Augurello and the Art of Making Gold. First Book

I mean to add: vapors caverns are fire from sky, in fact our poet calls them liquors of fire. But here Augurello brings to subject the superstitious idea of a material liquid Mercurius, due to the observation that all metals, when melted, are liquid. While our Mercurius is an impalpable thing (1). Nevertheless Augurello seems to know all that, in fact he soon points at the fool practice to try to extract gold from this melted material. But he fails to add that if his melted material undergoes repeated melting processes can give out our real Mercurius, seed of all metals. This being a real immortal work, as the same Augurello evidences.

To the same extent he points at the practice used by Hannibal to get rid of rocks blocking the passages through Alps: a very simple and ancient system to pour a mixed of vinegar and common salt through fissures causes the rocks to break.

Pay attention at this apparently meaningless sentence, since it may hidden a very simple operative method to break a rock into pieces ( in the case we would try to then sublimate it).

In fact after this phrase on Annibal’s works Augurello dedicates some pages to the beauty and utility of Water which, with all his bourns, does make a sea. This water, the author goes on, does give birth to plants and especially to some gold plants.

Of courses Augurello is not so naive to really think a gold plant may be in existence, but if we substitute the word Water with the word “ Mercurius”, then all should appear clearer. Our poet soon makes his intentions more explicit: “ this water, golden in its essence, is of the same color of Stars in Sky” .

Augurello presents Sulphur, speaking of its intrinsic heat, and Quicksilver/Mercurius. He says that, joined together, the two do form bodies.

We have already seen that concept (2). But our author here fails to say that Sulphur and Mercurius are two different stages of the same thing.

Augurello goes on with the interesting observations that when planting (3) the seed of all metals we always get gold or silver from this cultivation. He try to explain the enigma saying that all metals are gold and silver but loaded with coarse and waste material. And to this extent he exaggerates saying that all melted metals are gold color.

So, in his opinion, gold and silver are just purified metals. Which is not true of course. But the fact fact of the transmutation is always in gold and silver is a real enigma for a modern alchemist too.

He retake with the state of the art of making gold telling of a “Euganean”, Padova, habit: the inhabitants use to detach the incrustation from long aging wine barrels ( barrels tartar). They put put in a neat and well closed earthen pot, place it in a furnace to boiling and cooking over nights and days. Then they break this white earth into pieces getting sparks of silver and gold. But, Augurello remarks, we cannot follow recipes we don’t know, one has to follows his/her way. In fact, he saw a man trying another path: he put pieces of silver and bronze with a very hot white salt and a tile powder. He mixed well with his hands, adding some other powders. He made some little pills ad put them in a pot and then into a furnace within a fire like Souls in the hellfire.

Augurello’s analogy with the hell is not a just poetic occurrence. As many times we can find our preliminary works compared to the infernal regions. In fact is not a chance occurrence that sometimes Souls and Metallic Souls, or Sulphuri, are represented by similar symbols.

In facts Aurello describes what happened then analogizing with Souls suffering and the inner of Etna volcano. Nine days and nine nights did last this inferno, then he took hold of the red hot pot and cooled down with cold water. He broke into small pieces and put them inside a vial, pour over some water which power separate the gold from silver and it melted into a greenish water. As much is melted by this power water, so this powder is full of power.

The lines are not clear, of course. Really confusing I may say. Even the verses. The pot on fire for nine days is rather intelligible and real. The following processes are to be taken with care. Augurello cannot say or know anything. Be aware that the result of replicated sublimations is called “our dissolving water” or Mercurius.

Thanks to this Water the metals in small pieces can be distilled. Then Augurello analyzes the resistance of gold to common dissolvents as Aqua Regia or Fortis. In the sense that gold is nor really dissolved by these two acids. That’s to say it is not reduced in its “seeds”. For an alchemical seed is not material. Thus we have to search for another dissolving substance: the water out of minerals sublimation. Augurello says that we need to find our dissolving water from bourns other than common. Since our precious water is from the Sky. And this water is also seed of all metals. It can make all metals liquid. But bear in mind that this “Water” can take the material appearance of a powder. This celestial powder can convert all metals in gold indeed. The secrets of nature are to be discovered by means of a oven, as Hermes has taught us.