The
Work of Saturn
By Anonymous
(From The Rosi-Crucian Secrets)
Very
many have written of Saturn or Lead, but none that I know of
have written fully thereof in any particular treatise. Therefore
I do not only here set down what I have gathered from them most
briefly and truly, but also those things which I have found and
proved by my own experience, which I have annexed to them that
the work may be absolute and complete.
Of
which, as they say, Mary the prophetess, the sister of Moses, in
her Books of the Work of Saturn is said to write: Make your
water running like the water of the two Zaibeth 265 and fix it
upon the Heart of Saturn. And in another place: Marry the Gum
with the true Matrimonial Gum and you shall make it like running
water; of which process of Mary, George Ripley hath these
verses:
Maria
mira sonat
Quae nobis talia donat
Gummis cum binis
Fugitivem fugit in imis
Horis in trinis
Tria vinclet fortia finis
Filia plutonis
Confortia jungit Amoris
The
Heart of Saturn, you shall find why is his body white and clear;
the work is briefly thus described. That a water be made out of
the body of Saturn like the water Zaibeth, and that water fixed
upon the Heart of Saturn. The direction for drawing out the
water of Zaibeth and the way of making the Heart of Saturn is
hereafter at large declared, with reduction of the body of
Saturn into his Heart or Salt.
Note
the power of Saturn and his Angel upon earth, Cambiel, Hanael,
Cancer, Tristitia, and Lead thus prepared for Medicines and
Telesmas. You see here the wonderful power of God, how he rules
heaven and earth by ten names, ten Sephiroth, ten orders of
blessed Souls, ten Angels in their ten Spheres, seven Angels
that carry their power to seven planets and the earth; and here
we teach you knowledge of the seven metals and the miraculous
Medicines of the Rosie Crucians.
Having
thus described the work, I now come to the explanation and say
that the calcination of the body is two-fold, for the
calcination thereof in the shorter work for extracting the Heart
of Saturn is done on any wise by Aqua Fortis..The Rosi-crucian
Take
eight or ten ounces of Lead in filings and dissolve it in Aqua
Fortis in double proportion and justified with Salt Armoniack in
an earthen vessel with a narrow neck and set in ashes till it be
totally dissolved; and there will remain a white matter in the
bottom like grains of white Salt, which is a figure of perfect
solution.
Then
pour your matter that is dissolved in the water into a body and
set thereon a limbeck and in Balneo, draw away the corrosive
water till there remain a dry substance in the bottom, and so
you have the body converted white by calcination with corrosive
water out of which the Heart of Saturn is to be drawn.
The
way to wash away and purge the corrosive water from the body.
Pour warm water upon the substance in the limbeck and pour it
often off till it have no sharpness at all upon the tongue and
then the body is prepared for drawing out the Salt.
When
your matter is well dried, dissolve it again in distilled
Vinegar and distil the Vinegar twice or thrice from it and in
the bottom you shall have a lucid, clear and white, shining
Salt, which is called the Heart of Saturn.
Now
I come to the practice of the other greater work, that the
verity of the Medicine may be found, of which many have made
mention in their books, as Raimundus, who called it the
Vegetable, Mineral and Animal Medicine. Geber saith there
groweth a Saturnian Herb on the top of a hill or mountain, whose
blood, if it be extracted, cureth all infirmities.
Ripley
writ a whole book called his Practical Compendium, of the
practice of the Vegetable Medicine, teaching the manner and form
of operation; but because he neither set down the solution
plainly nor perfectly, he hath been the cause of much error and
hath not only deceived me, but all those that followed him,
until after a long time I found a way to dissolve Saturn, so
that it could never after by distillation be turned into Lead
again, which is the choicest and greatest secret of the
Vegetable Medicine.
But
let us hear the words of Mary the prophetess and Ripley taken
from her: The Radix of our Matter is a clear and white body,
which putrefieth not but congealeth Mercury or Quicksilver with
its odour, makes its water like the running water of the two
Zabieth (or Zubech) and fix[eth] it upon the fixed Heart of
Saturn. Which words do most aptly agree with the properties of
Lead, for if anyone be shot or wounded with a bullet and the
bullet remain in the body, it will never putrefy.
And
also if Quicksilver be hanged in a pot over the fume of molten
Lead, so as the fumes of the Lead touch the Quicksilver, it will
congeal it.
Thus
far of the preparation of Lead. We now come to its denomination.
They bid us fix the water [of] Zabieth upon the fixed body of
the Heart of Saturn. Now for the exposition of the body for the
name of Saturn. Ripley called it Adrop, of which that is made
which the Masters call Sericon , the water of Sericon they call
their Menstruum. The two Zabrieths joined together in one water
are the two Mercuries, that is to say white and red, contained
in one Menstruum, that is to say of the water and oil of the
fixed body or Heart of Saturn.
