A Treatise on the Philosophical Stone, copied/transcribed by Johannes Wittich of Bolesławiec, at Wrocław. Tractatus de Lapide Philosophico, descriptus a Ioanne VVittichio Boneslaviense, Vvratislaviae

A Treatise on the Philosophical Stone, copied/transcribed by Johannes Wittich of Bolesławiec, at Wrocław. Tractatus de Lapide Philosophico, descriptus a Ioanne VVittichio Boneslaviense, Vvratislaviae

described by
JOHANN WITTICH

of Breslau, jurist,
in the Year of the Lord 1550.




Translated from the book:
Syntagma harmoniae chymico-philosophicae, sive philosophorum antiquorum consentientium ... nondum in lucem publicam editorum, collectum et distributum in certas decades, studio et industria Johannis Rhenani ...

I BEGIN IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY and indivisible Trinity, of God the Father, Eheie, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the whole triumphant court of heaven.

In order that we may be able to come to the perfect magistery, it is first necessary to know that there are three special stones and three salts, from which our whole work is perfected, namely: mineral, vegetable, and animal.

And there are three waters, namely those of Mercury, of the Sun, and of the Moon.

Mercury is mineral; and the Moon is vegetable, because it receives only two virtues, namely whiteness and citrinity. But the Sun is animal, because it receives three, namely whiteness, constriction, citrinity, and redness; and thus it has three virtues, and is called the great animal, and from it is made the salt of virtues.

And the Moon is called vegetable, and alkali salt is made from it.

And Mercury is called mineral, and from it is made mineral salt, and sal aton or sal ammoniac.

Son of Chymia, know that this science is nothing other than the perfect divine inspiration of God, because the whole magistery consists from one single thing. And so we show you, by the sayings of the ancient Philosophers, and likewise by what we ourselves have seen and touched with great labors and with great industry, that we have recognized that one thing alone to be perfect for the white and for the red.

And we could find no white thing in which perfection would consist, making for the true transmutation of bodies, or perfecting them, because all other things are wholly corrupted and utterly annihilated.

But we found that one perfect thing, which, after it has been brought by our magistery to fixed matter, leads everything it touches to the truest completion, without any division, according as the matter has been prepared.

For when it is prepared for the white, it does not yet have such completion as when it reaches true perfection; yet it leads everything it touches to completion in the lunar work.

But because the Moon is not altogether perfect in every judgment, we say that when the medicine is prepared for the white, it is not perfect in the truest completion. But when it is prepared for the red, then we say that it is perfect in every judgment.

And the white medicine is not diversified from the red medicine, except because, in the preparation of medicine of this kind, an addition of our sulphur is made, not burning, by the mode of fixing and calcining with sharp and with industry, with much repetition of perfect administration, and by means of manifold solution, until it becomes medicine.

And know that this administration is perfected by sublimation, as we shall relate openly enough in this our book.

And there are many deceivers, going through the whole world, who understand nothing. When we have made this science of ours openly and clearly manifest here to all who understand, we render them so known that they may easily be recognized by everyone. For they themselves are deceived in their imaginings, and likewise deceive others.

Know therefore, son of Chymia, that whoever does not have natural ingenuity, and a subtle searching mind for individual natural things, and for the foundations and artifices in the art, which we cannot follow in the properties of our art, will not find the true root of this precious science.

And there are many who have a stiff neck, with every perspicacity of their talent being empty, who can scarcely understand common things, and discuss the common works of the vulgar with difficulty.

Therefore, because of such men, our most precious science is condemned. And because they have an empty invention, they have empty fruits.

We find many who have easy minds, thinking every fantasy to be true; and according as they believe and judge that they have found the truth, all of it is fantasy, and removed from the reasoning of natural principles, and finally full of every error.

See and understand what Geber, the Master of Masters, says: There is one Stone, one medicine, in which the whole magistery consists. To it we add no foreign thing, nor do we take anything away, except that in the preparation we remove superfluities.

But the wise have named it by many names, so that you, who are not sons of the Philosophers, may not understand that it is one common thing, made from diverse things, namely from the four elements.

And all this is true: that our Stone is made from diverse things, namely from the four elements and four substances.

