The Staircase of the Wise - Book 2
Caliditas Humiditas Algor Occulta S*****
Temperature Humidity Cold (Chill) Hidden S****
second book
of
the staircase of the sages
dealing
with the number two,
the two contrary qualities.
in general
and contrary qualities
in the matter
of the stone of the philosophers.
the second and third degree.
chapter I.
Of the separation of Light from Darkness. That the Sun is the agent and the Darkness the general patient. How the First Matter took its Origin from Light. That the generation is done in a pleasant way, and not by contrary ways. That the First Matter of Stone is engendered very gently. That all chemical operations must be done without violence. Several demonstrations of this.
You know, My dearest, that at the beginning of Creation the light is separated by the Holy Spirit of God; That this great God concentrated all the light, which was invisibly extended in Chaos, to one single being who is the Center of this great all, namely the Sun, and that he has since driven out Darkness as his enemies in the around him at the circumference, and that the concentrated Light (namely the Sun) became, from that time on, the Agent, and the Darkness the general Patient. That the Light received the Form and the Darkness the Universal Matter. Light the qualities of heat and dryness, and Darkness those of dampness and coldness. One the Office of the Male and the other of the Female.
It is from the Light that the First Matter and the Elements, which have come out of it, have their first form, and that they have made a very close love and friendship together by this general Nature of light, as by an alliance ; and that they have united so firmly together, that they grow and vegetate in all kinds of compound bodies, and this according to and in proportion to the naturalness and property of each one: for each particular creature has hidden in itself a spark of the universal Light, whose rays invisibly communicate a moving virtue to their seed when they are animated thereto by the rays of the great light: so that it is to be believed, that generation is not made by any contrariety, but by a friendship and by a natural sympathy,
and of such greed of theirs that by being fully imbued and satiated, they become able to produce Solar and Lunar fruits like their father and mother; and so it is that our first Matter is not only amicably begotten, but also lovingly attracted, and imbued with the rays of the Sun, which are spiritually dry and warm, and of the Moon, which are moist and cold.
All our other chemical operations are also done in the same way: for the solution of all bodies is done very gently in our work, and with great spirit, without any noise, nor by any violence, as well that of metals as of all bodies. in the words of Trimegiste: Suaviter et magno cum ingenio, sine strepitu.
Coagulation, Fermentation, Sublimation, Calcination, Conjunction, Separation, Putrefaction and all the other operations are done in the same way, very gently by a natural and magnetine inclination of the particles for each other, and not not by force, since of all that is done by force, one can never be sure that no multiplication is to be hoped for, and the particles can only be said to be contrary to each other, because of their violent operations , which are discovered when the different qualities become concentrated and conjoined together, such as:
A spirit of wine which is very subtle does not allow itself to be united in any way with the liquor of pebbles, or with the oil of salt of tartar, nor with any concentrated alkali, notwithstanding that the spirit of wine aforesaid as well as the oil of salt of tartar have both come from a single liquor, which is wine; although this union is very easily remade by the addition of a sour water, and either by wine or by vinegar, which is a means of joining the two extremities, and the reasons why this is done in this way , are the following, namely, that the salt-alkali and the spirit of wine both come to extend very far into the body of water or phlegm, and so this subtle spirit can be joined to this gross body. , especially when we added its proportion of vinegar to the water,
The oils will serve you as another example, for the vegetable oils are very difficult to join with the concentrated acids, which will rather spread like lightning in the air, than they will unite radically with the concentrated acids, but when these said oils are dissolved by the washings of alkali salts, and when the concentrated acids are extended in rainwater and then poured together, they accept each other very willingly, and it becomes one again. liquor almost such as was that in which the oils were spread in the vegetables before the separation of them: which cannot be done otherwise, since the aforesaid oils being a very subtle Sulfur of the vegetables, when they are joined to the very subtle spirits, and concentrated salts, which are two great extremities,there is a fight so great that it would hardly yield to the effects of gunpowder.
It is thus, my very dear, that you can see that whatever must become lasting and perfect must be done within the limits of love and sympathy, and not by means of violent ways, nor by such means which are contrary to each other, and when speaking of contrary qualities, which cannot truly be contrary, than when they are made very subtle, exalted or concentrated, and that there are not qualities so contrary, that they cannot be united by means proper to that.
Take another example at Saltpetre. Saltpetre is a salt which is of a very temperate composition, but when it is divided according to the art, and when the spirit and its fixed salt are separated from it, it will be found that they become extremely contrary, and that the spirit of Saltpeter being suddenly joined to the fixed salt that there will be such a great fight between these two that they will push everything behind them with great violence: But if they are gently stretched out in the water , and that we pour them back together until there is no longer any boiling, after having evaporated the humidity until a film, it will recoagulate in the cold a saltpeter all the same as was that, from which was made the aforesaid fixed spirit and salt.
Urine Spirit and Acidity will give you another example. If you believe to join a spirit of sulfur urine to a concentrated acidity, you will see such a furious combat of these two, and which will produce such a prodigious effect, that it will in no way yield to lightning or thunder, or even to earthquake: But being ruled by a Wise artist these two great extremities can be reduced to humidity and a strong penetrating and salutary salt.
Consider the thundering gold, a few grains of which make as much noise as several pounds of gunpowder.
The Thundering Gold is done as follows: Dissolve Gold, as much as you like, with Royal Water, precipitate it with a spirit of urine, dulcify the precipitate well with common water, dry it with caution, lest harm happen to you by drying it, since it melts, being dry, like wax, and in melting thus, it does its work at the same time.
