The Seven Shades of the Hermetic Philosophical Work, Followed by a Treatise on the Perfection of Metals
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THE SEVEN SHADES OF THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHICAL WORK,
FOLLOWED BY A TREATISE ON THE PERFECTION OF METALS,
Put under the Avant-Title
LDDP
BE AS SIMPLE AS CHILDREN, OR YOU WILL NOT SEE MY FATHER'S KINGDOM.
Science & Wisdom of JC
The fourteenth year of my striking Prognosis, & in the fifth of its happy vindication: UNDER THE FIRST GENERATION A WAIT WILL NOT BE FRUITFUL. Mysterious Zodiac, 1772, page 184, at LEGAUT, Quai de Gêvres.
May Books forever be composed, printed & distributed at the expense of Men rich in wisdom, science & fortune! In this view we have already torn from several ancient Monuments various materials, to establish THE PHILOSOPHY MADE FAMILIAR TO THE MENU PEOPLE.
THE SEVEN SHADES OF HERMETIC PHILOSOPHICAL WORK;
When GOD, DIVINE CREATOR, had, to speak figuratively, arrived at the day which he had predestined to create matter, he ordered, & matter was created.
The matter was, so that the forms were comprehensible, & the effective properties, to beings that the Creator was not to create like him, without number, without forms, without weight [2] nor colors, & finally-without being composed.
For matter to be comprehensible to beings, they also had to be made of matter; & for matter to be useful to them, it was necessary that it had reached in itself its first degree of perfection, since the first virtues or properties of matter & of all that was already formed from it, had to be the physical germ of the human embryo, as the Creator of the soul, of spirit & of matter, was its Principle.
No. 1.
God created the First Matter, such as we see it in this first vase ( a ): [3] such, say the Philosophers, it had to have come out of the mind of the Lord such that it had to be necessarily as simple as possible, containing within it all palpable principle of generation & all elementary qualities & properties.
This first material seems to me quite well to be this light moss ( * ) which grows over time on old thatched roofs and on the ruins of Buildings.
It is by casting, as an Observer of ruins, and as a man, frivolous and solid gazes on the ravages of past centuries and of the present, that one remembers having seen this kind of moss, or better [4] this true mineral of Nature (b), alive, mixed with white & yellow, & green, extremely spongy, & put in this vase without any fluid, having itself attracted the one you see there now .
The base of this small part of the First Matter, with which, we repeat it according to all the Philosophers, the Lord formed the palpable Universe is, we believe it, an assemblage of particles of the universal Magnetics, which as they rested on the stone or on the stubble caught up elementary particles, to the point of forming a sensitive body & perfectly resembling this aforementioned foam . [5]
This small part of First Matter is therefore formed of the atoms of the Universal Spirit, and embodied by elementary atoms.
This Universal Spirit is not, with the mad Materialists, the Motive Spirit; but, to express ourselves, its emanation become substance, humidity, coagulation, forming a compound spirit, which can have the name Prime Matter.
It is thus, we have said elsewhere, that the vapor which issues from man is not directly him, but an emanation which cannot be without him; and it is finally, from man to God, his wisdom, his understanding, his will; the breath, the humidity, the correspondence of the grown man, healthy and pure, which becomes a universal agent for the preservation of the life of the child, at the moment when some malignant influence tends to remove the vital principle from him; astonishing miracle, lost by the decline of the foolish man. [6]
This spirit, Raw Material, the first physical germ of all Nature, swims & pierces the elements, gives them being, vivifies them, feeds them & embodies them.
These accumulations of magnetic particles 1, & elementary 4, have in them, for the number 2, 3 principles, salt, sulfur & mercury; but subtracting spirit 1, very pure from matter, and setting aside 2, which is the man for whom everything has been made perceptible, this body of palpable nature, which you see in this vase, will really only offer the number 7.
If 1 the principle, has in view 2 the man, it is necessary that 2 touches 1, & that 3 is the side sought & easily found.
It is, I protest, by listening to numbers that one can develop Nature; but without extending ourselves, let us say that if 3 is closer to 1 than 4, [7] that the three Principles of Nature, salt, sulfur & mercury, give birth & maintenance, to the four elements, as 1 to the three principles, &, all these numbers will therefore be well placed in this strong, 4, 3, 2, 1, = 10.
If nevertheless men, both philosophers and vulgar scholars, and even ignoramuses, do not agree on the number of elements, the latter only follow the external forms; in place of the 4, elements, we will put the 4 of the cardinal points of the palpable Universe; & in the center of 4 placing unity, the false Scholars in high sciences, who write wise Magic, will no longer say, as unjustly as ineptly, that 5 is an abominable number.
Yes, 5 is an abominable number when it is taken in opposition to the sacred 5 of all Philosophers & of Nature itself; but not the true 5 x 10 = 50, door of intelligence.
Whoever sees 4, & does not imagine [8] the 1 radiating in the middle, first sees matter without spirit & whoever, after the quadrilateral of the Hebrews does not see the sign of life in 5, is an ignoramus in high Sciences.
5 is the first sacred, or so-called sacred number, and the one who makes it sing by the physical law to despise it, is a Chaldean, and not a Disciple of the First & wise Egyptians.
Everything has its law of flow & correspondence from heaven to earth, & from earth to heaven, up to the highest heaven, each heaven having its exaltation, & this is what the true route of the Hermetic Work represents to you.
If I have shown you the raw material, and the two main places where you can find it, because it accumulates there without trouble, remember that it is even infinitely purer in man, as the good and very Philosopher Morien said to King Calide: King, you have everything in you, because the eye of God is pleased on you, and [9] his finger touches you directly even in the kidneys ( c ) .
Children of the Hermetic Art, may these words of the virtuous Morien not mislead us; his intention supported by the truth, was not to throw us into error.
If you use anything other than the one thing, you will not succeed; this is the sentiment of all Adepts.
How much nonsense say those who do not hear Morien & other Philosophers!
How a hundred thousand times more misguided are those who put forward black ideas drawn from the infernal abyss where their spirit likes to travel! They are not victims of gross ignorance; neither have they sucked the milk of swine: but worse, they are monsters already bound to the perpetual stake.
One of these abominable men made me shudder, and, should we say, fall [10] backwards: what would have been said if he had been punished with death? He deserved it.
He caused the most subtle poison to flow into the soul of the weak, and by perfidious probability, decked out in the mantle he had stolen from the Truth, he offered the lie as if it had been that virtue, the Truth, so dear and so sacred to all men, even to brigands.
The flos coelis, the vitriol, the common salt, the urine, the saliva, the dew, the ashes, the coal, in short, a number of things which have been particularly spoken of. the unknown Philosopher ( * ) (to make fun of an Assembly of false Philosophers, who each in their opinion, were only true false with regard to the unique thing,) are not to be despised, because everything in Nature, and impregnated with this divine thing.
Yes, with tour, you will operate surprising things, if you drive what you will employ with intelligence; [11] but that you find in everything the universal Medicine, and the Powder of projection, that is something else.
Matter is only one, it is Nature that gives it; & if God or, a Friend, said the Philosophers, does not discover it to you, you will waste your time, & also unjustly your money, because that does not cost a penny (d ) .
Why should six to seven thousand Disciples of the great Hermes who are present in Paris, and of whom my Father (to express myself in the manner of this wise man) only looks at more than [12] thousand with a benign eye, do they not all believe that they are on the true road of the triple Arcana?
We all pass over the Bridge which covers it; each subject that we use is tinged with the universal spirit, and we see how the Sages guided it; but nimium ne crede colori , do not rely too much on color: the Sages have seen well, and you can see badly; it takes more than appearances.
Having the Raw Material in your hands, you must promptly put it [13] in a small vase & seal it hermetically; but so that the universal spirit does not escape, put your foam on a magnet ( * ).
This magnet is also a mystery that I will reveal to you.
This magnet is nothing but a vinegar sweet as milk; & without wanting to play the Philosopher, nor to increase the sum of the words, it is a little sourness composed of sulfur & mercury, already united & friends; it takes little & costs nothing, for nothing costs more than the vase, which need not be a glass egg, for in the time of Hermes there was no English glass, & not even an Englishman by name, any more than a Frenchman.
This sulfur & this mercury form an acquaintance with the sulfur & mercury of your little moss, & then the universal spirit [14] readily does not notice that it has changed its place (e ) .
In this state you travel quietly—with the one thing, without fear of the wicked ( f ) & half an ounce for a single man is quite sufficient for a thousand years; So do you play with the ignorant who says he brought fifty pounds of it from London weighing: it is everywhere, and the work is done at all times, although the Solitaire prefers Sagittarius and Aries, as Libra is preferred by the Cavalier.
The First Material, put in a small vase, like a goblet, & well [15] adapted by a little mercury & united sulfur, you sprinkle it with ununited sulfur & mercury.
The fight which then takes place surpasses anything that can be written about it; but peace is born from the triumph of one of the two, & they are friends in more or less time, according to the skill of the Artist, 7, 14, or 21 days.
