THE WET WAY
or DISSERTATION ON THE VEGETABLE
MENSTRUE OF SATURN BY EDWARD KELLY (from a manuscript) THE WET WAY
Plato rightly defined philosophers as men contemplating with wonder the fantastic works of Nature in all parts of the created universe; those studying the volume, properties, movements, trajectories, and revolutions of the heavens and their fiery worlds, their ascension and decline, their priority and posteriority of appearance, speed of progression, irregularities of conduct, halts, velocity, as well as the germs and principles, dimensions and tendencies of all sublunary bodies.
Because of their constant thirst and desire for knowledge, they are not only driven to intellectually apprehend the mysteries and great mysteries of Nature, but also to imitate them and even to take advantage of them, as is very clear from so many hieroglyphic writings, of magical and mathematical mysteries, and of all the other testimonies of ancient philosophy. Moreover, it seems absurd that men greatly famous in the field of letters should withdraw from public life, after having occupied the highest positions of the State, for a childish reverie, neglecting the splendor of worldly fame and the hope of riches - a decision which they would certainly never have taken if they had really considered this Art as diametrically opposed to the laws of Nature.
All these men firmly believed in the possibility of enjoying for many years a healthy mind in a healthy body, and they considered that this desirable result was only accessible through the discovery of the central substance in which all forces meet. and virtues of Nature, following the royal road and the philosophical method.
They knew, in fact, that the spirit is the most celestial, divine, pure, subtle, immortal, omniscient part of man, being capable of receiving God. But they also knew that the body, its faded workshop of frail clay, darkens its movements, weakens its powers, and prevents it from flourishing in a way worthy of it. They knew that it was necessary to find a way to reduce all superfluity, to mature all imperfections, to strengthen all weak things, to strengthen all solid things, so that the whole structure could enjoy a continuous and indubitable perfection. But to achieve this, they knew that they must have a detailed and careful knowledge of the elements of the human body and of the universe in general.
Before they could discover the cause of perfection, they first had to study the nature of the elements. The Sages realized that the means to achieve their goal was a solid knowledge of the physical arts and sciences. Having conceived in their minds a Divine idea of the relations of the universe as a whole, they selected from the remainder a certain substance, of which they sought to discover the elements, to disunite and purify them, and finally to reunite them again. in a way suggested by a deep and penetrating observation of Nature.
In this way they obtained a body devoid of all imperfections and impurities, which, detected by their prudent action and a just deference to the times and seasons, brings not only health to their physical nature but also very great pleasures and instruction to their minds. These facts were revealed for the first time by Hermes Trismegistus in his famous Emerald Tablet, and the truth of this assertion is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of antiquity, and the consensus of all that in all ages we have counted as one of the most famous men.
That the aspiration of our art is not a Utopian dream is proven by the innumerable and astonishing metamorphoses that Nature exhibits daily everywhere. The Sages have, indeed, voluntarily concealed their thoughts under a veil of obscure words, but their writings are sufficiently clear for it to emerge that the substance of which they speak is not of a special kind, but general, and that it is therefore contained in animals, plants, and minerals.
However, it would be unwise to take a circuitous route when there is a shorter route; and they say that since this substance can only be found in the animal and vegetable kingdoms with great difficulty, and at the cost of immense labor, it is better to turn to the bowels of the earth where it resides within reach of our hands. This is the material that the Sages have agreed to call Mercury or Quicksilver. Our Quicksilver is in fact truly a living substance, so called not because it is extracted from cinnabar but because it is taken from the metals themselves. If the common Mercury is freed by fixation of its gross, volatile, and aqueous superfluities, it can, with the help of our Art, acquire the purity and virtue of this substance of which we speak.
And as this Mercury is the metallic base and the first substance, it can be found in any metal whatsoever. Other wise, learned and sagacious men, who in examining the writings of the Sages paid no attention to this fact, wasted both their time and their efforts. Nothing contributes more to a rapid understanding of our secret than knowing our first substance, then the distinctive species of mineral constituting the subject of the Philosopher's investigation.
You must know that the earth is the mother of the elements, and that their dispositions and proportionate mixture are what constitute the difference between one kind and another. Two of these elements, namely fire and water, are active, and two others, earth and air, are passive. Fire and water strive to unite with the earth but can only achieve this by means of the qualities they have in common with it, ie, dryness in the case of fire and coldness in the case of water. Thus fire and water are introduced into the earth by means of their dryness and coldness, and into the air by means of their heat and humidity. Now, depending on whether the earth is more or less dry or cold, its center will be occupied either by fire or by water, while the other active element will be confined to its periphery.
In the first case, the heat or dryness infused with fire being invisible and intangible, and residing, as it were, in the heart of the earth, will escape observation, but the moisture of water, being more tangible and nearer the surface, will be more easily noticed. The surface of this compound will therefore be watery, cold and dry; and such is the substance commonly called quicksilver.
But it must be borne in mind that we have not taken into account the air which surrounds and, so to speak, adheres to the earth in which fire and water fight for domination. If fire conquers water, it will extend its action to the air with which it shares heat, and the exuberant force of their combined heat will enslave the humidity of the air, and imprint on it a new form of dryness. excessive. The preponderance of fire will cause the color of this element to tint the entire substance, and in this way we will obtain what is commonly called sulfur.
