DECLARATION OF THE PHYSICAL STONE OF AVICENNA TO HIS SON ABOALI
My son Aboali, understand what I say to you concerning the knowledge of the Stone. My son, where the Philosophers say in their books, Take sulphur and orpiment, it does not enter into our magistery. But they named sulphur and orpiment in explaining the Philosopher’s Stone, in which stone the sulphur and arsenic of the Philosophers lie hidden or concealed. And indeed, the Philosophers say: it is a stone and not a stone, and it is vile in the streets, and cast out on the roads, and trampled by the feet of men, and can be acquired by any poor person; and it is sulphur which is not sulphur, and orpiment which is not orpiment, and it is the egg of the hen, a toad, human blood, hair, and they did not say such names except to conceal the magistery. And know for certain that the Philosophers did not care for the names, except for one name, one operation — namely, to cook the stone and introduce its soul. Because their stone is always one, in which they expect all goodness; and there is no other in this world which has such power and effect besides this stone. Therefore, this is the stone and not the stone, without which nature does nothing, whose name is living Mercury, yet by many names the Philosophers have named or called it, whose names cannot be numbered due to the nature of its excellence. This is truly the Philosopher’s Stone, and there is no other besides it, which receives the work and drinks it, from which every body appears.
And this magistery is not accomplished except by kings, and nobles, and those filled with riches, because this magistery is eternal; and he who does not have wealth, how shall he operate? Because it is fitting for the operator to have 60 ounces of pure Mercury, that is, quicksilver not falsified at the least, because of the moisture to be extracted from it, for the perfection of the whole work; because the whole magistery is in the vapor.
My son, now the fools come every day and work, as they have found in the books, upon sulphur and arsenic, and upon Mercury by sublimations, calcinations of perfect and imperfect bodies, and by dissolutions of various waters, salts, and vinegar, and by coagulations and fixations, and by amalgamations — and they cannot attain true perfection. And it is no wonder, because these idiots do not understand the mind of the Philosophers, and always say that the magistery is not true, and that these Philosophers are mistaken liars. Therefore, my son, I have composed this chapter, and I have illuminated the heavens, and opened treasures and chains, and I will cause the ignorant to understand that which they did not understand, and I have undone the bindings of words, and I have told you, my son, with the truth of God, the secret of the Philosophers and their intention.
And therefore I command you not to give this book to anyone except to your son, and your son to his son, and so from generation to generation, and only to the wisest of them. And know, my son, that I have done wrong in revealing to you the purity of that gift. You shall not reveal this holy and praiseworthy work. And I say to you, my son, in truth, that the Philosophers did not work with other things except with the blood of hairs and eggs exemplarily — that is, only with the four elements. And it is to be noted today concerning the preparation of the four elements, which were placed in warm horse dung as was necessary. And first distill, and what comes out first keep separately, for that is the water. Repeat the water by distillation, and what is distilled keep, and this is the simple; place it under the dung and store it, and what remains at the bottom of the cucurbit, keep separately, because that is the earth.
Definition of the science of the secrets of natural philosophy:
It is the extraction of water from the earth, and the conversion or reduction of the same body upon its own prepared earth. Indeed, this earth with its water rots and is washed, which, when clean or made clean by the help of God, the whole magistery will be directed. First, one attempts to dissolve the earth so that it may have a nature according to its own subtlety — which happens when the qualities of the waters have prevailed in it. Then, with the earth, one strives to condense the water so that it may be fixed with it and sustain all fire; and this happens when the qualities of the earth have prevailed in it. For the foundation of this art and the beginning of the work is the resolution of the body into water, which the Philosophers name corruption or putrefaction — without which the circular transmutation of metals into one another is not achieved. For the corruption of one is the generation of another. Because generation and corruption have the same principles.
The Philosopher’s Stone arises from a vile thing into the most precious treasure — namely, from the seed of the Sun projected into the womb of Mercury through coitus, that is, through the first commingling. And this is its proximate matter from which it is drawn. But its closest matter is the seminal moisture, cut off through the act of generation from each part of both parents, namely, the body and Mercury. For only the radical moistures of the bodies are essential parts of the Stone itself. And also, from two beings in nature it is not made, unless one behaves in the mode of the agent and the other in the mode of the patient, or that one is brought into potentiality.
From the clearest kinds, therefore, which have taken origin from the first fountains of minerals, must the Elixir of the wise be drawn and the medicine for perfecting and transforming every imperfect thing, and not from other sources. For the Philosophers command the taking of crude, pure, sincere, and proper elements, and to cook them over a gentle fire, saying: “If it becomes dry, it will be of no use.” They also say: “Take pure and recent things from their own mines, the closest and the best, and exalt them to the mountaintops or to the stars of heaven, and also return them to their roots, and the whole of the clarification and fixation of the thing of the magistery is accomplished.” And if you wish to compose the tincture of the wise usefully, know the mineral roots, being conscious to do your work from them. For knowledge of the bodies and of the natures of qualities, of their principles and governance, comes from that which easily perfects the work.