When they are united, put the salt, (it is not really salty) then the fight is a hundred times more violent; but admirable thing, the universal spirit likes itself more than ever, & to help the combatants, it pumps the fluid which borders the vase; but as this elementary fluid is not pure, (perhaps this is not the reason) one sees in this vase only hideous things, of which I will speak in the second Nuance: finally, the fight finished, everything is exhausted from fatigue, & the work in this state is resembling the lie of the Ignorant, so hideous is it to see, but better to possess; because the numbers 4 & 3 are already subtracted, [16] since it does not such that, the most perfect unity.
There are several roads, yes, because I draw salt, sulfur & mercury from the Garden of Eden, & I no longer see the garden; but follow the route that I indicate, & do not say that I hide something, since you can justify it by the aspect of my Process.
I hide nothing, because in the little that I do, I like to imitate our illustrious Cabaliste M. de S. Germain, ( g ) true & unique Author of the Philalethes . [17]
Salt, sulfur & mercury are drawn from the raw material, or drawn from Nature itself by a magnet, & I have named the magnet to you literally, & this magnet is everywhere.
If you do not put this foam into action, it will not be acted as it is in you; but, in the name of the truth, out of more than a hundred who told me they knew it, I only met one who spoke the truth; for I know the true matter, although I am not an Adept. [18]
No. II.
When the fight is over, after 21 & 31 days, which makes 52 at most, what a surprise! a chaos, a cesspool, black, oily, a private throwing out an unbearable exhalation.
Yes, a terrible liquid that you can lock up in a glass egg, or better drop, drop by drop on a little grill made of matches, raised from the bottom of your second vase on four pins.
Your liquor, or this monster, will coagulate as it falls, & after more or less time, (from six weeks to seven months) being black, more than black, your spirit of Pluto will lose the rage with the forces, will strip itself of its skin, & will flee in spirit, carrying with it all its venom.
Its skin will remain with you, and it will serve as food for animals of all kinds, and all of them very hideous.
They will all end badly, because they [19] were born of the flesh , and not of the spirit ; then your work will be offered to you as you see it, black, furrowed with the color of red wood, & dyed with big green.
Let your work rest, which, having suffered well, asks for rest: you will believe it to be in good health when it pumps out the fluid, and when a green liquor falls from its belly.
Now is the time to clip his wings, for he would wither with his tears.
Change it from an upside-down vase to a new grill.
No. III.
At the same moment he will take the white & the green, & the green will be permanent, & your work will blossom.
No. IV.
When you see it changing shades, leaving meadow green to take on white, verdigris & yellow, you will be delighted; for then you will recognize [20] the great truths of the Philosophers.
Yes, that will seem like a phenomenon to you, and it will be a great one for you.
No. v.
From no. III, up to & including N°. VI, do not change vessels. Here Nature begins to be perfect in your work; it is the most beautiful future you have seen in your days, I tell you in imitation of Nature.
The freshness, the colors, the alternating movement, everything is preparing to show you the four Seasons of a perfectly located climate.
No. VI.
In this sixth vase is the entire turn of the Zodiac; ten volumes would not be enough to trace all that happens there the very attention that one would have to have to render the order of the operations of Nature, would require time, patience, & another pen: I will therefore simply say that in these four [21] Seasons, one sees Nature there developing step by step with the same order & the same ratio of time, that is to say from one to four: one sees there:
The Sun, the Moon, the stars, the clouds, the thunder, the rain, the dew, the frosts, the ice, the snow, the mountains, the caves, the volcanoes, the valleys, the forests, the orchards, the countryside, the pastures, the seas, the springs, the rivers, the lakes, the trees, the flowers, the fruits, the metals, the minerals, the fine stones, the animals; the fish swim there, the birds fly there, and the spirit of man covers its surface: oh! man, you don't know who you are.
No. VII.
Truly, in a new vase, you must have, after the end of the winter of your work, taken your matter, which is nothing more than a chaos, in a perfect rest; you must have rolled it slightly with a cylindrical figure of 1 by 2, [22] as you see it dry & plunged into a bath where it is refreshed, moistened without being soaked or suffocated.
She takes, as you see, a royal cloak, shaded with all the brightest colors, and as a result she will strip herself of her cloak.
Then it is a gray-white stone, & is so solid, that your weight, nor the strength of your fingers, cannot make it change shape.
So you take the fire of the Sages, & others say their double mercury; but, supposed, in this one, your stone becomes, soft, & consequently dissolves, they say , & becomes a transparent, odoriferous oil, & at the bottom of your vase is your body, which is a white powder, & which, then, you lead to red.
I have just said, they say , because I have not yet gone further than the gray-white stone, which, without further preparation, tints iron into copper, and, it is assured, is real copper. Thus ends the Seventh Shade. [23]
I have said, in truth, the road that I take; I believe it to be true, but not the only one: it is not the same with the first material, there cannot be two of them, & without making any mystery of it, I show it to whoever is & will be curious to see it, as long as I will be in pursuit of the Work (h ) .
In order for you to know if you really possess the moss that I have indicated to you, I will tell you that once removed from the place where it originated, and having fixed it in your first vase covered with a flat glass, it will attract humidity to the quantity of its weight.
Secondly, in all your vessels; [24] it will attract humidity, which more, which less, up to a quarter of a fish, measure of Paris.
In third place ; in your sixth vase, the water that will be there will not wet your fingers, but will just have the effect of mercury when you touch it.
And in the fourth, the winter of your sixth vase will be total when your matter is without humidity, and you will be informed of this when your matter, making a last effort, will pump out more fluid than it has yet done. Little remains to tell you.
Many people fresh out of the yeast of the Philosophers will say that if I have read them, I submit very little to their language. I answer, having seen a hundred good works on Hermetic Philosophy, and especially the Book of Thoth , the Pymander of Hermes ; the Cosmopolitan of Philalethes , I have not attached my memory to words nor to various roads which lead to the same goal. [25]
I advance without pride that no one of the great men , can show more than me, in their works ( i ), the perpetual, annual and daily movements and effects of Nature, not in fictions, like many young Disciples, but in reality, that is to say, that Nature is agitated, that volcanoes open between each other, that trees come out of the ground and remain until they are cut down; thus of all that I said N°. VI. [26]
One can also be certain that I have abandoned in this N°. VI, & in the others more than a thousand & a thousand beauties that amaze all those who come daily to my house, see the ephemeral nuances of my Work.
If however, I will say, zealous Amateur of our Sciences, I fail at the Port ( k ), which I do not think, never [27] take occasion to speak against this sublime branch of the wise Cabal; for you would pass, with more reason than I, on the contrary, for an indiscreet vis-à-vis educated men, and those who deserve to be.
It is with the Study of Hermetic Philosophy, as with Divination, always as a natural science; for I never mean to speak of what is above or below the human mind or heart.
The study generally of all sciences, is not the possession of them, but of more or less strong first lights, until one has reached the point of possessing them, and then of cultivating them as a Master, that is to say without any other need.
It is not as a Master that I write on the High Sciences, it is as a Disciple, but as a trained Disciple, who teaches the first precise routes [28] to arrive at cabalistic operations, and who, to ensure the proof, operates publicly, sometimes in one branch, sometimes in the other: we wanted facts; I give it constantly.
Finally thirty years of studies, & soon I could say forty, having made me Possessor of the first keys of the Practical & Theoretical Magic of the First Egyptians, I give them with pleasure in the Works that follow.
The Philosophy of High Sciences , 5 vol. with figures, 7 lbs. 10 floors.
The Book of Thoth which goes with it, in seventy and eight figures 3 books. 12 floors..
French Cartomancy or the Art of Card Drawing, third edition, 3 books.
The card game that makes this work easier to hear, 1 book. 10 floors.
The Guide to the Path of Fortune ( l ), 1 lib. 4 floors. [29]
Outline on Cartomancy, by an Eve Author, nothing .
This little Notebook, nothing . [30]
There are several other works, such as the Mysterious Zodiac 1772, but out of print & really rare; I do not [31] put them in the fund that I have, and several of which are coming to an end.
Through my Works, the Society is [32] sufficiently informed of the kinds of occupations & studies that I have followed & am to help it, as one of the Members, to [33] share its fatigues, & offer it relaxations; thus persuaded by my feeble writings, which I have taken upon myself [34] since my birth, with as much zeal as work, my share, of the astonishing weight, which for her own [35] happiness she has taken upon herself and freely undertaken to bear, she will not be sorry to see me retrace here the second [36] contract of my income, mortgaged on those of its Members curious to taste freely the fruit of the High Sciences. [37]
Without wanting to look today for some couplet in Greek or Latin authors, which would prove that it [38] is allowed for a Man of Science to sell his time, as a Merchant of the Six Corps his sheet, I will say without forced twist, value not understood.
=> When someone wants to write to me or talk to me orally High Sciences, I need for the time that I have to give to answer, 3 books.
If you want to have lessons in wise Magic-practice, note that it is not a question of playing cups, because it is not my job, but of scrutinizing Nature in its intelligence, 3 books.
