Word Left Behind - La parole delaissee - Verbum Dimissum, "the word that has been sent forth"

Treatise by Bernard, Count of La Marche Trevisane.

Never before printed.

WORD LEFT BEHIND,
TREATISE BY BERNARD
Count of La Marche Trevisane.

The first thing required for the secret science of transmutation is the knowledge of the matter from which is extracted the Philosophers’ quicksilver and sulphur, from which two the sovereign stone of the Philosophers is made and constituted.

The matter from which the sovereign and secret medicine of the Philosophers is extracted is only very pure gold and very fine silver, and our quicksilver. All of these you see daily, yet altered each time, and transformed by artifice into the nature of a white and dry matter, in the manner of a stone, from which our quicksilver, and the sulphur is elevated and extracted with strong ignition by repeated destruction of it, by dissolving and sublimating. And in this quicksilver are the air and the fire, which cannot be seen by the eyes of the body, as they are rare and spiritual. This is contrary to those who think they can see four elements really and visibly separated in the work, each one apart by itself; but such have not truly known the nature of things, since among us no simple element can be given. Nevertheless, we know them by their operations and their effects, which are the lower elements, that is to say, in the earth and in the water, according as they are altered from a closed and coarse nature, by which they are changed from nature into nature.

That Gold and Silver are the matter of our blessed stone, all the sentences of the Philosophers declare. And in real truth, our father Hermes, the father of the work, says: the Sun is the father, the Moon is the mother. But the greater doubt is of the third component, namely, which is this quicksilver, with which, together with Gold and Silver, our composition is made.

To know why, it is to be noted that the whole work of the Philosophers is chiefly divided into two parts, namely, into the first and into the second. The second part is by the Philosophers divided into the accomplished white stone, and into the red stone.

But because the foundation of this noble secret is in the first part, the Philosophers, fearing to divulge or reveal this secret, have made little mention of this first part. And I believe that if it had not been to avoid that the science of the Philosophers should remain false in its principles, they would have been entirely silent about this first part, making no mention of it.

For if they had not touched upon it at all, the science would have been altogether unknown and would have remained lost, and false in its terms. Since this first part is the beginning, the key, and the foundation of our magistery, without which nothing is accomplished; without which, being ignored, the science remains fallacious and false in its experiment.

So that this very great secret, which is the stone to which nothing strange is added, may not be unknown, I have resolved to make certain and true mention of it, which I have seen and held, God witnessing, and truly; which I commit to the secret coffer of the sacred soul, under the peril thereof.

Wherefore the Philosophers have called this secret Verbum Dimissum, that is to say, The Word Left Behind, or retained in this Art, which almost all have concealed.

It is therefore to be known that the Philosophical Stone is divided into three degrees, namely, the vegetable, mineral, and animal stone. The vegetable stone, properly and principally, the Philosophers have called this first part, which is the stone of the first degree; of which Pierre de Villeneuve, brother of Arnauld, says at the end of his Rosary: “The beginning of our stone is quicksilver, whose sulphurousness we must have of its coarse corporeal substance, before it can pass to the second degree.”

The beginning then of our stone is that Mercury, growing in the tree, be composed and sublimed in lightness; for it is the volatile germ, which cannot nourish itself or grow without the fixed tree that holds it, as the teat gives life to the child.

It appears then that this stone is vegetable, just as the gentle spirit growing from the germ of the vine is joined in the first work to the fixed whitish body; as it is said in the Green Dream, in which, after the text of Alchemy, the practice of this vegetable stone is notably given to those who wisely know how to understand the truth; which, for certain reasonable and just causes, I have omitted to place here.

First Degree

Thus, the first degree of the physical stone is to make our vegetable Mercury, clean and pure; which also is called by the Philosophers the white sulphur, not burning, which is the means of joining the sulphurs with the body. And truly, since it is also of a fixed, subtle, and pure nature, it unites with bodies, and adheres and is joined to their depth by means of the heat and moisture thereof; of which the Philosophers have said that it is the means of joining the tinctures, and not the common quicksilver, which, being cold and phlegmatic, is consequently deprived of all operation of life, which consists in heat and moisture.

But because it is in part volatile, it is also the means of mingling the volatile spirits, and of adhering or joining itself to the fixed substance of bodies, which things are entirely the cause of its necessity, which is threefold.

The first, since we have to join the two seeds, that is to say, male and female, one must be mingled with the other by a natural alliance and love, and by a natural sponginess, in such a way that the greater part of the one is attracted by the greater part of the other; and consequently that the one be mingled with the other, and that they be joined together.

And therefore, as these two bodies, namely Gold and Silver, are made moist by digestive heat, dissolving and subtilizing, then they are of the first matter, and simple; and thus take the name of seed, which are near to generation by the impression they receive through their simplicity and obedience to the instrumental heat, equalling and resembling the natural heat of this Mercury, forming and sealing them to the hope of the Elixir, because the first part of the Stone is called Elixir.

