THE ANCIENT FRENCH PHILOSOPHERS
Of an anonymous Delphinate author
BOOK OF THE GREATEST SECRET OF ALL
worldly glory
Text translated and transcribed from Elias Zetzner - Teatrum Chemicum tom 3
In the smallest matters, divine aid must be implored. What then, most beloved son, should we do in the difficult and greater things of this world? And since our intention is directed to the greatest and most elevated secrets of the world, as will be demonstrated below by syllogism, we shall therefore begin, invoking the immense goodness of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His name and that of our Savior, with His Spirit guiding us. In the year 1447, on Monday, January 7th, on the eve of customary joy in our kingdom, as it is our custom to rejoice, in commemoration of those faithful kings who with glad hearts came from various parts to one place to adore our Lord and Savior, I resolved to depict with the reed-pen and to reveal the secrets that are usually transmitted under a veil and in an almost hopeless form. In such a way, however, that the ingenious and those already introduced may profit from this little work and fully acquire worldly glory.
Yet I urge you not to forsake eternal glory for things that pass lightly by you: knowing that all corruptible things must be abandoned for the sake of the incorruptible. Having said this, for the benefit of all faithful Christians, especially our Lord King Louis, and the most serene Lady Queen, his consort, and their son, my Lord the Dauphin, the firstborn, we say there are seven planets, seven days, seven metals; although I count only six metals, namely those which are extended under the hammer. These and those are known, and these are named after the others due to the influence and mutual participation among them. Mercury, however, is not properly a metal, but the principle of metal, and what is the principle of something is not the whole of it: Mercury, therefore, is for them matter, while sulfur is the form.
We have seen metallic bodies, with the eyes of faith, resolved into Mercury and multiplied within it; but Mercury is never a metal unless it has been coagulated by the power of sulfur: let us understand sulfurity as all natural heat. If, however, another sulfur joins that Mercury besides its own proper one, from which its initiation came, so that metal is made from it—this is not the concern of the present speculation.
Yet note, my son, that whoever wishes to perfect metal must look to metal: and learn this, mark it, and turn it over often, for in this saying lies the consideration of the matter. Now our stone is generated from father and mother, and its seed is a clear water not moistening, for a long time the man ascends over the woman, in black color, and that black body will receive water of the same nature, and it flees and flees over time, and it will heal the sick of every illness. Given in the chamber of the parliament of Hermes.
And of the heavy red one, one part; of the white in its subtlety, three parts; of the clear water, four parts. The stone is composed of fire and fire by heat, and of cooked and raw, and of red and white fire, and of flowing and solid fire, or compact, and of sulfur and Mercury, and of incombustible water: or of air and fire: or of fire, air, water and earth together, and it can be said in many and infinite ways. Yet I do not lie to you as others have done, who have spoken of arsenic and orpiment, of alums, salts, or animals, inks and other such fantastical things, which are known to be entirely false and vain.
Meditate on wisdom, my son, and you will find the truth. I have concealed the common name from you for two reasons; one is, that if anyone acts wrongly by this little book of mine, I may excuse myself before God and say that I revealed the secret only to the wise and truly worthy. The other reason is that the other philosophers often name enough in their books but conceal the regimen. I will reveal the regimen and show it to you. But if you do not understand the stone by yourself through natural reason and by the words of the philosophers, omitting all things which are against nature, you are not worthy to be called a philosopher, nor should you philosophize with us.
Woe to you fantasists laboring in this art, who want to sow beans and gather balsam oil, and make potable gold from dung! Woe to you thick-headed ones who want to generate gold from eggs and blood and a thousand other tricks: Gold speaks and says, "Cursed be those who scorn my most noble form. I am the most noble being, and all the influences of heaven have come together for my generation by the command of Almighty God, and I am the work of perfect nature, born without adultery, and these fantasists and blind novices call me spurious and bastard, and they do not know me. I am incorruptible, and the son of the sun, and the smallest part of my substance contains my whole, and nothing corruptible can be found in me, and yet these people wish to multiply me and my substance from corruptible things; how can they create children like me, without my consent and counsel? By no means shall it be done, until I have cast my fiery seed into my own flowing blood, white and fiery."
Truly, I confess I am a sinner, that I joined with my mother, who first bore me in her womb, to multiply my children, and I take delight in her as a spouse, and lovingly embrace her, so that from her and through her I may augment and multiply like myself, according to this saying: "His father is the Sun, his mother the Moon." And Arnold says: "Take the pure mother, and place her in bed with her sons, that she may take delight there, and when she begins to feel some delight, extinguish her in cold water."
