PREFACE

...of the Sun or Moon In alchemical texts, "the Sun" (Sol) refers to gold, and "the Moon" (Luna) refers to silver. (remaining persistent through all the required tests) should dye original: tingat; in alchemy, to "tinge" or "dye" is to successfully transmute a base metal into a noble one.: I can justly affirm that he has the doors of nature open to investigate further and higher secrets original: arcana, and to acquire them with God’s blessing. Furthermore, I offer these present Treatises, written from my own experience, to the sons of science original: scientiæ filijs; a traditional term for dedicated students of alchemy, so that while they are occupied with every thought and movement of the mind in inquiring into the hidden operations of nature, they may from there perceive and know the truth of things and nature herself: In which matter alone consists the perfection of the whole most holy philosophical art That is, the art of alchemy., provided that they proceed by the Royal Road original: via Regia; the direct, natural path to the Philosopher’s Stone. which nature prescribes in all her operations. Therefore, I would wish the Fair Reader original: Candidum Lectorem; a conventional address to an honest or unbiased reader. to be warned here, that he should understand my writings not so much from the bark original: cortice; a metaphor for the literal or superficial surface of the words. of the words, but from the powers of nature, lest he later deplore time, labor, and expense spent in vain: Let him consider that this is the science of the Wise original: Sophorum, not of the unskilled: And the meaning of the Philosophers is far different from what can be perceived by either boastful Thrasos A "Thraso" is a stock character from Roman comedy representing a braggart soldier; here it refers to arrogant or loud-mouthed pretenders., or mocking men of letters, or those who are vicious against their own conscience (who, while they cannot rise by virtues, attempt to do so through crimes and the slandering of honorable men), or unskilled traveling quacks, who with their whitewashings... original: dealbatio; refers to superficial alchemical processes that merely bleached or coated metals to make them look like silver, rather than truly transmuting them.