this point of doctrine—and also through having followed too literally the teaching of old authors—many good artists have not been able to reap the fruit of their labors. And how many investigators, more enthusiastic than penetrating, still collide and stumble today against the stumbling block of specious reasoning! Let us beware of pushing too far human logic, so often contrary to natural simplicity. If we knew how to observe more naively the effects that nature manifests around us; if we were content to control the results obtained by using the same means; if one subordinated to the fact the search for the mystery of the causes, its explanation by the plausible, the possible or the hypothetical, a number of truths would be discovered which are still to be sought. So beware of bringing into your observations what you think you know, because you would be led to realize that it would have been better to have learned nothing than to have everything to unlearn.

These are, perhaps, superfluous advices, because they require, in their putting into practice, the application of an obstinate will of which the mediocre ones are incapable. We know what it costs to barter diplomas, seals and parchments for the humble mantle of the philosopher. We had to empty, at the age of twenty-four, this chalice of bitter drink. With bruised hearts, ashamed of the errors of our youth, we had to burn books and notebooks, confess our ignorance and, modest neophytes, decipher another science on the benches of another school. Also, it is for those who have had the courage to forget everything, that we take the trouble to study the symbol and strip it of the esoteric veil.

The bark seized by this artisan of another age seems to serve only his industrious genius. And yet, this is indeed our dry tree, the same one that had the honor of giving its name to one of the oldest streets in Paris, after having appeared for a long time on a famous sign. Édouard Fournier informs us that, according to Sauval (t. I, p. 109), this sign could still be seen around 1660. [Édouard Fournier, Enigmas of the streets of Paris. Paris, E. Dentu, 1860.] It pointed out to passers-by “an inn of which Monstrelet speaks” (t. I, chap. CLXXVII), and was well chosen for such a dwelling, which, from 1300, must have served as a lodging for pilgrims from the Holy Land. L'Arbre-Sec was a souvenir of Palestine; it was the tree planted quite near Hebron, [We identify it with the Oak of Limb, or, more hermetically, dismembered.] which, after having been since the beginning of the world "green and leafy", lost its foliage the day that Our Lord died on the cross, and then withered; “but to become green again when a lord, prince of the West, will reach the land of promise, with the help of Christians and will have mass sung under this dry tree. [ The Book of Sir Guill. of Mandeville . Bible. nat., ms. 8392, fol. 157.]

This parched tree, growing from arid rock, is seen figured in the last plank of the Potter's Art; but it has been represented covered with leaves and fruit, with a banner bearing the motto: Sic in sterili . [ The Three Books of the Potter's Art, by Cavalier Cyprian Piccolpassi, translated by Claudius Popelyn, Parisian. Paris, Librairie Internationale, 1861.] It is also the one found sculpted on the beautiful door of the cathedral of Limoges, as well as in a quatrefoil on the basement of Amiens. There are also two fragments of this mutilated trunk, which a stone clerk raises above the large shell serving as a stoup, in the Breton church of Guimiliau (Finistère). Finally, we still find the dry tree on a number of secular buildings of the fifteenth century. In Avignon, it surmounts the basket-handle door of the former college of Roure; in Cahors, it serves as a frame for two windows (Verdier house, rue des Boulevards), as well as a small door attached to the Pellegri college, located in the same town (pl. VIII).




CAHORS - COLLEGE PELLEGRI
DOOR OF THE 15th CENTURY
The Dry Tree
Plate VIII


Such is the hieroglyph adopted by philosophers to express metallic inertia, that is to say the special state which human industry causes reduced and molten metals to assume. Hermetic esotericism demonstrates, in fact, that metallic bodies remain alive and endowed with vegetative power, as long as they are mineralized in their deposits. They are there associated with the specific agent, or mineral spirit, which ensures their vitality, nutrition and evolution until the term required by nature, where they then take on the appearance and properties of native silver and gold. Having reached this goal, the agent separates from the body, which ceases to live, becomes fixed and not susceptible to transformation. Were he to remain on earth for several centuries, he could not, on his own,

But everything is far from happening so simply inside the ore deposits. Subject to the vicissitudes of this transitory world, many minerals have their evolution suspended by the action of profound causes — depletion of nutritive elements, shortage of crystalline inputs, insufficient pressure, heat, etc. — or external causes — crevices, influx of water, opening of the mine. The metals then solidify and remain mineralized with their acquired qualities, without being able to go beyond the evolutionary stage they have reached. Others, younger, still awaiting the agent which must ensure their solidity and consistency, preserve the liquid state and are completely incoagulable. Such is the case of mercury, which is frequently found in its native state, or mineralized by sulfur (cinnabar), either in the mine itself,

In this native form, and although the metallurgical treatment has not had to intervene, the metals are as insensitive as those whose ores have undergone roasting and fusion. No more than they do they possess their own vital agent. The wise tell us that they are dead, at least in appearance, because it is impossible for us, under their solid and crystallized mass, to bring out the latent, potential life hidden deep within their being. They are dead trees, although they still contain a remnant of humidity, which will no longer produce leaves, flowers, fruits, nor, above all, seed.

It is therefore with great reason that certain authors assert that gold and mercury cannot contribute, in whole or in part, to the elaboration of the Work. The first, they say, because its proper agent was separated from it when it was completed, and the second, because it was never introduced into it. Other philosophers maintain, however, that gold, although sterile in its solid form, can regain its lost vitality and resume its evolution, provided that we know how to "return it to its raw material"; but this is an equivocal lesson which we must be careful not to take in the vulgar sense. Let us stop for a moment on this contentious point and let us not lose sight of the possibility of nature: it is the only way we have of recognizing our way in this tortuous labyrinth. Most hermetists think that the term reincrudation should be understood as the return of the metal to its primitive state; they are based on the meaning of the word itself, which expresses the action of making crude, of demoting. This conception is wrong. It is impossible for nature, and still more for art, to destroy the effect of age-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. by the term reincrudation, the return of the metal to its primitive state; they are based on the meaning of the word itself, which expresses the action of making crude, of demoting. This conception is wrong. It is impossible for nature, and still more for art, to destroy the effect of age-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. by the term reincrudation, the return of the metal to its primitive state; they are based on the meaning of the word itself, which expresses the action of making crude, of demoting. This conception is wrong. It is impossible for nature, and still more for art, to destroy the effect of age-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. the return of metal to its primitive state; they are based on the meaning of the word itself, which expresses the action of making crude, of demoting. This conception is wrong. It is impossible for nature, and still more for art, to destroy the effect of age-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. the return of metal to its primitive state; they are based on the meaning of the word itself, which expresses the action of making crude, of demoting. This conception is wrong. It is impossible for nature, and still more for art, to destroy the effect of age-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. and even more to art, to destroy the effect of centuries-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. and even more to art, to destroy the effect of centuries-old work. What is acquired remains acquired. And this is the reason why the old masters claim that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world. No one will ever flatter himself that he can give roasted meats and cooked vegetables the appearance and qualities they possessed before undergoing the action of fire. Here again, analogy and the possibility of nature are the best and surest guides. However, there is no example of regression anywhere in the world.

Other researchers believe that it suffices to bathe the metal in the primitive and mercurial substance which, by slow maturation and progressive coagulation, gave birth to it. This reasoning is more specious than true. Even supposing that they knew this first material and that they knew where to get it—which the greatest masters are unaware of—they could only obtain, in the end, an increase in the gold used, and not a new body, of a power superior to that of the precious metal. The operation, thus understood, boils down to the mixing of the same body taken in two different states of its evolution, one liquid, the other solid. With a little reflection, it is easy to understand that such an enterprise cannot lead to the goal. She's from elsewhere, in formal opposition to the philosophical axiom that we have often stated: bodies have no action on bodies; only the spirits are active and acting.

We must therefore understand, under the expression: to restore gold to its first matter , the animation of the metal, realized by the employment of this vital agent of which we have spoken. He is the spirit that fled from the body during its manifestation on the physical plane; it is he the metallic soul, or that prime matter which no one has wished to designate otherwise, and which makes its residence in the bosom of the spotless Virgin. The animation of gold, the symbolic vitalization of the dry tree, or the resurrection of the dead, is taught to us allegorically by a text by an Arab author. This author, named Kessæus, who devoted himself very much—says Brunet in his notes on the Gospel of the Childhood—, — to collect the Eastern legends about the events related in the Gospels, narrates in these terms the circumstances of the childbirth of Mary: “When the moment of her deliverance approached, she left in the middle of the night from the house of Zacharias, and she went out of Jerusalem. And she saw a withered palm tree; and when Mary was seated at the foot of this tree, immediately it blossomed again and was covered with leaves and greenery, and it bore great abundance of fruit by the operation of the power of God. And God caused a spring of living water to spring up beside it, and when the pains of childbirth tormented Mary, she clasped the palm tree tightly with her hands. »

We couldn't say it better or speak it more clearly.


V (The Salamander of Lisieux)

On the central pillar of the first floor, we notice a group quite interesting for lovers and those curious about symbolism. Although it has suffered a lot and is now mutilated, cracked, corroded by the weather, we can, despite everything, still discern the subject. It is a figure clutching between his legs a griffin whose paws, provided with talons, are very apparent, as well as the lion's tail extending from the rump, details allowing, in themselves, an exact identification. With his left hand, the man seizes the monster by the head and, with his right, makes the gesture of striking it (pl. IX).




LISIEUX
MANOIR DE LA SALAMANDRE
Baphomet - Combat of the Man and the Griffon
Plate IX


We recognize in this motif one of the major emblems of science, that which covers the preparation of the raw materials of the Work. But, while the combat of the dragon and the knight indicates the initial meeting, the duel of the mineral products seeking to defend their threatened integrity, the griffin marks the result of the operation, veiled besides under myths of varied expressions, but all presenting the character of incompatibility, of natural and deep aversion which the substances in contact have for each other.

From the fight that the knight, or secret sulfur, delivers to the arsenical sulfur of the old dragon, is born the astral stone, white, heavy, shining like pure silver, and which appears signed, bearing the imprint of its nobility, the claw, esoterically translated by the griffin, a certain index of union and peace between fire and water, between air and earth. However, one cannot hope to achieve this dignity from the very first conjunction. For our black stone, covered with rags, is stained with so many impurities that it is very difficult to get rid of them completely. This is why it is important to subject it to several levigations (which are the washes of Nicolas Flamel), in order to clean it little by little of its stains, of the heterogeneous and tenacious grime which embarrasses it, and to see it take on, with each of them, more splendor,

The initiates know that our science, although purely natural and simple, is by no means vulgar; the terms we use, following the masters, are no less so. So we want to pay attention to them, because we have chosen them carefully, with the intention of showing the way, of signaling the potholes that dig it, hoping thus to enlighten the studious, by drawing aside the blind, the greedy and the unworthy. Learn, you who already know, that all our washings are igneous, that all our purifications are done in fire, by fire and with fire. This is the reason why some authors have described these operations under the chemical title of calcinations, because the matter, long subjected to the action of the flame, yields to it its impure and edible parts. Know also that our rock, - veiled under the figure of the dragon - first lets flow a dark wave, stinking and poisonous, whose smoke, thick and volatile, is extremely toxic. This water, which has the raven as its symbol, can only be washed and whitened by means of fire. And this is what the philosophers give us to understand when, in their enigmatic style, they recommend that the artist cut off his head. By these igneous ablutions, the water leaves its black coloring and takes on a white color. The crow, decapitated, gives up the ghost and loses its feathers. Thus fire, by its frequent and repeated action on water, forces the latter to better defend its specific qualities by abandoning its superfluities. The water contracts, tightens to resist the tyrannical influence of Vulcan; it feeds on fire, which aggregates its pure and homogeneous molecules,

It is for your intention, unknown brothers of the mysterious solar city, that we have formed the plan of teaching the various and successive modes of our purifications. You will be grateful to us, we are certain, for having pointed out to you these reefs, reefs of the hermetic sea, against which so many inexperienced argonauts have come to be shipwrecked. If, then, you wish to possess the griffin — which is our astral stone — by tearing it from its arsenical gangue, take two parts of virgin earth, our scaly dragon, and one part of the igneous agent, which is that valiant knight armed with lance and shield. Ἄρης, more vigorous than Aries, must be in less quantity. Pulverize and add the fifteenth part of the whole of that pure, white, admirable salt, many times washed and crystallized, which you must necessarily know. Mix thoroughly; then, taking the example of the painful Passion of Our Lord, crucify with three iron points, so that the body dies and can then rise again. This done, drive out the coarsest sediments from the corpse; crush and triturate the bones; knead everything over low heat with a steel rod. Then throw in this mixture half of the second salt, drawn from the dew which, in the month of May, fertilizes the earth, and you will obtain a body clearer than the preceding one. Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… crucify with three iron spikes, so that the body dies and can then rise again. This done, drive out the coarsest sediments from the corpse; crush and triturate the bones; knead everything over low heat with a steel rod. Then throw in this mixture half of the second salt, drawn from the dew which, in the month of May, fertilizes the earth, and you will obtain a body clearer than the preceding one. Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… crucify with three iron spikes, so that the body dies and can then rise again. This done, drive out the coarsest sediments from the corpse; crush and triturate the bones; knead everything over low heat with a steel rod. Then throw in this mixture half of the second salt, drawn from the dew which, in the month of May, fertilizes the earth, and you will obtain a body clearer than the preceding one. Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… chase away the coarsest sediments from the corpse; crush and triturate the bones; knead everything over low heat with a steel rod. Then throw in this mixture half of the second salt, drawn from the dew which, in the month of May, fertilizes the earth, and you will obtain a body clearer than the preceding one. Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… chase away the coarsest sediments from the corpse; crush and triturate the bones; knead everything over low heat with a steel rod. Then throw in this mixture half of the second salt, drawn from the dew which, in the month of May, fertilizes the earth, and you will obtain a body clearer than the preceding one. Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre… Repeat the same technique three times; you will reach the mine of our mercury, and will have climbed the first step of the staircase of the sages. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, a luminous angel dressed in white alone occupied the empty sepulchre…

But if it is enough to know the secret substance, represented by the dragon, to discover its antagonist, it is essential to know what means employ the sages in order to limit, to temper the excessive ardor of the belligerents. In the absence of a necessary mediator—of which we have never found a symbolic interpretation—the ignorant experimenter would expose himself to grave dangers. An anguished spectator of the drama he would have imprudently unleashed, he could neither direct its phases nor regulate its fury. Igneous projections, sometimes even the brutal explosion of the stove, would be the sad consequences of his temerity. This is why, aware of our responsibility, we urge those who do not possess this secret to abstain until then. They will thus avoid the unfortunate fate of an unfortunate priest of the diocese of Avignon, that the following notice briefly relates: “Abbé Chapaty believed he had found the philosopher's stone, but, unfortunately for him, the crucible having broken, the metal jumped against him, attached itself to his face, his arms and his habit; he thus ran through the streets of the Nurses, wallowing in the streams like one possessed, and perished miserably burned like a damned man. 1706.” [Collection of documents on Avignon . Bible. of Carpentras, ms. no. 917, fol. 168.]

When you hear in the vessel a noise similar to that of boiling water—a dull rumble of the earth, the fire tearing the entrails—be ready to fight and keep your composure. You will notice blue, green and purple smoke and flames, accompanying a series of rushing detonations…

Once the effervescence has passed and calm has been restored, you will be able to enjoy a magnificent spectacle. On a sea of ​​fire, solid islands form, float, animated by slow movements, take and leave an infinity of vivid colors; their surface swells, bursts in the center and makes them look like tiny volcanoes. They then disappear to give way to pretty green, transparent balls, which quickly turn on themselves, roll, collide and seem to chase each other, in the middle of the multicolored flames, the iridescent reflections of the incandescent bath.

In describing the painful and delicate preparation of our stone, we have omitted to speak of the effective assistance which certain external influences must bring to it. We could, in this regard, content ourselves with quoting Nicolas Grosparmy, Adept of the fifteenth century, of whom we spoke at the beginning of this study, Cyliani, philosopher of the nineteenth century, without omitting Cyprian Piccolpassi, Italian master potter, who devoted part of their teaching to the examination of these conditions; but their works are not within everyone's reach. Be that as it may, and in order to satisfy, as far as possible, the legitimate curiosity of researchers, we will say that, without the absolute concordance of the higher elements with the lower ones, our matter, devoid of astral virtues, cannot be of any use. The body on which we open is, before its implementation, more terrestrial than celestial; art must make it, by helping nature, more celestial than terrestrial. Knowledge of the right moment, time, place, season, etc., is therefore essential for us to ensure the success of this secret production. Let us know how to foresee the hour when the stars will form, in the fixed sky, the most favorable aspect. Because they will be reflected in this divine mirror which is our stone and will fix their imprint there. And the terrestrial star, occult torch of our Nativity, will be the proof mark of the happy union of heaven and earth, or, as Philalethes writes, of "the union of superior virtues in inferior things." You will have confirmation of this by discovering, within the igneous water, or this terrestrial sky, according to the typical expression of Vinceslas Lavinius of Moravia,

Capture a ray of sunshine, condense it into substantial form, feed this embodied spiritual fire with elemental fire, and you will possess the greatest treasure of this world.
It is useful to know that the fight, short but violent, delivered by the knight, whether he is called Saint George, Saint Michael or Saint Marcel in the Christian tradition; Mars, Theseus, Jason, Hercules in the Fable—ends only with the death of the two champions (in Hermetic, the eagle and the lion), and their assembly into a new body whose alchemical signature is the griffin. Remember that, in all the ancient legends of Asia and Europe, it is always a dragon who is in charge of guarding the treasures. He watches over the golden apples of the Hesperides and the hanging fleece of Colchis. This is why it is absolutely necessary to silence this aggressive monster if we then want to seize the riches it protects. A Chinese legend tells, about the learned alchemist Hujumsin, numbered among the gods after his death, that this man, having killed a horrible dragon which ravaged the country, attached this monster to a column. This is exactly what Jason does in the forest of Ætès, and Cyliani in his allegorical storyof Hermes unveiled . The truth, always similar to itself, is expressed with the help of analogous means and fictions.

The combination of the two initial materials, one volatile, the other fixed, gives a third body, mixed, which marks the first state of the stone of the philosophers. Such is, as we have said, the griffin, half eagle and half lion, a symbol which corresponds to that of the basket of Bacchus and the fish of Christian iconography. We must notice, indeed, that the griffin wears, instead of a lion's mane or a collar of feathers, a crest of fish fins. This detail is important. Because if it is expedient to bring about the encounter and to dominate the combat, it is still necessary to discover the means of capturing the pure, essential part of the newly produced body, the only one which is useful to us, that is to say the mercury of the sages. The poets tell us that Vulcan, surprising Mars and Venus in adultery, hastened to surround them with a net or a net, so that they could not avoid his vengeance. Likewise, the masters advise us to also use a loose net or a subtle net, to capture the product as it appears. The artist fishes, metaphorically, the mystical fish, and leaves the water empty, inert, soulless: the man, in this operation, is therefore supposed to kill the griffin. This is the scene reproduced by our bas-relief.

If we seek what secret meaning is attached to the Greek word γρύψ, griffon, which has as its root γρυπός, that is to say to have a hooked beak, we will find a neighboring word, γρῖφος, whose assonance is closer to our French word. Now γρῖφος expresses both an enigma and a net. We thus see that the fabulous animal contains, in its image and in its name, the hermetic enigma most thankless to decipher, that of the philosopher's mercury, whose substance, deeply hidden in the body, is caught like a fish in water, using an appropriate net.

Basil Valentine, who is usually clearer, did not use the symbol of the Christian ΙΧΘΥΣ, which he preferred to humanize under the cabalistic and mythological name of Hyperion. [The Greek name of the Fish is formed by the assembly of the acronyms of this sentence: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, which means Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. We frequently see the word Ἰχθῦς engraved in the Roman Catacombs; it also appears on the mosaic of Santa Apollinare, in Ravenna, placed at the top of a constellated cross, raised on the Latin words SALUS MUNDI, and having at the end of its arms the letters Α and Ω.]

This is how he indicates this knight, presenting the three operations of the Great Work under an enigmatic formula comprising three succinct sentences, thus stated:

“I was born from Hermogenes. Hyperion chose me. Without Jamsuphle, I am forced to perish. »

We have seen how, and at the end of what reaction, the griffin is born, which comes from Hermogenes, or from the prime mercurial substance. Hyperion, in Greek Ὑπερίων, is the father of the sun; it is he who frees, out of the second white chaos, formed by art and represented by the griffin, the soul he keeps locked up, the spirit, fire or hidden light, and the door above the mass, under the aspect of clear and limpid water: Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas. For the prepared matter, which contains all the elements necessary for our great work, is only a fertilized earth where some confusion still reigns; a substance that holds within itself the scattered light, which art must gather and isolate by imitating the Creator. This earth we must mortify and decompose, which amounts to killing the griffin and catching the fish, to separating the fire from the earth, the subtle from the thick, "gently, with great skill and prudence", as Hermes teaches in his Emerald Table.

Such is the chemical role of Hyperion. Its very name, formed of Ὑπ, contraction of Ὑπέρ, above, and of ἠρίον, sepulcher, tomb, which has for root ἔρα, earth, indicates what rises from the earth, above the sepulcher of matter. One can, if one prefers, choose the etymology by which Ὑπερίων, would derive from Ὑπέρ, above, and from ἴον, violet. The two meanings have between them a perfect hermetic concordance; but we only give this variant to enlighten the trainees of our order, following in this the word of the Gospel: “Be careful, therefore, how you listen, for to him who has already will be given; and for him who has nothing, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him. [Matthew, XXV, 29 and 30. Luke, VIII, 18, and XIX, 26. Mark, IV, 25.]


VI (The Salamander of Lisieux)

Carved above the group of the man with the griffin, you will notice an enormous grimacing head, embellished with a pointed beard. The cheeks, the ears, the forehead are stretched until they take on the appearance of flamed expansions. This flamboyant mask, with an unsympathetic grin, appears crowned and provided with horned, beribboned appendages, which rest on the twist of the bottom of the cornice (pl. IX).




Plate IX


With its horns and its crown, the solar symbol takes on the meaning of a true Baphomet, that is to say of the synthetic image in which the Initiates of the Temple had grouped all the elements of high science and tradition. A complex figure, in truth, under an exterior of simplicity, a speaking figure, pregnant with teaching, despite its rough and primitive aesthetic. If we first find there the mystical fusion of the natures of the Work symbolized by the horns of the lunar crescent placed on the solar head, we are no less surprised by the strange expression, a reflection of a devouring ardor, that emerges from this inhuman face, specter of the last judgment. It is not even up to the beard, hieroglyph of the luminous and igneous beam projected towards the earth, which does not justify what exact knowledge of our destiny the scientist possessed...

Would we be in the presence of the home of some affiliated with the sects of Illuminated or Rose-Croix, descendants of the old Templars? The cyclical theory, parallel to the doctrine of Hermes, is so clearly exposed there that unless of ignorance or bad faith one cannot suspect the knowledge of our Adept. For us, our conviction is made; we are certain that we are not mistaken in the face of so many categorical affirmations: it is indeed a baphomet, renewed from that of the Templars, that we have before our eyes. This image, of which we have only vague indications or simple hypotheses, was never an idol, as some have believed, but only a complete emblem of the secret traditions of the Order, used above all outside, as an esoteric paradigm, a seal of chivalry and a sign of recognition. It was reproduced on jewelry, as well as on the pediment of commanderies and on the tympanum of their chapels. It consisted of an isosceles triangle with apex directed downwards, the hieroglyph of water, the first created element, according to Thales of Miletus, who held that "God is this Spirit who formed all things from water". [Pica.From Natura Deorum I, 10, p. 348.] A second similar triangle, inverted compared to the first, but smaller, was inscribed in the center and seemed to occupy the space reserved for the nose in the human face. It symbolized fire, and, more precisely, fire enclosed in water, or the divine spark, the embodied soul, the life infused in matter. On the inverted base of the great triangle of water leaned a graphic sign similar to the letter H of the Latins, or to the ἦτα of the Greeks, with more width however, and whose central bar was intersected by a median circle. This sign, in hermetic steganography, indicates the universal Spirit, the creative Spirit, God. Inside the large triangle, a little above and on each side of the triangle of fire, one saw on the left the lunar circle with an inscribed crescent, and on the right the solar circle with an apparent center. These little circles were arranged like eyes. Finally, welded to the base of the small internal triangle, the cross placed on the globe thus produced the double hieroglyph of sulfur, the active principle, associated with mercury, the passive principle and solvent of all metals. Often, a more or less long segment, located at the point of the triangle, was hollowed out by lines tending vertically where the layman recognized, not the expression of the luminous radiation, but a sort of goatee.

Thus presented, the baphomet assumed a coarse, imprecise animal form, difficult to identify. This would undoubtedly explain the diversity of descriptions that have been made of it, and in which we see the baphomet as a haloed death's head, or a bucranium, sometimes the head of an Egyptian Hapi, a goat, and, better still, the horrifying face of Satan himself! Simple impressions, far removed from reality, but images so unorthodox that they have, alas! helped to spread, on the learned Knights of the Temple, the accusation of demonology and witchcraft which was made one of the bases of their trial, one of the reasons for their condemnation.

We have just seen what the baphomet was; we must now seek to bring out the hidden meaning behind this denomination.

In the pure hermetic expression, corresponding to the work of the Work, Baphomet comes from the Greek roots Βαφεύς, dyer, and μής, put for μήν, the moon; unless one wishes to address μήτηρ, genitive μητρός, mother or womb, which amounts to the same lunar sense, since the moon is truly the mercurial mother or womb which receives the tincture or seed of sulphur, representing the male, the dyer, — Βαφεύς, — in the metallic generation. Βαφή has the meaning of immersion and dyeing. And we can say, without divulging too much, that sulphur, father and dyer of the stone, fertilizes the mercurial moon by immersion, which brings us back to the symbolic baptism of Mete, again expressed by the word baphomet. [The baphomet sometimes offered, as we have said, the character and external appearance of bucrania. Presented like this, he is identified with the aqueous nature represented by Neptune, the greatest marine divinity of Olympus. Ποσειδῶν is, in fact, veiled under the icon of the ox, the bull or the cow, which are lunar symbols. The Greek name of Neptune derives from Βοῦς, genitive Βοός, ox, bull, and from εἶδος, εἴδωλον, image, specter or simulacrum.] This appears therefore as the complete hieroglyph of science, figured elsewhere in the personality of the god Pan, mythical image of nature in full activity.

The Latin word Bapheus, dyer, and the verb meto , to pick, gather, reap, also indicate this special virtue possessed by mercury or the moon of the wise, of capturing, as it emits, and this during the king's immersion or bath, the dye which he abandons and which the mother will keep in her womb for the required time. This is the Grail, which contains the Eucharistic wine, liquor of spiritual fire, vegetative, living and vivifying liquor introduced into material things.

As for the origin of the Order, its parentage, the knowledge and beliefs of the Templars, we can do no better than to quote verbatim a fragment of the study that Pierre Dujols, the scholar and learned philosopher, devotes to the Knight Brothers in his General Bibliography of Occult Sciences . [ About the Dictionary of Historical Controversies , by SF Jehan. Paris, 1866.]

