In this paragraph we can find the whole alchemical operative theory. Mercurius can also be a destructive spirit.
“There are three subjects in the composition of Magisterium: it is the one and same subject matter that we call remote, proximate or proxima, and very close. Philosophers have called it with these names because it is triple in the operation. When we take it away from the mine we call it remote or raw matter. When we have it separated from impurities is proximate, and finally when it is reduced to be ready for Alchemy is very close. We must take the remote one to obtain Mercurius Philosophorum and abandon the proximate matter and we should not imitate those who work without principles as they take on the proximate, not knowing the price of the remote matter”.
The working state of the remote matter enriches it with analysis and magnetization. And Secret Fire/Mercurius is greatly improved by that (7)”.
“All Philosophers have told us that we must take the Prima Materia and that we must look into the belly of Aries. But we should not confuse the philosophical ram with the astronomical one”.
I think Stuart Chevalier could spare us this sentence, since it’s rather confusing and inaccurate. At this point she explains nothing. And when one won’t go any further into a subject it would be better not to speak at all. Very Fulcanelli style indeed. Necessary external influences or signatures cannot be resumed in that way (8). But further down we shall be able to understand Stuart Chevalier signification.
The Elements, page 26: “Philosophers have agreed to represent the four elements with figures. They painted Water in the form of a dragon, Air as a bird, Fire under that of an angel and Earth under that of a ram. Water gives life to earth, Earth being the vessel that contains Water, if the whole Earth is the pot for water it goes without saying that Water inhabits Earth. Philosophers have chosen the ram to represent the earth, thus it is clear that the water inhabiting the earth will be the belly of the very earth. Visit the interior (entrails) of earth, Hermes says, and you will find there the hidden stone”
Or V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Now we can make out what Stuart Chevalier did mean above for ram. All that is about Solve et Coagula operations (9).
“It is essential to know the quality of the elements as well as quantity ….. one cannot find Earth otherwise than into Water and water is not found but in the earth, that’s to say in the cold. This is primarily to convert Water into the Air, so Water will convert the opposite element of fire. Then if you want to convert Heat into Water you should converted heat into cold and thus fire will become Earth, which is its middle element, but to do this one need to convert the dry of heat into water”.
Dissolving, subliming, fixing, dissolving again, heating and cooling. In this way Secret Fire will come out to surface.
“On Water: here we’re not talking about ordinary water but the philosophical one, that is, that one stripped of all vulgar parts of the vulgar elements, through a philosophical manipulation. When it is so purified it can be considered a true spirit because it contains all that is necessary for the Magisterium ( look up in the site dictionary). This spirit need be free of his body by means of repeated purgations till seven and often times over”.
Purgations or distillations, or sublimations. Pay attention here, because a dove must become an eagle (10).
On Air, page 29: “when you will have the philosophical water, you will also have philosophical air, which is the water vapor. And you will have a pure and philosophical spirit, with whom you will do wonderful things if you discover the secret in within. Geber says that this spirit has something dry, hence the air contains a philosophical fire and a virginal land with which they can do wonders”.
An element turns into another, and every dissipation of matter will enhance Secret Fire.
On Fire, page 30: “Pontanus wrote a great treatise on philosophical fire, but few are able to understand it. The philosophical fire is the fire and ferment of fermentation, which is caused by the elevation of sulphur particles. It is impossible to cause a fermentation without having broken and opened a thing. And nothing can ferment without a sweet liqueur, since acids of salt nitre and common salt cannot ferment at all. If fermentation goes beyond the prescribed period, the saline particles will rise and dominate over the sulphur parts resulting in a distilled vinegar.”
The fermentation here involved is both a common one and a dissolution in Mercurius.
“It is impossible to acquire a fiery spirit without fermentation, after which three things are resulting: the feces, the middle substance, the acidic substance and the spiritual”.
And if arithmetic is not an opinion we have 4 things. But as Stuart Chevalier knows quite well, a substance between feces and the middle one will be discarded in the end.
“Nothing can burn or ignite in a matter which is not open, or in a closed vessel: in fact, closed coals go off if deprived of air”
……Stuart Chevalier is talking of Putrefaction, both chemical and alchemical, which are performed in presence of air.
”Nothing flames and burns which is not a grease and sulphurous substance. If combustion is beyond the time necessary for a fermentation, the saline parts rise and dominate saline over sulphides which from coal become acid salts, such as soot. After combustion of a substance it remains coals, ashes and soot, since oily ones have rarified and become flames and then soot. Another part stays in the ashes, where the salt alkali is collected, which is nothing more than a highly condensed and concentrated sulphur. While the volatile salt is in the soot, because its sulfur content is very condensed and concentrated. When feces are earthy after fermentation they have the power to attract the spirit. We can say that fermentation and combustion share the same goal and are like a single method which gets more rarefy, more subtle and alter the mixed”.
Don’t panic, please go and see my post on chemical operations by Glaser and look up at Fermentation term. Then you may find interesting what Lancillotti says about extraction without distillation. Fermentation is performed by means of a natural and inner mixed fire. Of course, back at eighteenth century, to a chemist’s eye there was little or no difference between a chemical exothermic reaction and the alchemical cooking by Secret Fire/Mercurius even on a mere chemical calcinating proceeding. All we have to do here is to believe in the existence of a strange an ineffable kind of fire extracted from electronic clouds. Be aware that our alchemical salts are generally collected after a first fermentation. In this paragraph we have to read Secret Fire where Sulphur and Spirit are involved. And only an extreme magnetization of not volatile salts, as soot, can give the huge amount of Secret Fire we need.
When, like ancient alchemists, we operate in a rather chaotic way, repeating processes, careless of any molecular purity, and according to a theory of spirits and souls extraction………well, chemistry really becomes an opinion. Stuart Chevalier, like most ancient alchemists, doesn’t perform in a systematic way, but rather literally moving behind matter transformations in vessels. Very unlikely they strictly came after an Opus Magnum scheme. But above and beyond a comparison between the two kind of fires, chemical and alchemical, pay attention to salts extraction from first fermentation.
To be continued at Stuart Chevalier, Lessons on Fire.
- See Also Basilius Valentinus, Salt, Azoth or Philosophers Gold;
- See also Blaise de Vigenère or Eros, Psyche & a New Alchemical Body;
- See also Splendor Solis Multiplications and/or Kamala Jnana from Black to White or Atalanta Fugiens & the Golden Apples or Artephius & the Secret Book;
- See also Weidenfeld & Basilius Oleum Vetriolis;
- In Gnostic Gems & the art of drawing spirits we can find an introduction to the heart topic;
- See also Guido Montanor & Latin Verb Tingo-Tinxi;
- See also Archarion & Analysis inside a Mortar;
- See also Thesaurus Hermeticum & the Dry Pythagorean River, or Fulcanelli & External Influences or Hortulus Hermeticus & two Starry Goats;
- See also Basilius Valentinus & Solve et Coagula;
- See also Dorneus and the need for two eagles;