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 on the left ( while the images below have been taken from ms. Darmstadt).
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”.
Now we will deal with earth, as even from it with operations even more approximate one can achieve the stone of the wises. In fact in the earth is hidden the father who generates all things.
From the earth have been born boughs and herbs.
But if you want to follow a quicker method and get an amount of spiritus universalis mundi balsamicus even greater, do the follow: in the middle of May go in a field, a vineyard, a lawnfeet, dig up a pit deep as least as 2 feet till to get to the red clay. Take away up to 10-12 quintals of that earth spread in a suitable place as the sky and asters will act on it. If the weather is fine, let it uncovered for fourteen days and nights, if instead it rains, cover well with straw or green boughs. The best thing would be to carry it indoor and then spread it outdoor in a clean place. You can build a structure on which in the case of rain it could be covered with wood boards. The fourteen days past, when the air and sky have penetrated the earth with themselves, put it in vessels and cover.
Then take some wooden barrels like those used for saltpeter, fit their interiors with a straw settings. Additionally they should have some holes well closed by plugs. Put into a part of your earth and pour over as much rainwater as required by the earth. Let it to react for 48 hours so it can absorb the pure salt of the earth. Then remove the plug to a hole and let dripping little by little in a wooden container, as it is used to do with leach; keep it carefully this leach. Pour in the barrel other clean water, let react on the earth this one too for some time, then remove the plug from another hole. Spill the earth out, put back other earth in the barrel and pour over the water which has been poured over it for the second time, but with the addition of fresh rainwater. It is necessary to have a good supply of rainwater in a clean container, as you are going to need a certain quantity. Let it again to react for 48 hours, then remove the plug to a hole and keep this leach. Repeat till you have treated in this way all your earth. Then take a copper cauldron, pour into the leach and make it to boil till its quantity is reduced to 3/4. Replace the lost quantity with fresh leach. Repeat this operation, always replacing the fourth of leach that gets lost in the cooking of fresh leach. When you will have all well cooked, pour the leach in another copper cauldron and put in the earth in a cold place. Let rest for some days, so, if you have performed a good cooking, a salt like saltpeter will deposit, which doesn’t burn like common saltpeter. Decant the leach and have it further cooked, wait for the salt to be formed and collect it. Go on to treating the liquor as like as that till all the crystals have been formed. Then liquefy, filter, coagulate and crystallize these crystals with either dew or distilled rainwater till they become very beautiful, very transparent and very crystalline; so you will have the sal terrae virginiae or nitrum philosophorum, which hovers in the world sea, the water which doesn’t wet hands, the real sal sapientiae without that one cannot do nothing.