But if the water (in the earth) subdues the fire, it will insinuate itself into the air by means of its humidity, and will enslave the heat of the air; that said, as it is a property of cold to freeze, and this cold has been increased by that of the earth, it will result in a substance as white as ice which we call salt. These three (Mercury, Sulfur, Salt) are inevitably the primary substances of all minerals, and every mineral must be generated from one of them, or from two, or from all of them. But minerals do not consist of salt, sulfur and mercury, as if they were form-introducing parts, as some scholars have vainly supposed. Because, in this case, such minerals would necessarily receive one or more of these forms successively before being able to take on another.
Rather, they draw their being from one or more of these principles, in various proportions, as well as from their own true source. For, just as the numbers 2, 3, and 4, constitute the foundation (of the other numbers), although they themselves consist partly of units and partly of each other, as for example 12 containing 3 times 4, 4 times 3, 6 times 2, and 12 times 1, all of them nevertheless being concealed in its own name - thus Mercury, Sulfur and Salt exist sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, and sometimes all together, in bodies minerals.
And just as 3, the quarter of 12, consists of 3 units, or 2 plus 1 unit, while it is included in the 4 which exceeds it by 1 unit, thus certain minerals drawing their driving force from a simple union of fire, water and earth (which union constitutes Mercury as we have already said) have no affinity with Sulfur or Salt, whose perfection comes from the addition of air, the fourth element. Here, the question obviously arises as to whether Mercury contains Sulfur, and I claim that in the vulgar sense of this word - namely in the sense of combustible sulfur - this is not the case.
But how then are we to understand the sayings of the ancient Sages, according to which every metal contains its own sulfur, or naturally fixed earth, which is the cause of all fixation, fundamental component and element of Mercury? Nature has produced only two visible elements, one active, the other passive, earth and water, in which the others, fire and air, which are naturally invisible and intangible, have their home. and housing.
We can only know these external and visible elements; the bonds of the other elements can only be loosened, and their presence established, thanks to the ingenious machinations of art. Consequently fire can be contained in a substance, even if we do not see it - and, for our research, if quicksilver does not contain any combustible sulfur, but only a certain fixed earth, thanks to which Mercury receives the life, I am quite willing to call this fixed earth sulfur.
For if all the elements possess a common substance, and are only forms, out of which, by mixture and mutual action, other forms are generated, certainly fire, superficially limited by water (which was supposed to be the case for Mercury), will emit rays from the center, and will penetrate all the substance with its sulphurous nature. This animation, or vivification, of Mercury is nothing other than a purification of all its parts by fire, the result being the formation of sulfur.
The correctness of this explanation is demonstrated by the introduction of artificial heat into common Mercury; for then the infused central fire, being drawn towards the periphery, changes in a few weeks this mercurial crudity into sparkling red sulfur. For all elements are the bases of certain colors, blackness and whiteness being associated with earth and water respectively, while the others are named intermediate colors. When the earth possesses in perfection all its qualities of coldness, dryness, solidity, weight, firmness, stability, and darkness, then there follows a color specifically represented by all the shades between black and fawn. After the earth comes water, cold in nature like the first but also humid, full of flow lines and figures, and nourisher of the complexion.
The main color of water is white, its species all shades between white and gray.
Air is more passive and subject to incursions of fire and water; it is rarefied and diminished, has no color of its own, but is dyed by heat rays; its whiteness is often more intense than that of water, and during the day it reflects all the hues between lilac and a sort of yellow.
Fire, being hot and dry, pure, simple, subtle, rare, fine, and brilliant, represents all the reddish colors included in the limits between the yellow and the dark red of twice digested blood. These colors were used by the Sages as a sort of landmark to guide them through Nature, and especially in the search for secret Medicine.
In the preparation of this Arcanum, we must not only study the dispositions of bodies, their proportions, qualities, and movements, but also their fundamental constituent principles, such as Salt, Sulfur, and Quicksilver, as also all other parts of the ore; and it is not enough to know that Mercury is a principle contained in all animals, plants, and minerals; you must also know what it is, how it is composed, its length, breadth and depth, and what effects it produces when united with other bodies.
In all this research, knowledge of colors is very important. The Sages never tired of instilling the truth according to which we find this quicksilver in animals and plants; and it would be unwise to contradict their assertion. Because if animals, plants and minerals contain within them water and earth, which contain the other elements, it is clear that in all things the same principles are found. So wherever there is water and land, every form is potentially present, and we can look for Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt. For just as the number one is in all numbers, so it is with the constituent principles of matter; every compound substance, in addition to its own form, contains all the conditions and causes of this form.
This principle of mixing is in truth highly developed in the case of minerals, and very little in the case of plants. Now, animals and plants are higher organizations than minerals, and contain everything that is found in minerals. And therefore, Salt, Sulfur and Mercury are contained in animals, plants, and minerals.
In animal ashes, or animal earth (which is a product of the plant world), we find these three principles. Because if we pour water on it, we extract the salt; if we dry them, and subject them to the action of a burning fire, there follows a melting into a vitreous substance, from which the Sages can extract Mercury; and if in this Mercury the rays of the central fire are attracted towards the periphery, it is vivified, and penetrated with the form of sulfur.
Furthermore, let us divide by our art the salt into its parts, water and earth; and let us do the same with Sulfur and Mercury. We only have water and land; but water and earth contain air and fire, and so we have the same elements in each case. Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury indeed differ in their external appearance, according to the various proportions of their mixture, but they are composed of the same elements which are the first principles of all creation. This is the universal sperm of Anaxagoras, which affirms that all things have the same primary substance; it was only because of a misunderstanding that Aristotle attacked his system.
