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blaCk, greY, white, yellow, red, and ali the different intermediate Shades. In the fame way, the Malter of ali the Sages passes through the severat varieties of colour, and may be Said to
opcned to the fire. The King shares his royal digni ty with noble Venus, and appearS in Splendid state, surrounded by ali tho dignitaries of his Cotiri. Besore him is horne a beautis ut crimson banner, in Whichthere is an embroidered representation os Chari ty in green armentS. Saturn is the presect of the royal household, and in front of him Astronomy bears a blach standard, with a representation os Falth in yellois and red garmentS. Jupiter is the Grand Marshal, and is preceded by a banneros grey colour, borne by Rhetoric, and adorned with a variega ted
The Stin is Vice Regent, and is preceded by Grammar, bearing a yellow banner, on whicli Justice is represented in agoiden robe. Though Venus seems to cast him in to the shade by the gorgeous magnificence of her Appearance, ho reatly POSSCSSCS more power in the kingdom than Ahe. Besore the Moon, Dialectic bears a Shining Silver banner, vitii the figure of Prudence wrought into it in sky-blue, and because the hvsband of the Moon is dea i , he has transferred toller his task of resisting the domination of Queen Venus. Foramong ali these there is enmity, and they are ali Striving to Supplant cach other. Indeed. the tendenCy of evenis is to givethe highest place to the most eXcellent and the mGSt deServing. FOr the present State of things is paSSing away, and a ne
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worid is abolit to be created, and one Planet is devoti ring another spiritually, untii only the Strongest Survive. I et me teli 3 oti allegoricatly that 3 ou must put in to the heavenly Balance the Ram, Buli, Cancer, Scorpion, and Goat. In the other scale of the Balance you must place the T viras, the Archer, the water-bearer, and the Virgin . Tlien let the Lion jum p in to the Virgin's lap, which wili cause the other scale tokicic the beam. Thereupon, let the figias of the Zodiac enter into opposition to the Pleiades, and when ali the colours of the worid
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In Our Stone, AS composed by me and by thos e who have long preceded me, a re contained nil elemenis, ali minerat anil metallic fornas and ali the qualities and properties of the wholeworid. In it we finii most powersul natural heat, by whicli thei cy body os Saturn is gently transmuted in to the best nold. It
contains also a high degree os Cold, whicli tempers the ferventheat of Venus. and coagulates the mercury, whicli is thereby also changed in to the finest gold. Ait these properties flumber in the Substance of our Stone, and a re developed, persected, and matured by the gentie coction of natural fire, untii they have attain edtheir highest persection.
I f the fruit os a tree be plucked besore it is ripe, it is uia fit for use ; and is the potier fati to harden his vesseis in the fi re, they
preparing our Elixir, is it is to beco me ali that 3 ou wisti it tobeco me. No fruit can grow srom a flower that has been plucked bes ore the time. He who is in too great a hurry, Can bring nothingio perfection, but is almost fure to spoli that which he has in hand. Remember, then, that is Our Sione be not sum ciently matured, it vili not be able to bring anything to maturi ty. The substance is dissolved in a bath, and iis paris reunt ted by putrefaction. In ashes it bl Ossonis. In the form os sand alliis excessive moisture is dried up. Maturi ty and fixi ty are Ob-tained by living fire. The work does not actualty take place in the Bath of St. Mary, in horse-dung, in ashes, Or in Sand, but thegrades and regimen of the fi re procoed aster the degrees whicli arorepreSented by these. The StOne i S prepared in an empty furnaCe, vitii a three id lineos circumvallation, in a tightly CloSed Chamber. It is subjected to continued coction, tili ali mo isture and Cloiads are dri ven off, and the King attains to in destructibi e fi Xed ness, and is no longer liable to any clanger Or injury, beCauSehe has beco me unconque rabie. I et me eXPrOSS my mean ing in a SomeWhat different manner. When yOu have dissolved yourearth with your water, dry up the water With iis own in vard fire. Then the air will breathe new li se in to the body, and you ut illhave that whicli can only be regarded as that Great Sion e whichin a spirituat manner pervades human and metallic hodies, andis the universat and immaculate Medicine, since it drives out thal
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whicli is bad, and preserves that whicli is good, and is the un-sai ling corrective os ali imperfect Or diseased Substances. This Tincture is os a colour intermediate between red and purple, with Something of a grani te hue, and iis specifiC weight is very
Whocver gains possession of this Stone. should let his xvholeti se he an eXpression of his gratitude towards God in practi cali indness towards his suffering brothren, that aster obtaining God's greateSt earthly gist, he may hereaster inherit eternal li . Prat se be uiato God evertastingly for this His inestim ablegist.
