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.