Introitus Apertus sentence Superior virtues in the inferior system are not poetically purposed. In his Open Entrance, A.E. Waite is more economical with a stint of rare heavenly conjunction.
As already said, I think the Open Entrance version by A.E. Waite could be a complex and often incorrect translation from Introitus Apertus due to his lack of adeptness. Indeed shortfalls occur in chapter III or the third too. Inaccuracies which instead make the difference between a great alchemist, Philalethes, and the Open Entrance translator.
Introitus Apertus’s third chapter is the first of four very high-risk ones dealing with different aspects of quite the same thing. Philalethes is here preparing the hidden Alchemy key of Mercurius Duplicatus and Magnet. Getting through these chapters will be a real “koan” or certification. This book is comparable to Tabula Smaragdina as far as authority is concerned. But since I decided to present all Introitus chapters in this blog (sometimes we do things because we didn’t know they were impossible), I think I’m going to have other occurrences to rhapsodize about. This time I would like to point to Philalethes scholar and exemplary latin writing. Indeed it is very difficult to find even a quite acceptable latin between baroque period authors. Merely Philalethes sometimes mistake stressing marks on the final syllable. And this makes him surely neither Italian nor Spanish (Philalethes’ real identity is shrouded in mystery).
Chapter Third or III
Title
Waite’s Open Entrance: On the Chalybs of Wises.
Latin Introitus Apertus: De Chalybe Sophorum
Chalybs is a relatively neglected term by most authors. As far as I know, Cosmopolite and Limojon ( and a very useful and quite unknown Salcerien Tourangeau) employ it. If you remember, Philalethes puts it to use in Introitus chapter 2 on Mercurius Philosophorum: “ We call it our Chaos, air, Luna (Moon) Chalybs, but still in many respects, because our material goes through different states and undergoes varied changes…”. So, it is clear enough we can identify it with Mercurius Philosophorum at the beginning of all its metamorphosis and transmutations. That’s to say Secret Fire or Spirit reduced in a Mercurius more fixed and less volatile. Or that strange substance from several chemical salts sublimated and passed through the first putrefaction (see an Opus Magnum scheme). The foundation of our work. Generally, in Introitus Apertus French translations, namely Entrée Ouverte, for example, in that one at my hand incorporated in tome fourth of “Biblioteque des Philosophes Alchimiques ou Hermetique” Paris 1754, Chalybs has been replaced by term “Acier” or Steel. And this cannot be to our surprise since any latin dictionary gives steel and sword for Chalybs-ybis. The Latin language does not provide other terms for steel, at least in my dictionary. Indeed its origin is from Chalybe or inhabitant of Pontus, a country well renowned, in the Roman age, for steel and sword forging. We know that the sword is an allegory for the dry way Mercurius Philosophorum and that Philalethes shows to love this problematic way, as well as knowing that back in the baroque age, “steel” was slang for the sword.
So the French translator makes an inaccuracy. To be on the safe side, Waite refuses to translate Chalybs and keeps it. The problem is that latin terms usually present more than a meaning. And then it is up to the reader. To cut it short, I doubt real Philalethes would be afraid to translate the term Chalybs in his English version. Indeed he has never proved to be in shortage of hermetic synonyms and allegories in his Introitus Apertus. I noticed that I mentioned Open Entrance and the French translation shares many insufficiencies; the last one is more accurate. On the left is the page from Entrée Ouverte.
But let’s go on with the chapter, in bold words and phrases in Open Entrance that do not match with Introitus Apertus.
Waite’s Open Entrance: “Our Chalybs is the true key of our Art, without which the Torch could in no wise be kindled, and as the true magi have delivered many things concerning it, so among vulgar alchemists there is great contention as to its nature”. Interpretative and summarizing, yet not improper.
Open Entrance: It is the ore of gold, the purest of all spirits; …
Latin Introitus Apertus: est auri minera, spiritus prae cunctis valde purus…
My verbatim translation: it is the gold’s mine, a spirit, earlier than all (that’s verbatim, while interpretative is: before all things), hugely not contaminate…
Ore of gold should be incorrect from a chemical point of view too. Indeed it is very exceptional to find a compound of gold in nature since an ore is a naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted. For example, stibine is an antimony ore. I ask myself how a skilled alchemist might describe Mercurius Philosophorum (which, I repeat, is a substance out of physical passages of state and that can be defined as an acceptable handling “base” or Spirit of Life of the whole mineral world) using a term that traditionally has never been a synonym for our “ Sperms”. Ancient believed that minerals literally were being born from mothers’ mines. And Mine, latin Minera, has been an allegory for mineral mother from ancient times. As for “ the purest of all spirits” it is common sense yet alchemically nonsense. For, literally, Spirit of Life/Mercurius is the ineffable primitive matter. Before all determinations. To you, the judgment.
Open Entrance: … a secret, infernal, and yet most volatile fire, the wonder of the world, the result of heavenly virtues in the lower world — for which reason the Almighty has assigned to it a most glorious and rare heavenly conjunction… Interpretative and summarizing, yet not improper.
