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An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
An
Open Entrance
to the
Closed Palace
of the King
by
An Anonymous Sage and
Lover of Truth
Table of Contents
The Author's Preface
Of the need of Sulphur for producing this Elixir.
Of the Component Principles of the Mercury of the Sages.
Of the Chalybs of the Sages.
Of the Magnet of the Sages.
Of the Chaos of the Sages.
Of the Air of the Sages.
Of the first Operation-Preparation of Mercury by means of the Flying
Eagles.
Of the Difficulty and Length of the First Operation.
Of the Superiority of our Mercury over all Metals.
Of the Sulphur which is in the Mercury of the Sages.
Concerning the Discovery of the Perfect Magistery.
The Generic Method of Making the Perfect Magistery.
Of the Use of Mature Sulphur in the Work of the Elixir.
Of the Circumstantial and Accidental Requisites of our Art.
Of the Incidental Purgation of Mercury and Gold.
Of the Amalgam of Mercury and Gold, and of their respective Proportions.
Concerning the Size, Form, Material, and Mode of Securing the Vessel.
Of the Furnace, or Athanor of the Sages.
Of the Progress of the Work during the First 40 Days.
Of the Appearance of Blackness in the Work of the Sun and Moon.
Of the Caution required to avoid Burning the Flowers.
Of the Regimen of Saturn.
Of the Different Regimens of this Work.
Of the First Regimen, which is that of Mercury.
Of the Regimen of the Second Part, which is that of Saturn.
Of the Regimen of Jupiter.
Of the Regimen of the Moon.
Of the Regimen of Venus Of the Regimen of Mars.
Of the Regimen of the Sun.
Of the Fermentation of the Stone.
The Imbibition of the Stone.
The Multiplication of the Stone.
Of Projection.
Of the manifold Uses of this Art.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I, being an anonymous adept, a lover of learning, and a
philosopher, have decreed 'to write this little treatise of medicinal,
chemical, and physical arcana, in the year 1645, after the Birth of
Christ, and in the 23rd year of my age, to assist in conducting my
straying brethren out of the labyrinth of error, and with the further
object of making myself known to other Sages, holding aloft a torch
which may be visible far and wide to those who are groping in the
darkness of ignorance. The contents of this Book are not fables, but
real experiments which I have seen, touched, and handled, as an adept
will easily conclude from these lines. I have written more plainly about
this Art than any of my predecessors; sometimes I have found myself on
the very verge of breaking my vow, and once or twice had to lay down my
pen for a season; but I could not resist the inward prompting of God,
which impelled me to persevere in the most loving course, who alone
knows the heart, and to whom only be glory for ever. Hence, I
undoubtedly gather that in this last age of the world, many will become
blessed by this arcanum, through what I have thus faithfully written,
for I have not willingly left any-thing doubtful to the young beginner.
I know many who with me do enjoy this secret, and am persuaded that many
more will also rejoice in its possession. Let the holy Will of God
perform what it pleases, though I confess myself an unworthy instrument
through whom such great things should be effected.
CHAPTER I
Of the need of Sulphur for producing the Elixir
Whoever wishes to possess this secret Golden Fleece, which has
virtue to transmute metals into gold, should know that our Stone is
nothing but gold digested to the highest degree of purity and subtle
fixation to which it can be brought by Nature and the highest effort of
Art; and this gold thus perfected is called "our gold," no longer
vulgar, and is the ultimate goal of Nature. These words, though they may
be surprising to some of my readers, are true, as I, an adept, bear
witness; and though overwise persons entertain chimerical dreams, Nature
herself is most wonderfully simple. Gold, then, is the one true
principle of purification. But our gold is twofold; one kind is mature
and fixed, the yellow Latten, and its heart or centre is pure fire,
whereby it is kept from destruction, and only purged in the fire. This
gold is our male, and it is sexually joined to a more crude white gold
-- the female seed: the two together being indissolubly united,
constitute our fruitful Hermaphrodite. We are told by the Sages that
corporal gold is dead, until it be conjoined with its bride, with whom
the coagulating sulphur, which in gold is outwards, must be turned
inwards. Hence it follows that the substance which we require is
Mercury. Concerning this substance, Geber uses the following words:
"Blessed be the Most High God who created Mercury, and made it an
all-prevailing substance." And it is true that unless we had Mercury,
Alchemists might still boast themselves, but all their boasting would be
vain. Hence it is clear that our Mercury is not common mercury; for all
common mercury is a male that is corporal, specific, and dead, while our
Mercury is spiritual, female, living, and life-giving. Attend closely to
what I say about our Mercury, which is the salt of the wise men. The
Alchemist who works without it is like a man who draws a bow without a
string. Yet it is found nowhere in a pure state above ground, but has to
be extracted by a cunning process out of the substance in which it
exists.
CHAPTER II
Of the Component Principles of the Mercury of the Sages
Let those who aim to purify Mercury by means of salts, faeces and
other foreign bodies, and by strange chemical processes, understand that
though our water is variousy composed, it is yet only one thing, formed
by the concretion of divers substances of the same essence. The
components of our water are fire, the vegetable "Saturnian liquid," and
the bond of Mercury. The fire is that of mineral Sulphur, which yet can
be called neither mineral nor metallic, but partakes of both characters:
it is a chaos or spirit, because our fiery Dragon, that overcomes all
things, is yet penetrated by the odour of the Saturnian liquid, its
blood growing together with the Saturnian sap into one body which is yet
neither a body (since it is all volatile) nor a spirit (since in fire it
resembles melted metal). It may thus be very properly described as
chaos, or the mother of all metals. From this chaos I can extract
everything -- even the Sun and Moon -- without the transmutatory Elixir.
It is called our Arsenic, our Air, our Moon, our Magnet, and our Chalybs:
these names representing the different stages of its development, even
unto the manifestation of the kingly diadem, which is cast out of the
menstruum of our harlot. Learn then, who are the friends of Cadmus; who
is the serpent that devoured them; what the hollow oak to which Cadmus
spitted the serpent. Learn who are the doves of Diana, that overcome the
green lion by gentleness: even the Babylonian dragon, which kills
everything with its venom. Learn, also, what are the winged shoes of
Mercury, and who are those nymphs whom he charms by means of his
incantations.
CHAPTER III
Concerning the Chalybs of the Sages
Our Chalybs is the true key of our Art, without which the Torch
could in no wise be kindled, and as the true magi have delivered many
things concerning it, so among vulgar alchemists there is great
contention as to its nature. It is the ore of gold, the purest of all
spirits; a secret, infernal, and yet most volatile fire, the wonder of
the world, the result of heavenly virtues in the lower world -- for
which reason the Almighty has assigned to it a most glorious and rare
heavenly conjunction, even that notable sign whose nativity is declared
in the East. This star was seen by the wise men of old, and straightway
they knew that a Great King was born in the world. When you see its
constellation, follow it to the cradle, and there you will behold a
beautiful Infant. Remove the impurities, look upon the face of the
King's Son; open your treasury, give to him gold, and after his death he
will bestow on you his flesh and blood, the highest Medicine in the
three monarchies of the earth.
CHAPTER IV
Of the Magnet of the Sages
As steel is attracted towards the magnet, and the magnet turns
towards the steel, so also our Magnet attracts our Chalybs. Thus, as
Chalybs is the ore of gold, so our Magnet is the true ore of our
Chalybs. The hidden centre of our Magnet abounds in Salt, which Salt is
the menstruum in the Sphere of the Moon, and can calcine gold. This
centre turns towards the Pole with an archetic appetite, in which the
virtue of the Chalybs is exalted into degrees. In the Pole is the heart
of Mercury, the true fire (in which is the rest of its Master), sailing
through this great sea that it may arrive at both the Indies, and direct
its course by the aspect of the North Star, which our Magnet will
manifest.
