Theory Details 2

The Lapis Philosophorum, therefore, is but one, though it has many names, which before you
conceive them, will be very difficult. For it is watery [liquid], airy [volatile], fiery, earthy: it is salt,
sulphur, mercury, and phlegm; it is sulphureous, yet is argent vive [twice here, quicksilver is
mentioned]; it has many superfluities, which are turned into the true essence by the help of our
fire. Our fire is not just ordinary fire and notice that the subject mentioned here is fiery. Could
this be our fire? This our fire is the greatest secret of alchemy, and usually known in the art as
the Secret Fire. He that separates anything from the subject or matter, thinking it to be
necessary, wholly errs in his philosophy. [This is said because most adepts write that one must
separate the clean from the muddy or dirty matter, but one must know what is clean and what is
dirty. In the first stage everything is changed into wet mud, or dry soot, even gold and silver look
like this. That which is superfluous, unclean, filthy, feculent, and in a word, the whole substance of
the subject is transmuted or changed in a perfect, fixed, and spiritual body, by the help of our fire,
which the wise men never revealed, and therefore it is, that few attain to this art, as thinking that
to be superfluous and impure, which is not. In alchemy, a fixed metal is one that remains the
same no matter what is done with it, or however treated. Now Pontanus proceeds to speak of the
character of our Fire, which is not fire but acts, in fact, more powerfully than any fire.
It behoves us now to enquire after the properties of our fire, and how it agrees with our matter,
according to that which I have said, viz. that a transmutation may be made, though the fire is not
such as to burn the matter, separating nothing from it, nor dividing the pure parts from the impure,
as the philosophers teach [now you can understand why it is hopeless to study most of the
alchemical treatises, for most of them are written to mislead, unless you already know the
stumbling blocks, but our fire transmutes and changes the whole subject into purity. Nor does it
sublime after the manner- of Gebers sublimation, nor the sublimations or distillations of
Arnoldous, or others: but it is perfected in a short time. [Pontanus continues to say how
misleading most adepts are in their works, and goes on to explain the characteristics of our fire.]
Now the principal part is this: Let the matter be taken and diligently ground with a philosophical
contrition, put upon the fire, with such a proportion of heat that it only excite or stir up the matter;
and in short time that fire, without any laying on of hands, will complete the whole work, because
it putrefies, corrupts, generates and perfects the whole work, and makes the three principal
colours, viz. the black, white and red to appear. And by the means of this our fire, the medicine
will be multiplied by the addition of the crude matter, not only in quantity, but also in quality or
virtue. Therefore seek out this fire with all thy industry, for having once found it, thou shalt
accomplish thy desire, because it performs the whole work, and is the true key of all the
philisophers, which they never yet revealed. Consider well of what I have spoken, otherwise it will
be hid from thine eyes.
Note that Pontanus calls this Secret Fire Argent Vive, and mercury, among other things. Now
ordinary mercury is the villain of the piece in every book ever written on the art, and if ever
crude mercury is mentioned at all, it is always with the warning that the searcher can expect only
failure if this metal is used.
Once again, remember the old writers were always on their guard lest they should inadvertently
divulge any information of too much significance. Nevertheless, true bits of knowledge are strewn
about everywhere, and it behoves the searcher to pick them up. Therefore what follows are
curious extracts which have been taken from many important books, which tell the researcher in
the plainest manner all that he needs to know. In fact what the secret fire is; what mercury is
(or rather what the alchemist calls his mercury), in short the universal solvent of all metals.
Now to the first extract-from the Epistles of Ali-Puli, entitled the Concentrated Centre of Nature:
I say to you, my students in the study of nature, if you do not find the thing for which you
are seeking, in your own self, much less will you find it outside yourself. Understand the
glorious strength resident in your own selves. Why trouble to enquire from another? In
man named after God, there are things more glorious than to be found anywhere else in
the world. Should anyone desire to become a master, he will not find a better material for
his achievement anywhere than in himself. Oh, man know thyself. In you resides the
treasure of all treasures. Unknowingly this is the great wonder of the world. It is in reality
a burning water, a liquid fire, more potent than all fire. In its crude state, it dissolves and
absorbs solid gold. It reduces it into a fatty black grey earth, and a thick slimy salt water,
without fire or acid, and without any violent reaction, which no other thing in the world can
accomplish. Nothing is excluded from it, and though it is the most costly thing in the
world, a king cannot possess more of it than a beggar, the wise men of old sought for it
and found it.
Seek for it, my friends, in every way and in everything, though maybe you do not know the
hidden source of its origin; and even if you should come to find it, yet you would not have any
idea of the aspect of things to be seen within it. Yet I will be explicit; it is a spiritual water, a true
spirit, the spirit of life itself. Surely I may be justified in proclaiming: O, water, magnificent,
illuminating, sweet; O, bitter and obscure, which strengthens us until the day of our death. This is
the foundation stone in truth, which is rejected by the careless ignorance of the builders, and the
alchemists even to this day.

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The Lapis Philosophorum, therefore, is but one, though it has many names, which before you

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