Isaacus
also writ a treatise of Lead. He worketh chiefly according to
the doctrine of Mary the prophetess and laboureth much to fix
the earth of Saturn and after to dissolve the body in distilled
Vinegar, that by the addition of corroding the sharp things his
red oil may be distilled, which he called the Water of Paradise,
that he may imbibe his fixed earth therewith: which way is much
shorter than Ripley's, but the rubification and fixation of the
earth is long and uncertain; wherefore I have both forsaken
Isaacus and Ripley in making the earth, instead of which I have
given the fixed Heart of Saturn.
But
that the body may be prepared according to this Table and after
my intention and the desire of Ripley, we both will that the pil
or Water of Paradise be drawn out of the Gum of Sericon (whose
father is Adrop). Sericon is made of red Lead; therefore it is
first necessary to show the way of making Minium of Lead.
Take
the description as followeth and therewith the composition of
the Gum of Sericon.
Take
ten or twelve pounds of Lead and melt it in a great iron vessel
as plumbers use to do; and when it is molten, stir it still with
an iron spatula till the Lead be turned to powder, which powder
will be of a green colour. When you see it thus, take it from
the fire and let it get cool and grind that powder upon a marble
till it be impalpable, moistening the powder with a little
common Vinegar till it be like thick honey, which put into a
broad earthen vessel and set it on a trevet over a lent fire to
vapour away the Vinegar and dry the powder and it will be of a
yellow colour. Grind it again and do as before, till the powder
be so red as red Lead, which is called Adrop. And thus is Saturn
calcined into red Lead or Minium.
Take
a pound of red Lead and dissolve it in a gallon of Vinegar and
stir it with a stick three or four times in a day. Then take
your earthen vessel and set it in Balneo twenty-four hours then
let it cool and filter the liquor three times; and when it is
clear put it in a bottom [and distil away the Vinegar when] the
Gum of Sericon will remain like thick honey; which set apart and
dissolve now more Lead as before for more Gum till you have ten
or twelve pound thereof.
Now
give careful attention, for we now come to the point and period
of Ripley's error; for if you put four pounds of this Sericon to
distil in a limbeck, and from thence would draw a Menstruum as
Ripley teacheth, perhaps you would have scarce one ounce of this
oil, and some part of a black earth will remain in the bottom
and most of the Gum melted again into Lead, by which you may
know that the Sericon is not well dissolved, nor as yet
sufficiently prepared that a Chaos may be made thereof fit for
distillation because it is not yet well dissolved.
Therefore
in Isaacus there is found a way, resolving this Gum with
distilled Vinegar acuated with calcined Tartar and Salt
Armoniack; wherefore, saith he, if thou be wise resolve the Gum.
But I like not this acuation of the Vinegar as I may call it. I
rather choose to resolve the Sericon in Raymund's Calcination
Water, which is a compound water of Vegetable Mercury, or fire
natural, with the fire against nature, as Ripley testifieth; and
it is more verified by Raymund in his books of Mercury, where he
teacheth how to dissolve bodies with his Calcinative Water.
I
will reveal unto you this water, which is almost unknown. Note,
therefore, that the Vegetable Mercury is the Spirit of Wine
(instead of which we may sometimes use distilled Vinegar) and
that the Fire against Nature is a corrosive water made of
Vitriol and Saltpeter.
Therefore
take which you will, either Spirit of Wine rectified (or Aqua
Vitae) or distilled Vinegar four pounds and two pounds of
corrosive water and mix them together.
In
this water thus compounded, resolve half a pound of Gum of
Sericon in a circulatory and set it in Balneo four or five days,
and the Gum will be totally dissolved into the form of water or
oil of a duskish red colour.
Then
distil away the water in Balneo and there will remain an oil in
the bottom which is the Chaos out of which you may draw a
Menstruum containing two elements, and this is the true
resolution of the Gum of Sericon. In this water you may resolve
so much Gum as you please by reiteration.
Take
two pound of this Chathodical substance and prepare it for
distillation in naked fire or sand, and lift up the clear red
oil, wherein both the Spirit and Soul secretly lie hid, which
Isaacus calleth the Water of Paradise, which, when you have
[it], you may rejoice, for you have gone through all the gross
work and come to the philosophic work.
Therefore
proceed to conjunction and join the white Heart of Saturn with
the red oil as it is found in the Rosary, candida succinto jacet
uxor nupta marits, that is to say the red Mercury to the Salt if
you proceed to the red work.
Therefore
take four ounces of the Salt or Heart of Saturn and as much of
the red oil or Water of Paradise, and seal them up in a
philosophers' egg; and so soon as they shall feel the heat of
the Balneum, the Salt will dissolve and be made one with the oil
so as you shall not know which was the Salt nor which was the
oil.
