Adept Alchemy. Part I. Chapter 2. Elixir

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Adept Alchemy by Robert A. Nelson.
Part I. Chapter 2. Elixir.
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Chapter 2

 

Elixir

 

(1-3) T. Paracelsus ~ (4) R. Ingalese ~ (5) J. Juran ~ (6) J. Grashof ~ (7) Anonymous ~ (8) I. Hollandus

 

Several credible historical accounts describe phenomenal healings, rejuvenations, and longevity attributed to the Elixir prepared from the Philosophers' Stone. As the following adepts attest, the blessed Stone has many wonderful powers.

(1) Theophrastus Paracelsus: The Tincture of the Philosophers

Chapter VI. Concerning the Transmutation of Metals by the Perfection of Medicine ¾ If the Tincture of the Philosophers is to be used for transmutation, a pound of it must be projected on a thousand pounds of melted Sol. Then, at length, will a Medicine have been prepared for transmuting the leprous moisture of the metals. This work is a wonderful one in the light of Nature, namely, that by the magistery, or the operation of the Spagyrist, a metal, which formerly existed, should perish, and another be produced. This fact has rendered the same Aristotle, with his ill-founded philosophy, fatuous... These things, and more like them, are known to simple men rather than to sophists, namely, those which turn one appearance of a metal into another. And these things, moreover, through the remarkable contempt of the ignorant, and partly, too, on account of the just envy of the artificers, remain almost hidden...

But though the old artists were very desirous of this arcanum, and sought it with the greatest diligence, nevertheless, very few could bring it by means of a perfect preparation to its end. For the transmutation of an inferior metal into a superior one brings with it many difficulties and obstacles, as the change of Jove into Luna, or Venus into Sol. Perhaps on account of their sins God willed that the Magnalia of Nature should be hidden from many men. For sometimes, when this Tincture has been prepared by artists, and they were not able to reduce their projections to work its effects, it happened that, by their carelessness and bad guardianship, this was eaten up by fowls, whose feathers thereupon fell off, and, as I myself have seen, grew again. In this way transmutation, through its abuse from the carelessness of the artists, came into Medicine and Alchemy. For when they were unable to use the Tincture according to their desire, they converted the same to the renovation of men...

Chapter VII. Concerning the Renovation of Men ¾ Some of the first and primitive philosophers of Egypt have lived by means of this Tincture for a hundred and fifty years. The life of many, too, has been extended and prolonged to several centuries, as is most clearly shown in different histories, though it scarcely seems credible to any one. For its power is so remarkable that it extends the life of the body beyond what is possible to its congenital nature, and keeps it so firmly in that condition that it lives on in safety from all infirmities. And although, indeed, the body at length comes to old age, nevertheless, it still appears as though it were established in its primal youth.

So, then, the Tincture of the Philosophers is a Universal Medicine, and consumes all diseases, by whatsoever name they are called, just like an invisible fire. The dose is very small, but its effect is most powerful. By means thereof, I have cured the leprosy, venereal disease, dropsy, the falling sickness, colic, scab, and similar afflictions; also lupus, cancer, noli-metangere, fistulas, and the whole race of internal diseases, more surely than one could believe...

Now, Sophist, look at Theophrastus Paracelsus. How can your Apollo, Machaon, and Hippocrates stand against me? This is the Catholicum of the Philosophers, by which all these philosophers have attained long life for resisting diseases, and they have attained this end entirely and most effectually, and so, according to their judgment, they named it the Tincture of the Philosophers. For what can there be in the whole range of medicine greater than such purgation of the body, by means whereof all superfluity is radically removed from it and transmuted? For when seed is once made sound all else is perfected. What avails the ill-founded purgation of the sophists since it removes nothing as it ought? This, therefore, is the most excellent foundation of a true physician, the regeneration of the nature, and the restoration of youth. After this, the new essence itself drives out all that is opposed to it. To effect this regeneration, the powers and virtues of the Tincture of the Philosophers were miraculously discovered, and up to this time have been used in secret and kept concealed by true Spagyrists.

(2) Theo. Paracelsus: Concerning the Spirits of the Planets

Chapter VIII. Conclusion ¾ This secret was accounted by the old Fathers who possessed it as among the most occult, lest it should get into the hands of wicked men, who by its aid would be more abundantly able to fulfill their own wickedness and crimes. We, therefore, ask you, whoever have obtained this gift of God, that, imitating these Fathers, you will treat and preserve this divine mystery in the most serious manner possible, for if you tread it underfoot, or scatter your pearls before swine, be sure that you will hear pronounced against you the severe sentence of God, the supreme avenger.