The first substance is hot and moist; the second hot and dry; the third is cold and dry; the fourth is cold and moist. And all this is in our Stone. And from these things, or these matters, all things of this world were created by the power of God.

And because our Stone has in itself, and contains, all these qualities, for this reason the Philosophers named our Stone by all the names of this world. And according to their diverse intentions, and their diverse operations, they placed it in diverse things, and according to their understanding they spoke.

And know that their intention was perfect and clear; but to those who do not understand, the same things seem contrary.

Hence Geber says in the last chapter On Perfection: Since we have delivered to you the art sought out by us alone, most true and certain, etc. Therefore let the artificer see to it that he has the intended completion as his end.

Some Philosophers said that this art was in spirits, such as quicksilver; and they spoke the truth.

Some Philosophers placed it in sulphur; some in arsenic; some in sal ammoniac; some in the diversity of salts, as in common salt, in alkali salt, in sal acon, and in all salts.

Likewise some Philosophers placed it in vitriols, as in marcasite, tutty, magnesia, antimony, and lapis lazuli.

But other Philosophers placed it in the Sun and Moon, in Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

Others placed it in glass; others in herbs; some in precious stones; some in eggs; some in flesh; some in blood; some placed it in all things of this world.

But the true Philosophers wrote the truth for their sons; false alchemists, however, say: “I know how to sublime.” Another says: “I know how to distill.” Another: “I know how to calcine.” Another: “I know how to dissolve.” Another: “I know how to congeal.” “I know how to fix.” “I know how to make it descend.” And thus they think they know the whole magistery, and they deceive themselves.

But, son of Chymia, know this: the Philosophical Stone is made from all things, that is, from quicksilver not common, fugitive servant, but most pure. Otherwise, if some corrosive thing is added, it remains fugitive in the fire together with it, and does not flee from it.

From the most pure and cleanest living silver, most perfect Moon and Sun are made, according as the medicine, prepared with great caution, comes forth.

But some work uselessly in sulphur; another in orpiment and arsenic; another in sal ammoniac; another in marcasite; another in magnesia; another in tutty; and they find nothing.

So some seek in eggs, another in flesh, another in blood, another in urine, another in hairs, another in herbs, another in trees, another in worms, and others in diverse alums, and some in dung. And thus they deceive themselves and others, not understanding the books of the Philosophers.

The Philosophers themselves wrote their books under a figurative covering, so that they might not be understood by all, but only by their sons.

The philosophical quicksilver of the ancients is a homogeneous medicine, to which quicksilver especially adheres; it also adheres to the bodies of metals.

Common quicksilver is not the Stone of the Philosophers, nor is anything made from it.

Philosophical quicksilver is body and spirit; and therefore it has power for the Sun and for the Moon. In the beginning it is the Stone, in its first operation; for then, after putrefaction, it is called magnesia, and when it is in putrefaction, then certain Philosophers named it Saturn.

Take the body, and join it into thin plates, and place it in a vessel, closing the mouth of the vessel so that it cannot breathe. Roast it with a gentle fire until it becomes fixed and cannot breathe, and let it be held in the fire until it is broken apart, and nothing ascends that can be seen. And thus putrefaction is complete.

And this is the first disposition, namely sublimation. Then the work must be washed, so that it is cleansed from corrupting impurity; and this is the perfection of sublimation. And with it the Stone is most perfectly sublimed, until it comes to the final purity of sublimation.

Sublime the subtle gently from the thick, with great skill.

And note: if the quicksilver is of good substance, and impure sulphur adheres to it, it converts it into bronze. And if the quicksilver is bad, or unclean, earthy, and the sulphur unclean and altogether infected, then tin is made from it.

For our matter wishes to have good quicksilver and good sulphur. But if the quicksilver is not well fixed, but gross, and the sulphur bad, of bad savor and fetid, congealed, etc., then the whole will be in philosophical sulphur, because it is the perfection of metals; but common external sulphur is corruption.

If quicksilver is pure, the force of white sulphur coagulates it into silver, and it is an excellent thing, and from it an elixir for silver is made.

