Arnold of Villanova, born near Valencia, Spain, in 1235, was a renowned physician and contrarian. His abilities as a physician brought him in the the highest circles of society, and his contrarian nature got him exiled from those same circles.
His prowess as a physician is attested by the castle he was given in 1285 for treating King Peter II of Aragon so well. His contrarian nature got him diplomatically "exiled" to Paris in 1299 by King James II of Aragon. Being born to a poor family, and seeing the lifestyles of the wealthy, he became an outspoken social reformer and had to flee the Spanish Inquisition. His philosophical texts were ordered burned at the Sorbonne.
His philosophy was modern and ancient at the same time. His medicine included magic and astrology, but he believed in experiments and lamented the difficulty in performing medical experiments. Of magic and superstition he had no qualms:
If the mania was too severe then a hole should be drilled into the head to let allow the noxious vapors to escape; failing eyesight was the consequence of too frequent washing of the head. It really is astonishing what the ancients would believe, but such is the era of authority.
In writing of alchemy, Arnold also says he will reveal all and hold nothing back, but warn readers they will encounter "hidden reasoning." And like all other alchemists, fails to deliver on that promise. His Treasure of Treasures has a theoretical and a practical side; the theory came from Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras. He accepts the mercury-sulfur theory but had mercury as the more important constituent and holds that the sulfur is harmful to all metals. It should be possible, to Arnold, to make gold form mercury alone by removing the excess sulfur, though it will take a small amount of gold to get the reaction going. The best form of mercury is the "mercurial liquid" imported form Spain under a seal. We don't know what this liquid is, but it's used four parts liquid to one part of mercury to make the liquid, then the liquid is used twelve to one of gold or silver to make the elixir. The elixir is used 1000 to one to transmute base metals to gold. other methods of transmutation are described.
First mercury is fermented until you have all four elements. these elements are then recombined in the following ratios: 6 water, 6 air, 3 fire, 4 earth. Monitor the color changes to see if you have each step right, adding 1 air + 1 water, then 2 water + 1 fire, then 3 water to 2 earth (this must be a hidden reasoning part, and is Pythagorean in the ratios). He also says that projecting the elixir must not involve heat or the elixir will evaporate away.
It's difficult to imagine any chemical process that would account for the expected observations. Arnold equates the steps to the conception, birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, and his descriptions seem to have some basis in direct observation. But the theory is self-contradictory. Arnold does not use the excuse, as most alchemist afterward will, of having the money run out just before completion or that the sample, the "glass egg," was destroyed just before fruition.
Arnold does describe the distillation of human blood as a means of understanding it's makeup, and concludes it is made of water (the first clear fraction), air (a yellow liquid), fire (a red liquid) and earth is left behind. The description doesn't match observations. The blood might have originated over time from patients being bled to remove the red humor, and fermentation products might have been abundant. He thinks the "fire" distillate has remarkable medicinal properties, but doesn't use it as a elixir for making gold.
He is the first to observe the poisonous character of a fire in a closed room, carbon monoxide poisoning.
A Chymicall treatise of the Ancient and highly illuminated
Philosopher, Devine and Physitian, Arnoldus de Nova Villa who lived 400 years agoe, never seene in
print before, but now by a Lover of the Spagyrick art made publick for the use of Learners, printed
in the year 1611.
Transcribed from Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1415, pp.130-146, by Hereward Tilton.
Here Beginns Mr. Arnold de Nova Villa's treatise.
He speakes to his Scholars thus, Know my deare Sonne that this is a Booke of the Secrets of nature,
and I shall devide it into six parts. In the first discourse what the stone is, secondly why the
Stone is naturall, thirdly why the Stone is animal like our blood, fourthly why it is called
herball or Radicall, fifthly I'le relate its true and constant preparation, and sixtly I shall
truly and without lies give you an account of the augmentaion of our growing stone, to the end that
fooles may bee derided, and wise and understanding men taught. This art is nothing else but a
knowing of the secret and hid things of naturall masterrs and Lovers of the naturall art and
wisdome, therefore no body should approach to this art, unlesse he has heard before some Logick,
which teaches to distinguish truth from falsehood, and withall the naturall art which teaches the
things of nature, and the property of the elements, otherwise he troubles his minde and body and
life in vaine, it is a Stone and no Stone, and is found by every body in plane fields, on
Mountaines, and in the water, and is called Albida, heerein all physitians agree, for they say that
Albida is called Rebio, they name it in hid and secret words, because they perfectly understand the
materiam, some say it is blood, others say it is mans hair, others say it is eggs, which has made
many fooles and unwise men, that understand no more then the letter, and the meere sound of words,
seeke this art in blood, in eggs, in hair, in the Gaull, in Allum , in salt, but they have found
nothing for they did not rightly understand the sayings of naturalists, who spake their words in
hid language, should they have spoken out plainly, they would have done very ill for divers reason,
for all men would have used this art and the whole world would have been spoiled, and all
agriculture perisht; seeing it is so that a man must give an account of his workes, I desire god,
that he would give me reason, and wisdome, and direct me how I may estrange or conceale this noble
art from fooles, which made me say what this stone is; Know my sonne that our Stone as Hermes
speakes is in a living thing, out of which saying the true attempt of this art may bee knowne, and
because of this saying some according to their folly have sought this stone in beasts, in herbs, in
Allum, but they have remained fooles; now I'le tell you what our stone is, Sol, Luna, Azoth, now
there are three stones and they are dead upon earth, and end the thing afore in Lunam by the
carefull understanding and preparation of man; out of this stone is made true gold and silver the
same with naturall; the Scholar sayd how can this bee, for the philosophers say that art is weaker
then nature, and you say, out of that stone is made gold and Silver the same with naturall. The
Master answerr'd wee doe not make it, as nature makes it, but we helpe nature with our art, in
which respect it is naturall and not artificiall; there are three things in the naturall art and
wisdome as Hermes says, when the Stone is in a thing that has a Soule, as the Soule is spirituall
when it goes away in Smoak, for which cause its call'd a fugitive servant, and a finite Spirit, for
in the world there is no other spirit to this art, and it is of an Ayry nature, which is a sign of
perfection, and that it is not in Salt or Allum; he is not wise that seekes in a thing what is not
in it, and because neither gold nor Silver is in Allum or Salt, wee must not seek them there but in
such things where gold and silver is to bee found.