For the Horoscope ( m ), 50 lb. [39]
To Draw Cards ( n ), 24 lbs.
To consult me after the Horoscope or after drawing the Cards, 3 books.
To give me some questions to solve without having originally made me work ( o ), 6 books.
To have the name of his Genius, his nature, his qualities, his power relative to the Life of man, of what element he is, what Region he is obliged to treat, &c 12 lb.
To explain a dream, 6 books. [40]
To have a Talisman made, & to have its properties written down, as well as its genius, &c. from eight to ten louis, according to the properties one wants him to have, and the difficulties of the work.
To be the Physician of a person's spirit, that is to say, without moral or physical remedy, to lead him to full rest, or, what is the same, to be his perpetual Diviner, per month (p) 30 lbs.
All these Prices are neither new nor inflated; since my first work in 1757, you can see there those that I take, & thus as I have increased in science, I have increased the number of my Prizes, but never my Prizes: open my Works, then, and you will find them side by side, such [41] as I thought I should collect them here. We are left with Master's last touch.
To make this Cahier run, to fly in the air, is not the province of the High Sciences, which have neither white magic nor black magic in view, but the study of Nature.
White Magic belongs to the one who wants to seduce & to the one who wants to be seduced without being really deceived, since it is only a question of game-bag tricks not made to amuse a man all his life, but to entertain him from time to time, & especially in his early youth.
Black Magic, (true or false, I say it true, as improperly called Magic as the other, if we refer to the true term) is not either the Magic which constitutes the quality of Magus, Magus, Magi . It is therefore this one to which we must stick, & the only one to which I have entirely given myself up since the age of fourteen, & I could say since the age of [42] eleven, except that not knowing the route, my evil genius often made me lean to the right & to the left in the so-called White & Black Magic.
Nor is the magic I flee from the path followed by Swedenborg , a very learned and very wise man, but who, for lack of being well conceived, gives birth to many of his Readers, Ecstatics who, in the excess of their Virtue, always have in their mouths a general revolution of the Globe, a new revelation, without thinking that they have fallen into the trap of several Hebrew Prophets who, for having predicted what God had not commanded them, saw these parts of their Prophet general tie without accomplishment.
I want to guess, I see how the events of human life are like necessities to follow each other, according to time, place, & people.
I want to become a Hermetician Philosopher, I seek to develop in [43] Nature that which is unmixed, & in its primitive state, &c, &c, &c.
He who testifies that the Sciences, called High Sciences , are chimeras, is in this respect an arrant ignorant who stops the progress of our knowledge, who does not seek to vanquish false prejudices forever, who has no idea that the vulgar Sciences are the fruit of the researches of the High Sciences, who wants man to be confined in the sphere of his lights, and finally he is an ignoramus who, against the greatest Philosophical Axiom, wants only what he does not know not nor design, be deemed zero.
FILLING
I beg the Society to reflect that despite prejudice and persecution in the past there have always existed Divine Men who, as in the Sciences and the Arts, have been more or less learned.
I also ask her to examine that [44] the times when the Peoples made war on the genius of man and on the abstract Sciences, are marked by Historians, among the Romans, as the period of the decadence of their Empire, among almost all Europeans as that of the most crass ignorance in all its most monstrous forms.
It is today as a product of reason, to let the genius that formed us flourish, but at the same time to treat everything that is not as tangible as a Citadel, as chimeras, and men as enthusiasts.
For Divination to be regarded as chimerical, it must be demonstrated that it is impossible for it to be a Science, and to prove that no prognosis has ever been justified; but what is not demonstrated anti-axiom, cannot be deemed impossible; therefore Divination can be a very natural Science which is reduced to the first four numerical rules & to a few equations. [45]
Before having repudiated the Divine Philosophers, the Society should have indicated to its Members other Physicians of spirit, and it is necessary, we say today, that those who have learned at their expense that there are few true friends, know where there is a divine man who can advise them & console them for money: Do you have the consolation of asking advice from the man who, in spite of your contempt for his knowledge and against him, is admitted by a thousand and a thousand people to restore calm and dissipate this dreadful blackness which wants to submerge me? Society, be impartial: Member of your Body, I ask for the unique Man more freedom, more ease, & that he make Students for our Descendants. »
It is by not confusing the virtuous & learned Man [46] with the vicious & ignorant, that one will be led to believe that the Society is perpetually in need of a Diviner to soften & calm the sorrows of one of its Members mistreated by fortune, weighed down by his passions, betrayed by his fellows, & finally having perpetually a spirit of grief which, if not put back on its plate, will will go up until passing to the suicide. Read page 156, second volume of the Philosophie des Hautes Sciences.
Those who speak against Divination as lightly as others, or themselves hum, whistle, and pirouette in another's house, cannot imagine that they are attacking the spirit of foresight; that giving him up, fight, they leave a passage to the so-called Predestined, & finally that they give imperceptibly access to Materialism.
As long as men hide from the Society when they want to consult a Diviner Philosopher, [47] or a Doctor, of spirit, so much time we will be inclined to believe that the Society does not have a fair idea of the rarity of Sorcerers & Sorcery, since the fear that some of its Members have of being seen entering Etteilla, still marks this remnant of the ignorance of our Fathers, & moreover ours, by refusing to certain men more than means than we suspect to simply read the results according to the causes and effects .
At the different prices I charge, depending on the work given to me, the Curious must still admit the possibility that I may not succeed.
The Portrait Painter having Nature before his eyes misses the resemblance; with all the more reason, the one who only has the memory of having seen a gallery where the paintings are on top of each other, and who to guide him is obliged to make a hundred Algebraic rules, can sometimes be more than a thousand leagues from his subject, but it is necessary to return to the charge [48] instead of slandering the High Sciences, which are not guarantors of the weaknesses of their Professors.
Divination, natural Science, object of reflections, combinations, & calculations, cannot nor must not be apprehended, because one cannot be a Diviner without being a Learner, & it is not possible to be truly a Learner without being a Sage .
I will almost always end by saying to all men that one of the greatest misfortunes for each of them is to be forced to pronounce in the last resort.
I have somewhat shortened the Description of my Hermetic Work , because it is possible to see it at my place, (Hôtel de Crillon rue de la Verrerie, opposite that of the Poterie) & that I wanted to follow the small work entitled: LE DENIER DU POUVRE. [i]
LITTLE FOREWORD FOR THE DENIER OF THE POOR.
I said in the previous Cahier, that I had read one hundred Works on Hermetic Philosophy; one must believe that they were not all infinitely long, and that often I only skimmed through them: here are two proofs.
The first, the brevity of the following Libretto; & secondly, no one remembers ever having read it elsewhere; which does not mean that it is neither known nor printed.
Whether this little work is printed or not, I make an offering of it to the Author, whom I do not know at all, & am & will always be ready, to give him the actual tribute, & in [ii] his default, to scrupulously give the recipe to the Poor.
Let the Amateur see in all this, how much I care about this little Booklet, which nevertheless seems discordant with what I said in the previous Notebook.
No, nothing is in discord, and I leave to those who only begin to spell, the satisfaction of hearing the just analogy of the Royal Chemical Path with the great Alchemical Road.
The profit of this little Cahier being that of the Poor ( I ) be of the number [iii] of the Donees; or if you cannot, and you are even in distress occasioned by the search for this Art , come with assurance the case will be emptied on the spot for you.
Where better to place some obol, in the absence of the Sages, who go to help the poor, and restore health to the sick?
ETTEILLA.
We engage many MM. the Booksellers to be intermediaries between such recipients & our respectable Victims of the research of the High Sciences . [iv]
They can do so all the more, since this little Work will be delivered to them free of charge; thus they will be able to name him THE PEANUT OF THE POOR; & if they do not know of our poor, they will be able to give by themselves to all true Poor that they will judge appropriate, the price that they will withdraw from it. And so be it until the extinction of this Book.
[5]
LDDDP
OR
THE PERFECTION OF METALS.
This question is not easy to decide, in view of the diversity of opinion of so many centuries, so that most men will not believe the truth which has been published by the Philosophers. The main reason is that out of a hundred, there is hardly one who is not reduced to poverty by this work. This is why one cannot blame the Unbelievers where there is no appearance of truth ( a ). [6]
Experience nevertheless proves the possibility by means of Art and Nature, although examples are very rare; but what nonsense would it be to deny Heaven & Hell, for never having seen them? Will we be told: we must believe it, because the Prophets and the Apostles have revealed it, and it is not the same with the tradition of the Philosophers?
I reply to this that not all Philosophers have been Pagans. and that many Christians have written concerning this Art, besides that among the Pagans there were some very good people, who would have believed in the Gospel if it had been announced to them, and who are not so blameworthy as we who, professing Christianity by our words, deny it by our works. Why would they have wanted to deceive us by [7] lies & by nonsense from which they could not hope for any profit given that even most of them were very powerful Princes?
