SPAGYRIC MEDICINE

OR

THE ART OF SPAGYRIC MEDICINE

BY

JOHN PHARAMUND RHUMELIUS

TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY LEON MULLER

FRENCH TRANSLATION PUBLISHED BY BIBLIOTHEQUE CHACORNAC

1932

Spagyric Medicine by John Pharamund Rhumelius.

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CONTENTS

Preface

Notice

HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

Chapter 1. The True Medicine Of The Ancients And How It Was Found

Chapter 2. From Where This True Medicine Is To Be Extracted, And The Difference Comprised Therein

Chapter 3. The Right Knowledge And The Origin Of All Illnesses

Chapter 4. The Real Cure And The Healing Of Illnesses In General

Chapter 5. In What Way One Can Cure Illnesses, And On Medicaments

Chapter 6. The Universal Medicine And Its Preparation

Chapter 7. The Particular Way, And How Diseases Can Be Cured By Specifics

Chapter 8. The Best Medicaments That The Physician Must Use

Chapter 9. The Right And True Preparation Of Medicaments

Chapter 10. The Difference In Medicaments And The Substances From Which They Must Be Extracted

Chapter 11. The Propitious Moment for Picking the Medicinal Species

Chapters 12 and 13. Compounded Medicaments. How To Prepare Them And What Their Effect Is

Chapter 14. Continuation Of The Preceding Chapter

Chapter 15. How To Prepare The Universal Medicines And Dissolve Them With The Water Of The Wise

Chapter 16. The Preparation Of Medicaments And The Particular Way One Must Follow

Chapter 17. The Gold Of The Philosophers. What It Is

Chapters 18 And 19. How Gold, Silver, And The Other Metals Have To Be Prepared, And Their Quintessence Extracted

Chapter 20. How To Prepare The Quintessence Of Pearls And Precious Stones

Chapter 21. How To Prepare The True Essence And Tincture Of Corals

Chapter 22. How To Prepare The Plant Stone And How To Use It To Advantage

Chapter 23. The Animal Stone. How To Prepare It And The Judicious Use One Has To Make Of It

Chapter 24. The Mineral Stone. How And Of What It Is Made

Chapter 25. The Phalaia And Asa Medicines. How To Prepare And Use Them

Chapter 26. How The Plant And Animal Medicines Have To Be Prepared, And How The Quintessence Can Be Extracted From Them

ANOTHER HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

Chapter 1. How And From Where Diseases Come

Chapter 2. The Cure Of Diseases

Chapter 3. Particular Medicaments

Chapter 4. The Preparation Of Particular Medicaments

Chapter 5. The Universal Medicine

Chapter 6. The Universal Menstruum, In Which All Metals Dissolve Like Ice In Water

Chapter 7. Medical Gold

Treatise 4. Tripartite Phalaia

Chapter 1. The Medicine Phalaia, And What It Is

Chapter 2. In What Points This Medicine Differs From Others, And If One Can Find Only One Specimen

Chapter 3. The Kind Of Phalaia Of Which The Author Wished To Speak In This Little Treatise

Chapter 4. Under What Aspect The Animal Phalaia Or The Microcosmic Stone Must Present Itself

Chapter 5. The Use And Dose Of This Panacea

Appendix. The Triple Potable Gold

Treatise 6. The Golden Panacea

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

TREATISE 7. THE BIRD OF HERMES

First Part. Mercury

Second Part. Sulphur

Third Part. Salt

Treatise 8. The Song Of Songs Of Solomon

Treatise 10. The Hermetic Herbal

PREFACE

To the Friend of the Art, I dedicate this faithful translation of the work of a disciple of Paracelsus who knew how to put into practice the sometimes enigmatic theories of the Master gifted with genius.

Long years of study, meditation and analysis of the writings of the old Masters, accompanied by patiently renewed experiments, gave me the conviction of the truth of their views.

Paracelsus fascinated me as the boldest, but his long nebulous dissertations, often ironic, and the eccentricity of his formulas left me worried and discouraged. Finally, one day, I had the good fortune of finding a booklet by his disciple Rhumelius which gave me the summary, or rather the quintessence, of the pith and marrow, in short, the key to the work of the Master.

It is that key, o' Friend of the Art, that I am offering you!

If you know how to use it and read it carefully, and if you then seek with steadfastness and simplicity, you will reach a luminous conviction at the end of your road and your reading. First, a weak spark, it is the whole Sun that will reveal itself, and your dazzled Spirit will contemplate the Light of the Eternal Truth.

That is what the humble translator wishes you.

Pierre Rabbi

PARIS, Christmas 1925

NOTICE

John Pharamund Rhumelius, a German physician, was born at Neumark (Upper Palatinate) in 1597,  and died in Nuremberg in 1661.

Rhumelius is the author of the following works:

Partus humanus, Nuremberg, 1624, 64 pp.

Compendium Fortificatorium, 1632, XIV folios.

Opuscula chymico-magica-medica, 1634-35, 458 pp.

Dispensatorium chymicum, Nuremberg, 1637, 81 pp.

Medicina Spagyrica, Frankfurt, I. Huttner, 1648, 749 pp.

The most important of the works of Rhumelius is Medicina Spagyrica. The first French translation is not complete but it contains the best excerpts from the work.

Let us be grateful to Pierre Rabbe for having introduced us to J. P. Rhumelius, hermetic scholar and disciple of the great Paracelsus.

HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

CHAPTER 1. THE TRUE MEDICINE OF THE ANCIENTS AND HOW IT WAS FOUND

The true medicine of our forefathers consists solely in the Quintessence, and it was Hermes-Trismegistos, who lived at the time of Moses, who was the first to discover and transmit it in his writings.

The art of medicine lasted until the time that misochemistry[1] appeared with its unfounded theories, the great difficulties it had to overcome, its intermixture with witchcraft and magic, its disparagement due to unfair criticism, and finally its disappearance in empty twaddle.

Perhaps Satan, the enemy of mankind, had used all his cleverness and malice to deprive us of this aid. Perhaps he wished to prevent the grandeur of the Eternal God from becoming manifest and to deprive Him of man's thanksgivings, while at the same time depriving the latter of this natural and powerful medicine.

CHAPTER 2. FROM WHERE THIS TRUE MEDICINE IS TO BE EXTRACTED, AND THE DIFFERENCE COMPRISED THEREIN

The true medicine has its origin in the center of the earth. It comes solely from God who has revealed it to us very clearly in the Trinity. Omnipotent God, Who is One God only, nevertheless consists of three Persons; therefore, having fashioned his creature in His likeness, He has signed it by His signature, which is triple, so that His law might show through His creation.

Yet this Trinity appears to us under the aspect of Unity. By Hermes Trismegistos it is termed "true, without a lie." Other philosophers call it "The Three Principles of all things." These Three Principles are found in the three kingdoms; vegetable, animal, and mineral. The Hermetic physicians have called them Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, because they are also found in the resolution of each of these particular bodies.

Although each species has its different Principles, we find in the plant kingdom salt, oil, and water; in the mineral kingdom, earth, sulphur, and mercury; in the animal kingdom, body, soul, and spirit.

It is on this philosophy that Hermetic medicine is based, because every spirit aspires to unite with the one which is most akin to itself: "like is healed by its like."[2]

In this the Hermetists and Galenists differ. The Hermetists give preponderance to the Three Principles, because they are the elements which are closest to all things; and here Hermes seems to us to be closer to truth than Galen, who, in sickness, is only concerned with the impurity of the elements.

But as the true essence of bodies lies in the intermixture of the Three Principles, Nature, if helped by them, herself rejects the impurities from the bodies and restores health to them. When it is the Salt that is affected in the microcosm, the  acts; if it is Sulphur or Mercury that is sick, or heals them.

This is what I wished to explain briefly, so that the blind might open their eyes and see what are the Hermetic philosophy and medicine, and that they take their stand on the foundation of Universal Nature; also, so that they might discern in what they differ from ordinary medicine. By knowing both, a true physician will be able to cure by the Hermetic medicine the disorders that appear incurable to the Galenists. Then the shameless lies of the latter, who claim that the "chemists" poison people, will be shown up. Finally, when you have read and understood this booklet, you will know that it is the ordinary medicine that is a lie and a poison, and you will agree with me that those whom I call "chemists" are not those vulgar spoilers of waters and mixtures who even quote Paracelsus as their authority, while ignoring the first word of Hermetic medicine! It is not enough to carry a long knife to be a good cook; consequently, I will here only speak for those who wish to study the Principles that rest on a solid foundation and who wish to attain to the mastery in the Work in the experimental way.

CHAPTER 3. THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE AND THE ORIGIN OF ALL ILLNESSES

In medicine it is customary to say: If the cause of the disease is found, it is easier to find the remedy.

Therefore, the physician must above all identify the illness; then he will know how to treat it. The disappearance of the illness is visible, the beginning obscure. The aim of the physician is to make it disappear. It is in that that he can prove his knowledge of the ultimate materia.

In my little treatise The First Essences, I have proven to you that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury originate in the Four elements, which arise from the four wombs of one aid the same Nature; and Nature herself has her origin in the Three Principles. From there stem our illnesses and all the disorders of our bodies. For the life of the body is not only regulated by the Four Humors but also by the Three Principles: , , , by the natural stars of the microcosm, and by the Five Origins of evil. Knowing this, the physician will be able to diagnose and discern all illnesses. It is only by this means that he will get to know Heaven, whose origin will be revealed to him.

The planets pour their rays and effects down on the corporeal planets in special signs, according to whether man lets himself be guided by the sideric or the animal spirit. Thus the Elements and the planets have their signature in man. When one of these signs or planets rules the macrocosm, it also rules the course of the microcosm and attracts man to it as the earth attracts the rain. When we observe the rule of an adverse planet, and the weather is breaking up and the sky becomes overcast - man immediately feels uneasy and depressed as a result of the harmony between macrocosm and microcosm. Consequently, the rising and the periods of growth of each planet correspond with different illnesses in the human body.

But if man lives by the example of God, the stars do not rule him any longer; on the contrary, it is he that dominates them, according to the old saying: The stars govern the body, but the free spirit governs the stars.

A physician must therefore not only observe the constitution and humors but much rather the planets of the microcosm and also how he can discover the power and effects of the remedies according to the signature of their planets; because the stars are not only in the Great World but also in the Little World, that is, in man, who contains in himself all the minerals of the Great World and is therefore called: Little World.

Therefore, before classifying the diseases, we must recognize all the minerals of the human body and know that the microcosm draws its medicine from the Great World. As many planets there are in the sky, as many minerals there are in the earth; each planet exercises its influence in a spiritual way, and there are as many minerals or planets in man as are in the earth (because man is an extraction and quintessence of the earth).

Consequently, if a physician knows both the saltpeter of the Great World and that of the Little World, he also knows what cure to apply.

When he encounters a case of canker, he must know that there is arsenic at the same place, because canker is called "the arsenical sickness." Another sickness is martial, another lunar, etc. The physician must know this. As soon as he knows it, the illness points him to the remedy. Thus arsenic cures arsenic, Scorpio Scorpio, Mars Mars, that is, all martial illnesses. For every creature of God Almighty is created by Him of the Three Principles (as on high). From these Three Principles arises everything, and when one of the Principles is no longer in equilibrium, corruption soon follows, a decline or an illness from the breakdown of the equilibrium of , , and , due to the effect of man's special heaven or astral body.

The second origin of illnesses is the astral origin, which stems from the influences of the Great World.

The third is the poisonous origin, when an illness comes from the poison or impurity in the food or drink, which impurity is also called tartar.

The fourth is the spiritual origin, when it is witchcraft or the spirit of a human being that has caused the illness in someone else.

The fifth is the divine origin, when man becomes susceptible of catching diseases by a decree of God Almighty.

These then are the five origins of all illnesses, and whoever does not know their treatment and cure cannot call himself a perfect physician.

Experience and tests must be the real masters; and this is so rarely taken into consideration that many an unfortunate patient has been abandoned by the physicians because the latter were unable to diagnose the true origin of the disease and to apply a well-founded treatment to it.

CHAPTER 4. THE REAL CURE AND THE HEALING OF ILLNESSES IN GENERAL

When God Almighty created all things, he created man last of all of loam. The loam of the earth is the fifth creature, the quintessence of the world, and extraction and final result of all natures. Of this extraction man was made. It follows that in man there is a synthesis of all creatures. He must therefore use that of which he has been made; precisely the thing out of which he has been made must cure him of his disease and preserve his health.

Consequently, all the illnesses that appear in man must be dissipated by a force, because the disease can only be fought by a force. The true medicine is a force that conquers all illnesses, just as fire melts and consumes all metals. We must therefore seek the medicine at the place where is the force that must act against the disease.

As man is the microcosm, the Great World must preserve, nourish, and heal him. If the fruit of the earth of the microcosm becomes ill, the fruit of the macrocosm must help him. If an illness occurs in the Element Fire, Air, or Water of the microcosm, these same Elements of the macrocosm must also come to his aid. Like must always help like.

All illnesses arise from the Three Principles and the Four Elements and must therefore by cured by the fifth essence of these Three Principles and Four Elements; and this is so. for any part of the body whatever.

The quintessence of gold is used for the heart; that of silver for the brain; that of copper for the kidneys; that of lead for the spleen; that of quicksilver for the lungs; that of iron for the gall; that of tin for the liver; because in their diseases the seven parts need mineral medicines, plant remedies being too weak.

There are as many kinds of remedies in the three kingdoms as are parts to treat in the body, as may be seen in my Harmonia Mundi. Consequently, every physician must have the Herbarium Spirituale siderum and learn from it to recognize the signatures by the light of Nature.

He must know which are the stones, plants, animals that receive the influx of Saturn, Mars, Mercury, or any other planet, and for which part, gall, lung, spleen, etc. they can be beneficial. For each planet has its own natural quality and influence which it pours, through its rays, upon the lower world, upon animals, plants, and minerals, where they impress themselves. The things and even the Elements that are thus signed by the planets have the power and virtue of the planets with which they are connected and to which they are subject.

Animals have a more powerful life than plants, and minerals are of a more fixed and durable nature than the beings of the first two kingdoms; consequently, plants are more suitable to lesser illnesses, animals to heavier and more serious ones, and minerals to the most violent and inveterate, especially in chronic diseases. The effect that cannot be obtained with plants and animals can be obtained with minerals if they have been prepared and rid of their impurities and poisons by the spagyric art.

