by
LAPIDUS Additions and Extractions by STEPHEN SKINNER
First published in the United States in 1976 by SAMUEL WEISER, INC. 734 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 Lapidus 1976
Nature
Hidden deep in the heart of things,
Thou carest for growth and life.
The seed becomes shoot, the bud a blossom,
the flower becomes fruit.
Tired I slept on my idle bed
in the illusion that the work had an end.
In the morning I awoke to find
That my garden was full of flowers.
Rabindranath Tagore |
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about
nature.
St. Augustine, A.D. 353 |
Contents
Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter 1.
The Confusion of Alchemy
2.
Sophic Fire 3.
The Secret Book 4.
The Wisdom of Artephius 5.
The Secrets of Antimony
6.
The Green Lion 7.
The Red Man and his White Wife
8.
The Journey through the Twelve Gates
9.
Consummation of the Hermetic Marriage
10.
The Use of the Stone 11.
Sulphur and Salt 12.
Vade Mecum
Appendix
I.
Paracelsus’ Answers II.
Equipment III.
Signs and Symbols
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Multimedia
"
Alchemy in Theory and Practice" - by LAPIDUS
Illustrations
The pictures displayed in this book are taken from an illustrated treatise
by Michael Maier, an artist in alchemy, published in 1618, under the title Atalanta Fugiens, and printed in Latin. There are fifty beautiful copper
engravings, showing much detail, which are symbolic pictures of the
different aspects of the art of alchemy, that are said to be “accommodated
partly to the eyes, and partly to the understanding “.
Only a few of these plates, the most helpful, have been introduced here. In
the original work, the pictures are not in any special order, therefore a
few guiding remarks have been added under each picture, by the present
author, which may make them more useful to the interested student. These
pictures, it must be remembered, are nothing more than the fanciful
imaginations of an artistic author whose intention was to simultaneously
reveal and conceal the secrets of alchemy. Indeed, such mixed intentions are
quite a common thing in alchemical literature.
To watch the pictures
presentation
, "click"
HERE
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Introduction
Owing to the disparagement cast on the art of alchemy in modern times by
those who have failed to unearth its secrets, it has been by-passed by
science, and has become obscured to the point where few people even clearly
understand what it stands for. If asked what is alchemy, the short answer
might be the search for the “Philosophers’ Stone”. This, however, is no
stone, but a powder with the power to transmute base metals into gold or
silver.
Thousands of books have been written on the subject throughout the
centuries, in many languages and in many parts of the world. It may possibly
be conjectured that this is how the unfortunate Incas of Peru produced such
great quantities of gold; or again it may be hazarded that from the same
source came the gold with which King Solomon decorated his temple so
lavishly in biblical times.
The “Philosophers’ Stone” was also called the “Elixir of Life”, which has
the virtue of being able to cure any of the diseases of mankind, thus
assuring perfect health and a longevity far beyond the normal span that is
hoped for by man.
Artephius, an alchemist of the twelfth century, wrote in his treatise
entitled The Secret Book that up to that time he had already lived a
thousand years by aid of the Elixir. Among others famed for longevity in
more modern times, there was the mysterious Count de St. Germain, who never
appeared to grow older in appearance. In the seventeenth century, King
Frederick the Great named him, “ the man who does not die”. These men were
always known to flit from one country to another to preserve their identity
and conceal their secret, to prevent their lives from being endangered. Why,
in spite of so much literature on alchemy, are we still in the dark with
regard to its processes? The simple answer is that there is hardly a
treatise among the many thousands that can be clearly understood. The men
who wrote them were always in fear of the dangers that would inevitably
follow anyone rash enough to expose his knowledge too frankly. Human greed
has always been a deterrent against open declarations of success in the art,
and therefore the philosophers thought it best either to remain silent,
which many did, or else record their knowledge in the curious symbolic forms
which each decided for himself; and what a chaos and babel has ensued from
all these treatises! It is from such writings that today we derive the word
“gibberish”, coming as it does from works by the eighth century Arabian
adept known as Geber, who wrote the truth in a fashion that few can follow.
