hedged with infinite briars and we have made a Vow unto God and Equity that we would never in naked words declare each Regimen for I can assure you upon my credit that I have in other things discovered the truth plainly Take then that ☿ which I have described and unite with Sol to which 't is most friendly and in seven moneths in our true Regimen of heat thou shalt for certain see all which thou desirest or in nine moneths or ten at the most but our ☽ in its full thou shalt see in five moneths And these are the true periods of this 🜠out of which by reiterate decoction thou shalt have our Stone and permanent Tinctures through the grace of God to whom be all glory and honour for ever CHAP. 20. Of the appearing of Blackness in the Work of Sol and Luna IF thou shalt work in Sol or ☽ to our 🜠in them consider if you see this matter like to paste and to boyl like unto water or rather like to melted pitch for our Sol and ☿ have an emblematical Type in Sol vulgar joyned with and decocted in our ☿ When thou hast kindled thy Furnace wait for the space of 20 dayes and nights in which time thou shalt observe divers colours and about the end of the fourth week if the fire be continual thou shalt see a most amiable greenness which will be seen for about ten dayes less or more then rejoyce for without doubt in a short time thou shalt see it like unto a coal in blackness and all the members of thy Compound shall be turned into Atomes for the Operation is no other than a Resolution of the fixt in that which is not fixt that afterwards both being joyned together may make one matter partly spiritual and partly corporal Therefore saith the Philosopher Take Corascene Dog and Bitch of Armenia joyn them together and they shall beget thee a Son of the colour of the heaven for these Natures in a short decoction shall be turned into a broth like unto the foam of the Sea or like a thick cloud which shall be tinctured with a livid colour and once more I may assure thee that I have not hidden any thing save only the Regimen and this if thou art wise thou shalt easily collect from my Lines Supposing then that thou wilt learn the Regimen Take the Stone which I have told you of before and govern it as you know how and there shall follow these notable things first as soon as our Stone shall feel the fire it shall flow its 🜠and its ☿ together upon the fire like to wax and the 🜠shall be burned and the colour shall change day by day but the ☿ is incombustible only it shall be affected with the colours of the 🜠for a time but it cannot be radically affected therefore it will wash Letton clean from all its filth reiterate the heaven upon the earth so long and so often until the earth receive a spiritual and heavenly nature O blessed Nature which doth that which is impossible for Man to do Therefore when in thy glass thou shalt see thy Natures to be mingled like unto a coagulated and burnt blood know that then the Female is embraced by the Male Therefore after the first stirring up of the Matter expect that in 17 dayes thy two Natures shall be turned into a bloody or fatted Broth which shall be turned round together like unto a thick Cloud or the scum of the Sea as is before said and the colour of it will be exceeding obscure then be sure that the Kingly Child is Conceived and from that time thou shalt see vapours green blew black and yellow in the Air or Fire and at the sides of the Vessel These are those Winds which in the forming of our Embryon are very frequent which are to be kept warily lest they fly out and the Work be destroyed beware also of the Odour lest it happen to exhale at any chink for the vertue of the Stone would thereby get a most notable detriment therefore the Philosopher commands to keep the Vessel close sealed and beware that you do not break off abruptly from the Work neither open nor move the Vessel nor yet intermit the Operation not an hour but continue the Decoction till you see the moisture begin to fail which will be in about thirty dayes then rejoice and rest assured that thou art in the right way Attend the Work vigilantly for in about two weeks from the time thou shalt see the whole earth dry and notably black then is the death of thy Compound at hand the Winds are ceased and all are rest and quietness This is the fatal Ecclipse of the Sun and of the Moon when no light shall shine upon the Earth and the Sea shall vanish then is made our Chaos out of which at the command of God shall proceed all the Miracles of the World in their orders CHAP. 21. Of the Burning of the Flowers and how to prevent it THe burning of the Flowers is an errour of fatal consequence yet soon committed before the Natures which are tender and extracted from their profundity they are oftentimes burnt this errour is chiefly to be heeded after the three weeks for in the beginning there is so much