Medicaments that have been thus prepared and absorbed, but spiritualized into a quintessence, penetrate the body and immediately join up with the form that is similar to them, like a form and its image in a mirror. For instance, if it is a medicament that has the signature of the heart, it goes to the heart; if it has the signature of the feet, it goes to the feet; the signature of the hands, to the hands; likewise to the head, the abdomen, the back, the liver, the kidneys, and all the other parts, since, when the medicament is absorbed by man, each sidereal (astral) part seeks the corresponding physical part.

The Semen Santonici cures calculi and gout, because its signature calls to mind the sand; therefore it goes to where its form appears. As the body is the image of the spirit, every medicament is a real arcanum. Accordingly, the analogies between the medicament and the disease must be sought in the first place. In that lies the foundation of every cure, because all things are, by Nature, perfect in their spiritual form.

No physician, no composition or correction can make the latter better than Nature. We need only use chemistry, which separates from the poison the medical lily and gold, the subtle from the gross, and from the earthly body the balsam, the true and pure essence. Then we can achieve in the medical art a real reputation of being a famous physician.

CHAPTER 5. IN WHAT WAY ONE CAN CURE ILLNESSES, AND ON MEDICAMENTS

In the previous chapter we mentioned the Five Origins of illnesses, according to the Three Principles.

1.  The divine cause, that is, God's wrath and the punishment for our sins.

2.  The astral cause, which induces bodily illnesses through planets, obscurity and other baneful influences.

3. The spiritual cause which, with God's permission, sends serious disorders to those who do not pray hard, through witchcraft or some other influence of a foreign spirit.

4.  The poisonous cause, which acts in the human body by means of food and drink.

5.  The natural cause, when the body is injured in one or another of its Three Principles or by some constitutional weakness inherited from the parents, or by excesses which have weakened the body and its radical moisture.

Those are the Five Origins of all illnesses.

Consequently, there are five ways of curing them.

The physician must first know the origin of the illness. Is it from spoiled food or beverages? In that case one has to treat it with the arcana, that is, with the proper plants, if the trouble stems from a plant; with minerals, if it is due to a mineral. If it is from the stars, neither mineral nor plant will be of any help, but one has to resort to astrology and the special influence of heaven. If the disorder is due to witchcraft, magical possession, or sympathetic magic, one has to use magic. Finally, if it is God Almighty, Who holds in his hand the appointed time of both illness and health, and He does not heal the patient, no physician, no medicine, nor even the Philosophers' Stone will be of any help but only true repentance, a regenerated life, and God's Grace.

In my Traite universel du Macrocosm et du Microcosme I have sufficiently indicated the origin and cure of diseases.

1.  Those of divine origin are cured through the Christian faith.

2.  Those of a natural origin, by the natural method, according to the experience obtained with the specific form and signature of things.

3. Those of a poisonous origin, by balsam.

4.  Those of astral origin, by astrology.

5.  Those of a spiritual origin, by magic.

Now then, it is necessary to know that all creatures come from one and only materia. This materia of all things is the Great Mystery.

This Great Mystery is the Mother of all Elements, stones, plants, and animals; in short, the Mother and origin of all things created by the Supreme Artist.

We read in Genesis (Ch. 1) how the water was separated from the earth, and how man, the last, was formed and created of earth, where there is only  , , and ; and in these three things lies the health of man as well as his illness, and not in the Four Humors, as has been said. One has to understand what is the , the , and the of the Little World, likewise those of the Great World, and recognize when they are good or bad, healthy or corrupted.

But man has his first nature in his Limbo or Chaos. , , and are those Elements which were extracted from it, then put together in man. Therefore the physician must know that all illnesses are in the first three substances and not in the Four Elements. The properties that are in the Four Elements are of no concern to medicine. In their relations with the Four Humors they are only the matrices where the Three Principles are contained.

The cure of diseases can be effected in two ways; universally and particularly.

The universal cure is that where the balsam of Nature, native or implanted, cures and fortifies in such a way that it expels every impurity of the disease from the root; because this balsam agrees so well with human nature that it resolves, by its resemblance, the very seed of the inveterate impurity. In this case the radical moisture is preserved in all its strength and no disease whatever can attack the body.

In the particular cure, however, the seed, tincture, or root of the disease cannot be removed, only the symptoms and the pain can be reduced; then Nature must be supported and strengthened, while at the same time the medicaments are used whose signature is exactly related to the affected parts of the body.

CHAPTER 6. THE UNIVERSAL MEDICINE AND ITS PREPARATION

There are as many kinds of illnesses as are kinds of elementary creatures, which exist by the thousands; since the scholar cannot know them all and apply to them the corresponding cure, many patients are in danger of perishing. Therefore has God in His Mercy revealed to man some universal secrets of Nature, some of which contain the nature of all heaven and the others, the nature of the whole earth; others, of all air; some have the nature of all plants, or of all animals, or of all metals, or of all minerals. They have their virtues, and by means of them can easily find the way of the diseases and cure them, because as soon as it is absorbed, each Element is attracted toward its particular magnet and is united with it.

But, in addition, the generous Father has given to humanity a thing of the highest price, a remedy that is most universal of all, which contains the property not only of one Element but of all, and which is the quintessence of the whole world-machine. There is nothing that is closer and more akin to the human body. When it receives this remedy, it absorbs the quintessence of the whole regenerated New World, which renews the Little World by imparting to it the true "temperament," because human beings were themselves formed out of it in the beginning. That is why this wonderful medicine has been called "Universal Tincture" by the philosophers, and also "Golden Stone of the Philosophers."

You must also know that a magic stone can be found in the chaos of the microcosm, which contains all the essences of Nature, like the Golden Stone. The only difference in them lies in transmutation.

As the microcosm has been created out of the Four Elements and in their likeness, it follows that once it is dissolved into its first materia, the latter has in it four Elements of equal weight. From this chaos springs a new world which can unite all natures, because the Great Nature and the essence of the Great World are contained in it, although hidden.

However, this Animal Stone exerts its influence only in diseases of the body, which it can cure and preserve in perfect health until the end assigned to it by the Creator. This is also true to a certain extent for the Plant Stone.

But it is in the Golden Stone that the whole treasure of Nature is hidden, and it is in the gold magnet that the greatest power lies, the knowledge of which is a gift of heaven. Its preparation is spiritual but its subject is earthly, and it is the most powerful center from which every center must stem. There lies the real sperm and the real Philosophical Mercury.

It is a real substance, exposed to all eyes and yet known only by a few. It is in all places and is despised as being of no value. Everybody touches it with his hands: It is only a round ball which contains the ocean or the great sea, and in the center of which is hidden the true little Bird of Hermes, formed by the sidereal body through the Elements of the earth. It is a known substance and the true Mother of all metals and minerals; and it is out of this substance that man has been drawn, that he was born, and by it has he been received and made alive.

We will not reveal it further. It is rather up to every physician to inquire into these mysteries in the great Book of Wisdom which springs from the Divine Spirit, that is, in the center of Nature. There he will find the basis and knowledge of all things; and by an austere life, humble prayer, he will receive the gift as Christ has taught: "Work to acquire the Kingdom of God; all the rest will be added unto you."

CHAPTER 7. THE PARTICULAR WAY, AND HOW DISEASES CAN BE CURED BY SPECIFICS

The particular cures, like the Universal Cure, must be sought in the deepest strata of Nature. First one has to know what substance is most suitable to the human body. As ,  , and can be imparted to man if like finds like, unexpected cures can come from them. It is by the signature of things that the physician must be guided. Nature puts on every creature the sign for which it is good, and in her holy language indicates the powers and properties of things by their names and the mystical letters hidden in them. If one wishes to know for what something is good, one must recognize it by its signs and its name.

Thus all the powers in natural things are recognized by their signature, just as a black and a red beard are an indication of a man's nature, because it is said: A bird is known by its feathers.

Consequently, the physiognomy of natural things must be known and thoroughly understood, because Nature does not let anything come out of her without revealing what it contains. A striking example is seen in the person whose qualities of heart, good or bad, can clearly be seen in his physiognomy. There is nothing so hidden in man that it does not leave a visible sign on him.

The man who wishes to be a true philosopher, therefore, must not stick to the theories, works, and descriptions of others, but must himself probe the bottom of Nature and draw his light from her.

CHAPTER 8. THE BEST MEDICAMENTS THAT THE PHYSICIAN MUST USE

Nothing has been created by the Almighty that does not have its usefulness and is not good for something; and yet one must know how to discern that which is endowed with the highest properties and virtues. One man may surpass another in intelligence and wisdom. It is the same with two substances, although there may be a good medicine in everything.

Man's life is too short for him to experiment with all the forces of Nature. That is why Damascenus, a Church Father, tells us: Only he will be great and considered wise who does not insist on quantity but on quality and utility. A good physician must keep to a small quantity of medicaments, mainly those whose virtue and power he has tested.

Thus, therefore, no numerous recipes and complicated prescriptions; and, in the pharmacies, none of those masses of boxes and phials, but the bonum et modicum is enough. Needless to run looking for physicians to India, Asia, and Africa; because goddess Fortune has hidden her treasure and power deep in the earth; and that is why they are considered despicable and worthless due to ignorance.

The first and most powerful of the medicines is the Philosophers' Stone. As it is universal, it dispels all diseases, but as its preparation is very slow and takes more than a year, and as its materia is hidden in darkness, it is not necessary to prepare it at the beginning.

After that come the three Magical Stones: the Animal Stone, the Plant Stone, and the Mineral Stone; then the elixir of life, the tincture of' the microcosm as well as the tincture and the spirit of the seven principal organs: the tincture of the Sun for the heart, the tincture of the Moon for the brain, the tinctures of Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury, each for its proper organ.

Then follow the quintessence of pearls, the tincture of corals, my Phalaia and my Asa, and other specific medicines indicated in my Synoptic Table, which at the beginning have all been generated in the same matrix and must be prepared and dissolved by the same menstruum.

I will not speak of the common medicines, the syrups, pastes, and powders which encumber the dispensaries of the pharmacists. Preparing them is their craft, and that of the true physician is to look for the health of his patients in the three Magical Stones.

CHAPTER 9. THE RIGHT AND TRUE PREPARATION OF MEDICAMENTS

The art of medicine comprises two parts: the diagnosis, for recognizing the illness and its origin; and the remedy, for overcoming it. The latter can only be learned by a deep knowledge of the virtues of the substances and a flawless preparation, because the virtue of things is deeply hidden.

All sublunary things have a double nature: perfectly good and perfectly bad, because there is no grain without a flaw, no flour without bran, no almond without a shell. Therefore it is always necessary to purge the animal, vegetable, or mineral substances of their impurities, which are still poisonous, because their mercurial matter is still crude and unfixed. Before it has been brought into the fixed state, man's stomach is far too weak to accept and absorb it. But prepared and fixed, it seeks out the disease, acts upon its root, and expels it radically.

That is what cannot be achieved by the ordinary purgative medicines which act in the body like running water that flows abruptly through a street without affecting the ground that constitutes it.

The fixed medicine, on the contrary, does not cause any bowel movements but manifests itself in a reaction of perspiration, for instance, by seeking out the center and core of the disease and by attacking the root only. Thus there is no need for complicated prescriptions with "additionibus," but only for the simple indication of a medicament prepared according to the spagyric art, which will act with volcanic force.

Of course; this is not a matter for the theoretician whose science is in his beak, but for the true physician and serious naturalist who knows how to recognize all substances and knows what is arsenic and poison; and who knows how to extract the lily from the pearls, which I have conscientiously set forth in this little treatise, though in such a way that only the Artist and the philosopher can understand it, but not the sophists and quacks, who must not know anything, having learned nothing.

CHAPTER 10. THE DIFFERENCE IN MEDICAMENTS AND THE SUBSTANCES FROM WHICH THEY MUST BE EXTRACTED

Just as there are great differences in human beings, one being more pious and another better or more chaste, so there are in things.

For instance, between wines, where one is more perfumed or better or stronger than another. Likewise the spirits distilled from them, of which some are more powerful or invigorating than others, although a spirit is extracted from all wines.

In everything a selection must be made and especially in medicine; we must choose and use the most powerful and best kinds. Unfortunately, they are often falsified, as can be seen in oils; and the balsamic spirits are so adulterated that a chemist can hardly recognize them.

Take, for instance, the spirit of vitriol, which is often used nowadays. Its virtues can only really be found in the vitriol of Cyprus or that of Hungary. Nevertheless, pharmacists are content with a common vitriol which costs half as much as the other and has so to speak no virtue at all. Likewise with all other products. They cannot be preserved and after a little While are nothing but a phlegm without properties, and useless.

CHAPTER 11. THE PROPITIOUS MOMENT FOR PICKING THE MEDICINAL SPECIES

Everything has its time. Grapes must be gathered in the fall, com must be cut and garnered in the summer; before that time, it would be too early and after that time, it would be too ripe. For all things under the sun, be they plants, animals, or minerals, there is a spring when they are in bloom, a summer when they are ripe, and a winter when they rest.

Let us therefore observe the seasons of each species. During the time of their balsamic influence, they escape corruption, and the worms do not attack them, because the balsamic influence is in harmony with the Three Principles.

The seed of wormwood, when gathered at the time of its balsamic exaltation, cures calculi and does away with the pain, which is not the case if it is gathered at any other time.

Chicory, in its fall and at its highest exaltation immediately stops hemorrhages, but it has a contrary effect at other times.

Saint-John's-wort drives all worms out of the body if it is picked in its time, but not otherwise.

Each plant must therefore be picked at the time of its balsamic influence and in the very spot where Nature makes it grow.

Every medicament, no matter how well prepared it may be, must be made with plants picked in their time, otherwise they are but bodies without a soul.

Accordingly, the physician must in the first place be an astronomer and look for the virtues which astronomy reveals. He must know the difference between plants that are good for youth and those good for old age; the first are picked at the waxing moon, the others at the waning moon; the first are called male, the others female; and as every creation has two numbers, a whole will be made when the two are united. And the more the plants are freshly picked and young, the more virtues they have, as they lose their power and qualities in aging. And as it is easier to cure an illness of recent date than a long-standing one, young plants must be used for an old or chronic disorder, while old plants will be sufficient for recent illnesses, because if something old is applied to something old, it is like a blind leading another blind, and both fall into the hole. This is the reason why many remedies have no effect or stay in the body where, instead of driving the trouble away, they increase it.

The physician must therefore know what medicine to use in order to overcome the evil; if it is stronger than the illness, the latter will be driven out or will go out like a fire that goes out. Instead, if the illness is stronger, it will turn the remedy into a poison.