Among the Christians, there are several who have ensured the truth of this very religious Art, such as were great Prelates, like S. Thomas, Aquinas, Albert the Great, Lully, Arnaud, Roger Bacon, Basile, &c. How can it be that pious men would have wanted to deceive & throw Posterity into error? Even if the Writings of these illustrious Personages were not in light, there would be living testimonies for the confirmation of this truth, & I do not doubt that there are people who possess the knowledge of the Art without publishing it; because who would be the Fool who would like to discover himself in the world, to have no other reward than envy?
Someone may ask me why, I take the side of [8] this Art with such warmth, as if I had seen or done something? It is true that I have never come to projection, and that I have not seen any transmutation; however I am certain of the truth, especially since by means of fire I have often drawn gold from silver from metals, which leave no gold or silver in the dish. It is not that by this I mean that one metal perfects the other, or changes it into gold or silver; but here is my feeling.
As in the kingdom of vegetables water mondifies water or juice by cooking, which happens in the purification of honey & sugar or other vegetable juice, with water common egg whites; we must have the same opinion of the mineral juices or of the metals, from which, if we know the water and the white of the egg clean and suitable for purging them, we could undoubtedly remove their impurity, and reduce, from power to action, their gold and [9] their silver which is hidden in them as in black pods; which would not be a transmutation of metals, but a growling extraction of gold & silver from among the refuse.
It will be asked how gold and silver can be extracted from copper, iron, tin and lead by means of this enema, since none is found there by the cup test.
We have answered above that the cup test is not sufficient for all kinds of metals; this is why I refer the reader to the Book of Paracelsus of the vexation of the Alchemists, where he will find another washing, & purification of metals, which was not known to the ancient Minors. Example.
The Miner, finding a copper mine, uses the method he has learned from the Ancients, & following this, he purifies it & reduces it to metal, he first breaks it into pieces, & burns it to remove the superfluous sulphur; then, [10] by the force of the cast iron, he reduces it to stone which he again sets on fire, & by the addition of lead deprives it of its gold & silver; which being done, he blackens it, then finally reddens it & reduces it to copper, & by his last work makes it malleable & suitable for flow. Then the Chemist attempts another separation by means of which he extracts gold and silver; something few people know how to do.
The same Paracelsus says in the same place, that God gave to certain people an easier & quicker way to separate gold & silver from imperfect metals, without the culture of mines, by means of Art, which he did not openly teach; but he assures that he has sufficiently shown it in the seven rules of the Book in which he treats of the nature & property of metals where it can also be found.
This purification of imperfect metals seems to me the easiest, which I have often experienced in small [11] quantities, and there is no doubt that God has yet shown other ways to other Artists by means of Nature. For example :
If anyone, purged some fruit of the earth from its faeces by distillation, so that being stripped of its impurities, it appeared in the day with a new & transparent body; as if someone distilled black and impure amber through the retort, there would be a separation of the water, the oil, the empyreum of the Sage, the volatile salt by fire, the dead head remaining at the bottom of the retort, & by this means in a short time, without much expense, the amber would be notably altered & corrected; though the oil is impure & fetid.
If it is distilled again with some mundifying water, like the spirit of salt in a new and clean glass retort, there will be a new separation, and the oil will come out much clearer, the faeces remaining at the bottom of the retort with the stench; [12] & one can again rectify it two or three times with new spirit of salt, as long as it achieves the clarity of water & a pleasant smell similar to that of musk & amber.
This transmutation of a hard thing, makes it soft, liquid & oleaginous, which however can again be coagulated & resume its first form in the following way.
One takes the aforesaid oil perfectly purified, one adds new spirit of salt to it, one puts it in digestion, it attracts enough salt for its coagulation, & to acquire the hardness of amber of an excellent & diaphanous color, of which half an ounce will be more precious than whole pounds of black amber, of which barely the eighth or tenth part remains in the purification, the superfluous impurities having been removed.
It is thus that one must proceed to the purification & correction of metals, provided that one has knowledge of the manner of purifying them, by distillation, [13] sublimation, & recoagulation. But, it will be said, metals cannot be purified by distillation in the same way as vegetables.
I only want to oppose to this our first furnace, which was not invented for rustics, but for chemists who work in the purification of metals. And-as the means of perfecting them has been proved by two examples, so it is shown that they can also be perfected by fermentation. Because as the new ferment can ferment the vegetable juices which are purged from their faeces, as it is seen in wine, beer & other liquors whose perfection is only achieved by fermentation without which they could not last long, as they are afterwards for a few years:
Likewise if we knew the proper fermentations of metals, certainly we could purge them & perfect them, so that they would no longer be [14] subject to rust, & would resist fire & water, being nourished & raised in fire & water. Also the World which formerly perishes by water, must perish by fire, & it is necessary that our bodies rot & be clarified by fire before coming before God.
So much for the fermentation of the metals, which are also purified & corrected in the manner of milk exposed to heat, of which the best part, which is the cream from which butter is made, is separated at the top from the serosity of the cheese; & the warmer the place, the more hastened the separation.
It is the same with that of the metals, which being put in a place of suitable heat, (I suppose that they were previously reduced to the substance of milk) are separated from themselves without addition of any foreign thing, & by succession of time, the nobler parts separating from the less noble, [15] discover a great treasure. And as in winter, for lack of heat, the milk only separates with difficulty, it is the same for metals, if they are not helped by the fire.
This is seen in iron, which in the long run turns into gold underground, without the assistance of Art; for one often finds mines of iron filled with small veins of gold very pleasing to the sight, which have been separated from a coarse, earthly and unripe sulphur, by the force of the central heat; and in these mines ordinarily there is no vitriol at all, which is separated from your opposite and perfected.
Now it takes a long time to make this subterranean separation, which Art can do in a short time, as we make butter during the winter, exposing the milk to heat to separate the cream more quickly, which we advance by precipitation to do with acids mortifying the urinary salt of the milk; & by this means all the principles [16] are separated each apart, namely the butter, the cheese & the serosity. Thus in a few hours the separation can be made, which otherwise and without the acids, would only take place in the space of several weeks.
If this is possible in plants and animals, why will it not be in minerals? Why in iron, in lead, in copper and in tin, will there not be found gold and silver, although they do not appear? Why do we want to remove all kind of goodness from imperfect metals, since we grant it to plants and animals which do not equal them in duration?
Nature always seeks the perfection of her works; but low metals being imperfect, why won't Art help Nature to perfect them? But -it is particularly necessary to note the bond of the metal parts, which being broken, the parts are separated.
The urinary salt is the bond of the parts [17] which compose the milk, which must be mortified by the acid which is very contrary, for separation. Now the parts of iron are bound by the vitriolated salt, which must be mortified by its opposite, which is the urinary or nitrous salt, for separation.
Whoever knows how to remove the superfluous salt from the iron, either by the wet process or by the dry process, will undoubtedly have an iron that will not be easily subject to rust.
Fire also has an incredible power in the transmutation of metals. Isn't steel made iron by means of fire; & iron, steel, by a different process? Daily experience teaches us the various transmutations & corrections by means of fire. Why won't the Experienced Chemist do the same?
Who would have ever believed that there was a living bird hidden in an egg; & in the grain, a grass that had to have [18] leaves, flowers & smell? Why, then, can the embryonic metals, which have not yet reached their perfection, be able to reach it with the assistance of Art?
A green apple, and not yet ripe, is it not ripened by the heat of the sun? This is what curious spirits, having taken heed, imitated Nature, & found that certain metals which were not yet destroyed by the violence of the fire , became richer & more precious by a gentle heat, so that being melted after digestion, they gave the double weight of gold & silver.
I myself have seen a common graphite put in digestion by the aforesaid manner, which not only became richer in silver, but also it was found that it contained gold, which previously had not been found in the ordinary examination. And this work can be done even in large quantities; which [19] would undoubtedly bring much profit to those who own lead mines. Now not every lead mine becomes rich in gold by this means; but experience shows us that she is always rich in money.
There are a thousand other secrets which seem incredible to the ignorant. If we were more curious to leaf through the Reading of Nature that God himself wrote with his own hand in the ruled pages of the Stars & in the qualities of the four Elements, we would discover many other marvels; but the Arts and wealth are not acquired by idleness, on the contrary by work and industry.
The metals are also perfected by means of germ-like graduation; for it is evident that a graft of a good tree, put on a wildling, causes it afterwards to bear fruit, not wild, but excellent, suitable to the species of the tree from which the graft [20] was taken; as seen in iron which has been dissolved in an acid spirit, fermented by Venus & transmuted into copper ; & by this means the copper would be transmutable into silver, the silver into gold, if one knew well the manner of appropriating the fermentation; what one feels by the same reason of the natural heat which changes in the stomach the food by digestion, in the being or of a man, or of a horse, & of any other animal, making to each of the flesh, &c. of what they ate.
The better parts can also be separated from the baser ones by the attractive virtue of similars, as is seen in a metal abundant in sulphur, to which, if iron is added in casting, the sulfur leaves its metal which is rendered purer by this means, & associates itself with the iron with which it has a greater affinity & familiarity than with its own metal.