In the disputation of the Sun with Mercury, the Sun says: "Will you dispute with me? I am the lord of the stone, and I also endure fire." Mercury says: "You speak the truth. But I begot you, and you are greedy toward me and do not wish to share any of yours because of your hardness. But I am spiritual, and hidden wisdom lies in me, and whoever joins me with my son or brother shall live and rejoice and shall have an eternal treasure, so that if he fed a thousand thousand men daily, he would not want. And I am that which gives life and death, and in me are all the wonders of the world."
The Sun said: "It is necessary that my substance be multiplied in the womb of my mother. My mother is the living Moon, living silver, according to the saying: The wind carried him in its womb, wind meaning air, air meaning Mercury, because it is airy." This is Hermes. Nor are such sons rejected because they are born of mother and son: for this is permitted by Almighty God. And gold itself is the only agent, and its mother is the only patient, suitable and born for the multiplication of individual flowers in its kind.
Would it not be so, that if only the son existed in human nature, and only the mother, it would be impossible for them to generate like themselves, and yet it is necessary to multiply the human race, otherwise the whole world would perish?
Honor our King and his mother, and do not scorn them in their union.
O you impious ones who scorn this secret!
You who, without any delay or patience, burn us with violent fire and believe you annihilate us. But truly, we do not fear your severity, nor your fire, because we are of its nature.
The Sun also said to its mother: “If these sophists separate us from one another and prevent our generation—because you, mother, have certain wings and marvelous, subtle feathers, and lightly release me and fly from me—and your feathers are burned, yet your substance will gradually and gradually come to rest. I, however, am thick, heavy like a bear, I cannot run well, nor do I have wings to fly, because I am compact; therefore, I do not fear the fire.”
Yet it must be noted as the greatest and most incredible secret, that if I were to remain a long time with my mother in the bed of delight, that is, in the heat of fire, she would certainly carry me off entirely with her, and nothing of my substance could be found if violence were done to her, because she is very strong and terrible when she is in the heat of love. Therefore she is called “the sharpest,” “aqua fortis,” “biting poison,” “milk of the virgin,” “fountain of life,” and “fire that burns more than fire.” And through the violence of our union, I become a volatile and spiritual body and entirely return to my original nature. Then is fulfilled what is said: “Let the alchemists know, the species of things cannot be transmuted unless they first return to their original nature.”
And truly, my son, in this precious work—as Morienus says—if goldsmiths knew what they have in their hands when they gild, they would profit much. Meditate, son, and understand, for otherwise we cannot speak of this work except through parables. What has been said has often been seen by me, and therefore I know they are true. The immediate matter of the Stone is sulfur and Mercury—not as it is found by nature, whence nature creates gold—but that which is now in it; because art imitates nature as far as it can.
I say greater things than I thought I would, but I do not regret it, because I speak only to my friends and to the sons of knowledge.
The philosophers say that our gold is not the gold of the vulgar, and they speak very rightly, but they are poorly understood by the readers.
Behold likewise what the philosophers say of Mercury—that it is not of the vulgar. Son, open the cell of your understanding and note that our sulfur is pure gold, mere, sincere, and correct, and is called by us cooked quicksilver, and is the son of fire, and took origin from the purest substance of Mercury; and when its power is seen, it is understood only by us, from the matter from which it is generated.
Man is not this man, nor does this man generate human offspring; but there is a certain active power of this or that man, and that power is invisible. Therefore, they have said that the matter of our Stone is not the gold of the vulgar—namely, that which is seen. That first mass wholly golden, that golden coin, or those accidents that are seen—these will not perfect our Stone. But a certain power existing in such things, this accomplishes it. Nor has it ever been possible, nor ever shall be otherwise, as Avicenna says—the matter is found in those in which it is.
He also says, “If I did not see the Sun and Mercury, I would say this science is false.” As if to say, “If there were no grain of wheat in the world, I would say the multiplication of grain is false.” Yet do not understand that the grain—that is, its grossness or hardness or visible accidents—generates grain, but the power hidden in the said grain does this, which, unless falling into the earth it dies, remains alone. Understand all these things in your intellect separately and not in a gross way, as the letter says.
It follows then that the intrinsic substance is what operates, and consequently, it follows that the philosophical words are true when they say our gold is not vulgar—that is, not what is seen and touched—but is a certain more subtle substance which is extracted from it and lies hidden within it.
