Page 25 - Book of Crates

He answered, “The operation will have whitened the copper outside
and also inside; as well as it is rusted on the outside, it will be rusted
internally; everything that will shine outside will finally also shine
inside.”

“And when will it shine so much inside than outside?” I exclaimed.
In order to try to involve him to clear up all these things and explain
them to me, the conversation exchanged between us finally leading to
the goal that I had intended, and with the hope of taking advantage of
the opportunity.

“I only taught you,” he said to me, “That the substance will whiten
and will rust, then it will volatilise. However it is necessary that you
also know that the main goal is to obtain the rust; when this result is
obtained, you will have the beginning of the preparation, that is the
fleeting tincture.

“All combination is formed of two components capable of uniting.
For example, the man and the woman are composing elements; if they
meet and they are coupled, God makes come out of them a child, and
that under the terms of the attraction that God put in each one of them
for the other; so that they are necessary one to the other and that they
feel joy to meet. Such is the science of the unique thing and its
demonstration.”

“By my life!” I exclaimed, “You have just explained clearly to me
the unique matter and have just shown it to me. You thus claim that the
unique matter, although so named, is formed of various matters, and
that it is a combination: when one operates on it, it passes from one
colour to another.”

He answered, “Thus lead does not have same energy as the litharge
and does not produce the same effects. The litharge, in its turn, does
not have the same power as the white lead, which, itself, does not act
as an equal of minium. These four things come from a unique matter,
that is lead, and however each of them has its particular character, its
own energy and its qualities that develop under the influence of fire.

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