Bacstrom - S Alchemical Anthology
Bacstrom - S Alchemical Anthology
Bacstrom - S Alchemical Anthology
Bacstrom’s
Alchemical Anthology
[ Essay on Alchemy ]
[John M. Watkins, London, 1960
Edited and with an Introduction by J.W. Hamilton-Jones]
Essay On Alchemy
by
Sigismond Bacstrom
Introduction
Preface
IV. Of Rebis
3
4
INTRODUCTION
5
“Frankfurt and Leipzic, 1723, translated from the German
by Sigismond Bacstrom, M.D., 1797.”
There are two very good reasons for this initiation; the first
is given in Bacstrom;s account of the incident in which he
writes:
6
The second reason springs from the well-known tradition
amongst the Rosicrucians who always strove to initiate “a
son” into the mysteries before passing to the Great Beyond,
in order to preserve the continuity of the Order and the
knowledge it possessed. This desire finds expression in the
fourth Clause of the Obligation as follows:
7
He kept records of his magical experiments and the cures
he had effected by means of animal magnetism, electricity,
galvanism, etc., which were attested by the most respectable
people on the Island. He had a rich collection of gold medals,
precious stones, crude, ct, and set. His library contained more
than one thousand volumes in all languages, and he possessed
a laboratory and apparatus including astronomical and
mathematical instruments.
8
a certain Mr Ford, who was interested in Hermetic subjects,
these notes being dated from Mary-le-Bone, 8 April 1805.
9
He was undoubtedly the last of the great Masters of Alchemy
to be seen in Europe, and the probability is that in 1740 he
was actively connected with the Rosicrucian Lodge or
Society, into which de Chazal was introduced in the same
manner in which he afterwards received Bacstrom.
10
“(3) By further agitation and circular motion, manifested in
burning flame of fire; as we find by burning glasses and by
the flint and steel, but the omnipresent universal agent, the
unmanifested tranquil fire must not be withdrawn but must be
admitted to feed or support the fire, and it must be supplied
with a subject to act upon, i.e., fuel, or else it returns to its
first omnipresent state of universality, from when
nevertheless, it may be remanifested by motion, by the
electrical machine, or, by the flint and steel, or by any other
suitable motion or action, in straight lines, by friction, or by
hammering, or by circular motion. That principle will
reappear everywhere, provided it is not excluded by
excluding atmospheric AIR (and it is manifested in heat, in
fire, or in fire and light. This is the vital principle that
animates atmospheric air) in the character of spiritual or
incorporeal nitre, by Sendivogius called the nitre of the
philosophers, and by the moderns called oxygen. When
extended in humidity it becomes universal aerial acid and
when it meets with a suitable magnet, it becomes corporified
nitre”.
11
regarded man also, as a Spirit, temporarily the prisoner in a
house of flesh. Furthermore, they knew how to bridge the
consciousness between the spiritual states and the physical
waking awareness.
12
doctor performed some experiments in his laboratory, his life
was cut short by death before he succeeded in his quest.
13
“Both Schools of Alchemy are closely allied to astrology
and magic.
14
Some of the philosophers say they used gold as the basis
for their work, but they first reduced it to a sulphur by
dissolving it, which is said to be a slow process and made the
work almost interminable. It is described as being reserved
for the Grandees of the Earth.
J.W. Hamilton-Jones
15
16
PREFACE
17
the cause of the cause was also to be explained! Nor was this
difficult with men who were allowed to make whatever use
of words might best suit their dogmas. When they had traced
effects to their causes, through as many links as they were
able, they always came to first principles and elements, and
these were invariably the same! --- whatever was the subject
on which they treated! The most ancient first principles were
Sulphur and Mercury, and to these in process of time was
added Salt; but all and each of these were composed of the
four elements, Fire, Air, Earth, and Water! The former, as
employed by the Sophi, were mere terms of art, and very
often had no relation whatever to the substances now known
by these names. They were generic terms for certain
principles predominating or supposed to predominate, in the
subject of which they treated --- a kind of Proteus to which
they could give any shape, and by which they explained to
their own satisfaction at least, the most intricate operations of
Nature. Hence not only minerals, but vegetables and animals
were all composed of the same principles; salt, sulphur, and
mercury! Nor was this a difficult thing to comprehend when
once the disciple made himself acquainted with the powers of
Archaeus, the workman employed by Nature in all her
operations! It is true these Philosophers often disagreed in
their detail of these intricate operations, but as all of them
landed in the same elements, they were all sound at bottom
and in general were perfectly satisfied with each other!
18
confidently on this topic are by no means qualified to give an
opinion of the smallest weight, on the question, and in fact
are much less entitled to be considered Philosophers than
those ancients whom they affect to despise.
19
surprise the Adepts who might chance to see the work; for
many wrote on this art, more for the purpose of showing to
others who possessed the secret, that the author also knew it,
than from any desire to communicate knowledge to the
ignorant --- and what is worse, many wrote and published
books who knew nothing whatever of the subject.
Part III. The third is what they call their “Secret Fire”,
“Our Mercurial Water”, “Dissolving Water”, “Fire against
Nature”, Spirit of Life”, “The Moon”, “The Priest”, etc.
20
Part VII is passages which more or less include all the
former, but are more full as to the mode of procedure and the
effects that follow.
21
22
PART I
OF SULPHUR
SOL
Sendivogius
Pandora
Rosarium
Alanus
He that knows not how to extract the Soul from the body
of Gold or of Silver and to return it to the body, wholly
deviates from the right path.