Our Stone, therefore, must be made from fixed sulfur, red, heavy, incombustible, and from the substance of recent, crude, pure Mercury. Likewise, the philosophers say that that quicksilver is also taken for our sulfur, which is called sulfur, yet it is not sulfur but is so called because of the active property it has. Nonetheless, it is nothing other than quicksilver cooked and thickened by nature, and in such thickening, the natural sulfur meets it. That sulfur is called golden substance, that is, golden virtue, and it makes from Mercury a middle gold by the command of nature. Nor is the sulfurity so mixed with the substance of Mercury, nor is it burned by it. Rather, its homogeneous parts by such fiery sulfurous power are joined more and more—some after others—and over a long time become a hard and compact body. Such a body may be called sulfur and Mercury, and such cooked quicksilver is necessary to us. Therefore we often say that it is not the Mercury of the vulgar.
It must also be considered, son, that such quicksilver or sulfur does not act by itself, because like does not act upon like, and equal has no dominion over equal. It is therefore necessary that it be aided by another quicksilver—crude, pure, and airy—because it is through this that our fixed sulfur and our cooked quicksilver will naturally overcome one another, so that it may be multiplied in its radical moisture infinitely, according to this: “To that which is hot, dry, and cooked by nature, if something cold, moist, and crude is added, it will not harm it.” Because just as the smallest dry parts of earth are overcome by the addition of water and good mixture—as is clear in the work of the potter—likewise our earth, or our sulfur, is divided into the smallest particles, by the smallest parts, when it thickens by the addition of its water—namely, crude, pure Mercury extracted from the mine—because this quicksilver is perforating and penetrating more infinitely than the strong waters of the sophists, from whom you must beware.
The second reason why Mercury is not of the vulgar is this, and similar to what we said of vulgar gold: that which is seen is not proper to the matter of the Stone. Likewise, quicksilver, as it is seen by the vulgar—very volatile, mobile, cold and moist, and white—and yet, in its hidden part, it is hot, rough, terrible, and red. It is proven, as said above, that it is white fire, and metallic bodies are melted and liquefied by it much faster than by fusion fire, as is clear by experience. Also, it is converted into red by our regimen. Also, it is fixed by its own power with the aid of our sulfur—that is, our fire. The same is the work of nature, and its powers are not seen, therefore they are not known by the vulgar.
What the Furnace Should Be Like
The house or place must be in a specific, secret chamber prepared for this purpose, so that wind, air, and rain cannot destroy the work. Let it be in a place not too high, but low or moderate in elevation. There should be a sufficiently large window, facing the furnace, so that in times of need you may observe your operations and recognize the colors appearing in the work. The furnace shall be properly fitted in a suitable location, and the base or foundation of the furnace should be four feet square and about one foot or more in height.
Let there be a round iron grate in the middle, and four vent holes in the form of a cross leading to the said furnace from the outer edges to the grate. In one corner of the furnace, there shall be a sufficiently large channel, always filled with coals, tall to the height of one cane (five feet), or more or less, corresponding to the grate. Around the circumference of the grate, let there be four earthen chambers in the shape of alembics. And in the middle, one chamber like the others, but suspended in the air, and the other four shall rest upon the foundation. The fire shall be managed as will be described, and the mouth of the furnace shall be opposite the channel, namely in the corner. Iron instruments will be necessary to clean the grate and extract ashes.
There is one regimen: namely, that in its proper vessel and in its furnace, one pound of the best Mercury should be cooked constantly, without interruption. It should be placed in a mortar with coarse salt and excellent vinegar, and mixed to the consistency of dough. Then with warm water, by sprinkling, it is revived, and do this two or three times so that its blackness perishes. Finally, pass it through leather, and it will pass like milk.
Then, to one ounce of our sulfur, add four ounces of Mercury in a glass vessel sealed with the Seal of Hermes. Then it should be placed in its secret furnace, and the fire should be lit there; and it multiplies and grows, becoming a flowing fountain of wisdom. O how well it is said: the sea of wisdom flows and ebbs, it boils and rests, and if you want to act securely, always act with patience, and continuously; let it not weary you, do not hasten nor cease from the work, until all has taken on the form of a fictitious stone.