This first part, then, is the means of joining the extremities of the vessel of nature or of proportioned residues; in which vessel the spirits must be transformed before they flee from nature to nature. In this is touched the second cause of its necessity: for since the stone must be impregnated with spirits, it must in itself have a certain retentive power and embrace them, so that they may be more easily mingled with the very small parts of the bodies. This virtue truly is in this Physical Mercury; for though it be in part of a spiritual nature, yet it is a true and pure spirit, purified and cleansed of all feculence or earthly residence; a spirit, I say, true and fixed, and in part volatile, for it contains the nature of both fires.

This thing manifests and declares its sharpness, or its sour and pungent composition, which appears in its operations. For by this mortified Mercury, the common Mercury is easily and lightly congealed, as the text says. Nevertheless, it is not fixed by itself, and for this reason it must be joined to the Sun and to the Moon, and be made one, so that what in it is volatile may be fixed with these bodies, that is to say, that of this thing, which is composed of all these things mingled together with their adjuncts, the common Mercury may be directly fixed.

This is the reason why new bodies are added to it, for they are fixed, so that the composed fire, which is called sublimed Mercury, or first matter, may be so properly informed and strengthened that it obtains the power to persevere longer in the battle of fire, despite its harshness.

And for this reason Hortulan says that it is not strange with which it must be joined, that is to say, fixed ☿ Mercury; of which Raymond Lull says: “The quicksilver made by us congeals the common quicksilver; and it is more common to men than the common one, of lesser price, of greater virtue and utility, and also of stronger retention.”

And therefore Geber says: “This is a sign of perfection, because it is a gum more noble than pearls, which converts and attracts any other gum to its fixed, clear, and pure nature, and makes it always endure with it in the fire.”

And thus it is, therefore (as the text says, citing Morien), that those who wish or think to compose this blessed stone without this first part are like those who, without ladders, wish to climb to high pinnacles; who, as soon as they begin to climb, find themselves fallen down, into misery and pain.

This Mercury, then, is the beginning and foundation of all this glorious Magistery; for it contains fire within itself, which must be fed and nourished by a greater and stronger fire, in the second regimen of the stone.

Thus, both the fire enclosed in the said Mercury by the first regimen, and the fire which within must be enclosed by the second, by the Philosophers in natural things, is properly called the instrument, which is the second thing chiefly required to be known in this high magistery, in the same manner as the matter known, from which one must begin the work.

One must first enclose the fire in the volatile matter, and fix it, in heating and coagulating with dissolution of the bodies, according to the natural Philosophers.

This inclusion or imprisonment of fire the Philosophers have called, for its mystery, under another name, namely Sublimation, or exaltation of the mercurial matter, as in its noble virtues it is already exalted, and sublimed in its degrees.

And thus Arnauld de Villeneuve says that Mercury must first be sublimed, that is to say, as Mercury is of a low nature, namely of earth and water, it must be brought to a noble and high nature, namely of air and fire, which are the principles most akin to this Mercury, according to the intention of nature and of art.

Wherefore, when this mercurial stone is thus exalted and subtilized, it is said to be sublimed with the first sublimation; which must still be sublimed again with its vessel.

And for this reason Raymond Lull says, at the beginning of his Codicil, in the second chapter of the Vade mecum de numero Philosophorum: We hope in our Lord that our Mercury will be sublimed to greater things, with the addition of the thing tincting it; and its soul will be exalted in glory, as it is he who must still enter into the womb of his mother. Thus it is said to be born of the first nativity, which regards the whole order of alchemical earths.

And the hearts of those working in the Art are not deprived of joy. Therefore I tell you, calling God as witness, that when this Mercury had been sublimed by some, it appeared clothed with as great a whiteness as the snow of high mountains, under the radiance of a very subtle crystallinity, from which issued so great, so sweet, and good an odor, after the opening of the secret vessel, as is not found in this world.

And I (who speak) know that to my own eyes this marvellous whiteness appeared, and this delicate and subtle crystallinity I have touched with my own hands; and with my own sense of smell I scented this marvellous sweetness, at which, from great joy, I began to weep over it, being altogether astonished by this marvellous sweetness. And therefore, blessed be the Eternal God, high and glorious, who has hidden such marvellous gifts in the secrets of nature, and has not allowed them to be shown to any men.

And I know (most reverend Father) that when you know the causes of this disposition, you will say: “What is this, that such a nature should be given to a corruptible thing, and hold it bound in it like a nature almost celestial?” I cannot suffice to recount these marvels. Nevertheless, perhaps the time will come (if it is expedient) when I will tell you many special things of this nature, of which to write here I have not been able to obtain permission from the Lord of nature.