If the quicksilver is excellent with living redness, and clear, and there is in it the force of fire, and pure sulphur coagulates it into the truest gold, then an elixir for gold can be made.

For just as white sulphur has power for silver, so red sulphur has power for gold. Nor can gold be made before silver is first made; and this through a better digestion of fire and citrination; and this indeed in decoction. For first it is turned into black ash, afterwards into white, then citrine, and lastly into excessive red. And thus white and red sulphur are obtained from one matter of metals.

Note: our Stone, or quicksilver, is an indestructible body, or untraceable; and it is a poison, mortifying all bodies, making them lead-like, and coagulating Mercury by its odor. It itself is the medicine, the cause of all bodies, as much of the living as of the dead; and from gold is the birth of them.

Likewise, before operation, our Stone is a poison, and kills all imperfect bodies; but it cures leprosy and every sickness most perfectly. And because of this it is called by the ancient Philosophers the perfect medicine, because it heals all imperfect bodies through alchemy.

SECOND DISPOSITION.

Take Laton, sift it well, and place it in the philosophical vessel in the manner of the Philosophers. Cook it gently until the whole matter is fixed, and its color is changed into violet. And know that from this many colors will appear.

Therefore guard the fire, so that it may be gentle, because it leads to health and generates a good substance in the fire. The whole consists in the vessel. For if the mouth of the vessel is opened even a little, the most subtle spirits will escape, and the whole will be reduced to nothing.

And so that you may know more fully, I say that there are seven dispositions: the first is called sublimation; the second calcination; the third solution; the fourth ablution; the fifth ceration; the sixth coagulation; the seventh fixation. And these are the operations.

Some Philosophers have spoken of ablution, distillation, and descension.

Hermes says: Its father is the Sun, its mother the Moon, and its nurse the earth. The wind carried it in its belly, because the earth is the bearer of the whole world.

This is its whole strength, if it has been turned into earth.

Divide the earth from the fire, and the subtle from the gross, gently and with great skill. It ascends from earth into heaven, and again returns into earth, until it is wholly rectified and washed.

And certain Philosophers have spoken well: our water washes all the grossness of the earth; and our sulphur is a helper in the operation, gradually taking away all blackness and obscurity.

And know that this water is named water of life, preserving water, perpetual water, and by many other names. It is called water of life because it gives life to dead bodies and illuminates a dark thing. It is called perpetual water because it perpetuates every thing which it touches, and leads it to perfection. And there is no thing in the world of such great virtue, because it conquers every nature. And it is intangible water, poisonous, because the Philosophers have called it venom.

THIRD DISPOSITION.

The third disposition is that you take Laton, or Mercury, and see whether it has been well attenuated or calcined; and place it at the fire, and seal it, and cook it with a slow fire, so that our earth may wash itself well and be turned into an emerald color. And this is the third disposition.

Azoth is the Stone of the Philosophers. Cook it with a gentle fire, so that the earth may be well washed and turned into an ashen color, nearly tending to citrinity, with many red drops.

And Azoth, according to the Indians, is called gold; according to the Greeks, Mercury; according to the Armenians, silver; according to the Alexandrians and Macedonians, iron; according to the Hebrews, tin; according to the Tartars brass; according to the Arabs, Saturn; according to the greatest authorities of the Latins, Hermogenes. The Philosophers have called it by many names. But we name it the Stone of the Philosophers, because we do not wish to hide the science.

FOURTH DISPOSITION.

Take Azoth, the Stone of the Philosophers, as it has been attenuated, and put it into the Lion, and seal it firmly so that it cannot breathe. Place it at our Sun, to be cooked in the month of May, that is, at the furnace, until the whole is congealed into a stone, or into red powder. Or keep it in the Sun until it is congealed, and the whole matter is fixed, and nothing ascends.

And when it has been fixed, it is called Ernoch in the Arabic of the Philosophers; in Latin it is called auripigment. And therefore Plato says: unless the virtue were in auripigment for constricting Mercury, our work would never be perfected.

By auripigment here is not meant the common kind, but the philosophical kind, which is a perfect thing, leading to perfection.

FIFTH DISPOSITION.