Because of this confusion, alchemy will not lightly open her doors to the
dilettante. The treatises are full of stumbling blocks, blinds, misleading
statements, important keys left out and lies put in: many names are given to
one thing and one name given to many things. There are also many books
written by ignorant rogues who battened on greedy rich men to trick the
money out of their coffers.
It is important to remember that, if alchemy is a true science, and an art
mastered by men of past ages, who were simple-minded by comparison with
present knowledge and standards of research, how much easier ought it to be
today to uncover all their secrets with our resources, equipment and
materials. However there must be some prior belief in the feasibility of
attaining the goal sought, for without this, one could not persevere
undaunted. Although admittedly not easy to discover, many adepts in alchemy
wrote that the art was really quite easy and, when once known, “child’s play
and woman’s work”. One cannot help arriving at the conclusion that the very
simplicity of the work may have been the chief cause of the failure of so
many brilliant workers in this field. Among the secrets that were lacking
was the knowledge of the correct timing and heating techniques.
It is worthwhile to again attempt the unravelling of this great problem. In
many ways we today have many advantages and facilities which they sorely
lacked. For example, their fairly primitive furnaces which were heated with
charcoal, wood, and less savoury fuels, were difficult to control at a
constant temperature over long periods of time, whereas our modern
thermostatically controlled hot-plates are able to carry on this task
continuously without some one constantly in attendance. Again, the
measurement of temperatures was another difficulty as the men of old
depended upon feeling with their hands or using hot sand, water baths and
such like; all of which means nothing to us in these days of thermometers
and thermostats.
Modern science has not yet reached the state of all knowledge, and those
secrets of nature that are known are indeed still a very minute part of the
whole. In the long-lived family of metals there are still many potential
secrets, undreamed of by man, remaining to be discovered. It is therefore
unwise, to say the least, to deny the basis for this lost art, because the
road to it has not yet been systematically investigated.
Many godfearing men, who had nothing to gain by deception, testified on
their death-beds to the truth of alchemy. Moreover, they confirmed that they
had completed the work more than once themselves and furthermore that anyone
could do it, at any time and anywhere, at very little cost. They also wrote
that, because of its simplicity, fools would ridicule the art, were the
materials and processes to become known. They concealed what they knew, so
that alchemy should not become common property. Thus, for the present the
secrets are concealed, but not irretrievably lost. It is the intention of
this book to raise the aura of complexity from alchemical writings, and once
again restore the interest of enterprising minds in the subject.
It is proposed to examine only a few treatises, those which are the most
lucid, sincere and genuine. Every endeavour will be made to explain and
illuminate these writings, most of which are very rare (although some have
been reprinted, and the rest may still be found in the British Museum
Library). They were written often in Latin by masters who asserted they had
themselves completed the work. Other less helpful works will be ignored to
avoid confusing the student.
It is generally imagined by those who are rather vague about the subject
that alchemy has some connection with occultism, yoga or witchcraft, and
possibly magical practices; and booksellers quite often group alchemical
books with these subjects together on their bookshelves. This idea is
altogether erroneous. Alchemy has no connection whatsoever with these
matters except that their practitioners sometimes also pursued alchemy. To
suppose this is to make nonsense of all alchemical writings, for it is a
purely chemical knowledge. Indeed, what has salt, sulphur and mercury, the
three principles of the art, to do with religion or spiritual thought? It is
well known that the art has been equated with religious or psychological
ideas by some people who have failed to understand the treatises, and still
persist in trying to read these meanings into the writings.
“Our principles know it is but one, and that is in metals. Even those metals
which you may buy commonly, the best of them; you must be a master and not
just a scholar, namely as it is wisely said in Norton: ‘To know how to
destroy their whole composition, that some of their components may help in
the conclusion’.”