moisture that if the Work be governed by a stronger fire than is convenient it being brittle will not bear the abundance of winds but will suddenly fly in pieces unless the glass be too large and then sure the vapours will be so out of measure dispersed that they will hardly return again to their body at least not so much as is necessary for the refreshment of the Stone But so soon as the earth shall begin to retain part of its water then the vapours decreasing the fire may be strengthened without danger of the Vessel but the Work will nevertheless be destroyed and will have a colour of a wild Poppie and the whole Compound will at length become a dry and unprofitable powder of a half red colour Thou shalt conclude from this sign that thy fire hath been too strong so strong to wit as to hinder true conjunction for know that our Work doth require a true change of Natures which cannot be until an entire union of both Principles be made but they cannot be united but in the form of water for bodies may be confounded or blended together but cannot be united nor yet can any body with a spirit be united per minima but spirits with spirits may well be united therefore our Operations must become Homogeneal Metallick Water the way to which Solution is our foregoing true Calcination which therefore is not an exsiccation properly but a kind grind of water as earth in Atomes which when they become more subtle than the exigencies of the earth requires earth is then actually transmuted into and doth receive the form of Ferment of water but if the fire be too vehement this spiritual Nature being struck
is the Heaven wherein the great Lights together with the Stars are rowled about and it sendeth down its virtues through the Air unto inferior things but in the Beginning all being confounded together made a Chaos Behold I have holily opened to them the truth for our Chaos is as 't were a Mineral Earth in respect of its own coagulation and yet notwithstanding it is indeed volatile Air whithin which the Heaven of the Philosophers is in its Centre which Centre is truly Astral shining upon the Earth with its Beams even to the very superficies And what great one is this that is so wise as to gather from these things that a new King is born more powerful than all the rest a Redeemer of his Brethren from original Defilements for 't was expedient that he died to be exalted aloft that he might give his Flesh and Blood for the Life of the World Good God! How wonderful are these thy Works 'T is thy doing and it seems miraculous in our eyes Father I thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from the Wise and revealed them to Babes CHAP. 6. The Air of the Sophists THe wide Circuit or Firmament called in the Holy Writ Air is likewise called our Chaos and yet not without a great Secret because as the Firmamental Air is the separator of the Waters even so is our Air. Our Work is therefore verily a System of the greater World because as the Waters under the Firmament are to be seen and do appear to us who live upon the Earth but the superior Waters do flie our sight because they are so far distant from us even so is it in our Microcosm the Waters are the Minerals without the Centre these appear but those that are inclosed within do shun our sight and yet really and truly are These are those Waters that the Author of the New Light speaks of viz. Which are and do not appear untill the Artist pleaseth Therefore even as the Air distinguisheth between the Waters so doth our Air prohibit all manner of ingress of the extracentrical waters unto the waters that are in the Centre for should they but enter in and be mixed then would they presently close together with an indissoluble union therefore I say that the external vapours and burning 🜠doth stiffly adhere to our Chaos whose tyranny it being not able to resist the pure flies away from the Fire in the form of a dry powder If thou knewest how to water this dry earth with a water of its own kind thou wilt loosen the pores of the earth and this outward Thief with the workers of Malice will be cast out of doors and the water will be purged by the addition of a true Sulphur from Leprous Defilements and from superfluous Hydropical Moisture and thou shalt have in thy power the Fountain of Count Trevisan whose waters are properly dedicated to Diana the Virgin This Thief is evil armed with arsenical Malignitie whom the winged Youngster doth abhor and flie from and although the central water be his Bride yet the Youngster dares not utter his most ardent Love towards her because of the snares of the Thief whose tricks are almost inavoidable In this let Diana be propitious unto thee who knows how to tame the wild Beasts whose two Doves shall temperate the malignity of the Air with their feathers then the Youth enters easily in through the pores