"The brothers of the Temple, says the author, - we can no longer maintain the negative, - were really affiliated with Manichaeism. Moreover, the thesis of Baron Hammer is in conformity with this opinion. For him, the followers of Mardeck, the Ismailis, the Albigensians, the Templars, the Freemasons, the Illuminati, etc., are dependent on the same secret tradition emanating from this House of Wisdom (Dar-el-hickmet), founded in Cairo around the 11th century, by Hackem. The German academician Nicolaï concludes in a similar sense and adds that the famous baphomet, which he derives from the Greek βαφομητρός, was a Pythagorean symbol. We will not dwell on the diverging opinions of Anton, Herder, Munter, etc., but we will stop for a moment at the etymology of the word baphomet. Nicolaï's idea is acceptable if we admit, with Hammer, this slight variant: Βαφή Μήτεος, which could be translated by baptism of Mete. We have found, precisely, a rite of this name among the Ophites. Indeed, Mete was an androgynous divinity depicting naturing Nature. Proclus says verbatim that Metis, also called Ἐπικάρπιος, or Natura germinans, was the hermaphrodite god of the worshipers of the Serpent. We also know that the Hellenes designated, by the word Métis, Prudence venerated as the wife of Jupiter. In short, this philological discussion proves indisputably that the Baphomet was the pagan expression of Pan. Now, like the Templars, the Ophites had two baptisms: one, that of water, or exoteric; the other, esoteric, that of the spirit or of fire. The latter was called the baptism of Mete. Saint Justin and Saint Irenaeus call it enlightenment. It is the baptism of Light of the Freemasons. This purification—the word here is truly topical—is found indicated on one of the Gnostic idols discovered by M. de Hammer, and of which he has given the design. She holds in her bosom—notice the gesture well: he speaks—a basin full of fire. This fact, which should have struck the Teutonic scholar, and with him all the Symbolists, does not seem to have meant anything to them. Yet it is from this allegory that the famous myth of the Grail originates. Precisely, the learned baron expounds abundantly on this mysterious vase, whose exact meaning is still being sought. Everyone knows that, in the old Germanic legend, Titurel raises a temple to the Holy Grail, at Montsalvat, and entrusts its guard to twelve Templar knights. M. de Hammer wants to see in it the symbol of Gnostic Wisdom, vague conclusion after burning for so long. Forgive us if we dare to suggest another point of view. The Grail—who suspects it today? — is the highest mystery of mystical Chivalry and Masonry which degenerates therefrom; it is the veil of the creative Fire, the Deus absconditus in the word INRI, engraved above the head of Jesus on the cross. When Titurel builds his mystical temple, it is to light the sacred fire of the Vestal Virgins, the Mazdeans and even the Hebrews, because the Jews maintained a perpetual fire in the temple of Jerusalem. The twelve Custodes recall the twelve signs of the Zodiac through which the sun travels annually, type of living fire. The vase of Baron de Hammer's idol is identical to the pyrogenic vase of the Parses, which is represented full of flames. The Egyptians also had this attribute: Serapis is often depicted with the same object on his head, named Gardal on the banks of the Nile. It was in this Gardal that the priests kept the material fire, as the priestesses kept there the celestial fire of Phtah. For the Initiates of Isis, the Gardal was the hieroglyph of divine fire. Now, this Fire god, this Love god is eternally incarnated in each being, since everything in the universe has its vital spark. It is the Lamb immolated since the beginning of the world, which the Catholic Church offers to her faithful under the species of the Eucharist enclosed in the ciborium, as the Sacrament of Love. The ciborium, — hated be he who thinks ill of it! — as well as the Grail and the sacred kraters of all religions, represents the feminine organ of generation, and corresponds to the cosmogonic vase of Plato, to the cup of Hermes and of Solomon, at the urn of the Ancient Mysteries. The Gardal of the Egyptians is therefore the key to the Grail. It is, in short, the same word. Indeed, from deformation to deformation, Gardal became Gradal, then, with a sort of aspiration, Graal. The blood that boils in the holy chalice is the igneous fermentation of life or generative mixture. We can only deplore the blindness of those who persist in seeing in this symbol, stripped of its veils even to nudity, only a profanation of the divine. The Bread and Wine of the mystical Sacrifice is the spirit or the fire in matter, which, by their union, produce life. This is why the Christian initiation manuals, called the Gospels, make Christ say allegorically: I am the Life; I am the Living Bread; I came to set things on fire, and wrap it in the sweet exoteric sign of food par excellence. »


VII (The Salamander of Lisieux)

Before leaving the pretty manor of the Salamandre, we will point out a few more motifs placed on the first floor, which, without presenting as much interest as the preceding ones, are not devoid of symbolic value.

To the right of the pillar bearing the image of the woodcutter, we see two side-by-side windows, one blind, the other glazed. In the center of the arches in accolade, one distinguishes, on the first, a heraldic fleur-de-lys, emblem of the sovereignty of science, which became, thereafter, the attribute of royalty. [We keep the fleur-de-lis its old spelling, in order to clearly establish the difference in expression that exists between this heraldic emblem, whose design is an iris flower, and the natural fleur-de-lis that is given as an attribute to the Virgin Mary.]

The sign of Adeptship and sublime knowledge, by appearing in the royal coat of arms at the time of the institution of the coat of arms, did not lose the high meaning it had, and has always served since to designate the superiority, the preponderance, the value and the dignity acquired. It is for this reason that the capital of the kingdom had permission to add to the silver vessel on a field of gules of its arms, three fleur-de-lys placed in chief on a field of azure. We find, moreover, the meaning of this symbol clearly explained in the Annals of Nangis: "The kings of France accustomed in their arms to carry the fleur-de-lys pint by troys fueliers as if they owe to everyone: Faith, Wisdom and Chivalry are, by the provision and by the grace of God, more abundantly in our kingdom than in no others. The two leaves of the fleur-de-lis, which are eyed, signify sense and chivalry which keep faith. »

On the second window, a chubby head, round and lunar, surmounted by a phallus, does not fail to pique curiosity. We discover there the very expressive indication of the two principles, the conjunction of which engenders the philosophical matter. This hieroglyph of the agent and the patient, of sulfur and mercury, of the sun and the moon, philosophical parents of the stone, is telling enough to exempt us from explanation.

Between these windows, the middle column bears, as a capital, an urn similar to the one we have described when studying the motifs of the entrance door. We therefore do not have to renew the interpretation already given. On the opposite column, continuing to the right, a small figure of an angel, with a beribboned forehead, is fixed, hands joined, in the attitude of prayer. Further on, two windows, side by side like the previous ones, carry above the lintel the image of two shields with a field decorated with three flowers, which are the emblem of the three reiterations of each work, on which we have frequently dwelt during this analysis. The figures which serve as capitals on the three columns of the fenestration offer respectively, and from left to right, 1° a man's head, whom we believe to be the alchemist himself, whose gaze is directed towards the group of the figure riding the griffin; 2° a cherub pressing against his chest a quartered shield, which the distance and its lack of relief prevent us from detailing; 3° finally, a second angel exposes the opened book, hieroglyph of the matter of the Work, prepared and likely to manifest the spirit which it contains. The sages called their matterLiber , the book, because its crystalline and lamellar texture is made up of layers superimposed like the pages of a book.

Finally, and carved in the mass of the extreme pillar, a kind of hercules, completely naked, supports with effort the enormous mass of a flaming solar baphomet. Of all the subjects carved on the facade, it is the crudest, the one whose execution is the least successful. Although from the same period, it seems certain that this stocky, deformed little man, with a bloated stomach and disproportionate genitalia, must have been roughed out by some inept and second-rate artist. With the exception of the face, of neutral physiognomy, everything seems to be collided with pleasure in this unsightly caryatid. It tramples on a curved mass, furnished with numerous teeth, like the mouth of a cetacean. Our Hercules could thus wish to represent Jonas, this little prophet miraculously saved after having remained three days in the belly of a whale. For us, Jonas is the sacred image of the Green Lion of the sages, which remains three philosophical days locked up in the mother substance, before rising by sublimation and appearing on the waters.


THE ALCHEMICAL MYTH OF ADAM AND EVE

The dogma of the fall of the first man, says Dupiney de Vorepierre, does not belong only to Christianity; it also belongs to Mosaicism and to the primitive religion, which was that of the Patriarchs. This is the reason why this belief is found, although altered and disfigured, among all the peoples of the earth. The authentic history of this downfall of man by his sin is preserved for us in the first book of Moses (Genesis, chaps. II and III). “This fundamental dogma of Christianity, writes the Abbé Foucher, was not ignored in ancient times. The peoples closer than us to the origin of the world knew, by a uniform and constant tradition, that the first man had prevaricated, and that his crime had drawn upon him the curse of God on all his posterity. "The fall of degenerate man, says Voltaire himself, is the foundation of the theology of all ancient nations. »

According to the report of Philolaus the Pythagorean (5th century BC), the ancient philosophers said that the soul was buried in the body, as in a tomb, in punishment for some sin. Plato thus testifies that such was the doctrine of the Orphics, and he himself professed it. But, as it was also recognized that man had come out of the hands of God, and that he had lived in a state of purity and innocence ( Dicéarchus , Plato), it was necessary to admit that the crime for which he suffered his punishment was posterior to his creation. The golden age of Greek and Roman mythology is obviously a memory of the first state of man emerging from the hands of God.

Hindu monuments and traditions confirm the story of Adam and his fall. This tradition also exists among the Buddhists of Tibet; it was taught by the Druids, as well as by the Chinese and ancient Persians. According to the books of Zoroaster, the first man and the first woman were created pure and subject to Orzmuzd, their author. Ahriman saw them and was jealous of their happiness; he approached them in the form of a snake, presented them with fruit and persuaded them that he himself was the creator of the entire universe. They believed it and from then on their nature was corrupted, and this corruption infected their posterity. The mother of our flesh or the woman with the serpent is famous in Mexican traditions, which represent her fallen from her primitive state of happiness and innocence. In Yucatan, in Peru, in the Canary Islands, etc., the tradition of degradation also existed among the native nations when the Europeans discovered these countries. The expiations which took place among various peoples to purify the child on its entry into this life are an irrefutable testimony to the existence of this general belief. "Ordinarily," says the learned Cardinal Gousset, "this ceremony took place on the day when a name was given to the child. This day, among the Romans, was the ninth for boys and the eighth for girls; we called him "Ordinarily," says the learned Cardinal Gousset, "this ceremony took place on the day when a name was given to the child. This day, among the Romans, was the ninth for boys and the eighth for girls; we called him "Ordinarily," says the learned Cardinal Gousset, "this ceremony took place on the day when a name was given to the child. This day, among the Romans, was the ninth for boys and the eighth for girls; we called himlustricus, because of the lustral water that was used to purify the newborn. The Egyptians, Persians and Greeks had a similar custom. In Yucatan, in America, the child was brought to the temple, where the priest poured on his head the water intended for this purpose, and gave him a name. In the Canary Islands, it was women who performed this function instead of priests. The same expiations prescribed by law among the Mexicans. In some provinces, a fire was also lit, and the gesture was made to pass the child through the flame, as if to purify it both by water and by fire. The Tibetans in Asia also have similar customs. In India, when a name is given to the child, after having written this name on his forehead and having immersed him three times in water, the Brahmin or the priest exclaims aloud: "O God, pure, unique, invisible and perfect, we offer you this child, from a holy tribe, anointed with incorruptible oil and purified with water. »

As Bergier points out, this tradition must necessarily go back to the cradle of the human race; for if it had been born among a particular people after the dispersion, it could not have spread from one end of the world to the other. This universal belief in the fall of the first man was, moreover, accompanied by the expectation of a mediator, of an extraordinary personage who was to bring salvation to men and reconcile them with God. Not only was this liberator awaited by the patriarchs and by the Jews, who knew that he would appear in their midst, but also by the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Hindus, the Siamese, the Arabs, the Persians, and by various nations of America. Among the Greeks and Romans, this hope was shared by a few men, as Plato and Virgil testify. Moreover, as Voltaire observes: “It was, from time immemorial, a maxim among the Indians and among the Chinese, that the Sage would come from the West. Europe, on the contrary, said that it would come from the East. »

Under the biblical tradition of the fall of the first man, philosophers have, with their customary skill, hidden a secret alchemical truth. It is there, without doubt, what is valid for us and allows to explain the representations of Adam and Eve that we discover on some old houses of the Renaissance. One of them, clearly characteristic of this intention, will serve as a type for our study. This philosopher's residence, located in Le Mans, shows us, on the first floor, a bas-relief depicting Adam, his arm raised to pick the fruit of the arbor scientae, while Eve draws the branch towards him, with the help of a rope. Both hold phylacteries, attributes responsible for expressing that these characters have an occult meaning, different from that of Genesis. This motif, abused by the weather—they only spared the great masses—is circumscribed by a crown of foliage, flowers, and fruits, hieroglyphs of fertile nature, abundance, and production. On the right and above, one can distinguish, among the leprous foliage, the image of the sun, while on the left appears that of the moon. The two hermetic stars come to accentuate and further specify the scientific quality and the profane expression of the subject borrowed from the Holy Scriptures (pl. X).




LE MANS - HOUSE OF ADAM AND EVE
16th century bas-relief
Plate X


Note, in passing, that the secular scenes of temptation are consistent with those of religious iconography. Adam and Eve always see themselves separated by the trunk of the paradisiacal tree. In the majority of cases, the snake, coiled around the trunk, is depicted with a human head; this is how it appears on a Gothic bas-relief of the old Saint-Maclou Fountain, in the church of that name, in Rouen, and on another large scene decorating a wall of the so-called house of Adam and Eve, in Montferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), which seems to date from the end of the 14th century or the beginning of the 15th century. In the stalls of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (Haute-Garonne), the reptile discovers a mammoth bust, provided with arms and a woman's head. It is also a female head that the serpent of Vitré exhibits,




GLASS (Ille-et-Vilaine)
House door, rue Notre-Dame
Plate XI


On the other hand, the solid silver group of the tabernacle of the cathedral of Valladolid (Spain) remains in the realistic note: the snake is represented there in its natural aspect and holds, with its widely open mouth, an apple between its hooks. [This magnificent work of art is the work of sculptor Juan de Arfé, who executed it in 1590.]

Adamus, Latin name for Adam, means made of red earth ; he is the first being of nature, the only one among human creatures who was endowed with the two natures of the androgyne. We can therefore consider it, from the hermetic point of view, as basic matter joined to spirit in the very unity of created substance, immortal and enduring. But as soon as God, according to the Mosaic tradition, gave birth to woman by individualizing, in distinct and separate bodies, these natures primitively associated in a single body, the first Adam had to efface himself, become more specific by losing his original constitution and became the second Adam, imperfect and mortal. The Adam principle, of which we have never discovered any representation anywhere, is called by the Greeks Ἄδαμος or Ἄδαμάς, a word which designates, on the terrestrial plane, the hardest steel, used for Ἀδάμαστος, that is to say, indomitable and still virgin (from the roots ἀ, privative, and δαμάω, to tame), which clearly characterizes the deep nature of the first celestial man and the first terrestrial body, as being solitary and not subject to the yoke of marriage. What then is this steel called ἀδάμας, of which the philosophers speak so much? Plato, in his Timaeus, gives us the following explanation.

“Of all the waters which we have called fuses,” he said, “that which has the thinnest and most equal parts; which is the densest; this unique genus whose color is a brilliant yellow; the most precious of goods, finally gold, was formed by filtering through the stone. The knot of gold, which has become very hard and black because of its density, is called adamas. Another body, close to gold for the smallness of the parts, but which has several species, whose density is lower than the density of gold, which contains a weak alloy of very fine earth, which makes it harder than gold, and which is at the same time lighter, thanks to the pores of which its mass is dug, it is one of those brilliant and condensed waters which we call bronze. When the portion of earth it contains is separated from it by the action of time, it becomes visible by itself and is called rust. »

This passage from the great initiate teaches the distinction of the two successive personalities of the symbolic Adam, which are described under their own mineral expression of steel and bronze. Now, the neighboring body of the Adamas substance —knot or sulfur of gold—is the second Adam, considered in the organic kingdom as the true father of all men, and in the mineral kingdom as the agent and procreator of the metallic or geological individuals who constitute it.

Thus we learn that sulfur and mercury, generative principles of metals, were originally one and the same matter; for it was only later that they acquired their specific individuality and preserved it in the compounds resulting from their union. And although this is maintained by a powerful cohesion, art can nevertheless break it and isolate sulfur and mercury in the form which is peculiar to them. Sulfur, the active principle, is symbolically designated by the second Adam, and mercury, the passive element, by his wife Eve. This last element, or mercury, recognized as the most important, is also the most difficult to obtain in the practice of the Work. Its usefulness is such that science owes its name to it, since hermetic philosophy is based on the perfect knowledge of Mercury, in Greek Ἑρμῆς. This is expressed by the bas-relief which accompanies and borders the panel of Adam and Eve on the house in Le Mans. We notice there Bacchus child, provided with the thyrse, [In Greek θύρσος, to which the Adepts prefer, as being much closer to scientific truth and experimental reality, its synonym θυρσόλογχος, where one can grasp a very suggestive relationship between the rod of Aaron and the javelin of Ares.] the left hand hiding the opening of a pot , and standing on the lid of a large vase decorated with garlands. However, Bacchus, emblematic divinity of the mercury of the sages, embodies a secret meaning similar to that of Eve, mother of the living. In Greece, any bacchante was called Εὖα, Eve, a word whose root was Εὔιος, Evius, surname of Bacchus. As for the vessels intended to contain the wine of the philosophers, or mercury,

But this explanation, although logical and in conformity with the doctrine, is nevertheless insufficient to furnish the reason for certain experimental peculiarities and for certain obscure points of practice. It is indisputable that the artist cannot claim to have acquired the original material, that is to say the first Adam "formed of red earth", and that the subject of the sages itself, qualified as the first material of art, is very far from the simplicity inherent in that of the second Adam. This subject is however, and properly speaking, the mother of the Work, as Eve is the mother of men. It is she who gives to the bodies she gives birth to, or more exactly that she reincrudes, vitality, vegetability, the possibility of mutation. We will go further and say, addressed to those who already have some tincture of science, that the common mother of the alchemical metals does not enter in substance into the Great Work, although it is impossible, without it, to produce anything or to undertake anything. It is, in fact, through its intervention, that the vulgar metals, true and only agents of the stone, are changed into philosophical metals; it is by it that they are dissolved and purified; it is in it that they find and resume their lost activity, and, from being dead, become alive again; it is the earth that nourishes them, makes them grow, bear fruit, and allows them to multiply; it is, finally, by returning to the maternal womb which had once formed and brought them to light, that they are reborn and recover the primitive faculties of which human industry had deprived them. Eve and Bacchus are the symbols of this philosopher and natural substance, — not, however, first in the sense of unity or universality, — commonly called by the name of Hermes or Mercury. Now, we know that the winged messenger of the gods served as an intermediary between the powers of Olympus and played, in mythology, a role analogous to that of mercury in hermetic labour. We thus better understand the special nature of his action, and why he does not remain with the bodies that he has diluted, purged and animated. And we also understand in what sense Basil Valentine should be understood when he asserts that metals are creatures twice born of mercury, children of a single mother, produced and regenerated by her. [The Adept hears in this place of the alchemical metals produced by the reincrudation, or return to the simple state of vulgar metallic bodies.] And one can better conceive, on the other hand,

Nor is it useless to learn that, if we need the cistus of Cybele, Ceres or Bacchus, it is only because it contains the mysterious body which is the embryo of our stone; if we need a vase, it is only to place the body in it, and no one is unaware that, without a suitable earth, any seed would become useless. Thus we cannot do without a vessel, although the content is infinitely more precious than the container, the latter being doomed, sooner or later, to separate from that. Water has no form in itself, although it is capable of taking on all of them and taking on the shape of the container that contains it. This is the reason for our vase and its necessity, and why philosophers have recommended it so much as the indispensable vehicle, the obligatory excipient of our bodies.

From what precedes, it is especially important to retain that the metals, liquefied and dissociated by mercury, recover the vegetative power which they possessed at the time of their appearance on the physical plane. In a way, the solvent acts as a veritable fountain of youth for them. It separates from it the heterogeneous impurities imported from the metalliferous deposits, removes from them the infirmities contracted over the centuries; it revives them, gives them new vigor and rejuvenates them. It is thus that the vulgar metals are reincrudated, that is to say, restored to a state close to their original state, and henceforth qualified as living or philosophical metals. Now, since they resume, in contact with their mother, their primitive faculties, we can be sure that they have approached her and have taken on a nature analogous to hers. But it is evident, on the other hand, that they cannot, as a result of this conformity of complexion, engender new bodies with their mother, the latter having only a renovating and not a generating power. From which we must conclude that the mercury of which we are speaking, and whose figure is the Eve of Eden mosaic, is not that which the sages have designated as being the matrix, the receptacle, the vase suitable for the reincrusted metal, qualified as sulphur, sun of the philosophers, metallic seed and father of the stone.

Don't be fooled; here is the Gordian knot of the Work, the one that beginners must strive to untie if they do not want to be stopped short at the beginning of the practice. There is therefore another mother, daughter of the first, on whom the masters, for a purpose easy to guess, have also imposed the denomination of mercury. And the differentiation of these two mercurys, one agent of renovation, the other of procreation, constitutes the most thankless study that science has reserved for the neophyte. It is with the intention of helping him cross this barrier that we have dwelt on the myth of Adam and Eve, and that we are going to try to shed light on these obscure points, voluntarily left in the shadows by the very best authors. Most of them have contented themselves with describing allegorically the union of sulfur and mercury, generators of the stone, which they call sun and moon, philosophical father and mother, fixed and volatile, agent and patient, male and female, eagle and lion, Apollo and Diana (some of whom made Apollonius of Tyana), Gabritius and Beya, Urim and Thumim, the two pillars of the temple: Jachin and Bohas, the old man and the young virgin, finally, and more accurately, brother and sister. For they are really brother and sister, each deriving their being from a common mother, and indebted for the contrariety of their temperaments rather to the difference in age and evolution than to their affinities. Apollo and Diana (some of whom made Apollonius of Tyana), Gabritius and Beya, Urim and Thumim, the two pillars of the temple: Jachin and Bohas, the old man and the young virgin, finally, and more exactly, brother and sister. For they are really brother and sister, each deriving their being from a common mother, and indebted for the contrariety of their temperaments rather to the difference in age and evolution than to their affinities. Apollo and Diana (some of whom made Apollonius of Tyana), Gabritius and Beya, Urim and Thumim, the two pillars of the temple: Jachin and Bohas, the old man and the young virgin, finally, and more exactly, brother and sister. For they are really brother and sister, each deriving their being from a common mother, and indebted for the contrariety of their temperaments rather to the difference in age and evolution than to their affinities.

The anonymous author of the Ancient War of the Knights, in a speech which he makes pronounce by the metal reduced to sulfur under the action of the first mercury, teaches that this sulfur needs a second mercury, with which it must be conjoined in order to multiply its species. “Among the artists, he says, who have worked with me, some have pushed their work so far that they have come to the end of separating from me my spirit, which contains my tincture; so that, mixing it with other metals and minerals, they have succeeded in communicating a little of my virtues and my strength to the metals which have some affinity and some friendship with me. However, the artists who have succeeded by this route and who have surely found a part of the art are really very few in number. But since they did not know the origin from which the dyes come, it was impossible for them to push their work further, and they did not find in the end that there was much use in their process. But if these artists had carried their research beyond that, and had they really examined what is the woman that is proper to me, had sought her out and united me to her, then I would have been able to dye a thousand times more. » [Treatise reprinted in theHermetic Triumph of Limojon de Saint-Didier. Amsterdam, Henry Wetstein, 1699, and Jacques Desbordes, 1710, p. 18.] In the Interview of Eudoxus and Pyrophile, which serves as a commentary on this treatise, Limojon de Saint-Didier writes about this passage: "The woman who is proper to stone and who must be united to it is this fountain of living water whose source, entirely celestial, which has its center particularly in the sun and in the moon, produces this clear and precious stream of the Sages, which flows into the sea of ​​the philosophers, which surrounds everyone. It is not without foundation that this divine fountain is called by this author the woman of the stone; some have represented her in the form of a celestial nymph; some others give it the name of the chaste Diana, whose purity and virginity is not sullied by the spiritual bond which unites her to the stone. In a word, this magnetic conjunction is the magical marriage of heaven with earth, of which some philosophers have spoken; so that the secondary source of the physical tincture, which operates such great marvels, arises from this wholly mysterious conjugal union. »

These two mothers, or mercuries, which we have just distinguished, appear under the emblem of the two roosters in the stone panel located on the second floor of the house in Le Mans (pl. XII).




LE MANS - HOUSE OF ADAM AND EVE
The Abduction of Déjanire
Plate XII


[In antiquity, the rooster was attributed to the god Mercury. The Greeks designated it by the word ἀλέκτωρ, which sometimes signifies virgin and sometimes wife, expressions characteristic of both mercury; cabalistically, ἀλέκτωρ plays with ἄλεκτρος, what must or cannot be said, secret, mysterious.]

They accompany a vase filled with leaves and fruits, a symbol of their invigorating, generative and vegetative capacity, of the fruitfulness and abundance of the resulting productions. [In Greek, vase is said ἀγγεῖον, the body, a word whose root is ἄγγος, the uterus.] On either side of this motif, seated figures — one blowing a horn, the other plucking a kind of guitar — perform a musical duet. It is the translation of this Art of music — the conventional epithet of alchemy — to which the various subjects sculpted on the facade relate.

But before continuing the study of the motives of the house of Adam and Eve, we believe we must warn the reader that, under very thin terms, our analysis contains the revelation of what is agreed to be called the secret of the two mercurys. Our explanation, however, cannot stand up to scrutiny, and anyone who takes the trouble to dissect it will encounter certain contradictions, manifest errors of logic or judgment. Now, we honestly recognize that there is only one mercury at the base, and that the second is necessarily derived from the first. However, it was necessary to draw attention to the different qualities that they affect, and to make sure to show, - even at the cost of a departure from reason or an implausibility, - how one can distinguish them, identify them, and how it is possible to extract, directly, the own woman of the sulphur, mother of the stone, from the womb of our primitive mother. Between the cabalistic narrative, the traditional allegory and silence, we didn't have to choose. Our goal being to come to the aid of workers unfamiliar with parables and metaphors, the use of allegory and cabala was forbidden to us. Would it have been better to act like many of our predecessors and say nothing? We do not think so. What would be the use of writing, if not for those who already know and have nothing to do with our advice? We have therefore preferred to provide, in plain language, a demonstration Our goal being to come to the aid of workers unfamiliar with parables and metaphors, the use of allegory and cabala was forbidden to us. Would it have been better to act like many of our predecessors and say nothing? We do not think so. What would be the use of writing, if not for those who already know and have nothing to do with our advice? We have therefore preferred to provide, in plain language, a demonstration Our goal being to come to the aid of workers unfamiliar with parables and metaphors, the use of allegory and cabala was forbidden to us. Would it have been better to act like many of our predecessors and say nothing? We do not think so. What would be the use of writing, if not for those who already know and have nothing to do with our advice? We have therefore preferred to provide, in plain language, a demonstrationab absurdo , thanks to which it became possible to unveil the mystery that had hitherto remained stubbornly hidden. The process, moreover, does not belong to us. Let the authors—and they are numerous—among whom we do not notice such discrepancies, throw the first stone at us!

Above the roosters, guardians of the fructifying vase, is a larger panel, unfortunately very mutilated, whose scene depicts the abduction of Dejanira by the centaur Nessus.

The fable tells that Hercules, having obtained from Oeneus the hand of Deianira for having triumphed over the river-god Achelous, our hero, in the company of his new wife, wanted to cross the river Even.

[The water, the humid or mercurial phase that the metals originally offer, and which they gradually lose by coagulating under the drying action of the sulfur charged with assimilating the mercury. The Greek term Ἀχελᾦος does not only apply to the river Achelous, but still serves to designate any stream, stream or river.] [Εὐήνιος, gentle, easy. It should be noted that there is no question here of a solution of the principles of gold. Hercules does not enter the waters of the river, and Deianira crosses it on the rump of Nessus. It is the solution of the stone which is the subject of the allegorical passage of the Even, and this solution is obtained easily, in a gentle and easy way.]

Nessus, who happened to be in the vicinity, offered to transport Dejanira to the other bank. Hercules made the mistake of agreeing to it and wasted no time in realizing that the centaur was trying to take it away from him. An arrow, dipped in the blood of the hydra and launched with a sure hand, stopped him on the spot. Nessus, feeling that he was dying, then gave Deianira her tunic stained with her blood, assuring her that it would serve her to recall her husband if he left her to attach himself to other women. Later, the credulous wife having learned that Hercules was looking for Iole, the price of his victory over Eurytes, his father, sent him the bloody garment; but he had no sooner put it on than he felt excruciating pain. [The Greek word Ἰόλεία is formed from Ἰός, venom, and, λεία, spoil, prey. Iole is the hieroglyph of raw material, violent poison, say the sages, of which, however, great medicine is made. Common metals, dissolved by it, are thus the prey of this venom, which changes their nature and decomposes them; this is why the artist must be careful not to combine the sulfur obtained in this way with metallic gold. Hercules, although seeking Iole, does not contract union with her.]

Unable to resist so much suffering, he threw himself into the midst of the flames of a pyre erected on Mount Oeta and lit with his own hands. [From the Greek Αἴθω, to burn, to inflame, to be ardent.] Deianira, on hearing the fatal news, killed herself in despair.

This story relates to the last operations of the Magisterium; it is an allegory of the fermentation of stone by gold, in order to orient the Elixir towards the metallic kingdom and to limit its use to the transmutation of metals.

Nessus represents the philosopher's stone, not yet determined or assigned to any one of the great natural genera, whose color varies from carmine to brilliant scarlet. Νῆσος, in Greek, signifies purple garment, and the bloody tunic of the centaur — "which burns the body more than the fire of hell" — indicates the perfection of the finished product, ripe and full of tincture.

Hercules represents the sulfur of gold whose refractory virtue to the most incisive agents can only be overcome by the action of the red garment, or blood of the stone. The gold, calcined under the combined effect of fire and dye, takes on the color of the stone and gives it, in exchange, the metallic quality that the work had caused it to lose. Juno, queen of the Work, thus consecrates the reputation and glory of Hercules, whose mythical apotheosis finds its material realization in fermentation. The very name of Hercules, Ἡρακλῆς, indicates that he owes to Juno the imposition of the successive labors which were to assure him of celebrity and spread his fame; Ἡρακλῆς is formed, in fact, from the roots Ἥρα, Juno, and κλέος, glory, reputation, renown. Deianira, wife of Hercules, personifies the mercurial principle of gold, which fights in concert with the sulfur to which it is conjoined, but nevertheless succumbs under the ardor of the igneous tunic. In Greek, Δηιάνειρα derives from Δηιοτής, hostility, struggle, agony.