CHAPTER V
Of the Chaos of the Sages
Let the student incline his ear to the united verdict of the
Sages, who describe this work as analogous to the Creation of the World.
In the Beginning God created Heaven and Earth; and the Earth was without
form and void, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. These words are
sufficient for the student of our Art. The Heaven must be united to the
Earth on the couch of friendship, so shall he reign in glory for ever.
The Earth is the heavy body, the womb of the minerals, which it
cherishes in itself, although it brings to light trees and animals. The
Heaven is the place where the great Lights revolve, and through the air
transmit their influences to the lower world. But in the beginning all
was one confused chaos. Our Chaos is, as it were, a mineral earth (by
virtue of its coagulation), and yet also volatile air -- in the centre
of which is the Heaven of the Sages, the Astral Centre. which with its
light irradiates the earth to its surface. What man is wise enough to
evolve out of this world a new King, who shall redeem his brothers from
their natural weaknesses, by dying, being lifted on high, and giving his
flesh and blood for the life of the world ? I thank Thee, O God, that
Thou hast concealed these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes!
CHAPTER VI
Of the Air of the Sages
Our air, like the air of the firmament, divides the waters; and
as the waters under the firmament are visible to us mortals, while we
are unable to see the waters above the firmament, so in "our work" we
see the extracentral mineral waters, but are unable to see those which,
though hidden within, nevertheless have a real existence. They exist but
do not appear until it please the Artist, as the author of the New
Light has testified. Our air keeps the extracentral waters from
mingling with those at the centre. If through the removal of this
impediment, they were enabled to mingle, their union would be
indissoluble. Therefore the external vapours and burning sulphur do
stiffy adhere to our chaos, and unable to resist its tyranny, the pure
flies away from the fire in the form of a dry powder. This then should
be your great object. The arid earth must be irrigated, and its pores
softened with water of its own kind, then this thief with all the
workers of iniquity will be cast out, the water will be purged of its
leprous stain by the addition of true Sulphur, and you will have the
Spring whose waters are sacred to the maiden Queen Diana. This thief is
armed with all the malignity of arsenic, and is feared and eschewed by
the winged youth. Though the Central Water be his Spouse, yet the youth
cannot come to her, until Diana with the wings of her doves purges the
poisonous air, and opens a passage to the bridal chamber. Then the youth
enters easily through the pores, presently shaking the waters above, and
stirring up a rude and ruddy cloud. Do thou, O Diana, bring in the water
over him, even unto the brightness of the Moon ! So the darkness on the
face of the abyss will be dispersed by the spirit moving in the waters.
Thus, at the bidding of God, light will appear on the Seventh Day, and
then this sophic creating of Mercury shall be completed, from which
time, until the revolution of the year, you may wait for the birth of
the marvellous Child of the Sun, who will come to deliver his brethren
from every stain.
CHAPTER VII
Of the First Operation -- Preparation of Mercury by means of the Flying
Eagles
Know, my brother, that the exact preparation of the Eagles of the
Sages, is the highest effort of our Art. In this first section of our
work, nothing is to be done without hard and persevering toil; though it
is quite true that afterwards the substance develops under the influence
of gentle heat without any imposition of hands. The Sages tell us that
their Eagles must be taken to devour the Lion, and that they gain the
victory all the sooner if they are very numerous; also that the number
of the work varies between 7 and 9. The Mercury of the Sages is the Bird
of Hermes (now called a goose, now a pheasant). But the Eagles are
always mentioned in the plural, and number from 3 to lo. Yet this is not
to be understood as if there should be so many weights or parts of the
water to one of the earth, but the water must be taken so oftentimes
acuated or sharpened as there are Eagles numbered. This acuation is made
by sublimation. There is, then, one sublimation of the Mercury of the
Sages, when one Eagle is mentioned, and the seventh sublimation will so
strengthen your Mercury, that the Bath of your King will be ready... Let
me tell you now how this part of the work is performed. Take 4 parts of
our fiery Dragon, in whose belly is hidden the magic Chalybs, and 9
parts of our Magnet; mingle them by means of a fierce fire, in the form
of a mineral water, the foam of which must be taken away. Remove the
shell, and take the kernel. Purge what remains once more by means of
fire and the Sun, which may be done easily if Saturn shall have seen
himself in the mirror of Mars. Then you will obtain our Chameleon, or
Chaos, in which all the virtues of our Art are potentially present. This
is the infant Hermaphrodite, who, through the bite of a mad dog, has
been rendered so fearful of water, that though of a kindred nature, it
always eschews and avoids it. But in the grove of Diana are two doves
that soothe its rabid madness if applied by the art of the nymph
Mercury. Take it and plunge it under water till it perish therein; then
the rabid and black dog will appear panting and half suffocated -- drive
him down with vigorous blows, and the darkness will be dispelled. Give
it wings when the Moon is full, and it will fly away as an Eagle,
leaving the doves of Diana dead (though, when first taken they should be
living). Repeat this seven times, and your work is done, the gentle
coction which follows is child's play and a woman's work.
CHAPTER VIII
Of the Difficulty and Length of the First Operation
Some Alchemists fancy that the work from beginning to end is a
mere idle entertainment; but those who make it so will reap what they
have sown -- viz., nothing. We know that next to the Divine Blessing,
and the discovery of the proper foundation, nothing is so important as
unwearied industry and perseverance in this First Operation. It is no
wonder, then, that so many students of this Art are reduced to beggary;
they are afraid of work, and look upon our Art as mere sport for their
leisure moments. For no labour is more tedious than that which the
preparatory part of our enterprise demands. Morienus earnestly entreats
the King to consider this fact, and says that many Sages have complained
of the tedium of our work. "To render a chaotic mass orderly"' says the
Poet, "is matter of much time and labour" -- and the noble author of the
Hermetical Arcanum describes it as an Herculean task. There are so many
impurities clinging to our first substance, and a most powerful
intermediate agent is required for the purpose of eliciting from our
polluted menstruum the Royal Diadem. But when you have once prepared
your Mercury, the most formidable part of your task is accomplished, and
you may indulge in that rest which is sweeter than any work, as the Sage
says.
CHAPTER IX
On the Superiority of our Mercury over All Metals
Our Mercury is that Serpent which devoured the companions of
Cadmus, after having first swallowed Cadmus himself, though he was far
stronger than they. Yet Cadmus will one day transfix this Serpent, when
he has coagulated it with his Sulphur. Know that this, our Mercury, is a
King among metals, and dissolves them by changing their Sulphur into a
kindred mercurial substance. The Mercury of one, two, or three eagles
bears rule over Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. The Mercury of from three to
seven eagles sways the Moon; that of ten eagles has power over the Sun;
our Mercury is nearer than any other unto the first ens of
metals; it has power to enter metallic bodies, and to manifest their
hidden depths.
CHAPTER X
On the sulphur which is in the Mercury of the Sages
It is a marvellous fact that our Mercury contains active sulphur
and yet preserves the form and all the properties of Mercury. Hence it
is necessary that a form be introduced therein by our preparation, which
form is a metallic sulphur. This Sulphur is the inward fire which causes
the putrefaction of the composite Sun. This sulphureous fire is the
spiritual seed which our Virgin (still remaining immaculate) has
conceived. For an uncorrupted virginity admits of a spiritual love, as
experience and authority affirm. The two (the passive and the active
principle) combined we call our Hermaphrodite. When joined to the Sun,
it softens, liquefies, and dissolves it with gentle heat. By means of
the same fire it coagulates itself; and by its coagulation produces the
Sun. Our pure and homogeneous Mercury, having conceived inward Sulphur
(through our Art), coagulates itself under the influence of gentle
outward heat, like the cream of milk -- a subtle earth floating on the
water. When it is united to the Sun, it is not only not coagulated, but
the composite substance becomes softer day by day; the bodies are almost
dissolved; and the spirits begin to be coagulated, with a black colour
and a most fetid smell. Hence it appears that this spiritual metallic
Sulphur is in truth the moving principle in our Art; it is really
volatile or unmatured gold, and by proper digestion is changed into that
metal. If joined to perfect gold, it is not coagulated, but dissolves
the corporal gold, and remains with it, being dissolved, under one form,
although before the perfect union death must precede, that so they may
he united after death, not simply in a perfect unity, but in a thousand
times more than perfect perfection.
