The flamel path

I got fed up one day and decided that it would be SO much easier to read the testament of flamel if I translated it into modern english. Although I'm posting it here for free I wouldn't complain if someone felt like being generous.

1 I Nicolas flamel ,a scrivener (book keeper) of Paris in the year 1414 under the gracious reign of Prince Charles the fifth, whom God preserve . After the death of my faithful partner Perenelle, I'm seized with a desire and delight in rememberence of her. On your behalf,dear nephew,to write out the whole magestry of the secret of the powder of projection, or philosophical tincture,which God has willed to impart to his very insignificant servent. I have found it out and so will you by working as I shall present to you.

2 For this cause do not forget to pray that God bestow upon you the understanding of the reason and truth of nature,which you will see in ths book. Within which I have written secrets word for word,sheet by sheet, as I have acomplished and worked with your dear aunt Perenelle whose passing I very much regret.

3 Be very careful before you work, to search out the right way as a man of understading should. The reasoning of nature is mercury,gold,and silver,as I have said in my book,represented by the figures you see under the arches in Paris. I erred in excess of 23 years and a half,in working without being able to make gold and mercury inseperable, and to extract from them the seminal dung (a black precipitate {the first sign of perfect fusion}) which is a deadly poision. Durring this time I was ignorent of the agent or medium which fortifies the mercury. Without this agent Mercury has no more effect upon gold than common water.

4 You must learn and know how to fortify mercury with a metalic agent (metalic not metal). Without this agent, mercury can never be eaten by gold or silver (the mercury is actually consumed). Afterword the mercury must be hardened which cannot be done without the sulphurous spirit of Gold or Silver (the principal of fixation,means it actually increases the melting point of mercury). You must there for open them (gold or silver) with a metalic agent, spicifically royal saturnia. Afterword you must actuate this mercury by a philosophic means,so that with this mercury you may dissolve gold or silver into a liquid and take from their destruction the generative dung (same as "seminal dung")

5 Know that there isn't any other way or means to work in this art other than what I give you word for word. The operation unless it is taught, as I am doing, is not at all easy to preform, on the contrary is very difficult to find out.

(Translator's note: This is a varrient of the dry way. In actuality
mercury metal which only nicolas flamel ever actually used is only
one of several suitable solvents for gold, The wet way which uses the
true alkahest is completely non toxic and far more common ammong
alchemical writings.)

6 Belive stedfastly ,that the goal of the philospohic industry is to create the mercury of the wise,because it contains everything we seek. It has alwayst been sought after by all ancient wise men. We have not done anything without this mercury made with gold or silver any more than they have. Without these three There is nothing in the whole world capable of accomplishing the philosophical and medicinal tincture. It is there for important that we larn how to extract from them the living and spiritual seed.

7 There for aim at nothing but Gold silver and mercury prepared by a philosophical industry,which wets not the hands,but the metal,and has within it a metalic and fixed soul,namely it's internal fire "the ignited light of sulphur". So that you do not stray from the right path ,apply yourself to metals because the aforsaid sulphur is found in all. You will easily find it ,it's almost simliar to gold, hidden deep within the depths of Mars which is iron and within Venus which is copper. If you pay attention to it this sulphur has the power of turning moist and cold luna which is fine quality silver into pure yellow and good sun which is gold. This ought to be done by a spiritual medium via the key which opens all metals,which I am going to make known to you. Learn that ammong the metals there is one which is a thief which eats up (consumes) all except gold and silver,who render the thief very good. When your thief has them in his belly (melted together) he is good for preparing the quick silver (mercury) which I will make known to you.

8 Do not stray from the right road but trust to my words,and then give yourself over to the practice which I am going to bestow on you in the name of the Father,the Son, and the Holy Spirit

The practice is as follows:

9 First take the first born child of saturn (antimony ore SbS),9 parts,and the sabre chalibs of the god of war (natural iron), 4 parts. Bring the later to melting redness and cast into it your antimony which will immediately redden the iron. Carefully remove the slag with salt peter and tartar (probably cream of tartar) four or five times. This is done correctly when it crystalizes in a star pattern.

