Alchemical Text Summary Request

{"result":["[Summary from page 1 to page 55 out of a total of 95:\nPages 1:\nBasil Valentine\nTwelve Keys\nCopyright \u00a9 SEO-Ebooks\nhttp://stores.ebay.com/seo-ebooks\n\nPages 2:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nTwelve Keys\nof\nBasil Valentine\nThis Edition Copyright \uf0e3 2006 SEO\u2013Ebooks\nEditing, corrections, translations Copyright \uf0e3 2006 SEO\u2013Ebooks\nAll rights to the original material, textual typesetting, format and visual layout and\narrangement are expressly restricted and reserved.\nNo part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,\nelectronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage\nand retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information\naddress: SEO\u2013Ebooks http://stores.ebay.com/SEO\u2013Ebooks\nAll rights reserved. This product is for personal use only and not for resale. Copyright\nviolations will be prosecuted by law.\nToutes les droites sont r\u00e9serv\u00e9s. Tutti i diritti riservati. Todos les derechos reservados.\n2 of 95\n\nPages 3:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nThe Preface\nof\nBasilius Valentinus, the Benedictine\nConcerning\nThe Great Stone of the\nAncient Sages.\nWhen I had emptied to the dregs the cup of human\nsuffering, I was led to consider the wretchedness of\nthis world, and the fearful consequences of our first\nparents\u2019 disobedience. Then I saw that there was no\nhope of repentance for mankind, that they were\ngetting worse day by day, and that for their\nimpenitence God\u2019s everlasting punishment was\nhanging over them; and I made haste to withdraw\nmyself from the evil world, to bid farewell to it, and\nto devote myself to the service of God.\nWhen I had spent some years at the monastery, I\nfound that after I had performed my work and my\ndaily devotions I still had some time on my hands.\nThis I did not wish to pass in idleness, lest my evil\nthoughts should lead me into new sins; and so I\ndetermined to use it for the study and investigation of\nthose natural secrets by which God has shadowed out\n3 of 95\n\nPages 4:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\neternal things. So I read a great many books in our\nmonastery written in olden times by philosophers who\nhad pursued the same study, and was thereby\nstimulated to a more ardent desire of knowing that\nwhich they also knew. Though I did not make much\nprogress at first, yet at last God granted my earnest\nprayer, and opened my eyes that I might see what\nothers had seen before me.\nIn the convent there was a brother, who was\nafflicted with a severe disease of the kidneys, and to\nwhom none of the many physicians he had consulted\nhad been able to give even momentary relief. So he\nhad committed himself to the hand of God, and\ndespaired of all human aid.\nAs I loved him, I gathered all manner of herbs,\nextracted their salts, and distilled various medicines.\nBut none of them seemed to do him the slightest\ngood, and after six years I found that I had tried every\npossible vegetable substance, without any beneficial\neffect.\nAt last I determined to devote myself to the study\nof the powers and virtues which God has laid into\nmetals and minerals and the more I searched the more\nI found. One discovery led to another, and, after God\nhad permitted unto me many experiments, I\n4 of 95\n\nPages 5:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nunderstood clearly the nature and properties, and the\nsecret potency, imparted by God to minerals and\nmetals.\nAmong the mineral substances I found one which\nexhibited many colours, and proved to be of the\ngreatest efficacy in art. The spiritual essence of this\nsubstance I extracted, and therewith restored our sick\nbrother, in a few days, to perfect health. For the\nstrength of this spirit was so great as to quicken the\nprostrate spirit of my diseased brother, who, from that\nday to the day of his death, remembered me in his\nhourly prayers. And his prayers, together with my own\ndiligence, so prevailed with God, that there was\nrevealed to me that great secret which God ever\nconceals from those who are wise in their own\nconceits.\nThus have I been wishing to reveal to you in this\ntreatise, as far as may be lawful to me, the Stone of the\nAncients, that you, too, might possess the knowledge\nof this highest of earthly treasures for your health and\ncomfort in this valley of sorrow. I write about it, not\nfor my own good, but for that of posterity, and though\nmy words be few and simple, that which they import\nis of immeasurable magnitude. Ponder them well, that\nyou also may find the Rock which is the foundation\n5 of 95\n\nPages 6:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nStone of truth, the temporal blessing, and the eternal\nreward.\n6 of 95\n\nPages 7:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nThe Tract\nof\nBasilius Valentinus, the Benedictine,\nConcerning the Great Stone of the Ancient Sages.\nIn the preface, gentle Reader, and zealous Student\nof this Art, I promised to communicate to you a\nknowledge of our Corner Stone, or Rock, of the\nprocess by which it is prepared, and of the substance\nfrom which it was already derived by those ancient\nSages, to whom the secret of our Art was first revealed\nby God for the health and happiness of earthly life.\nLet me assure you that I fully intend to fulfil my\npromise, and to be as plain with you as the rules of\nour Art permit, not misleading you by sophistical\ndeceptions, but opening up to you the spring of all\nblessings even unto the fountain head. I propose to set\nforth what I have to say in a few simple,\nstraightforward words, for I am no adept in the art of\nmultiplying words; nor do I think that exuberance of\nlanguage tends to clearness; on the contrary, I am\nconvinced that it is many words that darken council.\nLet me tell you, then, that although many are engaged\n7 of 95\n\nPages 8:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nin the search after this Stone, it is nevertheless found\nbut by very few. For God never intended that it\nshould become generally known. It is rather to be\nregarded as a gift which He reserves for those favoured\nfew, who love the truth, and hate falsehood, who\nstudy our Art earnestly by day and by night, and\nwhose hearts are set upon God with an unfeigned\naffection.\nHence, if you would prepare our great and ancient\nStone, I testify unto you in all truth that you must give\ndiligent heed to my teaching, and before all things\nimplore the gracious blessing of the Creator of all\nthings. You must also truly repent you of all your sins,\nconfessing the same, and firmly resolve to lead a good\nand holy life. It is also necessary that you should\ndetermine to shew your gratitude to God for His\nunspeakable Gift, by succouring the poor and the\ndistressed, and by opening your hand and your heart to\nthe needy. Then God will bless your labour, and\nreward your search with success, and yourself with a\nseat in Heaven as the fruit of your faith.\nDo not despise the truthful writings of those who\npossessed the Stone before us. For, after the\nenlightening grace of God, it is from them that I\nreceived my knowledge. Let your study of them be\nincreased and repeated often, lest you lose the thread\n8 of 95\n\nPages 9:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nof insight, and the lamp of understanding be\nextinguished.\nGive yourself wholly to study, and be not flighty or\ndoubleminded. Let your mind be like a firm Rock, in\nwhich all the various sayings of the Sages are reduced\nto the unity of their common meaning. For a man who\nis easily influenced in different directions is not likely\nto find the right path.\nAs our most ancient Stone is not derived from\ncombustible things, you should cease to seek it in\nsubstances which cannot stand the test of fire. For this\nreason it is absurd to suppose that we can make any\nuse of vegetable substances, though the Stone, too, is\nendowed \u2018with a principle of growth.\nIf our Stone were a vegetable substance, it would,\nlike other vegetables, be consumed by fire, leaving\nonly a certain salt. Ancient writers have, indeed,\ndescribed our Stone as the vegetable Stone. But that\nname was suggested to them by the fact that it grows\nand increases in size, like a plant.\nKnow also that animals only multiply after their\nkind, and within their own species. Hence our Stone\ncan only be prepared out of its own seed, from which\nit was taken in the beginning; and hence also you will\nperceive that the soul of an animal must not be the\n9 of 95\n\nPages 10:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsubject of this investigation. Animals are a class by\nthemselves; nor can anything ever be obtained from\nthem that is not animal in its nature. But our Stone, as\nit has been bequeathed to me by the Ancients, is\nderived from two things, and one thing, in which is\nconcealed a third thing. This is the purest truth, and a\nmost faithful saying. For male and female have from of\nold been regarded as one body, not from any external\nor visible consideration, but on account of the ardour\nof that mutual love which naturally draws them\ntogether into one; and as the male and female seed\njointly represent the principle of propagation, so also\nthe sperm of the matter out of which our Stone is\nmade can be sown and increased. There are in our\nsubstance two supplementary kinds of seed, from\nwhich our Stone may be prepared and multiplied.\nIf you are a true lover of our Art, you will carefully\nweigh and ponder these words, lest, with other\nsophisticators, you fall into the dangerous pit prepared\nby the common enemy of man. But whence are you to\nobtain this seed? This question you may most easily\nanswer by asking yourself another question. What do\nyou want to develop from this seed, and what use do\nyou wish to make of it? There can be no doubt, then\nthat it must be the root, or first substance, of metals,\nfrom which all metals derive their origin. It is,\n10 of 95\n\nPages 11:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\ntherefore, necessary that we should now proceed to\nspeak of the generation of the metals.\nIn the beginning, when the Spirit of God moved\nupon the face of the waters, and as yet all was\ninvolved in darkness, Almighty and Eternal God,\nWhose beginning and wisdom are from everlasting, by\nHis inscrutable counsel created heaven and earth, and\nall that in them is, both visible and invisible, out of\nnothing. How the act of creation was accomplished I\nwill not attempt to explain. This is a matter which is\nset forth to us in Holy Scripture, and must be\napprehended by faith.\nTo each creature God gave its own seed, wherewith\nto propagate its kind, that in this way there might\nalways be an increase of men and animals, plants and\nmetals. Man was not to be able to produce new seed:\nhe was only permitted to educe new forms of life out\nof that which already existed. The creating of seed\nGod reserved to Himself For if man could create seed\nhe would be equal to the Creator.\nKnow that our seed is produced in the following\nway. A celestial influence descends from above, by the\ndecree and ordinance of God, and mingles with the\nastral proper ties. When this union has taken place,\nthe two bring forth a third namely, an earth\u2013like\n11 of 95\n\nPages 12:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsubstance, which is the principle of our seed, of its\nfirst source, so that it can shew an ancestry, and from\nwhich three the elements, such as water, air, and earth,\ntake their origin. These elements work underground in\nthe form of fire, and there produce what Hermes, and\nall who have preceded me, call the three first\nprinciples, viz., the internal soul, the impalpable spirit,\nand visible bodies, beyond which we can find no\nearlier beginning of our Magistery.\nIn the course of time these three unite, and are\nchanged through the action of fire into a palpable\nsubstance, viz., quicksilver, sulphur, and salt. If these\nthree substances be mixed, they are hardened and\ncoagulated into a perfect body, which represents the\nseed chosen and appointed by the Creator. This is a\nmost important and certain truth. If the metallic soul,\nthe metallic spirit, and the metallic form of body be\npresent, there will also be metallic quicksilver,\nmetallic sulphur, and metallic salt, which together\nmake up the perfect metallic body.\nIf you cannot perceive what you ought to\nunderstand herein, you should not devote yourself to\nthe study of philosophy.\nMoreover, I tell you in few words, that you cannot\nobtain a metallic body except by perfectly joining\n12 of 95\n\nPages 13:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nthese three principles into one. Know, also, that all\nanimals are, like man, composed of flesh and blood,\nand also possess a vitalizing spirit, but are destitute of\nthe rational soul which the Creator gave to man alone.\nTherefore, when animals die, they perish for ever. But\nwhen man yields up his mortal life into the hands of\nhis Creator, his soul does not die. It returns, and is\nunited to the glorified body, in which, after the\nResurrection, soul and spirit dwell together once more\nin eternal glory, never to be separated again\nthroughout all eternity.\nHence the rational soul of man makes him an\nabiding creature, and, though his body may seem to\ndie, yet we know that he will live for ever. For to him\ndeath is only a process of purification, by means of\nwhich he is freed from his sins, and translated to\nanother and better place. But there is no resurrection\nfor the brute beasts, because they have no rational\nsoul, for which alone our Lord and Saviour shed His\nblood.\nFor though a body may be vitalized by a spirit, yet\nit need not, therefore, be fixed, unless, indeed, it\npossess a rational soul, that strong bond between body\nand spirit, which represents their union, and resists all\nefforts to separate them. Where there is no soul, there\nis no hope of redemption. Nothing can be perfect or\n13 of 95\n\nPages 14:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nlasting without a soul. This is a profound and most\nimportant truth, which I feel in conscience bound to\nmake known to my readers. Now, the spirits of metals\nhave this property of fixedness in a greater or less\ndegree; they are more or less volatile in proportion to\nthe mutual fitness of their bodies and souls. A metal\nthat has the three conditions of fixedness is not\naffected by fire or overcome by any other outward\nagent. But there is only one metal that fulfils these\nconditions, namely, gold. Silver also contains fixed\nmercury, and is not so quickly volatilised as the\nimperfect metals, but stands the trial of fire, and yields\nno food to voracious Saturn.\nAmatory Venus is clothed with abundant colour,\nand her whole body is one pure tincture, not unlike\nthe red colour which is found in the most precious of\nmetals. But though her spirit is of good quality, her\nbody is leprous, and affords no permanent substratum\nto the fixed tincture. Hence the soul has to share the\nfate of the imperfect body, and when the body dies\nthe soul has to leave it. For its dwelling has been\ndestroyed by fire, and it is without a house wherein to\nabide.\nFixed salt has imparted to warlike Mars a hard,\nfirm, and durable body, which is evidence of the\ngenerosity of his soul; nor can fire be said to have\n14 of 95\n\nPages 15:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nmuch power over it. And if its strength be united to\nthe beauty of Venus, I do not say but that a precious\nand harmonious result may be obtained. For the\nphlegmatic or humid quality of the Moon may be\nheated with the ardent blood of Venus, and the\nblackness of Venus removed with the strong salt of\nMars.\nYou need not look for our metallic seed among the\nelements. It need not be sought so far back. If you can\nonly rectify the Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt\n(understand, those of the Sages) until the metallic\nspirit and body are inseparably joined together by\nmeans of the metallic soul, you thereby firmly rivet\nthe chain of love, and prepare the palace for the\ncoronation.\nThese things represent a liquid key, comparable to\nthe celestial influence, and a dry water joined to the\nterrestrial substance: all which are one thing, derived\nfrom three, and two, and one. If you understand this,\nyou have already attained our Magistery. Then you\nmust join the husband and wife together that each\nmay feed upon the other\u2019s flesh and blood, and that so\nthey may propagate their species a thousandfold.\nThough I would fain reveal this matter to you more\nplainly and openly, I am prohibited from doing so by\n15 of 95\n\nPages 16:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nthe law of God, and by the fear of His wrath, and of\neternal lest the gift of the Most High should be\nabused.\nIf, however, you do not understand the theoretical\npart of my work, perhaps the practical part will serve\nto enlighten you more fully. I will therefore proceed\nto shew how, by the help of God, I was enabled to\nprepare the Stone of the Ancients, and, for your\nfurther instruction, I will add twelve keys, in which I\ngive a figurative account of our Art.\nTake a quantity of the best and finest gold, and\nseparate it into its component parts by those media\nwhich Nature vouchsafes to those who are lovers of\nArt, as an anatomist dissects the human body. Thus\nchange your gold back into what it was before it\nbecame gold; and thou shalt find the seed, the\nbeginning, the middle, and the end\u2013that from which\nour gold and its female principle are derived, viz., the\npure and subtle spirit, the spotless soul, and the astral\nsalt and balsam. When these three are united, we may\ncall them the mercurial liquid: a water which was\nexamined by Mercury, found by him to be pure and\nspotless, and therefore espoused by him as his wife. Of\nthe two was born an incombustible oil; for Mercury\nbecame so proud that he hardly knew himself. He put\n16 of 95\n\nPages 17:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nforth eagle feathers, and devoured the slippery tail, of\nthe Dragon, and challenged Mars to battle.\nThen Mars summoned his horsemen, and bade\nthem enclose Mercury in prison under the ward of\nVulcan, until he should be liberated by one of the\nfemale sex. When this became known, the other\nPlanets assembled and held a deliberation on the\nquestion, what would be the best and wisest course to\nadopt. When they were met together, Saturn first\ncame forward, and delivered himself as follows:\n\u201c I, Saturn, the greatest of the planets in the\nfirmament, declare here before you all, that I am the\nmeanest and most unprofitable of all that are here\npresent, that my body is weak, corruptible, and of a\nswarthy hue, but that, nevertheless, it is I that try you\nall. For having nothing that is fixed about me, I carry\naway with me all that is of a kindred nature. My\nwretchedness is entirely caused by that fickle and\ninconstant Mercury, by his careless and neglectful\nconduct. Therefore, I pray you, let us be avenged on\nhim, shut him up in prison, and keep him there till he\ndies and is decomposed, nay, until not a drop of his\nblood is to be seen.\u201d\nThen yellow Jupiter stepped forward, bent his\nknees, inclined his sceptre, and with great authority\n17 of 95\n\nPages 18:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nbade them carry out the demand of Saturn. He added\nthat he would punish everyone who did not aid the\nexecution of this sentence.\nThen Mars presented himself, with sword drawn \u2013\u2013\na sword that shone with many colours, and gave out a\nbeautiful and unwonted splendour. This sword he\ngave to the warder Vulcan, and bade him slay\nMercury, and burn him, together with his bones, to\nashes. This Vulcan consented to do.