LIBERSECRET.PDF

LIBER

SECRETISSIMUS

GEORGE RIPLEY

The Whole Work of the Composition

of the Philosophical Stone and

Grand Elixir, and of the

First Solution of the

Grosse Bodies:

Take our Artificial Antimony, but not the Natural

Antimony as it comes out of the Earth, for that is too dry

for our work, and hath little or no humidity, or fatness in

it, but take I say, our Artificial Antimonial Compound,

which is abundantly replinished with the Dew Of Heaven and

the fatness and unctuosity of the earth, wherein precious

Oils and rich Mercuries are by Nature closely sealed up,

and hidden from the eyes of all ignorant deriders of the

great and wonderful mysteries of Almighty God, to the end

that seeing they should not see, nor understand, what he

hath in-closed in the most obvious, common, and

contemptible beginnings of all Things in the whole World.

This our Antimonial Compound is only to be revealed to

the Children of Art, who firmly believe the constant truth

thereof, and whom in all fraternal love and charity we say,

that it is made of one Sulphur, and of two Mercuries, which

otherwise by the wise Philosophers are called, the Sun,

Moon, and Mercury, or as some of them will more plainly

have it, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, which are the three

several and distinct substances and bodies,

Aol hic aut nusquam. Liber Librum aperit.

although for the most part we term them but one Thing,

because in the conclusion of our work they make but one

Thing, that is our admirable Elixir, and they have all one

original, and tend altogether but to one end. For if we had

not in our Work a triune aspect of these Planets, and did

not begin it with a Trinity, all would be lost labour and

inutilous profile.

Wherefore if thou wilt thrive in our Art, we wish thee to

begin with our Mineral Trinity, whereof this our Artificial

Antimonial compound is made. Take then first in the prime

beginning of thy Work, these three noble Kinsmen, who are

immediately indued with all the strong and subtile

qualities of the four Elements, and in their due and most

natural proportions, (in which proportions see thou do not

erre, for if thou do, thou shalt never reduce those bodies

into our true Chaos, and so thou wilt be constrained to

begin again, which will be a most tedious discouragement

unto thee). Put them into a good and strong cucurbit, or

glass body, and close it well on the Top, that none of the

spirits exhale, for if they find a Vent to evaporate, thou

art undone, because thereby thou loosest and wasteth the

flowers of our Gold. When thy Vessel is well closed, put it

into the Philosophers Oven, and set it in Ashes or sand,

with a temperate fire under it, for the space of a

Philosophers Month, which is six whole weeks, and in that

time our grosse bodies will be dissolved and mortified and

made fit to begin a more royal generation.

In this time of dissolution and putrefaction our three

noble Kinsmen, most unnaturally become the immane homicides

of each other, for they spare not with all cruelty to

extract each others vital blood, and are stewed in their

own proper gores, and become soft and tender, like unto

butter, and are made all one thing without any difference,

or distinction. When thou hast brought thy work to this

pass, thank God, and be glad that through his Grace and

mercy thou hast obtained our Chaos dark and mistie, which

is the true one Thing written of by all the Philosophers,

our confused mass, and the prime ground of all our Secrets,

for therein lieth invisible couched, our Gold and Silver,

our Sulphur and Mercuries, our Christalline Water, our Oils

and Tinctures, and our four Elements which thou must make

visible and apparant to all seeing eyes, else can nothing

be effected, neither shalt thou ever obtain thy wished for

silvery and golden desire.

These Mercuries, Waters, Oils, Tinctures, and Elements,

make visible then and conspicuous thus. After the aforesaid

months end, thy vessel being cold, open the mouth thereof,

and set on the top thereof a head of glass well fastened

thereunto, and place it in our Bath, and close well a

receiver to the mouth of the helment, and draw out all the

insipid and faint water, which take away and reserve it

close by itself, then fix your receiver on again, and with

a stronger fire in ashes, and draw out all the White fume,

which is called our Air, silverie Tincture and Virgins

Milk, which also remove and keep it likewise most close

stopped by itself. Then last of all put to another

receiver, and in sand, with the strongest fire thou canst

make, separate the red fume, which is called our natural

fire, our golden Tincture, and radical humidity of our

Elemental bodies, and continue thy fire so long until it

leave bleeding, then asswage the fire by degrees, and

suddenly close it well with wax, that the spirits vanish

not away, for this is called our blessed Liquor, and trust

me there is not a stronger poison in all the World than it,

therefore keep it close and meddle not with it till

hereafter.

Thus now the work of Art, for Division and Separation, is

the sole work of Art and of the Artist, and not of Nature;

for here Nature is forced by the Skill of the Workman, to

forgo and part with her beloved Elements, which she so

straightly kept chained and inclosed in her bosome, and

which by violence by external fire, are even as it were

forcibly rent and torn from her.

Indeed, the first Work of Solution and Mortification is

the Sole operation of Nature, for the Materials being

inclosed in their

dungeon there Nature attenuates them, there she dissolves

and putrefies them, and causeth them to run a retrograde

course into their own first matter again, that is, into a

slimie and viscous mass and substance, whereof at first out

of the four Elements they were formed and begotten. And in

that first work, the Artist is but only a fire maker, which

only giveth Nature strength and power to work in and upon

the materials, for without an exciting fire Nature were not

able to effect anything, but she would wholly remain idle

and void of course, and that in regard of the extreme

coldness of the Mercury, for where cold predominates, heat

must needs lie fettered and immoveable, but when the

external fire stirreth up and provoketh the fierce

indignation of the Salt Menstrue, she presently seizeth

upon the fat unctuous body of the Sulphur, and extracts his

natural heat and fiery element, and then both of them

together do so ardently incircle and work upon the cold

Mercury, that they dissever and scatter all his members

into smaller atomes than fly in the beams of the Sun, and

then heat beginneth to get the supereminence.

Therefore in this FIRST WORK the Operator is but the

Trustie administrator of Nature, which in this case, the

most illeterate and simple man in the World may be.

But in the Secret Work of the conjunction of our

Elements, both Nature and Art, hand in hand accompaning

each other, for there the Artist findeth and imbibeth, and

Nature fixeth and congealeth, which we will show hereafter,

when we handle that work.

The FIRST WORK OF SOLUTION reduceth our Trinity and

Antimonial Compound into a green gum, called the Green

Lyon, which gum dry moderately well, but beware thou burn

not his flowers, nor destroy greenness, for therein lieth

his Soul, which is our main Secret.

And our SECOND WORK manifests those things which were

before hid from sight, namely, it makes our four Elements

to appear visibly, and to be had generally and distinctly.

But in this Second Work if thou extract our Air and our

Fire with the phlegm water,

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