CHAPTER III.

The Six Keys of Eudoxus, opening into the most
Secret Philosophy.

THE FIRST KEY.

TpHE First Key is that which opens the dark
X prisons in which the Sulphur is shut up :
this is it which knows how to extract the seed out
of the body, and which forms the Stone of the
philosophers by the conjunction of the spirit
with the body — of sulphur with mercury. Hermes
has manifestly demonstrated the operation of this
First Key by these words : In the caverns of the
metals there is hidden the Stone, which is venerable,
bright in colour, a mind sublime, and an open sea.
This Stone has a bright glittering : it contains a
Spirit of a sublime original ; it is the Sea of the
Wise, in which they angle for their mysterious
Fish. But the operations of the three works have a
great deal of analogy one to another, and the
philosophers do designedly speak in equivocal
terms, to the end that those who have not the
Lynx's eyes ma}/' pursue wrong, and be lost in this
labyrinth, from whence it is very hard to get out.
In effect, when one imagines that they speak of
one work, they often treat of another. Take heed,
therefore, not to be deceived here ; for it is a
truth, that in each work the Wise Artist ought to
dissolve the body with the spirit ; he must cut
off the Raven's head, whiten the Black, and vivify
the White ; yet it is properly in the First opera-
tion that the Wise Artist cuts off the head of the
Black Dragon and of the Raven. Hence, Hermes
says, What is born of the Crow is the beginning of
this Art. Consider that it is by separation of the
black, foul, and stinking fume of the Blackest
Black, that our astral, white, and resplendent

The Six Keys. 501

Stone is formed, which contains in its veins the
blood of the Pelican. It is at this First Purification
of the Stone, and at this shining whiteness, that
the work of the First Key is ended.

THE SECOND KEY.

The Second Key dissolves the compound of the
Stone, and begins the separation of the Elements
in a philosophical manner : this separation of the
elements is not made but by raising up the subtle
and pure parts above the thick and terrestrial
parts. He who knows how to sublime the Stone
philosophically, justly deserves the name of a
philosopher, since he knows the Fire of the Wise,
which is the only Instrument which can work this
sublimation. No philosopher has ever openly
revealed this Secret Fire, and this powerful agent,
which works all the wonders of the Art : he who
shall not understand it, and not know how to
distinguish it by the characters whereby it is
described, ought to make a stand here, and pray
to God to make it clear to him ; for the knowledge
of this great Secret is rather a gift of Heaven, than
a Light acquired by the natural force of reasoning ;
let him nevertheless, read the writings of the philo-
sophers ; let him meditate ; and, above all, let him
pray : there is no difficulty which may not in the
end be made clear by Work, Meditation, and Prayer.
Without the sublimation of the Stone, the con-
version of the Elements and the extraction of the
Principles is impossible ; and this conversion,
which makes Water of Earth, Air of Water, and
Fire of Air, is the only way whereby our Mercury
can be prepared. Apply yourself then to know
this Secret Fire, which dissolves the Stone natur-
ally and without violence, and makes it dissolve
into Water in the great sea of the Wise, by the
distillation which is made by the rays of the Sun and
Moon. It is in this manner that the Stone, which,
according to Hermes, is the vine of the Wise,,

502 Hermetic Practice.

becomes their Wine, which, by the operations
of Art, produces their rectified Water of Life, and
their most sharp Vinegar. The Elements of the
Stone cannot be dissolved but by this Nature
wholly Divine ; nor can a perfect dissolution be
made of it, but after a proportioned digestion and
putrefaction, at which the operation of the Second
Key of the First Work is ended.

THE THIRD KEY.

The Third Key comprehends of itself alone a
longer train of operations than all the rest together.
The philosophers have spoken very little of it,
seeing the Perfection of our Mercury depends there-
on ; the sincerest even, as Artefius, Trevisan,
Flammel, have passed in silence the Preparation
of our Mercury, and there is hardly one found who
has not feigned, instead of showing the longest and
the most important of the operations of our
Practice. With a design to lend you a hand in
this part of the way, which you have to go, and
where for want of Light it is impossible to know
the true road, I will enlarge myself more than
others have done on this Third Key ; or at least I
will follow in an order, that which they have
treated so confusedly, that without the inspiration
of Heaven, or without the help of a faithful friend,
one remains undoubtedly in this labyrinth,without
being able to find a happy deliverance from
thence. I am sure, that you who are the true Sons
of Science will receive a very great satisfaction in
the explaining of these hidden Mysteries, which
regard the separation and the purification of the
Principles of our Mercury, which is made by a
perfect dissolution and glorification of the body,
whence it had its nativity, and by the intimate
union of the soul with its body, of whom the
Spirit is the only tie which works this conjunction.
This is the Intention, and the essential point of
the Operations of this Key, which terminate at

The Six Keys. 503

the generation of a new substance infinitely nobler
than the First.

After the Wise Artist has made a spring of living
water come out of the stone, and has pressed out
the vine of the philosophers, and has made their
wine, he ought to take notice that in this homo-
geneous substance, which appears under the form
of Water, there are three different substances, and
three natural principles of bodies — Salt, Sulphur
and Mercury — which are the spirit, the soul, and
the body ; and though they appear pure and
perfectly united together, there still wants much
of their being so ; for ivhen by distillation we draw
the Water, which is the soul and the spirit, the Body
remains in the bottom of the vessel, like a dead, black
and dreggy earth, which, nevertheless, is not to be
despised ; for in our subject there is nothing which
is not good. The philosopher, John Pontanus,
protests that the very superfluities of the Stone
are converted into a true essence, and that he who
pretends to separate anything from our subject
knows nothing of philosophy ; for that all which is
therein superfluous, unclean, dreggy — in fine, the
whole compound, is made perfect by the action of
our Fire. This advice opens the eyes of those, who,
to make an exact purification of the Elements and
of the Principles, persuade themselves that they
must only take the subtile and cast away the
heavy. But Hermes says the power of it is not
integral until it be turned into earth ; neither
ought the sons of science to be ignorant that the
Fire and the Sulphur are hidden in the centre of
the Earth, and that they must wash it exactly with
its spirit, to extract out of it the Fixed Salt, which
is the Blood of our Stone. This is the essential
Mystery of the operation, which is not accom-
plished till after a convenient digestion and a slow
distillation. You know that nothing is more con-
trary than fire and water ; but yet the WTise Artist
must make peace between the enemies, who radi-

504 Hermetic Practice.

cally love each other vehemently. Cosmopolite
told the manner thereof in a few words : — All
things therefore being purged make Fire and Water
to be Friends, which they will easily do in their earth
which had ascended with them. Be then attentive
on this point ; moisten oftentimes the earth with
its water, and 3^ou will obtain what you seek. Must
not the body be dissolved by the water, and the
Earth be penetrated with its Humidity, to be
made proper for. generation ? According to philo-
sophers, the Spirit is Eve, the Body is Adam ; they
ought to be joined together for the propagation of
their species. Hermes says the same in other
terms : For Water is the strongest Nature which
surmounts and excites the fixed Nature in the Body,
that is, rejoices in it. In effect, these two sub-
stances, which are of the same nature but of
different genders, ascend insensibly together,
leaving but a little fceces in the bottom of their
vessel ; so that the soul, spirit, and body, after
an exact purification, appear at last inseparably
united under a more nobie and more perfect Form
than it was before, and as different from its first
liquid Form as the alcohol of Wine exactly
rectified and acuated with its salt is different
from the substance of the wine from whence it
has been drawn : this comparison is not only very
fitting, but it furthermore gives the sons of science
a precise knowledge of the operations of the
Third Key.