CHAPTERS 12 AND 13. COMPOUNDED MEDICAMENTS. HOW TO PREPARE THEM AND WHAT THEIR EFFECT IS

Just as corn and every grain in general are of no use to man unless the husks and bran are removed and flour is made of them, so medicinal substances do not help the human body if their impurities have not been removed and their pure part prepared and cooked into the medicine. When the first preparation of any medicament has been made, the quintessence and the medical gold are extracted from it, that is, the pure is separated from the impure feces, the bad from the good, and the body from the spirit. For in every natural thing good and evil are mixed. There is no rose without a thorn, no tree without a bark, no kernel without a shell, and no medicinal species without a poison. Therefore it must be extracted and only the lily and the quintessence must be considered, which are the pure and the fire in everything and which destroy the diseases as the fire consumes the wood.

It (the quintessence, the medical gold) must be extracted from all plants from which one must first separate the impurities, and in general from all Elements, as in it alone lie the power, virtue, and medicine of Nature. It is the sperm and elixir of the gold; it is also the color and life, the tincture and radical moisture, the balsam and the Fifth Essence extracted from all things; it is the Spirit of Life, without any foreign addition.

The true medicine must therefore be drawn from a natural and corporeal body and changed into a better, spiritual nature, into a pure essence, so that the spirit, bound to the body at birth, be released and become able to act and penetrate with a true spiritual fire, because it cannot act with usefulness and power before its liberation.

Consequently, when the spiritual and eternal essence is separated from the natural and mortal body, it can promptly penetrate and act like a balsamic medicine. In short, in every natural thing the supernatural alone acts. The rest must be given up like a dead body. The quintessence of gold, pearls, or corals exists in them only in an infinitely small quantity. Those are very much mistaken who claim that they can administer the body and the complete substance, even if it is ground subtly and with alcohol on a marble slab: the stomach cannot digest it and receives nothing but bad effects. Many physicians tried it and were very wrong.

CHAPTER 14. CONTINUATION OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTER

We have indicated in the preceding chapter that the spirit alone can fight the disease, the body cannot. Therefore it is necessary to carry out a spagyric anatomy (analysis) in order to separate the kernel from the shell, the pure from the impure, the salutory balsam from the poison that accompanies it. These preparations can be universal or particular .

The Universal is the preparation of the universal menstruum or Water of the Wise. When its impurities have been separated, it dissolves anything added to it and left with it for some time. But as this water is the great secret of Nature and has at all times been carefully hidden by the philosophers, I am not permitted to reveal here anything more about it.

Particulars are very numerous. They can be plant, animal, and mineral menstrua which always operate according to their special properties and virtues. But I am telling you, from my own experience, that no preparation is better or more appropriate than that made with its own spirit and its own radical moisture, which dissolves its own body, extracts and separates it from the poison by digestion, calcination, sublimation, coagulation, and fixation. By destroying the substance, it brings about the separation and purification of the Three Principles, recombines them again, gives them a new birth. Modern physicians, having studied nothing, know absolutely nothing about it. Ignoring everything, they put on an air of dispising everything, so that their authority might not be despised in turn. These misochemists disparage our medicine from jealousy, and in a fraudulent manner point to it as a poison, while it is they that give the patient the shell instead of the almond, the bran instead of the flour, and earthly and impure feces instead of the pure essence.

CHAPTER 15. HOW TO PREPARE THE UNIVERSAL MEDICINES AND DISSOLVE THEM WITH THE WATER OF THE WISE

If the little grain of wheat is not thrown into the earth and putrefies there, it does not bear fruit. Because it is at the bottom of the earth where is the spirit of the Living Fountain. The earth is the receptacle of all the celestial rays and influences, a Mother and universal root of all other Elements. She contains the seed of the vivifying power of everything. That is why she is called animal, plant, and mineral. She is fertilized by the Three Elements, and her fruits give birth to and nourish all things. She is a center and foundation wherein rests the Prima Materia of everything. She is called the spouse of Heaven, because it is the Heavenly Father who impregnates her with His celestial virtues. Consequently, she produces all kinds of animals, fruits, plants, and minerals, and this is the greatest secret. When these fruits are cleansed of their impurities by the art of Vulcan, our Prima Materia appears as the means of our creation, and the true medicine, as a resurrection.[3]

Not only the microcosm but likewise all the Elements produce fruit in the new life and are endowed with much greater powers than before. Thus, we see that when cinnamon, roses, and other plants are still alive, they certainly smell good, but their virtue is small; when we kill them, that is, putrefy, dissolve, calcine, and distill them to separate from them the Three Principles, Water, Oil, and Salt, we can see with what power and virtue they operate in the human body.

They get still greater power when the Elements are united and brought to a new life. All medicinal species must therefore be anatomized (analyzed), extracted, separated, and brought to a new life, that is, to the quintessence and tincture.

Putrefaction is the highest point at which the living species rot and die and come to life again. No ordinary physician can undertake this work, only an experienced practitioner and chemist who knows how to direct his medicaments toward a definite target, as did Hermes, Pythagoras, and Raimundus Lullus, likewise Hippocrates and Galen, when they composed their theriac and their antidote. Then he will obtain a precious medicine by which the patients are not deceived.

CHAPTER 16. THE PREPARATION OF MEDICAMENTS AND THE PARTICULAR WAY ONE MUST FOLLOW

Reason lets us understand and experience shows, and farmers also well know when wine and beer and pure are rid of their tartar and lees, they are healthier than others. Why then not admit that a medicament is much more active and better tolerated by the stomach when it is cleansed of its gross feces and earthly shells? We can well see it in simple things: a small particle of cinnamon is more effective than if we give a patient a whole pound of it to eat; and that is so because of the virtue of the spiritual essence of the medicament.

It is Paracelsus who discovered that this power lies in the Water and that it is a mother of all metals. Out of Water, which is the root and foundation of all things, the Four Elements have been created, in heaven and on earth, as we read in Genesis (Ch. I). One must therefore know the true Water, which is the Azoth and the special menstruum, the radical moisture or the prime humidity to which everything is bound at the beginning, so that it may be dissolved therein naturally and become released.

But whoever would like to know this Water and subject it to himself must know that he will require much work and experience (and not only read or hear about the thing!), do the work and take it up again twice or three times, even five or six consecutive times, which an inexperienced person cannot understand.

Finally, here is a summary of this chapter: Without the spirit of the Universal Mercury, which is the true and sole key for spiritualizing things, no metal or mineral can be resolved or made potable, as the elucidation will teach us.

CHAPTER 17. THE GOLD OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. WHAT IT IS

It is no small battle among physicians to learn in what way the Elixir of Life is extracted. The conclusion, however, is that it is only in gold and nowhere else that the medicine is to be found, because it is only in gold that is contained the Spirit of Nature for removing every weakness and bringing about every cure. And on that point all philosophers are in agreement. But we find in the Philosophy of the Adepts and in the Treasure of Nature that there are many kinds of gold in the natural things.

The first, astral; the second, mineral; the third, metallic, and the fourth, elementary.

The first is called astral because it still reposes in the Prima Materia and is still imperfect. Fra Basilius Valentinus calls it the astral sun, because the stars still have their influences and first operations in it. From this spiritual materia, he says, in which gold originated in the beginning, it is possible to prepare potable gold, much more perfect and better than that which one would obtain with other gold which must first be made spiritual before it can be turned into potable gold. Theophrastus Paracelsus call it Electrum Immaturum and First composition of the Sun, just because Nature effects in it her first compositions. Some also call it immature gold, or potential gold. In Aureum Vellus, Trismosin calls it First Being of the Sun, saying: Gold and silver are of no use if it is not a question of the first being. Theophrastus says in his booklet On the First Beings how it can be obtained, and in his Archidoxes he reveals clearly how it has to be prepared before using it.

The Turba Philosophorum calls it the Green Lion, because it is still green, unripe, and imperfect. Hermes and other philosophers call it Black Earth, Artotic Eagle, Saturn, Black Lead, Root of the Sun; and that not only because of its weight but because Nature formed a leaden mass during the gestation of Sun and Moon. But how the mountaineers call it cannot be disclosed, because of the unworthy inquisitive persons who might misuse it.

Mineral gold is that which lies still buried in the gangue of the mine, before the metal appears, its glittering due to fusion.

Elementary gold is given that name although it is not gold like the vulgar kind. It is separated by the spagyric art, and it is from it that the quintessence of the medical gold is extracted. The closed door of the Four Elements opens, and they yield their hidden qualities: , , and , separately and differentiated. A skillful and experienced chemist can easily obtain them by his manual operations.

To close this chapter, we will say that the best Prima Materia to be selected is the astral gold, or the first being of the gold. In the testimony and experience of all philosophers, it is the most useful and even the only one to be chosen for this work.

CHAPTERS 18 AND 19. HOW GOLD, SILVER, AND THE OTHER METALS HAVE TO BE PREPARED, AND THEIR QUINTESSENCE EXTRACTED

When the ancients noticed and could ascertain by experience that the most powerful tonics for the faculties of the heart lay in gold and silver, they worked hard to extract their Principles in order to adapt them to their medicine. But such as they are used nowadays, they cannot be of any help to man, as no metal can act in the body if it has not previously been made potable and spiritual, so that the stomach can digest it. It is therefore necessary to destroy them by the spagyric Art and to extract from them the essential medicinal virtue and make it potable, and that without the help of any corrosive. It is this preparation that I have indicated with sufficient clarity in my Panacea Aurea. That not everybody can comprehend it as easily as a recipe for apple pie is understandable, and also that the Art is not within everybody's reach but must be practiced at the sweat of one's brow and with great devotion and humility. All cannot be learned by reading the Masters; fervent prayer is required and also the courage to work in the coal with one's own hands, as I myself did in my time. Pigeons do not fall all roasted into the mouths of those who remain seated behind the furnace. One has to go to a great deal of trouble, travel, wander here and there, sometimes at great cost and in great danger, even of one's life. Be that as it may, I will once again repeat my explanations for the man who is a zealous student of Hermetic medicine.

Take living Zoybeth water, its real name being , six parts, and gold refined by antimony, one part. Make an amalgam of it and sublimate it by fire till the fire has reduced it to an impalpable powder. This alcohol must be put in a phial and plant Struthion poured on it, that is, distilled vinegar, rising above it by three fingers' breadth. Close it hermetically and set it in medium heat. Then the spirit begins to extract the gold and is colored dark red. When the vinegar is colored enough, it is separated and replaced by some other; this procedure is repeated till there is nothing left to extract. Now all the solutions are mixed and put to distill in a B.M. (Balneum Mariae). When all the vinegar has been extracted, the essence of gold is left at the bottom, which cannot be changed into any other body.

This essence must be edulcorated and distilled through the retort to obtain a potable spirit. That then is the radical moisture and the true gold vinegar of which you must take ten parts, and of subtly prepared gold lime, one part. Put them into a hermetically closed phial to digest at a gentle lamp fire, then filter them through paper. Now the potable gold is ready, and by a great mystery it can purge, renew, and restore the human body. It is the quintessence of gold of the Archdoxes of Paracelsus.

To summarize: To begin, the gold has to be prepared into an impalpable and volatile lime. Then, when this volatile lime has been dissolved in Struthion, they have to be conjoined till they are both spiritualized.

All metals must be prepared in this way and made volatile, so that they can no longer be turned into metal, because they are of no use whatever in the metallic state. Thus is prepared potable silver, potable iron, potable copper, potable tin, and potable lead, with the help of a plant menstruum and their own moisture. To close this chapter and out of pure Christian charity, I will reveal to you and inform you of the following:

The true potable gold is to be found in one thing only, despised and unknown; and whoever knows this golden root well and considers the true and unique materia, need not work with common gold - which is so expensive -destroy and spiritualize it, because he will find this same essence, and in a much larger quantity, in the magnet of gold. Because gold and all metals are attracted by their Materia Prima, in order to return to their first birth. This materia is the true spirit of  , , and united in a single body.

The Red Lion and the King are gold and silver; the Dragon and the Eagle are the man and woman who can tincture vulgar gold and perfect it to the point of making of it a more powerful medicine than any other. (This perfecting is placed under the sign of the planet or the Apple of Paradise, and is first of all sealed in its star or first being.)

We must from now and forever be humbly grateful for it to the High, and Powerful Deity.

CHAPTER 20. HOW TO PREPARE THE QUINTESSENCE OF PEARLS AND PRECIOUS STONES

In the preparation of pearls and precious stones the mistake is generally made of grinding them in a bronze mortar or on a marble slab, to make the powder more subtle to the taste. But as marble is much softer than stones, the latter use the marble and absorb part of it - which does not worry the apothecaries. Whoever wishes to ascertain this himself, need only cast a glance at the marbles and mortars used for this purpose, and ask himself if the absorption of bronze and marble can help the recovery of the sick. My conscience forces me to make this remark. These preparations cannot have any virtue. You can immediately prove it by treating them with aquafort, which straight away causes the ground substances to fall to the bottom of the receptacle. And how could the patient digest such substances which neither the fire nor corrosives can dissolve, when his stomach sometimes has trouble digesting tender and pure flour!

But if pearls and precious stones are prepared in such a way that they dissolve in a special water without leaving any lees at the bottom -as every essence and true medicine must do - then the effect and the virtue are powerful.

Here is the secret of their preparation:

Take pearls, corals, or other precious stones and proceed with the universal menstruum as indicated in the Elucidaire, and when the said substances have been reduced to their prima materia by the menstruum, they can be brought to the degree of the hipest arcanum by continual digestion.

In particular: Take balsamic nature spirit, 8 pounds, and oriental pearls, 2 pounds; put them in a glass retort and leave them in hot ashes for one day. Now draw the spirit off and pour some fresh one on. Renew this operation till you can no longer extract anything. Then the feces are discarded and the liquid is filtered through paper. Now distilled rain water and mountain vinegar are poured on it. One can now see the pearls settled at the bottom, subtle and white as snow. After this, their essential spirit must be separated through the retort. Thus the body is dissolved, extracted, and reduced to prima materia. Then the magistery is finished. Very few medicines can be compared with it. It is only a little bit inferior to potable gold. It is used for contractures, dangerous cramps, and delirium. It fortifies the brain and the heart, gives a good memory, cures apoplexy, dizziness, vertigo, dissolves calculi, and is particularly effective in cases of epilepsy, gout, and palpitations. It is also the best preventive against paralysis. It strengthens the root moisture, stops all discharges, renews and multiplies the vital serum, increases the sperm, gives women milk, is good for impotence, picks up broken down bodies, invigorates all vital spirits, cures all internal diseases, and keeps the body healthy.