Laurentius Ventura
Whosoever will obtain a true work let him take the heat of
Sol and the Moon’s spittle [Join the two in Rebis].
Artephius
23
Eyraeneus Philaletha
The Same
D’Espagnet
The Same
24
common Luna… He that seeks for a physical tincture without
Sol or Luna, losest both his cost and pains; for Sol affordeth
a most plentiful tincture of redness, and Luna of whiteness,
for only these two are called perfect, because they only are
filled with the substance of purest sulphur, perfectly clarified
by the skill of Nature.
Artephius
Sendivogius
Eraeneus Philaletha
25
Metallurgia
Augurellus
Seek not the principles of Gold any where else; for in Gold
is the seed of Gold: though being close shut up it retires deep
and is to be sought by us with tedious labour.
Raymund Lully
Two [metals] are more pure than the rest, namely, gold and
silver, without which the work cannot be begun or finished;
because in them is the purest substance of sulphur, perfectly
united by the ingenuity of Nature. Out of these two bodies,
26
prepared with sulphur or arsenic, our medicine may be
extracted.
Trevisan
Ripley
Eyraeneus Philoctetes
Bacon
27
Geber
Avicenna
Rhasis
Sawtre
All Sol is brass, but all brass is not Sol… Therefore use
always the nobler member, that is to say Sol; for it is the kind
of kinds, and Form of Forms: it is the first and last in metals,
and it is among them in their natures as the Sun is among the
Stars [It can communicate light to them].
Hydrpyrographum Hermeticum
28
Johannis De Monte Raphaim
29
30
PART II
OF OUR MERCURY
THE REGULUS OF ANTIMONY AND MARS
Metallurgia
Vade Mecum
31
principally for this reason --- because she hath been
connected with the warlike Mars and been caught by Vulcan
in the act [Iron is added in preparing the regulus]. It has also
been called a wood and has received the name of Diana. It is
likewise called the Philosophical Mercury… and by
Artephius a middle substance --- because neither a mineral
[crude Antimony] nor a [malleable] metal… It is, moreover, a
middle substance between the body [Gold] and the Spirit
[secret Fire], between earth and water. Compared to the
perfect body it is pure spirit, but compared with the mineral
water [or secret fire] it is a body, and in truth a
hermaphroditical body… This is the true Protheus, the most
wonderful of all concrete bodies [N.B., a concrete]. When
joined with the perfect body they melt incredibly fast in a
[comparatively] low heat, and the perfect body is quickly
changed, and even suddenly transformed, into the appearance
of mercury [being readily dissolved in the fused Regulus of
Antimony and Mars]; and though in the air it be congealed
[when cold] the whitening of the Red laton is already
conspicuous.
Sendivogius
32
Eyraeneus Philaletha
The Same
Nodus Sophicus
Incertus Macrocosmus
The Same
33
mercurial water, and by salt they understand Saturn, [i.e., the
offspring of Saturn, the Regulus of Antimony and Mars].
Sendivogius
Our Azoth is the seed of all metals and has been formed by
Nature nearly of an equality of the Elements and metallic
concordance. Therefore in this alone, and in no other thing,
the strongest power is to be looked for and to be found. In all
Nature there is but one ting from which our art proceeds, and
this is mercury, but not vulgar running mercury. It is a stone
and no stone, and is only called a stone by way of similitude.
Now if you know for what you inquire, you must certainly
know this our stone; for you must possess the seed of that
which you wish to generate or multiply. Therefore bend your
mind entirely to the first metallic concrete which Nature has
brought to a metalline form, but left unripe and imperfect. In
this [when you have called in the aid of the warlike god] you
will find our salt, Mercury, and Sulphur, tender and highly
pure. In this Our Diana you will also find the saline
mercurial water inclosed in the Fountain.
Anonymous
34
primum ens of Gold [viz., Mars] which contains within itself
that medicinal fiery element, conquering and penetrating all
things, is to be taken.
Artephius
The Same
Eyraeneus Philaletha
The whole secret of our preparation is, that you take that
mineral which is next of kin to gold and to mercury,
[Antimony]; impregnate this with volatile gold, which is
found in the reins of Mars --- with this purify your mercury,
until seven times are past; then it is fitted for the King’s bath.
Yet know that from seven times to ten, the mercury [Regulus
of Antimony and Mars] is made better and better.
Sendivogius
35
by virtue of the sun beams, [viz., the volatile Sol of mars],
that [philosophers’ mercury, the Regulus of Antimony and
Mars] which so many men seek after, and this [crude chalibs,
mature Antimony], is the beginning of our work [for with it,
by means of Mars, we make our sophic chalibs].
Incertus
Eyraeneus Philaletha
Cato Chymicus
The four seasons of the year in our work are as follows: the
winter is the Ravens-head; spring brings the White Dove or
Swan; the summer citrine, and autumn perfect Redness.
Boerhaave
The term menstruum seems to have had its rise thus: Lully
and other ancient chemists observing the most kindly
36
solutions to be made by a digestion with a heat no greater
than that of the human body, in about 40 days, they termed
this space of time a philosophical month, and the solvent
employed a menstruum intimating that the body performed
the dissolution by a menstrual digestion. This term, indeed,
was at first appropriated to the solvent for the Philosophers’
stone, but afterwards came to be applied generally to all
solvents.