Therefore, of this celestial nature it is written in the first book of the Prognostics: Est autem in medicina quoddam coeleste donum, etc. That is to say, Verily in medicine there are indeed celestial gifts. But however it may be, when you shall have sublimed this Mercury, take it all fresh and recent with its blood, so that it may not grow old; and present it to its parents, that is to say, to the Moon and to the Sun, so that from these three things, namely ☉ Sol, ☽ Moon, and ☿ Mercury, our composition may be made, and that the second degree of our stone, which is called mineral, may begin.

The Second Degree

If you then wish to have good multiplication in very strong qualities and mineral virtues, by the operations of the second degree, through nature: take the bodies clean, and with them unite the said Mercury, according to the weight known to the Masters of this Magistery; and join the aforesaid dry water, which has the sulphur of the elements; and that which is called the oil of nature; and sublime Mercury, subtilized, dissolved, and hardened with the preparations of the first degree. In degre [ting], nevertheless always rejecting the residue and dregs it makes in its sublimation, as being of no value.

It is not to be understood, however, that in our sublimation the sublimed substance remains at the height of the vessel, as in the sublimation of the sophists; but in our sublimation, what is sublimed is a small elevation above the dregs of the vessel, for the most subtle and the purest part always floats above the dregs of the vessel, and clings and joins to the side of the vessel; and what is foul and impure remains at the bottom by nature, which desires to lose the useless part by a certain term of evacuation, so that it may be restored to better, losing the bad and impure parts, in order to recover the pure and better ones.

From these things it appears that the third cause of necessity is, that as the Mercury is clean, clear, white, and incombustible, it illumines the whole stone, and defends it from burning or scorching, and guards it from being burnt, and tempers and moderates the excesses of the heat of the fire, against nature, reducing and bringing it back to true temperance and concord with the natural fire. For this Philosophical Mercury contains in excellence the unnatural fire, whose sovereign virtue is tempering against the ardor of the fire against nature, and serving or kindly aiding the natural, naturalizing fire — that is to say, converting into nature itself, or making itself natural, by gentle temperance with the natural fire.

This is a very great secret, known to very few, of which this Mercury is said to be “earth nourished in a vine-stock,” as being the germ without which the stone cannot grow nor multiply. And therefore Hermes says: “The nourishment of our stone is the earth, of which the Sun is the father and the Moon the mother; it ascends from the earth to heaven, and again descends to earth, the force of which is entire if it be turned into earth; from which earth, with the two perfect bodies, the true composition of the Philosophers takes birth and beginning.”

Be content, then, with these two bodies; for they are similar to the thing sought and required; as Arnauld de Villeneuve says: that is to say, that as the end of the stone is perfect, it perfects the common Mercury and the other imperfect bodies into Gold and Silver, by transmuting them.

It is therefore necessary to seek this virtue where it will be found. Now it is thus that one can no more suitably find it than in perfect bodies. For if in a pure and fine body there is no power, force, or virtue to transmute the imperfect metals into true Gold, it is useless and in vain to hope to seek this virtue in Copper. Likewise I say of Silver, and in the whole genus of metals, that Gold and Silver alone are perfect, and all the other metals are imperfect.

Therefore, to have this Mercurial substance, in which is this perfect virtue of transmuting imperfect metals into Gold and Silver, one must resort to these two perfect bodies perfect, not elsewhere. Wherefore it is to be known that in the conjunction of these two bodies is the natural term of utmost subtlety, and of transmutation into the first matter of regeneration. And from this conjunction, as from the first and simple matter, is made the generation of the true Elixir.

The Moon, reduced to first matter, is the passive matter, for truly she is the spouse of the Sun, and the Sun is her husband, that is to say, in very close affinity. Such is the agreement between the male and the female of the kind of the Art, from which two is begotten the white and red sulphur, gluing and congealing Mercury.

Indeed, better creation and nearer transmutation is always made when the proper male is joined with its proper female in one nature. And the male is that which joins itself most deeply to the depth of the passive matter, by its natural subtlety; and transmutes it more, and converts its nature into another nature, that is to say into the nature of Sulphur.

Of which says Dastin the Englishman, concerning this conjunction: If the white woman is married to the red man, they embrace continually, and join and couple together, they dissolve into one another, so that those who were two are made one in one body.

This copulation is the Philosophical marriage, and the indissoluble bond. Wherefore it is said elsewhere: These two are one by conversion, but that they hold together as one, that is to say, our Mercury, which according to some is called the sovereign bond-ring. Also it is said: the bond of Plato, which joins bodies assembled by love.

Compose then our most-secret Stone from these three things, and from no other; for in no other thing lies that which is required by many. This amalgam, or this physical composition thus treated, one may truly say that the stone is but one thing. For all this compound is a mixture or blending, whose price and value is inestimable, that is to say, that the price of it is so great that it cannot be conceived, as is our Brass, of which it is said in the Turba: “Know all together, that no true tincture is made except from our Brass,” that is to say, from our confection, which is made only from the three aforesaid things.