For, when the sulfur is fixed, it, being a coagulator, naturally coagulates its Mercury through long and frequent sublimation over it. Guard, therefore, that is, earth and water, because when water is mixed with earth—this earth being dry and thick in consistency—it easily holds its like in its grossness, for every dry thing naturally desires its moisture. Therefore, delay and temperance are said to be in the work of the philosophers; and nature cannot surpass movement unless it is impeded by haste. It acts so that all things dissolve, and beware that the spirits do not flee through the violence of fire, for the whole work would be lost.
Know, dearest son, that our entire work is nothing else than to make a proper solution and a perfect coagulation. Dissolve our stone, then congeal it, and seek nothing more. The moisture of our stone is gradually dried by its own fire. In our stone are only two things, and they are of one nature: one is dry, firm, and incombustible; the other is moist, volatile, and incorruptible. Therefore these two must be tempered together, so that one does not abandon the other.
For if you wish to give heat suitable to the fixed thing, the volatile thing could not endure; and if you wish to give heat suitable to the volatile thing, the fixed one would always be dulled by the coldness of the other and the work would never be completed. It is necessary to give heat according to the whole composite, so that all dissolves and becomes one permanent water. Therefore, cook, cook, and cook again; and do not let the long cooking weary you. Be long-suffering, patient and consistent, and focus only on the completion, disregarding everything else.
The first color of our stone, after good continuation and when it begins to coagulate, will be black, and this will last for forty days. Then the stone becomes white, and then the Sun will work with its white sulfur, converting Mercury into pure Moon. And if it receives greater digestion, it will work with its red sulfur, converting Mercury into the best gold. And by this you should understand that the Sun is a hermaphroditic body, that is, containing in itself both lunar and solar virtues; for gold was first silver before it was gold.
Note, however, that when our matter is fixed to white, it can never be destroyed by fire, and therefore you may give it as much fire as you like, for its tincture will always improve when broken, and it will become very red, like burned blood or pomegranate syrup. If you wish to multiply it with the ferment from which it first came, the whole will be converted in thirty days into pure medicine, white or red according to the ferment.
And finally, you will take one ounce of its powder and cast it upon ten [parts] of any metal, and it will be pure gold or pure silver. Again, you will take one ounce and cast it upon what was already converted, and it will become pure medicine, and you will repeat this as many times as the medicine flows like wax or oil. And then it is called the oil of gold, potable gold, balsam, fountain of life and river of paradise, treasure of the whole world, and the hidden secret.
LATIN VERSION
ANTIQUI PHILOSOPHI GALLI
Delphinatis anonymi
LIBER
SECRETI MAXIMI TOTIUS
mundanae gloriae
IN minimis implorandum est divinum auxilium. Quid ergo, fili charissime, in arduis, & majoribus hujus mundi facere debemus? Et cum ita sit quod intentio nostra versetur circa maxima, & majora mundi arcana, ut infra syllogistice demonstrabitur, propterea invocando Dei, Patris Domini nostri Jesu Christi, immensam bonitatem, in ipsius & salvatoris nostri nomine, spiritu suo nos ducente auspiciabimur. Anno 1447. die lunae mensis Januarii 7. in crastino jucunditatis assuetae in regno nostro fieri, ut moris est apud nos laetari; in commemorationem illorum fidelium regum, qui nostrum Dominum & servatorem laeto animo ex diversis partibus in unum locum adoraverunt, decrevi calamomo depingere, & secreta manifestare quae sub velamine, & quasi in desperata forma consueverunt tradi. Tali modo tamet ut ingeniosi, & his introducti, possint in hoc opusculo proficere, & gloriam mundanam totaliter acquirere. Hortor autem vos ne gloriam sempiternam, pro rebus à vobis leviter transeuntibus, relinquere velitis: scientes, corruptibilia quaeque, pro incorruptibilibus relinqui debere. Hoc praefato, in utilitatem omnium fidelium Christianorum, praecipue D. nostri Regis Ludovici, serenissimaeque Dominae Reginae, ejus consortis, ac filii eorum, Domini mei Delphini primogeniti, dicimus Planetas septem esse, dies septem, metalla septem; licet, quod metalla, ego tantum sex numerem, nimirum quae sub malleo extenduntur. Hae, & illa nota sunt, & haec ab aliis denominantur, ob influentiam & participationem inter se. Mercurius autem non est proprie metallum, sed principium metalli, & quod est principium alicujus, non est ipsum totum: Mercurius est autem eis pro materia, sulphur vero pro forma. Nos vero vidimus corpora metallica, oculata fide, resoluta in Mercurium, & multiplicata in illo; at nunquam Mercurius est metallum, nisi coagulatus fuerit virtute sulphuris: sulphureitatem autem capiamus pro omni calore naturali. Si vero adveniat ipsi Mercurio aliud sulphur à suo proprio, ex quo fuit initiatio, ut inde fiat metallum, non est praesentis speculationis. Nota tamen, fili mi, quod qui metallum cupit perficere, metallum conspiciat oportet: & haec disce, nota, & saepius revolve, nam in hoc dicto stat consideratio rei. Generatur autem lapis noster ex patre & matre, & ejus sperma est aqua serena non madefaciens, per longum tempus ascendit vir super feminam, in colore nigro, & illud corpus nigrum accipiet aquam ejusdem naturae, & fugit & fugit per processum temporis & salvabit infirmos ab omni infirmitate. Datum in camera parlamenti Hermetis. Et Rubei ponderosi parte unam, albi in sua subtilitate partes tres, aquae serenae partes quatuor. Lapis componitur ex igne & igne per calorem, & ex cocto & crudo, & ex igne rubeo & albo, & ex igne fluente & firmo, seu compacto, & ex sulphure & Mercurio, & ex aqua incombustibili: Vel ex acre, & igne: vel ex igne, acre, aqua & terra simul, & multis aliis & infinitis modis potest dici. Et tamen non dico tibi mendacium sicut alii fecerunt, qui de arsenico, & auripigmento, de alumnibus, salibus, vel animalibus, atramentis & similibus aliis phantasticis rebus locuti sunt, quae falsa & vana penitus cognountur esse. Meditare fili sapientiae, & invenies veritatem. Ego te celavi nomen vulgare, propter duas causas; una est, ut si quis per hunc meum libellum male agat, ego possim me apud Deum excusare, & dicere quod secretum non revelavi nisi sapientibus & vere dignis. Alia causa est, quod caeteri philosophi satis in suis libris nominant & regimen celant. Regimen manifestabo, & tibi ostendit. Quod si lapidem non intelligas ex teipso per rationes naturales, & per verba philosophorum, praetermittendo omnes res quae praeter naturam sunt, non es dignus vocari philosophus, neq debes nobiscum philosophari. Hei vobis phantasticis laborantibus in hac arte, qui vultis seminare fabas, & colligere oleum balsami, & ex stercoribus facere aurum potabile! Vae vobis grossis capitibus qui vultis de Ovis, & sanguine, & aliis mille truffis aurum generare: Aurum loquitur, & dicit, Maledicantur qui nobilissimam meam formam vilipendunt. Ego sum nobilissimum ens, & omnes influentiae caeli in unum convenerunt ad meam generationem per mandata Dei omnipotentis, & ego sum opus naturae perfectae, & sum natus sine adulterio, & isti phantastici, & novelli obcaecati, me spurium & bastardum vocant, & me ignorant. Ego sum incorruptibilis, & filius solis, & minima pars substantiae meae est totum meum continens, nec in me aliquid corruptibile reperiri potest, & tamen isti, ex corruptibilibus me & substantiam meam volunt multiplicare; quomodo possunt ipsi creare filios mei similes, absque consensu & consilio meo, nequaquam fiet, quousque ego semen meum igneum jactavero in sanguine meo fluente, albo, & igneo: verum, confiteor peccator sum, quod cum matre mea quae me prius in suo ventre portaverat, coniveui multiplicare filios meos, & cum ipsa coniux mei delectari, & amabiliter amplectari, ut ex ea, & per ea possim mihi similes augmentare, & multiplicare, juxta illud: Pater ejus Sol, mater Luna. Et dicit Arnaldus: Matrem puram accipias, & eam in lecto ponas cum filiis, ut ibidem delectetur, & quando incipiet aliquantulum delectari, in aqua frigida extingue. In disputatione Solis, ad Mercurium, dicit Sol. Disputabisne mecum? Ego sum Dominus lapidis, & insuper ignem patiens. Dixit Mercurius verum dicis. Sed ego te genui, & es avarus, respectu mei, & nihil vis largiri de tuo propter tuam duritiem. Ego vero spiritualis sum, & in me latet sapientia abscondita, & qui me junxerit filio, vel fratri meo, vivet & gaudebit, habebitque sempiternum thesaurum, adeo ut si pasceret quotidie mille millia hominum, non indigeret. Et ego sum illud vivificans, & mortificans, & in me sunt omnia mundi mirabilia. Dixit autem Sol, Necessè est ut substantia mea multiplicetur in ventre matris meae. Mater mea, est Luna viva, argentum vivum, juxta id: Portavit eum ventus in ventre suo, ventus, id est, aer, Aer, id est, Mercurius, quia aereus est. Haec Hermes. Nec filii tales reprobantur, propterea quod ex matre, & filio generentur: Nam, hoc est permissum per omnipotentem Deum. Et ipsum aurum est solus agens, & mater sua est sola patiens, apta nata ad multiplicationem florum individuorum, in sua specie. Nonne si solus filius esset in natura humana, & sola mater, omitteretur quod generarent sibi similes, quod necesse esset multiplicare genus humanum, aliter totus mundus perderetur? Honorate Regem nostrum, & suam matrem, & nolite eos in suo concubitu vili pendere.
