Mirror of Lights.

Page 7

...infected and blackened by hope, and having found the waters infected and turbulent, they were thus desolated and exhausted, and despaired of the whole art.

¶ The 6th vision is that some performed good and pure sublimationsSublimation: The process of heating a substance until it becomes a vapor and then collecting the purified solid that forms upon cooling., but when testing the powder, it was clearly of no value. Wherefore they adulterated copper by adding haematiteoriginal: "haematitem"; a reddish-black iron oxide mineral. and aetitesoriginal: "etites"; also known as "eagle-stones," these are hollow geodes believed to have magical or medicinal properties. in place of silver; by whitening the copper in this way, they deceived themselves and others.

¶ The 7th vision is that some sublimated "spirits" In alchemy, "spirits" usually refer to volatile substances like mercury, sulfur, or arsenic. fully and fixedFixation: The process of making a volatile substance stable so that it no longer evaporates or escapes when heated. them, along with whatever else they did, but the substance would not penetrate the metals and would not tint them.

¶ The 8th vision is that some treated spirits that were fully sublimated and fixed with a penetrating oil; it had the power of ingressionIngression: The ability of an alchemical elixir to "enter" and permeate a base metal to transform its inner nature. into metals. They added gold in place of silver, and thus tinted copper into an "alchemical metal" original: "alchymiam"; here referring to a simulated or synthetic precious metal. which was as cheap as silver in its whiteness and remained malleable up to the 3rd examinationExamen: A trial or assay, usually involving intense heat, to test the purity of a metal., but after the 3rd examination, the white color vanished and it became red copper.

¶ Notwithstanding these objections, this science which is called alchemy is true and is the highest art, provided that those who are perfected in it work through the "true roots."

1. First, by fully sublimating and fixing the spirits.
2. Then, preparing solutions, fermentations, and distillations from the powders.
3. After this, coagulating the distilled waters.
4. Next, whitening the calxesCalx: The powdery residue (oxide) left after a metal or mineral has been roasted or "calcined." and the calxes of metals for the work, and reddening the red ones.
5. Afterwards, reducing the whitened and reddened calxes back into masses of metal.
6. Finally, in a red mass with red...