And then begins the second part of our most noble stone, and the stone of the second degree, which is called mineral. Where it is to be noted that by this second regimen, or by this second operation, the stone, or the Mercury, which at first had been born by the first operation so clear and so resplendent, is mortified, blackened, and disfigured; in short, it is made misshapen or ugly with the whole compound, so that it may rise again with great victory, clearer, purer, and stronger than it had been at first.

For this mortification is its revivification; for in dying it revives, and in reviving it dies. Truly these two operations are so linked together, and interlaced, that the one cannot be without the other, as the philosophical doctrine teaches: for the generation of the one is the corruption of the other.

All this, nevertheless, is only to create the sulphur of nature, and to reduce the compound to the first proximate matter, to the metallic kind; for, as Albert says in his Book of Minerals, one must not greatly distract or remove the stone from the nature of the metal.

Know then that this compound is that substance from which this sulphur of nature must be drawn, by its comforting and nourishing it, putting within this substance the mineral virtue, so that it may finally be made into a new nature, stripped of all superfluous and corruptible earthiness, and of all phlegmatic moistures which hinder digestion.

Where it is to be noted that, according to various alterations or mutations of one same matter in its digestion, various names are imposed upon it by the Philosophers. And also according to various names, some have called this compound “Coagulating Rennet” or thickening agent.

Others, Sulphur. Many, Arsenic. Some, Azoth. Others, Alum and a tincture illuminating all bodies. Yet others have called it the “Egg of the Philosophers”; for as our egg is composed of three things, namely, the shell, the white, and the yolk, so is our physical egg composed of body, soul, and spirit.

Although in truth our stone is one and the same thing — according to the body, according to the spirit, and according to the soul — nevertheless, according to various reasons and intentions of the Philosophers, it is now called one thing, now another. And this is what Plato meant when he said that matter flows infinitely, that is to say, always, unless form arrests its flow.

Thus is trinity in unity, and unity in trinity; for there are body, soul, and spirit. There also are Sulphur, Mercury, and Arsenic. For the breathing Sulphur — that is to say, casting forth its vapor through Arsenic — works in coagulating Mercury. Of which the Philosophers say that the property of Arsenic is to breathe, and the property of Sulphur is to coagulate and freeze, or arrest Mercury. Nevertheless, this Sulphur, this Arsenic, and this Mercury are not those which the common vulgar imagines; for they are not those poisonous spirits which the apothecaries sell, but are the spirits of the Philosophers.

Since in those vulgar spirits there is more imperfection and corruption for imperfect metals than there is for their repair, they cannot give incorruption or perfection to imperfect metals — the perfection which our medicine must give.

Foolishly then do those sophists labor who make their Elixir from such poisonous spirits, full of corruption. For certainly, in no other thing lies the truth of the sovereign subtlety of nature than in the three aforesaid things, namely Sulphur, Arsenic, and Philosophical Mercury, in which lie the repair and total perfection of the bodies which must be purged, and it alone.

The Philosophers have given many names to our stone, and yet it is always but one thing. Therefore, leave aside the plurality of names, and hold fast to this compound, which is to be placed once into our secret vessel, from which it must not be removed until the elementary cycle is accomplished; so that the active force and virtue of the Mercury, which must be nourished, is neither suffocated nor lost in any way.

For the seeds of things that spring from the earth neither grow nor multiply if their generative force and virtue are taken away by some strange quality. Likewise, this nature will never multiply, nor be multiplied, if it is not prepared in the manner of water. The womb of a woman, after she has conceived, remains closed and shut so that no strange air may enter, and so that the fruit may not be lost.

In the same way, our stone must always remain enclosed in its vessel, nothing strange entering it ought to be added; but it must only be nourished and informed by the formative virtue of its nature and multiplicative virtue—not only in quantity, but also in very strong qualities—in such a way that one must infuse, or introduce into the said matter, its vivifying moisture, by virtue of which it is nourished, increased, and multiplied.

Therefore, after our compound is made, the first thing to do is to animate it, by putting into this compound the natural heat, or the vivifying moisture, or the soul, or the air, or the life, through the work of dissolution and sublimation, with coagulation.

Thus, when you have made your compound, you must have a certain and proper method of working. The heat must be enclosed in this matter, otherwise it would remain empty of purpose, without soul, and deprived of the very noble and very high virtues; and thus it would have no movement towards generation, as other things produced by nature have to put the fire into the said matter; it is to convert it from disposition into disposition, and from nature into nature—that is, from very base to noble.