On the face of the two engaged pillars bordering the mythological scene of which we have just studied the esotericism, appear on one side a lion's head provided with wings, on the other a head of a dog or a bitch. These animals are also represented in their complete form on the arches of the Porte de Vitré (pl. XI).




Plate XI


The lion, hieroglyph of the fixed and coagulant principle commonly called sulphur, wears wings in order to show that the primitive solvent, by decomposing and reincruding the metal, gives sulfur a volatile quality without which its union with mercury would become impossible. Some authors have described the manner of carrying out this important operation under the allegory of the combat of the eagle and the lion, of the volatile and the fixed, combat sufficiently explained elsewhere. [See Fulcanelli. The Mystery of the Cathedrals . Paris, J. Schemit, 1926, p. 67, and J.-J. Pauvert, Paris, 1964, p. 115.]

As for the symbolic dog, the direct successor of the Egyptian cynocephalus, it was the philosopher Artephius who gave it the right of citizenship among the figures of alchemical iconography. He speaks, in fact, of the dog of Khorassan and the female dog of Armenia, emblems of sulfur and mercury, parents of stone.

[Among the details of the Creation of the world which adorn the north portal of Chartres cathedral, we note a group from the 13th century, representing Adam and Eve having the tempter at their feet, represented by a monster with the head and torso of a dog, posed on the front legs and ending in the tail of a serpent. It is the symbol of sulfur assembled with mercury in the original chaotic substance (Satan).]

But, while the word Ἄρμενος, meaning what is needed, what is prepared and suitably arranged, indicates the passive and feminine principle, the dog of Khorassan, or sulphur, derives its name from the Greek word Κόραξ, equivalent to crow, a term which still served to designate a certain blackish fish about which, if we had license, we could say curious things. [The Latins called the crow Phœbeius ales, the bird of Apollo or of the Sun (Φοῖβος). One notices, at Notre-Dame de Paris, among the chimeras fixed to the railings of the upper galleries, a curious raven dressed in a long veil which half covers it.]

The “sons of science” whom their perseverance has led to the threshold of the sanctuary know that after the knowledge of the universal solvent – ​​unique mother borrowing the personality of Eve – there is none more important than that of metallic sulphur, first son of Adam, effective generator of the stone, who received the name of Cain. Now, Cain signifies acquisition, and what the artist acquires first of all is the black, mad dog of which the texts speak, the crow, the first testimony of the Magisterium. It is also, according to the version of the Cosmopolite, the boneless fish, échénéis or remora "which swims in our philosophical sea", and about which Jean-Joachim d'Estingrel d'Ingrofont assures that "possessing once the small fish called Remora, which is very rare, not to say unique in this great sea, you will no longer need to fish, but only to think about the preparation, seasoning and cooking of this little fish”. [Jean-Joachim d'Estingrel d'Ingrofont.Deal with the newly discovered Cosmopolitan. Paris, Laurent d'Houry, 1691. Letter II, p. 46.] And, although it is preferable not to extract it from the environment in which it inhabits—leaving it with enough water if necessary to maintain its vitality—those who had the curiosity to isolate it were able to control the accuracy and the veracity of the philosophical affirmations. It is a tiny body, — considering the volume of the mass from which it comes, — having the external appearance of a bi-convex lens, often circular, sometimes elliptical. With a rather metallic earthy appearance, this light button, infusible but very soluble, hard, brittle, crumbly, black on one side, whitish on the other, purple in its break, has received various names relating to its shape, its coloring or certain chemical particularities. He is the secret prototype of the popular bather in the galette des rois, the bean (κύαμος, paronym of κύανος, bluish black), the hoof (βέμβιξ); it is also the cocoon (βομβύκιον) and its worm, whose Greek name, βόμβυξ, which is so similar to that of the hoof, has for root βόμβος, which expresses, precisely, the sound of a rotating hoof; [Conf. above p. 22 and, in theMystery of the Cathedrals , Jean-Jacques Pauvert, p. 51, what is said about this child's toy, about this main object of the ludus puerorum .] it is also the little blackish fish called a chabot, from which Perrault took his Puss in Boots, the famous Marquis de Carabas (from Κάρα, head, and βασιλεύς, king) of the hermetic legends dear to our youth and brought together under the title of Tales of my mother the goose ; it is, finally, the basilisk of the fable, — βασιλικόν, — our spelter (regulus, little king) or kinglet (βασιλίσκος), the slipper of vair (because it is white and gray) of the humble Cinderella, the sole, a flat fish whose each face is differently colored and whose name relates to the sun ( lat. sol, solis), etc. In the oral language of the Adepts, however, this body is hardly designated otherwise than by the term of violet, the first flower that the sage sees being born and blossoming, in the spring of the Work, transforming the greenery of his parterre into a new color...

But here, we believe we should suspend this teaching and keep the prudent silence of Nicolas Valois and Quercetanus, the only ones, to our knowledge, who revealed the verbal epithet of sulphur, gold or hermetic sun.


LOUIS D'ESTISSAC

GOVERNOR OF POITOU AND SAINTONGE
GRAND OFFICER OF THE CROWN
AND
HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER

I

It is the mysterious side of a historical character that reveals itself to us through one of his works. Louis d'Estissac, a man of high status, turns out, in fact, to be a practicing alchemist and one of the best educated Adepts of the hermetic mysteries.

Where did he get his knowledge from? Who gave him—by word of mouth no doubt—the first elements? We do not know it in a relevant way, but like to believe that the learned doctor and philosopher François Rabelais could well be no stranger to his initiation. [Gilbert Ducher, in an epigram to philosophy (1538), quotes him among the faithful of divine science:
“In primis sane Rabelaesum,principlem eundem
Supremum in studiis diva tuis sophia. »]

Louis d'Estissac, born in 1507, was the nephew of Geoffroy d'Estissac, and lived in the house of his uncle, superior of the Benedictine abbey of Maillezais, who had established his priory not far from there, in Ligugé (Vienne). Now, it is well known that Geoffroy d'Estissac had for a long time had relations with Rabelais marked by the liveliest and most cordial friendship. In 1525, H. Clouzot tells us, our philosopher was in Ligugé, as an attaché "in the service" of Geoffroy d'Estissac. “Jean Bouchet,” adds Clouzot, “the poet-prosecutor who tells us so well about the life that is led at Ligugé, in the priory of the reverend bishop, unfortunately does not specify Rabelais' functions. Secretary to the prelate? It's possible. But why not tutor to his nephew, Louis d'Estissac, who is still only eighteen years old and will not marry until 1527? The author of Gargantua and Pantagruel gives such developments to the education of his heroes, that one must suppose that his erudition is not purely theoretical, but that it is also the fruit of an earlier practice. » [H. Clouzot,Life of Rabelais, biographical note written for the edition of the Works of Rabelais . Paris, Garnier frères, 1926] Moreover, Rabelais does not seem to have ever abandoned his new friend - perhaps his disciple - because being in Rome in 1536, he sent, as Clouzot tells us, to Mme d'Estissac, the young niece of the bishop, "medicinal plants and a thousand small mirelificques (curiosities) at low cost" brought from Cyprus, Candia, Constantinople. It is still at the castle of Coulonges-sur-l'Autize, - called Coulonges-les-Royaux in the Fourth Book of Pantagruel , - that our philosopher, pursued by the hatred of his enemies, will come, around 1550, to seek refuge with Louis d'Estissac, heir of the protector of Rabelais, the bishop of Maillezais.

Be that as it may, this leads us to think that the search for the philosopher's stone, in the 16th and 17th centuries, was more active than one would be led to believe, and that its happy owners did not represent, in the spagyric world, the tiny minority that one tends to grant them. If they remain unknown to us, it is much less because of the absence of documents relating to their science, than because of our ignorance of traditional symbolism, which does not allow us to recognize them properly. It is probable that by prohibiting, by his letters patent of 1537, the use of the printing press, François Ier was the determining cause of this deficiency of works which one notices in the XVIth century, and the unconscious promoter of a new symbolic essort worthy of the most beautiful medieval period. Stone replaces parchment, and sculpted ornamentation comes to the aid of the prohibited impression. This temporary return of thought to monument, from written allegory to lapidary parable, earned us some brilliant works, of real interest for the study of artistic versions of the old alchemy.

Already, in the Middle Ages, the masters whose treatises we possess loved to furnish their dwellings with hermetic signs and images. At the time when Jean Astruc, doctor of Louis XV lived, that is to say around 1720, there was in Montpellier, in the rue du Cannau, opposite the Capuchin convent, a house which, according to tradition, would have belonged to Master Arnauld de Villeneuve, in 1280, or would have been inhabited by him. There were two bas-reliefs carved on the door, one representing a roaring lion, the other a dragon biting its tail, recognized emblems of the Great Work. This house was destroyed in 1755. [Jean Astruc. Memoirs for the History of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier. Paris, 1767, p. 153.] His disciple, Raymond Lully, coming from Rome, stopped in Milan, in 1296, to continue his philosophical research there. One still showed in this city, in the XVIIIth century, the house where Lully had worked; the entrance was decorated with hieroglyphic figures relating to science, as appears from a passage in Borrichius' treatise on the Origin and Progress of Chemistry. [“Quod autem Lullius Mediolani et fuerit et chimica ibi tractaverit notissimum est, ostenditurque adhuc domus illic nobili isto habitatore quondam superbiens; in cujus vestibulo conspicuæ figuræ, naturæque ingenium artemque chimici satis demonstrant” (Olaüs Borrichius, De Orut et Progressu Chemiae, p. 133).] We know that the houses, churches and hospitals built by Nicolas Flamel served as mediators for the dissemination of the images of Sacred Art; his own house, the “hostel Flamel”, built in 1376, rue des Marivaulx near the church of Saint-Jacques, was, says the chronicle, “all embellished with stories and mottos painted and gilded”.

Louis d'Estissac, a contemporary of Rabelais, Denys Zachaire and Jean Lallemant, also wanted to dedicate to science, which he was particularly fond of, a home worthy of it. He formed, at the age of thirty-five, the project of a symbolic interior where would be found, skilfully distributed and carefully concealed, the secret signs that had guided his work. The subjects well established, suitably veiled — so that the layman could not discern their mysterious meaning — the main lines of the architecture decided upon, he entrusted the execution of them to an architect who was perhaps — at least this is the opinion of M. de Rochebrune — Philibert de l'Orme. Thus was born the superb castle of Coulonges-sur-l'Autize (Deux-Sèvres), whose construction required twenty-six years, from 1542 to 1568, but which now only offers an empty interior with bare walls. The furniture, the porches, the carved stones, the ceilings and even the corner turrets, everything has been dispersed. Some of these pieces of art were acquired by a famous etcher, Étienne-Octave de Guillaume de Rochebrune, and were used to repair and embellish his property in Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée). It is indeed in the Château de Terre-Neuve, where they are currently kept, that we can admire and study them at leisure. This one, moreover, by the abundance, the variety, the origin of the artistic pieces which it contains, seems rather a museum than a bourgeois residence of the time of Henri IV. Some of these pieces of art were acquired by a famous etcher, Étienne-Octave de Guillaume de Rochebrune, and were used to repair and embellish his property in Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée). It is indeed in the Château de Terre-Neuve, where they are currently kept, that we can admire and study them at leisure. This one, moreover, by the abundance, the variety, the origin of the artistic pieces which it contains, seems rather a museum than a bourgeois residence of the time of Henri IV. Some of these pieces of art were acquired by a famous etcher, Étienne-Octave de Guillaume de Rochebrune, and were used to repair and embellish his property in Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée). It is indeed in the Château de Terre-Neuve, where they are currently kept, that we can admire and study them at leisure. This one, moreover, by the abundance, the variety, the origin of the artistic pieces which it contains, seems rather a museum than a bourgeois residence of the time of Henri IV.

The most beautiful ceiling of the Château de Coulonges, the one that once adorned the vestibule and the treasure room, now covers the large living room of Terre-Neuve, called the Atelier. It is made up of nearly a hundred boxes, all varied; one of these bears the date 1550 and the monogram of Diane de Poitiers as found at the Château d'Anet. This detail led to the assumption that the plans for the Château de Coulonges could belong to the architect-canon Philibert de l'Orme. 120 [On September 5, 1550, Philibert de l'Orme received a canonry at Notre-Dame de Paris, around the same time as Rabelais. Our architect terminated it in 1559, but we frequently find his name mentioned in the chapter registers of the cathedral.] We will come back later, studying a similar residence,

Initially a simple farm, the Château de Terre-Neuve was, in its current plan, built in 1595 by Jean Morison, on behalf of Nicolas Rapin, Vice-Senechal of Fontenay-le-Comte and "distinguished poet", as we learn from a handwritten monograph of the Château de Terre-Neuve, probably written by Mr. De Rochebrune. The inscription, in verse, which is under the porch, was composed by Nicolas Rapin himself. We give it here as a specimen, keeping its layout and spelling:

VENTZ. SOVFLEZ. IN . TOVTE. SEASON .
NV. GOOD . AYR. IN . THIS . MAYSON.
QVE. NEVER . NEITHER . FEVER . NEITHER . PLAGUE .
NEITHER . THE . MAVLX. QVI. ARE COMING . EXCESS .
URGE . QVERELLE . OV. PROCEED.
CEVLZ. QVI. SY. WILL STAND . BORN . MOLESTE.

But it is thanks to the aesthetic sense of the successors of the vice-senechal poet, and above all to the very sure taste of M. de Rochebrune for works of art, that the Château de Terre-Neuve is indebted for its rich collections. [Mr. de Rochebrune, born in Fontenay-le-Comte in 1824 and died in the Château de Terre-Neuve in 1900, was the grandfather of the current owner, M. du Fontenioux.] Our intention is not to draw up a catalog of the curiosities it houses; let us point out at random, for the approval of amateurs and dilettantes, high warp tapestries, from the Louis XIII period, from Chaligny, near Sainte-Hermine (Vendée); a door from the grand salon, originally from Poitiers; Bishop de Mercy's sedan chair, bishop of Luçon in 1773; gilt woodwork in the Louis XIV and Louis XV styles; some wooden consoles from the Château de Chambord; an emblazoned panel in Gobelins tapestry (1670), donated by Louis XIV; very beautiful wood carvings (15th century) from the library of the Château de l'Hermenault (Vendée); Henry II hangings, three of the eight panels in the series entitled “Triumph of the Gods”, representing the Triumphs of Venus, Bellona and Minerva, woven in silk in Flanders and attributed to Mantegna; very well preserved Louis XIV furniture and Louis XIII sacristy furniture; engravings by the best masters of the 16th and 17th centuries; almost complete series of all offensive weapons in use from the 9th to the 18th century; enamelled earthenware from Avisseau, Florentine bronzes, Chinese dishes from the green family; library containing the works of the most famous architects of the 16th and 17th centuries: Ducerceau, Dietterlin, Bullant, Lepautre, Philibert de l'Orme, etc. [René Valette in the "Revue du Bas-Poitou", volume XV, special issue dedicated to Octave de Rochebrune, 1901, p. 205.]

Of all these marvels, the one that interests us the most is, without a doubt, the monumental fireplace in the grand salon, purchased in Coulonges and rebuilt at the Château de Terre-Neuve in March 1884. Even more remarkable for the accuracy of the hieroglyphs that decorate it, the finish of the execution, "the straightness of the cut sometimes pushed to the limit" and its surprising preservation. Thanks to its artistic quality, it constitutes for the disciples of Hermès a precious and very useful document to consult ( plate XIII).




FONTENAY-LE-COMTE
NEWFOUNDLAND CASTLE
Fireplace in the Grand Salon
Plate XIII


Certainly, the art critic would have some reason to address this lapidary work with the reproach, common to the decorative productions of the Renaissance, of being heavy, inharmonious and cold despite its sumptuous appearance and the display of an excessively flashy luxury. He could point out the excessive heaviness of the mantle bearing on thin jambs, the surfaces badly balanced between them, this poverty of form, of invention, painfully masked under the brilliance of the ornaments, the moldings, the arabesques lavished with a vain ostentation. As for us, we will voluntarily leave aside the aesthetic feeling of a brilliant, but superficial era, where affectation and mannerism replaced absent thought and failing originality,

The mantle, structured like an entablature laden with interlacing and symbolic figures, rests on two stone pillars, cylindrical and polished. On their abacuses is a fluted lintel, under a quarter circle of ovals and flanked by three acanthus leaves. Above, four sheathed caryatids, two men and two women, support the cornice; the women have their sheath decorated with fruit, while that of the men presents a mask of a lion, biting, as a ring, the lunar crescent. Between the caryatids, three frieze panels develop various hieroglyphs in a decorative form intended to better veil them. The cornice is divided horizontally into two floors by a protruding listello covering four motifs: two vases full of fire and two cartels bearing, engraved, the date of execution, March 1563.Nascendo Daily Morimur . Finally, the upper part shows six small panels, opposite two by two going from the extremities towards the center; there are kidney-shaped plaques, bucraniums and, near the central axis, hermetic shields.

These are, briefly described, the most interesting emblematic pieces for the alchemist; it is they that we are now going to analyze through the menu.


II (Louis d'Estissac)

The first of the three panels that separate the caryatids, the one on the left, offers a central flower, our hermetic rose, two shells of the comb type , or mérelles de Compostelle, and two human heads, one of an old man at the bottom, the other of a cherub at the top. We discover here the formal indication of the materials necessary for the work and of the result that the artist should expect from them. The old man's mask is the emblem of the primary mercurial substance to which, say the philosophers, all metals owe their origin. “You must not be unaware,” writes Limojon de Saint-Didier, “that our old man is our mercury; that this name suits it because it is the raw material of all metals; the Cosmopolitan says that it is their water, to which he gives the name of steel and magnet, and he adds, for a greater confirmation of what I have just discovered for you: Si undecies coit aurum cum eo, emittit suum semen, et debilitatur fere ad mortem usque; concipit chalybs, and generat filium patre clariorem. [“If gold joins eleven times with it (water), it emits its seed and is found debilitated unto death; then the steel conceives and begets a son lighter than his father. »] [Letter to the True Disciples of Hermes , in the Hermetic Triumph , p. 143.]

One can see, at the western portal of the cathedral of Chartres, a very beautiful statue of the twelfth century, where the same esotericism is found luminously expressed. He is a tall old man of stone, crowned and haloed—which already marks his hermetic personality—draped in the ample cloak of the philosopher. In his right hand he holds a cithara and in his left raises a vial with a belly swollen like the calabash of pilgrims.

[It is not rare to find, in medieval texts, alchemy qualified as the Art of Music. This denomination motivates the effigy of the two musicians that can be seen among the balusters ending the upper floor of the Salamandre manor, in Lisieux. We have also seen them reproduced on the house of Adam and Eve, in Le Mans, and we can still find them both in the cathedral of Amiens (kings musicians of the upper gallery), and in the home of the counts of Champagne, commonly called the house of musicians, in Reims. In the beautiful plates illustrating the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Æternaeby Henri Kunrath (1610), there is one which represents the interior of a sumptuous laboratory; in the middle of it, a table is covered with musical instruments and sheet music. The root of the Greek μουσικός is μοῦσα, muse, a word derived from μῦθος, fable, apologue, allegory, which also signifies the spirit, the hidden meaning of a story.]

Standing between the uprights of a throne, he tramples two monsters with human heads, entwined, one of which has the wings and legs of a bird (pl. XIV).




CHARTRES CATHEDRAL
WESTERN PORTAL
Symbolic old man (12th century)
Plate XIV


These monsters represent the gross bodies whose decomposition and assembly in another form, of a volatile quality, furnishes that secret substance which we call mercury, and which alone suffices to accomplish the whole work. The calabash, which contains the beverage of the pilgrim, is the image of the dissolving virtues of this mercury, cabalistically called pilgrim or traveller. It is, in the patterns of our chimney, what also appear the shells of Saint-Jacques, also called giant clams because one preserves the holy water or benoite there, qualifications that the ancients applied to the mercury water. But here, apart from the pure chemical sense, these two shells still teach the investigator that the regular and natural proportion requires two parts of the solvent against one of the fixed body. From this operation, made according to art, comes a new body, regenerated, of volatile essence, represented by the cherub or the angel who dominates the composition. [In Greek, ἄγγελος, angel, also means messenger, a function that the deities of Olympus had reserved for the god Hermes.] Thus, the death of the old man gives birth to the child and assures him of vitality. Philalethes warns us that it is necessary, in order to achieve the goal, to kill the living in order to resuscitate the dead. “By taking, he says, the gold which is dead and the water which is alive, we form a compound in which, by a brief decoction, the seed of the gold becomes alive, while the living mercury is killed. The spirit coagulates with the body, and both putrefy in the form of slime, until the members of this compound are reduced to atoms. Such is the nature of our Magisterium”.Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium , in Lenglet-Dufresnoy, History of Hermetic Philosophy . Paris, Coustelier, 1742, vol. II, cap. XIII, 20.] This double substance, this compound perfectly ripened, increased and multiplied, becomes the agent of marvelous transformations which characterize the philosopher's stone, rosa hermetica . Depending on the ferment, silver or gold, which serves to orient our first stone, the rose is sometimes white and sometimes red. It is these two philosophical flowers, blooming on the same rosebush, that Flamel describes to us in the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures . They also embellish the frontispiece of the Mutus Liberand we see them flourish, in a crucible, on Gobille's engraving illustrating the twelfth key of Basil Valentin. We know that the celestial Virgin wears a crown of white roses, and we also know that the red rose is the signature reserved for initiates of the higher order, or Rose-Croix. And this term Rose-Croix will allow us, by explaining it, to complete the description of this first panel.

Apart from the alchemical symbolism, the meaning of which is already very transparent, we discover another hidden element, that of the high rank possessed, in the initiatic hierarchy, by the man to whom we owe the motifs of this hieroglyphic architecture. There is no doubt that Louis d'Estissac had won the title par excellence of hermetic nobility. The central rose, in fact, appears in the middle of a St. Andrew's cross formed by raising the strips of stone that we can assume to have first covered and enclosed it. This is the great symbol of the manifested light, which is indicated by the Greek letter Χ (khi), initial of the words, Χώνη, Χρυσός and Χρόνος, the crucible, gold and time, triple unknown of the Great Work. [The symbol of light is found in the visual organ of man, window of the soul open to nature. It is the crossing in X of the bands and the optic nerves that anatomists call chiasma (from the Greek Χίασμα, cross arrangement, root Χιάζω to cross in X). The crisscrossing offered by the straw chairs has given them, in the Picard dialect, the name of Cayelles (Χ(α)-εἵλη, ray of light).] The cross of Saint Andrew (Χίασμα), which has the shape of our French X, is the hieroglyph, reduced to its simplest expression, of luminous and divergent radiations emanating from a single source. It therefore appears as the graph of the spark. One can multiply its radiance, it is impossible to simplify it further. These intersecting lines give the scheme of the twinkling of the stars, of the radiant dispersion of all that shines, illuminates, radiates. So we made the seal, the mark of enlightenment and, by extension, of spiritual revelation. The Holy Spirit is always represented by a dove in full flight, the wings extended along an axis perpendicular to that of the body, that is to say on the cross. For the Greek cross and that of Saint Andrew have, in hermetic terms, an exactly similar meaning. We frequently encounter the image of the dove completed by a glory which comes to specify its hidden meaning, as we can see in the religious scenes of our Primitives and in a number of purely alchemical sculptures. [The ceiling of the Hôtel Lallemant, in Bourges, offers a remarkable example.] The Greek Χ and the French X represent the writing of light by light itself, the trace of its passage, the manifestation of its movement, the affirmation of its reality. It is his true signature. Until the twelfth century, no other mark was used to authenticate old charters; from the 15th century, the cross became the signature of the illiterate. In Rome, good days were signed with a white cross and bad days with a black cross. It is the complete number of the Work, because unity, the two natures, the three principles and the four elements give the double quintessence, the two Vs, joined in the Roman numeral X, of the number ten. In this cipher is found the basis of the Cabala of Pythagoras, or of the universal language, of which one can see a curious paradigm on the last leaf of a small book of alchemy. [ the auspicious days were signed with a white cross and the unfavorable with a black cross. It is the complete number of the Work, because unity, the two natures, the three principles and the four elements give the double quintessence, the two Vs, joined in the Roman numeral X, of the number ten. In this cipher is found the basis of the Cabala of Pythagoras, or of the universal language, of which one can see a curious paradigm on the last leaf of a small book of alchemy. [ the auspicious days were signed with a white cross and the unfavorable with a black cross. It is the complete number of the Work, because unity, the two natures, the three principles and the four elements give the double quintessence, the two Vs, joined in the Roman numeral X, of the number ten. In this cipher is found the basis of the Cabala of Pythagoras, or of the universal language, of which one can see a curious paradigm on the last leaf of a small book of alchemy. [ of which one can see a curious paradigm on the last leaf of a little alchemy book. [ of which one can see a curious paradigm on the last leaf of a little alchemy book. [The Clavicle of Hermetic Science, Written by a Northerner in His Leisure Hours , 1732. Amsterdam, Pierre Mortier, 1751.] Bohemians use the cross or the X as a sign of recognition. Guided by this graph traced on a tree or on some wall, they always camp exactly at the place occupied by their predecessors, near the sacred symbol which they call Patria. One could believe this word of Latin origin, and apply to nomads this maxim that cats—living objects of art—strive to practice: Patria est ubicumque est bene, wherever one is well, there is the fatherland; but it is from a Greek word, Πατριά, that their emblem is claimed, with the meaning of family, race, tribe. The cross of the gypsies or gipsies therefore clearly indicates the place of refuge assigned to the tribe. It is singular, moreover, that almost all the significations revealed by the sign of the X have a transcendent or mysterious value. X is in algebra the unknown quantity or quantities; it is also the problem to be solved, the solution to be discovered; it is the Pythagorean sign for multiplication and the element of the arithmetic proof by nine; it is the popular symbol of the mathematical sciences in their superior or abstract form. It comes to characterize what, in general, is excellent, useful, remarkable (Χρήσιμος). In this sense, and in student slang, it serves to distinguish the Ecole Polytechnique, by assuring it a superiority which "taupins and dear comrades" would not allow to be discussed. The first, candidates for the School, are united, in each promotion ormole , by a cabalistic formula composed of an X in the opposite angles of which appear the chemical symbols of sulfur and potassium hydrate:

SXKOH

This is stated, in slang of course, “Sulfur and potash for the X”. The X is the emblem of measurement (μέτρον), taken in all its meanings: dimension, extent, space, duration, rule, law, boundary or limit. This is the occult reason why the international prototype of the meter, built in iridium platinum and preserved in the Breteuil pavilion, in Sèvres, affects the profile of the X in its cross section. [We are not speaking here of copy n° 8, deposited at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, in Paris, which serves as a legal standard, but indeed of the international prototype.] All the bodies of nature, all beings, either in their structure or in their appearance, obey this fundamental law of radiation, all are subject to this measurement. The canon of the Gnostics is its application to the human body, [Leonardo da Vinci took it up and taught it, transporting it from the mystical domain to that of aesthetic morphology.] and Jesus Christ, the incarnate spirit, Saint Andrew and Saint Peter personify its glorious and painful image. Have we not noticed that the aerial organs of plants—whether lofty trees or tiny grasses—present with their roots the characteristic divergence of the branches of the X? How do flowers bloom? — Cut the plant stems, petioles, veins, etc., examine these sections under the microscope and you will have, de visu, the most brilliant, the most marvelous confirmation of this divine will. Diatoms, sea urchins, starfish will provide you with other examples; but, without searching any further, open an edible shell—cockle, scallop, scallop shell, — and the two valves, placed on a single plane, will show you two convex surfaces provided with the double-fan grooves of the mysterious X. It is the cat's whiskers that gave it its name; one hardly suspects that they conceal a high point of science, and that this secret reason earned the graceful feline the honor of being elevated to the rank of Egyptian divinities. [Χ(ά), the Sign of light. The Picard dialect, guardian, like Provençal, of the traditions of the sacred language, has retained the hard primitive sound ka to designate the cat.] About the cat, many of us remember the famous Chat-Noir, which was so popular under the tutelage of Rodolphe Salis; but how many know what esoteric and political center was concealed there, what international masonry was hiding behind the sign of the artistic cabaret? On the one hand the talent of a fervent, idealistic youth, made up of aesthetes in search of glory, carefree, blind, incapable of suspicion; on the other, the confidences of a mysterious science mixed with obscure diplomacy, a double-sided painting deliberately displayed in a medieval setting. The enigmatic tour of the Grand Dukes, signed by the cat with scrutinizing eyes under its nocturnal livery, with its rigid and excessive X-shaped mustaches, and whose heraldic pose gave the wings of the Montmartre mill a symbolic value equal to its own, was not that of princes on a spree! the confidences of a mysterious science mixed with obscure diplomacy, a double-sided painting deliberately displayed in a medieval setting. The enigmatic tour of the Grand Dukes, signed by the cat with scrutinizing eyes under its nocturnal livery, with its rigid and excessive X-shaped mustaches, and whose heraldic pose gave the wings of the Montmartre mill a symbolic value equal to its own, was not that of princes on a spree! the confidences of a mysterious science mixed with obscure diplomacy, a double-sided painting deliberately displayed in a medieval setting. The enigmatic tour of the Grand Dukes, signed by the cat with scrutinizing eyes under its nocturnal livery, with its rigid and excessive X-shaped mustaches, and whose heraldic pose gave the wings of the Montmartre mill a symbolic value equal to its own, was not that of princes on a spree!

