Anon. ~ Tractatus de Lapide
Anon. ~ Arcana Divina
P. Bonus ~ The New Pearl of Great Price
Cyliani ~ Hermes Unveiled
Fulcanelli ~ The Dwellings of the Philosophers
Geber ~ The Sum of Perfection
J. Grashof ~ The Greater & Lesser Edifyer
L. Grassot ~ The Light Out of Chaos
R. Ingalese ~ They Made the Philosophers' Stone
J. Juran ~ Hyle & Coahyl
H. Lintaut ~ Friend of the Dawn
T. Paracelsus ~ The Tincture of the Philosophers
T. Paracelsus ~ Concerning the Spirits of the Planets
T. Paracelsus ~ The Fifth Book of Archidoxies
E. Philalethes ~ An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
E. Philalethes ~ Ripley Revived
M. Sendivogius ~ Epistles to the Rosicrucian Society
J. I. Hollandus ~ Opuscula Alchymica
This anthology of excerpts from the literature of Alchemy intends to illustrate certain aspects of the Great Work: the correct use of the Philosophers’ Stone, the Short or Dry Path, and the Prima Materia. This book will guide you directly to the gate of the Philosophers' Garden and provide you with its key and password. Pray God to allow you entry, grace your labor, and forgive us our trespasses.
Do not imagine, however, that you can complete the Great Work with the information in this book, which purports to reveal only the first step of the reaction pathway. Such an ignorant presumption could easily result in your premature death, rather than enhanced health, longevity, and wealth. Read every alchemical text you can find, and learn inorganic chemistry at least. If you are chosen to achieve this Magistery, it will be revealed to you in due time, and not one second earlier. Nor will you complete the work any sooner than God allows you, even if you practice the Ars Brevis. Festina lente. Indeed, it really should not matter to you whether or not the Philosophers Stone is a physical possibility, or that you attain it; "The true Philosophers' Stone is to have means and waste not". It is also simply the Lost Word, ÆTZI.
Alchemy is not to confused with chemistry, archemy, or spagyry. Adeptus Fulcanelli makes the distinctions clear in The Dwellings of the Philosophers:
"Let us clearly state, since so many educated and sincere people seem unaware of the fact, that the real ancestor of our modern chemistry is ancient spagyrics and not the hermetic science itself. There is indeed a profound abyss between spagyrics and alchemy...Hermetic writings alone, misunderstood by profane investigators, were the indirect cause of discoveries which the authors had never anticipated...With their confused texts, sprinkled with cabalistic expressions, the books remain the efficient and genuine cause of the gross mistake that we indicate. For, in spite of the warnings, the objurations of their authors, students persisted in reading them according to the meaning that they hold in ordinary language. They do not know that these texts are reserved for initiates, and that is essential, in order to understand them, to be in possession of their secret key...It is essential first to understand what the Ancients meant by the generic and rather vague term of spirits...For the alchemists, the spirits are real influences, although they are physically almost immaterial or imponderable. They act in a mysterious, inexplicable, unknowable but efficacious manner on substances submitted to their action and prepared to receive them. Lunar radiation is one of these hermetic spirits. As for archemists, their conception proves to be of a more concrete and substantial nature. Our old chemists embraced all bodies under the same heading, simple or complex, solid or liquid, having a volatile quality liable to make them entirely sublimable. Metals, metalloids, salts, hydrogen carbides, etc., bring to archemists their contingency of spirits: mercury, arsenic, antimony and some of their compounds: sulphur, sal ammoniac, alcohol, ether, vegetable essences, etc.".
As concerns "Lunar radiation", it may be noteworthy that 17% of moonlight is stimulated emission. Magnetism and intent also are effective upon chemical reactions. The effect of intent is seen in the Hado Effect”, discovered by Dr. Masaru Emoto, whereby the geometry of frozen water is modified by thoughts. The work of Charles Littlefield also demonstrates this effect. Other useful energetic effects can be achieved with a Spectral Catalyst (US Patent # 6,033,531) which "duplicates the electromagnetic energy spectral pattern of a physical catalyst and when applied to a reaction system transfers a quanta of energy in the form of electromagnetic energy to control and/or promote the reaction system…”
Several credible historical accounts describe phenomenal healings, rejuvenations, and longevity attributed to the Elixir of the Sages. As the following adepts attest, the blessed Stone has many wonderful powers:
Anonymous ~ The Secret Fire of the Philosophers
Yet my dear friend, the things which I have said, do greatly conduce to your desired end, for whosoever is well furnished in other things, and hitherto instructed, is well adapted for the finding out of this secret fire, which he will probably obtain, if only he continues his inquisition, and God Vouchsafe to bless him...
It is worthy to be noted that sentence of a Chief Father of the Church: God, in Mercy, denies many things which he grants in his Anger; for very many gifts of God, are made rather punishments than benefits...