The medicine itself is drawn from corporeal things in nature which are most fitting. Indeed, it is most necessary to take the tincture especially from those in which it most resides. It exists both in bodies and in the spirits themselves, according to nature, since both are found to be of the same nature. But from bodies indeed it is harder; from spirits or from quicksilver, more easily and closely — yet not more perfectly — is the tincture or medicine of bodies extracted. Therefore the white and red come forth from one root and spring forth without the intervention of a body of a different kind. For there is one Stone, and its operation is one, which with one fire, by cooking alone, is digested and perfected successively into white and red sulphur not burning, in one vessel.
It is necessary, moreover, that the form of the Great Elixir be drawn out from the potentiality of its proximate matter, in which it naturally resides. But in the unvisited grossness of the elements it lies hidden — thus it is called the vegetable Stone, the Stone and not a Stone, and most original and primordial — because it is in becoming, or in the path of digestion, not yet fixed by nature, nor brought to the specific being of perfect metal. And it relates to vulgar Mercury as curdled milk to cheese, and by this, which curdles it, it is known.
Because before specific forms, the temperaments of metals, sulphur and silver must preexist, and their purification along with alteration.
It is also necessary that the elements of the Stone be of the same kind and not of different kinds, otherwise they would not have mutual action and passion with each other. For one thing would not tinct the other, unless it be similar to it — because it is not fitting to the thing unless it be of its own nature. And if something foreign is added, the work is corrupted and what is sought by the worker will not be made from it, but another effect will follow, which does not exist in the care of nature and art. For there is no true generation except from things that are compatible in nature.
Finally, it is necessary that the grossness of the composition of the elements, corrupting, disfiguring, and combustible, be ingeniously removed by preparation, and the stony, earthy, and useless thickness be separated from the metallic substance before a univocal and perfect complexion of the elements is made — by roasting, grinding, and digesting patiently and gently, until it is brought back to its simplicity and reduced into its true fifth essence: namely, into the most simple and pure being, fiery but not burning, which indeed is nothing other than pure natural heat infused into its radical moisture. For fire, constantly cooking by its own office, unites homogeneous parts, and devours and consumes heterogeneous ones as nourishment into ash.
The Philosophers also wish that the manifest be hidden, and the hidden be made manifest — that is, that the earthy, sulphurous, and inflammable thickness, sufficiently apparent in the mixture, must be removed by the skill of the artisan. But the pure and shining intrinsic substance, planted in the root of the thing from the beginning of nature, must be brought into the open by the corruption and stripping away of accidents — which is an easy and possible experience, since the intrinsic is contrary and opposed to the extrinsic quality of the thing. And the same teaching shows that those things placed near each other appear more clearly to shine.
Moreover, the mortification of volatile substances, so that they may be fixed and not flee from the fire, and the vivification of the dead lying still or fixed, is without doubt appropriate. For he who knows how to mortify and then resurrect after death is a master of this doctrine, and whoever is ignorant of this should withdraw his hand from the work and not fatigue his spirit with what he cannot attain. You revive, in truth, those things whose forms, whose spirits you restore by elevation.
For when the dead rise again, they are perpetual and no longer die, but are glorified into immortal life that endures without end.
The particular genius of the art of philosophy does not seek, as the common rabble are wont to suppose, to make gold or silver anew. For these nature is accustomed to generate in the bowels of the earth.
Rather, the artisan operates only organically and instrumentally, drawing forth the form of gold and silver from matter disposed for this purpose, and imparting motion to nature so that, being stirred by the tempered cooking of art, it may be led from potentiality to actuality. For although the stone of the wise naturally contains in itself the tincture which was perfectly created in the womb of the earth, nevertheless it does not tinct of itself, nor is the elixir made from it unless it is moved by the industry and operation of the artisan. And nature, with the artisan as its servant, operates. From which it is not doubted that the entire effect of power consists in the use of practice. In the artificial decoction of imperfect or incomplete bodies, it is necessary that the external heat of fire and its moderation be so proportioned that the intrinsic active and perfecting power is not suffocated or overcome in any way, etc.
This is the force of the most subtle sulphur — pure, simple, fiery, and non-burning — which is called the light of lights, because it is the form and splendor of all metals and illuminates all bodies, since it is light and tincture, enlightening and perfecting every body. And if the artisan of this magistery does not know this light, he walks as one in darkness, erring repeatedly by wandering paths, because of his distance from the truth and unity of this science. For that which is good exists in one way; that which is evil, in many — with nearly infinite errors. For from a single wrong consequence, many often follow.