For example, if iron is added to the flow of a sulfur-abundant lead mine [21], the molten metal is made malleable, which otherwise would have come out of the mine black & friable. And if we still knew of something else to add malleable metals to the casting, to remove the superfluous, immature and combustible sulphur, no doubt we would make them even more.
Without this knowledge, the metals remain in their natural impurity. And certainly God has done well to hide it from us, as he has always done well in the rest of his works; for if the Avars knew the secret, they would buy all the lead, tin, copper and iron to separate the gold and the silver, so much so that the poor rustic people would hardly find the metallic instruments which make them necessary: thus God did not want all the metals to be changed into gold.
After having given the similarity of removing superfluous sulfur from certain metals in cast iron, in order to preserve [22] the purest parts, another way is given of separating the pure parts from the impure ones, by the attractive force of the similar, the impure & heterogeneous parts being rejected, which can be demonstrated both by the wet process and by the dry process. Example of the wet process.
If one adds quick mercury to impure gold or silver dissolved in one's own menstruation, this mercury attracts to itself the invisible gold and silver mixed in the impurity, and associates itself with the purest. This separation happens very quickly.
Mercury does the same in the dry see, when an earth containing gold or silver is moistened by acid water, and are ground together as long as the mercury has attracted the best part.
This being done, it is necessary to wash with common water the dead earth which [23] remains, & after having dried the mercury, separate it from the gold & the silver which it had attracted, by passing it through a piece of leather. Now mercury only attracts from the earth for once a metal, to see the best, which being repaired, it attracts another the second time. For example :
If there were hidden gold, silver, copper & iron in an earth, the mercury would attract the gold the first time, the second, the silver, the copper & the iron with difficulty, because of the impurities, the tin & the lead easily; but gold more easily than all others, because gold in its purity is very similar to mercury.
It is necessary to put a cup under the tile with lead to which one adds a grain of very pure gold weighed exactly, it is necessary to make fulminate the gold in the cup, in which the lead will enter, [24] leaving the pale gold in the cup, the cause of this pale color being none other than the mixture of the silver attracted from the lead by the gold.
But, it will be said, it is well known that gold fulminated with lead, is made paler & heavier, because of the silver which was in the lead, & which was left with the gold in the examination, increasing its weight & making it pale.
I reply to this that although the lead leaves some silver in the examination with the dish, mixing with the gold which has been added to it, increasing the weight of the gold & altering its color, it is however proved by the weight that the lead mixed with the gold leaves more than in the gold.
By this, therefore, we see that gold attracts other very similar metals, which increases its weight.
Gold also has the same effect in the wet process ; for if it is dissolved in a suitable menstruation , with the copper, and put into digestion, it attracts the gold [25] separated from the copper. Although this work is not done with profit, it nevertheless marks the possibility. But if we knew a menstruation which increased the attractive force of gold, and diminished the retentive force of copper, no doubt we could expect some profit from it; & certainly more, if gold & copper, were fused together with a dry mineral menstruation.
In this way, the weight of the gold would be increased, according to Paracelsus , who says that the metals being melted together in a violent fire continued for some time, the imperfect vanish, and the perfect remain in their place ( b ).
This work being duly done, is not without profit; for I confess ingenuously that I have sometimes tried to want to make the Moon compact by means of Mars, and in this encounter, gold gave me, by means of Mars, a considerable increase [26] of good gold, instead of the fixed Moon which I was looking for.
In this way, something unexpected will often happen to the Artists when they do not examine it well. This is why when we work on metals, we must take good care, when we find some increase, to seek its origin; for many imagine themselves working for a long time on the Moon and on Mars with bloodstone, magnet, emery, calamine stone, red talc, garnets, antimony, orpiment, sulphur, firestones, etc. which contain mature & immature, volatile & fixed gold, finding good gold on examination, that this gold was made by means of the Moon & the aforesaid minerals; which is false, because the Moon drew from these minerals the volatile gold which was hidden there.
I do not mean, however, to deny the possibility of the transmutation of the Moon, as being intrinsically [27] very like gold; but not by means of cement with the aforesaid minerals, especially since this gold does not come from the Moon, but from the minerals from which it is attracted by the Moon.
This work is compared to the seed thrown into good soil in which rotting, it attracts its fellow man by its own strength, which it multiplies a hundredfold. Now in this operation, the metallic earth must be moistened with appropriate metallic waters, which is called inceration, otherwise the earth would be sterile.
These waters must be friendly to the earth, so that, being united, they compose a certain fat: as it is seen in a dry and sandy earth, being watered with rain, which cannot produce fruits suitable for the seed, especially since the heat of the Sun consumes the few humors it has & burns the seed; but if manure is mixed with it, it retains moisture, so that it is not so easily consumed by the heat of the Sun.
For the same reason, this earth and this water must be united, lest the seed be burned. If the work is well executed, it will not be useless, needing extreme diligence to maintain the earth with the necessary heat and mood; because of the excessive humidity, the earth is submerged; & if it lacks, the increase is prevented.
This operation is one of the best by which gold and silver are drawn from the basest metals, being necessary to have vessels which retain the seed with the earth and the water in a suitable heat. I do not doubt that this work cannot be done in large quantities, firmly believing that the imperfect metals, particularly Saturn, can be put into gold & silver, & even into good Medicine.
The Chemist must make prudent use of this gift of God which is a great relief to him. God does not want all his gifts to be common because it happened to me that, having invented something rare, and wanting to communicate it to one of my friends, not only could I never teach him, but even then I have not been able to perform it for myself. That is why it is not without reason that others are so circumspect in writing lofty things, especially since there are many who try to catch secrets by all sorts of means.
It is therefore safer to be silent, & to compel the world to seek & experience the pains & expenses that are necessary for high & difficult things. This is why I pray all men, whatever their condition, not to overwhelm me with demands, as if I were the possessor of mountains of gold.
I have never tried large quantities; I only wanted to seek [30] the truth & show the possibility. Another will be able to make the test in great quantity, having the favorable occasion. For me, who have not done it yet, I await divine help to reap the fruit of my labors.
Metals are also altered by another way, namely, by means of a tinting & metallic spirit, as he sees it in fulminating gold, being at various times ignited on a clean & polished plate of metal, imparting to it, without damaging it, a tint of gold very deeply, so that a needle can test it.
It happens the same in the wet way, when the metals in sheets being put on a graduating spirit made of nitre & of certain minerals, & being penetrated by the said spirit, acquire another species which is suitable for it.
If anyone doubts the metallic graduation made with fulminant gold, he will be assured of it by often lighting [31] recent fulminant gold on the same blade; for he will see that it is not an appearance of golden metal outwardly, but dyed & perfected deeply. Whence one clearly sees the mutual action and passion of the subtilized metals; for the power of spirits is great, and incredible to the inexperienced.
This graduation of interior metals is not only confirmed by ancient and modern philosophers, but also by miners who know by experience that mineral vapors transform base imperfect metals into better ones; witness Lazare Freker , who assures us that in salty green waters, iron changes it into natural & good copper; & that he saw a pit into which the iron nails, & anything else thrown into it, were converted into good copper by the penetration of the spirit of copper.
I confess that the metallic solutions [32] precipitated on the plates of certain metals stick to them, & give them the tincture of gold & silver or copper, because it is evident that the iron thrown into vitriolar water, does not change into copper, but attracts copper from the water; what we are not dealing with here, So much the possibility of metallic transmutation by the tinting & penetrating spirit.
However, I assure you once again that metallic spirits have a great virtue. Isn't it true that entire Provinces are sometimes destroyed by the inundation which sweeps away entire Towns? Cannot the air also wreak strange havoc when, being enclosed in the earth, it excites tremors a few miles around, carrying away cities and mountains with the ruin of an infinity of men, which happens naturally?
The wind which is artificially excited by the nitre has many other effects.
Although the corporeal elements [33] have such great power, they cannot however penetrate metals without lesion, any more than stones and glass which are easily penetrated by fire whose force is open and not hidden. Why then also will compact metals not be penetrated by a metallic spirit, by the aid of fire, and transformed into another species, as has been said of fulminating gold and graduating water? This is why we must not doubt the virtue of the spirit dyeing & transmuting imperfect metals into nobler & more precious ones.
Metals can also be purified by the same means as tartar, vitriol and other salts, namely by means of copious water; for it is certain that the vitriol is purged by the mixture of iron & copper, after it has been dissolved in a large quantity of water, & afterwards coagulated, so that it becomes white like alum, which purification is only the [34] separation of the metal from the salt, made by the quantity of water which debilitates the salt, so that it can no longer retain the mixed metal, which is precipitated as a silty thing, which is not useless, being the principal part of the vitriol, from which comes the greenness, the copper, the iron & the sulphur.
And as, by separation, the metals which are more perfect than the salts are drawn from the salts of vitriol, the same must be said of the metals, when the more noble part is separated by precipitation.
As for tartar, it is true that it is purified by the addition of a quantity of water; but its main part is not precipitated as in vitriol, on the contrary, it is the most vile part by its blackness & by its faeces.