Our Water is a living Spring which comes out of
the Stone by a natural miracle of our philosophy.
The first of all is the water which issueth out of
this Stone. It is Hermes who has pronounced this
great Truth. He acknowledges, further, that this
water is the foundation of our Art. The philo-
sophers give it many names ; for sometimes they
call it wine, sometimes water of life, sometimes
vinegar, sometimes oil, according to the different
degrees of Preparation, or according to the diverse

The Six Keys. 505

effects which it is capable of producing. Yet I let
you know that it is properly called the Vinegar
of the Wise, and that in the distillation of this
Divine Liquor there happens the same thing as in
that of common vinegar ; you may hence draw
instruction : the water and the phlegm ascend
first ; the oily substance, in which the efficacy
of the water consists, comes the last, &c. It is
therefore necessary to dissolve the body entirely,
to extract all its humidity which contains the
precious ferment, the sulphur, that balm of Nature,
and wonderful unguent, without which you ought
not to hope ever to see in your vessel this blackness
so desired by all the philosophers. Reduce then
the whole compound into water, and make a per-
fect union of the volatile with the fixed ; it is a
precept of Senior's, which deserves attention, that
the highest fume should be reduced to the lowest ;
for the divine water is the thing descending from
heaven, the reducer of the soul to its body, which it at
length revives. The Balm of Life is hid in these
unclean fceces ; you ought to wash them with this
ccelestial water until you have removed away the
blackness from them, and then your Water shall be
animated with this Fiery Essence, which works all
the wonders of our Art.

But, further, that you may not be deceived with
the terms of the Compound, I will tell you that
the philosophers have two sorts of compounds.
The first is the compound of Nature, whereof I
have spoken in the First Key ; for it is Nature
which makes it in a manner incomprehensible to
the Artist, who does nothing but lend a hand to
Nature by the adhibition of external things, by
the means of which she brings forth and produces
this admirable compound. The second is the
compound of Art ; it is the Wise man who makes
it by the secret union of the fixed with the volatile,
perfectly conjoined with all prudence, which
cannot be acquired but by the lights of a profound

506 Hermetic Practice.

philosoplry. The compound of Art is not alto-
gether the same in the Second as in the Third
Work ; yet it is always the Artist who makes it.
Geber defines it, a mixture of Argent vive and
Sulphur, that is to say, of the volatile and the
fixed ; which, acting on one another, are volati-
lized and fixed reciprocally into a perfect Fixity.
Consider the example of Nature ; you see that
the earth will never produce fruit if it be not pene-
trated with its humidity, and that the humidity
would always remain barren if it were not retained
and fixed by the dryness of the earth. So, in the
Art, you can have no success if you do not in the
first work purify the Serpent, born of the Slime
of the earth ; if you do not whiten these foul and
black fceces, to separate from thence the white
sulphur, which is the Sal Amoniac of the Wise, and
their Chaste Diana, who washes herself in the bath ;
and all this mystery is but the extraction of the
fixed salt of our compound, in which the whole
energy of our Mercury consists. The water which
ascends by distillation carries up with it a part
of this fiery salt, so that the affusion of the water
on the body, reiterated many times, impregnates,
fattens, and fertilizes our Mercury, and makes it
fit to be fixed, which is the end of the second Work.
One cannot better explain this Truth, than by
Hermes, in these words : When I saw thai the water
by degrees did become thicker and harder I did
rejoice, for I certainly knew that I should find what
I sought for. It is not without reason that the
philosophers give this viscous Liquor the name
of Pontick Water. Its exuberant ponticity is
indeed the true character of its virtue, and the
more you shall rectify it, and the more you shall
work upon it, the more virtue will it acquire. It
has been called the Water of Life, because it
gives life to the metals ; but it is properly called
the great Lunaria, because of its brightness
wherewith it shines.

The Six Keys. 507

Since I speak only to you, ye true scholars of
Hermes, I will reveal to you one secret which, you
will not find entirely in the books of the philo-
sophers. Some of them say, that of their liquor
they make two Mercuries — the one White and the
other Red ; Flammel has said more particularly,
that one must make use of the citrine Mercury
to make the Imbibition to the Red ; giving notice
to the Sons of Art not to be deceived on this point,
as he himself had been, unless the Jew had in-
formed him of the truth. Others have taught that
the White Mercury is the bath of the Moon, and
that the Red Mercury is the bath of the Sun. But
there are none who have been willing to show dis-
tinctly to the Sons of Science by what means they
may get these two mercuries. If you apprehend me
well, you have the point already cleared up to you.
The Lunaria is the White Mercury, the most sharp
Vinegar is the Red Mercury ; but the better to
determine these two mercuries, feed them with
flesh of their own species — the blood of innocents
whose throats are cut ; that is to say, the spirits
of the bodies are the Bath where the Sun and
Moon go to wash themselves. I have unfolded to
you a great mystery, if you reflect well on it ; the
philosophers who have spoken thereof have passed
over this important point very slightly. Cosmopo-
lite has very wittily mentioned it by an ingenious
allegorj^, speaking of the purification of the Mer-
cury : This will be done, says he, if you shall give
our old man gold and silver to swallow, that he may
consume them, and at length he also dying may be
burnt. He makes an end of describing the whole
magistery in these terms ; — Let his ashes be strewed
in the water ; boil it until it is enough, and you have
a medicine to cure the leprosy. You must not be
ignorant that Our Old Man is our Mercury ; this
name indeed agrees with him because He is the
fi.rst matter of all metals. He is their water, as the
same author goes on to say, and to which he gives

508 Hermetic Practice.

also the name of steel and of the loadstone ; adding
for a greater confirmation of what I am about to
discover to you, that if gold cowples with it eleven
times it sends forth its seed, and is debilitated
almost unto death ; but the Chalybes conceives and
begets a son more glorious than the Father. Behold
a great Mystery which I reveal to you without an
enigma ; this is the secret of the two mercuries
which contain the two tinctures. Keep them
separately, and do not confound their species, for
fear they should beget a monstrous Lineage.

I not only speak to you more intelligibly than
any philosopher before has done, but I also reveal
to you the most essential point in the Practice ;
if you meditate thereon, and apply yourself to
understand it well ; but above all, if you work
according to those lights which I give you, you
may obtain what you seek for. And if you come
not to these knowledges by the way which I have
pointed out to you, I am very well assured that
you will hardly arrive at your design by only
reading the philosophers. Therefore despair of
nothing — search the source of the Liquor of the
Sages, which contains all that is necessary for the
work ; it is hidden under the Stone — strike upon
it with the Red of Magic Fire, and a clear fountain
will issue out : then do as I have shown you, pre-
pare the bath of the King with the blood of the
Innocents, and you will have the animated
Mercury of the wise, which never loses its virtue,
if you keep it in a vessel well closed. Hermes
says, that there is so much sympathy between the
purified bodies and the spirits, that they never
quit one another when they are united together :
because this union resembles that of the soul with
the glorified body ; after which, Faith tells us,
there shall be no more separation or death ; be-
cause the spirits desire to be in the cleansed bodies,
and having them, they enliven and dwell in them.
By this you may observe the merit of this precious

The Six Keys. 509

liquor, to which the philosophers have given more
than a thousand different names, which is in sum
the great Alchaest, which radically dissolves the
metals — a true permanent water which, after
having radically dissolved them, is inseparably
united to them, increasing their weight and tinc-
ture.

THE FOURTH KEY.

The Fourth Key of the Art is the entrance to the
Second Work (and a reiteration in part and
development of the foregoing) : it is this which
reduces our Water into Earth ; there is but this
only Water in the world, which by a bare boiling
can be converted into Earth, because the Mercury
of the Wise carries in its centre its own Sulphur,
which coagulates it. The terrification of the Spirit
is the only operation of this work. Boil them with
patience ; if you have proceeded well, you will not
be a long time without perceiving the marks of
this coagulation ; and if they appear not in their
time, they will never appear ; because it is an
undoubted sign that you have failed in some
essential thing in the former operations ; for to
corporify the Spirit, which is our Mercury, you
must have well dissolved the body in which the
Sulphur which coagulates the Mercury is enclosed.
But Hermes assumes that our mercurial water shall
obtain all the virtues which the philosophers
attribute to it if it be turned into earth. An
earth admirable is it for fertility — the Land of
Promise of the Wise, who, knowing how to make
the dew of Heaven fall upon it, cause it to produce
fruits of an inestimable price. Cultivate then
diligently this precious earth, moisten it often
with its own humidity, dry it as often, and you
will no less augment its virtue than its weight
and its fertility.

THE FIFTH KEY.

