Mirror of Lights.

There are many things pertaining to alchemy original: alkymiam. For some are conditions Requirements or necessary states of matter. which according to some are perpetual, and likewise some are instrumental. These secondary conditions are all those conditions which belong to the essence of the whole internal work. If the opposing parts are complete, they belong to the essence of the whole.

Material conditions

And the conditions are many, for there are material conditions and certain formal ones. The material conditions are all those things from which the internal work is made, such as metallic bodies, spirits, stones, flowers, limes original: calces; chemically altered powders produced by heating, ashes, powder, glass, iron dross original: samma feri / scoria ferri, wine vinegar, fresh water, human urine, and the urine of children, concerning all of which we must treat in order. Truly, the metallic bodies are gold, silver original: azentum, a variant of argentum, copper, iron, tin, and lead, which are called by the philosophers by the names of the planets. For the philosophers named gold the Sun; silver, the Moon; copper, Venus; iron, Mars; tin, Jupiter; and lead, Saturn. Of these bodies, some are perfect and some are imperfect. The perfect bodies are the Sun and the Moon. The imperfect bodies are Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. If you look at the imperfect parts, the imperfect bodies require for the work of alchemy that they be fermented with a strong spirit, and by these means the spirit dyes the bodies and transforms them into another [state], both red and white. Whence the perfect bodies, namely the Sun and Moon, are called the soul original: anima/aia, because from them and from the spirits the stone is made, changing dead bodies and transforming them into Sun and Moon.

And therefore Hermes says: "The stone," he says, "is not found except in an animated thing." If the imperfect bodies are required for alchemy, it is because through the artifice called alchemy they are led from corruption to health. If you look at the perfect parts, they are brought back.

Properties of the highest alchemy

If any flower should come from the imperfect bodies, the works are: quicksilver original: azentum vivum / argentum vivum, sulfur, orpiment original: anzipimentum / auripigmentum, and arsenic original: azesum. If it should be in the spirit, it is prepared so that it does not flee the fire; they make [gold and silver] from mercury and from ions, Moon from Venus and Saturn. If you wish me to speak briefly: through these, being fermented with the souls, all metals are transmuted into Sun and Moon, better than natural gold in all operations, as the spirit is able to endure through alchemy. They are not produced from adamant, and the gold of alchemy does not [corrupt] the human heart; it is not animated by the stone, and from it wounds are healed, which is not the case with natural gold. In all bird-like potentially "higher" or "volatile" operations, the soul remains in the metals and the spirit and in the colors until the end.

Properties of quicksilver

And finally, the spirit, namely quicksilver mercury, is a viscous water in the bowels of the earth, a stable white earth of a very clear color. It is a unique union... it is flat and does not easily adhere except by its own aquatic nature, although it has a viscous substance because of its purity, which obstructs its own path and does not permit it to adhere. And it is the mother of metals along with sulfur, namely the red stone of which it was said above. Quicksilver is found in the mountains and especially in closed veins original: cloacf vētibz / clausis venis. Its nature is cold and moist, and from it all metals are produced.