Take Ernoch or Zonoch, and place it at the Green Lion. Place this Lion at our Sun, as in the days of June, and let the whole be dissolved, if possible; and wash the earth, separating its most subtle parts. Guard these carefully, lest they flee away, and the whole turn into smoke.

There are some winds in it; but keep them, and allow them to flower in the Sun until the whole is fixed and nothing ascends, but is turned into a powder or a most shining stone. And do all this gently.

Then it is called Kibrik in Arabic; in Latin, sulphur not common sulphur, but philosophical sulphur.

Note: when Jupiter is joined with the Moon, it is not easily separated without arsenic; but when joined with the Moon, it loses its shrillness. Saturn also is hardened and reddened, and is mixed with the Sun; and if it is not well separated, it becomes hard and infusible. Yet it is made fusible if it is joined with arsenic, melted in a containing vessel, and whitened by a peculiar whitening.

SIXTH DISPOSITION.

Take the Kibrik of the Philosophers, ground most subtly without any difficulty, and put it into the Green Lion, and close the mouth of the vessel. Then place it at the Sun in the days of July, and permit it thus until the whole is dissolved.

And when it has been dissolved, leave it in the said Sun until the whole matter is fixed, and nothing ascends, and it is turned into a white Stone. And then it is called Enbarich in Arabic, and calx in Latin.

Concerning this Datinus the Philosopher says: unless you see your calxes close to the end, you will not be secure that you have performed your operation well and perfectly.

And be most certain of this: when our matter is dissolved, and we must coagulate or calcine it, then it is useful to withdraw it from the heat of the Sun, so that it may be dissolved again better.

And the Philosophers have said: by gently roasting, you will make all decoctions, and you will find the science. But if you do otherwise, you will not rejoice in your operation, because sublimation is done with a slow fire, and is the separation of subtle parts from gross parts.

Hence we say that metallic bodies are generated from four substances, namely from double quicksilver and double sulphur: first, from quicksilver well clear, pure, clean, and also fixed; secondly, from sulphur fixed, pure, clean, and clear. And thus perfect bodies are generated.

But imperfect bodies are generated from good quicksilver in some quantity, and from bad and earthy quicksilver in great quantity; and from good sulphur in some quantity, and from bad, earthy, unctuous sulphur in great quantity, more or less.

Concerning the furnace, we say that it should have earth for sustaining the fire, and it should be plastered with horse dung and very subtle sand, so that it may endure the fire and be lifted up. Its height should be one cubit, its breadth one span and three fingers; the thickness of its walls should be two fingers. The upper window should be narrower than the lower.

In the middle of the furnace let there be one grate, in which there are very many tiny holes; and above it let there appear an earthen dish. And around, where the dish remains, let there be six or eight holes, or more.

Let there be three parts: one below for receiving the air; the second for kindling the coals this part must be opened and closed skillfully, and within it is the philosophical fire; but the third part should be covered around the little dish, and the ash should be dense around the vessel. Let the fire be gentle throughout.

SEVENTH DISPOSITION.

First, it must be known what the Stone is which must perfect. Secondly, how we may choose from it the pure substance. Thirdly, the decoction with its causes.

Concerning the vessel, which is called Leo; and thus is our magistery.

Take the Stone, which is named Adrop in Arabic, in Latin Saturn, the black Stone; and place it for subliming. In sublimation it will come to purity. And this sublimation is not common, but that of the Philosophers, of which it was spoken before; and it is the purest and most subtle purification.

The second is solution, by which the matter is dissolved into water.

The third is called putrefaction; because, as the Philosopher says, if it has not been putrid, it cannot be melted or dissolved; and if it has not been dissolved, it is reduced to nothing.

The fourth is ablution, because putrefaction must be washed away; for ablution is the perfection of the whole thing, since grinding and ablution are one and the same.

The fifth is coagulation, because it is necessary that this water, by being gently dried at our Sun, should be coagulated together and reduced into a Stone, or into powder; otherwise it is not perfected.

The sixth is calcination; and calcination is more fit for dissolving and fixing.

First, so that the medicine may be made lunar: take the Stone and, by means of separation, divide the purest part, and set it aside. And this is the first disposition.

Then fix that part. Behold the second disposition.