If actives are well applied to passives, and passives to actives, so that they best embrace one another, and if the heat of fire, as said, is proportioned in the proper way: then according to the Philosophers, within the digestion of nature and art there will be no difference, since digestion is perfection from a natural and proper heat out of passive opposites — that is, from contrary qualities or elements. For tinging Mercury is not found in actuality upon the earth, unless it is taken from liquefied and purified bodies — not by common liquefaction, indeed, but by that in which male and female, through true conjunction, are inseparably united over the sharpness of fire. For only from male and female does true generation come.
The elixir perfectly completed, or the tincture of the wise, in regard to diminished metals, acts as the most powerful form and agent — provided it is mixed with those same metals when prepared, as to its proximate matter in flux. For then it completes them, fixes and perfects them, and tinges them with an unchanging color, always enduring in the harshness of fire. And this is the true medicine of men and of metals — bringing joy and transformation — and after God, there is no other that drives away poverty and expels all infirmity from human bodies, preserving them in health. To the knowledge of this, only a very few among the physicians of our time have attained.
In inadequately prepared matter, it is not appropriate to operate, for proportion is the treasure of this thing and the beginning of its accomplishment.
Moreover, the repetition of proportion is the secret of the art. For preparation is an act disposing toward the goal of motion or perfection, through which the imperfect is brought to the specific being of metal. And this occurs through motion, light, and heat. But when heat fails, motion fails, because every natural or artificial action has its own motion and due time, in which it is completed or brought to an end over a greater or lesser span of time — for nothing acts beyond its own species. Therefore, the specific form arriving completes and causes motion to cease, and the agent is then compelled to separate from the matter.
Also, for there to be a true, total, and perfect commixture of things — which is the union of alterable mixables — there is required an identity of natures in proportion and equality of subtlety and purity; otherwise they would not mix by minima, nor embrace one another, prior to their sufficient preparation. For the spirit and soul of the Stone are not united with the body except in white color. And in the conjunction of spirit and body, the entire intention of the operator must be fixed, for until whiteness, the corruption of moisture and the dominion of the female prevail. But in true whiteness, it is ended and consumed, and then from that point the man begins to rule over his wife, adorning her with his own stable color.
This alone must be done: that bodies, gross by nature, be thinned and refined until they become spiritual, light, and pure. But the spirits, which are rare, must be made corporeal and thickened until they may remain with the bodies in the fire. For the ancient wise men asserted: unless you make the bodies incorporeal and the spirits corporeal, you have not yet found the way or the rule of operation. And this is to rarefy the spirit and lighten the heavy, from which all that is subtle is nobler than the gross, just as all that is rare is nobler than the dense. For heavy things cannot be lifted above unless by the company of the light; nor can light things be held below unless by the power of the heavy and fixed. The body does not act upon the spirit, but only the spirit acts upon the body by penetrating it. Therefore, that they may act and suffer mutually, the bodies must be calcined and washed with frequent irrigation of their own water. But the spirits must be cleansed by sublimation until they come to the final degree of purity. When these are then resolved, like water, they are inseparably united and remain joined with water, so that by the violence of fire they are no longer separated. For every kind of calcined thing is fixed and more easily resolved than without calcination, without which the combustible sulphureity cannot be removed, nor can we attain to the inner purification of bodies without it.
The spirit in this art is twofold: the preparing and the tincting. The preparing spirit is that which putrefies, corrupts, dissolves, and reduces the bodies to the first matter, and has in itself a rectifying moisture by which bodies are imbibed, washed, purified, and rectified. For it is the bath, the cleansing, and the antidote of bodies, without which the true tincture is not perfected. The tincting spirit, however, by the benefit and virtue of the preparing spirit, is extracted from the purified bodies. For it is necessary to choose what is homogeneous and common to both great luminaries, namely: sulphur from sulphur, and quicksilver from quicksilver, and one quicksilver from two quicksilvers. And this is called by men “the extracted,” because by human ingenuity it is separated by man and woman of the art through dissolution and putrefaction.
No water is suitable for the resolution of bodies unless it coagulates with them, remaining in the decoction — and it is none other than mineral water, viscous, pure, like the tear of the eye, or like the water of moist dew. There is nothing in the world that can take its place or fulfill its function. It is called by the Philosophers the water of life, the sharpest and most penetrating, the strongest water in all the world, divine water, and permanent water, once it is properly governed by maturation. Yet it cannot be permanent without its body, with which it is joined by gentle fire, and with which it is made one in union. For just as accidents cannot subsist without substances, so too spirits do not remain in the burning of fire unless they are joined to fixed bodies.
Therefore, where the Philosophers, writing in their books, made mention of azoth, quicksilver, mercurial water, pure water of sulphur, aqua fortis, living water, sharp water, and other moist substances that dissolve bodies — they were not speaking of vulgar things simply given by nature, but of moist vapors ingeniously extracted from the Philosopher’s Stone. They intended to be understood as saying that the whole preparation of the Stone is carried out with its own water from the beginning of the work to the end, without any admixture of an external thing. And this is the medium by which tinctures are joined — that which intimately purges and brightens the foulness of bodies, protecting them from the fire of fierce burning. Yet it is difficult to touch the medium. Therefore, by diverse processes completely alien to the work of nature, it happens most often that one errs shamefully in extremities.
