The Twelve Keys to Philosophy
Listen Audio BookTHE TWELVE KEYS TO PHILOSOPHY
By Brother Basil Valentin
Religious of the Order of Saint Benoist,
Treating real Metallic Medicine
French Translation
In Paris
At Pierre Moët Bookseller
Luré, near the S. Michel bridge with the image of S. Alexis (1660)
FIRST BOOK OF THE CLAVICLE OF THE GEMSTONE OF THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS
Composed by Brother Basile Valentin of the order of S. Benoist
FOREWORD
In my preface (to the treatise on the generation of the Planets) I have obliged myself, Friend Reader, in favor of those who are curious about science, and eager to research the secrets of Nature, and to teach (according to the means that God gives me). a gives ) whence, and of what material our ancestors first drew, then prepared the triangular stone, given by the bounty of the sovereign God, (which they use to maintain their health during the course of this mortal life, and to sprinkle like celestial salt the misfortunes of this world:) But so that I keep my promise, and that I do not envelop you in fallacious sophistications, but that I monster, as they say, from one end to the to another, the source of all good: Be attentive, and diligently consider what I am about to say, (If you are desirous of knowledge) for it is not my pleasure to speak in vain, and such is not my intention, than to use frivolous words for this purpose, seeing that they serve no purpose; or very little to learn; on the contrary, it is my whole aim to show in a few words things which are supported and founded on good foundations, and founded on very certain experiments.
However, it should be known that even though many people pretend to be able to know this Stone, very few nevertheless come to the end of it, because God has only communicated the knowledge of the operation to very few, and to those mainly who hate falsehood, embrace the truth at all, and who devote themselves to the arts and sciences, and especially to those who love him greatly, and ask him with great earnestness and prayers for this precious gift. This is why I warn you, if you want to seek our Peter, to follow my advice, in the first place, pray to God that he favors your works: and if you feel your conscience loaded with sins, I advise you to unload it and cleanse by true contrition and confession, and that you deliberate to persevere always in virtue, so that your heart may be conformed in all good, and your mind enlightened with the light of truth: besides this deliberate in yourself, that if afterwards having acquired this divine gift, you are raised in honor, to extend your hand to the poor mire in the silt of poverty, to rebuild and restore with your liberality those who are broken and weary of misfortunes, and to raise these riches overwhelm them with misery , so that you more easily have the blessing of God, and that your faith being confirmed by good works, you can finally enjoy eternal beatitude.
Besides more, do not despise the books of the ancient Philosophers, who for certain had the Stone before us, but read them entirely, because after God these are the ones who caused me to have it, read the most once, so that you do not forget the principles, that the foundations fall to you, and that the light of truth is not extinguished.
Also, be diligent in seeking things that agree with reason, and with the books of the ancients, be not changeable, but constantly aim at the goal, to which all wise people aim and agree, and remember that a mobile mind has no stable footing, and that a light-headed Architect with great difficulty can build a firm and permanent edifice.
"Moreover, not taking our stone, its being and its birth from combustible things (want it to fight even against fire and support, without being in any way offended, all its efforts and pitfalls) do not draw it from such matters, which almighty nature cannot place it.
For example; if someone said that it is of vegetable nature, which nevertheless is not possible although it appears in it, I do not know what vegetable: because it is necessary that you know that if our lunar one were of the same nature than other plants, she; would do as well as the others with materials suitable for the fire to burn and would gain nothing from him but dead salt, or as we say the dead head: and although our predecessors wrote very amply of the Vegetable Stone, nevertheless if you are no more clairvoyant than Lincaeus, believe me, it will surpass the reach of your mind, for they have only called it vegetable, for what it believes, and multiplies like a vegetable thing.
In short, know that no animal can extend its species and engender its like, if it does not do so by means of similar things, and of the same nature, that is why I do not want you to bother to seek our Peter on the other hand, there is no other side except in the seed of his own nature, from which nature first produced him. Draw from this also a certain consequence, that you must in no way choose for this purpose an animal nature, because as the flesh and the blood have been given by the Creator of all things to the animals alone, so also from the only blood, to them single individual, they alone were born and are born every day. But our Stone which I had by succession from the ancient Philosophers, is made and composed of two things, and of one, in which the third is hidden, and it is the truth truly published without any ambiguity and fraud, for the husband and the woman were taken by the ancient Philosophers only for the same body, not because of its external accidents which they had, but because of their reciprocal love, and the uniform virtue produced from their similar, born and inferred to each other, from their first birth. And just as they have a conserving and propagating virtue of their species, all the same the matter from which our Stone is produced, can be multiplied and extended by the seminal virtue that it has. Therefore, if you are a true lover of our science, you will not have little regard for what I have just said, and you will consider it carefully, lest you be drawn with the other sophists, blinded in this place. into the pit of ignorance, and rush into this abyss, and finally never be able to come back. Now my friend, so that I teach you where this seed, and this material is drawn from, think in yourself for what end and use you want to make the Stone, then you will know that it is only extracted from the root metallic, ordered from the Creator to the generation only of the Metals. Gold understands in a few words how this is done.
At the beginning; when the spirit of the Lord was borne upon the waters, and all things were shrouded in the tenebrous obscurities of Chaos, then mighty and Eternal God, beginning without end, whose wisdom is from the beginning, and from eternity, by his inscrutable and provident advice, created Heaven and earth from nothing, and all that is visible and invisible contained therein, whatever name you give them or may give them. For God made all things out of nothing. Now, how this marvelous creation was made, I consider that this is not the place to inquire into it, for such matters must rather be confirmed by faith and by the Holy Scriptures. In this creation God gave and as poured to each nature lest they perish, being subject to corruption, to each his seed, so that by such seminal virtue it may be protected from death, and that men, animals, plants and metals, could be perpetually preserved, and was not given to man such a virtue as to be able at his pleasure, against the will of God, to make new seeds, but only enabled him to be able to extend and multiply his species. And God reserved the power to make new seeds, otherwise creation would be possible for man, as the noblest creature, which cannot be done, but must be reserved for the sole Creator of all things.
As for the seminal virtue of Metals, I want you to know it this way. First the celestial influence by the will and command of God, descends from above, and mingles with the virtues and properties of the Stars, from here mixed together, it is formed as a third between-terrestrial. Thus is the principle of our seed made, and such is its first production, by which it can give sufficiently sufficient testimony of its race. Of these three are made the elements, namely Water, Air, and Earth, which by the aid of fire, continually applied, one rules and governs until they have produced a soul. who has a middle nature between the two, an incomprehensible spirit, and a visible and corporeal body. When these three principles are joined together by true union, they are by continuance of time, and by means of duly applied fire, a sensible substance; to know is, the Mercuriale, the Sulfureuse and the Saline, which Hermes and all the others before me, not being able beyond from the beginning of the Magisterium, called the three principles, which having put themselves there proportionally, one coagulates, according to the various operations of nature, and the disposition of the seed, ordained of God for this purpose.
Whoever, therefore, proposes to seek the source of this salubrious fountain, and hopes to win by a desired combat, the prize of this noble Art, let him believe me, attesting to the Sovereign God of this truth, that the part where the The Metallic Soul, the Metallic Spirit, and the Metallic Body, are found there also infallibly, the Quicksilver, the Sulfur and the Metallic Salt, which necessarily can only make a perfect Metallic body.
If you don't want to hear what you need to learn; either you will never have been brought up in the school of wisdom, or you will not be a child of science, or else God will consider you unworthy and incapable of such a doctrine.
I therefore tell you in a few words that it will be impossible for you to draw any blissful profit from metallic matters, if you do not assemble these three principles exactly in a metallic form. With this you must know that not only man, but also all other terrestrial animals, composed of flesh and blood, are endowed with Soul and vital spirit, that they are nevertheless devoid of understanding, which is to the particular man alone. This is why when they are no longer alive, nothing good can be taken from them, everything being dead in them.
But when the Soul of man is compelled by death and by disjunction from the body, to return to its Creator whence it came, it still lives, and finally returns to dwell with the purified and clarified body. by fire, so that Soul, Spirit, and Body, illumine each other with a certain celestial brightness, and embrace each other in such a way that never afterward they can be separate each other.
This is why man must be, because of his soul, esteemed a fixed creature, especially since (although he seems to die) he will live perpetually, the death of man because of this, is nothing else. than a clarification, by which (before passing as through certain ordained degrees of God) he shall after leaving this mortal life, live more nobly, and of an immortal life. What being not so of the other animals, one must consider them creature not fixed, because after the death they do not have any hope to resurrect and live again, because they are devoid of Soul rational, for which has endured and shed his precious blood, the true mediator and only son of God.
Indeed, if the spirit can inhabit the soul and the body, it does not escape nevertheless that they are bound together, although they are at peace, and are in no way discordant with one another. another, for they still need a stronger bond, namely the pure, noble and incomprehensible Soul, which can bind them both firmly, guarantee them from all dangers, and defend them against all enemies. For where the Soul has departed and is at all extinguished, there is no more life in that place, and there is no hope of recovering it, therefore a thing without Soul is greatly imperfect, and here is a great secret, and which must necessarily know the sage who seeks our Stone, my conscience has obliged me not to pass over such a mystery in silence, but to reveal it to the amateurs of our science. Weigh therefore diligently my words, and learn that the spirits which are hidden in the metals differ greatly from one another, one being more volatile, the other more fixed, the same difference is found in their souls, and in their body. Any metal therefore which is composed of such truly fixed spirits (which is given particular to the Sun alone) has great strength and virtue, by which it fights even against fire, and by its power overcomes all its enemies.
The Moon has in itself a fixed Mercury, by which it sustains the violence of fire longer than the other imperfect metals, and the victory which it wins shows sufficiently how fixed it is, seeing that the enchanting Saturn can take nothing away from it or decrease.