So we see that the material of our Stone, Mercury, is a widely distributed object, and although it is more easily found in certain minerals, it can be discovered anywhere.
It is in this sense that Morien, this illustrious Sage, responded as follows to the question asked by King Kalid about the Stone: “It is yours, O King, and you are its mine.” And Raymond maintained that he had drawn his substance from something vile and devoid of value. You must not, however, suppose that I will take any kind of Mercury for this purpose without exercising any discrimination; but rather, like a wise carpenter, I will leave the wood green and unsuitable, and select for my construction only that which is dry and suitable.
The common Mercury, and the animal Mercury as well as the vegetable, can be used for our purposes, but the labor of preparing and digesting them would be truly considerable. And even if you could do this easily, it would be relatively useless.
For you cannot be assured of a flame where there are only a few weak sparks; and only a vigorous and exuberant Mercury is really adapted to our purpose - epithets which are in no way attributable to the weak Mercury of plants and animals. We must therefore take into consideration the fact that Mercury must be fixed by means of the sulfur which is inherent to it, undergoing the action of external heat. This heat comes from the celestial bodies, and the form will be different depending on the description of the celestial body by which Mercury is set in motion. Bodies receive their appearance, lineaments, and quenches the water, their fixation of the dryness of the earth, and they are more or less matured according to the velocity or slowness of the internal fire.
If Saturn governs this movement, and then there is a watery surface, we will have lead; if Jupiter is lord of this movement, tin will be produced; where Mars predominates, it will be iron. Likewise, the Sun is the cause of gold, Venus that of copper, the Moon that of silver.
Quicksilver is produced by Mercury, which is more or less good or bad depending on the completeness of the movement. So this is how we must think about metals if we wish to deeply penetrate their nature.
In this Art, our aim is to change metals into gold and silver; but as gold and silver are malleable, and have qualities and colors specific to them, the seeds of all these things must be in the substance, for otherwise they can never be brought to maturity. Accordingly, we can exclude from our investigation not only animals and plants, but also common Mercury, marcasite, and all the lower minerals.
For none of these contains a Mercury suitable for our purpose, since we need a Mercury to which is inherent its own principle of fixation and animation. It is true that the celestial bodies are the efficient causes of all things, and therefore also of marcasite, etc.; nevertheless, marcasites, pyrites, and similar minerals, differ greatly from metallic substances in the arrangement of these principles. For they are vivified by simple Mercury, and the direct influence of some celestial body.
But the other minerals, although they too are set in motion by simple Mercury, receive the influence of one or two, or more, celestial luminaries of various characters and complexions, by the confusion of which these bodies are affected in contradictory ways. , and considered imperfect for our magisterium. But the question may arise, concerning the lower metals, of how they can contain the principle of gold and silver, when in the eyes of the vulgar they seem to have nothing in common with these metals, and even less with gold.
We will answer that the term of our Art requires two things, fixed earth and mineral water, which exist in all metals, but not in the same way, in some actually, and in others at least potentially, but truly and essentially in all. It is true, in fact, that everything depends on the influence of the celestial bodies. But no substance is predestined to undergo the influence of this or that celestial body, and if a metal which had been under the influence of Mars fell under that of the Sun, it would gradually exhibit corresponding modifications. If the driving force is double, double consequences will be noted in the metallic subject.
Saturn is, with respect to Aquarius, cold and dry; towards Capricorn, hot and dry; heat and coldness will compete for victory, and heat will occupy the center.
Likewise, Sagittarius is close to Mars, Aries close to Jupiter, Taurus close to Venus, Virgo close to Mercury, which all agree in heat, and are therefore similar in the metals which are subject to them. However different they may be in height and depth, they will agree in width.
For Saturn is hot on the inside, cold on the outside, while dryness is contiguous to both states. This happens in a similar way for Mercury and Venus.
Jupiter's extremes are bound by humidity; same thing for Mars. Thus the first three lower metals belong to the same terrestrial latitude, and the last two to the same aquatic latitude.
The surface of Saturn is occupied by Aquarius, that of Jupiter by Pisces, that of Mars by Scorpio, that of Venus by Libra, that of Mercury by Gemini, which are known as cold signs; and therefore the bodies in question agree in both longitude and latitude.
Furthermore, just as hot bodies are digested differently depending on whether they are dry or humid, cold bodies are differently affected in their passivity, and this is the reason why metallic bodies of common latitudes differ so much in their forms.
Venus and Jupiter are in the same longitude of coldness, but between their passive elements there is the difference of an entire hemisphere, since the coldness of Jupiter is accompanied by humidity, while that of Venus coexists with dryness, form of one depending on water, that of the other on earth.
Thus Venus and Saturn agree in longitude, latitude and depth, but differ in shape, because the latitude of Venus is dominated by fire, that of Saturn by earth. In the same way, gold and silver receive their forms from their own moving forces; the first is begotten of one parent, the Sun, cherishing Leo within and without, hot and humid, cold and dry, everywhere equally tempered.
For, possessing fixation within, it conceals in each of its atoms the maturing force of fire, and such maturity is perfect life. Furthermore, this maturity is the result of a long evolution, because no gold is suddenly generated in its mining, but from its own seed and first principle, which we call fire, acting on Mercury in each of its parts.