Anonymous ~ Tractatus de Lapide
In the use of this Medicine, many great Philosophers themselves, after they obtained this wonderful blessing, desiring to have perfect Health, have been so bold as to take a certain quantity of it, some no more than a quarter of a grain, some less, some more, but all that did so with it, instead of Health, took Death itself; for there is no small skill to it for Medicine, though every fool think if he had it, he could cure all diseases, and himself too, and set the Elements at unity, which few men have known, neither is there but one way to it with safety; if this be not known, more hurt than good may be received by it. For the method of Health, it is thus: Take the quantity of four grains, I do not mean the grains of Wheat, or Barley grains or corns, but four grains of Gold weight, and dissolve them in a pint of white or Rhenish wine, but in no hot wine, as Sack, &c. put it into a great clean Glass, and instantly it will colour all the Wine almost as red as it self was, which is the highest red in the World: let it stand so, close covered from dust, four days, for in respect it is an Oylie substance, it will not presently dissolve in Wine; then add to this pint more by degrees, until it be not so red, stirring it with a clean stick of wood, not of metal, nor Glass, and so continue the pouring on of fresh Wine, until it be just of the colour of gold, which is a shining yellow. Beware that there be no redness in it; for so long as there is any redness in it, it is not sufficiently dilated, but will fire the Body, and exhaust the Spirits: neither is it sufficiently brought to yellow, until the Wine have round about the sides a ring like Hair, of a whitish film, which will shew itself plain when it is well dissolved, if it stand but four hours quiet. As soon as you see this whitish film, then let it run through a clean linen Cloth, or Paper, so the white film will stay behind and look like a pearl on the paper: and all the rest will be yellow like Gold. This is the token of truth, that you cannot wrong yourself by this Liquor; and without this token, it will be either too weak, or so strong that it will fire the Body. Know this to be a rare Secret. Of this Golden Water, let the party (of what disease soever he be sick of) take each morning a good large spoonful, and it shall expel the disease whatsoever it be, by a gentle sweat; for it purgeth not, nor vomiteth, nor sweateth so much as to make faint, but to corroborate: I say, it strengthens the party; and if the disease be of many years continuance, or a Chronical disease, it will then be perhaps twelve days, otherwise but twenty four hours, or two or three days at most. Thus it must be used for all diseases internal: But for all external diseases, as Ulcers, Scabs, Botches, Scores, Fistulas, Noli me tangere's, &c, the place must be anointed with the Oyl of the Stone it self, not dilated in wine; and after this manner it must be done nine or ten days, and be it whatsoever it will, it will cure all outward and inward diseases. And more than this, whosoever carries this Stone about him, no evil Spirit can or will stay in the place; nay bringing or giving it to a party possessed, it drives away and expels the evil Spirits: for it is a Quintessence, and there is no corruptible thing in it; and where the Elements are not corrupt, no Devil can stay or abide, for he is the corruption of the Elements. This Medicine taken nine days as aforesaid, and the Temples of the Head anointed with the Oyl of the Stone each day in the Morning, it will make a man as light as if he could fly, and his Body so aerial it is not to be credited, but by him who hath experienced it. These most admirable qualities it hath, perfect health it giveth, till God calls for the Soul; and perfect knowledge it giveth (if the truth be known:) but even this part hath been known but to a few that have made it, for it is a Divine, and as it were an Angelical Medicine. The white is not to be used for any disease but Madness, in the same proportion, and way or preparation that the red Stone was...
For this reason we report to you and tell you that it should be understood from the beginning, under circumstances where you will be considered an expert in this matter, that even a learned philosopher or practitioner on the subject of fire, will find that working with a combustible material is quite dangerous and, even more, during the preparation of such materials in the natural course of events of things, the danger is added to and even compounded. It could be demonstrated to you just where we might want to discontinue such precautions in an effort to save time; such error will now be pointed out to you as inadvisable.
Petrus Bonus ~ The New Pearl of Great Price
Concerning the Ferment --- But how are we to understand Plato’s remark that he who has once performed this work need not repeat it, as his fortune is made forever? The words do not means that he who has once prepared the Tincture can multiply its quantity indefinitely, just as he who has once struck a fire out of a stone can always keep himself provided with fire simply by adding fuel to it. The authority of Plato is supported by that of Rhasis, who speaks in a similar fashion. They should be interpreted, however, not according to the letter, but according to the spirit. He who has once succeeded in preparing this Medicine need not any more go through the experience of his failures and mistakes: he now knows how to perform all the processes of our Magistery properly, and, therefore, if ever he should need a fresh supply of the Medicine, he will be able to provide himself with it without much trouble.
Heaven having granted me success in making the Philosophers' Stone, after having spent 37 years seeking it, stayed awake at least fifteen hundred nights without sleep, suffering innumerable miseries and irreparable losses. I have decided to offer to youth, the hope of the future, the heart-rending picture of my life. This may serve both as a lesson and at the same time help the young turn away from an art that at first sight may offer the most delightful white and red roses that, however, are surrounded by thorns and of which the path that leads to the place where one can pick them is full of pitfalls.
The universal medicine being a far greater blessing than the gift of riches, to know it naturally attracts studious men who believe themselves to be happier than the multitudes. This reason has influenced me to transmit to posterity the processes to be undergone in the greatest details, without leaving out anything at all, in order to let it be known and to prevent the ruin of honest people and to render a service to suffering humanity...
Be very careful that it does not happen to you, as it did to me, to be wounded. As a result of these varied labors I find myself with the most essential organ of life affected, by which means that I shall be denied, considering the seriousness of the illness, enjoying a long life, the virtue of the medicine not being surgical, but only medicinal.
Fulcanelli ~ The Dwellings of the Philosophers
The Salamander of Lisieux (III) --- First, let us say that, according to the scared language, the term philosopher’s stone, means the stone which bears the sign of the sun. The solar sign is characterized by its red coloration, which can vary in intensity, as Basil Valentine (1) says, “Its color ranges from rosy red to crimson red, or from ruby to pomegranate red; as for its weight, it weighs much more than it has quantity”. So much for color and density. The Cosmopolite (2), whom Louis Figuier believes to be the alchemist known under the name of Seton, and others under the name of Michael Sendivogius, describes in this passage its translucent appearance, its crystalline form, and its fusibility: “If one were to find”, he said, “our subject in its last state of perfection, made and composed by nature; if it were fusible, like wax or butter, and its redness, its diaphanous nature or clarity appeared on the outside; it would be in truth our blessed stone” Its fusibility is such, indeed, that all authors have compared it to that of wax (64 C); it melts in the flame of a candle”, they repeat; some, for this reason, have even given it in the name of great red wax (3). With these physical characteristics the stone combines some powerful chemical properties --- the power of penetration or ingress, absolute fixity, inability to be oxidized, which makes it incalcinable, and extreme resistance to fire; finally, is irreducibility and its perfect indifference to chemical reagents. We hear the same from Heinrich Khunrath when he writes in his Ampitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, “At last, when the Work will have passed from ashy color to pure white, then to yellow, you will see the philosophers stone, our King raised above the dominators, come out of his glassy sepulcher, arise from his bed and come onto our worldly scene in is glorified body, that is to say, regenerated and more than perfect; in other words, the brilliant carbuncle of a greatly shining splendor, whose parts, very subtle and very purified by the peaceful and harmonious union of the blend are inseparably bound and assembled into one; constant and diaphanous as crystal, compact and ponderous, easily fusible in fire like resin, flowing as wax, and more flowing than quicksilver yet without fumes; piercing and penetrating solid and compact bodies, as oil penetrates paper; soluble and dilatable in any liquid capable of softening it; brittle as glass; taking on a saffron color when it is reduced to powder, yet red as ruby when it remains in one unadulterated mass (this color is the signature of perfect fixation and of fixed perfection); coloring and dyeing constantly; fixed in the tribulations of all experiences, even when tried by devouring sulphur and fiery waters and by the very strong persecution of fire; always durable, incalcinable, and like the Salamander, permanent and justly judging all things (because it is in its own way all in everything), and proclaiming: ‘Behold, I shall renew all things’”.