The lascivious Venus is well colored, and her whole body is almost only tint, and color similar to that which the Sun has, which because of its abundance tends very much to red, but so much so that its body is leprosy and sick, the fixed tincture cannot make its dwelling there, but the body flying away, necessarily the tincture must follow, for it perishing, the Soul cannot remain, its domicile being consumed by fire, n 'appearing and not being left him any seat, and refuge, which on the contrary accompanied dwells 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 very difficult to hurt him. But if anyone mixes his strength and hardness with the constancy of the Moon and the beauty of Venus, and harmonizes them by spiritual means, he can make, 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 having reached the end of the work, will be able to particularly earn his living, because the phlegmatic and humid nature of the Moon can be heated and desiccated by the hot and angry blood of Venus, and its great blackness corrected by the Salt of Mars. You must not look for this seed in the elements, because it is not so far from us, but nature has placed it much closer to us, and you will obtain it, if you so rectify the Mercury, the Sulfur and Salt (I mean Philosophers) that the Soul, the spirit and the body are so well united that they can never leave each other, then the true bond of love will be made, and the house will be built of glory and honor. And know that all this is nothing other than the key of true Philosophy, similar to celestial properties, and dry water conjoined with an earthly substance, all of which things always return to the same point, as being only one same, which originates from three, two and one. If you hit this goal and get there, no doubt you have completed the magisterium. Joined afterwards the husband with the wife, so that they may be nourished with their own flesh and blood and be multiplied by their seed to infinity, and even though out of charity I would like to tell you more about nevertheless afraid of going beyond the limits that God has limited me, I will not speak of it more, nor more fully, fearing that the great gifts of God will be abused, and that I am the author and cause of so many of wickedness that would be committed and to incur divine wrath, and be condemned with the wicked, to eternal punishment.
My friend, if these things are so obscure that you cannot understand anything about them, I will still teach you my practice, by means of which I have made with the help of God, the occult stone, consider there diligently, take good care of the twelve Keys, and read them more than once, then work according to what I have instructed you, in truth it is a little obscure, but otherwise very exact.
Take good gold, break it up and dissolve it, as nature teaches lovers of science, and reduce it to its first principles, as the Physician is wont to dissect a human body to know its interior parts, and you will find a seed which is the beginning, the middle and the end of the work, from which our gold and his wife are produced, knowing is a subtle and penetrating spirit, a delicate soul, clean and pure, and a Salt and balm of the Stars, which being united are but one Mercurial liquor and water.
They took this water to the God Mercury his father, to be examined, and wanted to marry her, and in fact married her, and made of them an incombustible oil, then Mercury became so proud and superb, that he did not recognized himself no longer for himself, but having thrown down his Eagle's wings, he devoured his slippery tail of a dragon, and declared war on Mars, immediately Mars having assembled his company of light horses, took Mercury, took him prisoner , and constituted Vulcan for Jailer of his prison, until he was again delivered by the female sex.
As soon as the noise was heard by the country, the other planets assembled and consulted what was to be done henceforth, so that all was governed with prudence and maturity of counsel, then Saturn with unparalleled gravity began in this way to be the first to say his opinion.
I Saturn, the highest of the planets, confess and protest before you that I was the least of all, having a weak and corruptible body, of black color, subjected to all the adversities of this miserable world. It is I, however, who are testing all your strength, because I will not be able to stay in one place, and flying away I take everything that I find similar to me. I throw the fault of this mine calamity on other than on Mercury, which by its negligence and little care, caused me all these misfortunes. Therefore I beg you, and conjure all, to take upon him vengeance for this mine misery, and because he is already in prison, that you put him to death, and let him so corrupt and rot, that he not a drop of blood remains.
After Saturn, came to rise Jupiter all hoary and broken with old age, which having made reverence, and stretched out his scepter, saluted each according to his quality, and having made a little preface, praised the advice of his companion Saturn, and wanted that all who did not find this opinion good were proscribed and exiled, and thus ended his speech.
Afterwards Mars came forward with a diversified naked sword of admirable colors (you would have said that it was intertwined like mirrors throwing fire and flame, because of the rays and here and there issuing from it) and gave it to Vulcan Gaoler of the prison, to carry out the pronounced sentence, and to reduce to ashes the bones of Mercury, after he would be dead. Vulcan immediately obeys him as an executor of justice, ready to do what he is commanded.
Now after Vulcan had acquitted himself of his duty, they saw coming like a beautiful white woman, and dressed in a long woman's habit, of gray and silvery color, cloth and interlaced with much water, and after the 'having the assistants considered more closely, they all knew that it was the Moon, the wife of the Sun, who threw herself at their feet, and after several sighs accompanied by tears, with a trembling voice and interspersed with much sobbing , prayed that the Sun be delivered her husband, imprisoned by the fraud and deceit of Mercury, that he would otherwise have to perish with Mercury, already condemned to death by the judgment of the other planets. But Vulcan knowing well what he would have to do, and what had been ordered to him, closed his ear to these prayers, and did not cease executing the sentence on his poor criminals, until Venus came dressed in 'a very red dress, lined with green, extremely handsome in face, with a soft and courteous voice, a countenance and manner of doing things at all agreeable, carrying a bouquet of fragrant flowers, which, on account of the admirable diversity of colors that they had, brought wonderful contentment to men. She prayed in the Caldaic language Vulcan, that he deliver the Sun, and reminded him that he had to be redeemed and delivered by the female sex, but all for nothing, for his ears were blocked.
As they spoke together, the Sky opened, and out came a great animal with it, and an infinity of small ones, which killed Vulcan, and with open mouth devoured the noble Venus who prayed for him, and cried aloud, the women begot me, the women sowed and scattered with every seed and filled the world, and their soul is united with me, wherefore also shall I live by their blood, having said this aloud, he departs, accompanied of all its young in one room, closed the door, and ate much more than usual, drank its first incombustible, and digested much more easily its food and drink, and created many infinite number of its young, and this is did so many times that everyone was filled with it.
All this having happened in this way, several learned people of the country assembled, and began together to seek the means of knowing this mystery, to have more perfect knowledge of this fact, but not agreeing together, they worked for nothing, until an old man was seen coming, with beard and hair as white as snow, he was dressed in scarlet from head to toe, with a crown of gold interlaced valuable gemstones. Moreover he was girded with a belt of all glory and happiness, and walking barefoot, he spoke by a singular spirit which was in him, his words penetrated his whole body and in such a way that his Soul felt it, this man stood a little higher than the others, and the attendees had to be silenced, and because he was sent from Heaven to declare and explain by physical speech the aforesaid parable and riddle, he admonished them to lend with open ears , and listen patiently.
Having therefore obtained silence, he thus began his speech. Awake mortal people and behold the light, lest darkness and darkness deceive you, the Gods of happiness, and the great Gods have revealed this to me in my sleep! O how happy is he who has his eyes enlightened to see the light that was hidden from him before, he has arisen by the kindness of the two-star Gods to men, to seek true and profound wisdom: look at them and walk to their clarity, because one finds wisdom there.
A swift and light southern bird tears the heart from the body of a large oriental animal, having torn it devours it, also yawns the wings of the oriental animal so that they are similar, for it is necessary that the 'the Eastern beast is stripped of its lion's skin, and once again its wings disappear, and it enters the great salty sea, and comes out again having the same beauty, then cast its restless spirits into a very hollow well or the The water never dries up so that they may be made like unto him, like their mother who is hidden therein, and was composed of her, and born out of the three.
Hungary first engendered me, Heaven and the Stars nourish me, the earth suckles me. And though I die and be buried, I nevertheless take life and birth by Vulcan, therefore Hungary is my country, and the land which contains all things is my mother. The attendants having heard this, he began to speak again.
Make that which is above be below, that the visible be invisible, the incorporeal corporeal, and again make that which is below be above, the invisible made visible, and the incorporeal corporeal, and on this entirely depends all perfection. of art, where nevertheless dwells death and life, generation and corruption: it is a round ball where inconstancy turns the wheel of fortune, and brings to divine men all wisdom and happiness, one calls everything by its own name; God, however, is sovereign, and has sole command over eternal things.
Now whoever is curious to know what it is that all things in all things, let him give the earth great wings, and hug it and press it so that it rises on high and flies over all the mountains , to the firmament, as he cut off her wings with force of iron, so that she falls into the red sea and drowns therein, then causes the sea to calm, and parries its waters by fire, and by air , that the earth may be reborn, and verily he shall have all in all things, and if he cannot find it, let him look into his own bosom, and seek and visit all that is round about him, and in all the world will find everything in everything; which is nothing else than a stipic and astringent virtue of metals and minerals, coming from Salt and Sulphur, and twice born from Mercury. I swear to you that I could not more fully declare to you all things in all things, seeing that all things are included in all things.
Having finished this speech, my friends (said he) I believe that while thus awaiting wisdom, you have learned and collected from this harangue of mine, of what matter, and by what means you must make the Precious Stone of the ancient Philosophers. Now this our Stone not only heals the leprous and imperfect Metals, and by regeneration reduces them and converts them into a nature at all accomplished, but also preserves the health of men, and makes them live long, and by its celestial virtue has led to such old age that, bored of living so long, I would already like to leave the world.
To God be the praise, the honor, the virtue, the glory, forever and ever, for the grace and wisdom that he gave me so long ago of his liberality. So be it.
Having said this, he disappeared from their eyes and flew up into the air. These things being passed in the way, every man went back whence he came, and bound every man his spirit, and operated according to the wisdom which God had given him.
End of the foreword and first book.
Book SECOND
containing the first Key to the Work of the Philosophers
Chapter I
From the preparation of the first material.
Know my friend that not every filthy and leprous body is proper to our work, because their leprosy and impurity not only cannot produce anything good, but also prevents what is clean from producing.
Every merchant's commodity derived from minerals is sold each at its own price, but when it is falsified it is rendered useless, because it is spoiled, and not being similar to the natural, it cannot perform the proper operations.
As the Physician purges the inside of the body and cleanses all filth, so through medicine, too, our bodies must be purged and cleansed of all their impurities, so that in our generation what is perfect may perform operations. perfect, because the wise ask for a clean body, not soiled or contaminated, because the mixture of foreign things is leprosy and the destruction of our metals.
Let the king's crown be of very pure gold, and let the chaste wife be joined to it. If therefore you wish to operate in our matters, take a hungry and ravishing wolf, subject because of the etymology of his name to the warrior Mars, but of a race belonging to Saturn, as being his son.
It is found in the valleys and mountains always dying of hunger. Throw him the body of the King, so that he gets drunk on it, after he has eaten throw it into a great fire to be consumed there at all, and the King will be delivered. After you have done this three times, the Lion will have overcome the Wolf at all, and the Wolf will no longer be able to consume anything from the King, and our matter will be prepared and ready to begin the work.