But that our Stone is not in beasts, heare how Hermes saith. All things are made according to their
nature. Out of man another man is made, and out of a living creature another living Creature is
produced, and one thing produceth another like it selfe. How then can the medicine helpe man, it
being not fit for man? The Master answeres thus, Understand the Sayings of Wise men. The Medicines
which are given to man doe not make man, but drive away his distempers, and so it is here. Our
Medicine given to him to whom wee ought to give it, makes true gold and Silver which is subject to
no defect, and changes the man into the Woman, and the Woman into the man, and the man into an
angell; how can that bee saith the Scholar? Thou hast heard it in the preparation only, perceive
well the words of the Naturalists and bee wise and not unwise, it being necessary that our Stone
must bee of an incombustible nature
and matter it is evident, that it is not found in salt, or animals, or any of the other mentioned,
but that Mercury is alone an incombustible spirit, and therefore necessarily must bee an object of
our science; so then it is manifest what the Stone is, and how much, and how it is not. Know my
Son, that our Stone is naturall, for many reasons; first it is naturall because nature in the like
manner makes man and woman as the wise may know, but the unwise doth not understand this. Secondly
it is called naturall by Hermes the father of all Naturalists, a man who is to bee beleived.
Thirdly the medicine is found naturally, the things which are under the Circle of the Moone being
foure elements.
And therefore our Stone is joyned together by the 4 elements, and among the 4 elements one is cold,
another drye, some warme, some moist. The Scholar here saith, Then our Stone is cold, moist, dry
and hot. The Master answeres: Understand plainly. The Seven planets are Stones. Mercury is warm and
dry because of the Sunne, cold and moist because of the Moone, for he is of the nature of water, of
aire, of earth and of Fire. Therefore he is as the thing to which you joined him, Good with the
good, and bad with the bad, which makes Aristotle say, when thou hast Water out of the aire, and
aire out of the fire, and fire out of the earth (open thy eares and understand the sayings of the
wise) Then thou hast the whole Art.
Know my sonne that our Stone is animal-like. The Scholar saith, what is the reason of this? The
Master replyes, because hee hath a Spirit, and therefore a soul which makes it animal-like. The
Scholar: how hath it a Soule? The Master: dost not thou know that there are 4 Spirits, Sulphur,
Arcenicum, Salmoniac, and Mercurius, you see it is under the number of these 4 spirits and
therefore it is a Spirit, and the Soule, and because it is a Soule it must needs bee animal-like,
for animals have soules, here abouts marke well as I have told thee of spirits and of the Soule and
of the animal-like to the animal-like, this is the reason why our Stone is animal-like, and Hermes
in Libro Senator saith, our Stone is of a thing that hath a Soule that is of a Spirit or fugitive
thing, but the fooles and unwise men who thought, as some yet think that it is in beasts, finde and
loose tyme and labour and spoil both their bodies and goods. The Scholar sayes: why is our Stone
blood? Because Arcaglaus sayes take the Stone which the ancients bid you take and rub him so long
till he be rub'd to blood, that is, till he become red, and because of the rednesse he is called
blood, and when our Stone becomes red, then he has in him the nature of fire, and out of it all
secrets may be drawn, mark and perceive what I say, and thou wilt have the whole art, fools who
thought that he was blood, did labour in blood and found nothing, for things are made according to
their nature. The naturall Master says: make out of the Stone flesh and blood, that he may bee red
and thou wilt have the whole art, Make of the Milk that is of white Stone flesh and blood, that it
may bee white like milke and may flow. The Scholar saith: how is this stone made white, and how is
it made red? The Master answeres, Take the Stone and rubb him with blood, and it will bee red,
However I declare the Art to thee otherwise, and clearer. Take the small and inconsiderable and rub
it with the most amiable and the best, and it will be made red by the help of the Fire, Observe
here that the fire causes them to joyne and purgeth them, and adornes them. But the unwise, who
perceive not the Speeches of the Naturall Masters, try the art according to the outward Letter, and
finde nothing and then cry It's a Lye, and the art is false, for wee have tryed it and found
nothing. Thus they despaire, and raile against the books and the Art. The Scholar saith, why is
this Stone Herball? The Master answers: because as the herbe hath a moveable soule, so our stone