\nWhile he was executing his office, there appeared a\nbeautiful lady in a long, silver robe, intertissued with\nmany waters, who was immediately recognised as the\nMoon, the wife of the Sun. She fell on her knees, and\nwith outspread hands, and flowing tears, besought\nthem to liberate her husband \u2013\u2013 the Sun \u2013\u2013 from the\nprison in which, through the crafty wiles of Mercury,\nhe was being detained by the Planets. But Vulcan\nrefused to listen to her request; nor was he softened by\nthe moving prayers of Lady Venus, who appeared in a\ncrimson robe, intertissued with threads of green, and\ncharmed all by the beauty of her countenance and the\nfragrance of the flowers which she bore in her hand.\nShe interceded with Vulcan, the Judge, in the Chaldee\ntongue, and reminded him that a woman was to effect\nthe deliverance of the prisoner. But even to her\npleading he turned a deaf ear.\n18 of 95\n\nPages 19:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nWhile they were still speaking the heaven was\nopened, and there came forth a mighty animal, with\nmany thousands of young ones, which drove the\nwarder before it, and opening its mouth wide,\nswallowed Venus, its fair helper, at the same time\nexclaiming with a loud voice: \u201c I am born of woman,\nwoman has propagated my seed, and therewith filled\nthe earth Her soul is devoted to mine, and therefore I\nmust be nourished with her blood.\u201d When the animal\nhad said these words with a loud voice, it hastened\ninto a certain chamber, and shut the door behind it;\nwhither its voracious brood followed, drinking of the\naforesaid incombustible oil, which they digested with\nthe greatest ease, and thereby became even more\nnumerous than they had been before. This they\ncontinued to do until they filled the whole world.\nThen the learned men of that country were\ngathered together, and strove to discover the true\ninterpretation of all they had seen. But they were\nunable to agree until there came forward a man of\nvenerable age, with snowy locks and silvery beard, and\narrayed in a flowing purple robe On his head he wore\na crown set with brilliant carbuncles. His loins were\ngirded with the girdle of life. His feet were bare, and\nhis words penetrated to the depth of the human soul.\nHe mounted the tribune, and bade the assembly listen\n19 of 95\n\nPages 20:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nto him in silence, since he was sent from above to\nexplain to them the significance of what they had\nseen.\nWhen perfect silence prevailed, he delivered\nhimself as follows:\n\u201cAwake, O man, and behold the light, lest the\ndarkness deceive thee! The Gods revealed to me this\nmatter in a profound sleep. Happy is the man who\nknows the great works of the Divine power. Blessed is\nhe whose eyes are opened to behold light where\nbefore they saw darkness.\n\u201cTwo Stars are given by the Gods to man to lead\nhim to great wisdom. Gaze steadily upon them, follow\ntheir lights, and you will find in them the secret of\nknowledge.\n\u201cThe bird Phoenix, from the south, plucks out the\nheart of the mighty beast from the east. Give the\nanimal from the east wings, that it may be on an\nequality with the bird from the south. For the animal\nfrom the east must be deprived of its lion\u2019s skin, and\nlose its wings. Then it must plunge in the salt water of\nthe vast ocean, and emerge thence in renovated\nbeauty. Plunge thy volatile spirits in a deep spring\nwhose waters never fail, that they may become like\ntheir mother, who is hidden therein, and born of three.\n20 of 95\n\nPages 21:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n\u201cHungary is my native land, the sky and the stars are\nmy habitation, the earth is my spouse. Though I must\ndie and be buried, yet Vulcan causes me to be born\nanew. Therefore, Hungary is my native land, and my\nmother encloses the whole world.\u201d\nWhen all that were present had received these his\nsayings, he thus continued:\n\u201cCause that which is above to be below; that which\nis visible, to be invisible; and that which is palpable, to\nbecome impalpable. Again, let that which is below\nbecome that which is above; let the invisible become\nvisible, and the impalpable, palpable. Here you see the\nperfection of our Art, without any defect, or\ndiminution. But that in which death and life,\ndestruction and resurrection dwell, is a round sphere,\nwith which the goddess of fortune drives her chariot,\nand imparts the gift of wisdom to men of God. Its\nproper name here upon earth, and for the human\nunderstanding, is \u2018All\u2013in\u2013All.\u2019\n\u201cLet him who would know what this \u2018All\u2013in\u2013All\u2019 is,\ngive the earth great wings, and make it fly upward\nthrough the air to the heavenly regions. Then singe its\nwings with fierce heat, and make it fall into the Red\nSea, and there be drowned. Then dry up the water\n21 of 95\n\nPages 22:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nwith fire and air till the earth reappears, and you will\nhave \u2018All\u2013in\u2013All.\u2019\n\u201cIf you cannot find it in this way, look around upon\nthe things that are in the world. Then you will find the\n\u2018All\u2013in\u2013All,\u2019 which is the attracting force of all metals\nand minerals derived from salt and sulphur, and twice\nborn of Mercury. More I may not say about \u2018 All\u2013in\u2013\nAll,\u2019 since all is comprehended in all.\n\u201cMy friends, blessed are ye if, by listening to the\nwords of the wise, ye can find this great Stone, which\nhas power to cure leprous and imperfect metallic\nbodies and to regenerate them; to preserve men in\nhealth, and procure for them a long life \u2013\u2013 as it has\nhitherto kept the vital fire burning within me so long\nthat I am weary of life, and yearn to die.\n\u201cFor His wisdom and mercy, and for the gracious\nGift which He has bestowed upon me so long ago, I\nam bound to render God thanks, now and evermore.\nAmen.\u201d\nWhen the old man had thus spoken, he vanished\nfrom their sight.\nBut all who had heard him went each man to his\nhouse, and meditated on his words by day and by\nnight.\n22 of 95\n\nPages 23:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nHere follow the Twelve Keys\nof Basilius Valentinus, the Benedictine,\nwith which we may open the doors\nof the knowledge of the Most Ancient Stone\nand unseal the Most Secret Fountain of Health.\n23 of 95\n\nPages 24:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nFIRST KEY\nLet my friend know that no impure or spotted\nthings are useful for our purpose. For there is nothing\nin their leprous nature capable of advancing the\ninterests of our Art There is much more likelihood of\nthat which is in itself good being spoiled by that which\nis impure. Everything that is obtained from the mines\nhas its value, unless, indeed, it is adulterated.\nAdulteration, however, spoils its goodness and its\nefficacy.\n24 of 95\n\nPages 25:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nAs the physician purges and cleanses the inward\nparts of the body, and removes all unhealthy matter by\nmeans of his medicines, so our metallic substances\nmust be purified and refined of all foreign matter, in\norder to ensure the success of our task. Therefore, our\nMasters require a pure, immaculate body, that is\nuntainted with any foreign admixture, which\nadmixture is the leprosy of our metals.\nLet the diadem of the King be of pure gold, and let\nthe Queen that is united to him in wedlock be chaste\nand immaculate.\nIf you would operate by means of our bodies, take a\nfierce grey wolf, which, though on account of its name\nit be subject to the sway of warlike Mars, is by birth\nthe offspring of ancient Saturn, and is found in the\nvalleys and mountains of the world, where he roams\nabout savage with hunger. Cast to him the body of the\nKing, and when he has devoured it, burn him entirely\nto ashes in a great fire. By this process the King will be\nliberated; and when it has been performed thrice the\nLion has overcome the wolf, and will find nothing\nmore to devour in him. Thus our Body has been\nrendered fit for the first stage of our work.\nKnow that this is the only right and legitimate way\nof purifying our substance: for the Lion purifies\n25 of 95\n\nPages 26:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nhimself with the blood of the wolf, and the tincture of\nits blood agrees most wonderfully with the tincture of\nthe Lion, seeing that the two liquids are closely akin to\neach other. When the Lion\u2019s hunger is appeased, his\nspirit becomes more powerful than before, and his\neyes glitter like the Sun. His internal essence is now of\ninestimable value for the removing of all defects, and\nthe healing of all diseases. He is pursued by the ten\nlepers, who desire to drink his blood; and all that are\ntormented with any kind of sickness are refreshed\nwith this blood.\nFor whoever drinks of this golden fountain,\nexperiences a renovation of his whole nature, a\nvanishing of all unhealthy matter, a fresh supply of\nblood, a strengthening of the heart and of all the vitals,\nand a permanent bracing of every limb. For it opens all\nthe pores, and through them bears away all that\nprevents the perfect health of the body, but allows all\nthat is beneficial to remain therein unmolested.\nBut let my friend be scrupulously careful to\npreserve the fountain of life limpid and clear. If any\nstrange water be mixed with it, it is spoiled, and\nbecomes positively injurious. If it still retain any of the\nsolvent which has been used for its dissolution, you\nmust carefully purge it off. For no corrosive can be of\nthe least use for the prevention of internal diseases.\n26 of 95\n\nPages 27:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nWhen a tree is found to bear sour and\nunwholesome fruit, its branches must be cut off, and\nscions of better trees grafted upon it. The new\nbranches thereupon become organically united to the\ntrunk; but though nourished with its sap, they thence\nforward produce good and pleasant fruit.\nThe King travels through six regions in the heavenly\nfirmament, and in the seventh he fixes his abode.\nThere the royal palace is adorned with golden tapestry.\nIf you understand my meaning, this Key will open the\nfirst lock, and push back the first bolt; but if you do\nnot, no spectacles or natural eyesight will enable you\nto understand what follows. But Lucius Papirius has\ninstructed me not to say any more about this Key.\n27 of 95\n\nPages 28:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nSECOND KEY\nIn the houses of the great are found various kinds of\ndrink, of which scarcely two are exactly like each\nother in odour, colour, or taste. For they are prepared\nin a great variety of different ways. Nevertheless they\nare all drunk, and each is designed for its own special\nuse. When the Sun gives out his rays, and sheds them\nabroad upon the clouds, it is commonly said that he is\nattracting water, and if he do it frequently, and\nthereby cause rain, it is called a fruitful year.\n28 of 95\n\nPages 29:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nIf it be intended to build a palace, the services of\nmany different craftsmen must be employed, and a\ngreat variety of materials is required. Otherwise the\npalace would not be worthy the name. It is useless to\nuse wood where stone is necessary.\nThe daily ebb and flow of the sea, which are caused\nby the sympathetic influence of heavenly bodies,\nimpart great wealth and blessing to the earth. For\nwhenever the water comes rolling back, it brings a\nblessing with it.\nA bride, when she is to be brought forth to be\nmarried, is gloriously adorned in a great variety of\nprecious garments, which, by enhancing her beauty,\nrender her pleasant in the eyes of the bridegroom. But\nthe rites of the bridal night she performs without any\nclothing but that which she was arrayed withal at the\nmoment of her birth.\nIn the same way our bridal pair, Apollo and Diana,\nare arrayed in splendid attire, and their heads and\nbodies are washed with various kinds of water, some\nstrong, some weak, but not one of them exactly like\nanother, and each designed for its own special purpose.\nKnow that when the moisture of the earth ascends in\nthe form of a vapour, it is condensed in the upper\nregions, and precipitated to the earth by its own\n29 of 95\n\nPages 30:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nweight. Thus the earth regains the moisture of which\nit had been deprived, and receives strength to put\nforth buds and herbs. In the same way you must\nrepeatedly distil the water which you have extracted\nfrom the earth, and then again restore it to your earth,\nas the water in the Strait of Euripus frequently leaves\nthe shore, and then covers it again until it arrives at a\ncertain limit.\nWhen thus the palace has been constructed by the\nhands of many craftsmen, and the sea of glass has\nabsolved its course, and filled the palace with good\nthings, it is ready for the King to enter, and take his\nseat upon the throne. But you should notice that the\nKing and his spouse must be quite naked when they\nare joined together. They must be stripped of all their\nglorious apparel, and must lie down together in the\nsame state of nakedness in which they were born, that\ntheir seed may not be spoiled by being mixed with\nany foreign matter.\nLet me tell you, in conclusion, that the bath in\nwhich the bridegroom is placed, must consist of two\nhostile kinds of matter, that purge and rectify each\nother by means of a continued struggle. For it is not\ngood for the Eagle to build her nest on the summit of\nthe Alps, because her young ones are thus in great\n30 of 95\n\nPages 31:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\ndanger of being frozen to death by the intense cold\nthat prevails there.\nBut if you add to the Eagle the icy Dragon that has\nlong had its habitation upon the rocks, and has\ncrawled forth from the caverns of the earth, and place\nboth over the fire, it will elicit from the icy Dragon a\nfiery spirit, which, by means of its great heat, will\nconsume the wings of the Eagle, and prepare a\nperspiring bath of so extraordinary a degree of heat\nthat the snow will melt upon the summit of the\nmountains, and become a water, with which the\ninvigorating mineral bath may be prepared, and\nfortune, health, life, and strength restored to the King.\n31 of 95\n\nPages 32:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nTHIRD KEY\nBy means of water fire may be extinguished, and\nutterly quenched. If much water be poured upon a\nlittle fire, the fire is overcome, and compelled to yield\nup the victory to the water. In the same way our fiery\nsulphur must be overcome by means of our prepared\nwater. But, after the water has vanished, the fiery life\nof our sulphurous vapour must triumph, and again\nobtain the victory. But no such triumph can take place\nunless the King imparts great strength and potency to\nhis water and tinges it with his own colour, that\n32 of 95\n\nPages 33:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nthereby he may be consumed and become invisible,\nand then again recover his visible form, with a\ndiminution of his simple essence, and a development\nof his perfection.\nA painter can set yellow upon white, and red or\ncrimson upon yellow; for, though all these colours are\npresent, yet the latter prevails on account of its greater\nintensity. When you have accomplished the same\nthing in our Art, you have before your eyes the light of\nwisdom, which shines in the darkness, although it does\nnot burn. For our sulphur does not burn, but\nnevertheless its brilliancy is seen far and near. Nor\ndoes it colour anything until it has been prepared, and\ndyed with its own colour, which it then imparts to all\nweak and imperfect metals. This sulphur, however,\ncannot impart this colour until it have first by\npersevering labour been prevailed upon to abjure its\noriginal colour. For the weaker does not overcome the\nstronger, but has to yield the victory to it. The gist of\nthe whole matter lies in the fact that the small and\nweak cannot aid that which is itself small and weak,\nand a combustible substance cannot shield another\nsubstance from combustion. That which is to protect\nanother substance against combustion must itself be\nsafe from danger. The latter must be stronger than the\nformer, that is to say, it must itself be essentially\n33 of 95\n\nPages 34:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nincombustible. He, then, who would prepare the\nincombustible sulphur of the Sages, must look for our\nsulphur in a substance in which it is incombustible \u2013\u2013\nwhich can only be after its body has been absorbed by\nthe salt sea, and again rejected by it. Then it must be\nso exalted as to shine more brightly than all the stars\nof heaven, and in its essence it must have an\nabundance of blood, like the Pelican, which wounds\nits own breast, and, without any diminution of its\nstrength, nourishes and rears up many young ones with\nits blood. This Tincture is the Rose of our Masters, of\npurple hue, called also the red blood of the Dragon, or\nthe purple cloak many times folded with which the\nQueen of Salvation is covered, and by which all metals\nare regenerated in colour.\nCarefully preserve this splendid mantle, together\nwith the astral salt which is joined to this sulphur, and\nscreens it from harm. Add to it a sufficient quantity of\nthe volatility of the bird; then the Cock will swallow\nthe Fox, and, having been drowned in the water, and\nquickened by the fire, will in its turn be swallowed by\nthe Fox.\n34 of 95\n\nPages 35:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nFOURTH KEY\nAll flesh that is derived from the earth, must be\ndecomposed and again reduced to earth; then the\nearthy salt produces a new generation by celestial\nresuscitation. For where there was not first earth,\nthere can be no resurrection in our Magistery. For in\nearth is the balm of Nature, and the salt of the Sages.\nAt the end of the world, the world shall be judged\nby fire, and all those things that God has made of\nnothing shall by fire be reduced to ashes, from which\n35 of 95\n\nPages 36:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nashes the Phoenix is to produce her young. For in the\nashes slumbers a true and genuine tartaric substance,\nwhich, being dissolved, will enable us to open the\nstrongest bolt of the royal chamber.\nAfter the conflagration, there shall be formed a new\nheaven and a new earth, and the new man will be\nmore noble in his glorified state than he was before.\nWhen the sand and ashes have been well matured\nand ripened with fire, the glass\u2013blower makes out of it\nglass, which remains hard and firm in the fire, and in\ncolour resembles a crystal stone. To the uninitiated\nthis is a great mystery, but not to the master whom\nlong experience has familiarized with the process.\nOut of stones the master also prepares lime by\nburning which is very useful for our work\u2013 But before\nthey are prepared with fire, they are mere stones. The\nstone must be matured and rendered fervent with fire,\nand then it becomes so potent that few things are to\nbe compared to the fiery spirit of lime.\nBy burning anything to ashes you may gain its salt. If\nin this dissolution the sulphur and mercury be kept\napart, and restored to its salt, you may once more\nobtain that form which was destroyed by the process\nof combustion. This assertion the wise of this world\ndenounce as the greatest folly, and count as a rebellion,\n36 of 95\n\nPages 37:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsaying that such a transformation would amount to a\nnew creation, and that God has denied such creative\npower to sinful man. But the folly is all on their side.