And learn that it is only by this way that we can operate our pure matters, because we wash and purge the Lion of the blood of the Wolf, and the nature of the Lion marvelously delights in the tincture of the Wolf because that there is a great affinity and relationship between the blood of one and the other. When, therefore, Leo shall be drunk and his spirit fortified, his eyes shall shine and shine like the Sun, and shall be his inner strength far greater and of great profit and utility to all that you will, and after he shall have been become prepared, will serve as a great remedy for epileptics, and other detainees of serious illness, and ten lepers will follow him wanting to drink his blood, and all those who are sick, whatever illness they may have, will greatly delight in his spirit. In short, all who drink from this fountain of flowing gold, will be made joyful in body and mind, will enjoy perfect health, will feel a restoration of their strength, restoration of their blood, comfort of heart, and whole disposition. of all their members, both inside and out, because it strengthens the nerves, and opens the conduits to drive out disease, and introduce health in their place.
My friend, take heed diligently that the fountain of life be very pure, and no other foreign water mingle therewith, lest a monster be engendered, and the salutary fish turn into venomous poison, and if some strong and corrosive water has been added to dissolve the matter, then all corrosive force is removed and diligently washed away, for no acrimony or corrosion is calculated to give flight to disease. , because it penetrates, but with destruction and corruption of the sufferer, and engenders many more diseases, and however much we can push a peg by a peg, so we must drive out poison with poison, it is nevertheless necessary that our fountain be completely purged, and at all made free from corrosion.
Any tree that does not bear good and fragrant fruit is cut down and a marvelous graft is inserted into the trunk, this done, the trunk produces a branch, and thence is made a fruitful tree, according to the desire of the gardener.
The Sovereign travels through six celestial cities, he makes his residence in the seventh, because his Royal palace is adorned and embellished with gold, and with gilded buildings.
If you hear what I have just said, you have opened the first door of the first Key, you have passed the first barrier, but if you do not see a drop of ink, and do not see any light, you will have no matter how much you handle and look the glass, it will be of no use to you, and your bodily sight will not help you in any way to find at the end what you will miss at the beginning, because I will not speak more about this Key, as Luce Papirus taught me.
Chapter II
We find in the courts of the princes various kinds of drinks and beverages, and there is not one similar to another, in smell, color and taste, because they have prepared in various ways, and yet for various purposes. , and is necessary for the maintenance and maintenance of various kinds of people.
When the Sun shines and spreads its rays through the clouds, it is commonly said, the Sun thirsts for water, that is why we have rain, and if this happens often, it almost always follows a fertile year.
To build a superb and magnificent dwelling one needs many architects, and nevertheless before it is completed and embellished as it should be, because wood cannot make up for the lack of stone.
The countries contiguous and near the Sea are enriched by the ebb and flow of it, caused by sympathy and influence of the celestial bodies, because at each ebb it does not bring them little good, but great quantity of precious wealth.
We dress a girl to be married in beautiful and rich clothes, so that her husband finds her beautiful, and seeing her thus adorned, falls in love with her, but when they have to sleep together, we take away all her kinds of clothes. , and let's not leave one but the one she brought from her birth and from her mother's womb.
All the same also when we must marry our husband Apollo to his Diana, we must make them various kinds of clothes, diligently wash their heads, and even the whole body, with water which must be prepared with much of distillation, because there are several kinds of water, because some are more excellent, and others less, and according to their various uses almost all the same requires it, as I said that one serves various kinds of beverages at Courts of Princes and Lords.
And know that if some vapors and clouds rise from the earth and gather in the Air, that they will fall again because of the natural gravity of the water, and that the earth will again receive its lost moisture, from which it delights and nourishes, and by which it is made fitter to produce its fruit; this is why one must reiterate one's preparations of waters by many distillations, so that the earth is often imbued with its mood, and such mood as many times drawn, as Euripus often leaves the earth dry, and then always returns to it until it has completed its ordinary course.
When, therefore, the Royal Palace will be built with great difficulty, and adorned with great care, and the sea of glass will have it by its ebb and flow enriched with much wealth, the King will surely be able to enter and lodge there.
But my friend, take care that the conjunction of the bridegroom with his bride does not take place until after having removed all their clothes and adornment, both from the face and from all the rest of the body, so that they enter the tomb as naked as when they came into the world, lest their home grow worse, and be spoiled by the mixture of something foreign.
I still want you to learn this, as above, that the precious water of which the King must be washed, must be done with great care and industry, by the struggle and combat of two champions (I mean of two different matters) for one of them must give the challenge to the other to make themselves quicker and encourage to win the victory, because the eagle must not make its nest alone on the summit of the Alps, because its young would die because of the Snows which cover the top of it. But if you join a horrible dragon which has always in the caves of the Earth, and has been a perpetual guest of the cold mountains, and covered with snow, Pluto will blow in such a way, that at last he will drive out of the cold dragon an igneous flying spirit, which by the violence of its heat will burn the wings of the Eagle, and will throw a heat by so long, that the snow which is at the top of the mountains is melted and reduced in water, in order to well and duly prepare a clean mineral bath and greatly sane to the King.
THIRD KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter III
Fire can be smothered and extinguished by water, and much water poured over a little fire becomes mistress of it, so our igneous Sulfur must be made, moderated, conquered and obtained by water duly, by after his igneous force overcome and dominate the receding waters. But victory cannot be achieved here, unless the King has imprinted his virtue and his strength on his water, and have not given him a key of his Royal livery and color, to thereby be dissolved and made invisible, he must nevertheless again appear and come into view. And though this can only be done with damage and injury to his body, yet it will be done with an increase in his nature and virtue.
A painter may put another color on a yellowish-white, a reddish-yellow, and a true red, and though all his other colors remain together, the last nevertheless is the most conspicuous, and holds first rank above the others. It is necessary to do the same in our magisterium, when you have done it, know that the light of all wisdom has arisen, which shines even in the darkness, and yet does not burn and is not burned, because our sulfur does not burn and is not burned, although it spreads and darts its light far and wide, and does not dye unless it is first prepared and dyed with its own tincture, in order afterwards to be able to dye the diseased and imperfect metals. And this sulfur cannot dye if one does not give it and strongly imprint this color, because the weakest never wins the victory, because the strongest takes it away, and the weakest is forced to leave it to the strongest.
Whereby, draw from what I have told you, this consequence, that the weak can never force anything nor help the weak, and that a combustible matter cannot preserve from burning another like it combustible. If we therefore need a protector to defend the combustible material, such a protector must necessarily have more strength and virtue than the part he has to defend, and being out of all danger of incombustion must by his natural virtue strongly resist fire. Whoever would like to prepare our incombustible sulfur should look for it in a matter where it is incombustibly incombustible. What can be done before the salty sea has swallowed up a body, and it has been rejected, which is sublimated to such a degree that it greatly surpasses in splendor the other Stars, and its blood is so increased and perfected, that he can, like the pelican pecking at his chest, without weakening his health, and without any inconvenience of the other parts of his body, nourishing all his young with his own blood. It is that Dew of the Philosophers, of purple color, and that red blood of the dragon, of which all the Philosophers have spoken and written; it is that scarlet of the Emperor of our Art, with which is covered the Queen of salvation, and that crimson with which all cold and imperfect metals are heated and made wholly complete.
It is this superb coat, with the salt of the Stars, which follows this celestial sulfur, carefully guarded lest it spoil, and makes them fly like a bird, as long as it is needed, and the Rooster will eat the fox, and will drown and suffocate in the water, then coming back to life by the fire will be (in order to take turns) devoured by the Fox.
FOURTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter IV
All flesh born of the earth will be dissolved, and will return to the earth, so that this earthly salt, aided by the influence of Heaven, will cause a new germ to rise, for if no earth is made, no earth can be made either. resurrection in our work because the balm of nature is hidden in the earth, as also the Salt of those who have sought there the knowledge of all things.
On the day of judgment the world will be judged by fire, and what was made of laughter will be reduced to ashes by fire, from this ash will be reborn a Phoenix, for in it is hidden the true tartar, from which being dissolved the one can open the strongest locks of the Royal Palace.
After the general conflagration, there will be a new earth, and new heavens, and a new man, much more splendid and glorious than he was when he lived in the first world, because he will be clarified.
Of ashes and sand cut in the fire, is made by a glassmaker, fireproof glass, and of a color similar to clear gems, and it is no longer estimated for ashes, the ignorant attribute this to great perfection, but not the learned man, especially as it is by long experience and knowledge that he has made it too familiar and customary.
Stones are changed into lime suitable for many things, and before the lime is made by means of fire, it is nothing but stone, which cannot be used instead of lime, but it is cooked by fire, and receiving from it a high degree of heat, acquires such a virtue of its own that the igneous spirit of lime has come to its perfection, that there is nothing that can be compared to it.
Everything reduced to ashes shows and puts in view its Salt. If you know how in its dissolution to keep separately its Sulfur and its Mercury, and from them restore with industry what must be given to the salt, it will be able to make the same body as before its dissolution. What the wise men of this world call folly, and repute a lie, and cry out that it is impossible for the sinner man to make a new creature, not taking heed that it was before a creature, and that the artist making demonstration of his science, has only multiplied the seed of nature.
He who has no ashes cannot make Salt suitable for our work, because it could not be done without Salt, because there is nothing but him who gives strength to all things.
Just as Salt preserves all things, and keeps them from rotting, so the Salt of the Philosophers defends and preserves all metals, so that they cannot be destroyed at all, or so brought to naught, that they cannot be made again. something, without the balm and the spirit of Salt that they have also dying, because in this case there would remain only a dead body which could no longer be of use, because the metallic spirits would leave it, which being removed and lost by natural death, would leave their home empty and dead, and to which no more life could be restored.
But, my friend, know that the Salt coming from ashes has for the most part an occult virtue, it can nevertheless be of no use if its inside is not turned outside, because it is only the spirit which gives life and strength; the body can do nothing alone. If you can find this spirit, you will have the Salt of the Philosophers, and the truly incombustible oil so famous in the books of the ancient sages.
If telling me the number you doubled,
If you want to take me with them:
Few, however, would find
Who my virtue and my strength knew.
