white; at first it is simply white -- afterwards it is of a dazzling, snowy splendour. Under this Reign the
whole mass presents the appearance of liquid quicksilver. This is called the sealing of the mother in the belly
of the infant whom she bears; and its intermediate colours are more white than black, just as in the Reign of
Jupiter they were more black than white. The Reign of the Moon lasts just three weeks; but before its close,
the substance exhibits a great variety of forms; it will become liquid, and again coagulate a hundred times a
day; sometimes it will present the appearance of fishes' eyes, and then again of tiny silver trees, with twigs
and leaves. Whenever you look at it you will have cause for astonishment, particularly when you see it all
divided into beautiful but very minute grains of silver, like the rays of the Sun. This is the White Tincture,
glorious to behold, but nothing in respect of what it may become.
CHAPTER XXVIII. Of the Regimen of Venus
The substance, if left in the same vessel, will once more become volatile and (though already perfect in its
way) will undergo another change. But if you take it out of the vessel, and after allowing it to cool, put it into
another, you will not be able to make anything of it. In this Reign you should also give careful attention to
your fire. For the perfect Stone is fusible and if the fire be too powerful the substance will become glazed,
and unsusceptible of any further change. This "vitrification" of the substance may happen at any time from
the middle of the Reign of the Moon to the tenth day of the Reign of Venus, and should be carefully guarded
against. The heat should be gentle so as to melt the compound very slowly and gradually; it will then raise
CHAPTER XXVI. Of the Regimen of Jupiter 15
An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
bubbles, and receive a spirit that will rise upward, carrying the Stone with it, and imparting to it new colours,
especially a copper-green colour, which endures for some time, and does not quite disappear till the
twentieth day; the next change is to blue and livid, and at the close of this Reign the colour is a pale purple.
DO not irritate the spirit too much -- it is more corporeal than before, and if you sublime it to the top of the
vessel, it will hardly return. The same caution should be observed in the Reign of the Moon, when the
substance begins to thicken. The law is one of mildness, and not of violence, lest everything should rise to the
top of the vessel, and be consumed or vitrified to the ruin of the whole work. When you see the green colour,
know that the substance now contains the germ of its highest life. DO not turn the greenness into blackness
by immoderate heat. This Reign is maintained for forty days.
CHAPTER XXIX. Of the Regimen of Mars
When the Regimen of Venus is over, and therein has appeared the philosophical tree, with all its branches
and leaves, the Reign of Mars begins with a light yellow, or dirty brown colour, but at last exhibits the
transitory hues of the Rainbow, and the Peacock's Tail. At this stage the compound is drier, and often shews
like a hyacinth with a tinge of gold. The mother being now sealed in her infant's belly, swells and is purified,
but because of the present great purity of the compound, no putridness can have place in this regimen, but
Some obscure colours are chief actors, while some middle colours come and go, and they are pleasant to look
on. Our Virgin Earth is now undergoing the last degree of its cultivation, and is getting ready to receive and
mature the fruit of the Sun. Hence you should Weep up a moderate temperature; then there will be seen,
about the thirtieth day of this Reign, an orange colour, which, within two weeks from its first appearance, will
tinge the whole substance with its own hue.
CHAPTER XXX. Of the Regimen of the Sun
As you are now approaching the end of the work, the substance receives a golden tinge, and the Virgin's Milk
which you give your substance to drink has assumed a deep orange colour. Pray to God to keep you from
haste and impatience at this stage of the work; consider that you have now waited for seven months, and that
it would be foolish to let one hour rob you of the fruits of all your labour. Therefore be more and more careful
the nearer you approach perfection. Then you will first observe an orange-coloured sweat breaking out on
the body; next there will be vapour of an orange hue. Soon the body below becomes tinged with violet and a
darkish purple. At the end of fourteen or fifteen days, the substance will be, for the most part, humid and
ponderous, and yet the wind still bears it in its womb. Towards the 26th day of the Reign it will begin to get
dry, and to become liquid and solid in turn (about a hundred times a day); then it becomes granulated; then
again it is welded together into one mass, and so it goes on changing for about a fortnight At length, however,
an unexpectedly glorious light will burst from your substance, and the end will arrive three days afterwards.
The substance will be granulated, like atoms of gold (or motes in the Sun), and turn a deep red -a red the
intensity of which makes it seem black like very pure blood in a clotted state. This is the Great Wonder of
Wonders, which has not its like on earth.
CHAPTER XXXI. Of the Fermentation of the Stone
I forgot to warn you in the last chapter to be on your guard against the danger of vitrification; too fierce a fire
would render your substance insoluble and prevent its granulation. You now possess the incombustible red
Sulphur which can no longer be affected in any way by fire. In order to obtain the Elixir from this Sulphur by
reiterate solution and coagulation, take three parts of purest gold, and one part of this fiery Sulphur. Melt the
gold in a clean crucible, and then cast your Sulphur into it (protecting it well from the smoke of the coals) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]