Notice this example; common tartar is made very pure & very white by frequent solution made with a sufficient quantity of water, & by coagulation, especially since in each [35] solution made with clear & clean water, it always becomes purer; by this means, not only the white tartar, but the red and starchy one, is reduced to transparent crystals, and even very quickly, by means of a certain precipitation, its sluggishness being only an insipid, dead, ineffective thing, mixed with the tartar in the coagulation made in the barrels, then separated again by the force of the solution.
These examples of the two salts, vitriol & tartar, are not here reported without cause, because they show the difference of precipitation, in others the most noble part, according to the predominance of one or the other.
In vitriol, its most noble part (copper & iron) is the smallest portion, which is precipitated & separated by its lowest & most copious part, which is salt. [36]
In tartar, its basest & smallest part is precipitated & separated by the larger & nobler part, being clarified. The same happens in the metals; and therefore, each one must consider well, while making his separation, which part of the metal, the noblest or the lowest, must be precipitated; otherwise no one should meddle in this work.
That the Artist also who expects some utility, beware of corrosive waters, such as aquafortis, aqua regia, spirit of salt, vitriol, alum, vinegar, etc. in the solution, especially as the aforesaid things spoil & destroy everything, giving credence to these words: metals, by metals; for with the metals the metals are perfected; they are also affected by the nitre which burns the superfluous combustible sulphur.
All the above perfections of metals are particular; for all Medicine, whether human or metallic, [37] purges, separates & perfects, removing the superfluous. But Universal Medicine operates its perfections & improvements by the fortification & multiplication of the radical humidity, both animal and metallic, which hunts after its enemy by its natural force.
But, it will be said, I propose fine examples, and not the way of operating.
I reply that I have gone far enough in my explanations, and that I have sought there only the utility of my neighbour. This must suffice, according to my experience, touching the particular improvements of metals.
As for this Universal Medicine of which so much has been said, I cannot judge of it as something known, but I only maintain the possibility of it.
We must be satisfied with the knowledge that God gives us, and it is sometimes better to know little than to be proud. [38]
Arrived at the point of bringing the Great Work to gray-white stone in the space of 18 months, I could offer the Curious 550 distinctive shades; but even if the unique Thing is vile, or better common, in a word that it is everywhere, ( c ) it would have been ridiculous to represent to them [39] such a large number of vases; & that of seven that I adopted, to exceed by six the order of the Sages.
Although I offer only seven nuances which by time must be distant from each other by 66 degrees or days, as is indicated by the number of the 66 blades which together form the last three Volumes of the Book of Thoth, (d) it nevertheless happens, though rarely, that between two numbers, the distinction of the external operations of the Work is only imperceptible, because it happens in this case that on the surface a number goes more or less quickly ; but that does not prevent the oldest number always arriving before the newer one, at Numbers VI & VII.
Nothing in this lower Universe pleases all men equally, it is not surprising that out of a hundred Operators, [40] there are ten who do not consider my work to be the true Hermetic.
I reply to these people: if you offer me more sensibly the operations of great Nature, and your work relates more than mine to the printed and manuscript works of the Philosophers, I will submit to your language; without which allow me to say that there is in you jealousy or at least prejudice for the path that you take, and in which, you are forced to say it, you do not even see the imitation of Nature in its simple and daily acts.
The beauties that the Hermetic Work demonstrates on its way cannot be described, so let us always stick to some particular fact.
The Work discovers that the earth is a somewhat flattened oval, not very smooth; swimming in a fluid attracted to the center, which is perpetually repelled to the circumference. [41]
That the earth is compressed by a subtle chaos called Atmosphere.
That the Atmosphere and not only attracted towards the mass, & thus to the center of the earth; but that it is limited by a substance which has something of the homogeneity of a universal spirit dispersed in space.
The Work demonstrates that there is an unalterable law of movement from the center of the earth to its circumference.
That wherever on the surface of the work the trees are placed, they just take their direction from the center.
The trees appear only in the sixth vase; which indicates a definite time. They never grow except when the earth is absolutely pure or Adamic , that is to say, red, such as it must have been when it was created; it is the sentiment of the Philosophers.
The germs come out white; they turn yellow as they corporify; the branches come out of the trunk which takes on the color [42] of the body of the oak tree, & then aurora red when the leaves & no doubt the flowers & the fruits crown the tree.
These trees, true nature of oaks, on which this precious moss also collects, are not here figures, but real and effective trees, in a word palpable; finally a part of the roots of these trees, visibly wind under a general film which covers the work, although this film is different in its color, according to the interior grounds which, vary with infinity.
The longest part of the work, for one who is not more educated than me, is a freezing winter, and it is in this long passage that we see:
“The big trees, which the earth had pushed up there to the clouds, were embarrassed there with creeping plants which prohibited the approach. CT » Raynat , History of the two Indies.
In the opinion of several traveling Hermetic Disciples, one sees only in [43] Naples & in Paris, (at home,) the same kind of hermetic work; but I must say that I know five people in Paris who have the same kind of work, one of whom, whom I have named in my Fragment sur les Hautes-Sciences , is more learned than me.
My Work is not part of the curiosities that draw the crowd: a small number of true Amateurs for reasons of any science, even other Scholars, although Antagonists of the High Sciences, is all that I wish to see in my Cabinet .
As all the Amateurs of Hermetic Philosophy, who see my Work a few days in a row, and consequently with what precision it follows the operations of Nature, finally all that they read in the Philosophers, are envious of owning one of my vases, I will quite naturally state the price that I put on it, not because of their value which is sincerely only an object of curiosity, but to compensate for the little knowledge I have, for the fortune of the curious, which cannot afford them. to have cost more fatigue, time & money than me: that fortunes are subdivided, that the sciences spread & penetrate all men; a people of sages will cover the earth.
To have one of my vases ( e ) I do not [45] require only the price I charge for it, twenty-five louis; but it is true that I want to be as certain as possible, that this sum can take nothing from the honest ease of the curious; & that even if he would be more than fortunate in reason of this expense, it is still necessary that I discover in him the qualities of the honest man & the Citizen; in a word, the will to be useful to others if he has the good fortune to complete the Work.
As for the mystery of Science, I do not ask him for the secret, because I will not give it to him, and finding it himself, an Empire would not make him divulge it. [46]
As such a Curious, doubtless less advanced than me, will not be able to lead his vase alone, he will give it to me from time to time for fifteen to eighteen months, & I will lead him to N°. VI. but no further.
If he opens or drops his Vase, the universal spirit is attracted by the mass of the universal spirit, & the Work dies, & in this case the loss is for him.
Second offer.
There are Amateurs whose occupations divert them from the practice of the work; there are some who, having already spent ten and twenty years looking for it, really know nothing: ( f ) finally there are [47] men, and in very large numbers, as well as women, who, judging neither for nor against the Hermetic Work, would ask to make a slight sacrifice to have some claim to succeed in it. Before acquiescing to their desire, let us render in two words some exact account to the Society, which answers for all the Members, and for their conduct.
To find a Medicine which, without regard to disease, tends to prevent the body from being affected by it, seems so probable and so simple to me, that I say to myself, ignorance must be very outraged to advocate that this is impossible! [48]
Finding a remedy that cures two diseases at the same time is so common that I say to myself, it is impossible that there is not a remedy that cures three, and then I am forced to agree that there is in Nature a universal Medicine.
As for the perfection of the base metals, finally their nutrition, why, if I know the Agents of Nature favorable to their perfection and their maturity, should I not make them perfect, that is to say, from lead to gold? This still seems so probable to me that I am looking for how ignorance managed to surprise men who, moreover, were really educated.
It is gladly no longer allowed to doubt the truth of a Medicine which diverts from all Diseases, which cures them all, lengthens the days.
In the same way, it is no longer willingly allowed to doubt that one can transmute the base metals into perfect metals; for that one and the other are not [49] daily public, is purely a treaty made with Science and Wisdom, and not the certainty of a pact with ignorance.
If I owned the Work, I would only need bags to put my gold in: not owning it, I open a case of luck to run with me, whose shares are from one louis to twelve.
In addition to the greater certainty that one has of a good Pilot over a weak one, one can still, by not occupying oneself with a long journey, attend to the good of the Society, and preserve oneself from placing on some Captain, today Corsair, & tomorrow Forban, when, I say, that the Pilot is acknowledged by his Colleagues to be a Traveler, and moreover a Citizen.
The Hermetic Work is a natural science which holds of the Divine, this is why it is named Divine Science . It comes from Nature, which is why it is called Sacred Art . It is for [50] the just & truly industrious man; for the gift of the greatest, a treasure placed in Nature, cannot be the lot of the wicked or the lazy. To run the chance of a louis is to have hope in one's perpetual health, in one year of life more than a thousand pounds, a reasonable sum to live for a year. So here is the progression of chances.
1 x 1 = 1 year & one thousand pounds. 2 x 2 = 4. 6 x 6 = 36. 12 x 12 = 144. The total subscription is total and infinitely limited, because the Philosopher's Stone is not yet the property of all men, and especially of them who will have the ineptitude to tell us that this is indeed the height of madness, when they themselves are far from the Temple of Wisdom.
