be first infolded in the inviolable arms of Venus Pray the high God to reveal this Mystery to thee which my former Chapters have disclosed to a word and where that Secret is couched there is not a word or stop superstuous or desectuous But farther It also requires an accidental Purgation or Mundification to wash off the external defilements that are cast out of the Centre but this is not so absolutely necessary but yet this Labour hastens the Work and therefore is convenient Take therefore thy ☿ which thou hast prepared by a convenient number of Eagles and sublime it thrice from common Salt and the Scoria of Mars grinding them together with Vinegar and a little Sal Armoniac until the ☿ disappear then dry it and distill it by a glass-Retort by a fire gradually encreased even until the whole ☿ ascend Repeat this three times or oftner afterwards boyl the ☿ in the Spirit of Vinegar an hour long in a Cucurbit or a glass with a broad bottom and a narrow neck sometimes strongly shaking it then decant or pour off the Vinegar and wash off the sowrishness with fountain-Fountain-water poured on again and again then dry up the ☿ and thou wilt wonder at its brightness Thou mayest wash it with Urine or Vinegar and Salt and so spare the sublimation but then distill it at least four times without addition after thou hast perfected all the Eagles or washings washing the Chalybeate or Steel Retort every time with ashes and water then boyl it in distilled Vineagar for half a day stirring it strongly sometimes and pour off the blackish Vineagar and pour on new then wash it with warm water thou mayest free the Spirit of the Vineagar from blackness by redistilling it and 't will be as vertuous as before all this is for the removing the external uncleanness which doth not adhere to the Centre and yet 't is little more obstinate in the superficies than you are aware of which you shall thus perceive Take this ☿ prepared with his Eagles viz. seven or nine and amalgamate it with most purified Gold let the Amalgama be made in a most clear paper and thou shalt see that the Amalgama will defile the paper with a duskish blackness but yet this Faeces or defilement thou mayest prevent by the foresaid distillation boyling and agitation or stirring it which Preparation doth very much promote or hasten the Work CHAP. 16. Of the Amalgamation of the ☿ and Gold and of the due weight of both THese being rightly prepared Take of purged and luminated Gold or Gold subtily filed one part of ☿ two parts put it in an heated Marble Mortar that is to say heated with boyling water out of which being taken it dryes presently and holds the heat a long time grind it with an Ivory Pestle or Glass Stone or Iron but this last is not so good or Box but the Stone or Glass pestle is best I am wont to use a white Coralline pestle grind it I say strongly until it be made impalpable grind it with as much diligence as Painters are wont to grind their Colours then see the consistence or temperature of it if it be plyable like butter then it is not too hot nor yet cold but yet so that the Amalgama being declined or bowed of one side doth not permit the ☿ to run like an hydropical intercutal water the consistence thereof is good but if not add as much of the water as is sufficient to make it of this consistency This is the Rule for Mixture that it be most readily plyable and most soft and yet can be made up like round pellots like as Butter may which though it yields to the easiest touch of the finger yet may be made up into balls by a Washing-woman Observe the alledged Example as being the most exact Example because as Butter though it be turned of one side yet it doth not pour out or let go any thing from it self that is more liquid than the whole Mass is In like manner is our mixture because of the intrinsical nature of ☿ Will this sign be given either in a double or in a treble proportion of the ☿ to the Body or also in the threefold of the Body to to the fourfold of the Spirit or in a double to treble and according to the nature of the ☿ or difference the Amalgama will be softer or harder yet be alwaies mindful that it come together inpellots and those pellots too being laid by do so concreate or hold together that the ☿ doth not appear more lively in the bottom than in the top For Note that if it be permitted to rest quiet the Amalgama hardens of its own accord The consistency thereof is to be judged in the agitation or stirring it and if then it be plyable like Butter and suffereth it self to be made up into balls and these pellots being put in clean paper are of an equal liquidity the proportion is good This being done Take the Spirit of Vinegar and dissolve in it a third part of its own weight of Sal Armoniac and put thereon ☉ and ☿ formerly amalgamated put it in a glass with a long neck and let it boyl for a quarter of an hour with a strong Ebullition then take the mixture out of the glass separate the liquor heat the Mortar and grind it strongly as above and very diligently then wash off all the blackness with warm water put it in again in the former liquor and boyl it again in the same glass then again grind it strongly and wash it Repeat this Labour until thou canst not get off any more colour of blackness from the Amalgama by any Labour then the Amalgama will be white like the purest Silver and most polite garnish'd with a wonderful brightness Observe even yet the teperature of it and beware it be exquisitely right according to the Rules above-given if it be not make it so and proceed as above This is a tedious Labour yet shalt thou see by the signs appearing in the Work thy Labour recompensed then boyl it in a pure water pouring it off and repeating it until all the saltness and Acrimony be vanished then pour out the water and dry the Amalgama which will soon be done But that thou mayest be more secure because too much water will destroy the Work and break the vessel how big soever it be stir it or work it upon a clean paper with the top of a knife from place to place untill it be dryed exceeding well then proceed as I shall teach thee CHAP. 17. Of the Preparation Form Matter and Closing the Vessel THou shalt have an oval or round glass so big as to hold at the most in its sphere or belly an Ounce of distilled water and not less than this if possibly thou canst but get it as near the measure as possibly thou canst let the glass have a neck of the height of one palm or hand-breadth or span let it be
