Chapter 2

part contains a methodical apology for

✦

the Rosicrucian doctrines, and an ex-
planation of the principles which guided
the Fraternity, It may be readily ad-
mitted that the manuscript as a whole
is calculated to deceive anyone but a
well-equipped specialist ; it is, in fact, a
very curious forgery, rendered the more
difficult to account for by its want of
assignable motive. A critical exami-
nation of the first part shews it to be
little else but an adaptation of John

* See “John Frederick Helvetius’ Golden Calf,” trans-
lated in “ The Hermetic Museum,” Vol. II., p. 271, etc.
This historical transmutation took place at the end of 1666,
more than half a century after the death of Doctor Dee.

5 A

Ixvi.

Edward Kelly :

Heydon’s “ Elharvareuna, or Rosicru-
cian Medicines of Metals,” which con-
sists of a dialogue supposed to take
place between Eugenius Philalethes { i.e.,
Thomas Vaughan) and Eugenius Theo-
didactus Heydon himself). It was
first printed in 1665. The second part
is not definitely traceable to any pub-
lished work, but there are a variety of
alchemical lexicons, of which it is pro-
bably an abridgment ; it is, in any case,
quite certain that the words which it
undertakes to explain are not found in
the extant writings of Doctor Dee. The
third part of the manuscript is an
adapted translation of Michael Maier’s
Themis Aurea, which appeared in 1618.

Outside the now exploded claim of
this extraordinary imposture, there is
no reason for connecting the philosopher
of Mortlake either remotely or approxi-
mately with the Rosicrucians. At the
same time, it is reasonably within the
limits of this biographical notice to
shortly test the evidence which offers in
the question, because if Dee could be

Biographical Preface.

Ixvii.

proved a Rosicrucian, it is fairly certain
that Kelly, his inseparable, as well as his
inspirer, in Alchemy, must also have
been bonded with him in the same
brotherhood ; and Kelly as a Rosicru-
cian, connected with the founder of the
order, would be undoubtedly of more
interest than the “skryer” of Doctor
Dee, without prejudice to the philo-
sopher of Mortlake or to the possessor
of Saint Dunstan’s powder.

Arthur Edward Waite.

THE STONE

OF THE

PHIEOSOPHERS.

TO THE MOST POTENT

LORD OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE,

RUDOLFUS II.,

King of Hungary and Bohemia, etc..

His Most Gracious Master,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY

EDWARD KELLY.

THE STONE

OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.

Though I have already twice
suffered chains and imprison-
ment in Bohemia, an indignity
which has been offered to me in no
other part of the world, yet my mind,
remaining unbound, has all this time
exercised itself in the study of that
philosophy which is despised only by
the wicked and foolish, but is praised
and admired by the wise. Nay, the
saying that none but fools and lawyers
hate and despise Alchemy has passed
into a proverb. Furthermore, as during
the preceding three years I have used
great labour, expense, and care in order
to discover for your Majesty that which
might afford you much profit and
pleasure, so during my imprisonment

Edward Kelly :

—a calamity which has befallen me
through the action of your Majesty —
I am utterly incapable of remaining
idle. Hence I have written a treatise,
by means of which your imperial mind
may be guided into all the truth of the
more ancient philosophy, whence, as
from a lofty eminence, it may con-
template and distinguish the fertile
tracts from the barren and stony
wilderness. But if my teaching dis-
please you, know that you are still
altogether wandering astray from the
true scope and aim of this matter, and
are utterly wasting your money, time,
labour, and hope. A familiar acquaint-
ance with the different branches of
knowledge has taught me this one
thing, tha.t nothing is more ancient,
excellent, or more desirable than truth,
and whoever neglects it must pass his
whole life in the shade. Nevertheless,
it always was, and always will be, the
way of mankind to release Barabbas
and to crucify Christ. This I have —
for my good, no doubt — experienced in

The Stone of the Philosophers. y

my own case. I venture to hope, how-
ever, that my life and character will so
become known to posterity that I may
be counted among those who have suf-
fered much for the sake of truth. The
full certainty of the present treatise time
is powerless to abrogate. If your
Majesty will deign to peruse it at your
leisure, you will easily perceive that my
mind is profoundly versed in this study.

(1) All genuine and judicious phil-
osophers have traced back things to
their first principles, that is to say, those
comprehended in the threefold division
of Nature. The generation of animals
they have attributed to a mingling of
the male and female in sexual union ;
that of vegetables to their own proper
seed ; while as the principle of minerals
they have assigned earth and viscous
water.

(2) All specific and individual
things which fall under a certain class,
obey the general laws and are referable
to the first principles of the class to
which they belong.

Edward Kelly :

(3) Thus, every animal is the pro-
duct of sexual union ; every plant, of its
proper seed ; every mineral, of the
mixture of its generic earth and water.

(4) Hence, an unchangeable law
of Nature regulates the generation of
everything within the limits of its own
particular genus.

(5) It follows that, with reference
to their origin, animals are generically
distinct from vegetables and minerals ;
the same difference exists respectively
between vegetables and minerals and
the two other natural kingdoms.

(6) The common and universal
matter of these three principles is called
Chaos.

(7) Chaos contains within itself the
four elements of all that is, viz., fire, air,
water, and earth, by the mixture and
motion of which the forms of all earthly
things are impressed upon their sub-
jects.

(8) These elements have four qual-
ities : heat, coldness, humidity, dryness.
The first inheres in fire, the second in

The Stone of the Philosophers. 9

water, the third in air, the fourth in
earth.

(9) By means of these qualities,
the elements act upon each other, and
motion takes place.

(10) Elements either act upon each
other, or are acted on, and are called
either active or passive.

(11) Active elements are those
which, in a compound, impress upon
the passive a certain specific character,
according to the strength and. extent of
their motion. These are water and
fire.

(12) The passive elements — earth
and air — are those which by their
inactive qualities readily receive the
impressions of the aforesaid active
elements.

(13) The four elements are dis-
tinguished, not only by their activity
and passivity, but also by the priority
and posteriority of their motions.

(14) Priority and posteriority are
here predicated either with reference
to the position of the whole sphere, or

lO Edward Kelly :

the importance of the result or aim of
the motion,

(15) In space, heavy objects tend
downwards, g,nd light objects upwards ;
those which are neither light nor heavy
hold an intermediate position,

(16) In this way, even among the
passive elements, earth holds a higher
place than air, because it delights more
in rest; for the less motion, the more
passivity,

([7) The excellence of result has
reference to perfection and imperfection,
the mature being more perfect than the
immature. Now, maturity is altogether
due to the heat of fire. Hence fire holds
the highest place among active elements.

(18) Among the passive elements,
the first place belongs to that which is
most passive, which is most quickly
and easily influenced. In a compound,
earth is first passively affected, then air,

(19) Similarly, in every compound,
the perfecting element acts last ; for per-
fection is a transition from immaturity
to maturity.

The Stone of the Philosophers. i r

(20) Maturity being caused by heat,
cold is the cause of immaturity.

(21) It is clear, then, that the
elements, or remote first principles of
animals, vegetables, and minerals, in
Chaos, are susceptible of active move-
ments in fire and water, and of passive
movements in earth and air. Water
acts on earth, and transmutes it into
its own nature; fire heats air, and also
changes it into its own likeness.

(22) The active elements may be
called male, while the passive elements
represent the female principle.

(23) Any compound belonging to
any of these three kingdoms — animal,
vegetable, mineral— is female in so far
as it is earth and air, and male in so far
as it is fire and water.

(24) Only that which has consis-
tency is sensuously perceptible. Ele-
mentary fire and air, being naturally
subtle, cannot be seen.

(25) Only two elements, water and
earth, are visible, and earth is called the
hiding-place of fire, water the abode of air.

Edward Kelly :

(26) In these two elements we have
the broad law of limitation which divides
the male from the female.

(27) The first matter of vegetables
is the water and earth hidden in its
seed, there being more water than
earth.

(28) The first matter of animals is
the mixture of the male and female
sperm, which embodies more moisture
than dryness.

(29) The first matter of minerals is
a kind of viscous water, mingled with
pure and impure earth.

(30) Impure earth is combustible
sulphur, which hinders all fusion, and
superficially matures the water joined
to it, as we see in the minor minerals,
marcasite, magnesia, antimony, etc.

(31) Pure earth is that which so
unites the smallest parts of. its aforesaid
water that they cannot be separated by
the fiercest fire, so that either both re-
main fixed or are volatilized.

(32) Of this viscous water and
fusible earth, or sulphur, is composed

The Stone of the Philosophers. 13

that which is called quicksilver, the first
matter of the metals.

(33) Metals are nothing- but Mer-
cury digested by dififerent degrees of
heat.

(34) Different modifications of heat
cause, in the metallic compound, either
maturity or immaturity.

(35) The mature is that which has
exactly attained all the activities and
properties of fire. Such is gold.

(36) The immature is that which is
dominated by the element of water, and
is never acted on by fire. Such are
lead, tin, copper, iron, and silver.

(37) Only one metal, viz., gold, is
absolutely perfect and mature. Hence
it is called the perfect male body.

(38) The rest are immature and,
therefore, imperfect.

(39) The limit of immaturity is the
beginning of maturity ; for the end of
the first is the beginning of the last.

(40) Silver is less bounded by
aqueous immaturity than the rest of
the metals, though it may indeed be

14 Edward Kelly:

regarded as to a certain extent impure,
still its water is already covered with
the congjealing vesture of its earth, and
it thus tends to perfection.

(41) This condition is the reason
why silver is everywhere called by the
Sages the perfect female body.

(42) All other metals differ only in
the degree of their imperfection, accord-
ing as they are more or less bounded by
the said immaturity ; nevertheless, all
have a certain tendency towards per-
fection, though they lack the aforesaid
congealing vesture of their earth.

(43) This congealing force is the
effect of earthy coldness, balancing its
own proper humidity, and causing fixa-
tion in the fluid matter.

(44) The lesser metals are fusible
in a fierce fire, and therefore lack this
perfect congealing force. If they be-
come solid when they cool, this is due
to the arrangement of their aforesaid
earthy particles.

(45) According to the different
ways in which this viscous water and

The Stone of the Philosophers. 1 5

pure earth are joined together, so as to
produce quicksilver by coagulation, with
the mediation of natural heat, we have
different metals, some of which are
called perfect, like gold and silver,
while the rest are regarded as imperfect.

(46) Whoever would imitate Nature
in any particular operation must first
be sure that he has the same matter,
and, secondly, that this substance is
acted on in a way similar to that of
Nature. For Nature rejoices in natural
method, and like purifies like.

(47) Hence they are mistaken who
strive to elicit the medicine for the
tinging of metals from animals or vege-
tables. The tincture and the metal
tinged must belong to the same root or
genus ; and as it is the imperfect metals
upon which the Philosopher’s Stone is
to be projected, it follows that the
powder of the Stone must be essentially
Mercury. The Stone is the metallic
matter which changes the forms of
imperfect metals into gold, as we may
learn from the first chapter of “ The

Edward Kelly :

Code of Truth” : “The Philosophical
Stone is the metallic matter converting
the substances and forms of imperfect
metals”; and all Sages agree that it
can have this effect only by being like
them.

(48) That Mercury is the first
matter of metals, I will attempt to
prove by the sayings of some Sages.

In the Turba Philosophortim, chap-
ter i., we find the following words : “In
the estimation of all Sages, Mercury is
the first principle of all metals.”

And a little further on : “ As flesh
is generated from coagulated blood, so
gold is generated out of coagulated
Mercury.”

Again, towards the end of the
chapter : “All pure and impure metallic
bodies are Mercury, because they are
generated from the same.”

Arnold writes thus to the King
of Aragon : “ Know that the matter
and sperm of all metals are Mercury,
digested and thickened in the womb of
the earth ; they are digested by sulphur-

The Stone of the Philosophers. 17

ecus heat, and according to the quality
and quantity of the sulphur different
metals are generated. Their matter is
essentially the same, though there may
be some accidental differences, such as
a greater or less degree of digestion,
etc. All things are made of that into
which they may be resolved, ice or
snow, which may be resolved into water;
and so all metals may be resolved into
quicksilver ; hence they are made out of
quicksilver.”

The same view is set forth by
Bernard of Trevisa, in his book on the
“Transmutation of Metals”: “Simi-

larly, quicksilver is the substance of all
metals ; it is as a water by reason of the
homogeneity which it possesses with
vegetables and animals, and it receives
the virtues of those things which adhere
to it in decoction.” A little further on
the same Trevisan affirms that “ Gold
is nothing but quicksilver congealed by
its sulphur.”

And, in another place, he writes as

follows : “ The solvent differs from the

Edward Kelly :

soluble only in proportion and degree of
digestion, but not in matter, since
Nature has formed the one out of the
other without any addition, even as by a
process equally simple and wonderful
she evolves gold out of quicksilver.”

Again : “ The Sages have it that
gold is nothing but quicksilver perfectly
digested in the bowels of the earth, and
they have signified that this is brought
about by sulphur, which coagulates the
Mercury, and digests it by its own heat.
Hence the Sages have said that gold is
nothing but mature quicksilver.”

Such also is the concensus of other
authorities. “ The Sounding of the
Trumpet” gives forth no uncertain
note : “ Extract quicksilver from the

bodies, and you have above the ground
quicksilver and sulphur of the same
substance of which gold and silver are
made in the earth.”

The “Way of Ways” leads to the
same conclusion : “ Reverend Father,

incline thy venerable ears, and under-
stand that quicksilver is the sperm of all

The Stone of the Philosophers. 19

metals, perfect and imperfect, digested
in the bowels of the earth by the heat of
sulphur, the variety of metals being due
to the diversity of their sulphur.”

We find in the same tract a similar
canon: “All metals in the earth are

generated in Mercury, and thus Mercury
is the first matter of metals.”

To these words Avicenna signifies
his assent in chapter iii. : “ As ice, which
by heat is dissolved into water, is clearly
generated out of water, so all metals may
be resolved into Mercury, whence it is
clear that they are generated out of it.”
This reasoning is confirmed by
“The Sounding of the Trumpet”: —
“ Every passive body is reduced to its
first matter by operations contrary to its
nature ; the first matter is quicksilver,
being itself the oil of all liquid and
ductile things.”

So also the third chapter of the
“Correction of Fools”: “The nature
of all fusible things is that of Mercury
coagulated out of a vapour, or the heat
of red or white incumbustible sulphur.”

Edward Kelly :

In chapter i. of the “ Art of
Alchemy” we read : “ All Sages agree
that the metals are generated from the
vapour of sulphur and quicksilver.”

Again, a passage in the Turba
Philo sophorum runs thus : “ It is certain
that every subject derives from that into
which it can be resolved. All metals
may be resolved into quicksilver, hence
they were once quicksilver.”

If it were worth while, I might
adduce hundreds of other passages from
the writings of the Sages, but as they
would serve no good purpose, I will let
these suffice.

Those persons make a great
mistake who suppose that the thick
water of Antimony, or that viscous sub-
stance which is extracted from sublimed
Mercury, or from Mercury and Jupiter
dissolved together in a damp spot, can
in any case be the first substance of
metals.