The Fifth Key includes the Fermentation of the

510 Hermetic Practice.

Stone with the perfect body, to make thereof the
medicine of the Third order. I will say nothing
in particular of the operation of the Third work ;
except that the Perfect Body is a necessary leaven
of Our Paste. And that the Spirit ought to make
the union of the paste with the leaven in the same
manner as water moistens meal, and dissolves
the leaven to compose a fermented paste fit
to make bread. This comparison is very proper ;
Hermes first made it, saying, that as a paste
cannot be fermented without a ferment ; so when
you shall have sublimed, cleansed and separated
the foulness from the Fceces, and would make the
conjunction, put a ferment to them and make the
tvater earth, that the paste may be made a ferment ;
which repeats the intruction of the whole work,
and shows, that just so as the whole lump of the
paste becomes leaven, by the action of the ferment
which has been added, so all the philosophic con-
fection becomes, by this operation, a leaven proper
to ferment a new matter, and to multiply it to
infinity. If you observe well how bread is made,
you will find the proportions also, which you ought
to keep among the matters which compose our
philosophical paste. Do not the bakers put more
meal than leaven, and more water than the
leaven and the meal ? The laws of Nature are the
rules you ought to follow in the practice of our
magistery. I have given you, upon the principal
point, all the instructions which are necessary
for you, so that it would be superfluous to tell you
more of it ; particularly concerning the last
operations, about which the Adepts have been less
reserved than at the First, which are the founda-
tions of the Art.

the sixth key.

The Sixth Key teaches the Multiplication of the
Stone, by the reiteration of the same operation,
which consists but in opening and shutting,

The Six Keys. 511

dissolving and coagulating, imbibing and drying ;
whereby the virtues of the Stone are infinitely
augment able. As my design has been not to de-
scribe entirely the application of the three medi-
cines, but only to instruct you in the more im-
portant operations concerning the preparation of
Mercury, which the philosophers commonly pass
over in silence, to hide the mysteries from the
profane which are only intended for the wise, I will
tarry no longer upon this point, and will tell you
nothing more of what relates to the Projection of
the Medicine, because the success you expect
depends not thereon. I have not given you very
full instructions except on the Third Key, because
it contains a long brain of operationswhich, though
simple and natural, require a great understanding
of the Laws of Nature, and of the qualities of
Our Matter, as well as a perfect knowledge of
chemistry and of the different degrees of heat
which are fitting for these operations. I have
conducted you by the straight way without any
winding ; and if you have well minded the road
which I have pointed out to you, I am sure that
you will go straight to the end without straying.
Take this in good part from me, in the design
which I had of sparing you a thousand labours and
a thousand troubles, which I myself have under-
gone in this painful journey for want of an assist-
ance, such as this is which I give you from a sincere
heart and a tender affection for all the true sons
of science. I should much bewail, if, like me, after
having known the true matter, you should spend
fifteen years entirely in the work, in study and in
meditation, without being able to extract out
of the Stone the precious juice which it encloses in
its bosom, for want of knowing the secret fire of
the wise, which makes to run out of this plant(dry
and withered in appearance) a water which wets
not the hands, and which by a magical union of
the dry water of the sea of the wise, is dissolved

512 Hermetic Practice.

into a viscous water — into a mercurial liquor,
which is the beginning, the foundation, and the
Key of our Art : — Convert, separate, and purify
the elements, as I have taught you, and you will
possess the true Mercury of the philosophers, which
will give you the fixed Sulphur and the Universal
Medicine. But I give you notice, moreover, that
even after you shall be arrived at the knowledge
of the Secret Fire of the Wise, yet still you shall not
attain your point at your first career. I have erred
many years in the way which remains to be gone,
to arrive at the mvsterious fountain where the
King bathes himself, is made young again, and
retakes a new life exempt from all sorts of infirmi-
ties. Besides this you must know how to purify, to
heal, and to animate the royal bath ; it is to lend
you a hand in this secret way that I have expati-
ated under the Third Key, where all those opera-
tions are described. I wish with all my heart that
the instructions which I have driven vou mav
enable vou to go directlv to the End. But remem-
ber, ye sons of philosophy, that the knowledge of
our Magistery comes rather hy the Inspiration of
Heaven, than from the Lights which we can get
by ourselves. This truth is acknowledged by all
artists ; it is for this reason that it is not enough
to work ; pray daily, read good books, and medi-
tate night and da}7 on the operations of Nature,
and on what she may be able to do when she is
assisted by the help of our Art : and by these
means you will succeed without doubt in your
undertaking. This is all I have now to say to you.
I was not willing to make you such a long dis-
course as the matter seemed to demand ; neither
have I told you anything but what is essential to
our Art ; so that if you know the Stone which is
the only matter of Our Stone, and if you have the
Understanding of Our Fire, which is both secret
and natural, you have the Keys of the Art, and
you can calcine Our Stone ; not by the common

The Six Keys. 513

calcination which is made by the violence of fire,
but by a philosophic calcination which is purely
natural. Yet observe this, with the most en-
lightened philosophers, that there is this difference
between the common calcination which is made
by the force of Fire and the natural calcination ;
that the first destroys the body and consumes the
greatest part of its radical humidity ; but the
second does not only preserve the humidity of the
body in calcining it, but still considerably aug-
ments it. Experience will give you knowledge
in the Practice of this great truth, for you will in
effect find that this philosophical calcination,
which sublimes and distils the Stone in calcining
it, much augments its humidity ; the reason is
that the igneous spirit of the natural fire is
corporified in the substances which are analogous
to it. Our stone is an Astral Fire which sympa-
thizes with the Natural Fire, and which, as a true
Salamander receives its nativity, is nourished and
grows in the Elementary Fire, which is geomet-
rically proportioned to it.

The Keys of Eudoxus open no more ; and as
these last ones, entering to the Multiplication and
Projection, are avowedly defective, and the infor-
mation may be interesting to the studious, we
propose to supply it briefly from another and not
less credible source.

It remains only for the work of Multiplication,
says the Author of the Of en Entrance, to take one
part of the Perfect Matter and to join it with three
or four parts at most of the Mercury of the First
Work, and to place both in a vessel well luted and
sealed ; and, by the help of a gentle and well-
regulated fire, you will see with satisfaction all
the operations before named pass through rapidly
in seven days, and the virtue is augmented a
thousand times in this revelation above what it
was before. Then repeat thereupon the same

514 Hermetic Practice.

operation, and all will be run through before your
eyes in three days, and the matter will have again
attained by this a redoubled virtue. After this, if
you desire to repeat the same work, one natural
day will complete the whole, and every regiment
of the colours will in that brief space be passed
through ; which, if the same process be again
repeated, an hour will suffice, increasing likewise
in multiplicable proportion, thousands by thou-
sands ; so that at length, if you multiply it a fifth
time, you will be no longer able to calculate the
strength of the medicine. Render thanks to God,
then, who hath put into thy possession the uni-
versal treasury of nature. —

And for the final Projection, as the metalline
perfectibility of the matter is sometimes called,
we have this concluding advice : —

Take one part of your Perfect Stone, whether
white or red ; then cause to be melted in a crucible
four parts of one of the fixed metals, i.e., silver if it
be for the white, or gold if it be for the red ; join to
this one part of the Stone, according to the kind
that you desire to produce ; throw the whole into
a horn, and there will result to you a pulverizable
mass. Take then ten parts of mercury purged and
purified, place it on the fire, and when it begins
to crackle and to smoke throw in one part of your
powder, which will, in the twinkling of an eye as it
were, penetrate the mercury ; melt this with an
augmented fire ; and you will have the medicine,
though of an inferior order. Take one part of this
last matter and project it on any metal so that
it be only purified and set in fusion ; project only
as much of the Stone as you desire to tinge of
the metal, and you will have gold or silver more
pure than that which nature ever yields. However
it is always best to make projection by degrees
until the Stone yields no more tincture ; because
in projecting a small quantity of powder on a large
quantity of imperfect metals (except indeed our

The Multiplication and Projection. 515

Mercury alone), the Stone sustains great loss on
account of the impurities with which they abound.
Therefore, the more the metal is purified before
projection, the more successful will be the trans-
mutation.1