That which does not enter in and does not mix, does not alter, nor does it effect transmutation in metallic bodies. It is therefore necessary that the tincture or medicine itself — the transforming agent — enter and penetrate to the depth of the alterable thing, and be like fixed oil, flowing easily over a sheet of metal (melting) without smoke.
And it must be such that it is poured or liquefied before the escape of the quicksilver, tinging it, and perpetuating it without any evaporation, fixing it upon the fire — and such that from the bodies transmuted by it, no violence of fire can separate or expel it, until they are rendered in perfect stability as silver or gold.
Here the wise are further advised not to cast any tincture upon unclean molten bodies unless their proper purification has previously taken place. Otherwise, after tests by fire, the unprepared transmuted bodies would be destroyed, and the tincture likewise separated from them.
For the intention of this art is nothing other than to bestow the nobility of the superior metal upon the inferior ones.
And because every tincture proceeds from its own likeness, it must come from the metals to be tinged, and not from any other things whatsoever which did not derive their origin from the pure substance of quicksilver and sulphur.
It is also common to all metals that their matter is very close, and among those having a symbol in matter and in natural powers, transmutation to one another is easy — only their differences are taken with respect to the more purified and digested.
Therefore, the dregs must be cleansed, and the undigested must be better digested; and by this degree of preparation, the corrupting accidents will be removed from them.
For only their pure metallic substance remaining, incorruptible, can be converted solely into the specific form of perfect metal.
Because the action of the active principles in the passive is upon what is predisposed.
There are three species in the mine fruitful only for the perfection of the tincturing stone, in which, duly prepared, the entire benefit of this consists — namely, the Solar stone, in which pure, red, non-burning sulphur is contained, and the Mercurial stone, intermediate, which embraces both natures.
Therefore, firmly conceal these species from idiots and the unworthy, and allow fools to err laboring in all other things, who will not arrive at the effect of this sublime magistery until the Sun and Moon are reduced into one body, which before the divine will is impossible to come about.
For this science is the greatest gift of the Most High God, and is reserved in His hand, who gives it to whom He wills, and from whom He wills He withholds it.
Sometimes, however, through lofty genius, from assiduous and lengthy reading of books, with immense investigation or the revelation of a faithful master, one attains its knowledge.
But because Plato commands us to rest from the most general to the most specific: from these principles, having set forth theoretical truth, the studious investigator will be able to draw conclusions with practical experiments for himself if he is well instructed in the books of the ancient and recent wise. Therefore, whoever rightly understands the codices and their mind will not doubt that I have brought forth the truth and revealed the secrets of the sacred principles of science; but if not, I have said almost nothing to him, because these things are not proposed to all, but only to the wise sons of doctrine.
Yet the experience of this art consists in demonstration to the outward senses and the capacity of intellect.
LATIN VERSION
DECLARATIO LAPIDIS PHYSICI AVICENNÆ FILIO
Suo Aboali.
Fili mi Aboali, intellige quod dico tibi de cognitione lapidis. Fili mi, ubi Philosophi dicunt in libris suis, Recipe sulphur & auripigmentum, non intrat in magisterium nostrum. Sed nominârunt sulphur & auripigmentum, explicantes lapidem Philosophorum, in quo lapide sulphur & arsenicum Philosophorum latent sive occultantur. Et quidem Philosophi dicunt, est lapis & non lapis, & est vilis in plateis, & in viis ejectus pedibus hominum calcatur, & ab unoquoque paupere potest acquiri, & est sulphur, quod non est sulphur, & est auripigmentum, quod non est auripigmentum, & est ovum gallinæ, bufo, sanguis humanus, capilli, & non dixerunt talia nomina nisi quod absconderunt magisterium, & scias pro certo, quod Philosophi non curaverunt de nominibus, nisi uno nomine, una actione, scilicet lapidem coquere, & animam ejus inducere. Quia lapis eorum semper unus est, in quo omnem bonitatem expectant, & non est alius in hoc sæculo qui sit de tali potentia & effectu præter hunc lapidem. Hic ergo est lapis & non lapis, sine quo natura nihil operatur, cujus nomen est Mercurius vivus, multis tamen nominibus Philosophi ipsum nominârunt, aut nuncupârunt, quorum nomina non possunt enumerari propter suæ excellentiæ naturam. Hic est vere lapis Philosophorum, & est non alius