This key work of Eirenaeus Philalethes was first published as
Introitus apertus ad occlusum regis palatium, Amsterdam, 1667
and a few years later issued in an English edition Secrets
reveal'd: or, an open entrance to the shut-palace of the king,
London 1669. It was included in Cardilucius, Magnalia
medico-chymica, Nurnberg, 1676, in the Musaeum hermeticum
reformatum et amplificatum, Frankfurt, 1678, and in Manget's
compendium Bibliotheca chemica curiosa, 1702.
[Transcribed by Jerry Bujas.]
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.
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.
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 variously 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.
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.
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.
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!
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 stiffly 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 precio us 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 contemptuously 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
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.
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.
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.
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-breadth, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 colo ur. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
END
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