hath a Soule, for Hermes saith our Stone is of a thing having a Soule, but the unwise thought it
was in herbs yet did not finde it there, and so have renounced the art. Some say that Mercury
should bee compounded or coagulated with the herbs and so have sought him in the herbs and found
nothing, Yet this I doe not say as if the Mercurius could not bee compounded or coagulated with the
herbs, but I say that the coagulation is good for nothing, and when they have thus coagulated him,
they think they have done great matters, yet have done nothing that's worth anything, nor finished
any thing; it being inconstant they talke, I can coagulate the Mercurius, but they might rather
say, I can spoile the Mercurius. And what is it that Mercurius is to bee coagulated with? They make
him of herbes, and make so fragil, that he is worth nothing. Mercurius, if hee bee rightly
coagulated hee must bee as heavy in weight as gold though hee bee white in colour, for the
Whitenesse is a Signe of perfection. This done, there needs no more but only to give him the color,
and so it is gold. The Scholar saith, why is our Stone called the red Servant? The Master answeres:
because hee soon turnes red. The Scholar: why doe the philosophers say, that Mercury doth not dye,
unlesse it be killed with its Brother? The Master: Hermes saith That the Dragon dyes not, unlesse
you kill him with its Brother the Sun, or Sister the Moone. Therefore saith Avicenna, Make the
blind to see, and the seeing blind, and thou wilt have the Art.
Another saith, in the Herball Stone are Haire, Blood, Eggs, and this hee said to shew in these
words, the 4 Elements, beleeve not mee but the naturall philosophers, who may bee beleeved, nor
give an credit to common foolish recipes. For those that have made recipes found nothing of this
art, but they had some books of the philosophers, who speake in riddles of this art (For they
framed these bookes with such hid words as with allum and Salt, and with other things
unintelligible to the simple, though intelligible enough to the prudent) that they have deceived
the whole world. I saw a Monck who had laboured in this Art very neere twenty yeares, and could
finde nothing notwithstanding of this, however like a base raskall hee made a booke which hee
called, The Flowers of Paradise, in which were above
100 recipes, and this booke he suffered to come into every man’s hand, and by these meanes much
people was deceived, for hee was a Coxcomb and knew nothing.
In this Chapter I will teach the preparation of the Philosophers Stone, but the way of its
preparation which I know, I have not of myselfe, but a part of this Labor, I have of one of my
brethren, and a part of a German Moncke. Therefor I desire God that he take away from mee the sin
of envy, that I may bring every body into the way of truth. In the beginning of this labour, I'le
say, that the most excellent Hermes teaches the way in plain words to rationall men, but in occult
and hid speeches to the unwise and fools. I say that the father son and holy ghost are one, and yet
three, so speaking of our Stone I say three are one, and yet are divided. Mark well, the World was
lost by a Woman, therefore necessarily must it bee restored by a Woman. Take therefore the mother
very pure and lay her into a bed with the Servant, and putt them up close into a Prison, till they
bee purified of their sins, and shee'le beare a son, which will bee a blessing to all people.
Signes have been manifested in the sun and in the moone. Then take the son and beate him that he
may be punished and its pride may come down, and he forsake his pride, and abide in humility.
Therefore, saith Geber, out of Mercury everything is made. The same Chapter saith further, The
common Sulphur is found in Sol and Luna, in Mercury more fugitive, in the body water. And the same
in another chapter saith, Afterward the Tincture becomes Water, that it may become better in its
nature. Therefore take the punished son and lay him into a bed and there hee'le begin to delight
himselfe, then take him and give him to the Jewes to bee crucified. Being crucifyed hee growes
pale, then take him, and turne him, and if you cannot see him well, you take away the vaile from
the Temple, whereupon a great earth quake ariseth and you'le see various changes, and hee'le leape
up and downe because of his great tortures, then hee'le fall downe; therefore stirr him below more,
and hee'le give up the ghost. Thus all necessary things are accomplished, and many Workmen have
erred in this.
The Scholar said, these words I understand not. The Master answered, I must necessarily hide the
Secrets of Secrets of the naturall art, as other Natural Masters have done, for it is not with this
art as it is with others. Hence it is said, whatsoever is written, is written for our Learning,
that through patience and comfort of the holy ghost, wee may have the Scripture. Amen.