Ten to twenty drops are administered in a generous wine or in some medicament suitable for the disease.

CHAPTER 21. HOW TO PREPARE THE TRUE ESSENCE AND TINCTURE OF CORALS

The true tincture of corals is sought after by many but found by very few. Some affirm that they have made it with distilled vinegar and spirit of wine; but that is but a sinister lie or simple imagination. I know, from my own experience, that it is impossible. The tincture of corals can become an excellent universal remedy if it is prepared with our pontic water; but those who do not know this water can use the particular way in the following manner:

Pulverize beautiful bright red corals, as many as you wish, and pour the Great Circulate (Circulatum Magnum!) over them by three fingers' breadth. Put the preparation in a well closed retort, on hot ashes, where you will see it sprout like small trees. When everything is dissolved, the feces are separated through paper; distilled rain water is poured over it, all the menstruum is removed, which must be edulcorated, then again dissolved with heavenly dew. When the heavenly dew has been extracted, the rest must be treated by the retort. First there comes a white spirit (which extracts its own bloodred body). At the end, there come rose-colored drops, which are the real essence of corals.

This tincture has the greatest virtue, even in very small amounts.

It has the power to renew and purify the florescence of the whole human body. In a short time it removes the weaknesses resulting from poor and bad blood, and restores the body to health. It regularizes women's menstruations , stops hemorrhages, fortifies the heart and the vital spirit, preserves from all poisons, invigorates the stomach, opens the blocked kidneys, liver, and lungs; is useful for calculi, dropsy, cramps, and paralysis; dispels melancholy, ghosts, apparitions, oppression, is an excellent aid for pregnant women and those in childbirth, fights against all hysterical disorders. Its effect is solar, wonderful preventive against epidemics and pestilence.

The dose is 10, 12, up to 20 drops in good old wine, added specific medicament for the illness.

CHAPTER 22. HOW TO PREPARE THE PLANT STONE AND HOW TO USE IT TO ADVANTAGE

Take the best Rhine wine. Leave it stoppered up for one month in putrefaction heat, then distill it in B.M. till the spirit has completely gone over and is separated from its phlegm. To achieve this, distill it up to seven times. It must bum like real fire. Then put it to circulate in a glass whose opening is well luted, and let it digest slowly for one month. This done, one has to pour three fingers' breadth of this spirit over its own salt, obtained by sublimating the purest tartar, clarified and crystallized to the highest degree. Put the well stoppered phial in the B.M. A beautiful bloodred oil will come out of it. Separate it from its spirit and coagulate it into a transparent red stone. Its use is wonderful in every mercurial disease.

The dose is 6 to 10 and 12 grains.

CHAPTER 23. THE ANIMAL STONE. HOW TO PREPARE IT AND THE JUDICIOUS USE ONE HAS TO MAKE OF IT

Take some of our sea water. It must be healthy and clean. Take 40 measures (quarts). Leave it for a whole month in a dark heat, so that it can properly putrefy. The longer it stays thus, the more spirit it will give. Then distill it in ash, and a spirit strong as fire will come out of it. This spirit must be well rectified and poured back on the black mass that is left behind, then distilled by degrees. Now a beautiful crystalline salt will rise to the head. Rectify it and preserve it well, lest it fly away. Calcine the body that is left till it is brown. Then extract from it its fixed white salt with its phlegm. Distill a spirit from this same salt into which you must pour, drop by drop, the first volatile spirit turned into water, which will cause it to roar strongly. Now remove the phlegm from it, gently, in the B.M.

At the bottom of the vessel a white gum will be left, which enclose in the Philosophers' Egg and cook in a steam bath till it congeals into a stone of a transparent ruby color. This, with a dose of 6 to 12 grains, will cure all outer and inner diseases. As the magnet attracts iron, it will attract all sulphurous illnesses, soothe the pains of all parts of the body, cure lepra, gout, calculi, syphillis, paralysis, dropsy, consumption, cancer, and all inveterate diseases.

In short, human intelligence could neither comprehend nor appreciate the virtue of the medicaments prepared by means of the microcosmic water, because in it is hidden the perfect cure of all diseases; and like will be overcome by like, in spite of the enemies of truth who do not wish to understand anything and are content with erring with the blind.

CHAPTER 24. THE MINERAL STONE. HOW AND OF WHAT IT IS MADE

In the name of the Lord, take the Blue Stone, such as one finds in the East or in our mountains. Take as much of this Green Lion as you wish; put the phlegm in a retort and distill it till a white smoke rises. Let it cool and break the retort. You will then find the Red Lion which you must pulverize, put in the retort and heat with a violent fire in Virgin's Milk and very sharp vinegar. Continue the fire for eight days and as long as the white smoke appears. When you open the retort, you will find the Raven's Head, in which there is a White Dove. Take this black earth and calcine it for four hours, either in the reverberation or the melting furnace. Then wash it 7 times with distilled rain water to extract the White Dove. Calcine, dissolve, and evaporate till all the salt, perfectly clarified, looks like a sparkling diamond.

Of this Foliated Earth take one part; of the blood of the Red Lion, two parts, and pour on it the Virgin's Milk to dissolve everything. Now filter the composition and put it into a properly sealed phial to digest slowly, moderately, for nine months - well, long enough for everything to coagulate into a bloodred stone. Then the Mineral Stone is made, and it is the most precious medicine in the world for tartar. The dose is 3 to 4 grains in good Malmsey wine or any other old wine. It purifies the constitution, makes the heart cheerful, preserves and invigorates the radical moisture, causes grey hair to disappear, dispels headaches and all kinds of fever and pestilent poisons, cures gout, restores and renews the whole man.

CHAPTER 25. THE PHALAIA AND ASA MEDICINES. HOW TO PREPARE AND USE THEM

Take perfectly cleaned phalaia root (phalarsis: canary-grass, ribbon-grass, lady's garters) and pour four fingers' breadth of heavenly dew over it. The receptacle must have a flat bottom, and the very long neck must be hermetically sealed. Put it in a steam fire and not in a common fire made with coal or wood. When the substance has stood in this heat for one month, it will have had the time to open, and its menstruum will have taken on the color of the most beautiful golden yellow.

Separate the liquid and preserve it for all kinds of remedies, as I will indicate in my little treatise, On the Cure of Catarrhs by the Magical Method. In so doing, I am following the example of all the alchemists who have been before me and so that this arcanum may be left to the philosophers who have worked hard and spent a great deal to pierce the mystery. They broke many vessels, consumed a considerable amount of coal, and by the Grace of the Highest of Spagyrists you will obtain what I myself, and also others, have obtained.

CHAPTER 26. HOW THE PLANT AND ANIMAL MEDICINES HAVE TO BE PREPARED, AND HOW THE QUINTESSENCE CAN BE EXTRACTED FROM THEM

To extract the quintessence of plants and animal substances, they must be dissolved into their Three Principles. After that, the method is the same for all true spagyrists, and I have already described it above. Pour this water on its own salt and leave the preparation in moderate heat till all the earth is dissolved and turned into water, and the other Principle, i.e., the Sulphur and the oil have penetrated its body. This imbibition must not be done in one go but gradually and drop by drop. Then the oil will congeal and some feces will be left which have to be separated. The pure is put into a phial and set on a graduated fire.

The volatile spirit will also make the fixed volatile, and the fixed will make the volatile stable. Then the magistery is finished and the medicinal species are transformed into an arcanum and quintessence which will accomplish miracles in all diseases while, without the blessing of the Most High, they would have no virtue at all.

While the ungodly physician and the unrepentant patient claim without due consideration that the remedy alone is effective and that there is no need for prayers, daily experience shows that robust patients succumb in spite of powerful medicaments.

Therefore every physician who is sincere and a good Christian must above all exhort his patients to penitence and prayer. If he does not do so, no medicine will succeed. There, as in illnesses that come from the divine cause, one can patently follow the finger of God.

That is why I recommend to every physician worthy of esteem to work only to serve His greater glory, and to cure the sick. It is for this sincere physician that I have written this little treatise, and for the enlightening some blind men, so that they may become inclined to seek the Pearl and the true way that leads to it, without tiring. Then, afterwards, to thank the Almighty if He grants them His Grace, and to use it for His greater glory and the good of his fellowman.

ANOTHER HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

CHAPTER 1. HOW AND FROM WHERE DISEASES COME

This little treatise, which I have entitled Table of the Microcosm, teaches the art of medicine, or the art of preserving the health of the body, of exposing the causes of diseases, and of driving them out.

My little treatise will teach:

1.    Pathology.

2.    Therapeutics.

3.    Anatomy.

4.    Surgery.

In this art, three things must be considered: The cause or the source from where the disease arises; the affected location in the body; the cure of and recovery from the ailment.

The Causes

As far as the causes of diseases are concerned, opinions vary greatly. The ancients and the moderns have different feelings on this point. It would be desirable if the study of the latter were always accompanied by the study of the former, so that, by comparison and deduction, one could arrive at knowing the whole of the science. But this is rather a wish than a hope. It is not up to us to praise some and to blame others; and we will immediately take up the gist of the subject.

All diseases arise from the Three Principles and from what we previously called the origins and causes of diseases. I intend to show you the most important, after which you will easily understand the others.

The first cause, and the main, of the wear and tear of our bodies, of old age and death, yes, of all the evils that afflict our miserable life, is the Fall of our first parents, who have not only left us a corrupted nature but also the tendency to do all the evil that keeps us in corruption. That is the origin of our total incomprehension of the faults which we make blindly every day and by yielding to the infernal instinct in the depth of ourselves. That is why we attract the wrath of the God of Justice Who tries us with all kinds of illnesses and pains. And that is the cause called "the divine cause."

The second is the bad influence of the stars, because there are frequent changes in their course. As they pour their influences on earthly things, the radical or balsamic humor of our body is thereby increased or diminished or perverted, according to the aspects of the stars. It is the cause called "the astral cause."

Three other causes can bring about a change and sometimes the destruction of our body:

The heredity of the constitution with which we were born. It is "the natural cause."

Another is due to magic, to the perversion of evil beings who intend to destroy us. It is "the spiritual cause."

The last cause stems from the things which we need daily for the upkeep of our life: drinking, eating, moving, resting, sleeping, and waking, which must be proportionate to the needs of each, to the constitutions, under penalty of bringing on diseases whose origin is called "the poisonous cause."

The affected part.

It is evident that it influences the form of the disorder. We will not insist on this point.

CHAPTER 2. THE CURE OF DISEASES

There are two methods:

1.    The Galenic method: Contraries must be treated by contraries.

2.    The ancient Hermetic Art, which achieves new successes every day and frees the body of diseases that have been considered incurable up to the present, and which rests on the axiom: Like is treated by its like. Its fundamental principle is sympathy and antipathy, about which the physician must be knowledgeable above everything else. From these tendencies the real means and remedies are derived after the physician has observed the analogies and magnetic concordance between the microcosm and the macrocosm. He must then look among plants, minerals, and animals to see if they have a signature in conformity with the sick limb or organ, and choose the object which carries this signature as the remedy. And since the signature is impressed by the spirit, the remedy will act after it has been stripped of its gross parts; then it will go straight to its like. Thus, the form or signature of the heart will go to the heart, that of the hands or feet will go to the hands or feet, and likewise for the head, the spleen, the liver, and all the parts. But the medicament must not contain anything except the balsam extracted from its body, if it is to strengthen the balsam of the microcosm and to help man.

Likewise, if the trouble stems from water, fire, earth, or air, one has to find out how it affects the Principles Salt, Sulphur, Mercury, and effect a cure with the quintessence of the Four Elements and the Three Principles, no matter what organ is attacked, for like cures like. If one happens to notice the signature of a star, the influences of that star must be studied; also, if one finds the signature of an animal or a plant, that animal or plant must be used. For instance, our Flying Eagle has the signature of the polestar, which is that of the human body: It therefore acts universally upon all parts, on all the balsam of the microcosm.

You must therefore look for the signatures of the three kingdoms, because God speaks to man through the signs impressed upon all His creation. These signs speak and recommend themselves to you like the wine by the grape hanging from the vine. It is through them that the ancients received their knowledge of remedies, that they discovered the nature and virtue of plants, animals, and the products of the mines. And here are the facts: It is the alphabet of Nature, by which one can read and understand the Great Book of Nature.

But as this knowledge is rare, we have deemed it advisable to indicate at the end of this treatise the special medicaments whose power we have tested and which experience has shown us to be wonderfully effective.

CHAPTER 3. PARTICULAR MEDICAMENTS

Damascenus rightly advises us to keep to a small number of medicaments, and only after frequently testing their efficacy. The art of medicine is very extensive: A man's life is not sufficient to learn everything of it. Since, as Hippocrates says, the Art is long and life is short, we have to stick to remedies that have long been proven. It is also useful and good advice to leave the result of our experience to our successors in concise writings. Consequently, I have decided to describe the medicaments with which I have been successful.

I would first of all indicate the Universal Medicine which destroys all the impurities that are adverse to the universal balsam, and drives them from the human body by helping Nature to strengthen it.

The second is the Tincture of the Microcosm, after it has been digested for some time in its proper ferment and freed of its arsenical superfluities. It then dissolves into a beautiful moisture of which one can take three or four drops in wine, after the body has of course previously been purged with purgative gold.

The third is the Plant Stone: From four to six drops every morning, for a more less extended cure, depending on the case.

The fourth is the Animal Stone, which is prepared in the spagyric way with the balsam of a healthy man.

The fifth acts by magnetic attraction when one has prepared a talisman under the influence of certain constellations, so as to attract their spiritual effluvia to the patient attacked by a disease of astral origin. The growth and the sap of this tree planted within him and nourished by the universal spirit will bring him recovery.

The sixth is the transplantation, by a natural process, of the balsam of a live body into an adequate animal. The disease will be carried from the patient to the animal, and the patient will recover.

The seventh is the Mineral Stone, extracted from our Lion.

The eighth is extracted from Phalaia and Asa.

The ninth is the quintessence of pearls and the tincture of corals.

The tenth, and one of the best, is the Elixir of life, excellent on account of its virtue and the multiplicity of its effects, as the ancient philosophers knew and affirmed.

CHAPTER 4. THE PREPARATION OF PARTICULAR MEDICAMENTS

Those are absolutely mistaken who claim that the medicaments must be used in their corporeality. If the body is simply turned into powder and prepared in the way the apothecaries do, the effect is all the more harmful. The true preparation consists in separating the pure from the impure, the balsam from the poison, and the kernel from the shell. It is by this means that the sick will be promptly and completely cured. But one has to take care that no feces at all are left in it by inexperienced students. The work must be done by well-informed and skillful masters in whom one may have confidence. The effects of a medicament differ in power according to the way it has been treated, even if it is applied to diseases of the same origin. Therefore the true hermetic physician does not hesitate to put his own hand to the work.