\nFor they do not understand that our Artist does not\nclaim to create anything, but only to evolve new\nthings from the seed made ready to his hand by the\nCreator.\nIf you do not possess the ashes, you will be unable\nto obtain our salt; and without our salt you will not be\nable to impart to our substance a bodily form; for the\ncoagulation of all things is produced by salt alone.\nAs salt is the great preserving principle that protects\nall things from decay, so the Salt of our Magistery\npreserves metal from decomposition and utter\nannihilation. If their Balm were to perish, and the\nSpirit to leave the body, the body would be quite\ndead, and no longer available for any good purpose.\nThe metallic spirit would have departed, and would\nhave left its habitation empty, bare, and lifeless.\nObserve also, thou who art a lover of this Art, that\nthe salt that is gained from ashes has great potency,\nand possesses many concealed virtues. Nevertheless,\nthe salt is unprofitable, until its inward substance has\nbeen extracted. For the spirit alone gives strength and\nlife. The body by itself profits nothing. If you know\n37 of 95\n\nPages 38:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nhow to find this spirit, you have the Salt of the Sages,\nand the incombustible oil, concerning which many\nthings have been written before my time.\nAlthough many philosophers\nHave sought for me with eagerness,\nYet very few succeed at length\nIn finding out my secret virtue.\n38 of 95\n\nPages 39:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nFIFTH KEY\nThe quickening power of the earth produces all\nthings that grow forth from it, and he who says that\nthe earth has no life makes a statement which is flatly\ncontradicted by the most ordinary facts. For what is\ndead cannot produce life and growth, seeing that it is\ndevoid of the quickening spirit. This spirit is the life\nand soul that dwell in the earth, and are nourished by\nheavenly and sidereal influences. For all herbs, trees,\nand roots, and all metals and minerals, receive their\ngrowth and nutriment from the spirit of the earth,\n39 of 95\n\nPages 40:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nwhich is the spirit of life. This spirit is itself fed by the\nstars, and is thereby rendered capable of imparting\nnutriment to all things that grow, and of nursing them\nas a mother does her child while it is yet in the womb.\nThe minerals are hidden in the womb of the earth, and\nnourished by her with the spirit which she receives\nfrom above.\nThus the power of growth that I speak of is\nimparted not by the earth, but by the life\u2013giving spirit\nthat is in it. If the earth were deserted by this spirit, it\nwould be dead, and no longer able to afford\nnourishment to anything. For its sulphur or richness\nwould lack the quickening spirit without which there\ncan be neither life nor growth.\nTwo contrary spirits can scarcely dwell together,\nnor do they easily combine. For when a thunderbolt\nblazes amidst a tempest of rain, the two spirits, out of\nwhich it is formed, fly from one another with a great\nshock and noise, and circle in the air, so that no one\ncan know or say whither they go, unless the same has\nbeen ascertained by experience as to the mode in\nwhich these spirits manifest.\nKnow then, gentle Reader, that life is the only true\nspirit, and that that which the ignorant herd look upon\nas dead may be brought back to permanent, visible,\n40 of 95\n\nPages 41:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nand spiritual life, if but the spirit be restored to the\nbody \u2013\u2013 the spirit which is supported by heavenly\nnutriment, and derived from heavenly, elementary,\nand earthly substances, which are also called formless\nmatter. Moreover, as iron has its magnet which draws\nit with the invisible bonds of love, so our gold has its\nmagnet, viz., the first Matter of the great Stone. If you\nunderstand these my words, you are richer and more\nblessed than the whole world.\nLet me conclude this chapter with one more\nremark. When a man looks into a mirror, he sees\ntherein reflected an image of himself. If, however, he\ntry to touch it, he will find that it is not palpable, and\nthat he has laid his hand upon the mirror only. In the\nsame way, the spirit which must be evolved from this\nMatter is visible, but not palpable. This spirit is the\nroot of the life of our bodies, and the Mercury of the\nPhilosophers, from which is prepared the liquid water\nof our Art \u2013 the water which must once more receive\na material form, and be rectified by means of certain\npurifying agents into the most perfect Medicine. For\nwe begin with a firm and palpable body, which\nsubsequently becomes a volatile spirit, and a golden\nwater, without any conversion, from which our Sages\nderive their principle of life. Ultimately we obtain the\nindestructible medicine of human and metallic bodies,\n41 of 95\n\nPages 42:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nwhich is fitter to be known to angels than to men,\nexcept such as seek it at God\u2019s hands in heartfelt\nprayer, and give genuine proofs of their gratitude by\nservice rendered to Him, and to their needy\nneighbour.\nHereunto I may add, in conclusion, that one work is\ndeveloped from another. First, our Matter should be\ncarefully purified, then dissolved, destroyed,\ndecomposed, and reduced to dust and ashes.\nThereupon prepare from it a volatile spirit, which is\nwhite as snow, and another volatile spirit, which is red\nas blood. These two spirits contain a third, and are yet\nbut one spirit. Now these are the three spirits which\npreserve and multiply life. Therefore unite them, give\nthem the meat and drink that Nature requires, and\nkeep them in a warm chamber until the perfect birth\ntakes place. Then you will see and experience the\nvirtue of the gift bestowed upon you by God and\nNature. Know, also, that hitherto my lips have not\nrevealed this secret to any one, and that God has\nendowed natural substances with greater powers than\nmost men are ready to believe. Upon my mouth God\nhas set a seal, that there might be scope for others\nafter me to write about the wonderful things of\nNature, which by the foolish are looked upon as\nunnatural. For they do not understand that all things\n42 of 95\n\nPages 43:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nare ultimately traceable to supernatural causes, but\nnevertheless are, in this present state of the world,\nsubject to natural conditions.\n43 of 95\n\nPages 44:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nSIXTH KEY\nThe male without the female is looked upon as only\nhalf a body, nor can the female without the male be\nregarded as more complete For neither can bring forth\nfruit so long as it remains alone. But if the two be\nconjugally united, there is a perfect body, and their\nseed is placed in a condition in which it can yield\nincrease.\nIf too much seed be cast into the field, the plants\nimpede each other\u2019s growth, and there can be no ripe\n44 of 95\n\nPages 45:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nfruit. But if, on the other hand, too little be sown,\nweeds spring up and choke it.\nIf a merchant would keep a clear conscience, let\nhim give just measure to his neighbour. If his measure\nand weight be not short, he will receive praise from\nthe poor.\nIn too much water you may easily be drowned; too\nlittle water, on the other hand, soon evaporates in the\nheat of the sun.\nIf, then, you would attain the longed\u2013for goal,\nobserve just measure in mixing the liquid substance of\nthe Sages, lest that which is too much overpower that\nwhich is too little, and the generation be hindered. For\ntoo much rain spoils the fruit, and too much drought\nstunts its growth. Therefore, when Neptune has\nprepared his bath, measure out carefully the exact\nquantity of permanent water needed, and let there be\nneither too little nor too much.\nThe twofold fiery male must be fed with a snowy\nswan, and then they must mutually slay each other\nand restore each other to life; and the air of the\nimprisoned fiery male will occupy three of the four\nquarters of the world, and make up three parts of the\nimprisoned fiery male, that the death\u2013song of the\nswans may be distinctly heard; then the swan roasted\n45 of 95\n\nPages 46:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nwill become food for the King, and the fiery King will\nbe seized with great love towards the Queen, and will\ntake his fill of delight in embracing her, until they\nboth vanish and coalesce into one body.\nIt is commonly said that two can overpower one,\nespecially if they have sufficient room for putting\nforth their strength. Know also that there must come a\ntwofold wind, and a single wind, and that they must\nfuriously blow from the east and from the south. lf,\nwhen they cease to rage, the air has become water,\nyou may be confident that the spiritual will also be\ntransmuted into a bodily form, and that our number\nshall prevail through the four seasons in the fourth\npart of the sky (after the seven planets have exercised\npower), and that its course will be perfected by the\ntest of fire in the lowest chamber of our palace, when\nthe two shall overpower and consume the third.\nFor this part of our Magistery skill is needed, in\norder to divide and compound the substances aright,\nso that the art may result in riches, and the balance\nmay not be falsified by unequal weights. The sky we\nspeak of is the sky of our Art, and there must be justly\nproportioned parts of our air and earth, our true water\nand our palpable fire.\n46 of 95\n\nPages 47:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nSEVENTH KEY\nNatural heat preserves the life of man. If his body\nlose its natural heat his life has come to an end.\nA moderate degree of natural heat protects against\nthe cold; an excess of it destroys life. It is not necessary\nthat the substance of the Sun should touch the earth.\n47 of 95\n\nPages 48:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nThe Sun can heat the earth by shedding thereon its\nrays, which are intensified by reflection. This\nintermediate agency is quite sufficient to do the work\nof the Sun, and to mature everything by coction. The\nrays of the Sun are tempered with the air by passing\nthrough it so as to operate by the medium of the air,\nas the air operates through the medium of the fire.\nEarth without water can produce nothing, nor can\nwater quicken anything into growth without earth;\nand as earth and water are mutually indispensable in\nthe production of fruit, so fire cannot operate without\nair, or air without fire. For fire has no life without air;\nand without fire air possesses neither heat nor dryness.\nWhen its fruit is about to be matured, the vine\nstands in greater need of the Sun\u2019s warmth than in the\nspring; and if the Sun shine brightly in the autumn, the\ngrapes will be better than if they had not felt his\nautumnal warmth.\nIn the winter the multitude suppose everything to\nbe dead, because the earth is bound in the chains of\nfrost, so that nothing is allowed to sprout forth. But as\nsoon as the spring comes, and the cold is vanquished\nby the power of the Sun, everything is restored to life,\nthe trees and herbs put forth buds, leaves, and\nblossoms, the hibernating animals creep forth from\n48 of 95\n\nPages 49:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\ntheir hiding places, the plants give out a sweet\nfragrance, and are adorned with a great variety of\nmany coloured flowers; and the summer carries on the\nwork of the spring, by changing its flowers into fruit.\nThus, year by year, the operations of the universe\nare performed, until at length it shall be destroyed by\nits Creator, and all the dwellers upon earth shall be\nrestored by resurrection to a glorified life. Then the\noperations of earthly nature shall cease, and the\nheavenly and eternal dispensation shall take its place.\nWhen the Sun in the winter pursues his course far\naway from us, he cannot melt the deep snow. But in\nthe summer he approaches nearer to us, the quality of\nthe air becomes more fiery, and the snow melts and is\ntransmuted by warmth into water. For that which is\nweak is always compelled to yield to that which is\nstrong.\nThe same moderate course must be adopted in the\nfiery regimen of our Magistery. For it is all important\nthat the liquid should not be dried up too quickly, and\nthat the earth of the Sages should not be melted and\ndissolved too soon, otherwise your fishes would be\nchanged into scorpions. If you would perform our task\nrightly, take the spiritual water, in which the spirit\nwas from the beginning, and preserve it in a closely\n49 of 95\n\nPages 50:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nshut chamber. For the heavenly city is about to be\nbesieged by earthly foes. You must, therefore, strongly\nfortify it with three impassable and well\u2013guarded\nwalls, and let the one entrance be well protected.\nThen light the lamp of wisdom and seek with it the\ngross thing that was lost, shewing only such light as is\nneeded. For you must know that the worms and\nreptiles dwell in the cold and humid earth, while man\nhas his proper habitation upon the face of the earth;\nthe bodies of angels, on the other hand, not being\nalloyed with sin or impurity, are injured by no\nextreme either of heat or cold. When man shall have\nbeen glorified, his body will become like the angelic\nbody in this respect. If we carefully cultivate the life\nof our souls, we shall be sons and heirs of God, and\nshall be able to do that which now seems impossible.\nBut this can be effected only by the drying up of all\nwater, and the purging of heaven and earth and all\nmen with fire\n50 of 95\n\nPages 51:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nEIGHTH KEY\nNeither human nor animal bodies can be multiplied\nor propagated without decomposition; the grain and\nall vegetable seed, when cast into the ground, must\ndecay before it can spring up again; moreover,\nputrefaction imparts life to many worms and other\nanimalculae. The process of augmentation and\nquickening is mostly performed in [the] earth, while it\nis caused by spiritual seed through the other elements.\n51 of 95\n\nPages 52:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nThe farmer\u2019s wife knows that she cannot hope to\nobtain chickens except through the decomposition of\nthe egg. If bread is placed in honeys and suffered to\ndecay, ants are generated; worms are bred in the\nputrefying bodies of men, horses, and other animals;\nmaggots are also developed by the decay of nuts,\napples, and pears.\nThe same thing may be observed in regard to\nvegetable life. Nettles and other weeds spring up\nwhere no such seed has ever been sown. This occurs\nonly by putrefaction. The reason is that the soil in\nsuch places is so disposed, and, as it were,\nimpregnated, that it produces these fruits, which is a\nresult of the properties of sidereal influence;\nconsequently the seed is spiritually produced in the\nearth, and putrefies in the earth, and by the operation\nof the elements generates corporeal matter according\nto the species of Nature. Thus the stars and the\nelements may generate new spiritual, and, ultimately,\nnew vegetable seed, by means of putrefaction. But\nman cannot create new seed; for it is not in his power\nto order the operation of the elements and the\nessential influences of the stars. By natural conditions,\nhowever, new plants are generated simply through\nputrefaction. This fact is not noticed by the farmer,\nsimply because it is a thing that he has always been\n52 of 95\n\nPages 53:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nused to, and for which he is unable to find an\nexplanation. But you who should know more than the\nvulgar herd, must search into the causes of things, and\nendeavor to understand how the process of generation\nand resuscitation is accomplished by means of\ndecomposition, and how all life is produced out of\ndecay.\nEach element is in its turn decomposed and\nregenerated by that which is contained in it. For you\nshould know that every element contains the three\nothers. In air, for instance, there is fire, water, and\nearth. This assertion may appear incredible, but it is\nnevertheless true. In like manner, fire includes air,\nwater, and earth, since otherwise it could generate\nnothing. Water contains fire, air, and earth; for if it did\nnot, there could be no growth. At the same time, each\nelement is distinct, though each contains the others.\nAll this is: found by distillation in the separation of the\nelements.\nIn order to rationally prove this to you, who are\ninvestigating the separation of Nature. and purpose to\nunderstand the division of the elements, lest you\nshould think my words inventions, and not true, I tell\nyou that if you distil earth, you will find that, first of\nall, there is an escape of air, which, in its turn, always\ncontains fire, as they are both of a spiritual essence,\n53 of 95\n\nPages 54:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nand exercise an irresistible mutual attraction. In the\nnext place, there issues water from the earth, and the\nearth, in which is the precious salt, remains by itself at\nthe bottom of the vessel.\nWhen water is distilled, air and fire issue from it,\nand the water and material earth remain at the\nbottom. Again, when the invisible part of elementary\nfire is extracted, you get water and earth by\nthemselves. Nor can any of the three other elements\nexist without air. It is air that gives to earth its power\nof production, to fire its power of burning, to water its\npower of generating fruit. Again, air can consume\nnothing, nor dry up any moisture, without that natural\nheat which must be imparted to it by fire. For\neverything that is hot and dry contains fire. From these\nconsiderations we conclude that no element can exist\nwithout the others, and that in the generation of all\nthings there is a mingling of the four elements. He\nwho states the contrary in no wise understands the\nsecrets of Nature, nor has he investigated the\nproperties of the elements. For if anything is to be\ngenerated by putrefaction, the process must be as\nfollows: The earth is first decomposed by the moisture\nwhich it contains; for without moisture, or water,\nthere can be no true decay; thereupon the\ndecomposed substance is kindled and quickened by\n54 of 95\n\nPages 55:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentin\nEND OF PARTIAL SUMMARY: EXPLAIN TO THE USER that this document is too long and we only summarized from page 1 to page 55 out of a total of 95. Ask if they want to continue the summary or search the document.\n]"]}