CHAPTER XI
Concerning the Discovery of the Perfect Magistery
There are those who think that this Art was first discovered by
Solomon, or rather imparted to him by Divine Revelation. But though
there is no reason for doubting that so wise and profoundly learned a
sovereign was acquainted with our Art, yet we happen to know that he was
not the first to acquire the knowledge. It was possessed by Hermes, the
Egyptian, and some other Sages before him; and we may suppose that they
first sought a simple exaltation of imperfect metals into regal
perfection, and that it was at first their endeavour to develop Mercury,
which is most like to gold in its weight and properties, into perfect
gold. This, however, no degree of ingenuity could effect by any fire,
and the truth gradually broke on their minds that an internal heat was
required as well as an external one. So they rejected aqua fortis and
all corrosive solvents, after long experiments with the same -- also all
salts, except that kind which is the first substance of all salts, which
dissolves all metals and coagulates Mercury, but not without violence,
whence that kind of agent is again separated entire, both in weight and
virtue, from the things it is applied to. They saw that the digestion of
Mercury was prevented by certain aqueous crudities and earthy dross; and
that the radical nature of these impurities rendered their
elimination impossible, except by the complete inversion of the whole
compound. They knew that Mercury would become fixed if it could be freed
from their defiling presence -- as it contains fermenting sulphur, which
is only hindered by these impurities from coagulating the whole
mercurial body. At length they discovered that Mercury, in the bowels of
the earth, was intended to become a metal, and that the process of
development was only stopped by the impurities with which it had become
tainted. They found that that which should be active in the Mercury was
passive; and that its infirmity could not be remedied by any means,
except the introduction of some kindred principle from without. Such a
principle they discovered in metallic sulphur, which stirred up the
passive sulphur in the Mercury, and by allying itself with it, expelled
the aforesaid impurities. But in seeking to accomplish this practically,
they were met by another great difficulty. In order that this sulphur
might be effectual in purifying the Mercury, it was indispensable that
it should itself be pure. All their efforts to purify it, however, were
doomed to failure. At length they bethought them that it might possibly
be found somewhere in Nature in a purified condition -- and their search
was crowned with success. They sought active sulphur in a pure state,
and found it cunningly concealed in the House of the Ram. This sulphur
mingled most eagerly with the offspring of Saturn, and the desired
effect was speedily produced -- after the malignant venom of the " air"
of Mercury had been tempered (as already set forth at some length) by
the Doves of Venus. Then life was joined to life by means of the liquid;
the dry was moistened; the passive was stirred into action by the
active; the dead was revived by the living. The heavens were indeed
temporarily clouded over, but after a copious downpour of rain, serenity
was restored. Mercury emerged in a hermaphroditic state. Then they
placed it in the fire; in no long time they succeeded in coagulating it,
and in its coagulation they found the Sun and the Moon in a most pure
state. Then they considered that, before its coagulation, this Mercury
was not a metal, since, on being volatilised, it left no residue at the
bottom of the distilling vessel; hence they called it unmatured gold and
their living (or quick) silver It also occurred to them that if gold
were sown, as it were, in the soil of its own first substance, its
excellence would probably be enhanced; and when they placed gold
therein, the fixed was volatilised, the hard softened, the coagulated
dissolved, to the amazement of Nature herself. For this reason they
wedded these two to each other, put them in a still over the fire, and
for many days regulated the heat in accordance with the requirements of
Nature. Thus the dead was revived, the body decayed, and a glorified
spirit rose from the grave; the soul was exalted into the Quintessence
-- the Universal Medicine for animals, vegetables, and minerals.
CHAPTER XII
The Generic Method of Making the Perfect Magistery
The greatest secret of our operation is no other than a
cohobation of the nature of one thing above the other, until the most
digested virtue be extracted out of the digested body of the crude one.
But there are hereto requisite: Firstly, an exact measurement and
preparation of the ingredients required; secondly, an exact fulfilment
of all external conditions; thirdly a proper regulation of the fire;
fourthly, a good knowledge of the natural properties of the substances;
and fifthly, patience, in order that the work may not be marred by
overgreat haste. Of all these points we will now speak in their proper
order.
CHAPTER XIII
Of the Use of Mature Sulphur in the Work of the Elixir
We have spoken of the need of Mercury, and have described its
properties more plainly and straightforwardly than has ever been done
before. God knows that we do not grudge the knowledge of this Art to our
brother men; and we are not afraid that it can ever become the property
of any unworthy person. So long as the secret is possessed by a
comparatively small number of philosophers, their lot is anything but a
bright and happy one; surrounded as we are on every side by the cruel
greed and -- the prying suspicion of the multitude, we are doomed, like
Cain, to wander over the earth homeless and friendless. Not for us are X
the soothing influences of domestic happiness; not for us the delightful
confidences of friendship. Men who covet our golden secret pursue us
from place to place, and fear closes our lips, when love tempts us to
open ourselves freely to a brother. Thus we feel prompted at times to
burst forth into the desolate exclamation of Cain: "Whoever finds me
will slay me." Yet we are not the murderers of our brethren; we are
anxious only to do good to our fellow-men. But even our kindness and
charitable compassion are rewarded with black ingratitude- ingratitude
that cries to heaven for vengeance. It was only a short time ago that,
after visiting the plague-stricken haunts of a certain city, and
restoring the sick to perfect health by means of my miraculous medicine,
I found myself surrounded by a yelling mob, who demanded that I should
give to them my Elixir of the Sages; and it was only by changing my
dress and my name, by shaving off my beard and putting on a wig, that I
was enabled to save my life, and escape from the hands of those wicked
men. And even when our lives are not threatened, it is not pleasant to
find-ourselves, wherever we go, the central objects of human greed... I
know of several persons who were found strangled in their beds, simply
because they were suspected of possessing this secret, though, in
reality, they knew no more about it than their murderers; it was enough
for some desperate ruffians, that a mere whisper of suspicion had been
breathed against their victims. Men are so eager to have this Medicine
that your very caution will arouse their suspicions, and endanger your
safety. Again, if you desire to sell any large quantity of your gold and
silver, you will be unable to do so without imminent risk of discovery.