The reason why such a small portion of this thundering Gold can produce such a great effect, is that the gold being dissolved in royal water, and then precipitated by the spirit of urine, takes with it, and concentrates in his body as much spirit of nitre and as much of the spirit of urine as he needs to be able to produce such a great effort, for having embodied these two contrary spirits in himself, he lets them have great effects, when the thundering gold is put in a spoon, on a small coal of fire, since it melts very easily, and then the contrary spirits uniting, the gold must leave them, and that they expose themselves to their embodied spiritual warfare, which is infinitely greater than minds alone, or bodies alone can produce.
See, my friend, how it seems to us that the contrary qualities must be considered according to our experience, and how all things have their beginning, and how they have their progress and their end always by love, by temperance and by sympathy and never by force or violence.
See how wisely our great God has ordered all things in this great whole, how everything grows and blossoms where love governs, and how tiny, annihilates, and resolves itself into its principles where contrary qualities increase and overcome, as I You could recite an infinity of experiences of it, if I were not afraid of boring you too much with such a long speech, yet I find it difficult to prevent myself from telling you about a few experiences, which will serve well for our touching purpose. the treatment that I gave to my Egg of the Philosophers insofar as the good Lord gave me knowledge of it.
chapter II.
Of the egg of the Philosophers in comparison with the eggs of animals. In what way one should spare one's tongue and pen when dealing with the top secret of the Ancients. Philosophical enigma. Explanation of the above Riddle.
Your speech would not bore me, when it lasted much longer, because the things you recite are all experiences that have passed through your hands, and I assure you that no story of everyone can be more agreeable to hear than that which you promise us of the Egg of the Philosophers which makes so much noise in the world, and of which I have heard and read a large number of authors, and particularly (since we are dealing here contrary qualities and love) what concordance it may have with the brooding of Birds' Eggs.
Very well: I will naively share with you what has passed through my hands touching this affair, in what way love has operated in it until now, and how many misfortunes have befallen me, when the contrary qualities began to dominate by my negligence; but before we get there, you will be pleased to tell me what you know of the brooding of the Eggs of Animals, so that we may consider in what way the one way agrees with the other.
Very willingly: but since I remember a story, on the subject of Contrary Qualities in gradu intenso, which is admirable, and reported by J. Struis in his trip to the East Indies, you will not take a bad part, if please, that I tell it before that to begin the matter of the generation of the Animals.
He says that on the 13th of July, in the year of Grace, 1671, there arose at Scamachi in Persia a Storm so terrible with lightning and thunder, that the air was filled on all sides with a bluish fire, from which very large masses sometimes fell, dripping like molten sulphur. Among other things, I saw (he said) a mass of fire fall below, which, descending to the earth, burst with such great violence that it seemed that heaven and earth trembled. I have (said he) sometimes heard the cannons of the Turks being discharged on the castles near the Dardanelles being loaded with balls, which gave very great blows, because of their sizes for which these cannons are famous; but these shots were no more at this shot mentioned above that a shot of the key, which children use while playing, is at the rate of a shot of cannon.
I have read several stories similar to this, and which occur very often in barren Arabia, which would make our discourse too long to recount here: I only mean by this story that it seems that some likewise generally in the Elements as you please say of your particular Elements.
Certainly ; for they are only spirits or nitrous vapours, sulphurous and subtle, which being conceived of a thin and viscous matter, and concentrated with the light of the Sun, become very suddenly kindled within the intemperate air of heat and humidity, and this is how such terrible effects are produced: But this in passing.
I beg you to continue at this time with your discourse on the generation of Animals which is made by the brooding of Eggs, which begins in a gentle, amicable, and pleasant way to nature, so that I can try to report a same way of proceeding that is done in the work of the Philosophers, and that we can confirm the truth of what the ancient Philosophers say about it, as much as we can.
I am ready to obey you: Concerning the generation of Animals, you know that the illustrious Harvéjus, Malpigius, Swammerdan, Kerchring, Parisanus, Fabricius and other scholars have written marvelously well about it, and that scholars mostly agree , that all kinds of Animals are not only conceived in the beginning in eggs, and that they are brooded in them until their perfect maturity, but that even the female seed, from its material beginning, is formed in roundness or of an oval figure within their testicles, before it is projected by the venereal action; and that in the aforesaid testicles there are Eggs of different sizes, of which there are some which are ready and fit to receive and conceive the male seed, and others which are not yet fit for this conception.
For what he looks at me, I can say that I agree with them so far, and to express my feelings beyond that: I cannot help saying, that it seems to me, ( I speak here of the generation of men) that the seed of man being thrown far enough into the womb of woman, that it can either touch the Eggs of woman there, or that the spirit of this seed can to penetrate to these said Eggs: that these Eggs become impregnated with it, and quasi grafted to come to the motion of the production of the human fruit; for while the venereal motion or action is made of the Masculine and Feminine sex, it seems to me that the womb of the woman must open by the gentle and pleasant touch of the man, and that the man becomes to project his sperm ( vulgarly said the seed) moved by the tickling of the woman,
Thus the conjunction of the virile seed with that of the woman is made by love and with great pleasure, and thus the principles of the Animals are united, not by violent and harsh means, but by gentle and pleasant ways.
It is in this way that Form and matter, Agent and patient, Hot and Cold, Dry and Humid naturally unite according to their proper weight and measure.
It is in this way that the sparks of the masculine and feminine sperm which are conjoined together in their womb or earth, come to be vegetated and growing by means of the vivifying heat of the mother, who receives it from the bright heat of the sun, which the sun borrows continually and inexhaustibly of divine virtue, until the visible principles begin to appear.
The first visible thing of this great work of God to the generation, is a very transparent water, clear, shiny and almost without any color, in which one cannot see anything distinctly more than in the distilled rain water it only water can be seen, being surrounded by a film so tender at the beginning, that it can hardly be touched without it bursting, and its humidity flowing out.