through every Age is reducible in our water only and is then living and ours Even as Wheat sown in the ground doth change its name and is called the Husbandman's Seed-corn either for Bread or other uses as well as for Seed even so it is with Gold as long as it is in the form of a Ring a Vessel or Mony 't is the vulgar Gold but as concerning its being cast into our water 't is Philosophical In the former respect it is called Dead because it would remain unchanged even to the Worlds end in the latter respect it is said to be living because it is so potentially which power is capable of being brought into Art in a few daies but then Gold will be no longer Gold but the Chaos of the Sophi therefore well may Philosophers say That their philosophical Gold differeth from the vulgar Gold Which difference consisteth in the Composition For even as that Man is said to be dead which hath already received the sentence of Death so is Gold said to be alive when it is mixed in such a Composition and put upon such a fire in which it will necessarily receive a germinative life in a short time yea 't will demonstrate the actions of a life beginning and that within a few daies Therefore the same Sophi that say their Gold is living do bid thee the Searcher of Art to revive the dead the which if thou knowest to do and to prepare the Agent and rightly to mix the Gold it will soon become living in which vivification thy living Menstruum will dye Therefore the Magi command thee to revive the dead and to kill the living They do at the first entrance call their water living and say that the death of one principle with the death of another hath one and the same period Thence 't is evident That their Gold is to be taken dead and their water living and by compounding these together the seed-Gold will by a short decoction vivifie or quicken and the live ☿ will be killed that is the spirit will be coagulated with the dissolved bodie and both of them putrifie together in the form of dirt or mud until all the members of the Composition are rent or dispersed into Atoms Here therefore is the naturality of our Magistery The Mistery which we so much hide is to prepare the ☿ truly so called the which cannot be found upon the earth ready prepared to our hands and that for singular reasons known to the Adeptists In the ☿ we neatly amalgamate pure Gold purged to the highest degree of purity and filed or beaten and being shut in the glass we daily boyl it the Gold is dissolved by the vertue of our Water and returneth to its nearest matter in which the included life of the Gold becomes free and takes the life of the dissolving ☿ which in respect of the Gold is the same as good earth in respect of the Grain of Wheat In this ☿ therefore the Gold being dissolved doth putrifie and must be necessarily so by the necessity of Nature therefore after the putrefaction of death there riseth the new Body of the same Essence with the former Body and of a more noble substance 〈◊〉 takes on it the degrees of virtuality proportionable to the difference between the four qualities of the Elements This is the reason of our Work this is our whole Philosophy We have said therefore That there is nothing in our Work secret but ☿ only the Magistery of which is rightly to prepare it and extract the hidden ☉ it contains and to Marry it in a just proportion with Gold and to govern it with the fire as the ☿ requireth because Gold doth not of it self fear the fire and as far forth as 't is united with the ☿ so far doth it render it able to abide the fire Therefore this is the Labour and Work to accommodate the regiment of the heat to the capacity of ☿ his abiding it but he that hath not rightly prepared his ☿ and should joyn Gold therewith his Gold is yet the Gold of the Vulgar because 't is joyned with such a foolish Agent in which it remaineth as much unchanged as if it had been kept in the Chest nor will it lay off its own bodily nature by any Regiment of the Fire whatsoever where an Agent is not alive within Our is then a living and quickning soul and therefore our Gold is Spermatical as Wheat sown is Seed-corn when as the same Wheat would in the Barn remain Bread-corn only and dead and though it were buried in a pot under the earth as the West-Indians are wont to hide their Fruit or Corn in pits in the earth fenced against the access of water yet unless it be met withal by the moist vapour of the earth 't is dead and abides without fruit and is plainly remote from Vegetation I know there are many which will carp at this Doctrine and say That he affirms it Gold of the Vulgar and running ☿ is the material Subject of the Stone But we know the contrary Go to therefore ye Philosophers examine your Purses although you know such things have ye the Stone Verily as for my self I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of my God I have it I have made it and daily have it in my power have often form'd it with my own hands and I write the things I know But I write not to you Therefore deal with your Rain-waters May-waters your Salts tattle of your Sperme that it is more potent than the Devil himself slander and revile me Believe ye that this your evil speaking will sadden me I say that Gold only and ☿ are our Materials and I know what I write and the searcher of all hearts knoweth that I write the truth nor is there any cause to accuse me of envy because I write with an unterrified Quill in an unheard-of style to the honour of God to the profitable use of my Neighbours and contempt of the World and its Riches because Helias the Artist is already born and now glorious things are declared of the City of God I dare affirm that I do possess more Riches than the whole known World is worth but cannot make use thereof because of snares of Knaves I disdain I loath and deservedly detest this Idolizing of Gold and Silver by the price whereof the pomp and vanities of the World are celebrated Ah filthy Evil Ah vain Nothingness Believe ye that I conceal these things out of envy No verily for I protest to thee I grieve from the very bottom of my Soul that we are driven as it were like Vagabonds from the Face of the Lord throughout the earth But what need many words That thing that we have seen taught and wrought which we have which we possess and know these do we declare being moved with meer compassion toward the studious and with Indignation of Gold and Silver and of pretious Stones not as
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