presently shaking the waters above and stirrs up a rude and rubish Cloud do thou bring in the water over him even to the brightness of the Moon and so the darkness which was upon the face of the Abyss will be discussed by the Spirit which moves it self in the waters thus by the Command of God Light shall appear separate the Light from the Darkness the seventh time and then this Sophick Creating of thy ☿ shall be complete and the seventh day shall be to thee a Sabbath of Rest from which time even to a Years Revolution must you expect the Generation of the Son of the supernatural Sun who will come into the World at the end of the Ages that he may free his Brethren from al Defilements CHAP. 7. Of the first Operation of the Preparation of the Sophick Mercury by the Flying Eagles BRother You are to know that our exact knowledge of the Eagles of the Philosophers is conceived and judged to be the first degree of perfection for to know it there is required a quick ingenuity For do not believe that this Science comes to any of us by chance or a casual imagination as the common ignorant people do stupidly believe but we have sweated much and a long time we have passed many nights without sleep we have undergone much labour and sweat that we might obtain the truth and therefore O studious Beginner Know of certainty without labour and sweat thou wilt accomplish nothing viz. in the first Work although in the second Nature alone performs the Work without any imposition of hands only using a moderate external Fire Understand therefore Brother the sayings of the Sophi when they write That their Eagles are to be brought to devour the Lion the which Eagles how much the sparinger the number is so much the greater wrestling and a slow victory but the work is most excellently perfected in the seventh or ninth number The ☿ Sophical namely is the Bird of Hermes which is sometimes called a Goose sometimes a Pheasant one while this thing another while that but wherever the Magi speak of their Eagles they speak in the plural number and they assign their number from three to ten yet they are not to be understood thus as if they would have so many weights or parts of the water to one of the earth but you must interpret their sayings to be meant of the intrinsecal weight that is to say you must take the water so oftentimes acuated or sharpened as they number Eagles which acuation is made by sublimation and therefore every sublimation of the ☿ of Philosophers let be one Eagle and the seventh will so exalt the ☿ that it will become a most convenient Bath for thy King Therefore that thou mayest have this knot well unfolded attend diligently Let there be taken of our Fiery Dragon which hides the Magical Chalybs in his own belly four parts of our Magnet nine parts mix them together with a torrid Vulcan or great Fire in the form of a Mineral water upon which there will swim a scum which is to be cast away remove the shell and take the kernel purge it the third time with Fire and Salt which will easily be done if Saturn shall have beheld himself in the Looking-glass of Mars thence is made the Chamaeleon or our Chaos in which all Arcana's lies hid virtually but not actually This is the Hermaphroditical Infant which even from his very first Infancy hath been infected by the biting of the Corascene Mad Dog whereby he is besotted and distracted by a
as with a fatal stroke our active will become passive of spiritual corporal even a red unprofitable precipitate for in a due heat the colour will be as black as that of the Crow which though it be dark yet it 's most desirable yet there is also a blackness which will appear in the beginning of the true Work and that very remarkable but this is ever accompanyed with a due proportion of moisture and sheweth that heaven and earth have been in conjunction between which the fire of Nature is conceived by which redness all the concave of the glass will seem as it were gilt over with Gold but this colour is not durable long but in a short space will be changed into a greenness then in a very short time expect blackness and if thou wilt be patient thou for certain shalt see thy desire accomplished at least make slow but sure progress Let not thy heat be over strong and yet strong enough and between Scilla and Charibdis sail like unto a skilful Pilot so shalt thou attain the wealth of either India sometimes thou shalt see as it were little Islands sloating and shooting out as it were little sprigs and buds which will be changeable in colours which soon will be melted and others will arise in the stead of them for the earth as it were inclining to a Vegetation is alwaies sending forth some new thing or other sometimes thy fancy will be that thou seest in thy glass Birds or Beasts or creeping things and thou shalt each day behold colours most beautiful to sight