I will now say that this seed, this principle, this elementary fire, this first substance exists in all the lower metals, although at different levels of development. Hence all these lower metals are, in their inner being, potentially gold, and virtually possess metallic life; and there is no difference between gold and these inferior metals, except the degree of maturity. Mineral water and earth can therefore by adequate digestion be raised to the perfection and excellence of gold, if the celestial rays, which are contributory to the maturation of this metal, can be brought to exercise their influence over it.
On this subject, various Sages have written in such different ways that it is not easy to reconcile their testimonies. What one claims to be good and opportune is resolutely condemned by the other, to the point that anyone striving to acquire knowledge in this Art by reading and comparing the texts must find themselves totally disconcerted.
Consequently, there are very few who were ever truly and completely possessors of this secret; because anyone who knows the material and is instructed in the mechanical process inherent in its method of preparation does not therefore deserve the name Sage. For he may know nothing of the theory of physics, or of the reason for our Art, or of the reasons why the nature of gold is communicated to other metals. But, as the poet said, there are very few who were ever truly and completely possessors of this secret; because anyone who knows the material and is instructed in the mechanical process inherent in its method of preparation does not therefore deserve the name Sage.
For he may know nothing of the theory of physics, or of the reason for our Art, or of the reasons why the nature of gold is communicated to other metals. But, as the poet said, there are very few who were ever truly and completely possessors of this secret; because anyone who knows the material and is instructed in the mechanical process inherent in its method of preparation does not therefore deserve the name Sage. For he may know nothing of the theory of physics, or of the reason for our Art, or of the reasons why the nature of gold is communicated to other metals. But, as the poet said,
Blessed is he who knows the country deities,
And Pan, and old Sylvanus, and the nymph sisters.
Men with only a practical knowledge of Alchemy know how to make gold, but are not Sages. They cling desperately to the specific method they were taught, and denounce everything else as erroneous and unscientific, since they do not know the universality of the substance, nor the different ways of manipulating it.
They take their little branch for the whole tree of Philosophy, and in this way darken the whole garden of the Hesperides with the fumes of their ignorance. There is another category of men, whom I call rationalists, or dogmatizers, who have reduced universal science to laws, and have imposed conventions relating to weight, quantity, time, etc., as being of general application, although they are only applicable to particular cases.
The third category is that of the Methodists, who base the principle of their teaching on what for others represents the term of the Magisterium. They differ from the Rationalists in that they veil with simple, everyday words the most important mysteries of our Peter. They say that silver and gold are vivified Mercury, and that they are composed of water and earth (including the other elements), and spoke only of Mercury without any specific restriction. They also say that from the above-mentioned bodies the same thing can be prepared, that is to say a Stone producing completely identical effects.
Saturn, for example, which consists of water and earth, can be considered the ore of the substance: water can be changed into earth, and thus into our fixed red powder, which, after fermentation, becomes our Stone. The ancient Sages called this method the Royal Way. Another method, more subtle, is that by means of which Saturn is dissolved by water, or vegetable menstruation, in the four elements, which are then purified, united, and which, by calcination and fermentation, become the Stone.
The third way consists of changing Saturn into our mineral water, or of uniting the quicksilver of Saturn with that of gold, and letting it receive the color or tincture of gold. The methods will be different if we deal with Mercury obtained from Mars, Jupiter and Venus. From gold, it can be obtained in at least twenty-seven different ways, which the ancient Sages called manors of the Moon.
For, just as the Moon passes through all the signs in twenty-seven days, or thirty at most, so the mineral water of the Sages, placed in these twenty-seven situations, travels through the entirety of the metallic firmament, and appropriates the qualities of all the lower metals. He who wishes to accomplish this Magisterium successfully must know the forms of all metals, and the celestial influences by which all earthly things are generated, moved and arranged.
He must also understand the harmony and mutual relationships of the active and passive elements, and how to appreciate them according to external phenomena; moreover, he will have to know how to unite the extremes through their common qualities. For just as no building can be perfect unless it is first perfectly finished in the mind of the architect, so you cannot know how to act with these inferior metals unless you know precisely the conditions of the work. How, for example, can one say that he knows more about money than a simple boor who ignores the influence of the Moon deciding its shape, the sphere of its revolution, what is its speed, the causes? of its many apparent irregularities, its changing position relative to the Sun and Earth, its eclipses, and so on?
For every difference in the heavens must produce a corresponding change on earth.
The wandering stars, when they sometimes move forward, then backward, then stand still, do they not produce a corresponding effect on earth? We must also reckon with the movements of the planets, their relative and changing positions, their deviations, sometimes towards the south, then again towards the north; none of this could be without consequence here below. For every celestial movement is the cause of an earthly effect.
The Sage will also be greatly helped by a knowledge of the occultations and reappearances of the planets, and of the certain and irrefutable causes of them. For by this means the eyes of the mind are opened, and we peer deeply into the mysteries of Nature, the causes of dissolution and composition, of heat and cold; the cloud of mystery where all the sublunary bodies move, where they take this or that form, is dissipated. Without a deep penetration of these things, you would not be able to have any real knowledge of our Art; and, moreover, such knowledge is the mother of all practical art.