The second visible thing is a small stain of a gray or whitish color, which comes to expand by the plastic virtue, which is hidden within this glistening water, like a spirit within its body; and this in a few round circles of the shape like the apple of a man's eye, a small whitish point remaining in the middle for the center, which comes to vanish in a short time, and a small black point appears in its place, which changes into a shining color, which gradually darts from it a quantity of small red rays at the circumference, and also changes it with time into a red circle, but before these red rays can be discovered of common sight, one discovers by the microscope that this above-mentioned red and shining point is moving, moving and working like the heart of an animal.
This colored visible principle, or else this Animal center is the second machine of the animal spirit, which is swimming, growing and nourishing itself within this first matter or clear Water, and multiplying itself in it in quality and quantity, until , that his vegetative soul having attracted the animal soul in his time, he received so much nourishment from this same limpid water, (which always increases, the creature increasing in proportion according to its need) the animal imperfect be believed to be so perfect, that he becomes to enjoy the open air, and to be of such vigor that he can take, draw to himself, digest, and consume his mother's milk and other food suitable to his nature until the time of his perfect greatness, and of such vigour, power, and capacity,that he may then engender others of his own kind, and thus be infinitely enriched by posterity.
That, my dearest, in a few words with how much subtlety, tenderness, and friendliness that the generation of animals is made, how admirable it is, and how there is no contradiction.
Enough has been said about the generation of animals, those who want to know more about it, they only have to take the trouble to read the above-mentioned authors: for me, I have also read some in Actis Philosophicis Societatis Regiae Anglicanae , in Bartholimo, in Miscelleneis Medico Physicis Academiae Naturae curiosorum Germanorum, in Hervejo, Malpigio and others, but nowhere have I been able to see clearly enough, how the generation of the child of the Philosophers is to be compared, and what resemblance that it may have to the generation of that of animals.
It is true that these gentlemen are discovering many things which are very beautiful, very elevated, very useful, and which have been unknown until now, and which all lovers of the arts, sciences and truth are indebted to them, but they make very little mention of the high secret of the ancient Sages, it is also doubtless that they have their reasons for it, since the true Philosophers give very serious warnings that one must spare his tongue and his pen so well, that no one ever comes to profane a matter of such importance and thereby burdens himself with the wrath of God and their indignation.
You speak very well: I have read the advertances of the Philosophers, and am also convinced of what a horrible sin that he undertakes who discovers this high secret of the Sages to an unworthy, but because the true Philosophers recommend with much instances, that lovers of science must seriously and constantly read and reread their writings, and that they will find in them at the end the truth of their words, it seems to me, (under your correction) that a person, believing in to have arrived on the true path (after a very great fatigue from having read a quantity of authors, from having put one's hand to the plow oneself, and after having incurred great expenses) will not hurt, as they have does the same, to make known secretly and under cover to those who are familiar with this science,in what matter it seems that one must employ one's pains and labor, and what bad encounters one has had there, and thus to warn all people of good and honor with fundamental reasons and by harmful experiences and painful, that there is nothing good to expect from the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, but that everything is to be hoped for from the Mineral Kingdom and particularly from metals, as we have already seen things which are entirely in conformity with the writings of the Ancient Sages, which it is reasonable for the soul to believe since the eyes have seen them and the hands have touched them.that there is nothing good to expect from the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, but that everything is to be hoped for from the Mineral Kingdom and particularly from metals, as we have already seen things which are entirely in conformity with the writings of the Ancient Sages, which it is reasonable for the soul to believe since the eyes have seen them and the hands have touched them.that there is nothing good to expect from the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, but that everything is to be hoped for from the Mineral Kingdom and particularly from metals, as we have already seen things which are entirely in conformity with the writings of the Ancient Sages, which it is reasonable for the soul to believe since the eyes have seen them and the hands have touched them.
I also beg you to believe that my intention is in no way to want to make people believe, that my intention is not in any way to want people to believe, as if I possessed this high science, not at all, because I roundly confess not to be its possessor, and to be unworthy of such a great treasure.
nor against the intention of the Philosophers that light be separated from darkness, and truth from lies, and this by experiments, which one has to do according to the small capacity of his mind and according to the time that our vocation takes us. allowed, because the things we recite here have thus simply passed through our hands, our intention being none other than to give warnings and salutary advice to all those who will want to listen to us, and who will want to believe us, to try to persuade them to quit their useless cares and labors, and to cease nourishing themselves on vain hopes; and that on the contrary those who will not want to add faith to our words, that they can persevere in pursuing their vanities and foolishness. that one has done it according to the small capacity of his mind and according to the time that our vocation has allowed us, because the things that we recite here have thus simply passed through our hands, our intention being none other, than to give warnings and salutary advice to all those who will want to listen to us, and who will want to believe us, in order to try to persuade them to quit their useless cares and labors, and to cease nourishing themselves with vain hopes; and that on the contrary those who will not want to add faith to our words, that they can persevere in pursuing their vanities and foolishness. that one has done it according to the small capacity of his mind and according to the time that our vocation has allowed us, because the things that we recite here have thus simply passed through our hands, our intention being none other, than to give warnings and salutary advice to all those who will want to listen to us, and who will want to believe us, in order to try to persuade them to quit their useless cares and labors, and to cease nourishing themselves with vain hopes; and that on the contrary those who will not want to add faith to our words, that they can persevere in pursuing their vanities and foolishness. than to give warnings and salutary advice to all those who will want to listen to us, and who will want to believe us, in order to try to persuade them to quit their useless cares and labors, and to cease nourishing themselves with vain hopes; and that on the contrary those who will not want to add faith to our words, that they can persevere in pursuing their vanities and foolishness. than to give warnings and salutary advice to all those who will want to listen to us, and who will want to believe us, in order to try to persuade them to quit their useless cares and labors, and to cease nourishing themselves with vain hopes; and that on the contrary those who will not want to add faith to our words, that they can persevere in pursuing their vanities and foolishness.
