obtain an excellent powerful fixity It is evident therefore that the whole Secret consists in ☿ of which a Philosopher saith There is in ☿ whatever the Wiseman seeks concerning which Geber saith Praised be the Most High who hath created our ☿ and hath given it a nature overcoming all things For verily if that were not the Alchymist's might boast as they will but their Work of Alchymy would be vain 'T is likewise evident it is not the vulgar ☿ but the Sophick because every vulgar ☿ is a Male that is corporeal specificate and dead but ours is spiritual feminine living and vivifying Attend therefore to those things that I shall speak of ☿ for as the Philosopher saith Our ☿ is the Salt of the Wisemen without which whosoever operates is like an Archer that shoots without a Bow-string and yet it is no where to be found upon the Earth but our ☉ is formed by us not by creation but by extracting him out of those things in which he is Nature co-operating in a wonderful manner by a witty Art CHAP. 2. Of the Principles composing the ☿ Sophical THe Intention of some Operators in this Art is this They purge ☿ diversly for by the adjoyning of Salts they sublime it some do vivifie it from various Faeces others only per se and so by these repeated Operations they think to make the ☿ of the Philosophers They erre because they do not operate in Nature for she amends things only in their own nature Let them therefore know that our Water is compounded of many things but yet they are but one thing made of divers created substances of one essence that is to say There is requisite in our Water first of all Fire secondly the Liquor of the Vegetable Saturnia thirdly the bond of ☿ The Fire is of a Mineral Sulphur and yet is not properly Mineral nor Metalline but a middle betwixt a Mineral and a Metal and neither of them partaking of both a Chaos or Spirit because our Fiery Dragon who overcomes all things is notwithstanding penetrated by the odour of the Vegetable Saturnia whose blood concretes or grows together with the juyce of Saturnia into one wonderful body yet it is not a body because it is all Volatile nor a Spirit because in the Fire it resembles a Molten Metal It is therefore in very deed a Chaos which is related to all Metals as a Mother for out of it I know how to extract all things even ☉ and ☽ without the transmuting Elixir the which thing whosoever doth also see may be able to testifie it This Chaos is called our Arsenick our Air our ☽ our Magnet our Chalybs or Steel but yet in divers respects because our Matter undergoes various states before that the Kingly Diadem be brought or cast forth out of the Menstruum of our Harlot Therefore learn to know who the Companions of Cadmus are and what that Serpent is which devoured them what the hollow Oak is which Cadmus fastened the Serpent through and through unto Learn what Diana's Doves are which do vanquish the Lion by asswaging him I say the Green Lion which is in very deed the Babylonian Dragon killing all things with his Poyson Then at length learn to know the Caducean Rod of Mercury with which he worketh Wonders and what the Nymphs are which he infects by Incantation if thou desirest to enjoy thy wish CHAP. 3. Of the Chalybs of the Sophists THe Wife Magi have delivered many things of their Chalybs to Posterity nor is it a slight thing they have attributed thereto and therefore the contention amongst vulgar Alchymists is great as touching what is to be understood by the name of Chalybs Several men have given several interpretations of this thing The Author of the New Light hath writ thereof candidly but obscurely For my part that I may not out of envy conceal any thing from the Inquirers of this Art I will sincerely describe it Our Chalybs is the true Key of our Work without which the Fire of the Lamp could not be by any Art kindled it is the Minera of Gold a Spirit very pure beyond others it is an infernal Fire secret in its kind most highly volatile the Miracle of the World a Systeme of the superior virtues in the inferiors and therefore the Omnipotent hath marked it with that notable Sign whose Nativity is declared in the East The Wisemen saw it in the East and were amazed presently knew that a most Serene King was born into the World Thou when thou beholdest his Star follow him even to his Cradle there shalt thou see a fair Infant by removing the defilements honour the Kingly Child open the Treasury offer the gift of Gold so at length after death he will give thee his Flesh and Blood the highest Medicine in the three Monarchies of the Earth CHAP. 4. Of the Magnet of the Sophists EVen as Steel is drawn to the Loadstone and the Magnet doth of its own accord convert it self to the Chalybs even so the Magnet of the Sophi draweth their Chalybs therefore I have taught that the Chalybs is the Minera of Gold In like manner our Magnet is the true Minera of our Chalybs Furthermore I declare that our Magnet hath an occult Centre abounding with Salt which Salt is the Menstruum in the Sphere of the Moon which knows how to calcine Sol this Centre doth convert it self to the Pole with an Archetick Appetite in which the virtue of the Chalybs is exalted into Degrees In the Pole is the Heart of ☿ which is a true Fire in which is the rest and quiet of his Lord sailing through this great Sea that it may arrive to both the Indies and direct its course by the aspect of the North-Sar which our Magnet will cause