FIFTH KEY to the Work of the Philosophers
Chapter V
The life which is hidden in the earth produces things which are born of it, whoever therefore says that the earth is not animated is a liar, for what is dead can give nothing to a living person, and is not susceptible. nothing, because the spirit of lives has flown away and dissipated. This is why the spirit is the life and the soul of the earth, where it dwells and acquires its virtues borrowed from terrestrial nature by the celestial being and properties of the Stars. For all grasses, trees, roots, metals and minerals receive their strength and nourishment from the spirit of the earth, because it is the life that this spirit which is nourished by the stars, and substant all things that grow on the earth . And as the mother herself nourishes the child she carries in her womb, so the earth produces and nourishes from the dissolved spirit of Heaven the minerals she carries in her womb.
It is therefore not the earth which gives form to each nature, but the spirit of life which it contains. And if she were once deprived of her spirit, she would be dead, and could give no food, because she would lack the spirit of her Sulfur which preserves the vital virtue, and which from its virtue makes all things germinate.
Two contrary things stay well together, they nevertheless cannot agree well, for you see that setting fire to the gunpowder, these two spirits of which it is composed separate from each other with a great noise and violence. , and flying in the air can no longer be seen by anyone, and one does not know where they have gone, and what has become of them, if one has not learned what they are, and of what matter they were hidden.
By it you will know that life is only a pure spirit, this is why everything that the ignorant considers to be dead, must live an incomprehensible life, nevertheless visible and spiritual, and be preserved in it. If you want life to cooperate with life, these spirits are nourished and nourished with dew from Heaven, and take their extraction from an elemental and earthly celestial being, which is called formless matter.
And just as iron attracts to itself the magnet by the sympathy and occult quality which is between them, so there is in our gold the magnet which is the first matter of our precious stone. If you hear this, you are quite rich, and happy for your life.
I want you to bring another example in this chapter, looking in a mirror we see the reflection of the species, the same resemblance of the one who looks and if that one wants to touch his image with his hand, he only touches the mirror that he looked, all the same also one must draw from this matter a visible spirit which is nevertheless incomprehensible. This spirit is the root of life of our bodies, and the Mercury of the Philosophers, from which the liquor of our art is industriously prepared, which you will again make material, and will cause to reach by certain means from a very low degree, to a sovereign perfection of a more perfect medicine. For our beginning is a well-bound and solid body, the middle is a fleeting spirit and golden water without any corrosion, by means of which the wise enjoy their desires in this life. And the end is a well-established medicine, both for the human body and for metallic bodies, the knowledge of which has been given rather to Angels than to men, although some have had it, who have it. asked earnestly and with continual prayers to God, and do not use ingratitude towards him and the poor.
And moreover I tell you this with truth that work must follow work, and one operation follow another, because in the beginning we must purge and clean our matter well, then dissolve it, and tear it to pieces, and reduce to powder, and to ashes, afterwards there must be a volatile spirit as white as snow, and another as volatile and as red as blood, these two contain a third of them, and this is however only one spirit, and it is these three that preserve and prolong life. Conjoin them together, and give them drink and eat proper to their nature, and keep them in a bed of dew, and let it be warm until the end of the generation. And you will see what science God and nature have given you. And know that I have never opened myself and gone so far, as to discover such secrets, and God has given more strength and miracles to nature than not one of men can even believe. But I have been given certain bounds and bounds in which to write, that those who come after me may publish the wonderful effects of nature, which though God permits to be treated of, are nevertheless, by the ignorant and foolish, esteemed illicit. and supernatural. But the natural originates from the supernatural, and yet if you put all these things together you will find nothing but purely natural.
SIXTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter VI
The male without a female is but half a body, as also the female without a male, for being one without the other, they cannot beget and multiply their species, but when they are married and put together, they are a perfect and accomplished body, proper to the generation.
A field oversown is made overburdened and unfruitful, and its fruit cannot ripen, not being so oversown, but very little grain comes, and still mingled with much useless tares.
The merchant who wants to buy and sell his merchandise with conscience, gives it to his neighbor according to the rate of justice, for fear of incurring the curse, but to seem to please the poor.
Many people drown in the great and deep rivers, but also the streams are easily dried up and dried up by the heat of the Sun and we are easily deprived of them.
That is why in order to have a good outcome of your enterprise, you will take care diligently to choose with prudence, a certain weight and measure in the conjunction of the Physical liquors, and so that the greater does not weigh more than the lesser, and that being the action of the lesser debilitated or prevented, generation is not also retarded, because too much rain is not good for the fruits of the earth, and too much drought advances them too soon, and causes them to die before time. . Then the bath being entirely prepared by Neptune, measure with great industry and diligence your permanent water, and take good care not to fail by giving either too much or too little.
One must feed a white swan to the double igneous man, so that they kill each other, and resuscitate one when and the other, that the air which comes from the four parts of the world occupies the three parts of the closed dwelling of this igneous man, so that one can hear the flesh of the Swan, saying its last farewell, and the roast Swan will be for the table of the King. And the melodious voice of the Queen will greatly please the ears of the igneous King, he will kiss her amicably for the great affection he bears her, and will be sated with her until they both disappear, and the two of them are made one body.
A salt is easily vanquished and overcome by the other two, especially if they can exercise their malice, propose therefore as a thing at all stopped, that it is necessary the breath of a double wind which is called Vulturne or South South East, then from a simple wind which is called Eurus or Levant and South wind, after they have calmed down, and the air converted into water you will believe with good reason that a corporeal thing will happen of an incorporeal thing, and that the number will take the domination over the four seasons of the year in the fourth Heaven, after the seven Planets will have one after another made the time of their domination that it will complete its course in the bottom of the Palace, and will be rigorously examined, and so the two will have overcome and put to death the only one.
It is here required a great prudence and doctrine, if you wish to acquire by your art great wealth, so that it duly makes the division and conjunction. Don't put on a wrong weight, and the first one that happens to come across in front of you. But here is the true pillar and foundation of the whole magisterium, that you bring to an end and perfection this chapter, by the Heaven of the art, by the air, and the earth, true water and fire alike, and by conjunction and admission of weight, put as I with all truth taught you.
SEVENTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter VII
Natural heat preserves the life of man, being here dissipated and lost, it is of necessity that he should die.
The moderate use of fire protects us from the insults of the cold, but if you want to use it beyond reason and more than necessary, it harms and brings corruption.
It is not necessary for the Sun to touch the earth closely with its body and substance, but it is sufficient that it communicates its virtue to it and gives it strength, by means of its rays darting into the earth, for by their restoration , he has enough strength to discharge his charge, and by continual concoction ripens all things, because his rays throw flames, dispersing through the air are thereby tempered, so that the fire, by means of the air, and air through fire, love each other producing their effects.
The earth can produce nothing without water, nor water without earth can cause anything to germinate. But just as water and earth, not helping each other, cannot generate anything separately, so fire cannot do without air, nor air from fire, for by removing air from fire, you take away its life, the fire also being extinguished, the air cannot do any of its functions either by its heat to vivify or consume the superfluous humidity of the water.
The vines need greater heat in Autumn, in order to progress and perfectly ripen the grapes, which are already almost ripe, than at the beginning of Spring, and so much the hotter it was in Autumn, they return by this means of better wine, and more delicate, and so much the less there was heat so they bring back a wine which has less force, and which smells more water.
In Winter the common people, seeing the earth completely frozen and unable to produce anything green, think that everything is dead, but coming spring and the cold withdrawing, overcome by the heat of the Sun which rises on our horizon, all things seem to revive. , the trees and grasses begin to grow, the animals which fleeing the hard rigor of Winter, having hidden in the caverns of the earth come out of their caves, everything smells good, and the pleasant and beautiful diversity of color and of flowers demonstrates the virtues and strengths of everything that begins to grow green again, coming after Summer, from this variety of flowers are born all kinds of fruits, then follows the abundant Autumn, which perfects and ripens it. This is why we eternally thank God, who has constituted such a beautiful order, and such a consequence of natural things.
Thus all the seasons follow and flow, after one year comes another, and this will continue until God destroys the world, and those who possess the earth are gloriously lifted up by the God of glory, and placed in honor. From there will cease all action of terrestrial and sublunary creature, and in the middle of it will come a celestial and infinite creature.
In Winter the Sun, running far from us, cannot pass through nor melt the great snows, but having approached in Spring, it "heats the air, and its force being increased, melts the snow, and dissolves it into water. , because the weakest is forced to leave the strongest.
It is also necessary to advise and prudently control the fire, lest Dew's humor be dried up sooner than necessary, and too hasty a liquefaction and dissolution of the land of the Sages. If you do otherwise, you will only populate your tank with scorpions instead of good fish. If therefore you are willing to carry out all your operations, take the celestial water on which the spirit of God was carried and moved in the beginning, and close the door of the royal palace, for afterwards you will see the siege laid before the celestial city by worldly enemies. This is why you must mortify and surround your sky with a triple wall, rampart, and leave only one open and free avenue, well provided with strong garrisons. Having put this in order, light the light of wisdom, and seek the lost dram, and shine as much light as is needed. Know that animals and other imperfect ones inhabit the earth because of the cold disposition of their nature. But to man is assigned a domicile above, because of the excellent temperament of his nature. And the celestial spirits, being not composed of an earthly body, and subject to sins and corruption like that of man, but of a celestial and incorruptible body, have such a degree of perfection, that they can without being in any way offended , withstand hot and cold, both up and down. But the clarified man will not be less than the celestial spirits, so to them at all similar. God rules Heaven and Earth, and does everything in all things.
If we govern our friends well, finally we will be children and heirs of God, in order to put into execution what now seems impossible to us, but it can be done before all the water is dried up and dried up, and Heaven and the Earth together mankind be judged and consumed by fire.
EIGHTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter VIII
There can be no generation, either of man or of any other animal, without putrefaction, and no seed sown in the ground, or anything vegetable, can germinate, except that they first rot, and even that many imperfect animals take their life and origin from rot alone, which we must rightly put among the wonders of Nature, which does this, because she has hidden in the earth a great productive virtue which rises excited by the other elements, and by the influence of the celestial seed.