Equipped with this information, there could be no difficulty in retracing all the stages separating the discovery of the material from the completion of the Stone; for these stages are not arbitrary suggestions of chance, but the natural and necessary evolution of the kind inherent in the first matter. You know the beginning and the end; your knowledge of physical processes cannot fail to suggest to you the intermediate part of our Magisterium.
There is water and mineral earth united in the same substance; into it you must introduce the form of gold, consisting also of mineral water and fixed earth. Can you doubt how you should develop the exuberant qualities of the substance? Nothing can be introduced into this mineral water and this earth except what belongs to the same genus. Development is caused by an internal agent, without which the very word Alchemy would not exist. This agent is sought by many, but found by few. It is a precious liquid which does not offer its services to the multitude, but is the servant of the Sages.
Some think it is common Mercury exposed to intense heat in a glass container; others claim that Mercury must be distilled very gently in a glass vessel and rarefied. But all these people are just ignorant philosophers. In truth, Raymond describes a similar process, but he means something entirely different, namely that our Mercury must be purified in a shining vessel, not to make water flow from it but in order to free it from its coarseness by fire, and to make it more easily soluble. Other methods, such as that proposed by the monk Ravilascius, not only betray crass ignorance but are also totally absurd. In no way is it possible to make our water flow from the common Mercury or to reveal the mysteries of our Magisterium. There is no menstruum capable of dissolving our Mercury in such a way that it retains its form, and yet this is what our Art requires. Furthermore, it seems absurd that the superior should be subject to the inferior. For example, the Moon is passive with respect to the Planets, and is however said to act on everything that is placed below it.
Should Mercury then, including the sphere of the Moon, be affected by the Moon?
No, and even less can the higher bodies be affected by Mercury, since it is rather Mercury that is affected by them. Even if the common Mercury could be dissolved, it could only exercise its power over the Moon which is contiguous to it. If we follow reason, it will tell us that the greater contains the lesser, and that this common Mercury has hitherto been considered a slave and not a master.
On the other hand, Saturn includes in its circle the spheres of all the rest; by its virtue lead is produced, and it is also the cause that this metallic water contains all the essential properties. For not only can Stone be prepared from lead, as we have shown, but lead itself can become Stone. Its water will be a menstruum for everything else, but however the thing which will dissolve the lead will not be the same thing which dissolves the rest, as we are going to explain. Since the property of this menstruum is to dissolve, we will talk about it right away.
The solution is the action of every body, which, by virtue of certain laws of innate sympathy, assimilates everything of a lower category to its own essence. Now, there is among the metals no form more vigorous or powerful than that of Saturn, and therefore the solvent of Saturn must be sought in the vegetable world. This solvent must agree with Saturn in terms of its properties. Now, among the minerals, Saturn is the furthest from maturity, and therefore our plant substance must also be highly immature.
Just as sweetness is distinctive of maturity, sourness accompanies immaturity, which is further the result of cold, while maturity is that of heat. Our menstruum, or solvent, must therefore be sour and vegetable water. Moreover, lead being coarse in the center and pure near the circumference, the vegetable menstruum that Nature designed to dissolve lead must be of the same kind.
There are two other solvents possessing all the characteristics of gold and silver, being fixed bodies of sensitive temperament, and holding the power to dissolve these metals, because they are totally free from all grossness; and this solvent which is gold was adorned by the Ancients with the title of great menstruation. They call Saturn's menstruum small menstruum because it has no power over gold. Only gold and silver possess the quality of dissolving themselves, for there is no metal superior to them in exercising this power.
Gold can also dissolve copper and quicksilver, although it is not true that common Mercury absorbs gold, which is as impossible as to imagine the sphere of Mercury to include that in which the Sun itself moves. The Great Menstruum, or water of Mercury, as some call it, produces, although it dissolves gold and silver, a more complete and rapid effect in the case of tin. Mars is contiguous to the Sun, and, being of noble nature, it harmonizes better with the Sun and the Moon, and by virtue of its position it is called perfect instrument and suitable for moving the Sun.
Those who wish to dissolve the Sun must dissolve Jupiter via Saturn in the water of Mars, then with the lymph of Jupiter, and the gold with the menstruation of Mars, for thus the virtues of our substance will be properly exercised.
Furthermore, the Sun, thanks to its humidity, dissolves Venus, by the dew of which common Mercury can be made liquid. This liquid will finally dissolve the Moon. But we should not believe that distant bodies, like Jupiter and Saturn, can dissolve others thanks to their own immediate virtues. We have in fact defined dissolution as a certain action by which, in accordance with the laws of Sympathy, one body assimilates and raises others to its own virtue, but this must be understood as applying only to contiguous bodies .
Saturn, which includes the sphere of Jupiter, is subject to Mars, and Mars, on the other hand, acts on Saturn through Jupiter. But as the nature of Mars is quite suitable for dissolving the Sun, Saturn, which has the same properties, can do the same thing, however, not by virtue of its own nature, but because the nature of Mars is included in that of Saturn. This must be understood by all others, according to their gender.
So far, we have explained the art of dissolving metallic bodies, by means of the triple menstruation proper to them, into their immediate principles, namely water and earth. We will now briefly describe the method of reducing metals to a still more distant substance, namely quicksilver. I will not here pay the slightest attention to the venomous speeches of malicious astrologers; I will have a few words to say to them later, when I deal with the conjunctions and diameters of the planets, as well as their real and periodic syzygies.