Around 1585, the English, the English adventurer Edward Kelley, surnamed Talbot, had acquired, from an innkeeper, the philosophers’ stone found in the tomb of a bishop who was said to have been very rich; it was red and very heavy, but without any odor. Meanwhile, Berigard of Pisa says that a skillful man gave him a gros (3.82 grams) of a powder whose color was similar to that of the red poppy and which had the odor of calcined sea salt (4).
Helvetius (Jean-Frederic
Schweitzer) saw the stone, shown to him by a foreigner, an Adept, on December
27, 1666, in the form of a metal powder the color of sulphur. This powdered
product came, says Khunrath, from a red mass. In a transmutation performed
by Seton in July 1602, in front of Dr Jacob Zwinger, the powder used was,
according to Dienheim, “rather heavy, and of a color appearing lemon yellow”.
A year later, during a second projection at the house of a goldsmith, Hans
de Kempen in Cologne, August 11, 1603, the same artist used a red stone.
According to several trustworthy
witnesses, this stone, directly obtained in powder form, could take on
a color as bright as that of a stone formed in a compact mass. This instance
is rather rare, but it can happen and is worth mentioning. In this way,
an Italian Adept, who, in 1658, realized the transmutation in front of
the Protestant minister, Gros, at the house of a goldsmith (named Bureau)
from Geneva, used, according to those who were in attendance, a red powder.
Schmeider described the stone that Boetticher obtained from Lascaris as
a substance having the appearance of a fire-red colored glass. Yet, Lascaris
had given Dominico Manuel (Gaetano) a powder similar to vermilion, the
color of cinnabar. That of Gustenhover was also very red. As for the sample
given by Lascaris to Dierback, it was examined under Counselor Dippel’s
microscope and appeared composed of a multitude of small grains or crystals
which were red or orange; this stone had a power equal to about 600 times
the unit.
Jean-Baptiste Helmont, relating his experience in 1618 in his laboratory at Vilvorde near Brussels, writes, “I have seen and touched the philosophers’ stone more than once; its color is like powdered saffron, but heavy and shining like pulverized glass”. This product, of which one fourth of a grain (13.25 milligrams) furnished eight ounces of gold (244.72 grams), showed a considerable energy: approximately 18,470 times the unit..
In the category of tinctures, i.e., liquids obtained by solutions oily metallic extracts, we have the account of Godwin Herman Braun from Osnabrueck who achieved the transmutation in 1701, using a tincture having the appearance of an oil, “rather fluid and of a brown color”. The famous chemist Henckel (5), according to Valentini, reports the following anecdote: “One day a stranger, who had a brown tincture with a smell close to hartshorn oil (6), came to a famous apothecary of Frankfort-on-Main, named Salwedel; with our drops of this tincture he changed a gros of lead into 7-1/2 grains of gold of 23 carats. This same man gave a few drops of this tincture to the apothecary who lodged him and who then produced identical gold which he saved in memory of that man, with the small bottle in which it was contained and where the marks of the tincture can still be seen. I had this bottle in my hands, and I can testify about it to the world”.
Without disputng the truth of the last two statements, we nevertheless refuse to categorize these as transmutations brought about by the philosophers’ stone in its special state of powder of projection. All the tinctures meet this criterion. Their subjection to a particular metal, their limited potency, the specific characteristics they exhibit, lead us to regard them as simple metallic products, extracted from common metals by certain procedures called little particulars, which pertain to spagyry rather than to alchemy. Furthermore, these tinctures, being metallic, have no other action but to penetrate the metals which have been used as a basis for their penetration.
Let us leave aside these processes and tinctures. Above all, it is important to remember that the philosopher's stone appears in the shape of a crystalline, diaphanous body, red in mass, yellow after pulverization, dense and very fusible, although fixed at any temperature, and which its inner qualities render incisive, fiery, penetrating, irreducible and incalcinable. In addition, it is soluble in molten glass, but instantaneously volatilizes when it is projected onto molten metal. Here, in one single object, are gathered physiochemical properties which singularly separates it from a possible metallic nature and render its origin rather nebulous. A little reflection will get us out of our difficulty. The masters of the art teach us that the goal of their labors is triple. What they seek to realize first is the universal Medicine or the actual philosopher's stone. Obtained in a saline form, whether multiplied or not, it can only be used for the healing of human illnesses, preservation of health, and growth of pants. Soluble in any alcoholic liquid, its solution takes the name of Aurum Potabile (potable gold, although it does not contain the least atom of gold) because it assumes a magnificent yellow color. Its healing value and the diversity of its use in therapeutics makes it a precious auxiliary in the treatment of grave and incurable ailments. It has no action on metals, except on gold and silver, on which it fixes itself and to which it bestows its own properties, which, consequently, becomes of no use for transmutation. However, if the maximum number of its multiplication is exceeded, it changes form and instead of resuming its solid crystalline state when cooling down, it remains fluid like quicksilver and definitely not coagulable. It then shines in the darkness, with a soft, red, phosphorescent light, of a weaker brightness than that of a common night light. The universal Medicine has become the inextinguishable Light; the light giving product of those perpetual lamps, which certain authors have mentioned as having been found in some ancient sepulchers. Thus radiant and liquid, the philosopher's stone is not likely, in our opinion, to be pushed farther; desiring to amplify its igneous nature would seem dangerous to us; the least that could be feared would be to volatilize it and to lose the benefit of a considerable labor. Finally, if we ferment the solid, universal Medicine with very pure gold or silver, through direct fusion, we obtain the Powder of Projection, the third form of the stone. It is a translucent mass, red or white according to the chosen metal, pulverizable, and appropriate only to metallic transmutation. Oriented, determined, and specific to the mineral kingdom, it is useless and without action in the two other kingdoms.