But, be it remembered, there is a twofold fer-
mentation— a spiritual and a bodily. The spiritual
fermentation is performed by multiplying the
tinctures, which is not done with common gold
to silver ; for they are not tinctures, but gross
compacted bodies. — Be thou well advised, says
Sendivogius in his Praxis, that thou takest not
common gold or silver, for these are dead ; tak<?
Ours which are living ; then put them into Out
Fire and let there be made of them a dry liquor :
first of all the earth will be resolved into Water
which is called the Mercury of philosophers, and
that water shall resolve those bodies of gold and
silver, and shall consume them so that there shall
remain but the tenth part with one part ; and
this shall be the radical moisture of metals. Then
take water and salt-nitre, which comes from Our
Earth in which there is a river of living water, if j
thou diggest the pit knee deep, therefore takej
the water out of that ; but take that which is
clear ; upon this put that radical moisture ; and
set it over the fire of putrefaction and generation,
not on such a one as thou didst in the first operation :
govern all things with a great deal of discretion,
until colours appear like a peacock's tail ; govern
it by digesting it, and be not weary, until these
colours be ended, and there appear throughout the
whole one green colour, and so of the rest ; and
when thou shaft see in the bottom ashes of a fierv
colour and the water almost red, open the vessel,
dip in a pen, and smear some Iron with it ; if it
tinge, have in readiness that water which has
been spoken of, and put in so much of that water

1 From the Introitus Apertus of Eirenseus Philalethes, cap.
xxxiv.

516 Hermetic Practice.

as the cold air was which went in, boil it again with
the former fire, until it tinge again. So far reached
my experience : — I can do no more, says the wary
Artist, I found out no more. — Now that water
must be the menstruum of the world, out of the
sphere of the Moon so often rectified until it can
calcine gold.2

And when thou hast made the Stone and magic
medicine, says Vaughan, and it is become a liquid
fiery spiritual substance, shining like the sun, in
this complexion, if you would project, you would
hardly find the just proportion : the virtue of the
medicine is so intensive and powerful. The
philosophers therefore take one part of their Stone
and cast it upon ten parts of pure molten gold —
this single grain brings all the gold to a bloody
powder ; and, on the contrary, the gross body of
the gold abates the spiritual strength of the
projected grain. This descent or incorporation,
some wise authors have called a bodily fermenta-
tion ; but the philosophers did not use common
gold to make their Stone (though so mairy decept-
ively write about it), they used it only to qualify
the utensive power of it when it was made, that
they might the more easily find what quantity of
base metal they should project upon. By this
means thev reduced their medicine to a dust, and
this dust is the Arabian Elixir. This Elixir the
philosophers could carry about them ; but the
medicine itself not so, for it is such a subtle moist
fire that there is nothing but (its proper) glass

that will hold it.3

And it sufficeth in one glasse to put
So much of composition as may cost
The price of half an ounce of gold, which shut
With Hermes' seal, no fear it should be lost ;
Except some error be committed, which
How to avoid I faithfully shall teach.4

2 Sendivogius' New Light of Alchemy, Treatise xi.

3 Vaughan's Lumen de Lumine, p. 95. Norton's Ordinal,
chap. ii.

4 Marrow of Alchemy, book iii. p. 77.

The Multiplication and Projection. 517

And because our intention is to the changing of
metals into gold, says the Author of Lucerna
Salts, it is requisite that they should first be fer-
mented with very good and most pure gold ; for
otherwise the imperfect metals would not be able
to support its too great and supreme subtlety ;
but there would rather ensue loss and damage in
the projection. The imperfect and impure metals
(let not the allusion here be misapprehended) must
also be purified, if one will draw any profit there-
from ; one drachm of gold is sufficient for the
fermentation in the red, and one drachm of silver
for the fermentation in the white. And the artist
need not to be at the trouble of buying gold or
silver for this fermentation, because, with one
single very small part, the tincture may after-
wards be augmented more and more in such a
manner that whole ships might be loaded with the
precious metal that would accrue from this con-
fection. For if this medicine be multiplied, and
be again dissolved and coagulated by the virtue
of its mercury, white or red, of which it was pre-
pared, then the tinging virtue will be augmented
each time by ten degrees in perfection, which may
be reiterated as often as one pleases.5

Like the sun's atoms 'tis a powder fine,

White for the white, and red for red projection.

The metals, by it teined, exceed the mine

In purity ; and such is its perfection
That he who hath it in an hour's space
And less than, may command in any place.

At first it is of virtue very small,
Compared with the might it doth attain
By oft reiteration ; who so shall
It oft dissolve, and then congeal again,

Shall find a medicine that will translate

Innumerable parts to Sol's estate.

'Tis ponderous and yet in grains divided,
That powder all appears as soft as silk,
On metal it, like wax, in flux is guided

5 See Digby's Lucerna Salis, cap. viii.

518 Hermetic Practice.

To enter to the centre, just like milk
Is penetrated by the Rennet sour,
And curdled in the minute of an hour.

This medicine is best thus to project :

First on a portion of the metal pure,

Which of the powder is to be effect

As red on gold, on silver eke be sure,

The white to throw, one part of this, your Stone
On four of metal, or else five to one.

Then brittle like to glasse that masse will be,
Of colour bright and shining very clear,
Yet not transparent, also thou shalt see
Its virtue lessened, which will appear

To view most glittering, like a ruby fair,
Then upon Argent vive cast this with care.

On ten parts one so long project until
The tincture to decrease thou shalt perceive,
Which being done, thou soon shalt, at thy. will,
Most perfect Sol and Lune from fire receive ;
Thus guide thy operation and be sure,
The effect will prove both gold and silver pure.

And if thou list thy essence to augment
In goodness or in weight, thou so maist work,
That never shall thy stock with use be spent,
So great a power in this Stone doth lurk,

That it, like fire, is apt to multiply

Itself in weight as eke in dignity.

A portion once I saw, and found by proof,
That which a man's belief might far exceed
Of the Red medicine, which for behoof
Of such who to this science may proceed,
I shall declare, by which may well appear
That useless it is not, as many fear

I saw then, as I said, a powder so
Increast in virtue, scarce to be believed
That so small quantity, as scarce would show
In bulk a grain, nor weighed much more indeed.
Which yet to gold so great a quantity
Could well transmute as may be deemed a lye.

No man by. art its number could attain,
So great it was, yet was the tincture sound,
For on an ounce projected was that grain,
In which perfection did so abound,

That all was essence made, of which one grain
Was cast upon ten times as much again,

The Multiplication and Projection. 519

That is one ounce in ten, and these likewise
On ten times more, which yet was medicine made,
Ten more to one of these would not suffice
To metal it to bring ; nor was't allay 'd,

So with these oft projections made before,
But one at last ting'd ninety thousand more.6

And the Author of the Rosary declares that he
who shall have accomplished this Art, even though
he were to live thousands of years, and every day
maintain thousands of men, yet he would never
know scarcity ; having attained this blessed
abundance, also, not by the oppression of others
or by unlawful means, but by industry, patience,
and the labour of his own hand. And not only,
continues Eirenaeus, could he transmute baser
metals into gold and silver, but make precious
stones also more beautiful and perfect than those
of nature ; and would possess a universal medicine,
moreover, capable of curing all diseases ; even
one Adept, were he permitted, might impart
health to the whole world.7

But lest this kind of testimony should grow
egregious, and our book, by ill hazard falling into
the hand of some credulous dunce or adventurous
gold-seeker, should detain either for a moment
to deliberate about looking at home for that which
their instinct and proper destiny would otherwise
direct them to find abroad, we desist, and implore
these, should there be any, as they value their own
lives and peace of mind and fortune, to regard
nothing of all that has been written. For would it
not, even supposing the whole of the assertions
to be true, (and which literally taken they are not)
would it not, we ask, be a delirious speculation for
any one to undertake to make the precious metal
which is to be had in plentiful abundance, all ready
elaborated by nature, ripe, and easy to his hand ;
to be had for the mere gathering, and if not with-
out some natural risk, yet without laborious study

6 Eirenseus' Marrow of Alchemy, book iii. v. 45, &c.
7 Introitus Apertus, cap. xxxv. De Multiplici hujus Artis.

520 Hermetic Practice.

or other mystical alloy ? — Let not one then be
allured by the ultimate promises of Alchemy ;
which are the rewards only of a longsuffering and
laborious life ; of unwearying thought, patience
under afflictions, conquest over unruly passions,
hunger, thirst, stripes merited and unmerited,
persecutions, indigence, self-denial-— all which
philosophers have undergone, even encountering
the terrors of death and hell itself in pursuit of
their object ; which was not gold however, or
silver ; but the substance of these things, which,
after all, when it was gotten by them, was despised
and swallowed up in the vision of a yet more
alluring prospect of the Light.