Listen at this hour to the things that have happened to me during the treatment and maintenance of my egg or magnet of the Philosophers, and if the course of Nature and the regime of the brooding of This egg is in any way similar to what you have just said of the generation of animals.
I am listening, and would like you to have the kindness to communicate it to me in the simplest way possible.
I will do it ; but you must know that the true Philosophers, and those in whom one can trust the most, have all written very simply, and that the heard understand it as scholars of letters know the ABC, but that the ignorant in judge in proportion to their knowledge, and that they ordinarily see nothing of it, even though they are well learned in the other sciences, since they do not understand the Philosophical terms, nor the allegories of the ancient Philosophers; you can hear me very well.
I prepared a bath for a Virgin so beautiful and so white, that even the great God Jupiter was in love with her, and notwithstanding that she did not yield in whiteness or beauty to the same Goddess Diana, I nevertheless washed her body. so well, by flattering and stroking it for a very long time, that it still left so much darkness, that the bath became so dirty and so impure, that I had to change the bath more than twenty times, before I was able to get his body so clean, that the bath could remain pure and clear, because the dirt, which washed every time from his body, made the water so cloudy, as if something had mixed in it. mud allowed.
This virgin being washed more cleanly, I put her on a bed of honour, and had her coupled by the priest to a very handsome young man, white as snow; These two characters, notwithstanding that they were very closely related to each other, fell so in love with each other, that they immediately united so closely together, as if they had been the God Mars and the Goddess Venus. same, so that after the invocation of the God Apollo and the Goddess Diana, they were blessed with a very desirable and very admirable seed. This seed was left and joined by such a great fire of love, that the mother was not able to enclose it in her womb, to preserve it and nourish it until the predestined term: it was also predicted to these two young lovers by a diviner, that they would only leave their seed once; that all the forces of both, for the generation, would all pass together at one stroke into this seed; that the mother would not be able to nurture this fruit, and that it would have to be nurtured and nurtured in a very strange way, not by artifice nor by the help of the mother, because she was her own mother, no longer by that of the father, because she was her own father, nor by the aid of any other, than by that of a wise artist and a very experienced naturalist, since this seed would contain within it the virtues of the Sun and the Moon, of Man and Woman, of Wet and Dry, of Hot and Cold, of Form and Matter, of Heaven and Earth, of Light and Darkness, Generation and Corruption, Life and Death, Brimstone, Mercury and Salt; and that this same seed would become to be exalted and raised up to the perfection of a celestial fruit; that for this purpose his parents would be hard pressed to find such an artist and nurturer, and that they would find one in the end by the very wise conduct of Jupiter, to whom they would give him into his hands, that they would recommend him to him in the highest degree, and would have him baptized with the name of Hermaphrodite.
Do you understand what I have just said to you by Allegory, or would you please if I give you more clarification.
For me, I understand very well all that you like to utter, but it seems to me that it is very obscure for many people, which is why it would not be bad, in my opinion, for you to elucidate the obscure words. a little advantage, since those who are not experts in this art will not be able to understand anything as well, and that to those who understand it, we wish them wholeheartedly.
I am happy with it, and will therefore say it even more clearly. You understand, if you please, by the virgin so beautiful and white that they are the Mercurial metals, from which one washes the blackness in the bath. By the bed of honor you will take the escutcheon factory of Vulcan, and that the highest honors, are often acquired by martial actions. By the snow-white young man you mean the Mercurial Metallic spirit. The Priest signifies the father of this young man and this virgin who are brother and sister. The invocation of the God Apollo and the Goddess Diana: will give you to know the magnetine attraction of the rays of the Sun and the Moon.
The seed is the Menstrue of the Philosophers, which is named by the Philosophers with an infinity of names, as we have said above.
The rest, it seems to me, is clear enough for the heard, and for the ignorant too much has already been said.
Certainly: but how will you bring about this work in comparison to the generation of animals?
Very well, my friend: What is said so far, is only uttered of the composition or conjunction of the masculine seed with the feminine: What do you think?
It seems to me that it is all the same.
What please you to bring back from this water which is shiny or limpid so that no other visible thing can be seen in it: we call it the Menstrue of the Philosophers, which is of such a similar aspect and color yours as one rainwater is like the other, and in this also is hidden and extended the child of the Philosophers all in virtue.
When you speak of a whitish gray stain, you mean that our matter also becomes at the beginning of Putrefaction of the same color, which changes little by little, by the heat of a brooding hen, into a black color, like it pleased you to say of your grayish macula which likewise changes into a black color.
You say that the blackness changes very slowly into redness and that they extend little by little quantity of the red rays from this red center to the circumference and that the said circumference also becomes red, it happens in the same way in our matter when you treat it suaviter, that is to say very gently, because all the blackness then turns red.
And as the Blood of the animal increases more and more, until its body comes to cover, shade and surround its center and its red rays, like a whitish substance, so that the redness cannot be no longer seen, but that it no longer appears anything but a white and diaphanous body all around: thus veoid or similarly to the generation of the child of the Philosophers, because the first red color becomes to vanish very gently , and to be surrounded by a diaphanous body, white as milk, which is so similar to the milk of animals, that it is almost impossible to distinguish it, which contains hidden in it just as well the color red, as the diaphanous white body of the animal: according to the saying of the Philosophers.
Sub Albedine latet Rubedo.
Under Albedine lies Rubedo.
