Alchemical Writings

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Alchemical Writings
The Emerald Tablet
Paracelsus (The "Swiss Hermes")
Alchemy: The Art of Transformation
The Hidden Side of Reality
The Matrix or Mother-Space
The Inner Can be Known by the Outer
The Greater World and the Lesser World
The Two Heavens in Man
The Arcana
Man the Divine Book
The Book of Nature
The Inner Stars of Man
The Preservation of a Thing
Death and the Essence of Alchemy
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes)
The First Operation
The Invisible Magical Mountain
Eyrænius
In "The Regimen of Sol"
In "An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King"
Comments on Letting Conscience Act with Gentleness
Count Bernard of Treviso
Ethan Allen Hitchcock
Comments on the Latter Stages of the Work
An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
The Author's Preface
Of the need of Sulphur for producing this Elixir
Of the Component Principles of the Mercury of the Sages
Of the Chalybs of the Sages
Of the Magnet of the Sages
Of the Chaos of the Sages
Of the Air of the Sages
Of the First Operation--Preparation of Mercury by means of the Flying Eagles
Of the Difficulty and Length of the First Operation
Of the Superiority of our Mercury over All Metals
Of the Sulphur which is in the Mercury of the Sages
Concerning the Discovery of the Perfect Magistery
The Generic Method of Making the Perfect Magistery
Of the Use of Mature Sulphur in the Work of the Elixir
Of the Circumstantial and Accidental Requisites of our Art
Of the Incidental Purgation of Mercury and Gold
Of the Amalgam of Mercury and Gold, and their respective Proportions
Concerning the Size, Form, Material, and Mode of Securing the Vessel
Of the Furnace, or Athanor of the Sages
Of the Progress of the Work during the First 40 Days
Of the Appearance of Blackness in the Work of the Sun and Moon
Of the Caution required to avoid Burning the Flowers
Of the Regimen of Saturn
Of the Different Regimens of this Work
Of the First Regimen, which is that of Mercury
Of the Regimen of the Second Part, which is that of Saturn
Of the Regimen of Jupiter
Of the Regimen of the Moon
Of the Regimen of Venus
Of the Regimen of Mars
Of the Regimen of the Sun
Of the Fermentation of the Stone
The Imbibition of the Stone
The Multiplication of the Stone
Of Projection
Of the Manifold uses of this Art
The Emerald Tablet
(Tabula Smaragdina)
1) It is true without untruth, certain and most true:
2) that which is below is like that which is on high, and that which is on high is like that
which is below; by these things are made the miracles of one thing.
3) And as all things are, and come from One, by the mediation of One, So all things are born
from this unique thing by adaption.
4) The Sun is the father and the Moon the mother.
5) The wind carries it in its stomach. The earth is its nourisher and its receptacle.
6 The Father of all the Theleme of the universal world is here.
6a) Its force, or power, remains entire,
7) if it is converted into earth.
7a) You separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with great
industry.
8) It climbs from the earth and descends from the sky, and receives the force of things
superior and things inferior.
9) You will have by this way, the glory of the world and all obscurity will flee from you.
10) It is the power strong with all power, for it will defeat every subtle thing and penetrate
every solid thing
11a) In this way the world was created.
12) From it are born wonderful adaptations, of which the way here is given.
13) That is why I have been called Hermes Tristmegistus, having the three parts of the
universal philosophy.
14) This, that I have called the solar Work, is complete.
Paracelsus
(The "Swiss Hermes")
ALCHEMY: THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION
Let it be for you a great and high mystery in the light of nature that a thing can completely lose and forfeit its form
and shape, only to arise subsequently out of nothing and become something whose potency and virtue is far nobler
than what it was in the beginning.
Nothing has been created as
ultima materia
--in its final state. Everything is first created in its
prima materia
--its
original stuff; whereupon Vulcan
[or transmuting fire]
comes, and by the art of alchemy develops it in its final
substance. . . . For alchemy means: to carry to its end something that has not yet been completed. To obtain the lead
from the ore and to transform it into what it is made for. . . .
Accordingly, you should understand that alchemy is
nothing but the art which makes the impure into the pure through fire. . . . It can separate the useful from the
useless, and transmute it into its final substance and its ultimate essence.
The transmutation of metals is a great mystery of nature. However laborious and difficult this task may be, whatever
impediments and obstacles may lie in the way of its accomplishment, this transmutation does not go counter to
nature, nor is it incompatible with the order of God, as is falsely asserted by many persons. But the base impure five
metals--that is, copper
[or Venus]
, tin
[or Jupiter]
, lead
[or Saturn]
, iron
[or Mars]
, and quicksilver
[or Mercury]
--
cannot be transmuted into nobler, pure, and perfect metals--namely, into gold
[or the Sun]
and silver
[or the Moon]
-
-without a
tinctura
, or without the philosopher's stone.