which though they are pleasant to the eye are not of a long continuance all is in the keeping of a due heat without any intermission So shall all these pleasant colours in the space of fifty dayes end in a colour most black and a powder discontinuous which if thou seest not blame either thy ☿ or thy Regimen or the disposition of the Matter unless thou either hast moved or medled with the glass which may either protract or finally destroy the Work CHAP. 22. The Regimen of Saturn what it is and whence it is denominated AS many of the Wise men as have wrote of this Master-piece of Philosophy have all spoken of the Regimen of ♄ which many understanding wrong have turned aside unto divers errors and deceived themselves with their own opinion some being thus led with a great deal of confidence although with very little advantage But know that our ♄ is more noble than any Gold it 's the Limus in which the soul of our Gold is joyned with its ☿ that after they may produce Adam and Eve his wife therefore that which is the highest shall so humble it self as to become the lowest then expect that he will redeem all his Brethren by his blood The sepulchre in which our King is buried is named ♄ in our Work and its the Key of the Work of Transmutation O happy is he that may behold this slow Planet Pray to God my Brother that he would vouchsafe to you his blessing for it s not of him that willeth nor of him runneth but on the Father of Lights alone this Blessing dependeth CHAP. 23. Of the various Regimens of this Work BE certainly confident studious Son of Art whoever thou art that nothing is hidden in this Work save only the Regimen of which that of the Philosopher may be verified Whoever is Master of that Science Princes and Grandees of the Earth shall honour him I assure you upon the word of an honest Man that if this one Secret were but openly discovered Fools themselves would deride the Art for that being known nothing remains but the Work of Women and the play of Children and that is Decoction So that not without cause did the Wise men hide this Secret with all their might And rest assured that we have done the same whatever we have seemed to speak concerning the degree of heat yet because I did promise candor in this Treatise something at the least is to be done that I may not deceive the ingenious of their hope and pains Know then that our Regimen from the beginning to the end is only lineal and that is to decoct and to digest and yet this one Regimen in it self comprehends many others which the envious have concealed by giving them divers names and describing as so many several Operations We to perform the candor we promised will make a far more perspicuous manifestation So that Reader whoever thou art if ingenious thou shalt find cause to acknowledge our candidness in this to be more than ordinary CHAP. 24. Of the first Regimen of the Work which is of Mercury ANd in the first place we shall treat of the Regimen of ☿ which is a secret hitherto not discovered by any Philosophers for they verily do begin their Work at the second Regimen and do give a young Practitioner no light in the mastery of the capital signs of blackness in this point that good Marquiss of Treveso was silent noble Bernard who in his Parables saith That the King when he came to the Fountain leaving all strangers behind him enters the Bath alone clothed in golden Robes which he puts off and gives to ♄ his first Chamberlain from whom he receiveth a black Velvet Suit But he sheweth not how long the intervail of time is before he plucks of his golden Garment and therefore he passeth over in silence the first and most intricate Regimen which is perhaps forty or fifty dayes ere it be fully complete in which time the poor Practitioner is left to uncertain Experiments from the appearing of blackness until the very end of the Work the sights that do appear are sufficient to refresh the Artist but in this space to wander without a guide or direction for the space of fifty dayes I confess is tedious I say then That from the second kindling of the fire even until blackness all the interval of time is the Regimen of our ☿ even of our Sophical ☿ which all that time doth work alone his Companion being dead at first and so remains a great space and this Secret before me no man ever yet discovered Therefore when thy Matters are joyned which are our ☉ and our ☿ do not think as some Alchymists vainly imagine that the râ—â—ing of the Sun will follow suddenly no verily we waited a long and tedious while before a reconciliation was made betwixt the water and the fire and this the envious have in a short speech mystically comprehended when they in the first beginning of their Work called their Matter Rebis that is made of two substances according to the Poet Res Rebis est bina conjuncta sed est tamen una Solvitur ut prima sint aut Sol aut Spermata Luna Rebis are two things joyn'd yet is but one Dissolv'd that Sol or Lune be Sperm alone For know of an undoubted truth that though our ☿ devour the ☉ yet it doth not so as