10 This is the key and sabre ,which opens and cuts through all metals,but chiefely gold, silver, and copper,which it eats, if you have preformed the operation properly. This Saturnia is the royal triumphant herb,and our little imprefect king which we raise by philosophic means to the highest degree of glory and honor. It is also the queen or the moon and wife of the sun. It is also our hermephrodite Mercury. This Mercury or Saturnia is represented in the seven first pages of the book Abraham The Jew by two serpents encircling a golden rod. Take care to prepare a sufficient quantity of it for much is required 12-13 pounds or more depending on how large of a scale you wish to work.

11 Marry (combine) the young god Mercury which is quick silver (mercury metal),with the philosophic mercury you just made, so that you may actuate and fortify your quick silver. Fortify your mercury seven or even ten or eleven times with this agent. This agent is called the key,or steel sharpened sabre. It cuts, scythes,and penetrates the bodies of all metals. Then you will have the double and tripple water represented by the rose tree in the book of abraham the jew,which issues out of the foot of the oak. Namely our Saturnia which is the royal key and goes to precipitate itself into the abyss,as says the author. He means it flys into the reciever of your retort where the double mercury puts itself in the presence of a suitable fire.

12 But here are thorns and insurmountable difficultys,unless God reveals the secret or a master bestows it. Mercury (metal) does not mary with royal saturnia. It is importent to find a secret means to unite them. Unless you know the artiface by which untion and peace are effected by these two you will not do anything to any purpose. I would not hide anything from you dear nephew. I say unto you that without gold or silver this work will profit you nothing. You must there for cause this combination (our old man or voracius wolf) to devour gold or silver in the weight and measure I am about to inform you. Listen to my words so as to avoid mistakes,as I have done time and again. You must there for that you must give gold (or silver) to our old dragon to eat. Remember well how you ought to operate. If you give only a little gold (or silver) to the melted saturnia the gold is opened but the quick silver will not combine with it. This is an incongruity which is not profitable at all. It took me a long time before I found out the means to succeed in it. If you give him a lot of gold the gold will not be so opened but neither will it be wasted. Only then will the quick silver take effect and they will both marry. Thust the means is discovered. Conceal this secret because it is complete,do not trust it to paper or anything else that may be seen.We should be the cause of greate mischief. I give this to you under the seal of secrecy and of your conscience ,for the love I bear for you.

13 Take ten ounces of the red sun very fine and very clean (iron,copper,or silver?),purified nine or ten times by means of the voracius wolf alone (?),and two ounces of royal saturnia. (proportions reversed? or further purification?) Melt this in a crucible. When it is melted cast into it ten ounces of fine gold (or silver) and melt these two together. Stir them with a piece of charcoal. Then your gold will be a little opened. Pour it on a marble slab or into an iron mortar. Reduce it to a powder and grind it well with 3 pounds of quick silver. wash this with pure water until it comes out clear. The conjunction of this royal golden saturnia is effected when it curds like cheese and is soft to the touch like butter.

14 take this mass and dry it with linnen or fine cloth with great care . This is our lead and our mass of sun and moon,not the vulgar,but the philosophical. Put this into a good retort preferably one of steel. Place the retort in a furnace and increase your fire by degrees. Aftertwo hours increase your fire so that the mercury passes into the reciever. This mercury is the water of the blowing rose tree,and also the blood of the innocents slain in the book of abraham the jew. You may suppose that he mercury has eaten up a little of the body of the king (gold) and will have much more strength to dissolve the other part afterwords,which will be more covered over with the body of the saturnia. You have now ascended one rung in the ladder of our art.

15 Take the faeces out of the retort and melt them in a crucible with a strong fire. Cast in four ounces of the saturnia onto these nine ounces of gold. (one ounce must be in the mercury) Then the gold is expanded (increased in quantity) and much more opened than the first time. The mercury also has more vigour than before and has the strength and virtue to penetrate the gold and eat more of it,so as to fill it's belly by degrees. You should there for repeat the previuos operation. Recombine the mercury stronger by one degree with this new mass,wash and grind as before to get all the blackness out. Then dry and distill as before. First weak fire for two hours than strong to drive out and cause the mercury to distill over. Then your mercury will be more actuated and you will have ascended the second degree in the philosophic ladder.