Take good notice of what was said by Norton in 1678 in the above quotation
from Ripley Revived. During past ages everything under the sun has been
tried out by ignoramuses in their attempts to produce the Philosophers’
Stone. Again, from the above-mentioned book, to emphasize the obvious:
“This is according to nature, and it is the true ground of all generation,
for out of kind, nothing doth engender; a man begetteth a man, not a lion;
nor doth a lion beget a sheep; a rose does not beget a thorn, nor a nettle a gilliflower; and 60 if need be, I could particularly demonstrate it
throughout all vegetables, minerals. and animal bodies; but it is so plain a
thing, that I need say no more, and leave it as the foundation stone on
which you shall build whatever you intend.”
Several metals are mentioned in alchemical works, with a number of names
attached to them, planetary and otherwise, of which the planetary were in
most common use. Here they are given so that they may be recognised later
on.
-
Gold Sol, sun, the greater luminary, the king.
-
Silver Moon, luna, the lesser luminary, the queen.
-
Copper Venus.
-
Lead Saturn.
-
Tin Jupiter.
-
Iron Mars.
-
Mercury Quicksilver, metalline water.
There is one other metal which is not very common and which will be
discussed later in this book, namely Antimony.
That which has been outlined in this introduction has been beautifully
summed up in the opening paragraph to the treatise attributed to Hermes
entitled The Golden Tract included in the composite book known as the
Hermetic Museum first published in 1678.
“Ancient as well as modern philosophers, most beloved reader, and devoted
seeker after true wisdom, when through the Grace of God they reached the
goal of their desires, have endeavoured to make their discovery known to
their fellow inquirers in all parts of the world-not only because they
wished to inform them that the thrice great and good God had enlightened
their minds, blessed the labour of their hands, and shown to them the
greatest and most profound secret of earthly wisdom (for which benefit all
praise, honour and glory are justly due to Him) but also that they might
afford assistance to beginners in the art, by which they too might attain to
the knowledge of this most holy mystery. Such men there have been in all
countries; among the Egyptians, Hermes Trismegistus holds the highest place;
then come Chal deans, Greeks, Arabs, Italians, Gauls, Englishmen, Dutchmen,
Spaniards, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Hebrews and many others. Though the
aforementioned sages wrote in different times, and in different languages,
yet their works exhibit so marvellous an agreement, that any true
philosopher may easily see that all their hearts have been gladdened by God
in the discovery of this stone, and that they all had perform407,452 work
with their own hands. Now, as the truth of their views is perceived by their
agreement, so the disagreement of certain others marks them as false
philosophers. For not knowing the foundation of this glorious art, and
making up fanciful theories out of their own minds, they exhibit their
ignorance to all”.
Back
Chapter 1. The Confusion of Alchemy
So much has been written about alchemy during past centuries that everything
possible that could have been said about the subject has been reiterated
again and again in a multitude of ways. Therefore it is not surprising that
this has resulted in the complete secret art being exposed many times over,
although of course never in any one treatise. Infact, some adepts in alchemy
have written so many treatises that, from these alone, one may gather the
whole secret if their works are properly pieced together in an orderly
fashion. But only with experiment may one find enough clues in one author’s
writings to build up a complete picture, cast out the blinds and pit falls,
and realise that, after all, the art is not so difficult. Although spread
chaotically over thousands of volumes, it will indeed emerge that in one
page only in a book, the whole theory and practice of the art of alchemy
could lie revealed.
Notwithstanding, the reader is warned against haphazard reading of
alchemical books, for this will lead to mental confusion, and finally
desperation of ever learning anything. Once started on alchemical research
however, this becomes a great temptation and a bad fault. One tends to read
voraciously any alchemical book that comes to hand. This one book, closely
studied, is however all that is necessary for practical experiment.
Every treatise on alchemy is so artfully written that at every reading a
different conception arises in the mind: what seemed so clear and helpful
yesterday will seem an utter misconception tomorrow and thus it often
transpires that a correct understanding is replaced by an error. A
well-known modern scientist who had actually written books on alchemy which
were mainly quotations and commentary, albeit in fragmentary form, when
asked by the present author why he had not experimented himself, sadly
remarked, “If I only knew what materials to take in hand to commence with, I
would gladly do so.” The books by this author are now on library shelves
along with many others, all filled with quotations and commentary which lead
the readers nowhere, since the modern authors know nothing of practical
alchemy.