I came one day into a great Master’s house to recreate my selfe with him in this art for sport, yet
with magisteriall words, and I sat at his right side; There were two men with him. The one I knew,
but the other I did not know. These two began to speake of this art, neither being ashamed of mee,
nor taking any care of mee. Then understood I by their speeches that which I had sought a great
while. Yet did they wonder what I sought there and were amazed at the speech, which they had had
together. Then turned the honest old man his face towards mee and said, The wise and prudent
Mercurius (to speake the common way) is comprehended in these words. Take leade and whatsoever is
like lead, and take Azoth. This is the right ordering of the art, which the Egyptians have
acknowledged and that's their riddle, their reason, their vertue, and their meeknesse. Here are
foure things, two are manifest which hee named the lead, and that which is like lead. Then said one
of the men, how many are the things, to which the other said, there are foure, and said moreover:
These art words of the prudent and wise, and have a darke obscurity in them, and are taken out of
the apparent sentences of the wise. Then the one asked, how is this? to which the other answering
said the wise man understands but two. The one asked againe, which are they two? The man answered
and said, The hidden thing after this hee adds two words and they signifie foure, and foure
signifie but two, and hee changed the words of the wise before mentioned and said foure. And the
wise men say but two. Then he answered and said as it was said before, In these words is a hidden
obscurity and they are taken out of the illustrious sayings of the wise.
Hereby meanes the Master nothing else then that out of the foure things two should bee set
together, man and wife. And having thus used diverse words among the rest he said, Take Fire and
water, and mingle these two together, and there will bee one thing out of it. After this he said,
Take Lead and that which resembles lead, and he changed these words and said, Take Azoth and that
which resembles Azoth; with such hidden words doe they hide their words to all unwise men. Perceive
therefore and trust God, that thou mayst perceive the better the aforesaid saying of the wise. Of
this I’le give thee an example when the Master saith, Take Lead, according to a philosophicall
sense or meaning. The word lead is a manly name and word, and so one of the number of the names of
men. Hereby mayst thou truly know the name of the man. And he saith further, That which resembles
lead, that is, that which resembles the man. So hee hides the name of the Woman, and the reason why
he mentions the man’s name first is because shee is of him, and not hee of her. Therefore said the
master, That which resembles Lead. After this one said, Take Azoth and that which resembles Azoth.
The Masters hereby meane the wife. Here he names the Woman, and mentions not the name of the man,
for hee had named him before in the beginning of these words, where he saith, Take Adam and what
resembles Adam. Afterwards hee changeth this Speeche againe, to make it more occult to him that is
not altogether wise, and said, Take Eva, and what resembles Eva, here thou namest Eva and not the
man, and this thou
doest, because thou didst begin in the first speech with the man. That these Speeches doe not at
all hinder a wise man in his reason, but make him more ingenious, and more intelligent.
When they had talk'd together a great while, they began againe in a great feare another way and
language. Mingle the warm with the cold, for so an equall mixture will arise out of it, which is
neither warme nor cold, and mix the moist with the dry, and you'le have an equall mixture, which is
neither moist nor dry. The Speech now uttered, is manifest from 4 things, and out of these foure
are numbered and terminated Man and Wife. The man is hot and dry, the wife cold and moist, but when
they come together, and unite themselves naturally, there is made an equall mixture of the warme
and the cold, of the moist with the dry. And of this a wise Philosopher doth not doubt, and the
artificiall conjunction cannot bee unlesse the things belonging thereunto be totally prepared,
every one according to its kind. For as Joseph saith, Mix together fire and water, and there will
be two, Mix together aire and earth, and there will bee foure, Afterward of foure make one, then
thou art come to what thou wouldst bee att. And when this is done make out of that body a
non-corpus, that is a Spirit, as out of the non-corpus or Spirit make a body againe, which may bee
constant on the fire, and not remove any way from it. Already, thou hast comprehended the Wisdom.
Doe in this as Joseph hath said. Before thou beginnest the labour of this Artificiall treasure
which is true, prepare all things, each in their kind and nature, begin thence to the end, and when
thou hast done this thou hast made a water which is warme and not warm, cold and not cold, moist
and not moist, dry and not dry according to its nature, and it is fixed, that it cannot fly, and it
is the thing which reveales and opens to thee the tincture, and if it were not for this Artificiall
water, all hope would bee in vaine.
When the Masters speake here and there, they still come to this Noble water. The reason is because
that water is a medium between the contrary things, this comes from thence, and it is water and no
water, fire and no fire, aire and no aire, earth and no earth. Because then it is and is not,
according to its Noble Nature it is a right medium betweene the unlimited Elements. This Noble
water is the beginning, middle and end of this Noble art, perceive this speech well together with
the former. For the Masters speake commonly one thing, and meane it in another sense, and where
they spake most hiddenly and most profoundly, there they doe mean it most simply, and where they
speake most plainly and openly then they doe hide most this divine and Noble art. Out of this
speech and sentences it is manifest, that this art may bee taught with all its Secretes in a few
words, nor will any man be found in time to come, that will say so much in writing as is said
here, unlesse one should show it to the other with hand and mouth and reveal'd and open'd all to
him, for the philosophers have unwillingly discovered this amiable truth, and have reserv'd it to
themselves and taken it with them downe to the Grave; and what in other Bookes is taught by
examples and circumstances, that is express'd here cleerely, and thus this Noble Art is written by
me truly and sincerely.