also appear some beautiful colours but momentary and soon vanishing and more of kin to white than unto black as the colours in the Regimen of ♃ contrariwise participated more of blackness than whiteness also know that in three weeks the Regimen of ☽ will be complete but before its perfection the Compound shall change in a thousand formes for when the fumes begin to cease before it be wholly congealed it will melt and grow hard again an hundred times in a day sometimes it will appear like to the eyes of a Fish sometimes like to a pure silver Tree shining with branches and leaves In a word about this season the hourly marvels that shall appear shall overwhelm the sight and at the last thou shalt have most pure sparkling grains like unto Atomes of the Sun more glorious than which humane eyes never saw Let us give immortal thanks to our God who hath brought the Work to this perfection for it 's the true perfect Tincture to the White yet only of the first order and therefore but of small virtue in comparison of that admirable force which it will attain by reiterate Preparation CHAP. 28. Of the Regimen of Venus ABove all things this is most wonderful that our Stone being now wholly perfect and able to give a perfect Tincture should of his own accord again abase himself and become again volatile without any laying on of hands But if you take the white stone out of the vessel the same being put again into a new vessel after it is once cold can never be brought into a new Operation a demonstrative reason of which neither we nor any of the ancient Philosophers are able to render only it 's done by the will of God at least here be very wary of your fire for this is the Law of the Stone when it is perfect that it must be fusible Therefore if you give too great a heat the Matter will be vitrified and melting will adhere to the sides of the vessel nor canst thou then go on any farther with the Work And this is the vitrifying of the Matter so often warned of by the Philosophers which oft happens to them which are unwary both before and after the White Work is even ended to wit after the middle of the Regimen of ☽ until the seventh or tenth day of the Rule of ♀ Therefore let thy fire be increased but a very little so that the Compound may not vitrifie that is to be melted passively like to glass but with a bounteous fire it may of its own accord melt and swell and by the command of God it shall be endued with a spirit that shall flie aloft and the stone to flie with it It shall thus give thee new colours the green at first which is of ♀ which shall last a long time less or more for the space of twenty dayes expect after this Cerule and Livid and about the end of the Rule of ♀ pale and obscure purple be heedful in this Work that thou do not provoke the spirit too urgently for being now more corporal than formerly if it do flie to the top of the vessel it will hardly return of its own accord which caution is also to be observed in the Rule of ☽ When once thou seest the spirits to thicken then handle them sweetly and without violence lest if thou makest them to ascend to the top that which is in the bottom be either burnt or vitrified to the destruction of the Work when then thou seest greenness know that in it is the virtue Germinative contained Beware then that this greenness turn not into a filthy blackness with immoderate heat but govern thy fire prudently so after forty dayes thou shalt see this Regimen at an end CHAP. 29. Of the Regimen of Mars AFter the Rule of ♀ is ended whose colour was chiefly Vert or Green and a little Red of an obscure Purple and sometimes Livid in which time the Philosophical Tree did flourish with Boughs and with discoloured Leaves and Branches next succeeds the Reign of ♂ which shews a little Yellow mixed with Luteous Brownness these are the chief colours but transitory ones of the Rain-Bow and Peacocks-tail it shews most gloriously this is a dry state of the Compound in which the Compound will appear at times in strange Figures the Hyacinth and high Orange colour in these dayes will be seen frequently Now the Mother being sealed in her Infants Belly swells and is purified but because of the present great purity of the Compound no putridness can have place in this Regimen but some obscure colours play their part as the chief Actors in this Stone and some middle colours do pass come pleasant to be hold Now know that this is the last Tillage of our Virgin Earth that in it the Fruit of the Sun might be set and maturated therefore continue a good heat and thou shalt see for certain about thirty dayes off this Regimen a Citrine colour shall appear