These “recipe” have been taken from what Archarion states to be a secret Testamentum Fraternitatis Roseae et Aureae Crucis, in appendix of “La Via della Vera Alchimia 1994.
Recipes are always interesting to read. Even if used methods might seem to us unorthodox. I wanted to point at your attention the grinding practice inside a mortar. In fact alchemical Analysis or Magnetization is also enhanced by the quick changes of state inside a crystal.
Of course, in chemistry, the grinding practice is preferably performed inside glass mortars, not marble ones, which we can see some specimens in the pics. But this was just for aesthetic reasons. Nevertheless, till the beginning of seventeenth century chemists did not disdain to use marble mortars. Quercetanus was one of them. As for the manuscript, we will also ask why here Main Work lacks a positive distinction with preparatory works. Theory is a thing, practice another. Not all Mercurius Philosophorum have enough Fire inside to cook. Anyway take notice of grinding practice. What are days and seasons alternating if not a very slow change of state?
Alchemy magnetization or analysis or Secret Fire coming out from raw matter or Materia Tertia: “est rerum naturalium transmutatio, formarum suarum in alias alteratio, ut metallorum & lignorum in lapides, aut in vitrum” or transmutation is proper to natural things, alteration of own forms, as metals and wood in stone or glass. Dorneus Congeries Paracelsicae. Transmutation of four elements into one another. Archarion also provided a very useful Opus Magnum scheme in the same “La Via della Vera Alchimia“.
But let’s get on Archarion’s document now. I chose the second chapter entitled “ How is possible to prepare Quintessence, mother of all things, drawing from above and from below” . There are rumors around reporting the original manuscript being available in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. This is my translation from italian edition of Von Wahrer Alchemie, 1983. You can find the translation of the full chapter at Testamentum Fraternitatis Roseae et Aureae Crucis. Part 3.
Now, if you want to search for the spiritus universalis magneticus, bear in mind: it is obtained in various ways. First: it hovers in the air; second; in the dew, rain, snow and hail. The fastest thing is to get it from rainwater, in fact the spiritus mundi moves down frequently to keep in life all the created things: so it is hidden in the spirit that weaves and creates all the spirits from which all things begin. And here it hovers in the water.
With fir wood have some large barrels made containing 12-16 buckets ( around 1000 liters) of water, and cover well. In spring take rainwater into, and when the weather is fine keep them uncovered under the sun and moon; in fact: Patrem ea res habet solem, matrem lunam ( this thing has the sun as father and moon as mother). This water is particularly fertile because it contains in all the superior forces, and finally, when appears Venus swimming in the sea, that’s to say it turns green, then it becomes magnetic. Then replace the water which received sun beams with other rainwater, when it rains and the weather is bad you have to cover it. In addition, the barrels must be kept in a hidden place where no one can get to. After four to eight weeks when it starts to putrefy and a mucous substance got formed, cover the barrels, because in them you have, concealed, the spiritus and the beginning of all things in the world.
Take two large alembics, put them in a balneum-mariae, set a helmet and a gathering container, fix them well, and distillate one part. Keep the distillate, tightly closed, in stone vessels. Then distill another part and preserve this one. Leave the third part (one third of the liquid) in the alembic. When everything has cooled pour on the liquor other fresh rain water, set the helmet and the water container, fix them well and distill again a part of Phlegm. Pour other fresh water and keep going until you’ve consumed all the water and distilled everything but some 12 measures of liquor, which will be red-brown. Remember: you have to distill all the slime and all the earth that are produced in the putrefaction, so you not only have a pure land, but also a red sulfur, the real Hermes fish without bone swimming in this fiery salty sea. Keep well the residual liquor. Then take your spirit and have rectified: the remained phlegm is of no use. When you have extracted your spiritus, except 2-3 measures, keep it carefully because it is very volatile and penetrating. Then take the red-brown liquid/liquor, pour into a retort, put it in a bath of cinders, cover with the container and distill everything but a dense liquor. Let cool and pour the second part of the distillate, which will concentrate again. Let rest for a day and a night, then distill again. This time, however, distill until a residual liquor denser than the first will remain. Pour the distillate again, leave for two days and two nights, so it will soften again. When you see the earth separating, pour all the clear solution in another retort.
Close tight your retort with the earth and conserve it with care. Place the retort with the liquor in a bath of sand or better cinders, set a water container, fit it well, and distill four measures. Keep the distillate, pour the red residual liquor into a glass, cover it well, put it in a cool place and see if crystals form. When crystals of various colors are formed, decant the liquor into a crooked, pick up crystals with a wood pliers and keep away from dust; add again a measure of spiritus to liquor and distill in cinders a little more of a measure, add the distillate to the previous one. Place the vessel in a cold place and let for other crystals to be formed, take them and add the residual spiritus to the remained liquor, distill again in cinders a little more of a measure, put the liquor in the cellar, waiting for the formation of new crystals. And add the distilled to the previous. When the crystals are formed, decant the liquor, take the crystals and keep with care. Distill again a part of liquor and wait for the crystals to be formed. Repeat this operations for all the crystals to be formed; In this way you have the vitriolum microcosmi.