[Rodolphe Salis imposed on the designer Steinlein, author of the vignette, the image of the Moulin de la Galette, that of the cat, as well as the color of the dress, the eyes, and the geometric straightness of the whiskers. The Cabaret du Chat-Noir, founded in 1881, disappeared on the death of its creator [Colette's husband, M. Willy], in 1897.]

The thunderbolts of Zeus, which make Olympus tremble and sow terror in mythological humanity, whether the god holds them in hand or tramples them under foot, or whether they spring from the claws of the eagle, embrace the graphic form of radiation. It is the translation of celestial fire or terrestrial fire, potential or virtual fire which composes or disintegrates, engenders or kills, vivifies or disorganizes. Son of the sun who generates it, servant of man who liberates and maintains it, divine fire, fallen, fallen, imprisoned in grave matter to determine its evolution and direct its redemption, it is Jesus on his cross, image of the igneous, luminous and spiritual irradiation embodied in all things. It is the Agnus immolated since the beginning of the world, and it is also the Agni, Vedic god of fire; [The Hindu svatiska, or swastika,

[Let no one accuse us of leading our reader into useless and vain daydreams. We claim to speak positively, and insiders will not be mistaken. Let's say this for others. Boil a sheep's foot in water until the bones can easily separate; you will find one, among these, which bears a middle groove on one face, and a Maltese cross on the opposite face. This signed bone is the true ossicle of the ancients; it was with him that Greek youth played their favorite game. It was he who was called ἀστράγαλος, a word formed from ἀστήρ, starfish, because of the radiant seal of which we speak, and from γάλος, used for γάλα, milk, which corresponds to the milk of the Virgin (maris Stella) or Mercury of the philosophers. We pass on another etymology even more revealing, for we must obey the philosophical discipline, which forbids us to unveil the mystery in full. Our intention is therefore limited to awakening the sagacity of the investigator, enabling him to acquire, by personal effort, this secret teaching, the elements of which the most sincere authors have never wished to discover. All their treatises being acroamatic, it is useless to hope to obtain from them the slightest indication, as to the basis and the foundation of the art. This is the reason why we strive, as far as possible, to make these sealed works useful, by providing the material for what once constituted the first initiation, that is to say the verbal revelation essential to understand them.] Our intention is therefore limited to awakening the sagacity of the investigator, enabling him to acquire, by personal effort, this secret teaching, the elements of which the most sincere authors have never wished to discover. All their treatises being acroamatic, it is useless to hope to obtain from them the slightest indication, as to the basis and the foundation of the art. This is the reason why we strive, as far as possible, to make these sealed works useful, by providing the material for what once constituted the first initiation, that is to say the verbal revelation essential to understand them.] Our intention is therefore limited to awakening the sagacity of the investigator, enabling him to acquire, by personal effort, this secret teaching, the elements of which the most sincere authors have never wished to discover. All their treatises being acroamatic, it is useless to hope to obtain from them the slightest indication, as to the basis and the foundation of the art. This is the reason why we strive, as far as possible, to make these sealed works useful, by providing the material for what once constituted the first initiation, that is to say the verbal revelation essential to understand them.] All their treatises being acroamatic, it is useless to hope to obtain from them the slightest indication, as to the basis and the foundation of the art. This is the reason why we strive, as far as possible, to make these sealed works useful, by providing the material for what once constituted the first initiation, that is to say the verbal revelation essential to understand them.] All their treatises being acroamatic, it is useless to hope to obtain from them the slightest indication, as to the basis and the foundation of the art. This is the reason why we strive, as far as possible, to make these sealed works useful, by providing the material for what once constituted the first initiation, that is to say the verbal revelation essential to understand them.]

Those who thus receive the celestial spirit of the sacred fire, who carry it within themselves and are marked with its sign, have nothing to fear from the elemental fire. These chosen ones, disciples of Elijah and children of Helios, modern crusaders having as their guide the star of their elders, leave for the same conquest at the same cry of God wills it  ! [Cabalistic expression containing the key to the hermetic mystery. God wills it is taken for God the Fire, which explains and justifies the insignia adopted by the Crusader knights and its color: a red cross worn on the right shoulder.]

It is this higher and spiritual force, acting mysteriously within the concrete substance, which forces the crystal to take on its aspect, its immutable characteristics; it is she who is the pivot, the axis, the generating energy, the geometric will. And this configuration, infinitely variable, though always based on the cross, is the first manifestation of the organized form, by condensation and corporification of light, soul, spirit or fire. It is thanks to their interlocking arrangement that cobwebs retain midges, that nets seize fish, birds and butterflies without hurting them, that fabrics become translucent, that metal webs cut flames and oppose the ignition of gases...

It is finally, in space and in time, the immense ideal cross which divides the twenty-four centuries of the cyclic year (Χιλιασµός), and separates into four groups of ages the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse, twelve of whom sing the praises of God, while the twelve others groan over the decay of man.

How many unsuspected truths remain enclosed in this simple sign that Christians renew each day about themselves, without always understanding its meaning or its hidden virtue! “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are lost; but for those who are saved, that is to say for us, it is the instrument of the power of God. This is why it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the knowledge of the learned. What Happened to the Sages? What has become of the doctors of the law? What has become of these minds curious about the sciences of this century? Has not God convicted the wisdom of this world of madness? " [St.Paul. First Epistle to the Corinthians,chap. I, v. 18-20.] How many know more than the onager who saw the humble Child-God born in Bethlehem, transported him triumphant to Jerusalem, and received, in memory of the King of Kings, the magnificent black cross which he wears on his spine? [This signature caused the donkey to be called a Saint Christopher of Flowery Easter, because Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, or Flowery Easter, the very day on which alchemists customarily undertake their great work.]

In the alchemical field, the Greek cross and the cross of Saint Andrew have a few meanings that the artist must know. These graphic symbols, reproduced on a large number of manuscripts, and which are, in certain printed matter, the object of a special nomenclature, represent, among the Greeks and their successors of the Middle Ages, the crucible of fusion, which the potters always marked with a small cross (crucibulum), index of good workmanship and proven solidity. But the Greeks also used a similar sign to designate a matras of earth. We know that this vessel was used for coction and think that, given its very material, its use must have differed little from that of the crucible. Moreover, the word matras, used in the same sense in the 13th century, comes from the Greek μήτρα, matrix, term also used by blowers and applied to the secret vase used to mature the compound. Nicolas Grosparmy, Norman Adept of the 15th century, gives a figure of this spherical utensil, tubular laterally, and which he calls the same matrix. The X also translates the sal ammoniac of the sages, or salt of Ammon (ἀμμωνιακός), that is to say of Aries, which was formerly written with more truth harmoniac, because it achieves harmony (ἁρμονία, assembly), the harmony of water and fire, that it is the mediator par excellence between the sky and the earth, the spirit and the body, the volatile and the fixed. [Ammon-Ra, the great solar deity of the Egyptians, was usually represented with a ram's head, or, when he retained the human head, with spiral horns originating above the ears. This god, to whom the ram was dedicated, had a colossal temple at Thebes (Karnak); it was reached by following an avenue lined with crouching rams. Let us recall that the ram is the image of the water of the sages, just as the solar disc, with or without the uraeus, — another attribute of Ammon, — is that of the secret fire. Ammon, saline mediator, completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, whose concord, unity, perfection he achieves in the philosopher's stone.] It is still the Sign, without further qualification, the seal which reveals to man, by certain superficial lineaments, the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosopher's substance. Finally, the Χ is the Greek hieroglyph for glass, pure matter among all, assure us the masters of the art, and the one that comes closest to perfection. Let us recall that the ram is the image of the water of the sages, just as the solar disc, with or without the uraeus, — another attribute of Ammon, — is that of the secret fire. Ammon, saline mediator, completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, whose concord, unity, perfection he achieves in the philosopher's stone.] It is still the Sign, without further qualification, the seal which reveals to man, by certain superficial lineaments, the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosopher's substance. Finally, the Χ is the Greek hieroglyph for glass, pure matter among all, assure us the masters of the art, and the one that comes closest to perfection. Let us recall that the ram is the image of the water of the sages, just as the solar disc, with or without the uraeus, — another attribute of Ammon, — is that of the secret fire. Ammon, saline mediator, completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, whose concord, unity, perfection he achieves in the philosopher's stone.] It is still the Sign, without further qualification, the seal which reveals to man, by certain superficial lineaments, the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosopher's substance. Finally, the Χ is the Greek hieroglyph for glass, pure matter among all, assure us the masters of the art, and the one that comes closest to perfection. completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, whose concord, unity, perfection he achieves in the philosopher's stone.] It is still the Sign, without further qualification, the seal which reveals to man, by certain superficial lineaments, the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosopher's substance. Finally, the Χ is the Greek hieroglyph for glass, pure matter among all, assure us the masters of the art, and the one that comes closest to perfection. completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, whose concord, unity, perfection he achieves in the philosopher's stone.] It is still the Sign, without further qualification, the seal which reveals to man, by certain superficial lineaments, the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosopher's substance. Finally, the Χ is the Greek hieroglyph for glass, pure matter among all, assure us the masters of the art, and the one that comes closest to perfection.

We believe we have sufficiently demonstrated the importance of the cross, the depth of its esotericism and its preponderance in symbolism in general. [It is thus that the Gothic cathedrals have their facade built according to the essential lines of the alchemical symbol of the spirit and their plan modeled on the imprint of the redemptive cross. They all present, inside, those bold intersecting warheads, the invention of which belongs properly to the Frimasons, enlightened builders of the Middle Ages. In such a way that the faithful find themselves, in medieval temples, placed between two crosses, one lower and earthly, on which they walk, - image of their daily Calvary, - the other higher and celestial, towards which they aspire, but which only their eyes allow them to reach. ] It offers no less value or less instruction as regards the practical realization of the Work. It is the first key, the most considerable and the most secret of all those which can open to man the sanctuary of nature. Now, this key always figures in apparent characters, traced by nature herself, obeying the divine will, on the cornerstone of the Work, which is also the fundamental stone of the Church and of Christian Truth. Also, in religious iconography, a key is given to Saint Peter, as a particular attribute allowing us to distinguish, among the apostles of Christ, the one who was the humble sinner Simon (cabal. Χ-μόνος, the only ray) and was to become, after the death of the Saviour, his earthly spiritual representative.




LONDON - SAINT ETHELDREDA CHURCH
Saint Peter and Veronica
Plate XV


Saint Peter, standing, holds a key and shows Veronica, a singularity which makes this remarkable image a unique work of exceptional interest. It is certain that from the Hermetic point of view the symbolism is found there doubly expressed, since the meaning of the key is repeated in the Holy Face, the miraculous seal of our stone. Moreover, the Veronica is offered to us here as a veiled replica of the cross, a major emblem of Christianity and a signature of sacred art. Indeed, the word veronica does not come, as certain authors have claimed, from the Latin vera iconica (true and natural image), - which tells us nothing, - but from the Greek φερένικος, which procures victory (from φέρω, to carry, to produce, and νίκη, victory). This is the meaning of the Latin inscriptionIn hoc signo vinces , "you will conquer by this sign", placed under the chrism of the labarum of Constantine, which corresponds to the Greek formula Ἐν τουτῶ νίκη. The sign of the cross, monogram of Christ of which the X of Saint Andrew and the key of Saint Peter are two replicas of equal esoteric value, is therefore indeed this mark capable of ensuring victory by the certain identification of the only substance exclusively assigned to philosophical labor.

Saint Peter holds the keys to Paradise, although only one is sufficient to ensure access to the celestial abode. But the primary key is split and these two intersecting symbols, one silver, the other gold, constitute, with the triregnum, the arms of the sovereign pontiff, heir to the throne of Peter. The cross of the Son of Man, reflected in the keys of the Apostle, reveals to men of good will the mysteries of universal science and the treasures of hermetic art. It alone enables those who possess the sense of it to open the door of the closed garden of the Hesperides and to gather, without fear for their salvation, the Rose of the Adeptate.

From what we have said of the cross and of the rose which is its center, or, more exactly, its heart — this bloody, radiant and glorious heart of Christ-matter — it is easy to infer that Louis d'Estissac bore the lofty title of Rose-Croix, a mark of superior initiation, a dazzling testimony to a positive science, concretized in the substantial reality of the absolute.

However, if no one can dispute our Adept's status as a Rose-Croix, we cannot deduce from this fact that he would have belonged to the hypothetical brotherhood of the same name. To conclude in this way would be to make a mistake. It is important to know how to discern the two Rosicrucians so as not to confuse the true with the false.

We will probably never know what obscure reason guided Valentin Andreae, or rather the German author covered by this pseudonym, when he printed, in Frankfurt-sur-l'Oder, around 1614, the booklet entitled Fama Fraternitatis Rosæ- Crucis . Perhaps he was pursuing a political goal, either that he was seeking to counterbalance, through a fictitious occult power, the authority of the Masonic lodges of the time, or that he wanted to bring about the grouping into a single fraternity, depositary of their secrets, of the Rosicrucians scattered all over the place. Anyway, if the Brotherhood Manifestocould not realize any of these designs, he contributed however to spread in the public the news of an unknown sect, endowed with the most extravagant attributions. According to the testimony of Valentin Andreae, its members, bound by an inviolable oath, subject to severe discipline, possessed all the riches and could perform all the wonders. They called themselves invisible, said they were capable of making gold, silver, precious stones; to cure the paralytic, the blind, the deaf, all the contagious and all the incurable. They claimed to have the means of prolonging human life beyond its natural limits; to converse with higher and elemental spirits; to discover even the most hidden things, etc. Such a display of prodigies was bound to strike the imagination of the masses and justify the assimilation which was soon made of the Rose-Croix thus presented to magicians, sorcerers, Satanists and necromancers. [Édouard Fournier, in hisEnigmas of the Streets of Paris (Paris, E. Dentu, 1860), indicates the “Sabbath of the Brothers of the Rose-Croix”, which took place in 1623 in the rural solitudes of Ménilmontant. In a note (p. 26), he adds: “In a booklet of the time, Effroyables pactions, etc., reproduced in volume IX of our Variétés historique et littéraires(p. 290), it is said that they gathered “sometimes in the quarries of Montmartre, sometimes along the springs of Belleville, and there proposed the lessons they were to do in particular before making them public. »] A rather unpleasant reputation which they shared, moreover, in some provinces, with the Freemasons themselves. Let us add that the latter had hastened to adopt and introduce into their hierarchy this new title, which they made a grade, without seeking to know its symbolic meaning or its true origin. [The rank of Rose-Croix is ​​the eighth of the French Masonic rite, and the eighteenth of the Scottish rite.]

In short, the mystical brotherhood, in spite of the benevolent affiliation of a few learned personalities whose good faith the Manifesto surprised, never existed anywhere else than in the desire of its author. It is a fable and nothing more. As for the Masonic degree, it also has no philosophical importance. Finally, if we point out, without going into them, these little chapels where we lazily take the lead under the Rosicrucian banner, we will have embraced the various modalities of the apocryphal Rose-Croix.

For the rest, we will not argue that Valentin Andreæ goes much further than the extraordinary virtues that certain philosophers, more enthusiastic than sincere, attribute to Universal Medicine. If he attributes to the brothers what could only belong to the Magisterium, at least we find there the proof that his conviction was based on the reality of the stone. On the other hand, his pseudonym clearly shows that he knew very well the occult truth contained in the symbol of the cross and the rose, an emblem used by the ancient Magi and known from all antiquity. To such an extent that we are led to see, after reading the Manifesto, than a simple treatise on alchemy, interpretation neither more difficult nor less expressive than so many other writings of the same order. The tomb of the knight Christian Rosenkreuz (the Christian cabalist and Rose-Croix) presents a singular identity with the allegorical lair, furnished with a lead chest, inhabited by the formidable guardian of the hermetic treasure [Cf. Azoth or Means of Making the Hidden Gold of the Philosophers . Paris, Pierre Moët, 1659.], this fierce genius that the Songe Verdcalls Seganissegede [Anagram of Genie des sages.]. A light, emanating from a golden sun, illuminates the cave and symbolizes this incarnated spirit, divine spark imprisoned in things, of which we have already spoken. In this tomb are contained the many secrets of wisdom, and we cannot be otherwise surprised since, the principles of the Work being perfectly known, analogy leads us naturally to the discovery of related truths and facts.

A more detailed analysis of this pamphlet would teach us nothing new, except for a few indispensable conditions of prudence, discipline and silence for the use of Adepts; sound advice, no doubt, but superfluous. The true Rosicrucians, the only ones who can bear this title and provide material proof of their science, have no need of it. Living isolated, in their austere retirement, they are not afraid of ever being known, not even to their colleagues. Some, however, occupied brilliant positions: d'Espagnet, Jacques Coeur, Jean Lallemant, Louis d'Estissac, the Count of Saint-Germain are among those; but they knew how to mask the origin of their fortune so adroitly that no one was able to distinguish the Rose-Croix under the features of the gentleman. What biographer would dare to certify that Philalethes, — this friend of truth, — was the pseudonym of the noble Thomas of Vaughan and that under the epithet of Sethon (the wrestler) was hidden an illustrious member of a powerful Scottish family, the lords of Winton? By attributing to the brothers this strange and paradoxical privilege of invisibility, Valentin Andreæ recognizes the impossibility of identifying them, like great lords traveling incognito in bourgeois garb and crew. They are invisible because unknown. Nothing characterizes them except modesty, simplicity and tolerance, virtues generally despised in our vain civilization, carried to the ridiculous exaggeration of personality. the lords of Winton? By attributing to the brothers this strange and paradoxical privilege of invisibility, Valentin Andreæ recognizes the impossibility of identifying them, like great lords traveling incognito in bourgeois garb and crew. They are invisible because unknown. Nothing characterizes them except modesty, simplicity and tolerance, virtues generally despised in our vain civilization, carried to the ridiculous exaggeration of personality. the lords of Winton? By attributing to the brothers this strange and paradoxical privilege of invisibility, Valentin Andreæ recognizes the impossibility of identifying them, like great lords traveling incognito in bourgeois garb and crew. They are invisible because unknown. Nothing characterizes them except modesty, simplicity and tolerance, virtues generally despised in our vain civilization, carried to the ridiculous exaggeration of personality.

Alongside the personages of status that we have just mentioned, how many other scholars preferred to wear their Rosicrucian dignity without brilliance, living among the working people, in a deliberate mediocrity and in the daily exercise of trades without nobility! Such is the case of a certain Leriche, a humble farrier, an unknown adept and possessor of the hermetic gem. This good man, of exceptional modesty, would have remained forever unknown if Cambriel had not taken the trouble to name him, telling in detail how he managed to revive the Lyonnais Candy, a young man of eighteen who was going to die of a lethargic crisis (1774). [See L.-P.-François Cambriel. Course of Hermetic Philosophy or Alchemy, in nineteen lessons. Paris, Lacour and Maistrasse, 1843.] Leriche shows us what the true sage should be and how he should live. If all the Rosicrucians had kept this prudent reserve, if they had observed the same discretion, we would not have to mourn the loss of so many artists of quality, carried away by clumsy zeal, blind confidence, or driven by the irresistible need to attract attention. This vain desire for glory led to the Bastille, in 1640, Jean du Châtelet, Baron de Beausoleil, and caused him to die there five years later; Paykul, a Livonian philosopher, transmutes before the Senate of Stockholm and sees himself condemned by Charles XII to beheading; Vinache, a man of the lower classes, unable to read or write, but on the other hand knowing the Great Work down to its smallest details, also cruelly atones for his insatiable thirst for luxury and notoriety. It is to him that René Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson turns to manufacture the gold that the financier Samuel Bernard intends to pay the debts of France. The operation completed, Paulmy d'Argenson, in recognition of his good services, seized Vinache on February 17, 1704, threw him into the Bastille, ordered that his throat be cut the following March 19, came in person to ensure that the murder was carried out, then had him secretly buried on March 22, around six o'clock in the evening, under the name of Étienne Durand, aged sixty, - whereas Vinache was not He was only thirty-eight—and completes the crime by publishing that he died of apoplexy! [ It is to him that René Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson turns to manufacture the gold that the financier Samuel Bernard intends to pay the debts of France. The operation completed, Paulmy d'Argenson, in recognition of his good services, seized Vinache on February 17, 1704, threw him into the Bastille, ordered that his throat be cut the following March 19, came in person to ensure that the murder was carried out, then had him secretly buried on March 22, around six o'clock in the evening, under the name of Étienne Durand, aged sixty, - whereas Vinache was not He was only thirty-eight—and completes the crime by publishing that he died of apoplexy! [ It is to him that René Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson turns to manufacture the gold that the financier Samuel Bernard intends to pay the debts of France. The operation completed, Paulmy d'Argenson, in recognition of his good services, seized Vinache on February 17, 1704, threw him into the Bastille, ordered that his throat be cut the following March 19, came in person to ensure that the murder was carried out, then had him secretly buried on March 22, around six o'clock in the evening, under the name of Étienne Durand, aged sixty, - whereas Vinache was not He was only thirty-eight—and completes the crime by publishing that he died of apoplexy! [ the following March 19, comes in person to ensure the execution of the murder, then has him secretly buried on March 22, around six o'clock in the evening, under the name of Étienne Durand, aged sixty, - when Vinache was only thirty-eight, - and completes the crime by publishing that he had died of apoplexy! [ the following March 19, comes in person to ensure the execution of the murder, then has him secretly buried on March 22, around six o'clock in the evening, under the name of Étienne Durand, aged sixty, - when Vinache was only thirty-eight, - and completes the crime by publishing that he had died of apoplexy! [A mystery at the Bastille. Étienne Vinache, empirical physician and alchemist (17th century) , by doctor Roger Goulard, from Brie-Comte-Robert. In the Bulletin of the French Society for the History of Medicine, t. XIV, nos. 11 and 12.] Who then, after that, would dare to find it strange that the alchemists refuse to confide their secret, and prefer to surround themselves with mystery and silence?

The so-called Confrérie de la Rose-Croix never had a social existence. The Adepts bearing the title are only brothers by the knowledge and the success of their works. No oath binds them, no statute binds them together, no rule other than the hermetic discipline freely accepted, voluntarily observed, influences their free will. Everything that has been written or told, according to the legend attributed to the theologian of Cawle, is apocryphal and worthy, at most, of feeding the imagination, the romantic fantasy of a Bulwer Lytton. The Rosicrucians did not know each other; they had no meeting place, headquarters, temple, ritual, or outward mark of recognition. They paid no dues and would never have accepted the title, given to certain other brothers, ofstomach knights: the banquets were unknown to them. They were and still are isolated, workers dispersed in the world, “cosmopolitan” researchers according to the narrowest acceptance of the term. As the Adepts do not recognize any hierarchical degree, it follows that the Rose-Croix is ​​not a degree, but the only consecration of their secret works, that of experience, positive light whose existence a living faith had revealed to them. Certainly, some masters were able to gather around them young aspirants, accept the mission of advising them, directing them, directing their efforts and forming small initiatory centers of which they were the soul, sometimes recognized, often mysterious. But we certify - and very relevant reasons allow us to speak thus - that there was never, between the possessors of the title, no other link than that of scientific truth confirmed by the acquisition of the stone. If the Rose-Croix are brothers by discovery, work and science, brothers by deeds and works, it is in the manner of the philosophical concept, which considers all individuals as members of the same human family.

In short, the great classical authors who taught, in their literary or artistic works, the precepts of our philosophy and the mysteries of art; those also who left irrefutable proof of their mastery, all are brothers of the true Rose-Croix. And it is to these scholars, famous or unknown, that the anonymous translator of a famous book is addressing himself when he says in his Preface: “As it is only by the cross that the true faithful must be tested, it is to you, Brothers of the true Rose-Croix, who possess all the treasures of the world, it is to you to whom I have recourse. I submit myself entirely to your pious and wise advice; I know they can only be good, because I know how endowed you are with virtues above the rest of men. As you are the givers of Science,Ad locum , says Ecclesiastes, unde exeunt flumina revertuntur, ut iterum fluant . Everything is yours, everything comes from you, everything will therefore return to you. » [ The Text of Alchymie and the Verd Dream . Paris, Laurent d'Houry, 1695. Preface, p. 25 et seq.]

May the reader excuse this digression which has taken us further than we wished. But it seemed necessary to us to clearly establish what the true and traditional hermetic Rose-Croix is, to isolate it from other vulgar groups placed under the same sign and to allow us to clearly distinguish the rare initiates from the impostors taking pride in a title whose acquisition they could not justify.

[In the 19th century, two Rosicrucian orders were created and quickly fell into oblivion: 1° Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix, founded by Stanislas de Guaïta; 2° Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple and of the Grail, founded in Toulouse, around 1850, by the Viscount of Lapasse, spagyric doctor, pupil of Prince Balbiani of Palermo, alleged disciple of Cagliostro. Joséphin Péladan, who gave himself the title of Sâr, was one of the aesthetic animators. This idealist movement, devoid of enlightened initiatory direction and solid philosophical basis, could only have a limited duration. The Rosicrucian Salon opened its doors from 1892 to 1897 and ceased to exist.]


III (Louis d'Estissac)

Let us now resume the study of the curious motifs imagined by Louis d'Estissac for the hermetic decoration of his fireplace.

In the right panel, opposite the one we have just analyzed, we notice the mask of an old man, previously identified, holding in his jaw two plant stems with leaves and each bearing a flower bud about to open. These stems set a kind of open almond, inside which we can see a vase decorated with scales and containing flower buds, fruits, ears of corn. We find there the hieroglyphic expression of the vegetation, the nutrition and the growth of the nascent body of which we have spoken. On its own, corn, deliberately placed next to flowers and fruits, is a very eloquent symbol. Its Greek name, ζέα, derives from ζάω, to live, to subsist, to exist. The scaly vase represents this primitive substance that nature offers to the artist, on leaving the mine, and with which he begins his work. It is from this that he extracts the various elements he needs; it is with it and through it that the whole work is done. The philosophers have depicted it under the image of the black dragon covered with scales, which the Chinese call Loung, and whose analogy is perfect with the hermetic monster. Like him, it is a species of winged serpent, with a horned head, throwing fire and flame through its nostrils, with a black, scaly body carried on four stocky legs armed with five claws each. The gigantic dragon of the Scythian banners was called Apophis. Now, the Greek ἀπόφυσις, which means excrescence, offshoot, has as its root ἀποφύω, with the meaning of pushing, growing, producing, being born from. The vegetative power indicated by the fructifications of the symbolic vase is therefore expressly confirmed in the mythical dragon, which unfolds into common mercury or the first solvent. Subsequently, this primitive mercury, joined to some fixed body, makes it volatile, living, vegetative and fruitful. It then changes its name by changing its quality and becomes the mercury of the wise, the humid metallic radical, the celestial salt or flowery salt. "In Mercurio est quicquid quaerunt Sapientes"—everything the sages seek is in mercury, our old authors repeat at will. One could not better express on stone the nature and the function of this vase that so many artists know, without knowing what it is capable of producing. Without him, without this mercury drawn from our Magnesia, Philalethes assures us, it is useless to light the lamp or the furnace of the Philosophers. We will not say more about it here, because we will still have the opportunity to return to this subject and to develop further the major arcana of great art.


IV (Louis d'Estissac)

In front of the central panel, the observer cannot resist an instinctive movement of surprise, so singular is its decoration (pl. XVI).




FONTENAY-LE-COMTE
NEWFOUNDLAND CASTLE
Fireplace in the Grand Salon
Central motif
Plate XVI


Two human monsters support a crown formed of leaves and fruits, which circumscribes a simple French shield. One of them presents the horrible facies of cleft lip on a hairless and mamelled torso. The other has the alert face of a mischievous and mischievous kid, but with the hairy bust of an anthropoid. If the arms and the hands offer no other peculiarity than their excessive thinness, on the other hand the lower limbs, covered with long and bushy hairs, end in one in feline claws, in the other in claws of birds of prey. These nightmarish beings, affected by a long curved tail, are crowned with incredible helmets, one scaly, the other streaked, the top of which rolls up in the shape of an ammonite. Between these repulsive-looking "stephanophores", and placed above them in the axis of the composition, a mask of a grimacing man, with round eyes, with frizzy hair weighing down the low forehead, holds in his open and bestial jaw the central shield by a light cord. Finally, a bucranium, occupying the lower part of the panel, completes this apocalyptic quaternary on a macabre note.

As for the shield, the bizarre figures it bears seem to have been taken from some old grimoire. At first sight, one would think they were borrowed from the dark Clavicles of Solomon , images traced with fresh blood on the virgin parchment, and which indicate, in their disturbing zigzags, the ritual movements that the forked wand must execute under the fingers of the sorcerer.