Eyraeneus Philoctetes
37
Hydropyrographum Hermeticum
All the metals have their rise from water, the root of all
metals. Therefore they are reduced into water, as ice by heat
is reduced into water, because it hath been water before… It
[our Water] disposeth the bodies [of gold r silver] readily. It
is father and mother; it openeth and shuteth, and reduceth
metals into what they were in the beginning. It disposeth the
bodies and coagulates itself along with them. The spirit [our
secret fire] is carried upon the water [i.e., is added to it]: that
is, the power of the spirit is seen to operate there, which is
done when [or after] the body is put into the water [i.e., the
secret fire must not be added till after you have made
Rebis]… One of the greatest secrets, my son, is to free this
stone or mercury vive from its natural bonds… that is to
reduce and dissolve it into its primogenial water [the natural
crude Sulphur must be separated from it and the Sulphur of
Mars substituted] for unless this is done all will prove but lost
labour…
38
green jiuice, a growing mercury, a viridescent water and Leo
viridis, quicksilver, menstruum, blood, urine, horse piss,
milk, virgin’s milk, white arsenick, silver, Lune, juice of
Lune, a woman, feminine seed, sulphureous vapouring water
and smoke, a fiery burning spirit, a deadly piercing poison,
and basilisk that killeth all, a venomous worm --- serpent ---
dragon --- a scorpion devouring his children, a hellish fire, a
sharp salt, sal-ammoniac, common salt, sharp soap, lye, a
viscous oil, ostrich stomach devouring and concocting all, an
eagle --- vulture, bird of Hermes, a melting and calcining
furnace --- with innumerable names of birds, beasts, herbs,
juices, etc.
Leona Constantia
Multum In Parvo
39
Marrow of Alchemy
40
PART III
Dienheim
Flamel
41
Flamel
Artephius
Radix Chymiae
42
Dr T.M. Faustius
Artephius
43
caverns [sublimed from salt and vitriol, as was anciently the
practice --- vitriol being then considered indispensably
necessary].
Eyraeneus Philaletha
I will tell thee, and that faithfully, what kind of water this
is, it is the water of Salt Peter, which is known as Mercury.
[It is a salt white like Salt Peter, but known to be
mercurial}… Our water is truly pontick. Serene,
Christaline… we make it by art [by sublimation]…
Whosoever hath once made up our water nothing remains to
be done but to cast in a clean body [rebis] in a just quantity,
shut the vessel and so let it stand till the complement of the
work.
Eyraeneus Philaletha
44
Benedictus Figulus
Clangor Buccinae
Ludus Puerorum
Incertus
Pandora
45
H. Von Batsdorff
Bernard Trevisan
The Same
46
Now for a conclusion… lend an attentive ear. Our work is
made from one root and from two mercurial substances…
conjoined by THE FIRE in friendship, as the matter itself
requires, assiduously boiled until out of the two one is made
[viz., by means of the conjunction effected by the “inclosed”
secret fire].
The Same
The Same
Ripley
47
Botulphus
Laurentius Ventura
Leona Constantia
Artephius
48
PART IV
REBIS
Eyraeneus Philaletha
Incertus
Pandora
49
Sendivogius
Flamel
Take thy beloved son [Gold], more beloved than all thy
other children, and marry him with his own sister Beja, who
is an amiable and tender daughter [our Mercury]. Gabricius is
the husband, Beja is the Wife She corrects and ameliorates
Gabricius, because he proceeded originally from his wife;
and although Gabricius is of a warmer constitution than Beja
yet no conception can take place without Beja. Now when
Gabricius and Beja lie together in the bed [the crucible] he
quickly dies, for Beja conquereth Gabricius, holds him fast
and encloses him min her body, so that not the smallest atom
of him remains visible --- with so much love and sympathy
does she embrace him, conceive by him, and divide him into
the smallest invisible particles.
50
Laurentius Ventura
These two are Sol [Gold] and Luna [our Luna]. You will
never obtain perfection unless Sol and Luna be united into
one body.
Dyonisius Zacharias
Incertus Macrocosmus
51
Philosophers’ mercury… the hermaphrodite. [When the
Regulus of Antimony and Mars is animated with Sol].
Eyraeneus Philaletha
First take thy body which is Gold and the water [the
Regulus of Antimony and Mars] which is Mercury, the one
[Gold] ready made by nature to thy hand, the other thou must
prepare… Mix these together in due proportion.
Sendivogius
52
If thou give our Old man [i.e., the Philosophers’ Saturn,
viz., the Regulus of Antimony and Mars] Gold or Silver to
swallow, so he may consume them… thou shalt have a
medicine to cure the leprosie [of the imperfect metals]…
Seek for that hidden thing out of which is made, after a
wonderful manner, such a moisture or humidity [Regulus of
Antimony and mars] as doth dissolve gold without violence;
yea, as sweetly and naturally as ice doth metal in warm water.
[Gold does so in the sophic mercury when you make Rebis].
Nothing is so friendly to this as gold.
Helvetius
Raymund Lully
Kalid
53
Metallurgica
Vade Mecum
Bloomfield’s Blossoms
Kelly
54
Rhasis
55
56
PART V
Dienheim
Flamel
They say that the three things are of one nature, of one
matter and essence, one water and one root --- and they verily
tell the truth.
Basil Valentine
The three principles of the Universal are but one thing ---
the true spirit of mercury and Anima sulphuris, with the
Spiritual salt, untied under one heaven and dwelling in one
body. This is the Dragon and the Eagle [Regulus and secret
Fire], the King, the Lion [Sol] --- The green lion [Regulus of
Antimony and Mars], the Spirit [secret Fire], and the body
[Gold].
