The 6th Chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

On the Air.

Chapter VI. On the Air.

The Air is considered to be one of the elements. I say What is air? that the Air is the first and most subtle part of the World-Slime The "World-Slime" (Welt-Schleim) is a term for the Materia Prima, the chaotic, primordial raw material of the universe. or the First Matter. This matter was moved within the World-Slime at the beginning of Creation by the inflowing power of the Divine Word. Because this movement generated warmth, the air was raised up and, through expansion, was as if cut off from Water and Earth, so that it occupied the space all around the Water and the Earth. In this air The Mercury of the Philosophers lies hidden the Mercury or Spirit of the Sages; it is to be found there in its pure state, as if in its vehicle original: vehiculo; in alchemy, a "vehicle" is a substance that carries or transmits a spiritual essence. and proper home. Water and Earth are indeed also provided with it, but the Earth receives it only through the Water and (the vehicle of the air), or through the vapors from the Water, and the Water receives it from the constant flow of the Air. And we cannot obtain or make visible this spiritual Salt of the Sages, or their Mercury, unless we present to it a fiery magnet By means of a fiery magnet. to lay be-

fore The German text splits the word vorlegen (to lay before or present) across the pages.; into which it gently entwines itself, provided the magnet is full of life and power without being harsh. Afterward, it appears to the artist in a general form, without yet having assumed any specific shape.

Therefore, those err greatly who place a calcined To "calcine" means to reduce a solid to powder by heating it, often to remove volatile components. or ash-salt, or calcined stones and bones, into the air using strange, artificial instruments, hoping thereby to catch the Mercury of the Sages or the universal Spirit-Salt. For they obtain nothing that serves their purpose, because the lyes, alkalis original: alkalia, oils original: olea, or calcined stones, during their exposure to the weather, take on nothing from the air except its sharpness and acidic parts, along with its vehicle. Thus, from every lye-salt original: sale lixivio, a saltpeter original: nitrum is produced, though it is purer and better than the common kind. Now, while it is true that such saltpeter can be changed into a volatile salt through the artist's skill and diligence, it is still not the Mercury of the Sages, or the universal Salt of Life and Spirit. It has often surprised me that people generally believe the teachings of one or the other on this matter; if one possessed the true Salt of Tartar made through calcination and without volatile addition original: Sal Tartari per Calcinationem factum & sine additione volatili, then wondrous things could be accomplished with it in metals and minerals original: metallis & mineralibus. Indeed, it cannot be denied, and would be against my experience, to say that one could not—

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