which shall in two weeks offer its first appearing Tincture all with a true Citrine colour CHAP. 30. Of the Regimen of Sol. NOw art thou drawing near to the end of thy Work and hast almost made an end of this business now all appears like unto pure Gold and the Virgins Milk with which thou imbibest this Matter is now very Citrine Now to God the Giver of all Good you must render immortal Thanks who hath brought this Work on so far and beg earnestly of him that thy Counsel may hereafter be so governed that thou mayest not endevour to hasten thy Work now it is so near perfection so as to lose all Consider that thou hast waited now about seven moneths and it would be a mad thing to annihilate all in one hour therefore be thou very wary yea so much the more by how much thou art nearer to perfection But if you do proceed warily in this Regimen thou shalt meet with these notable things first thou shalt observe a certain Citrine sweat to stand upon the Body and after that Citrine vapours then shall thy Body below be tinctured of a Violet colour with an obscure Purple intermixt after the fourteen or fifteen dayes expectation in this Regimen of the ☉ thou shalt see the greatest part of thy Matter humid and although it be very ponderous yet it will ascend in the Belly of the Wind at length about the twenty sixth day of this Regimen it will begin to dry and then it will liquefie and recongeal and will grow liquid again an hundred times in a day until at the last it begin to turn into grains and sometimes it will will seem as if it were all discontinuous in grain and then again it will grow into one Mass again and thus will it put on innumerable forms in one day and this will continue for the space of about two weeks at the last by the will of God a light shall be sent upon thy Matter which thou canst not
divided into its Elements and afterwards joyned all the mixture by the help of the fire will become our ☉ which then being joyned with that ☿ which we prepared and call our Virgins Milk by reiterate decoction it will give all the signs which the Philosophers have described in such a fire as they have written of in their Books But now if you shall in your Decoction of ☉ vulgar though it be most pure use that same ☿ which is used in our ☉ though both flow from one root in general and apply that Regimen of heat which the Wisemen in their Books have applyed to our Stone thou art without all doubt in an erroneous way and that is the great Labyrinth in which almost all young Practitioners are entangled for there is scarce one Philosopher who in his Writings doth not touch both wayes which is indeed but one way fundamentally only one is more direct to the Mark than the other They then that do write of ☉ vulgar as we sometimes in this Treatise so also Artephius Flammel and Ripley with many others We are not otherwise to be understood but that our Philosophical ☉ is to be made out of ☉ vulgar and our ☿ which then by reiterate Liquefaction will give a 🜠and Argent Vive fixt and incombustible and whose Tincture will abide all Tryals also in this sense our Stone is in every Metal or Mineral forasmuch as ☉ vulgar may be extracted out of them and out of that ☉ our ☉ may be made as being nearer in it than any Metal So then our Stone is in all Metals but in our ☉ and ☽ nearer than in any other Therefore saith Flammel some wrought it in ♃ some in ♄ but I wrought it in Sol and there I found it Yet there is in the Metallick Kingdom one thing of a miraculous Original in which our Sol is nearer to be sought than in Sol and ☽ vulgar if it be sought in the hour of its Nativity which melts in our ☿ like Ice in warm water and yet it hath a resemblance with Gold This is not to be found in the manifestation of Sol vulgar but by revealing that which is hidden in our ☿ the same thing may be found by Digestion in our ☿ for the space of an hundred and fifty dayes This is our Gold sought the farthest way about which is not yet of so great a vertue as that which Nature hath made and left to our hands yet turning the wheel thrice each comes to one end yet with this difference what thou findest in the one in seven months thou must wait for in the latter the space of a year and a half or it may be two years I am acquainted with both wayes and commend the first to all ingenious men but in my Descriptions I have most touched the hardest way lest I should draw on my head the Anathema of all Philosophers know then that this is the only difficulty in reading the books of those that are most candid that all one as well as the other do vary the Regimen and when they write of one Work they set down the Regimen of another in which snare I was entangled my self at first and it was long before I could get free out of this Net Know then that the Fire in our Work is most agreeable to Nature if thou understand our Work