On the contrary, when it has been fixed, dissolve what is soluble from it. Behold the third disposition.

Afterwards mix all the solutions together, and coagulate them. And this is the fourth disposition.

Still repeat the solution upon it, until again that which is soluble from it is dissolved in every way. Therefore, if this order is repeated many times, a greater quantity of it will be dissolved. And behold the fifth disposition.

After this, mix all the solutions together and coagulate them; and behold the sixth disposition.

After this, preserve the aforesaid order of sublimation until again the whole is dissolved, and what is soluble from it is again congealed in temperate fires.

Preserve it until that good fire can again be administered for its perfection.

Therefore you must repeat these orders of solution four times, and finally calcine it by its own method, not by a foreign one.

And thus, by conversion of the Stone, sufficiently ministering earth to itself, it is ruled.

And behold the seventh disposition.

But we say that all these operations are in one single sublimation, in one vessel. And in one sublimation all these seven operations are performed, and whatever purification is, such also is perfection.

And sublimation is the elevation of the most subtle parts, and the separation or division of substances from the gross parts; and similarly the separation of the unfixed parts from the fixed parts. The unfixed parts are elevated through smoke, that is, wind.

Yet let the fire be guarded, lest vitrification occur, and so that the matter which ascends may descend, and the whole may remain below. And the more often you repeat it, the greater perfection you will find, because our quicksilver is the clearest water, and our arsenic is perfect silver, and our sulphur is pure gold; and therefore it has no dregs.

Note: when you wish to make our perfect sublimation, add nothing to our Stone nor take anything away from it; rather place the whole substance in the vessel so that it may be dissolved, and close the mouth of the vessel, and seal it with the philosophical seal, until the greater part is turned into black earth. This will be in twenty-one days. Then these operations are perfected, and sublimation, solution, distillation, descension, putrefaction, ablution, ceration, coagulation, calcination, and fixation are accomplished.

Hence this philosophical Stone is called Azoth, Laton, fetid earth, white earth, red earth, and is called by many names. And therefore it is perfected by one single operation.

For it is a peace-making remedy, and an amicable one for joining the tinctures of all metals, especially of the Sun and Moon. It receives quicksilver into itself, because by its nature it is friendly, but it rejects what is foreign.

Note: if quicksilver is pure, our white sulphur will coagulate it into perfect silver.

But if the sulphur is clear, pure, red, fixed, and perfect, and if there is in it likewise a force of fieryness not burning, it will congeal quicksilver into the truest Sun.

And thus also with the other imperfect metallic bodies, when our sulphur has been made.

And although in pure silver there is white sulphur, and in gold red sulphur, yet according to Avicenna, if he had not found it elsewhere, this nevertheless is not contrary to him, because he has it to be converted by art into gold and silver.

Therefore nothing agrees with a thing except what is near to it by nature.

Note that Avicenna says: “If I had not seen gold and silver, for that reason I would say that alchemy was not true. But since I see gold and silver, I know most certainly that it is a true science.”

The methods of regimen and of converting the elements into one another are four principal ones: namely, to dissolve the gross into the simple, and to subtilize; to wash the obscure into the lucid; to reduce the moist into the dry; to fix the volatile upon its own body. In this science there is nothing else except to dissolve, wash, reduce, and fix.

To dissolve is to divide, corrupt, and make the first matter. To wash is to inhume, distill, and calcine. To reduce is to incerate, fatten, and sublime. To fix is to espouse, dissolve, and coagulate.

By the first, nature is changed inwardly; by the second, outwardly; by the third, upwardly; by the fourth, downwardly.

Now I have shown you, dearest son of Chymia, the whole operation and doctrine. And know that all perfection is in solution, where the extraction of water from earth takes place, and the division of this water from the earth upon the earth, until the earth itself putrefies.

This earth putrefies with water, and is cleansed; and when cleansed, it completes the work. If it did not putrefy, it would be reduced to nothing.

And do not mix the white with the red, nor the red with the white; but dissolve each one by itself, and do not mix the water of one with the other.

