The Sophic Nucleus: An Interpretation of the Tincture of the Physicists of Paracelsus

...rejuvenation according to the saying of the Psalm:

You shall be rejuvenated like an eagle. Psalm 103:5: "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

And it is a white, translucent water of heavenly colors according to the opinion of Alexander original: "Alex:"; referring to Alexander von Suchten, a 16th-century chemist and physician known for his works on the secrets of antimony. and Bernhard original: "Bernhardi"; referring to Bernard of Trevisan, a legendary 15th-century alchemist., because of which it is also called heaven original: "coelum"; used here to denote the substance's purified, celestial nature. by many (due to its exceedingly high nature). This Eagle is now the first part of the water that is led upward; it is the upper part original: "superius", the ascending part original: "ascendens", and the subtle part original: "subtile" belonging to Hermes, which he mentions in his Tablet original: "tabula"; referring to the Tabula Smaragdina or Emerald Tablet, which states "That which is above is like that which is below.". This is the Spirit of the Firmament original: "Spiritus firmamenti", as Ezra calls it in his 4th book. Other philosophers In this context, "philosophers" refers to alchemists, who were known as "philosophers of nature." call it a water or spirit of the world, or even a soul—the middle nature—which at one moment is like a body and yet not a soul, and at another moment is like a soul and not a body. Some call it a bond and connection of all elements, as the single universal generative Nature original: "vniuersalis generatiua Natura", which distributes itself into all parts of the world, just like a general body original: "Corpus". And because it has its center original: "centrum" in the highest circle original: "supremo circulo", from which it also originated in the first general creation of all things, it ascends in this its relea- original: "erledi-"; the catchword "gung" on the next page completes the word "Erledigung," meaning release, completion, or discharge.