Dragon Symbolism in Alchemy

Summarize the mentions of the dragon in these alchemical texts from the Ashmole collection Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum Chaucer, The Tale of the Canon's Yeoman p.254-255 Lo, thus speaks Arnold of the new town, As he mentions in his Rosary: He says this truth without any lie, No man can mortify Mercury, Unless it’s done with his brother's knowledge; See how the one who first said this thing Was Hermes, the father of philosophers. He says the Dragon certainly Does not die unless slain By his brother; and this means By the Dragon Mercury and none other, He understood that Brimstone was his brother, Drawn from the Sun and Moon, And therefore he said, heed my words. Let no one busy himself with this art, Except he who understands the intent and speech Of philosophers; And if he does not, he is a fool. For this science and this knowledge, he says, Is of the secret, of the secrets indeed. p.142-143 There are four fires you must understand: Natural, unnatural, against nature, and Elemental, which burns the brand; These four fires we use and no more: The fire against nature must do your body harm; That is our Dragon, as I tell you now, Fiercely burning like the fire of Hell. The fire of nature is the third menstrual, That fire is naturally in everything; But the fire we call unnatural Is the heat of ashes and balms for putrefaction. Without these fires, you cannot bring To putrefaction for separation, Your materials must be proportionate. Therefore, make the fire in your glass, Which burns the bodies more than elemental fire; If you wish to obtain Our secret according to your desire, Then your seeds shall both root and sprout, With the help of the fire of occasion, So that they may naturally separate. GEORGE RIPLEY UNTO King EDWARD the fourth. p.115 On the third day, again to life he shall rise, And devour birds and beasts of the wilderness: Crows, parrots, magpies, peacocks, and doves; The phoenix, the white eagle, the griffon of fear, The green lion and the red dragon he shall destroy; The white dragon too, the antelope, unicorn, and panther, With other birds and beasts, both great and small; The basilisk, whom nearly everyone fears. anonymous ANONYMI: OR, SEVERALL WORKES OF unknowne Authors. p.354 In some copies, I found these verses placed before this work: Earth out of Earth, cleansed pure, By Earth itself through its nature, Rectified by its milk—who can bind it? And afterward united with the water of life truly: A dragon lying in its deep den, Rotting in water to putrefy then; Leprous, huge, and terrible in sight, By bathing and balming, the dragon comes to light; Forever drowned at the bottom of its well, Until all its leprosy no longer dwells, In its own nature, it alters completely Into a pure substance—yes, you know what I mean. BLOOMEFIELDS BLOSSOMS: OR, The Campe of PHILOSOPHY. p.314-315 Mercury, seeing this, begins to flee, With his rod of enchantment, he has little power, Often taken prisoner, he revives himself; Until he is caught by the dragon’s tail, Then he dons a hard coat of mail, Soldered together with the Sun and Moon; Then he is mastered, and his enchantment is undone. The Moon, called the lesser Lunary, Wife of Phoebus, shining by night, Gives her garments to others through her herb Lunary, And from north to south, she shines bright; If you seek her, she hides from your sight. But through fair entreaty, she can be won at last; With Azoth and fire, the whole mastery you’ll have. You won’t gain mastery over these seven planets yet, Except through a misty meaning known only to us; Bring them first to Hell, and then to Heaven: Between life and death, you must discuss. Therefore, I counsel you to work this way: Dissolve and separate them, sublime, fix, and congeal, Then you shall have all; so heed my advice. Dissolve not with corrosive, nor use separation With the violence of fire, as multipliers do; Nor make sublimation at the top of the glass; Such ways, inordinate philosophers refuse. Follow their teachings and wisely consider, Then you won’t mislead yourself in this noble science. Farewell, I conclude thus. p.321-322 In the name of God, to attain this secret, Join in one body with perfect unity: First, the red man and the white woman—these two: One from the man’s substance, and from the woman, three; By liquefaction, joined together must they be: This conjunction is called the Diptative, As made between man and wife. Then, after they are made one body, With the sharp teeth of a dragon finely, Bring them to dust; the next step must be had, The true proportion of that dust, indeed, In a true balance, weighing them equally; With three times as much of the fiery dragon, Mixing it all together, then you have done well. Your substance thus proportionate, Put in a glass bed with a large, round bottom, There, in due time, to die and be regenerated Into a new nature, three natures into one bound; Then be glad you ever found it, For this is the jewel that will serve you best, The crown of glory and diadem for your head. When you have mixed your matter as stated, Seal the glass well so the dragon doesn’t escape; For he is so subtle that if overlaid With unnatural fire, I assure you, He will search all around to break free; Therefore, with gentle fire, keep him within, So shall you win the whole mastery. To fulfill the whole mastery here, Set your glass and matter upon your athanor; Our furnace, called the philosopher’s dunghill, With a temperate heat, working evermore; Night and day, continually have fuel in store— Of turf, sawdust, or dry chopped sedge, So that the heat is equivalent to a hen on her eggs. Make sure you don’t lack this heat, For forty days long, for their perfect union Is made; for first, it turns to black, This color denotes the right putrefaction, The beginning of perfect conception Of your infant into a new generation, A most precious jewel for our consolation. Forty days more, the matter shall turn white, And clear as pearls; this is a declaration Of the voiding away of its dark clouds; This shows our infant's full organization, Our white elixir, most clear in its creation. From white into all colors without fail, Like the rainbow or the peacock's tail. So continue to augment your fire, Under your matter, it must be fed easily, Until these colors are gone—use it wisely; For soon after, yellow appears, the messenger of red. When that comes, then you have succeeded well, And have brought forth a stone of great value, Which Raymund calls his basilisk and cockatrice.

Give me a version of this summary for students of the history of sciencethat explains the chemical significance of each aspect of the dragon. Use as much text as you can in the response.

Now write a version of this summary suitable for art history students for a course on alchemical illustrations, toning down the difficulty of the chemical significance explanations but still mentioning it

Now write an entry for an alchemical coloring book where the reader is coloring in a page with a dragon in a flask, with an explanation of the chemical significance at a popular reading level and suggestions for meditating on the dragon while coloring it in

give me a more detailed summary of the dragon in ashmole's texts for the coloring book