præter ipsum, qui opus recipit & bibit, ex quo omne corpus apparêt. Et non confici hoc magisterium nisi Regibus, & altioribus, & repletis diuitiis, quia hoc magisterium est sempiternum, & qui non habet diuitias quomodo operetur, quia decet operatorem habere 60 ℥ Mercurii puri, id est, arg. vivi, non sophisticati ad minus, propter humorem illius extrahēdum, ad perficiendum totum opus, quia totum magisterium est in vapore. Fili mi, nunc veniunt stulti quotidie, & operantur, sicut inuenerunt in libris, super sulphur & arsenicum, & super Mercurium per sublimationes, calcinationes corporum perfectorum & imperfectorum, & per resolutiones aquarum diuersarum, salium & acetì, & per coagulationes & fixationes, & per amalgamationes, & non possunt pertingere ad veram perfectionem, & non est mirum, quia ipsi idiotae non intelligunt mentem Philosophorum, & semper dicunt quod magisterium non est verum, & quod hi Philosophi errant mendaces. Ideo fili mi composui istud capitulum, & illuminaui caelos, & aperui thesauros & cadenas, & intelligere faciam insipientes, id quod non intellegebant, & solui ligaturas vocabulorum, & dixi tibi fili cum veritate Dei secretum Philosophorum, & eorum intentionem, & ideo mando tibi quod librum istum nemini des nisi filio, & filius tuus filio suo, & sic de generatione in generationem, & hoc sapientioribus illorum. Et scias fili mi, quod malum feci, quod reuelaui tibi puritatem doni illius. Non reuelabis hoc sanctum laudabile opus. Et dico tibi fili in veritate quod Philosophi cum aliis rebus non fuerunt operati, nisi cum sanguine capillorum, & ovis exemplariter, id est, nisi cum quatuor elementis. Et notandum est hodie de praeparatione 4. elementorum, quae steterunt in fimo calido equino sicut oportuit. Et primò distilla, & quod primò exiet serua seorsum, quia ista est aqua. Reitera aquam per distillationem, & quod distillabitur serua, & ista est simplex, pone sub fimo & serua, & quod remanebit in fundo cucurbitae, serua seorsum, quia est terra.
Definitio scientiae secretorum Philosophiae naturalis: Est aquae à terra extractio, & eiusdem corporis super terram propriam suam praeparatam conversio seu reductio. Haec quidem terra cum aqua sua putrescit & abluitur, quae cum munda sit vel fuerit auxilio Dei totum dirigetur magisterium. Primò namque conatur solvere terram, ut ad sui modum subtilitem habeat naturam, quod sit cum vicerint in ea aquae qualitates. Deinde cum terra nititur aquam condensare, ut secum figatur, & omnem sustineat ignem, & hoc fit cum vicerint in eo terrae qualitates, quoniam hujus artis fundamentum & operis exordium est corporis in aquam resolutio, quod Philosophi corruptionem seu putrefactionem nominant, sine qua circularis metallorum transmutatio non fit ad invicem. Corruptio enim unius est generatio alterius. Quia generationis & corruptionis eadem sunt principia.
Lapis philosophicus ex re vili consurgit in thesaurum pretiosissimum, videlicet ex spermate Solis in matricem Mercurii projecto per coitum, id est, per commixtionem primam. Et haec est proxima eius materia de qua elicitur. Propinquissima vero est humor seminalis, decisus per actum generationis ex singulis partibus utriusque parentis, sc. corporis & Mercurii. Quia solummodo humores radicales corporum sunt essentiales ipsius lapidis partes. Et etiam ex duobus entibus in natura non sit, unum per modum agentis, aliud per modum patientis, se habeant ad invicem, vel quod alterum fiat in potentia.
Ex speciebus itaque limpidissimis, quae à primis mineralium fontibus sumpsere originem, duci debet sapientum elixir & medicina ad omne imperfectum perficiendum transformandumque, & non ex aliis. Jubent enim Philosophi elementa cruda, munda, sincera ac recta accipere, & super levem ignem coquere, dicentes, si siccus fiat proderit nihil. Dicunt etiam accipite res de mineris suis puras recentes, propinquiores & meliores, & ad montium cacumina seu ad astra coeli exaltate, & etiam ad radices suas reducite, & factum est totum clarificationum & fixationum rei magisterii, & qui sapientum tincturam utiliter quaeris componere, radices cognosce minerales, consciens ex illis opus tuum. Quia cognitio corporum & naturae qualitatum, principii, ac regiminis ipsorum, est ex hoc quod perficit opus facile.
Ex rebus corporeis in natura maxime convenientibus elicitur ipsa medicina. Summè enim oportet ex illis potissimum tincturam accipere, in quibus maxime consistit. Est autem tam in corporibus, quam in ipsis spiritibus, secundum naturam, cum unius reperta sint naturae. Sed ex corporibus quidem difficilius, ex spiritibus vero seu argento vivo facilius & propinquius, non autem perfectius tinctura ipsa seu medicina corporum elicitur. Quare album item & rubeum ex una radice procedunt, & nullo alterius generis corpore interveniente pullulant. Unus enim lapis, & operatio ipsius una, qui igne uno, sola coctione, in album & rubrum sulphur non urens, in vase uno, digeritur ac perficitur successive.