to appear to thee The Wiseman will rejoyce but the Fool will disesteem these things nor will he learn Wisdom even though he behold the Central Pole turned outwards marked with the notable Sign of the Omnipotent They are so stiff-necked that though they see even Signs and Miracles yet will they not lay aside their Sophistications nor enter into the right Path. CHAP. 5. The Chaos of the Sophi LEt the Son of the Philosophers hearken to the Sophi unanimously concluding that this Work is to be likened to the Creation of the Universe Therefore In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth and the Earth was void and empty and Darkness were upon the face of the Deep and the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the face of the Waters and God said Let there be Light and there was Light These words are sufficient for a Son of Art for the Heaven ought to be conjoyned with the Earth upon the bed of Friendship and Love so shall he honourably Reign all his Life The Earth is an heavy body the Matrix of Minerals because it keeps them occultly in it self although it brings to light Trees and Animals It
as with a fatal stroke our active will become passive of spiritual corporal even a red unprofitable precipitate for in a due heat the colour will be as black as that of the Crow which though it be dark yet it 's most desirable yet there is also a blackness which will appear in the beginning of the true Work and that very remarkable but this is ever accompanyed with a due proportion of moisture and sheweth that heaven and earth have been in conjunction between which the fire of Nature is conceived by which redness all the concave of the glass will seem as it were gilt over with Gold but this colour is not durable long but in a short space will be changed into a greenness then in a very short time expect blackness and if thou wilt be patient thou for certain shalt see thy desire accomplished at least make slow but sure progress Let not thy heat be over strong and yet strong enough and between Scilla and Charibdis sail like unto a skilful Pilot so shalt thou attain the wealth of either India sometimes thou shalt see as it were little Islands sloating and shooting out as it were little sprigs and buds which will be changeable in colours which soon will be melted and others will arise in the stead of them for the earth as it were inclining to a Vegetation is alwaies sending forth some new thing or other sometimes thy fancy will be that thou seest in thy glass Birds or Beasts or creeping things and thou shalt each day behold colours most beautiful to sight which though they are pleasant to the eye are not of a long continuance all is in the keeping of a due heat without any intermission So shall all these pleasant colours in the space of fifty dayes end in a colour most black and a powder discontinuous which if thou seest not blame either thy ☿ or thy Regimen or the disposition of the Matter unless thou either hast moved or medled with the glass which may either protract or finally destroy the Work CHAP. 22. The Regimen of Saturn what it is and whence it is denominated AS many of the Wise men as have wrote of this Master-piece of Philosophy have all spoken of the Regimen of ♄ which many understanding wrong have turned aside unto divers errors and deceived themselves with their own opinion some being thus led with a great deal of confidence although with very little advantage But know that our ♄ is more noble than any Gold it 's the Limus in which the soul of our Gold is joyned with its ☿ that after they may produce Adam and Eve his wife therefore that which is the highest shall so humble it self as to become the lowest then expect that he will redeem all his Brethren by his blood The sepulchre in which our King is buried is named ♄ in our Work and its the Key of the Work of Transmutation O happy is he that may behold this slow Planet Pray to God my Brother that he would vouchsafe to you his blessing for it s not of him that willeth nor of him runneth but on the Father of Lights alone this Blessing dependeth CHAP. 23. Of the various Regimens of this Work BE certainly confident studious Son of Art whoever thou art that nothing is hidden in this Work save only the Regimen of which that of the Philosopher may be verified Whoever is Master of that Science Princes and Grandees of the Earth shall honour him I assure you upon the word of an honest Man that if this one Secret were but openly discovered Fools themselves would deride the Art for that being known nothing remains but the Work of Women and the play of Children and that is Decoction So that not without cause did the Wise men hide this Secret with all their might And rest assured that we have done the same whatever we have seemed to speak concerning the degree of heat yet because I did promise candor in this Treatise something at the least is to be done that I may not deceive the ingenious of their hope and pains Know then that our Regimen from the beginning to the end is only lineal and that is to decoct and to digest and yet this one Regimen in it self comprehends many others which the envious have concealed by giving them divers names and describing as so many several Operations We to perform the candor we promised will make a far more perspicuous manifestation So that Reader whoever thou art if ingenious thou shalt find cause to acknowledge our candidness in this to be more