Antimony can never assume
metallic qualities, because its water
and moisture are not tempered with

The Stone of the Philosophers. 21

dry, subtle, earth, and want, moreover,
that unctuosity which is characteristic
of malleable metals. But, as Chambar
well says in the “ Code of Truth ” : “It
is only through jealousy that Sages
have called the Stone Antimony.”

In the same way, those who destroy
the natural composition of Mercury, in
order to resolve it into a thick or
limpid water, which they call the first
matter of metals, fight against Nature
in the dark, like blinded gladiators.

As soon as Mercury loses its
specific form, it becomes something
else, which cannot thenceforth mingle
with metals in their smallest parts,
and is made void for the work of the
Philosophers. Whoever is taken up
with such childish experiments, should
listen to the Sage of Trevisa in his
“Transmutation of Metals”:

“Who can find truth that destroys
the humid nature of Mercury ? Some
foolish persons change its specific
metallic arrangement, corrupt its natural
humidity by dissolution, and dispropor

Edzvard Kelly :

tionate quicksilver from its original
mineral quality, which wanted nothing
but purification and simple digestion.
By means of salts, vitriol, and alum, they
destroy the seed which Nature has been
at pains to develop. For seed in human
and sensitive things is formed by Nature
and not by art, but by art it is united
and mixed. Seed needs no addition,
and brooks no diminution. If it is to
produce a new thing of the same genus,
it must remain the very same thing that
was formed by Nature. All teaching
that changes Mercury is false and vain,
for this is the original sperm of metals,
and its moisture must not be dried up,
for otherwise it will not dissolve. Too
much fire will cause a morbid heat, like
that of a fever, and change the passive
into active elements, thus the balance of
forces is destroyed, and the whole work
marred. Yet these fools extract from
the lesser minerals corrosive waters,
into which they project the different
species of metals, and thus corrode
them.

The Stone of the Philosophers. 23

“The only natural solution is that
by which out of the solvent and the
soluble, or male and female, there
results a new species. No water can
naturally dissolve metals except that
which abides with them in substance
and form, which also the dissolved
metals can again congeal ; this is not
the case with aqua forth, seeing that it
only destroys the specific arrangement.
Only that water can rightly dissolve
metals which is inseparable from them in
fixation, and such a water is Mercury,
but not aqua forth, or any thing else
which those fools are pleased to call
Mercurial Water.” Thus far Trevisan.

Persons who have fallen into this
fatal error may also derive benefit from
the teaching of Avicenna on this point:
“ Quicksilver is cold and humid, and of
it, or with it, God has created all metals.
It is aerial, and becomes volatile by the
action of fire, but when it has withstood
the fire a little time, it accomplishes
great marvels, and is itself only a living
spirit of unexampled potency. It enters

Edward Kelly :

and penetrates all bodies, passes through
them, and is their ferment. It is then
the White and the Red Elixir and is an
everlasting water, the water of life, the
Virgin’s milk, the spring, and that Alum
of which whosoever drinks cannot die,
etc. It is the wanton serpent that con-
ceives of its own seed, and brings forth
on the same day. With its poison it
destroys all things. It is volatile, but
the wise make it to abide the fire, and
then it transmutes as it has been trans-
muted, and tinges as it has been tinged,
and coagulates as it has been coagu-
lated. Therefore is the generation of
quicksilver to be preferred before all
minerals ; it is found in all ores, and
has its sign with all. Quicksilver is
that which saves metals from combus-
tion, and renders them fusible. It is
the Red Tincture which enters into the
most intimate union with metals, be-
cause it is of their own nature, mingles
with them indissolubly in all their
smallest parts, and, being homogeneous,
naturally adheres to them. Mercury

The Stone of the Philosophers. 25

receives all homog'eneous substances,
but rejects all that is heterogeneous, be-
cause it delights in its own nature, but
recoils from whatsoever is strange.
How foolish, then, to spoil and destroy
that which Nature made the seed of all
metallic virtue by elaborate chemical
operations ! ”

The “ Rosary ” bids us be parti-
cularly careful, lest in purifying the
quicksilver we dissipate its virtue, and
impair its active force. A grain of
wheat, or any other seed, will not grow
if its generative virtue be destroyed by
excessive external heat. Therefore,
purify your quicksilver by distillation
over a gentle fire.

Says the Sage of Trevisa : “If the
quicksilver be robbed of its due metallic
proportion, how can other substances of
the same metallic genus be generated
from it? It is a mistake to suppose
that you can work miracles with a clear
limpid water extracted from quicksilver.
Even if we could get such a water, it
would not be of use, either as to form

Edward Kelly :

or proportion, nor could it restore or
build up a perfect metallic species. For
as soon as the quicksilver is changed
from its first nature, it is rendered unfit
for our operation, since it loses its
spermatic and metallic quality. I do,
indeed, approve of impure and gross
Mercury being sublimed and purified
once or twice with simple salt, accord-
ing to the proper method of the Sages,
so long as the fluxibility or radical
humour of such Mercury remains un-
impaired, that is to say, so long as its
specific mercurial nature is not des-
troyed, and so long as its outward
appearance does not become that of a
dry powder.”

In the “ Ladder of the Sages ” we
are told to beware of vitrification in the
solution of bodies, with the odour and
taste of imperfect substances, and also
of the generative virtue of their form
being in any way scorched and des-
troyed by corrosive waters.

If you have been trying to do
any of these things, you may see how

The Stone of the Philosophers. 27

grievous your mistake has been. For
the water of the Sages adheres to no-
thing except homogeneous substances.
It does not wet your hands if you touch
it, but scorches your skin, and frets and
corrodes every substance with which
it comes in contact, except gold and
silver (it would not affect these until
they have been dissipated and dissolved
by spirits and strong waters), and with
these it combines most intimately.
But the other mixture is most childish,
it is condemned by the concert of
the Sages, and by my own experi-
ence.

I now propose to shew that quick-
silver is the water with which, and in
which, the solution of the Sages takes
place, by putting before the reader the
opinions of many Philosophers living in
different countries and ages.

Says Menalates in the Turba ;
. “ Whoever joins quicksilver to the body
of magnesia, and the woman to the
man, extracts the hidden nature by
which bodies are coloured. Know that

Edward Kelly :

quicksilver is a consuming fire which
mortifies bodies by its contact.”

Another Sage, in the Turba,
says : “ Divide the elements by fire,
unite them through the mediation of
Mercury, which is the greatest ar-
canum, and so the magistery is com-
plete, the whole difficulty consisting in
the solution and conjunction. The
solution, or separation, takes place
through the mediation of Mercury,
which first dissolves the bodies, and
these are again united by ferment and
Mercury.”

Rosinus makes Gold address Mer-
cury as follows : “ Dost thou dispute
with me. Mercury ? I am the Lord,
the Stone which abides the fire.” Says
Mercury: “Thou sayest true; but I
have begotten thee, and one part of me
quickens many of thee, since thou art
grudging in comparison with me. Who-
ever will join me to my brother or sister
shall live and rejoice, and make me
sufficient for thee.”

In the 5th chapter of the “ Book of

The Stone of the Philosophers. 29

Three Words,” we read: “ I tell thee
that in Mercury are the works of the
planets, and all their imaginations in its
pages.”

Aristotle says that the first mode
of preparation is that the Stone shall
become Mercury ; he calls Mercury the
first body, which acts on gross sub-
stances and changes them into its own
likeness. “ If Mercury did nothing else
than render bodies subtle and like itself,
it would suffice us.”

Senior: “Our Stone, then, is con-
gealed water, that is to say. Mercury
congealed in gold and silver, and, when
fixed, resistent to the fire.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet ” :
“ Mercury contains all that the Sages
seek, and destroys all flaky gold. It
dissolves, softens, and extracts the soul
from the body.”

“ The Book on the Art of Al-
chemy” : “The Sages were first put
upon attempting to clothe inferior bodies
in the glory and splendour of the perfect
body when they discovered that metals

Edward Kelly :

differ only according to the greater or
smaller degree of their digestion, and
are all generated from Mercury, with
which they extracted gold, and reduced
it to its first nature.”

The “ Correction of Fools” : “Ob-
serve that crude Mercury dissolves
bodies and reduces them to their first
matter or nature. Being made of clear
water, it always strives to corrode the
crude, and especially that which is
nearest to its own nature, viz., gold and
silver.” The same book observes :
“ You can make use of crude Mercury
as follows — to seal up and open natures,
since similar things are helpful one to
another.” Once more : “ Quicksilver is
the root in the Art of Alchemy, for the
Sages say that all metals are of it, and
through it, and in it — it follows that
the metals must first be reduced to
Mercury, the tnatter and sperm of all
metals.”

Again : “The reason why all metals
must be reduced to the nature of vapour
is because we see that all are generated

The Stone of the Philosophers. 31

of- quicksilver, through the mediation of
which they came into being.”

Gratianus : “ Purify Laton, z>.,

copper (ore), with Mercury, for Laton is
of gold and silver, a compound, yellow,
imperfect body.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet ” :
“Common Mercury is called a spirit.
If you do not resolve the body into
Mercury, with Mercury, you cannot
obtain its hidden virtue.”

“Art of Alchemy,” chapter vi. :
“ The second part of the Stone we call
living Mercury, which, being living and
crude, is said to dissolve bodies, because
it adheres to them in their innermost
being. This is the Stone without which
Nature does nothing.”

“Rosary”: ‘‘Mercury never dies,
except with its brother and sister.
When Mercury mortifies the matter of
the Sun and Moon, there remains a
matter like ashes.”

The Sage of Trevisa : “ Add nothing
above ground for digesting and thicken-
ing Mercury into the nature of gold or

Edward Kelly :

of metals.” Ag-ain : “ This solution is
possible and natural, that is to say,
by Art as handmaid to Nature, and is
unique and necessary in the work ; but
it is brought about only by quicksilver,
in such proportions as commend them-
selves to a good workman who knows
the inmost properties of Nature.”

“Art of Alchemy”: “Who can

sufficiently extol Mercury, for Mercury
alone has power to reduce gold to its
first nature ? ”

From these quotations it is clear
what the Sages meant by their water,
and what they thought of this wonderful
liquid, viz., Mercury, to which they
ascribed all power in the Magistery, for
nothing can be perfected outside its
own genus. Men digest vegetables,
not in the blood of animals, but in water
which is their first principle, nor are
minerals affected by the vegetable liquid.
In the words of the “Sounding of the
Trumpet”: “The whole Magistery

consists in dividing the elements from
the metals, and purifying them, and in

The Stone of the Philosophers. 33

separating the sulphur of Nature from
the metals.”

Furthermore, as Hermes says, only
homogeneous substances cohere, and
only they can produce offspring after
their own kind, i.e., if you want a medi-
cine which is to generate metals, its
origin must be metallic, since “ species
are tinged by their genus,” as the
philosopher testifies.

In short, our whole Magistery con-
sists in the union of the male and
female, or active and passive, elements
through the mediation of our metallic
water and a proper degree of heat.
Now, the male and female are two
metallic bodies, and this I will again
prove by irrefragable quotations from
the Sages :

Dantius bids us prepare the bodies
and dissolve them.

Rhasis : “ Change the bodies into
water, and the water into earth : then
all is done.”

Galienus : “ Prepare the bodies,

and purify them of the blackness in

Edward Kelly :

which is corruption, till the white
becomes white and red, then dissolve
both, etc.”

Calid (chapter i.) ; “ If you do not
make the bodies subtle, so that they
may be impalpable to touch, you will
not gain your end. If they have not
been ground, repeat your operation,
and see that they are ground and subti-
lized. If you do this, you will be
directed to your desired goal.”

Aristotle: “Bodies cannot be

changed except by reduction into their
first matter.”

Calid (chapter v.) : “ Similarly, the
Sages have commanded us to dissolve
the bodies so that heat adheres to their
inmost parts ; then we proceed to co-
agulation after a second dissolution with
a substance which most nearly ap-
proaches them.”

Menabadus : “Make bodies not

bodies, and incorporeal things bodies,
for this is the whole process by which
the hidden virtue of Nature is ex-
tracted.”

The Stone of the Philosophers. 35

Ascanius : “The conjunction of

the two is like the union of husband and
wife, from whose embrace results golden
water.”

“Anthology of Secrets”: “Wed

the red man to the white woman, and
you have the whole Magistery.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet ” :
“There is another quicksilver and per-
manent tincture which is extracted fromi
perfect bodies by dissolution, distillation,
sublimation, and subtilization.”

Hermes: “Join the male to the
female in their own proper humidity,
because there is no birth without union
of male and female.”

Plato : “ Nature follows a kindred
nature, contains it, and teaches it to
resist the fire. Wed the man to the
woman, and you have the whole Magis-
tery.”

Avicenna : “ Purify husband and

wife separately, in order that they may
unite more intimately ; for if you do not
purify them, they cannot love each other.
By conjunction of the two natures you

Edward Kelly :

get a clear and lucid nature, which,
when it ascends, becomes bright and
serviceable.”

“Art of Alchemy” : “ Two bodies
provide us with everything in our
water. ’ ’

Trevisanus : “ Only that water

which is of the same species, and can
be thickened by bodies, can dissolve
bodies.”

Hermes : “ Let the stones of mix-
ture be taken in the beginning of the
first work, and let them be equally
mixed into earth.”

“Mirror”: “Our Stone must be
extracted from the nature of two bodies,
before it can become a perfect Elixir.”

Democritus: “You should first

dissolve the bodies over white hot ashes,
and not grind them except only with
water.”

“ Rosary ” of Arnold : “ Extract

the Medicine from the most homo-
geneous bodies in Nature.”

I have thus proved the number of
the bodies from which the Elixir is ob-

The Stone of the Philosophers. 37

tained. I will now shew by quotations
what these bodies are.

‘‘ Exposition of the Letter of King
Alexander” : “ In this art you must wed
the Sun and the Moon.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet ” :
“ The Sun only heats the earth and im-
parts to it his virtue through the medi-
ation of the Moon, which, of all stars,
most readily receives his light and heat.”
“ The Correction of Fools ” : “ Sow
gold and silver, and they will yield to
your labour a thousandfold, through the
mediation of that thing which alone has
what you seek. The Tincture of gold
and silver exhibits the same metallic
proportions as the imperfect metals,
because they have a common first
matter in Mercury.”

Again : “ Tinge with gold and

silver, because gold gives the golden
and silver the silver colour and nature.
Reject all things that have not naturally
or virtually the power of tinging, as in
them is no fruit, but only waste of money
and gnashing of teeth.”

Edzvard Kelly ;

Senior: “I, the Sun, am hot and
dry, and thou, the Moon, art cold and
moist ; when we are wedded together in
a closed chamber, I will gently steal
away thy soul.”

Rosinus to Saratant : “From the
living water we obtain earth, a homo-
geneous dead body, composed of two
natures, that of the Sun and that of the
Moon.”

Again : “ When the Sun, my

brother, for the love of me (silver)
pours his sperm {i.e. his solar fatness)
into the chamber {i.e., my Lunar body),
namely, when we become one in a strong
and complete complexion and union, the
child of our wedded love will be born.”
Hermes: “Its humidity is of the
empire of the Moon, and its fatness of
the empire of the Sun, and these two
are its coagulum and pure seed.”