Oportet autem, ut formam magni elixiris educant de potentia materiae suae propinquae, in qua naturaliter consistit. Sed in eadem elementorum invisitata grossitie latet abscondita, ideo lapis vegetabilis, lapis & non lapis, & originalis ac primordialissimus per dicitur, quia est in fieri seu in via digestionis nondum per naturam fixus, neque ad metalli perfecti esse terminatus specificum, & habet se ad Mercurium vulgi causam, sicut ad lac coagulum, & per hoc quod ipsum coagulat, cognoscitur.
Quoniam ante formas specificas, metallorum contemperantias, sulphur & argentum praeexistere oportet, & depurationem eorundem cum alteratione.
Expedit etiam ut elementa lapidis sint eiusdem generis, & non diversi, alias actionem & passionem mutuam invicem non haberent. Quoniam unum non tingeret aliud, quibus alienum non introducitur, quia non convenit rei nisi propinquius sit ei de sui natura. Cui si quid apponatur extraneum infici tur opus, nec fiet ex ipso quod quaeritur ab opifice, sed alius sequetur effectus, qui in naturae & artis cura non exsistit. Quandoquidem non sit aliqua generatio vera, nisi ex convenientibus in natura.
Necesse est denique ut grossities compositionis elementorum corrumpens, deturpans, & adustibilis, ingeniosa deleatur praeparatione, & spissitudo lapidea terrestris, & inutilis, à metallica substantia dividatur; antequam ipsorum elementorum univoca ac perfecta fiat complexio, assando, conterendo, & digerendo patienter & suaviter, usque ad suum simplex, & in veram essentiam quintam redigatur; videlicet in ens simplicissimum, & purissimum, igneum non urens, quod quidem non est aliud, nisi calor purus, naturalis, infusus in suo humido radicali. Quoniam ignis jugiter decoquens ex sui officio partes homogeneas adunat, & heterogeneas vero disgregando tanquam pabulum devorat & assumit in favillam.
Volunt iterum Philosophi, quod manifestum occultetur, & occultum rei efficiatur manifestum, hoc est, ut spissitudo terrestris sulphurea, & inflammabilis, sufficienter apparens in commixto debeat artificis tolli solertia. Illa vero intrinseca pura ac splendida substantia, in radice rei à primordio plantata naturae, in manifestum deducatur per accidentium corruptionem, spoliationem, quae experientia facilis est & possibilis, ex quo rei intrinseca suae extrinsecae qualitatis est oppositum, & contrarium est eadem disciplina, quae juxta se sita magis videntur lucescere.
Mortificatione praeterea volatilium, ut figantur, & ab igne non fugiant, & vivificatione mortuorum jacentium seu fixorum, procul dubio est opportuna. Qui enim novit mortificare, & post mortem resuscitare, magister est huius dogmatis, & qui hoc ignorat manum subtrahat ab opere, & animum suum non fatiget in his quae non poterit pervenire. Ea vero revivificas, quorum species, quorum spiritus sublevatione reddis.
Mortui enim cum resurgunt perpetui sunt, & amplius non moriuntur, sed ad vitam glorificantur immortalem sine termino duraturam.
Artis Philosophiae singulare ingenium non quaerit, ut rude vulgus objicere solet, Aurum vel argentum de novo facere. Quia haec natura visceribus terrae consuevit generare.
Sed solummodo artifex organice & instrumentaliter operatur, formam auri & argenti ex materia ad hoc disposita eliciens, & motum dans naturæ, ut per temperatum artis coctionem excitata de potentia in actum deducatur. Quia quamvis lapis sapientum naturaliter in se tincturam contineat, quæ in ventre terræ creata est perfecte, ac tum per se nō tingit, nec ex ipso fit elixir, nisi artificis industria & operatione moveatur. Et natura ipso artifice ministrante operatur. Ex quo virtutis effectus omnis in exercitationis usu consistere, non ambigitur. In decoctione corporum imperfectorem aut incompletorum artificiali, necesse est calorem ignis extrinsecum & moderantem ita esse proportionalem, ne virtus intrinseca agens, ac perficiens suffocaretur vel superetur in aliquo, &c. hæc est vis tenuissimi sulphuris pura, & simplex, ignea non urens, quæ vocatur lumen luminum, quia est forma & splendor omnium metallorum, & illuminat omnia corpora, quoniam est lumen, & tinctura, illustrans & perficiens omne corpus. Et si artifex hujus magistrii hoc lumen non cognoscit, tanquam in tenebris ambulans multipliciter per devia errat, propter elongationem ejus à veritate, & unitate hujus scientiæ. Quia quod bonum est uno modo sit, malum autem plurimis modis, cum erroribus fere infinitis. Dato enim inconvenienti uno, plura sæpenumero consequuntur.