Therefore that my name and memory may for ever remaine upon the earth, I have written this small
booke and made it by the help of the Holy Ghost, for all Posterities and Children of God and of
this Art.
One time I sate alone in my Chamber with my Wife, and read the Bookes of the ancient deceased
philosophers, and those also that have liv'd in my time, and there I found written something of
Alkabrith and Zandorit, and of other strange words and things whereby one may turne every man from
the right way, and he that matters it looses his time, goods and substance and last his health, and
miserably robbs himselfe of life; and that thou mayest believe me the better I tell the whole
truth, that no man can attain unto this art unlesse he retires from the world and converses with
his equalls, and joyn himself to them, and though every one sayes that hee reveals it, yet however
all hide it as thou seest by me that I doe reveale it, but not to the unwise and foolish; and if I
truly discover this divine art, my booke will bee so profitable to them, that the bookes of wise
men and my words will bee the same, my words theirs, and theirs mine; not that I would steale their
words from them and make them mine owne, this would be unjust, but only my meaning agrees with
theirs, and theirs againe with me. Therefore whosoever will finde out the Secrets of this Art, let
him read this booke and understanding. And why? because this booke is cleere and known to
understanding men and to those that observe carefully and reade with attention in it, but to the
unwise and unexpert, and those that are not diligent it must needs bee hidd as it is from children.
Know then, that there art many who labour hard in the preparation of Sulphur, and in the
Sublimation of Arsenicum, which art combustible and corruptible. These men only looke to the words
which they reade or heare, and not to the hidden sense that is in those words. For truly the
Sulphur, Arsenicum, Auripigment, Zandorit, Vibrick, Mercurius, Salt, Saltpeter, Sala Pculi, Salmiac
and Allum signifie in this Noble art in truth nothing but water, and the making white the
Philosophers talk of, is nothing else but the purification of the Water that it may bee clearer and
purer, and by the sublimation or exaltation understand nothing else, but the ascension of the
vapour from the water in the Cucurbit below and above in the Alembick and againe through the
Canales Laterales in the Cucurbit, and againe through the Canales laterales;
and by the washing understand The Bodies changing into water so long till out of the Water a part
in it of the manifold vapours ascends, and falling downe againe are coagulated and consolidated
that it may never rise againe, and the reason hereof is because the corporeal Spirit in the
Spirituall and the Spirituall againe in the corporeal has mixed and soaked it selfe, and because
the Spirituall Spirit is stronger than the Corporeall Spirit, they both are vapourous and ellevate
themselves in the height of the allembick; but when the corporeall Spirit overcomes the Spirituall
he must necessarily remaine with him at the bottome in the Cucurbit, and when they have united
themselves the Spirituall Ghost which is penetrable makes the corporeall Spirit together with
himself penetrable and permeable, for the corporeall Spirit has in him the tincture, that is, the
red and white colour, and with all the Spirituall Spirit leads the corporeall in and without
hinderance just as a man does goe through a house with an open doore, and is not spied by any, so
it is here; but this cannot be unlesse the body that will draw the Spirit out of the man, bee
totally cleansed from all impurity, and thereby the Leprosie of the whole from the whole be
perceived.
Understand this, that is, that ashes be drawne and made, for thus the bodies are deprived of
lustiness and moistness, and so the body may first become spirituall, when the body is turned to
ashes according to its highest purification, and out of those ashes be made a Lixevium, in that
waterish nature the body becomes spirituall; and understand this secret how the body has the ashes
in it, and in the ashes is the Stone, and the Stone is the Spirit, and in the Spirit there is the
tincture or colour, and in the tincture the Soul, and the Soul had in her a fiery permeation, and
leads with her the colour in the body; and he that does not understand how he shall begin this, how
will he come to the middle, or to the end, therefore thus speake all masters: it is one body, and
yet there are many bodies, and those many are no more then one body, this understand allso it is
one body because it is not beaten as soone as it is turned into ashes, each singular dust is a
singular body and when the ashes are turned into water it is a water and no water and may with
artificiall industry be returned into a body, but before this the body must often rest in the belly
of the wind under the height of the heavens; and therefore the Masters say it is a Stone, and
resembles the Eagles Stone for the Eagles Stone is such a Stone that in his belly there is another
Stone, and if you will pull it out from thence, you must turne the Stone into Ashes, and out of the
ashes there is first another Stone made, and when that Stone does sweat right, its owne Water is
made of it, and when he has well sweated, he drincks the Sweaty Water againe into him, and flys
afterwards up and downe, and from the great motion which he does force up above his Mass in the
aire, the water becomes of itself againe a Stone, and by the paraphrase of the Eagle, understand
the evaporation of the vaporous spirit, and by their redescention understand the heavy falling
downe of the body; yet there are many who call the aforesaid ashes a sowre masse or a Leaven, but
they know not their water, that the corporeall nature attracts the coagulated nature out of those
ashes.
