In Traité du Feu et du Sel, or Treatise on Fire and Salt, by Blaise de Vigenère, victims of Salt and sacrifices to fire and by fire are spread all over.
An expert in ancient languages, a career diplomat, an alleged developer of powerful cryptography codes, and an accomplished chemist – his description of benzoin distillation was the first to be published – Blaise de Vigenère’s interest in Alchemy couldn’t but be supposed.
Traité du Feu et du Sel was published posthumously in 1618 by Abel Angelier – never was the name of a publisher of hermetic books so apt – to an extent we can hardly believe this was a real denomination: Abel, strangely enough, is the name of the first biblical victim. And Angelier in french means “ of angels”. In a textual note, monsieur Angelier recapitulated: “Among all the sir de Vigenère’s accomplished outputs, that others after his death decided to offer to the public, we have encountered this Treatise on Fire and Salt whose doctrine was so beautiful and uncommon…”
It has come unknown to us who choose the title’s book, cover, and the motto on the cover frame, namely: “ Sacrum Pingue (1) Dabo Nec Macrum Sacrificabo” or I will give away this rich shrine, and still I’m going to sacrifice very little. Compared to the hermetic literature of the age, the cover engraving is uncommon indeed: a person knelt towards an altar-like construction in which substantial flames are discharging smoke, and an angel is either being delivered by fire or hovering over. As we will see further, “angel” is likely released or better set free by fire.
Here Blaise de Vigenère gives us a powerful epitome of what Alchemy is and is for. Of course, in this image, all hints have been hidden among biblical-allowed iconographies. As we go in the reading, we will always see Blaise de Vigenère covering up alchemical axioms under Zohar, old and new Testament, Greek philosophy, mythology, and literature excerpts. Especially those too enigmatic not to go neglected.
Treatise on Fire and Salt start by choosing a Pythagorean statement: “Certainly Pythagoras has well understood Moses words when he chooses these two statements: “Ne parler pas de Dieu sans lumière, et d’appliquer en tous ses sacrifices des offrandes du Sel.” Or never speak of God without light, and to apply salt offerings in all his sacrifices.
On second page, de Vigenère takes an inscrutable sentence from Saint Marcus Gospel: “ Tout homme sera sellé de feu et toute victime sera sallée de sel”. Very weird expression, indeed. I cannot translate from the original greek produced by de Vigenère. Still, just from imprecise french, I was compelled to double-check the latin version by J.J. Heimann in Theatrum Chemicum Zetzneri 1661, tome sixth. Indeed: ”Omnis homo igne salietur et omnis victima sale salietur”. Translation: Every man is to be salted by fire, and every victim is to be salted by salt.
Blaise de Vigenère examines:” now we know that there are men, victims, fire and salt. That can be reduced in two categories. Men and victims, salt and fire”. This allows one to observe that the victim might be inside the man as fire could be extracted from salt.
Let’s go on trying to find out more. On page four, we find an excerpt from Corinth. 15:” The first earth man is terrestrial, the second sky man is celestial, the first man Adam has been made in the living soul, the last Adam in giving life spirit. So man is an image of the world ”. Thus we have been introduced to a sort of Trinity. Namely molecular support, a living soul, and a spirit of life. That’s what Alchemy is, indeed. That’s to say, a Soul to be extracted from its body, a spirit of life-giving life to the body. Has victim something to do with this trinity?”
Page six: ” Firmament is our body, which Zohar designate as Temple and the apostle (uncertain) says you were God’s Temple. While Sky is other than firmament and in fact the first one is spiritual. So man is double: animal or firmament, spiritual or sky. Te non esse mortalem, sed corpus hoc , or you are not mortal, but your body is. As Cicero said.”
Then Blaise de Vigenère describes the body as water and the spirit as fire. The first is Cain, and the second one is Abel. And Abel is the victim. Cain offers fruits to fire, which resolve in wet vapors. At the same time, Abel’s sacrifices resolve again in a double spiritual substance: spiritual and potential. So there we got to the trinity, as above, once more. And here, let me an off-topic. De Vigenère here quotes a quite useless book, but for its title. And in fact, the quotation seems to us of little value, but for the title: “Fasciculus Myrrha”. Pay attention because Blaise de Vigenère is the first author to unveil benzoin distillation.