O vos impii qui hoc secretum vilipenditis!
qui absque aliqua mora & patientia nos comburitis igne violento, & creditis nos annihilare: sed certe, nos non timemus rigorem vestrum, nec timemus ignem, quia de natura sua sumus.
Dixit item Sol matri suae: Si isti sophistae nos separant ab invicem, & nos impediunt a generatione nostra, quia tu mater habes certas alas, & pennas mirabiles, & subtiles, & de levi me dimittis, & volas a me, et tuae pennae comburantur, tuam tamen substantiam facies quiescere paulatim & paulatim. Ego vero sum grossus, ponderosus, sicut ursus, non possum bene currere, nec habeo alas ad volandum, quia compactus sum, quapropter non timeo ignem.
Advertendum tamen est maximum secretum, & incredibile, quod si per longum tempus starem cum matre mea, in lecto delectationis, id est, in calore ignis, certe ipsa me secum portaret totaliter, & nihil de substantia mea inveniri posset, si sibi violentia fieret, quia multum fortis est & terribilis, quando est in ardore amoris, propterea dicitur acerrimum, aqua fortis, venenum tingens, lac virginis, fons vitae, & ignis comburens magis quam ignis, & per violentiam nostrae conjunctionis efficior volatile corpus & spirituale, ac totaliter revertor ad naturam meam primam: & tunc completur quod dicitur: Sciant alchemistae, species rerum transmutari non posse, nisi prius revertantur ad naturam primam.
Et certe fili, in hoc pretioso opere, ut Morienus ait, si scirent aurifabri, quid habent prae manibus quando deaurant, multù lucrarentur. Meditare fili, & intellige, quia aliter non possumus de hoc opere loqui nisi parabolice, quae dicta sunt, per me saepius visa sunt, & propterea scio quod vera sint. Materia immediata lapidis, est sulphur, & Mercurius, non talis qualis invenitur, unde natura creat aurum, sed id quod nunc in eo est; quod ars imitatur naturam in quantum potest.
Majora dico quam credebam dicere, sed non poenitet, quia non loquor nisi amicis meis, & filiis scientiae.
Dicunt philosophi quod aurum nostrum, non est aurum vulgi, & multum bene loquuntur, sed male à legentibus intelliguntur.
Ecce & similiter de Mercurio philosophi dicunt quod non est vulgi. Fíli aperi cellulam tui intellectus, ac nota, quod sulphur nostrum aurum est purum, merum, sincerum, & rectum, & dicitur apud nos argentum vivum coctum, & est filius ignis, & ex purissima substantia Mercurii sumpsit originem, & cum videtur virtus ejus, non intelligitur nisi à nobis, ex materia unde generatur.
Homo, non est hic homo, nec hoc fructum hominis generat homo: sed est quaedam virtus agens hujus vel hujus hominis, & ills virtus est invisibilis, propterea dixerunt quod materia lapidis nostri non est aurum vulgi, videlicet illud quod videtur, illa prima massa tota aurea, ille denarius aureus, vel illa accidentia quae videntur, non perficient lapidem nostrum, sed certa virtus in talibus existens, hoc perficit. Nec unquam fuit possibile, nec erit aliter, ut dicit Avicenna, reperitur materia illa in illis, in quibus est.
Item dicit, si Solem, & Mercurium non viderem, dicerem scientiam istam esse falsam: quasi dicat, si nullum granum frumenti esset in mundo, dicerem multiplicationem grani esse falsam, & tamen non intelligas quod granum hoc frumentum quod videtur, videlicet illa grossities, vel durities, vel illa accidentia, quae videntur, generent grana, sed virtus latens in dicto grano, hoc facit, quod nisi cadens in terram mortuum fuerit, ipsum solum manet. Intellige haec omnia in tuo intellectu separata & non grosso modo, ut litera dicit.