The manner of this disposition is made by proper sublimation, and dissolution of earth, and congelation of water, or ingrossing, or mortification, or resurrection and sublimation in the subtle elements; in such a way that the whole circle of this noble magistery is nothing other than perfect sublimation.

However, it has several particular operations annexed and linked, chained, intertwined, or joined together. There are, nonetheless, two principal ones, closing the whole circle, and these are perfect dissolution and perfect congelation; so that the entire magistery is nothing but to dissolve perfectly and to congeal perfectly: to dissolve the body and to congeal the spirit.

And these operations have such a connection and alliance together that the body is never dissolved without the spirit being congealed, nor is the spirit ever congealed without the body being dissolved. Hence, as Raymond says, all the Philosophers have declared that the entire work of the magistery is nothing but dissolution and congelation.

By ignorance of these operations, many great in letters and sciences have been deceived, thinking to understand through the trust in their learning the circles of nature and the manner of circulating.

It is therefore expedient to know the manner of this circulation, which truly is nothing other than to imbibe, to water, or to give drink to the compound, according to the weight of our Mercurial water, which the Philosophers command to call permanent water.

In the imbibition, the compound is digested, dissolved, and congealed in the natural accomplishment.

It is a true thing that if the matter of earth is to be made into fire, it must be subtilized and prepared, and made more simple. Thus our compound is attenuated and subtilized in such a way that the fire dominates in it; and this sublimation and preparation of earth is made with subtle waters, sovereignly sharp and penetrating; not having any foulness or bad odor, as Geber says in his Summa, that it is the water of our quicksilver sublimated and brought back to the nature of fire, under the names of vinegar, salt, and alum, and of many other very sharp liquors, and other similar things, hidden and covered until now.

By which water the bodies are subtilized, reduced, and brought back to their first matter, and next to the Stone, or to the Elixir of the Philosophers.

Where it is to be noted that, just as the child in the womb of the mother must be nourished by its natural nourishment, which is the menstrual blood, so that it may be multiplied and grow in quantity and stronger qualities, so also must our Stone be nourished by its fatness—called by Aristotle its proper nature and substance.

But what is this fatness which is nourishment, life, growth, and multiplication of our Stone, the Philosophers have entirely concealed, but this is the great secret they have sworn never to reveal or manifest to anyone, except in their books. But this secret they have left to God alone, to reveal or to hide as He pleases.

Nevertheless, this fatty or unctuous humidity, vivifying, or giving life, the Philosophers have called the mercurial water, the permanent water, or the water that endures the fire, and also the divine water. It is the key and foundation of all the work.

Of this impregnated or permanent mercurial water it is said in the Turba: the body must be occupied by the flame of fire so that it is broken, dismembered, and weakened. That is to say, with this water full of fire, in which the body is so washed that all becomes water—which is not the water of clouds or of fountains, as the ignorant and foolish sophists believe—but is our permanent water.

Yet this permanent water, without the body with which it is joined, cannot be permanent; that is to say, it cannot endure the fire without fleeing from it. In which our permanent water is the whole secret of our stone. For by the said water is our stone perfected, because in it lies the vivifying moisture of the stone, as it is its life and resurrection.

Of this most secret water it is said in the Turba: the water alone accomplishes all. For it dissolves all, it congeals all that is congealable, it breaks and destroys all without the help of anything else; in it is that which tinges and that which is tinged.

In short, our work is nothing other than vapor and water, which is purifying or cleansing, whitening and reddening, and removing the blackness of bodies, which the Philosophers have named permanent water, fixed oil, and incombustible, which cannot be burned.

It is the water which the Philosophers have divided into two parts: one of which dissolves the body by calcining it, that is, reducing it to lime and congealing it; and the other part of the said water cleanses the body of blackness, whitens and reddens it, making flow or discover by multiplying its parts. This water is called in the Turba the very sharp and very penetrating vinegar, for it is a very acute moisture, seized and kindled by vivifying heat, containing an invariable tincture which cannot be effaced.

This water has been named by Alphidius Attrempance, or the measure of the wise, and the urine of young cholerics. This water has been much concealed by the Philosophers under various and numerous names, and is known to few. Hermes held and kept it. Alphidius treated of it. Morienus wrote of it. The Lily understood it. Arnauld de Villeneuve well grasped it. Raymond Lully declared it feebly. Geber knew it. The Text did not ignore it. Rasis, Avicenna, Galen, Hippocrates, Haly, and above all Albert wisely kept it hidden. Dastin, Bernard de Trevisan, Pythagoras, Merlin the Elder, and Aristotle well understood it.

And in brief, this water is crowned as the conqueress, the secret, celestial, and glorious water, the last and final secret for to nourish our glorious stone; without which it is never improved, nourished, increased, nor multiplied. And for this reason the Philosophers have concealed the manner of making this water, as the key of their magistery.