Astratus says: “Whoever would
attain the truth, let him take the humour
of the Sun and the Spirit of the Moon.”
Turba Philo sophorum : ‘ ‘ Both bodies
in their perfection should be taken for

The Stone of the Philosophers. 39

the composition of the Elixir, whether
orange or white, for neither becomes
liquid without the other.”

Again, Gold says: “No one kills
me but my sister.”

Aristotle; “If I did not see gold
and silver, I should certainly say that
Alchemy was not true.”

The Sage : “ The foundation of
our Art is gold and its shadow.”

“Art of Alchemy”: “We have

already said that gold and silver must
be united.”

“Rosary”: “There is an addition
of orange colour by which the Medicine
is perfected from the substance of fixed
sulphur, i e., both medicines are obtained
from gold and silver.”

The Sage: “Whoever knows how
to tinge sulphur and quicksilver has
reached the great arcanum. Gold and
silver must be in the Tincture, and also
the ferment of the spirit.”

“Rosary”: “The ferment of the
Sun is the sperm of the man, the fer-
ment of the Moon, the sperm of the

Edward Kelly :

woman. Of both we get a chaste union
and a true generation.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet ” ;
“ You want silver to subtilize your gold,
and make it volatile by removing its
impurity, since the silver has a greater
need of the light of gold. Therefore
Hermes, as also Aristotle in his treatise
on Plants, says that gold is its father,
and silver its mother; nothing else is
needed for our Stone. Silver is the field
in which the seed of gold is sown.” And
a little further on : “ In my sister, the
Moon, grows your wisdom, and not in
any other of my servants, saith the Lord
Sun. I am like seed sown in good
and pure soil, which sprouts and grows
and multiplies and yields great gain to
the sower. I, the Sun, give to thee, the
Moon, my beauty, the light of the Sun,
when we are united in our smallest
parts.” And the Moon says to the
Sun: “Thou hast need of me, as the
cock has need of the hen, and I need
thy operation, who art perfect in morals,
the father of lights, a great and mighty

The Stone of the Philosophers. 41

lord, hot and dry, and I am the waxing
Moon, cold and moist, but I receive thy
nature by our union.”

Avicenna : “ In order to obtain the
red and the white Elixir, the two bodies
must be united. For though gold is the
most fixed and perfect of the metals, yet
if it be dissolved into its smallest parts,
it becomes spiritual and volatile, like
quicksilver, and that because of its heat.
This tincture, which is without number,
is called the hot male seed. But if silver
be dissolved in warm water, it remains
fixed as before, and has little or no
tincture, yet it readily receives the
tincture in a temperament of hot and
cold, and is called the cold, dry, female
seed. Gold or silver by themselves are
not easily fusible, but a mixture of the
two melts readily, as is well known to
goldsmiths. Hence if our Stone did not
contain both gold and silver, it would
not be liquid, and would yield no
medicine through any magistery, nor
tincture, for if it yielded tincture it
would still have no tinging power.”

Edward Kelly :

And a little further on: “Take

heed, then, and operate only on gold,
silver, and quicksilver, since all the
profit of our Art is derived from these
three.”

I may add that crude Mercury is
the water which the Sages have used
for the purpose of solution. I have
proved that two bodies must be dis-
solved, and that they are no other than
gold and silver. Now I will de.scribe
the conjunction of these two bodies by
means of the crude Mercury of the
Sages.

“The Light of Lights”: “Know
that it is gold, silver, and Mercury that
whiten and redden within and without.
The Dragon does not die, unless he be
killed with his brother and sister, and it
must be not by one, but by both
together.”

“ The Ladder of the Sages ” :
“ Others say that a true body must be
added to these two, to strengthen and
shorten the operation.”

“Treasury of the Sages”: “Our

The Stone of the Philosophers. 43

Stone has body, soul, and spirit, the
imperfect body is the body, the ferment
the soul, and the water the spirit.”

“ The Way of Ways” : “ The water
is called the spirit, because it gives life
to the imperfect and mortified body, and
imparts to it a better form ; the ferment
is the soul, because it gives life to the
body, and changes it into its own
nature.”

Again ; “ The whole Magistery is
accomplished with our water, and of it.
For it dissolves the bodies, calcines and
reduces them to earth, transforms them
into ashes, whitens and purifies them, as
Morienus says : “ Azoth and fire purify
Laton, that is to say, wash it and
thoroughly remove its obscurity; Laton
is the impure body, Azoth is quick-
silver.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet” :
“As without the ferment there is no
perfect tincture, as the Sages say, so
without leaven there is no good bread.
In our Stone the ferment is like the soul,
which gives life to the dead body

Edward Kelly :

through the mediation of the spirit,
or Mercury.’'

“ The Rosary ” and Peter of
Zalentum say: “ If the ferment, which is
the medium of conjunction, be placed in
the beginning, or in the middle, the
work is more quickly perfected.”

“ The Sounding of the Trumpet” :
“The Elixir of the Sages is composed
of three things, viz., the Lunar, the
Solar, and the Mercurial Stone. In the
Lunar Stone is white sulphur, in the
Solar Stone red sulphur, and the
Mercurial Stone embraces both, which
is the strength of the whole Magis-
tery.”

Eximenus : “ The water, with its
adjuncts, being placed in the vessel,
preserves them from combustion.
The substances being ground with
water, there follows the ascension of the
Ethelia and the imbibition of water is
sufficient by itself to complete the work.”

Plato: “Take fixed bodies, join
them together, wash the body in the
bodily substance, and let it be strength-

The Stone of the Philosophers. 45

ened with the incorporeal body, till
you change it into a real body.”

Pandulphus : “The fixed water is
pure water of life, and no tinging
poison is generated without gold and
its shadow. Whoever tinges the poison
of the Sages with the Sun and its
shadow, has attained the highest
wisdom.”

Again : “ Separate the elements
with fire, unite them by means of
Mercury, and the Magistery is com-
plete.”

Exercit, 14: “The spirit guards

the body and preserves it from fire, the
clarified body keeps the spirit from
evaporating over the fire, the body
being fixed and the spirit incombustible.
Hence the body cannot be burnt,
because the body and spirit are one
through the soul. The soul prevents
them from being separated by the fire.
Hence the three together can defy the
fire and anything else in the world.”

Rhasis (“ Book of Lights ”) : “Our
Stone is named after the creation of

Edward Kelly :

the world, being three and yet one.
Nowhere is our Mercury found purer
than in gold, silver, and common
Mercury.”

When bodies and spirits are dis-
solved, they are resolved into the four
elements, which become a firm and fixed
substance. But when they are not both
dissolved, there is a particular mixture
which the fire can still separate.

Rosinus : “In our Magistery are a
spirit and bodies, whence it is said : It
rejoices being sown in the three associ-
ated substances.”

Calid : “ Prepare the strong bodies
with the dissolved humidity, till either
shall be reduced to its subtle form. If
you do not subtilize and grind the
bodies till they become impalpable, you
will not find what you seek.”

Rosinus: “The Stone consists of
body, soul, and spirit, or water, as the
Philosophers say, and is digested in one
vessel. Our whole Magistery is of, and
by, our water, which dissolves the
bodies, not into water, but by a true

The Stone of the Philosophers. 47

philosophical solution into the water
whence metals are extracted, and is
calcined and reduced to earth. It
makes yellow as wax those bodies into
whose nature it is transformed ; it sub-
stantialises, whitens, and purifies the
Laton, according to the word of
Morienus.”

Aristotle : “ Take your beloved

son, and wed him to his sister, his
white sister, in equal marriage, and
give them the cup of love, for it is a
food which prompts to union. All pure
things must be united to pure things, or
they will have sons unlike themselves.
Therefore, first of all, even as Avicenna
advises, sublime the Mercury, and purify
in it impure bodies. Then pound and
dissolve. Repeat this operation again
and again.”

Ascanius : “ Stir up war between
copper and Mercury till they destroy
each other and devour each other.
Then the copper coagulates the quick-
silver, the quicksilver congeals the cop-
per, and both bodies become a powder

Edward Kelly :

by means of diligent imbibition and
digestion. Join together the red man
and the white woman till they become
Etheha, that is, quicksilver. Whoever
changes them into a spirit by means of
quicksilver, and then makes them red,
can tinge every body.”

As to the nature of this copper,
Gratianus instructs us in the following
words : ‘‘ Make Eaton white, i.e., whiten
copper with Mercury, because Eaton is
an orange imperfect body, composed of
gold and silver.”

I advise all and sundry to follow
my teaching, as to the correctness of
which my quotations from the ancients
can leave no doubt, which also has re-
ceived further confirmation from my own
experiments. Any deviation from this
course leads to deception, except only
the work of Saturn, which must be per-
formed by the subtilization of principles.
The Sages say that homogeneous things
only combine with each other, make
each other white and red, and permit of
common generation. The importanf

The Stone of the Philosophers. 49

point is that Mercury should act upon
our earth. This is the union of male
and female, of which the Sages say so
much. After the water, or quicksilver,
has once appeared, it grows and in-
creases, because the earth becomes
white, and this is called the impreg-
nation. Then the ferment is coagu-
lated, i.e., joined to the imperfect pre-
pared body, till they become one in
colour and appearance : this is termed
the birth of our Stone, which the Sages
call the King. Of this substance it is
said in the “Art of Alchemy” that if
any one scorches this flower, and separ-
ates the elements, the generative germ
is destroyed.

I conclude with the words of Avi-
cenna: “The true principle of our
work is the dissolution of the Stone,
because solved bodies have assumed
the nature of spirits, i.e., because their
quality is drier. For the solution of
the body is attended with the coagula-
tion of the spirit. Be patient, therefore,
digest, pound, make yellow as wax, and

Edward Kelly,

never be weary of repeating these pro-
cesses till they are quite perfect. For
things saturated with water are thereby
softened. The more you pound the
substance, the more you soften it, and
subtilize its gross parts, till they are
thoroughly penetrated with the spirit
and thus dissolved. For by pounding,
roasting, and fire, the tough and viscous
parts of bodies are separated.”

Finally, I do you to wit, sons of
knowledge, that in the work of the Sages
there are three solutions.

The first is that of the crude body.

The second is that of the earth of
the Sages.

The third is that which takes place
during the augmentation of the sub-
stance. If you diligently consider all
that I have said, this Magistery will
become known to you. As for me, how
much I have endured on account of this
Art, history will reveal to future ages.

SOME FRAGMENTS OF KELLY.

EXTRACTED FROM HIS LETTERS,

{From a letter of Edzvard Kelly, dated
June 20, 1587.]

AS you are willing to take my
advice, I will partially reveal
to you the Arcanum, so that
the field may not disappoint the hopes
of the husbandman. Open your ears.
Our gold and silver. Sun and Moon,
active and passive principles, are not
those which you can hold in your hand,
but a certain silver and golden hermaph-
roditic water ; if you extract it from
any perfect or imperfect metallic body,
you have the Water of Life, the Asa-
foetida, and Green Lion, in which are all
colours, ending in two — white and red.
The earth does not so much matter,
only let it be fixed, for the Elixir must
above all be fixed. If you are in

Edward Kelly :

earnest, all your thoughts must be con-
centrated on the fixed earth and the
indestructible metallic water ; nor need
you seek these in gold or silver, or in
any determinate compound. It is true,
however, that after the separation of
this tincture from the gold, that indes-
tructible water is fixed in its white
earth ; buf. it is foolish to do by much
what you can do by little.

[From a letter dated August g, 1587.]

The Sages agree that the Stone is
nothing but animated quicksilver. But
if your quicksilver has no life, it is not
what they mean. Again, if it has the
form of Mercury, before it receives life,
it is unprofitable. For this woman— to
be more frank than discreet — is a
viscous water, extracted from the bowels
of J upiter, l.e. , from white lead ; it is
moist and wets the finger. If a proper
quantity of the body of the Sun is added
to it, it is coagulated and becomes
brilliant, — the Sun is dissolved ^ into '
exceedingly limpid mineral water. For

Some Fragments from his Letters. 53

the water dissolves the Sun at the very-
same moment that itself is congealed,
and thus the solution of one is the co-
agulation of the other, at the very same
instant. This compound is living Mer-
cury, from which alone spring all colours.
To regulate the fire is mere child’s play.
After the conjunction it looks just like
common limpid Mercury, and does not
moisten the finger but is viscous and
living.

\From a letter dated Nov. 15, 1589.]

I have given you both luminaries
and the best instruction concerning
these things, if you can bear it in mind.
To sum it all up in a few words : “ Mix
water with water, digest with a vaporous
cloud, and you will not easily make a
mistake.”

EDWARD KELLY’S

HUMID PATH,

DISCOURSE ON THE

VEGETABLE MENSTRUUM
OF SATURN.

[FROM A MANUSCRIPT.]

THE HUMID PATH.

PLATO has justly defined philoso-
phers as men who contemplate
with wonder the marvellous
works of Nature in all parts of the
created universe ; who study the size,
properties, movements, courses, and
revolutions of the heavens and their
flaming- worlds, their rising, setting,
priority, and posteriority of appearance,
rate of progress, irregularities, stop-
pages, velocity, and the seeds and prin-
ciples, dimensions and tendencies of all
sublunar bodies. By their constant
desire and thirst for knowledge they are
impelled not only intellectually to appre-
hend the mysteries and great arcana of
Nature, but also to imitate and even to
improve upon them, as may be deduced
with the greatest ease from so many

Edward Kelly :

hieroglyphical writings, magical and
mathematical mysteries, and all the
other marks of the antiquity of philo-
sophy. Nay, it seems absurd that men
highly distinguished in letters, and after
filling the highest offices in the State,
should retire from public life for the
sake of -a childish study, neglect the
splendour of worldly fame, and the hope
of riches, — a course they would never
have adopted if they had really regarded
this Art as diametrically opposed to the
laws of Nature. All these men firmly
believed in the possibility of enjoying
for many years a sound mind in a sound
body, and this desirable result they con-
sidered as attainable only by the dis-
covery of the central substance in which
all the forces and virtues of Nature meet,
following the royal road and philosoph-
ical method. They knew, indeed, that
the mind "is the most celestial, divine,
pure, subtle, immortal, omniscient part
of man, being receptive of God. But
they also knew that the body, its dingy
workshop of frail clay, obscures its move-

The Humid Path.

merits, enfeebles its powers, and pre-
vents it from expanding in a way worthy
of itself. They knew that some means
was needed whereby all superfluity might
be curtailed, all imperfections matured,
all weak things strengthened, all solid
things confirmed, so that the whole struc-
ture might rejoice in an assured and
continuous perfection. But in order to
attain this end, they knew that they must
have a minute and detailed acquaint-
ance with the elements of the human
body and of the universe generally.
Before they could discover the cause of
perfection, they must first study the
nature of the elements. The Sages saw
that the instrument toward the attain-
ment of their purpose was a good know-
ledge of physical arts and sciences.
After having conceived in their minds a
Divine idea of the relations of the whole
universe, they selected from among the
rest a certain substance, from which
they sought to elicit the elements, to
separate and purify them, and then
again put them together in a manner

Edward Kelly :

suggested by a keen and profound
observation of Nature. Thus, they ob-
tained a body freed from all imperfec-
tions and impurities, which, being
disclosed by their careful operation and
due regard to times and seasons,
afforded not only health to their phy-
sical nature, but the highest delight and
instruction to their minds. These facts
were first brought out by Hermes
Trismegistus in his famous Emerald
Table, and the truth of this assertion is
borne out by the unanimous testimony
of antiquity, and the consensus of the
most illustrious men of all ages. That
the aspiration of our Art is no Utopian
dream, is proved by the innumerable
and stupendous metamorphoses which
Nature daily exhibits on every side.
The Sages have, indeed, purposely con-
cealed their meaning under a veil of
obscure words, but it is sufficiently clear
from their writings that the substance
of which they speak is not of a special,
but a general kind, and is therefore
contained in animals, vegetables, and

The Humid Path.

minerals. It would, however, be unwise
to take a round-about road where there
is a shorter cut ; and they say that
whereas the substance can be found in
the animal and vegetable kingdoms
only with great difficulty, and at the cost
enormous labour, in the bowels of the
earth it lies ready to our hands. It
is the matter which the Sages have
agreed to call Mercury or Quicksilver.
Our quicksilver, indeed, is truly a living
substance, so-called not because it is
extracted from cinnabar, but because it
is derived from the metals themselves.
If common Mercury be freed by fixation
from its crude, volatile, and watery
superfluities, it may, with the aid of our
Art, attain to the purity and virtue of
the substance of which we speak. And
as this Mercury is the metallic basis
and first substance, it may be found in
all metals whatsoever. Other wise,
learned, and sagacious men, who in
perusing the books of the Sages failed
to pay attention to this fact, have
wasted both their time and their labour.