Relinquitur ergo quod substantia intrinseca est illa, quae operatur, & per consequens sequitur, vera esse philosophica verba quando dicit aurum nostrum non esse vulgi, id est, quod videtur, palpatur: sed est quaedam substantia magis subtilis quae ab ipso extrahitur & in ipso latet. Lapis igitur noster sit ex sulphure fixo, rubeo, ponderoso, incombustibili, & ex substantia Mercurii recentis, crudi, puri, & similiter philosophi dicunt quod illud argentum vivum quoque capitur pro sulphure nostro: quod est vocatur sulphur non tamen sulphur est, sed ita vocatur propter proprietatem agentem quam habet: nihilominus, non est aliud quam argentum vivum coctum & inspissatum per naturam & in tali inspissatione, sulphur naturae sibi occurrit, quod sulphur dicitur substantia aurea, id est, virtus aurea, & facit ex Mercurio, medium aurum per praeceptum naturae, nec taliter sulphureitas misetur substantiam Mercurii, nec comburitur per ipsam, immo partes ejus homogeneae, per talem virtutem sulphuream igneam, coadunantur magis ac magis, aliquae post aliquas, & efficitur per longum tempus corpus durum & compactum. Tale corpus potest dici sulphur & Mercurius, & quod tale argentum vivum coctum est nobis necessarium, propterea dicimus saepius, quod non est Mercurius vulgi.
Considerandum est etiam, fili, quod tale argentum vivum, seu sulphur, non operatur per se, quia simile non operatur in suo simili, & par in parem non habet dominium. Neceße est igitur ut adjuvetur per aliud argentum vivum crudum, mundum, & aereum, quia illud est per quod nostrum sulphur fixum, & argentum nostrum vivum coctum naturaliter superabuntur ab invicem, ut inde multiplicetur in suo humidio radicali in infinitum, juxta illud: Cui natura est calida, & sicca, & cocta, si frigidum, humidum, & crudum adveniet ei non nocebit: quia sicut minimae partes terrae siccae superantur per appositionem aquae, & per bonam mixtionem ut patet in opere figuli, similiter terra nostra, vel sulphur nostrum dividitur in minimas particulas, per minimas partes, cum ingrossatur per appositione aquae suae videlicet Mercurii crudi, mundi, & ex minera extracti; quia ipsum argentum vivum est perforativum & penetrans in infinitum magis quam aquae fortes sophistarum a quibus debes cavere. Secunda ratio quare Mercurius non est vulgi, est ista, & similis, sicut diximus de auro vulgi; quod illud quod videtur non est proprium materiae lapidis, similiter argentum vivum, prout videtur a vulgo, ut multum volatile, mobile, frigidum & humidum, & album; & tamen in abdito est calidum, & asperum, & terribile, & rubeum; probatur quod, ut superius dictum est, est ignis albus, & corpora metallica per eum funduntur & liquescunt citius multum quam per ignem fusionis ut patet per experientiam; item in rubeum convertitur per regimen nostrum: item fixatur virtute sua cum adjumento sulphuris nostri, id est, ignis nostri. Idem ipsum est opus naturae, & virtutes ejus non videntur, propterea non cognoscuntur a vulgo.
Qualis debeat esse fornax.
Domus vel locus erit in certa camera secreta ad hoc ordinata, ne ventus, aer, & pluvia possint magisterium annihilare, in loco non nimis alto, sed passio, vel mediocri. Sit fenestra satis ampla, quae respondeat supra furnum, ut tempore necessitatis suas possis videre actiones, cognoscere colores in opere apparentes; & erit furnus ad hoc aptus in docto loco, & pes, seu fundamentum furni, 4. pedum in quadratura, & in altitudine unius pedis vel plus. Sit craticula ferrea in medio rotunda, & quatuor viae in cruce venticulares, correspondentes ad dictum furnum, ab extremitatibus ad dictam craticulam, & in uno angulo dicti furni erit unus canalis satis grossum, semper carbonibus repletum, altum ad quantitatem unius cannae, vel quinque pedum, vel plus aut minus correspondens ad craticulam, & in circumferentia craticulae erunt quatuor cappellae terrae ad formam alembicorum. Et in medio erit una cappella, ad modum aliarum tamen stabit in aere, & aliae quatuor erunt super fundamentum, sistetque ignis ut dicetur, & os furni erit in oppositione ad canalem videlicet in angulo, eruntque instrumenta necessaria ferrea ad mundandum craticulam & ad cineres extrahendos.