57
The Turba
Pandora
Seek three in one things, and one in three. Open these and
shut them up again and you have the whole art. Solve et
coagula. The Spirit [secret Fire] will give the soul to the
body. The Spirit attracts the soul and returns it to the dead
body [i.e., to the purified Sol], and at length the three remain
united.
Laurentius Ventura
The Same
58
the seed --- and in this only are contained the tinging rays, by
the aid of our gold; but the Stone of Mercury [secret Fire]
unites and binds them both. As it consists of three species the
name alberus or albar-aeris has been given to the substance,
which is composed of three things, that is, earth [the Regulus
of Antimony and Mars], water [the philosophical mercurial
water or secret Fire], and fire [the Fire of Nature, viz., Sol].
As the egg hath got a shell, the white and the yolk, and out of
these three, one distinct thing, the chick is generated by the
nourishing heat of the hen, so, in like manner, our
composition is governed, and by putrefaction becomes Air,
which is the spirit. The Stone is one in trinity and three in
unity, because therein are contained a body, a soul and a
spirit. The body fixes, the soul revivifies, and the spirit tinges
[not one without the other, but all three united perform these
necessary operations --- dissolving, putrefying, quickening,
tinging, and fixing].
Tauladanus
59
conjoined by the spirit [secret Fire] with an indissoluble
bond.
Alanus
He that knows not how to extract the soul from the body of
Gold or of Silver, and to return it to the body wholly deviates
from the right path. This is done as follows:
Sendivogius
60
and knoweth the red sulphur in this composition, he has the
foundation of the whole art.
Pandora
Sendivogius
61
principles, that the searcher into art may not err, let him
know, that though they describe only sulphur and mercury
yet without salt, they could never have attained to this work,
since salt is the Key and beginning of this sacred science…
These three principles are all necessary, being the near
matter, for the matter of metals is twofold --- Near and
Remote. The near is Sulphur and Mercury. The remote, the
four elements, out of which God only can create anything.
Relinquish then the [primary] elements, for thou canst make
nothing of them but only these three principles. Nor can
Nature herself make anything else out of them. As thou canst
produce nothing but these three principles, why labour
foolishly to produce from the elements what you may find
made ready to your hand by Nature. Be satisfied therefore
with the three principles out of which Nature produces all
things in and upon the earth… mineral… vegetable… and
animal. In the animal Kingdom the body, spirit, and soul,
bear a special resemblance to the work of the Philosophers.
The body is earth [answerable to the Regulus of Antimony
and Mars]; the spirit is the water [our mercurial water or
secret Fire], and the soul is fire, or sulphur of Gold. The spirit
increases the bulk of the body, but the fire is its virtue. And
as there is more of the spirit in weight than there is of the
Fire, the Spirit exerteth itself and overpowers the Fire and
draws it to itself, and so each of them increaseth in virtue,
while the earth, which is the medium between them, is
increased in weight. [This passage shews how far the
Philosophers have been from using the same terms in the
same sense. Many of them make gold or Rebis the body;
Regulus of Antimony and Mars the soul; and secret Fire the
spirit. Without attending to this diversity among them we
cannot find out the thread of Ariadne.
The Same
62
Alcali called by the Philosophers Sal acumu nivenum [the
sharp snow white salt], the vegetating salt hidden in the body
of magnesia.
Metallurgia
Theophrastus
63
work is made of one root and two mercurial substances, crude
but pure, extracted out of their mines”. By the Root the Count
means… the mature sulphur which is in gold perfectly
digested… This one principle determines and glorifies the
other two, which are therefore called superficial principles.
Yet by them the weight is increased, and by them the death
and putrefaction of the compound is effected.
Bernard Trevisan
Ripley
The Same
64
Fire]
One more [making 4 to the Sun] than of the substance
corporeal.
Ripley
The Same
Carpenter
65
Bloomfield’s Blossoms
Eyraeneus Philoctetes
Avicenna
I advise you to work only in Sol, and Luna [our Luna] and
Mercury, because the whole benefit of the Art consists in
them.
66
Hydropyrographum Hermeticum
Ripley
Marrow of Alchemy
67
Be whitened by the moisture of the Moon
Which with a gentle Fire will be done.
That mass [rebis] shall then saturnine to the eye
Appear, and flexible in heat like lead;
Then pour on it of Virgin mercury [secret Fire]
The pondus due: thus is the Body red
And fixt and solid in the hidden center
But to the sight white, volatile and tender
This done, in readiness a vial glass,
Oval, or spherical, be sure to have
In which the matter put, nor out must pass
Ought of th’inclosed air, which for to save
Seal up the nick with Hermes seal and then
The spirits are secured within their den.
68
PART VI
H. Von Batsdorff
Pandora
Radix Chymiae
Laurentius Ventura
The heat must be linear unto the end of the work. When the
fire is equally kept, the subject, by the action of heat, is the
better altered from one nature to another, and that which was
humid first will become dry, the black will become white,
and the white citrine and red.
69
Water Stone of the Wise
Pandora
Walchius
Laurentius Ventura
Pandora
When thou seest the fixt water [the secret Fire] without any
ascending thereof fret not about the fire; only have patience
until the spirit and the body are become one.
