The Microcosmic Animal Stone, or the Supreme Medicine from the Little World of the Human Body

conjoined original: "conjungiret." In alchemy, coniunctio is the sacred marriage or union of opposing principles, such as male/female or fixed/volatile.; namely Water and Fire; for when the Water is conjoined with it, it will become white, but where the Fire is, it will be red, if it be God’s will. But we must know that such a division does not happen with hands; therefore, this thing—which all people possess A common alchemical trope: the "Stone" or its starting material is common, cheap, and found everywhere, yet overlooked by the ignorant.—must be freed to some extent from its remaining phlegmatic moisture Phlegmatic moisture: In the theory of the four humors, phlegm is cold and moist; here it refers to the crude, impure liquids that must be removed from the starting material. which sits upon it, and subsequently placed into a Chemical Vessel, which must be philosophically sealed Philosophically sealed: Also known as "hermetically sealed," this involves melting the glass neck of a flask shut to ensure a completely airtight environment for the transformation. and kept for a long time in the moist fire original: "feuchten Feuer." This typically refers to a water bath (balneum Mariae) or the gentle, steady heat provided by a bed of fermenting horse dung., so that it may putrefy Putrefy: The stage of nigredo (blackening), where the matter "dies" and rots to allow for a new, spiritual rebirth. into a black and thick matter; then it will be dryly coagulated through the fire of the second degree Alchemists used four "degrees" or intensities of heat, ranging from a gentle lamp to a full-blast furnace., namely, after many boilings, which will cause much rising Refers to sublimation or evaporation within the sealed vessel., in which one will come to see countless colors The cauda pavonis or Peacock’s Tail stage, where the matter shimmers with many iridescent hues before settling into white.; and when everything that is subtle now rises in a very white form like fish eyes original: "Fisch-Augen." A specific historical description for the appearance of small, white, shimmering globules that signal the success of the whitening stage., then the work is completed in its first part; Oh, most wonderful thing, over which one has more cause to marvel than over any other miracle of nature! But then, this same white matter has the nature of the white sulfur that does not burn, and is the true Sulfur of Nature, and it congeals the Quicksilver Quicksilver: Mercury. To "congeal" it means to turn liquid mercury into solid, stable metal. if one adds a quantity of silver to it so that it becomes like an amalgam; and it operates exactly the same way in the red [stage] for the red, and becomes a perfect work for the red, by means of the increased cooking of the fire; But then if, as the philosophers desire,