The good women of the fields know well how to give an example of this, for they cannot raise a hen for their little mixture, without putrefaction of the egg in which the little chicken is enclosed. Bread put in honey gives birth to ants through the rot that the honey welcomes, which is not such a small marvel of nature.
Everyone sees daily that they breed worms of spoiled and rotten flesh in the bodies of men, horses, and other beasts. As also spiders, worms and other vermin, in rotten nuts, pears and similar fruits. In short, who can number the infinite species of insects and imperfect animals, which are born of rot and corruption. This is also evident from plants, where many kinds of herbs are seen to grow, such as nettles and other of the only rots, even places where such herbs have never been sown or planted. The reason is such, because the earth of such places has a certain disposition to produce these wicked weeds, and is pregnant with their infused seeds from the celestial bodies in its bowels, and excited by their own decay to sprout and turn green again, which seeds coming to aid the concurrence of the other elements, produce a bodily substance suitable in their nature. Thus can the Stars raise, by means of the Elements, a new seed that has not yet been seen, which being planted in the earth and rotten, can grow and multiply, but man does not have the power and virtue of producing a new one, because the government of the elementary and celestial operations has not been entrusted to it, and various kinds of herbs are engendered from rot alone. But inasmuch as it is made too familiar to the people by frequent experience which they have of it, they do not consider them more exactly, and not being able to imagine any causes of such things, they think that it is done by habituation, but you who must have a more elevated science, penetrate further than the vulgar, and seek by reasons the principles and the causes from which (by means of putrefaction) such vital virtue is made, not as the simple people know it by the habituation, but as the wise and diligent investigator of the effects of nature must know, since all life comes from decay.
Each element is subject to generation and corruption, therefore every lover of wisdom must know that in each of them the other three are occultly contained, for the air contains in itself fire, water and earth, which (however incredible) is nevertheless very true. So fire includes air, water and earth. Earth, water, air and fire. Otherwise no generation could be made. In short, water encloses in itself earth, air and fire, otherwise it would not be able to produce anything whatsoever, and although each Element is formally distinguished from each of the others, this does not mean that for that they are separated together, as is seen clearly in the separation of the Elements by distillation.
So that the ignorant do not consider my speech frivolous and useless, I want to demonstrate it to you by sufficient proof. Learn then, you who are curious to know the dissection and anatomy of nature, and the separation of the elements, that in the distillation of the earth, the air, being lighter than the other two, is distilled first, then after the water, the fire, because of its spiritual nature common to both, and natural sympathy, is conjoined with the air, the earth remains at the bottom and contains the Salt of glory. In the distillation of water, the fire and the air come out first, then the water, the terrestrial part always remains at the bottom. In the same way fire reduced to a visible and more material substance than usual, one can draw from it fire, air, water and earth, and keep them apart. Similarly the air is of the other three, not one of them being able to do without it, the earth is nothing, and can produce nothing without the air. Fire cannot burn and live without it. Water lacking air causes no generation. Besides, the air consumes nothing and dries up no moisture without natural heat. There being therefore a heat in the air, therefore there must be fire, for everything that is hot and dry in nature must also partake of the nature of fire. This is why all four elements must be conjoined together, and always care for each other. So we see that they are mingled together in the production of all things. He who contradicts such a doctrine has never entered the closet of Nature, and does not visit her most hidden secrets there.
Know that what is born by putrefaction is thus begotten. The earth is in no way corrupted because of the humor it has, which is the principle of putrefaction, because nothing can rot without humor; namely without the wet element of water. Now if generation is to come from decay, it must be excited by heat which relates to the element of fire, for nothing can come into the world without natural heat, for conclusion if the thing which is to be produced needs vital spirit and movement, it also needs air, because if it did not cooperate with the others, and did not perform its function, the generation or rather the matter of the thing which must be produced would itself be suffocated. even for lack of air, and the generation would once again be corrupted, after which it is clearer than day, that the four elements are greatly needed in any generation, and more than one each of them shows clearly its forces and operations in each other, but principally in corruption, for without it nothing can and never can come into the world, and take it for granted that the four elements are required for any production of anything whatsoever . We must know by this that Adam, whom God created from the mud of the earth, exercised no vital action, and did not live until God had breathed into him the breath and spirit of life, and that icehim infused, he began to live just as soon. Salt, that is to say, his body related to the earth, the inspired air was Mercury, that is to say the spirit, and the breath of inspiration immediately gave him a vital heat, and s was brimstone, that is to say fire, Adam immediately began to move, and gave by this movement sufficiently sufficient proof of a living soul, for fire cannot be without air, nor on the contrary the air without the fire, the water was mingled with both equally and proportionally together.
Adam was therefore first composed of earth, water, air and fire, then of soul, spirit and body, then of Mercury, Sulfur and Salt.
Eve likewise the first woman, and our first mother partook of all these things, for she was taken and produced from Adam who was composed of her. Notice what I just said. Now, in order to return to my subject of putrefaction, it is necessary that every lover and inquisitor of wisdom hold this for certain, that similarly no metallic seed can operate, and cannot be multiplied in any way, if it has not been entirely rotten from itself, and without admixture of any foreign thing, and as no vegetal or animal seed can (as has been said above) extend and multiply its species without putrefaction, so must we judge metals. And this putrefaction must be done by the operations of the elements, not that they are (as I have already taught) their seed, but because the metallic seed taking its birth from a celestial, astral and elemental being, and being reduced to a sensible body, must be putrefied by means of the elements.
Further, notice that wine has a volatile spirit, for in distilling it the spirit comes out first, the phlegm the last, but being by continuous heat turned into vinegar, its spirit is no longer so volatile, for in the distillation of vinegar, the aqueous phlegm rises first to the top of the still, and the spirit last, and although they are the same matter in both, there are nevertheless other qualities to vinegar than to wine, because vinegar is no longer wine, but a rotting of wine, which by continual heat has changed into vinegar, and all that is drawn by wine or by its spirit, and rectified in a circulatory vessel to many other forces and operations than what is drawn by vinegar. For if one draws the glass of Antimony, by the wine or by one's spirit, it is too laxative and purges with too much vehemence from above, especially as its poisonous virtue not being overcome and extinguished, it is still between the terminals of poison, but if one extracts it by distilled vinegar, what will come from it will be of beautiful color, then if extracting the vinegar by the bain-marie one washes the yellow powder which remains at the bottom, pouring a lot of times common water on it, and as many times removing it and removing all the strength of the vinegar, a soft powder is made which does not let go of the belly as before; but which is an excellent remedy which cures many diseases, is rightly reputed among the marvels of Medicine. This powder, put in a humid place, dissolves into a liquor, which without causing any pain confers greatly on external diseases, that is enough. In short, in this consists all the principal of this chapter, to know is that a celestial creature, the life of which is nourished by the Stars, and fed by the four elements, dies, then putrefies, after that, the Stars, by means of the Elements which have this load, will once again give life to this rotten body, so that he will make himself a celestial one who will take up his pen in the highest city of the firmament. Having done this you will see the terrestrial at all consumed by the celestial, and the terrestrial body still in the celestial Crown of honor and glory.
NINTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter IX
Saturn the highest of the Planets, is the lowest and most abject in our magisterium, he nevertheless holds the principal Key, and being the vile, and having almost no authority, he holds the most beautiful place, and although by his will he has acquired highest above the other Planets, he must however fall to the lowest, cutting off his wings, and be his dark light, greatly diminished, and by his death come all the perfection of the work, so that the black is changed into white, and the white takes on the color red; and must overcome all the other planets by the advent of all the colors that are in the world, which will be seen until the superabundant color comes of the triumphant and honored King, the most certain mark of victory; and even though Saturn seems meaner and lesser of all, he does not fail to have such a great and effective virtue, that being the noble essence (which is nothing but a too excessive coldness) conjoined with a volatile and fiery metallic body, it makes it fixed, and as solid, even better and firmer and permanent than itself is. This transmutation takes its origin from Mercury, Sulfur and Salt, and being done by them, we also take its end and last period. It will pass the reach of many, as indeed this mystery is so high that it is difficult to comprehend it. But the more that matter is vile and abject, the more must the spirit be elevated and subtle, in order to maintain the inequality of the world, and that the masters may be distinguished from the servants, and the servants recognized. to their ministry with the masters.
From Saturn prepared with industry come many colors, such as black, gray, yellow and red, and other mediums between these, so the matter of the Philosophers must take and leave many colors, before it reach the desired end and perfection, for as many times as a new door is opened to the fire, as many times the King borrows new clothes from his creditors, until recovering in credit, he becomes rich, and have no further business with any creditor.
Venus holding in hand the government of the Kingdom, and distributing the offices according to custom to each, appears first, shining and dazzling in a Royal manner. The Music carries in front of it a red standard, in the middle of which Charity is artistically depicted dressed in a green habit. Saturn is his Provost of the hotel and Steward of his household, and when he is in quarters, Astronomy walks before him, bearing a standard which indeed is black, but nevertheless is the portrait of faith dressed in yellow. and red.
Jupiter with his scepter is in the capacity of Viceroy. Rhetoric suits him carrying science in a whitish and gray color, where Hope is represented with very pleasant colors.
Mars Experienced Captain familiar with the war, also reigns all heated and in the heat. Geometry precedes him, carrying his bloody handlebars, and stained with blood, in the middle of which is imprinted the effigy of the Force dressed in a red coat, Mercury is the Chancellor of all, Arithmetic bears its diversified sign of all the colors of the world, (for there is an unspeakable variety of them) in the middle is temperance portrayed in admirable diversity.
The Sun is ruler of the Kingdom, Grammar holds her banner, in which is seen justice painted in gold, and though such a government must have more power and authority in her Kingdom, Venus nevertheless has it by her great splendour. overcome, and caused him to lose his sight.
The Moon also finally appears, the Dialectic wears hers in a very white and shiny color, in which Prudence is seen painted blue, and because the Moon's husband is dead, she must succeed him in the Kingdom. Wherefore, having rendered account to Venus, she will recommend to her the administration and superabundance of the Kingdom, and by the aid of the Chancellor will reform the state, and put in it a new police, and will both take dominion over the noble Queen, Venus. Note therefore that one Planet must make the other lose office, domination and Kingdom, and deprive it of all power and Royal majesty, until the principal of them hold the Kingdom in hand, preserving it, and by their constant and permanent color, winning the victory with their mother, and she from the beginning conjoined, enjoying a perpetual and natural association and love, when the old world will be no more world. And another new one will be made in its place, and one Planet will have so spiritually consumed the other, that the strongest having fed on the others, will be the only ones remaining, and two and three will have been vanquished by one.