70
Incertus
Pontanus
Radix Chymiae
71
Incertus Macrocosmus
When you have put the genuine matter in its proper vessel
it then requires only a natural heat, so arranged that the
external heat may not surpass the internal but only excite it to
action. If the heat is too great no alteration can possibly take
place. A great heat can only destroy and burn the matter so
that nothing useful can come out of it. On the other hand if
your heat is too small the materials will be dried up and
become hard. The metallic spirits will be dormant and
inactive, and cannot operate if not excited [by an external
heat] and vivified by a living [internal] fire. As this is of great
importance the Artist must be careful not to commit an error
in this point, otherwise he will do nothing.
Johannes De Padua
72
awakeneth and begins to act, the matter has then heat enough
to operate perfectly, conformably to her own nature, and
without doubt, to produce its fruit by the power of Nature
within. Even if you have made the work ten times before, be
not too bold with your heat, but govern it with care, or your
work will be destroyed.
H. Von Batsdorff
Eyraeneus Philaletha
73
The Same
Laurentius Ventura
Our Stone has got its own fire, which, however, is inactive
unless excited and moved by external heat.
Sendivogius
74
concoction with more prudence, endeavoring to avoid similar
errors in the future.
Johannes De Padua
Isaac Hollandus
75
Eyraeneus Philaletha
See that thy furnace be trusty, else thou mayest and wilt
fail; for tho’ the fire of coals do not effect anything, yet it
excites, and the water [the mercurial water or secret Fire]
though it be of a wonderful nature, yet it acts no farther than
as it is stirred up [by the external Fire], and any intermission
in this work, after it is begum, will destroy it. Therefore the
wise men have called the furnace an Athanor, that is
Immortal, shewing that from the beginning to the end the fire
must not go out.
Ripley
Metallurgia
76
becomes yellow; and so continue and it will become of the
most perfect deep cinnabar or carmine redness, or like unto a
quiet glowing fire.
Marrow of Alchemy
77
Artephius
Bacon
The vessel for our Stone is but one, in which the whole
magistery or Elixir is performed and perfected… Though the
philosophers often repeat that the matter is to be put into the
vessel, and closed up fast, yet it is sufficient for the operator,
once to put the said matter in, once to close it up and so to
keep it, even to the very perfection and finishing of the work.
If these things are often repeated the work will be spoiled…
Thy vessel being well and perfectly closed, is never so much
as once to be opened till the perfection or end of the work. So
that you see the vessel it to be kept close that the spirit may
not get out.
Laurentius Ventura
Secure thy vessel that the composition may not escape and
fume away, and you will obtain your end.
Pandora
78
Eyraeneus Philaletha
It is put into the glass and sealed up before you can attain
the first degree of the Magistery.
Anonymous
Eyraeneus Philaletha
79
80
PART VII
OF THE WORK
Aquinas
Take the body of our first work [Rebis] with the Dragon’s
tail, that is virgin’s milk [the secret Fire]: taking 7 parts of
fresh Mercury [good secret Fire], add this to the matter
according to the weight of the powders.
Pontanus
Pandora
When thou seest the fixt water not ascending urge not the
fire, but have patience until the spirit and the body are
become one. The water [secret Fire] is the thing that makes
white and red; the water killeth and quickeneth; the water
dissolves, calcines and purifies, and the water putrefies… Let
all your care be in the decoction of the water [the whole
subject rendered liquid by the action of the secret Fire]. Boil
it slowly until it changes from one colour to another, and be
careful, in the beginning, that you do not burn the flowers or
81
blossoms, nor the greenness. Do not hurry, nor presume to do
the work quickly and take care that he that is within may not
find his way out.
One of our fires [the secret Fire] has a sympathy with the
metallic fire --- this sets on fire the metallic sulphur and
augments the element, fire, in the metallic body [Gold]. The
third fire is a cold metallic fire [the Regulus of antimony and
Mars] and may be compared to a mercury, as it penetrates the
metal [Gold] like a spirit it promotes the action of the
sympathetic fire [secret Fire] that it may penetrate the whole
composition and excite the anima every where.
82
Isaac Hollandus
Incertus Macrocosmus
83
Isaac Hollandus
Eyraeneus Philaletha
84
one being thick of composition, the formal part is sealed; in
the other the little which it has is more at liberty, and
consequently sooner active.
The Same
85
brought to corruption. The external heat doth sublime the
moisture, which again of its own accord returns continually,
and doth moisten the earth so long, until by reason of the heat
it have drunk up the moisture wholly, and then it dies. Unless
you see this rotting of thy compound, which is done in a
black color, with a stinking odour and a discontinuity of parts
thy labour will be in vain. You cannot expect to have a new
form brought in till the old be corrupted and put off.
Gold and Mercury are two such principles that they will
for ever delude those who work with tem in a sophistical way
[amalgamating Gold wit common quicksilver]. They will
remain the same to the end of the world unless pure gold be
mixed [in rebis] with its own pure and appropriated mercury
[the Regulus of Antimony and Mars] and set in a de heat of
digestion [the digesting heat of the secret Fire]; a mutual
action and passion will then rise between them, which,
without the laying on of hands by the artist, will tend to a new
generation. For in a convenient fire [the secret Fire assisted
by external heat] in which the compound may perpetually and
incessantly boil, and the subtile parts ascend and circulate
upon the gross without intermission, the most digested virtue
or soul of the fixed body [Gold] which is his basis of tincture
will be extracted by the water [the Azoth or solar Butyrum
Antimonii] and this will mix itself with the pure spirit
[furnished by the secret Fire] of the water and with this it will
ascend and return, until a total separation be made of the pure
from the impure and the subtile from the gross. Then shall the
body draw down its soul again, and by the power of the Most
High it shall be united; and with it the spirit of life shall be
also joined, so that all three shall become one, with a union
indissoluble. But all this presupposeth a putrefaction or
corruption of one form, else there cannot be an introduction
of the other.