Take Venus, or copper, the subject on which you wish to act, and remember that you are trying to make visible a part of which it is in the deep nature to be close to the center. Find out in which sign of the horoscope Venus rises, and you will find that it is in the sign of Taurus in the fifteenth degree, at a right angle to the rising Sun; turn your eyes to the west, and you will see Scorpio at the same degree, in front of which is the surface of Mars, naturally cold and dry, directed towards the earth.
Take note of these things. In the third area of heaven and in the tenth house, you will find Leo. Now, Leo is the animal of the Sun, which you need as an intermediate substance at given angles. Follow the guide, and imitate these celestial relationships in your earthly astronomy, ie, take menstrual water from gold, purify it two or three times with earth, or iron lime, pour drop by drop onto the body of Venus, which will have first been melted, and in a few moments you will obtain liquid Mercury, as well as the demands our Art.
Take the water of lead thickened with the earth of iron (Mars), in order to dissolve the Sun, as well as what remains. Furthermore, the Sun, in accordance with this rule, while Leo is ascendant, will be in opposition to Saturn in Aquarius, whose surface imitates the nature of water; in their midst, so to speak, or in the middle of Heaven, there will be the Tabernacle and the House of Mars. In this way, any mineral is reduced to the nature of its second constituent part. But don't say too much, Kelly; because we can already see in the distance the smoke rising from the roofs of the houses,
HOW TO PREPARE STONE
WITH WATER AND EARTH
When the gum is distilled in the right way, remove the container containing the earth from the heat, as soon as the water that we call menstruation has evaporated. Then break the container a little above the clay covering the bottom.
In this way, the black earth will burn of its own accord, and will calcine wonderfully - a secret that the Sages did not want to write down; they simply say that our Stone could calcine, purify, dissolve, multiply and complete itself.
While the earth is ablaze like a living coal, it should be stirred with an iron rod, so that all its parts are perfectly calcined. Then take a fine sieve, finer than the earth, and as soon as it has become cold, purify it of the crumbs of Saturn. Place in the Sages' egg, add the water, first without any distillation, and immediately seal the egg hermetically.
In this way, all the water will be absorbed by its soil. This is the great secret, of which the Sages tell us that the hour of the birth of the child, ie water, must not be permitted, but immediately joined to its own milk, ie the ferment. It is the dragon that devours its own tail, or the serpents in the "Saliatic" whirlwind, one of which has wings (ie the water), and the other (the earth) does not. It is the divine stone standing on its own, self-preparing, tinting, fermenting and multiplying itself. It is the work which, understood by a man, must not be divulged by him to his brother.
Place the rest, with your mouth closed, in the athanor, digest gradually, because it has gone through all the changes and all the colors. Consider the noble bird, ie the child. This bird is a man born when Saturn is in Aries, ie in Mars, whose tunic must be cut by the nurse, who is also the man of Mars.
During the selection, remember that it must be extracted from its incorrupt ore, i.e., from woman and man, and not only buried in the earth, but also in a dung heap, and in the streets municipalities; for, as the Sages say, it is buried in the streets. This, as the Sage says, is the thing which all possess, and yet there is no greater secret under the heavens, by which diseases are cured, metals transmuted, and all things accomplished. It comes through so many admirable colors that they are impossible to describe.
This is dissolved in water for three days in the athanor. It is the perfect white and red sulfur ore in animals, and we have already seen that it made teeth grow in the old man's mouth. Ripley states about this wonderful Stone: Remember that man is the noblest of the creatures of the earth, in whom is found a neutral Mercuriality of the four elements proportioned by Nature; for our two metals are none other than the brilliant ores of our Sun and our limpid Moon, as Raymundus wisely remarks.
The method is as follows: first make the Mercurial water of the Moon, that is to say: take aqua fortis obtained in the usual way by salt and vitriol, rectify it three or four times, because any water of this kind without frequent rectification is of no use; dissolve two ounces of pure Moon in this water, and digest the solution for twenty days in a pelican container. Place in a retort, and flush the aqua fortis into the bath.
Repeat until water comes out like spring water. Add fresh water, and repeat the previous operation, so that the silver can be calcined by the fire while its humidity, contrary to Nature, is preserved or even increased. Remove all the water, collect what is dissolved by the violent steam of the bath, and dissolve five ounces of our white menstrual water. Circulate for a month, purify from its residue, distill the menstrua, and the Oil of the Moon will then remain. If it is not yet perfectly clear, add more menstrual water, until it becomes perfectly liquid and pure.
In the same way, dissolve an ounce of gold in the Régale water, obtained through the rectification of aqua fortis with the burnt Sun, digest for twenty days, then separate often, and add the water, until that it becomes not very consistent; then liquefy the Sun properly with cool water so that it flows like wax; you will then take four ounces of our oil or menstruum and dissolve the said gold, and then grind it in a well-closed glass container for 20 days; dissolve repeatedly. Then the gold will be well purified, and it concerns the male and female substance, to be united in this work with the water of Antimony.
Distill the King or Regulate of Antimony and the sublimated Mercury in the usual manner, until you obtain a viscous water, which must be rectified twice from its residue in a hot bath, or by pouring it seven times through the sand. Take three parts of this water, two parts of the water of the Moon, one part of the Sun, and place the whole in our philosophical egg, so as to fill it a third. Digest by double circulation, as you know how, and this will become the true Magisterium allowing the transmutation of Mercury into Gold.