To sum up then, lest we should never come to an
end of this fugitive pursuit — In the last operation
the union of the Philosophic Stone is said to be
finally cemented, in its component parts agreeing
and having relation to the external world ; which
union or consummation of its transmutative virtue
is called Fermentation. Mark the harmonious
mystery — that which in the Kabalah is denomin-
ated the union of man, reduced to the simplicity of
the Monad, with God, that in metaphysico-chem-
istry is called Fermentation. The most pious and
experienced amongst the Adepts do not demur
either to compare the phenomena of their work to
the Gospel tradition of the Life of Christ and our
human redemption ; Khunrath, Bohme, Freher,
Grasseus, and various others amongst the more
modern, agree with the early Adepts ; pointing,
out too how, in every minute respect, their
magistery not only corresponds, but is in every
deed a type, and promise, and foundation of our
Christian Creed. Not, be it understood, that they
identify or in the least confound the metalline
perfection, which belongs to the primary evolution
of life only, with the ultimate Divine association ;
but they show that their Stone exhibits, alike in

Rewards and Potencies. 521

its origin, development and artificial preparation
throughout, the Universal Law of Light in
Nature. And as man, united with God, becomes
divinely empowered, and therefore can do what
he wills, since he wills what God Himself does in
consonance with reason ; so does the Philosopher's
Stone in the greater world, fermented in its parts
by reason of the fermentation, transform itself
into what it wills, and works for the diverse
natures of all things, coequals itself to all, to every
and each, and to universals.

It is the universal medium of restoration and
preservation, says Khunrath, which by its own
equilibriate virtue expels suffering and every
disease whether of mind or body ; in either king-
dom of nature rectifying, according to the capa-
bility of each. Metals it is said to benefit by trans-
ference of their radical moisture, depriving its
terrestreity and foreign oxides ; vegetables, by an
increase of their efflorescent spirit ; and animals,
according to the natural exigence of their being.
Azoth of our Stone, continues he, reduces bodies
to their First Matter and reanimates them with the
Universal Form, crystals it advances to gems, and
many pearls artificially it concretes into one.
Metals, also, as I myself have seen, crystals, gemsy
as well as gold, it makes fluid and potable ; it frees
animals from disease, and preserves them in the
strength of its virtue ; it refreshes vegetables ;
though nearly dead it will revive them ; fermented
with the specific essence of simples, and methodi-
cally applied in a fitting lamp, its enduring water,
lighted by art, burns perpetually, for ever. It
expels and drives a,wa,y evil spirits from the
possessed — wherefore not ? There are particular
potencies in nature which malignant powers give
way to — why not to the universal ? The author of
confusion could not endure symmetry. — It exalts
and ennobles natural ability in the healing art,
and it draws down sublime memory and prudence.

522 Hermetic Practice.

It wonderfully excites perpetual joy, and an
honest boldness and fortitude of mind exhilara-
ting all life. And, that I may include many things
in a few words, it is miraculously efficient in all
the productions of nature, also the sublunary
spirits, for every and all of these, by an inherent
necessity, obey this Stone.8

^ For this powerful vivific Ens is of the same origin
/as that which it assimilates — viz., the Universal
Spirit, which has been so often fermented, recti-
fied, and recalcined, untO_t^ centra^ force, wholly
drawn out, acts forcibly at the circumference, and
is able to draw, by a supernatural magnetism, the
1 Homogeneal Nature everywhere into itself, accord-
ling to the Rational Form inbred. And hence we
may conceive why the Hermetic philosophers have
given it the name of Azoth, which adheres to bodies ;
which if thou dost rightly conceive, says Khunrath,
thou art he of whom it may be truly said, He
who has begun aright, has done half of the whole.
The Stone is fermented with its metal existing in
the highest purity, with pure silver for the White,
and with Red for fine Gold. And this is the work
of three days.9

The Stone is here said accurately to be ferment-
ed with its own metal : for is not Light the true
Aurific Seed ; not common Light, but that which
in the first rotary wheel of life becomes efficient,
which is potentially included everywhere in either
kingdom of nature, though laid asleep ? Or what
else should possibly transmute or multiply by its
own assimilative virtue ? What else but Light can
multiply, or does multiply, anyhow or anywhere ;
and if everywhere else, why not in the mineral
kingdom, when set free to attract its proper fuel
indeficiently, without heterogeneous hindrance
or alloy ?

8 Khunrath Amph. cap. ix. &c, in fine.

9 Amph. Sap. Etern. cap. viii. p. 211.

Rewards and Potencies. 523

And if in the mineral kingdom it can overcome so
great inertness, and renews the vegetable spirit,
imparting health and increase to decaying nature,
how much greater benefits will it not bestow on
man who nourished it ? Nor in the outward minis-
tration of the medicament only, but above all,
and most permanently, in the vital rectification.
Thus Julian, in his Oration to the Extra-Mundane
Mother, for example, tells us that when the soul
gives herself to Divinity, and wholly delivers
herself to the guidance of a better nature, divine
institutions, through purification, taking the lead,
the Divine Light will immediately shine on her ;
and, in consequence of being thus deified, she
transfuses a certain vigorous strength into her
connate spirit, which when included, and as it were
possessing dominion, becomes, through this spirit
the cause of safety to the whole body. For, con-
tinues the Emperor, diseases, or at least the greater
part, happen from the mutative and erroneous
motion of the spirit — which physicians likewise
allow ; or, at all events, that those most difficult
to be cured originate from thence. For health is a
certain symmetry or equilibrium of nature, which
it is the pre-eminent power of the Telestic art
to impart, ordering all things by the unity within.
And, indeed, the oracles testify the truth of these
assertions, when they declare that through purify-
ing ceremonies bodies become worthy of receiving
divine assistance and health, and that the mortal
vestment of bitter matter will by these means be
preserved.

Harmonia resonat namque, sub qua est corpus mortale.
Extendens, igneam mentem, ad opus pietatis, et fluxile
corpus servabit.10

And that which a man has received, will he not
be able to impart again, and bestow of his exu-
berant felicity for the benefaction of others ? Or at

10 Oracula Chaldaica ; Anima, Corpus, Homo ; Julian's
Orations ii., in fine.

524 Hermetic Practice.

least it is so related of Hippocrates, that he cured
extraordinary maladies because he was endowed
with a divine nature, and had carried up medicine
from a low estate unto great achievements.
For he was the descent of many generations, and a
divine man, as the tradition says, by direct descent
from Mseulapius on the father's side, and by his
mother Praxithea of the race of the Heraclides.
Wherefore from both seeds he had his origin from
the gods. For he was initiated as a young beginner
in medicinal affairs by his great-grandfather, so far
as he knew. But himself did also teach himself —
having made use of a divine nature — the whole art.
And, in the industry of his mind, he as far
excelled his progenitors as he also exceeded them
in the excellency of Art. For he fakes away (con-
tinues the narrator) not only the kind of bestial,
but also of brutishly fierce and wild diseases,
through a great part of the land and sea ; dis-
persing the succours of iEsculapius, even as
Triptolemus the seed of Ceres ; balmy health and
healing virtues,

Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy,
First taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.11

Therefore he hath most justly obtained divine
honours in many places of the earth ; and is made
worthy by the Athenians of the same gifts with
Hercules and iEsculapius. And this man is the
father and preserver of health, the curer of all
griefs. In sum, this man is the prince of divine
knowledge, concludes the Persian, Petris, in his
epistle addressing Artaxerxes — send thou for Him.12

Honour the physician with the honour due unto
him, says Solomon ; for the Lord created him —
as if he specially were above all men created by
God, who is able to heal the sick and restore life
to the distressed, which all physicians, however,
are not able, — But a physician chosen by Godr