The metallurgist’s outlook on metals differs greatly from the alchemist’s
view. The latter looks upon metals as living things while they are still
unmade into some permanent form, in just the same manner as a farmer will
look upon corn before it is made into bread Both contain the seed of growth.
Under varying conditions, this seed can be transformed by nature, or it may
fail, but it is always nature that does this work. The farmer knows the
differing conditions by which plants may be made to multiply, and the
alchemist likewise must know what treatment the metals demand from nature to
give forth their special and characteristic result, and the virtues of the
right metal needed to produce the Philosophers’ Stone. Although the
techniques of the old masters of alchemical science were not quite up to the
standard of today’s scientists, they were aware of many secrets that for the
present are completely lost. Even so modern chemistry has much for which to
thank them.
Now to properly understand how the alchemist’s mind worked, it’s necessary
to know that he believed that metals have a life of their own, equal to
animals and vegetables. This being so, since in every department of nature
there is a constant progression of birth, growth and increase, this natural
evolutionary law applies to metals as well. Otherwise one may ask quite
logically, why should nature stop at metals? Alchemists maintain that nature
does not stop at metals. This fact is not immediately obvious owing to the
shortness of human life compared to the long stretches of time necessary for
minerals to gestate and develop imperceptibly those changes in nature which
occur whilst they are in the earth.
The alchemist constantly reiterates the expression that what takes nature a
thousand years, he can bring about in a very short time. Following from this
alchemical axiom was the idea that everything living consisted of earth and
water. Fire and air were the two other elements which made up their four
elements, but these latter two we can ignore for the moment.
Metals, they stated, were made from earth and water, but this water was a “
dry water, which did not wet the hand “. We must take good notice of this
claim, for here lies one of the main stumbling blocks. Here you are
presented with the first great secret and problem. Their dry water was not
water so much as the vapour given off by metals and, this being hard to come
by, was a secret so deeply hidden that men spent their whole lives
experimenting without ever discovering it.
The first work of the alchemist was to reduce the solids into liquid or
water and, again, the water into solids. “Dissolve and coagulate” was the
old axiom of alchemical practice. The solids became a slime, or liquid, and
the slime or liquid was thickened into solids again. Thus the artificer
dissolved and congealed or coagulated, and mixed the atoms of various
principles into one neutral matter, or third thing rarely mentioned, and
when mentioned it was called mercury. This mercury disarmed everyone who
thought it was just ordinary mercury.
All this work was carried out in a natural manner; no fires or furnaces like
the metallurgist uses. The masters said of fire that it kills the life in
metals even as corn made into bread is not fit for planting in the earth to
grow again.
One point now must finally be made clear; alchemy does not mean the art of
making gold or silver, or precious stones for that matter, since these
latter are also possible by the same processes, for man cannot make or
create anything that is nature’s work. What man may do, provided he has the
requisite knowledge, is to change things from one form into another, but not
out of their genus, which is quite a different matter. To make this clearer,
it may be trite to say that man cannot make a tree, yet he may grow one from
seed-but this seed must first be found and planted in the correct manner, in
a place and condition suitable to nature’s demands. Likewise, he can only
produce gold and silver by transmuting other metals into these, and the
“know-how” is known as alchemy.
As for the Elixir of Life, conferring immortality is the prerogative of God
alone, but to quote from an old book:
“By virtue of this quintessence, Artephius testifieth that he lived above a
thousand years; Flamel also recordeth it, that it triumptheth over all the
miseries of the world, Laznioro is more bold, and saith, that if in the
agonies of death, a man should taste but a grain of it, all mortal
pestilence would depart from him.”