Since ancient times philosophy has striven to separate the good from the evil, and the pure from the impure; this is
the same as saying that all things die and that only the soul
[of them]
lives eternal. The soul endures while the body
decays, and you may recall that correspondingly a seed must rot away if it is to bear fruit.
But what does it mean, to
rot? It means only this--that the body decays while its essence, the good, the soul, subsists. This should be known
about decaying.
And once we have understood this, we possess the pearl which contains all the virtues.
Decay is the beginning of all birth
. . . . It transforms shape and essence, the forces and virtues of nature. Just as the
decay of all foods in the stomach transforms them and makes them into a pulp, so it happens outside the stomach. . .
.
Decay is the midwife of very great things!
It causes many things to rot, that a noble fruit may be born; for it is the
reversal, the death and destruction of the original essence of all natural things. It brings about the birth and rebirth of
forms a thousand times improved. . . . And this is the highest and greatest mysterium of God, the deepest mystery
and miracle that he has revealed to mortal man.
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF REALITY
In nature we find a light that illumines us more than the sun and the moon. For it is so ordered that we see but half of
man and all the other creatures, and therefore must explore them further . . . Nor should we become drowned in our
daily work, for whosoever seeks . . . shall find . . . And if we follow the light of nature, we learn that there exists
another half of man, and that man does not consist of blood and flesh alone . . . but also of a body that cannot be
discerned by our crude eyesight.
The moon emits light, yet by this light colors are not discernible; but as soon as the sun rises, all the colors can be
distinguished. Similarly nature has a light that shines like the sun; and as the light of the sun exceeds the light of the
moon, so the light of nature far exceeds the power of the eyes. In its light all things invisible become visible;
remember always that the one light outshines the other.
Know that our world and everything we see in its compass and everything we can touch constitute only one half of
the cosmos. The world we do not see is equal to ours in weight and measure, in nature and properties. From this it
follows that there exists another half of man in which this invisible world operates. If we know of the two worlds,
we realize that both halves are needed to constitute the whole man; for they are like two men united in one body.
The sun can shine through a glass, and fire can radiate warmth through the walls of the stove, although the sun does
not pass through the glass and the fire does not go through the stove. In the same way, the human body can act at a
distance while remaining at rest in one place, like the sun, which shines through the glass and yet does not pass
through it. Hence nothing must be attributed to the body itself but only to the forces that flow from it--just as the
smell of an animal is suffused while the animal's body may be at rest.
Nature emits a light, and by its radiance she can be known. But in man there is still another light apart from that
which is innate in nature. It is the light through which man experiences, learns, and fathoms the supernatural. Those
who seek in the light of nature speak from the knowledge of nature; but those who seek in the light of man speak
from the knowledge of super-nature. For man is more than nature;
he is nature, but he is also a spirit, he is also an
angel, and he has the properties of all three
.
If he walks in nature, he serves nature; if he walks in the spirit, he
serves the spirit; if he walks with the angel, he serves the angel. The first is given to the body, the others are given to
the soul, and are its jewel.
THE MATRIX OR MOTHER-SPACE
When the world was still nothing but water, and the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the waters, the world
emerged from the water; water was the matrix of the world and of all its creatures. And all this became the matrix of
man;
in it God created man in order to give His Spirit a dwelling place in flesh
.
The matrix is invisible and no one can see its primal substance; for who can see that which was before him? All of
us come from the matrix, but no one has ever seen it because it existed before man. And even though man comes
from it, and men are born from it again and again, no one has seen it. The world was born from the matrix, as was
man and all other living creatures: all this has come out of the matrix. . . . Before heaven and earth were created, the
Spirit of God brooded upon the water and was carried by it. This water was the matrix; for it was in the water that
heaven and earth were created, and in no other matrix. By it the Spirit of God was borne, that is to say, that Spirit
which lives in man, and which is lacking in other creatures.
For the sake of this Spirit man has been created; the
Spirit of God lives in man so that God need not live alone. Therefore the Spirit of God comes to dwell in man,
and is of God and returns to God.
The world is as God created it. In the beginning He made it into a body, which consists of four elements. He
founded this primordial body on the trinity of mercury, sulfur and salt, and these are the three substances of which
the complete body consists. For they form everything that lies in the four elements, they bear in them all the forces
and faculties of perishable things. In them there are day and night, warmth and coldness, stone and fruit, and
everything else, still unformed. In a piece of wood . . . there lie concealed the forms of animals, the forms of plants
of every description, the forms of all instruments; and he who can carve them out finds them. Accordingly, the first
body, the Yliaster
[Ylem or Hylem or Hyle is the initial substance of the universe-the first matter or Primum
Materia]
, was nothing but a clod, which contained all the chaos, all the waters, all minerals, all herbs, all stones, all
gems. Only the supreme Master could release them and form them with tender solicitude, so that other things could
be created from the rest.