But to those who, by the special grace of God, abstain from all vices, this Art will be more constantly and more fully revealed than to any others. For with a man of this kind more wisdom is found than with a thousand sons of the world, by whom this Art is in no way discovered.

Whosoever shall have found this secret and gift of God, let him praise the most high God, the Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit. And from this God also let him implore grace, by which he may be able to use that gift to God's glory and to the good of his fellow-man. The merciful God grant that this may be so for the sake of Jesus Christ His Son, and our Saviour!

(3) Theo. Paracelsus: The Fifth Book of Archidoxies

Concerning Arcana ¾ ...So, then, the Prima Materia is the first Arcanum; the second is the Philosophers' Stone, the third is the Mercurius Vitae, and the fourth is the Tincture...

Concerning the Arcanum of the Philosophers' Stone ¾ In like manner, this Philosophers' Stone purifies the heart and all the principal members, as well as the intestines, the marrow, and whatever else is contained in the body. It does not allow any disease to germinate in the body, but the gout, the dropsy, the jaundice, the colic, fly from it, and it expels all the illnesses which proceed from the four humours; at the same time, it purges bodies and renders them just as though they were newly born. It banishes everything that has a tendency to destroy nature, none otherwise than as fire does with worms. Even so, all weaknesses fly before this renovation...

The power and potency of the Philosophic Stone is exalted to so wonderful an extent that it is impossible to trace how it can be naturally brought about; and unless the most evident signs lay open to our eyes, it would be incredible that men could perfect and accomplish such wonderful things; since the virtue of that operation passes from generation to generation without any break. On the other hand, by the mercy of God, it exists in one body, and at length, according to their deserts, it is denied to others or conceded as a special act of grace...

(4) Richard Ingalese: They Made the Philosophers' Stone

In 1917 we succeeded in making the White Stone of the Philosophers. It looked like soft, white marble, and its effect upon the body was startling. We dared not try it on ourselves at first, but there was a third member of our family, a beautiful Angora cat of which we were very fond... It survived the first dose, and we repeated it on the two following days, with the cat becoming more frisky than usual. After that we tried it ourselves, each taking a dose at the same moment so we would excarnate together if it should prove fatal. But it proved beneficial and energized our bodies.

Shortly after that event, the wife of a prominent local physician died; and the doctor, knowing of our experiments and that the books claimed that such a stone, if used within a reasonable time, would raise the dead, asked us to experiment on the body of his wife. Half an hour had elapsed since her death and her body was growing cold. A dose of the dissolved White Stone was put into the mouth of the corpse without perceptible result. Fifteen minutes afterward a second dose was administered and the heart commenced to pulsate weakly. Fifteen minutes later a third dose was given and soon the woman opened her eyes. In the course of a few weeks, the patient became convalescent, after which she lived seven years.

(5) Jacob Juran: Hyle and Coahyl

Take common rainwater, a good amount, at least ten quarts, keep it well sealed in glasses for at least ten days, and it will deposit matter and feces at the bottom. Pour off the clear liquid and put it in a wooden vessel that is made round like a ball, cut it off in the middle and fill the vessel a third full, and set it in the sun at noon in a secret and secluded spot.

When that is done, take a drop of the consecrated red wine [containing the Stone in solution] and let it fall into the water, and you will immediately see a fog and thick darkness on top of the water, such as had also been at the first Creation. Now pour in two drops and you will see the light coming forth from the darkness. Thereupon, pour in every half of each hour first three, then four, then five, then six drops, and then no more, and you will see with your own eyes one thing after another on top of the water, how God created all things in six days, and how that came to pass, and such secrets as are not to be revealed and which I also do not have the power to reveal. Let your eyes be the judge; for thus the world was created...

By this you will see the secrets of God, which now are hidden from you as from a child. You will understand what Moses wrote about Creation. You will see what kind of body Adam and Eve had before and after the Fall, what the snake was, what the tree, and what kind of fruits they ate, where and what Paradise is, and in what bodies the just will resurrect ¾ not in this one that we have received from Adam but in that which we receive through the Holy Ghost, namely, such a one as our Savior brought from Heaven...