The very fact that anyone has a great mass of bullion for sale would in
most places excite suspicion. This feeling will be strengthened when
people test the quality of our gold; for it is much finer and purer than
any of the gold which is brought from Barbary, or from the Guinea Coast;
and our silver is better even than that which is conveyed home by the
Spanish silver fleet. If, in order to baffle discovery, you mix these
precious metals with alloy, you render yourself liable, in England and-
Holland at least, to capital punishment; for in those countries no one
is permitted to tamper with the precious metals except the officers of
the mint, and the licensed goldsmiths. I remember once going, in the
disguise of a foreign merchant to a goldsmith's shop, and offering him
600 pounds worth of our pure silver for sale. He subjected it to the
usual tests, and then said: "This silver is artificially prepared." When
I asked him why he thought so, his answer was: "I am not a novice in my
profession, and know very well the exact quality of the silver which is
brought from the different mines." When I heard these words I took
myself away with great secrecy and dispatch, leaving the silver in the
hands of the goldsmith. On this account, and by reason of the many and
great difficulties which beset us, the possessors of this Stone, on
every side, we do elect to remain hidden, and will communicate the Art
to those who are worthily covetous of our secrets, and then mark what
public good will befall. Without Sulphur, our Mercury would never be
properly coagulated for our supernatural work; it is the male substance,
while Mercury may be called the female; and all Sages say that no
tincture can be made without its latten, which latten is gold, without
any double speaking. Wise men, notwithstanding, can find this substance
even on the dunghill; but the ignorant are unable to discern it even in
gold. The tincture of gold is concealed in the gold of the Sages, which
is the most highly matured of bodies; but as a raw material it exists
only in our Mercury; and it (gold) receives from Mercury the
multiplication of its seed, but in virtue rather than in weight. The
Sages say that common gold is dead, while their's is living; and common
gold is dead in the same sense in which a grain of wheat is dead, while
it is surrounded by dry air; and comes to life, swells, softens, and
germinates only when it is put into moist earth. In this sense gold,
too, is dead, so long as it is surrounded by the corporeal husk, always
allowing, of course, for the great difference between a vegetable grain
and metallic gold. Our grain is quickened in water only;
and as wheat, while it remains in the barn is called grain, and is not
destined to be quickened, because it is to be used for bread making --
but changes its name, when it is sown in the field, and is then called
seedcorn; so our gold, while it is in the form of rings, plate,
and coins, is called common gold, because in that state it is likely to
remain unchanged to the end of the world; but potentially it is
even then the gold of the Sages, because if sown in its own proper
element, it would in a few days become the Chaos of the Sages. Hence the
Sages bid you revive the dead (i.e., the gold which already appeared
doomed to a living death) and mortify the living, i.e., the Mercury
which, imparting life to the gold, is itself deprived of the vital
principle. Their gold is taken in a dead, their water in a living,
state, and by their composition and brief coction, the dead gold revives
and the living Mercury dies, i.e., the spirit is coagulated, the body is
dissolved, and thus both putrefy together, until all the members of the
compound are torn into atoms. The mystery of our Art, which we conceal
with so great care, is the preparation of the Mercury, which above
ground is not to be found made ready to our hand. But when it is
prepared, it is "our water" in which gold is dissolved, whereby the
latent life of the gold is set free, and receives the life of the
dissolving Mercury, which is to gold what good earth is to the grain of
wheat. When the gold has putrefied in the Mercury, there arises out of
the decomposition of death a new body, of the same essence, but of a
glorified substance. Here you have the whole of our Philosophy in a
nutshell. There is no secret about it, except the preparation of
Mercury, its mingling with the gold in the right proportions, and the
regulation of the fire in accordance with its requirements. Gold by
itself does not fear the fire; hence the great point is, to temper the
heat to the capacity of the Mercury. If the Mercury is not properly
prepared, the gold remains common gold, being joined with an improper
agent; it continues unchanged, and no degree of heat will help it to put
off its corporeal nature. Without our Mercury the seed (i.e., gold)
cannot be sown; and if gold is not sown in its proper element, it cannot
be quickened any more than the corn which the West Indians keep
underground, in air-tight stone jars, can germinate. I know that some
self-constituted "Sages" will take exception to this teaching, and say
that common gold and running Mercury are not the substance of our Stone.
But one question will suffice to silence their objections: Have they
ever actually prepared our Tincture? I have prepared it more than once,
and daily have it in my power; hence I may perhaps be permitted to speak
as one having authority. Go on babbling about your rain water collected
in May, your Salts, your sperm which is more potent than the foul fiend
himself, ye self-styled philosophers; rail at me, if you like; all you
say is conclusively refuted by this one fact -- you cannot make the
Stone. When I say that gold and Mercury are the only substances of our
Stone I know what I am writing about; and the Searcher of all hearts
knows also that I say true. The time has arrived when we may speak more
freely about this Art. For Elias the artist is at hand, and glorious
things are already spoken of the City of God. I possess wealth
sufficient to buy the whole world -- but as yet I may not use it on
account of the craft and cruelty of wicked men. It is not from jealousy
that I conceal as much as I do: God knows that I am weary of this
lonely, wandering life, shut out from the bonds of friendship, and
almost from the face of God. I do not worship the golden calf, before
which our Israelites bow low to the ground; let it be ground to powder
like the brazen serpent. I hope that in a few years gold (not as given
by God, but as abused by man) will be so common that those who are now
so mad after it, shall contemotuously spurn aside this bulwark of
Antichrist. Then will tie day of our deliverance be at hand when the
streets of the new Jerusalem are paved with gold, and its gates are made
of great diamonds. The day is at hand when, by means of this my Book,
gold will have become as common as dirt; when we Sages shall find rest
for the soles of our feet, and render fervent thanks to God. My heart
conceives unspeakable things, and is enlarged for the good of the Israel
of God. These words I utter forth with a herald's clarion tones. My Book
is the precursor of Elias, designed to prepare the Royal way of the
Master; and would to God that by its means all men might become adepts
in our Art -- for then gold, the great idol of mankind, would lose its
value, and we should prize it only for its scientific teaching. Virtue
would be loved for its own sake. I am familiar with many possessors of
this Art who regard silence as the great point of honour. But I have
been enabled by God to take a different view of the matter; and I firmly
believe that I can best serve the Israel of God, and put my talent out
at usury, by making this secret knowledge the common property of the
whole world. Hence I have not conferred with flesh and blood, nor
attempted to obtain the consent of my Brother Sages. If the matter
succeeds according to my desire and prayer, they will all rejoice that I
have published this Book.
CHAPTER XIV
Of the Circumstantial and Accidental Requisites of our Art
We have weeded out all vulgar errors concerning our Art, and have
shewn that gold and Mercury are the only substances required. We have
shewn that this gold is to be understood, not metaphorically, but in a
truly philosophical sense. We have also declared our Mercury to be true
quicksilver, without any ambiguity of acceptation. The latter, we have
told you, must be made by art, and be a key to the former. We have made
everything as clear as noonday; and our teaching is based, not on
hearsay, or on the writings of others, but on our own personal and oft
repeated experience. The things we faithfully declare are what we have
both seen and known. We have made and do possess the Stone -- the great
Elixir. Moreover, we do not grudge you this knowledge, but wish you to
attain it out of this Book. We have spoken out more plainly than any of
our predecessors; and our Receipt, apart from the fact that we have not
called things by their proper names, is perfectly trustworthy. It
remains for us to give you some practical tests by which the goodness or
unsuitableness of your Mercury may be known. and some directions for
amending its defects. When you have living Mercury and gold, there
remains to be accomplished, first, the purging of the Mercury and the
gold, then their espousal, and finally the regulation of the fire.
CHAPTER XV
Of the Incidental Purging of Mercury and Gold
Perfect gold is found in the bowels of the earth in little
pieces, or in sand. If you can meet with this unmixed gold, it is pure
enough; if not, purge it with antimony or royal cement, or boil it with
aqua fortis, the gold being first granulated. Then smelt it, remove the
impure sediment, and it is ready. But Mercury needs inward and essential
purging. which radical cleansing is brought about by the addition of
true Sulphur, little by little, according to the number of the Eagles.
Then it also needs an incidental purgation for the purpose of removing
from its surface the impurities which have, by the essential purgation,
been ejected from the centre. This process is not absolutely necessary,
but it is useful, as it accelerates the work. Therefore, take your
Mercury, which you have purified with a suitable number of Eagles,
sublime it three times with common salt and iron filings, and wash it
with vinegar and a moderate quantity of salts of ammonia, then dry and
distil in a glass retort, over a gradually increasing fire, until the
whole of the Mercury has ascended. Repeat this four times, then boil the
Mercury in spirits of vinegar for an hour, stirring it constantly. Then
pour off the vinegar, and wash off its acidity by a plentiful effusion
of spring water. Dry the Mercury, and its splendour will be wonderful.
You may wash it with wine, or vinegar and salt, and so spare the
sublimation; but then distil it at least four times without addition,
after you have perfected all the eagles, or washings, washing the
chalybeat retort every time with ashes and water; then boil it in
distilled vinegar for half a day, stirring it strongly at times. Pour
off the blackish vinegar, add new, then wash with warm water. This
process is designed to purge away the internal impurities from the
surface. These impurities you may perceive if, on mixing Mercury with
purest gold, you place the amalgam on a white sheet of paper. The sooty
blackness which is then seen on the paper is purged away by this
process.