It becomes clearly evident from the preceding considerations, that the philosophers’ stone or universal Medicine, in spite of its undeniable metallic origin, is not uniquely made from metallic matter. If it were otherwise, and if one had to compose it only with metals, it would remain subjected to the conditions ruling mineral nature and it would have no need to be fermented to operate transmutation. Furthermore, the fundamental axiom which teaches that bodies have no action on bodies would be false and paradoxical. Take the time and the trouble to experiment, and you will recognize that metals have no action on other metals. Be they brought to the state of salts or ashes, glasses or colloids, they will always retain their nature throughout trials and, in the process o reduction, they will separate without losing their specific qualities.
Only the metallic spirits possess the privilege to alter, modify and denature metallic bodies. They are the true instigators of all the physical metamorphoses that can be observed here. But since these tenuous, extremely subtle and volatile spirits need a vehicle, an envelope capable of holding them back; since this mater must be very pure --- to allow the spirit to remain there --- and very fixed so as to prevent its volatilization; since it must remain fusible in order to promote ingress; since it is essential that it be absolutely resistant to reducing agents, we may easily understand that this matter cannot be searched for in the sole category of metals. That is why Basil Valentine recommends that we take the spirit out of the metallic root and Bernard of Trevisan forbids the use of metals, minerals and their salts in the construction of the body. The reason for it is simple and self-explanatory. If the stone were made up of a metallic body and a spirit fixed in this body, the later acting on the former as if it were of the same species, the whole would take the characteristics form of metal. We could, in this case, obtain gold or silver or even an unknown metal but nothing more. This is what alchemists have always done, because they did not know the universality and the nature of the agent which they were looking for. But what we ask for, along with all the philosophers, is not the union of a metallic body with a metallic spirit, but rather the condensation, the agglomeration of this spirit into a coherent, tenacious and refractory envelope, capable of coating it, impregnating all its parts and quaranteeing it an efficacious protection. This soul, spirit, or fire assembled, concentrated and coagulated in the purest, the most resistant and the most perfect of earthly matters, we call it our stone. And we can certify that any undertaking which does not have this spirit for guide and this matter for basis will never lead to the proposed objective.
The Castle of Dampierre (V) --- It is a double fruit for it is picked from the Tree of Life when specially reserved for therapeutic uses, and from the Tree of Knowledge if the preferred use is metallic transmutation. These two properties correspond to two states of the same product, the first characterizing the red stone, translucent and diaphanous, destined for medicine as potable gold, and the second, the yellow stone, whose metallic orientation and fermentation by means of natural gold have rendered it opaque....
According to the artisan's skill, care, and prudence, the philosophical fruit of the tree of knowledge shows a more or less important virtue. For it is undeniable that the philosopher's stone used for the transmutation of metals is never endowed with the same power. Historical projections provide us with certain evidence of it. In the operation performed by J. B. van Helmont in his laboratory at Vilvorde near Brussels in 1618, the stone transformed into gold 18,740 times its weight in flowing mercury. Richtausen, with the help of a product given by Labujardiere, obtained a result equivalent to 22,334 times per unit. The projection achieved by Seton in 1603 at the house of the merchant Coch of Frankfurt-am-Main was acted on a proportion equal to 1,155 times. In Dippel's report, the powder Lascaris gave to Dierbach transmuted approximately 600 times its weight of quicksilver. However, another piece given by Lascaris displayed more efficiency; in the operation performed at Vienna in 1716 in the presence of Counselor Pantzer von Hesse, Count Charles-Ernest von Rappach, Count Joseph von Wurben and Freudenthal, the brothers Count and Baron von Metternich, the ratio reached a power in the vicinity of ten thousand. Furthermore, it is not useless to know that the maximum production is achieved by the use of mercury, and that the same quality of stone gives variable results depending upon the nature of the metals used as the basis for the projection. The author of Letters of the Cosmopolite affirms that if one part of Elixir converts into perfect gold a thousand parts of common mercury, it will only transform twenty parts of lead, thirty of tin, fifty of copper and one hundred of silver. As for the white stone, it will, in the same degree of manipulation, only act on approximately half of these quantities.
But while the philosophers spoke little of the variable yield of the chrysopeus, on the other hand they displayed more prolixity toward the medicinal properties of the Elixir, as well as on the surprising effects that it enables one to obtain in the plant kingdom.
"The white Elixir," says Batsdorff, "performs marvels on illnesses of all animals and especially on those women suffer from... for it is the true potable moon of the Ancients". The anonymous author of The Key to the Great Work, mentioning Batsdorff's text once more, asserts that "this medicine possesses other even more incredible virtues. When it is at the white stage of the Elixir, it has so much sympathy with women that it can renew their bodies and render them as robust and vigorous as they were in their youth... For this effect, a bath is first prepared with several fragrant herbs with which they should scrub themselves clean; then they go into a second bath without herbs, but in which 3 grains of the white elixir were dissolved in a pint of wine spirit and then poured into the water. They remain in this bath for a quarter of an hour; after which, without drying themselves, a great fire is to be prepared to dry this precious liquor. The ladies then feel so strong within themselves, and their body is rendered so white that they could not imagine it without having experienced it. Our good father Hermes agrees with this operation, but, besides these baths, desires that, at the same time and for seven consecutive days, this Elixir be taken internally; and he adds, if a lady does the same thing every year, she will live exempt from all diseases to which other ladies are subject without experiencing any discomfort."
Huginus á Barma certifies that "the stone fermented with gold can be used in medicine in this medicine in this manner: one scruple or twenty-four grains are to be taken, dissolved according to the art in two ounces of spirit of wine, and two to three and up to four drops will be prescribed depending on the illness' requirements, in a little wine or in some other suitable vehicle". According to the ancient authors, all ailments are radically healed on one day that lasted for a month; in twelve days if they are a year old; in a month if they appeared more than a year ago.
