Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	earth_n	nature_n	water_n	6,401	5	6.5273	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25684	Aphorismi Urbigerani, or, Certain rules, clearly demonstrating the three infallible ways of preparing the grand elixir, or circulatum majus of the philosophers discovering the secret of secrets, and detecting the errors of vulgar chymists in their operations : contain'd in one hundred and one aphorisms, to which are added The three ways of preparing the vegetable elixir, or, Circulatum minus / all deduc'd from never-erring experience by Baro Urbigerus ...	Urbigerus, Baro.; Faithorne, William, 1616-1691.	1690 (1690)	Wing A3528; ESTC R35727	20,949	96

congeal'd and nourish'd in the Bowels of the Earth is call'd the undetermin'd and when it enchants the Serpent with the Beauty of its internal and additional Fire the determin'd Green-Dragon of the Philosophers and without the true knowledg and right Manipulation of it nothing can be done in our Art XII This Green Dragon is the natural Gold of the Philosophers exceedingly different from the vulgar which is corporeal and dead being come to the period of its Perfection according to Nature and therefore uncapable of generating unless it be first generated it self by our Mercurial Water but ours is spiritual and living having the generative Faculty in it self and in its own Nature and having receiv'd the Masculine Quality from the Creator of all things XIII Our Gold is call'd Natural because it is not to be made by Art and since it is known to none but the true Disciples of Hermes who understand how to separate it from its original Lump 't is call'd also Philosophical and if God had not been so gracious as to create this first Chaos to our hand all our Skill and Art in the Construction of the great Elixir would be in vain XIV Out of this our Gold or undetermin'd Green-Dragon without the addition of any other created thing whatsoever we know how thrô our Universal Menstruum to extract all our Elements or Principles necessary for the performance of our great Work Which is our first way of preparing the Grand Elixir and since this our first Chaos is to be had without any Expence as costing only the trouble of digging it out of the Mines This is not unfitly call'd the only way of the Poor XV. The Operations in this our first way being in a manner the same with those of our second which is when we join our determin'd Dragon with our Serpent we shall to avoid Repetitions in the subsequent Aphorisms give Instructions for them both together XVI Our Serpent which is also contained in the Bowels of the Earth being of all created things whatsoever the nearest subject of a Feminine Nature to our Dragon thrô their Copulation such an astral and metalic Seed containing our Elements is also to be brought forth as can thô with somewhat more of Expence and Time perform the whole Mystery of Hermes XVII Since our Serpent is of all created things the nearest subject of Feminine Nature to our Dragon she is after her Copulation to be taken for the Basis of our Philosophical Work for out of her Bowels without the help of any other Metal or Mineral we must draw our Principles or Elements necessary to our Work being retrogradated by the Universal Menstruum XVIII This Feminine Subject cannot be retrogradated unless to free her from her Impurities and Heterogeneous Qualities she is first actuated by her Homogeneous ones that she may be in a better Capacity to receive the spiritual Love of our Green Dragon XIX After our Serpent has been bound with her Chain penetrated with the Blood of our Green-Dragon and driven nine or ten times thrô the combustible Fire into the elementary Air if you do not find her to be exceeding furious and extremely penetrating 't is a sign that you do not hit our Subject the notion of the Homogenea or their Proportion XX. If this furious Serpent after it has been dissolv'd by the Universal Menstruum filtrated evaporated and congeal'd nine or ten times does not come over in a Cloud and turn into our Virgin Milk or Metalic argentin Water not corrosive at all and yet insensibly and invisibly devouring every thing that comes near it 't is plainly to be seen that you err in the Notion of our Universal Menstruum XXI The Serpent of which I now speak is our true Water of the Clouds or the real Eagle and Mercury of the Philosophers greatly different from the Vulgar which is corporeal gross dead and full of Heterogeneous Qualities and a Subject faln from its Sphere like unripe Fruit from the Tree but ours is spiritual transparent living residing in its own Sphere like a King on his