than ordinary CHAP. 24. Of the first Regimen of the Work which is of Mercury ANd in the first place we shall treat of the Regimen of ☿ which is a secret hitherto not discovered by any Philosophers for they verily do begin their Work at the second Regimen and do give a young Practitioner no light in the mastery of the capital signs of blackness in this point that good Marquiss of Treveso was silent noble Bernard who in his Parables saith That the King when he came to the Fountain leaving all strangers behind him enters the Bath alone clothed in golden Robes which he puts off and gives to ♄ his first Chamberlain from whom he receiveth a black Velvet Suit But he sheweth not how long the intervail of time is before he plucks of his golden Garment and therefore he passeth over in silence the first and most intricate Regimen which is perhaps forty or fifty dayes ere it be fully complete in which time the poor Practitioner is left to uncertain Experiments from the appearing of blackness until the very end of the Work the sights that do appear are sufficient to refresh the Artist but in this space to wander without a guide or direction for the space of fifty dayes I confess is tedious I say then That from the second kindling of the fire even until blackness all the interval of time is the Regimen of our ☿ even of our Sophical ☿ which all that time doth work alone his Companion being dead at first and so remains a great space and this Secret before me no man ever yet discovered Therefore when thy Matters are joyned which are our ☉ and our ☿ do not think as some Alchymists vainly imagine that the râ—â—ing of the Sun will follow suddenly no verily we waited a long and tedious while before a reconciliation was made betwixt the water and the fire and this the envious have in a short speech mystically comprehended when they in the first beginning of their Work called their Matter Rebis that is made of two substances according to the Poet Res Rebis est bina conjuncta sed est tamen una Solvitur ut prima sint aut Sol aut Spermata Luna Rebis are two things joyn'd yet is but one Dissolv'd that Sol or Lune be Sperm alone For know of an undoubted truth that though our ☿ devour the ☉ yet it doth not so as
is the Heaven wherein the great Lights together with the Stars are rowled about and it sendeth down its virtues through the Air unto inferior things but in the Beginning all being confounded together made a Chaos Behold I have holily opened to them the truth for our Chaos is as 't were a Mineral Earth in respect of its own coagulation and yet notwithstanding it is indeed volatile Air whithin which the Heaven of the Philosophers is in its Centre which Centre is truly Astral shining upon the Earth with its Beams even to the very superficies And what great one is this that is so wise as to gather from these things that a new King is born more powerful than all the rest a Redeemer of his Brethren from original Defilements for 't was expedient that he died to be exalted aloft that he might give his Flesh and Blood for the Life of the World Good God! How wonderful are these thy Works 'T is thy doing and it seems miraculous in our eyes Father I thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from the Wise and revealed them to Babes CHAP. 6. The Air of the Sophists THe wide Circuit or Firmament called in the Holy Writ Air is likewise called our Chaos and yet not without a great Secret because as the Firmamental Air is the separator of the Waters even so is our Air. Our Work is therefore verily a System of the greater World because as the Waters under the Firmament are to be seen and do appear to us who live upon the Earth but the superior Waters do flie our sight because they are so far distant from us even so is it in our Microcosm the Waters are the Minerals without the Centre these appear but those that are inclosed within do shun our sight and yet really and truly are These are those Waters that the Author of the New Light speaks of viz. Which are and do not appear untill the Artist pleaseth Therefore even as the Air distinguisheth between the Waters so doth our Air prohibit all manner of ingress of the extracentrical waters unto the waters that are in the Centre for should they but enter in and be mixed then would they presently close together with an indissoluble union therefore I say that the external vapours and burning 🜠doth stiffly adhere to our Chaos whose tyranny it being not able to resist the pure flies away from the Fire in the form of a dry powder If thou knewest how to water this dry earth with a water of its own kind thou wilt loosen the pores of the earth and this outward Thief with the workers of Malice will be cast out of doors and the water will be purged by the addition of a true Sulphur from Leprous Defilements and from superfluous Hydropical Moisture and thou shalt have in thy power the Fountain of Count Trevisan whose waters are properly dedicated to Diana the Virgin This Thief is evil armed with arsenical Malignitie whom the winged Youngster doth abhor and flie from and although the central water be his Bride yet the Youngster dares not utter his most ardent Love towards her because of the snares of the Thief whose tricks are almost inavoidable In this let Diana be propitious unto thee who knows how to tame the wild Beasts whose two Doves shall temperate the malignity of the Air with their feathers then the Youth enters