CHAPTER XVI
Of the Amalgam of Mercury and Gold, and of their respective Proportions
When you have done all this, take one part of pure and laminated
gold, or fine gold filings, and two parts of Mercury; put them in a
heated (marble) jar, i.e., heaved with boiling water, being taken out of
which it dries quickly, and holds the heat a long time. Grind with an
ivory, or glass, or stone, or iron, or boxwood pestle (the iron pestle
is not so good; I use a pestle of crystal): pound them, I say, as small
as the painters grind their colours; then add water so as to make the
mass as consistent as half melted butter. The mixture should be fixable
and soft, and permit itself to be moulded into little globules -- like
moderately soft butter; it should be of such a consistency as to yield
to the gentlest touch. Moreover, it should be of the same temperature
throughout, and one part should not be more liquid than another. The
mixture will be more or less soft, according to the proportion of
Mercury which it contains; but it must be capable of forming into those
little globules, and the Mercury should not be more lively at the bottom
than at the top. If the amalgam be left undisturbed, it will at once
harden; you must therefore judge of the merits of the mixture, while you
are stirring it; if it fulfils the above conditions, it is good Then
take spirit of vinegar, and dissolve in it a third part of salt of
ammonia, put the amalgam into this liquid, let the whole boil for a
quarter-of-an-hour in a long necked glass vessel; then take the mixture
out of the glass vessel, pour off the liquid, heat the mortar, and pound
the amalgam (as above) vigorously, and wash away all blackness with hot
water. Put it again into the liquid, let it boil up once more in the
glass vessel, pound it as before, and wash it. Repeat this process until
the blackness is entirely purged out. The amalgam will then be as
brilliant and white as the purest silver. Once more regulate the
temperature of the amalgam according to the rules given above; your
labour will be richly rewarded. If the amalgam be not quite soft enough,
add a little Mercury. Then boil it in pure water, and free it from all
saltness and acidity. Pour off the water, and dry the amalgam. Make
quite sure that it is thoroughly dried, by waving it to and fro on the
point of a knife over a sheet of white paper.
CHAPTER XVII
Concerning the Size, Form, Material, and Mode of Securing the Vessel
Let your glass distilling vessel be round or oval; large enough
to hold neither more nor much less than an ounce of distilled water in
the body thereof. Let the height of the vessel's neck be about one palm,
hand-breath, or span, and let the glass be clear and thick (the thicker
the better, so long as it is clear and clean, and permits you to
distinguish what is going on within) -- but the thickness should be
uniform. The substance which will go into this vessel consists of 1/2
oz. of gold, and one oz. of mercury; and if you have to add 1/3 oz. of
mercury, the whole compound will still be less than 2 oz. The glass
should be strong in order to prevent the vapours which arise from our
embryo bursting the vessel. Let the mouth of the vessel be very
carefully and effectually secured by means of a thick layer of
sealing-wax. The utensils and the materials required are not then very
expensive -- and if you use my thick distilling-vessel you will avoid
loss by breakage. The other instruments that are requisite are not dear.
I know that many will take exception to this statement; they will say
that the pursuit of our Art is a matter of all but ruinous expense. But
my answer consists in a simple question: What is the object of our Art?
Is it not to make the Philosopher's Stone -- to find the liquid in which
gold melts like ice in tepid water? And do those good people who are so
eager in their search after "Mercury of the Sun," and "Mercury of the
Moon," and who pay so high a price for their materials, ever succeed in
this object? They cannot answer this question in the affirmative. One
florin will buy enough of the substance of our water to quicken two
pounds of mercury, and make it the true Mercury of the Sages. But, of
course, glass vessels, coals, earthen vessels, a furnace, iron vessels,
and other instruments, cannot be bought for nothing. Without a perfect
body, our ore, viz., gold, there can be no Tincture, and our Stone is at
first vile, immature, and volatile, but when complete it is perfect,
precious, and fixed. These two aspects of our Stone are the body, gold,
and the spirit, or quicksilver.
CHAPTER XVIII
Of the Furnace or Athanor of the Sages
I have spoken about Mercury, Sulphur, the vessel, their
treatment, etc. etc.; and, of course, all these things are to be
understood with a grain of salt. You must understand that in the
preceding chapters I have spoken metaphorically; if you take my words in
a literal sense, you will reap no harvest except your outlay. For
instance, when I name the principal substances Mercury and gold -- I do
not mean common gold in the state in which it is sold at the goldsmiths
-- but it must be prepared by means of our Art You may find our
gold in common gold and silver, but it is easier to make the Stone than
to get its first substance out of common gold. "Our gold" is the Chaos
whose soul has not been taken away by fire. The soul of common gold has
retired before the fiery tyranny of Vulcan into the inmost citadel. If
you seek our gold in a substance intermediate between perfection and
imperfection, you will find it: but otherwise, you must unbar the gates
of common gold by the first preparatory process (ch. xv.), by which the
charm of its body is broken, and the husband enabled to do his work. If
you choose the former course, you shall use only gentle heat; in the
latter case, you will require a fierce fire. But here you will be
hopelessly lost in a labyrinth, if you do not know your way out of it.
But whether you choose our gold, or common gold, you will in either case
need an even and continual fire. If you take our gold, you will finish
the work a few months sooner, and the Elixir will be ten times more
precious than that prepared from common gold. If you work with "our
gold," you will be assisted in its calcination, putrefaction, and
dealbation by its gentle inward (natural) heat. But in the case of
common gold, this heat has to be applied externally by foreign
substances, so as to render it fit for union with the Virgin's Milk. In
neither case, however, can anything be effected without the aid of fire.
It was not, then, in vain that Hermes counts fire next to the Sun and
Moon as the governor of the work. But this is to be under stood of the
truly secret furnace, which a vulgar eye never saw. There is also
another furnace, which is called our common furnace, made of potter's
earth, or of iron and brass plates, well compacted with clay. This
furnace we call Athanor, and the shape which I like best is that of a
tower with a "nest" at the top. The "tower" should be about three feet
high, and nine fingers wide within the plates. A little above the
ground, let there be a little opening of about three or four fingers
wide, for removing the cinders; over that, there should be a fire-place
built with stones. Above this, we place the furnace itself, which should
be such as to exclude all draughts and currents of air. The coals are
put in from above, and the aperture should then be carefully closed. But
it is not necessary that your furnace should exactly correspond to the
description which I have given so long as it fulfils the following
conditions: firstly, it must be free from draughts; secondly, it must
enable you to vary the temperature, without removing your vessel;
thirdly, you must be able to keep up in it a fire for ten or twelve
hours, without looking to it. Then the door of our Art will be opened to
you; and when you have prepared the Stone, you may procure a small
portable stove, for the purpose of multiplying it.