Throne XXII Thô the vulgar Mercury is such an unripe Fruit corporeal and dead yet if you know how to amalgamate it with our Dragon and to retrogradate it with the Universal Menstruum you may assure your self that out of this also you shall be able to prepare a Sophic Mercury with which you shall certainly produce the great Elixir discover the Secret of Secrets unlock the most difficult Locks and command all the Treasures in the World XXIII Our Mercury is called the Mercury of the Philosophers because it is a Subject which is not to be found ready prepar'd to our hand for it must of necessity be made by our Philosophical Preparations out of the first Chaos and althô it is Artificial yet is it naturally prepar'd Nature which is imitated in the Preparation of it contributing likewise thereunto XXIV Since our Subject cannot be call'd the fiery Serpent of the Philosophers nor have the power of overcoming any created thing before it has receiv'd such Virtue and Quality from our Green-Dragon and the Universal Menstruum by which it self is first overcome devour'd and bury'd in their Bowels out of which being born again 't is made capable of the same it follows that such a Virtue of killing and vivifying is natural to our Dragon and the Universal Menstruum XXV The Universal Menstruum of the Philosophers is that Celestial one without which nothing can live nor subsist in this World 'T is also that noble Champion which delivers the uncorrupted Virgin Andromeda who was with a strong Chain fastned to the Rock in the power of the Dragon of whose spiritual Love having admitted for fear of being eternally ruin'd and devour'd by him which could not have been avoided if this noble Champion had not come to her assistance She is to be deliver'd of a Child which will be the Wonder of Wonders and Prodigy of Nature XXVI If our Virgin in her Confinement before she is set at liberty does not manifest her extreme Beauty with all her internal divers delicate natural Colors wonderfully charming and very pleasant to the Eye it signifies that she has not sufficiently enjoy'd the spiritual Company of the Dragon XXVII If the Universal Menstruum has not totally deliver'd the Virgin from the Claws of the Dragon it is a sign either that she was not sufficiently free from her Heterogeneous Qualities or that she had not receiv'd from the external Heat a sufficient penetrating Quality or that the Universal Menstruum was too weak to perform its Undertaking XXVIII To know whether the Amalgamation Sublimation Dissolution Filtration Coagulation and Distillation have been Natural and Philosophical the whole Body of the Serpent must come over spiritual and transparent leaving only some few and very light Feces at the bottom which can by no Art be reduc'd either into a running Mercury or any other kind of metallic Substance XXIX After all these

it self from the Earth containing our Philosophical Seed and the Magnet of our Salt of Nature and from the superfluous Waters is call'd the Mercury simplex of the wise man for whosoever attains it at the same time attains also the Knowledg and Power of retrogradating Metals Minerals c. so as to reduce them to their first Being to perfect imperfect Bodies and to vivifie dead ones conserving always it s own Property and Quality to it self and to produce the Great Elixir according to the usual way of the Philosophers XLVIII After we have separated the Water from the Waters by which I mean the Mercurial Celestial Water from the superfluous Water which is the Flegm by the Blessing of God and the Infusion of our holy Spirit we do not in the least doubt but we shall be able to bring forth out of our Earth such Fruits and Subjects with which we shall certainly perform the whole Creation carrying our Work to the highest Degree of Perfection XLIX Our Mercurial Water being of the same Brightness with the Heavens and our palpable gross Body which did separate it self from our Celestial Water having the same Properties and Quality with the Earth none but Ignorants will deny them to be the right Heaven and true Earth of the Philosophers L. If after the Separation of the Spirit from the superfluous Waters the World in which it is contain'd does not appear mighty clear and full of light and of the same brightness with our Celestial Water it is a sign that the Separation is not fully perform'd the Spirit being still intermixt with the Waters LI. If in the space of nine or ten Weeks or two Philosophical Months at longest our Mercurial Water has not done separating it self from all its own Earth containing the Metallic Seed it is an evident sign that you have either err'd in the working