Hermes: A Journal in Occasional Issues

...realm of Saturn, which has produced all metallic fruits from the womb of the earth. For the seed of these is of the nature of Vitriol Vitriol: While often referring to metallic sulfates, alchemists used "Philosophical Vitriol" to describe a raw, crystalline mineral salt believed to be the "seed" of all metals.. Indeed, all metals are resolved into Vitriol. That the author considers this earth to be "martial" In the language of alchemy, "martial" refers to the planet Mars and its corresponding metal, Iron. is evident from the verse that so frequently appears in his work:

original: "Ferri in Mercurio est, quicquid quaerunt Sapientes."

His student says: "Calcine Mars by its own marcasite, without any foreign addition, and you will have the true Hermetic ore and vein." original: "Calcina Martem per suam Marcasitam, sine alieni additione et habebis mineram et venam veram Hermeticam." To "calcine" is to reduce a substance to powder through intense heat. "Marcasite" here likely refers to iron pyrites. From this it explains itself why the ancients say that Mars guards the entrance with a naked sword.

Arthur Dee Arthur Dee (1579–1651) was the eldest son of the famous polymath John Dee and a respected alchemist and physician to the Russian Tsar. says of the philosophical subject that it is a mineral mass, coagulated, bright, red, heavy, a perfected metal in immediate potential, a living spermatic Sulfur. original: "Massa mineralis, coagulata, lucida, rubea, ponderosa, metallo perfecto in proxima potentia, Sulphur vivum spermaticum."

Those who take common quicksilver Quicksilver: Standard liquid mercury. Most master alchemists argued that common mercury was "dead" and that a "philosophical" mercury must be prepared from a specific ore instead. for the subject, and in doing so cite Avicenna, Geber, Lull, Trevisan A list of the most influential medieval alchemical authorities: the Persian Ibn Sina, the legendary Jabir ibn Hayyan, the mystic Ramon Llull, and the nobleman Bernard of Trevisan. and others, do not understand these writers: for although these...