Section 5

64
THE FIFTH TREATISE
SECOND PART
ON THE COLOURS WHICH APPEAR IN THE PREPARATION OF THE STONE
MIRALDUS, the philosopher, says in the " TuRBA " : It turns black twice, yellow twice, and red twice, and therefore decoct it, for in the process of decoction appear many colours, and according to these is the heat changed. And although all colours appear so are there yet but three most noticeable amongst all. The principal colours are black, white and red ; between these many others appear ; a yellowish one after the white, or after the first red, said by miraldus, to be a perfect Colour, while conciliator calls it not perfect, and hardly remaining on matter long enough to be visible. But the other yellowish colour which ariseth after the perfect white, and before the first red, can be seen for some time, and is therefore a perfect colour. This is the same that MIRALDUS says above, but they do not last so long as black,
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THE FIFTH TREATISE: PART II
white, or red, which stand in the matter for four days ; though black and red appear perfect a second time. But the first perfect colour is the black resulting from the mildest heat.
According to Conciliator, the Whitening should take place in a mild heat, till the Black disappears. While lucas, the PHILOSOPHER, says in the " turba " : "Beware of great heat, for if you make the fire too fierce in the beginning, then will it arise red before its time, which is useless, for in the commencement of its government you ought to have first the black, then the white and lastly the red.
Baleus, the Philosopher, says in the " turba " : " Decoct your composition, till you see it white, and quench it in Vinegar and separate the white from the black, for the white is a sign of approaching Fixation, it needs to be ex- tracted from the black by means of the fire of calcination, for the augmented heat separates the superfluous parts, leaving them but a coarse earth imder the Matter, like a coarse black ball, not capable of mixing with the pure and subtle matter of the Stone." That is what the Philosophers say : " the red must be extracted from the white, for there is nothing superfluous in it, nor is there anything separated, but all turns perfectly red, for which purpose they order to make a stronger fire. Whereof pythagoras says : " The
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THE FIFTH TREATISE: PART II
more the colours change the stronger you must make the fire, of which you must not be afraid. For the Matter is fixed in the White, and the species fly not from it."
About these remarks the Philosopher Lucas : " When our Magnesia is made white, it does not yield its species." This may be sufficient on the Colours of the Secret Philosophic Work, now follows the Conclusion to it.
Hermes, a father of Philosophers says, that " one should not take out the aforesaid white Magnesia until all the colours are perfect, when it will become a Water dividing itself into four other Waters, namely one to two and three to one. One third of it belongs to heat and two thirds to moisture. These Waters are the Weights of the Philosophers.
It should further be known, that the Vine which is a Sap of the Philosophers, is extracted in the Fifth, but its Wine has to be opened (finished ?) in the Third, and in proper preparation.
For in Decoction it gets less, while in Trituration, it forms itself. In all this is included beginning and end. Therefore the Philosophers say that it was made perfect in seven days ; others say in Four DajTS, some say in Three Times, some in Four Times, some in Ten Days, some in Forty Days, some in one year.
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THE FIFTH TREATISE: PART II
TuRBA and Alphidius : In The Four Seasons of The Year, as : Spring, Summer, Autiunn, and Winter, some others again say in a Day, in One Week or in One Month.
Geber and Aristoteles, these Philosophers say : in Three Years. All this is nothing else but one thing in another thing, for the philosophers say the Operations are manifold, and so are the times, weights and names in consequence, all of which an intelligent Artist must know well, otherwise he can produce nothing.
68
THE SIXTH TREATISE
ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE WHOLE WORK IN THE PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S
STONE
CALCINATION is put in the beginning of the Work as the Father of a Generation, and is of three kinds two of which belong to the Corpus or Matter, and the third to the Spirit. The First is a preparation of the Cold Moisture, which protects the wood from being burnt, and is the beginning of our Work. The other is a fatty moisture, iwhich burns the wood.
The Third is an Incineration of the dry earth, and gives a truly fixed and subtle moisture ; it is little in bulk, and gives no flames, but gives a body as clear as glass. Thus the Philosophers order their Calcination to be made, and it is accomplished with aqua permanente, or with aceto ACCERRIMA. Such moistures are in the metals, for they are the beginning of fusion. This is proved by Hermes, when he says : " The water is the beginning of all soft
69
THE SIXTH TREATISE substances, therefore the Calcination is the in^dication of a destructive moisture, and of an application of a foreign fiery moist subject, from which the essentiality and life originates. For this reason it is called a fusion of the incineration, taking place with the Water of the Philosophers, which in reality is the Sublimation, or Philosophic Solution, for this changes the hard dr57ness into a dry softness ; and thus is extracted the QUINTA ESSENTIA, and separation of the elements. This takes place that those parts, which got dried and compressed by the Fire, have become subtle through the spirit, which is a resolving water, moistening the incinerated body, lessening and changing the introduced destructive heat into an airy resolution, which is'^the peculiarity of that element. There- fore it is called sublimation, the process by which the coarse earth becomes thin or subtle, and changed into the moisture of the water, and the cold of this water, and the warmth of the air, and the moisture of the air, turned into the heat of the fire, is a reversion of the elements, and the extracted QUINTA ESSENTIA of the elementary faeces. And this QUINTA ESSENTIA is a radical moisture of a very high nature, tinging infinitely.