As already pointed out, the first difficulty to be met with in alchemical
writings has always been the multiplicity of names for most items, purposely
invented to mislead. Conversely many different things are called by the same
name; for example, as soon as one approaches the art, promptly the name
“Mercury” appears. One finds it a prominent term in all the literature on
alchemy. This mercury has been permutated and juggled with in a thousand
different treatises. They have called it a dry water, which will not wet the
hand, and a metalline water, which can destroy metals, and mixes with them
all in varying degrees. As is generally known, these facts can be said about
ordinary mercury or quicksilver, yet to all the adepts in the art this
latter is disdained and is not used.
Their mercury, they warn, must be
prepared and is permanently fixed, not to be separated from any metal once
it is joined to it. Ordinary or vulgar mercury, as they term it, will
however volatilise or run out of amalgams when heat is applied. Thus we must
conclude that although vulgar mercury fits their description perfectly, yet
it would be an error to use this. This problem will be dealt with later in
this book. Besides a number of other types of “mercury”, many of which will
in time give a hint as to what their mercury really is, are mentioned in the
following quotations so that the tyro coming across them will be familiarised with the various usages of the word.
They say it is a metal, water, vinegar; at different times, blood and blood
red, milk and milky white like cream, silvery, clear, or opaque. Were they
being deliberately misleading, or were all these descriptions the truth? No
wonder their child’s play became a great mystery! In fact, each of these
names could describe what the matter in the flask appeared like during the
processes that took place at various stages of the alchemical process. The
Secret book by Artephius presented later in this book will help solve this
difficulty to a great extent.
There is another important item of which to take note. When the alchemists speak of “Our Gold” or “Our Mercury” or “Philosopher’s Mercury”, they are really speaking of metals that they have processed as, for example, corn made into flour, might be termed “Our Corn”, thus indicating that the item referred to was not in its original state,
If all this seems complicated, the reader may be assured that it is not so;
patience and perseverence are all that are needed and everything will fall
into place and become clear. Skimming over anything, or turning to the end
pages will not help at all, for like any other science, alchemy demands
careful study, and a careful grasp of what is explained. These preliminary
explanations will later make every thing clearer, and the determined
alchemist will save many long years of wasteful experiments, and money.
Before drawing too near to those treatises whose importance consists in
seeming plainly written, with apparently full instructions both in theory
and practice, we would like to present the explanatory treatise by
Philalethes entitled A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby. It may further
help the reader to grasp the import of what follows in the rest of the book.
This work is also abridged. A Brief Guide is one of many treatises to be
found in the Hermetic Museum published in 1678 in two volumes. It may be of
interest to know that these two volumes have- been republished in facsimile
in 1893,1953 and 1973; and there the reader will find the treatise in full.
A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE CELESTIAL RUBY
by Eirenaeus Philalethes
“The Philosophers’ Stone is a certain heavenly, spiritual, penetrative, and
fixed substance, which brings all metals to the perfection of gold and
silver, and that by natural methods, which yet in their effects transcend
nature.
“It is prepared from one substance, of which the art of chemistry is
conversant, to which nothing is added, and from which nothing is taken away,
except that its superfluities are removed. [The superfluities are a useless
sediment.]
“No one will question the utility of our art, if he believes that it enables
us to transmute base metals into gold. That base metals are capable of such
transmutation, is clear; nature has destined them all to become gold, but
they have not been properly matured. If then that which hinders their
perfect digestion be removed, they will all become gold; for crude, cold,
and moist mercury is the common first substance of gold as well as of other
metals. Hence all other metals may be perfected into gold by the aid of our
art, which being projected upon imperfect metals, has power to quicken the
maturing process by as much as itself exceeds the standard maturity of gold.
How potent then must be the spiritual nature of our stone, which can effect
more in one hour by a bare projection than nature in the course of the ages.