of it or that its Digestion having been too violent has confounded and burnt up the principal Subject of the Creation LII This Philosophic Earth containing our principal Subject after it has been separated from all the Waters is very gently to be dry'd by some external Heat to free it from its extraneous Humidity that it may be in a proper Capacity to receive the Celestial Moisture of our Argentin Water to which it unites its most noble Fruits with which our Philosophical Microcosm is generated nourish'd and saturated LIII If the Earth after it has been reverberated humected with our Celestial Moisture does not presently enrich our Air with the divine expected Fruits you must certainly believe that in the drying of it the external Heat has been so violent as to burn up the internal Heat and Nature of the Earth and consequently spoil your Undertaking as to the performance of the whole Mystery of the Creation according to the noblest richest shortest most natural and secretest ways of the Philosophers LIV. In case the Earth should be totally destroy'd by the violent external Heat althô it is most certain you cannot carry on our noble Creation any farther with it yet if you know how to amalgamate our Mercury simplex with your common Gold which is dissolved vivify'd and renew'd by it you may be sure of effecting the Great Elixir althô neither so quick so natural nor so rich as you might have done without it And this is our third way LV. The Amalgamation of our Mercury simplex with common Gold consists only in the right Proportion and in the indissoluble Union of both which is done without any external Heat in a very short time without which exact Proportion and right Union nothing of any Moment is to be expected from their Marriage LVI Know then that this right Proportion is ten parts of our Mercury simplex to one of your finest common Gold in filings which is dissolved in it like Ice in common Water after an imperceptible manner and as soon as the Dissolution is over the Coagulation and Putrefaction presently follow which effects if you find not 't is a sign that the Mercury exceeds its due Proportion Now when your Gold has been thus well amalgamated united putrify'd and inseparably digested with our Mercury simplex you will then have only our Philosophical Sulphur in which time one might easily have perform'd the whole Work working without common Gold LVII Althô our Mercury simplex is exceedingly spiritual and volatil yet since it is the right Agent digesting the Seed or Essence of all Metals and Minerals it will thô undigested naturally adhere to any of them althô corporeal that shall come near it and will never leave it unless it be forc'd away by the Test thô kept in a great Fusion for many hours LVIII This Mercury simplex which before its retrogradation was of a Feminine Nature and before it left all its own Earth was Hermaphroditic being powerful in both Sexes is now become of a Feminine Quality again and althô it has lost the Masculine visible Fire yet it has conserv'd its own which is invisible to us and with which it performs visible Operations in digesting of imperfect Metals after its Determination with any of them LIX If this our Mercury the Proportion rightly observ'd should be amalgamated with any imperfect Metal being first determin'd with a fixt one it will regenerate and perfect the same not losing the least Particle of its Virtue or Quantity Which Metal after the digestion of a Philosophical Month will as most Philosophers teach be able to resist all manner of Tryals and will be far better than any Natural one LX. The Determination of our Mercury simplex with any of the fixt Bodies is to be done by dissolving a small quantity of Filings of red or white according to the Color and Quality of the Metal that you desire to meliorate and if you do not err in the Separation and Union of the Subjects you may assure your self of obtaining your desire after a Philosophical Digestion LXI To examine aright whether the Mercury simplex is rightly prepar'd or come to its Perfection one only Drop put upon a red-hot Plate of Copper must whiten it through and through and must not part with it althô brought into a great Fusion Which if you find it does not it will be a plain Demonstration that either your Mercury is not well prepared or that it has not yet done separating it self from its own Earth LXII If your Mercury simplex put upon its own dry'd Earth does not presently unite with the Essence of Metals appearing deeper than any Blood and shining brighter than any Fire which is a mark of the Reception of its own internal Fire and that the Eagle has suckt the Blood of our Red-Lion it is an evident sign that you have err'd in the Manipulation of the Earth LXIII This Mercury thus impregnated with its Essence or Sulphur of Metals is call'd the Mercury duplex of the Philosophers which is of a far greater Quality and Virtue than the simplex with whose Imbibitions