It further is the true fixation, of which geber says : " What becomes Fixed becomes Illumined, and is changed into a beautiful transparent substance. For out of it arises
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THE SIXTH TREATISE
the SULPHUR PHiLSOPHORUM, or the ash extracted from ash, without which the whole mastery is in vain. For it is a metallic water, generated in the body, making it alive. It is an Elixir of the red and white Tincture, and a tinging volatile spirit.
In this Work also takes place the true Ablution, or cleaning of blackness and stench, and the Dead will be made again to live by the introduction of a pure, indestructible heat and metallic moisture, supplying the tinging force, by means of which is also effected the Philosopher's Putre- faction, spoken of at the beginning of this book, restoring what was before, and bringing to light that which was hidden. Therefore says turba : Putrefaction is the first and demands the utmost secrecy. It is the true separation of the elements, reversing them in this Operation, turba says further : " Reverse the elements, the moist make dry, and fix that which is volatile, powder it, and prepare it all carefully." This is the Philosopher's Trituration. Wherefore senior declares Calcination to be useless, unless the result is as a powder. It is as well the Decoction of which all Philosophers speak, especially albertus magnus, when he says that among all the arts none follows nature so closely as Alchemy, because of decoction and formation. For the former takes place in fiery red and metallic waters, which
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THE SIXTH TREATISE
have most from the form and but Uttle from matter. It is as well the Philosophic assation, or roasting, for the accidental moisture is consumed by a mild fire and very great care is to be taken, that the spirit which dries up the body, may not escape from the body, as otherwise the operation would not be perfect. It is as well the Philosophers Destination, or clarification ; this being nothing but the uniting of a thing with its own essential moisture, and with the Coagulation the Philosophers complete the whole work.
Thereof says Hermes : that the Earth is its foster mother, by which he means that its power is complete when changed into a constant earth capable of producing innumerable effects, as we shall see hereafter. Nothing else can yet be effected on a more natural way than this art, when followed in truth and not in form only and appearance. This senior confirmed saying : " There is no man living able to exercise this art without nature. Yea and with such nature as has been^given us by Heaven to unite with nature."
72
THE SEVENTH TREATISE
THE SEVENTH TREATISE
OF THE WHOLE WORKS' MANIFOLD EFFECTS, AND WHY THE PHILOSOPHERS INTRODUCE SO MANY NAMES AND ALLEGORIES IN THIS ART OF THE PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S
STONE
IT is a common saying of the Philosophers, that whoever knows how to kill the living silver, is a master of this art, but very great attention has to be paid to their Quicksilver, for they describe it very differently and manyfold.
Senior says thus : " Our Fire is a Water. If you can give a Fire to a Fire and Mercury to Mercury, then you know enough," He further says : " The Soul is extracted by Putrefaction, and when nothing more of the soul remains, then have you well washed the Body, that they both again are one." Then it is called quinta essentia, the Quint- essence, or a Spirit, Permanent Water or Menstrum.
The TURBA says also : " Take Mercury and coagulate it in the body of Magnesia, or in the Sulphur which does not bum, and dissolve it in the very strongest Vinegar ; and in
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^ THE SEVENTH TREATISE
this Vinegar it will become neither black nor white or red, and thus it becomes a dead Quicksilver, and is of a white colour, and before the approach of the fire it becomes red."
TuRBA speaks about it as follows : " Lay it in Gold when it will become an elixir, that is his Tincture, and it is a beauti- ful water extracted from many tinctures, it gives life and colour to all whom it is given to take." Further the turba continues : " The Tyrian colour red is the very best ; after that comes a costly Purple colour, and this is the true Quick- silver ; it brings a sweet savour, and is a genuine Tincture." From this it is sufficiently to be seen, that all Philosophers, not only ascribe the beginning of the art to Quicksilver, but the Middle and perfect end as well.