Edward Kelly :

Nothing contributes so much to a ready-
apprehension of our secret as a know-
ledge of our first substance, and after
that of the distinctive species of minera
which is the subject of investigation by
the Philosopher. You should learn that
the earth is the mother of the elements,
and that- their arrangements and pro-
portionate mixture are that which con-
stitutes the difference between one
species and another. Of these elements
two, viz., fire and water, are active,
while two, earth and air, are passive.
Fire and water strive to unite them-
selves to earth, but can do so only
by means of the qualities which they
have in common with it, i.e., in the
case of fire, dryness, and, in the case
of water, coldness. So fire and water
introduce themselves into earth by
means of their dryness and coldness,
and into air by means of their heat
and moisture. Now, according as
earth is more or less dry or cold, its
centre will be occupied either by fire or
water, while the other active element

The Humid Path.

will be confined to its circumference.
In the former case, the inborn dryness
or heat of the fire being invisible and
intangible, and residing, as it were, at
the heart of the earth, will escape obser-
vation, but the humidity of the water,
being more tangible and nearer to the
surface, will be more easily noticed.
The surface of this compound will thus
be watery, cold, and dry ; and such is
the substance which is commonly called
quicksilver. But it should be borne in
mind that no account has been taken of
the air that surrounds and, as it were,
adheres to the earth in which fire and
water are striving for the mastery. If
the fire conquers the water, it will ex-
tend its operation to the air with which
it has heat in common, and the exuber-
ant strength of their united heat will
subdue the humidity of the air, and
impress upon it a new form of excessive
dryness. The preponderance of fire
will cause the colour of that element
to tinge the whole substance, and thus
we have that which is commonly called

Edward Kelly :

sulphur. But if in the above case the
water (in the earth) subdues the fire, it
insinuates itself into the air by means of
its humidity, and subdues to itself the
heat of the air ; now, as it is the
property of cold to congeal, and this
cold has been increased by that of the
earth, there results a substance of icy
whiteness which is called salt. These
three (Mercury, Sulphur, Salt) are neces-
sarily the first substances of all minerals,
and every mineral must be generated
from one, or two, or all of them. But
minerals do not consist of salt, sulphur,
and mercury, as of parts which intro-
duce the form, as some learned men
have vainly supposed. For, in that
case, such minerals would necessarily
receive one or more of those forms in
succession before they could be clothed
with another. Rather they derive their
being from one or more of these prin-
ciples in different proportions as from
their own proper source. For as the
numbers 2, 3, and 4, are the foundation
(of other numbers), though they them-

The Humid Path.

selves consist partly of units and partly
of each other, as, for instance, 12 con-
tains within itself 3 tirries 4, 4 times 3.
6 times 2, and 12 times i, which are,
nevertheless, all lost in its own proper
name— so Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt,
exist sometimes singly, sometimes in
couples, and sometimes jointly, in
mineral bodies. And as 3, the fourth
part of 12, consists of 3 units, or of 2
and 1 unit, while it is included in 4,
which exceeds it by i unit, so some
minerals which derive their motive force
from a simple union of fire, water, and
and earth (which union, as aforesaid,
constitutes Mercury), have no affinity
with Sulphur or Salt, the perfection of
which arises from the addition of air,
the fourth element. Here the question
naturally arises whether Mercury con-
tains Sulphur, and I say that, in the
vulgar sense of that word — viz., in the
sense of combustible sulphur — it does
not. But how then are we to under-
stand the sayings of the ancient Sages,
according to whom every metal contains

Edward Kelly :

its own sulphur, or naturally fixed
earth, which is the cause of all fixation,
a constituent and fundamental element
of Mercury ? N ature has produced

only two visible elements, the one
active, the other passive, earth and
water, in which the others, fire and air,
which are naturally invisible and in-
tangible, have their domicile and abode.
We can know only these outward and
visible elements ; the bonds of the other
elements can be loosed, and their
presence ascertained, only by the in-
genious contrivances of art. Hence
fire may be contained in a substance,
even if it be not seen — and, to return to
our enquiry, if in quicksilver by itself
there is no combustible sulphur, but
only a certain fixed earth, by which
Mercury receives life, I am quite willing
to call this fixed earth sulphur. For if
all elements have a common substance,
and are only forms, out of which,
through intermixture and mutual action,
other forms may be generated, surely
fire, being superficially bounded by

The Humid Path.

water (which was stated to be the case
with Mercury), will throw out rays from
the centre, and penetrate the whole
substance with its sulphureous nature.
The animation, or quickening, of Mer-
cury is nothing but a purification of all
parts by fire, the result of which is the
formation of sulphur. The correctness
of this explanation is shewn by intro-
ducing artificial heat into common
Mercury ; for then the innate central
fire, being drawn towards the circum-
ference, changes in a few weeks that
mercurial crudity into red sparkling
sulphur. For all elements are the
bases of certain colours, of which black-
ness and whiteness are associated res-
pectively with earth and water, while
the rest are called intermediate colours.
When earth has in perfection all its
qualities of coldness, dryness, solidity,
ponderosity, firmness, stability, and
obscurity, there results a colour which
is specifically represented by all the
shades between black and tawny.
After earth comes water, like the first.

Edward Kelly :

cold in its nature, but also humid, full
of fluxional lines and figures, and the
nurse of temperament. The leading’
colour of water is whiteness, its species
all the shades between white and grey.
The air is more passive and liable to
the incursions of fire and water ; it is
lightened and attenuated, has no proper
colour, but is tinged by the heat rays ;
its whiteness is often more intense than
that of water, and in the course of the
day it reflects all the shades between
lilac and a kind of yellow. Fire, being
hot and dry, pure, simple, subtle, rare,
thin, and bright, represents all ruddy
colours between the limits of yellow
and the deep red of twice digested
blood. These colours the Sages have
used as a kind of cynosure to steer their
course throughout Nature, and es-
pecially in the investigation of the
secret Medicine. In the preparation of
this arcanum we must study not only
the arrangements of bodies, their pro-
portions, qualities, and motions, but also
their fundamental constituent principles.

The Humid Path.

as Salt, Sulphur, and Quicksilver, as
also all parts of the ore ; nor is it
sufficient to know that Mercury is a
principle which is contained in all
animals, vegetables, and minerals ; you
must also know what it is, how com-
pounded, its length, width, and depth,
and what effects it produces when
joined to other bodies. In all these
researches the knowledge of colours is
most important. The Sages never
tire of inculcating the truth that this
quicksilver is found in animals and
vegetables ; and it is most unwise to
contradict their assertion. For if ani-
mals, vegetables, and minerals contain
within themselves water and earth,
which embrace the other elements, it is
clear that in all things there are the
same principles Hence, wherever there
are water and earth, every form is
potentially present, and we may look for
Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt. For as the
number one enters into all numbers, so
it is with the constituent principles of
matter ; every compound substance, be-

Edzvard Kelly :

sides its own form, contains within itself
all the conditions and causes of that
form. This principle of mixture is
most highly developed in the case of
minerals, and least in the case of vege-
tables. Now, animals and vegetables
are higher organisations than minerals,
and contain all that is in minerals.
Hence Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury are
contained in animals, vegetables, and
minerals. In animal ashes, or animal
earth (which is a product of the vege-
table world), we find these three prin-
ciples. For if we pour on them water,
we extract salt ; if we dry them, and
subject them to the action of a fierce
fire, there follows a fusion into a glassy
substance, from which the Sages can
extract Mercury ; and if in this Mercury
the rays of the central fire are drawn
towards the circumference, it is quick-
ened, and penetrated with the form of
sulphur. Again, let us divide salt by
our art into its parts, water and earth ;
£ind do the same with Sulphur and Mer-
cury. You have nothing but water and

The Humid Path.

earth ; but water and earth contain air
and fire, and so we have the same
elements in every case. Salt, Sulphur,
and Mercury do indeed differ in out-
ward form according to the different
proportions of their mixture, but they
consist of the same elements which are
the first principles of all creation. This
is the universal sperm of Anaxagoras,
who said that all things had the same
first substance ; it is only through a
misunderstanding that Aristotle attacked
his system.

Hence we see that the matter of
our Stone, Mercury, is a commonly
diffused subject, and though it is found
with greater ease in some minerals, it
may be discovered everywhere. In this
sense Morienus, that illustrious Sage,
answered King Calid’s question as to
the matter of the Stone in the following
way : “It is of thee, O King, and thou
art its ore.” And Raymond asserted
that he had extracted his substance
from a vile and worthless thing. Yet
you are not to suppose that I would

Edward Kelly :

take any kind of Mercury for this pur-
pose without exercising any discrimi-
nation ; rather, like a wise carpenter,
I would pass over the green and
unseasoned timber, and select for my
structure only that which is seasoned
and dry. Common Mercury, and
animal and vegetable Mercury, might
be used for our purpose ; but the labour
of preparing and digesting it would be
very great. And even if you could get
it easily, it would be comparatively
useless. For you cannot be sure of a
flame where there are only a few feeble
sparks ; and only vigorous and exuber-
ant Mercury is really suitable for our
purpose — epithets which are by no
means applicable to the feeble Mercury
of vegetables and animals. We have
to take into consideration the fact that
the Mercury must be fixed by means of
its own inherent sulphur, acted on by
external heat. This heat proceeds from
the heavenly bodies, and the form will
be different according to the description
of the heavenly body by which the

The Humid Path.

Mercury is set in motion. Bodies re-
ceive their figure, lineaments, and
temper from water, their fixation from
the dryness of the earth, and are more
or less matured according to the velocity
or slowness of the inward fire. If
Saturn governs this motion, and there
is an aqueous surface, we get lead ; if
Jupiter be lord of the motion, tin is
produced ; where Mars predominates,
we get iron. The Sun is thus the cause
of gold, Venus of copper, the Moon of
silver. Quicksilver is produced by
Mercury, which is more or less good or
bad according to the perfect character
of the motion. It is thus, then, that we
must think of the metals, if we would
profoundly enter into their nature. Our
object in this Art is to change metals
into gold and silver; but as gold and
silver are malleable, and have their own
proper qualities and colours, the seeds
of all these things must be in the
substance, or else they can never be
brought to maturity. Hence we may
exclude from our search not only ani-

Edward Kelly :

mals and vegetables, but common
Mercury, marcasite, and all lesser
minerals. For none of these contain
a Mercury suitable for our purpose,
seeing that we need a Mercury in which
is inherent its own principle of fixation
and animation. It is true that the
heavenly bodies are efficient causes of
all things, and consequently also of
marcasite, etc. ; nevertheless, the mar-
casites, pyrites, and similar minerals,
differ greatly from metallic substances
in the arrangement of these principles.
For they are quickened by simple Mer-
cury, and the direct influence of some
heavenly body. But the other minerals,
though they too are set in motion by
simple Mercury, receive the influence of
two or three, or even more heavenly
luminaries of different complexion and
character, by the confusion of which
these bodies are affected in contradictory
ways, and are regarded as imperfect in
respect of our magistery. But the
question might arise in regard to the
inferior metals, how they can contain the

The Humid Path.

principle of gold and silver, seeing that,
to the vulgar eye, they would seem to
have nothing in common with those
metals, and least of all with gold. We
answer that the end of our Art requires
two things, fixed earth and mineral
water, which exist in all metals, though
after a diverse manner, in some actually,
and in others at least potentially, but
really and essentially in all. It is indeed
true that everything depends on the in-
fluence of heavenly bodies. But no one
substance is predestined to be acted on
by any one heavenly body, and if a metal
which has been under the influence of
Mars, should come under the influence
of the Sun, it will gradually exhibit cor-
responding changes. If the motive
power be twofold, twofold effects will
be traceable in the metallic subject.
Saturn is, in respect of Aquarius, cold
and dry ; in respect of Capricorn, hot
and dry ; hotness and coldness will con-
tend for the mastery, and warmth will
occupy the centre. Similarly, Sagitta-
rius is near Mars, Aries near Jupiter,

Edward Kelly :

Taurus near Venus, Virgo near Mer-
cury, which all agree in heat, and are
therefore the same in the subject metals.
However different they may be in height
and depth, they will agree in width. For
Saturn is hot within, cold without, while
dryness is contiguous to both. It is
after a like fashion with Mercury and
Venus. The extremes of Jupiter are
bound together by humidity ; and it is
the same with Mars. Thus the first
three inferior metals belong to the same
terrestrial, and the last two to the same
aquatic, latitude. The surface of Saturn
is held by Aquarius, of Jupiter by
Pisces, of Mars by Scorpio, of Venus by
Libra, of Mercury by Gemini, which
are reputed frigid signs ; hence the
said bodies agree in longitude as well
as in latitude. Again, as hot bodies are
variously digested according as they are
dry or moist, so cold bodies are variously
affected in their passivity, and this is
the reason why metallic bodies of com-
mon latitudes differ so greatly in their
forms. Venus and Jupiter are in the

The Humid Path.

same longitude of coldness, but differ a
whole hemisphere in their passive ele-
ments, since the coldness of Jupiter is
accompanied with moisture, while that
of Venus coexists with dryness, the form
of the one depending on water, of the
other on earth. So Venus and Saturn
agree in longitude, latitude, and depth,
but differ in form, because the latitude
of Venus is dominated by fire, that of
Saturn by earth. In the same way, gold
and silver receive their forms from their
own proper motive forces ; the former
is begotten of a single parent, the Sun,
cherishing the Lion within and without,
hot and moist, cold and dry, evenly
tempered throughout. For being fur-
nished with fixation within, it possesses
the maturing force of fire in every atom,
and this maturity is perfect life. F urther,
this maturity is the result of a long
development, for no gold is generated
suddenly in its ore, but out of its own
seed and first principle, which we call
fire, acting on Mercury in every part.
Now I say that this seed, this principle,

Edward Kelly :

this elemental fire, this first substance
exists in all inferior metals, though in
different degrees of development. Hence
all these inferior metals in their inner
being are potentially gold, and do po-
tentially possess metallic life ; and there
is no difference between gold and these in-
ferior metals, except in degree of matu-
rity. The mineral water and earth may
thus by proper digestion be brought to
the perfection and excellence of gold,
if the heavenly rays, which are instru-
mental in the ripening of that metal, can
be brought to bear on them. In regard
to this matter different Sages have
written in such different ways that it is
not easy to reconcile their statements.
What one affirms to be good and con-
venient is uncompromisingly rejected
by another, so that any one who strives
to gain a knowledge of this Art by read-
ing and comparing books must be fairly
puzzled. Hence there have been very
few that have ever been rightly and
adequately acquainted with this secret ;
for not every one who knows the matter,

The Humid Path.

and is cognisant in a mechanical way of
the method of preparing it, is deserving
of the name of a Sage. For he may
know nothing of the theory of physics,
or the rationale of our Art, or of the
causes why the nature of gold is im-
parted to other metals. But, as the poet
has it.