But for this, as for many other things, we must know how to guard ourselves against excess imagination; the too enthusiastic author of The Key to the Great Work sees marvels even in the spirituous dissolution of the stone: "Burning golden sparks," claims the writer, "must come out of it and an infinity of colors must appear in the vase". It is going a little too far in the description of phenomena which no philosopher points out. Furthermore, he does not acknowledge any limits to the virtues of the Elixir: "Leprosy, gout, paralysis, kidney stone, epilepsy, dropsy... could not resist the virtue of this medicine." And as the healing of these reputedly incurable diseases doesn't seem sufficient to him, he eagerly adds to the list even more admirable properties. "This medicine causes the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the mute to speak, the lame to walk; it can totally renew a man by causing his skin to change, his teeth, fingernails and white hair to fall out, in stead of which new ones will grow, in the color desired". We are now drifting into humor and buffoonery.
Going by what the majority of sages say, the stone can give excellent results in the plant kingdom, particularly in what concerns fruit trees. In the spring, if we pour a solution of the Elixir highly diluted with rain water on the soil close to their roots, they can be made resistant to all causes of decay and barrenness. They produce even more and bear healthy and delicious fruits. Batsdorff goes so far as to say that it could be possible, using this process, to cultivate exotic vegetables in our latitude. "Delicate plants," he writes, "which have difficulty growing in climates of an opposite temperament to that which is natural to them, by being watered with it, becomes as vigorous as if they were in their native soil proper and set by nature."
When taking exaggeration and legendary additions into account, it remains true nevertheless that the hermetic fruit carries in itself the highest gift which God, through nature, can give to men of good will on earth...
The Castle of Dampierre (IX) --- Unlimited for the speculative philosophers, the multiplication however is limited for practical considerations. The more the stone progresses the more penetrating it becomes and the quicker its elaboration; at each stage of augmentation, it only requires the eighth of the time required for the preceding operation. Generally --- and we are speaking here about the long way --- the fourth reiteration requires seldom more than two hours; the fifth thus takes a minute and a half, while twelve seconds would suffice to achieve the sixth; the instantaneousness of such an operation would make it unpractical. On the other hand, the intervention of the continuously increasing weight and volume would force us to keep aside a great part of the resulting product, for want of the required corresponding ratio of mercury, the preparation of which is time-consuming and fastidious. Finally, the stone multiplied to the fifth and sixth degrees would demand, given its igneous power, an important mass of pure gold to orient it toward the metallic --- otherwise we would be liable to lose the whole thing. From any standpoint, it is preferable to not push the subtlety too far of an agent already gifted with such a considerable energy, unless, leaving aside the scope of metallic and medical possibilities, you want to possess this Universal Mercury, shiny and luminous in darkness, in order to make a perpetual lamp. But the passing from the solid to the liquid state which must be accomplished here, as it is eminently dangerous, can only be attempted by a very learned and most skillful master...
Like those of Dampierre, the panel with the three trees sculpted in the palace at Bourges bears a motto. On the border of the frame decorated with flower-bearing branches, the attentive observer indeed discovers isolated letters, very cleverly concealed. Their connection composes one of the favorite maxims of the great artist that Jacques Couer was: .DE.MA.JOIE.DIRE.FAIRE.TAIRE. (About my joy, say it, do it, be silent). Now the Adept’s joy resides in his occupation. The work which renders this marvel of nature more tangible and more familiar to him --- which so many ignorant people call chimera --- constitute his best distraction and its most noble experiment. In Greek the word chara, joy, derived from chairo, to rejoice, to delight in, to enjoy, also means to love. The famous philosopher, than clearly alludes to the labor of the Work, his dearest task, of which moreover so may symbols have come to enhance the glamour of his sumptuous house. But what to say, what to admit of this unique joy, of this pure and complete satisfaction, the intimate cheerfulness of success? The least possible, if we do not want to break the oath, to attract envy from some, greed from the others, jealousy from all, and risk becoming the prey of the powerful. What to do then with the result about which the artist, according to the rules of our discipline, promises to use in a modest fashion? To always use it for the good, to consecrate its fruit to the exercise of charity, in conformity to the precepts of philosophy and to Christian ethics. Finally what should we keep silent about? Absolutely everything which concerns the alchemical secret and privilege, the disclosure of its process remains forbidden, non-communicable in clear language, only permitted when veiled by parables, allegories, images, or metaphors.
Jacques Couer’s motto, in spite of its conciseness and implications, turns out to be in perfect accord with the traditional teachings of the eternal wisdom. No philosopher, truly worthy of the name, would refuse to subscribe to the rules of conduct which it expresses and which can be translated in this way:
About the Great Work, say little, do much, and always be silent.
The alchemical science is not taught; everyone must learn it by himself, not in a speculative way, but indeed with the help of a persevering work, by multiplying trials and errors, so as to always submit the products of thinking to the control of experience. Whoever fears this manual labor, the heat of the furnaces, the dust of coal, the danger of unknown reactions, and the wakefulness of long vigils, will never know anything…
For the Lord might feel inclined to withhold this Art in punishment of your sophistic work and throw you into a devious error, and from error into lucklessness and everlasting misery. For he is very miserable and luckless whom God does not show the truth after the completion of his work and labor, and he must end his life in sadness.
Johan Grashof ~ The Greater and Lesser Edifyer
Our Art and Science is so divine and supernatural (understand, after the Composition) that it has never been possible to understand through which means it could or might be able to exist, even by those who have been or still are the wisest of the wise, unless they have been previously enlightened by God. For in this point all of our sense and natural reason shatters. However, in order that you may be further introduced to and instructed in this, as I have promised, I will teach you thoroughly and inform you as much as is granted and permitted me now to disclose and reveal. You may then appeal further in accord with my guidance, most diligently to the Almighty and Most High with fervent prayer, for from him come all treasures of wisdom. At that time, without doubt, you will be enlightened... However, such an exalted gift is not given to everyone, and accordingly each man must make his own reckoning and test himself well, before injury overtakes him and harms him: let him heed who can…
Behold, with this you may cure all vegetables, make all unfruitful trees fruitful, and turn winter to summer and summer to winter. That is, in winter you can have all the plants which are otherwise only provided by summer. Indeed, you can make a tree bear five or six times in a year; you can make a good plant from a bad one, a young fresh tree from an old rotten one, a bitter apple sweet, turn pears to cherries, and cherries again to pears, and thus transform all plants and trees into one another.