16 Repeat the same work by melting the faeces and casting in more saturnia until you have reached the 10th step of the philosophic ladder. Then you should take rest, because your mercury is ignited,actuated,wholely ingrosed,full of the male sulphur,and fortified with the astral juice which was deep in the bowels of the gold and saturnia. Be assured tha I am writing things that no philosopher has ever declaired or written. This mercury is the woncerful cadicious,which the sages have spoken so much about in their books. They attest that it has the power within itself to accomplish the philosophic work. They say the truth for I have done it myself,and you will be able to do it yourself,if you are so disposed. It is this which is the proximate matter and root of all metals.

17 Now it is done and accomplished,the preparation of the mercury,rendered cutting and proper to dissolve into it's nature gold and silver,to work out naturally and simply the philosophic tincture, or the powder transmuting all metals into gold and silver.

18 the work isn't finished yet.

19 In the name of God take your animated mercury,however much you like; put it into a glass vessel by itself;or two to four parts of the mercury with two parts of the golden saturnia;all of which should be ground fine and amalgamated like butter,washed,cleansed,and dried (as before);lute(seal) your vessel with the lute of wisdom (no more than 1/3 full). Place your flask in a furnace on warm ashes at the temperature of a hen sitting on her eggs (109F). Leave this mercury to ascend and descend for 40 or 50 days,until you see a white (silver) or red (gold) oil,forming on your mercury,this is called "philosophic sublimate",which seeps out of your mercury. You should collect this "sulphur" (the oil) with a feather:it is the living sun (gold) and the living moon (silver),which the mercury begets out of itself.

20 Take this white or red sulphur,triturate (dry) it in a glass or marble mortar,then gradually add 1/3 by weight,of the mercury which it came from. With these two make a paste like butter:put it back into an oval glass,place it in a furnace on a suitable fire of ashes (109F) mild and disposed with a philosophic industry (temperature maintained) Concoct until the said mercury is changed into sulphur (oil),and durring this coction you will see wonderful things in your vessel,that is to say all the colors in the world, Which you can not behold without lifting up your heart to God in gratitude for such a great gift.

21 When you have attained the purple red,you must gather it:for then the alchemical powder is made,transmuting every metal into fine pure and neat gold,Which you may multiply by wattering it as you have already done,grinding with fresh mercury,concocting it in the same vessel,furnace,and fire,and the time will be much shorter, and it's virtue ten times stronger. (Note: 10 parts ordanary mercury works too without a furnace but it's virtue will be ten times less when finished rather than gaining strength)

22 This is the whole magestry done with mercury alone.

23 Should you desire to operate in another way, take fine gold in fine powder or very thin leaves:make a paste with 7 parts of your philosophic mercury,which is our luna(silver[actuate the mercury using silver]): put them both into an oval glass vessel well luted;place it in a furnace;give it very strong fire,that is to say enough to keep lead in fusion;for then you've found the true regimen of fire;and let your mercury ,which is the philosophical wind,ascend and descend on the body of the gold ,which it eats up by degrees,and carries in its belly. Concoct it until the gold and mercury no longer ascend and descend,but both remain quiet,then peace and union are effecte between the two dragons,which are fire and water together.

24 Then you will see in your vessel a great blackness like that of melted pitch,which is the sign of the death and putrefaction of the gold,and the key of the whole magestery. Cause it therefor to resuscetate by concocting it,and do not be weary with concocting it: durring this period diverse color changes will take place,finally ending with red as deep as blood or crimson poppies: aim only at this last color,for it is the true sulphur and the alchemical powder. I say nothing about the time because that depends on the skill of the artist;but you cannot fail working as I have shown.

25 I f you wish to multiply the powder,take one part and water it with two parts of your animated mercury : make it into a soft smooth paste;put in a vessel as you have already done, in the same furnace and fire as I have shown you. This is the second turn of the philosophic wheel and will be done in less time than before and your powder will have ten times more strength. Let it wheel again even a thousand times,and then some. You will then have a treasure without price,superior to all there is in the world,you cna no longer desire nothing more here below, for you have both health and riches,if you use them properly.

26 You now have the treasure of all worldly felicity,which I a poor country clown of Pontoise accomplished three times in Paris,in my house,in the street des Ecrivains,near the chappel of St.Jacques de la Boucherie,and which I Flamel give you ,for the love I bear you,to the honor of God for his glory,for the praise of Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

so what would the metallic agent be? water itself is metallic under specific conditions.