Touching the food which animals afterwards enjoy, when they are emancipated from the eggs or from the womb of their mother, as do milk and other nutrients, which are changed, by circulation and separation, into chyle, and beyond in blood, to make the body of the animal grow and enlarge in quality and quantity; it is the same in the work of the Philosophers, which is also nourished by its own milk, which always increases by the circulation and by the separation of its own Elements without addition of any foreign thing; and this same milk soon afterwards changes into chyle, and the chyle into blood, which is a red color or tincture by which the child of the Philosophers may increase also in quality and quantity.
Is it possible ? but I have to believe it since your narration is based on your own experiences. But my very dear friend, I beg you not to forget to tell us what you liked to mention in the past, namely the bad and unfortunate encounters that happened to you when you thought you were advancing your work with too much impatience, and that you thought of carrying on your operations with too much violence, without governing them very gently and with long-suffering, what were the causes of your misfortunes, and in what way did you redress your faults when you have irritated the contrary qualities too much against each other, either by your negligence or your imprudence.
chapter III.
Of the Regime of the Work of the Philosophers. Harmful experiences for having rushed too much. That the red color of the matter of the Philosophers is hidden under the white, like the blood-red color under the white of the chyle. That one cannot easily fail in the work of the Philosophers. The cause why the vase sometimes breaks. The way to prevent the vase from breaking. That we should undertake nothing in chemistry without first knowing what will happen to it.
I will not fail to tell you about them. The true Philosophers (both Hermes Trimegiste and all the others) say unanimously, that it is necessary to give at the beginning a little warmth to the work of the Philosophers, because the said Hermes commands very expressly in his Emerald Table or Smaragdine, that it is necessary to separate the rear earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently and with great spirit by these words: Separabis Terram ab Igne, Subtile a spisso, suaviter et magno cum ingenio. That is to say: You will separate the Land of Fire, the subtle rear from the gross, and this gently and with great spirit.
Others say: that at the beginning matter must be given a smoldering fire.
Others call it a work of patience.
Others say: Omnis sestinatio a Diabolo est (Every siege is from the Devil). And so with others.
For what concerns me. I experienced the same thing, by a great waste of trouble and labor, for when I had exposed my Philosophical sperm for some time to putrefaction, believing to proceed, (according to the saying of all the Philosophers,) and to produce the material, up to the color Black, which is the First, for the time of a work, which had to be handled with such great patience, began to bore me; believing therefore, according to my judgment, to advance the putrefaction, by increasing a little the heat of the exterior and interior fire, I have experienced, to my great regret, that my vase is burst, and all my matter lost, so that I had to start all over again, and take better care of the lessons of the masters, whose exact observation fortunately made me pass through the color Black, (which appeared like a silt, or like a black soap) until the white color like milk: which having obtained by the grace of God, I took again the insurance to excite too much the interior engine of the matter by the outside, and thus very unfortunately lost for the second time all my trouble, all my labor, all my material and all my time.
For the third time, I became still wiser, and governed the fire in such a way, that I had the happiness of returning through the color Black, (by the help of Nature) until the White color of milk, and that I found true what the true Philosophers confirm, namely: that under the White color of the matter the Red is hidden as the White is it under the Black: because they say: which having obtained by the grace of God, I regained the assurance of exciting the interior motor of matter too much from the exterior, and thus very unfortunately lost for the second time all my pain, all my labor, all my material and all my time.
For the third time, I became still wiser, and governed the fire in such a way, that I had the happiness of returning through the color Black, (by the help of Nature) until the White color of milk, and that I found true what the true Philosophers confirm, namely: that under the White color of the matter the Red is hidden as the White is it under the Black: because they say: which having obtained by the grace of God, I regained the assurance of exciting the interior motor of matter too much from the exterior, and thus very unfortunately lost for the second time all my pain, all my labor, all my material and all my time.
For the third time, I became still wiser, and governed the fire in such a way, that I had the happiness of returning through the color Black, (by the help of Nature) until the White color of milk, and that I found true what the true Philosophers confirm, namely: that under the White color of the matter the Red is hidden as the White is it under the Black: because they say: and thus very unfortunately lost for the second time all my trouble, all my labor, all my material and all my time.
For the third time, I became still wiser, and governed the fire in such a way, that I had the happiness of returning through the color Black, (by the help of Nature) until the White color of milk, and that I found true what the true Philosophers confirm, namely: that under the White color of the matter the Red is hidden as the White is it under the Black: because they say: and thus very unfortunately lost for the second time all my trouble, all my labor, all my material and all my time. For the third time, I became still wiser, and governed the fire in such a way, that I had the happiness of passing again through the color Black, (by the help of Nature) until the White color of milk, and that I found true what the true Philosophers confirm, namely: that under the White color of the matter the Red is hidden as the White is it under the Black: because they say:
Sub Albedine latet Rubedo.
That is to say: The Redness is hidden under the Whiteness.
Modern Physicians and Physicians have also experienced that the redness of the Blood is hidden under the whiteness of the chyle, and that the chyle is changed little by little, by the circulation and by the continual fermentation of the blood, into blood; for several of the scholars of that time, who verify their sciences by experiments very wisely, produce a number of examples, that the chyle separated from the blood after leaving the vein, and that the blood even left the vein. of a white color, which cannot, (under correction) be anything but chyle, which has not yet been produced to perfection from the blood by the circulation and fermentation which is required for such perfection.
It is thus, I say, that I experimented all the same in our work; that our Whiteness is transmuted with time, by means of continual circulation or rotation and fermentation, into Redness, and that the Whiteness is covered with the Redness, as we have said that the chyle is hidden in the blood in the external aspect, and which ; allows itself to be separated from it under a white cover, until it is completely changed and transformed into Redness, as we have just said of chyle and blood, and then our White matter arrives at a Weighty matter or oil and metal which indeed contains metals in it, but being produced to its highest perfection it cannot be separated from metals: but alas! having thus drawn part of this blood from our Pelican, and believing to pursue and conduct my work very wisely, it has happened for the third time, that my vessel is broken and that all my imperfect blood, which I had assembled with great difficulty, is lost and vanished. Doesn't it seem to you that I was very unhappy?