EVERYTHING THAT IS WITHIN CAN BE KNOWN BY WHAT IS WITHOUT
It is not God's will that all He has created for the benefit of man and has given him as his own should remain hidden.
. . . And even if He did conceal some things, He left nothing unmarked, but provided all things with outward, visible
marks, with special traits
-
-just as a man who has buried a treasure marks the spot in order that he may find it again.
We men discover everything that lies hidden in the mountains by external signs and correspondences, and thus also
do we find all the properties of herbs and everything that is in the stones. There is nothing in the depths of the seas,
nothing on the heights of the firmament, that man is unable to discover. No mountain, no cliff, is so vast as to hide
or conceal what is in it from the eyes of man; it is revealed to him by corresponding signs. . . . For each fruit is a
sign, and through it we discover what is contained in that from which it stems. Similarly there is nothing in man that
is not marked in his exterior, so that by the exterior one may discover what is in the individual who bears the sign. . .
. There are
four ways
by which the nature of man and of all living things can be discovered. . . .
First
,
chiromancy
;
it concerns the extreme parts of man's limbs, namely the hands and feet. . . .
Second
,
physiognomics
; it concerns the
face and the whole head. . . .
Third
, the
substantina
, which refers to the whole shape of the body. . . . And
fourth
,
the
customs and
usages
, that is to say, manners and gestures in which man appears and shows himself. . . . These
four belong together; they provide us with a complete knowledge of the hidden, inward man, and of all things that
grow in nature. . . . Nature is the sculptor: she endows everything with the form which is also the essence, and thus
the form reveals the essence.
There is nothing that nature has not signed in such a way that man may discover its essence. . . . The stars have their
orbits by which they are known. The same is true of man. As you can see, each herb is given the form that befits its
nature; similarly, man is endowed with a form corresponding to his inner nature. And just as the form shows what a
given herb is, so the human shape is a sign which indicates what a given man is. This does not refer to the name,
sex, or similar characteristics, but to the qualities inherent in the man. The art of signs teaches us to give each man
his true name in accordance with his innate nature. A wolf must not be called a sheep, a dove must not be called a
fox; each being should be given the name that belongs to its essence. . . . Since nothing is so secret or hidden that it
cannot be revealed, everything depends on the discovery of those things which manifest the hidden. . . . The nature
of each man's soul accords with the design of his lineaments and arteries. The same is true of the face, which is
shaped and formed according to the content of his mind and soul, and the same is again true of the proportions of the
human body. For the sculptor of Nature is so artful that he does not mold the soul to fit the form, but the form to fit
the soul; in other words, the shape of a man is formed in accordance with the manner of his heart. . . . Artists who
make sculptures proceed no differently. . . . And the more accomplished an artist would be, the more necessary it is
that he master the art of signs. . . . No artist can paint or carve, no one can produce an accomplished work, without
such knowledge . . . Only he who has some knowledge of this can be a finished artist.
When a carpenter builds a house, it first lives in him as an idea; and the house is built according to this idea.
Therefore, from the form of the house, one can make inferences about the carpenter's ideas and images. What Nature
has in mind . . . no one can know until it has acquired form and shape. . . . Now note well that virtue forms the shape
of a man, just as the carpenter's ideas become visible in his house; and a man's body takes shape in accordance with
the nature of his soul. . . . Nature acts no differently. She gives man an outward appearance that is in keeping with
his inner constitution. . . . And each man's soul can be recognized, just as the carpenter can be known by his house.
THE GREATER WORLD AND THE LESSER WORLD
The world is as God created it. In the beginning he made it into a body, which consists of four elements. He founded
this primordial body on the trinity of mercury, sulfur, and salt, and these are the three substances of which the
complete body consists. For they form everything that lies in the four elements, they bear in them all the forces and
faculties of perishable things. In them there are day and night, warmth and coldness, stone and fruit, and everything
else, still unformed. In a piece of wood . . . there lie concealed the forms of animals, the forms of plants of every
description, the forms of all instruments; and he who can carve them out finds them. Accordingly, the first body, the
Yliaster
, was nothing but a clod, which contained all the chaos, all the waters, all minerals, all herbs, all stones, all
gems. Only the supreme Master could release them and form them with tender solicitude, so that other things could
be created from the rest.
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