Distill the King or Regulate of Antimony and the sublimated Mercury in the usual manner, until you obtain a viscous water, which must be rectified twice from its residue in a hot bath, or by pouring it seven times through the sand. Take three parts of this water, two parts of the water of the Moon, one part of the Sun, and place the whole in our philosophical egg, so as to fill it a third. Digest by double circulation, as you know how, and this will become the true Magisterium allowing the transmutation of Mercury into Gold.
Distill the King or Regulate of Antimony and the sublimated Mercury in the usual manner, until you obtain a viscous water, which must be rectified twice from its residue in a hot bath, or by pouring it seven times through the sand. Take three parts of this water, two parts of the water of the Moon, one part of the Sun, and place the whole in our philosophical egg, so as to fill it a third. Digest by double circulation, as you know how, and this will become the true Magisterium allowing the transmutation of Mercury into Gold. and place everything in our philosophical egg, so as to fill it one-third full.
Digest by double circulation, as you know how, and this will become the true Magisterium allowing the transmutation of Mercury into Gold. and place everything in our philosophical egg, so as to fill it one-third full. Digest by double circulation, as you know how, and this will become the true Magisterium allowing the transmutation of Mercury into Gold.
AN EASY WAY
TO OBTAIN DYE
Take an ounce of gold, dissolve in Eau Régale, evaporate all the strong water by the heat of ashes or sand, pour on this substance a good part of Spirit of Saturn, and it will immediately take on a dark color. Place the entire solution in a retort, and evaporate the spirit using moderate heat.
Pour this solution over the gold, as before, remove after two hours, and separate from the solution by moderate heat. The mind is then intensified and illuminated by the rays of the sun. The gold can then be melted and used for usual purposes, being no longer of any use in this work.
Place the spirit in the pelican, with one ounce of seven times sublimated common Mercury, seal hermetically with the best wax, and place in the steam bath at moderate heat; after five or six weeks the Mercury will begin to dissolve, and, wonderful to say, will be sublimated on the surface of the water, tinged with a black and reddish color, and this quintessence is subsequently coagulated with the Mercury in a snow-white powder. Finally, the container is placed in an athanor equipped with a lid or capital shaped in the shape of a pelican, in which the substance is digested into a yellow, then black, powder.
ONE WAY TO OBTAIN DRINKING GOLD
There are two kinds of potable gold. One is called Elixir, and is the stone liquefied into oil; the other is extracted from golden lime melted with the red oil of Saturn. All other recipes and methods of alchemists are inept and far from our goal, because whatever we reduce into a body, the latter will be crude and not decocted. Nature develops what is good into what is better by means of alteration. Gold that has not gone through physical alteration or solution has not been extracted into something better.
Take lead oil, and circulate for forty days in a steam bath. Distill in a retort until more than half has risen, and you will then see in the container white and crystal clear water remaining at the bottom, while the oil floats on the surface. Take hold of this oil, discard the now useless water; slowly distill this oil two or three times; and when it is completely free of water, circulate for three days, then rectify, and it will be ready.
Take an ounce of purified common gold, amalgamate with twelve parts of Mercury twice sublimated and revived. Distill Mercury, and the gold will remain in the form of a fine powder. Place this powder with the golden lime in the pelican, pour over the aforementioned oil, digest for twelve days. Pour the solution into a flat, transparent retort, remove all residues and impurities, evaporate the oil in a lukewarm bath, until a thick golden gum remains at the bottom; dry the gold, calcine it over a dry fire, and dissolve with the oil as before. The resulting gum is drinkable and is no longer reducible to a body.
There is no other method under heaven of materially dissolving the body of gold, and of this Ripley, an honorable man and philosopher for all eternity, writes as follows:
"The nature of the Sun being very pure enriches the air, mixes with it and ripens it, makes the plague flee, nourishes and purifies the air, makes roses perfume, dries up harmful humors, softens and strengthens and purifies Nature . She makes all things grow, and replaces aridity with greenery. She is green in the laurel, laughs loudly in gold, generates stones, and calls sparkling bodies to life."
Dissolve the purified gold in distilled vinegar; dissolve for three days, then pass through a filter, and evaporate until it is thick and becomes a gum, of which you need 24 pounds; put three in a container, and distill over moderate sand fire; when it is not excited by the fire add coals; In this way, let the humidity flow out gradually and skillfully, until you see a white vapor rising in the still. Take a large container, wrap it in cloth, and immerse it in cold water.
Maintain a moderate and even fire so that the spirits cannot enter the container faster than they can be dissolved, which would cause the container to explode, and would not be without danger to the artist. If the drops flow too slowly, increase the heat slightly, and towards the end you need a blazing fire; therefore do not spare your coals for then. When you have thus collected all the moisture from the 24 pounds, circulate it twice in a pelican over a moderate heat. Then take a tall container and distil slowly until water appears that burns like spirits of wine. Save this, and pour the remainder into a large and flat retort, and place in the bath until you see how, by means of distillation, an oil is separated (its phlegm still remaining in the retort) and floats on the surface.