And certainly, though I have read more than a hundred volumes of books on this Art, in none have I found the perfection of this mercurial or permanent water. And though I have met with several valiant men, learned in this science, among them I have not found one who possessed this secret, save for a valiant physician who told me that for thirty-six years he had sighed after it before he could attain to this secret.

Of this nature it is said that to this nature is given a double nature, namely of gold and of silver, in the entrails of which, and within which, as in the very womb of its mother, the said quicksilver is multiplied, housed, purged, and converted into white sulphur, not living and not burning, by the action of the heat of the fire, being there within regularly informed by Art, as are the qualities of the Soul, sulphur having been introduced or placed in the said quicksilver beforehand.

Thus, this mercurial water is nothing other than the spirit of bodies converted into the nature of the quintessence, giving virtue to the Stone and governing it. And the Stone, or our compound, is the containing matrix and fitting place—that is to say, the earth as mother, or the vessel of nature, retaining the formative virtue of the Stone, into which the natural heat is placed, which is the formative virtue issuing from the vessel by the quintessence spirit.

Wherefore it is called the mother and nurse, as giving natural virtue to the sulphur, and nourishing and sustaining it. This, then, is our compound in this natural vessel, in which the spirits are transmuted from nature to nature, rather than fleeing; and the more they are transmuted and altered within the retinacle of this vessel, the more they are distanced from their corruption and imperfection, whatever they may be; and the closer they approach the term of purity and perfection, the more they retain the accomplishment of the quintessence.

Wherefore they take on or are clothed in a new nature, which is clean, white, pure, devoid of all corrosiveness and terrestrial superfluity, enduring, or burning, and evaporating phlegmatically.

In such affinity, then, of the vessel, the humidity of the spirit—wherein the aforesaid is enclosed by its viscosity or glutinous nature—is retained in adherence or natural and firm conjunction. And it is warmed as if in its radical moisture, mingled and mortified. And afterwards, the dead thing is revived with a joyful sublimation of quickening, rising wholly from its foul and bitter nature.

Then it is able to sustain itself, to nourish and multiply itself, just as if the fire were kindled, and, being of simple nature, it must be nourished with a little milk and fat—that is to say, with its moisture of life, from which in part it was generated—which is our permanent water, virgin’s milk, or water of life, cleansing the brass (laton), not, however, the water of life that comes from the vine; for they are totally different.

It is nevertheless called the water of life, for it quickens our stone and causes it to rise again. It is also called re-crude blood, or crude juice; whitened menstruum; nourishment of the child; meat of the heart; water of the sea; venom of the living; meat of the dead; and the Philosophers’ mercury, purified from its terrestrial dross by Philosophical sublimation.

After, then, our composition is made, it must be placed within its secret vessel, and cooked over a very gentle fire, whether dry or moist, and imbibed with our permanent water little by little, dissolving and congealing as many times as the earth raises leaves. This earth must then be calcined, and finally incorporated, fixing it with the said water, which is called the incombustible and fixed oil, until it flows or melts very quickly like wax.

Whence Raimond says that the manner of ceration is that so many times it must be iterated, or recommenced upon the stone, the sublimation of the moist part reserved the juice, that the stone with its own radically permanent and fixed moisture — which never leaves its body by circular mixture — gives a direct fusion.

And it says further: therefore it is commanded that with this permanent moisture you water our stone, for by it its parts become clear, as is evident. For after the perfect cleansing or purification of the stone from all corrupting things, and especially from two superfluous humors — one being, namely, oily, fatty, greasy, and combustible or inflammable, and the other phlegmatic and vaporizable — the said stone is brought back into its own nature and substance of non-burning Sulphur.

And without this moisture our stone is never amended, nourished, increased, or multiplied. And it must be known that our stone in its digestion is changed into all the colors of the world. However, three are principal, to which one must give care and attention, and not to the others — namely, the black color, which is the first, the key and the beginning of the work.

Of the second kind or degree, the white color is the second, and the red color is the third.

Therefore it is said that the thing whose head is red, the feet white, and the eyes black, is the whole magistery.

Note then, that when our composition begins to be watered with our permanent water, then the whole compound is turned into the form of melted pitch, and is entirely blackened like charcoal.

And in this state our compound is called black pitch, black resin, burned salt, melted lead, unpolished brass, magnesia, and the blackbird of the philosophers; for then is seen a black cloud flying through the middle region of the vessel in a beautiful and gentle manner, rising above the vessel, and at the bottom of it lies the melted matter in the form of pitch, remaining completely dissolved.

Of this cloud speaks Jacques du Bourg Saint-Saturnin, saying:
“O blessed cloud which flies away through our vessel.”

This is the eclipse of the sun, of which Raymond speaks.

And when this mass is thus blackened, then it is called dead and deprived of its form. Then it is called the dead body, removed from its temperament, as if its soul had been separated from it.