First then take thy body which is gold and thy water which
is Mercury [our Diana]… mix these together in due
proportion, as I have often told thee; then set them to the fire
86
[add the secret Fire] to decoct, and give them a convenient
heat in which they may boil, ascend and descend perpetually,
without any intermission night or day. But especially and
before all things be careful in your internal heat, viz., the
proportion of your water [the philosophical mercurial water
or secret Fire] for your Sulphur. That water [or secret Fire]
you must add and supply to it in the beginning of your work,
in its preparation [viz., you must add this to your Rebis
before closing your glass]. It is this that performs all the work
within, and without this your external heat is of no value…
Let your external heat be so that your compound may boil
and sublime… till the vapours cease and are retained… then
will the compound rot, which for its similarity is called our
dunghill… Continue your decoction and the vessel shall be
beclouded and thy compound shall wit constant circulation
become black. This colour shall be a sign to you that you
have not run your course in vain… so soon as to hast
complete blackness, know that whiteness is hidden therein.
But before you attain to this whiteness you must have
patience and pass through many intermediate changeable
colours, which will be no small cheering to the workman,
who must wait without tiring till the earth and heaven be
united. Then shall thy elements perfectly accord, and one
colour cover thy new married soul and body; and that will be
like to the most pure Lily, or sublimed salt, sparkling like to a
new slipped sword in the sun beams. In this whiteness is the
multiplicative virtue exalted and made apparent in its first
degree, by which mercury, Lead, Tin, Copper, or Iron may be
turned into pure silver in a short time.
Johannes De Padua
87
Flamel
View these dragons --- they are the true principles… That
which is undermost, without wings is fixed, or the male, gold:
that which is uppermost and has wings is the female [Regulus
of Antimony and Mars], black and obscure, which strives for
the mastery and dominion for many months. The first [Gold]
is called sulphur, hot and dry; the other [our Diana] Mercury,
Argent vive, cold and moist. These are Sol and Luna [our
Luna], of a mercurial origin and sulphurous; which by a
continual fire [secret Fire assisted by external heat] are
adorned with Royal Habiliments and changed into a
quintessence.
These are the Dragons which the ancient poets feigned, did
watch, without sleeping, the golden apples of the Hesperidian
gardens.
88
and twisted round about the Caduceus of Mercury by which
he exercises his great power and transforms himself into all
shapes as he pleases. He, saith Haly, who shall kill the one
shall also kill the other, because the one cannot die without
the other… Killing one another they are decocted and
digested in their proper venom, which after death changes
them into a living or permanent water; before which time, by
their corruption or putrefaction, they lose their first natural
forms, to assume afterwards a new one --- better, more noble
and excellent.
These two seeds… are gathered from the dung, ordure, and
putrefaction of Sol and [our] Luna. Happy are they who know
how to gather this fruit; for of it an antidote may be made
which has strength and power to conquer all infirmities,
weaknesses, and diseases.
89
[Gold] also die, that out of his ashes another Phoenix may be
born, which son may become a King.
Schola Philosophorum
Incertus
90
the Philosophers teach us that we must conjoin or unite the
contrary qualities of the elements --- and therefore they say:
The Dragon [Gold] dies but not but with his brother [secret
Fire] and sister [Regulus of Antimony and Mars].
Radix Chymiae
91
milk of the first matter, or blood and sweat, that water of life
which at the same time contains the strongest poison. With
this mercurial water you must imbibe or humect the matter
and gently boil it de novo, until no more ascends or sublimes
in the glass, and perfect coagulation and fixation be obtained.
Incertus Microcosmus
Benedictus Figulus
Sendivogius
92
the seed of the Gold [i.e., it is the matrix]. Afterwards it is
governed by our continual [secret] fire [which is also our
water], for seven months, sometimes ten, until our water
consumes three [the ingredients which enter into the
composition] and leave one [the Tincture]…
93
to other things there adheres some impurity but to gold none.
Besides it [our mercury] is as it were a mother unto it [the
gold].
Helvetius
Radix Chymiae
Sendivogius
Anonymous
94
true separation of the four elements. The cold and watery
element is changed into a warm and dry earth, which is the
Raven’s head, and the mother of the other elements. Our
work is nothing else but a changing and conversion of
elements. The spiritual becomes corporeal, the liquid thick,
and the water fiery. The black earth must be imbibed in its
own water [that is, will liquefy itself again] in gentle heat,
and must be dried up, until the black earth is sufficiently
mundified and brought to whiteness. This is called the White
foliated earth, the Sulphur of Nature or the magnesia,
wherein a new conjunction of Sol and Luna has taken place,
and a resuscitation of the body.
95
other Artists recommend to be done without adding any
secret Fire].
Gold tinges not farther than its own body until its occult
inward fire or anima be extracted out of its fixed body and
the gold be made spiritual and volatile. Our living water
therefore [i.e., our secret Fire] is a fire which burns, breaks
and mortifies the gold more than elementary fire; and the
more the gold is mixed with our living water and scoured
therewith, in a gentle heat, the more is it torn asunder,
centrally opened and attenuated by our fiery living water.
