Preface

thy ancients who, across so many different nations, have written and agreed upon this at all times. But what is seen with one’s own eyes through experience requires no further proof. In years past, many people of both high and low standing have seen this DIANA naked and bare (I speak of things known to be true). Diana, sister of Apollo original: Diana soror Apollinis. In alchemical allegory, Diana represents Silver (the Moon) and her brother Apollo represents Gold (the Sun). Seeing Diana "naked" refers to witnessing the secret, purified essence of the matter, stripped of its outward impurities.

Even though certain idle people may be found—who, either out of envy or malice, or perhaps so that their own fraud remains undiscovered, cry out and pretend that one can extract the soul from Gold and, through much vain and empty chatter, transfer it into another corpus original: corpus; body or physical substance, not without the loss of time, labor, and all expenses—the Children of Hermes A traditional term for alchemists, who trace their wisdom back to the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus. should nevertheless know that such an extraction of the anima original: animæ; soul or vital essence (as they call it), whether it be of gold or silver—and by whatever common alchemical methods they please—is nothing but a pure fantasy. False and worthless This is indeed believed by only a few, and yet finally through experience (which is the one and only...