11 Iliad, b. xi. Pope, 965.

12 Helmont, Tumulus Pestis.

Rewards and Potencies. 525

continues Helmont, His own signs shall follow, and
wonders for the schools ; for he shall prepare to
the honour of God his free gifts, to the comfort of
his neighbour ; compassion shall be his leader. For
he shall possess truth in his heart, and knowledge
in his understanding ; charity and the mercy of
the Lord shall enlighten his way ; and he shall
bestow favour of the Lord, and the hope of gain
shall not be in his thoughts. For the Lord is rich
and liberal, and will give him one hundred fold in
an heaped-up measure : He will fructify his work,
and anoint his Hands with Blessing. He will fill his
mouth with consolation and with the trumpet of
His Word, from which diseases shall flee. He will
fill his life with length of days, his house with riches,
and his children with the fear of the Lord. His
footsteps shall bring felicity, and diseases shall be
in his sight as snow in the noon-da}?- of summer in
an open valley. Curse and punishment shall flee
away, and health shall follow him. These are the
promises of the Lord unto physicians whom He hath
chosen. These are the blessings of those who walk
in the path of mercy. Because the Lord loveth
those that work mercy ; and therefore he will
enlighten them with his Spirit, the Comforter.
For who is liberal as the Lord, who giveth many
things freely, and, for some small matter, bestoweth
all things ? Blessed is the Lord who saves the
merciful, and who saves him that is to be saved
freely. And consolation shall meet the merciful
man in the way of hope, because he has chosen a
faithful master. — But, continues the same estim-
able narrator, arrogance and sloth, which long
since extinguished Charity, but a few ages ago
sequestered a chirurgeon also from a physician ;
wherefore afterwards servants handled the manual
instruments and operations ; as if it unbeseemed
a Christian to help his neighbour with his hands.
In the mean time some noble matrons healed
defects with their own hands that were despaired

526 Hermetic Practice.

of by physicians. And truly after that the. study
of ambition and gain were practised, charity grew
cold, mercy was extinguished, art perished, and the
Giver of Lights withdrew his Gifts ; the number
of our calamities increased, and physicians were
made the fable of the vulgar. Truth remained
buried in the grave of science ; and instead thereof
a confused kind of brawling arose, being discursive,
which was accounted for doctrine. And those false
doctors described and drew of themselves a whole
army of diseases, almost grieving, too, that the
catalogue of them was yet so small. For they,
being allured with the facility of the art of Galen,
promised to measure all diseases by the geo-
metrical demonstrations of degrees of heat and
cold, and to heal them all thereby. Chirurgeons
also, as well the modern as the ancient, from an
imitation and emulation of these, largely and
widely treated promiscuously of all diseases,
snatching the cures of them all under themselves,
in the sight and despite of their former masters.
Because at first, and from the root of medicinal
ordination, all things belonged to be cured only
and alone by physicians ; but unto chirurgeons
afterwards only by permission and from favour.
Both of them have failed, however, under a con-
fused strife and become inefficient.13

So the origin, decline, and fall of the Healing Art
has been pictured by one of its brightest orna-
ments ; and truly is it not deplorable to think that
knowledge once so perfectly attained and demon-
strated in its efficacy, should, by a degenerate
usage, have been lost to mankind ? The accounts
given by Van Helmont of the cures which he him-
self alone effected of some 10,000 individuals
yearly, without any diminution of his medicine,
would now be unaccredited, except by those few,
perhaps, who, with a fragment of the same virtue,
have, by a benevolent application, learnt to
13 Tumulus Pest is, chap. i.

Rewards and Potencies. 527

conceive something of the illimitable powers
and artificial increase of vitalization. These will
vindicate the Light, if any, who observing its
first dawn, shall promote it by a truthful
inquiry, nor suffer it again to fall into disuse
through negligence, or by obloquy be tempted to
an uncharitable ambuscade.

And then have we no other defects than those of
body to distress us ? Are not our minds, too,
ailing, and is there no balm ready ? Is there no
physician there ? In Greece there were many
temples to many gods — to Ceres, Minerva, Apollo,
Bacchus, and the rest, all ministering to the
defects of mind, educating and disciplining the
understanding for the conception of Wisdom and
a better life within. yEsculapius was a demigod
only amongst them, who is of modern Mesmerism
the only just pride. — Honour the physician with
the honour due unto him for the use you may
have of him, for the Lord created him. There is a
time when in his hands there is a good success ;
then let him not go from thee, for thou hast need
of him.14 — But to whom hath the root of Wisdom
been revealed ; or who hath known her wise
councils ? Unto whom hath the knowledge of
Wisdom been made manifest ? or who hath under-
stood her great Experience ? She is with every
man, replies the prophet, according to his gift ;
but Her secret is with the Faithful.15

Now such a faith as the Scriptures inculcate as
bestowing Wisdom on the possessor is unknown at
this day ; nor does man any longer seek after the
Truth that is in himself, rarely imagines it even, so
far do we live without the true knowledge of our-
selves. We pray the liberal reader to reflect, there-
fore, and link his imagination to the probabilities
of reason, and ponder on the testimony of experi-
ence, and believe that Mesmerism, as it is mechani-
cally practised in the present day, is a first step
14 Ecclesiasticns, viii. 15 Idem, i.

528 Hermetic Practice.

indeed, and this only before the entrance of that
glorious temple of Divine Wisdom which a more
scientific Handicraft enabled the ancients experi-
mentally to enter, and from its foundation build
up, as it were, a crystalline edifice of Light and
Truth. The materials are yet present with us ; the
foundations easily laid ; the will only is wanting to
discover the way, and faith to resuscitate the
Corner Stone, which ignorance has rejected from
immemorial time.

For if man does not enter in to understand him-
self and the evil under which he lies enchanted in
this life, he cannot understand the ancient doc-
trine concerning the fall or regeneration, or pre-
sume to deliver matter from the original curse, or
be instrumental in the restoration. — While Adam
stood in Paradisaical innocency, explains the
theosophist, The Eternal Word was his leader, and
had dominion in him : his life, which was a clear
flame, burned in and was nourished by that pure
spirit of the divine substantiality, which,together
with the Water of eternal life, generated in the
angelical world, gavre forth a glorious and bright
shining Light. Immediately after the fall of man,
God said to the Serpent, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed ; her seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel. Herein the Philosopher's Stone
or tincture lyeth. For though this concerneth
man, in the first place, yet secondly it concerneth
the whole creation. The bruising of the serpent's
head is done spiritually and corporally, both in
nature and in the soul, and though in different
degrees, yet by a parallel process in each. The
serpent's sting is the wrath fire, and the woman's
seed the light and love fire : these two are in every
thing ; the former predominated in outward
nature, by the fall, and therefore the latter must
be raised up, and, by its shining through the wrath,
must subdue and keep it under ; taking away from it

Rewards and Potencies. 529

its predominant power, so that it may exercise
its true natural office as a servant to the light ; that
these two may no more stand in opposition to each
other, but be one thing reharmonized by light and
love, and re-introduced into Paradise ; when the
dark poisoning Mercury is thus tinctured, his
anguishing death is turned into triumphing life,
and his former dark desire into the desire of light,
which is able to make a pure love and light sub-
stantially,— viz., a heavenly body out of an earthly.
The whole work therefore consists summarily
herein — That Two Natures be reduced to One, as
they were at the beginning. A heavenly and an
earthly matter are to be mutually united and
brought to a heavenly consistency. Earth must
be turned in, and Heaven out. The Mercury which
is therein doth all this itself : the Artist is not to
attempt it — he cannot do it — he is to prepare the
way, the matter as is requisite, and leave the work
to be done by the workman which is in it
already ; nevertheless, understanding and faith
are required of him. His design being no less than
to redeem matter from the curse, and to raise it
from the dead, which never can be done by one
who is dead himself in his understanding and
internal life.16

Who then is competent, who qualified to minister
in so great a matter ? Who but he that the Spirit
has already prepared, and endowed with prudence
fort he undertaking ; he that is holy, he that is
true, he that hath the Key of David, he that open-
eth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no
man openeth.17 Or what man is he, asks Solomon,
that can know the counsel of God ? or who can
think what the Will of the Lord is ? For the
thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our
devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible

16 See D. A. Freher, Of the Analogy in the Process of the
Phil. Work with the Redemption of Man through Jesus Christ.

17 Rev. chap. iii. v. 7.

530 Hermetic Practice.

body presseth down the soul, and the earthly taber-
nacle weigheth down that mind that museth upon
many things. And hardly do we guess aright at
things which are upon earth, and with labour do
we find the things that are before us ; but the
things that are in heaven who hath searched out ?
and thy counsel who hath known, except thou give
Wisdom and send thy Holy Spirit from above ?
For so the ways of them which lived on the earth
were reformed, and men were taught the things
that are pleasing unto thee, and were saved through
Wisdom. She preserved the first formed Father
of the World that was created alone, and brought
him out of his fall, and gave him power to rule all
things. But when the unrighteous went away from
her in his anger, he perished also in the fury where-
with he murdered his brother. For whose cause,
the earth being drowned with the Flood, Wisdom
again preserved it, and directed the course of the
righteous in a piece of wood of small value. More-
over, the nations in their wicked conspiring being
confounded, she found out the righteous and
preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him
strong against his tender compassion towards his
Son. When the ungodly perished, she delivered
the righteous man who fled from Fire, which fell
upon the five cities, of whose wickedness, even to
this day, the waste land that smoketh is a testimony,
and plants bearing fruits that never come to ripe-
ness, and a standing pillar of Salt is a monument
of an unbelieving soul. But Wisdom delivered from
pain those that attended upon her. When the
righteous fled from his brothers wrath, she guarded
him in right paths, showed him the kingdom of God,
and gave him knowledge of holy things ; made him
rich in his travels, and multiplied the fruit of his
labours. In the covetousness of such as oppressed
him, she stood by him and made him rich ; she
defended him from his enemies, and kept him safe
from those that lay in wait, and, in a sore conflict,

Rewards and Potencies. 531

she gave him the victory : that he might know that
godliness is stronger than all. She entered into the
soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood
dreadful kings in wonders and signs. She rendered
to the righteous a reward of their labours, guided
them in a marvellous way, and was unto them for a
cover by day and a light of Stars in the night season ;
brought them through the Red Sea, and led
them through much water. But she drowned their
enemies, and cast them up out of the bottom of the
Deep. Therefore the righteous spoiled the ungodly,
and praised thy Holy Name, 0 Lord, and magnified,
with one accord, thy Hand that fought for them,
For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and
made the tongues of them that cannot speak elo-
quent. She prospered their works in the Hand of
the Holy Prophet.18

When once the Divine Light is loosened in
life, everything is prospered as long as her Rule is
observed ; for the understanding then bears its
motive energy into effect. — And the Word of the
Lord is unto them Line upon line, Precept upon
precept, (purifying and perfecting) here a little and
there a little.19 The whole individual is occupied ;
every look and action is by rule and with power ;
as is it not likewise written, The Hands of the Wise
are very heavy ? The right hand of the Lord bringeth
mighty things to pass. — And His brightness was as
the light, says Habbakuk, and he had horns coming
out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his
power.20 Is it not promised, moreover, that the
horn of the righteous shall be exalted, and his seed
made triumphant over many nations ? Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown
of life.21 And again of Wisdom, — Length of days
is in her right hand, and in her left riches and
honour. Exalt her and she shall promote thee, she
shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace

18 Wisdom of Solomon, xxi. 19 Isaiah, xxviii. 13.
20 Habbakuk, iii. 4. 21 Revelations, ii. 10.

532 Hermetic Practice.

her, she shall give to thy head an Ornament of
Grace, a Crown of Glory shall she deliver unto
thee.22

Nor are these the only passages in Scripture
where with Wisdom a promise is given of more
material fruits : —
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the

Spirit saith unto the Churches :

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise
of God.

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
hidden Manna, and will give him a White Stone,
and in the Stone a new name written, which no
man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

And he that overcometh and keepeth my works
unto the end, to him will I give power over the
nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of
iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be
broken in shivers even as I received from my
Father. And I will give him the Morning Star.

He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in
WThite Raiment. And I will not blot out his
name out of the Book of Life. Behold I come
quickly : hold fast that which thou hast that
no man take thy Crown.

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
Temple of my God, and he shall no more go out :
and I will write upon him the name of my God —
and the name of the city of my God, which
is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
heaven from my God : and I will write upon
him my New Name.

Behold I stand at the door and knock, and if any
man hear my voice and open the door I will
come in with him, and sup with him, and he
with me.

And to him that overcometh will I grant to sit

22 Proverbs, viii.

Rewards and Potencies. 533

with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,

and am set down with my father in his throne.
He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the

Spirit saith unto the Churches.23

But as Agrippa says, Clausum est Armarium —
the Scripture is obscure and mystical throughout ;
even in the simplest details most profound, but
significant in its promises even of material bless-
ings and gifts. For when we begin to love the
Spirit, adds the disciple, then he sends us these
things as tokens and pledges of his love, to whom
all hearts are open, all desires known, and from
whom no secrets are hid ; whose prolific virtue is
the source of all things, and in the conscious alli^
ance becoming known, potentialises the whole in
each individual universally without reserve.

That was the ground of ancient doctrine, the
foundation of those creeds in the shadowy tradi-
tion of which mankind now live. They are all
plain to him that hath understanding, as Solomon
says, and right to them that find knowledge.
Behold instruction is better than silver, and know-
ledge than choice gold. Wisdom is better than
rubies, and all the things that may be desired are
not to be compared to Her. I, Wisdom, dwell with
prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inven-
tions. Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom ; I am
Understanding ; I have strength. Riches and
honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righte-
ousness. My fruit is better than gold ; and
my revenue than choice silver. I love them that
love me, and those that seek me early shall find
me.24

They, then, who have been fortunate enough to
perfect this work, having received so much grace
from the Father of Lights as to obtain this ines-
timable gift of Divine Wisdom, what more on earth
should they desire, but that it may be always
applied aright in obedience to the Divine Will, for

23 Revelation St. John, ii. iii. 24 Proverbs, chap. viii.

534 Hermetic Practice.

the benefaction of mankind and vindication of
true virtue ? For not only were they exempt from
human ills, having the means of abundant wealth,
power, and health at their command, but,moreover
they had a manifest token of divine favour, and
sure promise of immortality in a life to come. Nor
is it to be wondered, therefore, why philosophers,
when they have obtained this medicine, have not
cared to lengthen their days, or make a vain parade
of their riches to the world which they despised,
with every temporal power and advantage, in
comparison of that which, in the acquirement of
these things, was by their art foreshown. Or who
now having human perfectibility, and a prospect
of a happy immortality set before them in a plain
physical type and experience, would rest in a mere
metalline good, like Midas, who, preferring an
earth-born harmony to the music of the spheres,
was dishonoured by the god, and bore evidence of
his misfortune in sight of the whole world ?

Many prophecies there are of times to come, and
those days are even said to be at hand, when the
Fourth Monarchy, which is the Intellectual reign of
Truth and Peace, shall predominate, when the
Mother of sciences will come forth, and greater
things be discovered than have been hitherto in
the past monarchies of the world. But we do not
tarry about these matters ; the revelation of all
things is always at hand for him who knows how
to investigate, and the rest will be always far
behind. If truly there be minds prepared, or if the
great era approaches more rapidly than is given us
yet even in faith to foresee (for notwithstanding
so many signs that are appearing, and signal
rumours of a coming change, yet they are fewer
and far between and more rare yearly which indi-
cate the progession of Truth) ; but if, we say, a
better age is approaching, which at some period
of time must come, when abundance of all things
by an equitable distribution of all, shall help to