aright but if thou work in Sol vulgar that properly is not our Work and yet it leads directly into our Work in its determined time but in it thou needest a strong and long decoction and a proportionable time then mayest thou go on the second Operation with our most benign Fire with our Tower and Athanor which I chiefly commend If then the Work in Sol vulgar be sure to procure the Marriage of Diana Venus in the beginning of the Espousals of thy ☿ then put them into the Nest and in a due heat of Fire thou shalt see an emblem of the great Work to wit Black White Citrine and Red then reiterate this Work with ☿ which we call our Virgins Milk and set it in a heat of Balneum Roris at the highest let it be a heat of ashes mixed with sand then thou shalt see not only the black but the blackest black and all blackness so also both the white and the red complete and this with a gentle process for in the fire and the wind God was not but in the still Voice he spoke unto Elias Therefore if thou knowest the art of it extract our Sol out of our ☿ then shall thy Secrets spring all out of one Image which trust me is more perfect than any worldly perfection according to the Philosopher If saith he thou know how to make the Work out of ☿ alone thou shalt be Master of a most pretious Work In this Work are no superfluities but the whole by the Living God will be turned into purity because the action is only in one thing But if thou shalt proceed in our Work with Sol vulgar then the action and passion is a twofold substance and only the middle substance of both is taken and the Faeces rejected if you do but meditate well on what I have told in few words you have a key to open all the appearing Contradictions which are amongst the Philosophers therefore Ripley teacheth to turn the wheel round thrice in his Chapter of Calcination to which Relations his threefold Doctrine of Proportions agreeth wherein he is very mystical and those three different proportions agree to three several Works one Work is most secret and purely natural which is with our ☿ and our Sol to which Work belong all the signs described by the Philosophers This Work is done neither by fire nor by hands but only by internal heat and the external is only expelling cold and overcoming its Symptomes The other Work is in Sol vulgar purged with our ☿ this operation is done with a strong fire and in a long time in which both are decocted by the mediation of Venus so long until the pure substance of each be sublimed which is the true juyce of Lunaria this is to be taken and the faeces are to be rejected this is not yet our Stone but our true 🜠which then is to be decocted again with our ☿ which is its own blood by which decoction it becomes a Stone penetrative and teigning Thirdly and Lastly There is a mixt Work where ☉ vulgar is mixt with our ☿ in a due proportion and a Ferment of our 🜠is added as much as is sufficient then are fulfilled all the Miracles of the World and the Elixir becomes able to furnish the Possessor both with Riches and Health Seek then our 🜠with all thy might which believe me thou shalt find in our ☿ If Fates thee call Otherwise chuse Sol vulgar and work on it with a due proportion of heat and out of it in time thou shalt prepare our Sol and Luna but it 's a way
imagine then expect a sudden end within three dayes thou shalt see for thy Matter shall convert it self into grains and as fine as the Atomes of the ☉ and the colour will be the highest Red imaginable which for its transcendent redness will shew blackish like unto the soundest blood when it is congealed although thou mayest not believe that any such thing can be an exact parallel of our Elixir for it is a marvellous Creature not having its compare in the whole Universe nor any thing exactly like it CHAP. 31. The Fermentation of the Stone REmember now that thou hast got our 🜠red and incombustible which can by no fire be promoted further of it self and be very wary which I should have told you in the former Chapter had I not forgot it that in the Regimen of the Citrine Sun before this supernatural ☉ be born which is adorned with a true Tirian colour lest I say thou then vitrifie thy Matter with too great fire for so it would be after insoluble and by consequence cannot be coagulated into these glorious Atomes Red of the Reddest Be wary then that thou destroy not so great a Treasure and yet do not think that thy Labour here hath an end but proceed further that out of this 🜠by reiterate solution and coagulation thou mayest have our Elixir Take then of most fine Gold three parts and of this 🜠one part thou mayest take four parts of ☉ and a fifth part of our 🜠but the aforesaid proportion is better melt the ☉ in a clean Crucible and when 't is melted put thy 🜠into it but very warily lest you lose it by the smoke of the coals let them flow together then