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Afterwards take the lion in the pelican which also is found [at] first, when you see its tincture, that is to say, the
element of fire which stands above the water, the air, and the earth. Separate it from its deposit by trituration. Thus
you will have the true aurum potabile3. Sweeten this with the alcohol of wine poured over it, and then distil in an
alembic until you perceive no acidity to remain in the Aqua Regia.
This Oil of the Sun, enclosed in a retort hermetically sealed, you must place for elevation that it may be exalted and
doubled in its degree. Then put the vessel, still closely shut, in a cool place. Thus it will not be dissolved, but
coagulated. Place it again for elevation and coagulation, and repeat this three times. Thus will be produced the
Tincture of the Sun, perfect in its degree. Keep this in its own place.
CONCERNING THE GREEN LION.
Take the vitriol of Venus4, carefully prepared according to the rules of Spagyric Art; and add thereto the elements of
water and air which you have reserved. Resolve, and set to putrefy for a month according to instructions. When the
putrefaction is finished, you will behold the sign of the elements. Separate, and you will soon see two colours,
namely, white and red. The red is above the white. The red tincture of the vitriol is so powerful that it reddens all
white bodies, and whitens all red ones, which is wonderful.
Work upon this tincture by means of a retort, and you will perceive a blackness issue forth. Treat it again by means
of the retort, repeating the operation until it comes out whitish. Go on, and do not despair of the work. Rectify until
you find the true, clear Green Lion, which you will recognise by its great weight. You will see that it is heavy and
large. This is the Tincture, transparent gold. You will see marvellous signs of this Green Lion, such as could be
bought by no treasures of the Roman Leo. Happy he who has learnt how to find it and use it for a tincture!
This is the true and genuine Balsam5, the Balsam of the Heavenly Stars, suffering no bodies to decay, nor allowing
leprosy, gout, or dropsy to take root. It is given in a dose of one grain, if it has been fermented with Sulphur of Gold.
Ah, Charles the German, where is your treasure? Where are your philosophers? Where your doctors? Where are
your decocters of woods, who at least purge and relax? Is your heaven reversed? Have your stars wandered out of
their course, and are they straying in another orbit, away from the line of limitation, since your eyes are smitten with
blindness, as by a carbuncle, and other things making a show of ornament, beauty, and pomp? If your artists only
knew that their prince Galen - they call none like him - was sticking in hell, from whence he has sent letters to me,
they would make the sign of the cross upon themselves with a fox's tail. In the same way your Avicenna sits in the
vestibule of the infernal portal; and I have disputed with him about his aurum potabile, his Tincture of the
Philosophers, his Quintessence, and Philosophers' Stone, his Mithridatic, his Theriac, and all the rest. O, you
hypocrites, who despise the truths taught you by a true physician, who is himself instructed by Nature, and is a son
of God himself! Come, then, and listen, impostors who prevail only by the authority of your high positions! After
my death, my disciples will burst forth and drag you to the light, and shall expose your dirty drugs, wherewith up to
this time you have compassed the death of princes, and the most invincible magnates of the Christian world. Woe
for your necks in the day of judgment! I know that the monarchy will be mine. Mine, too, will be the honour and
glory. Not that I praise myself: Nature praises me. Of her I am born; her I follow. She knows me, and I know her.
The light which is in her I have beheld in her; outside, too, I have proved the same in the figure of the microcosm,
and found it in that universe.
But I must proceed with my design in order to satisfy my disciples to the full extent of their wish. I willingly do this
for them, if only skilled in the light of Nature and thoroughly practised in astral matters, they finally become adepts
in philosophy, which enables them to know the nature of every kind of water.
Take, then, of this liquid of the minerals which I have described, four parts by weight; of the Earth of red Sol two
parts; of Sulphur of Sol one part. Put these together into a pelican, congelate, and dissolve them three times. Thus
you will have the Tincture of the Alchemists. We have not here described its weight: but this is given in the book on
Transmutations6.
So, now, he who has one to a thousand ounces of the Astrum Solis shall also tinge his own body of Sol.
If you have the Astrum of Mercury, in the same manner, you will tinge the whole body of common Mercury. If you
have the Astrum of Venus you will, in like manner, tinge the whole body of Venus, and change it into the best
metal. These facts have all been proved. The same must also be understood as to the Astra of the other planets, as
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Luna, and the rest. For tinctures are also prepared from these: concerning which we now make
no mention in this place, because we have already dwelt at sufficient length upon them in the book on the Nature of
Things and in the Archidoxies. So, too, the first entity of metals and terrestrial minerals have been made, sufficiently
clear for Alchemists to enable them to get the Alchemists' Tincture.
This work, the Tincture of the Alchemists, need not be one of nine months; but quickly, and without any delay, you
may go on by the Spaygric Art of the Alchemists, and, in the space of forty days, you can fix this alchemical
substance, exalt it, putrefy it, ferment it, coagulate it into a stone, and produce the Alchemical Phoenix7. But it
should be noted well that the Sulphur of Cinnabar becomes the Flying Eagle, whose wings fly away without wind,
and carry the body of the phoenix to the nest of the parent, where it is nourished by the element of fire, and the
young ones dig out its eyes: from whence there emerges a whiteness, divided in its sphere, into a sphere and life out
of its own heart, by the balsam of its inward parts, according to the property of the cabalists.
HERE ENDS THE TREASURE OF THE ALCHEMISTS.
NOTES
1 The Sign is nothing else than the mark left by an operation. The house constructed by the architect is the sign of
his handicraft whereby his skill and art are determined. Thus the sign is the achievement itself. - De Colica.
2 The earth also has its Astrum, its course, its order, just as much as the Firmament, but peculiar to the element. So
also there is an Astrum in the water, even as in the earth, and in like manner with air and fire. Consequently, the
upper Astrum has the Astra of the elements for its medium and operates through them by an irresistible attraction.
Through this operation of the superior and inferior Astra, all things are fecundated, and led on to their end. -
Explicatio Totius Astronomiae. Without the Astra the elements cannot flourish. ... In the Astrum of the earth all the
celestial operations thrive. The Astrum itself is hidden, the bodies are manifest. ... The motion of the earth is brought
about by the Astrum of the earth. ... There are four Astra in man (corresponding to those of the four elements), for he
is the lesser world. - De Caducis, Par. II.
3 Aurum Potabile, that is, Potable Gold, Oil of Gold, and Quintessence of Gold, are distinguished thus. Aurum
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