in the Salt of Nature after its being saturated with the simplex the whole Mystery of the Creation of the Philosophical Microcosm is maintain'd and perfected LXIV To know whether your Mercury duplex is Philosophically prepar'd and sufficiently impregnated with its own internal Natural Fire put one single Drop of it upon a red-hot Plate of fine Silver and if the Silver is not by this Drop penetrated through and through with a deep-red Tincture enduring the greatest fire of Fusion it will signifie that you either fail in the Preparation of it or that you have not given it time enough to receive a full Saturation out of its own Earth LXV This deep-red Tincture extracted out of our Philosophical Earth is call'd our Sulphur our undigested essentificated Gold our internal elementary Fire and our Red-Lion for without its Help and Concurrence our Philosophical World cannot be nourish'd digested or accomplish'd being the right Ground and true Essence of the whole work of our Creation LXVI When the Earth has lost its Soul the remainder of it is the true Magnet attracting the Salt of Nature from the combustible Fire after a violent Calcination for several hours which Salt after its Purification and Clarification is call'd the clarify'd Earth or Salt of the Philosophers which uniting it self with our single and double Mercury after their Digestion is call'd by our Master Hermes the Universal Spirit earthify'd LXVII The Extraction Purification and Clarification of our Earth or Salt of Nature is to be perform'd by our Mercury simplex which being put upon the reverberated Earth will presently draw it to it self and unite it self with it yet separable by gentle Distillation after which the clarify'd Salt of the Philosophers is at hand LXVIII Althô we use our Mercury simplex in the Extraction of its own Soul out of its Body and for the Clarification of the later yet since it is a philosophical and perpetual Menstruum it loses nothing of its connatural Prerogatives nor does in the least diminish in Quantity being our true Alkahest as Paracelsus is pleas'd to call it LXIX Those three Principles or Elements of our Chaos perfectly separated from their Impurities and brought to their highest Perfection are rightly call'd the three Herculean Works for after the Preparation of them all the Labor Trouble and Danger will be past LXX Some foolish Operators pretend that our Great Elixir is to be prepar'd in a very easie manner and without any trouble at all to whom we will with our Master Hermes briefly answer That such Impostors neither know our Matter nor the right Preparation of it Yet we do not deny but any Healthy Person of what Age soever he may be may undergo all our Herculean Labors necessary to the Performance of it LXXI These our Operations are therefore call'd Herculean in respect to the rest of the Work which is exceeding easie and without the least Trouble or Danger being for that reason call'd Childrens Play because a Child or a Woman that has any Sense may easily work it and bring it to the highest Perfection according to the Saying of all true Philosophers LXXII Althô all those above-mention'd Operations are according to the common Opinion of the Philosophers esteem'd difficult and dangerous yet we can upon our Conscience assure you that we have our self alone without the help of any Creature living prepar'd them all on a common Kitchin Fire as is very well known to several Coadepts our Friends who could not but admire and approve of our Industry LXXIII No true Adept or perfect Artist can deny but that the whole Work of the Great Elixir may from the very beginning to the end be perform'd on one only Furnace in one only sort of Vessel and by one only Person alone at a very small Charge LXXIV Some Impostors would perswade the Vulgar that Gold Silver and many other Ingredients are requir'd to the making of the Grand Elixir according to our noblest ways which the Doctrines of all the Philosophers and our own infallible Rules clearly shew to be false for 't is most certain that we neither use any of their Ingredients nor yet any Silver or Gold unless as we have mention'd in our third way till we come to the Fermentation of our Elixirs LXXV We do with all true Philosophers assure you that all things necessary for our Philosophical Work besides the Fewel Vessels and some few