Then is manifested the humidity in the color of quicksilver, black and stinking, which was at first dry, white, fragrant, ardent, purified of sulfur by the first operation, and now begins to be purified by this second operation. And for this reason this body is deprived of its soul, which it has lost, and of its splendor and marvelous brightness which it previously possessed, and is now black and disfigured.

Wherefore Geber calls it, by its property, a stinking spirit, black, white secretly, and red manifestly, naming it living and dry water. This mass thus black or blackened is the key, the beginning, and the sign of the perfect invention of the method of working in the second regimen of our precious stone.

Wherefore Hermes says: “When you see the blackness, believe that you have been on a good path and taken the right road.”

Thus, this color of blackness shows the true manner of working: for in this, the mass has been made misshapen and corrupted by true natural corruption; from which follows the generation of a new disposition truly within this matter—that is to say, the acquisition of a new form, which is lucid serenity, or clarity, beauty, purity, marvelous splendor, and fragrance, or an odor of great sweetness.

Where it is to be known that when the work of blackening is accomplished, one must proceed to the work of whitening, which is one of the roses of this physical rosebush, much desired, required, and awaited. However, as said above, before perfect whiteness appears, all the colors one could think of in this world are seen and perceived in the work, of which one must not take heed, but only await the whiteness with sovereign constancy.

The way, however, and the manner of working from black to white, and to red, is always one, that is to say, to cook the compound while soaking it with our permanent water—that is to say, cooking the white compound with white water, and nourishing the red compound with red water—by which imbibition and digestion is extracted from the stone this intermediate substance of Mercury, which is the whole perfection of our noble magistery; in such a way that the stone must be purged, not only of all sulphureousness, but also of all earthly impurities, by sublimations of waters, calcinations of earths, inhumations and decoctions of the same, by reductions between distillations and calcinations.

And afterwards you will join it with sulphur, proper to it, and by its measured natural heat, cook it so long that it is congealed and deprived of all superfluous humidity, by the artifice of natural heat and of the fire corresponding to it. And afterwards it is sublimated into sulphur very white like snow.

From this it appears that our stone contains within itself two substances of one nature, the one volatile, and the other fixed. These two, and each of them, the Philosophers call quicksilver, because in the operation of this stone, the stone must be perfectly separated from all burning and corrupting superfluities, so that there remains only the sole and pure subtlety and the intermediate substance of quicksilver, congealed, purified of all sulphureous nature from without, or of any strange and corrupting thing.

And this purification is accomplished when the body is turned into spirit, and the spirit into body, by reiteration of calcination, reduction, and sublimation, by which is made the dissolution of bodies, together with the congelation or thickening of the spirit; and the congelation of the spirit is done together with the dissolution of the bodies.

And it is one sole operation, by which all things are done, that is to say, the solution of fixed quicksilver, together with the congelation of a certain weight of the volatile, and the ablution of it with measured water, and the coagulation of this water into stone, by means of and under the action of the heat of the male and of the female.

Then truly is the Stone born, that is to say, after the first conjunction of them, and not before, as of man and woman. By this operation the body is cut in pieces and destroyed, subtilized, and diligently governed, so that its subtle soul may be extracted from its thickness, and turned into a fine, delicate, and impalpable spirit; then the body is turned into no-body, and the no-body into body.

And this is the true and most true invention of the rule of working. It is to be known, nevertheless, that every body is dissolved with a sharp spirit, with which it is mingled, and to which, without doubt, it is made similar and spiritual.

And as this spirit is sublimed, it is called water, which washes itself and cleanses itself, as has been said before, ascending with the very subtle substance of itself, leaving behind its corrupting parts. And this ascent the Philosophers have called distillation, ablution, and sublimation. Wherefore, when the perfect sublimation is accomplished, the Stone is then vivified by its vivifying spirit, or natural soul, of which it had been deprived in blackening; and it is inspired, animated, revived, restored, and brought to the ultimate end of all subtlety and purity; and into a crystalline stone, white as snow, adherent to the bottom of the vessel, clinging to the side of the said vessel; the residues thereof remaining at the bottom of the vessel beneath.

This crystalline stone, separated from its residues, gather apart, and sublime it without the said residues; for if you attempt to sublime it with the said residues, never will you separate them entirely, and thus your labour would be lost.

Sublime therefore without its residues, and this is the white foliated earth, the white sulphur, non-burning, congealing and perfectly fixing the Mercury; and cleansing all base bodies, and perfecting the imperfect by reducing it into true silver. This sulphur thus sublimed, there is no whiteness in the world which surpasses its whiteness; for it is devoid of all corrupting things; and it is a new nature, a quintessence coming from the purest parts of the four elements: it is the sulphur of nature, the non-burning arsenic, the incomparable treasure, the joy of the Philosophers, the delight so greatly desired by them, the white foliated earth, and clear, the Bird of Hermes, the daughter of Hippocrates, the sublimated alum, the sal armoniac, the daughter of the great secret, and anew the white blackbird, whose feathers exceed crystal in brightness; and it is white as snow, of great splendour, of very great and very sweet fragrance, of sovereign purity, cleanness, subtlety, and agility.