To reach the goal, separate the Earth from the Fire, the Spirit from the Body, the good from the bad, life from death, and the pure from the impure, with great industry and care. By the universal menstruum and the vinegar of the wise all virtues are increased to a quintessence suitable for curing all diseases and strengthening man's natural balsam. This is so on account of their mutual sympathy. And due to its antipathy for the disease, it drives it out of the body.

This then is what follows from the two axioms of medicine: Curing like by its like, and the contrary by its contrary. There is a reason for both: the pure quintessence of the medicaments drives away the impurity which is contrary to it and strengthens the body's balsam which is like it. This is what I wished to bring to your notice, dear reader, with the hope that it will not displease you too much.

CHAPTER 5. THE UNIVERSAL MEDICINE

Numerous are those who assert having extracted this Universal Medicine from its special materia prima; but practice and experience have proven the contrary, because this Universal Medicine must be extracted from a universal substance and not from a particular body. This universal substance is the water of which Genesis speaks (I., 2 and 20), and the earth that comes from it (17 and 24). This water is precisely the material out of which all substances have been created by means of the  formed by water and earth. It is out of this universal materia that the ancients drew their medicine. This water contains the true seed of all minerals and metals. When the said seed is digested by a proper heat, it takes on a body and turns into metal or stone or something similar. This water contains two substances which are both necessary for the formation of all things: one is an impure earth which is a hindrance and also a clothing of the interior sulphur which must animate all of the water; this impure earth weakens and checks the effectiveness of the sulphur. The second substance is the sulphur itself, by which the pure water coagulates and turns into such a noble nature that the true philosophers have called it a rare and inestimable treasure.

Here we must well understand the philosophers when they say that every mineral has its origin in and . They do in no way mean vulgar mercury but rather the mercurial water described above; not vulgar sulphur but a spiritual body where the natural fire is hidden and which coagulates and fixes the mercurial water.

Water is also likened to woman, and sulphur to man, as water is being coagulated by a long coction of its internal sulphur and contains and fixes the seeds of the metals.

This water, therefore, has two substances, one internal, the other external. The internal is the hot and dry sulphur. It is invisible and is the Father. The external is the body of the water, moist and cold. It is visible and is called Mercury, or the Mother. If you make these qualities come forth one day, qualities in which the Four Elements are contained but hidden by a regular process of Nature, you will obtain the greatest of medicines. Because the internal heat is no other than the celestial nature and the vitalizing heat of the Sun, by which all of our inferior world has been created, generated, produced, then renewed, and regenerated. This is why ordinary water is a substance that is distant from the metals. The latter are taken from their watery form to the form of steam and are purified by the heat of the earth, then again coagulated by their internal sulphur into a dense substance from which stem all imperfect metals when the earth, mixed with water, is fat and impure; and when the earth is fat and pure, gold forms in it, the pure metal.

Conception takes place in the following way: After the stars and the Four Elements have thrown their seed and power into the center of the earth, the Archeus of the earth sublimates them and sends them, in the form of vapor, through all the pores of the earth, which is spongy. This sublimated vapor turns into water and causes all beings in the earth to grow.

Note first of all that the Philosophical Mercury is not the common one. It is a Mercury fabricated by Nature, it is a water, not common water but the water of our Saturn. In this Mercury lies everything the Wise are seeking, because in its water there is the Sulphur, or Soul, or living fire, hidden but strong.

It follows from all this that the Universal Medicine must not be extracted from vulgar gold. The sulphur must be extracted by the sulphur, that is, by the mercurial water vitalized by its sulphur. If you take gold and throw it into this water, it dissolves in it like ice in hot water. This water contains the power of all sublunary things, and it is of it that the Universal Medicine must be made, which confirms the saying of Sendivogius: "Whoever can coagulate this water by heat and unite it with its spirit, will find something that is a thousand times better than gold."

CHAPTER 6. THE UNIVERSAL MENSTRUUM, IN WHICH ALL METALS DISSOLVE LIKE ICE IN WATER

All is Nothing, and Nothing is All. The universal menstruum issues from this Nothing, and nevertheless everything comes from it. It is to this universal menstruum that the first chapter of Genesis refers. It is a parturition power, a mother and nurse of minerals, plants, and animals. It is spirit and body.

At the beginning, this body looks moist and cold, but it contains its spirit which is its life. Although its star is cold and dry within, it is as yet from it, as from a hidden abyss, that plants, animals, and minerals, stones, salts, fruits, etc. arise. It is in it that the Bird of Hermes and the Universal Spirit have established their dwelling place, and it is from it that the Universal Medicine is extracted, as Sendivogius tells us in his treatise.

Dig a ditch and put into it our living water, i.e., the universal menstruum. In our water you will find our sal ammoniac and the universal spirit which contains all things.

In this Element Water we not only find all other Elements, but, in addition, we can dissolve, preserve, and multiply all things in it, and strengthen the power of all inferior and superior things. There is no doubt that one can dissolve all bodies in it and bring them back into their materia prima, since they were all water in the beginning. A thing that could harden can also turn back into water, and that by means of our Sea Water, or Life Water, or water that does not wet one's hands. No other, be it from wells or fountains, or aquafort or any other kind of water, can be used; all are harmful except that which is extracted from the rays of the Sun and the Moon by means of our MAGNET or steel.

The means of drawing this water and of producing our Sabammia is little known. But enough of this!

CHAPTER 7. MEDICAL GOLD

One must know that the Universal Medicine or the Medical Gold is in all beings and can be extracted from them more or less easily. Above all, it is in gold, in wine, and in human beings. The Universal Medicine is the Philosophers' Stone of the ancients, which not only cures all diseases but purifies all imperfect metals and changes them into pure gold. It is made solely with the universal materia from which all beings have issued, as we said above. By Universal Medicine we understand our magnesium, from which the Gold Panacea or the Elixir of life can be extracted. We shall take this matter up later.

To God, One in Three Persons, Who has given me the understanding, the will, the ability to accomplish, my eternal gratitude. Hallelujah!

Force and power, honor and glory be to God our Father, to Jesus Christ the Lamb, and to the Holy Ghost, in all centuries. Amen!

TREATISE 4. TRIPARTITE PHALAIA

Excerpts from the fourth treatise of The Chymical Antidote

i.e.

The fundamental operation which will teach us how to safely extract the balsam of the microcosm, and the Art of making of it a panacea for the cure of diseases.

CHAPTER 1. THE MEDICINE PHALAIA, AND WHAT IT IS

Phalaia (Panacea) is a medicine extracted from the Three Principles, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, coagulated into a transparent and clear Stone and prepared by the spagyric Art (by putrefaction, sublimation, dissolution, • conjunction, coagulation, and fixation) into a unique medicine and a panacea by which all internal diseases can be cured, thanks to the help of God Almighty.

CHAPTER 2. IN WHAT POINTS THIS MEDICINE DIFFERS FROM OTHERS, AND IF ONE CAN FIND ONLY ONE SPECIMEN

As many substances as there are in the world, as many different Stones can be prepared from them, since every substance, if prepared by the Hermetic Art and reduced to its Three Principles—thus brought to a higher state by conjunction and coagulation—results in a transparent and clear Stone after its fixation. This is achieved precisely because the Death's Head and the feces are rejected, so as to keep only the quintessence and the most subtle substance of the spiritualized being.

But although every kind can yield a transparent Stone, it does not follow that it is a Phalaia or Panacea; it is only effective according to its natural properties and qualities (though with greater virtue in a smaller dose).

Here are the four substances from which can be extracted a Phalaia or Panacea that has its special virtue:

1.    First and above all, the Universal Menstruum with which the Philosophers' Stone or the Universal Phalaia is prepared.

2.    The Microcosm or the Little World, from which the Animal Stone or the Phalaia of the Microcosm can be extracted.

3- The Celestial Dew or Noah's Water, from which the Plant Stone or the Tartarous Phalaia can be extracted.

4. The Adamic Earth or Golden Ore-bearing Earth, with which one obtains the Mineral Stone or the Mineral Panacea.

CHAPTER 3. THE KIND OF PHALAIA OF WHICH THE AUTHOR WISHED TO SPEAK IN THIS LITTLE TREATISE

My intention here is not to speak of the Universal Phalaia or the Philosophers' Stone but of the Tincture of the Microcosm or the Animal Phalaia, having, by the Grace of God, worked it out and brought it to a successful issue. Nor will I speak at this time of the Mineral and the Plant Stones, since my two little treatises, The Chemical Basilica and The Golden Panacea describe them and make them sufficiently understood.

CHAPTER 4. UNDER WHAT ASPECT THE ANIMAL PHALAIA OR THE MICROCOSMIC STONE MUST PRESENT ITSELF

In the name of God Almighty, take some salt water from our fountain, such as it comes from our Sea, which originated in Judea and which was diverted from there by the wiliness and perfidiousness of women, so that it call now be in the whole world. Take as much of this sea water as you can collect at the time of the crescent Moon; and although it can be found at any time, this is always the best (especially at the beginning of March) or when there is a conjunction or a good aspect of the Sun with the Moon. The gathering is to begin in the first degree of the Ram (Aries) and to end in the last degree of Virgo. When the harvest is finished and has sufficiently rested, two-thirds of a retort are filled with it and one-third is left empty, then the retort is put on hot ashes. Now you will see the Melusinas come and go in this sea water, and that happens at the beginning of spring. But when the Sun moves into the Lion and the warmest days set in, the Melusinas disappear and in their place you will see rise and descend an innumerable number of Pygmies into the mouth of the retort, with so much agility that I was often amazed at it.

These Little phygies do some strange work which consists in taking the subtlest salt of this sea and transporting it high up into the head, letting the water fall back through the neck into the belly of the retort - a work which they repeat till aII the salt of the sea has disappeared. Then they disappear. This salt is the true arcanum, the subtlest spirit, and the true quintessence of the microcosm. When this quintessence is extracted and rectified with spirit of wine, it can coagulate into a bloodred Stone of its own; or if it is united with the central salt of the earth of this sea, it can gradually turn into a fixed medicine. Then it is the Phalais of the microcosm, the Animal stone, the Panacea of the Little World. And believe me when I tell you that I prepared this white salt of the sea twice, that I saw its precious redness with my own eyes, and that I can go still further, with the Grace of Cod. I could describe the preparation openly and without parables, if I were not restrained from doing so by the vision of the betrayals of this noble science, and also of the ungratefulness of the world of foxes whose tails have been cut. In addition, the time has not come, the time predicted by my master Theophrastus Paracelsus who asserted that very long after his death these secrets would be divulged. That time will come because:

Time brings to the light of day everything that was hidden under the snow. when God's gift was not estimated at its true value.

CHAPTER 5. THE USE AND DOSE OF THIS PANACEA

It is used for all internal complaints, from three to six grains, or the weight of six grains of pepper, well dissolved in old wine. Then wait for the perspiration.

APPENDIX. THE TRIPLE POTABLE GOLD

There are three kinds of potable gold:

The first is called Mineral, the second Animal, and the third Vegetable.

To prepare mineral potable gold, it must be extracted solely from our Saturn, in the following manner:

Take our gold, that which is cast on the highways and which is black, white, and red. You must take it as you find it, dirty with mud and soil, and draw the juice out of it, which very much resembles transparent camphor. Put it in a purification bath for seven months, during which time it will sweat blood with fear, and conceive a daughter; a sparkling virgin, whom he will afterwards marry. But, to punish him for this heinous crime, Judge Justinian will lock him and his wife in separate prisons where the wife will give birth to a child which will be called the Philosophers' Son. And the work of the potable gold is finished; it will take two years in all from beginning to end.

The animal potable gold consists of the following:

Take some water from our Sea, as much as you like. Boil it till you obtain a pure liquid which will change into a white dove, then into the Phoenix bird. This is the result of the separation of the pure from the impure, due to a single continuous cooking, whose beginning and end you will see in six months.

Thus will be perfected the Animal Stone.

The third potable gold or the Plant Stone is extracted from five species, in eight days at most. That is also why it is called the Plant Quintessence.

The manner of preparation is the following:

Take the Salt of the plant Saturn, the plant Sulphur, and the plant Mercury, as much of each as is necessary to incorporate them. First boil the Salt of Saturn in the lemon-colored plant egg (but without fire), to turn it to water; then take some quintessence of the Celestial Dew which you must impregnate with the Soul of the Female Sea; rectify it with water of our plant Zoybeth till it becomes sweet and pleasant. Mix the whole distillate through our filter. Potable gold can thus be prepared in eight days, and that is why it is called the Work of eight days. But whoever has the plant Mercury and the quintessence before beginning the operation, can finish it in three days; and then it is called the Work of three days. However, the quintessence of Celestial Dew must be gathered at its right and true time.

The last potable gold is a great tonic in all diseases, although much less effective than the mineral, as it operates only according to its special virtues. It is sweeter than honey; its color is a beautiful clear, gold-yellow and its fragrance so exquisite and pleasant that it is said that a person who tastes it might be drawn out of the kingdom of death and regain life. Therefore, dear disciple, let me recommend this secret to you (which I have been able to bring to light by much work, at great pains and costs), not only because it can be quickly accomplished but also because it will enable you to comfort a large number of patients. And especially do not forget that it is an arcanum which must be painstakingly hidden from the unworthy and the profaners.

TREATISE 6. THE GOLDEN PANACEA

Excerpts from the sixth treatise of the Chymical Antidote.

Brief but philosophically thorough Description of Potable Gold.

With a warning, instruction and proofs that the true potable philosophical gold can by no means be extracted from gold; and that all recipes must be considered false, useless, and without effect.

To the Studious and Kindly Reader.

When the philosophers had understood that a special tonic for the heart and the vital faculties is hidden and like buried in gold, they thought that with God's help there was no more powerful medicament than gold for curing diseases. But they were not at all convinced that gold would be effective in its corporeal form, even if it were subtly mixed with alcohol or reduced to the finest powder.

And what could they extract from gold? Its spirit? But that was too strongly bound to the body of man that human heat could separate it from it. It is therefore not surprising that metallic gold was in vain administered to the sick, and, without denying the actual properties of the metal, it would have been necessary, as Avicenna said, to rid it of its gross matter, so as to enable it to exercise its influence without hindrance. Theophrastus teaches us that no metallic medicament can be assimilated by the human body before the metal has been brought back to its essence and made spiritual and potable. As regards the other medicaments drawn from metals - the best after potable gold - I have intentionally dealt with them in a more summary way, and I have indicated them at the end for the use and good of my fellowman.