CHAPTER XIX
Of the Progress of the Work during the First Forty Days
When you have prepared our gold and Mercury in the manner
described, put it into our vessel, and subject it to the action of our
fire; within 40 days you will see the whole substance converted into
atoms, without any visible motion, or perceptible heat (except that it
is just warm). If you do not yet rightly know the meaning of "our gold,"
take one part of common gold (well purified), and three parts of our
Mercury (thoroughly purged), put them together as directed (cap. xvi),
place them over the fire, and there keep them at the boiling point, till
they sweat, and their sweat circulates. At the end of 90 days you will
find that the Mercury has separated and reunited all the elements of the
common gold. Boil the mixture 50 days longer, and you will discover that
our Mercury has changed the common gold into "our gold," which is the
Medicine of the first order. It is already our Sulphur, but it has not
yet the power of tinging. This method has been followed by many Sages,
but it is exceedingly slow and tedious, and is only for the rich of the
earth. Moreover, when you have got this Sulphur do not think that you
possess the Stone, but only its true Matter, which you may seek in an
imperfect thing, and find it within a week, by our easy yet rare way,
reserved of God for His poor, contemned, and abject saints. Hereof I
have now determined to write much, although in the beginning of this
Book I decreed to bury it in silence. This is the one great sophism of
all adepts; some speak of this common gold and silver, and say the
truth, and others say that we cannot use it, and they too, say the
truth. But in the presence of God I will call all our adepts to account,
and charge them with jealous surliness. I, too, had determined to tread
the same path, but God's hand confounded my scheme. I say then, that
both ways are true, and come to the same thing in the end -- but there
is a vast difference at the beginning. Our whole Art consists in the
right preparation of our Mercury and our gold. Our Mercury is our way,
and without it nothing is effected. Our gold is not common gold, but it
may be found in it; and if you operate on our Mercury with common gold
(regulating the fire in the right way), you will after 150 days have our
gold, since our gold is obtained from our Mercury. Hence if common gold
have all its atoms thoroughly severed by means of our Mercury, and then
reunited by the same agency, the whole mixture will, under the influence
of fire, become our gold. But, if, without this preparatory purging, you
were to use common gold with our Mercury for the purpose of preparing
the Stone, you would be sadly mistaken; and this is the great Labyrinth
in which most beginners go astray, because the Sages in writing of these
ways as two ways, purposely obscure the fact that they are only one way
(though of course the one is more direct than the other). The gold of
the Sages may then be prepared out of our common gold and our Mercury,
from which there may afterwards be obtained by repeated liquefactions,
Sulphur and Quicksilver which is incombustible, and tinges all things
else. In this sense, our Stone is to be found in all metals and
minerals, since our gold may be got from them all -- but most easily, of
course, from gold and silver. Some have found it in tin, some in lead,
but most of those who have pursued the more tedious method, have found
it in gold. Of course, if our gold be prepared in the way I have
described, out of common gold (in the course of 150 days), instead of
being found ready made, it will not be so effectual, and the preparation
of the Stone will take 1 1/2 years instead of 7 months. I know both
ways, and prefer the shorter one; but I have described the longer one as
well in order that I may not draw down upon myself the scathing wrath of
the "Sages." The great difficulty which discourages all beginners is not
of Nature's making: the Sages have created it by speaking of the longer
operation when they mean the shorter one, and vice versa. If you
choose common gold, you should espouse it to Venus (copper), lay them
together on the bridal bed, and, on bringing a fierce fire to bear on
them, you will see an emblem of the Great Work in the following
succession of colours: black, the peacock's tail, white, orange, and
red. Then repeat the same operation with Mercury (called Virgin's Milk),
using the "fire of the Bath of Dew," and (towards the end) sand mixed
with ashes. The substance will first turn a much deeper black, and then
a completer white and red. Hence if you know our Art, extract our gold
from our Mercury (this is the shorter way), and thus perform the whole
operation with one substance (viz., Mercury); if you can do this, you
will have attained to the perfection of philosophy. In this method,
there is no superfluous trouble: the whole work, from beginning to end,
is based upon one broad foundation -- whereas if you take common gold,
you must operate on two substances, and both will have to be
purified by an elaborate process. If you diligently consider what I have
said, you have in your hand a means of unravelling all the apparent
contradictions of the Sages. They speak of three operations: the first,
by which the inward natural heat expels all cold through the aid of
external fire, the second, wherein gold is purged with our Mercury,
through the mediation of Venus, and under the influence of a fierce
fire; the third, in which common gold is mixed with our Mercury, and the
ferment of Sulphur added. But if you will receive my advice, you will
not be put out by any wilful obscurity on the part of the Sages. Our
sulphur you should indeed strive to discover; and if God enlightens you,
you will find it in our Mercury. Before the living God I swear that my
teaching is true. If you operate on Mercury and pure common gold, you
may find "our gold" in 7 to 9 months, and "our silver" in 5 months. But
when you have these, you have not yet prepared our Stone: that
glorious sight will not gladden your eyes until you have been at work
for a year-and-a-half. By that time you may obtain the elixir by
subjecting the substance to very gentle continuous heat.
CHAPTER XX
Of the Appearance of Blackness in the Work of the Sun and Moon
If you operate on gold and silver, for the purpose of finding our
Sulphur, let your substance first become like a thin paste, or boiling
water, or liquid pitch; for the operation of our gold and Mercury is
prefigured by that which happens in the preparation of common gold with
our Mercury. Take your substance and place it in the furnace, regulate
the fire properly for the space of twenty days, in which time you will
observe various colours, and about the end of the fourth week, if the
fire be continuous, you will see a most amiable greenness, which will
last for about ten days. Then rejoice, for in a short time it will be as
a black coal, and your whole compound shall be reduced to atoms. The
operation is a resolution of the fixed into the not fixed that both
afterwards, being conjoined, may make one matter, partly spiritual and
partly corporal. Once more, I assure you, the regulation of the fire is
the only thing that I have hidden from you. Given the proper-regimen,
take the Stone, govern it as you know how, and then these wonderful
phenomena will follow: The fire will at once dissolve the Mercury and
the Sulphur like wax; the Sulphur will be burnt, and change its colours
from day to day; the Mercury will prove incombustible, and only be
gradually tinged (and purified, without being infected) with the colours
of the Sulphur. Let the heaven stoop to the earth, till the latter has
conceived heavenly seed. When you see the substances mingle in your
distilling vessel, and assume the appearance of clotted and burnt blood,
be sure that the female has received the seed of the male. About
seventeen days afterwards your substance will begin to wear a yellow,
thick, misty, or foamy appearance. At this time, you must take care not
to let the embryo escape from your vessel; for it will give out a
greenish, yellow, black, and bluish vapour and strive to burst the
vessel. If you allow these vapours (which are continuous when the Embryo
is formed) to escape, your work will be hopelessly marred. Nor should
you allow any of the odour to make its way through any little hole or
outlet; for the evaporation would considerably weaken the strength of
the Stone. Hence the true Sage seals up the mouth of his vessel most
carefully. Let me advise you, moreover, not to neglect your fire, or
move or open the vessel, or slacken the process of decoction, until you
find that the quantity of the liquid begins to diminish; if this happens
after thirty days, rejoice, and know that you are on the right road.
Then be doubly careful, and you will, at the end of another fortnight,
find that the earth has become quite dry and of a deep black. This is
the death of the compound; the winds have ceased, and there is a great
calm. This is that great simultaneous eclipse of the Sun and Moon, when
the Sea also has disappeared. Our Chaos is then ready, from which, at
the bidding of God, all the wonders of the world may successively
emerge.
CHAPTER XXI
Of the Caution required to avoid Burning the Flowers
The burning of the flowers is fatal, yet soon committed: it is
chiefly to be guarded against after the lapse of the third week. In the
beginning there is so much moisture that if the fire be too fierce it
will dry up the liquid too quickly, and you will prematurely obtain a
dry red powder, from which the principle of life has flown; if the fire
be not strong enough the substance will not be properly matured. Too
powerful a fire prevents the true union of the substances. True union
only takes place in water. Bodies collide, but do not unite; only
liquids (and spirits) can truly mingle their substance. Hence our
homogeneous metallic water must be allowed to do its work properly, and
should not be dried up, until this perfect mutual absorption has taken
place in a natural manner. Premature drying only destroys the germ of
life, strikes the active principle on the head as with a hammer, and
renders it passive. A red powder is indeed produced, but long before the
time: for redness should be preceded by blackness. It is true that, in
the beginning of our work, when heaven is wedded to earth, and earth
conceives the fire of nature, a red colour does appear. But the
substance is then sufficiently moist; and the redness soon gives way to
a green colour, which in its turn gradually yields to blackness. Do not
be in a hurry; let your fire be just powerful enough, but not too
powerful; steer a straight course between Scylla and Charybdis: you will
behold in your vessel a variety of colours and grotesque transformations
-- until the substance settles down into a powder of intense blackness.