Then grind them one after another, and cook, and distill through a filter, repeating, cooking, distilling the water upon the earth, until the whole is fixed and nothing ascends. Then collect separately what remains above; and that is our oil, and the true sign of dissolution. Guard it carefully, lest it fly away into smoke.

And what you do in the white, do also in the red. The medicine is one in essence, and in the manner of acting it is likewise one.

Be also long-suffering. Gently, and not hastily, extract the tincture. Do not seek to perfect the way swiftly, nor make a great fire at the beginning, because corruption would come, and the medicines would be burned.

Verse.

First scatter the thing taken, this one, that one, sufficiently fit;
lightly extracted, thus grind the mass that has been made.
Here do not hasten, but at the end of the order of time,
with the whiteness of urine, it sets in order the members of ruin.

Therefore endure patiently, grind and cook, and again repeat; and let it not weary you to repeat this very thing. For those things which are imbibed are softened by water, and certainly become more yielding; then the spirit is kneaded together with the body, and after they have been kneaded together, they are dissolved.

For this kneading is done with very much grinding, inceration, and roasting.

Now we wish to state the names. Diverse Philosophers have imposed upon the Philosophical Stone many diverse and various names, in order to hide the science.

It is called by all the names which are found; these are: the Stone of Paradise, the wood of life, our gum, our milk, water of life, perpetual water, generating water, permanent water, penetrating water, illuminating water, or kindling candles, living water, red water, white water, dry water, black water, green water, quicksilver, sulphur, arsenic, sal ammoniac, tutty, magnesia, marcasite, antimony, lapis lazuli, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, alum, earth, glass.

Whatever addition may be made, do not look for it in dung, and the question is more your own. And he who understands the said question well and purely will have the Philosophical Stone.

It is likewise called Lion, Dragon, Bear, Wolf, Bone, Brain, Urine, Man, Dung, Hair, Menstruum; and it has many other names according to the Philosophers, so that the science may be hidden. But according to our art, our first planet is Venus, the second Saturn, the third Mercury, the fourth Mars, the fifth Jupiter, the sixth Moon, the seventh Sun.

Note without fallacy: take bronze, and turn it into lead; afterwards into Mercury, into its first matter. For species are not changed into species except insofar as species are brought back into first matter. That is: from that color you will draw out quicksilver; and what remains at the bottom of the vessel, turn it into iron. Join all things together by true decoction, and cook for so long until it goes into tin; nor should it cease from decoction until it is turned into true silver.

And then you have the white Stone, transforming every body into the truest Moon. But let it be decocted further until it is turned into the truest Sun, while bronze, silver, lead, iron, and tin become gold.

Likewise note:

Take our burned bronze, and make it perfectly reddened by roasting and reducing; and imbibe it with the oil of the Lion twelve times, as much as you can, and always imbibe it by roasting and reducing.

Afterwards make it descend, and it descends into pure gold in a green manner, and becomes pure red gold, like clear garnet. And know that so much redness descends from it that it tinges silver, in some quantity, with the truest color.

And note that you will be able to prepare no true kind of Stone without the Green Lion in liquid form, which is clearly found in our vessels.

Yet know what the Stone is: it is corrupting and amending, mortifying and vivifying, dissolving and coagulating silver and gold. One is in one place.

Note that in liquefaction there are three colors, namely black, then white, and lastly red.

There are many other colors, namely citrine, bluish-gray, sky-blue, violet, green, camel-colored, and many others; but all are generated from these three. Citrine and bluish-gray are born from white and red, because citrinity and bluish-grayness are a proportion of white and red. Sky-blue arises from white and black. Green, violet, camel-colored arise from black, white, and red mixed together.

But other imperfect colors are perfected through water, and by it they are washed and cleansed.

If in your work the black color appears, then you have not labored in vain. But if, with putrefaction, you dissolve the matter, then you will see it black, afterwards green, then saffron-colored and reddish; and it will be resolved with many colors, enough for separation. And then, from that, perfect this magistery by true decoction.

Know very well how to sublime, whiten, heat, make earth, water, and redness, and how to tinge. Yet the elixir must be burned and mortified, because Azoth, or Laton, or the divine water, does not become red except by mortification and roasting.

Whitening, however, does not happen except in combustion; and whatever is whitened first afterwards becomes red.