Blessed is he who knows the gods of the fields,

And Pan, and aged Sylvanus, and the sister

nymphs.

Men who have a mere practi-
cal knowledge of Alchemy know how
to make gold, but the same are not
Sages. They cling desperately to
the particular method which they have
been taught, and decry everything else
as false and unscientific, since they do
not know the universality of the sub-
stance, nor the different ways of manipu-
lating it They think their one little
branch is the whole tree of Philosophy,
and thus have obscured the entire garden
of the Hesperides with the fumes of their
ignorance. There is another class of
men, whom I call rationalists, or dog-

Edward Kelly :

matists, who have reduced the universal
science to rules, and have laid down
codes of weight, quantity, time, etc., as
of general application, though they apply
only to particular cases. The third class
are the Methodists, who base the prin-
ciple of their teaching on that which, to
others, is the end of the Magistery.
They differ from the Rationalists in that
they veil in simple and every-day langu-
age the -most momentous mysteries of
our Stone. They say that silver and
gold are quickened Mercury, and that
they consist of water and earth (includ-
ing the other elements), and have spoken
only of Mercury without any specific re-
strictions. They say also that out of
either of the said bodies the same thing
can be prepared, viz., a Stone producing
exactly similar effects. Saturn, for in-
stance, which consists of water and
earth, may be taken as the ore of the
substance : the water may be changed
into earth, and thus into our red, fixed
powder, which, after fermentation, be-
comes our Stone. This method the

The Humid Path.

ancient Sages have called the Royal
Way. Another, more subtle, method is
that by which Saturn is dissolved by
water, or the vegetable menstruum, into
the four elements, which are then puri-
fied, re-united, and, by calcination and
fermentation, become the Stone. The
third way is to change Saturn into our
mineral water, or to join this quicksilver
of Saturn to that of gold, and let it
receive the colour or tincture of gold.
The methods will be different in dealing
with Mercury gained from Mars, Jupiter,
and Venus. From gold it can be obtained
in at least twenty-seven different ways,
which the ancient Sages called the
mansions of the Moon. For as the
Moon passes through all the signs in
twenty-seven days, or at most in thirty,
so the mineral water of the Sages, placed
in these twenty-seven positions, runs
through the whole metallic firmament,
and assumes the properties of all the
inferior metals. He that would accom-
plish this Magistery successfully should
know the conformation of all metals, and

Edward Kelly ;

the heavenly influences by which all
earthly things are generated, moved, and
disposed. He must also understand the
harmony and mutual relations of active
and passive elements, and how to judge
of them by outward phenomena; further,
he must know also how to unite ex-
tremes by means of their common
qualities. For as no building can be
perfect the idea of which was not first
completely conceived in the mind of the
architect, so you cannot know what to
do in dealing with these inferior metals
unless you have an exact acquaintance
with all the conditions of the work.
How, for instance, can he be said to
know more of silver than a mere clown
who does not understand the influence
of the Moon in producing its form, the
sphere in which it revolves, the rate of
its velocity, the causes of its numerous
apparent irregularities, of its shifting
position with regard to the Sun and the
Earth, of its eclipses, and so on. For
every difference in the heavens must
produce a corresponding modification on

The Humid Path.

earth. Do not wandering stars, when
they sometimes go forward, then back-
wards, then stop for a time, produce a
corresponding effect on earth ? We
have also to reckon with the movements
of the planets, their changing relative
positions, their deflexions, sometimes
towards the south, and then again to-
wards the north ; none of these can be
unattended with results here below. For
every celestial movement is the cause of
a terrestrial effect. The Sage must also
be greatly helped by a knowledge of the
occultations and reappearances of the
planets, and their certain and irrefrag-
able causes. For thereby the eyes of
the mind are opened, and we look deep
into the mysteries of N ature, the causes
of dissolution and composition, of heat
and cold ; the cloud of mystery is lifted
in which all sublunar bodies move, and
assume this or that form. Without a
profound insight into these things you
can have no real knowledge of our Art ;
while, on the other hand, such knowledge
is the mother of practical skill. With

Edward Kelly :

this information there can be no difficulty
in tracing all the steps which lie between
the finding of the matter and the per-
fection of the Stone ; for these steps are
not the arbitrary suggestions of chance,
but the natural and necessary develop-
ment of the genus inherent in the first
matter. You know the beginning and
the end ; the intermediate part of our
Magistery cannot fail to be suggested to
you by -your acquaintance with physical
processes. There are water and mineral
earth united in the same substance ; into
this you are to introduce the form of
gold, consisting also of mineral water
and fixed earth. Can you doubt how
you are to develop the exuberant quali-
ties of the substance ? Nothing can be
introduced into this mineral water and
earth except what belongs to the same
genus. The development is brought
about by one inward agent, without
which not so much as the name of our
Art would ever have been heard of.
This agent is sought by many, but found
by few. It is a precious liquid which

The Humid Path.

does not tender its services to the multi-
tude, but is the handmaiden of Sages.
Some think it is common Mercury ex-
posed to violent heat in a glass vessel ;
others say the Mercury must be very
gently distilled in a glass vessel and
rarefied. But all these persons are
ignorant philosophasters. Raymond in-
deed describes a similar process, but he
means something quite different, viz.,
that our Mercury is to be purified in a
brilliant vessel, not to elicit water from
it. but to free it by fire from its crudity,
and to make it more readily soluble.
Other methods, like the one suggested
by the monk Ravilascius, not only
betray gross ignorance, but are alto-
gether absurd. Neither in one way nor
the other can our water be elicited from
common Mercury, or the mysteries of
our Magistery be unlocked. There is
no menstruum which can so dissolve
this Mercury that it shall retain its
form ; yet that is what our Art requires.
Moreover, it seems absurd that the
greater should be dominated by the less.

Edward Kelly :

For instance, the Moon is passive with
regard to the Planets, and yet is said to
act on every one of those which are
placed beneath it. Should Mercury,
then, which contains within itself the
sphere of the Moon, be affected by the
Moon ? No ; and much less can higher
bodies be affected by Mercury, seeing
that Mercury is rather affected by them.
Even if common Mercury could be dis-
solved,-it could exercise its power only
on the Moon which is contiguous to it.
If we follow reason, it will tell us that
the greater contains the less, and that
this common Mercury has hitherto been
accounted a slave and not a master.
Saturn, on the other hand, includes
within its circle the spheres of all the
rest ; by its virtue lead is produced, and
it also has caused that metallic water to
contain within it all essential properties.
For not only can the Stone be prepared
from lead, as we have shewn, but lead
itself may become the Stone. Its water
will be a menstruum to all the rest, nor
will the same thing that will dissolve

The Humid Path.

lead dissolve the rest, as we will explain
presently. As it is the property of this
menstruum to dissolve, we will speak of
it now.

Solution is the action of any body,
which, by certain laws of innate sym-
pathy, assimilates anything of a lower
class to its own essence. But among
metals there is no form more vigorous
or powerful than that of Saturn, and
therefore the solvent of Saturn must be
sought in the vegetable world. This
vegetable must agree with Saturn in its
properties. Now among minerals .Saturn
is furthest removed from maturity, and
therefore our vegetable substance must
also be highly immature. As sweetness
is distinctive of maturity, so sourness
attends on immaturity, which, moreover,
is the result of cold, while maturity is of
heat. Our menstruum, or solvent, then,
must be a sour vegetable water. More-
over, as lead is crude at the centre and
pure near the circumference, the vege-
table menstruum which Nature has in-
vented for dissolving lead, must be of

Edward Kelly:

the same kind. There are two other
solvents which have all the characteris-
tics of gold and silver, being fixed bodies
of sensitive temperament, and possessing
the power of dissolving these metals,
because they are quite free from all
crudity ; and the one solvent which is
gold the Ancients have called the greater
menstruum. The menstruum of Saturn
they call the smaller, because it has no
power oyer gold. Only gold and silver
possess the quality of dissolving them-
selves, because there is no metal above
them to exercise that power. Gold can
also dissolve copper and quicksilver,
though it is not true that common Mer-
cury absorbs gold, which is no more
possible than that the sphere of Mercury
should include the sphere in which the
Sun itself moves. The Greater Men-
stryum, or water of Mercury, as some
call it, though it dissolves gold and
silver, produces a more complete and
rapid effect in the case of tin. Mars is
contiguous to the Sun, and, being of
noble quality, harmonizes more with the

The Hiimid Path.

Sun and Moon, and by virtue of its
position is called the proper and perfect
instrument for moving the Sun. Those
who would dissolve the Sun must dis-
solve Jupiter through Saturn into the
water of Mars, afterwards with the
lymph of Jupiter, and gold with the
menstruum of Mars, for thus the
virtues of our substance will conveni-
ently be exercised. Furthermore, the
Sun, by means of its moisture, dissolves
Venus, by the dew of which common
Mercury may be rendered liquid.
This liquid at length will dissolve the
Moon. But it must not be supposed
that remote bodies, like Jupiter and
Saturn, can dissolve others through
their own proper immediate virtues.
We have, indeed, defined dissolution as
a certain action whereby, in accordance
with the laws of Sympathy, one body
assimilates and elevates others to its
own virtue, but this is to be understood
only of contiguous bodies. Saturn,
which embraces the sphere of Jupiter,
is subjected to Mars, and Mars, again.

Edward Kelly :

through the mediation of Jupiter, acts
on Saturn. But as the nature of Mars
is most fitted to dissolve the Sun,
Saturn, which has the same properties,
may do the same, not, however, by virtue
of its own proper nature, but because
the nature of Mars is included in that of
Saturn. This is to be understood of all
the rest, after their kind. Hitherto we
have explained the art of dissolving
metallic bodies, by means of their own
threefold menstruum, into their proxi-
mate principles, viz., water and earth.
Now, we will briefly describe the method
of reducing metals into a more remote
substance, viz., quicksilver. I will here
take no notice of the venomous sayings
of malicious astrologers ; I shall have a
word to address to them presently, when
I shall also treat of the conjunctions and
diameters of the planets, with their peri-
odic and real syzigiae. Take Venus, or
copper, the subject on which you desire to
operate, and remember that you are try-
ing to render visible a part which in its
very nature is close to the centre. Ask

The Humid Path.

under what sign of the horoscope Venus
rises, and you will find that it is under the
sign of Taurus in the fifteenth degree,
at a right angle to the rising Sun ; turn
your eyes to the west, and you will see
the Scorpion in the same degree, before
which is the surface of Mars, naturally
cold and dry, directed toward the earth.
Note these things down. In the third
point of the sky and in the tenth house,
you will find the Lion. Now, the Lion
is the animal of the Sun, which you
need under the given angles as an inter-
mediate substance. Follow the guidance,
and imitate these heavenly relations in
your terrestrial astronomy, z>., take the
menstrual water of gold, purify twice or
thrice from the earth, or the calx of iron,
pour drop by drop on the body of Venus,
which has first been melted, and it will
in a few moments become liquid Mer-
cury, as our Art requires. Take the
water of lead stiffened with the earth of
iron (Mars), to dissolve the Sun, and so
with the rest. Moreover, the Sun, ac-
cording to this rule, while the Lion

Edward Kelly .

ascends will be opposite Saturn in
Aquarius, whose surface imitates the
nature of water ; in their middle, as it
were, or in the middle of Heaven, will
be the Tabernacle and House of Mars.
In this way every mineral is reduced to
the nature of its second component part.
But do not say too much, Kelly ; for
already smoke ascends in the distance
from the roofs of the houses, and the
shadows -of the hills begin to lengthen.

H ow TO Prepare the Stone with
Water and Earth.