The "metalic agent" which Flamel uses is antimony (saturn) purified by iron (the saber). This regulus (royal saturnia) is melted with gold or silver. and then amalgamated and the mercury distilled away.

The remainder is melted with more antimony regulus and then redistilled. This is repeated for a total of 10 times.

The 11th time you omit the addition of antimony regulus and put the amalgam in a BM bath for 40-50 days. You should end up with a red oil ,which is the stone,floating on top of your mercury. This oil is dried and recombined with 1/3 by volume of the mercury it was created from. This is incubated again where it goes through the color changes and multiplies in quantity and quality.

Update: I was VERY lucky to find this on Google. Near as I can tell this is the entire flamel path step by step and translated into modern English. Needless to say I didn't want to lose this one.

The philosopher's stone Part-4 (The recipe)

Via Sicca with Antimony

The alchemical text Coelum Philosophorum (The Heaven of the Philosophers), by the German alchemist Phillipus Ulstadius around 1536, presents detailed instructions for working with many mineral and metallic substances. Be careful not to confuse this text with a work by Paracelsus with the same name.

Ulstadius sheds a great deal of light on the subject of antimony and particularly the use of antimony regulus. By far the greatest interest surrounding the regulus is its fixed spirit or Mercury, which can be transferred to other metals in order to reanimate them and awaken their generative power.

This path leads to confecting the Philosopher’s Stone and is referred to as Via Sicca or the Dry Way with antimony. With some operative variations, this is the path of Flamel, Philalethes and Newton. It is said to be one of the fastest and most reliable ways to make the Stone of the Wise, but filled with many dangers.
To begin, stibnite must be purified by the liquation process as described above. The purified stibnite is powdered and dried, then mixed with an equal amount of fluxing powder consisting of 2 parts salt of tartar and 1 part niter. Grind these together carefully and dry.

Next, a crucible is heated red hot and the dry powder mixture is slowly added spoonful by spoonful with a cover placed on top with each new addition. A scoria will form at the top and regulus will fall to the bottom of the crucible. Pour the melt into a hot cone-shaped iron mold and tap the sides to help the regulus fall to the bottom. Once cool, the regulus can be separated from the scoria easily by a hammer blow. Save the scoria aside; it contains the “seed of gold”.
To purify the regulus, it is melted in a clean crucible and niter is sprinkled on top to form a thin molten layer. Keep this in flux for about 15 minutes, then pour it again into the iron cone.

Repeat this purification two more times at least. The next step is to form the Martial Regulus. The recommended proportions are 1 part regulus to 1/10th part iron or steel nails. Iron is said to have a volatile magnetic quality and steel, a fixed magnetic quality. Steel is preferred here, but not stainless steel. Heat the nails red hot in a crucible, then slowly add the regulus as a powder. Keep in flux for 15 minutes, then pour into the iron cone which has been preheated. When cool, break the regulus away from the remaining undissolved nails. Purify the regulus as described above until you see the starry crystal surface.

Now melt your “Stellate Martial Regulus” in a clean crucible and slowly add pure silver metal filings until they stop melting, signaling it is saturated. This is now a Lunar Martial Regulus.
This is sufficient if you plan to make the White Stone which can transmute metals to silver. If you wish to make the Red Stone which transmutes metals to gold, you will need to add a small amount of copper.

Melt the Lunar Martial Regulus and slowly add pure copper metal powder until it refuses to melt anymore. It won’t take very much. Cast the metal out and you will have a Lunar Venusian Martial Regulus with a beautiful violet sheen. Save this regulus aside for the amalgamation phase of the work.

The Stone of the Philosophers is nothing more than a subtilized, exalted and seminal gold.

Mercury is the agent which penetrates and effects such a subtilization and exaltation. But it must be prepared first for use in this Art.

Coelum Philosophorum
Before we can use the prepared Lunar Venusian Regulus to “animate” metallic mercury, we need to purify mercury with some of the Martial Regulus.

Ideally we should use a very pure Native Cinnabar for this process, but if that is not available, we can use high purity metallic mercury (triple distilled) from the chemical supply store. It is a good idea to purify it in the old ways prior to use. It’s not so much aimed at getting the mercury any more pure as at exalting it alchemically, opening the body to receive new life.