Note finally that you must lift the celestial balance, and put on the left side Aries, Taurus, Crayfish, Scorpio and Capricorn, and on the right side, Gemini, Sagittarius, Cupbearer, Pisces and Virgo, and the fact that Leo wears gold, flows into Virgo, and that side of Libra weighs the most. Brief facts that the twelve signs of the Leo Zodiac making their constellations with the seven governors of the Universe all look upon each other with good eyes, and take place (after all the colors have passed) the true conjunction and marriage, so that the highest be made the lowest, and the lowest the highest.
If of the Universe the nature
Mise was under a figure,
And couldn't be changed
Nor by any altered art,
No one would know her
Nor the miracles she would do,
That's why we have to thank
This great God who gave us such gifts.
TENTH KEY to the Work of the Philosophers
Chapter X
In our Stone, which the ancient sages my predecessors made long before me, are contained all the Elements, all the Mineral and metallic forms and properties, even all the qualities which are in the world, because one must find there an extreme heat and of great efficiency, because the cold body of Saturn must be heated and converted into pure by the vehemence of its internal fire. It must also find extreme cold there, especially since it is necessary to temper the great Venus, which burns and consumes everything and freezes the living Mercury, and make it a solid body. The cause of this is such, because nature has given to the matter of our divine Stone all its properties, that certain degrees of heat, such as cooking, ripening and bringing to perfection, which cannot be executed before Mont Gibel de Gieille has put an end to its embrace, and there can no longer be any coldness in the Hyperborean mountains, from which you can also call Fougeray, always frozen with cold and covered with snow.
All apples picked before they are ripe wither and are good for nothing. not given their perfection. We must beware of the same in our Elixir, that we do not wrong him with any day dedicated and consecrated to his generation, lest our fruit being too soon picked from the apples of the Hesperides, cannot come to a extremely perfect maturity, and his repeated fault on the unwise workman, who will have hastened madly, for it is well known to everyone that no fruit can be produced from a flower torn from a tree. By which all hate must be avoided in our art, as dangerous and harmful, because by it can we rarely come to the end of our design, but we always go from bad to worse.
That is why the diligent explorer of the marvelous effects of art and nature take care that, driven by a damaging curiosity, and an overly curious desire, he does not pluck anything from our tree before the time , and that the apple falling from his hands, leaves him only a mark and miserable vestige, because if we do not allow our stone to ripen, truly it will never be able to give maturity to anything.
The matter opens and dissolves in the water, joins, and is made fat in the putrefaction, in the ashes it acquires flowers worthy before mails of the fruit; all the superfluous moisture dries up in the sand, the flame of the fire makes it fully ripe, and firmly fixed, not that it is necessary to have, and necessarily to use the Bain-marie, the horse dung, ashes and sand. But because it is necessary by such degrees to rule and govern its fire, for the stone enclosed in the empty furnace, and provided with triple bulwark, forms and always cooks until all the clouds, and vapors are dissipated and disappear, and may she be arrayed and adorned with garments of triumph and glory, and dwell in the lowest city of heaven, and stop short. For when the King can no longer lift his hands aloft, the victory of all worldly glory has been won, because being then filled with all happiness and endowed with constancy and strength, he shall henceforth be subject to none. hazard. So I tell you that you dry up the earth dissolved in its own mood, by fire duly applied, being dried up the air will give it new life, this inspired life will be a matter which should not rightly be called only the great Stone of the Philosophers, which like a spirit, penetrates human and metallic bodies, and is a general remedy for all diseases, because it drives out what is harmful, and preserves what is useful, and gives to all things an accomplished being; perfectly matches and associates the bad with the good. Its color draws from incarnate red on crimson, or ruby color on pomegranate color, as for its weight it weighs much more than it has quantity.
Whoever finds this Stone, may he thank God for this celestial balm, and beg him to grant him this grace that he may happily cross the career path of this miserable life, and finally enjoy eternal beatitude.
Praise be to God, for his gifts and singular pleasures that he has given us, and let us give him thanks for them eternally. So be it.
ELEVENTH KEY to the Work of Philosophers
Chapter XI
I will explain to you the eleventh Key which serves to multiply our celestial Stone by this similarity.
There was in a land of the Levant a brave knight Orpheus, very rich, for he had wealth in abundance, and lacking nothing, he had married his own sister called Euridice. But not being able to have any children from her, and believing that this misfortune was sent to her as a punishment for her incest, prayed to God continually, hoping to obtain mercy from him, and confirmation of her request.
One day, sleeping soundly, he thought he saw a man flying to him named Phoebus, who having touched his greatly warm feet spoke to him of the way. After having, brave knight, traveled through many Kingdoms, countries, Provinces, and cities, having ventured on the Sea in many dangers, and having in war overturned with your victorious arm what made you resist, the 'you have been rightly given the knight's collar, besides more so as in jousts and tournaments you have broken many spears, and many times the ladies have awarded you the prize with acclamation from all the assistants and the honor of victory, the heavenly father has commanded me to come and announce to you that he has performed your prayers, and therefore you shall take blood from your right side, and from the left side of your wife, too the blood which was in the heart of thy father and thy mother, that blood of its nature is only double and yet only simple, conjoin them, and put into the globe of the seven wise men, tightly closed, and the new born child thrice great will be nourished with his own flesh, and his glorious blood will be his drink. If you do this well, great wealth will come to you, and you will have many children. But learn that it takes, to perfect your last seed, the eighth part of the time that took the first, from which you were born. If you do this often, and always begin again, you will see the children of your children, and a multiplication of your race to infinity, and the great world will be so filled with the fertility and fecundity of the little one, that one can easily possess the celestial Kingdom of the creator of the universe.
After that done Phoebus flew away, and having immediately roused the knight, he rose to execute what had been commanded him, having put everything in effect, he was not only immediately assisted with happiness in all his enterprises, but also leaning on the goodness of God, he begot several children, who, as heirs of the paternal property, acquired a great reputation, and always preserved the order of chivalry which they had had from the succession of their father.
If you are wise and desirous of wisdom, you have no need to demonstrate it further, otherwise you must not blame it on me, but on your ignorance, for I am not permitted to declare it. further, nor to open this packet, and lay all the secrets in view, that will be plain enough and plain enough to whomever God shall deem worthy, for I have written it all more plainly than it is possible to believe, and I I have shown the whole work in figures, as one does the ancient Philosophers to the Masters, but much more clearly (for I have hidden nothing) than no one else. If you drive out the darkness of ignorance from you, and are clairvoyant with the eyes of understanding, surely you will find a precious Stone which many have sought, and few have found, for I have named matter entirely to you, and sufficiently demonstrated, the beginning, the middle and the end of the work.
TWELFTH KEY to the Work of the Philosophers
Chapter XII
The sword of a fencer who does not know how to shoot can be of no use to him, because he does not know how to handle it, for he is easily knocked down by another who knows how to shoot better and carry a sword. blow than he, but he who understands fencing perfectly, easily snatches the victory from the hands of all the others.
It will happen the same to the one who has with the help of God, acquired the dye, and does not know how to use it, as to the gladiator who does not know his job. But as much as here is the twelfth and last Key which closes this book, I will not speak any more with philosophical ambiguity, but I will explain nûment and clearly this Key concerning the dyeing, thus hear this following doctrine.
Take a part of this medicine and Philosopher's Stone duly prepared, and make virginal milk, and three parts of very pure gold passed through the dish with Antimony, and beaten into very thin blades, conjoin them in a crucible and their give a moderate fire to the first twelve hours, then melt them, and hold them in this fire for the space of three natural days, and the Stone will be changed into true medicine, of a subtle, spiritual and penetrating nature. And it will not tint easily because of its great subtlety without the ferment of gold, but when it is fermented from its like, the tincture enters easily. Then take a part of this fermented mass, and throw it on a thousand metals, and really the whole will be changed into very good gold, because a body easily takes another body, and although it is not similar to it, it he must nevertheless be spouse. And by his great strength and virtue made like, seeing that like was begotten of like.
Whoever puts this means into practice will know all the other circumstances. The exits from the doors of the Royal Palace are open at the end, this so great subtlety cannot be compared to any created thing, because it alone understands and possesses all things in all things, which can be found by natural reasons contained and enclosed in the Universe Conference.
O beginning of the beginning! Remember the end! O last end! Remember the beginning, and have the middle of the work in great commendation. And God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will give you what is needed in spirit, soul and body.
Of the first matter of the Stone of the Philosophers
A stone is seen which is sold at a low price,
From her a fugitive fire its origin takes,
Nitre Pierre of him is made and composed,
And white in color and adorned with red,
She is stone and not stone, and the nature in her
Can alone demonstrate his unparalleled virtue,
To make a clear flowing stream spring from her
In which she will go her suffocating father:
And then from this dead man, greedy she feeds,
Until his soul in his body is reborn,
And his mother who is of a flying nature,
In power be him, and in all likeness,
And in truth his reborn father
Has many more virtues than it had before,
The mother of the Sun surpasses the years
In age, therefor by you Vulcan aided,
His father nevertheless precedes in origin,
By his spiritual being and divine essence,
The spirit, the soul, the body are contained in two,
The magisterium comes from one and one being,
Can assemble the fixed and the leaking together,
She is two, she is three, yet she is one,
If you are not wise in this, you will not hear anything,
Wash in a bath Adam the first father,
Where bathes Venus of pleasures the mother,
Of a horrible Dragon this bath was prepared,
When all his virtues and strength he lost
And as the Genius of Nature so aptly says
It can only be named the double Mercury:
I am silent, I have finished, I have named the material,
Happy thrice happy who understands this mystery,
That worrying bores do not surprise you,
The outcome will show this much desired point.
END
Book Third
Containing an abridged repetition of all that is contained in the Treatises of the Twelve Keys to the Philosophers' Precious Stone. In which is by the same Author Fr Basile Valentin highlighted: The light of the Sages.