Water is that thing which whitens and makes red. Water is that which kills and vivifies. Water is that which burns and makes white. Water is that which dissolves and congeals. Water is that which putrefies and germinates diverse and new things.

There is a great mystery in the decoction of this water. Therefore cook it gradually, and at the beginning beware of burning it, lest it go away into flowers, and do not wish to perfect the greenness quickly.

Close it, lest that which is within fly away quickly.

Dearest one, know that to dissolve, sublime, calcine, tinge, wash, cool, moisten, extract, coagulate, humidify, imbibe, wash, cook, fix, grind, dry, distill is one thing; and soul, spirit, and body are one thing; and it is a sign of perfection, and signifies the apposition of Venus, that is, of the fire which becomes gentle.

And know that the unfixed is placed upon the fixed until it is fixed; and then life and light arise. And as it was one from the beginning, so it will be one when it returns to one.

Know that in the beginning we make a light fire, afterwards a great one. But when you make the fixed volatile, increase it thus until you complete it. Know that this one thing alone does this, and that thing is in every grade of our work, and our body is turned into another matter.

For this regimen is operated by the spirit. Therefore let the vessel be served, lest the composites flee away and smoke; and thus you have the intention.

Likewise: our bronze, when it is first cooked, becomes water; then, the more it is cooked, the more it is thickened, which the Philosophers have called the Stone. When it comes with metals, afterwards it is broken, imbibed, and roasted with a stronger fire than before, until it is colored.

Mark well these words, and you will open your ears, and let there be no more than a justly strong fire.

But the Green Lion remains in the middle until it is entirely killed; then it is placed alive, and it tinges them into a new form, with God helping, by joining nothing except our water. And you must kill our bronze by burning it gradually, until its white color presents itself.

You must convert the shining Stone in odor and clarity, and add a little redness. But take the residual water, which you have ordered to be divided into two parts, and imbibe it many times, until the colors appear.

And know that if you have not ruled it sufficiently, you will not see the colors. And if it has been thickened in the beginning after blackness, whether redness has come, afterwards care for nothing except that the vessel be closed and sealed until it comes to its own nature.

Cook it so long until the spirit and the bodies are joined together all at once. When the spirit can no longer fly away, then it will be fixed, and it will be united with the body. And the aforesaid blackness remains forty or forty-two days; and afterwards it is changed and varied through diverse colors until it comes to whiteness. And afterwards it is not varied until it comes to perfect redness.

May our Lord God Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns, perfect God in the perfect Trinity, through all ages of ages, bring you to this. Amen.

The Epilogue of the preceding things follows.

When the intention has been carefully understood and excerpted, it is nothing other than that the Philosophical Stone be taken, as it is clear; and, with unwearied effort in the work, one should labor upon it through the first degree of sublimation, solution, and distillation, so that by this it may be cleansed from corrupting impurity; and afterwards let it be fixed, so that nothing ascends.

And when it has been fixed, dissolve whatever from it is soluble, and keep it in temperate fires until it is fixed, and rests in the roughness of them. And in this the second degree of preparation is completed; and in this indeed exists one degree of preparation and the limit of perfection.

Thirdly, in like manner, the Stone is administered by degree, which throughout the whole beginning, middle, and end consists in the completion of preparation. And this is namely: that we make the now fixed Stone volatile by means of sublimations, with the administration of fire, and make the volatile fixed, until it rests in the harshness of the fire, so that nothing is seen to ascend. And this is called the third mode.

The fourth administration is that you dissolve the Stone, and by means of dissolution make it volatile; and when it has been fixed, let the whole matter be made with the fire appropriate to it, until it rests without any separation. And when it has thus been made, the matter has been most truly joined together.

The fifth administration has been found to be this: that you dissolve the congealed Stone, and that you again make all fixed things volatile by the administration of fire; and again fix the volatile, until it remains in the battle of the fire. And when it has thus been preserved, until that greater quantity of fire can be administered to it, there you have seen the fifth circle.

The sixth preparation is that our Stone, dissolved in this way, sublimed, coagulated, calcined, incerated, distilled, and fixed, together with the preserved unfixed part, should be subtly joined by the magistery through sublimation, solution, and distillation; and you should make it volatile with the greatest skill of fire.