Si activæ passivis, & passivæ activis bene applicantur, ita ut sese optimè complectantur ad invicem, & si ignis calor, ut dictum est, debito proportionetur modo: Tunc secundum Philosophos intra naturæ & artis digestionem non erit differentia, ex quo digestio est perfectio à naturali & proprio calido ex oppositis passivis, id est, ex qualitatibus seu elementis contrariis. Mercurius enim tingens non habetur actu super terram, nisi ex corporibus liquefactis & mundis assumatur, non vulgari quidem liquefactione, sed ea qua masculus & fæmina vero conjugio super ignis asperitate inseparabiliter uniuntur. Quoniam ex masculo & fæmina sit tantum generatio vera.
Elixir perfectè completum, sive sapientum tinctura, respectu metallorum operatione diminutorum, habet se per modum formæ & agentis potissimi, dummodo eisdem præparatis tanquam materiæ suæ propinquæ in fluxu appositum permisceatur. Quoniam tunc ea complet, figit, ac perficit, & colore tingit invariabili, semper in asperitate ignis permanente. Et hæc est vera hominum & metallorum medicina, lætificans, ac transformans, nec post Deum est alia quæ fugat paupertatem, & omnem languorem ab humanis expellit corporibus, ipsa in sanitate conservando, ad cujus notitiam paucissimi tempestate nostra pervenerunt medicorum.
In materia minus bene praeparata non convenit aliquid operari, proportio enim Thesaurus hujus rei & auspicium complenti.
Iteratio autem proportionis est artis Arcanum. Præparatio siquidem est actus, disponens ad terminum motus seu perfectionis, per quem imperfecta ad metalli esse specificum terminantur, & hoc fit motu, lumine, & calore. Deficiente autem calore, deficit motus, quia omnis actio naturalis, sive artificialis, suum habet motum, & tempus debitum, in quo majoris, aut minoris temporis spatio perficitur, aut terminatur, quia nihil agit ultra suam speciem. Forma ergo adveniens specifica complet, & cessare facit motum, & agens cogitur tunc a materia separari.
Ad hoc quoque ut fiat vera, totalis, & perfecta rerum commixtio, quæ est miscibilium alteratorū unio, requiritur identitas naturarum, in subtilitatis ac puritatis proportione, & æqualitate, alias non commiscerentur per minima, neque se complecterentur invicem, ante ipsorum sufficientem præparationem. Quoniam spiritus & anima lapidis non uniuntur cum corpore, nisi albo colore. Et in conjunctione spiritus & corporis, tota debet esse operantis intentio, quia usque ad albedinem, humiditatis corruptio, & fœminæ viget dominium. Sed in vera albedine terminatur ac consumitur, & tunc deinceps vir suæ uxori incipit dominari, suo ipsam colore stabili decorando.
Hoc duntaxat oportet esse, ut corpora à natura grossa attenuentur, ac subtilientur, donec fiant spiritualia, levia, & munda. Spiritus vero qui rari sunt corporentur & ingrossientur, usquequò cum corporibus in igne permaneant. Sapientes enim asseruerunt veteres, nisi corpora feceritis incorporæa & spiritus corporeos, nondum viam & operandi regulam invenistis. Et hoc est spiritum rarefacere, & alleviare ponderosum, ex quo omne subtile dignius est grosso, sicut omne rarum spisso. Quoniam non possunt gravia nisi levium consortio superius elevari, nec levia nisi gravium virtute inferius detineri ac fixari. Corpus non agit in spiritum, sed tantum spiritus in corpus agit penetrando, ut igitur agant & patiantur vicissim, calcineantur & abluantur corpora per frequentem aquæ suæ irrigationem. Spiritus vero mundentur sublimatione, usque ad ultimum puritatis gradum veniant. Quæ subinde resoluta ut aqua mixta aquæ inseparabiliter uniuntur & permanent, ita quod ignis violentia de cætero non separentur ea. Quia omne genus calcinati fixum est, & facilioris resolutionis, quam absque calcinatione, absque qua ustibilitas sulphurea removeri non potest, neque ad intimam corporum mundificationem sine ipsa valemus pervenire.
Spiritus in hac arte duplex est, scilicet præparans & tingens. Spiritus præparans est, qui corpora putrefacit, corrumpit, resolvit, & in primam materiam reducit, & habet in se humidum rectificans, quo corpora imbibuntur, abluuntur, mundantur ac rectificantur, quia corporum est lavacrum, purgamentum, & antidotum, sine quo tinctura verax non perficitur. Spiritus vero tingens, beneficio ac virtute præparantis spiritus, à corporibus mundis extrahitur, oportet enim eligere, quod amborum mundi luminarium homogoneum est, & commune, quod est sulphur de sulphure, & argentum vivum de argento vivo, & unum arg. vivum de duobus arg. viv. & hoc vocatur ab hominibus extractum, quia humano ingenio à viro & muliere artis eliquatur solutione ac putrefactione mediante.
