Page 27 - Compound of Compounds

part of the abovementioned filings; produce an amalgam by grinding the whole together
until perfect union is achieved. Put this amalgam into a phial, close well the orifice and
place over ashes by moderate fire. All will resolve itself into Mercury. In so doing you
may augment it to infinity, for the sum of the volatile always exceeds the sum of the
fixed and augments it indefinitely by imparting its own nature to it and there will always
be enough.

Now you know how to prepare the Living Water, you know its degrees and
properties; you know the putrefaction of the metallic bodies, their reduction to the first
matter and the multiplication of the matter to infinity. I have explained to you clearly
what all the philosophers concealed with care.

Praxis of the Mercury of the Sages

It is not the vulgar mercury but the primal matter of the philosophers. It is an
aqueous, cold, moist element, a permanent water, the spirit of the body, viscous
vapour, Holy Water, Aqua Fortis, Water Stone of the Wise, Vinegar of the
Philosophers, Mineral Water, Dew of Heavenly Grace. There are many other names
and while they are different, they all designate the one and only Mercury of the
Philosophers; it is the force of alchemy; only it can serve to prepare the white or the
red tincture, etc.

Hence, in the name of Jesus Christ take our venerable M..., Water of the
Philosophers, prime Hyle of the wise; it is the stone that we discovered in this treatise,
the first matter of the perfect body, as you might have guessed. Put your matter into a
furnace, in a clean, clear, transparent, round vessel of which you must hermetically
seal the orifice, so that nothing might escape. Your matter will be placed over a well
flattened bed, slightly hot; leave it during a philosophical month; maintain a even heat,
for as long as the sweat of the matter sublimates, until it no longer perspires, that
nothing rises, that nothing falls, that it begins to rot, to suffocate, to coagulate and fix,
as a result of the heat’s constancy.

Once all the airy, smoky substance finishes rising there remains our Mercury at the
bottom, dry and stripped of its moisture, decayed, coagulated and changed into a black
earth that we call Black Head of the Crow, a dry earthy element.

This done, you will have accomplished the true sublimation of the Philosophers,
during which you will have scaled all the aforementioned degrees: sublimation of

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