^HEN the gum distils in the
right way, remove the ves-
sel containing the earth
from the fire, as soon as all the water
that we call menstruum has evaporated.
Then break the vessel a little above the
clay which covers the bottom part. In
this way the black earth will be kindled
of its own accord, and calcine itself
marvellously — a secret which the Sages
would not commit to writing ; they
only said that our Stone could calcine,
cleanse, dissolve, multiply, and perfect
itself. While the earth is kindled like
a live coal, it should be stirred with an
iron rod, so that all its parts may be
perfectly calcined. Then take a fine
sieve, finer than the earth, as soon as it
has become cold, and purify it from the
crumbs of Saturn. Place in the egg of
the Sages, add the water, at first with-

Edward Kelly :

out any distillation, and immediately
seal up the egg hermetically. In this
way all the water will be absorbed by
its earth. This is the great secret, of
which the Sages say that the hour of
the birth of the infant, i.e., water, must
not be permitted, but joined at once
with its own milk, i.e.^ the ferment.
This is the dragon that devours its own
tail, or the serpents in the Saliatic
whirlpool, of which one has wings {i.e.,
water), while the other, earth, has no
wings. This is that divine stone which
is of itself, is prepared in itself, tinges
itself, and ferments and multiplies itself
This is that work which if a man under-
stand the same, he must not divulge to
his brother. Place the rest, with closed
mouth, in the athanor, digest gradually,
for it has passed through all changes
and colours. Consider the noble bird,
i.e., the infant. This bird is a man
born when the Sun was in Aries, i.e., in
March, whose tunic must be cut off by
the nurse, and this also is the man of
March. In selecting it, consider that it

The Hiimid Path.

must be taken out of its uncorrupted
ore, i.e., out of the woman and the man,
and buried not only in the earth, but in
a dung heap, and the common streets ;
for, as the Sages say, it is buried in the
streets. This, says the Sage, is the
thing which all have, and yet there is no
greater secret under heaven, by which
diseases are cured, metals transmuted,
and all things accomplished. It passes
through so many admirable colours that
they cannot be described. It is dis
solved into water in three days in the
athanor. It is the perfect minera of
white and red sulphur in animals, and
we have once seen it cause teeth to
grow in the mouth of an old man.
Ripley affirms of this wonderful Stone :
Remember that man is the noblest
creature on earth, in whom is a neutral
Mercuriality of the four elements pro-
portioned by Nature; for our two
metals are nothing but the brilliant ores
of our Sun and our lucid Moon, as
Raymundus wisely notes. The method
is as follows : Make first the Mercurial

Edward Kelly :

water of the Moon, that is to say, take
aqua fortis made in the ordinary way of
salt and vitriol, rectify three or four times,
for every such water without frequent
rectification is useless ; dissolve in this
water two ounces of pure Moon, and
digest the solution twenty days in a
pelican vessel. Place in retort, and
drive off aqua fortis in the bath. Re-
peat till the water comes forth like
spring water. Add fresh water, and
repeat the former operation, that the
silver may be calcined by the fire while
its humidity, contrary to Nature, is pre-
served and even augmented. Remove
all water, collect that which is dissolved
by the violent steam of the bath, and
dissolve in five ounces of our white
menstrual water. Circulate for a month,
cleanse of its sediment, distil menstruum,
and there will remain the Oil of the
Moon. If it be not yet perfectly clear,
add more menstrual water, till it become
perfectly liquid and pure. This is called
our menstrual water of the Moon. In
the same way dissolve an ounce of

The Humid Path.

gold in the Royal water, made through
rectification of aqua fortis with burnt
Sun, digest for twenty days, then often
separate, and add the water, until it
shall have become thin ; then well
liquefy the Sol with fresh water so that
it flows like wax ; then take four ounces
of our oil or menstruum, and dissolve the
said gold, afterwards triturating in a well-
closed glass vessel for 20 days ; dissolve
repeatedly. Then the gold will be well
purified, and this is the male and female
substance, which must be united in this
work with water of Antimony. Distil the
King or Regulus of Antimony and sub-
limed Mercury in the ordinary way, till
it becomes a viscous water, which must
be rectified of its sediment twice in a hot
bath, or by pouring it seven times through
sand. Take three parts of this water,
two parts of the water of the Moon, one
part of Sol, and place in our philoso-
phical egg, so that it is one-third full.
Digest by twofold circulation, as you
know, and it will become the true Magis-

tery for transmuting Mercury into gold.

An Easy Way of Making the
Tincture.

AKE one ounce of gold, dis-

ashes or sand, pour on this substance a
good part of Spirit of Saturn, and it will
immediately receive a deep colouring.
Place the whole solution in retort, and
steam off spirit with gentle heat. Pour
this solution over the gold, as before,
remove after two hours, and separate by
gentle heat from the solution. The
spirit is thus intensified and illuminated
with the rays of the sun. The gold may
then be melted and used for ordinary
purposes, as it is not further serviceable
in this work. Place spirit in pelican,
with one ounce of common Mercury
seven times sublimed, seal up hermeti-
cally with best wax, and place in steam
bath at a moderate heat ; after five or six

solve in Royal Water, steam
off all aqua fortis by heat of

The Humid Path.

weeks the Mercury will begin to dis-
solve, and, wonderful to relate, will be
sublimed on the surface of the water,
which is tinged with a black and reddish
colour, and this quintessence is after-
wards coagulated with the Mercury into
a snow white powder. Finally, let the
vessel be placed in an athanor with a
head or cover, fashioned in the form
of a pelican, wherein the substance is
digested into a yellow, and afterwards
into a black, powder.

A Way of Making Potable Gold.

HERE are two kinds of potable

oil ; the other is extracted from melted
calx of gold with the red oil of Saturn.
All other recipes and methods of al-
chemists are inept and far from our
intention, for whatsoever is reduced
into a body, the same is crude and un-
decocted. Nature develops what is
good into what is better by the way of
alteration. Gold which has not passed
through alteration or physical solution
has not been educed into something
better. Take oil of lead, and circulate
for forty days in a steam bath. Distil in
retort till more than half has ascended,
and then there will be seen in the vessel
a white and crystalline water remaining
at the bottom, while the oil floats on the
surface. Take up this oil, and place the

gold. One is called Elixir,
and is the stone liquefied into

The Humid Path.

lOI

water by itself, as it is worthless ; distil
this oil slowly two or three times ; when
quite free from water, circulate for three
days, then rectify, and it will be ready.
Take one ounce of common purified
g'old, amalgamate with twelve parts of
Mercury twice sublimed and revivified.
Distil Mercury, and the gold will remain
as a fine powder. This powder place
with calx of gold in pelican, pour on it
the aforesaid oil, digest for twelve days.
Pour the solution into a transparent and
flat retort, free from all grit and sedi-
ment, steam off the oil in a lukewarm
bath, till a thick golden gum remains at
the bottom ; dry the gold, calcine in a dry
fire, and dissolve with the oil as before.
The gum which results is potable and
no longer reducible into a body. There
is no other method under heaven of
physically dissolving the body of gold,
and concerning it Ripley, a man and a
philosopher who is honourable for all
eternity, writes as follows : —

“ The nature of the Sun being
most pure enriches the air, mixes

102

Edward Kelly :

and matures it, puts to flight the
plague, nourishes and purifies the air,
sweetens roses, dries up noxious
humours, softens and hardens and
cleanses Nature. It causes all things
to grow, and replaces drought with
verdure. It is verdant in laurel,
and laughs brightly in gold, gene-
rates stones, and calls into life
gleaming bodies.”

Dissolve purified gold in distilled
vinegar; dissolve for three days, then
pass through filter, and evaporate till
it is thick and becomes a gum, of which
you must have 24 pounds ; put three
into a vessel, and distil with gentle heat
in sand ; when it is not moved by the
fire add coals ; thus elicit the humidity
gradually and skilfully, till you see a
white vapour ascend into the alembic.
Take a large receiver, tie it up with
cloth, and put in cold water. Keep up a
gentle and equable fire, so that the spirits
may not enter the receiver more quickly
than they can be dissolved, which would
cause the vessel to burst, and would not

The Humid Path.

103

be without danger to the artist. If the
drops flow too slowly, increase the fire
a little, and towards the end you want a
fierce fire ; so do not save your coals
then. When you have so collected all
the moisture from the 24 pounds, circu-
late it twice in a pelican over a gentle
fire. Then take a tall vessel, distil
slowly, till a water comes out which
burns like spirit of wine Keep this,
and pour the remainder into a large and
tall retort, and place in balneum till you
see how, by means of the distillation an
oil is separated (its phlegm still remain-
ing in the retort) and floats on the sur-
face. This oil skim off, for it is the Oil
of Mercury, in which the Sun can be
dissolved. Subtilize the said oil in the
pelican over a gentle fire, then rectify
once and again. This is the preparation
of the true mercurial water, or the
female. Now comes the preparation of
the male, or the gold. Transfer the
pure, unmixed body of gold into Mer-
cury, either according to the common
philosophical way, or according to that

104 Edward Kelly :

of terra damnata, stirring with the tool
Trycsitrock for an hour. The first
method is performed as follows : — Take
menstruum of Saturn, and add calcined
Jupiter in an iron spoon : strain, reduce
to powder, and dissolve with the men-
struum of Saturn ; rectify once and
again, and add thin crocus (sulphur) of
Mars. The tepid bath will melt it into
a reddish water ; purge off the men-
struum till red drops fall down ; change
receiver, drive off the reddish liquid of
Mars, and rectify it again and again. The
virtue of the solvent well be then inten-
sified. Take black earth of lead, to wit,
of your minium, which remains at the
bottom of the vessel after the extraction
of the water of life, or spirit of Saturn,
and if you calcine it for a couple of hours,
it becomes yellow ; pour on this the pre-
pared water of Mars, and distil once and
again ; in this way it will be strength-
ened. At this point you should have
ready finely pulverised gold, to which
apply the fortified menstruum of Mars,
and the tepid heat of the bath, and it will

The Humid Path.

105

then be reduced in a few moments to
Mercury. Put eight ounces of this
Mercury into a glass vessel, of which it
should fill the eighth part. Place in a
low furnace, filled with sand, and in-
crease the heat week by week, and it
will be precipitated in forty days. This
is the preparation of your gold ; now
comes its fermentation. Have in readi-
ness an oval vessel, the third part of
which holds eight ounces of the said oil
of Saturn ; add two ounces of your
precipitated gold ; seal up the vessel,
place on athanor, when the gold will be
absorbed and dissolved in a few hours.
After the forty days it will begin to grow
black, and our gentle heat will carry it
through all the stages of blackness.
Increase the heat, and you will behold,
successively, all the different shades of
white ; then it will become yellow, and
finally, a deep red colour ; remove the
black earth, called terra damnata, which
after 24 hours fierce heat will be found
at the bottom of the vessel, and your
tincture is ready; the same will in-

io6 Edward Kelly :

stantly reduce all metals to Mercury.
Remove the surface crudity of this Mer-
cury by stirring it with Trycsitrock.

The way of multiplying the tincture
is as follows : — Take equal parts of Oil
of Saturn and dissolved Stone, in which
you have previously dissolved gold ;
digest in a closed vessel, and the first
time it will be perfected in six months,
the second time in three months ; the
third time, it will pass through all the
colours in one month ; the fourth time
in two weeks ; the fifth time in a week ;
the sixth time in three days. Then it
is too subtle to be multiplied any more,
but you must begin afresh.

END OF kelly’s TRACT.

The Secret of the
Four Waters of Perfection.

ITRIOL 3 lb., alum (purified)

fortis, the simple water of the first de-
gree. For the second water of perfec-
tion take I lb. of the first water, and
dissolve in it 4 oz. of salt armoniac ;
this water then assumes another colour,
it dissolves the Sun, and constitutes the
second water of perfection. For the
third water take 20 oz. of the aforesaid
water, with 8 oz. of sublimed, well
pounded Mercury ; mix, seal up, plunge
in hot ashes ; when the Mercury is
dissolved, it is the third water of per-
fection, and when it is poured on a
plate of copper, the same receives the
colour of silver. This water burns with
a white and fetid flame, against which
you must be on your guard. For the

2 lb., saltpetre i lb. From
these you obtain, with aqua

io8 Edward Kelly:

fourth water, take of this water and
sublimed Mercury, plunge in sealed
vessel, in horsedung, for a fortnight,
and it will assume an imperfect blue
and a yellowish colour ; distil living
water, through ashes, over a gentle fire,
and you have the virgin’s milk. The
first water dissolves the Moon, calcines
Mercury, blackens the skin, and is of
the first degree. The second water
dissolves gold and Mercury, sublimes
sulphur, stains the skin orange, and is
of the second degree. The third water
changes copper into the colour of silver,
and reduces all metals to their first
matter. The fourth water reduces all
calcined, pulverised bodies to the first
matter, and is called the clear and living
water ; it is also heavy, and is called the
virgin’s milk ; it is sharp, strong, and
bitter; if one drop falls on copper it
perforates it, and it forms white crystals
when it is distilled like other waters.
This water in distillation and putre-
faction is free from all the corrosiveness
of sulphur, and dissolves metals into

The Humid Path.

109

their first matter instead of corroding
them ; it is cleansed from all sediment,
and impurity, and hardness of iron, of
which all metals, even copper, retain a
trace, and which is blue in colour.
Take any calcined metallic filings, mix
with salt pounded small, wash with hot
salt water, dry, cover this powder to
the height of two inches with oil of
tartar, seal up, plunge in horsedung
for eight days so that it may putrefy.
Take it out of the vessel, pour off the
oil, dry the powder slowly in warm
ashes, put into living water (our fourth
water), let the vessel be subjected to
heat, and. you will see how the powder
melts into Mercury. Carefully empty
the water into another vessel, and there
will remain the new Mercury, which is
corporeal, and not volatile like other
Mercury; wash with hot water and
common salt, and dry. Strain through
a cloth ; if any amalgam remains on the
cloth, put it once more into the living
water, till it becomes quick . Mercury ;
repeat this till all the Mercury has

I lO

Edward Kelly:

passed through the cloth. This is our
magisterial, corporeal Mercury of signal
perfection, and not the common kind.
Its signs are these : that in its running
it is not like simple Mercury; that when
placed on a body which is not fixed in
the fire, so far as it spreads over that
body it fixes it. Thus it fixes all bodies
which were not fixed before, and in the
above way you can get as much cor-
poreal Mercury as you like. If you
have made 20 oz. of this Mercury, take
oz. of filings, pound small, add
10^ oz. of corporeal Mercury, form an
amalgam by pounding (making a soft
paste). Divide amalgam into three
parts, put into vessel, take one part of
calcined body, and three parts of cor-
poreal Mercury, mix well, add to other
two parts of amalgam, mix well, let it
stand in the vessel in hot ashes till the
whole substance is changed into Mer-
cury, and thus you can multiply this
Mercury infinitely, so long as you have
metal filings of any kind.

The Theatre

Terrestrial Astronomy.

THE THEATRE OF TERRESTRIAL
ASTRONOMY.

Many books have been written
on the art of Alchemy,
which, by the multiplicity
of their allegories, riddles, and parables,
bewilder and confound all earnest stu-
dents ; and the cause of this confusion
is the vast number and variety of names,
which all signify and do set forth one
and the same thing. For this reason I
have resolved in my own mind to loosen
and untie all the difficult knots of the
ancient Sages. I will speak first of the
inventors and restorers of this Art ;
secondly, of the mutual conversion of
elements, and how through the pre-
dominance of one element the substance
of metals is generated ; thirdly, I will
shew the affinity and homogeneity of
metals, procreated in the bowels of

Edward Kelly :

1 14

the earth, their sympathies and anti-
pathies, according to the purity and
impurity of their Sulphur and Mercury ;
and that as metals consist of Sulphur
and Mercury, they can furnish us with
the first matter of the Elixir; 4°, the
preparation of Mercurial water; 5°, the
conversion of prepared Mercury into
Mercurial earth ; 6°, the exaltation of
Mercurial water; 7°, the solution of gold
by Mercurial water ; 8°, the preparation
of the water or Moon of the Sages ; 9°,
the conjunction of sun and moon ; 10°,
the blackness, or Raven’s Head, by
means of which the solution and copu-
lation of Sun and Moon do both take
place; 11°, the peacock’s tail ; 12°, the
white Tincture ; 13°, the perfect red

Elixir. This Art being given by Divine
inspiration, and as a secret revealed
from above, we implore God’s help for
every part of our work, the small as well
as the great, for He alone hath the
power to give or to withhold this know-
ledge from whomsoever He will. No
one taketh this honour to himself, but

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 115

God alone can enlighten the eyes and
lift the cloud of natural mysteries, so
that albeit you cannot understand the
plainest things without Him, yet will
you apprehend the most difficult arcana
if He give you light. I will now speak
of the illustrious men who, before and
after the Flood, have discovered and
established the chemical Art.

Chapter the First.

Of the Inventors and Restorers of
this Art.