Thus is warned the studious and kind reader whom I recommend to the protection and mercy of God.

CHAPTER 1

As the adepts of the philosophy will recognize, there are several kinds of gold in the creations of Nature:

The first, astral,

the second, mineral,

the third, metallic,

the fourth, elementary.

Astral is that gold called which still rests in its origin and by this very fact is imperfect. Frater Basilius Valentinus calls it the Star of the Sun, because the stars still have their prime influence and action in it. Theophrastus Paracelsus calls it Electrum immaturum, and also First Composition of the Sun, just because Nature has effected her first mixtures in it. One could also rightly call it Immature Gold. Aureum Vellus calls it First Being of the Sun. In his booklet Of the First Beings, Theophrastus indicates how it can be obtained, and in his Archidoxes he gives us clearly to understand where it can be found and how it must be prepared and used.

Other philosophers also call it Black lead or lead ore, not only on account of its heaviness but because in the beginning Nature formed a mass of lead, conceived through the union of Sun and Moon.

Mineral gold is that which is still hidden in the ore-bearing earth of the mountains before it is melted and separated of its gangue under the form of simple metal.

Metallic gold is that which can be separated from its gangue by the great force of fire; it is the simple metal.

Elementary gold is that which forms the very being of beings. It is not gold itself, but gold can be extracted from it by the spagyric Art, just as from Mars and Venus and the metals, such as: antimony, vitriol, etc.

According to Fra Basilius Valentinus and other philosophers, the Sulphur of the Sun is in these latter but cannot be extracted unless the sealed doors of their Four Elements are opened to allow the Salt, the Sulphur, and the Mercury to come out separated, which a true chemist, experienced in the secrets of the Art, will easily achieve.

Sometimes the name of gold is also given to certain medicaments: Golden Egg, Diaphoretic Gold, Gold Water, Gold Pills, although little or no gold at all goes into the compound. They are only called thus because of the power of their operation and their wonderful influence.

It is not said which of these four kinds of gold must be used for the preparation of the potable gold of physicians. One must therefore know in the first place which substance and which form one has to choose to make it medicinal and drinkable.

The next chapters will deal with the result of my own experiences to enlighten the reader.

CHAPTER 2

I indicated previously with what pains, what cares and expense of money and time I succeeded little by little in learning everything concerning chemistry, the mines, and the metals, and how I thoroughly studied the branches of this science in the course of long years, both on the theoretical and the practical side, and how I assimilated everything a true chemist must know.

Of all the books I have studied, those of Frater Basilius Valentinus have taught me most correctly about the spiritual materia which gives birth to gold in the beginning, and from which potable gold can be drawn more easily and logically than from gold that has reached its perfect state. That is why I recommend his books to serious and sincere students.

CHAPTER 3

Thus it is asserted and proven by all the experiments of the philosophers that it is impossible to obtain the true potable gold from perfect gold, unless it be prepared by the spaghyric Art, as Theophrastus says.

CHAPTER 4

If, therefore, you wish to draw a potable medicament from perfect gold, it is indispensable that it be previously dissolved into a very subtle lime, but this operation must not be made with any aquafort or corrosive, as it would afterwards be impossible to edulcorate the gold and revitalize it.

This done, the gold must be dissolved, gently, and the pure must carefully be separated from the impure, so as to bring it to the greatest translucence without any corrosive.

CHAPTER 5

The dissolution of gold is considered the greatest secret by the philosophers. It is the greatest arcanum of the spagyric Art, and reading hermetic books can by itself not teach it without manual work and personal experience, and also the relationship with a faithful friend. Accordingly, it is quite important to know of what true and imperishable menstruum it must be prepared. Here a real service could be rendered to the artist by putting him on the right path that leads to the entrance of the Treasure of Nature - but the world's ingratitude keeps me back. A philosopher's strictest and first obligation is not to divulge this secret, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the unworthy and godless. It would also be unfair of me to display what I have acquired at so much pain and expense, and to put it within the reach of the lazy. Even the true candidate and true Son of the Art, who studiously and respectfully scrutinizes these mysteries, will find notable and precise instructions in only very few authors.

CHAPTER 6

Since it is established by experience that this dissolution cannot be made with any corrosive water, another must be found that is neither corrosive nor destructive but has so much affection and affinity that it can unite with the gold to extract from it the pure and leave the impure at the bottom of the vessel. This can only be achieved by wine and man. At which we must stop.

CHAPTER 7

There is a good reason why this potable gold is called vegetable, animal, or mineral, because it cannot be prepared without these qualities. The philosophers claim that it cannot be made without wine; but I am truthfully telling you that our Air is better than the spirit of wine, because it is precisely what Raymond Lully calls his celestial water, which must be extracted in two ways: from the macrocosm and from the microcosm, because everything that is in the Great World is also in the Little World and has the same nature, shape, effect, and result, the same smell and taste; except that one is easier to obtain than the other.

O our subject, daily exposed to the eyes of the multitude, and yet unknown!

O our Air, without which nobody can live!

O our Sal ammoniac!

O our vegetable salt!

O our Mercury, without which nothing can be born in the whole world!

O our little bird which rises from our Sea!

O our congealed spirit, visible and invisible, fixed and volatile, water that does not wet the hands, water of our Sea and water of life, of which Isaac the Hollander speaks thus:

"Know, 0 my Son, that Mercury is the first being of everything; for before time was, there was water; but it was dry and dusty water; nevertheless spiritual and volatile; and whoever does not know this salt, will never obtain anything in the Art," and this is our volatile Sulphur.

My dear, faithful and sincere artists, I have revealed to you the truth in a few words out of pure sympathy and at one stretch. If you study this little treatise carefully, you will find much more in it than in many big books. Do not be misled by so many different terms and explanations, as everything comes to the same, and the true menstruum has been revealed to you in the clearest terms. For this thank the Eternal, King and Lord of all Kings, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth (Who alone can grant understanding and wisdom to him who prays fervently for it.) To Him be praise, glory, and eternal gratefulness.

And do not take offense at the naivete of my words in this little treatise, for I am neither glib of the tongue nor an orator, nor a learned Doctor of discussion. I have not embroidered my instructions with garlands and idle words which are not doing anything either for the Work or for man's health, for truth is simple and requires no adornments: Simplicity is the seal of truth. And if you do not discover the kernel and center of my potable gold, do not seek further, because I have already said too much. This gold and first being is much more perfect than that drawn from a metal. Therefore it cannot be found everywhere and cannot be harvested at all times. The Work requires very subtle operations before it is perfect.

CHAPTER 8

In conclusion, I will once again repeat to the attentive and kind reader that the potable gold of which I am speaking in this little treatise is not that which is mentioned in the great works and which is used in the transmutation of metals. As far as the Tincture of the Sun is concerned, which has a transparent and subtle color, it is extracted from a tartarized spirit of wine.

The dose is three to six drops at most in good old wine, for any illness whatever, recent or old. It unites with the balsam of Nature and strengthens it so much that it expels and extinguishes, with the help and Grace of the Almighty, all diseases, pains, and disorders of the body.

TREATISE 7. THE BIRD OF HERMES

Excerpts from the seventh treatise on The Chymical Antidote.

FIRST PART. MERCURY

The Origin of our Medicine and its Generation.

All wisdom and all precious gifts come from God.

Therefore, whoever would like to obtain our medicine without the permission of the All-High, will remain far from it. But the man who is a child and friend of God will continue the work of Nature: Nature produces and creates according to the highest art; whoever would not follow and imitate her would fly without wings.

In the very first place, the Sovereign Majesty has created the Four Elements to which the whole of Nature is subject. These Elements are arranged in such a way that they act one upon the other: Fire, the first and noblest, acts upon the Air and produces the Sulphur; the Air operates in the Water and produces the Salt; the Water then acts in the Earth and generates Mercury. There then are the Three Principles born of the Four Elements. They are in the Earth, are preserved and nourished there: and that is why Hermes affirms in the Emerald Tablet: "The Earth is its nurse ..."

Philosophical Mercury. What it is.

After the Four Elements have poured their force and power into the center of the earth according to the Law of Nature, they are sublimated by the heat that is enclosed there, rise as vapor, and at the surface are turned into water, which vaporous water is called Mercury. It is of this Mercury that all things in the world were born. And that is why Philosophical Mercury is not the vulgar mercury, nor just any body extracted from imperfect metals, but it is their principle and root. And the philosophers were not wrong when they said: "What the wise are seeking, is in Mercury." In truth, one can give him all names; since it is of him that all things are born; but his true name is AIR. Believe me when I tell you that if I had not seen with my eyes and touched with my hands this coagulated Air, the color of snow, it would have been impossible for me to believe that our Sea contains a dry water. When I seized it, I was very astonished to see that something of so little value could be All in all. Still doubting my discovery, I wanted to know if it was really Air; I put it in an open vessel, and lo! it disappeared suddenly and turned back into water in a short time. It had rejoined its chaos, magnetically attracted by it, because it had previously been Air itself. Of which I am very glad.

That is why I beseech all those who have come to know this AIR by its name and its virtues, always to remain in the presence of the Lord God Almighty and to strictly hide this secret from the unworthy, so as not to incur the curse of all the philosophers and eternal damnation.

Philosophical Mercury, therefore, is nothing but coagulated air and a dry water hidden in our Sea. And thus speaks Hermes: "The wind has carried it in its belly ..."

Where and in what Place our Mercury can be found

Where our Mercury is to be found is carefully hidden by the philosophers; hardly one in a thousand points to it. But the pertinent instruction is given in parables and veiled words to those who deserve it.

In the beginning, the earth was without valleys, without mountains, without stones or minerals, all flat and desert; but as soon as the Elements had thrown their seed into its center, it was diversified in a thousand ways. As the Archeus of the earth has sublimated our Mercury in the Mother, the matrices are countless, for as many places there are, as many matrices exist, some purer than others. However, our Mercury is unique, like a river flowing out of a spring. The diversity of the matrices results in all sorts of colors, salts, oils, and a thousand other things. Mercury is spread in all parts; that which flows over salt is salty; that which flows over oil is greasy, etc. For water does not change the place that it reaches, but the place changes the water. Thus, although all things are in Mercury, all things are different in accordance with the matrix and the degree of digestion in the matrix, and the degree of coction by the fire of Nature.

Let us recognize with all the philosophers that our Mercury is in everything, plant, animal, or mineral, but that it is more or less difficult to extract and more or less impure. So, after much research, our predecessors found that it could easily be drawn from one single substance. This materia is Saturn, or lead-ore, that is, antimony. Thus speaks Rosimus[4]: "I am telling you that our living water is drawn from lead-ore, which effects everything." And the Rosarium philosophorum says: "Philosophical Mercury is that in which Nature has as yet worked little and which she has left imperfect under a metallic appearance." Likewise writes Flamel: "In the earth there grows a lead-materia, a coagulated Mercury; that is the one you must take." Well, all philosophers agree in saying that our Mercury is closest to Saturn and that it can easiest be extracted from it.

How the Philosophical Mercury must be extracted and how it must be prepared.

To extract the Mercury from antimony, a Regulus must first be made. Then it has to be sublimated till it turns into flowers the color of snow. If these flowers are treated with tartar, they are transformed into a live Mercury.

Preparation of Mercury.

Take some Philosophical Mercury, set it to putrefy for 40 days, and it will become all black; put this black substance into a well stoppered retort. Set it in an open fire to distill, and a phlegm will come out of it. Continue the distillation till the white spirits no longer come out. Put ‘them aside and add another receptacle. Increase the fire till you obtain bloodred droplets: It is the blood of the Green Lion which must be coagulated with its own salt. The dose is one grain in cases of epilepsy, apoplexy, mental derangement, tuberculosis, jaundice, dropsy, calculi, gout, hypochondria, syphillis, and all fevers, whether pernicious or not.

SECOND PART. SULPHUR

Philosophical Sulphur. What it is.

In the first part, I said that all earthly things come from an effluvium or volatile air, and when that vapor, rising from the center of the earth, is sublimated, it mingles with the oily substances of the said earth and coagulates there; then it is called Philosophical Sulphur. When this compound is then purified by coction, it results in a fiery substance; that is the true Sulphur, also called the Philosophers' Egg and Philosophical Vitriol. However, we must not forget that the Mercury of the Wise contains in itself its own Sulphur, pure and good, due to the right mixture by Nature herself. Philosophical Sulphur is therefore nothing but a double Mercury. Arrige auris, Pamphilius (Prick your ears, Pamphilius!).

The Philosophical Egg. From what Substances our Sulphur must be Extracted.

The philosophers say: Antimony is the Mercury, and Vitriol the Sulphur; but this is only a way of speaking, as they let us understand that neither vitriol nor antimony is useful for our Work. They rather keep to the egg, as in it there are the Four Elements in one subject: the yoke is the Fire or the Sulphur, the white is the Water, the membrane is the Air, and the shell the Earth or the Salt. The bird inside is the true Mercury, the soul and the quintessence, the only thing we need for our medicine. All enlightened doctors know that wonderful medicaments can be made with our egg, which they have hidden under the name of Philosophical White Body and Clearness of the two Hillocks.

How Philosophical Sulphur is to be extracted and prepared.

Take six pounds of quite fresh Philosophical Egg. Put them on your furnace, in a retort, and add a receptacle. Distill the phlegm with a gentle heat for as long as the white vapors rise and till the Philosophical Egg settles in the receptacle. Now increase the fire and continue till you see the volatile gold fall in red drops. It is your Philosophical Sulphur and your potable gold, which cures all diseases and renews the whole body. To someone broken by age it will restore the strength of youth and its vitality, as if he were again 25 years old.

THIRD PART. SALT

Philosophical Salt. What it is.

We have learned from the Holy Scriptures that God created the whole world out of nothing. Man alone was made out of a bit of earth; and this earth contained all the rest of creation. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ says: "You are the salt of the earth." (Gospels according to St. Matthew) It is in the earth where is the salt that dissolves, separates, and reduces all things into their prima materia. We can see it by the grain of wheat which cannot increase and attain a new birth unless it be thrown into the field where it is resolved by the corrosive or salt of the earth.

But three kinds of salt are found in the earth: one is volatile and is compared to sal ammoniac or Mercury; one is of a middle nature, and is compared to nitrate or to vitriol; and the third, alkaline or fixed, is compared to ordinary salt and to gold. If you can follow and discern my intention, you will have learned more by these few words than in 15 years of work.

