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improved; mix these portions and cook for forty days. When these things have been done, congeal by the heat of the
sun till they are dried. Then cook the same, mixed with milk of ferment, until the milk fail; afterwards extract it, and
until it become dry evaporate the moisture by heat. Then mix it with milk of the fig, and cook it till that moisture be
dried up in the composite, which afterwards mix with milk of the root of grass, and again cook until it be dry. Then
moisten it with rainwater, then sprinkle with water of dew, and cook until it be dried. Also imbue with permanent
water, and desiccate until it become of the most intense dryness. Having done these things: mix the same with the
gum which is equipped with all manner of colours, and cook strongly until the whole force of the water perish; and
the entire body be deprived of its humidity, while ye imbue the same by cooking, until the dryness thereof be
kindled. Then dismiss for forty days. Let it remain in that trituration or decocting until the spirit penetrate the body.
For by this regimen the spirit is made corporeal, and the body is changed into a spirit. Observe the vessel, therefore,
lest the composition fly and pass off in fumes. These things being accomplished, open the vessel, and ye will find
that which ye purposed. This, therefore, is the arcanum of gum, which the Philosophers have concealed in their
books.
The Nineteenth Dictum.
Dardaris saith:- It is common knowledge that the Masters before us have described Permanent Water. Now, it
behoves one who is introduced to this Art to attempt nothing till he is familiar with the power of this Permanent
Water, and in commixture, contrition, and the whole regimen, it behoves us to use invariably this famous Permanent
Water. He, therefore, who does not understand Permanent Water, and its indispensable regimen, may not enter into
this Art, because nothing is effected without the Permanent Water. The force thereof is a spiritual blood, whence the
Philosophers have called it Permanent Water, for, having pounded it with the body, as the Masters before me have
explained to you, by the will of God it turns that body into spirit. For these, being mixed together and reduced to
one, transform each other; the body incorporates the spirit, and the spirit incorporates the body into tinged spirit, like
blood. And know ye, that whatsoever hath spirit the same hath blood also as well. Remember, therefore, this
arcanum!
The Twentieth Dictum.
Belus saith:- O disciples, ye have discoursed excellently!
Pythagoras answers:- Seeing that they are philosophers, O Belus, why hast thou called them disciples?
He answereth:- It is in honour of their Master, lest I should make them equal with him.
Then Pythagoras saith:- Those who, in conjunction with us, have composed this book which is called the Turba,
ought not to be termed disciples.
Then he:- Master, they have frequently described Permanent Water, and the making of the White and the Red in
many ways, albeit under many names; but in the modes after which they have conjoined weights, compositions, and
regimens, they agree with the hidden truth. Behold, what is said concerning this despised thing! A report has gone
abroad that the Hidden Glory of the Philosophers is a stone and not a stone, and that it is called by many names, lest
the foolish should recognise it, Certain wise men have designated it after one fashion, namely, according to the place
where it is generated; others have adopted another, founded upon its colour, some of whom have termed it the Green
Stone; by other some it is called the Stone of the most intense Spirit of Brass, not to be mixed with bodies; by yet
others its description has been further varied, because it is sold for coins by lapidaries who are called saven; some
have named it Spume of Luna; some have distinguished it astronomically or arithmetically; it has already received a
thousand titles, of which the best is: "That which is produced out of metals." So also others have called it the Heart
of the Sun, and yet others have declared it to be that which is brought forth out of quicksilver with the milk of
volatile things.
The Twenty-first Dictum.
Pandolfus saith:- O Belus, thou hast said so much concerning the despised stone that thou hast left nothing to be
added by thy brethren! Howsoever, I teach posterity that this despised stone is a permanent water, and know, all ye
seekers after Wisdom, that permanent water is water of mundane life, because, verily, Philosophers have stated that
Nature rejoices in Nature, Nature contains Nature, and Nature overcomes Nature. The Philosophers have constituted
this short dictum the principle of the work for reasonable persons. And know ye that no body is more precious or
purer than the Sun, and that no tingeing venom: is generated without the Sun and its shadow. He, therefore, who
attempts to make the venom of the Philosophers without these, already errs, and has fallen into that pit wherein his
sadness remains. But he who has tinged the venom of the wise out of the Sun and its shadow has arrived at the
highest Arcanum. Know also that our coin when it becomes red, is called gold; he, therefore, who knows the hidden
Cambar of the Philosophers, to him is the Arcanum already revealed.
The Turba answereth:- Thou hast even now intelligibly described this stone, yet thou hast not narrated its regimen
nor its composition. Return, therefore, to the description.
He saith:- I direct you to take an occult and honourable arcanum, which is White Magnesia, and the same is mixed
and pounded with wine, but take care not to make use of this except it be pure and clean; finally place it in its vessel,
and pray God that He may grant you the sight of this very great stone. Then cook gradually, and, extracting, see if it
has become a black stone, in which case ye have ruled excellently well. But rule it thus for the white, which is a
great arcanum, until it becomes Kuhul, closed up with blackness, which blackness see that it does not remain longer
than forty days. Pound the same, therefore, with its confections, which are the said flower of copper, gold of the
Indies whose root is one, and a certain extract of an unguent, that is, of a crocus, that is, fixed exalted alum; cook the
four, therefore, permanently for 40 or 42 days. After these days God will show you the principle(or beginning) of
this stone, which is the stone Atitos, of which favoured sight of God there are many accounts. Cook strongly, and
imbue with the gum that remains. And know ye that so often as ye imbue the cinder, so often must it be desiccated
and again humectated, until its colour turns into that which ye desire. Now, therefore, will I complete that which I
have begun, if God will look kindly on us. Know also that the perfection of the work of this precious stone is to rule
it with the residue of the third part of the medicine, and to preserve the two other parts for imbuing and cooking
alternately till the required colour appears. Let the fire be more intense than the former; let the matter be cerated, and
when it is desiccated it coheres. Cook, therefore, the wax until it imbibes the gluten of gold, which being desiccated,
imbue the rest of the work seven times until the other two thirds be finished, and true earth imbibe them all. Finally,
place the same on a hot fire until the earth extract its flower and be satisfactory. Blessed are ye if ye understand!
But, if not, I will repeat to you the perfection of the work. Take the clean white, which is a most great arcanum, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]