The Heaven of the Philosophers, or the Book of Vexations

The reason is that each of the other six metals has two good virtues, of which there are twelve in total: these virtues in the Moon are the silvery spirit which can be known in a few words in this manner: for the Moon [consists] of the six spiritual metals and their virtues, of which each one possesses two. Thus, there are twelve virtues in total placed in one bodily metal, which are compared to the twelve celestial signs.

43 For the Moon has, from the planet Mercury and from Aquarius and Pisces, its liquefaction and its white splendor: from Jupiter, Mars, and Taurus, its white color and its great constancy in the fire: from Mars, Cancer, and Aries, its hardness and its good resonance: from Venus, Gemini, and Libra, the mode or measure of coagulation and its malleability or ductility: from Saturn, Scorpio, Virgo, and Capricorn, its homogeneous and fixed body with gravity: from the Sun, Leo, and Virgo, its sincere purity and its great constancy against the forces of fire. Such is the natural knowledge of the exaltation and the cause of the spirit and body of silver, or the Moon, with its composite nature and wisdom, explained in brief words.

44 It must be said further in what way the metallic spirits of this kind acquire a body for themselves in their primitive generation through celestial influx, namely, they see a stone to be despised in appearance, which, when fused, the fire melts, corrupts, and mortifies; the metallurgist is completely deceived: then that metallic spirit, in such mortification, [becomes] better and...