Such are the symbolic elements offered to the sagacity of the student and skilfully concealed under the decorative harmony of this strange subject. We are going to try to explain them as clearly as we can, even if it means asking for the help of the philosophical verb, or having recourse to the language of the gods when we judge that we cannot, without overstepping the bounds, push this teaching further.

The two gnomes facing each other translate—the reader will have guessed—our two metallic principles, bodies or primary natures, with the help of which the Work begins, perfects and ends. [Greek γνῶμα, phonetic equivalent of French gnome, means the index, which serves to make known, to classify, to identify a thing; it is its distinctive sign. Γνώμων is also the indicator sign of the solar march, the needle of the sundials and our gnomon. To meditate. An important secret is hidden under this cabal.] They are the sulphurous and mercurial geniuses in charge of the guarding of the underground treasures, nocturnal artisans of the hermetic work, familiar to the sage whom they serve, honor, enrich with their incessant labor. They are the possessors of earthly secrets, the revealers of mineral mysteries. The gnome, a fictional creature, deformed but active, is the esoteric expression of metallic life, of the occult dynamism of raw bodies that art can condense into a pure substance. Rabbinical tradition reports, in the Talmud, that a gnome cooperated in the construction of the temple of Solomon, which means that the philosopher's stone had to enter there for a certain part. But, closer to us, our Gothic cathedrals, according to Georges Stahl, are they not indebted to him for the inimitable color of their stained glass windows? “Our stone, writes an anonymous person, has two more very surprising virtues; the first with regard to glass, to which it gives all sorts of colors internally, as to the panes of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and to those of the churches of Saint-Gatien and Saint-Martin in the city of Tours. » [ aren't they indebted to him for the inimitable color of their stained-glass windows? “Our stone, writes an anonymous person, has two more very surprising virtues; the first with regard to glass, to which it gives all sorts of colors internally, as to the panes of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and to those of the churches of Saint-Gatien and Saint-Martin in the city of Tours. » [ aren't they indebted to him for the inimitable color of their stained-glass windows? “Our stone, writes an anonymous person, has two more very surprising virtues; the first with regard to glass, to which it gives all sorts of colors internally, as to the panes of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and to those of the churches of Saint-Gatien and Saint-Martin in the city of Tours. » [Key to the Great Work, or Letters from the Touraine Sancelrian . Paris, Cailleau, 1777, p. 65.]

Thus, the dark, latent and potential life of the two primitive mineral substances develops by the contact, the struggle, the union of their contrary natures, one igneous, the other aqueous. These are our elements, and there are no others. When philosophers speak of three principles, describing them and purposely distinguishing them, they use a subtle artifice intended to throw the neophyte into the cruellest embarrassment. We therefore certify, with the best authors, that two bodies are enough to accomplish the Magisterium from beginning to end. “It is not possible to acquire possession of our mercury, says the Ancient War of the Knights, otherwise than by means of two bodies, one of which cannot receive without the other the perfection which is required of it. If we must admit a third, we will find it in that which results from their assembly and is born from their reciprocal destruction. Because in vain you seek, multiply the tests, you will never find other parents of the stone than the two aforesaid bodies, qualified as principles, from which comes the third, heir to the mixed qualities and virtues of its parents. This important point deserves to be clarified. Now, these two principles, hostile because contrary, are so expressive on Louis d'Estissac's fireplace that even the beginner will recognize them without difficulty. We find there, humanized, the hermetic dragons described by Nicolas Flamel, one winged, — the hare-lip monster, — the other flightless, — the hairy-chested gnome. “Contemplate these two dragons carefully, the Adept tells us, for they are the true principles of philosophy, which the Sages did not dare show to their own children. The one below without wings is the fixed or the male, and the one above is the volatile or the black and dark female, which will take over for several months. [It is this woman who says of herself, in the Song of Songs (chap. I, v. 4): Nigra sum sed formosa, I am black, but I am beautiful.] The first is called sulfur or calidity and dryness, and the last quicksilver or frigidity and humidity. They are the sun and the moon, of mercurial source and sulphurous origin, which, by continual fire, adorn themselves with royal ornaments to conquer, being united, and then change into quintessence, all solid metallic things, hard and strong. These are the snakes and dragons that the ancient Egyptians painted in a circle, the head biting the tail, to say that they came from the same thing and that it alone was sufficient, and that in its contour and circulation it was perfected. These are the dragons that the ancient poets set to guard without sleep the golden apples of the gardens of the Hesperides virgins. These are the ones on which Jason, in the adventure of the Golden Toyson, poured the juice prepared by the beautiful Medea, speeches with which the books of the Philosophers are so full that no philosopher has ever been but has not written them, from the truthful Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Artephius, Morienus and the others who follow until me. It is these two serpents sent and given by Juno, which is the metallic nature, that the strong Hercules, that is to say, the Sage must strangle in his cradle, that is to say, conquer and kill, to make them rot, corrupt and engender, at the beginning of his Work. These are the two serpents attached around the Caduceus and Rod of Mercury, with which he exercises his great power and transfigures himself as he wishes. Whoever, says Haly, will kill one, he will also kill the other, because one can only die with his brother; these (which Avicenna calls Bitch of Corascene and Dog of Armenia), these two are therefore united together in the vessel of the sepulchre, they both bite each other, cruelly, and by their great poison and furious rage, never let go of each other since the moment that they seized each other... Avicenna and Abraham the Jew) in the kidneys, bowels, and operations of the four elements. It is the humidity of the metals, Sulfur and Quicksilver, not the vulgar ones that are sold by merchants and apoticaries, but those that give us these two beautiful and dear bodies that we love so much. These two sperms, said Democritus, are not found in the land of the living. » [The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures of Nicolas Flamel, writer, as they are in the fourth arch of the cymetiere des Innocens in Paris, entering by the door rue Saint-Denis, in the right hand, with the explanation of them by the dict Flamel, dealing with metallic Transmutation, never printed . Translated by P. Arnauld. In Three Treatises of Natural Philosophy . Paris, G. Marette, 1612.]

Serpents or dragons, the hieroglyphic forms reported by the old masters as figurative of materials ready to be worked present, on the work of art of Fontenay-le-Comte, some very remarkable particularities, due to the cabalistic genius, to the extensive science of their author. What esoterically specifies these anthropomorphic beings is not only their griffin-like feet and their hairy limbs, but also and above all their helmet. This hairstyle, finished in Ammon's horn, and which is called in Greek κράνος, because it covers the head and protects the skull (κρανίον), will allow us to identify them. Already, the Greek word which is used to designate the head, Κρανίον, brings us a useful indication, because it also marks the place of Calvary, Golgotha ​​where Jesus, Redeemer of men, had to suffer the Passion in his flesh before being transfigured into spirit. Now, our two principles, one of which bears the cross and the other the spear which will pierce his side, are an image, a reflection of the Passion of Christ. [Longin, in the Passion of N.-S. Jesus Christ plays the same role as Saint Michael and Saint George; Cadmus, Perseus, Jason make a similar gesture among the pagans. He pierces the side of Christ with a lance, as the celestial knights and the Greek heroes pierce the dragon. This is a symbolic act whose positive application to hermetic work proves to be fraught with happy consequences.] Like Him, if they are to resuscitate in a new body, clean, glorious, spiritualized, they must together climb their Calvary, endure the torments of the fire and die of slow agony, at the end of a bitter fight (ἀγωνία).

We know, moreover, that the blowers called their alembic homo galeatus —the man wearing a helmet—because it was composed of a gourd covered with its capital. Our two helmeted geniuses cannot therefore represent anything other than the alembic of the sages, or the two assembled bodies, the container and the content, the material itself and its own vessel. Because if the reactions are necessarily provoked by one (agent), they only work by breaking the balance of the other (patient), which serves as a receptacle and vase for the contrary energy of the adverse nature.

In this motif, the agent is distinguished by his striped helmet. Indeed, the Greek word ῥαβδοειδής, striated, striped, striped, has for root ῥάβδος, rod, stick, wand, scepter, caduceus, javelin shaft, dart. These different senses characterize most of the attributes of active matter, masculine and fixed. It is first of all the wand that Mercury throws between the grass snake and the serpent (Rhea and Jupiter), on which they roll up while realizing the Caduceus, emblem of peace and reconciliation. All Hermetic authors speak of a terrible fight between two dragons, and Mythology teaches us that such was the origin of the attribute of Hermes, who brought about their agreement by interposing his stick. It is the sign of union and harmony that must be achieved between fire and water. Now, fire being represented by the hieroglyph Δ,∇ , the two superimposed form the image of the star, certain mark of union, pacification and procreation, because star (stella), means fixation of the sun.

This esoteric truth is masterfully expressed in the Hymn of the Christian Church:

Latte sol in sidere,
Oriens in vespere,
Artifex in opere;
Per gratiam
Redditor and traditur
Ad patriam

The sun is hidden under the star,
The East in the sunset;
The craftsman is hidden in the work;
By the help of grace,
He is returned and brought back
To his homeland.

And, in fact, the sign only shows itself after the fight, when everything has become calm and the initial excitement has ceased. The seal of Solomon, a geometric figure resulting from the assembly of the triangles of fire and water, confirms the union of heaven and earth. It is the messianic star heralding the birth of the King of kings; moreover, κηρύκειον, caduceus, a Greek word derived from κηρυκεύω, to publish, to announce, reveals that the distinctive emblem of Mercury is the sign of the good news. Among the Indians of North America, the pipe which they use in their civil and religious ceremonies is a symbol analogous to the caduceus, as much in its form as in its meaning. “It is, says Noel, a large smoking pipe, of red, black or white marble. It looks rather like a war hammer; the head is well polished, and the pipe, two and a half feet long, is a fairly strong cane, adorned with feathers of all kinds of colors, with several braids of women's hair interwoven in various ways. Two wings are attached to it, which makes it quite similar to the caduceus of Mercury, or the wand that ambassadors of peace once carried. This cane is implanted in the necks of loons, birds speckled with white and black, and as big as our geese… This pipe is in the greatest veneration among the savages, who respect it as a precious gift that the Sun has given to men; also it is the symbol of peace, the seal of all important business undertakings and public ceremonies. " [Fr. Christmas, with several braids of women's hair intertwined in several ways. Two wings are attached to it, which makes it quite similar to the caduceus of Mercury, or the wand that ambassadors of peace once carried. This cane is implanted in the necks of loons, birds speckled with white and black, and as big as our geese… This pipe is in the greatest veneration among the savages, who respect it as a precious gift that the Sun has given to men; also it is the symbol of peace, the seal of all important business undertakings and public ceremonies. " [Fr. Christmas, with several braids of women's hair intertwined in several ways. Two wings are attached to it, which makes it quite similar to the caduceus of Mercury, or the wand that ambassadors of peace once carried. This cane is implanted in the necks of loons, birds speckled with white and black, and as big as our geese… This pipe is in the greatest veneration among the savages, who respect it as a precious gift that the Sun has given to men; also it is the symbol of peace, the seal of all important business undertakings and public ceremonies. " [Fr. Christmas, This cane is implanted in the necks of loons, birds speckled with white and black, and as big as our geese… This pipe is in the greatest veneration among the savages, who respect it as a precious gift that the Sun has given to men; also it is the symbol of peace, the seal of all important business undertakings and public ceremonies. " [Fr. Christmas, This cane is implanted in the necks of loons, birds speckled with white and black, and as big as our geese… This pipe is in the greatest veneration among the savages, who respect it as a precious gift that the Sun has given to men; also it is the symbol of peace, the seal of all important business undertakings and public ceremonies. " [Fr. Christmas,Dictionary of Greek, Latin, Egyptian, Celtic, Persian, etc. Fable or Mythology. Paris, Le Normant, 1801.] The baguette of Hermes is truly the scepter of the sovereign of our art, hermetic gold, vile, abject and despised, more sought after by the philosopher than pure natural gold; the rod which the high priest Aaron changed into a serpent, and that from which Moses (Exodus, XVII, 5, 6), — imitated in this by Jesus, — strikes the rock, that is to say the passive matter, and causes the pure water hidden in his bosom to spring forth; [According to the Armenian version of the Gospel of the Childhood, translated by Paul Peeters, Jesus, during his stay in Egypt, renews, in the presence of children of his age, the miracle of Moses. "Now Jesus arose, stood in the midst of them, and struck the rock with his rod, and at the same time there sprang from that rock a spring of abundant and delicious water, with which he drank them all. This source still exists today. »] is the ancient dragon of Basil Valentine, whose tongue and tail end in a stinger, which brings us back to the symbolic serpent,serpens aut draco qui caudam devours.

As for the second body—patient and feminine—Louis d'Estissac had it represented as a hare-lip gnome, provided with breasts and wearing a scaly helmet. We already knew, from the descriptions left by the classical authors, that this mineral substance, such as it is extracted from its mine, is scaly, black, hard and dry. Some called her a leper. Now, the Greek λεπίς, λεπίδος, scales, has among its derivatives the word λέπρα, leprosy, because this formidable infection covers the epidermis with pustules and scales. It is therefore essential to drive out the gross and superficial impurity of the body by stripping it of its scaly envelope (λεπίζω), an operation which can easily be carried out with the aid of the active principle, the agent with the striated helmet. Taking the example of the gesture of Moses, it will suffice to hit this rock (λέπας), which looks arid and dry, three times, to see the mysterious water it contains spring up. This is the first solvent, common mercury of the wise, loyal servant of the artist, the only one he needs and that nothing can replace, according to the testimony of Geber and the oldest Adepts. Its volatile quality, which allowed philosophers to liken this mercury to the vulgar hydrargyre, is moreover underlined, on our bas-relief, by the tiny lepidopteran wings (gr. λεπίδος-πτερόν) attached to the shoulders of the symbolic monster. However, the best denomination that the authors have given to their mercury seems to us to be that of Spirit of Magnesia. For they call Magnesia (from the Greek µάγνης, loving) the raw feminine matter, which attracts, by an occult virtue, the spirit enclosed under the hard bark of the steel of the sages. The latter, penetrating like an ardent flame the body of passive nature, burns, consumes its heterogeneous parts, drives out the arsenical (or leprous) sulfur and animates the pure mercury which it contains, which appears in the conventional form of a liquor both moist and igneous, — water-fire of the ancients, — which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent. “As steel pulls the magnet towards itself, writes Philalethes, so the magnet turns towards steel. This is what the magnet of the wise does to their steel. This is why, having already said that our steel is the mine of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the real mine of the steel of the wise. » [ penetrating like an ardent flame the body of passive nature, burns, consumes its heterogeneous parts, expels from it the arsenical (or leprous) sulfur and animates the pure mercury which it contains, which appears in the conventional form of a liquor both moist and igneous, — fire-water of the ancients, — which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent. “As steel pulls the magnet towards itself, writes Philalethes, so the magnet turns towards steel. This is what the magnet of the wise does to their steel. This is why, having already said that our steel is the mine of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the real mine of the steel of the wise. » [ penetrating like an ardent flame the body of passive nature, burns, consumes its heterogeneous parts, expels from it the arsenical (or leprous) sulfur and animates the pure mercury which it contains, which appears in the conventional form of a liquor both moist and igneous, — fire-water of the ancients, — which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent. “As steel pulls the magnet towards itself, writes Philalethes, so the magnet turns towards steel. This is what the magnet of the wise does to their steel. This is why, having already said that our steel is the mine of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the real mine of the steel of the wise. » [ which appears in the conventional form of a liquor at once moist and igneous—fire-water of the ancients—which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent. “As steel pulls the magnet towards itself, writes Philalethes, so the magnet turns towards steel. This is what the magnet of the wise does to their steel. This is why, having already said that our steel is the mine of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the real mine of the steel of the wise. » [ which appears in the conventional form of a liquor at once moist and igneous—fire-water of the ancients—which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent. “As steel pulls the magnet towards itself, writes Philalethes, so the magnet turns towards steel. This is what the magnet of the wise does to their steel. This is why, having already said that our steel is the mine of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the real mine of the steel of the wise. » [ having already said that our steel is the miner of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the true miner of the steel of the wise. » [ having already said that our steel is the miner of gold, we must likewise remark that our magnet is the true miner of the steel of the wise. » [Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium . Op.cit., chap. IV, I.]

Finally, — a detail useless in the work, but which we mention because it supports our examination — a term close to λεπίς, the word λέπορις, formerly designated, in the Aeolian dialect, the hare (lat. lepus, leporis), whence this oral deformity, inexplicable a priori, but necessary for the cabalistic expression, which imprints of our gnomide his characteristic physiognomy…

At this point, we need to pause. We wonder. The path, overgrown, covered with brambles and thorns, becomes impassable. A few steps away, we instinctively guess the gaping abyss. Cruel uncertainty. To advance further, the hand in that of the disciple, would this be an act of wisdom? In truth, Pandora accompanies us, but, alas! what can we expect? The fatal box, imprudently opened, is now empty. Nothing remains to us but only hope!…

It is here, in fact, that the authors, already very enigmatic in the preparation of the solvent, are obstinately silent. Covering in profound silence the process of the second operation, they pass directly to the descriptions concerning the third, that is to say, the phases and regimes of the coction; then, using the terminology used for the first, they make the beginner believe that common mercury is equivalent to Rebis or compost and, as such, must be cooked quite simply in a closed vessel. Philalethes, although writing under the same discipline, claims to fill the void left by his predecessors. To read his Introitus, we do not distinguish any cut; only false manipulations make up for the lack of true ones. They fill in the gaps in such a way that the one and the other are linked and welded together without leaving a trace of artifice. Such flexibility makes it impossible for the layman to separate the chaff from the wheat, the bad from the good, the error from the truth. We hardly need to affirm how much we condemn such abuses, which are, in spite of the rule, only so many disguised mystifications. Kabbalah and symbolism offer enough resources to express what should only be understood by the few; we consider, on the other hand, silence preferable to the most skilfully presented lie.

One might be surprised that we pass such a severe judgment on part of the work of the famous Adept, but others, before us, have not been afraid to level the same reproaches at him. Tollius, Naxagoras, Limojon de Saint-Didier especially, unmasked the insidious and perfidious formula, and we are in perfect agreement with them. It is that the mystery which covers our second operation is the greatest of all; it touches, in fact, on the elaboration of philosophical mercury, which has never been openly taught. Some resorted to allegory, riddles, parables; but most masters have refrained from treating this delicate question. “It is true, writes Limojon de Saint-Didier, that there are philosophers who, appearing to be very sincere, nevertheless throw artists into this error, maintaining very seriously that those who do not know the gold of the Philosophers will nevertheless be able to find it in common gold, cooked with the Mercury of the Philosophers. Philalethe is of this feeling. He asserts that Le Trevisan, Zachaire and Flamel followed this path; he adds, however, that it is not the true path of the Sages, although it leads to the same end. But these assurances, sincere as they appear, do not fail to deceive the artists, who, wanting to follow the same Philalethes in the purification and the animation that he teaches of the common mercury to make it the Mercury of the Philosophers (which is a very gross error under which he has hidden the secret of the Mercury of the Sages), undertaking on his word a very painful and absolutely impossible work. Also, after a long labor full of boredom and danger, they only have a mercury a little more impure than it was before, instead of a mercury animated by the celestial quintessence. A deplorable error, which has lost, ruined, and will still ruin a great number of artists. » [The Hermetic Triumph . Op.cit., p. 71.] And yet, the researchers who have successfully overcome the first obstacles and drawn the living water from the ancient Fountain, possess a key capable of opening the doors of the hermetic laboratory. [This key was given to neophytes by the Krater ceremony (Κρατηρίζω, rac. κρατήρ, basin, large cup or fountain basin), which consecrated the first initiation into the mysteries of the Dionysian cult.]

If they wander and languish, if they multiply their attempts without discovering a happy outcome, this is doubtless due to the fact that they have not acquired sufficient knowledge of the doctrine. Let them not despair however; meditation, study and, above all, a lively, unshakable faith, will finally draw heaven's blessing to their work. "Truly I tell you, cries Jesus (Matt., XVII, 19), if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mountain, 'Pass by there,' and it would pass, and nothing would be impossible for you. For faith, spiritual certainty of the truth not yet demonstrated, foreknowledge of the realizable, is this torch that God has placed in the human soul to enlighten, guide, instruct and elevate it. Our senses often lead us astray; faith never deceives us. “Faith alone, writes an anonymous philosopher, formulates a positive will; doubt makes it neutral and skepticism negative. To believe before knowing is cruel for scholars; but what do you want? Nature will not recover, even for them; and she claims to impose faith on us, that is to say trust in her, in order to grant us her graces. I admit, as for me, that I have always found her generous enough to indulge her in this fancy. » [ that I have always found her generous enough to indulge her in this fantasy. » [ that I have always found her generous enough to indulge her in this fantasy. » [How the Spirit Comes to the Tables, by a Man Who Has Not Lost His Mind . Paris, New Library, 1854.]

Let investigators therefore learn, before incurring new expenses, what differentiates the first mercury from the philosophical mercury; when you know what you are looking for, it becomes easier to direct your path. Let them know that their solvent, or common mercury, is the result of the work of nature, while the mercury of the wise remains a production of art. In making it, the artist, applying natural laws, knows what he wants to achieve. It is not the same for common mercury, for God forbids man to penetrate its mystery. All philosophers are unaware, and many admit it, in what way the initial materials, brought into contact, react, interpenetrate, finally unite under the veil of darkness which envelops, from beginning to end, the intimate exchanges of this singular procreation. This explains why writers have shown themselves so reserved on the subject of the philosophical mercury, whose operator can follow, understand and direct the successive phases at will. If the technique requires some time and requires some effort, it is, on the other hand, extremely simple. Any layman, knowing how to maintain a fire, will execute it as well as an expert alchemist. It requires neither special knack nor professional skill, but only the knowledge of a curious artifice, which constitutes this If the technique requires some time and requires some effort, it is, on the other hand, extremely simple. Any layman, knowing how to maintain a fire, will execute it as well as an expert alchemist. It requires neither special knack nor professional skill, but only the knowledge of a curious artifice, which constitutes this If the technique requires some time and requires some effort, it is, on the other hand, extremely simple. Any layman, knowing how to maintain a fire, will execute it as well as an expert alchemist. It requires neither special knack nor professional skill, but only the knowledge of a curious artifice, which constitutes thissecretum secretorum , which has not been revealed and probably never will be. It is about this operation, the success of which ensures the possession of the Philosopher's Rebis, that Jacques Le Tesson, quoting Damascene, writes that this Adept, at the moment of undertaking the work, "looked all over the room to see if there were no flies in it, wanting by this to mean that it could not be kept too secret, for the danger that may arise from it. » [ The Great and Excellent Work of the Sages , by Jacques Le Tesson. Second dialogue of Lyon Verd, chap. VI, ms. 17th century, bibl. of Lyons, no. 971.]

Before going further, let us say of this unknown artifice – which from the chemical point of view one should qualify as absurd, preposterous or paradoxical, because its inexplicable action defies all scientific rules – that it marks the crossroads where alchemical science deviates from chemical science. Applied to other bodies, it furnishes, under the same conditions, so many unforeseen results, substances endowed with surprising qualities. This single and powerful means thus allows a development of an unsuspected scale, by the multiple new simple elements and the compounds derived from these same elements, but whose genesis remains an enigma for the chemical reason. This, of course, should not be taught. If we have penetrated into this reserved domain of the hermetic; if, bolder than our predecessors, we have pointed it out, it is because we wanted to show: 1° that alchemy is a true science, susceptible, like chemistry, of extension and progress, and not the empirical acquisition of a secret of the manufacture of precious metals; 2° that alchemy and chemistry are two positive, exact and real sciences, although different from each other, both in practice and in theory; (3) that chemistry cannot, for these reasons, claim an alchemical origin; 4° finally, that the innumerable properties, more or less marvelous, attributed en bloc by the philosophers to the single philosopher's stone each belong to the unknown substances obtained starting from materials and chemical bodies, but treated according to the secret technique of our Magisterium. susceptible, like chemistry, of extension and progress, and not the empirical acquisition of a secret of the manufacture of precious metals; 2° that alchemy and chemistry are two positive, exact and real sciences, although different from each other, both in practice and in theory; (3) that chemistry cannot, for these reasons, claim an alchemical origin; 4° finally, that the innumerable properties, more or less marvelous, attributed en bloc by the philosophers to the single philosopher's stone each belong to the unknown substances obtained starting from materials and chemical bodies, but treated according to the secret technique of our Magisterium. susceptible, like chemistry, of extension and progress, and not the empirical acquisition of a secret of the manufacture of precious metals; 2° that alchemy and chemistry are two positive, exact and real sciences, although different from each other, both in practice and in theory; (3) that chemistry cannot, for these reasons, claim an alchemical origin; 4° finally, that the innumerable properties, more or less marvelous, attributed en bloc by the philosophers to the single philosopher's stone each belong to the unknown substances obtained starting from materials and chemical bodies, but treated according to the secret technique of our Magisterium. and not the empirical acquisition of a secret of the manufacture of precious metals; 2° that alchemy and chemistry are two positive, exact and real sciences, although different from each other, both in practice and in theory; (3) that chemistry cannot, for these reasons, claim an alchemical origin; 4° finally, that the innumerable properties, more or less marvelous, attributed en bloc by the philosophers to the single philosopher's stone each belong to the unknown substances obtained starting from materials and chemical bodies, but treated according to the secret technique of our Magisterium. and not the empirical acquisition of a secret of the manufacture of precious metals; 2° that alchemy and chemistry are two positive, exact and real sciences, although different from each other, both in practice and in theory; (3) that chemistry cannot, for these reasons, claim an alchemical origin; 4° finally, that the innumerable properties, more or less marvelous, attributed en bloc by the philosophers to the single philosopher's stone each belong to the unknown substances obtained starting from materials and chemical bodies, but treated according to the secret technique of our Magisterium.

It is not for us to teach in what consists the artifice used in the production of philosophical mercury. To our great regret, and despite all the concern we have for the "sons of science", we must imitate the example of the sages, who have deemed it prudent to reserve this signal word. We will limit ourselves to saying that this second mercury, or next matter of the Work, is the result of the reactions of two bodies, one fixed, the other volatile; the first, veiled under the epithet of philosophical gold, is by no means vulgar gold; the second is our living water previously described as common mercury. it is by the dissolution of the metallic body with the help of living water, that the artist comes into possession of the radical humidity of metals, their seed, permanent water or salt of wisdom, essential principle, quintessence of dissolved metal. This solution, carried out according to the rules of the art, with all the provisions and conditions required, is very far from analogous chemical operations. She looks nothing like them. In addition to the length of time and the knowledge of the appropriate means, it requires numerous and painful reiterations. It is tedious work. Philalethes himself proclaims it when he says: “We who have worked and know the operation, certainly know that there is no labor more boring than that of our first preparation. [We see that the Adept speaks of the preparation of the philosophical Mercury as being the first of all. He deliberately omits that which procures the universal solvent, which he supposes known and complete. In reality, it is the first operation of the second work.Hermetic secret that the labor required for the first operation was a labor of Hercules. » [ Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium. Op.cit., chap. VIII, 3, 4.] Here we must follow the excellent advice of the Hermetic Triumph, and not be afraid "to water the earth often with its water, and to dry it out as many times". By these successive leachings, or Flamel washes, by these frequent and renewed immersions, one gradually extracts the viscous, oleaginous and pure humidity of the metal "in which, assures Limojon de Saint-Didier, resides the energy and the great efficiency of the philosophical mercury". The living water, "more celestial than terrestrial", acting on the grave matter, breaks its cohesion, softens it, dissolves it little by little, attaches itself to the only pure parts of the disaggregated mass, abandons the others and rises to the surface, carrying away what it has been able to grasp that conforms to its fiery and spiritual nature. This important character of the ascent of the subtle by the separation of the thick caused the operation of the mercury of the sages to be called sublimation. [“You will separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the thick, gently, with great industry. » Hermes Trismegistus in the Emerald Tablet.] Our solvent, all spirit, plays the symbolic role of the eagle carrying off its prey, and this is the reason why Philalethes, the Cosmopolitan, Cyliani, d'Espagnet and several others recommend us to give it flight, insisting on the need to make it fly. For spirit rises and matter rushes. What is cream if not the best part of milk? However, Basile Valentin teaches that the "philosopher's stone is made in the same way as the villagers make butter", by beating or stirring the cream, which represents, in this similarity, our philosophical mercury. Also, all the artist's attention must be focused on the extraction of mercury, which collects on the surface of the dissolved compound, skimming off the viscous and metallic oiliness as it is produced. This is what the two characters of theMutus Liber , where we see a woman skimming off, with the help of a spoon, the liquor contained in a terrine which her husband holds within reach. [ Mutus Liber, in quo tamen Philosophia Hermetica figuris hieroglyphicis depingitur, ter optimo maximo Deo misericordi consecratus solisque filiis artis dedicatus authore cujus nomen est Altus.] “Such is, writes Philalethes, the order of our operation, and such is our whole philosophy. Hermes, designating basic and fixed matter by the solar hieroglyph, and its solvent by the lunar symbol, explains it in a few words: "The sun, he says, is his father, and the moon his mother." We will also understand the secret meaning contained in these words of the same author: "The wind carried him in his belly." “Wind or air are epithets applied to living water, which its volatility causes to vanish in the fire without leaving any residual trace. And as this water - our hermetic moon - penetrates the fixed nature of the philosophical sun, that it retains and assembles its noblest particles, the philosopher is right to assert that the wind is the matrix of our mercury, quintessence of the gold of the wise and pure mineral seed. “He who has softened the dry Sun, says Henckel, by means of the moist Moon, so that one has become similar to the other and they remain united, has found the holy water which flows in the Garden of the Hesperides. » [J.-F. Henkel,Flora Saturnisans . Paris, J.-T. Herissant, 1760, ch. IV, p. 78.]