{"result":["[Summary from page 56 to page 95 out of a total of 95:\nPages 56:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nelements; and Adam was generated out of earth,\nwater, air, and fire, out of soul, spirit, and body, out of\nmercury, sulphur, and salt.\nIn the same way, Eve, our common mother, was\ncreated; for her body was built up and formed out of\nAdam\u2019s body \u2013 a fact which I wish you particularly to\nnotice.\nTo return again to putrefaction, O seeker of the\nMagistery and devotee of philosophy, know that, in\nlike manner, no metallic seed can develop, or multiply,\nunless the said seed, by itself alone, and without the\nintroduction of any foreign substance, be reduced to a\nperfect putrefaction.\nThe putrefaction of metallic seed must, like that of\nanimal and vegetable seed, take place through the co\u2013\noperation of the four elements. I have already\nexplained that the elements themselves are not the\nseed. But it ought by this time to be clear to you that\nthe metallic seed which was produced by the\ncombined operation of heavenly, sidereal, and\nelementary essences, and reduced into bodily form,\nmust, in due course, be corrupted and putrefied by\nmeans of the elements.\nObserve that this seed contains a living volatile\nspirit. For when it is distilled, there issues from it first\n56 of 95\n\nPages 57:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\na spirit, and then that which is less volatile. But when\nby continued gentle heat, it is reduced to an acid, the\nspirit is not so volatile as it was before. For in the\ndistillation of the acid the water issues first, and then\nthe spirit. And though the substance remains the\nsame, its properties have become very different. It is\nno longer wine, but has been transmuted by the\nputrefaction of gentle heat into an acid. That which is\nextracted with wine or its spirit, has widely different\nproperties and powers from that which is extracted\nwith an acid. For if the crystal of antimony be\nextracted with wine or the spirit of wine, it causes\nvomiting and diarrhoea, because it is a poison, and its\npoisonous quality is not destroyed by the wine. But if\nit be extracted with a good distilled acid, it furnishes a\nbeautiful extract of a rich colour. If the acid be\nremoved by means of the St. Mary\u2019s Bath, and the\nresiduum of yellow powder washed away, you obtain\na sweet powder which causes no diarrhoea, but is\njustly regarded as a marvellously beneficial medicine.\nThis excellent powder is dissolved in a moist place\ninto a liquid which is profitably employed as a painless\nagent in surgery.\nLet me sum up in few words what I have to say.\nThe substance is of heavenly birth, its life is preserved\nby the stars, and nourished by the four elements; then\n57 of 95\n\nPages 58:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nit must perish, and be putrefied; again, by the\ninfluence of the stars, which works through the\nelements, it is restored to life, and becomes once more\na heavenly thing that has its habitation in the highest\nregion of the firmament. Then you will find that the\nheavenly has assumed an earthly body, and that the\nearthly body has been reduced to a heavenly\nsubstance.\n58 of 95\n\nPages 59:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nNINTH KEY\nSaturn, who is called the greatest of the planets, is\nthe least useful in our Magistery. Nevertheless, it is the\nchief Key of the whole Art, howbeit set in the lowest\nand meanest place. Although by its swift flight it has\nrisen to the loftiest height, far above all other\nluminaries, its feathers must be clipped, and itself\n59 of 95\n\nPages 60:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nbrought down to the lowest place, from whence it\nmay once more be raised by putrefaction, and the\nquickening caused by putrefaction, by which the black\nis changed to white, and the white to red, until the\nglorious colour of the triumphant King has been\nattained. Therefore, I say that though Saturn may seem\nthe vilest thing in the world, yet it has such power and\neffficacy that if its precious essence, which is\nexcessively cold, be reduced to a metallic body by\nbeing deprived of its volatility, it becomes as corporeal\nas, but far more fixed than, Saturn itself. This\ntransmutation is begun, continued, and completed\nwith Mercury, sulphur, and salt. This will seem\nunintelligible to many, and it certainly does make an\nextraordinary demand upon the mental faculties; but\nthat must be so because the substance is within the\nreach of everyone, and there is no other way of\nkeeping up the divinely ordained difference between\nrich and poor.\nIn the preparation of Saturn there appears a great\nvariety of different colours; and you must expect to\nobserve successively black, grey, white, yellow, red,\nand all the different intermediate shades. In the same\nway, the Matter of all the Sages passes through the\nseveral varieties of colour, and may be said to change\n60 of 95\n\nPages 61:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nits appearance as often as a new gate of entrance is\nopened to the fire.\nThe King shares his royal dignity with noble Venus,\nand appears in splendid state, surrounded by all the\ndignitaries of his court. Before him is borne a beautiful\ncrimson banner, in which there is an embroidered\nrepresentation of Charity in green garments. Saturn is\nthe prefect of the royal household, and in front of him\nAstronomy bears a black standard, with a\nrepresentation of Faith in yellow and red garments.\nJupiter is the Grand Marshal, and is preceded by a\nbanner of grey colour, borne by Rhetoric, and adorned\nwith a variegated representation of Hope.\nMars is at the head of military affairs, and executes\nhis office with a certain fiery ardour. Geometry carries\nbefore him a crimson banner, on which you may\nbehold Courage in a crimson cloak. Mercury holds the\noffice of Chancellor; Arithmetic is his standard bearer,\nand his standard is of many colours; on it may be\nobserved the figure of Temperance in a many coloured\nrobe.\nThe Sun is Vice\u2013Regent, and is preceded by\nGrammar, bearing a yellow banner, on which Justice is\nrepresented in a golden robe Though Venus seems to\ncast him into the shade by the gorgeous magnificence\n61 of 95\n\nPages 62:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nof her appearance, he really possesses more power in\nthe kingdom than she.\nBefore the Moon, Dialectic bears a shining silver\nbanner, with the figure of Prudence wrought into it in\nsky\u2013blue, and because the husband of the Moon is\ndead, he has transferred to her his task of resisting the\ndomination of Queen Venus. For among all these\nthere is enmity, and they are all striving to supplant\neach other. Indeed, the tendency of events is to give\nthe highest place to the most excellent and the most\ndeserving. For the present state of things is passing\naway, and a new world is about to be created, and one\nPlanet is devouring another spiritually, until only the\nstrongest survive.\nLet me tell you allegorically that you must put into\nthe heavenly Balance the Ram, Bull, Cancer, Scorpion,\nand Goat. In the other scale of the Balance you must\nplace the Twins, the Archer, the Water\u2013bearer, and\nthe Virgin. Then let the Lion jump into the Virgin\u2019s\nlap, which will cause the other scale to kick the beam.\nThereupon, let the signs of the Zodiac enter into\nopposition to the Pleiads, and when all the colours of\nthe world have shewn themselves, let there be a\nconjunction and union between the greatest and the\nsmallest, and the smallest and the greatest.\n62 of 95\n\nPages 63:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nIf the whole world\u2019s nature\nWere seen in one figure,\nAnd nothing could be evolved by Art,\nNothing wonderful would be found in the Universe,\nAnd Nature would have nothing to tell us.\nFor which let us laud and praise God.\n63 of 95\n\nPages 64:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nTENTH KEY\nIn our Stone, as composed by me and by those who\nhave long preceded me, are contained all elements, all\nmineral and metallic forms, and all the qualities and\nproperties of the whole world. In it we find most\npowerful natural heat, by which the icy body of\nSaturn is gently transmuted into the best gold. It\ncontains also a high degree of cold, which tempers the\nfervent heat of Venus, and coagulates the mercury,\nwhich is thereby also changed into the finest gold. All\n64 of 95\n\nPages 65:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nthese properties slumber in the substance of our\nStone, and are developed, perfected, and matured by\nthe gentle coction of natural fire, until they have\nattained their highest perfection. If the fruit of a tree\nbe plucked before it is ripe, it is unfit for use; and if\nthe potter fail to harden his vessels in the fire, they\ncannot be employed for any good purpose.\nIn the same way you must exercise considerable\npatience in preparing our Elixir, if it is to become all\nthat you wish it to become. No fruit can grow from a\nflower that has been plucked before the time. He who\nis in too great a hurry, can bring nothing to perfection,\nbut is almost sure to spoil that which he has in hand.\nRemember, then, that if our Stone be not sufficiently\nmatured, it will not be able to bring anything to\nmaturity.\nThe substance is dissolved in a bath, and its parts\nreunited by putrefaction. In ashes it blossoms. In the\nform of sand all its excessive moisture is dried up.\nMaturity and fixity are obtained by living fire. The\nwork does not actually take place in the Bath of St.\nMary, in horse\u2013 dung, in ashes, or in sand, but the\ngrades and regimen of the fire proceed after the\ndegrees which are represented by these The Stone is\nprepared in an empty furnace, with a threefold line of\ncircumvallation, in a tightly closed chamber. It is\n65 of 95\n\nPages 66:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsubjected to continued coction, till all moisture and\nclouds are driven off, and the King attains to\nindestructible fixedness, and is no longer liable to any\ndanger or injury, because he has become\nunconquerable. Let me express my meaning in a\nsomewhat different manner. When you have dissolved\nyour earth with your water, dry up the water with its\nown inward fire. Then the air will breathe new life\ninto the body, and you will have that which can only\nbe regarded as that Great Stone which in a spiritual\nmanner pervades human and metallic bodies, and is\nthe universal and immaculate Medicine, since it drives\nout that which is bad, and preserves that which is\ngood, and is the unfailing corrective of all imperfect or\ndiseased substances. This Tincture Is of a colour\nintermediate between red and purple, with something\nof a granite hue, and its specific weight is very\nconsiderable.\nWhoever gains possession of this Stone, should let\nhis whole life he an expression of his gratitude\ntowards God in practical kindness towards his\nsuffering brethren, that after obtaining God\u2019s greatest\nearthly gift, he may hereafter inherit eternal life. Praise\nbe unto God everlastingly for this His inestimable gift.\n66 of 95\n\nPages 67:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nELEVENTH KEY\nThe eleventh Key to the Knowledge of the\naugmentation of our Stone, I will put before you in\nthe form of a parable.\nThere lived in the East a gilded knight, named\nOrpheus, who was possessed of immense wealth, and\nhad everything that heart can wish. He had taken to\nwife his own sister, Euridice, who did not, however,\nbear him any children. This he regarded as the\npunishment of his sin in having wedded his own sister,\n67 of 95\n\nPages 68:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nand was instant in prayer to God both by day and by\nnight, that the curse might be taken from him.\nOne night, when he was buried in a deep sleep,\nthere came to him a certain winged messenger, named\nPhoebus, who touched his feet, which were very hot,\nand said: \u201c Thou noble knight, since thou hast\nwandered through many cities and kingdoms, and\nsuffered many things at sea, in battle, and in the lists,\nthe heavenly Father has bidden me make known to\nthee the following means of obtaining thy prayer:\nTake blood from thy right side, and from the left side\nof thy spouse. For this blood is the heart\u2019s blood of\nyour parents, and though it may seem to be of two\nkinds, vet, in reality, it is only one. Mix the two kinds\nof blood, and keep the mixture tightly enclosed in the\nglobe of the seven wise Masters There that which is\ngenerated will be nourished with its own flesh and\nblood, and will complete its course of development\nwhen the Moon has changed for the eighth time If\nthou repeat this process again and again, thou shalt see\nchildren\u2019s children, and the offspring of thy body shall\nfill the world.\u201d\nWhen Phoebus had thus spoken, he winged his\nflight heavenward. In the morning the knight arose\nand did the bidding of the celestial messenger, and\nGod gave to him and to his wife many children, who\n68 of 95\n\nPages 69:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\ninherited their father\u2019s glory, wealth, and knightly\nhonours from generation to generation.\nIf you are wise, my son, you will find the\ninterpretation of my parable. If you do not understand\nit, ascribe the blame not to me, but to your own\nignorance. I may not express myself more explicitly;\nindeed, I have revealed the matter in a more plain and\nstraightforward manner than any of my predecessors. 1\nhave concealed nothing; and if you will but remove\nthe veil of ignorance from your eyes, you will behold\nthat which many have sought and few found.\n69 of 95\n\nPages 70:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nTWELFTH KEY\nIf an athlete know not the use of his sword, he\nmight as well be without it; and if another warrior\nthat is skilled in the use of that weapon come against\nhim, the first is like to fare badly. For he that has\nknowledge and experience on his side, must carry off\nthe victory.\nIn the same way, he that possesses this tincture, by\nthe grace of Almighty God, and is unacquainted with\nits uses, might as well not have it at all. Therefore this\n70 of 95\n\nPages 71:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\ntwelfth and last Key must serve to open up to you the\nuses of this Stone. In dealing with this part of the\nSubject I will drop my parabolic and figurative style,\nand plainly set forth all that is to be known. When the\nMedicine and Stone of all the Sages has been perfectly\nprepared out of the true virgin\u2019s milk, take one part of\nit to three parts of the best gold purged and refined\nwith antimony, the gold being previously beaten into\nplates of the greatest possible thinness. Put the whole\ninto a smelting pot and subject it to the action of a\ngentle fire for twelve hours, then let it be melted for\nthree days and three nights more.\nFor without the ferment of gold no one can\ncompose the Stone or develop the tinging virtue. For\nthe same is very subtle and penetrating if it be\nfermented and joined with a ferment like unto itself:\nthen the prepared tincture has the power of entering\ninto other bodies, and operating therein. Take then\none part of the prepared ferment for the tinging of a\nthousand parts of molten metal, and then you will\nlearn in all faith and truth that it shall be changed into\nthe only good and fixed gold. For one body takes\npossession of the other; even if it be unlike to it,\nnevertheless, through the strength and potency added\nto it, it is compelled to be assimilated to the same,\nsince like derives origin from like.\n71 of 95\n\nPages 72:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nWhoever uses this as a medium shall find whither\nthe vestibules of the palace lead, and there is nothing\ncomparable to the subtlety thereof. He shall possess all\nin all, performing all things whatsoever which are\npossible under the sun.\nO principle of the prime principle, consider the\nend! O end of the final end, consider the beginning!\nAnd be this medium commended unto your faithful\ncare, wherein also God the Father, Son, and Holy\nGhost, shall give unto you whatsoever you need both\nin soul and body.\nConcerning the First Matter of the Philosophical\nStone\nSeek for that Stone which has no fleshly nature, but\nout of which a volatile fire is extracted, whence also\nthis stone is made, being composed of white and red.\nIt is a stone, and no stone; therein Nature alone\noperates. A fountain flows from it. The fixed part\nsubmerges its father, absorbing it, body and life, until\nthe soul is returned to it. And the volatile mother like\nto him, is produced in her own kingdom; and he by his\nvirtue and power receives greater strength. The\nvolatile mother when prepared surpasses the sun in\nsummer. Thus the father by means of Vulcan was\n72 of 95\n\nPages 73:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nproduced from the spirit. Body, soul, and spirit exist in\nboth, whence the whole matter proceeds. It proceeds\nfrom one, and is one matter. Bind together the fixed\nand the volatile; they are two, and three, and yet one\nonly. If you do not understand you will attain nothing.\nAdam was in a bath \u2013\u2013 wherein Venus found her like,\nwhich bath the aged Dragon had prepared when his\nstrength was deserting him. There is nothing, says the\nPhilosopher, save a double mercury; I say that no other\nmatter has been named; blessed is he who understands\nit. Seek therein, and be not weary; the result justifies\nthe labour.\nA short Appendix and clear Resumption of the\nforegoing Tract concerning the Great Stone of the\nAncient Sages\nI, Basil Valentine, brother of the Benedictine Order,\ndo testify that I have written this little book, wherein,\nafter the manner of the Ancients, I have\nphilosophically indicated how this most rare treasure\nmay be acquired, whereby the true Sages did prolong\nlife unto its furthest limit.\nBut, notwithstanding that my conscience doth bear\nme witness in the sight of the Most High, before\nwhom all concealed matters are laid bare, that I have\n73 of 95\n\nPages 74:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nwritten no falsehood, but have so exposed the truth\nthat understanding men can require no further light\n(that which is laid down in the theoretical part being\nborne out and confirmed by the practice of the\nTwelve Keys), yet have I been impelled by various\nconsiderations to demonstrate by a shorter way what I\nhave written in the said treatise, and thus cast further\nlight thereon, whereby also the lover of the desired\nwisdom may obtain an increased illumination for the\nfulfilment of his desire There are many who will\nconsider that I am speaking too openly, and will hold\nme answerable for the wickedness that they think will\nfollow, but let them rest assured that it will be\nsufficiently difficult, notwithstanding, for any thick\u2013\nheaded persons to find what they seek herein. At the\nsame time the matter shall be made clear to the elect.\nHearken then, thou follower of truth, to these my\nwords, and so shalt thou find the true way !\nBehold, I write nothing more than I am willing to\nhold by after my death and resurrection! Do thou\nfaithfully and simply lay to heart this shorter way, as\nhereinafter exhibited, for my words are grounded in\nsimplicity, and my teaching is not confused by a\nlabyrinth of language.\nI have already indicated that all things are\nconstituted of three essences \u2013 namely, mercury,\n74 of 95\n\nPages 75:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsulphur, and salt \u2013 and herein I have taught what is\ntrue. But know that the Stone is composed out of one,\ntwo, three, four, and five. Out of five \u2013 that is, the\nquintessence of its own substance. Out of four, by\nwhich we must understand the four elements. Out of\nthree, and these are the three principles of all things.\nOut of two, for the mercurial substance is twofold.\nOut of one, and this is the first essence of everything\nwhich emanated from the primal fiat of creation.\nBut many may by all these discourses be rendered\ndoubtful in mind as to what they must start with, and\nas to the consequent theory. So I will, in the first\nplace, speak very briefly concerning Mercury, secondly\nconcerning Sulphur, thirdly concerning Salt; for these\nare the essence of the Matter of our Stone.