Set
your glass in Balneo and there let it stand in an equal degree
of fire till all your matter be turned white and stick to the
sides of the glass and shine like fishes eyes and then it is
white Sulphur of Nature. But if you proceed to the red work,
then divide your white Sulphur into equal parts, reserving one
part for the white work, and go on with the other part, and in a
new glass, well sealed up, set it in ashes till it is turned
into a red colour.
When
your Sulphur is thus converted, imbibe it again with equal
weight of its Soul, dissolving and congealing till it remain in
an oil and it will congeal no more, but remain fixed and
flowing.
This
then is to be fermented with the fourth part of the Oil of Gold.
We have set down already before of the augmentation in quantity
and quality, therefore it is not necessary to repeat it here. We
will now return to the white Sulphur before reserved, that we
may set down the manner of the white work.
When
you have your red oil or Soul, if you desire to make the white
Elixir, set part of the said oil in a glass in Balneo to digest.
Then take it out and put it into a body and in a lent fire
distil away the Spirit or white Mercury, which you must try and
know whether it arise pure without water or not, as you do when
you try the spirit of wine. For if it burn all up it is well; if
it do not, rectify it so often till it be without any waterings
at all; then have you rectified your Spirit, wherewith dissolve
your white Sulphur till it remain fixed and flowing as you did
before in the red work. Then ferment it and augment it with the
fourth part of the oil of the white Luminary or Luna, as you did
the red, and it will be the white Elixir, converting imperfect
bodies into perfect Silver.
Ripley
divided the scope of this work into four operations, whereof the
first is the dissolution of the body; the second the extraction
of the Menstruum and the separation of the elements; the third
is not necessary in our work, because we cast away the earth
after every distillation, instead of which we use our Salt or
Heart of Saturn; the fourth is that there be a conjunction of
our Salt as is before described.
Here
Followeth The Accurtation Of The Work Of Saturn
The
way of extracting Quicksilver out of Saturn found in Isaacus, of
which I know how to make a special accurtation with his Water of
Paradise, which I gathered partly from the aforesaid writer and
others. Ripley made his accurtation with Quicksilver
precipitated with Gold and imbibition with corrosive water,
which I like not, because the Elixir so made will be the
greatest poison, as himself confesseth that it were better for a
man to eat the eyes of a Basilisk than taste that Elixir.
But
because I desire to set down this accurtation of Lead alone with
his elements, that no strange body may be added to our Elixir,
and also that it may be made a Medicine for all uses, I have
found out the way of making [it] alone with the Mercury of
Saturn and his own proper Tincture; for I make a body of one
thing, which is a Spirit, and make that Medicine with its own
proper Spirit. Read all the philosophers and you shall never
find a word of this process, nor none of the ancients will teach
how to make the Mercury of Saturn.
Of
the Medicine, Elixir, Fermentation, Imbibition, Precipitation,
Quicksilver,
Saturn, Lead, The Toad
Sir
Christopher Heydon saith in a manuscript of his; Levi enim arte
norunt Alchemistae Mercurium currentem conficere ex plumbo. The
Alchemists know how by an easy art to make current Mercury out
of Lead. But what art that was no author of the ancients hath
showed unto us. Quaevite, quaevite, saith the first alchemist
(so Paracelsus was pleased to say in imitation of him) et
invenietis, pulsate et operietur vobis. I tried many
experiments, although they were repugnant to doctrine and
philosophy; I almost despaired of that art; yet because nothing
is difficult to the industrious, by often knocking at last I
found it apart, by which means I attained to the art of such a
felicity, that is to say of making Quicksilver of Lead. This art
revealed is a great secret. The instruments necessary in this
work are 274 a furnace, a crucible and a pair of tongs. Let the
furnace be filled with coals, whereunto put fire, and when the
coals are well burnt, so that they give a clear flame and fire,
take your crucible, well annealed so that it break not with the
sudden heat, and put therein three ounces of filed Lead, having
twelve ounces of Mercury sublimate well ground, and Salt
Armoniack six ounces, mixed together, which put upon the filings
of Lead in the crucible, and when the fire is strong and glowing
hot, take your tongs and presently take up your crucible and put
it into the hole in the top of the furnace till you hear a great
noise and buzzing; then so soon as you can (lest the Quicksilver
fly away with the Spirits) take away the crucible with the
matter therein and set it in an earthen dish filled with ashes
to cool; and when it is cold, strike the lower part of the
crucible so that the matter of the Lead may fall into an earthen
dish, and you shall find your Lead converted into Quicksilver.
