Of The Spirit Of Silver


The Tincture and spirit of Silver manifests its Colour of a Watchet or

Sky-colour, otherwise it is a waterish Spirit, cold and moist, not so

hot in its degree as that which is found in Gold, Mars, and Venus;

for Luna is more phlegmatick than fiery, though it be brought by the

Fire out of its waterish Substance into a coagulation; and even as the

Metals gain their tinging Spirits and Coagulation, in like manner do

stone
get their fixedness, and colour, as out of one Influence. A fix'd

coagulated Mercury is found in the Diamond, therefore it is fixeder

and harder than the other stones, and cannot be so broken; so the

tincture of Mars, or the Sulphur of Iron is found in the Ruby, the

Sulphur of Venus in the Emerald, the Soul of Saturn in the

Granate; in Tin the tincture which is found in the Topaz; and

Crystal is appropriated to common Mercury; in the Saphire is found

the Sulphur and Tincture of Luna, but each one according to a peculiar

understanding, and according to its kind, and in Metals according to

their form and gender; for when the blew Colour is taken and extracted

out of the Saphire, its Rayment is gone, and its other Body is white

as a Diamond, wanting only the hardness that is in a Diamond; even

so when Gold hath lost its Soul, it yields a fix'd white Gold Body,

which by searching Students and young Artists is called fix'd Luna.



Wherefore you must now understand and observe, that even as I have

declared unto you concerning the Saphire, for your apprehension, even

so on the other side, you must learn to what purpose my Speech is

intended, for your Instruction concerning Metals.



For this blew Spirit is the Sulphur and the Soul, whence the Silver

receiveth its Life, both in and above the Earth, by Art, and the white

Tincture of the Silver upon white stands in the Magnetick form of an

everlasting thing, or Creature, wherein is likewise found the first

Ens of Gold.



O ye high qualified Orators! where is your voice in this case to explain

this Mystery? And you conceited Naturalists, where is your Writings and

Advice of Reason? And you Physicians, Whither is your Opinion flown, to

fetch somewhat afar off over the Seas for to cure the Dropsie, and all

Lunary Distempers? You will say, that this my speech is too dark for

you; is it so? then kindle the terrestrial Light, seek, and be not

ashamed to make acquaintance with Vulcan; and let nothing be irksome

unto you, so will you find by the assistance of the Eternal God, that

the Spirit of Silver contains in it to cure and expel the Dropsie

quite alone, as the Spirit of Gold, and as that of Mercury can expel

the Consumption radically, or in the root, even so that the Center of

those Diseases cannot be found any more. But that Luna in the veins of

the Earth is not furnished with such a hot substance or quality in its

degree, but is subjected to a Waterish Nature; this fault lies upon that

great Light of Heaven, which by reason of its Waterish influence, hath

implanted such qualities in the other Creatures, and Planets of the

Earth, than it hath in Silver. And albeit that Silver contains a

fix'd Mercury, which is generated in it, yet it wants a hot, fix'd

Sulphur, truly to dry up and consume its Phlegme, whereby it hath not

obtained a compact Body, unless it be done afterwards by the art of the

Little World. And seeing that its Body is not compact by reason of the

abounding watery substance, its Pores therefore are not rightly

defended, nor closed to undergo the weight and endure a Battel with the

Enemies; all which Virtues are to be found in Gold, if it shall

overcome all Enemies, and endure all trials without defect.



All things are difficult in the beginning, but when they are brought to

an end they are easie to be understood and apprehended. If you do truly

observe the Spirit and the Soul of Luna, and learn to know it truly,

you may quickly compass the midst of the Work, how it shall afford the

end with profit; wherefore I will now propose to you an Example, and

instruct you by a Countrey-Rule, that you may apprehend it, and consider

of it, as Childrens Play, in a high and weighty Matter, that you may

search it out with advantage; as followeth:



A common Peasant casts forth (or sows) his Seed in a Field well dunged

and prepared, this Seed after putrefaction, sprouts forth of the Earth

by the operation and furtherance of the Elements, and sets before our

Eyes the Matter of Flax together with its Seed which it brings with it

augmented; this Flax is pluck'd up, and separated from its Seed; but

this Flax cannot be used and prepared for any work profitably, except it

be first putrefied and rotted in water, whereby the Body is opened, and

gains an ingress of its doing good; after this putrefaction and opening,

it is again dried in the Air and Sun, and by this coagulation it is

again brought into a Formal Being, that it may do future service. This

prepared Flax is afterwards buck'd, beaten, broken, peel'd, and last of

all dress'd, that the pure may be separated from the impure, the clean

from the filth, and the fine from the course; which otherwise could not

be done at all, or brought to pass without the preceding preparation;

this done, they spin Yarn of it, which they boil in water over the Fire,

or else with Ashes set in a warm place, whereby it is purified afresh,

whereby the filth and superfluities are fully separated from it, and

after a due washing the Yarn is dried again, delivered to the Workmen,

and Cloth weaved of it; this Cloth is purified or whitened by a frequent

casting of water upon it, cut in pieces by Taylors, and other people, so

converted to future services in houshold affairs, and when this Linnen

is quite worn out, and torn, the old Rags are gathered together, and

sent to the Paper-Mills, whereof they make Paper, which is put unto

divers uses.



If you lay Paper upon a Metal or Glass, kindle and burn it, the

vegetable Mercury comes forth and flies away into the Air, the Salt

remaines in the ashes and the combustible Sulphur which is not so

quickly consumed in the burning, dissolves to an Oil, which is a good

Medicine for dim and defective Eyes. This Oil hath in it a great

fatness, which is the Matter of the Paper, contained originally in the

Seed of the Flax; so that the last Matter of the Flax which is Paper,

must again be dissolved into the first Matter, which is the fat

Sulphurous Oyliness of the Flax-seed, together with the separation of

its Mercury and Salt, that so the first may be made of the last, and

the ground-work revealed, so the Virtues and Operations known by the

first.



And though this Discourse be gross and not subtil, yet you may learn

thereby to know what is subtile and secret; for that which is subtile

must be infused into the ignorant by course Examples, that thereby they

may be taught to reject the gross, and to embrace that which is subtile.



In like manner understand, that the first Matter of Metals must be

observed, known, and found out by the revelation of their last Matter,

which last Matter, as there are the perfect Metals, must be separated

and divided asunder, that it may plainly appear singly before the Eyes

of men. Out of which separation may be judged and learnt what the first

Matter was at the beginning, out of which the last was made. Accept of

this Advice concerning Luna at present. I could have said more, but I

must desist at this time until another opportunity; and intreat you

heartily, admonishing you by your Conscience, that you observe all that

which I have revealed unto you, of all those Letters which are contained

in the middle between Alpha & Omega, & that you keep all the

Speeches & Writings, that you may not undergo a denial of pardon for

your Sins, & a continued perpetual Vengeance for Eternity; which I at

last reveal unto you thus:



Take the Sky-coloured Sulphur extracted out of Silver, rectified with

Spirit of Wine, dissolve it according to its Quantity in the White

Spirit of Vitriol, and in the sweet-sented Spirit of Mercury,

coagulate them together by the fixation of the Fire, you have the White

Tincture in your Hands with all its Medicines; but if you can get all

their primum Mobile's, it is then needless, because you can perfect

the Work at once.



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