Splendor of the Sun

It is revealed in these words that whoever wishes to proceed correctly in this art, as all the philosophers say, should begin where Nature The natural growth of minerals in the earth has left off. One should take the Sulfur original: "Schwebel" and Mercury original: "Quecksilber" which nature has joined together in the purest form. For in this, a very nimble union has occurred which no one can prepare except through the Art Alchemy, and Nature has done this for the sake of the birth of the metallic form.

But this same matter original: "materi" which is thus informed by nature comes to the benefit of the art for the sake of receiving the Power which then lays itself into such nimble Matter. Therefore, some Alchemists calcine To reduce a substance to powder through heat Gold so that they may dissolve it and separate the Elements until they bring it into a nimble, singular spirit or subtle nature and fatty vapor original: "broduntheit" of the natures of Mercury and Sulfur. And that is then the very nearest Matter which compares most closely with Gold to receive the form of the hidden Stone of the Philosophers. This matter is called the Mercury of the Philosophers original: "Mercurius Philosophorum". This is what Aristotle means when he speaks to King Alexander: he wants you to take for our Stone that with which

Kings are served and crowned. Although this Mercury alone is the Matter and a single thing without the mixing of other things, yet the thing is so multiplied in its action and in its name that no one can find their way through it. And this is so, as Rosinus An Arabic alchemical authority, likely Zosimos says, so that not everyone might attain it. It is also at once a way of working and a vessel, all of which multiplies itself because of the comparison to everything contained in Nature. For now the Philosophers speak of dissolving original: "Soluiren" the thing, it is sublimated, and then distilled, coagulated; make it ascend, make it descend, soak it, dry it off. And the procedures they name are countless, yet they are all completed at once together and in one vessel. This is testified by Alphidius An Arabic alchemical author saying: "You should know that when we dissolve, we also sublimate and calcine without ceasing. We purify and join our work." And he speaks further thus: "When our Body original: "Corpus" is thrown into the Water so that it may be dissolved, it soon becomes black and separates itself and becomes a Chalk original: "Kalch", dissolving itself and sublimating itself; dissolving and sublimating, it becomes united with the spirit which in its beginning and..."