But let’s get back to the main topic: man is nothing more and nothing less than an immortal Soul. That may sound like a banal religious sentence. I said banal because, in religious beliefs, that concept generally goes without practical consequences (and luckily for us!). But we are alchemists, pragmatic people. We do love to join philosophy with chemistry. Be aware that, in Alchemy, every living being, from minerals to humankind, possesses a Soul. For us, the immortality of the Soul also means the conservation of a metallic Soul inside a convenient glass, liquid, powder, or wax substance. We call all that “Secret Fire” or perfect Sulphur son of Mother-Mercurius. Or Philosophers Stone. This Soul then will be made resonating with the Pythagorean River.
De Vigenère goes further. “Extendens coelum sicut pellem” or sky extension is surely skin or pelt, as you like. Pay attention: “ as sky covers all things, so skin coats man or any other living being. Yes, for a mineral is coated in its skin too.
Thus we are allowed to understand that alchemical skin maybe not be the proteinaceous specimen we are used to thinking of. That provides evidence that H.S Blavatsky’s doctrines have been around since the sixteenth century in Europe in hermetic milieus. But we will see in the next post on “ skins” that this enveloping concept may be aesthetically agreeable but alchemically incorrect. Nevertheless, Blaise de Vigenère is not incorrect when saying that fire, our Secret Fire, has to take care of skins-souls-sulfurs while salts with bodies. Or, better, that bodies are to be reduced to salts (“Terra es et in terram reverteris” or you are earth and earth you have to return), from which fire, our Secret Fire, extracts victims or Souls. Yet it is not so easy ( if to anyone that might seem easy), for bodies reduced to salts also contain Spirit of Life. And that’s somewhat different from Souls. In fact (as seen from an Opus Magnum scheme) Spirit/Mercurius is extracted from Salts, and Soul is the next phase. To put it simply, Spirit of Life/Mercurius is a synonym for Secret Fire which in turn is a synonym for Fire. So, yes, the Fire performing the sacrifice is the Spirit of Life.
De Vigenère quotes Pythagoras’ golden verses: “If you leave this mortal body, you pass in an ineffable and free air, and an immortal god you will be”. Most of the time, alchemists help metals to reach this state, not human beings. Our Philosophers Stone, reduced to its essence, is (perhaps) a metallic soul and spirit of life together. Deuterium, 4: “ Our God is a dissolving Fire, but there are two fires, and one dissolves the other”. Secret Fire, as aforementioned, is the Spirit of life turning the Soul into a victim. Moon and Sun, Woman and Man.
“Inside this ravaging flame are two lights: one white and bright with a blue-black root; the other is red and attached to the piece of wood it consumes”. Blue-black is the first putrefaction out of which our white Mercurius will come. Red is coming after, is Soul. So attached to the body and yet more difficult to extract than Mercurius (see a Kamala Jnana introduction to Main Work).
“Salt and Fire are not unfamiliar to one another. Al Jabair says: “ Ex omni enim re combusta sit Sal” or Salt results from every burned, calcined thing. Salt is like a lantern; the flame is fire” In fact, inside salts, we have Secret Fire, divided into Spirit of Life and Soul.
We finally get to page 40, where Blaise de Vigenère reports a passage from Rhases: “Rhases said that there are three natures, three fires and consequently three salts. The first nature is God, second is First Cause, third is our four elemental worlds”. So, as in the aforementioned Trinity, we have a Soul, a Spirit of Life, and a body. The last one cannot be in the flesh but through its elements. Indeed, back at that age, states of matter were believed to share a sort of spiritual feature. Thus, if victims, they are to be salted with salt. To then be sacrificed by fire to fire. In this sentence, the whole Secret Fire destiny is fixed to volatility and returns. Alchemy cannot be kept away from continuous fixed and volatile processes. That’s Solve et Coagula. In both Labors of Hercules and Main Work. Now we are ready to ask ourselves: ” Can a victim possibly undergo more than one sacrifice? Alchemy always makes sense, but its arithmetical issues. Blaise de Vigenère doesn’t make it easily perceived whether he points to an ultimate sacrifice. Generally, a victim cannot but be without return: from the point of view of Greek mythology, sacrifice is the archetype of every human action, from which a new time develops. Thus sacrifice will have more to do with fixation than with mere extraction. But do not worry, as, in the sir de Vigenère cover motto, we will give away this rich shrine, and still we will sacrifice very little.
To be continued.
See also Michelangelo & the Mumia Skin in Last Judgement ;
- Very often, latin terms provide more than one meaning. Pingue-is indeed stands for fatty, greasy, rich, viscous, puffy;