It is thus that the first term of the axiom Solve et Coagula is fulfilled , by the regular volatilization of the fixed and by its combination with the volatile; the body is spiritualized, and the metallic soul, abandoning its soiled garment, puts on another of greater value, to which the ancient masters gave the name of philosophical mercury. It is the water of the two champions of Basile Valentin, the production of which is taught by the engraving of its second key. One of these carries an eagle on his sword (the fixed body), the other hides behind his back a caduceus (solvent). The entire bottom of the design is occupied by two large outstretched wings, while in the centre, standing between the combatants, appears the god Mercury in the guise of a crowned adolescent, completely naked and holding a caduceus in each hand. The symbolism of this figure is easily penetrated. The wide wings, which serve as a floor for the fencers, mark the purpose of the operation, that is to say the volatilization of the pure portions of the fixed; the eagle indicates how to proceed, and the caduceus designates the one who must attack the adversary, our dissolving mercury. As for the mythological youth, her nudity is the translation of the total stripping of the impure parts, the crown, the index of her nobility. Finally, it symbolizes, by its two caduceus, the double mercury, an epithet that certain Adepts have substituted for that of philosophical, to better differentiate it from simple or common mercury, our living and dissolving water [InThe Twelve Keys of Philosophy , op. cit. above]. It is this double mercury that we find represented, on the chimney of Newfoundland, by the symbolic human head, which holds between its teeth the cord of the escutcheon loaded with emblems. The animal expression of the fiery-eyed mask, its energetic countenance, devoured by appetites, render perceptible the vital power, the generative activity, all those faculties of production which our Mercury has received from the reciprocal concurrence of nature and art. We have seen that it is collected above the water, of which it occupies the surface and the highest place; this is what moved Louis d'Estissac to have his image placed at the top of the decorative panel. As for the bucranium, carved on the same axis, but at the bottom of the composition, it indicates this caput mortuumfilthy, coarse, damned earth of the body, impure, inert and sterile, which the action of the solvent separates, rejects, precipitates like a useless and worthless residue.

The philosophers have translated the union of the fixed and the volatile, of the body and the spirit, by the figure of the serpent which devours its tail. The Ouroboros of the Greek alchemists (οὐρά, tail, βορός, devouring), reduced to its simplest expression, thus takes on a circular form, a symbolic outline of infinity and eternity, as well as of perfection. It is the central circle of mercury in the graphic notation, and the same one that we notice, adorned with leaves and fruits to indicate the vegetative faculty and the fructifying power, on the bas-relief that we are studying. Moreover, the sign is complete, despite the care our Adept took to disguise it. If we examine it well, we will in fact see that the crown bears at its upper curvature the two spiral expansions and, at the lower end, the cross,

It remains for us to dissect the central escutcheon, which we have seen being carried by the human head (and consequently placed under its dependence), the image of the philosophical mercury, dominating the various motifs of the panel. This relationship between the mask and the shield sufficiently shows the essential role of the hermetic material in the cabalistic presentation of these singular coats of arms. These mysterious characters express, in short, all the philosophical labor, no longer with the help of forms borrowed from flora or fauna, but by figures of graphic notation. This paradigm thus constitutes a veritable alchemical formula. Let us first note three stars, characteristic of the three degrees of the Work or, if you prefer, of the three successive states of the same substance. The first of these asterisks, isolated towards the lower third of the crest, designates our first mercury, or this living water of which the two stephanophoric gnomes taught us the composition. By the solution of the philosophical gold, which nothing indicates here or elsewhere, we obtain the philosophical mercury, composed of the fixed and the volatile, not yet radically united, but capable of coagulation. [“You must know that this solution and separation has never been described by any of the ancient Sage Philosophers who lived before me and who knew this Magisterium. And if they talked about it, it was only through riddles and figures, and not openly. Basil Valentine not yet radically united, but capable of coagulation. [“You must know that this solution and separation has never been described by any of the ancient Sage Philosophers who lived before me and who knew this Magisterium. And if they talked about it, it was only through riddles and figures, and not openly. Basil Valentine not yet radically united, but capable of coagulation. [“You must know that this solution and separation has never been described by any of the ancient Sage Philosophers who lived before me and who knew this Magisterium. And if they talked about it, it was only through riddles and figures, and not openly. Basil ValentineTestamentum .] This second mercury is expressed by the two intertwined Vs of the tip, an alchemical sign known to the still. Our mercury is, as we know, the alembic of the sages, of which the curcurbite and the capital represent the two spiritualized and assembled elements. It is with philosophical mercury alone that the sages undertake this long work made up of numerous operations, which they have called coction or maturation.

[The artists who believed that the third work was completed by a continuous coction, requiring no other help than that of a determined fire, of equal and constant temperature, were seriously mistaken. The real coction is not done in such a way, and it is the ultimate stumbling block against which stumble those who, after long and painful efforts, have finally arrived at the possession of the philosophical mercury. A useful indication may straighten them out: the colors are not the work of fire; they appear only by the will of the artist; they can only be observed through the glass, that is to say in each phase of coagulation. But will they be able to understand us well?]

Our compound, subjected to the slow and continuous action of fire, distills, condenses, rises, sinks, swells, becomes pasty, contracts, decreases in volume and, agent of its own cohobations, gradually acquires a solid consistency. Thus raised by one degree, this mercury, which has become fixed by habituation to fire, again needs to be dissolved by the first water, hidden here under the sign I, followed by the letter M, that is to say Spirit of Magnesia, another name for the solvent. In alchemical notation, any bar or line, whatever its direction, is the conventional graphic signature of the spirit, which deserves to be retained if one wants to discover what body is concealed under the epithet of philosophical gold, father of mercury and sun of the Work. [The father of the Greek Hermes was Zeus, the ruler of the gods. Gold, Ζεύς is close to Ζεῦξις, which marks the action of joining, uniting, assembling, marrying.] The capital letter M is used to identify our Magnesia of which it is, moreover, the initial letter. This second liquefaction of the coagulated body has the object of increasing and fortifying it, by feeding it with the mercurial milk to which it must be, life, vegetative power. It becomes volatile again a second time, but only to resume, on contact with fire, the dry, hard consistency it had previously acquired. And so we arrive at the top of the stem of the bizarre character whose appearance recalls the number 4, but which represents, in reality, the way, the path that we must follow. Having reached this point, a third solution, similar to the first two, brings us, always by the right path of the regime, and the linear path of fire, to the second star, seal of the perfect and coagulated matter that it will be enough to cook while continuing the required degrees without ever deviating from this linear way which ends the bar of the spirit, fire or incombustible sulphur. Such is the sign, ardently desired, of the stone or medicine of the first order. As for the flowery branch of a star, located in the hors d'oeuvre, it demonstrates that, by repeating the same technique, the stone can be multiplied in quantity and quality, thanks to the exceptional fecundity it has received from nature and art. Now, as its exuberant fertility comes from the primitive and celestial water, which gives activity and movement to the metallic sulfur, in exchange for its coagulating virtue, we understand that the stone differs from the philosophical mercury only in perfection and not in substance. The sages are therefore right in teaching that "the stone of the philosophers, or our mercury, and the philosopher's stone are one and the same thing, of one and the same species", although one is more mature and more excellent than the other. Touching this mercury, which is also the salt of the sages and the cornerstone of the Work, we will quote a passage from Khunrath, very transparent despite its emphatic style and the abuse of incidental phrases. “The Stone of the Philosophers, says our author, is Ruach Elohim (who rested, — incubebat, — on the waters [Genesis, I]), conceived by the mediation of heaven (God alone, by his pure goodness, willing it so), and made a true body and falling under the senses, in the virginal womb of the primary primary world, or created chaos, that is to say the earth, empty and inane, and water; it is the son born in the light of the Macrocosm, vile in appearance (in the eyes of fools), misshapen and almost insignificant; consubstantial however, and similar to its author (parens), small World (do not imagine here that it is a question of man or of anything else, of or by him), catholic, tri-one, hermaphrodite, visible, sensitive to touch, hearing, smell and taste, local and finite, regeneratively manifested by itself, and, by means of the obstetrical hand of the art of physico- chemistry, glorified in his body from his assumption; capable of serving almost infinite conveniences or uses, and wonderfully salutary to the microcosm and to the macrocosm in the Catholic trinity. O thou, son of perdition, therefore surely leave the quicksilver (ὑδράργυρος) and leave with it all things, whatever they may be, mangonically prepared by thee. You are the type of the sinner, not of the Saviour; you can and must be delivered and not deliver yourself. You are the figure of the mediator who leads to error, ruin and death, and not of the one who is good and who leads to truth, growth and life. He reigned, reigns and will reign naturally and universally over natural things; he is the catholic son of nature, the salt (know it) of saturn, fusible according to his particular constitution, permanent everywhere and always in nature by himself; and, by its origin and its virtue, universal. Listen and be attentive: this salt is the very ancient stone. It's a mystery ! whose nucleus (nucleus) is in the denarius. Shut up harpocracically! Who can understand, understand. I said. The Salt of Wisdom, not without grave cause, has been adorned by the Sapients with many nicknames; they said there was nothing more useful in the world than he and the sun. Study this. » [Henry Khunrath.Amphitheater of Eternal Sapience . Paris, Chacornac, 1900, p. 156.]

But before going further, we will allow ourselves to make a remark of some importance, for the benefit of our brothers and men of good will. Because our intention is to give here the complement of what we taught in a previous work. [See Fulcanelli, The Mystery of the Cathedrals . Paris, J. Schemit, 1926.]

Those of us most educated in traditional Kabbalah have no doubt been struck by the relationship between the path, the path traced by the hieroglyph which takes the form of the number 4, and the mineral antimony or stibium, clearly indicated under this topographic term. Indeed, the oxysulphide of natural antimony was called, among the Greeks, Στίμμι or Στίϐι; now, Στίϐία is the path, the path, the way that the investigator (Στιϐεύς) or pilgrim travels on his journey; it is she whom he tramples under foot (Στείϐω). These considerations, based on an exact correspondence of words, have not escaped the old masters nor the modern philosophers, who, by supporting them with their authority, have contributed to spread the fatal error that vulgar antimony was the mysterious subject of art. Unfortunate confusion, invincible obstacle against which hundreds of researchers have come up against. From Artephius, who begins his treatise with these words: “Antimony is parts of Saturn…” [The Secret Book of the Most Ancient Philosopher Artephius , in Three Treatises of Natural Philosophy . Paris, Guillaume Marette 1612.] up to Philalèthe, who entitles one of his works: Experiments on the Preparation of the Philosophical Mercury by the Regulus of Starry Martial Antimony and Silver , passing through the Triumphal Chariot of Antimony by Basil Valentin, and the dangerous assertion, in his hypocritical positivism, of Batsdorff, the number of those who have allowed themselves to be caught in this crude trap is simply prodigious. The Middle Ages saw blowers and archemists volatilize, without any result, tons of mercury amalgamated with stibia gold. In the 18th century, the learned chemist Jean-Frédéric Henckel admitted, in hisTreatise on Appropriation , that he indulged in these costly and futile experiments for a long time. “The regulus of antimony, he says, is regarded as a means of union between mercury and the metals; and here is the reason: it is no longer mercury and it is not yet a perfect metal; he ceased to be one and began to become the other. However, I must not pass over in silence that I have uselessly undertaken very great labors to unite gold and mercury more intimately by means of the antimony regulus. » [J.-F. Henckel, Mineralogical Booklets, ch. III, 404. Paris, Herissant, 1760.] And who knows if good artists are not still following today the deplorable example of the medieval spagirists? Alas! everyone has their hobby, everyone clings to their idea, and what we can say will not prevail against such a tenacious prejudice. Anything ; our duty being above all to help those who do not feed on chimeras, we will write for those alone, without worrying ourselves any more about the others.

Let us therefore recall that another similarity of words would also make it possible to infer that the philosopher's stone could come from antimony. It is known that the alchemists of the fourteenth century called Kohl or Kohol their Universal Medicine, from the Arabic words al cohol, which means subtle powder, a term which later took on, in our language, the meaning of eau-de-vie (alcohol). In Arabic, Kohl is said to be pulverized antimony oxysulphide, used by Muslim women to dye their eyebrows black. Greek women used the same product, which was called Πλατυόφθαλμον, that is to say big eye, because the use of this article made their eyes look wider (rac. πλατύς, wide, and ὀφθαλμός, eye). These, one will think, are suggestive relations. We would certainly be of the same opinion if we did not know that there was not the least molecule of stibine in the platyophthalmon of the Greeks (sublimated mercury sulphide), the Kohl of the Arabs and the Cohol or Cohel of the Turks. The last two, in fact, were obtained by calcining a mixture of peened tin and gall nuts. Such is the chemical composition of the Kohl of Oriental women, which the ancient alchemists used as a term of comparison to teach the secret preparation of their antimony. This is the solar eye that the Egyptians calledoudja  ; it still appears, among the Masonic emblems, surrounded by a glory in the center of a triangle. This symbol offers the same meaning as the letter G, seventh in the alphabet, initial of the vulgar name of the Subject of the sages, figured in the middle of a radiant star. It is this matter which is the saturnine antimony of Artephius, the regulus of antimony of Tollius, the true and only stibium of Michel Maïer and of all the Adepts. As for the mineral stibine, it possesses none of the required qualities and, however one wishes to treat it, one will never obtain from it either the secret solvent or the philosophical mercury. And if Basil Valentine gives this one the name of pilgrim or traveler (στιϐεύς), because he must, he tells us, cross six celestial cities before fixing his residence in the seventh; …

[Old prints bearing the legend Icon peregrini depict the Hermetic Mercury as a pilgrim ascending a steep, rocky path in a site of rocks and chasms. Wearing a large flat hat, he leans on his staff with one hand, and with the other holds a shield depicting the sun and three stars. Sometimes young, alert and elaborately dressed, sometimes old, weary and miserable, he is always followed by a faithful dog who seems to share his good or bad fortune.]

… if Philalethes assures us that he alone is our way (στίϐία), these are not sufficient reasons to invoke that these masters claimed to designate vulgar antimony as the generator of philosophical mercury. This substance is too far removed from the perfection, purity and spirituality possessed by the moist radical or metallic seed—which, moreover, cannot be found on earth—to be really useful to us. The antimony of the sages, raw material extracted directly from the mine, “is not strictly mineral and even less metallic, as Philalethes teaches us; but, without participating in these two substances, it holds the middle between one and the other. It is not, however, corporeal, since it is entirely volatile; it is not spirit, since it liquefies in the fire like a metal. It is therefore a chaos which takes the place of mother to all metals”. [Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium . Op.cit., cap. II, 2.] It is the metallic and mineral flower (ἄνθεμον), the first rose, black in truth, which has remained here below as a particle of elementary chaos. It is from her, this flower of flowers (flos florum), that we first draw our white jelly (στίϐη), which is the spirit that moves on the waters, and the white facing of angels; reduced to this sparkling whiteness, it is the mirror of art, the torch (στίλϐη), the lamp or the lantern, the brilliance of the stars and the splendor of the sun (splendor solis); …

[A drawing in quill pen, executed by the Adept Lintaut, in his manuscript entitled L'Aurore (bibliography of the Arsenal, XVIIth century, n° 3020), shows the soul of a crowned king, stretched out, inert, on a large slab, rising, under the aspect of a winged child, towards a lantern suspended in the middle of thick clouds. We also point out, for the hermeticists, what Rabelais says of the trip to the country of Lanternois, which he had the heroes of his Pantagruel accomplish.]

… it is she again who, united with philosophical gold, will become the metallic planet Mercury (Στίλϐων ἀστήρ), the bird's nest (στιϐάς), our Phoenix and its small stone (στία); it is finally the root, subject or pivot (lat. stipes, stirps) of the Great Work and not the vulgar antimony. Know then, brothers, so as not to err any longer, that our term antimony, derived from the Greek ἄνθεμον, designates, by a play on words familiar to philosophers, the ass-timon, the guide who, in the Bible, leads the Jews to the Fountain. It is the mythical Aliboron, Ἀέλι-φορόν, the horse of the sun. One more word. You must not ignore that, in the primitive language, the Greek cabalists used to substitute figures for certain consonants for the words whose ordinary meaning they wished to veil under a hermetic meaning. They thus used episemon (σταγιον), Koppa, sampi, digamma, to which they adapted a conventional value. The names modified by this process constituted veritable cryptograms, although their form and their pronunciation did not appear to have undergone any alteration. However, the word antimony, στίμμι, was always written with the episemon (ϛ), equivalent to the two assembled consonants sigma and tau (στ), when it was used to characterize the hermetic subject. Written in this way, ϛίµµι is no longer the stibine of mineralogists, but a matter signed by nature, or better a movement, dynamism or vibration, sealed life (ϛ-ἴμμεναι), in order to allow man to identify it, a very particular signature and subject to the rules of the number six. Ἐπίσεµον, word formed from Ἐπί, on and σῆμα, sign, indeed signifies marked with a distinctive sign, and this sign must correspond to the number six. Moreover, a related term, frequently used for assonance in phonetic Kabbalah, the word Ἐπιστήμων, indicates one who knows, who is instructed in, skilled in. One of the important characters of Pantagruel, the man of science, is called Epistemon. And it is the secret artisan, the spirit enclosed in the raw substance, that translates the Greek epistemon, because this spirit is capable, on its own, of executing and perfecting the entire work, without any other aid than that of elementary fire. the man of science, is called Epistemon. And it is the secret artisan, the spirit enclosed in the raw substance, that translates the Greek epistemon, because this spirit is capable, on its own, of executing and perfecting the entire work, without any other aid than that of elementary fire. the man of science, is called Epistemon. And it is the secret artisan, the spirit enclosed in the raw substance, that translates the Greek epistemon, because this spirit is capable, on its own, of executing and perfecting the entire work, without any other aid than that of elementary fire.

It would be easy for us to complete what we have said of the philosophical mercury and its preparation; but it is not for us to fully disclose this important secret. The written teaching could not exceed that which the proselytes received formerly with the small Mysteries of Agra. And if we gladly submit to the thankless task of ancient Hydranos, on the other hand the esoteric domain of the Great Eleusinia is strictly forbidden to us. It is that before receiving the supreme initiation, the Greek mystics swore, on their life and in the presence of the Hierophant, never to reveal anything of the truths which would be entrusted to them. Now, we are not speaking to a few sure and experienced disciples, in the shadow of a closed sanctuary, before the divine image of a venerable Ceres, — black stone imported from Pessinonte, — or of the sacred Isis, seated on the cubic block; we discourse on the threshold of the temple, under the peristyle and in front of the crowd, without requiring our listeners to take any prior oath. In the presence of such contrary conditions, how can one be surprised to see us using prudence and circumspection? Certainly, we deplore that the initiatory institutions of antiquity have forever disappeared and that a narrow exotericism has replaced the broad spirit of the Mysteries of yesteryear; because we think, with the philosopher, "that it is more worthy of human nature, and more instructive, to admit the marvelous while seeking to extract the truth from it, than to treat it first of all as a lie, or to canonize it as a miracle, in order to escape its explanation". [ without requiring our auditors to take any prior oath. In the presence of such contrary conditions, how can one be surprised to see us using prudence and circumspection? Certainly, we deplore that the initiatory institutions of antiquity have forever disappeared and that a narrow exotericism has replaced the broad spirit of the Mysteries of yesteryear; because we think, with the philosopher, "that it is more worthy of human nature, and more instructive, to admit the marvelous while seeking to extract the truth from it, than to treat it first of all as a lie, or to canonize it as a miracle, in order to escape its explanation". [ without requiring our auditors to take any prior oath. In the presence of such contrary conditions, how can one be surprised to see us using prudence and circumspection? Certainly, we deplore that the initiatory institutions of antiquity have forever disappeared and that a narrow exotericism has replaced the broad spirit of the Mysteries of yesteryear; because we think, with the philosopher, "that it is more worthy of human nature, and more instructive, to admit the marvelous while seeking to extract the truth from it, than to treat it first of all as a lie, or to canonize it as a miracle, in order to escape its explanation". [ we deplore that the initiatory institutions of antiquity have forever disappeared and that a narrow exotericism has replaced the broad spirit of the Mysteries of the past; because we think, with the philosopher, "that it is more worthy of human nature, and more instructive, to admit the marvelous while seeking to extract the truth from it, than to treat it first of all as a lie, or to canonize it as a miracle, in order to escape its explanation". [ we deplore that the initiatory institutions of antiquity have forever disappeared and that a narrow exotericism has replaced the broad spirit of the Mysteries of the past; because we think, with the philosopher, "that it is more worthy of human nature, and more instructive, to admit the marvelous while seeking to extract the truth from it, than to treat it first of all as a lie, or to canonize it as a miracle, in order to escape its explanation". [How the Spirit Comes to the Tables . Op.cit., p. 25.] But these are superfluous regrets. Time, which destroys everything, has made a clean sweep of ancient civilizations. What remains of it today, if not the historical testimony of their greatness and their power, a memory buried in the depths of the papyri or piously unearthed from arid soils, populated by moving ruins? Alas! the last Mystagogues carried away their secret; it is now only from God, father of light and dispenser of all truth, that we can ask for the grace of high revelations.

This is the advice we take the liberty of giving to the sincere investigators, to the sons of science in favor of whom we write. Only divine illumination will bring them the solution of the obscure problem: where and how to obtain this mysterious gold, an unknown body capable of animating and fertilizing water, the first element of metallic nature? The ideographic sculptures of Louis d'Estissac are silent on this essential point; but our duty being directed towards the respect of the wishes of the Adept, we will limit our concern to pointing out the obstacle by situating it in practice.

Before passing to the examination of the upper motifs, we must still say a word about the central shield, loaded with hieroglyphs, which we have just analysed. The cited monograph of the Château de Terre-Neuve, which we believe to have been written by the late M. de Rochebrune, contains a rather singular passage concerning the symbols in question. The author, after a brief description of the fireplace, adds: “It is one of the beautiful works in stone executed by the ornemanists of Louis d'Estissac. The coat of arms placed under that of the lord of this beautiful castle is decorated in its center with the monogram of the master image cutter; it is surmounted by four, a symbolic number which is almost always attached to all these monograms of artists, engravers, printers or glass painters, etc. We are still looking for the key to this strange sign of companionship. " Here is, indeed, a surprising thesis to say the least. It is possible that its author sometimes encountered an acronym in the shape of a four, used to classify or identify certain pieces of art. As for us, who have noticed it on a number of curious objects, of a clearly hermetic nature—engravings, stained-glass windows, earthenware, silverware, etc.—we cannot accept that this figure can constitute a figure of companionship. It does not belong to corporate coats of arms, because these should present, in this case, the tools and special insignia to the trades considered. Similarly, this coat of arms cannot be placed in the category of speaking arms, nor testimonies of nobility, since these do not obey the rules of heraldry, and these are devoid of the pictorial meaning that characterizes rebuses. On the other hand, we know full well that the artists to whom Louis d'Estissac entrusted the decoration of his home are completely forgotten: their names have not been preserved. Does this lacuna authorize the hypothesis of a personal artist's mark, while these same characters, provided with a precise meaning, are commonly found in alchemical formulas? Moreover, how to explain the indifference of the symbolist scholar that was the Adept of Coulonges, in front of his work, when, contenting himself with a modest crown, he abandoned to the whim of his craftsmen a waiting table more spacious than his own? For what reason would the organizer, the creator of such a harmonious hermetic paradigm, so conforming to pure doctrine down to the smallest detail, have tolerated the affixing of foreign hieroglyphs, if the latter were to be in flagrant disagreement with the rest? We conclude that the hypothesis of any sign of companionship cannot be supported. There is no example where the thought of a work has been concentrated in the very signature of the craftsman, although this is the error committed by a defective interpretation of the analogy.


V (Louis d'Estissac)

A Latin inscription, which occupies the entire width of the entablature, can be read above the symbolic panels, which have so far provided us with the material for our study. It comprises three words, separated from each other by two pyrogenic vases, and forms the following epigraph:

NASCENDO DAILY MORIMUR

[Morimur is an ancient form of moriemur.]

When we are born, we die every day. Serious thought of Seneca the Philosopher, an axiom that one would hardly expect to encounter here.

Obviously, this profound but moral truth seems discordant and unrelated to the symbolism that surrounds it. What value can take, in the midst of hermetic emblems, the severe exhortation to have to meditate on the miserable fate that life has in store for us, on the implacable destiny which imposes on humanity death as the real goal of existence, the walk to the sepulcher as an essential condition of the earthly stay, the coffin as the raison d'être of the cradle? Would it be simply to remind us - a salutary diversion - that it is useful to keep in mind the image of anxieties, of supreme uncertainty, the fear of the disturbing Unknown, necessary brakes on our passions and our wanderings? Or else the learned organizer of the monument, by incidentally provoking this awakening of conscience, by inviting us to reflect, to face what we fear the most, did he want to persuade us of the vanity of our desires, of our hopes, of the impotence of our efforts, of the nothingness of our illusions? - We think not. For, however expressive, however rigorous the literal meaning of the epigraph may be for the common people, it is certain that we must discover another, adequate and in conformity with the esotericism of this masterful work. We believe, in fact, that the Latin axiom borrowed by Louis d'Estissac from the stoic tutor of Nero was not inappropriately borrowed. It is the only word written in this for the common, the literal meaning of the epigraph, it is certain that we must discover another, adequate and in conformity with the esotericism of this masterful work. We believe, in fact, that the Latin axiom borrowed by Louis d'Estissac from the stoic tutor of Nero was not inappropriately borrowed. It is the only word written in this for the common, the literal meaning of the epigraph, it is certain that we must discover another, adequate and in conformity with the esotericism of this masterful work. We believe, in fact, that the Latin axiom borrowed by Louis d'Estissac from the stoic tutor of Nero was not inappropriately borrowed. It is the only word written in thismutus liber . There is no doubt that it is consistent, and put there expressly to teach what the image cannot translate.