And when this whole has been fixed, until it rests in the harshness of the fire so that nothing is seen to ascend, thus I have completed the sixth disposition.

But because in the seventh disposition, in the operation of this disposition the whole secret and the whole science consist, we tell you, son, that you may have true understanding, and the true operation and intention, so that you may understand well the sayings of the Philosophers, and likewise my own. And thus you will have the whole magistery.

Now let us pass separately to solution in the seventh operation.

We say, therefore, that the seventh operation is first to dissolve our blessed Stone; afterwards to distill it; thirdly, to sublime it; fourthly, to incerate it; fifthly, to make it descend; sixthly, to calcine it; seventhly, to fix it.

Behold the whole magistery, and the whole secret, and all that we say: it is nothing else than to dissolve, to recongeal, to fix, to make the fixed volatile, and the volatile fixed; and the fixed dissolved, and the dissolved again volatile, until it flows and is altered in the lunar and solar completion.

Therefore, from the repetition of preparation in the medicine, there results the goodness of alteration and multiplication.

Therefore from the diversity of the repeated work upon the Stone in its degrees, there results the goodness of multiplication, and diversity of alteration, so that some of it transmutes a double quantity, some sixfold, some a hundredfold, some a thousandfold, and some infinitely, into true solar and lunar perfection.

And concerning the Stone, let these things suffice.

But so that you may better understand the true intention, we wish to show in what hour, on what day, and in what month the beginning of this work ought to be. And we say that whoever does otherwise will certainly err; and whoever does according to what we prescribe will certainly see the true art and the end of the magistery.

Therefore we say that the Philosophical Stone is to be taken with its whole substance, and that the purest and most subtle substance is to be chosen from that Stone, and placed in the philosophical vessel; and the mouth of the vessel is to be sealed in the philosophical manner, and it is placed in the philosophical furnace at the setting of the Sun; and all this should be done on the day of the Moon. And let the work be begun in the middle of January, under the sign of Capricorn.

Then let the fire be kindled, and let it be governed according to the manner of the Philosophers throughout the whole sign. And make it so that, in the said sign, the whole matter which was volatile becomes fixed.

Afterwards we shall enter into the sign of Aquarius; and in this sign the operation will be to govern the matter so that it may be elevated and made volatile. Afterwards let it be fixed, so that the whole matter becomes fixed and nothing is elevated.

Then we shall enter into the sign of Pisces; and again in the said sign it is necessary to make the matter volatile, and again to burn the said matter throughout the whole sign.

Afterwards we shall enter into the sign of Aries; and it is necessary in the said sign to make the aforesaid matter volatile, and to fix it throughout the whole sign, so that nothing ascends.

This done, we enter into the sign of Taurus. Make the Stone ascend, so that it becomes volatile without tumult; afterwards make it fixed throughout the whole sign, and thus you have rightly ruled the most precious Stone.

Then we shall enter into the sign of Gemini, where again you must make the Stone volatile with great skill; and it is to be done in Gemini with the said sign, and not with another. Then make the matter ascend; afterwards fix it, so that it is fixed throughout the whole sign.

This done, we enter into the sign of Cancer; and it is altogether necessary that, in the said sign, it be elevated with great caution. And after it has been elevated, it may afterwards be sent down, until it rests in the harshness of the fire. Do this throughout the whole sign.

And when this has been done, praise the Lord your God for what He has given you. For here the Philosophical Stone is complete, and in the next hand, which leads all imperfect bodies and quicksilver wholly to perfection into Sun and Moon, according as the medicine has been prepared.

This is the Philosophical Stone which has been distilled seven times, dissolved seven times, congealed seven times, made to descend seven times, calcined seven times, and fixed seven times.

Praise be to the Being in divine things; glory in the highest Trinity. Amen.

Written in Wrocław, and finished on the day of the Sun, or the first Sunday after the feast of the Lord God Elohim Zebaoth, that is, Easter, by Johann Wittich of Bolesławiec, otherwise Bunzel, in the Year of the Lord 1550.

FINIS.