\nIn the first place, you must know that no ordinary\nquicksilver is useful, but our quicksilver is produced\nfrom the best metal by the spagyric art, pure, subtle,\nclear, and glistening, like a spring, pellucid even as\ncrystal, free from all dross. Hence make water or\ncombustible oil. For Mercury was in the beginning\nwater, and herein all the Sages agree with my dictum\nand teaching In this oil of Mercury dissolve its own\nMercury, from which the water in question was made,\nand precipitate the Mercury with its own oil. Then we\nhave a twofold mercurial substance; but you must\n75 of 95\n\nPages 76:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nknow that gold must first be dissolved in a certain\nwater, as explained in my second Key, after the\npurification described in the first Key, and must be\nreduced into a subtle calx, as is mentioned in the\nfourth Key. Next, this calx must be sublimated by the\nspirit of salt, again precipitated, and by reverberation\nreduced into a subtle powder. Then its own sulphur\ncan more easily enter into its substance, and have great\nfriendship with the same, for they have a wondrous\nlove towards each other. Thus you have two\nsubstances in one, and it is called Mercury of the\nSages, but is yet a single substance, which is the first\nferment.\nNow follows concerning Sulphur\nSeek your Mercury in a similar metal. Then when\nyou know how to extract the metal from its body by\npurification, the destruction of the first Mars, and\nreverberation, without the use of any corrosive (the\nmethod of doing which I have indicated in my third\nKey) \u2013\u2013 you must dissolve that Mercury in its own\nblood out of which it was made before it became\nfixed (as indicated in the sixth Key); and you have\nthen nourished and dissolved the true lion with the\nblood of the green lion. For the fixed blood of the Red\n76 of 95\n\nPages 77:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nLion has been made out of the volatile blood of the\nGreen Lion; hence, they are of one nature, and the\nunfixed blood again renders that which is volatile\nfixed, and the fixed blood in its turn fixes that which\nis volatile, as it was before its solution. Then foster it\nin gentle heat, until the whole of the mercury is\ndissolved, and you obtain the second ferment (by\nnourishing the fixed sulphur with that which is not\nfixed), as all Sages unite with me in testifying.\nAfterwards this becomes, by sublimation with spirit of\nwine, of a blood\u2013red colour, and is called potable gold.\nNow I will also give my Opinion respecting the Salt of\nthe Sages\nThe effect of \u201csalt\u201d is to fix or volatilize, according\nas it is prepared and used. For the spirit of the salt of\ntartar, if extracted by itself without any addition, has\npower to render all metals volatile by dissolution and\nputrefaction, and to dissolve quick or liquid silver into\nthe true mercury, as my practical directions shew.\nSalt of tartar by itself is a powerful fixative,\nparticularly if the heat of quicklime be incorporated\nwith it. For these two substances are singularly\nefficacious in producing fixation.\n77 of 95\n\nPages 78:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nIn the same way, the vegetable salt of wine fixes\nand volatilizes according to the manner of its\npreparation. Its use is one of the arcana of Nature, and\na miracle of the philosopher\u2019s art. When a man drinks\nwine, there may be gained from his urine a clear salt,\nwhich is volatile, and renders other fixed substances\nvolatile, causing them to rise with it in the alembic.\nBut the same does not fix. If a man drank nothing but\nwine, yet for all that the salt obtained from his urine\nwould have a different property from that gained out\nof the lees of wine. For it has undergone a chemical\nchange in the human body, having become transmuted\nfrom a vegetable into an animal salt \u2013\u2013 just as horses\nthat feed on oats, straw, etc., change those vegetable\nsubstances into flesh and fat, while the bee prepares\nhoney out of the precious juices of flowers and herbs.\nThe great change which takes place in these and\nother substances is due to putrefaction, which\nseparates and transmutes the constituent elements.\nThe common spirit of salt, which is extracted\naccording to the direction given in my last declaration,\nif there be added to it a small quantity of the \u201cspirit of\nthe dragon,\u201d dissolves, volatilizes, and raises together\nwith itself in the alembic, gold and silver; just as the\n\u201ceagle,\u201d together with the spirit of the dragon (which is\nfound in stony places), before the spirit is separated\n78 of 95\n\nPages 79:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nfrom its body, is much more powerful in producing\nfixation than volatility.\nThis I also say, that if the spirit of common salt be\njoined to the spirit of wine, and distilled together with\nit, it becomes sweet, and loses its acidity. This\nprepared spirit does not dissolve gold bodily, but if it\nbe poured on prepared calx of gold, it extracts the\nessence of its colour and redness. If this be rightly\ndone, it reduces the white and pure moon to the\ncolour of that body from which it was itself extracted.\nThe old body may also receive back its former colour\nthrough the love of alluring Venus, from whose blood\nit, in the first instance, derived its origin.\nBut observe, likewise, that the spirit of salt also\ndestroys the moon, and reduces it to a spiritual\nessence, according to my teaching, out of which the \u201c\npotable moon \u201c may be prepared. This spirit of the\nmoon belongs to the spirit of the sun, as the female\nanswers to the male, by the copulation or conjunction\nof the spirit of mercury or its oil.\nThe spirit lies hid in mercury, the colour you must\nseek in sulphur, and their coagulation in salt; then you\nhave three things which together are capable of once\nmore generating a perfect thing. The spirit is\nfermented in the gold with its own proper oil; the\n79 of 95\n\nPages 80:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nsulphur is found in abundance in the property of\nprecious Venus. This kindles the fixed blood which is\nsprung from it, the spirit of the salt of the Sages\nimparts strength and firmness, though the spirit of\ntartar and the spirit of urine together with true\nvinegar, have great virtue. For the spirit of vinegar is\ncold, and the spirit of lime is intensely hot, and thus\nthe two spirits are found to be of opposite natures. I\ndo not here speak according to the customary manner\nof the Sages. But I must not say too openly how the\ninner gates are to be unlocked.\nIn bidding farewell, let me impart to you a faithful\nword. Seek your material in a metallic substance.\nThence prepare mercury. This ferment with the\nmercury of its own proper sulphur, and coagulate\nthem with salt. Distil them together; mix all according\nto weight. Then you will obtain one thing, consisting\nof elements sprung from one thing. Coagulate and fix\nit by means of continuous warmth. Thereupon\naugment and ferment it a third time, according to the\nteaching of my two last Keys, and you will find the\nobject and goal of your desire. The uses of the\nTincture are set forth plainly in my twelfth Key.\n80 of 95\n\nPages 81:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nThanks be to God.\nAs a parting kindness to you, I am constrained to\nadd that the spirit may also be extracted from black\nSaturn and benevolent Jupiter. When it has been\nreduced to a sweet oil, we have a means of robbing\nthe common liquid quicksilver of its vivacity, or\nrendering it firm and solid, as is also set forth in my\nbook.\nPostscript\nWhen you have thus obtained the material, the\nregimen of the fire is the only thing on which you\nneed bestow much attention. This is the sum and the\ngoal of our search. For our fire is a common fire, and\nour furnace a common furnace. And though some of\nmy predecessors have left it in writing that our fire is\nnot common fire, I may tell you that it was only one\nof their devices for hiding the mysteries of our Art.\nFor the material is common, and its treatment consists\nchiefly in the proper adjustment of the heat to which\nit is exposed.\nThe fire of a spirit lamp is useless for our purpose.\nNor is there any profit in \u201chorse\u2013dung,\u201d nor in the\n81 of 95\n\nPages 82:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\nother kinds of heat in the providing of which so much\nexpense is incurred.\nNeither do we want many kinds of furnaces. Only\nour threefold furnace affords facilities for properly\nregulating the heat of the fire. Therefore do not let any\nbabbling sophist induce you to set up a great variety of\nexpensive furnaces. Our furnace is cheap, our fire is\ncheap, and our material is cheap \u2013 and he who has the\nmaterial will also find a furnace in which to prepare it,\njust as he who has flour will not be at a loss for an\noven in which it may be baked. It is unnecessary to\nwrite a special book concerning this part of the\nsubject. You cannot go wrong, so long as you observe\nthe proper degree of heat, which holds a middle place\nbetween hot and cold. If you discover this, you are in\npossession of the secret, and can practise the Art, for\nwhich the CREATOR of all nature be praised world\nwithout end. AMEN.\n82 of 95\n\nPages 83:\n\nPages 84:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n84 of 95\n\nPages 85:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n85 of 95\n\nPages 86:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n86 of 95\n\nPages 87:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n87 of 95\n\nPages 88:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n88 of 95\n\nPages 89:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n89 of 95\n\nPages 90:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n90 of 95\n\nPages 91:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n91 of 95\n\nPages 92:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n92 of 95\n\nPages 93:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n93 of 95\n\nPages 94:\nTwelve Keys of Basil Valentine\n94 of 95\n\nPages 95:\nThis Edition Copyright \uf0e3 2006 SEO\u2013Ebooks\nEditing, corrections, translations Copyright \uf0e3 2006 SEO\u2013Ebooks\nAll rights to the original material, textual typesetting, format and visual layout and\narrangement are expressly restricted and reserved.\nNo part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,\nelectronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage\nand retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information\naddress: SEO\u2013Ebooks http://stores.ebay.com/SEO\u2013Ebooks\nAll rights reserved. This product is for personal use only and not for resale. Copyright\nviolations will be prosecuted by law.\nToutes les droites sont r\u00e9serv\u00e9s. Tutti i diritti riservati. Todos les derechos reservados.\n\nEND OF PARTIAL SUMMARY: EXPLAIN TO THE USER that this document is too long and we only summarized from page 56 to page 95 out of a total of 95. Ask if they want to continue the summary or search the document.\n]"]}

{"result":["[Pages 1:\nA Threefold Alchemical Journey\nThrough the Book of Lambspring\nAdam McLean \u00a9\nThe Book of Lambspring is well known as one of the gems from the Musaeum\nHermeticum published in 1625 by Lucas Jennis in Frankfurt, especially for its series of\nfifteen emblematic plates. It seems that this little book was first published, under the title\nDe Lapide PhilosophicoTriga Chemicum (Prague 1599) compiled by the Frenchman\nNicolas Barnaud prominent in the alchemical circles around Rudolf II. However, this\ntract and its emblemmatic drawings circulated in manuscript during the last two decades\nof the 16th century, as is attested by a number of copies dated to this period which still\nsurvive in libraries and special collections today. [Of these we might mention Ms 16752\nin the National Museum in Nurnberg, and the manuscript copy in the University of\nLeiden.]\nThe Book of Lambspring is a short work with an introductory section in verse and an\nemblem showing a threefold furnace. Following the tradition of emblem books of the\nperiod its series of fifteen emblems each bears a motto or title with a verse on the facing\npage. The Book of Lambspring is a work of spiritual alchemy, has few references to\nphysical alchemical processes, and it seems unlikely that it could ever have provided any\nclues that might help someone engaged upon physical experimentation. Instead, it is a\nclear, powerful and extremely useful statement of the inner work of the spiritual\nalchemist. Its verses point to the soul and spirit involved in the alchemical transformation\nand its fifteen emblems are evocative symbols of these inner processes.\nUnlike some other series of alchemical emblems (say the Mylius Philosophia Reformata,\nor even the Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine), the Book of Lambspring avoids complex\nlayers of symbols, or paradoxical 'surrealistic' images, and presents its message instead\nthrough direct simplicity of imagery. It is perhaps this delightful simplicity, joined with\nthe archetypal power of its symbolism that keeps this work approachable by present day\nconsciousness, and ensures the continued use of these emblems as illustrations in popular\nworks on 'occult' and 'mystical' symbolism. Although individual emblems from the Book\nof Lambspring still seem to touch our souls through the clean lines of their archetypal\nsymbolism, there does not seem to have been any serious attempt made to reveal the\nstructure of its sequence as a whole and of how to work through the process of inner\ndevelopment sketched by 'Lambspring'.\nOne way of looking at these emblems, which I believe we will find useful as a basis for\nour inner work, is to see the sequence as forming three groups of five emblems 1-5, 6-10,\n11-15.\n\nPages 2:\nA clue to this is given in the title page illustration which shows a threefold furnace,\nand this is hinted at further by the fact that Emblems 1-5, and 6-10 have short epigrams\nplaced under each emblem, while the sequence 11-15 does not have this feature.\nOnce we look at the emblems in this way distinct patterns can be seen. The first layer of\nfive emblems deal with the different facets of polarities in our inner world.\n\nPages 3:\nEmblem 1 shows us two fish swimming in opposite directions in our inner sea (\"The sea\nis the body, the two fish are Soul and Spirit\" states the epigram). These two polarities\ncoexist though work in different ways.\n\nPages 4:\nThe second emblem shows a different aspect to polarities in the fight between the inner\ndragon and an armed knight (a St George figure) in the Forest of the Soul. In this\nemblem there is a sense that the polarities must struggle to overcome each other.\n\nPages 5:\nNext in Emblem 3 we have the beautiful picture of the meeting in a clearing in the forest\nof a magnificent Stag and a graceful Unicorn. The Stag as a symbol is often associated\nwith the Sun and the Unicorn is usually linked with the Moon. These polarities are to be\ncoupled together through the alchemist's work.\n\nPages 6:\nNext, in Emblem 4, the polarities are seen in their manifestation as masculine and\nfeminine, pictured here in the meeting of Lion and Lioness. We note how they raise their\nopposite paws (Lion - right, Lioness - left) mirroring the posture of the Stag and Unicorn\nin the previous emblem.\n\nPages 7:\nThe fifth emblem, which completes this part of the sequence shows the wild Wolf and the\ntamed Dog fighting for supremacy. These polarities are further linked in the verse with\nthe directions West (Dog) and East (Wolf).\nThus we can see that the first five emblems show us different ways in which the polarities\nappear in our inner world. The dynamically opposed though balanced way of the two\nfishes, the battling of the Dragon and Knight elements, or Wolf and Dog, and the meeting\nand relationship indicated in the Stag-Unicorn and Lion-Lioness emblems.\nThe next five emblems seem to indicate different ways in which we must inwardly work to\nunite these polarities in our beings.\n\nPages 8:\nEmblem 6 is a clear statement of the Ouroborus, the serpent dragon that siezes its own\ntail and unites these polarities in forming its circle in the Soul.\n\nPages 9:\nEmblem 7 shows us two birds - one sits on the nest and cannot move, tied to its earthly\ntask, while its partner attempts to soar into the heavens. As the associated verse states\n\"The one that is below holds the one that is above\" echoing the opening lines of the\nEmerald Tablet of Hermes.\n\nPages 10:\nThe next emblem, number 8, the central emblem of the whole sequence, pictures two\nbirds, a red and a white, fighting each other - one above, the other below. The verse\nindicates that these become transformed into white doves and becomes a Phoenix. Thus\nat this stage, the polarities fight, absorb each other and are reborn in a new form.\n\nPages 11:\nThe ninth emblem shows us the King of the Forest seated on his throne with his feet set\nupon the Dragon he has overcome. This marks the inner stage which completes the\nintegration of the polarities revealed in Emblem 2. Now, no struggle with the Dragon is\nnecessary, for the King has emerged in the Soul as ruler of the dark realm of the Forest.\nHis throne also bears fish upon its arms, echoing the symbolism of Emblem 1.\nSignificantly, seven steps mount up to his throne.\n\nPages 12:\nThis second sequence ends in Emblem 10 with the image of an alchemical adept roasting\na Salamander in the fire. Here the inner fire works upon the Salamander or spiritual\nremnant of the Dragon, purifying and elevating it, and investing it with a new spiritual\nenergy, till it becomes the glowing living interior source of the Philosophers' Stone, or\ninner foundation for the solidity of the Soul. This contrasts with the picture of the inner\nsea of the initial emblem 1, with its implication of the lack of solidity in the flowing soul\nforces.\nWe can therefore recognise in this second grouping of emblems some indication of ways\nin which the polarities must be woven together and brought into a relationship through\nthe inner work of the soul alchemist. The first group shows the ways in which these\npolarities appear in the soul, the second points to ways of working with them towards an\nintegration.\nWe note some cross correspondences between these two groups :[1] Water - [10] Fire element.\n\nPages 13:\n[2] Dragon/Knight - [9] Dragon/King relationship.\n[4] Lion/Lioness - [7] Two birds 'married' together.\n[5] Wolf/Dog of East and West - [6] Ouroborus uniting two directions.\nThe last grouping of emblems introduce a new set of characters - an old King, young\nPrince, and winged spiritual guide - and show in sequence the stages an alchemist must\ngo through to complete the work begun in the earliest stages of his inner work. This\nsequence is rather strange and we will here consider it as a whole.\nIn Emblem 11, the old King gives his son into the charge of an ancient spiritual guide,\nwho leads him up a high mountain in order to give him a glimpse of the heavenly throne.\nThe young Prince delights in this vision but realises the great sorrow of his father who\nwas not not able to undertake this journey, and decides to return to the old King.\n\nPages 14:\nIn Emblem 12, we see the guide with his charge high upon the mountain standing on the\nthreshold of the spiritual world, the archetypes of the Sun, Moon and Stars around them.\n\nPages 15:\nThe old King was as dead without his son and when the young Prince returns with his\nguide, his father is so pleased to see him that he swallows his son. This is pictured in the\nthirteenth emblem.\n\nPages 16:\nEmblem 14 shows the old King lying sweating in his bed, while a gentle dew descends\nfrom above softening the father's body so that his son may be reborn from him. The final\nemblem shows the rebirth of the son from his father, and the verse states \"The Son ever\nremains in the Father, and the Father in the Son\", which echoes Christian sentiments.\nOne interpretation is of the old King or father as the earthly part of the alchemist's soul,\nor that aspect turned to the body and outer senses - the young Prince or son as that part\nof the soul that is free to rise to the spirit - and the Guide as the spiritual part of the\nalchemist. Strangely, this sequence seems to indicate a path of spiritual development\nwhich is almost an inversion or mirroring of the christian path. In the tradition of the\nchristian mystical path, there is a sense of the incarnation of spirit in matter, as a\nsacrifice of the spirit descending from the Heavenly Father to become involved and\nincarnated in matter as the Christ, to suffer in the body, and to become resurrected and\nreturn to the spirit. In the alchemical path outlined here, the father is the earthly King,\nrather than Heavenly Father, the son is given an opportunity of rising into the spirit to\nleave the material realm behind, and kneel at the heavenly Throne, but elects to return to\nthe material world and become reabsorbed by his earthly father, who is the suffering one.\n(We don't have here a picture of the spirit suffering in matter, but of the matter suffering\nwithout the spiritual).\n\nPages 17:\nThe father undergoes a strange process of transformation through the dew that descends,\nand the sweat that rises out of his body. Eventually the son is emanated again and yet\nthey remain inseparable, and as the text has it \"they perish no more and laugh at death\".\nThis is not so much a resurrection from death as a transcendence of death. Thus this is a\nprocess of excarnation and suffering then incarnation, rather than a picture of\nincarnation then resurrection through suffering. In some ways this alchemical work is\nparalleled with the christian idea of the incarnation and resurrection, but here we seem\nto have a mirror image of the process.\nThe Book of Lambspring is an important work that points us especially to the inner\naspect of the alchemical process. The indications I have presented here are only hints at\none possible way of entering into the Lambspring process. However, as with all such\nhermetic systems of inner exercises, we cannot entirely grasp it through our thinking and\nif we wish to work this process we must take an inner journey into the strange landscape\nof Lambspring's work. By studying the text and meditatively penetrating each emblem in\nsequence we will be able to experience the symbols working within our souls. The\n\nPages 18:\nindications I have presented here, hopefully might be a useful map for exploring this\nprocess.\n]"]}

