On the Secrets of the Adepts

[the usual difficulty of] the Adepts, but a far greater difficulty, since in those works Paracelsus, the corrector of the Adepts original: "Adeptorum corrector." Paracelsus often positioned himself as a reformer who corrected the errors of previous alchemical and medical authorities., had set out to instruct regarding his Secrets Arcana: Hidden or "closed" medicinal preparations believed to possess concentrated spiritual or physical power. not only disciples (whether they be beginners or the unwise) but even the most knowledgeable Masters of the more secret Chemistry. Hence also his Recipes original: "Recepta," referring to medical or chemical formulations. were shortened by strange abbreviations; while they are truly learned to the learned, to us they seem as if mutilated and imperfect. Furthermore, they are so masked in the most secret terms of Adept Chemistry Adept Chemistry: Also known as "Hermetic" or "Spagyric" chemistry, focusing on the spiritual and essential forces within matter rather than just its outward appearance. that they deceive not only those of a dull wit original: "duræ cervicis," literally "stiff-necked," a biblical idiom used here to mean those who are slow or stubborn in understanding., but even minds of a more subtle sharpness.

This impossibility of understanding (I might almost say) is increased by common recipes being intermixed with Paracelsian secrets; to distinguish one from the other is the task not of a student, but of a most highly practiced master.

Finally, that which was at once my first and greatest obstacle in these difficulties was my own [deficiency] concerning...