In the second place, you can turn all imperfect metals into good ones, that is, into gold and silver, and indeed, into so much that you are not able to express the amount. For one part will tincture not merely ten thousand parts, but rather several hundred thousand parts, and this by means of multiplication.
In the third place, you can liberate men from all diseases, turn an old man into a young one, and make a healthy man from a sick one. You can transform the mind and thoughts of men, and make the most pious man from the wickedest knave.
And whatever you might think of all of this, it is not great but rather insignificant in comparison with what follows, for the words of Hermes have not yet been sufficiently explicated.
Listen, for now we will advance to the supernatural. This is the key to open heaven and earth, that you may enter into the highest firmament of heaven, into the center of the earth, and into the depths of the ocean. You can see through every mountain, valley, leaf, grass, animal, man, etc, and in short through everything, as though you were looking through a piece of glass. You can learn the characteristics of everything, you will master heaven and earth, all spirits will be obedient to you, they will have to serve you and do your will. You can also come to know everything, both present and future (as much as God permits), which means that you can create the world and receive the power of the same. However this may seem, it is knowable, for it is magic and supernatural. As I have already said, when you are granted the success of attaining the completion of the natural, then you may go on to experience the supernatural. Thus you now possess what I have taught you, and, considering how poorly you have dealt with it before, guard yourself against this, and be warned.
Louis Grassot ~ The Light Out of Chaos
A Vindication of the Great Work --- The Grand Work of the Sages holds the first rank amongst beautiful things; Nature, without the help of art, is unable to perform it, and art without nature cannot venture to undertake it; it is a masterpiece which borders on the powers of the god; its effects are so miraculous, that the health which it gives and preserves to the people, the perfection which it gives to all things in Nature, and the great wealth it produces in a manner wholly divine, are not to be reckoned to be its highest marvels.
If the great Architect of the Universe has made it the most perfect agent in all nature one may say without fear that it has received the same power from Heaven in regard to mortality; if it purifies the body, it clarifies the spirit; if it develops compound substances to the highest point of perfection, it can elevate our intelligence up to the highest knowledge; it is the Savior of the great world, because it purges all things from their original stains and by its virtue repairs the disorder of their temperament. It subsists in a perfect ternary of three perfect principles, truly distinct, but which together make one and the same nature. It is normally the universal spirit of the world corporified in a virgin earth... One may justly say that it produces marvels in nature introducing into bodies a very great purity and it also does miraculous things in morality, illuminating our spirits with the most powerful lights.
I leave the readers the liberty to supplement these results in any manner they may judge fit and convenient.
The Virtues of the Philosophical Elixir --- It is, according to the sayings of all the philosophers, the source of riches and of good health, because with it one can make gold and silver in abundance and effect a cure not only for all those maladies which are curable but also, by its moderate use they can be prevented. One single grain of this medicine or red elixir, will cure paralysis, dropsy, gout and leprosy, if taken daily during some few days.
Epilepsy, colic, rheumatism, inflammation, frenzy, and all other internal complaints cannot resist this life principle. It is an assured remedy for all affections of the eyes. All aposthumes, ulcers, wounds, cancer, fistulas, noli-me-tangeres, and all diseases of the skin will be cured by dissolving one grain in a glass of wine or water, and bathing the affected part; it will dissolve, little by little, stone in the bladder; is an antidote for all poisons by drinking it as above advised.
Raymond Lully assures us that it is, in general, a sovereign remedy for all the ills which afflict humanity from the feet to the head; if the illness has lasted one month it will cure it in one day; if it has lasted a year, it will cure it in twelve days while in month it will eliminate any disease whatsoever.
Arnold de Villa Nova says that its efficacy is infinitely superior to any and every remedy of Hippocrates, of Galen, of Alexander, of Avicina and of all ordinary medicine; that it rejoices the heart, gives strength and energy, conserves youth and makes old people young again; in general, that it cures all diseases whether hot or cold or humid or dry.
Geber, without making an enumeration of the maladies which it will cure, contents himself by saying that it will overcome all those diseases which are regarded as incurable by the medical faculty; that it rejuvenates the old and preserves health during many years beyond the normal span, simply by taking a piece the size of a mustard seed two or three times a week, fasting.
Philalethes adds to this, that it clears the skin of all blemishes and wrinkles, etc. that it will help a woman in labour, the child being dead, simply by holding the powder to the mother’s nose, and quotes Hermes as his authority; he asserts that he himself has snatched many from the arms of death who had been given up by their doctors, You will find prescriptions for its application in all diseases by consulting the works of Raymond Lully and Arnold de Villa Nova.
Richard Ingalese ~ They Made the Philosophers' Stone
In 1917 we succeeded in making the White Stone of the Philosophers. It looked like soft, white marble, and its effect upon the body was startling. We dared not try it on ourselves at first, but there was a third member of our family, a beautiful Angora cat of which we were very fond... It survived the first dose, and we repeated it on the two following days, with the cat becoming more frisky than usual. After that we tried it ourselves, each taking a dose at the same moment so we would excarnate together if it should prove fatal. But it proved beneficial and energized our bodies.
Shortly after that event, the wife of a prominent local physician died; and the doctor, knowing of our experiments and that the books claimed that such a stone, if used within a reasonable time, would raise the dead, asked us to experiment on the body of his wife. Half an hour had elapsed since her death and her body was growing cold. A dose of the dissolved White Stone was put into the mouth of the corpse without perceptible result. Fifteen minutes afterward a second dose was administered and the heart commenced to pulsate weakly. Fifteen minutes later a third dose was given and soon the woman opened her eyes. In the course of a few weeks, the patient became convalescent, after which she lived seven years.
Take common rainwater, a good amount, at least ten quarts, keep it well sealed in glasses for at least ten days, and it will deposit matter and feces at the bottom. Pour off the clear liquid and put it in a wooden vessel that is made round like a ball, cut it off in the middle and fill the vessel a third full, and set it in the sun at noon in a secret and secluded spot.