LL Sages agree that the know-

Spirit, and He prophesied, both before
and after the Fall, that the world must
be renewed, or, rather, purged with
water. Therefore his successors erected
two stone tables, on which they engraved
a summary of all physical arts, in order
that this arcanum might become known
to posterity. After the Flood, Noah
found one of these tables at the foot of
Mount Ararat. Others say that the
knowledge of the Art was restored by
Hermes Trismegistus, whose mind was
a treasury of all arts and sciences ; and
alchemists are still called sons of
Hermes. Bernard of Trevisa states that
the said Hermes came to the valley of
Hebron, and there found seven stone

ledge of this Art was first im-
parted to Adam by the Holy

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 117

tables, on which a summary of the seven
liberal Arts had been inscribed before the
Flood ; for this same Hermes flourished
both before and after the Flood, and is
identifled with Noah. Then this Art found
its way into Persia, Egypt, and Chaldsea.
The Hebrews called it the Cabbala, the
Persians Magia, and the Egyptians
Sophia, and it was taught in the schools
together with Theology ; it was known
to Moses, Abraham, Solomon, and the
Magi who came to Christ from the
East. Magia derived its origin from
the doctrine of the Divine Ternary and
the Trinity of God. For God has
stamped and sealed all created things
with this character of Trinity, as a kind
of hieroglyphical writing, whereby His
own nature might be known. For the
number 3 and the magic number 4
make up the perfect number 7, the seat
of many mysteries. And seeing that the
Quaternary rests in the Ternary, it is
a number which stands on the horizon
of eternity, and doth exhibit everything
bound with God in us, thus including

ii8

Edward Kelly :

God, men, and all created things, with
all their mysterious powers. Adding
three, you get ten, which marks the
return to unity. In this arcanum is
concluded all knowledge of hidden
things which God, by His word, has
made known to the men of His good
pleasure, so that they might have a true
conception of Him. And this is the
figure which is called the sphere of
Heaven. The said sphere consists of
a circle, which circle represents the

Trinity of the Deity in unity, God with
three heads and one crown, surmounted

The Theatre of Teyrestrial Astronomy. 119

by a triangle, encircled with a rainbow,
and above the sun and moon. The first
colour of the rainbow, on which God
sits, is black, with the sign of Saturn ;
the second, dark brown, with the sign
of Jupiter; the third, red, with the sign
of Mars ; the fourth, green and yellow,
with the sign of the Sun ; the fifth,
green, with the sign of Venus; the sixth,
yellow, green, white, and red, with the
sign of Mercury ; the seventh, a silver
grey, with the sign of the Moon, and
yellow beneath.

His feet -are placed on the terres-
trial globe, in which are animals and
hills, with a white and brown man,
whose eyes are bandaged, and an egg
is between his feet.

Chapter the Second.

Of the Mutual Coyiversion of Elements ;
how one element predominates over
another ; whence the substance
of the metals is generated.

Geber, Morienus, and other Sages
have pronounced the conversion of one

120

Edward Kelly :

element into another a very necessary
process in the composition of the Stone :
convert the elements, and you have what
you seek. There are four elements, air,
water, fire, earth, with their four quali-
ties, hot, cold, moist, dry. Two are
active, air and fire, and two passive,
water and earth. Two are light, and
two heavy. Contradictory qualities are
united only by means of a third. Hot
and dry are not contradictory, and
therefore form the element of air; cold
and dry are not contradictory, and
become earth ; nor are cold and moist,
which constitute water : but hot and

cold are united only by means of a
medium, viz., dry, as otherwise they
would destroy each other. Hence hot
and cold are united and separated by
dissolving and coagulating the homo-
geneous quality. Moist and dry, on the
other hand, are united and separated by
constriction and humectation ; simple
generation and natural transmutation
are by the operation of the elements.
For those elements which conquer cold

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. I2l

generate that which is hot. It is clear
that all things are generated by heat and
cold ; and all elements must belong to the
same genus, or else they could not act on
each other. After creating the matter
of the metals, namely, living Mercury,
Nature added to it an active quality.
For Mercury, the substance, could not
of itself manifest its effects, and Nature
wisely joined to it an active kind of
mineral earth, unctuous and fat, thick-
ened by long digestion in the mineral
caverns of the earth, which is commonly
called Sulphur. This Mercury is, how-
ever, not the common metal, but the
principle and origin of metals. Mer-
cury is the matter. Sulphur the form of
metals, natural heat acting on the matter
of Mercury, as upon a fit and well
adapted subject.

The picture represents a black rock,
on the summit of which stand black
Saturn ; J upiter, the white king ; Mars,
the red soldier ; Sol, with a golden head
and ruddy neck ; Venus, in a green
robe ; Mercury, with helmet, and red,

122

Edward Kelly :

green, purple, white, yellow, ochre, black
gown, and yellow, red, blue wings ; the
Moon white and black.

On the black plain stands Mercury
of many colours, the Moon with the sign
w on her head, and Sulphur on both
sides of Mercury is signified by the term
Hermaphrodite ; the four elements from
the four corners blow upon the place
where Mercury and the Moon are.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 123

Chapter the Third.

Of the Homogeneom Affinity of Metals
generated in the bowels of the Earth ;
Harmony and A ntipathy of Metallic
Qualities.

Metals consist of Mercury and Sulphur,
and furnish us with the first substance
of the Elixir.

The various conversions of the
elements which produce the first matter
of metals have been now described.
We must next treat of the nature of the
said metals. It is clearer than daylight
that there are seven planets, seven days,
seven metals, and seven operations.
The metals are called after the planets,
because of their influence and their
mutual relations. The mineral prin-
ciples dre living Mercury and Sulphur.
From these are generated all metals and
minerals, of which there are many
species, possessing diverse natures, ac-
cording to the purity and impurity of the
Mercury and Sulphur, resulting in the
purity or impurity of the generated

124

Edward Kelly :

metal. Gold is a perfect body, of pure,
clear, red Mercury, and pure, fixed, red,
incombustible Sulphur. Silver is a pure
body, nearly approaching perfection, of
pure, clear, fixed white Mercury, and
Sulphur of the same kind ; it is a little
wanting in fixation, colour, and weight.
Tin is a pure, imperfect body, of pure,
fixed and unfixed, clear, white Mercury
outside, and red Mercury inside, with
Sulphur of the same kind. Lead is an
impure, imperfect body, of impure, un-
fixed, earthy, white, fetid Mercury and
Sulphur outside, and red Mercury in-
side, with Sulphur of the same quality.
Copper is an impure and imperfect body,
of impure, unfixed, dirty, combustible,
red Sulphur and Mercury. It is defi-
cient in fixation, purity, and weight,
while it abounds in impure colour and
combustible terrestreity. Iron is of im-
pure, imperfect, excessively fixed, earthy,
burning, white and red Sulphur and
Mercury, is wanting in fusion, purity,
and weight, abounding in fixed, impure
Sulphur and combustible terrestreity.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 125

Nature transmutes the elements into
Mercury, just as Sulphur transmutes the
first matter. The nature of all metals
must be the same, because their first
substance is the same, and Nature can-
not develop anything- out of a substance
that is not in it.

The picture represents a black
rock, on -which stand, hand in hand, the
planets : i , Black Saturn, falling down ;
2, Jupiter; 3, Mars; 4, Mercury of many
colours ; 5, Venus, with green robe, and
the Sun and Moon. Lower down, on
the black rock, stands an old man with

126

Edward Kelly :

a pick-axe, cutting- a piece out of the
rock, whence Saturn falls, and near
him lie, as if dead, Jupiter and Saturn.

Chapter the Fourth.

Of the Preparation of Mercurial Earth.

Know that out of all metals a
perfect Medicine can be made, which
can transmute the remaining metals into
gold and silver ; for out of the perfect

metals you get, by proper separation of
elements, the Salt of Nature, otherwise
Ore of the Philosophers, by some called

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 127

Philosophical Lili, without which the
work of the Sages cannot be accom-
plished. For Art presupposes a sub-
stance created by Nature alone, in which
Art assists Nature and Nature assists
Art.

A vessel like an urinal stands, en-
circled at its base by a ring of twisted
straw ; within it are Mercury, Mars, and
Saturn, lying on their backs, and an old
man is on the point of throwing in
Venus and Jupiter, Behind the old
man, on the black rock, stand the Sun
and Moon.

Chapter the Fifth.

Of the Conversion of Prepared Mercury
into Mercurial earth.

Metals, as above stated, contain a
salt, out of which fire and the sagacity
of the artist can educe a water, which
the Sages call Mercurial water, the
Virgin’s milk, Lunaria, May dew, the
Green Lion, the Dragon, the Fire of
the Sages. This Mercurial water they

128

Edward Kelly :

have compared to corrosive aqua fortis,
because just as those waters which are
composed out of atrament, alum, cop-
peras, Armenian salt, etc., corrode
metals, and break them up, so this
Mercurial spirit, or water, dissolves
its body, and separates from it the
Tincture.

The picture represents a hill, on
which stand many trees ; at the foot of
the hill is a yellow lion suckling a green
lion.

There is a furnace in which is a
pumpkin-shaped vessel (cucurbit), from

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 129

which blue serpents ascend into the
alembic, and are collected into a recep-
tacle by an old man who seems on the
point of carrying it away.

Chapter the Sixth.

Of the Exaltation of Mercurial
Water.

The ancient Sages have spoken of
the composition of the Green Lion or
Dragon, emanating from the seven
Planets, in a style saturated with the
darkness of night itself ; but instead of
vainly endeavouring to untie their
Gordian knots, I will try to sketch its
composition with a few strokes of my
pen. It is generated by the subtle in-
fluences descending into the elements ;
then its substance is scattered abroad
in the heavens, its workshop is in the
clouds, and again it descends into its
earth, with rain water and a white
vapour, thus receiving the strength of
things above and things below; it is
nourished by its own body, eating its

130

Edward Kelly :

wings and tail with its teeth, the whole
body being swallowed by the head, and
remaining in it for ever. This is the
hidden and incomparable treasure of all
the Sages, which none can obtain ex-
cept through the teaching of a Master,
or by revelation of God, who, in His
goodness makes it known to whom He
will.

An old man stands near a vessel,
like an urinal, in which a Green Dragon
is devouring blue serpents. Above the
Dragon is the yellow, green, blue, black,
red sign of Mercury. Above the urinal is
a Green. Dragon biting its tail. Near

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 131

the urinal a Green Lion bites a piece
out of the back of a Red Lion, so that
the blood flows down. In the back-
g-round are forests and hills.

Chapter the Seventh.

Of the Solution of the Sun with
Mercurial Water.

It should be noted at this point
that the Tincture is not found otherwise
than in gold. This may be understood
from the parable of Bernard, who says
that the Sun, on entering the bath, first
of all puts off his golden robe. For
what the eagle is among birds, the lion
among beasts, the salmon among fishes,
the Sun among planets, such gold is
among metals In it are the red and
white tincture, because it tinges, trans-
forms, and illumines all bodies. For
gold is made out of the substance of the
most subtle living Mercury, and out of
pure, red, fixed, self-cleansed Sulphur,
which tinges, and contains in itself, the
soul, which is called the form of gold,

132 • Edward Kelly :

and by some Sages the Ferment of
Philosophers. This soul of gold with
its heat digests and tinges its substance,
and imparts to it its form, so that
through its mediation the day begins to
dawn. To corrupt the gold, to dissolve
and volatilize it while still preserving its
form, is our great object, as it is also
our grand labour.

The Sun, encircled by a red rain-
bow, shines among the clouds, and a
Green Lion is biting the Sun in the face,
so that the blood flows. An old man is
holding in his hand an urinal, in which

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 133

is red water ; and in this water a winged
man stands up to his navel. Out of the
urinal is flying a Green Dragon, which
bites the face of the Sun as he stands
with the Moon on a rock, so that the
blood flows under the dragon into the
urinal. Under the black rock is a
Green Dragon, whose tail is cut off,
and the same is gnawing his wings.

Chapter the Eighth.

Of the Preparation of the Earth, or
Moon of the Sages.

When the soul of gold has been
separated from its body, or when the
body, in other words, has been dis-
solved, the body of the Moon should be
watered with its proper menstruum, and
reverberated, the operation being re-
peated as often as necessary, i.e., until
the body becomes subtle, broken up,
pure, dissolved, coagulated. This is
done, not with common fire, but with
that of the Sages, and at last you must
see clearly that nothing remains undis-

134

Edward Kelly :

solved. For unless the Moon or Earth
is properly prepared and entirely emptied
of its soul, it will not be fit to receive
the Solar Seed ; but the more tho-
roughly the earth is cleansed of its im-
purity and earthiness, the more vigorous
it will be in the fixation of its ferment.
This earth or Moon orf" the Sages is the
trunk upon which the solar branch of
the Sages is engrafted. This earth,
with its water, putrefies and is cleansed ;
for heat, acting on a dry substance,
causes whiteness. Azot and fire wash
Eaton, or earth, and remove its opa-
city.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 135

A fire is laid under the Sun, which
is burning, and much smoke is ascend-
ing. An old man has in his hands an
urinal, in which is the Moon lying on
her back in blackish water. Out of the
vessel is flying a green Dragon, holding
the Moon in its mouth by the navel,
and placing its fore feet on a black rock.
Beneath the rock a green Dragon lies
dead on his back.

Chapter the Ninth.

The Conjunction of Sun and Moon.

The ancient philosophers have enu-
merated several kinds of conjunction,
but to avoid a vain prolixity I will
affirm, upon the testimony of Marsilius
Ficinus, that conjunction is union of
separate qualities, or an equation of
principles, viz., Mercury and Sulphur,
Sun and Moon, agent and patient, matter
and form. When the virgin, or femi-
nine, earth is thoroughly purified
and purged from all superfluity, you
must give it a husband meet for it ; for

136

Edward Kelly :

when the male and the female are joined
together by means of the Sperm, a gene-
ration must take place in the men-
struum. The substance of Mercury is
known to the Sages as the earth and
matter in which the Sulphur of Nature
is sown, that it may there putrefy, the
earth being its womb. Here the female
seed awaits that of the male, by means
of which they are inseparably united,
the one being hot and dry, and the
other cold and moist ; the heat and dry-
ness of the male are tempered with the
cold and moisture of the female, and, in
due time, the matter will assume a
specific form. For all action tends to
the production of a form, being, as it is,
an efficient principle.

Opposition.

A very red Sun is pouring blood .
into an urinal. An old man is pouring
blood out of another urinal, together
with a winged child, into a third urinal,
which stands on straw and contains
the Moon lying on her back in blackish

The Theatre of Terrestrial A sU'onomy. 137

water. Near the Sun a jug is pouring
white rays, or drops, into an urinal.
On the hill stands a Phoenix, biting its

breast, out of which drops blood, the
same being drunk by its young. Be-
neath the rock a husbandman is scatter-
ing seed in his field.

Chapter the Tenth.

Of the Blackness or Ravens Head by
means of which the copulation
of Sun and Moon takes place
The second conjunction is of
three, viz., body, soul, and spirit ; and

138

Edward Kelly :

these three we must make one. For as
the soul is the bond of the spirit, so the
body must also join to itself the soul,
which can only be after putrefaction ;
for nothing- can be improved if its form
has not previously been utterly de-
stroyed. The signs of this are a black
colour and a fetid smell. For heat,
acting on moisture, produces blackness,
which is the sign of the perfect mingling
of the substance with a specific form.
For solution and putrefaction begin with
a fetid smell, and the process gradually
develops, and therefore the Raven’s
Head is called a deadly poison. The
odour is rather intellectually than sen-
suously perceptible. The blackness
must precede whiteness. For putrefac-
tion begins with solution, but does not
end with it. The second solution of the
more perfect stone is better than the
first, because the more it develops, the
more the stone is subtilized. Our whole
magistery, then, is based on putrefac-
tion ; for it can come to nothing, unless
it is putrefied.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 139

Conjunction.