For this, take your mercury and wash it well with rainwater, then squeeze it through a piece of chamois or other thin pliable leather.
Now cover the mercury with dried and powdered sea salt. Mix these two completely using a mortar and pestle. Depending on the impurities in the mercury, the salt will darken even to blackness. Wash this dirty salt out using rainwater and repeat the salt washing once or twice. The mercury will retain some of the subtle essence of the salt which is important for the rest of the processes.
Put the mercury into a mortar and add an equal amount of sea salt. Saturate this mixture with strong distilled vinegar (about 10% acetic acid) and begin vigorously mixing the mass for about 10 minutes. Now wash this salt out with rainwater until the mercury appears shiny and bright. Press it through a chamois; there should be no residue left in the chamois. The mercury should leave no trail when rolled across a smooth surface and should be without any appearance of scum at the surface.

Mix the mercury with an equal amount of native sulfur in a mortar, grinding it together well. The matter will turn black during this process, forming mercury sulfide. Examine the matter closely with a magnifier. There should be no tiny globules of mercury remaining. Grind with additional sulfur if there are. The resulting black mass is a crude form of cinnabar,which is the sulfide ore of mercury.

We can proceed with the black variety of cinnabar or we can improve this matter by sublimation to obtain the beautiful orange variety of cinnabar which is best. This is a difficult and dangerous process which requires careful control of the heating.
Now mix 1 part of the cinnabar with one part of powdered martial regulus and grind them together very well in a mortar.
Place the powder into a strong glass retort with the distilling arm immersed in a container of water.

Begin the distillation slowly at first, and then gradually raise the heat until metallic mercury distills over. The temperature will be about 320 to 380 deg C as the mercury distills. When the distillation is complete, remove the receiver first, before removing the heat, or the cooling retort may draw the water into itself and explode.
The black residue remaining in the retort is mostly antimony sulfide which can be used to make more of the Martial Regulus.
The mercury which distilled over is ground together with Native Sulfur until a homogeneous black powder of cinnabar is formed. Again, it is best to sublimate this black form of cinnabar into the red orange variety, but either form will work.
The process of mixing the cinnabar with Martial Regulus and distilling is repeated at least three times. The metallic mercury from the final distillation is now purified and prepared for the amalgamation phase.

Take 1 part of the Lunar Martial Regulus for the White Work for conversion to silver , or 1 part of the Lunar Venusian Martial Regulus for the Red Work for convertion to Gold, as prepared earlier. Powder the regulus and add 4 parts of the purified mercury in small increments, grinding the matter very well in an iron mortar with each addition. Continue grinding the mass for 10 to 20 hours total. At the end of this grinding, add rainwater and continue to grind until the water is black. Pour out this dirty water and add fresh rainwater.

Continue this water wash until all of the blackness is out and the resulting amalgam appears bright and clean. Now place the amalgam into a strong retort as above or into a distilling flask set up as shown below.

The oven should be able to reach about 400 deg C. The bulb in the distilling arm prevents water from being drawn into the hot flask if there is a sudden pressure change. The receiver is partially filled with water to condense the mercury vapor distilling over.
Distill the amalgam and collect the mercury from the receiver. Wash the mercury several times with water and then dry it with a paper towel.

Remove the black silver and regulus residue from the distillation flask and weigh it, then grind it to powder. Melt half its weight of fresh regulus in a crucible, then slowly add the powder until it melts. Cast out the melt and powder it.

Use the distilled mercury to form the amalgam again with this fresh regulus as you did above. Now repeat the distillation.
The amalgamation and distillation process is repeated 7 to 10 times and is often referred to as “letting the eagles fly”. The regulus of antimony won’t amalgamate very easily with mercury metal, so the silver is added to absorb the fixed spirit of antimony and transfer it to the mercury.

The silver, then often called the “Doves of Diana”, acts as a medium to transfer the life force of the antimony into the mercury. After the distillation, the residue of silver which remains in the retort, called now the “Dead Doves of Diana”, is cleaned and used again each time with the addition of fresh regulus. With each cycle of amalgamation and distillation, the mercury metal becomes more enlivened and ultimately is called “Animated Mercury”, or “Sophic Mercury”, containing the generative power of the metallic realm.
This is the “Philosophical Mercury” of the Dry Way. Thus common mercury becomes reanimated by the fire of antimony and the principles of life hidden in the iron and copper. It is the fertile field wherein the seed of metals is sown.