A simple examination of the inscription shows that, of the three terms which contribute to form it, two are preceded by a special sign, the words quotidie and morimur . This sign, a small diamond, was called by the Greeks ῥόμβος, from ῥέμβω, to be mistaken, to go astray, to turn around. The indication of a misleading meaning, likely to cause error, is therefore very clear. And we used two signs to mark that there are two meanings (ἀμφίβολος), in this diplomatic sentence. Consequently, if one determines which of the three members presents a double acceptation, one will easily discover the secret meaning veiled under the literal meaning. Now, the same character engraved in front of quotidie and morimurattests that these words remain invariable and retain their ordinary value. Nascendo , on the contrary, being devoid of any index, contains another meaning. By using it in the gerund he invokes, without spelling modification, the idea of ​​production, of generation. It is no longer By being born that one must read, but To produce , to generate . Thus the mystery, freed from its gangue, reveals the hidden reason of the amphibological axiom. And the superficial formula reminding man of his mortal origin fades and disappears. It is now symbolism, in its figurative language, which addresses the reader and teaches him: To produce we die every day. It is the parents of the hermetic child who speak. And their language is true; they really die together, not only to give it being, but also to ensure its growth and develop its vitality. They die every day, that is to say on each of the six days of the Work which govern the increase and multiplication of the stone. The child is born from their death and feeds on their corpses. We can see how the alchemical sense reveals itself to be expressive and luminous. Limojon de Saint-Didier therefore states a primordial truth when he assures that the “stone of the philosophers is born from the destruction of two bodies”. We will add that the philosopher's stone — or our mercury, its next matter — is also born from the combat, the mortification and the ruin of two contrary natures. So, in the essential operations of art, we see that it is always two principles which produce a third, and that this generation depends on a preliminary decomposition of its agents. Moreover, the philosophical mercury itself, unique substance of the Magisterium, can never give anything if it does not die, ferment and putrefy at the end of the first stage of the Work. Finally, whether it is a question of obtaining sulphur, of the Elixir or of Medicine, we will not succeed in transforming each other, either in power or in quantity, unless we have returned them to their mercurial state, close to the original rebis and, as such, directed towards corruption. For it is a fundamental law in hermeticism expressed by the old adage: and that this generation depends on a prior decomposition of its agents. Moreover, the philosophical mercury itself, unique substance of the Magisterium, can never give anything if it does not die, ferment and putrefy at the end of the first stage of the Work. Finally, whether it is a question of obtaining sulphur, of the Elixir or of Medicine, we will not succeed in transforming each other, either in power or in quantity, unless we have returned them to their mercurial state, close to the original rebis and, as such, directed towards corruption. For it is a fundamental law in hermeticism expressed by the old adage: and that this generation depends on a prior decomposition of its agents. Moreover, the philosophical mercury itself, unique substance of the Magisterium, can never give anything if it does not die, ferment and putrefy at the end of the first stage of the Work. Finally, whether it is a question of obtaining sulphur, of the Elixir or of Medicine, we will not succeed in transforming each other, either in power or in quantity, unless we have returned them to their mercurial state, close to the original rebis and, as such, directed towards corruption. For it is a fundamental law in hermeticism expressed by the old adage: does not ferment and putrefy at the end of the first stage of the Work. Finally, whether it is a question of obtaining sulphur, of the Elixir or of Medicine, we will not succeed in transforming each other, either in power or in quantity, unless we have returned them to their mercurial state, close to the original rebis and, as such, directed towards corruption. For it is a fundamental law in hermeticism expressed by the old adage: does not ferment and putrefy at the end of the first stage of the Work. Finally, whether it is a question of obtaining sulphur, of the Elixir or of Medicine, we will not succeed in transforming each other, either in power or in quantity, unless we have returned them to their mercurial state, close to the original rebis and, as such, directed towards corruption. For it is a fundamental law in hermeticism expressed by the old adage:Corruptio unius is generatio alterius . Huginus a Barma tells us, in the chapter of the Hermetic Positions , that “whoever does not know the means of destroying bodies, also does not know the means of producing them”; elsewhere, the same author teaches that “if the mercury is not dyed, it will not dye”. [Huginus to Barma, The Reign of Saturn Changed to the Golden Age . SMISP or the Magisterium of the Sages . Paris, Pierre Derieu, 1780.] Now, the philosophical mercury inaugurates with black, the seal of its mortification, the chromatic series of the philosophical spectrum. This is his first dye, and it is also the first favorable indication of the technique, the harbinger of success, the one that consecrates the mastery of the craftsman. “Certainly, writes Nicolas Flamel atBook of Hieroglyphic Figures, who does not see this blackness at the beginning of his operations, during the days of stone, what other color he sees, he misses the Magisterium entirely and can no longer do so with this perfect chaos. For he does not work well, not putrefying; especially since if one does not putrefy, one does not corrupt, nor engender, and consequently the stone cannot take on vegetative life to grow and multiply. Further on, the great Adept affirms that the solution of the compound and its liquefaction under the influence of fire cause the disintegration of the assembled parts, of which the black color is certain proof. “So,” he says, “this blackness and color clearly teaches that in this beginning matter and compound begin to rot and dissolve into powder finer than the atoms of the Sun, which afterwards change into permanent water. And this dissolution is called by envious philosophers, death, destruction and perdition, because natures change form. From there came so many allegories about the dead, the tombs and sepulchers. Others have called it Calcination, Denudation, Separation, Trituration, Assation, because the confections are changed and reduced to very small pieces and parts. The others Reduction in first matter, Mollification, Extraction, Commixtion, Liquefaction, Conversion of Elements, Subtiliation, Division, Humation, Impastation and Distillation, because the confections are liquefied, reduced to semen, softened and circulate in the matrass. Others, Xir, Putrefaction, Corruption, Cymmerian Shadows, Chasm, Inferno, Dragons, Generation, Ingression, Submersion, Complexion, Conjunction and Impregnation, because matter is black and watery, and the natures mingle perfectly and retain each other. A certain number of authors—Philalethes in particular—demonstrated the necessity and usefulness of mineral death and putrefaction by means of a similarity drawn from the grain of wheat. Doubtless they took the idea from the Gospel parable collected by Saint John (chap. XII, v. 24); the apostle transcribed there these words of Christ: “Truly I tell you, unless the grain of wheat dies after it has been thrown into the ground, it remains alone; but when he died, he bears much fruit. » the usefulness of mineral death and putrefaction using a similarity drawn from the grain of wheat. Doubtless they took the idea from the Gospel parable collected by Saint John (chap. XII, v. 24); the apostle transcribed there these words of Christ: “Truly I tell you, unless the grain of wheat dies after it has been thrown into the ground, it remains alone; but when he died, he bears much fruit. » the usefulness of mineral death and putrefaction using a similarity drawn from the grain of wheat. Doubtless they took the idea from the Gospel parable collected by Saint John (chap. XII, v. 24); the apostle transcribed there these words of Christ: “Truly I tell you, unless the grain of wheat dies after it has been thrown into the ground, it remains alone; but when he died, he bears much fruit. »

We think we have sufficiently developed the secret meaning of the epigraph: Nascendo quotidie morimur , and shown how this classic axiom, skilfully employed by Louis d'Estissac, sheds new light on the lapidary work of the learned hermeticist.


VI (Louis d'Estissac)

Of the symbolic chimney, it only remains for us to speak of the cornice. It is divided into six oblong boxes, decorated with symmetrical motifs repeated two by two, and summarizes the main points of the practice.

Two reniform aegis occupy the corners and have their concave edge stretched in the shape of a shell. Their field presents the image of the head of a jellyfish, with its hair of serpents, from which spring two thunderbolts. These are the emblems of the initial materials, one ardent, igneous, represented by the mask of Gorgon and his thunderbolts; the other aqueous and cold, a passive substance represented under the aspect of a marine shell, which philosophers call Mérelle , from the Greek words μήτηρ and ἕλη, mother of light. The mutual reaction of these first elements, water and fire, furnishes the common mercury, of mixed quality, which is this igneous water or this aqueous fire which serves us as a solvent for the preparation of philosophical mercury.

Succeeding the aegis, the bucrania indicate the two mortifications which appear at the beginning of the preliminary work: the first realizes the common mercury and the second gives birth to the hermetic rebis. These emaciated heads of the solar ox take the place of human skulls, crossed femurs, scattered bones or complete skeletons of alchemical iconography; they are, like them, called crow's heads. It is the ordinary epithet applied to matters in the process of decomposition and corruption, which are characterized in the philosophical work by the oily and greasy aspect, the strong and nauseating odor, the viscous and adherent quality, the mercurial consistency, the blue, violet or black coloring. Note the cords that bind the horns of these bucrania; they are crossed in the shape of an X, a divine attribute and the first manifestation of light, previously diffused in the darkness of the mineral earth.

As for the philosophical mercury, the elaboration of which is never revealed, not even under the hieroglyphic veil, we nevertheless find its effect on one of the decorative shields which adjoin the median acanthus. Two stars are engraved there above the lunar crescent, images of the double mercury or Rebis, which coction first transforms into white sulphur, semi-fixed and fusible. Under the action of elemental fire, the operation resumed and continued leads to the great final achievements, represented, on the opposite shield, by two roses. These, as we know, mark the result of the two Magisteries, small and large, White medicine and red stone, of which the fleur-de-lis, which we see below them, consecrates the absolute truth. It is the sign of perfect knowledge, the emblem of Wisdom, the crown of the philosopher,


THE MAN OF THE WOODS

MYSTICAL HERALD OF THIERS

Picturesque sub-prefecture of Puy-de-Dôme, Thiers has a remarkable and very elegant specimen of civil architecture in the 15th century. It is the so-called house of the Man of the Woods, a construction with slabs, reduced today to the first floor alone, but whose surprising conservation makes it precious to art lovers, as well as to the dilettantes of our Middle Ages (pl. XVII).




THIERS (Puy-de-Dôme)
House of the Man of the Woods (15th century)
Plate XVII


Four bays closed with rounded arches, with threaded and redented ribs, open onto the façade. Engaged columns, with capitals composed of grotesque masks wearing headbands with long ears, separate them from each other and support as many figurines sheltered under light, delicate and openwork canopies. The upper bays correspond, in the base, to panels decorated with parchments; but the chamfered pillars which border them, plumb with the small columns, show the devouring mouths of dragons by way of capitals.

The main subject, which serves as a sign in the old house, is a character similar to the one we have seen, maneuvering a bank, on the service post of the manor of Lisieux. Sculpted in the same place, with almost the same gestures, it seems to belong to the same tradition. We know nothing about him, except that he is completing his fifth centenary and that generations of Thiernois have always seen him, since his construction, leaning against the panel of his old residence. This bas-relief on wood, large in size, but rather rudimentary, with a naïve design, whose age and weathering show the bumpy character, represents a tall man, shaggy, dressed in skins sewn transversely, the hair outside. Bareheaded, he smiles, enigmatic, somewhat distant, and leans on a long stick ending, at its upper end, in the face of an old woman. hooded and very ugly. The feet, bare, rest flat on a mass formed of rough sinuosities, which their coarseness of execution makes it difficult to identify. Such is this Man of the Woods that a local chronicler calls the Sphinx of Thiers. “The Bitords, he writes, are not worried about his origins, nor his gesture, nor his silence. They only know one thing about him, it is the name he bears in their memory, the savage and graceless name which they use to speak of him, and which perpetuates his memory through the ages. Foreigners and tourists are friendlier and more curious. They stop in front of him as in front of a valuable object. They detail at leisure the features of his physiognomy and his anatomy. They smell a story full of local and perhaps general interest. They question their guides. But these guides are as ignorant and almost as mute as the guardian Bitords of this solitaire. And he takes revenge for the ignorance of some and the stupidity of others by keeping his secret. »

We wondered if this image would not represent a Saint Christopher, next to that of a Child Jesus who would have occupied the opposite and empty panel of the facade. But, apart from the fact that no one has any memory of the subject which formerly concealed the right roughwork—assuming that it could have existed—it would have to be admitted that the plinth bearing our hermit represented waves. Nothing is less certain than such a hypothesis. How to explain, in fact, his miraculous station on the waters - on waters whose surface would be convex? Moreover, the sole absence of Jesus on the shoulders of the colossus justifies the exclusion of a possible resemblance to Saint Christopher. Even supposing that he could incarnate Offerus—the first personality of the Christian giant before his conversion— — we cannot give any satisfactory reason for the ape-like clothing which gives our statue its particular character. And if the legend assures that the ferryman of Jesus had to uproot a tree in order to fight against the violence of the current and the inexplicable weight of his divine burden, it does not indicate that this tree was provided with an effigy, with any distinctive mark. However, we are too familiar with the high conscience, the scrupulous fidelity brought by the medieval "image-makers" in the translation of their subjects, to accept such an unfounded calculation. it does not indicate that this tree was provided with an effigy, with any distinctive mark. However, we are too familiar with the high conscience, the scrupulous fidelity brought by the medieval "image-makers" in the translation of their subjects, to accept such an unfounded calculation. it does not indicate that this tree was provided with an effigy, with any distinctive mark. However, we are too familiar with the high conscience, the scrupulous fidelity brought by the medieval "image-makers" in the translation of their subjects, to accept such an unfounded calculation.

The Man of the Woods, the result of a clear and thoughtful will, necessarily expresses a precise and strong idea. It will be agreed that it could not have been made and placed there without an object, and that, in this spirit, the decorative concern seems to intervene only on a secondary basis. In our opinion, what we wanted to affirm, what the Thiers bas-relief clearly indicates, is that it designates the dwelling of an unknown alchemist. It seals the ancient philosopher's dwelling and reveals its mystery. His undeniable hermetic individuality completes itself, is further accentuated in contact with the other figurines that accompany him. And, if they have neither the stature nor the expressive energy of the main subject, these little actors of the Great Work are hardly less instructive. So much so that one would experience the greatest difficulty in solving the enigma, if we omitted to compare these symbolic characters. As for the proper meaning of the Man of the Woods, it is above all concentrated in the matron's head which terminates in its rustic scepter. The face of a duenna with a skull tightened by a hood, such appears here, in its plastic form, the version of our mad Mother. This is how the people designated—in the time of the joyful parodies of the Donkey Festival—the high dignitaries and masters of certain secret institutions. The Dijon Infantry, or Brotherhood of the Crazy Mother, a group of initiates masked under Rabelaisian exteriors and gargantuan eccentricities, is the latest example. Now, the mother of fools, the Mad Mother, is none other than hermetic science itself, considered in the full extent of its teaching. And, as this science confers on those who embrace it and cultivate it, complete wisdom, it follows that the great madman sculpted on the facade of Thiers is in reality a sage, since he relies on Sapience, dry trees and the scepter of the Mad Mother. This simple man, with abundant and badly combed hair, with an uncultivated beard, this man of nature whom his traditional knowledge leads to despise the vain frivolity of the poor fools who believe themselves wise, towers above other men, as he dominates the heap of stones which he tramples under foot.

[Let us note, in passing, that it is indeed stones heaped up, or some fissured rock, and not waves, which are reproduced here. We find clear proof of this on a subject from the 16th century, located in the same region: the bas-relief of Adam and Eve, at Montferrand (Puy-de-Dôme). We notice our first parents, tempted by the snake with a human head, wrapped around the paradise tree. The ground of this beautiful composition is treated in the same way, and the tree of life develops its roots around a mound in all respects similar to that on which stands the Man of the Woods.]

He is the Illuminated, because he has received light, spiritual illumination. Behind a mask of indifferent serenity, he retains his silence and shelters his secret from vain curiosities, from the sterile activity of the histrions of human comedy. It is he, this silent one, who represents for us the ancient Myst (from the Greek Μύστης, chief of the initiates), Greek incarnation of mystical or mysterious science (μυστήριον, secret dogma, esotericism) (pl. XVIII).




THIERS (Puy-de-Dôme)
The Man of the Woods
Plate XVIII


[Μύστης has for root μύω, to be silent, to keep silence, to conceal, from where our old word musser, corresponding to the Picard mucher, to hide, to dissimulate.]

But, alongside his esoteric function, which shows us what the alchemist must be, a simple-minded scientist, an attentive scrutineer of nature, whom he will always seek to imitate, as the monkey imitates man [This is the reason for his appearance in dress and his local name.], the Man of the Woods reveals another. And this complements that. Because the madman, humanized emblem of the children of Hermes, still evokes mercury itself, unique and proper matter of the sages. It is this artifex in opereof which the Hymn of the Christian Church speaks, this artisan hidden in the center of the work, capable of doing everything with the external help of the alchemist. He is therefore the absolute master of the Work, the obscure and never idle worker, the secret agent and the faithful or loyal servant of the philosopher. And it is this incessant collaboration of human foresight and natural activity, this duality of effort combined and directed towards the same goal, which is expressed by the great symbol of Thiers. As to the means by which the philosophical mercury makes itself known and can be identified, we will now discover it.

In an old almanac which, with the Clavicles of Solomon and the Secrets of Grand Albert , once constituted the clearest of the scientific baggage of peddlers, we find, among the plates illustrating the text, a singular woodcut. [ The great Calendar or Compost of the Shepherds, composed by the Shepherd of the Great Mountain, very useful and profitable to people of all states, reformed according to the Calendar of NS Father Pope Gregory XIII. In Lyon, at Louys Odin, 1633.] It represents a skeleton surrounded by images intended to mark the planetary correspondences “with those of the parts of the body which have regard and domination there”. Now, while the Sun offers us, in this drawing, its radiant face, and the Moon its profile set with the crescent, Mercury appears in the guise of a court jester. We see him, wearing a cloak with a cape from which two long ears stick out—like the capitals we have mentioned at the base of the figurines—holding a caduceus by way of a hobby. So that no one can be mistaken, the artist has taken care to inscribe the name of each planet under its own sign. There is therefore a real symbolic formula, used in the Middle Ages for the esoteric translation of the celestial Mercury and the quicksilver of the wise. Besides,follis , bellows for the use of fire, to awaken the idea of ​​the blower, a contemptuous epithet given to medieval spagyrists. Even later, in the seventeenth century, it is not uncommon to find, in the caricatures of Jacques Callot's emulators, a few grotesques executed with the symbolic spirit whose philosophical manifestations we are studying. We retain the memory of a certain drawing representing a seated jester, his legs crossed in an X, and concealing a voluminous bellows behind his back. One cannot therefore be surprised that the court jesters, many of whom have remained famous, had a hermetic origin. Their motley costume, their strange getup—they wore a bladder at their belt which they called a lantern— their sallies, their mystifications prove it, as well as that rare privilege, which connected them with the philosophers, of speaking bold truths with impunity. Finally, Mercury, called the Fool of the Great Work, because of its inconstancy and volatility, sees its meaning confirmed in the first card of the tarot, entitled the Fool or the Alchemist. [Some occultists place the Fool or the Alchemist at the end of the twenty-one cards of the game, that is to say after that which represents the World, and to which the highest value is attributed. Such an order would be without consequence—the Fool, devoid of number, being out of series—if we did not know that the tarot, complete hieroglyph of the Great Work, contains the twenty-one operations or phases through which the philosophical mercury passes before reaching the final perfection of the Elixir. Gold,

Moreover, the madman's hobby, which is positively a rattle (κρόταλον), an object of amusement for very young children and a toy of infancy, does not differ from the caduceus. [In Greek, κρόταλον, bell, corresponds to our rattlesnake, or rattlesnake, and we know that all snakes are, in Hermeticism, hieroglyphs of the mercury of the wise.] The two attributes offer an obvious analogy between them, although the hobbyhorse also expresses that native simplicity which children possess and which science requires of wise men. Both are similar images. Momos and Hermes carry the same instrument, a telltale sign of mercury. Draw a circle at the upper end of a vertical, add two horns to the circle, and you will have the secret graph used by medieval alchemists to designate their mercurial matter. [It was only in the 16th century that a transverse bar was added to the primitive shaft, so as to represent the cross, image of death and resurrection.] Now, this diagram, which reproduces quite faithfully both the marotte and the caduceus, was known from antiquity; it was discovered engraved on a Punic stele from Lilybea. [Philip Berger,Revue archeologique , April 1884.] In short, the madman's hobby seems to us to be a caduceus, of more transparent esotericism than the snake rod, surmounted or not by the winged petasus. Her name, diminutive of mérotte, little mother, according to some, or of Marie, the universal mother, according to others, underlines the feminine nature and the generative virtue of the hermetic mercury, mother and nurse of our king.

Less evocative is the caduceus, which retains, in the Greek language, the meaning of herald. The words κηρύκειον and κηρύκιον, caduceus, both mark the herald or town crier; only their common root, κῆρυξ, the rooster (because this bird announces the rising of day and of light, the dawn), expresses one of the qualities of secret quicksilver. This is the reason why the rooster, herald of the sun, was consecrated to the god Mercury and appears on our church steeples. If nothing in the bas-relief of Thiers recalls this bird, one cannot deny however that it is hidden under the name of the caduceus, which our herald holds in both hands. For the staff or scepter carried by the officers of the Heraudery was called caduceus like the rod of Hermes. We also know that it was part of the duties of the heralds to raise, as a sign of victory or a happy event, there are sorts of commemorative monuments called Mont-joie. They were mere mounds or heaps of stones, mountains of joy. The Man of the Woods thus appears to us as being both the representative of mercury, or madman by nature, and the mystical herald, marvelous worker whom his masterpiece raises on Mount Joy, revealing sign of his material victory. And if this king of arms, this triumphant, prefers to the opulent dalmatic of the heralds his faun tunic, it is with the intention of showing others the straight path that he himself has taken, the prudent simplicity that he knew how to observe, the indifference he shows towards earthly goods and worldly glory. They were mere mounds or heaps of stones, mountains of joy. The Man of the Woods thus appears to us as being both the representative of mercury, or madman by nature, and the mystical herald, marvelous worker whom his masterpiece raises on Mount Joy, revealing sign of his material victory. And if this king of arms, this triumphant, prefers to the opulent dalmatic of the heralds his faun tunic, it is with the intention of showing others the straight path that he himself has taken, the prudent simplicity that he knew how to observe, the indifference he shows towards earthly goods and worldly glory. They were mere mounds or heaps of stones, mountains of joy. The Man of the Woods thus appears to us as being both the representative of mercury, or madman by nature, and the mystical herald, marvelous worker whom his masterpiece raises on Mount Joy, revealing sign of his material victory. And if this king of arms, this triumphant, prefers to the opulent dalmatic of the heralds his faun tunic, it is with the intention of showing others the straight path that he himself has taken, the prudent simplicity that he knew how to observe, the indifference he shows towards earthly goods and worldly glory. revealing sign of his material victory. And if this king of arms, this triumphant, prefers to the opulent dalmatic of the heralds his faun tunic, it is with the intention of showing others the straight path that he himself has taken, the prudent simplicity that he knew how to observe, the indifference he shows towards earthly goods and worldly glory. revealing sign of his material victory. And if this king of arms, this triumphant, prefers to the opulent dalmatic of the heralds his faun tunic, it is with the intention of showing others the straight path that he himself has taken, the prudent simplicity that he knew how to observe, the indifference he shows towards earthly goods and worldly glory.

Next to such a grand subject, the little characters who accompany it have only a very effaced role; it would be wrong, however, to neglect its study. No detail is superfluous in hermetic iconography, and these humble repositories of mysteries, modest images of ancestral thought, deserve to be questioned, examined with care. It is less for a decorative purpose, than with the charitable intention of enlightening those who show interest in them, that they have been placed there. As far as we are concerned, we have never repented of having devoted too much time and attention to the analysis of hieroglyphs of this kind. Often they have brought us the solution of abstruse problems and, in the application, the success which we sought in vain to obtain without the help of their teaching.

The figurines, sculpted under their canopy, and supported by the marottes of the capitals, are five in number. Four of them wear the philosopher's mantle, which they remove to show the different emblems of their office. The farthest from the Man of the Woods stands in the corner formed by the corner return of a small modern niche, in the Gothic style, which houses a statuette of the Virgin behind its windows. He is a very hairy man, with a long beard, who holds a book in his left hand and grips the shaft of a spear or spear with his right. These attributes, very suggestive, formally designate the two materials, active and passive, whose mutual reaction provides, at the end of the philosophical combat, the first substance of the Work. Certain authors, — Nicolas Flamel and Basile Valentin in particular, — gave these elements the conventional epithet of dragons; the celestial dragon, which they represent winged, characterizes the volatile body, the terrestrial dragon, wingless, designates the fixed body. "Of these two metallic dragons or principles," writes Flamel, "I said in the above-mentioned Summary, that the enemy would inflame the fire of his enemy by his ardor, and that then, if we were careful, we would see through the air a venomous and odorous smoke, too worse in flame and in poison than is the envenomed head of a Babylonian serpent and dragon. » [ that the enemy would inflame the fire of his enemy by his ardor, and that then, if we were careful, we would see in the air a venomous and bad-smelling smoke, too much worse in flame and in poison than is the envenomed head of a Babylonian serpent and dragon. » [ that the enemy would inflame the fire of his enemy by his ardor, and that then, if we were careful, we would see in the air a venomous and bad-smelling smoke, too much worse in flame and in poison than is the envenomed head of a Babylonian serpent and dragon. » [The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures . Op. cit.] Generally, and when they speak only of the dragon, it is the volatile that philosophers consider. It is he whom they recommend to kill, by piercing him with a spear; and this operation is among them the subject of numerous fables, of varied allegories. The agent is veiled there under various names, of similar esoteric value: Mars, Marthe, Marcel, Michel, Georges, etc., and these knights of the sacred art, after an ardent struggle from which they always emerge victorious, open, in the side of the mythical serpent, a wide wound from which gushes black blood, thick and viscous.

[The myth of the dragon and the knight who attacks it plays an important role in heroic or popular legends, as well as in the mythologies of all peoples. Scandinavian accounts, as well as Asian ones, describe these exploits to us. In the Middle Ages, the Knight Gozon, the Knight of Belzunce, Saint Romain, etc., fight and kill the dragon. The Chinese fable comes closer to reality. She tells us that the famous alchemist Hujumsin, ranked among the gods for having discovered the philosopher's stone, had killed a horrible dragon which was ravaging the country and attached the remains of this monster to the shaft of a column "which we still see today", says the legend. After which it had risen into the sky.]

Such is the secret truth proclaimed, from the height of his wooden pulpit, the secular herald, inert and mute, pegged to the body of his old dwelling.

The second character is more discreet and more reserved; he barely lifts the tail of his coat, but this gesture allows us to make out a large closed book that he is holding pressed against his belt. We'll talk about that soon.

This is succeeded by a knight of energetic attitude, who grips the hilt of his thrust. Necessary weapon, which he will use to take the life of the terrestrial and flying lion, or griffin, mercurial hieroglyph that we studied on the manor of Lisieux. We find here the emblematic presentation of an essential operation, that of the fixation of mercury and its partial mutation into fixed sulphur. “The fixed blood of red Lyons,” said Basile Valentin on this subject, “is made of the volatile blood of green Lyons, so they are both of the same nature. » [ The Twelve Keys of Philosophy. Op.cit., book II, p. 140.] Note that there are few different versions in the parables used by the authors to describe this work; most, in fact, are limited to representing the combat of the knight and the lion, as can be seen at the Château de Coucy (tympanum of the door of the donjon), and on one of the bas-reliefs of the Golden Carroir, at Romorantin (pl. XIX).




ROMORANTIN
The Golden Carroir
Plate XIX


[The Golden Carroir, a 15th century wooden dwelling, comprises a ground floor of which only the structure remains and a gabled attic added later. Houses, like books and men, sometimes have a strange destiny. Bad luck wanted this pretty residence to lose its corner turrets. Built, in fact, at the intersection of two streets, it forms a cutaway, and we know what advantage the medieval builders knew how to derive from such an arrangement, by chamfering, rounding the side projections of the corbels, using turrets, bretèches or watchtowers. It is to be presumed that the Golden Carroir, if we judge by the flared shape of the cantilevered service posts, must have presented this harmonious and original aspect that medieval aesthetics loved. Unfortunately,

From the figurine that follows, we cannot give an exact interpretation. Unfortunately, she is mutilated, and we do not know what emblems she presented with her now broken hands. Alone in the symbolic procession of the Man of the Woods, this young woman with a widely open, haloed, meditative bliaud, affects a distinctly religious character and could very likely represent a virgin. In this case, we would see the humanized hieroglyph of our first subject. But this is only a hypothesis, and nothing allows us to develop the argument. We will therefore pass over this graceful motif, regretting that it is incomplete, to study the last of the extras, the Pilgrim.

Our traveler, without a doubt, has traveled a long time; however, his smile says enough how happy and satisfied he is to have accomplished his wish. Because the empty bag, the bumblebee without a calabash indicate that this worthy son of Auvergne no longer has to worry about eating or drinking. In addition, the shell attached to the hat, a special badge for pilgrims to Santiago, proves that it comes straight from Compostela. He brings back, the tireless pedestrian, the open book – this book adorned with beautiful images that Flamel did not know how to explain – that a mysterious revelation now allows him to translate and put into action. This book, although it is very common, that everyone can easily acquire it, cannot however be opened, that is to say understood, without preliminary revelation. God alone, through the intercession of "Monsieur Saint Jacques", grants only to those whom he deems worthy of it the indispensable ray of light. It is the book of the Apocalypse, with pages closed with seven seals, the initiatory book presented to us by the characters responsible for exposing the high truths of science. Saint James, disciple of the Saviour, does not leave him; with the calabash, the blessed bumblebee and the shell, he possesses the attributes necessary for the hidden teaching of the pilgrims of the Great Work. This is the first secret, the one that philosophers do not reveal and that they reserve under the enigmatic expression of the Way of Saint James. [This is what the Milky Way is still called. Greek mythologists tell us that the gods used this route to get to the palace of Zeus and that the heroes also took it to enter Olympus. The Way of Saint James is the starry road, accessible to the elect, to brave, learned and persevering mortals.]

This pilgrimage, all alchemists are obliged to undertake. At least figuratively, because this is a symbolic journey, and whoever wishes to take advantage of it cannot, even for a single moment, leave the laboratory. He must constantly watch over the vase, the matter and the fire. He must, day and night, remain in the breach. Compostela, an emblematic city, is not located on Spanish soil, but in the very land of the philosophical subject. Rough, arduous path, full of the unexpected and of danger. Long and tiring road that the one by which the potential becomes actual and the occult manifest! It is this delicate operation of the first matter, or common mercury, that the sages have veiled under the allegory of the pilgrimage to Compostela.

Our mercury, we believe we have said, is this pilgrim, this traveler to whom Michel Maïer devoted one of his best treatises. [ Viatorium: Hoc est de Montibus Planetarum septem seu metallorum. Rouen, Jean Berthelin, 1651.] However, by using the dry way, represented by the earthly path that our peregrine follows, at the start, we manage to exalt little by little the diffuse and latent virtue, transforming into activity what was only in power. The operation is completed when a brilliant star appears on the surface, formed of rays emanating from a single center, the prototype of the great roses of our Gothic cathedrals. This is the sure sign that the pilgrim has happily reached the end of his first journey. He received the mystical blessing of Saint James, confirmed by the luminous imprint which radiated, it is said, above the tomb of the apostle. The humble and common shell he wore in his hat has changed into a dazzling star, a halo of light. Pure matter, whose hermetic star consecrates perfection:compos , which received, possesses, — stella , the star), and the alabaster of the wise ( albastrum , contraction of alabastrum , white star). It is also the perfume vase, the alabaster vase (gr. ἀλάβαστρον, lat. alabastrus) and the budding bud of the sapience flower, rosa hermetica.