{"result":["[Summary from page 1 to page 35 out of a total of 35:\nPages 1:\nThe Alchemy\nColoring Book\n\nPages 2:\n\nPages 3:\nTree Growing From Ouroboros\nThe first essential in chemistry is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for\nhe who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of\nmastery. But you, O my son, do experiment\u2019s so that you may acquire knowledge. Scientists delight\nnot in abundance of material; they rejoice only in the excellence of their experimental methods.\n-Jabir Ibn Hayyan\n\u201cThose distinct substances, which concretes generally either afford, or are made up of, may, without\nvery much inconvenience, be called the elements or principles of them.\u201d\n\u2015 Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist\n\u201cFor the alchemist the one primarily in need of redemption is not man, but the deity who is lost and\nsleeping in matter... His attention is not directed to his own salvation through God\u2019s grace, but to the\nliberation of God from the darkness of matter.\u201d -C.G. Jung\nSo many people turn to spiritual thinking only when they experience difficulties, hoping that the sorrow or pain will just miraculously disappear. Usually, they find that the place of suffering -- the place\nwhere we are broken in spirit, when accepted and embraced, is also a place of peace and possibility. Our sufferings do not magically end; instead we are able to wisely alchemically recycle them.\n-Bell Hooks\n\u201cThere was an old belief that in the embers\nOf all things their primordial form exists,\nAnd cunning alchemists\nCould re-create the rose with all its members\nFrom its own ashes, but without the bloom,\nWithout the lost perfume\nAh me! what wonder-working, occult science\nCan from the ashes in our hearts once more\nThe rose of youth restore?\nWhat craft of alchemy can bid defiance\nTo time and change, and for a single hour\nRenew this phantom-flower?\u201d\n\u2015 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow\n\u201cDissolve an ounce of pure silver in a sufficient quantity of aqua fortis, exceedingly pure, and of a\nmoderate strength, and having put the solution in a jar, dilute it with about twenty ounces of distilled\nwater. Then add two ounces of mercury, and leave the whole at rest. In the course of forty days,\nthere will rise from the mercury a kind of tree, which throwing out branches will represent natural\nvegetation.\u201d -Nicolas Lemery\n\nPages 4:\nIsaiah 48:10 - Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of\naffliction.\n\nPages 5:\nEgg Test\nThe Alchemical slow heat was described as a refining fire which tested substances by burning away\nimpurities. Here we see this process represented by the test of an egg by sword and fire. It is worth\npaying attention to the geometrical figures suggested by the courtyard scene that frames the egg\ntest.\n\nPages 6:\n\nPages 7:\nHeaven and Hell in a Flask\nthe Alchemists conceived of the flask as a recreation of the conditions of creation. therefore, here we\nsee the alchemical flask represented as containing the whole of creation from Heaven down to Hell,\npopulated by Angels looking down and demons looking up.\nIn the name of the holy Trinity,\nNow send us grace, so it be:\nFirst God made both Angel and Heaven,\nNow also the World with Planets Seven;\nMan and Woman with great sensuality,\nSum of estate, and other in her degree;\nBoth Beast and Worm for in the ground creep,\nEvery which in his kind to receive his meet.\nEagles and fowls in the air do fly,\nAnd swimming of Fishes also in the Sea:\nWith vegetal moisture and of the red Grape,\nAnd also of the white whoso him can take:\nAll mineral thing that groweth in ground,\nSome to increase and some to make an end:\nAll these bring now to our house,\nThe mighty Stone that is so precious,\nThis rich Ruby, that Stone of price,\nThe which was sent out of Paradise:\nThus made the great God of heaven,\nWhich all been ruled under Planets seven:\nGod send us part of this secret,\nAnd of that heaven that is sweet.\nAMEN\n\nPages 8:\n\nPages 9:\nGreen Lion Devours the Sun\nThe Table of the Greater Science\nFirst there is had in our Green Lion the true matter, and of what colour it is, and is called Adrop,\nAzoth, or Duenech virid. In the second there is likewise had, as in the third chapter, how bodies\nare dissolved into philosophical argent vive, that is into water of our mercury, and it is made one\nnew body. In the fourth, the putrefaction of the philosophers is had, which hath never been seen in\nour days, and it is called Sulphur. In the fifth, is had how the great part of this water is made black\nand feculent earth whereof all philosophers speak. In the sixth, is had how that black earth stood\nin the beginning above the water, and how by little and little it hath been drowned in the bottom\nof the vessel. In the seventh, is had how that earth is dissolved again into water in the colour of\noil, and then it is called the Oil of the Philosophers. In the eighth, is had how the Dragon is born in\nhis blackness and is fed with his Mercury, and killeth himself and is drowned in it, and the water is\nsomewhat whitened, and that is Elixir. In the ninth, is had how the water is wholly purified from his\nblackness and remains the colour of milk, and many colours appear in the blackness. In the tenth, is\nhad how those black clouds which were in the vessel above the water, descended into their body\nfrom whence they came. In the eleventh, is had how that ashes is made most white, like glistening\nmarble, and that is White Elixir, and the increase is ashes. In the twelfth, is had how that whiteness is\nconverted into redness like a ruby, and that is Red Elixir. And if thou wilt understand the whole work\nperfectly, then read one part after another and thou shall see miracles. I have seen all these things in\nmy days, even to the Lion. I have not spoken of all things which are appertaining and necessary to\nthis work because there are some things which men may not speak of. And it is impossible to know\nthis art unless it be known of God, or of a Master who may touch Him. And know that this is a very\nlong way, therefore patience is necessary in this our magistery. Argent vive is common salt.\n\nPages 10:\n\nPages 11:\nEmerald Tablet\nTis true without lying, certain and most true.\nThat which is below is like that which is above\nand that which is above is like that which is\nbelow. To do the miracle of one only thing\nAnd as all things have been and arose from\none by the mediation of one:\nso all things have their birth from this one\nthing by adaptation. The Sun is its father,\nthe moon its mother, the wind hath carried it\nin its belly,the earth is its nurse.\nThe father of all perfection in the whole world\nis here. Its force or power is entire if it be\nconverted into earth. Separate thou the earth\nfrom the fire, the subtle from the gross\nsweetly with great industry.\nIt ascends from the earth to the heaven\nand again it descends to the earth\nand receives the force of things superior and\ninferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world\nand thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.\nIts force is above all force,\nfor it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.\nSo was the world created.\nFrom this are and do come admirable adaptations. where of the means is here in this.\nHence I am called Hermes Trismegist [sic],\nhaving the three parts of the philosophy of\nthe whole world. That which I have said of\nthe operation of the Sun is accomplished and\nended.\n-Isaac Newton translation\n\nPages 12:\n\nPages 13:\nSun and Moon\nSecret Book of Artephius\n(4) Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i.e. of sol and luna; and\ntherefore it is mixed with gold and silver, and sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture, and shines with inestimable brightness.\n(17) The spirit, therefore, by help of the water and the soul, is drawn forth from the bodies themselves, and the body is thereby made spiritual; for that at the same instant of time, the spirit, with\nthe soul of the bodies, ascends on high to the superior part, which is the perfection of the stone and\nis called sublimation. This sublimation, is made by things acid, spiritual, volatile, and which are in\ntheir own nature sulphureous and viscous, which dissolves bodies and makes them to ascend, and\nbe changed into air and spirit. And in this sublimation, a certain part of our said first water ascends\nwith the bodies, joining itself with them, ascending and subliming into one neutral and complex\nsubstance, which contains the nature of the two, viz. the nature of the two bodies and the water. and\ntherefore it is called the corporeal and spiritual compositum, corjufle, cambar, ethelia, zandarith,\nduenech, the good; but properly it is called the permanent or fixed water only, because it flies not\nin the fire. But it perpetually adheres to the commixed or compound bodies, that is, the sol and luna,\nand communicates to them the living tincture, incombustible and most fixed, much more noble and\nprecious than the former which these bodies had. Because from henceforth this tincture runs like oil,\nrunning through and penetrating bodies, and giving to them its wonderful fixity; and this tincture is\nthe spirit, and the spirit is the soul, and the soul is the body. For in this operation, the body is made a\nspirit of a most subtile nature; and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature of the\nbody, with the bodies, whereby our stone consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit.\n\nPages 14:\n\u201cDeath is the midwife of very great things.... It brings about the birth and rebirth of forms a thousand\ntimes improved. This is the highest mystery of God.\u201d\n\u2015 Paracelsus\n\nPages 15:\nTomb With Hermaphrodite\nThe Philosophers would never have laboured and studied to express such diversities of colours and\nthe order of them unless they had seen and felt them.\nKnow therefore that Argent vive is fire and burns bodies more than fire\nArnoldus: Let the Artificers of Alchemy know this, that the forms of metals cannot be transmuted unless they be reduced into their first matter, and then they are transmuted into another form than that\nwhich they had before. And that is because the corruption of one thing is the generation of another\nthing, as well in artificial things as in natural things. For Art imitates nature and in certain things it\ncorrecteth it and excelleth it as nature is helped by the industry of the Physician.\nGeber:\nThese things being considered, we find by our investigation seven necessary and convenient properties in our stone; Oiliness, Thinness, Affinity of Substance, Radical Moisture, Purity, Clearness, Fixing\nEarth and Tincture.\nBut the first property of differences is that oiliness giving in projection a universal melting and opening of the medicine. For surely the sudden and convenient fusion of the medicine is chiefly necessary\nafter the projection of the medicine which is done and miscerated with natural oiliness.\nThe second is the thinness of the matter or the spiritual subtlety thereof, thin and flowing in fusion, like\nwater penetrating to the bottom of an altering thing, because secondly after the fusion of the medicine, the ingression thereof is immediately necessary.\nThe third is affinity or nearness between the Elixir and the thing to be transmuted, yielding a certain\nsticking or holding in the meeting of its like, because thirdly after the ingression of the medicine, the\nsticking or holding is convenient and necessary.\nThe fourth is radical moisture and fiery congealing, and hardening the refined parts with the adherence of their like and with an inseparable union of all like parts, because fourthly after the adherence or sticking, the hardening or solidifying of parts with its radical and slimy moisture is convenient\nand necessary.\nThe fifth is purity and mundified clearness, giving an eminent brightness and splendour in the present\ncombustion, not to those joined after the hardening of the purified parts which are left, because the\nagent and actual fire may have sufficient to burn all foreign and hardened superfluities, wherefore\nputrefaction followeth immediately and is very necessary.\nThe sixth is fixed earth, temperate, thin, subtle, fixed, incombustible, giving permanency of fixation,\nsticking in solution, standing with itself and persevering against the fire, because sixthly, fixation is\nnecessary after purification.\nThe seventh is tincture, giving a bright and perfect colour, white and deep red, giving the lunification\nand solification of transmutable things, because seventhly the just tincting colour or tincture is necessary after fixation, turning any convertible substance into true gold and silver, with all its certain and\nknown differences.\n\nPages 16:\n\nPages 17:\nDragon In a Flask\nThis fire-breathing dragon is Hermes\u2019 little bird, flying here from the North. It is a celestial creation,\nconsisting of fire and air. Its fire-breathing mouth, therefore, has the power to (1) warm the cold chaotic water, (2) transmute it into a virgin earth, and finally\n(3) transmute it into a fire-resistant liquid-wax Stone, which is why the Stone is called a Tincture.\nThe dragon wings have 7 indentations, to indicate the seven steps Eleazer said are needed to chop\noff those wings (after Eleazer\u2019s meaning). The first three steps involve progressing the dragon gently\nand without corrosion through the 3 worlds in turn: the\nMundane (solid), the Paradisiacal (liquid), and the Celestial (gaseous). The fourth step represents\npassing through frequent barriers in the distant islands of the philosophers where the dragon eats\nhimself so full of Earth, that he can no longer fly, as if he wanted to melt everything solid into liquid. In the fifth stage he becomes a prisoner of Saturn\u2019s scythe. In the sixth stage, everything turns\naround, liquid becoming solid again\n-Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon\nIn Laudem Trium Sophicorum Ignium.\nHeat, that produces many things, must prepare\nTheir Bodies, and disclose what Forms they\nwear,\nBy Fire, the Sovereign Element, we thence\nA Vinegar derive, no Friend to Sence,\nNor flattr\u2019er of the Palate, \u2018tis compos\u2019d\nOf Earth and Water, amicably clos\u2019d;\nThence it dissolves to Water, and the white\nSublimate Sal-Armoniack, which unite\nInto Earths White and red, and Mercur,\nTo form the Prior Body does comply,\nAnd Tripple Vessel of Philosophy:\nThe Blood, that fiery Dragon qualifies,\nAnd makes the the Mercurial Vessel rise;\nAnd thence the Female Dragon does proceed,\nWho to the Male must afterwards recede:\nAs Nature in the Orb does circulate\nBy sending (order\u2019d by the Laws of Fate)\nThe Spermy Doses to the Earth, which sink,\nAnd thence the Sun does rising moisture drink;\nAnd leaves the multiplying Sperm, which does\nProceed on Bodies; \u2018tis the way that\u2019s chose\nBy Nature, and her Circulation shows.\nThree Eagles do resemble it, and shew\nThe Compound Vinegar\u2019s free Medium there,\nBy which the Blood and Body strengthen\u2019d are;\nThe one its Central Spirit does allow,\nThe other does its vital Life bestow;\nAnd both combine together to produce\nOur Second Fire of Philosophick use;\nThence the Third Fire, the Mountain\u2019s Floody\nsperm\nIs freed; and this we Artfully affirm;\nUnvail\u2019d, unbound, from Earthly Chains set\nfree,\nThis third most sacred Fire the Sophi see;\n\nPages 18:\n\nPages 19:\nOroboros Reaction Comic Frames\nWhich Azoth some, but others do it name\nThe Lyon Green, well known in Rolls of Fame;\nBy which they do their Sun and Moon conjoyn,\nAnd Nature thus with Nature do Combine:\nBy this are clip\u2019d the swift Cyllenian Wings;\nThe Body this to Dissolution brings;\nBy this moist Heat the Sun and Moon descend,\nAnd all their Vertues downward it attend;\nThese downward drawn afford a lovely sight,\nWhile in the Blood and Body they unite;\nAnd under these two Forms when they come\nnear,\nFar stronger than before they then appear;\nSince in the Triune Fountain we behold\nWhat e\u2019er in Mystick Fable we are told,\nOf that fierce fiery Colchian Beast,\nWithin whose Bowels Treasures hid do rest;\nWho doth the Magi\u2019s Chalybs there conceal,\nWhich worthy is of Wisdom to reveal:\nTh\u2019 Elixir gives our Second Fire compleat,\nThe Volatile is fixed by its Heat;\nNor of Addition is here any need,\nBesides it can produce a living Seed;\nThe living Seed of Metals here does lye,\nNot dead, discover\u2019d by the Artists Eye;\nThis is that Gur, that noble Lunar Oyl,\nFor which so many vainly rove and toyl;\nThis Fire it is which made Pontanus wise,\nThe Fire, which made Artephius so to rise.