I, Basil Valentine, Religious of the Order of St. Benedict, have composed these previous treatises, by which, following in the footsteps of the ancient Philosophers, have declared by what way and means one can seek and find this precious treasure, from which the sages have preserved their health, and prolonged their life to many years. And though I have in no way deviated from the truth, as my conscience can bear witness before God, who knows the interior of our hearts, and have always brought into view the truth which a moderately learned man would only have to do other than I gave him, together with the twelve Keys of practice, will be more than enough of the nights nevertheless that I passed in awake, and the unpleasant rest that I took by not sleeping, but the various thoughts that were during the object of my imaginative, persuaded me to explain more clearly, abbreviating the book which I had put in the light of the torch which I had lit, brighter, in order to better illuminate, to discover our desired Pierre, to those who are lovers of art, and curious to know Nature. And although I know that many will say that I have taught everything more than too much, and that because of this I have loaded my conscience with many sins, I will nevertheless answer them that it is rather obscure to the ignorant and people of little wit, but clear and manifest to children of knowledge. Therefore listen and weigh my words well, and follow what they will teach you, you will reach the most hidden mysteries of Art and Nature.
I have written nothing that I do not have to approve of and for which I am not ready to give an account on the day of judgment.
Now you will find this abridgment in true and simple following instructions, because I do not study there to have affected and fallacious words, but to follow the truth nudly.
I taught in the previous treatise that all things are born and are composed of three, namely, is of Mercury, Sulfur and Salt, and that is certain.
But learn again that our Stone is made up of two, three, four and five. Of five, that is to say, of its quintessence, four which are the four elements, of three, namely of the three principles of natural things, of two which signify the double Mercury, and of one which is the first principle of all things , which was pure and net product of the creation of the world, fiat, be done.
So that no one works to understand these things, and does not bother to seek in vain the mystical meaning, and the true explanation, I will treat in a few words. First Mercury, then Sulphur, and then Salt of our stone, which are the material principles.
Mercury
First principle of the work of the Philosophers
Note therefore first that no common quicksilver is used for our work, for our quicksilver is drawn from the best metal by the spagyric art, and is pure, subtle, shining, clear as rock water, diaphanous as crystal, and without any garbage. Reduce it to water or incombustible oil, because according to what the sages tell me, Mercury was water in the beginning, dissolve in this incombustible oil its own Mercury from which this water was made, precipitate it in its own oil. And you will have the double Mercury. But note that the Sun after having been purified as I taught you in the first key, must be dissolved by a certain particular water, which I gave you in the second and reduced to subtle lime, as I told you. taught in the fourth. This lime must pass through the still with the spirit of SALT, and be precipitated in this spirit, and reduced to the lamplight fire into subtle powder, and that its Sulfur may more easily enter into its own nature, and embrace it more closely by a reciprocal love, and you will have two substances in one which is called the Mercury of the Philosophers, and is only one Nature, and the first ferment.
Sulfur
Second principle of the work of the Philosophers
You will seek your Sulfur in the same metal, it must be drawn without any corrosion by street lamp fire, from a purified and dissolved body, and how can that be done? I declared it to you without saying a word to you, and showed it clearly enough to you in the third Key. You will dissolve this Sulfur in its own blood, from which it originated, observing the weight which I commanded you in the sixth Key, having done it, you will have dissolved and nourished the true Lion with the blood of the Green Lion, for the blood fixed of the Red Lion is made of the volatile blood of the green, whereby they are both of the same nature, and the volatile blood of the one makes the fixed blood of the other also volatile. And on the contrary the fixed makes the volatile as fixed as it was before the solution, maintain them in moderate heat, until the Sulfur is completely dissolved, and you will have by the common agreement of the philosophers, the second ferment and the Fixed sulfur nourished by the volatile, which one draws in an alembic by spirit of wine, which is red as blood, and is called potable gold, which one can consolidate, nor reduce into corporeal substance.
Salt
Third principle of the work of the Philosophers
The Salt according to which one prepares it has various effects, making the body fixed, and sometimes volatile, because the spirit of the Salt of Tartar drawn without any ingredient makes by resolution and putrefaction all the Volatile Metals, and reduces them to a lively Mercury, as my Minerals teach you. Salt of Tartar also fixes itself greatly, especially if quicklime is added to it with its heat, for being joined together they have a marvelous fixative virtue. Depending therefore on how one prepares the Vegetable Salt of Tartar, it can both fix and render volatile, which is an admirable secret of nature, and a marvelous aspect of the Philosophical art.
A volatile and very clear Salt is made from the urine of a man, who for some time will have drunk only pure wine, and this Salt dissolves all fixed things, and draws them with him through the still, he does not not fix nevertheless, and although this man drank only wine, from which by his urine is drawn this Salt of Tartar; for there has taken place in the body of man a certain transmutation by which the vegetal part, that is to say the vegetal spirit of the wine, is changed into an animal, that is to say into the animal spirit of the Salt of urine, as for example, of horses transmutes itself from oats, hay and other such foods, changing them into their own substance, namely into flesh and other parts of their bodies.
Bees also make honey from the best particles, and from grasses and flowers, and so from other things of which the Key and chief cause lies in the putrefaction whence all these sorts of separations and transmutations arise.
The spirit of common salt drawn by certain means which I showed you in my last instruction, put with a little of the spirit of the Dragon, dissolves the gold and the silver, and causes them to rise to the top of the Alembic, just like the eagle joined with the spirit of the Dragon, perpetual host of rocks and mountains. But if anything is melted with salt before the separation of the spirit from the body, it is rather fixed than dissolved.
I tell you more, that the spirit of common salt conjoined with the spirit of wine, and distilled three times with it, becomes sweet and loses all corrosion and acrimony, this spirit no longer fights bodily against Gold, but if it is melted on the lime of Gold duly prepared, it attracts its great redness, and if one proceeds as it should, the lime gives and imprints on the purified Moon a color similar to that which has first had the body from which it originated.
This body can receive its first color, mingling and joining with the lascivious Venus, especially as it has from the beginning taken with her its birth from her blood, or at least from similar to hers, and I will not tell you about it. No more.
Note that the spirit of Salt also dissolves the prepared Moon, and reduces it (as my instructions teach you) into a spiritual nature, from which the potable Moon can be made, these spirits of the Sun and the Moon must be conjoined like husband to wife, through the spirit of Mercury, or its oil.
The spirit is in Mercury, the color in Sulphur, and freezing in Salt, and it is these three that can reproduce the perfect body, that is, the spirit of the Sun fermented in its own oil. The Sulfur found abundantly in the nature of Venus inflamed with blood fixes by her begotten, the spirit coming from the given Physical Salt, fortifying and hardening the entire victory, yet the spirit of Tartar, of urine and of quicklime, with real vinegar have good virtue, for the spirit of vinegar is cold, and that of lime is hot, which is why it is rightly judged to be of a contrary nature, as also the we see it by experience. I have just spoken as a Philosopher, and am not permitted to pass by, and show to any how the doors are closed and repaired within.
I give you this again, to say goodbye. Seek your matter in the metallic nature, make it into a Mercury, and ferment it with a Mercury, then with a Sulphur, and ferment it likewise with its own Sulphur, arrange and put in order with the Salt, draw it once a the still, and mix the whole by fair weight, and there will come one which also took its origin from one before, fix it, and coagulate it by heat continue then multiply it, as I taught you in the two last Keys, and ferment it for the third time, and you will come to the end of your drawing, when in the use of dyeing, the twelfth Key has instructed you enough.
First Addition
continuing the teachings of the aforesaid work.
For the top, I want you to learn that from the black Saturn and the sweet Jupiter can also be drawn a spirit, which afterwards is reduced to sweet oil as in its greatest perfection, which can particularly and firmly take life from Mercury, and make it much better, as I taught you in my minerals.
Second addition
Of the above works
Having thus prepared your matter, be only careful to govern your fire, for the whole work depends on it, from the beginning to the end.
Our fire is only common and natural, and the stove vulgar, and though the ancient sages and my predecessors have written that our fire is not common fire, nevertheless I tell you truly, that it is that they have all hidden according to their custom, because our matter is vile, and the work that one leads only by the regime of fire, is easy to do.
The lamp fire with the spirit of wine is not proper there, for there are too great costs and expenses. Horse manure is only loss and destruction, and our matter can never by its means come to perfection.
The multitude and variety of furnaces is only superfluous uselessness, and useless superfluity, for all that is needed in our triple vessel is to vary and change the degrees of fire.
Take care therefore that the deceivers do not deceive you in the variety of furnaces, because ours is vulgar, the common fire and the matter is abject. The matrass resembles in figure the contour and roundness of the earth, you do not need to have more education, to know how to govern your fire, and build your stove, because whoever has the material will soon find a stove, and he who has flour does not take long to find an oven, and does not owe much to bake bread.
There is no need to write much from this point, just beware of the heat, and make sure you can distinguish the hot from the cold, if you hit the goal, you will have done everything, and will have succeeded in the desired end of art, for the recognition of which be perpetually praised God, author of all Nature.
So be it.
Symposium of the spirit of mercury to brother Albert
The mind
What is the occasion, Albert, that you conjured me so much to make me come?
Albert
I want to say it to you, provided that you give me assurance for my body, my life and my Soul, and that I will have no displeasure from you.
The mind
It is not in my power to displease you, nor have I come to you for this, but if you do not leave your appellation, you are already recommended to another who will chastise you and your fellows, and will play its game well for the salvation of your soul, I can neither advance nor retreat, if I were a man I would like to be washed and for this respond to my requests.
Albert
Please don't be angry with me, for I am a stupid man, and you are a powerful and subtle mind, and for that tell me first if you are good or bad, or who you are.
The mind
I am neither good nor bad, but I am a spirit of the seven planets which governs the middle nature, they have the command to govern the four different parts of the world, namely the Firmament, the animals, the vegetables, and part of the minerals, and we are seven who by our agility lead into the three lower parts, ascending and descending, and operate in them, for the planets cannot bodily descend here below, but their spirit, which aids those things which are disposed to beget by the virtue of the four Elements. He who has this intelligence will be able to dispose himself to work.
Albert
I am greatly happy that you give me such a beautiful intelligence, and that I have understood through you that I have never made any Philosopher, but please grant me one more request, and I will tell you the subject for which I called you, and will declare it to you by order if you will tell me your name.
