The Child-Bed of the Philosopher's Stone

and the universal Spirit / which is the soul and the life of the world / which three things / although they are indeed distinct in fact / yet they are only a single being and Solar Nature Solar Nature A term indicating the essence of gold or the "Solar" principle in alchemy. / from which the Son and the Spirit proceed from the Sun / which is the Father / the Beginning / the Mineral Ore Minera original: Minera; Latin for an ore-vein or source-matrix. and the original Fountainhead Quellist original: Quellist; an archaic German term for a spring or source. / come forth.

Otherwise / just as the eternal Father sent his only Son Jesus Christ / the Savior of mankind / to take on a human body in the Holy Body of the Virgin. Even so / here the Sun sends / who is the great Father of the metals / and of the whole intermediate nature The "intermediate nature" or mittlern Natur refers to the mineral kingdom, which sits between the celestial and terrestrial realms. / his only son Mercury Mercurium / the helper of the metals / to take on an earthly body in the entrails of the Virgin / and in the same way / as the Virgin received the Son of God in no other way / than through the working of the Holy Spirit / so in like manner this secret Virgin Jungfrau In alchemical symbolism, the "Virgin" represents the pure, uncorrupted prime matter, often identified with philosophical mercury. receives the Son of the Sun / in no other way / than through the working of his life-spirit / the Holy Virgin was a virgin before and after the birth / so this Virgin retains her virginity before / during and after her childbed Referring to the alchemical process of "bringing forth" the Stone without corrupting the original purity of the substance.. Finally / just as the Son of God was born of the Holy Virgin / and at last willed to give his life for the Renewal Wieder-Erneuerung and salvation of human nature / with the wiping away of the sins of men / through the shedding of his precious blood : even so in this Mastery Magisterio original: Magisterio; a Latin term for the Great Work or the completion of the alchemical process. the Son of the Sun / who is born of this Virgin / also