If some red is remained stuck, pour it over again all that spiritus spirtuosus that you have distilled from the liquor and rinse vessels with it. Then pour the remaining one on the earth you have put aside. Pour it all on the liquor in which no more crystals are formed and distill it into a retort. Towards the end increase the flame so that the bottom of the retort should be red hot. It does not matter if it cracks. Remove the retort from the heat, break it and collect all the red-brown earth, grind it to powder, put it in an alembic, pour the distilled spirit over, and extract it, so a white earth will settle on the bottom. Pour the red extract into a clean glass. Put the remained earth into a little alembic, set it in the sand and distill all the remained humidity until total drying, so you have prepared the sigillum Hermetis. Also distill the red liquor until a thick red juice, preserves the super distillate spirit. Then take all crystals, grind them very well and put in an alembic. Also add the thick red fiery liquor as well as a measure of the last distilled water.
Place the alembic on a moderate heat. So everything will soften. Let rest for four days and four nights, so crystals will liquefy. Then put the glass in a cool place, so other crystal will form, which look completely different. When crystals will be formed, decant the liquor, and pick up the crystal. Distill the half of the liquor, put again what the residual in cinders and so on. Repeat until all the crystals will be formed. Liquefy them again and if you do not have any saturated water, take what I told you to put aside after the first distillation, liquefy the crystals and wait for them to be formed again. Repeat the operation several times until they melt into the fire as a wax, so you have prepared the sal sapientiae, the strongest of all things, as Hermes says, starting from the macrocosm you have prepared the lapis medicinalis, a spiritual rock. Also it is confirmed what Hermes says, that what is above is as what is below, and with it you can perform wonders.
Take half an ounce of these crystals and grind them up with a dram (1/8 ounce) of gold, put them together in a phial, seal it and set it all together in our athanor until colors appear. With other crystals you can enhance your universal stone, so you get the lapis medicinalis fixus.
But you can also do this: take your crystals of first order (sal sapientiae) grind them very well, to two ounces of this add one ounce of purified mercury and put them together in an alembic. Set a helm and heat with a fire that has the power to sublimate. Add the sublimate to the residual and sublime again. Repeat until everything has risen, except few faeces. Then pick up the sublimate and sublime it alone for several times. Now you have again two ways in front of you: the dry one with gold and a humid one, after you have made the sublimate to liquefy in a cellar. Treat this liquor as I taught you for the urine as it’s the same thing, so you will get the lapis medicinalis again. Nevertheless you can also do this: take your sublimate and grind up to powder, then with it also grind your fiery red sulfur, and sublime together, so the sublimed sulphur will increase with it, and you have the fire of nature. You can pass this fire through colors alone or distill it together with sublimate by coobations, after that you have let soften (becoming an oil) the sublimate in a cellar. So you get a fiery liquor.
But you can transform your crystals in a liquor (in a steam bath), even at the very beginning and distill by coobations. Then pour this liquor on red sulfur and extract it, carefully decant the clear solution, then pick up the white earth and put it in a phial. If this earth weighs a dram you have to pour on it four drams of liquor. Then close the phial and place it in the athanor. Heat for four weeks with a first degree fire, so the mass begins to turn black. If not, then you did not properly operated. Therefore, past four weeks, let the fire of first degree acting for another four weeks, so you get the right velvety black, the philosophical black. These four weeks past increase the heat, but only lightly. You have to know that the first degree fire must correspond to the heat produced by a brooding hen, and if you would increase heat too much, yellow and white appear before and eventually would become red, that’s to say that newborn white will burn out. Bear in mind however, that after black color the glass should to be immersed in the cinders but not very deeply, so that matter is still high in the glass. The heat of second degree must correspond to the maximum heat from summer sun.
After about four weeks the tail of peacock will appear. Once you have seen many colors increase fire by a degree, so that the glass does not get red-hot and keep it for another four weeks, so all the colors will pass and matter will gradually become dazzling white. As it becomes more white sink the glass in the cinders, increase fire again and keep it so for another four weeks, so it will turn red peach. Increase heat for further four weeks so red-peach becomes a red-blue and a king appears, the substance in the glass center coagulates till become a ruby: so you have the lapis medicinalis, Which you can see represented in the image.
You can improve the lapis if you do this: take your red king and grind to powder, put it again into a phial, pour your liquor on, what is needed for the substance to reach a creamy texture, and warm it by making it through all colors: This is a shorter process, however: you have to adjust the degrees of warmth to the colors that appear. I only advise you not to soak-wet the matter too much as well as not heating it up too fast. By repeating this process till consuming all the liquor you will make fixed the blessed stone of the wise masters.
But even better is the following method: Take four drams of your liquor and dissolve in it a dram of very well calcined gold. Pour this solution and pass through all colors. It is safer because it is moistened with the fiery red liquor.
And if you want to go even faster, take your demi-fixed crystals (sal sapientiae) and divide into two equal parts. But before that you need to unite their fiery red sulphur solution to them, as I taught. Then close in a phial one part of the crystals, after having broken four drams of them (half an ounce) and along with a dram (1 / 8 of an ounce) of pure gold, well calcined and ground, and pass through all colors. When the tincture has become stable, take it, grind it up to powder and add to it a dram of fresh crystals. Put all again in a phial and let it go through colors. When the substance is solid-fixed again grind a new dram of crystals, Mix it with all and repeat. Go on like that until all the salt consumes, so you’ll have the lapis medicinalis.
Now, if you want it to acquire metallic properties, take a metal whatever, grind to powder, put it in an alembic and pour over an ultra rectificated spirit of wine, extract, pour the whole bright solution in a clean glass and distill from it the entire wine spirit, in the end it remains only a red powder. Put this in a clean phial and let it go through colors in our athanor for four weeks, after which you will get a red carbuncle (as the image at the top). Remove the glass from heat and in your hand you will have the holy stone of the wise masters which shines as a carbuncle”.