Certainly: but as happy as you were thus able to return to the true path: pray you, do you not know the reason why your vessels are broken so often?
To find the true way there is not so great difficulty because in proceeding in our own way we have Nature itself for guide, of which, provided that we follow it only with our mode of operating, it is almost impossible to mislead, at least that you don't want to be more wise than Nature itself, which unfortunately does not happen! that too often, and acting in this way, you mislead Nature, and deceive yourself and Nature, as I have done also with so many other great waste of trouble and time, but I have in the end perceived as much by an indefatigable reading of the writings of the true Philosophers, and by experiences that my vase is no longer fitted to me, but that it is still presently in a condition to always draw blood from my Pelican, which I hope he won't perish easily,
Would you like to know how vases can be guarded against the misfortunes of being broken? The principal cause, why the vessel, which encloses our matter, sometimes breaks, proceeds principally from this, that the external heat is not well governed at its time, seeing that the Elements which are comprised in our matter carry out their operations in gradu intensity and remission in proportion to the government of the external fire, because it is very necessary (as we have already touched above) that at the beginning, when our matter appears in the form of sperm, that we only give it a fire very slow and a very small and gentle heat, so that it may be governed like a wine, or other beverage, what such heat is given to aid in its fermentation; or else such a heat by which the vegetating spirits of the seeds of vegetables can be stirred up and sustained in vegetation and growth.
You can think, if a wine or some other similar beverage, will not burst the barrel which contains it, in case it is too irritated by too harsh a heat, even though the staves would be very thick, at least let it not be given some opening, to give air to the fury of its movement; and since the naturalness of beverages, being thus forced by heat, will change in short order into a sour and dissolving acrid liquor, as is vinegar, it is certain that nature could not have produced it to the perfection of a wine or drink pleasing to man as was his purpose; because the spirits of the beverages, which are the main supports of them, come to fly away by such intemperate fermentation, leaving an insipid phlegm and a silty tartar behind; of which it seems that one cannot simply give other reasons, if not, that one has given nature a hindrance, to perfect the wise regimen of its design, and that one has diverted it out of impatience and out of ignorance of her good intention, what was such, that she believed to conjoin the aromas of Sulphur, Mercury and Salt, and to unite them by such a bond of love and friendship together, that this liquor would have received a body so well proportioned and enriched in spirit, by a due and natural fermentation, that it was required for a perfect wine or drink, instead of the above principles becoming to be separated, changed and rendered invalid by a enormous fermentation (as we said) so that they can never be brought together again,
Likewise: if you think of hastening the sperm of any animal, and of advancing it by means other than Nature ordinarily directs you, you will find that your semen will soon fade away, and the eggs will remain barren and prone. to sudden rot.
It is the same with our metallic sperm, if you do not endeavor at the beginning to hold together its Elements with patience and prudence in the fermentation, by a very moderate heat, as the matter requires it, and that you do not maintain it there its time, but that on the contrary you believe to make your metallic glorious child by a regime of fire that is not required to the nature of the metallic seed, and that thus you intend to advance his nativity; I can assure you that you will never have the encounter of the happy aspect of the three capital colors: For you will never see the Black Raven, if you have disturbed the egg, which contained it, by storms of lightning and thunder, since its form and matter have been rendered confused. The White Swan will not appear if the Raven his father is not previously in being. Neither the persistent, fire-feeding resilient Salamander will ever be seen, if both his father and mother are suffocated immediately after his conception.
It is so, my dear! that happened to me: I thought I was flying with Icarus, but my wings weren't clean, that's why I fell with him.
I wanted to see the black feathers of the raven, before its body was formed in the egg, and since I governed my Philosophical Egg in the beginning with such great imprudence, that the four Elements, (which began to ferment strongly peacefully in my Chaos, and carry out their operation there according to the course of nature,) rose up in gradu intenso (like Geans in Ovid) against each other with so much vehemence and violence, that my Egg of the Philosophers, in dying, reproached me for my foolishness according to my merits.
When my vase jumped for the second time, the fault was such; that the Light being separated from the Darkness and the higher Elements from the Lower, and that the heavier Elements having rushed down, my metallic earth (which was no longer metal) is so kindled and moved with its inner fire by my imprudent conduct of my exterior fire, which she has excited, by an impetuous commotion, a tremor and a movement so strong and so great, that my Hermetic vase is blown up and to pieces as if it had been struck by a bolt from the blue.
As for the third misfortune that happened to me, I can tell you that it also came from too great a zeal to hasten Nature beyond her power, because after having caressed her very gently for a long time, and after having produced it by an unspeakable patience, that she had made me see the Red Roses, which I had wished for so long, and that she had taught me how and in what way the rosebush should be cultivated and cared for, to be able to produce an infinity of roses: I was once again so ignorant that I dared to ask her that she had brought me to maturity and perfection not only the flowers, but also all of a sudden the fruits and the seeds, which being impossible to him, not only refused me,but met me with such a furious and harsh gaze that even Medusa's aspect could hardly have been more dangerous or more unhappy, since she began to vomit against me such a choking fire, that it was capable of killing me in a moment, if I hadn't had the prudence to hold my breath and escape from the room as long as I could.
It was from that time that I learned to be better on my guard, to follow Nature in her wise conduct, to obey her orders precisely, and to assist and help her in everything with devotion, and it is by this way of acting that I found myself well, and that I still find myself well.
