❦ ( 15 ) ❦

the separation of the elements / which may
otherwise happen in no other way / is
perfectly accomplished / and the natural
heat drives them upward / so that one
may be transformed into the other. Such
separation is actually a change
of their nature / where from water, air / from
air, fire / and from fire in turn an
earth is renewed and prepared. As
Aristotle writes: When you have
water from air, and air from fire, and fire
from earth, then you will have the complete art.
original: "Cùm habueris aquam ex aëre, & aërem ex igne, & ignem ex terra, tunc habebis plenam artem." This is a foundational alchemical principle of "circular" distillation, where the four elements are cycled through states of matter until they are purified.
Therefore also the elements are only changed /
but in no way separated and divided from one
another. Because of their change, the
Philosophers Philosophers: In this context, it refers to alchemists, who were known as "Natural Philosophers." call it
a separation / which happens without any discord
entirely through nature alone /
for each one dominates for a certain time /
and holds the lordship / and is diligent /
to thus accomplish its operation / so that
something more glorious might come forth /
and be made from it.
Thus Spirit, Soul, and Body are separated not
literally original: "propriè", but philosophically original: "sophicè." In alchemy, "sophic" or "philosophical" means the process occurs within the sealed vessel through heat and internal transformation, rather than by mechanical human hands. :
for the spirit carries the soul out of the body /
and is its house / in which it has its
rest. As the assembly of philosophers
reports: That Our Stone consists of
body, soul, and spirit. original: "Quod Lapis Noster ex corpore, anima & spiritu constet." Because