easily in through the pores presently shaking the waters above and stirrs up a rude and rubish Cloud do thou bring in the water over him even to the brightness of the Moon and so the darkness which was upon the face of the Abyss will be discussed by the Spirit which moves it self in the waters thus by the Command of God Light shall appear separate the Light from the Darkness the seventh time and then this Sophick Creating of thy ☿ shall be complete and the seventh day shall be to thee a Sabbath of Rest from which time even to a Years Revolution must you expect the Generation of the Son of the supernatural Sun who will come into the World at the end of the Ages that he may free his Brethren from al Defilements CHAP. 7. Of the first Operation of the Preparation of the Sophick Mercury by the Flying Eagles BRother You are to know that our exact knowledge of the Eagles of the Philosophers is conceived and judged to be the first degree of perfection for to know it there is required a quick ingenuity For do not believe that this Science comes to any of us by chance or a casual imagination as the common ignorant people do stupidly believe but we have sweated much and a long time we have passed many nights without sleep we have undergone much labour and sweat that we might obtain the truth and therefore O studious Beginner Know of certainty without labour and sweat thou wilt accomplish nothing viz. in the first Work although in the second Nature alone performs the Work without any imposition of hands only using a moderate external Fire Understand therefore Brother the sayings of the Sophi when they write That their Eagles are to be brought to devour the Lion the which Eagles how much the sparinger the number is so much the greater wrestling and a slow victory but the work is most excellently perfected in the seventh or ninth number The ☿ Sophical namely is the Bird of Hermes which is sometimes called a Goose sometimes a Pheasant one while this thing another while that but wherever the Magi speak of their Eagles they speak in the plural number and they assign their number from three to ten yet they are not to be understood thus as if they would have so many weights or parts of the water to one of the earth but you must interpret their sayings to be meant of the intrinsecal weight that is to say you must take the water so oftentimes acuated or sharpened as they number Eagles which acuation is made by sublimation and therefore every sublimation of the ☿ of Philosophers let be one Eagle and the seventh will so exalt the ☿ that it will become a most convenient Bath for thy King Therefore that thou mayest have this knot well unfolded attend diligently Let there be taken of our Fiery Dragon which hides the Magical Chalybs in his own belly four parts of our Magnet nine parts mix them together with a torrid Vulcan or great Fire in the form of a Mineral water upon which there will swim a scum which is to be cast away remove the shell and take the kernel purge it the third time with Fire and Salt which will easily be done if Saturn shall have beheld himself in the Looking-glass of Mars thence is made the Chamaeleon or our Chaos in which all Arcana's lies hid virtually but not actually This is the Hermaphroditical Infant which even from his very first Infancy hath been infected by the biting of the Corascene Mad Dog whereby he is besotted and distracted by a
through every Age is reducible in our water only and is then living and ours Even as Wheat sown in the ground doth change its name and is called the Husbandman's Seed-corn either for Bread or other uses as well as for Seed even so it is with Gold as long as it is in the form of a Ring a Vessel or Mony 't is the vulgar Gold but as concerning its being cast into our water 't is Philosophical In the former respect it is called Dead because it would remain unchanged even to the Worlds end in the latter respect it is said to be living because it is so potentially which power is capable of being brought into Art in a few daies but then Gold will be no longer Gold but the Chaos of the Sophi therefore well may Philosophers say That their philosophical Gold differeth from the vulgar Gold Which difference consisteth in the Composition For even as that Man is said to be dead which hath already received the sentence of Death so is Gold said to be alive when it is mixed in such a Composition and put upon such a fire in which it will necessarily receive a germinative life in a short time yea 't will demonstrate the actions of a life beginning and that within a few daies Therefore the same Sophi that say their Gold is living do bid thee the Searcher of Art to revive the dead the which if thou knowest to do and to prepare the Agent and rightly to mix the Gold it will soon become living in which vivification thy living Menstruum will dye Therefore the Magi command thee to revive the dead and to kill the living They do at the first entrance call their water living and say that the death of one principle with the death of another hath one and the same period Thence 't is evident That their Gold is to be taken dead and their water living and by compounding these together the seed-Gold will by a short decoction vivifie or quicken and the live ☿ will be killed that is the spirit will be coagulated with the dissolved bodie and both of them putrifie together in the form of dirt or mud until all the members of the