This should happen within the first fifty days. If it does not, either
your Mercury, or the regulation of your fire, or the composition of your
substance is at fault -- if, indeed, you have not moved or shaken your
glass vessel.
CHAPTER XXII
Of the Regimen of Saturn
All the Sages who have written on our Art, have spoken of the
work and regimen of Saturn; and their remarks have led many to choose
common lead as the substance of the Stone. But you should know that our
Saturn, or lead, is a much nobler substance than gold. It is the living
earth in which the soul of gold is joined to Mercury, that they may
bring forth Adam and his wife Eve. Wherefore, since the highest has so
lowered itself as to become the lowest, we may expect that its blood may
be the means of redeeming all its brethren. The Tomb in which our King
is buried, is that which we call Saturn, and it is the key of the work
of transmutation; happy is he who can salute this planet, and call it by
its right name. It is a boon which is obtained by the blessing of God
alone; it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth; but God
bestoweth it on whom He will.
CHAPTER XXIII
Of the different Regimens of this Work
Let me assure you that in our whole work there is nothing hidden
but the regimen, of which it was truly said by the Sage that whoever
knows it perfectly will be honoured by princes and potentates. I tell
you plainly that if this one point were clearly set forth, our Art would
become mere women's work and child's play: there would be nothing in it
but a simple process of "cooking." Hence it has always been most
carefully concealed by the Sages. But I have determined to write in a
more sympathetic and kindly spirit: know then that our regimen
throughout consists in coction and digestion, but that it implies a good
many other processes, which those jealous Sages have made to appear
different by describing them under different names. But we intend to
speak more openly in regard to this subject.
CHAPTER XXIV
Of the First Regimen, which is that of Mercury
This first regimen has been studiously kept secret by all the
Sages. They have spoken of the second regimen, or that of Saturn, as if
it were the first, and have thus left the student without guidance in
those operations which precede the appearance of that intense blackness.
Count Bernard, of Trevisa, says, in his Parable, that When the King has
come to the Fountain, he takes off the golden garment, gives it to
Saturn, and enters the bath alone, afterwards receiving from Saturn a
robe of black silk. But he does not tell us how long it takes to put off
that golden robe; and thus, like all his brethren, leaves the poor
beginner to grope in the dark during 40 or 50 days. From the point where
the stage of blackness is reached to the end of the work their
directions are more full and intelligible. It is in regard to these
first 40 days that the student requires additional light. This period
represents the regimen of Mercury (of the Sages), which is alone active
during the whole time, the other substance being temporarily
dead. You should not suffer yourself to be deluded into the belief that
when your matters are joined, namely, our Sun and Mercury, the "setting
of the Sun" can be brought about in a few days. We ourselves waited a
tedious time before a reconciliation was made between the fire and the
water. As a matter of fact, the Sages have called the substance,
throughout this first period, Rebis, or Two-thing: to shew that the
union is not effected till the operation is complete. You should know,
then, that though our Mercury consumes the Sun, yet a year after you
shall separate them, unless they are connected together by a suitable
degree of fire. It is not able to do anything at all without fire.
We must not suppose that when our gold is placed in our Mercury it is
swallowed up by it in the twinkling of an eye. This conception rests on
a misunderstanding of Count Bernard's teaching about the King's plunge
in the fountain. But the solution of gold is a more difficult matter
than these gentry appear to have any idea of. It requires the highest
skill so to regulate the fire in the first stage of the work as to solve
the bodies without injuring the tincture. Attend to my teaching
therefore. Take the body which I have shewed you, put it into the water
of our sea, and bring to bear on the compound the proper degree of heat,
till dews and mists begin to ascend, and the moisture is diminished
night and day without intermission. Know that at first the two do not
affect each other at all, and that only in course of time the body
absorbs some of the water, and thus causes each to partake of the
other's nature. Only part of the water is sublimed; the rest gradually
penetrates the pores of the body, which are thereby more and more
softened, till the soul of the gold is enabled gently to pass out.
Through the mediation of the soul the body is reconciled and united to
the spirit, and their union is signalized by the appearance of the black
colour. The whole operation lasts about 40-50 days, and is called the
Regimen of Mercury, because the body is passive throughout, and the
spirit, or Mercury, brings about all the changes of colour, which begin
to appear about the 20th day, and gradually intensify till all be at
last completed in black of the deepest dye, which the both day will
manifest.
CHAPTER XXV
The Regimen of the Second Part, which is that of Saturn
The Regimen of Mercury, the operation whereof despoils the King
of his golden garments, is followed by the Regimen of Saturn. When the
Lion dies the Crow is born. The substance has now become of a uniform
colour, namely, as black as pitch, and neither vapours, or winds, or any
other signs of life are seen; the whole is dry as dust, with the
exception of some pitch-like substance, which now and then bubbles up;
all presents an image of eternal death. Nevertheless, it is a sight
which gladdens the heart of the Sage. For the black colour which is seen
is bright and brilliant; and if you behold something like a thin paste
bubbling up here and there, you may rejoice. For it is the work of the
quickening spirit, which will soon restore the dead bodies to life. The
regulation of the fire is a matter of great importance at this juncture;
if you make it too fierce, and thus cause sublimation at this stage,
everything will be irrecoverably spoilt. Be content, therefore, to
remain, as it were, in prison for forty days and nights, even as was the
good Trevisan, and employ only gentle heat. Let your delicate substance
remain at the bottom, which is the womb of conception, in the sure hope
that after the time appointed by the Creator for this Operation, the
spirit will arise in a glorified state, and glorify its body -- that it
will ascend and be gently circulated from the centre to the heavens,
then descend to the centre from the heavens, and take to itself the
power of things above and things below.
CHAPTER XXVI
Of the Regimen of Jupiter
Black Saturn is succeeded by Jupiter, who exhibits divers
colours. For after the putrefaction and conception, which has taken
place at the bottom of the vessel, there is once more a change of
colours and a circulating sublimation. This Reign or Regimen,
lasts only three weeks. During this period you see all conceivable
colours concerning which no definite account can be given. The "showers"
that fall will become more numerous as the close of this reign
approaches, and its termination is signalized by the appearance of a
snowy white streaky deposit on the sides of the vessel. Rejoice, then,
for you have successfully accomplished the regimen of Jupiter. What you
must be particularly careful about in this operation, is to prevent the
young ones of the Crow from going back to the nest when they have once
left it; secondly, to let your earth get neither too dry by an
immoderate sublimation of the moisture, nor yet to swamp and smother it
with the moisture. These ends will be attained by the proper regulation
of the outward heat.
CHAPTER XXVII
Of the Regimen of the Moon
When the Reign of Jupiter comes to an end (towards the close of
the fourth month) you will see the sign of the waxing moon (Crescent),
and know that the whole Reign of Jupiter was devoted to the purification
of the Laton. The mundifying spirit is very pure and brilliant, but the
body that has to be cleansed is intensely black. While it passes from
blackness to whiteness, a great variety of colours are observed; nor is
it at once perfectly white; at first it is simply white -- afterwards it
is of a dazzling, snowy splendour. Under this Reign the whole mass
presents the appearance of liquid quicksilver. This is called the
sealing of the mother in the belly of the infant whom she bears; and its
intermediate colours are more white than black, just as in the Reign of
Jupiter they were more black than white. The Reign of the Moon lasts
just three weeks; but before its close, the substance exhibits a great
variety of forms; it will become liquid, and again coagulate a hundred
times a day; sometimes it will present the appearance of fishes' eyes,
and then again of tiny silver trees, with twigs and leaves. Whenever you
look at it you will have cause for astonishment, particularly when you
see it all divided into beautiful but very minute grains of silver, like
the rays of the Sun. This is the White Tincture, glorious to behold, but
nothing in respect of what it may become.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Of the Regimen of Venus
The substance, if left in the same vessel, will once more become
volatile and (though already perfect in its way) will undergo another
change. But if you take it out of the vessel, and after allowing it to
cool, put it into another, you will not be able to make anything of it.