Nulla aqua corporibus in resolutione convenit, quæ cum eis non coagularur permanente in decoctione, & non est alia, nisi aqua mineralis, viscosa, munda, ut lachryma oculi, vel sicut aqua roris madidi, non est aliquid in mundo, quod possit stare loco ejus, aut ipsius supplere vicem, & vocatur à Philosophis aqua vitæ, acutum acerrimum, aqua fortior totius mundi, aqua divina & aqua permanens, postquam regitur maturando, quæ tamen absque suo corpore, cum quo igne miti conjuncta est, & cum eodem facta unione, permanens esse non potest, quia sicut accidentia sine substantiis non valent subsistere, sic spiritus in ignis combustionē non permanent, nisi fuerint fixis corporibus sociati. Ubi igitur Philosophi in suis scribentēs libris de azoth. arg. vivo, aqua Mercuriali, aqua sulphuris munda, aqua forti, aqua viva, aqua acuta, & aliis humiditatibus corpora solventibus fecerunt mentionem, non sunt locuti de rebus vulgaribus simpliciter à natura datis, sed de humidis vaporibus, à lapide Philosophorum extractis ingenio, voluerunt intelligere, dicentes, quod tota ipsius lapidis præparatio sit cum aqua ejus, à principio operis usque ad finem, sine alterius rei extraneæ admistione, & hoc est medium conjungendi tincturas, quod corporum fœditatem intimè purgat & illustrat, ipsa ab igne vehementis ustionis defendendo, sed difficile est medium tangere. Ideo diversis processibus, ab opere naturæ penitus alienis, contigit ut plurimum vitiosè per extrema oberrare. Quod non ingreditur & non commiscetur non alterat, nec transmutationem efficit in corporibus metallorum. Necessarium ergo est, ut tinctura seu medicina ipsa diminuta transformans ad opus, ingrediatur & penetret usque ad profundum rei alterabilis, & sit ut oleum fixum, facile fluat super laminam alicujus metalli (eandentem) sine fumo.
Et quod fundatur sive liquefiat ante argenti vivi fugam, ipsum tingendo, & absque omni evaporatione perpetuando, ac fixando super ignem, & quod a corporibus per ipsam transmutatis nulla ignis violentia exprimatur, aut separetur, donec sint stabilitate perfecta Lunaria vel Solaria.
Consulentur hic ultra sapientes, ne fiat alicujus tincturae super infecta corpora fusa projectio, nisi eorum debita purgatione praecedente, alioquin post deratas probationes corpora sine praeparatione transmutata super ignis examine destrueretur, & tinctura similiter separabitur ab eisdem.
Quoniam hujus artis intentio no est aliud, nisi inferiobus metallis nobilitatem superioris attribuere.
Et quia omnis tinctura a suo procedit simili, ex metallis tingendorum, non autem ex aliis quibuscunque rebus, quae suam ab arg. vivo & sulphuris pura substantia non duxerunt originem.
Commune etiam est metallis omnibus, quod materia eorum est valde propinqua, & inter habentia symbolum in materia, & in potentiis naturalibus, facilis est ad se invicem transmutatio, solummodo ipsorum differentiae sumuntur penes magis depuratum & digestum.
Mundentur ergo faeculenta, & digerantur melius indigesta, & hoc modo praeparationis gradus, accidentia corrumpentia removebuntur ab eisdem.
Sola enim ipsorum pura metallina substantia remanens, incorruptaque, tantummodo in metalli perfecti speciem est convertibilis.
Quoniam actus activorum in patiente sunt praedisposito.
Tres sunt in mineris species ad lapidis tingentis perfectionem solummodo fructuosae, in quibus debite praeparatis totum hujus consistit beneficium, videlicet lapis Solaris, in quo purum sulphur purum rubeum non urens, & lapis Mercurialis, intermedialis, quae utramque complectitur naturam.
Has igitur species ab idiotis & indignis firmiter occultabis, & permitte fatuos in omni re alia laborando errare, qui ad huj sublimis magisterii effectum no perveniet, donec Sol & Luna in unum corpas redigantur, quod ante voluntatem divinam venire est impossibilie.
Quoniam haec scientia est donum Dei altissimi maximum, & in manu ipsius reservatur, qui cui vult largitur, & a quo vult substrabit.
Nonnunquam tamen per ingenium altum ex librorum assidua & prolixa lectione, cum investigatione immensa, aut revelatione fidelis magistri, ad ipsius pervenitur notitiam.
Sed quia a generalissimis ad specialissima jubet Plato quiescere: ex his itaque principiis, theorica veritate prolatis, studiosus investigator conclusiones cum experimentis practicae sibi elicere poterit, si in libris sapientum veterum ac recentium optime fuerit institutus. Qui ergo codices & mentem ipsorum recte intellexerit, non ambigit me veritatem protulisse, & sanctae scientiae principia detexisse arcana; sin autem, pene illi nihil dixi, quia ista non omnibus, sed tantum sapientibus doctrinae filiis proponantur.
Veruntamen hujus artis experientia in oculari sensus demonstratione & capacitate intellectus consistit.