Black Sun Black Moon.

An old man with a book in his hand
stands by the furnace.

A black Sun in the vessel.

Behind the furnace is a field of green
barley springing up out of the earth.

The Pavement, on which the furnace
stands, is black.

Chapter the Eleventh.

Of the Peacock's Tail.

Our substance, according to the
Sages, has a red head, white feet, and

140

Edward Kelly :

black eyes. The beginning of our work
is the Black Raven, which, like all
things that are to grow and receive life,
must first putrefy. For putrefaction is
a necessary condition of solution, as
solution is of birth and regeneration.
This putrefaction is not impure, but a
commixtion, in their smallest parts, of
earth with water, and water with earth,
till the whole body becomes one. The
red male must be digested in union with
his white wife, till both become dry —
for otherwise no colours will appear.
When the dry principle acts on the
moist, flowers of all the colours of a
Peacock’s Tail begin to spring up in
the Sage’s vessel. Sometimes the
vessel will seem inwardly covered with
gold, which is a sign of the action of the
male seed, or Sulphur, on the female
menstruum, or Mercury, one mingling
with the other as the result of their con-
flict. As the moisture is gradually
dried up, these shifting colours give
place to a settled whiteness.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 14 1

An old man stands near the furnace,
both towers are open, the urinal con-

stantly changes its colour ; behind the
furnace is barley producing ears.

Chapter the Twelfth.

Of the White Tincture.

Having treated of the matter,
the mode of procedure, and of the
regimen of the fire, I proceed now to
the description of the composition of
the white and the red Stone. The black-
ness becomes whiteness very slowly ;
the operation must be gradual, as a

f42

Edward Kelly :

fierce fire would burst the vessel, and
mar our work As the Mercury becomes
white, our white Sulphur becomes in-
combustible, containing the poison,
whose whiteness is like the whiteness
of alabaster. The whole magistery
takes place in one vessel, and with one
fire, viz., the dry and moist elementary
fire of the matter, till it is all dissolved
again and again, and coagulated and
thickened into a mass of a clear snow-
white colour, which, when cool, becomes
like a hard gum. The decoction, how-
ever, must be continued till the Eagle
is revived (or vitrified), and becomes a
crystalline stone which melts, tinges, and
coagulates Mercury and other imperfect
metals into pure silver. This white
tincture, or elixir, is also called the
Virgin’s milk, the everlasting water, and
water of life, because it is as brilliant as
white marble ; it is also called the White
Queen, who by increasing the fire be-
comes the Mighty King, the white trans-
forming into yellow and saffron, and at
last into a deep ruby colour.

The Theatre of Teri'estrial Astronomy. 143

A white King sits on the throne,
having at his feet the Moon, and the five
Planets on their knees. Near at hand

is a field, with yellow, ripening ears of
barley. Behind the furnace is an old
man inspecting the coals, and in the
urinal is the full Moon.

Chapter the Thirteenth.

Of the Perfect Red Elixir.

Xiphilinus and the rest of the
philosophers agree in this, that the
white colour must precede the red. As

144

Edward Kelly :

you can have no red colour where the
substance has not first been white, so
the black cannot become orange unless
it first become white. In like manner,
the Rosary says that nothing can be-
come gold that has not first been silver.
He who knows how to convert gold into
silver, also knows how to convert silver
into gold. Gold, to become silver, must
first be corrupted and made black, and
there is no method of becoming yellow
except by way of white ; in the same
way the white must become red by way
of yellow. Heat, acting on moisture,
causes blackness ; acting on dryness,
especially if it be continued carefully and
unceasingly, there is developed true
whiteness ; out of white comes yellow,
and out of yellow a pernianent and
tinging ruby colour.

The Theatre of Tertestrial Astronomy. 145

An old man in a tunic stands by a
furnace, one tower of which is open, and
in the urinal of the other is a purple
Sun.

146

Edward Kelly :

A King, like a Pontiff, in a
purple robe, sits on the throne, and at
his feet kneel the Sun and Moon, with
the five planets ; behind the King stands
an old man with uncovered head.

The Circles are : i, Black ; 2, Blue ;
3, Red; 4, Golden; 5, Ruddy; 6, White ;
7, Argentine, with the sign of the Moon.

The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. 147

The Circle is black, white, blue,
red, yellow, tawny, blue ; in the Cross
are the Sun and Moon, The lower
Circle is blue, and contains a quad-
rangle of red, blue, black, and white.
The triangle is black, blue, and red,
and in its centre are the Sun and Moon.

END.

INDEX.

Adam, Ii6.

Agent, the one inward, 84, 85.
Alchemy, 39.

Anaxagoras, 71.

Anthology of Secrets, 35.
Antimony, 20 ; Antimony and
the Stars, 21 ; Water of, 97.
Aquafortis, 23, 96, 97.

Aristotle, 29, 34, 39, 40, 47.
Arnold de Villa Nova, 16, 36.
Art of Alchemy, 20, 29, 31, 32,
36, 49-

Asafcetida, 51.

Ascanius, 35.

Astratus, 38.

Augmentation, 50.

Avicenna, 19, 23, 35, 41, 47, 49.
Azoth, 43, 134.

Bernard of Trevisa, 17, 21, 25,
3i. 36, 131-
Black Raven, 140.

Book of Three Words, 28, 29.

Calcination, 81.

Calid, 34, 46, 71.

Chambar, 21.

Chaos, 8, II.

Circulation, 97.

Code of Truth, 16, 21.

Conjunction, 28, 135, 137.

Correction of Fools, 19, 30, 37.

Corrosive Waters, 22.

Dantius, 33.

Democritus, 36.

Dissolution, 49.

Divine Ternary, 117.

Dragon, 42, 127, 129.

Eagle, 142.

Earth, a principle of Minerals,
7 ; generic Earth, 8 ; as a
First Matter, 12 ; Earth and
combustible Sulphur, ib. ;
Earth as a vesture of Metals,
14 ; Earth and Impregnation,
49 ; Earth of the Sages, 50 ;
fixation of Earth, 5 1 ; quali-
ties of Earth, 67.

Egg of the Sages, 93, 97.

Elements, active and passive,
9. II-

Elixir, white and red, 24 ; per-
fect Elixir, 36 ; composition
of, 39, 41 ; fixation of, 51.

Emerald Table, 60.

Ethelia, 44.

150

htdex.

Erimenus, 44.

Exposition of the Letter to King
Alexander, 37.

Ferment, 28, 39, 43, 49, 132.

Fermentation, 80, 81.

Fire of the Sages, 127.

First Matter of Minerals, 12, 61.

First Matter of the Stone, 71.

Fixed Water, 45.

Four Elements, 8, 9, 62, 67,
68, 120.

Four Qualities, 8, 62.

Galienus, 33.

Gold and Silver, as mature and
immature Metals, 13 ; mascu-
line perfection of Gold, ib. ;
feminine perfection of Silver,
14; Transmutation of Metals
into Gold, 15 ; what Gold is,
17 ; how Gold and Silver are
influenced by the Water of
the Sages, 27 ; the Stone in
connection with Gold and
Silver, 29 ; digestion of Mer-
cury into Gold, 31 ; power of
Mercury over Gold, 32 ;
Tincture of Gold and Silver,
37 ; union of Gold and Silver,
39 ; connection of Silver and
Gold, 40 ; dissolution of Gold
and Silver, 41 ; their tinging
powers, 42 ; purity of their
Mercury, 46 ; presence of
their principle in inferior
Metals, 74, 75 ; all inferior

Metals potentially Gold, 78 ;
the 27 methods of extracting
Mercury from Gold, 81 ;
Gold and the Magistery, 97 ;
Gold and the Tincture, 98 ;
Potable Gold, 100, loi, 102,

103, 104 ; constituents of
Gold, 13 1 ; form of Gold,
132 ; Soul of Gold, 133 ;
interconversion of Gold and
Silver, 144 ; see also 52, 73,
79, 124-

Gratianus, 31, 48.

Great Arcanum, 39, 51.

Green Lion, 51, 127, 129.

Hermaphroditic Water, 51.
Hermes, 32. 35, 36, 38, 40, 60,
1 16, 1 17.

Jupiter, 20, 52, 73, 75, 76, 77,
81, 89, 90.

Ladder of the Sages, 26, 42.
Eaton, 31, 43, 47, 48, 134.

Lili of the Philosophers, 126.
Light of Lights, 42.

Lunaria, 127.

Magistery, 28, 33, 35, 41, 43,
44, 45, 46, 50, 74, 80, 81, 84,
85, 97, 138, 142-
Magnesia, 27.

Male and Female, ii, 27, 33,
35, 39, 41, 48, 13s, 140.
Mansions of the Moon, 81.
Mars, 73, 75, 76, 81, 89, 91,

104,

Index.

Marsilius Ficinus, 135.

Matter of Metals, 17, 19.

May Dew, 127.

Medicine of Metals, 15, 33, 36,
39, 41, 68, 126.

Menabadus, 34.

Menaletes, 27.

Menstrual Water of the Moon,
96.

Menstruum, 85, 86, 87.

Mercury, digested into Metals,
13 ; the powder of the Stone
is Mercury, 15; Mercury the
First Matter of Metals, 16,
17, 121, 124; Gold is

Quicksilver, i8 ; all metals
generated in Mercury, 19,
20 ; Maltreatment of Mer-
cury, 21, 22 ; cold and humid
nature of Quicksilver, 23 ;
that which makes Metals
fusible, 24 ; Mercury receives
homogeneous substances, 25 ;
care required in purifying
Quicksilver, 25, 26 ; Quick-
silver the Solvent of Sages,
27, 28; Mercury the quick-
ening power of Gold, 28 ;
Mercury the first body, 29 ;
Quicksilver the root of Al-
chemy, 30 ; Mercury a spirit,
31 ; the second part of the
Stone, ib. ; the praise of
Mercury, 32 ; Mercury and
the Tinctures, 37 ; Quick-
silver and the great Arcanum,
39 ; conjunction of Gold and

'SI

Silver by means of Mercury,
42 ; Quicksilver is Azoth, 43 ;
the Mercurial Stone, 44 ;
Separation of the elements
by Mercury, 45 ; where
pure philosophical Mercury is
found, 46 ; Mercury and
Copper, 47, 48 ; Ethelia is
Quicksilver, 48 ; Mercury and
Philosophical Earth, 49 ; ani-
mated Quicksilver and the
form of Mercury, 52, 53 ;
Mercury and Quicksilver, 61 ;
Mercury and the foundation
of Minerals, 64, 123; what
constitutes Mercury, 65 ; fun-
damental element of Mercury,
66 ; animation of Mercury, 67;
effects of Mercury, 69 ; Mercury
exists in animals, vegetables,
and minerals, 70 ; Mercury
the matter of the Stone, 71 ;
common and philosophical
Mercury, 72 ; Quicksilver
and the planet Mercury, 73 ;
the Mercury needed by phil-
osophy, 74 ; action of fire on
Mercury, 77; derivations of
Mercury, 81 ; distillation of
Mercury, 85 ; Mercury and
the Moon, 86 ; liquefaction
of Mercury, 89 ; reduction of
Metals into Quicksilver, 90 ;
Mercury and the Menstrual
Water of Gold, 91 ; trans-
mutation of Mercury into
Gold, 97 ; transmutation of

152

Index.

Elements into Mercury, 125 ;
Mercury and Conjunction,

135 ; substance of Mercury,

136 ; Mercury the female
Menstruum, 140 ; see also
98, 99, loi, 103, 105, 106,
107-110, 131, 142.

Mercurial Water, 23, 127, 128.
Minera, 62.

Minerals, principle of, 7.

Mirror of Alchemy, 36.
Morienus, 43, 47, 71.

Nature, her three-fold division, 7.
Noah, 1 1 6.

Oil of Lead. 100.

Oil of Mercury, 103, 106.

Oil of the Moon, 96.

Pandulphus, 45.

Peacock’s Tail, 140.

Peter of Zalentum, 44.
Philosopher’s Stone, 15, 28, 29,
31, 41, 43, 44, 45,49, 52, 71,
80, 81, 84, 86, 93, 94, 120,
141.

Plato, 35, 40, 44, 57.

Potable Gold, 100.

Putrefaction, 138.

Quaternary, 117.

Quicksilver, see Mercury.

Raven’s Head, 1 14, 138.
Ravilacius, 85.

Raymond Lully, 71, 85, 95.
Rhasis, 33, 45.

Ripley, 95, loi.

Rosary, 25, 31, 36, 39, 44, 144.

Rosinus, 28, 37, 46.

Royal Water, 97, 98.

Royal Way, 8r.

Saliatic Whirlpool, 94.

Salt, 26, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 127.

Saturn, 48, 73, 75, 77, 81, 86,
87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 98,
100, 104, 105.

Senior, 29, 38.

Silver, see Gold and Silver.

Solar Seed, 134.

Solution, 27, 28, 87.

Sounding of the Trumpet 18, 19,
29. 32, 35. 40, 43. 44-

Sperm of Metals, 18, 22, 77.

Sulphur, combustible, 12 ; Sul-
phur and the Generation of
Metals, 17 ; incombustible
Sulphur, 19, 124, 142 ;

vapour of Sulphur, 20; Sul-
phur of Nature, 33 ; Sulphur
and the great Arcanum, 39 ;
white and red Sulphur, 44,
95 ; Sulphur as a first sub-
stance of Minerals, 64 ;
whether Mercury contains
Sulphur, 65, 66 ; formation
of Sulphur, 67 ; Sulphur and
the Secret Medicine, 68,
69 ; animals, vegetables, and
minerals contain Sulphur,
70; outward form of Sulphur,
71 ; inherent Sulphur of Mer-
cury, 72 ; Sulphur a mineral

hidex.

153

earth, 121 ; living Sulphur,
123 j Sulphur transmutes the
First Matter, 125 ; Sulphur
and the form of Gold, 13 1 ;
Sulphur and Conjunction,
135 ; Sulphur of Nature, 136 ;
Sulphur the male seed, 140.

Sun and Moon, 31, 37, 38, 40,
51. 53> 75- 77, 86, 88, 89, 95,
133. 135-

Terra Damnata, 104, 105.

Three Principles, 8.

Tincture, 15, 24, 37, 39, 41, 43,
81, 128, 131.

Treasury of the Sages, 42.

Trycsitrock, 104, 105.

Turba Pliilosphorum, 16, 20,
27, 28, 38.

Universal Sperm, 71.

Venus, 73, 75, 76, 77, 81, 89,
90, 91.

Virgin’s Milk, 127, 142.

Viscous Water, 7, 12, 14.
Vitrification, 26.

Way of Ways, 18, 43.

Xiphilinus, 143.

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