Open Entrance: … even that notable sign whose nativity is declared in the East.
The wise men of old saw this star, and straightway they knew that a Great King was born in the world.
Latin Introitus Apertus: … virtutum superiorum in inferioribus systema, quare signo illum notabili notavit Omnipotens,cujus nativitas per Orientem in Horizonte hemisphaerii sui Philosophicum annuntiatur.
My verbatim translation: … superior virtues in the inferior system, in which sign the Almighty was noticed, whose birth is by means of Sun rising in the horizon of hemisphere…
Incredibly enough, my translation is purely verbatim or literal. Open Entrance and Entrée Ouverte are interpretative, not literal. I simply looked it up in my old high school latin dictionary (after having been studying Alchemy for more than 25 years now). Nowadays, common sense is no longer Roman age common sense. And Baroque age people were so far from classical antiquity too. But not Philalethes.
This wording is not poetically purposed. “Superior virtues in the inferior system” we have already encountered a similar sentence in my previous post about Fulcanelli quoting Philalethes’s fourth chapter on External Influences: “ As Philalethes writes about the union of the superior virtue with things below”. Open Entrance author is more economical with a stint of rare heavenly conjunction. Mercurius Philosophorum is a powerful magnet for the Secret Fire coming from the starry cosmos. And Works are carried out by night. Inside our vessels, we can watch multiple processes; as usual, they occur in nature. To some extent, Alchemy is closer to biology than chemistry. But pay attention here since the rule of three ( one allegory for at least three different concepts) may intend a more suitable Solve et Coagula process to obtain our Mercurius Philosophorum inside a well-stoppered vessel. Up and down, and finally, after Labors of Hercules, we get our Spirit. Furtherly Mercurius Philosophorum, or Azoth, is more fixed and thus more provided with Superior virtues item, instead of a too volatile Mercurius. Still maintaining dissolving capabilities.
Philalethes has not conceived his Introitus Apertus as a book giving sequential pieces of symbolic information, but he rather focuses on substance attributes. He does not describe the moment in which Primitive Mercurius turns into Mercurius and then Mercurius Philosophorum. As well as Fulcanelli, he loves to retake concepts and refuses to be systematic. In this chapter, Philalethes examines Mercurius or Universal Dissolvent possibilities as transforming cooking or solving agents. Or coming out of the dark.
Horizonte or Horizon, which Open Entrance so happily neglects, is the line at which the earth’s surface and the sky appear to meet, but also a synonym for Mercurius Philosophorum. Pernety, in his Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique Paris 1754, comes to rescue: “Horizon, Nom que les Philosophes Hermétiques ont donnè au mercure des Sages, parce qu’il est le principe et la base de l’or philosophique”. So: Horizon, the name given by hermetic philosophers to Mercurius of Wises or Philosophorum, for it is the base of philosophical gold (see Basilius Valentinus Azoth or the way to make the hidden Philosophers Gold). Mercurius Philosophorum, as unveiled by the Philalethes in Introitus Apertus first chapter or I, is flavus or yellowish-golden. Hemisphere is synonymous with vessel container or microcosm. Thus this little King or Regulus will be born inside a hemisphere or vessel. As for Oriens-tis is Sun rising, or Light rising, the God of Sun, the God of Light, and lastly East.
Of Course, Mercurius is the white coming out of putrefaction black, but I know you want to hear something different. The ultimate sign of the resonance-like earth-sky connection is a shining star appearing in the vessel. Fulcanelli extensively talks about it. Pay attention now: per Orientem in Horizonte hemisphaerii. So, is there a place, a position, inside the vessel where a little star does appear? Is the coming white a shining one? And is its position eastward? Fulcanelli sometimes contradicts himself and says the star is brightening purple. So, well after the operations described in Introitus chapter third. I believe Stars in the cosmos are far more important than this little curiosity. Anyway, you may have a try.
Open Entrance: This star was seen by the wise men of old, and straightway they knew that a Great King was born in the world. When you see its constellation, follow it to the cradle, and there you will behold a beautiful Infant.
Latin Introitus: Tu, cum ejus astra conspexeris, sequere ad usque cunabula, ibi videbis infantem pulchrum,
My verbatim translation: You, that have watched these Stars converging, from its ( Mercurius Philosophorum becoming little King) place of birth, over there you saw the little baby.
One star has come from the vessel, another from another vessel, and another from the starry cosmos. Have we to name all this a constellation? Of course, we are talking about shining babies, quite little stars.
Open Entrance: Remove the impurities, look upon the face of the King’s Son; open your treasury, give to him gold, and after his death, he will bestow on you his flesh and blood, the highest Medicine in the three monarchies of the earth.
Interpretative, yet correct. Yes, we will sow philosophical or metallic gold in our mercurius philosophorum (see Atalanta Fugiens & Terra Alba Foliata) and then let putrefy all. And a new king will be born. But… what does constellation mean?
In the end, it is clear enough that Sword or Chalybs is a synonym for the Male Mercurius Philosophorum in Alchemical marriage. The one with gold inside.
Introitus Apertus vs Waite’s Open Entrance chapter 2.