Well, to conclude I would add, and confidentially, that our Salt is nothing but Sulphur and Mercury, in which lies the Salt.

Where this Salt is and from what Substances it must be extracted.

Salt is the root of the whole Art. It is the key for opening and closing. Therefore the whole secret is hidden in the Salt.

Hermes says: "The salt of the metals is the Philosophical Stone." He says further: "Whoever has the salt of the metals knows the secret of the ancient sages." Indeed, in the salt of the metals the Body, Spirit, and Soul of Sulphur and Mercury lie hidden. Therefore the philosophers carefully concealed its origin; but yet they tell their enlivened children that it is in the Water. Thereby they mean to say that there is much beautiful transparent silex in running water, of which all kinds of precious stones are made, such as hyacinths, rubies, topazes, emeralds, and sapphires. I myself have often made some. And here is how to proceed:

Take some Saturn. Calcine it till it turns into a beautiful red. Of this red lead take 5 parts. Calcine 1 part of silica, and when everything is well grated and mixed, put it in the fire. First will come out some stones that are green like emeralds, then red like rubies, then of different colors, according to the degree of the fire.

The philosophers also say that in their Stone resides the greatest fire. Everybody knows that one can draw fire by striking the silex with steel. They add that it is a vile thing which one sets little value on but without which one could yet not live. Well, I am asking you, my Brother, what is more despised than silex which is lying about everywhere? And yet, who could live without fire? How are we to keep warm and cook our food? I wanted you to understand this, so that you could agree that the philosophers have well described their Stone but have not been understood by the unworthy and ignorant.

Whoever wants other explanations will find them in the book entitled "Turba philosophorum,11 which contains passages wherein the most famous philosophers are in accord. Now then, they all say that the Work cannot be perfected without our Salt; and it is our Sal anmoniac that dissolves all bodies into oil or clear water. It is the key called wisdom key, with which one can obtain everything.

How the Philosophical Salt must be prepared.

Our Work is called a woman's work and child's play, because it suffices to clean, wash, purify, dissolve, and cook. Then the salts become clean and pure. The sublimation must be repeated, solve et coagula, till they become completely crystalline. After this, take as much of our Stone as you like, put it in a well luted retort and distill by degrees; a volatile salt will rise with the spirit in the vapor, which will adhere to the neck. Remove it, then increase the fire till you get a bloodred oil, which is our ethereal gold, the philosophical gold, still bad-smelling and poisonous. Continue this distillation for another 48 hours. Then it will be perfect, and you can withdraw it and preserve it well, so that nothing gets lost.

Now take the feces at the bottom of the retort and calcine them with an open fire to reduce them to ashes. Then proceed with hot distilled rain water to extract the salt till there is no more trace of it. When the water is filtered and evaporated, you will find the fixed salt. It must be purified, filtered, dissolved, and coagulated till you have obtained pure and crystalline salts. When you have rectified this volatile salt and the oil previously obtained, you will have the Three Principles of one and the same subject.

Thus, our sal ammoniac is our Mercury or spirit; our gold is our Sulphur or soul; and our earth is our Salt or body, which is called Elixir of life in other chapters, and which must be conjoined and fixed till one has obtained a Stone the color of a brown-red ruby and the color of the phial in which it was melted. This Stone consumes all diseases of whatever name, like a devouring fire. Its dose is quite small, and its effect quite big. It is sovereign for cancer, lepra, dropsy, gout, calculi, venereal disease, all fevers and infections, for impotence, sterility of men and women. In short, it repairs every damage within and without, as we have already indicated elsewhere.

Conclusion of the whole Treatise.

There is only one Stone, which is called Magnesium, and one materia only, which is the Prima Materia of all metals; and only one preparation by means of one fire and one furnace, which we call athanor. The only preparation is Solution and Coagulation; and our materia is truly catholic and universal before its fermentation, but afterwards it is specific.

Therefore, dear Brother, do not be misled by the deceptive indications of three regimen and three species, if you understand Nature. There is only one single thing, one single root, one single essence, to which nothing is added but from which the superfluous is removed. It is One in Three. I have described but one thing only, and I have done it in this way for three reasons:

1.    I wished to instruct the sincere student and show him my goodwill. Excluded are the traitors and the perfidious, the mysochemists, the shrewd who hear the grass grow and fancy they know everything!

2.    I have put down, for the former only, the principles of the Work, to be studied long and conscientiously. As far as the ignorant and the lazy, the cobblers, tailors, coopers, and other coarse craftsmen who would like to understand it, are concerned, they will stand before it like donkeys before a lyre.

3.    Finally, if I have written in a succinct and sometimes ambiguous manner, it is because I hate long chit-chat; but also to oblige the sincere reader to consult all the more the works of the old philosophers and to work like them. Therefore those must be excluded who do not like to lend a hand in the Work and handle the coal themselves, expecting others to chew the food in their mouths for them.

For God gives His goods to the hard-working.

Finally, I have only written for the student who is God-fearing, pious, diligent, and humble of heart, who, aside from what I am teaching him, turns to God alone to obtain this medicine. This also excludes, of course, the gamblers, drunkards, the playboys and loafers, the profane and the godless, in short, all those who bury themselves willingly in the mire of sin.

Are you then a pious and just investigator of Nature, a continuator of the enlightened philosophers? Then you will detect in my teaching that neither antimony, nor the egg, nor silex is used in our Work; I have used terms of comparison, all substances being specific and issuing from our unique, catholic and universal Mercury.

I implore God Omnipotent and Omniscient, Who probes the heart and the kidneys, to eliminate the traitors and the godless, to strike them with blindness, so that it is under their eyes but they do not see it; that they hear and do not understand; and if they begin, that they may not be able to finish! But may He give to the just, with gracious condescendence, the wisdom and understanding, the Grace and blessing which this Work requires, so that they may use it for the greater praise and glory of His Holy Name!

AMEN!

TREATISE 8. THE SONG OF SONGS OF SOLOMON

Excerpts from the eighth treatise of The Chymical Antidote.

Concerning the author of the Song of Songs, there has been agreement since ever: It was the very wise King Solomon.

But disagreement exists on the subject itself.

Those versed in the study of religious matters hold varied opinions:

The Rabbis of the Hebrews consider it an epithalamium in honor of the wedding of Solomon with the daughter of Pharao Vaphris, King of Egypt and famous conqueror of Hazor, Meggidon, and Gazara.

The Talmudists see in it the union of God with the Synagogue.

The Roman Catholics see in it Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary; the Germans, the magnificent peace that flourished at the time of Solomon; the French, Jesus Christ and the Church, His bride. Others see in it the august betrothals called to mind by the great Apostle of the Gentiles (Eph. V, 32). There, bride and bridegroom hold discourse; the friends of the two congratulate them. Finally, those who have human wisdom and knowledge see in it a song in praise of the Blessed Stone of the Wise. Indeed, there they say is admirably and royally described the transformation of the dense into the subtle, of the dark into the clear, of the moist into the dry, of the volatile into the fixed.

Matter and form, come from God by means of Nature: Ch. I (5 and 6).

The subject: (8).

The Lily of the Art: Ch. II (1), preparation and separation of the pure from the impure.

The regulation of the fire: Ch. II (7) and Ch. IV (16).

Definition of the vessel: Ch. II (9) and Ch. V (4).

The Seal of Hermes: Ch. IV (12).

Putrefaction: Ch. Ill (1).

Sublimation and distillation: Ch. Ill (6).

Coagulation and the appearance of the colors: Ch. V (9, 10, 12, 13, 14).

Fixation: Ch. 2 (12) and Ch. VIII (4).

The 4 parts of the philosophical year till the perfect preparation:

Winter, or putrefaction: Ch. II (11).

Spring, or the appearance of the colors. Ch. II (12).

Summer, or citrinitas, the yellowing: Ch. 2 (13).

Fall, or the rubedo, the reddening: Ch. II (13).

The time to use: Ch. VIII (4).

Multiplication: Ch. VI (7).

Augmentation and use: Ch. VIII (8).

Explanation of the "Subject"

In the world there is only one thing which, according to the philosophers, contains in itself the white and the red, one called male, the other female. No animal, plant, or mineral can claim this. It has the active and passive force, one dead and one live substance. Ignorant persons consider it quite lowly.

It contains the Four Elements. It can be found everywhere, and everyone possesses it in general. It is bought at a low price. It is considered a solid. It is a thing that the earth produces and which descends from heaven, and which is called our Eagle, our Magnesium, our Green Lion, and our Egg.

The Preparation.

Its preparation consists solely in cooking it on fire.

First slowly, then moderately toward the middle, strong in the end.

It ascends of its own, becomes black, descends and becomes white, grows and decreases, becomes pale and becomes red, is born and dies, comes to life again, then lives eternally.

Summary.

Seek the center of the universe. When you have found it, purify it; when you have purified it, dissolve it; when you have dissolved it, boil it; when it is ripe, fix it; when it is fixed, let it ferment; and thus you will have the Great Medicine.

THANKS BE TO GOD.

The spirit of the philosophers takes hold of a certain terrestrial body hidden in the center of the center, which will be set in motion by the divine power, if you know how to be silent, and which will then receive the generic influence of the Sun and the Moon.

For just as man, who is created of earth, does not generate a man of the earth but of himself, and yet takes his food and growth from the earth; likewise you can generate gold and silver, but they must first be nourished with their original substance, which is this pure materia of which the earth is the nurse and which I shall call by its real name: Sulob Suebur.

It is a unique Stone, a unique object, which has to be gathered with care and with joy; but which costs nothing. It is not found in apothecary shops, for anything one buys from the apothecary has a price, either high or low. What we need is considered useless and sordid. This pearl is trod underfoot in the street. If you possess it, proceed as I have indicated in my little treatise: first distill the yellowish water; rain will form. Then increase the fire, and the very fetid spirit will follow. One has to dig in this fetidness, and to do so, the fire must be increased even more. A very red oil will come out, then some white smoke. The fire is increased till all the smoke has come out; then let it cool. At the bottom of the vessel is the black earth, spongy, which you must gently separate from the fire, with great industry. I have spoken.

Praise be to God in all His Operations.

TREATISE 10. THE HERMETIC HERBAL

Excerpts from the tenth treatise of The Chymical Antidote.

Where the most salutory plants are indicated, according to the teachings of Hermes and Raymond Lull. How they must be gathered during the time of their greatest balsamic influence. Their right preparation and use, and also their signatures.

ABSINTHIUM, absinthe, wormwood, induces menstruation and soothes stomach aches.

ACETOSA, sorrel, has a red signature and cures dysentery.

ALKEHENGI, strawberry tomato, ground-cherry, which has the signature of the bladder, induces urine and expels calculi.

ANGELICA, angelica, has the signature of the veins and removes in fact the poison from the vessels.

ANISUM, anise, has the signature of Gemini and cures the disorders of the shoulder.

ANSERINA, mouse-ear checkweed, has the signature of Libra and cures dysentery, because Libra rules the small intestine.

ANTHOS, rosemary, has small thick and fat leaves which recall to mind the thick and fat organs of the liver and the spleen; it is a good remedy for obstructions of these two organs.

AQUILEGIA, columbine, has the signature of the eyes; therefore it cures eye troubles.

ARISTOLOCHIA, birthwort, has the signature of the female organ; therefore it cures all illnesses of that organ.

ARTHEMISIA, artemisia, cures hemorrhages, soothes the cramps of menstruation, and induces menstruation.

ASPARAGUS, asparagus, shows us that it is good for the kidneys and for hurt lips.

BALDRIANA, valerian, has the signature of Aries and cures headaches and aches of the throat, because Aries rules the gullet.

BETONICA, betony, shows by its signature that it is good for the swelling and puffiness of the body.

BORAGO, borage, tells us by its blue five-pointed flower that it is good for the five senses, for strengthening them, and for dispelling depression.

BRYONIA, bryony, has the signature of the lungs and drives all inflammation away from them.

CALAMUS AROMATICUS, sweet calamus, has the signature of the intestines and cures them of every inflammation.

CARDIACA, motherwort, whose seed resembles a human heart, stills the palpitations of the heart.

CARDUUS MARIAE, milk-thistle , and CARDUUS BENEDICTUS , knapweed, whose leaves have long needles and whose seed forms a heart, are good for shooting pains of the heart, and for all insect bites.

CENTAURIUM, centaury, its signature shows that it is good for measles and every eruptive fever.

CHAMOMILLA, camomile, has the signature of the navel; therefore it is good for soothing the ills of the abdomen and runnings of the navel.

CHELIDONIA, celandine, has the signature of the gall; it stops the fever of the bilious and cures jaundice by causing perspiration.

CICHORIUM, chicory, if it is dried in an oven when the Sun is in Leo, it is full of bloodred droplets. Nature wants to tell us that it is the best remedy for all losses of blood.

CROCUS, saffron, has the signature of jaundice and cures this illness.

CYANUS, the bluet, has the signature of the apple of the eye and cures all eye inflammations.

ENDIVIA, endive, is signed by Jupiter and will be very useful for all liver diseases.

ENULA, inula, has the signature of the chest; it cures all old illnesses of the bronchi and cough.

ERYNGIUM, the hundred-headed thistle. Its root resembles the male organ; therefore it is a good sex stimulant.

ESULA, euphorbia, spurge, has the signature of Mars; it cures all diseases of the bile.

FABA, beans, having the form of a kidney, they dispel all kidney pains.

FAENUM GRAECUM, fenugreek, has the signature of Gemini and cures all illnesses of the hands and feet, which are ruled by this sign.

FLOW CUCULI, ragged robin, cuckooflower, wood sorrel, which has red spots, is used for red spots of children.

FRAGARIA, strawberry, has the signature of the sand in the bladder, and it cures calculi and gout.

FUMARIA, fumitory, is used for children's red spots, and causes perspiration.

GALLUS, galium, has the signature of the neck and cures goitres and swellings of the neck.

HAEDERA TERRESTRIS, ground ivy, whose fruits are small round balls. It cures goitres.

HIERACIUM, mouse-ear, has the signature of the small tubule through which the urine flows; therefore it is used to produce and eliminate urine and to prevent strangury.

HELLEBORUS NIGER, Christmas rose, has the signature of worms, and expels them forcefully from bodies and wounds.

HEPATICA, hepatica, liverwort, restores the liver.

HERBA CANCRI, knawel, croton, cancer herb; the little buttons resemble crabs' claws; it is good for gangrene and all cancerous diseases.