Take of this Quicksilver so much as you please and put it to
precipitate in a round glass, well luted; and set it in ashes to
the top of the glass. Yet let us stay here a little while [that]
the understanding may be more enlightened.
Therefore
understand that the intention of this work is to fix the Spirit,
which may sooner be done with the Spirit of a fixed body, which
before was homogeneal with the body, and which of its own nature
desireth to join again with its body. Therefore Nature requireth
that she may be helped by art in this work, to which the artist
consenting, he administereth thereto the pure and desired metal,
which it delighteth to adhere unto, which metal is Gold, which
is thus prepared that it be sooner parted by the Quicksilver and
stick thereunto.
Take
as much pure Gold as you please and dissolve it in Aqua Regis
mixed with equal part of Acetum acerrimum or Lac Virginis. Then
set it to digest the space of a day; then put your dissolution
into an alembick and set it in Balneo. So distil away the water
as dry as you can and do thus three times and the third time
distil it in ashes that the Salt Armoniack may sublime. Then put
distilled Vinegar upon the matter remaining, and after it hath
stood three days in Balneo, distil the Vinegar away in ashes
that all the substance of the Salt Armoniack may sublime, and do
thus three times, always putting in new Vinegar, until the oil
of the dissolved Gold remain in the bottom. Then take of your
Quicksilver three times so much as your Gold and pour it upon
the solution of the Gold that they may mix together and be
united. Then put your Quicksilver with the solution in a round
glass, stopped only with a piece of cotton, and with a stick put
it down every day as it doth ascend; and keep your glass in
ashes for a month till your Quicksilver be turned into a red
precipitate. Then again dissolve it in new distilled Vinegar
till the whole substance of the Quicksilver be dissolved and the
Vinegar be coloured into a golden colour; then distil away the
Vinegar in ashes and again precipitate the Quicksilver, which is
in the bottom of a gold colour, into a red and fixed body, and
so have you the Mercury precipitate of Saturn.
It
remaineth now that the body be imbibed with its Soul, that thus
being from a Spirit reduced into a body [it] may agin imbibe its
Soul that it may be dissolved herewith. Therefore put it into a
glass and add thereto equal proportion of its Soul or Water of
Paradise, and shut your glass well the space of five days till
the body be dissolved with the Soul.
Then
dry it in ashes till it penetrate and flow; and when it is
dried, try it upon a hot iron plate if it be fixed and melt, if
not, imbibe it again with half the weight of its water and do so
till you make it fusible and piercing by imbibing and drying.
And when it will melt in the fire and penetrate, it is then the
Medicine and fit for fermentation. And after the fermentation it
will be the Elixir.
Then
it is to be augmented and projected as is before declared, and
thus the work of Saturn is accurtated, of which George Ripley
saith: Adrop is the father of the Medicine, Sericon his brother,
Lympha his sister, the earth its mother.
But
if you desire to know all the secret of Saturn or Lead, I will
set you down one process out of Paracelsus: When you have well
prepared the Heart of Saturn, saith he, take two or three ounces
of that Heart and grind it small with double [the] weight of
Saltpeter and put it in a subliming glass with a head well luted
to sublime, increasing the fire by little and little as long as
anything will ascend or sublime. Thus far Paracelsus. Now if you
would find this true, Ripley will tell you what you shall do in
these words.
When
by the violence of the fire in the distillation of the Gum of
the Sericon, a certain white matter shall ascend sticking to the
head of the limbeck, like ice, keep the matter, which hath the
property of Sulphur, not burning, and is fit matter for
receiving form. You shall give it form after this manner by
rectifying it in ashes; and when it is red Sulphur, give it of
its Soul until it pierce and flow, the ferment it.
Here
I have delivered unto you all the ways and manners of Saturn
which are found in any of the philosophers' books. To the end,
therefore, that the work may be completed with a demonstration
of this word Plumbum Philosophorum as appears in the Practical
Compendium of Ripley, I say that the philosophers' Lead is not
taken for Antimony but for Adrop, being converted into the Gum
of Sericon.
The
influence of Jupiter and his Angel upon Hismael, Advachiel,
Aquisitio, Letitia and Tin, by art and nature fitted for man's
use. Jupiter followeth Saturn's steps, for he is the offspring
of Saturn and naturally born from him.
presentat
Stannum sub quo aliquando Mercurius Sublimatus et Sal Ammoniarum
intelligitur. Cineritius ille probus justus Jupiter influentiam
suam habet in
terrestrem Jovem, qui post preparationem suam, se claro serio
suavi cum sale
Sulphureque lunari ostentat, et mortalibus virtutes suas
presentat. Habet quoque
specialem suam influentiam bonus ille Jupiter in Jecur, sanat
propterea illud,
omnesque affectus qui inde oriuntur.
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