Moreover says Master Joseph their Spirit is the fusion of both bodies, by this he does not meane
the dissolutions of the bodyes on the fire, but he meanes that they should bee turned into Mercury,
and that out of the Mercury the flowers should be extracted, and this is the Stone whereof
Aristotle spoke to his King, did men know what a great Treasure they had in Saturnus they would not
give it for a small summe of Money, but they would make so much gain by it, that one might bring
the whole World into his Subjection; and another Master said, take the things as they come out of
their treasury, and lift them up in the highest mountains, and humble them again from the highest
mountains to their roots, these are the wisest words which he has spoken openly without all envy
and without any secrecy, and afterward hee hath not named the things he meant, in the heighth of
the Mountaines and by the roots.
For as in Mountaines naturall gold is made, and in the ground, so in this art, our gold is made in
the heighth of the Alembick, and in the roote that is in the Cucurbit. And this is a cleanly
similitude which may easily be perceived, and hereby you may understand, when the Master speake of
the highe mountaines or the deepe grounds that they doe not meane the heads of men or their feete,
so when they speake of haire, and of blood, they only understand the resemblance of them. Therefore
many men are deceived, which looke after the literall sense and seeke it where it is not to bee
found. For this Art is so noble that it must be sought and found out in it selfe, and no thing like
to it. As out of a man is made another man, so out of one Noble Mettall is made another Mettall,
and there is no transmutation, as some idle and simple men thinke. Who doth not mollify and harden
againe doth erre, therefore make the earth black, and separate her Soule from her, and the water,
after that make it white that it may become as a naked Sword and when it growes white, give it to
the Covetous fire so long till it growes large, and doth not fly away; Hee that can doe this may
well be called happy and exalted in this World, and let him doe it in the love of God and in his
feare. Amen.
The first word in this great work is the bodies transmutation into Mercury and this the
Philosophers have called a dissolution. And this Artificiall and ingenious dissolving is the
bullwark of this art. Hence saith Rosarey, Unlesse you dissolve the bodies, Your Labor is in vaine.
Therefore the dissolving of Philosophers is not a drinking in but the bodies transmutation into
water. Nor is it called a Philosophical dissolving unlesse it becomes cleere as Mercury, so
thou wilt have an element, which is the water.
The second word is that it be purified and filled with its terra; of this speakes Morienus, let the
earth bee filled with its water, and let it bee cleansed with it, and when it is purified on both
sides it ends the whole art. Aristotle sayes in generall, put the dry to the moist, the dry is the
terra, the moist is the water, thus thou hast earth and water each by it self, and the earth is
purified with the water, and when they are cleansed one with the other, thou hast Colours cleerer
then before, therefore saies Rosarius in generall, if one by day sees many starrs in the heavens,
the sunne is hindered of its Lustre by moon, and when that does vanish the Sunn shines clearer then
before.
The third word, that the water does lift itself in vapours which is condensed and coagulated of the
earth, and thick, that is that it makes it selfe spirituall in the aire, and so thou hast Water,
earth and aire, and while it hurvers in the aire Archelaous calls it the great Master Hermeses bird
by way of similitude; therefore sayes Alberius, make him white, or white him with the nimblenesse
of the fire, so long till out of him arises the spirit which is called Hermeses bird, so the earth
will remaine cinerated in the ground which is of a fiery nature, so thou hast 4 elements in the
earth which did remaine in the ground, and it is the fire; hence Morienus: the Earth which remaines
in the ground, thou must not at all despise nor villify, understand the earth of the body, and that
same earth is the right end of the permanent and constant things, after that with a good water thou
must annoint and errigate the Leaven, and the Leaven is called by the Philosophers a Soul; they
call also the prepared body a Leaven, for as a Leaven does make other bread sowre, so does this
thing, and I tell thee freely, that there is no other Leaven but Gold and Silver, of necessity must
the Leaven bee Leavened in the body, for the Leaven is the Soule of the body, and therefore says
Morienus: Unlesse you purify the unclean body, and create in him a new soule, you have perceived
Lesse then nothing in this art; likewise says Arnuldus, the spirit changes into the body, and
cleanses and eterniseth him, about this the Spirit does tye himself, and the clear permeations of
the Soul which here is mentioned is a Leaven, and rejoyces with the body, because it has cleansed
it selfe with him and now the nature is changed so that the grosser things stay behind there; says
Aschanos in Turba Philosophorum, the Spirit is not joyned to the body unlesse before it bee totally
purified from all uncleanesse, but in the conjunction, the greatest miracles are made evident, for
there are seen all the colours that a man can think of; and when the colours beginn to bee lighter
and lighter so that thou seest sometimes onely as it were a little spark and beginns to rejoyce
therein from thy heart and Soul, then take heed, for our basilisk prepares himself who kills men
more for joy, which they conceive from him then for his poyson, for his poyson lasts but a moment,
that is when the supreme power or the Quintessence of the elements does discover it self in so many
wayes and colours, and the last is done in a Moment; when this is done thou seest the sun and
Moone shine lovely in the heaven of his owne water, and begins to rejoyce but then goe away lest
thou loosest thy life for joy, and thus the imperfect body is coloured with his best colours
because of the power of the heaven, and the heaven is the soul, and the Spirit is with the help of
the soul joyned to the body, and are tyed one with the other, and the body is changed to the colour
of the Leaven and becomes eternally good; out of the Words prescribed and said any understanding
man may know that the philosophers in dark and hidden wordes have hidde the whole art, for they
say our Stone is of 4 elements, and that's a great truth, for they have compar'd them with 4
elements whereof Wee have said enough, and one may know the elements by the coloures, he that
knowes it, and is acquainted with it; some Philosophers have said that our Stone is of a body, of a
soul, and of a Spirit, and they have said true, and wee doe yeild, and they give to the perfect
body what he had not before, and it brings him into a better spirit; the Soul brings into the
imperfect body a constant spirit, which is not at all fugitive before the Aire, and therefore it
keeps its colour and weight unchangeably and the more you drive it the more noble it becomes both
in colour and weight.