I seek to penetrate with all my knowledge some truly studious, and I succeed; Hisler , Prussian my intimate friend, is the proof of it; there are still others. [51]
In addition to what we have said in the Philosophy of the High Sciences, desiring to give our Masters far from us, and many of whom are unaware of our existence, a testimony that we are on the true road, and at the same time give to all young Disciples present and to come a wise advice, we say:
In the two ways, dry & wet, the most to apprehend is, in the first, drying up of the waters; & in the second, the suffocation of the waters: one burns or dries up, & the other drowns or rots; & in both cases, Nature instead of rendering the proposed subject, offers another which is no longer the Work.
If in one of your passages you see your land covered with snow, & tinged with red, or more true, with a pink to render, although imperceptible, rejoice, & continue with prudence; it is the sun of your Work which wants to rise above the horizon. [52]
He who does not possess the perfect Work is no richer in Hermetic Philosophy than a man who has never heard of it; but it is true that the more the Disciple works just, the more he is informed that this sublime science is not a fiction, as those have said who, in seeking the Work where he was not, became disgusted, and ended up no longer believing it to be true.
The color of the poppy arrives in the Autumn of the VI th Vase, and only disappears in the maceration of the VIII th Vase, where then this color reappears with all the others on the royal mantle of the Stone of the Sages, or of the King in his bath.
To the prejudice of consulting Etteilla , whom one must regard purely as the Advocate & Counselor in the chain of life, comes in other people the equally unreasonable fear of learning of unfortunate events for the future; isn't it wanting not to be warned yet in time to prevent it? [53]
We have today in the operations of pure Chemistry, some more open road than that of the little Work above; it is the very honorable reward for the fatigues of chemists today.
A man who speaks against the Faults-Sciences, is of a chagrin spirit, & we justified it, who does not fear to condemn his own friends fine to hear them.
The Indeterminate Mineral prevents the total annihilation of primitive Beings.
The Amateur who comes to see my vases, should not neglect the one who does not flatter his eyes yet.
We pass without injustice for an ignorant, when we do not demonstrate that we are more learned than the one we criticize.
I hope to have succeeded in two years; but who can answer for that? It is not the Ecrits des Philosophes, in which I am stopped short: it is not the Philosophers, who like the coachman [54] encourages his horses, without pulling the carriage himself: it is not my Friends nor my Pupils who would like to know what I know.
If I were only an Amateur, believing in the Science of the great Hermes , would I have any confidence in that of Etteilla ? I do not believe that. What a mixture, what weakness, what strengths! Who conceives the simple man & of good understanding.
I have already spoken to the Freemasons, page 81, second Cahier des Tarots, or better, third volume of the Philosophy of the High Sciences , & although I am not received as a Member of any Lodge, I have for all that is true Masonry , as much respect as a brother can have who knows its origin & conceives its goal, Wisdom & the High Sciences .
All the small denominations of Lodges and grades announce madness more than wisdom, and all external simulacra announce ignorance more than science. [55]
What I say is not out of a spirit of criticism, but out of the severity that a true Disciple of High Masonry must have.
The origin of Masonry dates from the moment when the first man was born empowered by Science & Wisdom.
In the children of Noah it was Ham & his first descendants who made it a regulated object; for Shem & Japheth they nourished it purely in their hearts, and their first descendants no longer cared about it.
The revolutions took away the pure spirit of Masonry, and the blow of the hammer was the only one preserved, because it recalled under the wings of a few scattered Venerables, the frightened and tearful Disciples.
Fable was mingled with the truth, and soon people dared to strike this sacred hammer for perfidy.
The inner truth of Masonry reminded all men, that is [56] where they are; but many of them needed that vile outward appearance, which soon brought all that superficiality foreign to true Masonry , superficiality which estranged grown men, and fairly generally gave in the Lodges only learned Venerables simulacra, and putting to use the ever-reviving imaginations of the Brethren claimed to be more learned than the others.
“If true Masonry had remained, the Brothers would have spoken aloud, and the Mystery would have existed only in the Work. »
This is what the Egyptians had perfectly rendered on the fifteenth leaf of the Book of Thoth, pages 24 & following of the same Volume or fourth Book ( g ). [57]
"On a table or altar, at the height of the chest of the Magi, was on one side a Book or a series of golden leaves or blades (the Book of Thoth) & on the other side a vase full of an Astral Celestial liquor, composed of a third of wild honey, a part of terrestrial water & a part of celestial water , .... "
"The Secret, the Mystery was therefore in the vase & in the science of reading the sublime Hieroglyphs, traced on the seventy & eighteen blades which contain the Science of the entire Universe, of Gébelin ," in his eighth volume, Discourse on the Tarot.
I therefore mean to say that repudiating in the Lodge all that is called trials, it is only those of interpreting the Book of Thoth , where all the human sciences are, & secondly to put an empty vessel on the altar, or if you like, the table, until the Brothers have put the unique thing inside it & have led it to its highest degree of perfection. [58]
If this wise advice is put into practice, and Science & Wisdom favor the Lodge, in what corner of the Universe will there be the one who will not envy its happiness? and if to arrive there it is purely necessary to enter the Lodge, and being there, to think and reflect, nothing else, will there still remain a single one having his Terrible Brother, when Wisdom and Science are so sweet: and when to arrive at their Temple, real fatigue is required, and through them the virtue of never being indiscreet?
Free translation from the Latin which is on the original painting painted more than a century ago, belonging to Etteila ; Table that helped him a lot to hear some parts of the Book of Thoth in the Hermetic Philosophy.
See the Print which is at the head of the first Book.
Ha! This is the great treasure that has never been disclosed. [59]
1. Happy is he who discovers me.
2. Preparation of the Material.
3. I am that Virgin who nurtures you.
4. Don't rely too much on color.
5. He gave links less dew, but he paid for them.
6. I guide them, & respond with equality, to the empire given to them over the Elements.
7. So it is with matter.
8. I make hard by my humidity, & I melt by my heat.
9. I firm up & color.
10. When I have been exalted by the twelve Signs, I will change everything, & I will heal the Sick.
This Allegory of the Sanctuary of Nature, and at the same time the proof of the immense labors that the Philosophers have undergone to achieve the perfection of the Great Work, is placed on a parallelepiped, or long square cube, [60] emblem, of a crowded repose where the Image of our AUGUSTE MONARCH is painted, and his arms, which together form the stamp of the Fatherland.
These objects, precious to all compatriots, are surrounded by olive branches, emblem of peace, and the sweetness common to the olive when it matures.
Branches of laurel, symbol of triumph over the calamities of war; & finally a Palm tree, allegory of equality in weight, & of Justice; following these words of the PSALMIST: The Just will germinate like the Palm . Everything will be good in him, and nothing coming from him can be altered.
The Works of Etteilla , as diffuse as they are abstract, ask to be read several times, and especially in moments of recreation.
(a) No change is in the principles; such was the First Matter, such it must be today; & it is not a pride to say here it is in this vase, but a testimony of the stability of the primitive principles, & of the lights of the Philosophy which does not allow one to seek God in him, but in his Works .
(*) A Proof. In this first vase we see the birth and life of the first Family of matter; the elementary Scarab, successively simple, -am-tri-quarto-phibié .
(b) It is the mineral or germ of the gold that must be worked, & not the gold, because mature gold cannot give what it took, & it did not take more than was enough for it .
(c) This truth is applicable to all men .
(*) Chez d'Houry, Printer's Bookstore, rue Hautefeuille .
(d) Inlast June, the Count of…, Italian Lord, came to see my Work; & on what he saw, he did not hesitate to entrust me with a process, which already cost him 40 thousand pounds; plus, for the next day, two thousand crowns. I proved to him clear as day that his Driver was leading him to his ruin; I proved to him that the process would only lead to an explosion of the vase, were it a hundred times harder & more tenacious than steel; that its operator was not in good faith, but a cunning rogue, & that he himself deserved to be deceived, only aspiring to swim in health & gold. I made him wise, but at the same time ungrateful, not even taking into account the hour that I sacrificed to preserve his reputation and his fortune: 3 pounds. was the price of my time, I had the strength or the weakness not to ask him.
(*) There are several magnets, & they are often taken for the First matter. You can use a lot of ferment; but Matter is only one. I saw ferments that amazed me, and others that deceived me.
(e) In a vessel, the fluid that matter pumps collects at the bottom up to the same weight of matter.
(f) I saw a good Pilgrim who, showing it to me, told me that it was grass that he had taken from the tomb of a Saint: I said to him: say on the bed of a Saint.
(g) M. le Comte de S. Germain, the true Cabalist, is not dead, but indeed MS Germain, Chemist. Read my Works, and especially the Epistle that I addressed to the late M. de Gébelin during his lifetime, January 1, 1784.
Why, I will say, would you believe more a Journalist on this subject than Etteilla, a true disciple of M. de S. Germain for nearly twenty years?