“If that substance which nature supplies be taken in hand by art, dissolved,
coagulated and digested, its perfection is increased from a monadic to a
denary virtue; by repeating the same process, it is increased a
hundred-fold, and then a thousand-fold, etc. This wonderful medicine
penetrates each smallest part of the base metal in proportion of 1 to 1000,
and tinges them through and through with its noble nature. A reproach is
sometimes levelled at our art, as though it claimed the power of creating
gold; every attentive reader will know that it only arrogates to itself the
power of developing through the removal of all defects and superfluities,
the golden nature, which the baser metals possess in common with that highly
digested metalline substance.
“Those foolish people who seek for the substance of our stone outside the
domain of metals will never arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. For as a
lion is always born of a lion and a man of a man, so all things owe their
birth to that which they are like. Thus you see that the stone which is to
be the transformer of metals into gold must be sought in the precious
metals, in which it is enclosed and contained. It is called a stone by
virtue of its fixed nature, and it resists the action of the fire as
successfully as any stone. In species, it is gold, more pure than the
purest; it is fixed and incombustible like a stone, but its appearance is
that of a very fine powder, impalpable to the touch, fragment as to smell,
in potency a most penetrative spirit, apparently dry, and yet unctuous, and
easily capable of tingeing a plate of metal.
“How is this stone to be obtained? It does not exist in nature, but has to
be prepared by art, in obedience to nature’s law. Its substance is in
metals, but in form it differs widely from them; and in this sense, the
metals are not our stone. It is necessary then to reduce metallic bodies to
their homogeneous water which does not wet the hands, and that from this
water there may be generated a new metallic species, which is nobler by far
than any existing metal, viz., our Celestial Ruby.
“The whole process which we employ closely resembles that followed by nature
in the bowels of the earth, except that it is much shorter. Nature produces
the metals out of cold and humid mercury, and by assiduous digestion; our
art takes the same crude and humid mercury, and conjoins it with mature
gold, by a secret artifice; the mixture represents a new and far more potent
mercury which by digestion, becomes not common gold, but one more noble,
which can transmute imperfect metals into pure gold.
“Thus you see though our stone is made of gold alone, yet it is not common
gold; the latter must be dissolved in our mineral water which does not wet
the hands; this water is mercury, extracted from the red servant, and is
capable of accomplishing our work without any further trouble. It is the one
true natural first substance, to which nothing is added, and from which
nothing is subtracted, except certain superfluities, which however it will
cast off without any aid by its own inherent vital action.
“Consider these signs, that which dissolves is spirit; that which coagulates
is body. A body cannot enter a body so as to cause dissolution, but a spirit
can enter it, attenuate, and clarify it. For every agent has a tendency to
assimilate to itself that which it acts upon, and every natural effect is
conformed to the nature of the efficient; hence water is necessary if you
would extract water from earth.
“ When I speak of water, I do not mean aquafortis, or any other corrosive
whatsoever, for these waters, instead of dissolving metal only corrode, mar,
and corrupt them, without destroying their old form to which task they are
insufficient, as they are not of a metallic nature. No, our water is the
water of mercury, which dissolves homogeneous metallic bodies, and mingles
with them in indissoluble union, abides with them, is digested with them,
and together with them become the spiritual whole which we seek. For
everything which dissolves a substance naturally, still preserving the
specific properties of the thing dissolved, becomes one with it, coalesces
with it, and is thickened by it, thus nourishing it; as we see in the case
of a grain of wheat, which when dissolved by the humid earthy vapour,
thereby takes up that vapour as its radical moisture, and grows together
with it into a plant.
“Common gold, if mixed with common mercury, or anything except its own
essential, is not dissolved, because such waters are too crude, cold and
impure; for which reason, being utterly unlike gold, they cannot amalgamate
with it, or attain with it to a far nobler degree of development. Our
mercury, indeed, is cold and unmatured, in comparison with gold, but it is
pure hot and well digested in respect of common mercury, which resembles it
only in whiteness and fluxibility. Our mercury is in fact a pure water,
clean, clear, bright, and resplendent, worthy of all admiration.
“Our stone is produced from one thing, and four mercurial substances, of
which one is mature; the others pure but crude, two of them being extracted
in a wonderful manner from their ore by means of the third. The four are
amalgamated by the intention of a gentle fire, and there subjected to
conction day by day, until all become one by natural, and not manual
conjunction.