Some also say unlesse you change the bodies into no bodies, and the nobodies againe into bodies,
you are not come yet to the right art, for the body becomes first an aqua Mercury incorporal and
afterwards the Water and the Spirit in the changing and so both become one body; some also say
change the natures quite and cleane and you will finde what you seeke; and that's true, for we make
of that which is grosse a subtle and quick thing, and of a body we make water, and of that which is
moist we make a dry thing, of the water we make the earth, and thus wee change the true natures and
make of that which is corporall a spirituall thing and of a Spirituall a corporall thing, and wee
make that which is above like that which is below, and that which is below like that which is
above, the Spirit is turned to a body, and the body to a Spirit; and therefore its said in the
beginning, the Word was a Spirit, and that word the Spirit was with God, that is with himselfe, and
God was that word, he himself was the Spirit, and the word the Spirit was made flesh, the Spirit
has assumed the true body, and so that above became true as that below, the Spirit has become a
mettallick in the body, and that which was below, that is, the body, is become mettallicke with the
Spirit; and thus it is well known that our Stone is out of the elements and it is a body, a soul, a
spirit, and not two spirits, one soul and not two soules; and the saying of Philosophers is true
who say our Stone is made but of one thing, and therein they have said very true, for it is made
only of water. And in the water and out of the water our whole art hath an
end, for it dissolves the bodies with the dissolution aforementioned; not with such a dissolution
as unwise men fancy, that our Stone should be changed into Water, but it's dissolved with the true
naturall dissolution, so that he is changed into such a water as it was from the beginning before
it was a body, and that very water incinerates and turnes the body again to earth into ashes, and
makes them penetrable, and does whiten and purifie them, as Morienus says: Azoth and the fire
purifies Latonem, and take all his darknesse away, Laton an impure body set together of Gold and
Silver, Azoth and Mercury, and that two distinct bodies joyn the fire and Azoth together when they
are ready as is said before, that no attempt against the fire or other attempts can part them, one
from the other, and that same water does not sublimate neither does it exalt it self with a
sublimation of fooles or exaltation as they imagine, but with the wise and understanding
sublimation or exaltation; for our sublimation is making a noble thing out of an ignoble, therefore
fooles take the shaved bodies and make them ascend by the heat of the fire, and mingle them with an
impure spirit, as with Arsenick and Salmiack, and they make a Strong fire under it whereby the
bodies ascend with the Spirit, and then they say now are the bodies sublimated; whereas they are
quite Killed, for why they finde the bodies impure therefore observe that our Sublimation is not
driving on and ascending, but the making of a dry thing and corrupted a sound one, a great and high
one, and changing it into another nature, and making on a suddain sublime vapours, and all this
does our Water together; and so understand our Sublimation and not otherwise, and take heed of the
Sublimation of fooles, wherewith many are deceived; marke our water at first kills and makes alive
again, and it makes white the black colour, when it's changed to earth, after that innumerable
colours reflect from the whitenesse and all the colours last end is the white, for at last it
turnes white; some call the Stone lead, as Gigill speakes, in our lead is the whole art, and if our
lead be impure our stone is also impure, while he lyes in his mothers womb; O did the Lead Mongers
know the vertue of Lead, they would not part with it for so small a price; some call our stone
Cheife Copper or Clock minerall as Eximius speakes in generall. Know this all wee that seeke this
art, that no tincture is made without this cheife Copper or Clock Minerall, and thus they have
given it innumerable names, and yet meane no more but one thing, and this they have done for this
reason, that fooles should not finde it out, for they have named it with all manner of names that
can bee named, yet they have meant but one thing; and it is no more but one thing, to witt the
Philosophycall water. Our art is also compared to man making. The first is the deprivation of its
chastity, the second is the conception, the third is the being with childe, the fourth is the birth
it selfe, and the fifth is the bringing up of the child borne; understand also these words, our Son
that comes from the privation of chastity is Mercury, for he is drawn out of a perfect body so
there remaines an earth the mother of 4 elements, and when the earth begins to take somewhat in of
Mercury, it’s call'd unchastity, but when the man lyes with the wife it’s called conception, which
without the Mercury is wrought in the earth; this is what the Philosophers say, our Art is nothing
else but that the man lyes with his wife, and that they mingle one with the other, so that the
Water governes and has the Mastery, and that the Mercury bee more then the Earth, and so earth
encreases and augments; but when the earth becomes a wife she is with Child, after that the ferment
is added to the imperfect prepared body as is said before, so long till it becomes something in
colour and in sight and that's called the birth; so then our Stone is born, for the Philosophers
call him King and say thus, honour your King who comes from the fire crowned with a double crown,
bow the knees before him when he comes to his perfect alterr, for the sun is his father and the
Moone his Mother, the perfect body is Luna, the perfect body is gold; at last followes the
nourishment whereby he is nourisht with a great nourishment, he is nourisht with his owne Milke,
with the Seed in the beginning he is fed, to wit with Mercury, till he hath drunk enough of the
Mercury. Beloved sonns by these things which are told you, You may easily perceive the darke and
hidden worke of the Phylosophers and by that you may know that they all runne one way and upon one
straine, and that our art is nothing else but what has beene said before, the dissolution of bodies
and changing of their first matter, how it's made earth and how it becomes a light and spirituous
in the aire with distilling it because of the moistnesse which is in it; thus it becomes lusty in
vapours, and the earth remaines below incinerated and is of a fiery nature, thus you have truly the
totall changing of things and the mingling of the Soul with the body and with the Spirit, and it
assumes such a Spirituall and powerfull increase that humane reason cannot fathome it, the highest
be praised and blessed for it for evermore.