Here, according to your wishes, are the reasons and the causes of my misfortunes, which have happened to me only through the bad regime of the Elements contained in our matter, and from too great an impatience to have wanted to make Nature advance more than it could not; But if you try to maintain it with spirit in the bed of love, and to govern it very gently by prudence and by friendship, you can believe with me that this misfortune will not happen to you, that your vase will never break, and that you will be able, if you want, to cook and perfect your matter, from the beginning to the end, in a single vessel, according to the Philosophers' saying.
I thank you with all my heart for the sincere communication of your experiences, and for your cordial endorsements; The proverb says: that one must learn with shame or with damage, you have done the same, and I understand that you have spared neither pain nor labor, and I will not have much difficulty in believing that you understand tolerably well the conduct and the government of the great work of the Philosophers.
You also know very well that the Gods sell everything for tireless work, but very happy are those who undertake nothing that they do not know beforehand what must happen, and who know how to prepare all the material of the universal. , in such a way, that they may be assured that they will come to see all that we have said before; that the said material only costs them a pistole, and who will be able to maintain it for a whole year with a cartload of good peat or coal without any other expense; but very unhappy and miserable are those, who work like a savage, who do not know what they are doing, and who take Animals and vegetables to make gold or silver only, but also even dyes for dyeing gold and silver metals. This by the way.
chapter IV.
Of the operations of the two contrary qualities according to the authors. On the difference between the true Philosophers and the Commons.
We have spoken enough of the deceptions, of the wickedness of the ignorant and the deceivers, whoever wants to know more of them has only to read Count Trevisan, Sendivogius and others; We will return, please, to our number Two, and then we will leave these Degrees to try to climb the following ones, since our intention is not to make such a broad purpose; it is true, however, that I cannot prevent myself from bringing here what I have read of it in some authors.
H. Cornelius Agrippa says in his Occult Philosophy among other things of the Number Two what follows.
Binarius primus numerus est, qui prima multitudo est, a nullo potest numero metiri, praeterquam a sola unitate omnium numerorum mensura communi: non compositus ex numeris, sed ex sola unitate una et una coordinatus. Dicitur numerus charitatis et mutui amoris, nuptiarum et societatis, sicut dictum est a Domino: Erunt dua in carne una.
That is to say: The number Two is the first number because it is the first multitude; it cannot be measured by any number except by unity alone, which is the common measure of all numbers. It is not composed of numbers, but is coordinated from the single unity of one and one. It is called the number of charity and reciprocal love, of weddings and of society, as it is said to the Lord. They will be two in one flesh.
The same says elsewhere.
Binarius dicitur numerus knownbii et sexux, Duo enim sunt sexus Masculinus et foemininus.
That is to say: The Number of Two is called the number of Marriage and of the Sexes, since there are Two Sexes, the Male and the Female.
The same:
Dicitur etiam Binarius Numerus Medietas capax, bona malaque participans, principium divisionis, multitudinis, et distinctionis, et significat materiam. Dicitur etiam aliquando hic, numerus discordiae et confusionis, infortunii et immundiciae, unde Divus Hyeronimus contra Jovianum inquit, quod ideo in secondo die creationis non fuit dictum: Et vidit Deus quoniam bonum; qui Binarius numerus sit malus.
That is: The number two is also called an able half dividing the good from the bad: a beginning of division, multitude and distinction, and signifies matter. This number is also sometimes called the number of disunity and confusion, unhappiness and impurity. This is what Hierome is talking about against Jovian, that it was not said on the second day of creation: And God saw that he was good, because the number two was bad.
Pythagoras: (according to Eusebius)
Unitatem Deum esse dicebat et bonum intellectum: Dualitatem vero Daemonem ac malum, in quo est materialis multitudo; quia Phythagorici dicunt: Binarium non esse numerum, sed confusionem quandam unitatum.
That is to say: Pythagoras said: that the unity was God and a good intellect: that the number of Two was the demon and the evil, in which is the material multitude: because the imitators of Pythagoras say, that the number of Two is not a number, but a confusion of units.
Senior Zadith. From Plumbo and Azoth Philosophorum.
Plumbum est calidus et siccus, Foemina autem humida et frigida: quae cum commixta suerint jam commixtum est calidum cum frigido et humidum cum sicco, et hoc non est dubium intelligenti.
That is to say: Lead is the name of the Male and Azoth the name of the Female: The Male is hot and dry: the female wet and cold. Which being mingled together, the hot is mingled with the cold, and the moist with the dry, and that leaves no doubt to him who has understanding.
Josephus: Commisce Aquam and Ignem and erunt Duo. Commission Acrem and Terram and erunt foursome. Deinde fac Quator unum et pervenisti ad id quod vis. Et tunct sit corpus non corpus, et debile super ignem non debile, et apprehendisti sapientiam.
That is to say: Mix Water with fire and it will be Two. Mix the Air with the earth and it will be four. Do after that the four ones, and you will have achieved what you desire. And the body is made when it is not body, and what is weak on the fire, that it is no longer weak, and you have learned sapience.
Johannes Belye: Angulus: Quicquid veritatis observation in arte Alchymiae, est jungere humidum sicco; per humidum intelligatis spiritum liquidum ab omni forditie purgatum, et per siccum, corpus perfectum purum et calcinatum.
That is to say: All there is of truth in the art of Alchemy is to join the wet to the dry; you can mean by wet a liquid spirit purged of all filth, and by body a pure and calcined perfect body.
The same: Temperantia Elementorum nunquam contingere valet adsque conjunctione corporis et spiritus: quoniam per eorum conjunctionem suppletur defectus Elementorum tam ex parte corporis quam spiritus: et sic corpus efficitur spirituale, et spiriitus corporalis et videbis conversionem Elementorum.