Rewards and Potencies. 535

break down the competitive barrier of society, and
introduce a co-operative alliance amongst mankind,
then this incentive to enquiry may not be inoppor-
tunely offered, to advance the foremost intellect,
and fix its dominion in the self-discovery of truth.
At the present time, when all are more or less
eagerly engaged in the pursuance of external
advantages, and under penalty of being cast into
the fiery furnace of the world's scorn, do fall down
and worship that earth-born goddess of temporal
Utility, which opinion has set up, it would be vain
enthusiasm to attempt to divert attention, but for
a moment, from so favoured an idol, were it not
that in the minds of all, even its most degraded
votaries, there exists a most real and bitter sense
of its insufficiency and latent deformhVy ; every-
where without, the evil is apparent, and presses
closer as time speeds on, fatally accelerating as if it
neared some attracting focus. Yet hope still lingers
in expectation ; and, with that abiding patience
which is the test of faith in a good cause, may we
continue to seek on, not vaguely around us for
passing excitements, but with stead}^ perseverance
looking within, until Conscience reveal to us those
higher objects of pursuit, and truer attractions,
which will not surfer the mind aspiring to them to
fall into dishonour ; but purifying and corrobora-
ting as they draw, will, when at length they are
worthily won, unite with and transmute their
worshipper into that Harmony and Beauty, which,
in the dim beholding, he venerated and loved.
" Begin to-day, nor end till evil sink
In its due grave ; and if at once we may not
Declare the greatness of the work we plan,
Be sure at least that ever in our mind
It stand complete before us, as a dome
Of light beyond this gloom, a house of stars
Encompassing these dusky tents ; a thing
Absolute, close to all, though seldom seen,
Near as our Hearts and perfect as the Heavens.
Be this our aim and model, and our Hands
Shall not wax faint until the work is done."

536 Hermetic Practice.

The Idea of the Good, the Pure, and the True is
the alluring object which we all inner ly worship —
the progeny of Divine Intellect, immortal and
strong — even Moral Beauty which, though ob-
scurely now, as through the mists of sense and
selfishness, ever shines attractively — our Polar
Star.

" When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath
Shall like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze
The whole dark pile of human mockeries,
Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth,
And starting fresh, as from a second birth,
Man, in the sunshine of the World's new Spring,
Shall walk transparent like some holy thing."

Having discussed thus much of the Hermetic
Mystery, and suggested certain particulars con-
cerning the Practice at this latter end, which
may be unfamiliar to the reader, we would
repeat our warning to beware of hasty interpreta-
tion and trials of skill, without a proper foundation
laid by study of the Hermetic records and scientific
Laws of Art. Many things have no doubt escaped
us inadvertently ; others we have designedly
reserved, lest falling into incapable hands, the
highest trust of Nature should be betrayed, and
the way of truth become perplexed by duplicity in
the pursuit. In vain the ignorant, in vain the
avaricious, — the selfish, faithless, or frivolous, will
in vain seek to percolate this Mystery. The right-
minded and studious alone benevolently, con-
scientiously, and rationally persisting to the end,
will unravel it : and in this case each must labour
singularly for himself. The success of the experi-
ment, as we have repeatedly shown, depends on the
discovery of the true Intention. And this being
more or less involved in every mind, is not clearly
distinguishable in all ; nor are they many, there-
fore, but few only, who have been found to enter
in by the narrow way of life. The talent is granted
only to a few, and for them conditions are needful

Rewards and Potencies. 537

to draw it forth to increase ; for them we have
written, and to persuade those only who may be
able amidst so many heterogeneous elements of
Nature, to discern the rational possibility by the
infallible touchstone of her Original Light.

Tunc mentis divinae homines oracula caeca,
Volventes animo ancipiti vix tempore longo,
Experti multa, et non parvis sumtibus illam ,
Invenere artem, qua non ars dignior ulla est,
Fingendi Lapidem /Etherium, quern scire profanis,
Haucl quaquam licet, et frustra plebs improba quaerit.
Quern qui habet, ille potest, ubi vult habitare decenter :
Nee fortunae iram metuit, nee brachia furum,
Sed tanto paucos dignantur munere divi.25

Injunctions likewise are frequent respecting the
sacred nature of the ministration, and of the
responsibility incurred by those even who are
favoured in the undertaking, lest desiring too little
or presuming too far in self-sufficient pride, it
should fall, and Satan establish a monarchy upon
the most holv of works. Does anv smile at the
surmise ? It is of small account, so he be ignorant ;
those warnings do not apply, nor were ever meant
to scare his complacenxry, who, without the Light
of Reason, would be least of all able to precipitate
its downfall. But lest the desire of such a one
should lead him to practise, which by good fortune
it may not, we advise him of our knowledge, and
of the vindictive Spirit of Wisdom for the justi-
fication of her Rule — Ne tu augeas fatum — Enlarge
not thou thy destiny — Neither break a superficies,
as the Pythagoric precept runs — lest the sin of the
agent being multiplied in the patient, it should
survive in the unhappy offspring unto the third or
fourth generation. The Spirit of Wisdom runs
lovingly by her own Rule to fulfil it ; but leaves
him to hopeless confusion who abandons the
Divine purpose for the accomplishment of private
ends.

25

Palingenius Zodiacus Vitae, Theat. Chem. 2, p. 87.

538 Hermetic Practice.

So the Israelites, that so wonderfully stiff-necked
race, suffered for their rebellion and selfish lusts ;
falling into a multitude of snares and misfortunes
— by fire, famine, and sword, and no less miserable
captivity, by the Divine command. And that those
errors might be guarded against, and that no pre-
sumption might thereafter arise, the Lawgiver, in
his book of Deuteronomy, instructs them to be
grateful, humble, and mindful, throughout the
passage, of past benefits received, nor ever to
murmur at the decrees of God.
— But thou shalt consider in thy heart, he says,
that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thv
God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep
the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk
in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord thy God
bringeth thee into a Good Land ; a land of brooks
of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out
of valleys and hills ; and of wheat, and barley, and
vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a land of
oil-olive, and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt
eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack
anything in it ; a land whose stones are iron, and
out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. And
when thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt
bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he
hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the
Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments,
and judgments, and statutes : lest, when thou
hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly
houses and dwelt therein ; and when thy herds and
thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold
is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied :
then thy heart be lifted, and thou forget the Lord
thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land
of Egypt, from the house of bondage : who led
thee through that great and terrible wilderness,
wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
drought, where there was no water ; who brought
thee forth water out of the rock of flint. Who fed

Rewards and Potencies. 539

thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy
fathers knew not ; that He might humble thee,
and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at
thy latter end : and lest thou say in thine heart
My Power and the might of Mine Hand hath gotten
me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the
Lord thy God ; for it is He that giveth thee power
to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant
which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord
thy God and walk after other gods, and serve them
and worship them, I testify against you this day
that ye shall surety perish.26

For immortality is only to be consummated in
union, and in the abandonment of the dual selfhood
and its volition to the Divine Will. Wherefore I
abhor myself, cries Job (when, all else being de-
prived, he renounced himself,) and repent in dust
and ashes. — Look on every one that is proud and
abase him, and tread down the wicked in their
place. Hide them in the dust together, and bind
their faces in secret. — Then will I also confess

UNTO THEE THAT THINE OWN RlGHT HAND CAN
SAVE THEE.27

That was the path and promise to blameless souls
which the wise men and prophets constantly pur-
sued, passing through every ordained discipline,
ordeal rite, and humiliation, in order that they
might become conformable to the Divine Perfec-
tion they desired to approach. Once delivered from
the exterior bondages of sense and heterogeneous
desire, from the passions and false affections of
this transitory life, the final step is declared com-
paratively easy ; as transcending by the energy of
faith, from the separable selfhood, the Identity
passes into universal accord. — To go forth and to
return ; therefore was the agreement cut off —

26 Deuteronomy viii. from ver. 10.

27 Job xi. 14. '

540 Hermetic Practice.

so says the Kabalah — Close thy eyes and meditate :
and if thy heart fail thee, return again ; since there-
fore it is written,

Egredere et regredere, et propterea pactum
pr^cisum est.28

This is the work — this the Hermetic method and
its end : The line returns to form a circle into its
beginning, and they join not in time, for their union
is Eternity. This, reader, is the true Christian
Philosopher's Stone, which, if it be a chimera, then
is the universe itself not stable, of which it has
been proven to be the most exact epitome, having
passed the test of experimental reason not only,
but, analyzed to the last extremity of contrite
conscience, is confirmed in operation, visibility,
and luminous increase, when rising in rational
supremacy over sense and finite reflection, the
Ethereal Hypostasis revolves in its First Cause.

28 Zephir Jezirah, cap. i.

541