When that is done, take a drop of the consecrated red wine [containing the Stone in solution] and let it fall into the water, and you will immediately see a fog and thick darkness on top of the water, such as had also been at the first Creation.
Now pour in two drops and you will see the light coming forth from the darkness. Thereupon, pour in every half of each hour first three, then four, then five, then six drops, and then no more, and you will see with your own eyes one thing after another on top of the water, how God created all things in six days, and how that came to pass, and such secrets as are not to be revealed and which I also do not have the power to reveal. Let your eyes be the judge; for thus the world was created...
By this you will see the secrets of God, which now are hidden from you as from a child. You will understand what Moses wrote about Creation. You will see what kind of body Adam and Eve had before and after the Fall, what the snake was, what the tree, and what kind of fruits they ate, where and what Paradise is, and in what bodies the just will resurrect --- not in this one that we have received from Adam but in that which we receive through the Holy Ghost, namely, such a one as our Savior brought from Heaven...
Still more than that: If you take your Stone at every full moon, when it is above the horizon where you are, and step aside in a garden, and you take a little pure rainwater, as you did in the first operation, and you drop some of the white wine in it, just as you did with the red --- immediately a vapor will rise in a peculiar way toward the circle of the moon. If you do this at every moon in due course, there is no philosopher in the horizon where you are living and who has knowledge of the Stone as well as its use, who does not also go out at the same time, seeking in the East and West, the North and South. When he finds such an appearance (as he will soon see), he will now that this is done by an artist, or someone else, who would like to get acquainted with those who know just this art, and he will answer you in the same manner as you have done. In this way you will recognize those who know the use of the Stone.
To meet your philosophical society, do as follows: Rub your temple with the White Stone at night, and pray earnestly to recognize who he is. Put three freshly picked laurel leaves under your head, and set your imagination on him who you desire to recognize, and go to sleep in this way. When you awaken, you will immediately remember the face of the person, his name and the place where he stays. If you do not wish to go to him, he will come to you; for he will perhaps think that you do not know this secret. The cause of this happening is this: the universal spirit of the Air, which is locked in the Stone, causes it.
In this way, you can get to know all scholars in the world, who will seem to you more like beggars than wise people, and who will perhaps teach you more than I am able to or have done here, for, truly, all things that are natural can thereby be brought about, such things as can hardly be described in a big book.
Henri Lintaut ~ Friend of the Dawn
No one can bring this work to fruition, or harvest who is not established in proper mental and psychic balance within, which is required in order for the astral and mental Guardians of this Great Secret to allow one to proceed with this Great Work. This statement is given only as a warning. One may try, but never succeed, without the proper authorization by Divine sources of inner and outer guidance given to the alchemist. Hundreds of obstacles must be conquered. And one who conquers all of the obstacles of the "Way of the Crucible" is one who has been chosen and approved, for various Divine and karmic reasons, to so achieve. Each one knows only in his inner heart if he or she has been given permission to achieve this Great Work for the benefit of mankind.
Theophrastus Paracelsus ~ The Tincture of the Philosophers
Chapter VI. Concerning the Transmutation of Metals by the Perfection of Medicine --- If the Tincture of the Philosophers is to be used for transmutation, a pound of it must be projected on a thousand pounds of melted Sol. Then, at length, will a Medicine have been prepared for transmuting the leprous moisture of the metals. This work is a wonderful one in the light of Nature, namely, that by the magistery, or the operation of the Spagyrist, a metal, which formerly existed, should perish, and another be produced. This fact has rendered the same Aristotle, with his ill-founded philosophy, fatuous... These things, and more like them, are known to simple men rather than to sophists, namely, those which turn one appearance of a metal into another. And these things, moreover, through the remarkable contempt of the ignorant, and partly, too, on account of the just envy of the artificers, remain almost hidden...
But though the old artists were very desirous of this arcanum, and sought it with the greatest diligence, nevertheless, very few could bring it by means of a perfect preparation to its end. For the transmutation of an inferior metal into a superior one brings with it many difficulties and obstacles, as the change of Jove into Luna, or Venus into Sol. Perhaps on account of their sins God willed that the Magnalia of Nature should be hidden from many men. For sometimes, when this Tincture has been prepared by artists, and they were not able to reduce their projections to work its effects, it happened that, by their carelessness and bad guardianship, this was eaten up by fowls, whose feathers thereupon fell off, and, as I myself have seen, grew again. In this way transmutation, through its abuse from the carelessness of the artists, came into Medicine and Alchemy. For when they were unable to use the Tincture according to their desire, they converted the same to the renovation of men...
Chapter VII. Concerning the Renovation of Men --- Some of the first and primitive philosophers of Egypt have lived by means of this Tincture for a hundred and fifty years. The life of many, too, has been extended and prolonged to several centuries, as is most clearly shown in different histories, though it scarcely seems credible to any one. For its power is so remarkable that it extends the life of the body beyond what is possible to its congenital nature, and keeps it so firmly in that condition that it lives on in safety from all infirmities. And although, indeed, the body at length comes to old age, nevertheless, it still appears as though it were established in its primal youth.
So, then, the Tincture of the Philosophers is a Universal Medicine, and consumes all diseases, by whatsoever name they are called, just like an invisible fire. The dose is very small, but its effect is most powerful. By means thereof, I have cured the leprosy, venereal disease, dropsy, the falling sickness, colic, scab, and similar afflictions; also lupus, cancer, noli me tangere, fistulas, and the whole race of internal diseases, more surely than one could believe...
Now, Sophist, look at Theophrastus Paracelsus. How can your Apollo, Machaon, and Hippocrates stand against me? This is the Catholicum of the Philosophers, by which all these philosophers have attained long life for resisting diseases, and they have attained this end entirely and most effectually, and so, according to their judgment, they named it the Tincture of the Philosophers. For what can there be in the whole range of medicine greater than such purgation of the body, by means whereof all superfluity is radically removed from it and transmuted? For when seed is once made sound all else is perfected. What avails the ill-founded purgation of the sophists since it removes nothing as it ought? This, therefore, is the most excellent foundation of a true physician, the regeneration of the nature, and the restoration of youth. After this, the new essence itself drives out all that is opposed to it. To effect this regeneration, the powers and virtues of the Tincture of the Philosophers were miraculously discovered, and up to this time have been used in secret and kept concealed by true Spagyrists.