That is to say: The temperance of the Elements can never be done without the conjunction of the body with the Spirit, since the defects of the Elements become accomplished by their conjunction, as well on the side of their body as of the spirit. , and thus the body becomes spiritual, and the spirit corporeal and you see the conversion of the Elements.
The same: Elementa intermediantia sunt causa transmutationis unius Elementi in aliud.
That is to say: The Elements by means are the cause of the transmutation of one Element into another.
The same: Unum quodque Elementorum intermediat aliud, et nullum Elementum potest in naturam alterius converted quod est suum contrarium, nisi prius convertatur in Elementum intermedians ipsum et suum contrarium.
That is to say: Each Element by means of the other, and no Element can be converted into the nature of another which is contrary to it, unless it is first converted into an Element by means of itself and its opposite.
The same: Unumquodque Elementum habet in se qualitates quator, duas activas et duas passivas: Ergo unumquodque Elementum habet per sua qualitates activas agere in suum contrarium; vi delicet, si Elementum suerit frigidum et siccum, scilicet Terre, tunc habet agere in humidum et caldum scilicet in Aerem; et econtra per suas qualitates passivas habet partisuum contrarium in ipsum agere, scilicet illud quod est calidum et humidum quod agat in illud quod est frigidum et siccum, et sic circulariter debet intelligi de caeteris Elementis.
That is to say: One each Element has in itself four qualities, two active and two passive: One each Element therefore has something to act, by its active qualities, in its opposite: namely, if an Element is cold and dry, like the Earth, it then has to act in the humid and warm Element, namely Air; and on the contrary, he has to start by his passive qualities that his opposite acts in him, understand, that he who is hot and humid acts in him who is cold and dry; thus it must be understood of the other Elements circularly.
Bernhardus Comes Trevisanus. Subjectum, inquit, hujus admirandae scientiae est Sol et Luna, feu potius Mas et Foemina; Mas Calidus est et siccus, Foemina vero frigida et humida.
That is to say: The subject, he says, of this admirable science is the Sun and the Moon, or rather the Male and the Female; The male is hot and dry, and the female cold and humid.
The same: Corpus recipit impressionem a spiritu sicut Materia a Forma, et spiritus a corpore, quoriam facte sunt et creata a Deo ut agant et patientur invicem. Materia quidem fllueret ininite, si Forma fluxionem non tardaret et filteret, quapropter, cum corpus sit Forma informans, informat et retinet spiritumut ita deinceps non fluat amplius.
That is to say: The body receives the impression from the spirit as Matter receives it from the Form, and the spirit from the body, since they are made and created of God, so that they act and suffer together. Matter would flow without it Form did not delay its fluxion, and that it did not stop it: this is why since the body is the informing Form, it informs and retains the spirit that it does not flow thus any more afterwards.
The same: Materia patitur, et Forma agit, assimilans sibi Materiam, et hac ratione Materia naturaliter appetit Formam, uti mulier appetit maritum et res vilis charam, impura puram; sic etiam Mercurium appetit Sulphur, ut imperfectum persiciens, sic quoque corpus appetit spiritum quo possit as suam perfectionem tandem pervenire.
That is to say: Matter suffers, and Form acts, reciprocating, and in this way Matter naturally desires Form, as the wife desires the husband, and the base thing the precious, the impure the pure; thus also aspires sulfur after Mercury, as the imperfect thing after the perfect; likewise the body the spirit, by which it may in the end attain its perfection.
These authorities of the alleged authors do not soon suffice to confirm my support and your experiences; or else it seems to you that I must cite a few more, since you know that it is not difficult for us to report a very large number of others who will not be less in agreement with us than those.
There is no need, since it is well enough known to me that all true Philosophers agree perfectly with your feelings and with my demonstrations.
You speak so often of true Philosophers, I beg you to tell me what distinction you make between common Philosophers and true Philosophers?
My very dear friend, I call common Philosophers those who have many words and little effect, who know how to talk a lot about the circumference, but who do not know what it is or where the Center is, and which ones ( as a certain Philosopher says in a Dialogue) learned Contentiose rixari, pro et contra (ut ajunt) pertinaciter argumentari.
That is to say: To hargott and hold contentious disputes and stubborn arguments for and against (as they say). Whereupon another asks: Quae chimera bestia est haec? That is to say: What chimerical beast is that?
They are such people who neither look after good foundations nor report good authors, but put their designs into effect, not only following their ill-founded fancies, but who even make it their profession to seduce and cowardly deceive all who are very eager to learn truths but who are innocent by ignorance, as they have done to you and me too, with many others as it is to be seen in the books of the authors whom we have alleged above.
True Philosophers, on the contrary, are people who are God-fearing, sincere, loving probity and truth, who write and say nothing except what is in conformity with the truth and what is as easy for them to demonstrate than to say. It is quite true that they speak very covertly and that they write the same for those who do not hear them, and who are ignorant of true Philosophy, and particularly when they treat of the Stone of the Philosophers, but all is discovered and plain as day to those who are acquainted with this science, and even all the enigmatic ways of speaking, all sorts of emblems, characters, and what may be more other terms and things obscure to the common and the ignorant, they are so well known and so common among true Philosophers as the A, B, C,
We will end this Chapter if you please with the proper words of Trimegiste which he uses in his Emerald Tablet:
Pater ejus Sol est, Luna Mater; Separabis Terram ab igne subtile a spisso suaviter et magno cum ingenio: ascendet in coelum iterumque descendet in Terram, et acquirit vim superiorum et Inferiorum.
Sic habebis gloriam totius mundi, Ideo a te fugiet omnis obscuritas.
His father is the Sun, the Moon his mother; You will separate the earth from the fine fire from the thick gently and with great skill: it will ascend to heaven and descend again to earth, and acquire the power of superiors and inferiors.
Thus you will have the glory of the whole world, therefore all darkness will flee from you.