THEORY.

B 3

...[founda]ment are taught and demonstrated in as much as is necessary for the perfection of our Great Work magisterium: the "Mastery" or the complete alchemical process of transformation. Practice, however, is that part in which the form and manner of operating correctly is described, according to the requirements of the disposition original: "dispositionis"; the physical state, arrangement, or temperament of a substance previously learned through theory.

And therefore, because neither the dispositions of the aforementioned bodies likely referring to the metals or chemical subjects nor their own natures can be known except through the consideration of things natural, things non-natural, and things against nature a classic medieval classification: "natural" refers to innate qualities, "non-natural" to external influences like air or heat, and "against nature" to disease or corruption, for a better understanding we divide theory into three parts. This is because the dispositions of the whole changeable body in general are but three: namely, balance temperamentum: a state where the four qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry) are in perfect proportion, imbalance intemperamentum: a state where one quality dominates to the point of instability, and neutrality.

First, it must be known that balance is included among natural things, because formally its constitution original: "complexio"; the specific blend of elemental qualities in a body consists of subtle parts joined together at once. Concerning the compositions of these parts, the philosophers referring to the lineage of alchemical and natural authorities like Aristotle or Geber have spoken extensively, interpreting broadly in as much as they could understand the continuity and gathering together of parts, when that continuity receives its specific composition. Imbalance, however, is included among those things which are against nature, and for that reason it is called by another name: "corruption," or the [with]drawal from the true...