Hermes, the father of philosophers, speaks of it thus : " I have been observing a bird called the Philosophers' orsan, which flies when in the Signs of ARIES, cancer, LIBRA, or CAPRICORN, and this bird you may receive for all eternity from true minerals and precious mountain stones. Parts shall you part, and especially that which remains after the separation, and is called of the Earth'o complexion, that you see it in many colours, then will the wise men call it " ceram sapientae " and " plumbum." In oregard to this the Philosophers talk about roasting and distilling through Days of Time, according to Number, and
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THE SEVENTH TREATISE Division of the Parts, saying : " Sublimate, rectify, fix till it sticks to the ground, further, incinerate and imbibe till it flows ; make it dead and alive again ; file it and break it, till the secret becomes revealed and the revealed secret, separate the Elements and unite them again, extract the Soul from the Body. Further rectify Body and Spirit ; make white venus, deprive jupiter of his bolt, harden SATURN, and soften mars, make luna Citron-coloured and solve all bodies in water which makes them perfect." They also teach to roast the black Sulphur till it turns red, when they distil it all they obtain white transparent Gum like the thing which is so highly praised and called lac virginis. Then they mix the water which is drawn off from the Virgin Milk and transfer it into a red golden gum and a white trans- parent water, which must be left to coagulate, after which process they call it Tincture of the Wise, tinctura sapientiae, and a fire to the colours, one Soul one Spirit drawing, back again to home those after wandering about far away. Further, sulphur rubeum, gummi aureum, aureum ap-
PARENS, corpus DESIDERATUM, AURUM SINGULARUM, AQUA
SAPIENTIAE, especially if it possesses great whiteness. The Turba says also : " You should know that, unless you make the Gold first white, you will never be able to get it red, black and pure waters ; the Cristalline will show itself from the
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THE SEVENTH TREATISE
Citron red." Therefore says senior : " It is a peculiar thing, if you throw it over the other three already mixed up, so will it help the white over the citrine and the red, it will turn the colour of silver ; after that it helps the red over the Citrine, and makes it white ; over the white and red and makes it Citrine Golden coloured ; then it helps as well the red over the Citrine, and makes it of a white colour."
Of these things morienus speaks thus : " Behold the perfect Citrine, and that which is altered in its Citrinity ; the perfect red and the one lessened in its rednfess, and further the perfect black in its blackness." Hence it is clear that the gold of the Philosophers is different to common Gold or Silver ; though some Philosophers compare it for some reasons, not only to common Gold or Silver, but even to all metals. SENIOR says : "I am a dry and hard Iron, and nothing is like me, for I am a coagulation to the Quicksilver of the Philosophers." TuRBA says : " Copper and Lead become a precious Stone of the Philosophers.*" The Lead which the Philosophers call Red Lead, is a beginning of the whole work, and nothing can be done without it ; therefore some say : " From red lead make iron, or Crocum ; from white lead make a white tincture, or tin, from tin make copper, from copper make white lead, from white lead make Minium, from Minio make a Tincture, and you have begun the
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THE SEVENTH TREATISE Wisdom." Although the Philosopher says that, nothing approaches Gold so nearly as Lead, for in it is the Life and all the occult Secret ; but this is not meant of common Lead.
Moreover marcasit, of which the stinking earth wins golden scintillations, as morienus says, it is also compared to ARSENIC, AURiPiGMENT and TUTiA. Others again compare it to many things not mineral at all, as to the Four Com- plexions, to Teriac, to the Basilisk, to blood, and such like superfluous things, among minerals to Salt, Alum, Vitriol, and other things, on account of its manyfold qualities.
Above all things alphidius warns us thus : " Dear Son, beware of spirits, bodies and stones which are dead, as mentioned, for in them is no way, nor would you find guidance for your purpose with them, for their force does not multiply, but comes to nothing instead, while the Salt of the Philo- sophers is a Tincture extracted and absorbed from the bodies of metals, Uke as other alkaline salts are absorbed from other bodies."
Of this SENIOR says : " that at first it turns to ashes, afterwards it becomes a Salt, and at last with a great deal of labour, it becomes the Mercury of the Philosophers. But the best and noblest of all is sal amoniac, as con- firmed by ARISTOTLE in his book of the seven command- ments, where he says : almisadir, that is sal amoniac,
7^
PERFECTION OF THE WHOLE MASTERY shall serve you only, for it solves the bodies, and makes them soft and spiritual." The same says turba : " Know that the body does not tinge itself unless the Spirit which is hidden in itg interior, be extracted, when it will become a water and a body of a spiritual nature, because the thick earthy substance cannot tinge, but the proper one is of a thin nature, and colours the tingent spirit of a watery nature to an Elixir, because there has been extracted a white and red fixation, of a perfect colouring, and an all penetrating Tincture, which mixed with all the metals.
THE PERFECTION OF THE WHOLE MASTERY DEPENDS ON THESE FEW POINTS: That the sulphur be extracted from the perfect bodies. THEY have MARS fixed, which Sulphur is their noblest and most subtle part, a crystalline salt, sweet and savoury and a radical moisture, which, if it were to remain for a year on the fire would always be like molten wax. Wherefore a small part exalteth a large quantity of common Quick- silver into genuine Gold.
On that account, the moisture or the water which is extracted from the metallic bodies, is called the Soul of the