The mind
My name I am the Spirit of the Planets, not the God of Mercury, as you call me by your names, and I did not come by force of it, but by God's permission, I came without constraint, too that to every man has been given a spirit of service from God, but there are few who make themselves worthy of it, so do not be afraid of my darkness, for it will be for the beginning of your wealth. For at the beginning of creation everything was in darkness, and after the pleasant redness of the morning, the Sun rises all in blood and fire, if you believe at this hour my words which are not human, but a reasoning voice according to my nature, I want to listen to you amicably and give you a good address, so get out of your appellation and let me in, sit down at the table and let me write carefully what I will say to you, but first tell me the subject why did you make me come and don't be cunning, but simple and succinct in your requests.
Albert
In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The most holy and one inseparable Trinity, and one inseparable Deity. Mercury I ask you to tell me the truth, if what the ancients wrote of the Philosopher's Stone, or of the tincture, is truly in nature, or if it is a subtle speculation.
The mind
Know that the Philosophers by foresight have written various things so that the ignorant who tend only to gold and silver should be abused, thus the greatest secret of nature, and the natural virtues which make all seek truth, it will be found that God has put in nature, and that man cannot know, if it is not clearly shown to him, and still cannot understand it, because of his blindness, and that he cannot not know yourself.
Albert
I hear by your words, although they are obscure, that you hear very fine gold.
The mind
In part you have heard correctly, but there is still a troubled cloud before your eyes, it is the finest gold, but not that which is refined in the furnace, but that which nature itself by her servant Vulcan has refined without science, in the fashion of it, the double Mercury is derived, and when you have this you can argue with your Abbot, and say to him: Azot et ignis tibi sufficunt. It is therefore manifest that he is nothing more than fine gold, to which God in creation gave him this virtue to be manifested to men, so that everyone can know if he is well illuminated by God.
Albert
Yes, where can this gold be found?
The mind
Below Heaven, in many mountains and valleys, all men have him before their eyes and do not know him.
Albert
How many are needed for the work?
The mind
If you have two ounces you can buy the crown of the greatest monarch in the world, and keep the rest.
Albert
With God's help we will find just as many, and when we have finished two ounces, that is enough for the beginning, as I believe you say.
The mind
But you don't know the body like me who is spirit, I'm not talking about the body, but much more about the spirit, how do you want to weigh the spirit, which is in such a small quantity, at the cost of what is drawn from his body, but after in virtue surpassing in great quantity the said body, if you want to make this spirit clean of its corporeal body, and transmute it into a spiritual body, you can say to your Abbot, Ignis et Azot tibi sufficiunt.
Albert
O heavenly Word, how am I to do this?
The mind
Solve and coagulate, dissolve and coagulate. 1° Operamo Solver 2° Coagulare.
Albert
How succinct and difficult to hear your words, and difficult to understand, but all science is in it, I must dissolve the body of gold, and by dissolution draw the tingent spirit, it is doubtless the double Mercury of Bernard, from where this body is drawn, it is not the fine gold, but the tincture which is hidden in it, from this we derive the double Mercury.
The mind
Now the veil is partly removed from before your eyes, you heard right, now hear what body it is
Albert
What should I dissolve the body of gold with?
The mind
By himself, and what is closest to him.
Albert
This word is heavy, even heavier than science itself, please show me this and tell me the means and the skill of true dissolution.
The mind
I am all spirit, now I cannot show it, because I have no hand, but if I had a body like you, I would like to do all the work, look carefully in your Bernard, you will find the means there and the knack of true dissolution, with all circumstances, written thrice, twice true, and once false, because of the ignorant.
Albert
O miserable me! I saw Bernard so much that I almost died, and could not understand that, even though through his teaching I know the King, but the Fountain is unknown to me, and therefore, please show me Fountain.
The mind
You want to be too learned soon, I can't show it to you, you have to have the King first, because we don't heat the bath, that the King is not there, go get your Abbot and tell him that 98756 Æ s Æ from the Orient, just as it comes from the womb of its mother without fire, then I want you to declare everything that you do not hear, be secret, and do not show your writing to your Abbot on pain of life, nor that you have seen me, remove from yourself all your appellations and conjurations, and always remain in good will, praying God that he give you a good spirit, otherwise I will no longer dare to return to you, so I want to be your good friend, and as often as you need my advice, I will be with you.
Albert
Ha! Stay a little longer, tell me if I'll live long enough to do the dyeing.
The mind
Yes, you will finish it, but your Abbot will not live so long, you will have it after his death, and if you do not govern yourself wisely, it will cause you great inconveniences, and therefore take good care of yourself, and of whom you you will show it, for this tincture will bring you great blindness, keep your book and your tincture well, so that they are not found on you, otherwise you will run great fortune, and will be put in prison, even to death, therefore be very wise and keep yourself merry, for many of great and low quality endeavor that the secret should not be revealed, for they cannot tell the truth in any other body except in a single thing, which is all in all, for tell the truth, the rest serves only to deceive the ignorant, and will tell you in a few words the pure truth, which is what all the Philosophers by their writings have remained in agreement, of this stone and tincture contained in nature .
Albert
Tell me who this one thing is.
The mind
You who are a good and true artist, you must have learned from your Bernard that it is only the spirit of his double Mercury, and you have almost gone mad in your first subject and Azot, you are still very far from the true center, for you seek life with the dead, and the most perfect and incorruptible force of all natural forces, in imperfect matters and in corruptible things, know in truth that our red tincture is drawn pure and clean from the most perfect creature, on which the Sun has ever cast its eyes, which one thing by the most perfect minds is of the composition of the inseparable qualities of the four Elements, and by concordance the seven Planets have been joined together, and without any aid or science of man, was perfect in its degree of perfection, which also by an incredible increase of its own seed was naturally endowed, and its parts so well bound together that it cannot be destroyed by any Element without the aid of art, and when this one thing is subject to corruption, I have told you enough for this shot from what matter the Philosophers drew their tincture, if you hear and know what is understood in this one word, you will hear all science, c Enough said to those to whom God opens their eyes, we could well understand gold here. But it will not be heard well, because there are created creatures more noble than gold, which one must seek where the truth is, which God has placed in nature, and which man cannot know. , if it is shown to him all clearly, and yet he cannot understand because of his blindness, and which he cannot know himself.
Praise to God.
END
Explanation of the Spirit on the qualities of the first matter.
Moisture is the first thing that animates the compound, the natural thing or vivifying or vivifying moisture, or Soul, or Air, by a dissolution of the earth and congealment of the spirit.
For our magisterium is only to perfectly freeze, to dissolve the body and to freeze the spirit.
And such operations have such an alliance together that the body never dissolves unless the spirit freezes, and the spirit never freezes until the body dissolves, which agrees with what Raymond Lully says, and other Philosophers and the work of it is only to dissolve and congeal, and it is all the circulation and imbibition of our Mercurial Water, which the Philosophers command.
For if earth matter is to be fired, it must be refined and prepared.
By which Water the bodies are subtilized and brought back into the first matter, and next to the stone or Elixir of the Philosophers.
For like the child nourished in the mother's womb by its natural nourishment, by its menstrual blood, so our Stone must be multiplied and grow in greater quantity and quality, because it must be nourished with its fat and own nature and substance. This is what the Philosophers have totally sealed and kept hidden, as the greatest secret.
This fatty humidity, the Philosophers have called it Mercurial water, permanent Water or remaining in the fire, and also divine water, it is the key of all the work.
This water is not water from a river or a fountain, as the ignorant or falcifiers are advised.
Our water is only vapor and water which is said to be mundane or cleansing, whitening and reviving and throwing off the blackness of the bodies, which is called stinking water.
This Mercurial water is nothing other than the spirit of the bodies converted into nature of quintessence.
This water is called very strong vinegar, and is known to few; in our stone are contained two substances of one nature, one volatile and the other fixed, which and each of these is called quicksilver.
And it is from where the stone is born, after the first conjunction of them, and not before, and the bodies must be turned into non-bodies, and them into spirit.
The twelve signs of the Zodiac which are quoted in this work of the twelve Keys
Aquarius ♒ January
Pisces ♓ February
Aries ♈ Mars
Taurus ♉ April
Gemini ♊ May
Cancer ♋ June
Leo ♌ July
Virgo ♍ August
Libra ♎ September
Scorpius ♏ October
Sagitarius ♐ November
Capricornus ♑ December
Stanzas to the author
I
From a single substance three things are born,
And three united together there is born unity,
God having reduced everything by his divinity,
Fit the diversities that nature has uncovered
II
A self-essence of similar nature,
A dear liqueur drawn from its compost,
Of which the Artist has the care, which forecloses us,
From all labor care and from all misery
III
But by this one means of such holy undertakings,
You have to look at the time when she wants to sleep,
And in his holy temple give him and provide
Air, graceful Fire, and also his shirt,
IV
Two sperms we will have in a delivered compost,
United, adapted to the garden of excellence,
Where the birds will be who will have the power
To wake up those who were asleep.
V
You who want to serve in the Temple of Memory,
Have regard to the time of excellent beauty,
For the Crystalline Sky of great clarity,
One day we will see the bloodthirsty crimson
VII
Like the child who is fed from the breast,
We will even take care of what is procreated,
Until the time that the milk has advanced more to him
His body, to give him meat which excels him.
VII
Then robust in birth and full of majesty,
We will have a great King who will have the power
To govern his own, and by his foresight,
The poor and puny he will make healthy.
Other stances in the form of a wish.
I
Holy Flame of Heaven, wise and holy conduct,
Who out of nowhere did it straight away,
Disposing humans by narrow duty,
Collaud your holy name, your sacred holy knowledge.
II
The order you put in Art Nature,
Let us see in your facts a rich structure,
That the Earth and the Heavens which are built
With a supreme will your hand has ordered.
III
And then after this body where you put our soul,
Is always agitated by your divine flame,
Which a living time seeks death,
For the mortal to survive in immortal desire.
IV
For life and death lie in your knowledge,
That immortality survives by birth
To follow the paths of the future life,
You want us to be alive and ready to die.
V
And the man who lived according to your holy grace,
Dying he will survive seeing you face to face,
Being received from you for its last end,
Where is your holy Sun and the Crystalline place.
END