HYPERICUM, Saint-John^1s-wort. Through maceration it turns into a bloodlike liquid. Nature gives us to understand that it is a good remedy for hemorrhages and for moderating women's periods.

HYSSOPUS, hyssop, has the signature of Mercury, and is used for all mercurial disorders or diseases of the lungs.

IMPERATORIA, masterwort, has the signature of the hair and makes it grow very long, likewise the beard.

JUNIPERI, juniper, has the signature of Sagitarius, and cures lumbago, as Sagitarius rules the hips and the thighs.

LACTUCA, lettuce, has the signature of Virgo, and cures all disorders of the abdomen and the intestine.

LENS, lentils, have the signature of freckles; therefore the water of lentils rids the face of them.

LILIUM, the white lily, has the signature of the Moon, and is good for all diseases of the Moon of the microcosm, that is, for the head.

LILIUM CONVALLIUM, lily-of-the-valley, has the signature of a small notched head like a saw; we are thereby advised that its little flowers cure migraines and shooting pains in the head.

MARJORANA, marjoram, drawn like a head, shows us that it is good for head colds and all discharges from the head.

MELISSA, melissa, balm, has the signature of the womb; therefore it is sovereign for inflammations of this organ.

MENTHA, mint, soothes the cramps of women's periods.

MILLEFOLIUM, milfoil, yarrow, has the signature of lepra, and purifies the blood.

MORSUS DIABOLI, devils-bit scabious, has the signature of the apothem; it will be good for all abcesses.

MURISCULUS, myosotis, forget-me-not, has the signature of the ear, and cures all the disorders that afflict it.

ORIGANUM, oregano, its leaves are pierced by small holes like the pores of the skin; which proves to us that these leaves are good for producing perspiration.

PAEONIA, peony, has the signature of the head, and is used against epilepsy; its signature indicates also that it is good for gout.

PALMA CHRISTI, castor-oil plant, has the signature of swollen hands, and cures the swelling of the extremities.

PERFOLIATA, perfoliate, has the signature of the intestines, and cures hemorrhoids.

PERSICARIA, water pepper. On its leaves it has red spots like blood to show us that they are good for all wounds and losses of blood; also cures dropsy.

PLANTAGO, plantain, having the signature of the veins, cures swollen or hurt veins.

POLYPODIUM, polypody, whose root has knots, is used for all knots and tophi of the body.

PRIMULA VERIS, primula; its color indicates that it is a remedy for jaundice of the brain and the eyes.

PRUNUS SYLVESTRIS, wild plum; its tips cure all shooting pains in the abdomen.

PULMONARIA, lungwort, heals the lungs.

RHABARBARUM, rhubarb, has the signature of the liver; that is why it purges and relieves congestion in it.

ROSA, rose. Before it blooms, the bud resembles the head of a man, which indicates that it is useful for all headaches.

ROS SOLIS, sundew, has the signature of the Sun. It is sovereign for the Sun of the microcosm, that is, for heart diseases.

RUTA, rue. Its little buds, which look like warts, cure warts.

SALVIA, sage, has the signature of the tongue, cures ranula under the tongue, and restores speech to those who have lost it.

SANICULA, sanicle, has the signature of Capricorn, and is good for podagra, because Capricorn rules the knees.

SATIRIUM, orchis or wild orchid; its sign shows that it is good for impotence.

SABINA, savin, has the signature of Scorpio, and is used for one's private hygiene, because Scorpio rules the genitals.

SCABIOSA, scabious, has the signature of Saturn of the microcosm; it is good for the spleen.

SCOLOPENDRIUM, hart's tongue, has the signature of the spleen, and is used for obstructions of that organ.

SCROPHULARIA, scrophulary, brownwort, has many knots; therefore it cures all lumps and tumors of the body.

SEMPERVIVUM, houseleek, stops palpitations.

SENECIO, groundsel, has the sign of scurf, and heals it as well as scabies.

SIDERITIS, ironwort, vervain, has the signatures of snakes on all its leaves, and is used for all animal venoms.

SIGILLUM SALOMONIS, Solomons' seal, whose small black berries have the signature of smallpox, is good for that disease.

SINAPI, mustard, resembles sand, and drives calculi and sand from the body.

SINARI, cineraria, has the signature of Aquarius, and is used for swellings and wounds of the calves.

SPICA, lavender, has the signature of the Lion, and is used for diseases of the stomach, which is ruled by the Lion.

TORMENTILLA, tormentil, has the signature of dysentery, and is the best specific for that illness.

TUSSILAGO, colts' foot, has the signature of the bronchi, and wonderfully soothes coughs.

UMBELICUS VENERIS, pennywort, has the signature of the navel, and is used for hernias.

URTICA, nettle. The thousands of small prickles on its leaves show that it is good for pangs and burns of the intestines VERBASCUM, mullein, dispels the swelling of the private parts. VERMICULARIS, white stonecrop. Its small leaves hang one next to the other like teeth, therefore they are used to soothe toothaches.

VERONICA, speedwell, has the signature of Aries, and cures all illnesses of the head, because Aries rules the brain.

VIOLA, violets, have the signature of Venus; they are used for all venereal diseases and for those of the kidneys.

VISCUM, mistletoe, has the signature of venereal disease, and cures it through perspiration.

Those then are the plants which are most useful and invigorating, according to experience. It is not necessary to have a large amount of them. Those which meet the requirements of the body and which have been proven, are sufficient.

Key to the Little Hermetic Herbary

At what time of the year must plants, roots, and seeds be gathered?

One has to know that each month brings its plants; but most of them come in the spring but also in May, June, July, and must be gathered when they are most succulent and in full bloom.

1.    Plants that come out in February, that is, at the February New Moon, must be gathered when the Sun enters Pisces.

2.    Those that appear in March, when the Sun enters Aries.

3.    Those of April, when the Sun enters Taurus.

4.    The-May plants, when the Sun enters Gemini.

5.    The June plants, when the Sun enters Cancer.

6.    Those of July, when the Sun enters Leo.

7.    Those of August, when the Sun enters Virgo.

8.    Those of September, when the Sun enters Libra.

9.    Those of October, when the Sun enters Scorpio.

10.    Those of November, when the Sun enters Sagitarius.

11.    Those of December, when the Sun enters Capricorn. It is the month of Christ.

12.    Those of January, when the Sun enters Aquarius.

All these plants and seeds must be picked in their time and at the crescent Moon.

The roots must be dug up before the bloom and growth of leaves, but at the waning Moon, as the whole power of the plants is then concentrated in the roots, and if they were only dug up in October or November, all their power would have gone from them.

The preparation must be made in the signs of Aries, Libra, and Aquarius. That is the right time.

N.B. All plants must be picked and dug up before sunrise, because then all their virtues are in them; but as soon as the Sun comes out, they begin to work, and during the day and at sunset they have lost much of their efficacy and are weak and exhausted.

Some Plants and Roots that have special Qualities for specific Diseases.

1.    Dephinium and Saint-John's-wort, gathered in an Air sign, dried in the shade and hung up in garlands in a room, strengthen the sight.

2.    The peony, if the roots are unearthed during the waning Moon of Aries and Gemini, they are good for the epilepsy of children if they carry these plants around their neck.

3.    The Christmas rose, gathered during the waning Moon in the sign of the Lion, Aries, or Sagittarius, cures dropsy.

4.    Valerian, gathered at the conjunction of Sun and Moon, is an antidote and cures the plague.

5. Melissa, balm, gathered during the waning Moon in Aries Leo, or Sagitarius, cures heart disease.

6. Fumitory must be gathered during a conjunction of Venus with Jupiter in the Lion. It is useful for lepra and all infectious diseases.

7• Hedge Hyssop, gathered when the Moon is in conjunction with Saturn and Capricorn, is good for all fevers.

8. Wheat grass, gathered when the Moon is in conjunction with Venus in Libra, cures calculi and gravel.

9. Endives, gathered when the Moon is in conjunction with Jupiter in Sagitarius, cures all obstructions of the liver.

10. Santonica, gathered and absorbed in the evening of St. James's Day, immediately stops the most burning pains of calculi.

The Plants of the Seven Planets: At what Time they must be gathered, and Directions for their Use.

Now follow the plants of the 7 planets and the times at which they must be gathered.

1.    The plants of Mercury, gathered during the ascendance of Gemini or Virgo and while Mercury is in conjunction with the Moon, are used in diseases of the lungs.

2.    The plants of Jupiter must be gathered when Pisces or Sagitarius is ascendant, and Jupiter is in conjunction with the Moon, to cure the liver.

3.    The plants of Venus must be gathered when the Moon is in Libra and in conjunction with Venus, they cure the kidneys.

4.    If those of Saturn are gathered when the Moon is in Capricorn and in conjunction with Saturn, they heal the spleen.

5.    The lunar plants must be gathered when the Moon rises in Cancer and is conjoined with Jupiter; they heal the diseases of the brain.

6.    The solar plants, when gathered when the Moon rises in Sagitarius conjoined with Venus and Jupiter, heal heart diseases.

7.    The plants of Mars, gathered when the Sun is in Aries and the Moon in conjunction with Mars, heal all inflammations of the bile.

THE HERMETIC OR THEOPHRASTIC CURE.

Excerpts of Chapter III of Medicina Militaris, first treatise of Chymical Therapeutics.

The hermetic or theophrastic cure consists of: sublimation, distillation, extraction, separation, calcination, reverberation, putrefaction, coagulation, conjunction, fixation, and reduction. There are also four degrees of fire that must be adhered to, which is of great importance.

1. Sublimation consists in removing the subtlest and tenderest of a substance, the purest, the most spiritual and volatile, by separating it from the impure and fixed corporeal.

2.    Distillation consists in extracting the spirit, the water, and the oil of a substance.

3.    Extraction consists in removing the subtlest and most transparent substance, the quintessence and spiritual being of a body. Then the tincture of the microcosm, its color and active power are drawn. And that is the tincture of the microcosm of which I spoke above.

4.    Separation consists in separating, by the spagyric Art, a substance into its Three Principles; a special Salt, a special Sulphur, and a special Mercury; and one isolated from the other.

5.    Calcination reduces a substance to the state of lime or subtle ash by coction; the Salt is extracted from it, then afterwards, the Raven's Head is rejected as useless.

6.    Reverberation reduces into an impalpable powder by coction on a very small fire.

7.    Putrefaction consists in letting a matter rot till it opens and releases the Four Elements hidden in everything: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, which are obtained separately.

8.    Coagulation turns the Three Principles or liquid sap into a mass and expels all moisture from them.

9.    Conjunction consists in putting together again the Four Elements, when the two, or three, or four become One again.

10. Fixation occurs when a destroyed or reverberated earth changes into a body again and hardens, turned back into a transparent stone like my Mineral Stone of which I spoke to you earlier.

Those are the works which a true chemist must know, not only in theory and by philosophical speculation but also in practice, in order to become an excellent and experienced practitioner.

Notes

[←1]

By misochemistry Rhumelius seems to understand a degenerated art of medicine, intermixed with chemistry and magic, in short, the alchemy of quacks and puffers. Note by the Editor.)

[←2]

This principle is none other than that on which homeopathy is based.

[←3]

Hans: There is either a mistake by the author himself or by his French translator. He has in the original: "Earth is called the spouse AND heaven." That is obviously wrong. As the spouse, Earth is receptive, passive, while Heaven is positive and active. I have therefore correctly put "the spouse of heaven."

[←4]

the Latinized name of Zosimos

Table of Contents

Preface

Notice

HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

Chapter 1. The True Medicine Of The Ancients And How It Was Found

Chapter 2. From Where This True Medicine Is To Be Extracted, And The Difference Comprised Therein

Chapter 3. The Right Knowledge And The Origin Of All Illnesses

Chapter 4. The Real Cure And The Healing Of Illnesses In General

Chapter 5. In What Way One Can Cure Illnesses, And On Medicaments

Chapter 6. The Universal Medicine And Its Preparation

Chapter 7. The Particular Way, And How Diseases Can Be Cured By Specifics

Chapter 8. The Best Medicaments That The Physician Must Use

Chapter 9. The Right And True Preparation Of Medicaments

Chapter 10. The Difference In Medicaments And The Substances From Which They Must Be Extracted

Chapter 11. The Propitious Moment for Picking the Medicinal Species

Chapters 12 and 13. Compounded Medicaments. How To Prepare Them And What Their Effect Is

Chapter 14. Continuation Of The Preceding Chapter

Chapter 15. How To Prepare The Universal Medicines And Dissolve Them With The Water Of The Wise

Chapter 16. The Preparation Of Medicaments And The Particular Way One Must Follow

Chapter 17. The Gold Of The Philosophers. What It Is

Chapters 18 And 19. How Gold, Silver, And The Other Metals Have To Be Prepared, And Their Quintessence Extracted

Chapter 20. How To Prepare The Quintessence Of Pearls And Precious Stones

Chapter 21. How To Prepare The True Essence And Tincture Of Corals

Chapter 22. How To Prepare The Plant Stone And How To Use It To Advantage

Chapter 23. The Animal Stone. How To Prepare It And The Judicious Use One Has To Make Of It

Chapter 24. The Mineral Stone. How And Of What It Is Made

Chapter 25. The Phalaia And Asa Medicines. How To Prepare And Use Them

Chapter 26. How The Plant And Animal Medicines Have To Be Prepared, And How The Quintessence Can Be Extracted From Them

ANOTHER HERMETIC COMPENDIUM

Chapter 1. How And From Where Diseases Come

Chapter 2. The Cure Of Diseases

Chapter 3. Particular Medicaments

Chapter 4. The Preparation Of Particular Medicaments

Chapter 5. The Universal Medicine

Chapter 6. The Universal Menstruum, In Which All Metals Dissolve Like Ice In Water

Chapter 7. Medical Gold

Treatise 4. Tripartite Phalaia

Chapter 1. The Medicine Phalaia, And What It Is

Chapter 2. In What Points This Medicine Differs From Others, And If One Can Find Only One Specimen

Chapter 3. The Kind Of Phalaia Of Which The Author Wished To Speak In This Little Treatise

Chapter 4. Under What Aspect The Animal Phalaia Or The Microcosmic Stone Must Present Itself

Chapter 5. The Use And Dose Of This Panacea

Appendix. The Triple Potable Gold

Treatise 6. The Golden Panacea

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

TREATISE 7. THE BIRD OF HERMES

First Part. Mercury

Second Part. Sulphur

Third Part. Salt

Treatise 8. The Song Of Songs Of Solomon

Treatise 10. The Hermetic Herbal