Still more than that: If you take your Stone at every full moon, when it is above the horizon where you are, and step aside in a garden, and you take a little pure rainwater, as you did in the first operation, and you drop some of the white wine in it, just as you did with the red ¾ immediately a vapor will rise in a peculiar way toward the circle of the moon. If you do this at every moon in due course, there is no philosopher in the horizon where you are living and who has knowledge of the Stone as well as its use, who does not also go out at the same time, seeking in the East and West, the North and South. When he finds such an appearance (as he will soon see), he will now that this is done by an artist, or someone else, who would like to get acquainted with those who know just this art, and he will answer you in the same manner as you have done. In this way you will recognize those who know the use of the Stone.

To meet your philosophical society, do as follows: Rub your temple with the White Stone at night, and pray earnestly to recognize who he is. Put three freshly picked laurel leaves under your head, and set your imagination on him who you desire to recognize, and go to sleep in this way. When you awaken, you will immediately remember the face of the person, his name and the place where he stays. If you do not wish to go to him, he will come to you; for he will perhaps think that you do not know this secret. The cause of this happening is this: the universal spirit of the Air, which is locked in the Stone, causes it.

In this way, you can get to know all scholars in the world, who will seem to you more like beggars than wise people, and who will perhaps teach you more than I am able to or have done here, for, truly, all things that are natural can thereby be brought about, such things as can hardly be described in a big book.

(6) Johan Grashof: The Greater and Lesser Edifyer

Behold, with this you may cure all vegetables, make all unfruitful trees fruitful, and turn winter to summer and summer to winter. That is, in winter you can have all the plants which are otherwise only provided by summer. Indeed, you can make a tree bear five or six times in a year; you can make a good plant from a bad one, a young fresh tree from an old rotten one, a bitter apple sweet, turn pears to cherries, and cherries again to pears, and thus transform all plants and trees into one another.

In the second place, you can turn all imperfect metals into good ones, that is, into garnets, rubies, emeralds, pearls, etc, or to gold and silver, and indeed, into so many of these, that you are not able to express the amount. For one part will tincture not merely ten thousand parts, but rather several hundred thousand parts, and this by means of multiplication.

In the third place, you can liberate men from all diseases, turn an old man into a young one, and make a healthy man from a sick one. You can transform the mind and thoughts of men, and make the most pious man from the wickedest knave. And whatever you might think of all of this, it is not great but rather insignificant in comparison with what follows, for the words of Hermes have not yet been sufficiently explicated.

Listen, for now we will advance to the supernatural. This is the key to open heaven and earth, that you may enter into the highest firmament of heaven, into the center of the earth, and into the depths of the ocean. You can see through every mountain, valley, leaf, grass, animal, man, etc, and in short through everything, as though you were looking through a piece of glass. You can learn the characteristics of everything, you will master heaven and earth, all spirits will be obedient to you, they will have to serve you and do your will. You can also come to know everything, both present and future (as much as God permits), which means that you can create the world and receive the power of the same. However this may seem, it is knowable, for it is magic and supernatural. As I have already said, when you are granted the success of attaining the completion of the natural, then you may go on to experience the supernatural. Thus you now possess what I have taught you, and, considering how poorly you have dealt with it before, guard yourself against this, and be warned.

(7) Anonymous: Light Out of Chaos

A Vindication of the Great Work ¾ The Grand Work of the Sages holds the first rank amongst beautiful things; Nature, without the help of art, is unable to perform it, and art without nature cannot venture to undertake it; it is a masterpiece which borders on the powers of the god; its effects are so miraculous, that the health which it gives and preserves to the people, the perfection which it gives to all things in Nature, and the great wealth it produces in a manner wholly divine, are not to be reckoned to be its highest marvels.

If the great Architect of the Universe has made it the most perfect agent in all nature one may say without fear that it has received the same power from Heaven in regard to mortality; if it purifies the body, it clarifies the spirit; if it develops compound substances to the highest point of perfection, it can elevate our intelligence up to the highest knowledge; it is the Savior of the great world, because it purges all things from their original stains and by its virtue repairs the disorder of their temperament. It subsists in a perfect tenary of three perfect principles, truly distinct, but which together make one and the same nature. It is normally the universal spirit of the world corporified in a virgin earth... One may justly say that it produces marvels in nature introducing into bodies a very great purity and it also does miraculous things in morality, illuminating our spirits with the most powerful lights.

I leave the readers the liberty to supplement these results in any manner they may judge fit and convenient.

(8) Isaac Hollandus: Opuscula Alchymica

I am telling you enough, if you will only understand; and if you do not understand, God Almighty will not grant it to you, and even if you do not find it, it is nevertheless found.

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