Third Work

As far as I know, the Philosophers egg is supposed to be a synthesis of the wet and dry paths.

There is talk of a crusty material with which to handcraft a kind of double crucible. Others speak of two real crucibles one superimposed on the other.

A whole series of colors should follow each other, starting from black.

Absolutely, as said, this species of peacock’s tail should start from blackness. As any other alchemical color rotation use to be. And will come out of the last red.

In many treatises in which the peacock’s tail is mentioned, they are reticent whether they refer to the end of the second work or the beginning of the third.

As far as I know, the external stimulus of the addition of gold could be done to cause this particular blackness before the Cauda Pavonis show occurs.

When in the Baroque treatises “Regimes of Fire” are mentioned, a passage of colors is meant. Because of their reticence, of course, it is uncertain whether they refer to the end of the second work or the beginning of the third. Anyway, yes, it could be applied to the passage of colors in the philosophical egg of both paths, given that it is a matter of regulating the fire for the colors to appear.

Here too the ancient authors are very reticent. Some speak of sealing, others of making a tiny window.
However, the egg is described as closed or at most with a tiny hole.
The hole is for looking inside or letting the mass with a relief valve?

The last sacrificed child ( in the philosophical sense, of course) is now turning into an embryo. Spirit and Soul, Mercurius, and Sulphur are now indissoluble.

They say the Philosophical Egg forms naturally when the matter cannot go any further. If we have wisely operated and left some impurities during the salts’ volatilization, for the matter to form now a slight crust.

Alchemists have indulged in multiple definitions: that the egg is a container and oven of itself which would be sufficient for moderate heat; and also that the egg must be placed inside a real oven.

It is very hard to grasp whether the “noli me tangere” phase or “nothing can be added anymore”, refers to the end of the second work or is part of the third one.
Logic would have it that an increase in weight takes place only with the addition of further mass.

Evidently, it refers to the previous faq. If we have wisely operated and left some impurities during the salts volatilization, for the matter to form now a slight crust, and if we know how to provide the newly crusted matter with a particular device and a special oven for the last cooking, we can be able to see the Egg.

No way. Philosophers Stone is the output of the Philosophical Egg at the end of the third work only.
Please note that I wrote the output and not the released material.

Under the dramatic weight increase, the Philosophical Egg would cyclically emit sounds according to a particular musical scale. The number of different sounds must exceed seven. The lack of the eighth sound defines abortion and may cause dangerous but spectacular phenomena.

The sound could be considered produced by the increase in egg weight due to the abnormal mass contraction and, consequently, of the molecules that form it. Sound is motion, and motion is a force acting on everything and the spirit. Indeed, Spiritus can be defined as a movement.
Much more difficult, in the light of current physical and alchemical knowledge, to define where the higher octave of return comes from. I mean what alchemists call the answer of the divine. Or cosmos’.

It would be interesting to know what becomes of the Philosophical Egg after the output of the eighth note.

No western alchemical treatise has provided an answer yet. We can only infer the purpose from hidden evidence in other disciplines, arts, and literature. Religions and myths. For instance, Jean François Xavier Fabre du Bosquet, in his manuscript Concordance Mytho Physico Cabalo Hermétique (1789?), says: ” Intellects and Spirit of virtuous beings never communicate with mortals without a special grace of Divinity, i.e., to have the Philosophers Stone”.
It is a question of whether the egg is the philosophers’ stone. If so, the concentration of the matter and the consequent hisses emitted would lead us to consider the thought of the Orphics and Neoplatonists regarding the egg as a symbol of the unification of principles, placing the time-before-time as the first principle. Lab alchemists should ask themselves what relationships exist between the concentration of matter and time.

For mythologists of sound, the philosopher’s stone can only be a resonator.

I cannot see any other use. But the western Alchemy stops written descriptions here: the risk of clashing with religious institutions was too high.
Anyway, what do alchemists mean by immortality?

Legend says that Flamel used to recommend dissolving a few drops of something in an alcoholic solution and take every day. But Flamel’s life is shrouded in mystery, and we have no evidence of his being free from illness. Before him, Jābir ibn Hayyān and Artephius talked of a long-life elixir in their books, but nothing about these legendary alchemists’ lives is known. We don’t even know who Philalethes was, so it is too much easy to state he was as healthy as a sequoia. The reality of the alchemists officially known as such was somewhat different: Paracelsus died in his 40s. Reasonably all the sixteenth-seventeenth century identified alchemists died at 50-60 years old. J.J. Champagne died in his 50s, suffering from painful cirrhosis; Canseliet had a terrible heart stroke in his 70s and the last years, couldn’t operate anymore. Concerning Fulcanelli, there is no evidence of his existence apart from Canseliet’s tales. All this earthly transience is strange, compared with their claims, if we think they could avail themselves with potable gold. So, what is the truth? Before Jābir ibn Hayyān no text had mentioned the possibility of a long-life elixir, or at least the word phrase “long-life elixir” before Jābir did mean something very different. Roseae Crucis talked of a kind of karmic curse and warned alchemists from using their work for trivial reasons. What they meant for trivial use could be surprising for us moderns.

Very few alchemists today can afford to face the cooking of the philosophical egg. But I could also say very few alchemists are allowed to face the final cooking today. It is enough to read Canseliet for an entire list of chemical-physical catastrophes, which is abnormal for the operation’s technical entity. At this stage, we no longer speak of explosions due to poor chemical knowledge or the fragility of tools. No, the third work borders on physics; it ends in physics. Therefore physical phenomena can be expected nearby. However, Canseliet came to old age, and his physical troubles seem to have rather been caused by stress, anxiety, fatigue, and sleepless nights.

Projection Powder is the first degree of ripeness before the perfect red achievement. Lapis Medicinalis is the second degree of ripeness. Projection Powder tests whether the amount of Secret Fire/Spiritus Mundi/Seed of Metals is enough for the alchemical child to evolve in Embryo. And, yes, the test consists in trying to transmute a melted metal into gold.

Carbuncle and Lapis Medicinalis are two names for the same thing.

Do not take for granted that Lapis Medicinalis, just because of the name, is good for medical use. Real alchemists do give a philosophical sense to “medical”. They probably mean the creation of a new body instead of the healing of the old one.

Lapis Medicinalis Microcosmi is produced from raw animal matter, such as human blood, urine, and bones, following a series of processes analogous to more generic raw matters. Lapis Medicinalis Macrocosmi is produced from more generic raw matter.
However, be aware that the reason for being of laboratory alchemy is hidden in this.

In laboratory alchemy, the “know yourself” concept uses raw animal matter, which naturally and manually eventually evolve into the Lapis Medicinalis Microcosmi. Lapis Medicinalis Microcosmi should be joined with the Lapis Medicinalis Macrocosmi. The reason is uncertain because few alchemists know what they are doing. But they easily conjectured if we think about creating a new alchemical body.

Too many consider the Lapis Medicinalis as the end of their works and the Philosophers Stone. But, as said above, the Philosophers Stone can only be the last emission of the Philosophical Egg. So even Basilius Valentinus, when claiming to hold the Philosopher’s Stone in his hand, perhaps galloped with his imagination.