The Child-Bed of the Philosopher's Stone

Knots of the Sages Untied

...are given. "And why is it necessary to seek in a thing so hard, when the soft is found everywhere," original Latin: Et quid est opus quærere in re tan dura cum mollis ubique inveniatur say the Philosophers. First of all, abandon the perfect metals perfecta metalla; gold and silver, as Salomon Trismosinus A legendary alchemist, often cited as the teacher of Paracelsus and author of the famous 'Splendor Solis'. faithfully warned his then-disciple Theophrastus Paracelsus, when he wrote to him thus:

You youth of Hohenheim! I hear that you are undertaking high things and seeking our Philosophers' Stone in perfect metals, namely in gold and silver, where it is nonetheless not to be found. You surely know our green lion A symbolic term in alchemy, often referring to vitriol or the raw, "living" mineral spirit before purification.; search after that, etc.

This Mercurial water is also sought in vain in the imperfect metals base metals such as lead or tin. Above all, as many believe, in Venus and Mars alchemical symbols for Copper and Iron, for these have an impure Mercury and Sulfur, which is easily burned in the fire and flies away from it. "It is impossible to fix that which is not fixed and to cleanse the unclean, nor can anyone give what he does not have," original Latin: impossibile est non fixum figere & immundum mundare, nec quis dare potest, quod non habet says Arnold of Villanova A famous 13th-century physician and alchemist.. Finally, note briefly, my son, that this our Mercurial water and secret key must be sought in a mineral root that is still in its growing, ascending power, and in such a root that is itself pure according to its inner essence and holds the fixed grain The stable, unchanging core of the matter. hidden within itself. Draw that out alchemically original: philochymicè, according to nature; divide it into its three principles the Tria Prima: Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury, then place the male and female seed of one genus together in the Philosophical Egg and furnace The 'Egg' is the sealed glass vessel used for the Great Work., cook it with gentle heat until it comes to its perfection. Multiply and ferment it, and you shall have the treasure of all the world, as I shall further explain in the Philosophic Riddle Solved. And take this as my