put them forth into an Ingot and thou shalt have a Mass which may be pulverised of a most glorious Red colour but hardly transparent then take of this Mass exactly pulverised one part of thy Sophical ☿ two parts mix them well put them in a glass which seal and govern it as before two moneths in which time thou shalt see all the foresaid Regimens pass in their order This is true Fermentation which thou mayest if thou wilt reiterate CHAP. 32. The Imbibition of the Stone I Know that many Authors do take Fermentation in this Work for the internal invisible Agent which they call Ferment by whose virtue the fugitive and subtile Spirit without laying on of hands are of their own accord thickened and our forementioned way of Fermentation they call Cibation with Bread and Milk so Ripley but I not using to cite other Authors nor yet to swear to their words in a thing which I my self know as well as they have followed my own judgement in my Writings There is then another Operation by which our Stone is increased in weight more than virtue Take of thy 🜠white or red and to three parts of the 🜠add a fourth part of the water and after a little blackness in six or seven dayes decoction thy water newly added shall be increased or thickened like unto thy 🜠then add another fourth part not in respect of the whole Compound which is now increased a fourth part by the first Imbibition but in reference to thy first 🜠as thou tookest it at first which being dryed add another fourth part and let it be congealed with a convenient fire then put to it two parts of the water in reference to the three parts of the 🜠which thou tookest at first before the first Imbibition and in this proportion imbibe and congeal three other times at last add five parts of water in the seventh Imbibition still remembering to reckon the water in reference to the 🜠as it was taken at first seal thy Vessel and in a fire like to the former make thy Compound pass through all the foresaid Regimens which will be done in one moneth and then thou hast the true Stone of the third order of which one part will fall on a thousand and teyn perfectly CHAP. 33. The Multiplication of the Stone TO this is required no labour save only that thou take the Stone being perfect and joyn it with three parts or at the most with four parts of ☿ of our first Work and govern it with a due fire in a Vessel well closed so shall all the Regimens pass with infinite pleasure and thou shalt have the whole increased a thousand fold beyond what it was before the Multiplication of it and if thou shalt reiterate this Work again in three dayes thou shalt run through all the Regimens and thy Medicine shall be exalted to another millinary virtue of Tincture and if thou yet shalt reiterate the Work it will be perfected in a natural day and all the Regimens and Colours shall pass which will be done afterwards with another reiteration in one hour nor shalt thou at last be able to find the extent of the virtue of thy Stone it shall be so great that it shall pass thy Ingenuity to reckon it if that thou proceed in the Work of reiterate Multiplication Now remember to render immortal Thanks to God for thou now hast the whole Treasure of Nature in thy possession CHAP. 34. Of the manner of Projection TAke of thy Stone perfected as is said white or red according to the equality of the Medicine take of either ☉ or ☽ four parts melt them in a clean Crucible then put in of thy Stone white or red as the Metal that is melted is in quality and being well mixed together in fusion pour them into an Ingot and thou shalt have a Mass which is brittle take of this Mass one part and ☿ well washed ten parts heat the ☿ till it begin to crack then throw upon it this Mixture which in the twinckling of an eye will pierce it increase thy fire till it be melted and all will be a Medicine of inferior virtue take then of this and cast one part upon any Metal purged and melted to wit as much as it can teyn and thou shalt have most pure ☉ or ☽ purer than which Nature cannot give But it is better to make Projection gradually until Projection cease for so it will extend farther for when so little is proiected on so much unless Projection be made on ☿ there is a notable loss of the Medicine by reason of the Scorias which do adhere to impure Metals by how much then the Metals are better purged before Projection by so much more will the Matter succeed CHAP. 35. Of the many Vses of this Medicine HE who hath once by the Blessing of God perfectly attained this Art I know not what in the World he can wish but that he may be free from all snares of wicked men so as to serve God without distraction But it would be a vain thing by outward pomp to seek for vulgar applause such trifles are not esteemed by those who have this Art nay rather they despise them He therefore whom God hath blessed with