The Philosophical white blackbird is of inexpressible virtue; for it is the substance of the purest sulphur in the world, which is a simple soul of the Stone, pure, clean, and noble, separated from all bodily thickness, and by great subtlety stripped of the grossness of body.

This non-burning white sulphur must be calcined for the time of its moist decoction, until it is very subtle powder, impalpable, deprived of all superfluous moisture: afterwards it must be impregnated with the white oil of the Philosophers, little by little, until it flows very soon, like wax; which impregnation being accomplished, which is nothing else than the reduction to fusion or melting of that which cannot melt, our glorious white Philosophers’ Stone is accomplished, flowing and melting, whiter than snow, not partaking of any greenness, persevering in the fire, retaining and congealing Mercury; and after fixing it, tinting and transmuting all imperfect metal into true Moon.

Of which, if you cast one weight upon a thousand weights of quicksilver, or of any imperfect metal, it will convert them into better silver, finer, purer, and whiter than that from the mine.

The manner of projection and of multiplication into white and into red is the same.

Multiplication, however, is done in two ways, one by projection, casting one weight upon a hundred, and all will be and another hundred weights also in perfect medicine, and one weight of these hundred makes one hundred weights of pure silver or pure gold.

There are other more profitable and more secret ways to multiply its medicine by projection, of which I will remain silent for now; but by multiplication the Stone is increased endlessly, that is to say, by its digestions, animations, or imbibitions of Mercurial oil; which oil is also called the nature of metals.

And this multiplication is done only by imbibing, or saturating the Stone with the said oil continually; by dissolving and congealing as often as desired; for the more the Stone is digested, the more perfect it will be, and the more weight it will convert; for it will be more subtilized, and in this is accomplished the white rose, celestial, sweetly flowering, and embraced by the Philosophers.

Therefore, after the white Stone has been accomplished, one must then dissolve a part of it, and calcine as much as one wishes, for some will by long decoction; let it be turned to ash, as impalpable as possible, or so delicate that it cannot retain its color in citrinity; after imbibing it with its red water until it remains red like coral. Hence Raimond says in his Codicil, in the chapter on the Calcination of the Earth:

"Do not forget to strongly calcine in a well-lit fire the material of the known earth, of this stone, with repeated destruction, distillation of water, and calcination of bodies, until the earth remains white, devoid of all humidity; and afterwards, by stronger and more prolonged continuation of fire, and imbibition with water, until it becomes red like hyacinth in powder; impalpable, and without touch."

The sign of this thing is clearly shown when, at its final calcination, it remains deprived of all humidity—speaking here of the second process, and principal, of the second regime, which is to make the red stone; hence Geber says that it is not made without the addition of the tinging thing that nature knows well, namely, without its being imbibed and tinged with this celestial water, of which it is said in the Lily of the Philosophers:

“O celestial nature, how dost thou turn our bodies into spirit? O what a marvelous and powerful nature! It is above all, and surpasses all; it is the vinegar which makes gold to be true spirit, and silver also; without it neither whiteness, nor blackness, nor redness can ever be accomplished in our work. Thus, when this nature is joined to the body, it turns it into spirit, and into spiritual fire, the tincture of an unchangeable dye, which can never be effaced.

This is the water named by Hermes ‘Water of the Waters’; and by Alphidius, ‘Water of the Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian Philosophers.’ This is the water by which bodies are turned into spirit, and into their first nature or matter; and never is our stone amended without it—the white stone without the white water, and the red without the red water.

Let then the red stone be imbibed with the water [red], so that finally, whether by long decoction or cooking, or by long imbibition or continual moistening, it may be made red like blood, hyacinth, scarlet, or ruby, and shining like a glowing coal placed in a dark place; and finally, that our stone may be adorned with a red diadem.

Thus says Diomedes: Honor your King coming from the fire, and his Queen, and beware of burning them by too great a fire; therefore cook them gently, so that they may first become black, then white, then citrine, and finally red, and at last the venom which tinges.

For these things must be done by the division of the water, as Aegidius says: I command you not to put all the water in at once, but little by little, and cook gently until the work is accomplished. Thus it appears that the stone remains red with true luminous redness, bright and living, melting like wax, by the tincture of which the quicksilver vulgar, and every imperfect metal, can be tinged and perfected into true gold; much better than from the mines: in this is accomplished our precious stone, surpassing every precious stone, more noble and more sumptuous than any other stone; which is an infinite treasure.

To the glory of God, who lives and reigns eternally.

END