Instruments belonging to the Furnace are to be purchas'd for less than the Expence of one single Guinea and that every where and at all times of the year LXXVI Since neither Gold nor Silver is to be us'd at all in the Formation and Cibation of our Philosophical Work it follows that the old and common saying of some Authors viz. That without working with Gold 't is an impossible thing to make Gold proves to be only a false Notion of Men who understood not our Art LXXVII When our Herculean Works are brought to Perfection which is when our three Principles or Elements are prepar'd purify'd and perfected unless the Philosophical and unseparable Union of them is exactly perform'd the Great Mystery of our Creation is not to be expected LXXVIII Our Principles or Elements being brought to a perfect and unseparable Union and Digestion it is call'd the Triple Mercury of the Philosophers which being finish'd the whole Creation and Formation of our work is crown'd LXXIX All our Work of the Creation from its very Beginning to its perfect End may on our certain knowledg be perfected in less than nine Months by any skilful and careful Artist that follows our Rules unless some Accident should happen in the Preparation of our Herculean Works which to prevent we wrought them our self in an earthen Vessel which we count far better and surer than any Glass and which is most agreeable to the Practice of the most ancient Philosophers LXXX Before you come to the Union of your Elements your clarify'd Earth is before all things to be digested in a moderate and continual Heat of Ashes to free it from any unnatural Moisture that it might have attracted after its Purification to be in a fit Capacity to receive your Mercury simplex by which it is to be nourish'd in its Infancy LXXXI If your clarify'd Earth after it has been digested the space of a whole Month does not appear exceeding dry subtil and frangible it will signifie that you have fail'd in the Purification or Clarification of it or that the external Moisture it had attracted is not yet parted from it LXXXII Take great Care that you do not begin your Imbibitions of your Earth before you find it to be very well purify'd clarify'd dry'd and brought to be very subtil and extremely frangible for it would be a great Detriment as well to your Work as to your Mercury and althô it should not spoil your Work yet it would be to you a great loss of Time LXXXIII After our clarify'd Earth has been brought to a

above-mention'd Operations and the Separation if our Serpent being amalgamated with any Metal pure or impure cannot suffer the Fusion it will be in vain for you to go any farther with it for you may assure your self that you do not walk in the true Paths of the Hermetic Art XXX Our Philosophical Distillations consist only in the right Separation of our Spiritual and Mercurial Water from all its poisonous oily Substance which is of no use at all in our Art and from the Caput Mortuum which is left behind after the first Distillation XXXI If after the first Distillation an exceedingly corrosive and extremely penetrating red Oil does not aseend which as soon as it begins to appear in the Neck of the Retort the Receiver must be changed it signifies that the Distillation has not been rightly perform'd and by Consequence that the internal Fire of our metalic vaporous Water being burnt up and corroded by its poisonous Vapor and the outward Fire is still mixt with it and with the Caput Mortuum XXXII In case you should commit so great an Error in the performance of this first Distillation althô it will never be in your power to prepare the Mercury Duplex of the Philosophers unless you should begin the whole Work again from the very Beginning yet if you have any farther Skill in our Art you may easily prepare our Mercury simplex with which you will effect great and miraculous things XXXIII This blood red Oil with its only Fumes penetrates every Part and Atom of all Metals and Minerals and principally of Gold out of which Dissolution one may easily extract the right Tincture or Essence with highly rectify'd Spirit of Wine and bring it over the Alembic with it which is indeed a great Medicine for humane Bodies XXXIV A deep blood-red Tincture of excellent Virtue is to be extracted also out of the above-mention'd Caput Mortuum accidentally and unfortunately intermixt with the internal Sulphur of our Mercurial Water and with the red Oil with highly rectify'd Spirit of Wine with which after it has been evaporated to a Powder imbib'd and Philosophically digested you may assure your self of having the Medicine of Medicines next to the great Elixir by which