Now will I in the name of God make manifest the practice and the very sense of the Philosophers how
one shall perfect that Ellixir, that is the augmentation of the true tincture and of Silver and
Gold only out of the Mercury of the Sages, or the minerall Mercury and in all copper bodies which
fall short of perfection, insomuch that they become perfect into a perfect Luna and gold above the
naturall, which is not that common Mercury, call'd by the Philosophers prima materia, waterish hot
moist and cold, an element, a constant water, a Spirit, a body, a swimming smoake, a blessed water,
a water of the wise, a vinegar of Philosophers, a dew of Heaven, virgin Milke, a corporeal Mercury,
besides others innumerable names whereby he is called in the Bookes of the Philosophers; allthough
these names sound variously, yet they signifie but one thing, to witt the aforesaid Mercurium
Philosophorum, for out of him, and in him and by him only are sought all the vertues of the whole
art of Alchimy, and of the red and white tincture, Q and R.
Therefore saith Geber, without Mercury the art is not perfected. It is a thing, a Stone, a Medicine
in which lyes the art, unto which no outward thing is to be applyed, only in the preparation the
remaining or superfluous part is to bee taken of. Therefore in that and out of that a man may finde
all things, needfull to this art. For it kills it selfe and revives it self, makes it selfe hard,
makes it selfe weake, makes it self black white and red. And the same master in his discourse
sayeth. Wee add no externall thing because of the gold and silver, for these are called not
internall things, which are to bee adjoyned to the Mercury, For they are two Fellow Helpers whereby
the whole work of the art is perfected. And another Philosopher saith, It is a thing, whereby many
have beene undone, as a whole multitude was for one mans sake.
The Mercury is also called a naturall root of a high Tree out of which innumerable branches grow,
and its call'd the knowne stone of the philosophers, and in the Bookes of Philosophers the first
operation. To the perfection of the aforementioned Stone or Elixir belongs a Sublimation or
exaltation which must bee brought to purity. And this I shall hereafter without the least covering
make manifest. But you must note that this sublimation is nothing lesse than a purification, for
hereby all remaining drosse that was in the Mercury is purged away, thus this sublimation the
inconstant particles are lifted up from the constant, for the inconstant ascend and the constant
remaine below at the bottome, yet in the operation the inconstant become in part constant and it's
particularly to bee noted. Hee that rightly sublimates our Mercury, hee hath perfected the whole
art, For Master Geber saith, The whole perfection is in the sublimation in the vessel, and in the
ordering of the fire, for in the already mentioned sublimation are comprehended all other
particulars, which belong to our art and labour, as sublimating, dissolving, ascending, descending,
cooling, mollifying, purifying, and perpetuating, washing and colouring on red and white. All is
done in a vessel in order in an oven, whereof the Masters of nature have written much that the art
was not to bee perfected constantly, on purpose, that the unwise might reach to it, but to the just
and to the godly it becomes profitable both here and hereafter.
Now make it thus. Take in the name of God the aforementioned Mercury or the naturall Water, the
first matter of the Sages, Take of it as much as you will, and putt it into its vessell which must
be pure, cleare, and cleane, and Seale it well above with the Sigills Hermetis, that the Mercury
may not come out above, and sett it in its prepared place, that it may have a moderate heate every
moment for a month. The naturall master saith That it may have its place warme whereby it works it
self up and downe, so long til it ascend no more in the glasse, and begins to bee colle at the
bottome, and becomes dry below in the glasse without the least moistnesse, like a black earth, that
is caput Corvi, or an earthy dry element, for thus the true sublimation or exaltation of the
philosophers is perfected as is said before.
And in this sublimation is the true separation of the Elements, as the Masters say.