The King Showing Himself to All the World

The wooden box, in which the glass stands, must be well-proportioned so that the vaporous fireVaporous fire: A gentle, moist heat, typically produced by steam, designed to mimic natural warmth without scorching the delicate alchemical "matter." may penetrate through and operate according to the laws of Nature. Furthermore, the tripodTripod: A three-legged stand used to support the glass vessel over the heat source. should be firmly secured within the box and wrapped with cotton, so that the glass may rest within it and remain immobile. Continue untiringly with the steam bathoriginal: "Balneo Vaporis". A method of indirect heating where the vessel is suspended over boiling water. until, through such steady cooking, your Mercury of the SunMercury of the Sun: A refined, spiritualized form of gold, considered the "soul" of the metal and a key ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone. has become a clear, transparent, and crystalline water. Of this magnificent water, the Philosophers write: a single water through and through, which is achieved by cooking, re-cooking, and cooking again. original: "unica per totum aqua, quod fit coquendo, reco-quendo & iterum coquendo." You must not, however, open your glass either before or after, but rather let the work remain thus dissolved in its glass, and persist with the governance of the fireoriginal: "regimine ignis". The precise control and sequencing of heat levels throughout the alchemical process. until I tell you further what must be done. Regarding this, the Philosophers write as follows: It is enough for you to place and seal the Stone in our vessel just once, until the entire mastery is completed. original: "Sufficit tibi ſemel Lapidem in noſtro vaſe ponere & includere, quouſque totum compleatur magiſterium." Also in another place: Above all, it is a wonder that in one fire and one vessel there occurs distillation, calcination, whitening, reddening, fusion with dissolu- original: "ſuper omne mirum eſt, quod uno igne, uno vaſe fiat deſtillatio, calcinatio, dealbatio, rubificatio, fuſio cum ſolu-"