The eleventii Key to the Knowledge of the augmentationos our Stone, I will put be re you in the forin os a parabie. There lived in the East a gilded lanight, nam ed Orpheus, who IVRS posseSSed of immense wealth, and had everything thatheari can wish. He had taken to wise his own sister, Euridice,
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who did not, however, bear him any Child ren. This he re-garded as the punishment of his sin in having wedded his o vnsister, and was instant in prayer to God both by lay and bynight, that the curse might be taken Dona him.
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with this pari os the subject Ι Nili drop my parabolic and figurative Style, and plain ly set fortit ali that is to be known. When the Medicine and Sione of ali tho Sages has been perseCtly prepared out Of the triae virgin's milli, talae one part ofit to three partes of the best gold purged and refined withanti in Ony, the gold being previ ously beaten into plates os the
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For Nithout the ferment of gold no one Can Compose the Sione or devel op the tinging virtve. For the fame is very subile aiad penetrating is it be fermen ted and joined willi a fermentlike uiato it eis: then the prepared tincture has the power ofentering into other bodies, and operat ing therein. Talae thenone part of the prepared ferment for the tinging os a thousandParis of molien metal, and then yoti xvili learn in ali faith and truth that it Ahail be changed into the only good and fi Red gold. For one bOdy takeS POSSeSSion of the other ; even is it be unliketo it, neverthel ess, through the strength and potency ad ded toit, it is compelled to be assimilated to the fame, since like derives origin frona like. WhoeVer uses this as a medium Ahail find whither the vestibules of the palace lead, and there is nothing comparabieto the subit ety thereos. He Shali possess ali in ali, performingail things whatsolver vhicli are possibi e under tho Sun.
O principi e of the prime principie, consider the encl l oend of the final enit, consider the begini ingl And be this
whicli a volatile fi re is extracted, wheiace also this sione is made, heing composed of whi te and recl. It is a stone, and nosione ; therein Nature alone operates. A f Ountain flows from it.
The fi Xed part submerges iis fallier, absorbing it, botly and lise,untii the foui is returned to it. And the volatile mollier like tollim, is produced in her own king lom ; and he by his virtve and
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s urther light that whicli is laid clown in the theo retical partheing boriae ovi and Confirmed by the practice of the T vel veΚeys , yet have I been impelled by various considerations to
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demonstrate by a Shorter Way what I have written in the falcitreati se, and thus cast surther light thereon, whcre by also thelover of the destred wisdom may obta in an increased illuminationsor the sulfilment of his des ire There a re many who wili consider that I am spe hingtoo open ly, and will laold me ans verable
In the firSi place, 3 Ou must know that no Ordinary qui Ck- silver is uSesul, but our qui ct silver is produced frona the bestinetal by the Spagyric ari, pure, Subile, clear, and gli Sten in g, like a Spring, pellucid even aS Crystal. Dee stom ali dross. Hen Cemahe wator Or Combusti ble Oil. For Mercury was in thebeginning water, and here in ali the Sages agree with my dictum and teaching In this Oil os Mercury dissolve iis o via Mercury.srom whicli the water in question was made, and precipitate the
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Mercury xvith iis own oll. Then xve have a truo id mercurialsubstance ; but 3 ou must know that go id must first be dissolve lita a certain Water, aS CXplained in my second Key, aster the purification described in the fit st Key, and must be reduced into a Subile calX, as is mentioned in the Murth Key. Nexi, this calx must be sublimated by the Spirit Os Salt, again precipitaled, and
The effect of sali '' is to fix or volatilige, a Cording AS itis prepared and ii Sed . For the spirit of the sali os tartar, is extracted by itself without any addition, has power to render allinet als volatile by dissolution and putrefaction, and to dissolve