Take this oil, for it is the Oil of Mercury, in which the Sun can be dissolved. Subtil said oil in the pelican over a moderate heat, then rectify once again. This is the preparation of the true mercurial water, or the female. Now comes the preparation of the male, or the gold. Transfer the pure, unmixed body of gold into Mercury, or in accordance with the common philosophical way, or in accordance with that of terra damnata, stirring with the Trycsitrock tool for one hour. The first method is implemented as follows: -
Take the menstruum of Saturn, and add calcined Jupiter in an iron spoon: pound, reduce to powder, and dissolve with the menstruum of Saturn; rectify once again, and add fine crocus (sulphur) of Mars. The lukewarm bath will liquefy it into reddish water; purge the menstruation until red drops fall to the ground; change the container, remove the reddish liquid from Mars, and grind it again and again. The virtue of the solvent will then be intensified.
Take black lead earth, that is to say your minium, which remains at the bottom of the container after the extraction of the water of life, or spirit of Saturn, and if you calcine it for two hours, it will turn yellow; pour over the water prepared from Mars, and distill once more; in this way it will be fortified. At this stage you should have ready some finely pulverized gold, to which to apply the fortified menstruum of Mars and the lukewarm temperature of the bath, so that it is in a few moments reduced to Mercury. Place eight ounces of this Mercury in a glass container of which it will fill an eighth.
Place in a small furnace, filled with sand, and increase the heat week by week, and it will be precipitated in forty days. This is the preparation of our gold: now comes its fermentation. Have at your disposal an oval container, a third of which will contain eight ounces of the said Saturn oil; add two ounces of your precipitated gold; when after a few hours the gold will be absorbed and dissolved, seal the container and place on the athanor. After forty days it will begin to blacken, and our moderate heat will cause it to pass through all the stages of blackness. Increase the heat and you will see, successively, all the different shades of white; then it will turn yellow, and finally dark red; remove the black earth, called terra damnata, which after 24 hours of intense heat will be located at the bottom of the container, and your dye will be ready; it will instantly reduce all metals to Mercury. Make the impurities on the surface of this Mercury disappear by stirring it with Trycsitrock.
The way of multiplying the tincture is as follows: - Take Saturn Oil and Stone dissolved in equal parts, in which you have previously dissolved gold; digest in a sealed container, and the first time it will be accomplished in six months, the second in three months; the third, it will go through all the colors in a single month; the fourth in two weeks; the fifth in a week; the sixth in three days. It will then be too subtle to multiply further, but you will have to start again.
END OF KELLY’S TREATY
THE SECRET OF THE FOUR WATERS OF PERFECTION
Vitriol 3 pounds, alum (purified) 2 pounds, saltpeter 1 pound. From these you obtain, with strong water, simple water of the first degree. For the second water of perfection, take 1 pound of the first water, and dissolve in it 4 ounces of salt ammoniac; this water then takes on another color, it dissolves the Sun, and constitutes the second water of perfection.
For the third water, take 20 ounces of the above-mentioned water, with 8 ounces of sublimated and suitably ground Mercury; mix, seal, dip in hot ashes; when Mercury is dissolved, you have the third water of perfection, and when it is poured onto a copper plate, it takes on the color of silver. This water burns with a white, fetid flame that you should be wary of.
For the fourth water, take this water and sublimated Mercury, immerse in a container which will be sealed, then in horse manure for about fifteen, and this will affect an imperfect blue as well as a yellowish color; distill the living water, through the ashes, over moderate heat, and you obtain the virgin's milk. The first water dissolves the Moon, calcines Mercury, blackens the skin, and is of the first degree. The second water dissolves gold and Mercury, sublimates sulfur, makes orange spots on the skin, and is of the second degree.
The third water changes the color of copper to that of silver, and reduces all metals to their first material. The fourth water reduces any calcined, pulverized body to the first matter, and is called clear and living water; it is also heavy, and is called milk of the Virgin; she is spicy, strong and bitter; if a drop falls on copper it perforates it, and it forms white crystals when it is distilled like other waters.
This water in distillation and putrefaction is exempt from all the corrosive action of sulfur, and dissolves the metals in their raw material instead of corroding them; it is purified of any sediment or impurity, and hardness of iron, of which all metals, even copper, nevertheless retain a trace, which is blue in color. Take any metal filings, mix with finely ground salt, wash in hot saline water, dry, cover this powder with five inches of tartar oil, seal, immerse in horse manure for eight days so that it can putrefy there.
Take everything out of the container, discard the oil, slowly dry the powder in hot ashes, place in living water (our fourth water), leave the container exposed to heat, and you will see how the powder dissolves into Mercury. Carefully transfer the water into another container, and there will remain the new Mercury, which is corporeal and not volatile like the other Mercury; wash with hot water and common salt, then dry. Filter with canvas; if any amalgam remains on the canvas, put it back into the living water, until it becomes living Mercury; repeat this until all the Mercury has been filtered through the canvas.
This is our corporeal and masterful Mercury of signal perfection, and not the common species. Its characteristics are as follows: its flow is not similar to that of simple Mercury; when it is placed on a body which is not fixed in the fire, it fixes it as much as it covers it. It therefore fixes all the bodies which were not fixed before, and in the manner explained above you can obtain as much bodily Mercury as you desire.
If you have produced 20 ounces of this Mercury, take 5 1/3 ounces of filings, pound finely, add 10 2/3 ounces of body Mercury, and make an amalgam by grinding (obtain a soft paste). Divide the amalgam into three parts, put in the container, take one part of the calcined body and three parts of body Mercury, mix well, add to the other two parts of amalgam, mix well, leave the container in the hot ashes until all the substance is changed into Mercury; and thus you will be able to multiply this Mercury to infinity, as long as you have metal filings of whatever kind.