Composition are rent or dispersed into Atoms Here therefore is the naturality of our Magistery The Mistery which we so much hide is to prepare the ☿ truly so called the which cannot be found upon the earth ready prepared to our hands and that for singular reasons known to the Adeptists In the ☿ we neatly amalgamate pure Gold purged to the highest degree of purity and filed or beaten and being shut in the glass we daily boyl it the Gold is dissolved by the vertue of our Water and returneth to its nearest matter in which the included life of the Gold becomes free and takes the life of the dissolving ☿ which in respect of the Gold is the same as good earth in respect of the Grain of Wheat In this ☿ therefore the Gold being dissolved doth putrifie and must be necessarily so by the necessity of Nature therefore after the putrefaction of death there riseth the new Body of the same Essence with the former Body and of a more noble substance 〈◊〉 takes on it the degrees of virtuality proportionable to the difference between the four qualities of the Elements This is the reason of our Work this is our whole Philosophy We have said therefore That there is nothing in our Work secret but ☿ only the Magistery of which is rightly to prepare it and extract the hidden ☉ it contains and to Marry it in a just proportion with Gold and to govern it with the fire as the ☿ requireth because Gold doth not of it self fear the fire and as far forth as 't is united with the ☿ so far doth it render it able to abide the fire Therefore this is the Labour and Work to accommodate the regiment of the heat to the capacity of ☿ his abiding it but he that hath not rightly prepared his ☿ and should joyn Gold therewith his Gold is yet the Gold of the Vulgar because 't is joyned with such a foolish Agent in which it remaineth as much unchanged as if it had been kept in the Chest nor will it lay off its own bodily nature by any Regiment of the Fire whatsoever where an Agent is not alive within Our is then a living and quickning soul and therefore our Gold is Spermatical as Wheat sown is Seed-corn when as the same Wheat would in the Barn remain Bread-corn only and dead and though it were buried in a pot under the earth as the West-Indians are wont to hide their Fruit or Corn in pits in the earth fenced against the access of water yet unless it be met withal by the moist vapour of the earth 't is dead and abides without fruit and is plainly remote from Vegetation I know there are many which will carp at this Doctrine and say That he affirms it Gold of the Vulgar and running ☿ is the material Subject of the Stone But we know the contrary Go to therefore ye Philosophers examine your Purses although you know such things have ye the Stone Verily as for my self I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of my God I have it I have made it and daily have it in my power have often form'd it with my own hands and I write the things I know But I write not to you Therefore deal with your Rain-waters May-waters your Salts tattle of your Sperme that it is more potent than the Devil himself slander and revile me Believe ye that this your evil speaking will sadden me I say that Gold only and ☿ are our Materials and I know what I write and the searcher of all hearts knoweth that I write the truth nor is there any cause to accuse me of envy because I write with an unterrified Quill in an unheard-of style to the honour of God to the profitable use of my Neighbours and contempt of the World and its Riches because Helias the Artist is already born and now glorious things are declared of the City of God I dare affirm that I do possess more Riches than the whole known World is worth but cannot make use thereof because of snares of Knaves I disdain I loath and deservedly detest this Idolizing of Gold and Silver by the price whereof the pomp and vanities of the World are celebrated Ah filthy Evil Ah vain Nothingness Believe ye that I conceal these things out of envy No verily for I protest to thee I grieve from the very bottom of my Soul that we are driven as it were like Vagabonds from the Face of the Lord throughout the earth But what need many words That thing that we have seen taught and wrought which we have which we possess and know these do we declare being moved with meer compassion toward the studious and with Indignation of Gold and Silver and of pretious Stones not as
hedged with infinite briars and we have made a Vow unto God and Equity that we would never in naked words declare each Regimen for I can assure you upon my credit that I have in other things discovered the truth plainly Take then that ☿ which I have described and unite with Sol to which 't is most friendly and in seven moneths in our true Regimen of heat thou shalt for certain see all which thou desirest or in nine moneths or ten at the most but our ☽ in its full thou shalt see in five moneths And these are the true periods of this 🜠out of which by reiterate decoction thou shalt have our Stone and permanent Tinctures through the grace of God to whom be all glory and honour for ever CHAP. 20. Of the appearing of Blackness in the Work of Sol and Luna IF thou shalt work in Sol or ☽ to our 🜠in them consider if you see this matter like to paste and to boyl like unto water or rather like to melted pitch for our Sol and ☿ have an emblematical Type in Sol vulgar joyned with and decocted in our ☿ When thou hast kindled thy