When the gold shall have been sufficiently triturated and
made one thing with our living water, then it contains within
itself the fire-bearing [or fire-abiding] tincture. After you
have tinged the body by the spirit, then the body tinges, and
is full of tincture and yields tincture. Therefore he who knows
how to make a tinging venom from gold and its shadow that
is luna [i.e., our luna] obtains our Stone; and unless he
possesses this stone, made of the one and the other substance
[Sol and Luna --- or Rebis and our Water], he will not have
action and reaction between his principles, nor will the one
tinge the other.
Basil Valentine
96
Philosophers. Many thousands have followed him, and I tell
thee in truth that the Philosophers’ Stone is composed of two
species or bodies, and with Philosophical mercury you must
begin and end… Our coagulated mercury [mark the
expression --- coagulated, not running mercury], which is a
mineral [Antimony], must by art be converted into water, into
its prima material; that is into a mercurial water [by the action
of the secret Fire on the Rebis]. It is therefore a stone and yet
no stone, out of which a volatile fire in the form of water is
made [viz., our Azoth], which drowneth and dissolves its
volatile mother [the Regulus of Antimony and Mars] and fixt
father [Gold].
Turba Philosophorum
Clangor Buccinae
97
fourth time, until the earth itself be sufficiently white and
fixed [The Philosophers in general follow a different practice,
avoiding imbibition till they have obtained the perfect white
or red]. Azoth, that is, the mercurial water and the fire, wash
and whiten Laton, that is the black earth, and take away its
obscurity. The preparation of the earth is always made with
the water. Therefore the clearness of the earth will depend on
the dealbation of the earth and its washing.
When you imbibe the black earth with the mercury [secret
Fire] take care that you do not burst your glass. The imbibing
must always be done on warm ashes. The time between each
imbibition, to dry the matter up again, will be twenty or thirty
natural days. To the dried earth put of your mercury [secret
Fire] a sixth or seventh part of its weight. Seal the glass, and
over a gentle heat, the vessel being placed in ashes, dry and
congeal the matter, This you must repeat at least three or four
times --- the more the earth shall be dissolved and congealed
the more penetrating and subtile it will become. The water
[secret Fire] is the spirit that purifies, subtilizes, and dealbates
the body [rebis].
Flamel
The earth [rebis] with its own water [secret Fire] comes to
putrefaction, and becomes pure again of itself; and when well
purified the whole work, by the help of God, is well
governed. Azoth and fire whiten Laton [the putrefied body]
and take the blackness from it. Therefore Morienus says
Whiten Laton. This is the composition of the Wise men
before me. Mix, says Turba, the dryness of the black earth
[rebis in powder] with the humidity of its own water [the
azoth proceeding from Regulus of Antimony and Mars and
secret Fire] and simmer them until they be made White, and
so you will have the water and the earth made white by the
water.
98
Rosarium (Arnoldus De Villa Nova)
Marcilius Ficinus
Mercury [not the vulgar] mollifies the gold, and attracts the
soul from the body when the gold is sublimed with the true
water of life [secret Fire].
Opus Disiderabile
Turba Philosophorum
99
with the most sharp vinegar of Ethelia [another name for the
secret Fire] and boil the whole during seven days. Beware
that you Arcanum does not fume nor smoke. Take care that it
cools not in the night, and, if you will, lute you glass for the
greater safety.
Glossarius in Turba
Incertus
100
their power and efficacy [It looks as if Incertus fermented
before multiplying with secret Fire].
Alphidius
Seek three in one thing and one in three. Open these and
shut them up again and you have the whole art, Solve et
Coagula. The Spirit [secret Fire] will give the soul [of the
Gold] to the body [Rebis]. The Spirit attracts the Soul, and
returns it to the dead body, until all the three remain perfectly
united. The body [principally the Gold in the Rebis] must be
dissolved, must die and putrefy, while the soul [the
volatilized Gold and Regulus of the rebis] and spirit [secret
Fire] leave the dead body. Yet after some time they reunite,
during the last degree of heat, glorified in the highest
perfection.
Nuysement
101
means Rebis] and his tender Virgin Sal Macis [our Diana]
must be dipped in the Fountain [the solution effected by
adding secret Fire to Rebis], that the one may embrace the
other, and that he may be able to say to her: “The time will
come when my Virgin will never be separated from me, not I
from her; and that our union will continue inseparably, and
both our bodies possess but one heart and one face [in
tincture alba et Rubia]. Let the Island Delus appear
immovable, and let Apollo and Diana [Gold and Regulus of
Antimony and Mars] dwell therein [united in one regenerated
body, the Tincture].
H. Von Batsdorff
102
Although Gabricius [Gold] is, in the opinion of the world,
more precious and valuable than Beja, yet by himself he can
produce nothing. That virgin Beja, our blessed water, the
Philosophers have concealed in their books under many
names [as Beja, Our Moon, Our Mercury, Our blessed water
in which gold dissolves as ice in warm water, our Chalibs,
our Steel, etc.].
Ludus Puerorum
Eyraeneus Philaletha
103
all one quintessential virtue as in union with the Muriatic acid
and so becomes a fit fire for the internal operations].
Eyraeneus Philoctetes
Metallurgia
104
clarified and spiritualized it is the medium between running
mercury and the metals [the only medium by which the two
latter can be inseparably united]. It is that temperate
substance between the fixed and the volatile, which is the
nearest matter of the Tincture. Does not this contain the
sulphur, salt and mercury spiritualized [is not this the
recipient, and therefore called by philosophers the vessel, in
which, when perfect solution is effected, the principles are
deposited] which may very easily by the power of gold
[which furnishes the sulphur] be refixed into a Tincture?