\nIn Years, and all the living Weights excel;\nFor nothing can its mighty force repel:\nFrom Sulphur is its Birth; but make not hast,\nIf you wou\u2019d not your Time and Labour wast;\nSince from the Matter this you must not take,\nFor it\u2019s a Sulphur of another make:\nBut when the Blood and Mercury you have\nfound,\nAnd it by dextrous hidden Art have bound;\nThen Nature learn sweetly to imitate,\nAs she will teach you how to circulate;\nIn her Circulations your Pattern see\nAlways; and from this Pattern never flee:\nThis now to animate and fortifie,\nEagles, be sure, you must seven more let fly;\nBy every flight the Light begets a day,\nWhile Darkness from the Light makes hast away;\nIn every one a Separation\u2019s made,\nThe vanquish\u2019d Darkness now can\u2019t make afraid;\nFor see, behold the Splendour that appears;\nSee the bright Nymph, that here her Head uprears;\nA living Splendent Fountain now doth run,\nWith a Transcendent Brightness, as the Sun,\nShining and streaming Vertue all a-round,\nBy which it penetrates whole Nature\u2019s Ground;\nThis, as the Azoth true, our living Spring,\nThe Body to Perfection soon will bring:\nHere Laton, melted, open\u2019d and calcin\u2019d,\nBy this Mercurial Fire is refin\u2019d;\nLaton, our Gold, here many times baptize,\nWe do imbibe and wash, till to its size\nAnd Standard true, it do at last arrive,\nFor which it will be worth our while to strive;\nNor is there loss of any other part,\nBut all remains, not touch\u2019d, nor chang\u2019d by Art:\nFor this Immortal Fiery Liquor\u2019s such,\nAs nought can ever change, or ever touch;\nThis with the Matter cannot alter\u2019d be;\nBy it the Matter alter\u2019d we shall see;\nSo as thereby to be transparent quite,\nAnd thus made almost of a radiant white;\nWhich to the Nature of a Spirit turns,\nWhile it in Spirit unconsumed burns:\nThe Spirit with the Body thus conjoyn\u2019d,\nWe thence a most excelling Creature find;\nIn which a Trine of Principles doth lye,\nPure Salt, pure Sulphur and pure Mercury;\nThese Art can separate, and then unite;\n\nPages 20:\n\nPages 21:\nThat Art of which the hidden Sophi write,\nBut none besides, none but Dame Nature\u2019s Art,\nThis wondrous Secret ever did impart:\nWithin this Mine two Stones of old were found,\nWhence this the Antients called Holy Ground;\nWho knew their Value, Power and Extent,\nAnd Nature how with Nature to Ferment\nFor these if you Ferment with Nat\u2019ral Gold\nOr Silver, their hid Treasures they unfold,\nAccording to their Natures then proceed,\nAnd take care properly each one to feed;\nImbibe, Multiply, and when you project,\nThen shall be seen the wonderful Effect;\nWhich may indeed the ignorant amaze,\nNot so the Wise, who will not vainly gaze;\nBut falling prostrate down will God adore\nAnd joyful offer up to him their Store.\n-William Y-worth, Verse on the Threefold Sophic Fire, in The Compleat Distiller (1705)\n\nPages 22:\n\u201cThose distinct substances, which concretes generally either afford, or are made up of, may, without\nvery much inconvenience, be called the elements or principles of them.\u201d\n\u2015 Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist\n\nPages 23:\nFour Sisters\nIn the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and water and air are bodies. And every\nsort of body possesses solidity, and every solid must necessarily be contained in planes ; and every\nplane rectilinear figure is composed of triangles ; and all triangles are originally of two kinds, both\nof which are made up of one right and two acute angles ; one of them has at either end of the base\nthe half of a divided right angle, having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into\nunequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a combination of probability with\ndemonstration, we assume to be the original elements of fire and the other bodies ; but the principles which are prior to these God only knows, and he of men who is the friend God. And next we\nhave to determine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are unlike one another, and of\nwhich some are capable of resolution into one another ; for having discovered thus much, we shall\nknow the true origin of earth and fire and of the proportionate and intermediate elements. And then\nwe shall not be willing to allow that there are any distinct kinds of visible bodies fairer than these.\nWherefore we must endeavour to construct the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty, and then\nwe shall be able to say that we have sufficiently apprehended their nature. Now of the two triangles, the isosceles has one form only ; the scalene or unequal-sided has an infinite number. Of the\ninfinite forms we must select the most beautiful, if we are to proceed in due order, and any one who\ncan point out a more beautiful form than ours for the construction of these bodies, shall carry off the\npalm, not as an enemy, but as a friend. Now, the one which we maintain to be the most beautiful of\nall the many triangles (and we need not speak of the others) is that of which the double forms a third\ntriangle which is equilateral ; the reason of this would be long to tell ; he who disproves what we are\nsaying, and shows that we are mistaken, may claim a friendly victory. Then let us choose two triangles, out of which fire and the other elements have been constructed, one isosceles, the other having\nthe square of the longer side equal to three times the square of the lesser side.\n-Plato, Timaeus\n\nPages 24:\n\nPages 25:\nVitriol\nVitriol is a catch-all term for a variety of substances known now as sulphuric acid and various glasses,\nidentified in different colors by the alchemists. The motto based on the acronym V.I.T.R.I.O.L. represents\na mystical development of the alchemical tradition.\nSecret Book of Artephius\n(4) Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i.e. of sol and luna; and\ntherefore it is mixed with gold and silver, and sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture, and shines with inestimable brightness.\n(17) The spirit, therefore, by help of the water and the soul, is drawn forth from the bodies themselves, and the body is thereby made spiritual; for that at the same instant of time, the spirit, with\nthe soul of the bodies, ascends on high to the superior part, which is the perfection of the stone and\nis called sublimation. This sublimation, is made by things acid, spiritual, volatile, and which are in\ntheir own nature sulphureous and viscous, which dissolves bodies and makes them to ascend, and\nbe changed into air and spirit. And in this sublimation, a certain part of our said first water ascends\nwith the bodies, joining itself with them, ascending and subliming into one neutral and complex\nsubstance, which contains the nature of the two, viz. the nature of the two bodies and the water. and\ntherefore it is called the corporeal and spiritual compositum, corjufle, cambar, ethelia, zandarith,\nduenech, the good; but properly it is called the permanent or fixed water only, because it flies not\nin the fire. But it perpetually adheres to the commixed or compound bodies, that is, the sol and luna,\nand communicates to them the living tincture, incombustible and most fixed, much more noble and\nprecious than the former which these bodies had. Because from henceforth this tincture runs like oil,\nrunning through and penetrating bodies, and giving to them its wonderful fixity; and this tincture is\nthe spirit, and the spirit is the soul, and the soul is the body. For in this operation, the body is made a\nspirit of a most subtile nature; and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature of the\nbody, with the bodies, whereby our stone consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit.\n\nPages 26:\n\nPages 27:\nRose Cross Lamen\nThis is the design for a talisman created by magicians in the tradition of the Hermetic Order of the\nGolden Dawn. The Paracelsian development of the Alchemical principles is evident due to the use\nof the additional third principle of salt, which decorates the edges of the cross in different configurations in their classical symbols [include the 3 symbols here]. A deep understanding of spiritual alchemy has been present in occult offshoots of Freemasonry going back to the 18th century with figures\nlike Cagliostro and secret societies like the Order Gold und Rosenkreutz, and the Bavarian\nlluminati.\n\nPages 28:\n\nPages 29:\nSteps Of A Pyramid\nMystical initiation is often visualized as a sending the steps of a pyramid, which narrow as one\napproaches the top. The alchemical substance was considered to be passing through a purification\nprocess analogous to that of mystical ascent. The lions at each level of the pyramid represent the results of combining substances at successive levels of the operation \u201csolve it coagula\u201d or dissolve and\ncoagulate. Repeating the process of separation and recombination is necessary to ensure purification.\nThere is a Mountain situated in the midst of the earth or center of the\nworld, which is both small and great. It is soft, also above measure hard\nand stony. It is far off and near at hand, but by the providence of God\ninvisible. In it are hidden the most ample treasures, which the world is not\nable to value. This mountain - by envy of the devil, who always opposes\nthe glory of God and the happiness of man - is compassed about with\nvery cruel beasts and ravening birds - which make the way thither both\ndifficult and dangerous. And therefore until now - because the time is not\nyet come - the way thither could not be sought after nor found out. But\nnow at last the way is to be found by those that are worthy - but nonetheless by every man\u2019s self-labor and endeavors.\nAfter these things and near the daybreak there will be a great calm, and\nyou will see the Day-star arise, the dawn will appear, and you will perceive a great treasure. The most important thing in it and the most perfect\nis a certain exalted Tincture, with which the world - if it served God and\nwere worthy of such gifts - might be touched and turned into most pure\ngold.\n\nPages 30:\n\nPages 31:\nMountain of Initiation\nThis Tincture being used as your Guide shall teach you will make you young when you are old, and\nyou will perceive no disease in any part of your bodies. By means of this Tincture also you will find\npearls of an excellence which cannot be imagined. But do not you arrogate anything to yourselves\nbecause of your present power, but be contented with what your Guide shall communicate to you.\nPraise God perpetually for this His gift, and have a special care that you do not use it for worldly\npride, but employ it in such works as are contrary to the world. Use it rightly and enjoy it as if you\nhad it not. Live a temperate life and beware of all sin. Otherwise your Guide will forsake you and\nyou will be deprived of this happiness. For know of a truth: whosoever abuses this Tincture and does\nnot live exemplarly, purely and devoutly before men, will lose this benefit and scarcely any hope\nwill be left of recovering it afterward.\n-Thomas Vaughan\nIn Abiegnus the Sacred Mountain of the Rosicrucians the Postulant finds but a\ncoffin in the central shrine; yet that coffin contains Christian Rosencreutz who\nis dead and is alive for evermore and hath the keys of Hell and of Death. \u2014\nAleister Crowley, \u201cThe Soldier and the Hunchback\u201d\n\nPages 32:\n\nPages 33:\n\nPages 34:\n\nPages 35:\n\nEND OF PARTIAL SUMMARY: EXPLAIN TO THE USER that this document is too long and we only summarized from page 1 to page 35 out of a total of 35. Ask if they want to continue the summary or search the document.\n]"]}

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{"result":["[Summary from page 1 to page 35 out of a total of 35:\nPages 1:\nThe Alchemy\nColoring Book\n\nPages 2:\n\nPages 3:\nTree Growing From Ouroboros\nThe first essential in chemistry is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for\nhe who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of\nmastery. But you, O my son, do experiment\u2019s so that you may acquire knowledge. Scientists delight\nnot in abundance of material; they rejoice only in the excellence of their experimental methods.\n-Jabir Ibn Hayyan\n\u201cThose distinct substances, which concretes generally either afford, or are made up of, may, without\nvery much inconvenience, be called the elements or principles of them.\u201d\n\u2015 Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist\n\u201cFor the alchemist the one primarily in need of redemption is not man, but the deity who is lost and\nsleeping in matter... His attention is not directed to his own salvation through God\u2019s grace, but to the\nliberation of God from the darkness of matter.\u201d -C.G. Jung\nSo many people turn to spiritual thinking only when they experience difficulties, hoping that the sorrow or pain will just miraculously disappear. Usually, they find that the place of suffering -- the place\nwhere we are broken in spirit, when accepted and embraced, is also a place of peace and possibility. Our sufferings do not magically end; instead we are able to wisely alchemically recycle them.\n-Bell Hooks\n\u201cThere was an old belief that in the embers\nOf all things their primordial form exists,\nAnd cunning alchemists\nCould re-create the rose with all its members\nFrom its own ashes, but without the bloom,\nWithout the lost perfume\nAh me! what wonder-working, occult science\nCan from the ashes in our hearts once more\nThe rose of youth restore?\nWhat craft of alchemy can bid defiance\nTo time and change, and for a single hour\nRenew this phantom-flower?\u201d\n\u2015 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow\n\u201cDissolve an ounce of pure silver in a sufficient quantity of aqua fortis, exceedingly pure, and of a\nmoderate strength, and having put the solution in a jar, dilute it with about twenty ounces of distilled\nwater. Then add two ounces of mercury, and leave the whole at rest. In the course of forty days,\nthere will rise from the mercury a kind of tree, which throwing out branches will represent natural\nvegetation.\u201d -Nicolas Lemery\n\nPages 4:\nIsaiah 48:10 - Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of\naffliction.\n\nPages 5:\nEgg Test\nThe Alchemical slow heat was described as a refining fire which tested substances by burning away\nimpurities. Here we see this process represented by the test of an egg by sword and fire. It is worth\npaying attention to the geometrical figures suggested by the courtyard scene that frames the egg\ntest.\n\nPages 6:\n\nPages 7:\nHeaven and Hell in a Flask\nthe Alchemists conceived of the flask as a recreation of the conditions of creation. therefore, here we\nsee the alchemical flask represented as containing the whole of creation from Heaven down to Hell,\npopulated by Angels looking down and demons looking up.\nIn the name of the holy Trinity,\nNow send us grace, so it be:\nFirst God made both Angel and Heaven,\nNow also the World with Planets Seven;\nMan and Woman with great sensuality,\nSum of estate, and other in her degree;\nBoth Beast and Worm for in the ground creep,\nEvery which in his kind to receive his meet.\nEagles and fowls in the air do fly,\nAnd swimming of Fishes also in the Sea:\nWith vegetal moisture and of the red Grape,\nAnd also of the white whoso him can take:\nAll mineral thing that groweth in ground,\nSome to increase and some to make an end:\nAll these bring now to our house,\nThe mighty Stone that is so precious,\nThis rich Ruby, that Stone of price,\nThe which was sent out of Paradise:\nThus made the great God of heaven,\nWhich all been ruled under Planets seven:\nGod send us part of this secret,\nAnd of that heaven that is sweet.\nAMEN\n\nPages 8:\n\nPages 9:\nGreen Lion Devours the Sun\nThe Table of the Greater Science\nFirst there is had in our Green Lion the true matter, and of what colour it is, and is called Adrop,\nAzoth, or Duenech virid. In the second there is likewise had, as in the third chapter, how bodies\nare dissolved into philosophical argent vive, that is into water of our mercury, and it is made one\nnew body. In the fourth, the putrefaction of the philosophers is had, which hath never been seen in\nour days, and it is called Sulphur. In the fifth, is had how the great part of this water is made black\nand feculent earth whereof all philosophers speak. In the sixth, is had how that black earth stood\nin the beginning above the water, and how by little and little it hath been drowned in the bottom\nof the vessel. In the seventh, is had how that earth is dissolved again into water in the colour of\noil, and then it is called the Oil of the Philosophers. In the eighth, is had how the Dragon is born in\nhis blackness and is fed with his Mercury, and killeth himself and is drowned in it, and the water is\nsomewhat whitened, and that is Elixir. In the ninth, is had how the water is wholly purified from his\nblackness and remains the colour of milk, and many colours appear in the blackness. In the tenth, is\nhad how those black clouds which were in the vessel above the water, descended into their body\nfrom whence they came. In the eleventh, is had how that ashes is made most white, like glistening\nmarble, and that is White Elixir, and the increase is ashes. In the twelfth, is had how that whiteness is\nconverted into redness like a ruby, and that is Red Elixir. And if thou wilt understand the whole work\nperfectly, then read one part after another and thou shall see miracles. I have seen all these things in\nmy days, even to the Lion. I have not spoken of all things which are appertaining and necessary to\nthis work because there are some things which men may not speak of. And it is impossible to know\nthis art unless it be known of God, or of a Master who may touch Him. And know that this is a very\nlong way, therefore patience is necessary in this our magistery. Argent vive is common salt.\n\nPages 10:\n\nPages 11:\nEmerald Tablet\nTis true without lying, certain and most true.\nThat which is below is like that which is above\nand that which is above is like that which is\nbelow. To do the miracle of one only thing\nAnd as all things have been and arose from\none by the mediation of one:\nso all things have their birth from this one\nthing by adaptation. The Sun is its father,\nthe moon its mother, the wind hath carried it\nin its belly,the earth is its nurse.\nThe father of all perfection in the whole world\nis here. Its force or power is entire if it be\nconverted into earth. Separate thou the earth\nfrom the fire, the subtle from the gross\nsweetly with great industry.\nIt ascends from the earth to the heaven\nand again it descends to the earth\nand receives the force of things superior and\ninferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world\nand thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.\nIts force is above all force,\nfor it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.\nSo was the world created.\nFrom this are and do come admirable adaptations. where of the means is here in this.\nHence I am called Hermes Trismegist [sic],\nhaving the three parts of the philosophy of\nthe whole world. That which I have said of\nthe operation of the Sun is accomplished and\nended.\n-Isaac Newton translation\n\nPages 12:\n\nPages 13:\nSun and Moon\nSecret Book of Artephius\n(4) Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i.e. of sol and luna; and\ntherefore it is mixed with gold and silver, and sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture, and shines with inestimable brightness.