Est regimen unum, videlicet ut ponatur in suo vase & in suo furno, coquatur jugiter sine intermissione, Mercurii optimi libram unam, & ponatut in mortario cum sale grosso, & aceto optimo, & incorporetur ad modum pastae; deinde cum aqua calida rorando vivifica, & fac bis aut ter ut ejus nigredo pereat, demumfac transire per corium, & transibit ad modum lactis. Deinde in unciam unam sulphuris nostri, impone uncias quatuor Mercurii, in vase vitreo sigillo Hermetis sigillato, deinde collocetur in suo furno secreto, & ibidem accendatur ignis; & multiplicatur, & crescit, efficiaturque fons sapientiae currens. O bene dictum: mare sapientiae fluit & refluit, bullit, & quiescit, & si velis secure agere, semper cum patientia agito, & continua, & non te taedeat, non est festinandum nec ab opere cessandum, donec totum ad modum ficti lapidis formam assumat. Nam sulphur fixum cum sit, coagulans coagulatum, naturaliter coagulatur suum Mercurium, per longam & frequentem sublimationem super ipsum. Custodi ergo eam abscilicet terram & aquam, quia cum aqua miscetur cum terra, haec scilicet terra siccitate, & inspissata sua tenacitate, & facile cam sibi similem sua grossitie, quia omne siccum naturaliter appetit suum humidum, ideo tardamentum & temperamentum dicitur esse in magisterio philosophorum; & natura praeterire motum non poterit, nisi impedita fuerit per festinationem, facit igitur ut omnia solvantur, & cave ne spiritus fugiant per violentiam ignis, quia totum perderetur magisterium. Scias fili carissime, quod totum nostrum magisterium nihil aliud est, quam facere rectam solutionem & perfectam coagulationem, solvite lapidem nostrum, postea congelate, & nihil plus quaeratur. Humiditas nostri lapidis desiccatur paulatim & ex assiccatione in suo igne. In lapide nostro non sunt nisi duo, & sunt unius naturae: unum est siccum, & firmum incombustibile: aliud est humidum volatile & incorruptibile, propterea est, quod ista duo comtemperentur ad invicem, ut unum non dimittat alterum. Quod si velis dare calorem ad aequalitatem rei fixae, res volatilis minime posset expectare, & si velles dare ad aequalitatem rei volatilis, res fixa semper hebetaretur a frigitate alterius & nunquam perficeretur opus. Necesse est dare calorem ad aequalitatem rei motae, videlicet totius compositi, ut omnia solvantur, & fiant una aqua permanens, propterea coque, coque & iterum coque; & ne te taedeat longa decoctione, esto longanimis, patienter & continue, & soli complemento insiste, caetera praetermittens. Primus color lapidis nostri post bonam continuationem, quando incipiet coagulari, erit niger, & durabit per quadraginta dies, & tunc efficietur lapis albus, & tunc Sol operabitur cum sulphure suo albo, Mercurium convertens in Lunam puram; & si majorem habuerit digestionem operabitur cum suo sulphure rubeo, Mercurium convertens in aurum optimum, & per hoc perpendere debes, quod Sol est corpus hermaphroditum, id est, in se continens duas virtutes, Lunarem & Solarem, quod aurum prius fuit argentum quam aurum. Nota tamen, quod cum materia nostra fixa est ad album, nunquam potest destrui per ignem, & propterea potes ei dare ignem quantum volueris, quia semper meliorabitur eius tinctura in infractum, & efficietur rubicundissima, velut sanguis adustus vel syrupus granatorum. Si illa volueris multiplicare cum fermento, unde fuit à principio: & totum convertetur in triginta diebus in medicinam puram, albam, aut rubeam secundum quod fuerit fermentum. Et demum capies unam unciam ejus pulveris, & projicies super decem cujuscunq; metalli, & erit aurum purum vel argentum purum. Iterum capies unam unciam, & projicies super illud jam conversum, & erit medicina pura, & toties reiterabis quoties medicina fluet, sicut cera vel oleum: & tunc dicitur oleum auri, aurum potabile, balsamum, fons vitae & fluvius paradisi, thesaurus totius mundi, & secretum absconsum.