105
they are put into the philosophical egg [with the pure mineral
water]. He fire is then to be administered through its degrees,
boiling night and day until the work is perfectly finished
[without performing any other operation whatever; for all the
other labours of which the Philosophers speak, such as
putrefaction, sublimation, distillation, circulation, and
separation of elements, making black, white, and red, etc., are
the operation of Nature on the matter in the glass, without
any laying on of the hands of the Artist. This is the whole
secret, the whole labour of this wonderful production, which
the philosophers have hidden with so much care, and yet have
actually unveiled in their writings, but in such a manner that
the treasure shall not be obtained without labour].
Incertus Macrocosmus
106
whereby the body may be opened and multiplied; and that the
moving and coagulating principle must be added to the
Anima Solis, which is the tincture.
Scotus
107
or in Quantity, and this is done by adding new matter [i.e., by
compound fermentation].
Incertus Macrocosmus
The Same
108
projection] and therefore must be familiarized to metals by
mixture with a perfect metalline body… The Philosophers
advise us to project by gradation till projection ceases --- that
is, to project one part of the tincture on 10 parts, and again
one part of the latter on ten, until after the last projection [no
longer glass but] pure Gold or Silver comes from the fire.
109
the perfect elixir of the third order, since it has not yet
received the philosophical fermentation [viz., with Gold or
Silver in the crucible as before directed]; after which
fermentation the Elixir, like common fire, can be multiplied
continually.
110
ALLEGORICAL TERMS, WHEREBY THE
PLOSOPHERS HAVE HIDDEN THEIR SECRET
MEANING
The Root --- the Radix --- our mature Sulphur --- Red
Brass --- Terra lemnia --- Laton --- The Red Man --- Apollo -
-- Phoebus --- Sol --- The King --- The Male --- The Male
seed --- The Husband --- The Man --- Gabricius --- The Red
Lion --- The Dragon without Wings --- The fixt Sulphur ---
Our Sol --- The Toad --- Hermes’ Tree --- The fire of Nature.
111
THE SECRET FIRE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS HAS
MANY NAMES
It is called: The Spirit --- The Spirit of Life --- The Water
of Life --- The Water of Our Sea --- The Mineral Water ---
The Water --- Burning Water --- Ardent Water.
The Fire --- The Secret Fire --- Fire against Nature --- The
Invisible Fire --- Our Fire --- The Fire of Snowy Whiteness --
- A Fire continual, digesting, not violent, subtile, inclosed,
aerial, surrounding, altering and not burning, clear, close,
altering, circulating, penetrating and alive --- The Mover ---
The First Agent --- Philosophical Vitriol --- That subtile
Nature cleansed by sublimation --- The Fat of the Mercurial
Wind --- Our Mercurial Water --- The Second Sophic
Mercury --- The Venomous Fiery Dragon --- Medea ---
Theseus, who had black sails on his ship --- The unhappy
spring, in Ripley Revived --- The Porter or Servant of Count
Bernard --- Artpehius’ Map Fire --- The eagles --- The
Virgins of Dastin --- The Vulture of hermes --- The Priest.
To the union of Sol and Luna --- Male and Female ---
Gabricius and Beja --- Phoebus and Phoebe.
112
When our Diana is united with the nymph Venus it forms
this character [sigil: Mercury], i.e., Mercury, viz., the third
and last genuine mercury of the Philosophers, called Azoth --
- The Bath of Trevisan --- The Balneum Mariae --- Sharp
Vinegar --- Horse Dung --- Horse Dung --- Moist Fire ---
The Vinegar of the Mountains of Sol and Luna --- The
Dragon or Serpent with three heads, born of the slime of the
earth.
OBSERVATIONS
“If any then should ask us what our natural operation of the
Stone is?, we would answer: Making of active natures
passive, and passive active by continual decoction. We boil
continually, and when the Spirit [secret Fire] is active there is
a constant ascension and descencion, and the body [Rebis,
Gold] is dissolved and made to ascend like a spirit; and when
the body [Gold] is active the fumes by little and little cease,
and the compound remains below, boiling without fuming,
and thickening and at least calcining; and this is without
hands repeated three times. [In blackness, Whiteness, and
Redness we make 3 unctuous calces]. The fire only being
kept continually; and then a Sabbath of rest and perfection is
attained”. Ripley Revived (pp. 185, 186, 199, 253).
113
“It is then nothing else but a boiling of hard and dry bodies
[gold or silver] in our Mercury [Regulus of Antimony and
Mars] in a convenient fire [the secret Fire], so long until they
be dissolved and made thin: then the same fire makes them
fly, and flying they condense and return in drops on the body
[the position of Gold and revived Mercury not yet dissolved]
and moisten it, and by often returning, brings it to its own
nature [i.e., volatilizes the Gold]”. Ripley Revived (p. 192).
114
Secrets Revealed (p. 96). [i.e., after the ascension and
descension of the Azoth has ceased of itself conjunction
begins in perfect blackness, which increases daily. If you now
increase the fire you hinder this conjunction, you burn the
tender matter, you destroy the work.]
In fine: Take the true material principles and put them into
the glass: put the glass in such heat that the matter may boil
and gently send up fumes, but only in such quantity that they
may condense and return to the matter below. Continue this
degree of heat till the matter ceases to sublime but still keeps
slowly bubbling. It will get blacker and blacker like melted
pitch. Many colours will follow and the matter at length
becomes white. Then increase the heat a little and in time it
will become red.
FINIS
115
116