you may imperceptibly and quickly cure all sorts of Distempers to the great Admiration of all Galenists and to the Astonishment of all Vulgar Chymists XXXV The most part of the Philosophers whilst their Intention was to go farther to the noblest Perfection of our Celestial Art either employ'd this red Oil brought to a Potability for internal Medicines or to external Diseases without any farther Preparation of it till they had obtain'd the great Elixir XXXVI If the Caput Mortuum has not the Magnetic Quality in attracting the Spiritus Mundi into it self from the Astrums it is a sign that at the end of the Distillation of the red Oil the outward fire was so violent as quite to burn up the Magnet which is contain'd in the first Feces of our Mercurial Water XXXVII After the first Distillation if the least Part of the Virgin Mercurial Water can by any Art whatsoever be brought to running Mercury or any other kind of a Metalic Substance it is an evident sign that either the Subject or its Preparation and Reduction into Water has not been real natural or Philosophical XXXVIII The above-mention'd Spiritus Mundi althô of no use at all in this our great Work is yet a great Menstruum in extracting of Tinctures out of Metals Minerals Animals and Vegetables and in performing great things in the Art volatilizing all fixt Bodies and principally Gold XXXIX A great many Pretenders to the true Hermetic Knowledg prepare Menstruums to dissolve common Mercury and to turn it into Water several manner of ways and by several additions of Salts Sulphurs Metals and Minerals but since all those Preparations are sophistical any one expert in our Art will be able to reduce it to its running Quality agian XL. The Quality of our Mercurial Water being to volatilize all fixt Bodies and to fix all those that are volatil fixing it self with those that are fixt according to the Proportion of it dissolving its own Body it unites inseparably with it conserving always it s own Qualities and Properties and receives no Augmentation from any other created thing but only from its crude Body XLI Our Mercurial Water has such a sympathy with the Asirums that if it is not kept very close and Hermetically seal'd it will in a very short time like a wing'd Serpent fly away in a wonderful manner to its own Sphere carrying along with it all the Elements and Principles of Metals and not leaving so much as one single drop or the least remainder behind XLII Several Pretenders to the Magical Science prepare Magical Magnets to draw from the Air and as they pretend from the Astrums such Menstruums as they think necessary for the Production of the Great Elixir but their Magnets being compounded of several determinate things althô their Menstruums are great Dissolvents yet we do on assured knowledg affirm that they can never perform any real Experiment in our Art XLIII Some are of Opinion that unless the Operator is Master in the Magical Science and fundamentally understands all its Experiments he will never be able by any other Art whatsoever to bring forth any such things as can produce the Universal Elixir Now althô we do not deny that the Magical Knowledge is requir'd to attain to the highest degree of Perfection in all Sciences yet we are most certain that it is not at all necessary to the Formation of the Grand Elixir upon Animals Metals Precious Stones and Vegetables XLIV Our Virgin Milk or Metallic Water being brought to a perfect Spirituality and excellent Diaphanity is call'd the true Chaos of the Philosophers for out of that alone without any addition of any created or artificially prepar'd thing we are to prepare and separate all the Elements which are requir'd to the Formation of our Philosophical Microcosm XLV To understand aright how out of this our Chaos we are to form our Philosophical Microcosm we must first of necessity rightly comprehend the great Mystery and Proceeding in the Creation of the Macrocosm it being extremely necessary to imitate and use the very same Method in the Creation of our little one that the Creator of all things has us'd in the Formation of the great one XLVI When our Chaos or Celestial Water has purify'd it self from its own gross and palpable Body it is call'd the Heaven of the Philosphers and the palpable Body the Earth which is void empty and dark And if our Divine Spirit which is carry'd upon the Face of the Waters did not bring forth out of the palpable Body that pretious Metalic Seed we should never be able by any Art whatsoever to go on any farther with the perfect Creation of our Microcosm according to our Intent XLVII This Heaven of the Philosophers after it has separated