From Compostela, the return can be made either by the same route, following a different route, or by the wet or sea route, the only one indicated by the authors in their works. In this case, the pilgrim, choosing the sea route, embarks under the guidance of an expert pilot, a proven mediator, capable of ensuring the safety of the vessel throughout the crossing. Such is the thankless role assumed by the Pilot of the Living Wave [This is the title of an alchemical work by Mathurin Eyquem, Sieur de Martineau, published by Jean d'Houry. Paris, 1678.], because the sea is strewn with pitfalls and storms are frequent there.

These suggestions help to understand the error into which many occultists have fallen, by taking the literal meaning of purely allegorical accounts, written with the intention of teaching some what to hide from others. Albert Poisson himself fell for the scheme. He believed that Nicolas Flamel, leaving Dame Pernelle, his wife, his school and his illuminations, had really fulfilled, on foot and by the Iberian route, the vow formed before the altar of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie, his parish. Now, we certify—and we can have confidence in our sincerity—that Flamel never left the cellar where his furnaces were burning. Anyone who knows what the bumblebee, the calabash and the merelle of the hat of Saint Jacques are, also knows that we are telling the truth. By substituting himself for the materials and taking the model of the internal agent, the great Adept observed the rules of philosophical discipline and followed the example of his predecessors. Raymond Lully tells us that he made, in 1267, immediately after his conversion and at the age of thirty-two, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. All the masters therefore employed allegory; and these imaginary relations, which the profane would take for realities or ridiculous tales, according to the meaning of the versions, are precisely those where the truth is affirmed with the greatest clarity. Basile Valentin is finishing his first book, which serves as an introduction to immediately after his conversion and at the age of thirty-two, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. All the masters therefore employed allegory; and these imaginary relations, which the profane would take for realities or ridiculous tales, according to the meaning of the versions, are precisely those where the truth is affirmed with the greatest clarity. Basile Valentin is finishing his first book, which serves as an introduction to immediately after his conversion and at the age of thirty-two, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. All the masters therefore employed allegory; and these imaginary relations, which the profane would take for realities or ridiculous tales, according to the meaning of the versions, are precisely those where the truth is affirmed with the greatest clarity. Basile Valentin is finishing his first book, which serves as an introduction toTwelve Keys , by a breakaway in Olympus. He makes the gods speak, and each of them, starting with Saturn, gives his opinion, lavishes his advice, explains his own influence on the progress of the great work. Bernard Trévisan says very little in forty pages; but the interest of his Book of the Natural Philosophy of Metals emerges from the few pages which make up his famous Parable. Vinceslas Lavinius of Moravia gives the secret of the Work, in about fifteen lines, in the Riddle of the Philosopher's Mercury found in the Treaty of the Terrestrial Sky . One of the most famous alchemical manuals of the Middle Ages, the Code of Truth , also called Turba Philosophorum, contains an allegory in which several artists, in a pathetic scene animated by the spirit of Pythagoras, act out the chemical drama of the Great Work. A classic anonymous work, generally attributed to Trévisan, the Songe Verd, exposes the practice under the traditional formula of the craftsman transported, during his sleep, on a celestial ground, populated by unknown inhabitants living in the middle of a marvelous flora. Each author chooses the theme he likes and develops it according to his imagination. The Cosmopolite takes up the familiar dialogues of medieval times and is inspired by Jehan de Meung. More modern, Cyliani hides the preparation of mercury under the fiction of a nymph, who guides and directs him in this work. As for Nicolas Flamel, he strays from the beaten path and consecrated fables; more original if not clearer, he prefers to disguise himself as the subject of the sages and leave this autobiography, revealing but supposed, to anyone who can understand it.

All the effigies of Flamel represented him as a pilgrim. This is how he appeared on the porch of the church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie and that of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardents; it was in the same garb that he had himself painted on the arch of the cemetery of the Innocents. The Historical Dictionaryby Louis Moreri cites a painted portrait of Nicolas Flamel, which was exhibited in the time of Borel—that is, around 1650—at the home of M. des Ardres, a physician. There again, the Adept had put on the costume he was particularly fond of. Singular detail, “his cap was of three colors, black, white, red”, colorations of the three main phases of the Work. By imposing this symbolic formula on sculptors and painters, the alchemist Flamel concealed the bourgeois personality of the writer Flamel under that of Saint Jacques-le-Majeur, hieroglyph of secret mercury. These images no longer exist today, but we can get a fairly exact idea of ​​them from the statues of the apostle, executed at the same time. A masterpiece of the fourteenth century, belonging to Westminster Abbey, shows us Saint James wearing the mantle, the musette at the side, wearing the large hat decorated with the shell. He holds in his left hand the closed book, wrapped in a cover forming a case. Only the staff, on which he leaned with his right hand, has disappeared (pl. XX).




LONDON - WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Statue of Saint James the Greater
Plate XX


This closed book, a symbol speaking of the subject used by the alchemists and which they take with them at the start, is the one held with such fervor by the second character of the Man of the Woods; the book signed with figures allowing to recognize it, to appreciate its virtue and its object. The famous manuscript of Abraham the Jew, of which Flamel took with him a copy of the images, is a work of the same order and of similar quality. Thus fiction, substituted for reality, takes shape and asserts itself in the hike to Compostela. We know how sparing the Adept is with information about his journey, which he completes in one go. "So in this same way [that is to say, under the pilgrim's garb with which he had himself represented later at the charnel house of the Innocents.], he limits himself to writing, I set off and did so much that I arrived at Montjoye and then at Saint-Jacques, where, with great devotion, I fulfilled my wish. This, of course, is a description reduced to its simplest expression. No route, no incident, not the slightest indication of the duration of the journey. The English then occupied the whole territory: Flamel says nothing about it. A single cabalistic term, that of Montjoye, which the Adept obviously uses on purpose. It is the index of the blessed stage, long awaited, long hoped for, where the book is finally opened, the A single cabalistic term, that of Montjoye, which the Adept obviously uses on purpose. It is the index of the blessed stage, long awaited, long hoped for, where the book is finally opened, the A single cabalistic term, that of Montjoye, which the Adept obviously uses on purpose. It is the index of the blessed stage, long awaited, long hoped for, where the book is finally opened, thejoyful mountain at the summit of which shines the hermetic star.

[The legend of Saint James, reported by Albert Poisson, contains the same symbolic truth. "In 835, Theodomir, Bishop of Iria, was informed by a mountaineer that on a wooded hill, some distance west of Mount Pedroso, a soft, slightly bluish light could be seen at night, and when the sky was cloudless, a star of marvelous brilliance could be seen above this same place. Theodomir went with all his clergy to the hill; Excavations were made at the place indicated and a perfectly preserved body was found in a marble coffin, which certain indications revealed to be that of the Apostle Saint James. The current cathedral, intended to replace the primitive church, destroyed by the Arabs in 997, was built in 1082.]

The material has undergone a first preparation, the vulgar quicksilver has been transformed into a philosophical hydrargyre, but we learn nothing more. The route followed is knowingly kept secret.

The arrival in Compostela implies the acquisition of the star. But the philosopher's subject is too impure to undergo maturation. Our mercury must gradually rise to the supreme degree of purity required by a series of sublimations requiring the aid of a special substance, before being partially coagulated in living sulphur. To initiate his reader to these operations, Flamel recounts that a merchant from Boulogne—whom we identify as the indispensable mediator—put him in contact with a Jewish rabbi, Master Canches, "a very learned man in the sublime sciences." [Boulogne presents some analogy with the Greek Βουλαῖος, who presides over the councils. Diane was nicknamed Βουλαία, goddess of good advice.] Our three characters thus have their respective roles perfectly established. Flamel, we said, represents the philosophical mercury; his very name speaks like a pseudonym chosen for the purpose. Nicolas, in Greek Νικόλαος, means winner of the stone (from Νίκη, victory and λᾶος, stone, rock). Flamel is close to the Latin Flamma, flame or fire, expressing the igneous and coagulating virtue possessed by the prepared material, a virtue which enables it to fight against the ardor of fire, to feed on it and to triumph over it. The merchant takes the place of intermediary in the sublimation, which requires a violent fire. [Intermediate, in Greek, is μεσίτης, rac. μέσος, which is in the middle, which stands between two extremes. It is our Messiah, who fulfills in the Work the mediating function of Christ between the Creator and his creature, between God and man.] In this case, ἔμπορος, merchant, is put for ἔμπυρος, who is worked by means of fire.the Ancient War of the Knights . Maître Canches, whom Flamel presents to us as his initiator, expresses white sulfur, the principle of coagulation and dryness. This name comes from the Greek Κάγκανος, dry, arid, rac. καγκαίνω, to heat, to dry out, words whose meaning expresses the styptic quality that the ancients attribute to the sulfur of the philosophers. The esotericism is completed by the Latin word Candens , which indicates what is white, pure white, dazzling, obtained by fire, what is ardent and ablaze. One could not better characterize, in one word, the sulfur in the physico-chemical plan, and the Initiate or Cathar in the philosophical domain.

Flamel and master Canches, united by an unfailing friendship, will now travel together. Mercury, sublimated, manifests its fixed part, and this sulphurous base marks the first stage of coagulation. The intermediary is abandoned or disappears: it will no longer be a question of it. The three are reduced to two—sulphur and mercury—which realize what has been agreed to call the philosophical amalgam, a simple chemical combination not yet radical. It is here that coction intervenes, an operation responsible for ensuring the newly formed compost, the indissoluble and irreducible union of its elements, and their complete transformation into fixed red sulfur, medicine of the first order according to Geber.

The two friends agree to make their return by sea, instead of taking the land route. Flamel does not tell us the causes of this resolution, which he contents himself with submitting to the appreciation of the investigators. Be that as it may, the second part of the journey is long, dangerous, “uncertain and vain, says an anonymous author, if the slightest error slips into it”. Certainly, in our opinion, the dry way would be preferable, but we have no choice. Cyliani warns his reader that he describes the wet route, full of difficulties and the unexpected, only out of duty. Our Adept judges the same, and we must respect his will. It is well known that a large number of inexperienced sailors have been shipwrecked on their first crossing. One must always pay attention to the orientation of the vessel, maneuver with caution, fear the shifts in the wind, foresee the storm, be on the alert, avoid the chasm of Charybdis and the pitfall of Scylla, fight constantly, night and day, against the violence of the waves. It is no small task to direct the hermetic nave, and Master Canches, whom we suspect to have served as pilot and conductor for Flamel Argonaut, must have been very skilled in the matter... This is also the case of sulfur, which resists vigorously to the attacks, to the detergent influence of the mercury humidity, but ends up being defeated and dying under its blows. Thanks to his companion, Flamel was able to disembark safe and sound at Orléans (or-léans, the gold is there), where the maritime voyage was naturally and symbolically to end. Unfortunately, barely on dry land, Master Canches, the good guide, dies, victim of the great vomiting he had suffered on the waters. His grieving friend had him buried in the Sainte-Croix church and returned home, alone, but educated and satisfied to have achieved the goal of his desires. [Similar to that of Christ, the passion of brimstone, which dies in order to redeem its metallic brethren, ends with the redemptive cross.]

These vomitings of sulfur are the best indications of its dissolution and mortification. Having reached this phase, the Work takes on, on the surface, the appearance of a “greasy broth sprinkled with pepper”, — brodium saginatum piperatum, say the texts. From then on, the mercury darkens more each day and its consistency becomes syrupy then pasty. When the black reaches its maximum intensity, the putrefaction of the elements is accomplished and their union realized; everything appears solid in the vase until the solid mass cracks, cracks, crumbles and finally falls into an amorphous powder, black as coal. “You will then see, writes Philalethes, a remarkable black color, and all the earth will be parched. The death of the compound has arrived. The winds cease and all things enter into rest. It is the great eclipse of the sun and the moon; no luminary shines on the earth, and the sea disappears. » [ Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium. Op. cit., ch. XX, 6.] We thus understand why Flamel relates the death of his friend; why this one, having undergone the dislocation of its parts by a kind of crucifixion, had its burial placed under the invocation and the sign of the Holy Cross. What we understand less is the rather paradoxical funeral eulogy that our Adept pronounces in favor of the rabbi: "May God have his soul," he exclaims, "because he died a good Christian." No doubt he only had in mind the fictitious torture endured by his philosophical companion.

These, studied in the very order of the narrative, are the reports—too eloquent to be taxed with mere coincidences—that have contributed to establishing our conviction. These singular and precise concordances demonstrate that Flamel's pilgrimage is a pure allegory, a very skilful and very ingenious fiction of the alchemical labor to which this charitable and learned man devoted himself. It now remains for us to speak of the mysterious work, of this Liber which was the initial cause of the imaginary journey, and to say what esoteric truths it is responsible for revealing.

Despite the opinion of certain bibliophiles, we confess that it has always been impossible for us to believe in the reality of the Book of Abraham the Jew, nor in what its happy owner reports in his Hieroglyphic Figures. In our opinion, this famous manuscript, as unknown as it is untraceable, appears to be only another invention of the great Adept, intended, like the preceding one, to instruct the disciples of Hermes. It is a summary of the characteristics that distinguish the raw material of the Work, as well as the properties it acquires through its preparation. We will enter, on this subject, in some details suitable to justify our thesis and to furnish useful indications to the amateurs of the sacred art. Faithful to the rule that we have imposed on ourselves, we will limit our explanation to the important points of the practice, carefully avoiding substituting new figures for those that we have revealed. These are certain, positive and true things that we teach, things seen with our eyes, a thousand times touched with our hands, sincerely described,

The legendary work of Abraham is only known to us through the description that Nicolas Flamel left of it in his famous treatise. [ The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures by Nicolas Flamel, writer …, translated from Latin into French by P. Arnauld, in Three Treatise on Natural Philosophy . Paris, Gil. Marette, 1612.] It is to this single relation, which includes an alleged copy of the title, that our bibliographical documentation is limited.

According to the testimony of Albert Poisson, the Cardinal de Richelieu would have had it in his possession; he bases his hypothesis on the seizure of the papers of a certain Dubois, hanged after being tortured, who passed, rightly or wrongly, to be the last descendant of Flamel. [Albert Poisson, Alchemy in the 14th century. Nicholas Flamel . Paris, Chacornac, 1893]

[Flamel died on March 22, 1418, the feast day of traditional alchemists. It is indeed the vernal equinox that opens the era of the labors of the Great Work.]

However, nothing proves that Dubois inherited the singular manuscript, and even less that Richelieu took possession of it, since this book has never been reported anywhere since Flamel's death. We sometimes see, it is true, from time to time passing in commerce so-called copies of the Book of Abraham; these, very few in number, bear no relation to each other, and are distributed among a few private libraries. Those that we know are only attempts at reconstitution according to Flamel. In all of them, we find the title, in French, very exactly reproduced and conforming to the translation of the Hieroglyphic Figures , but it serves as a sign for versions so diverse, so far above all from Hermetic principles, that they reveal ipso factotheir sophisticated origin. However, Flamel precisely exalts the clarity of the text, "written in beautiful and very intelligible Latin", to the point that he takes note of it to refuse to transmit the slightest extract to posterity. Consequently, there can be no correlation, and for good reason, between the alleged original and the apocryphal copies that we are reporting. As for the images which would have illustrated the work in question, they were also made according to Flamel's descriptions. Drawn and painted in the 17th century, they are currently part of the French alchemical collection of the Arsenal library. [ Collection of Seven Painted Figures. Bible. de l'Arsenal, n° 3047 (153, SAF), 0m365 × 0m225. On the back of folio A is a note from the secretary of M. de Paulmy, to whom this collection belonged, note corrected in Paulmy's hand, in which it is said that: "The seven illuminated figures of this volume are the famous Figures that Nicolas Flamel found in a Book whose author was Abraham Juif. »]

In short, both for the text and for the figures, we have only contented ourselves with respecting, in these attempts at reconstruction, the little left by Flamel; everything else is pure invention. Finally, as no bibliographer has ever been able to discover the original, and as it is materially impossible to collate the report of the Adept, we are forced to conclude that this is indeed a non-existent and supposed work.

The analysis of Nicolas Flamel's text has other surprises in store for us. First, here is the passage from the Hieroglyphic Figureswhich contributed to spread, among alchemists and bibliophiles, the quasi-certainty of the reality of the so-called book of Abraham the Jew. “So me, Nicolas Flamel, writer, so that after the death of my parents I earned my living in our Art of Writing, making Inventories, drawing up accounts and arresting the expenses of guardians and minors, there fell into my hands, for the sum of two florins, a very old and very large gilded book; it was not made of paper or parchment, like the others, but only made of thin bark (as it seemed to me) of tender shrubs. Its cover was of fine copper, all engraved with strange letters or figures; as for me, I believe that they could very well be Greek characters or another similar ancient language. So long ago that I did not know how to read them, and that I know well that they were not notes, nor Latin or Gaulish letters, because we understand them a little. As for the inside, its leaves of bark were engraved, and with great craftsmanship, written with an iron point, in beautiful and very clear colored Latin letters. It contained three times seven leaves…”

Do we need to underline already the strangeness of a work made up of such elements? Its originality borders on oddity, almost on extravagance. The volume, which is very large, resembles by that very fact the albums of Italian form containing reproductions of landscapes, architectures, etc., prints usually presented in width. It is, we are told, gilded, although its cover is of copper, which is not clearly explained. Let's move on. The leaves are made of shrub bark; Flamel no doubt means to designate the papyrus, which would give the book a respectable antiquity; but these barks, instead of being written or painted directly, are engraved with an iron point before they are colored. We no longer understand. How does the narrator know that the stiletto which Abraham would have used was made of iron, rather than wood or ivory? It is for us an enigma as indecipherable as this other: the legendary rabbi writing, in Latin, a treatise dedicated to his co-religionists, Jews like him. Why did he use Latin, a common scientific language in the Middle Ages? He could have dispensed, by using the Hebrew language, less widespread then, from throwing the anathema and shoutingMaranatha on those who would attempt to study it. Finally, and despite Flamel's assurance, this old manuscript—one cannot think of everything—had just been executed when he acquired it. Indeed, Abraham says he only wants to reveal his secret to come to the aid of the sons of Israel, persecuted at the very time when the future Adept grew pale over his text: "To the people of the Jews, by the wrath of God dispersed in Gaul, Hail", exclaims the Levite, prince, priest and Hebrew astrologer, at the beginning of his grimoire.

Thus, the great master Abraham, doctor and light of Israel, reveals himself, if we take him literally, for an emeritus mystifier, and his work, fraudulently archaic, devoid of authenticity, as incapable of withstanding criticism. But, if we consider that the book and the author never had any other existence than in the fertile imagination of Nicolas Flamel, we must think that all these things, so diverse and so singular, contain a mysterious meaning which it is important to discover.

Let's start the analysis with the presumed author of the fictional grimoire. What is Abraham? The Patriarch par excellence; in Greek Πατριάρχης is the first author of the family, of the roots πατήρ, father, and ἀρχή, beginning, principle, origin, source, foundation. The Latin name Abraham, which the Bible gives to the venerable ancestor of the Hebrews, means Father of a multitude . It is therefore the first author of created things, the source of all that lives here below, the unique primordial substance whose different specifications populate the three kingdoms of nature. The Book of Abraham is, therefore, the Book of Principle, and as this book is devoted, according to Flamel, to alchemy, that part of the science which studies the evolution of mineral bodies, we learn that it deals with the original metallic matter, the basis and foundation of the sacred art.

Flamel buys this book for the sum of two florins, which means that the overall price of the materials and fuel necessary for the work was estimated at two florins in the fourteenth century. The raw material alone, in sufficient quantity, was then worth ten sols. Philalethes, who wrote his treatise on the Introitus in 1645, brings the total expense to three florins. “Thus,” he said, “you will see that the Work, in its essential materials, does not exceed the price of three ducats or three gold florins. Nay more, the expense of making water scarcely exceeds two crowns per pound. [ Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium . Op.cit., cap. XVII, 3.]

The volume, gilded, very old and very large, bears no resemblance to ordinary books; no doubt because it is made and composed of other matter. The gilding that covers it gives it a metallic look. And if the Adept asserts that he is old, it is only to establish the high seniority of the hermetic subject. “I would therefore say, affirms an anonymous author, that the material of which the stone of the philosophers is made was as soon as man made, and that it is called philosopher's earth... But no one knows it, except the true philosophers, who are the children of Art. » [ Discourse of Uncertain Author on the Stone of the Philosophers. Manuscript from the Bibl. national, dated 1590, n° 19957 (former French Saint-Germain). A manuscript copy of the same treatise, dated April 1, 1696, belongs to the bibl. de l'Arsenal, n° 3031 (180, SAF).] Although this little-known book is very common, it contains many things and contains great hidden truths. Flamel is therefore right to say that he is broad; indeed, the Latin largus means abundant, rich, copious, a word derived from the Greek λα, much, and from ἔργον, thing. Moreover, the Greek πλατύς, broad, also has the meaning of common use, of very widespread, of exposed to all eyes. One cannot better define the universality of the subject of the sages.

Continuing his description, our writer thinks that the book of Abraham "was made of the thin bark of tender shrubs", or so it seemed to him. Flamel is hardly positive, and for good reason: he knows very well that, with extremely rare exceptions, medieval parchment has replaced Egyptian papyrus for three centuries. [The use of the papyrus was completely abandoned at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth.] And, although we cannot paraphrase this laconic expression, we must recognize that it is nevertheless where the author speaks most clearly. A shrub is a small tree, just as a mineral is a young metal. The bark or gangue, which serves as an envelope for this mineral, allows man to identify it with certainty, thanks to the external characters with which it is covered.liber , the book. However, this mineral presents a particular configuration; the crystalline layers which form its texture are, as in mica, superimposed like the pages of a book. His outward appearance has earned him the epithet Leper, and Scaled Dragon , because his gangue is scaly, unpleasant, and rough to the touch. A simple piece of advice on this subject: preferably choose samples with the largest and most pronounced scales.

“… Its cover was of fine copper, all engraved with strange letters or figures. »

Mining often affects a pale coloration like brass, sometimes reddish like copper; in any case, its scales appear covered with tangled lineaments, having the aspect of bizarre, varied and ill-defined signs or characters. We noted above the obvious misinterpretation that exists between the gilded book and its copper binding, because there can be no question here of its internal structure. It is probable that the Adept wishes to draw the mind, on the one hand, to the metallic specification of the substance represented by his book, and, on the other hand, to the faculty which this mineral possesses of being partially transmuted into gold. This curious property is indicated by Philalethes in his Commentary on the Epistle of Ripley addressed to King Edward IV.“Without using the transmuting elixir, says the author speaking of our subject, I can easily extract the gold and silver it contains, which can be certified by those who have seen it as well as me. This operation is not advisable, because it takes away all value for the Work; but we can assure you that the philosophical matter truly contains the gold of the sages, imperfect gold, white and raw, vile with regard to the precious metal, very superior to gold even if we consider only hermetic labor. Despite its humble copper cover, with engraved scales, it is indeed a golden book, a golden book as that of Abraham the Jew, and the famous fine golden booklet of which Bernard le Trévisan speaks in his Parable. Moreover, it would seem that Nicolas Flamel understood what confusion could result, in the mind of the reader, of this duality of meaning, when he writes in the same treatise: "Let no one therefore blasme me if he does not hear me easily, for he will be more blasmable than me, inasmuch as he is not initiated into these sacred and secret interpretations of the first agent (which is the key opening the doors of all the sciences), nevertheless he wants to hear the more subtle conceptions of the very envious philosophers, who are not written only for those who already know these principles, which are never found in any book. » nevertheless he wants to hear the more subtle conceptions of very envious philosophers, which are written only for those who already know these principles, which are never found in any book. » nevertheless he wants to hear the more subtle conceptions of very envious philosophers, which are written only for those who already know these principles, which are never found in any book. »

Finally, the author of the Hieroglyphic Figures ends his description by saying: “As for the inside, its leaves of bark were engraved, and of a very great industry, written with an iron point. »

Here, it is no longer the physical aspect that is in question, but the very preparation of the subject. To reveal a secret of this order and of this importance would be to cross the limits which are imposed on us. Also, we will not seek, as we have done so far, to comment in plain language on Flamel's equivocal and highly allegorical phrase. We will content ourselves with drawing attention to this point of iron, whose secret property changes the intimate nature of our Magnesia, separates, orders, purifies and assembles the elements of the mineral chaos. To succeed in this operation, one must have a good knowledge of the sympathies of things, possess a great deal of skill, show proof of "great industry", as the Adept gives us to understand. But, in order to bring some help to the artist in the resolution of this difficulty, we will point out to him that, in the primitive language, which is archaic Greek, all the words containing the diphthong ἦρ must be taken into consideration. Ἦρ has remained, in the phonetic cabala, the sound expression devoted to the active light, to the embodied spirit, to the manifest or hidden bodily fire. Ἦρ, contraction of ἔαρ, is the birth of light, spring and morning, the beginning, daybreak, dawn. The air, — in Greek ἀήρ, — is the support, the vehicle of the light. It is by the vibration of the atmospheric air that the dark waves, emanating from the sun, become luminous. The ether or the sky (αἰθήρ) is the chosen place, the domicile of pure clarity. Among the metallic bodies, that which contains the highest proportion of fire, or latent light, is iron (σίδηρος). We know how easily we can release, by shock or friction, the internal fire in the form of brilliant sparks. It is this active fire that must be communicated to the passive subject; he alone has the power to modify its cold and sterile complexion, making it ardent and prolific. It is he whom the wise call green lion, wild and ferocious lion , — cabalistically λέων φήρ, — which is rather suggestive and exempts us from insisting.

We have, in a previous work, pointed out the implacable struggle between the bodies brought into contact, in connection with a bas-relief of the base of Notre-Dame de Paris. [See The Mystery of the Cathedrals, p. 79 (ed. 1926).] Another translation of hermetic combat exists on the facade of a wooden house, built in the 15th century, at La Ferté-Bernard (Sarthe). We find there the madman, the schoolboy, the pilgrim, familiar images which seem to enter into a formula applied, towards the end of the Middle Ages, to the decoration of the modest dwellings of unpretentious alchemists. We also see the Adept in prayer, as well as the siren, emblem of united and pacified natures, the meaning of which is commented on elsewhere. But what interests us above all—because the subject relates directly to our analysis—are two surly, counterfeit and grimacing marmosets, sculpted on the extreme corbels of the cornice, on the second floor (pl. XXI and XXII).




LA FERTE-BERNARD (Sarthe)
15th CENTURY HOUSE
Marmousets and sculptures on the facade
Plate XXI




LA FERTE-BERNARD (Sarthe)
15th CENTURY HOUSE
Marmousets and sculptures on the facade
Plate XXII


Too far apart to come to blows, they try to satisfy their native aversion by throwing stones at each other. These grotesques have the same hermetic meaning as that of the children in the porch of Notre-Dame. They attack each other with frenzy and seek to stone each other. But, while in the cathedral of Paris the indication of opposite tendencies is furnished to us by the different sex of the young pugilists, it is only the aggressive character of the characters which appears on the Sarthe residence. Two men, of similar appearance and costume, express therein, one the mineral body, the other the metallic body. This outward similarity brings fiction closer to physical reality, but resolutely departs from operative esotericism.

If the reader has understood what we wish to teach, he will easily find, in these various symbolic expressions of the combat between the two natures, the secret materials whose reciprocal destruction opens the first door of the Work. These bodies are the two dragons of Nicolas Flamel, the eagle and the lion of Basil Valentine, the magnet and the steel of Philalethes and the Cosmopolitan.

As for the operation by which the artist inserts into the philosophical subject the igneous agent which is its animator, the ancients described it under the allegory of the combat of the eagle and the lion, or of the two natures, one volatile, the other fixed. The Church has veiled it in the dogma, entirely spiritual and rigorously true, of the Visitation. At the end of this artifice, the book, opened, shows its engraved sheets of bark. He then appears, to the wonder of the eyes and the joy of the soul, covered with admirable signs which manifest his change of constitution...

Bow down, Magi of the East, and you doctors of the Law; bow your heads, sovereign princes of the Persians, Arabs and India! Look, adore and be silent, because you cannot understand. This is the divine, supernatural, ineffable work, the mystery of which no mortal will ever penetrate. In the nocturnal firmament, silent and deep, shines a single star, an immense, resplendent star, composed of all the celestial stars, your luminous guide and the torch of universal Wisdom. See: the Virgin and Jesus rest, calm and serene, under the palm tree of Egypt. A new sun shines in the center of the wicker cradle, mystical basket that once carried the cystophores of Bacchus, the priestesses of Isis, the Ichthus of the Christian Catacombs. The ancient prophecy has finally come true. O miracle! God, ruler of the Universe,



END OF VOLUME ONE



TABLE OF CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE


I - HISTORY AND MONUMENT


II - MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE


III - MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY


IV - THE LEGENDARY LABORATORY


V - CHEMISTRY AND PHILOSOPHY


VI - THE HERMETIC CABAL


VII - ALCHEMY AND SPAGYRY


THE LISIEUX SALAMANDER

I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII


THE ALCHEMICAL MYTH OF ADAM AND EVE


LOUIS D'ESTISSAC

I - II - III - IV - V - VI


THE MAN OF THE WOODS