(151) Then the heat kindleth the sweet source or quality, with an intent to be refreshed, but there is no sap left, the sweet source or quality is now burning and glowing only, even as a hard, dried or burnt stone, and can no more kindle its light. And so the whole body remaineth now a dark valley, in which there is nothing but a fierce hard coldness in the astringent quality, and in the sweet quality a hard glowing fire only, wherein the fierce wrathful heat riseth up in all eternity, and in the bitter quality there is a raving, a raging, a stinging and a burning.

(1) All true Philosophers of the natural or Hermetic sciences begin their labors with a prayer to the Supreme Alchemist of the Universe, beseeching His assistance in the consummation of the Magnum Opus. The prayer that follows, written in a provincial German centuries ago by an adept now unknown, is representative: "O holy and hallowed Trinity, Thou undivided and triple Unity! Cause me to sink into the abyss of Thy limitless eternal Fire, for only in that Fire can the mortal nature of man be changed into humble dust, while the new body of the salt union lies in the light. Oh, melt me and transmute me in this Thy holy Fire, so that on the day at Thy command the fiery waters of the Holy Spirit draw me out from the dark dust, giving me new birth and making me alive with His breath. May I also be exalted through the humble humility of Thy Son, rising through His assistance out of the dust and ashes and changing into a pure spiritual body of rainbow colors like unto the transparent, crystal-like, paradisiacal gold, that my own nature may be redeemed and purified like the elements before me in these glasses and bottles. Diffuse me in the waters of life as though I were in the wine cellar of the eternal Solomon. Here the fire of Thy love will receive new fuel and will blaze forth so that no streams can extinguish it. Through the aid of this divine fire, may I in the end be found worthy to be called into the illumination of the righteous. May I then be sealed up with the light of the new world that I may also attain unto the immortality and glory where there shall be no more alternation of light and darkness. Amen."

The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. I Call great Cupid, source of sweet delight, Holy and pure, and lovely to the sight; Darting, and wing'd, impetuous fierce desire, With Gods and mortals playing, wand'ring fire: Cautious, and two-fold, keeper of the keys Of heav'n and earth, the air, and spreading seas; Of all that Ceres' fertile realms contains, By which th' all-parent Goddess life sustains, Or dismal Tartarus is doom'd to keep, Widely extended, or the sounding, deep; For thee, all Nature's various realms obey, Who rul'st alone, with universal sway. Come, blessed pow'r, regard these mystic fires, And far avert, unlawful mad desires. Next: LVIII: To The Fates Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LVI: To the Terrestrial Hermes Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LVIII: To The Fates » Sacred Texts | Classics

(64) Continuing: "Philosophers say there is no true solution of the body without a proceeding coagulation of the spirit, for they are interchangeably mixed in a due proportion, whereby the bodily essence becomes of a spiritual penetrating nature. On the other hand, the incomprehensible spiritual essential virtue is also made corporeal by the fire, because there is made between them so near a relation or friendship, like as the heavens operate to the very Depth of Earth, and producing from thence all the treasures and riches of the whole World.

(75) Hearken, thou hast the sweet water in thee, pour that into the fire, and then the fire goeth out: If thou lettest it burn, then it consumeth in thee the sap that is in all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits, so that thou wilt become dry.

(166) The solution in the alchemical retort, if digested a certain length of time, will turn into a red elixir, which is called the universal medicine. It resembles a fiery water and is luminous in the dark. During the process of digestion it passes through many colors which has given rise to its being called the peacock because of its iridescence during one of the periods of its digestion. If the augmentations of its power be carried too far, the test tube containing the substance will explode and vanish as dust. This commonly occurs and is the greatest danger involved in the preparation of the medicine for men and metals. If developed too far, it will also seep through the glass, for there is no physical container sufficiently strong to hold it, The reason for this is that it is no longer a substance but a divine essence partaking of the interpenetrative power of Divinity. When it is properly developed, this universal solvent in liquid form will dissolve into itself all other metals. In this high state the universal salt is a liquid fire. This salt dissolved with the proper amount of any metal and run through the different stages of digestion and rotations; of augmentations will eventually become a medicine for the transmuting of inferior metals.