In this Reign you should also give careful attention to your fire. For
the perfect Stone is fusible and if the fire be too powerful the
substance will become glazed, and unsusceptible of any further change.
This "vitrification" of the substance may happen at any time from the
middle of the Reign of the Moon to the tenth day of the Reign of Venus,
and should be carefully guarded against. The heat should be gentle so as
to melt the compound very slowly and gradually; it will then raise
bubbles, and receive a spirit that will rise upward, carrying the Stone
with it, and imparting to it new colours, especially a copper-green
colour, which endures for some time, and does not quite disappear till
the twentieth day; the next change is to blue and livid, and at the
close of this Reign the colour is a pale purple. DO not irritate the
spirit too much -- it is more corporeal than before, and if you sublime
it to the top of the vessel, it will hardly return. The same caution
should be observed in the Reign of the Moon, when the substance begins
to thicken. The law is one of mildness, and not of violence, lest
everything should rise to the top of the vessel, and be consumed or
vitrified to the ruin of the whole work. When you see the green colour,
know that the substance now contains the germ of its highest life. DO
not turn the greenness into blackness by immoderate heat. This Reign is
maintained for forty days.
CHAPTER XXIX
Of the Regimen of Mars
When the Regimen of Venus is over, and therein has appeared the
philosophical tree, with all its branches and leaves, the Reign of Mars
begins with a light yellow, or dirty brown colour, but at last exhibits
the transitory hues of the Rainbow, and the Peacock's Tail. At this
stage the compound is drier, and often shews like a hyacinth with a
tinge of gold. The mother being now sealed in her infant's belly, swells
and is purified, but because of the present great purity of the
compound, no putridness can have place in this regimen, but Some obscure
colours are chief actors, while some middle colours come and go, and
they are pleasant to look on. Our Virgin Earth is now undergoing the
last degree of its cultivation, and is getting ready to receive and
mature the fruit of the Sun. Hence you should Weep up a moderate
temperature; then there will be seen, about the thirtieth day of this
Reign, an orange colour, which, within two weeks from its first
appearance, will tinge the whole substance with its own hue.
CHAPTER XXX
Of the Regimen of the Sun
As you are now approaching the end of the work, the substance
receives a golden tinge, and the Virgin's Milk which you give your
substance to drink has assumed a deep orange colour. Pray to God to keep
you from haste and impatience at this stage of the work; consider that
you have now waited for seven months, and that it would be foolish to
let one hour rob you of the fruits of all your labour. Therefore be more
and more careful the nearer you approach perfection. Then you will first
observe an orange-coloured sweat breaking out on the body; next there
will be vapour of an orange hue. Soon the body below becomes tinged with
violet and a darkish purple. At the end of fourteen or fifteen days, the
substance will be, for the most part, humid and ponderous, and yet the
wind still bears it in its womb. Towards the 26th day of the Reign it
will begin to get dry, and to become liquid and solid in turn (about a
hundred times a day); then it becomes granulated; then again it is
welded together into one mass, and so it goes on changing for about a
fortnight At length, however, an unexpectedly glorious light will burst
from your substance, and the end will arrive three days afterwards. The
substance will be granulated, like atoms of gold (or motes in the Sun),
and turn a deep red -a red the intensity of which makes it seem black
like very pure blood in a clotted state. This is the Great Wonder of
Wonders, which has not its like on earth.
CHAPTER XXXI
Of the Fermentation of the Stone
I forgot to warn you in the last chapter to be on your guard
against the danger of vitrification; too fierce a fire would render your
substance insoluble and prevent its granulation. You now possess the
incombustible red Sulphur which can no longer be affected in any way by
fire. In order to obtain the Elixir from this Sulphur by reiterate
solution and coagulation, take three parts of purest gold, and one part
of this fiery Sulphur. Melt the gold in a clean crucible, and then cast
your Sulphur into it (protecting it well from the smoke of the coals)
Make them liquid together, when you will obtain a beautiful mass of a
deep red, though hardly transparent. This you should permit to cool, and
pound into a small powder. Of this powder take one part, and two parts
of our Mercury; mix them well, and put them in a glass vessel, well
sealed. They should be exposed to gentle heat for two months. This is
the true fermentation, which may be repeated if needful.
CHAPTER XXXII
The Imbibition of the Stone
Many authors take fermentation in this work for the invisible
external agent, which they call ferment; by its virtue the fugitive and
subtle spirits, without laying on of hands, are of their own accord
thickened, and our before-mentioned fermentation they call cibation with
bread and milk. But I follow my own judgment There is another operation,
called Imbibition of the Stone, by which its quantity rather than its
quality is increased. It is this: Add to three parts of your perfect
Sulphur (either white or red) one part of water, and after six or seven
days' coction the water will become thick like the Sulphur Add again as
much water as you did before; and when this is dried up, with a
convenient fire, add three distinct times so much water as shall be
equal to one-third of the original quantity of Sulphur. Then add (for
the 7th imbibition) five parts of water (the parts being equal to the
original parts of the Sulphur). Seal up the vessel; subject it to gentle
coction, and let the compound pass through all the different Reigns of
the original Substance, which will be accomplished in a month. Then you
have the true Stone of the third order, one part of which will perfectly
tinge 1,000 parts of any other metal.
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Multiplication of the Stone
Take the perfect Stone; add one part of it to three or four parts
of purified Mercury of our first work, subject it to gentle coction for
seven days (the vessel being carefully sealed up), and let it pass
through all the Reigns, which it will do very quickly and smoothly. The
tinging power of the substance will thus be exalted a thousandfold; and
if you go through the whole process a second time (which you can do with
ease in three days) the Medicine will be much more precious still. This
you may repeat as often as you like; the third time the substance will
run through all the Reigns in a day, the fourth time in a single hour,
and so on -- and the improvement in its quality will be most marvellous.
Then kneel down and render thanks to God for this precious treasure.
CHAPTER XXXIV
Of Projection
Take four parts of your perfect Stone, either red or white (of
both for the Medicine): melt them in a clean crucible. Take one part of
this pulverisable mixture to ten parts of purified Mercury; heat the
Mercury till it begins to crackle, then throw in your mixture, which
will pierce it in the twinkling of an eye; increase your fire till it be
melted, and you will have a Medicine of an inferior order. Take one part
of this, and add it to a large quantity of well purged and melted metal,
which will thereby be transmuted into the purest silver or gold
(according as you have taken white or red Sulphur). Note that it is
better to use a gradual projection, for otherwise there may be a notable
loss of the Medicine. The better the metals are purged and refined, the
quicker and more complete will the transmutation be.
CHAPTER XXXV
Of the Manifold uses of this Art
He that has once found this Art, can have nothing else in all the
world to wish for, than that he may be allowed to serve his God in peace
and safety. He will not care for pomp or dazzling outward show. But if
he lived a thousand years, and daily entertained a million people, he
could never come to want, since he has at hand the means of indefinitely
multiplying the Stone both in weight and virtue, and thus of changing
all imperfect metals in the world into gold. In the second place, he has
it in his power to make stones and diamonds far more precious than any
that are naturally procured. In the third place, he has an Universal
Medicine, with which he can cure every conceivable disease, and, indeed,
as to the quantity of his Medicine, he might heal all sick people in the
world. Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, and sole Almighty, be
everlasting praise for these His unspeakable gifts and invaluable
treasures. I exhort all that possess this Treasure, to use it to the
praise of God, and the good of their neighbours, in order that they may
not at the last day be eternally doomed for their ingratitude to their
Creator.
To God Alone be the Glory
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