“Afterwards the fire being changed, these volatile substances should be
fixed and digested by means of heat which becomes a little more powerful
every day, (i.e., by means of fixed and incombustible sulphur of the same
genus) until the whole compound attains to the same essence, fixity and
colour.
“There are many degrees or phases of this our process, which I may describe
as follows. The first is calcination. Calcination is the first purgation of
the stone, the drying up of its humours, through its natural heat, which is
stirred into vital action by the eternal heat of water, whereby the compound
is converted into a black powder, which is yet unctuous and retains its
radical humour. This calcination is performed for the purpose of rendering
the substance viscous, spongy, and more especially penetratable; for gold in
itself is highly fixed, and difficult of solution even in our water, but
through this calcination, it becomes soft and white, and we observe it in
its two natures, the fixed and the volatile, which we liken to two serpents.
In order that a full dissolution may be made, there is need of contrition,
that the calcination may afterwards produce a viscous state, when it will be
fit for dissolution.
“ When the substances are first mixed, they are at enmity with each other,
by reason of their contrary qualities, for there is the heat and dryness of
the sulphur fiercely contending with the cold .and moisture of the mercury.
They can only be reconciled in a medium which partakes of both natures, and
the medium in which heat and cold are reconciled is dryness which can
co-exist with both. Thus cold and heat are brought to dwell peaceably
together in the dryness of the earth, and the dryness and the moisture in
the coldness of the water.
“Its sufficient cause is the action of the inward heat upon the moisture,
whereby everything that resists it is converted into a very fine powder; the
moving and instrumental cause is the fire contrary to nature, which being
hidden in our solvent water, battles with its moisture, and digests it into
a viscous or unctuous powder.
“Calcination then is the beginning of the work, and without it there can be
neither peaceable commixtion, nor proper union. The first dealbation reduces
the substance to its two principles, sulphur and mercury; the first of which
is fixed, while the other is volatile. They are compared to two serpents,
the fixed substance to a serpent without wings, and the volatile substance
to a serpent with wings. One serpent holds in his mouth the tail of the
other, to show that they are indissolubly conjoined by community of birth
and destiny, and that our art is accomplished by the joint working of this
mercurial sulphur, and sulphureous mercury. Hence the whole compound is at
this stage called ‘Rebis’, because they are two substances, but only one
essence. They are not really two, but one and the same thing.”
Here you have another straightforward account of the first process of
alchemy leading on to the beginning of the second. This is all the present
author intends to present of the Brief Guide, for to give more at this
juncture is but to lead to confusion. There is a good deal more, but its
involved nature, much of which is padding, is best left alone until one is
more advanced.
Perhaps it would help to recapitulate what has been said in the above work.
Understand then that the alchemist takes four mercurial substances, namely
four metals, as these are all alleged to have mercury as their base, and he
reduces them to their two fundamental principles. In other words, we gather
that most important secret that the end of the first process delivers into
our hands two products made from the chaos or mixture of the four, and these
are named sulphur and mercury. Take good notice now that really we have only
one mass of matter, which may be easily divided into two, the sulphur and
the mercury.
This sulphur and mercury are the elements with which all the books of the
philosophers busy themselves. In the above Brief Guide it is revealed to the
reader that here we have the “Rebis” or two things, so often mentioned, and
we are also introduced to the two serpents constantly met with in the
writings of the adepts. More than this, they are often referred to as “our
gold and silver”; the latter is also termed “our mercury” because basically
the sulphur is red in colour, and the mercury white; they are also called
the red man and his white wife. Other names include Sun and Moon, king and
queen, earth and water, male and female, and a few animals’ names besides.
Be ready therefore to recognize this pair whenever they are met with in
alchemical literature.
To a great extent we have now cleared the ground of a good many blinds,
stumbling blocks and misconceptions. This will bear fruit when we come to
examine a complete treatise on the art of alchemy.
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