Theo. Paracelsus ~ Concerning the Spirits of the Planets
Chapter VIII. Conclusion --- This secret was accounted by the old Fathers who possessed it as among the most occult, lest it should get into the hands of wicked men, who by its aid would be more abundantly able to fulfill their own wickedness and crimes. We, therefore, ask you, whoever have obtained this gift of God, that, imitating these Fathers, you will treat and preserve this divine mystery in the most serious manner possible, for if you tread it underfoot, or scatter your pearls before swine, be sure that you will hear pronounced against you the severe sentence of God, the supreme avenger.
But to those who, by the special grace of God, abstain from all vices, this Art will be more constantly and more fully revealed than to any others. For with a man of this kind more wisdom is found than with a thousand sons of the world, by whom this Art is in no way discovered.
Whosoever shall have found this secret and gift of God, let him praise the most high God, the Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit. And from this God also let him implore grace, by which he may be able to use that gift to God's glory and to the good of his fellow-man. The merciful God grant that this may be so for the sake of Jesus Christ His Son, and our Saviour!
Theo. Paracelsus ~ The Fifth Book of Archidoxies
Concerning Arcana --- ...So, then, the Prima Materia is the first Arcanum; the second is the Philosophers' Stone, the third is the Mercurius Vitae, and the fourth is the Tincture...
Concerning the Arcanum of the Philosophers' Stone --- In like manner, this Philosophers' Stone purifies the heart and all the principal members, as well as the intestines, the marrow, and whatever else is contained in the body. It does not allow any disease to germinate in the body, but the gout, the dropsy, the jaundice, the colic, fly from it, and it expels all the illnesses which proceed from the four humours; at the same time, it purges bodies and renders them just as though they were newly born. It banishes everything that has a tendency to destroy nature, none otherwise than as fire does with worms. Even so, all weaknesses fly before this renovation...
The power and potency of the Philosophic Stone is exalted to so wonderful an extent that it is impossible to trace how it can be naturally brought about; and unless the most evident signs lay open to our eyes, it would be incredible that men could perfect and accomplish such wonderful things; since the virtue of that operation passes from generation to generation without any break. On the other hand, by the mercy of God, it exists in one body, and at length, according to their deserts, it is denied to others or conceded as a special act of grace...
Eirenaeus Philalethes ~ An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
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 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 at times 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 object of human greed... I know of several persons who were 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 someone 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... 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 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...
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 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 into 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 the Antichrist. Then will the 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 would 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 honor. 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.
Eir. Philalethes ~ Ripley Revived
An Exposition upon the Preface of Sir George Ripley --- This Mercury thus renovate or new born, may by the Philosopher be diversly handled; for he may take his work from the Fire, and circulate and cohobate this Mercury by a peculiar operation, which partly Mechanical, till he have a most admirable pure subtile Spirit, in which he may dissolve Pearls and all Gems, and multiply them or his Red Stone, before it be united with a metal in projection for the making of Aurum Potabile. And in this Mercury thus circulated, is doubtless the Mystery of the never-fading Light, which I have actually seen, but yet not practically made. In a word, every one who hath this exuberate Mercury, hath indeed at command the subject of wonders, which he may imploy himself many ways in both admirably and pleasantly. And certainly he that hath this, needs no information from another; himself now standing in the Centre, he may easily view the Circumference, and then operation will be, next to the Spirit of God, his best Guide. Know then, that if thou be a Son of Art, when thou art once arrived hither, thou are so far from being at the end of thy search, (unless thou make Gold to be thy final object, and so thou shalt never come hither) that thou art but now come into the Mystical School of the hidden wonders of God, in which thou mayst every day see new Miracles, if thou be studious and desirous of knowledge, which all Adepti are; they prize skill before any earthly thing, and therefore refuse Honour and Pomp, and retire only to the behoulding of God and his Works, in this admirable Looking-glass of the most hidden Mysteries of Nature.
Michael Sendivogius ~ Epistles to the Rosicrucian Society
XXXVII --- The Use of the Practice is this.
First, as to a medicine for animals, dissolve one grain of the simple Stone
in 100 grains of that mercury wherewith the Stone is made, or in any other
liquor or convenient vehicle according to the present condition of the
disease, and the temperament of the patient, giving a due potion of such
liquors with one grain of dissolved Stone. But if the stone has been once
multiplied, then one grain of it must be dissolved in a thousand grains
of such a convenient liquor; if twice multiplied, in ten thousand grains
of liquor, and so on.
Second, as to the transmutation of metals, take one part of the simple
Stone and ten parts of the said Mercury, not of the vulgar; or of the once
multiplied Stone one part, and one hundred parts of the same Mercury, or
lastly one part of twice multiplied Stone and a thousand part of the said
Mercury. Set them to dry, first in a gentle fire, then stronger and stronger
till it acquires the consistency of stone. And such imbibitions and dessications
repeat until one part of the Stone converts ten parts of common mercury,
twenty of lead, thirty of tin, fifty of copper, and lastly one hundred
of silver, into perfect gold if the Stone be for gold. But half of the
part, or thereabouts, of the said proportions of those metals, if the Stone
be for silver.
But if you should want a sufficient quantity of the aforesaid Mercury, then you can degrade the Stone with common Mercury in the following manner. Project one part of this simple or multiplied Stone upon ten parts of heated common mercury, and you shall have a powder of the same nature as the Stone, but of a lesser virtue and efficacy. All of this powder project again upon one hundred parts of the same common mercury, and again project this powder upon one thousand part of the same common mercury. And if then the powder grows moist, dry it with fire, and it will remain a powder, which lastly you can project upon the aforesaid metals, keeping the same proportion.
This is now the universal and most exact Theory and Practice of the Stone…
Johann Isaac Hollandus ~ Opuscula Alchymica
I am telling you enough, if you will only understand; and if you do not understand, God Almighty will not grant it to you, and even if you do not find it, it is nevertheless found.
ÆTZI ~ The "Lost Word" (John 1:1, &c.), the "Secret Name of GOD" (Also, variously: Aetzi, Atzi; cf., Atziluth):
