A Singular Teaching from a written book
Written by H. Aquila of Thuringia.
You should know that there is one thing among those which are the seven planets, and indeed the least among them, from whose body is drawn the blood of the Green Lion, the Water of Life, and it is called by many names.
From this water an earth is prepared, which is called a living sulfur, a calx of gold, silver, and the other metallic bodies. In such earth is fire, and in the water is air; and the earth putrefies with its water until the four Elements can be separated from them.
To complete the Elixir, it is enough to separate the water from the earth, to prepare the earth through calcination, to rectify the water through circulation, to put them together, and to coagulate them, as has been indicated.
Therefore, when you read in the books of the philosophers, “Take this” or “Take that,” always understand it to refer to this Stone, or to its separated and divided parts.
For when it is said, “Take arsenic,” understand by this the fire of the Stone. By “sulfur,” understand the air, and sometimes also the fire. By “sal ammoniac,” which is not dissolved, understand the earth. By “ammoniac” without addition, understand the air. By “mercury,” understand the water, or also Mercury alone. Take good heed of this, and remember it.
By “sublimated Mercury,” understand the water which has been sublimated from its salt and shall be coagulated into a salt again. This is called the saltpeter and sulfur of Bacon, which coagulates all Mercury; for it is no common sulfur.
Furthermore, when you read among the philosophers, “Take the mercury,” then beware of common quicksilver. When you read, “Take sulfur,” then let arsenic and common sulfur go. When you read, “Take philosophical lead,” then keep away from the mixture. For the Green Lion, do not take vitriol or copper; for the Sun, take gold; for the Moon, take silver.
In washings, beware of salts, corrosives, and sharp waters that are not prepared from metals; for the metals themselves are called corrosives.
In sublimation, mix nothing foreign with the Stone. In distillation, do not take off the skin. In calcination, do not draw out the moisture. In projection, eat nothing unclean, but only what is pure.
In the preparation, set the vessel in once, open it once, and seal it again once. If you do it more often, it is not good.
Take care that you do not place the Stone in the heap of Mercury, which Solomon advised against in his Proverbs. For it is a Stone, a Medicine, under mineral names, a work changed in many ways. When you obtain it, do not make it common, but work in a hidden place, so that no one notices it, and so that you do not cause offense and invite a heavy judgment and vengeance upon yourself from people and from God.
For if anyone offers this Art for sale, such a person should not expect a long life, because it is more a divine than a human Elixir, which God wishes to reveal only to the worthy.
Therefore, pay attention to my teaching, so that you may harvest the golden and silver fruits, enjoy the labor of your hands, and lead your life all the more blessedly to the praise and honor of the High God and for your own benefit, always mindful of the Psalm:
If wealth comes to you, do not set your heart upon it; but the heart should be grounded in God, who is far more than everything that is in the world.
And let your desire be directed toward riches which do not grow old, but remain until eternal life, which may He share with us, He who lives without end, from eternity to eternity.
Amen.