Furnace wait for the space of 20 dayes and nights in which time thou shalt observe divers colours and about the end of the fourth week if the fire be continual thou shalt see a most amiable greenness which will be seen for about ten dayes less or more then rejoyce for without doubt in a short time thou shalt see it like unto a coal in blackness and all the members of thy Compound shall be turned into Atomes for the Operation is no other than a Resolution of the fixt in that which is not fixt that afterwards both being joyned together may make one matter partly spiritual and partly corporal Therefore saith the Philosopher Take Corascene Dog and Bitch of Armenia joyn them together and they shall beget thee a Son of the colour of the heaven for these Natures in a short decoction shall be turned into a broth like unto the foam of the Sea or like a thick cloud which shall be tinctured with a livid colour and once more I may assure thee that I have not hidden any thing save only the Regimen and this if thou art wise thou shalt easily collect from my Lines Supposing then that thou wilt learn the Regimen Take the Stone which I have told you of before and govern it as you know how and there shall follow these notable things first as soon as our Stone shall feel the fire it shall flow its 🜠and its ☿ together upon the fire like to wax and the 🜠shall be burned and the colour shall change day by day but the ☿ is incombustible only it shall be affected with the colours of the 🜠for a time but it cannot be radically affected therefore it will wash Letton clean from all its filth reiterate the heaven upon the earth so long and so often until the earth receive a spiritual and heavenly nature O blessed Nature which doth that which is impossible for Man to do Therefore when in thy glass thou shalt see thy Natures to be mingled like unto a coagulated and burnt blood know that then the Female is embraced by the Male Therefore after the first stirring up of the Matter expect that in 17 dayes thy two Natures shall be turned into a bloody or fatted Broth which shall be turned round together like unto a thick Cloud or the scum of the Sea as is before said and the colour of it will be exceeding obscure then be sure that the Kingly Child is Conceived and from that time thou shalt see vapours green blew black and yellow in the Air or Fire and at the sides of the Vessel These are those Winds which in the forming of our Embryon are very frequent which are to be kept warily lest they fly out and the Work be destroyed beware also of the Odour lest it happen to exhale at any chink for the vertue of the Stone would thereby get a most notable detriment therefore the Philosopher commands to keep the Vessel close sealed and beware that you do not break off abruptly from the Work neither open nor move the Vessel nor yet intermit the Operation not an hour but continue the Decoction till you see the moisture begin to fail which will be in about thirty dayes then rejoice and rest assured that thou art in the right way Attend the Work vigilantly for in about two weeks from the time thou shalt see the whole earth dry and notably black then is the death of thy Compound at hand the Winds are ceased and all are rest and quietness This is the fatal Ecclipse of the Sun and of the Moon when no light shall shine upon the Earth and the Sea shall vanish then is made our Chaos out of which at the command of God shall proceed all the Miracles of the World in their orders CHAP. 21. Of the Burning of the Flowers and how to prevent it THe burning of the Flowers is an errour of fatal consequence yet soon committed before the Natures which are tender and extracted from their profundity they are oftentimes burnt this errour is chiefly to be heeded after the three weeks for in the beginning there is so much moisture that if the Work be governed by a stronger fire than is convenient it being brittle will not bear the abundance of winds but will suddenly fly in pieces unless the glass be too large and then sure the vapours will be so out of measure dispersed that they will hardly return again to their body at least not so much as is necessary for the refreshment of the Stone But so soon as the earth shall begin to retain part of its water then the vapours decreasing the fire may be strengthened without danger of the Vessel but the Work will nevertheless be destroyed and will have a colour of a wild Poppie and the whole Compound will at length become a dry and unprofitable powder of a half red colour Thou shalt conclude from this sign that thy fire hath been too strong so strong to wit as to hinder true conjunction for know that our Work doth require a true change of Natures which cannot be until an entire union of both Principles be made but they cannot be united but in the form of water for bodies may be confounded or blended together but cannot be united nor yet can any body with a spirit be united per minima but spirits with spirits may well be united therefore our Operations must become Homogeneal Metallick Water the way to which Solution is our foregoing true Calcination which therefore is not an exsiccation properly but a kind grind of water as earth in Atomes which when they become more subtle than the exigencies of the earth requires earth is then actually transmuted into and doth receive the form of Ferment of water but if the fire be too vehement this spiritual Nature being struck