(1) In the beginning nothing whatsoever was here. This [world] was covered over with death, with hunger — for hunger is death. Then he made up his mind (manas): ' Would that I had a self!' So he went on (acarat) praising (arcau). From him, while he was praising, water was produced. 'Verily, while I was praising, I had pleasure (ka) \ ' thought he, This, indeed, is the tfTv&tf-nature of what pertains to brightness (arkya). Verily, there is pleasure for him who knows thus that ar/ca-naturc of what pertains to brightness. 2* The water, verily, was brightness. That which was the froth of the water became solidified. That became the earth. On it he [i.e. Death] tortured himself ( Vsram}. When he had tortured himself and practised austerity, his heat (tejas) and essence (rasa) turned into fire.

(5) That which I execrate, I eat it not. Let me feed upon the bread of the red corn of the Nile in a pure place, let me sip beer of the red corn of the Nile in a pure place; let me sit under the branches of the palm trees [in Heliopolis] in the train of Hathor, when the solar orb broadeneth, as she proceedeth to Heliopolis with the writings of the divine words of the Book of Thoth

(7) The reader must bear in mind at all times that the formulæ and emblems of alchemy are to be taken primarily as allegorical symbols; for until their esoteric significance has been comprehended, their literal interpretation is valueless. Nearly every alchemical formula has one element purposely omitted, it being decided by the mediæval philosophers that those who could not with their own intelligence discover that missing substance or process were not qualified to be entrusted with secrets which could give them control over great masses of humanity and likewise subject to their will the elemental forces of Nature.

(33) For if it be too much elevated or too preponderant in any creature, and be inflamed in the heat, then flesh and spirit separate, and the creature loseth its life and must die; for then it moveth and kindleth the element fire; and in the great heat and bitterness no flesh can subsist. But if it be kindled in the element water, and springeth [becometh active] therein, it causes debility and sickness in the flesh, and finally death. Of the Sweet Quality.

(83) Here now we find, that they heard the Voice of God in the Garden; for the Element, which is before God, wherewith Man qualifies [or mixes,] that did tremble because of Sin; and Sin was manifested in the Element of the Mind, first in Adam and Eve, and then Fear and Terror fell into the Essences of the Soul; for the first Principle in the [fierce] Sternness was stirred, so that [Principle] got (as a Man may say) Fuel for its Source of Fire. And it is risen up in the Kindling, in a Contrariety of Will, in the Essences, where one Form has continually opposed the other, viz. the sour Tartness, and the Cold, with their Attracting, have awakened the bitter Stinging and Tormenting in the Essences of the Tincture of the Blood in the Spirit; and the bitter Raging and Rising has awakened the Fire.

(5) 'When a man is thus said to be thirsty, fire carries away what has been drunk by him. Therefore as they speak of a cow-leader (go-nâya), of a horse-leader (asva-nâya), of a man-leader (purusha-nâya), so they call fire udanyâ, thirst, i. e. water-leader. Thus (by water digested &c.), my son, know this offshoot (the body) to be brought forth: this (body) could not be without a root (cause).

(101) To make these, I say, pure and clean, And, to please God, have quenched those fires, So that the fire of lust, that erst breathed flame, Has become a holy garden and a guiding light, Since you have turned the fire of wrath to meekness, And the darkness of ignorance to shining knowledge, Since you have turned the fire of greed into bounty, And the vile thorns of malice into a rose-garden; Since you have quenched all these fires of your own For my sake, so that those poisons are now pure sweets;

(23) Here the eyes are the chief thing. The two eyes are the handle of the polar constellation. Just as Heaven turns about the polar star as a centre point, so among.men the right intention must be the master. Therefore the completion of the Life Elixir depends entirely on the harmonizing of the right intention. Then, if it is said that the foundation can be laid in a hundred days, irst of all the degree of industry in work must be taken into account, and the degree of strength in the physical constitution. Whoever is eager in the work, and has a strong constitution, succeeds more quickly in turning back the water wheel of the river. When a person has found the method of making thoughts and power harmonize with one another, he can complete the Elixir within a hundred days. But whoever is weak and lazy will not produce it "even after the hundred days. When the Elixir is completed, spirit and power are pure and clear; the heart is empty, ' the essence manifest, and the light of consciousness transforms itself into the Light of the essence. If the Light of the essence is held permanently, the abysmal and the adhering (fire Li) have intercourse spontaneously. When the abysmal and the fire mix, the holy fruit is borne. The ripening of the holy fruit is the e fect of a great Heavenly cycle. Further elucidation stops with the method of the Heavenly cycle.