When I said, on the first of January 1784, in the Epistle to M. de Gébelin, that my Master would be in Paris from July 20 to 21, people said: Good! he is dead ; & when the Journalist said he had just died: Ah! ah! it was said, he was not dead! No, & he didn't, & must be in Paris in 1787. Or 88, at the latest; & to recognize him, see his very striking Portrait, engraved by M Thomas, & dedicated to the late M. le Comte de Milly.
(H) THE TRULY CURIOUS OF THE GREAT WORK, AS HE ENVY IN ME TO FOLLOW THE VARIATIONS, OF MINE, INSTEAD OF GIVING 3 POUNDS DAILY. PREFER TO HOLD THE RANK OF MY BOARDERS, 30 LB. PER MONTH: WHICH MAKES IT EASIER FOR THEM TO BRING SOMETIMES A SCHOLAR, AND SOMETIMES AN AMATEUR.
(i) I do not know if it is by a gift, or purely on the basis of my feeble science, that I judge just the man who seeks in vain, and the one who can hope. You who read me, become like me. If the man who speaks to you of high science paints virtue without works, protest that he will never succeed again. If, on the contrary, he paints the works of virtue to represent to you this emanation of Wisdom, be at the very least inclined to believe that knocking will open the door to him.
(k) The desire to have a long window & to have a lot of gold, say the Ignorant, makes all the credulity of some & the effrontery of others.
There are, it is true, credulous men who, although they have been and are still vicious, persuade themselves that they will find, or that they will be given the Universal Medicine, and all full of gold; they are in error, and only rogues can lull their hopes from these beautiful promises; but it is no less true that the wise Pierre is not a chimera, and that even if I were to die without possessing it, its existence would not be less certain.
(1) Everything must be interesting for men, at the moment when Nature, in one of her millennial periodic effervescences, seems to help them to extend the limits of their knowledge.
We are therefore going, to bring to light even the most imperceptible objects, copy word for word the Letter that we wrote in the first days of November 1785, put back to the net, dated & sent on the 12th to MM. The Authors & Editors of the Journal de Paris; Letter that we had foreseen, as we will see, not being able to enter the Journal by its genre, & more by its extent.
We could here correct several things but MM. the Editors of the Journal will guarantee that we have left entirely all the weaknesses that their judgment & their consumption of listening to while reading, may have discovered in them, & above all, repeating it in good faith ourselves, being neither a Grammarian nor a Purist.
It remains for us to say that we believe that a Journal is lacking which would only embrace the part of the High Sciences; (the Journal de Paris N°. 342, December 8, 1785, offers two subjects supporting our idea): if it existed, I believe that all those who deal with them would provide particular facts & as useful to the Arts & Sciences, as to humanity; &, to persuade him, one would only have to look at the discoveries of our Philosophers, & at those that still float today in the works of those who write in the High Sciences.
It is true, we will say at the same time, that the Authors of such a Journal should not simply be Men of Letters, nor mime and whom we call universal Scholars; it would be necessary that to these fine qualities of men of wit, of genius and of science, they should add at least some keys of the Sage Cabal, that is to say that of the Science of Numbers, of Divination, of Hermetics, of Talismans, of Geniuses, etc.
gentlemen
Your Diary aims at the useful, I know it, but I discover at the same time that you do not exclude the pleasant.
I had the honor to write to you, (I believe, towards the end of last February that while following the links in the lives of various people, I had given, in the two Prints which preceded my Letter, to three of them, to one an Ambe, to the other a Terne, and to the other a Quaterne.
That not knowing these people, that supposing that they had profited from my cabalistic numerical combinations, I begged them by your means, (in one of your newspapers) to give to the Octogenarians what their good will & their recognition would intend to do for me.
It is not, GENTLEMEN, in me to beg You to give tone to the High Sciences ; I will say more, assuming as usual, that you discard my Letter with the four previous ones that I have sent to you for several years because doubtless I always have in view the High Sciences, that I regard my Letters in your hands as traced in your Journals .
On September 10, ready to bring to light my Indicator of the Path to Fortune, I sent it, according to the law & my zeal, successively on the 12th, 13th, 14th & 15th, to the Persons who preside over the examination of Literature, then to ten Benefactors, Amateurs & Friends, & finally to be seen by the Public, to ten Print Dealers displaying on the Boulevards & on the Quays.
My Indicator is, Gentlemen, that I offer the means of finding the numbers of chances, to come out, & to prove it, I give the rule, & I draw the proof before & after the draw by the third side sought since having given six numbers, 76, 64, 15, 12, 81, 47, I have known the two sides 76, & 64; whose third side which closes the triangle is 15, & for second operation, having for known side 12 & 81 gives of absolute necessity 47, which was reality by the draw which followed (*).
(*) NB The Public has glimpsed my suit; because on the day of the Draw & the following days, I sold nearly a hundred copies.
Louder and louder ……Nic.
Here, GENTLEMEN, a feature as striking as the Chain of Chance has just given birth to, & if I have no such respectable particular witnesses to cite, being able to offer only the names of a few Friends & Students, to respond to this lack I offer you the Society in general.
In 1785 month of March, I gave for the continuation of Draws of the Year, the Numbers, 1, 51, 14, 59, 75, 60, 10 which, according to the Principles of the first Egyptians, must in the chances bind lovingly ; & in 1785, the first Edition of November, 1, 75, 60, & 30, came out; which makes a beautiful Quatrain, or a beautiful Quaterne, in seven numbers; what I ask you, GENTLEMEN, to justify on page 35, fourth Cahier des Tarots, or fifth volume of the Philosophy of High Sciences ; in Paris, at the Author, & at the Booksellers we will soon be talking about Quine.
I also play, GENTLEMEN, a little of the Adept in this same work (I am well allowed, after 33 years of study, & quite simply of Magician status) it is that in truth I am in good faith to believe that I will not die, without proving to all of Europe that Universal Medicine, as well as the transmutation of copper into gold, etc. are not chimeras for sensible men. I have, GENTLEMEN, a little more than the half proof of it at home, & ask you to come and see it, as if to believe me with respect,
Your very humble & very obedient Servant,
The good credulous ETTEILLA.
Paris, November 12, 1785
REFLECTIONS ON MY LETTER.
I did not risk nor do not risk my words, saying that I wanted to find Numbers to come out, and that indeed I succeeded, because there is no man who cannot say, with reason, that if I had this talent, it would be useless for me to fulfill the status of Astrologer.
No, I do not have the talent to find the Numbers of chances to come out, & if I had it, I am enough made & enough Citizen, not to disturb any order; but let me say that what seems impossible to many people seems only difficult to a few, that's where I am.
I gave the indicator, & by giving it several days before the Draw, I thought I had to prove that it was not made as are the Combinations printed in small Almanacs, & I succeeded.
If you don't have the Works I am talking about in front of you, you can only rely on what I say, and that is not enough to operate as justly as I do.
(mn) Without it being necessary for me to see you, with the money send me, 1°. the day of your birth & the year: 2°. The first letters of the names given to you by your Godfather or your Godmother: 3°. The number you like & 4°. The color you like the most. I will then say when to send for my work.
(o) The same , but additionally write down or say your questions aloud.
(p) Several of my Patients who have the itching to make me pass only 24 lbs. are warned that their heirs will not take me into account the surplus.
(I) Who does not have his Poor & his Rich, I said one day to my closest relative, who did not conceive of me too much, although he had infinite need of one & the other, cannot call himself perfectly happy.
(a) Read about the existence of the marvelous Stone of the Philosophers; you will see there more than appearances, having irrefutable authenticity.
(b) Yes, but the germ is failing.
(c) Everywhere and in every place you will find this moss, or this true indeterminate mineral, which has within it the three kingdoms that you must see pass through your WORK , otherwise you have failed in the work of the Artist, or you have not picked the real moss, but the false one which has often deceived me. Around Paris, there are 137 species or varieties in the Moss. M. Vaillant, Dictionary of M. de Bomare.
(d) That is to say, the Book speaking of God, men & Nature.
(e) I protest that a powerfully rich man, already educated, has just, in this month of December 1785, offered me ten thousand pounds in hard cash, to have one of my Vases, & to tell him literally what I know. This grand prize, I answered him, is not exorbitant because of the fortune I have spent, especially in 22 years of travel, and more than 30 years of study; & continued I, besides that what I do with and Philosophical Mystery is all my possession, & that it does not want to remain with me, that as long as I will be able to keep it, you would not have in entrusting you with my property, more satisfaction than you have, since the harvest is only at the perfect work that, I do not possess, but only the Raw Material, the, Great Ferment & the first Ways.
(f) There is presently in Paris a German Lady who, in the presence of Mademoiselle, her daughter, testified to me that her late Husband had, by the explosion of his Vase, lost in one minute the work of several years & came to a thousand crowns. I replied that the Work in itself costs nothing, the Poor & the Rich can make man's masterpiece, it becomes a woman's amusement & a child's game.
(g) It should be understood that this Work, which is entitled Philosophie des Hautes Sciences, is in ten Books contained in five Volumes. Price 7 l. 10 sec.