\n(17) The spirit, therefore, by help of the water and the soul, is drawn forth from the bodies themselves, and the body is thereby made spiritual; for that at the same instant of time, the spirit, with\nthe soul of the bodies, ascends on high to the superior part, which is the perfection of the stone and\nis called sublimation. This sublimation, is made by things acid, spiritual, volatile, and which are in\ntheir own nature sulphureous and viscous, which dissolves bodies and makes them to ascend, and\nbe changed into air and spirit. And in this sublimation, a certain part of our said first water ascends\nwith the bodies, joining itself with them, ascending and subliming into one neutral and complex\nsubstance, which contains the nature of the two, viz. the nature of the two bodies and the water. and\ntherefore it is called the corporeal and spiritual compositum, corjufle, cambar, ethelia, zandarith,\nduenech, the good; but properly it is called the permanent or fixed water only, because it flies not\nin the fire. But it perpetually adheres to the commixed or compound bodies, that is, the sol and luna,\nand communicates to them the living tincture, incombustible and most fixed, much more noble and\nprecious than the former which these bodies had. Because from henceforth this tincture runs like oil,\nrunning through and penetrating bodies, and giving to them its wonderful fixity; and this tincture is\nthe spirit, and the spirit is the soul, and the soul is the body. For in this operation, the body is made a\nspirit of a most subtile nature; and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature of the\nbody, with the bodies, whereby our stone consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit.\n\nPages 14:\n\u201cDeath is the midwife of very great things.... It brings about the birth and rebirth of forms a thousand\ntimes improved. This is the highest mystery of God.\u201d\n\u2015 Paracelsus\n\nPages 15:\nTomb With Hermaphrodite\nThe Philosophers would never have laboured and studied to express such diversities of colours and\nthe order of them unless they had seen and felt them.\nKnow therefore that Argent vive is fire and burns bodies more than fire\nArnoldus: Let the Artificers of Alchemy know this, that the forms of metals cannot be transmuted unless they be reduced into their first matter, and then they are transmuted into another form than that\nwhich they had before. And that is because the corruption of one thing is the generation of another\nthing, as well in artificial things as in natural things. For Art imitates nature and in certain things it\ncorrecteth it and excelleth it as nature is helped by the industry of the Physician.\nGeber:\nThese things being considered, we find by our investigation seven necessary and convenient properties in our stone; Oiliness, Thinness, Affinity of Substance, Radical Moisture, Purity, Clearness, Fixing\nEarth and Tincture.\nBut the first property of differences is that oiliness giving in projection a universal melting and opening of the medicine. For surely the sudden and convenient fusion of the medicine is chiefly necessary\nafter the projection of the medicine which is done and miscerated with natural oiliness.\nThe second is the thinness of the matter or the spiritual subtlety thereof, thin and flowing in fusion, like\nwater penetrating to the bottom of an altering thing, because secondly after the fusion of the medicine, the ingression thereof is immediately necessary.\nThe third is affinity or nearness between the Elixir and the thing to be transmuted, yielding a certain\nsticking or holding in the meeting of its like, because thirdly after the ingression of the medicine, the\nsticking or holding is convenient and necessary.\nThe fourth is radical moisture and fiery congealing, and hardening the refined parts with the adherence of their like and with an inseparable union of all like parts, because fourthly after the adherence or sticking, the hardening or solidifying of parts with its radical and slimy moisture is convenient\nand necessary.\nThe fifth is purity and mundified clearness, giving an eminent brightness and splendour in the present\ncombustion, not to those joined after the hardening of the purified parts which are left, because the\nagent and actual fire may have sufficient to burn all foreign and hardened superfluities, wherefore\nputrefaction followeth immediately and is very necessary.\nThe sixth is fixed earth, temperate, thin, subtle, fixed, incombustible, giving permanency of fixation,\nsticking in solution, standing with itself and persevering against the fire, because sixthly, fixation is\nnecessary after purification.\nThe seventh is tincture, giving a bright and perfect colour, white and deep red, giving the lunification\nand solification of transmutable things, because seventhly the just tincting colour or tincture is necessary after fixation, turning any convertible substance into true gold and silver, with all its certain and\nknown differences.\n\nPages 16:\n\nPages 17:\nDragon In a Flask\nThis fire-breathing dragon is Hermes\u2019 little bird, flying here from the North. It is a celestial creation,\nconsisting of fire and air. Its fire-breathing mouth, therefore, has the power to (1) warm the cold chaotic water, (2) transmute it into a virgin earth, and finally\n(3) transmute it into a fire-resistant liquid-wax Stone, which is why the Stone is called a Tincture.\nThe dragon wings have 7 indentations, to indicate the seven steps Eleazer said are needed to chop\noff those wings (after Eleazer\u2019s meaning). The first three steps involve progressing the dragon gently\nand without corrosion through the 3 worlds in turn: the\nMundane (solid), the Paradisiacal (liquid), and the Celestial (gaseous). The fourth step represents\npassing through frequent barriers in the distant islands of the philosophers where the dragon eats\nhimself so full of Earth, that he can no longer fly, as if he wanted to melt everything solid into liquid. In the fifth stage he becomes a prisoner of Saturn\u2019s scythe. In the sixth stage, everything turns\naround, liquid becoming solid again\n-Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon\nIn Laudem Trium Sophicorum Ignium.\nHeat, that produces many things, must prepare\nTheir Bodies, and disclose what Forms they\nwear,\nBy Fire, the Sovereign Element, we thence\nA Vinegar derive, no Friend to Sence,\nNor flattr\u2019er of the Palate, \u2018tis compos\u2019d\nOf Earth and Water, amicably clos\u2019d;\nThence it dissolves to Water, and the white\nSublimate Sal-Armoniack, which unite\nInto Earths White and red, and Mercur,\nTo form the Prior Body does comply,\nAnd Tripple Vessel of Philosophy:\nThe Blood, that fiery Dragon qualifies,\nAnd makes the the Mercurial Vessel rise;\nAnd thence the Female Dragon does proceed,\nWho to the Male must afterwards recede:\nAs Nature in the Orb does circulate\nBy sending (order\u2019d by the Laws of Fate)\nThe Spermy Doses to the Earth, which sink,\nAnd thence the Sun does rising moisture drink;\nAnd leaves the multiplying Sperm, which does\nProceed on Bodies; \u2018tis the way that\u2019s chose\nBy Nature, and her Circulation shows.\nThree Eagles do resemble it, and shew\nThe Compound Vinegar\u2019s free Medium there,\nBy which the Blood and Body strengthen\u2019d are;\nThe one its Central Spirit does allow,\nThe other does its vital Life bestow;\nAnd both combine together to produce\nOur Second Fire of Philosophick use;\nThence the Third Fire, the Mountain\u2019s Floody\nsperm\nIs freed; and this we Artfully affirm;\nUnvail\u2019d, unbound, from Earthly Chains set\nfree,\nThis third most sacred Fire the Sophi see;\n\nPages 18:\n\nPages 19:\nOroboros Reaction Comic Frames\nWhich Azoth some, but others do it name\nThe Lyon Green, well known in Rolls of Fame;\nBy which they do their Sun and Moon conjoyn,\nAnd Nature thus with Nature do Combine:\nBy this are clip\u2019d the swift Cyllenian Wings;\nThe Body this to Dissolution brings;\nBy this moist Heat the Sun and Moon descend,\nAnd all their Vertues downward it attend;\nThese downward drawn afford a lovely sight,\nWhile in the Blood and Body they unite;\nAnd under these two Forms when they come\nnear,\nFar stronger than before they then appear;\nSince in the Triune Fountain we behold\nWhat e\u2019er in Mystick Fable we are told,\nOf that fierce fiery Colchian Beast,\nWithin whose Bowels Treasures hid do rest;\nWho doth the Magi\u2019s Chalybs there conceal,\nWhich worthy is of Wisdom to reveal:\nTh\u2019 Elixir gives our Second Fire compleat,\nThe Volatile is fixed by its Heat;\nNor of Addition is here any need,\nBesides it can produce a living Seed;\nThe living Seed of Metals here does lye,\nNot dead, discover\u2019d by the Artists Eye;\nThis is that Gur, that noble Lunar Oyl,\nFor which so many vainly rove and toyl;\nThis Fire it is which made Pontanus wise,\nThe Fire, which made Artephius so to rise.\nIn Years, and all the living Weights excel;\nFor nothing can its mighty force repel:\nFrom Sulphur is its Birth; but make not hast,\nIf you wou\u2019d not your Time and Labour wast;\nSince from the Matter this you must not take,\nFor it\u2019s a Sulphur of another make:\nBut when the Blood and Mercury you have\nfound,\nAnd it by dextrous hidden Art have bound;\nThen Nature learn sweetly to imitate,\nAs she will teach you how to circulate;\nIn her Circulations your Pattern see\nAlways; and from this Pattern never flee:\nThis now to animate and fortifie,\nEagles, be sure, you must seven more let fly;\nBy every flight the Light begets a day,\nWhile Darkness from the Light makes hast away;\nIn every one a Separation\u2019s made,\nThe vanquish\u2019d Darkness now can\u2019t make afraid;\nFor see, behold the Splendour that appears;\nSee the bright Nymph, that here her Head uprears;\nA living Splendent Fountain now doth run,\nWith a Transcendent Brightness, as the Sun,\nShining and streaming Vertue all a-round,\nBy which it penetrates whole Nature\u2019s Ground;\nThis, as the Azoth true, our living Spring,\nThe Body to Perfection soon will bring:\nHere Laton, melted, open\u2019d and calcin\u2019d,\nBy this Mercurial Fire is refin\u2019d;\nLaton, our Gold, here many times baptize,\nWe do imbibe and wash, till to its size\nAnd Standard true, it do at last arrive,\nFor which it will be worth our while to strive;\nNor is there loss of any other part,\nBut all remains, not touch\u2019d, nor chang\u2019d by Art:\nFor this Immortal Fiery Liquor\u2019s such,\nAs nought can ever change, or ever touch;\nThis with the Matter cannot alter\u2019d be;\nBy it the Matter alter\u2019d we shall see;\nSo as thereby to be transparent quite,\nAnd thus made almost of a radiant white;\nWhich to the Nature of a Spirit turns,\nWhile it in Spirit unconsumed burns:\nThe Spirit with the Body thus conjoyn\u2019d,\nWe thence a most excelling Creature find;\nIn which a Trine of Principles doth lye,\nPure Salt, pure Sulphur and pure Mercury;\nThese Art can separate, and then unite;\n\nPages 20:\n\nPages 21:\nThat Art of which the hidden Sophi write,\nBut none besides, none but Dame Nature\u2019s Art,\nThis wondrous Secret ever did impart:\nWithin this Mine two Stones of old were found,\nWhence this the Antients called Holy Ground;\nWho knew their Value, Power and Extent,\nAnd Nature how with Nature to Ferment\nFor these if you Ferment with Nat\u2019ral Gold\nOr Silver, their hid Treasures they unfold,\nAccording to their Natures then proceed,\nAnd take care properly each one to feed;\nImbibe, Multiply, and when you project,\nThen shall be seen the wonderful Effect;\nWhich may indeed the ignorant amaze,\nNot so the Wise, who will not vainly gaze;\nBut falling prostrate down will God adore\nAnd joyful offer up to him their Store.\n-William Y-worth, Verse on the Threefold Sophic Fire, in The Compleat Distiller (1705)\n\nPages 22:\n\u201cThose distinct substances, which concretes generally either afford, or are made up of, may, without\nvery much inconvenience, be called the elements or principles of them.\u201d\n\u2015 Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist\n\nPages 23:\nFour Sisters\nIn the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and water and air are bodies. And every\nsort of body possesses solidity, and every solid must necessarily be contained in planes ; and every\nplane rectilinear figure is composed of triangles ; and all triangles are originally of two kinds, both\nof which are made up of one right and two acute angles ; one of them has at either end of the base\nthe half of a divided right angle, having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into\nunequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a combination of probability with\ndemonstration, we assume to be the original elements of fire and the other bodies ; but the principles which are prior to these God only knows, and he of men who is the friend God. And next we\nhave to determine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are unlike one another, and of\nwhich some are capable of resolution into one another ; for having discovered thus much, we shall\nknow the true origin of earth and fire and of the proportionate and intermediate elements. And then\nwe shall not be willing to allow that there are any distinct kinds of visible bodies fairer than these.\nWherefore we must endeavour to construct the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty, and then\nwe shall be able to say that we have sufficiently apprehended their nature. Now of the two triangles, the isosceles has one form only ; the scalene or unequal-sided has an infinite number. Of the\ninfinite forms we must select the most beautiful, if we are to proceed in due order, and any one who\ncan point out a more beautiful form than ours for the construction of these bodies, shall carry off the\npalm, not as an enemy, but as a friend. Now, the one which we maintain to be the most beautiful of\nall the many triangles (and we need not speak of the others) is that of which the double forms a third\ntriangle which is equilateral ; the reason of this would be long to tell ; he who disproves what we are\nsaying, and shows that we are mistaken, may claim a friendly victory. Then let us choose two triangles, out of which fire and the other elements have been constructed, one isosceles, the other having\nthe square of the longer side equal to three times the square of the lesser side.\n-Plato, Timaeus\n\nPages 24:\n\nPages 25:\nVitriol\nVitriol is a catch-all term for a variety of substances known now as sulphuric acid and various glasses,\nidentified in different colors by the alchemists. The motto based on the acronym V.I.T.R.I.O.L. represents\na mystical development of the alchemical tradition.\nSecret Book of Artephius\n(4) Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i.e. of sol and luna; and\ntherefore it is mixed with gold and silver, and sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture, and shines with inestimable brightness.\n(17) The spirit, therefore, by help of the water and the soul, is drawn forth from the bodies themselves, and the body is thereby made spiritual; for that at the same instant of time, the spirit, with\nthe soul of the bodies, ascends on high to the superior part, which is the perfection of the stone and\nis called sublimation. This sublimation, is made by things acid, spiritual, volatile, and which are in\ntheir own nature sulphureous and viscous, which dissolves bodies and makes them to ascend, and\nbe changed into air and spirit. And in this sublimation, a certain part of our said first water ascends\nwith the bodies, joining itself with them, ascending and subliming into one neutral and complex\nsubstance, which contains the nature of the two, viz. the nature of the two bodies and the water. and\ntherefore it is called the corporeal and spiritual compositum, corjufle, cambar, ethelia, zandarith,\nduenech, the good; but properly it is called the permanent or fixed water only, because it flies not\nin the fire. But it perpetually adheres to the commixed or compound bodies, that is, the sol and luna,\nand communicates to them the living tincture, incombustible and most fixed, much more noble and\nprecious than the former which these bodies had. Because from henceforth this tincture runs like oil,\nrunning through and penetrating bodies, and giving to them its wonderful fixity; and this tincture is\nthe spirit, and the spirit is the soul, and the soul is the body. For in this operation, the body is made a\nspirit of a most subtile nature; and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature of the\nbody, with the bodies, whereby our stone consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit.\n\nPages 26:\n\nPages 27:\nRose Cross Lamen\nThis is the design for a talisman created by magicians in the tradition of the Hermetic Order of the\nGolden Dawn. The Paracelsian development of the Alchemical principles is evident due to the use\nof the additional third principle of salt, which decorates the edges of the cross in different configurations in their classical symbols [include the 3 symbols here]. A deep understanding of spiritual alchemy has been present in occult offshoots of Freemasonry going back to the 18th century with figures\nlike Cagliostro and secret societies like the Order Gold und Rosenkreutz, and the Bavarian\nlluminati.\n\nPages 28:\n\nPages 29:\nSteps Of A Pyramid\nMystical initiation is often visualized as a sending the steps of a pyramid, which narrow as one\napproaches the top. The alchemical substance was considered to be passing through a purification\nprocess analogous to that of mystical ascent. The lions at each level of the pyramid represent the results of combining substances at successive levels of the operation \u201csolve it coagula\u201d or dissolve and\ncoagulate. Repeating the process of separation and recombination is necessary to ensure purification.\nThere is a Mountain situated in the midst of the earth or center of the\nworld, which is both small and great. It is soft, also above measure hard\nand stony. It is far off and near at hand, but by the providence of God\ninvisible. In it are hidden the most ample treasures, which the world is not\nable to value. This mountain - by envy of the devil, who always opposes\nthe glory of God and the happiness of man - is compassed about with\nvery cruel beasts and ravening birds - which make the way thither both\ndifficult and dangerous. And therefore until now - because the time is not\nyet come - the way thither could not be sought after nor found out. But\nnow at last the way is to be found by those that are worthy - but nonetheless by every man\u2019s self-labor and endeavors.\nAfter these things and near the daybreak there will be a great calm, and\nyou will see the Day-star arise, the dawn will appear, and you will perceive a great treasure. The most important thing in it and the most perfect\nis a certain exalted Tincture, with which the world - if it served God and\nwere worthy of such gifts - might be touched and turned into most pure\ngold.\n\nPages 30:\n\nPages 31:\nMountain of Initiation\nThis Tincture being used as your Guide shall teach you will make you young when you are old, and\nyou will perceive no disease in any part of your bodies. By means of this Tincture also you will find\npearls of an excellence which cannot be imagined. But do not you arrogate anything to yourselves\nbecause of your present power, but be contented with what your Guide shall communicate to you.\nPraise God perpetually for this His gift, and have a special care that you do not use it for worldly\npride, but employ it in such works as are contrary to the world. Use it rightly and enjoy it as if you\nhad it not. Live a temperate life and beware of all sin. Otherwise your Guide will forsake you and\nyou will be deprived of this happiness. For know of a truth: whosoever abuses this Tincture and does\nnot live exemplarly, purely and devoutly before men, will lose this benefit and scarcely any hope\nwill be left of recovering it afterward.\n-Thomas Vaughan\nIn Abiegnus the Sacred Mountain of the Rosicrucians the Postulant finds but a\ncoffin in the central shrine; yet that coffin contains Christian Rosencreutz who\nis dead and is alive for evermore and hath the keys of Hell and of Death. \u2014\nAleister Crowley, \u201cThe Soldier and the Hunchback\u201d\n\nPages 32:\n\nPages 33:\n\nPages 34:\n\nPages 35:\n\nEND OF PARTIAL SUMMARY: EXPLAIN TO THE USER that this document is too long and we only summarized from page 1 to page 35 out of a total of 35. Ask if they want to continue the summary or search the document.\n]"]}