(63) "Take in the NAME of the Lord, of thy Paradisiacal Water, of heavenly Water of Mercury, as much as thou wilt, put it into a glass to dissolve, and set it in a slow heat of Ashes, that it may just feel the warmth, then have ready well purified Gold for the Red, or Silver for the White Elixir, for in both the Processes are the same. Let your Gold or Silver be beaten as thin as leaf Gold, cast it by degrees into your dissolving Glass, that contains your blessed Water, as you did in the beginning with your Salt, and it will melt like Ice in Warm Water, and continue so to do till your Gold or Silver lie therein four days without dissolving, then it has received its due Pondus. Then put this dissolution as before into a round Glass, fill it two thirds parts full, seal it hermetically as before, let your Sigillum be well dried. Set it in the furnace of Balneum Vapori, make a fire and let it remain forty days, as before, then will the Gold or Silver be dissolved radically and will turn of the deepest black in the world, which as soon as you see, have your other drying furnace in readiness."

(2) Those who were going round were far the more, And those were less who lay down to their torment, But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind. As Alexander, in those torrid parts Of India, beheld upon his host Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. Whence he provided with his phalanxes To trample down the soil, because the vapour Better extinguished was while it was single; Thus was descending the eternal heat, Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. Without repose forever was the dance Of miserable hands, now there, now here, Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. "Master," began I, "thou who overcomest All things except the demons dire, that issued Against us at the entrance of the gate, Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, So that the rain seems not to ripen him?"

The FUMIGATION from SAFFRON. O Ever untam'd Fire, who reign'st on high In Jove's dominions ruler of the sky; The glorious sun with dazzling lustre bright, And moon and stars from thee derive their light; All taming pow'r, ætherial shining fire, Whose vivid blasts the heat of life inspire: The world's best element, light-bearing pow'r, With starry radiance shining, splendid flow'r, O hear my suppliant pray'r, and may thy frame Be ever innocent, serene, and tame. Next: V. To Protogonus, Or the First-Born Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: III: To Heaven Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: V. To Protogonus, Or the Firs... » Sacred Texts | Classics

(20) This plate, which is the key to mystic Christian alchemy, is missing from almost every copy of the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, a work compiled by Elias Ashmole and containing about a score of pieces by English poets treating of the Philosopher's Stone and the Hermetic mysteries. In view of the consistent manner in which the plate disappeared, it is possible that the diagram was purposely removed because it revealed too plainly the Rosicrucian arcana. Worthy of notice also is the care with which owners' names have been effaced from early books pertaining to alchemy and Hermeticism. The original names are usually rendered illegible being covered with heavy ink lines, the procedure often seriously defacing the volume, While an occasional exception is found, in practically every instance the mutilated books either deal with Rosicrucianism or contain cryptic writings of suspected Rosicrucian origin. It is presumed that this Practice of obliterating the owners names was to prevent the early Rosicrucians and Hermetists from being discovered through the volumes composing their libraries. Elias Ashmole's plate shows the analogies between the life of Christ and the four grand divisions of the alchemical process. Herein is also revealed the teaching that the Philosopher's Stone itself is a macrocosm and a microcosm, embodying the principles of astronomy and cosmogony, both universal and human.

(2) And the sun's face, uprising, overshadowed So that by tempering influence of vapours For a long interval the eye sustained it; Thus in the bosom of a cloud of flowers Which from those hands angelical ascended, And downward fell again inside and out, Over her snow-white veil with olive cinct Appeared a lady under a green mantle, Vested in colour of the living flame. And my own spirit, that already now So long a time had been, that in her presence Trembling with awe it had not stood abashed, Without more knowledge having by mine eyes, Through occult virtue that from her proceeded Of ancient love the mighty influence felt. As soon as on my vision smote the power Sublime, that had already pierced me through Ere from my boyhood I had yet come forth, To the left hand I turned with that reliance With which the little child runs to his mother, When he has fear, or when he is afflicted, To say unto Virgilius: "Not a drachm Of blood remains in me, that does not tremble; I know the traces of the ancient flame."

(61) And in the sour [or harsh] Essence of the Tincture of the Worm of the Soul, he infects the sour harsh Essence, whereby it becomes sharply attractive, and gets a Will to draw all to itself, and yet is not able to do it; for the conceived Will is not easily filled, but is a dry hellish thirsty Hunger to have all; and if it did get all, yet the Hunger would not be the less, but it is the eternal Hunger and Thirst of the Abyss, the Will of Hell-fire, and of all Devils, who continually hunger and thirst, and yet eat nothing; but it is their satiating, that they [suck or], draw into themselves, the strong Source of the Essences of the harsh, bitter Might of the Fire, wherein consists their Life and Satiating; and the Abyss of the Wrath and of Hell is also such [a Thing.]