For the White Work, purified silver is “seeded” into this animated mercury; for the Red Work, we use purified gold.

The purification of the precious metals begins with the preparation of sea salt. The salt is fused in a crucible at about 800 deg C, then dissolved in rainwater. Filter the solution into a distillation train and distill out 2/3 of the water. Save this distilled water aside, and pour the remaining salt concentrate into a dish.

Crystals will form in about a day, which are then collected. Dissolve the crystals in the distilled water you collected. Filter the solution into a dish and allow it to crystallize. Collect and gently dry the crystals. This is now purified salt to be used in preparing the gold and silver metals.

For the White Work, silver metal is dissolved in Aqua Fortis or nitric acid. Filter the solution through glass wool and dilute it with about ten times as much water. Now pour the solution into a clean dish made of copper. Some of the copper will dissolve and fine crystals of silver metal will form on the bottom of the dish. Wash this fine silver powder several times with rainwater, then dry it.
Grind together one part of the dried silver powder with six parts of mercury which has been purified with vinegar and salt.
Press the resulting amalgam through a leather chamois to squeeze out the excess mercury.

Take the ball of amalgam remaining in the chamois and grind it together with the previously purified salt. Add the salt in small amounts and continue grinding until you cannot see the metallic amalgam in the powder. Place this powder into a distillation train and distill out the mercury. The residue remaining in the distillation flask is rinsed several times to dissolve and remove the salt. A very fine “silver calx” will remain.

Repeat the process of amalgamation with mercury, grinding with purified salt, distillation of the mercury, and washing the silver calx, two more times. The resulting fine silver calx will be suitable for seeding into the animated mercury and preparing the White Stone for white work (for transmuting mercury into Silver)

The ancient artists thought of this process as a type of calcination of the precious metals, wherein they are reduced to a fine ash like consistency, and hence the name “calx” of the metal.
The calcination of gold, for the Red Work (for transmuting mercury into Gold), follows a similar path, and we shall discuss several methods later in these posts.

Now that we have prepared the metal calx and the Animated Mercury, we are ready to proceed with the next phase of the work. This part of the work consists of planting our precious metal “seed” into the Sophic Mercury. Take one part of silver calx (for the White Work) or one part of gold calx (for the Red Work) and grind it together with two parts of the Sophic Mercury for about ten hours. The resulting amalgam is then washed with rainwater until no more blackness comes out in the water and the amalgam appears clean and bright.

Place the amalgam into a dish and cover it with a paper to keep dust out. The amalgam will become dry and firm up enough so that it can be shaped. Cut pieces of the amalgam off and form them into small balls about the size of a pea. Set the balls into a dish and let dry gently in the sun.

Place the dried amalgam balls into a heavy walled digestion flask with a ground glass stopper. The flask should be no more than a third full. Cover the flask with a piece of paper to keep dust out, then place it into a sandbath at a gentle heat of about 50 deg C for a day.

When you perceive that all of the moisture has gone out, seal the flask tightly with the ground glass stopper. Continue the digestion at a gentle heat.

After about a week, the balls of amalgam will come together as a mass which begins to swell and puff up. Gradually raise the temperature and continue digesting the flask.
The matter will become very dark but soon will begin to look lighter and finally take on a reddish hue. Increase the heat still higher and the red will become more pronounced after about three months. After six months of continuous digestion, the matter will be of a uniform red color.

This is the “Philosopher’s Gold” and represents “the true radical and central calcination of gold”. These are “the ashes of the philosophers, wherein the Royal Diadem is hidden” and is “the nearest matter of the Stone, out of which the transmutation cam be made”.

This “Sophic Gold” provides the foundation for confecting the Red Stone of the Philosophers, but first we must augment or multiply its virtue and quantity.

Place 3 parts of the Sophic Gold into a clean digestion flask as above and heat it until you can barely stand to touch it for very long. Using a heated glass funnel, you must add 1 part of preheated Sophic mercury in small portions. Add about the quantity of a pea each time and allow about half an hour to pass before the next addition. Each time the moisture should be allowed to vapor away.

When the full 1 part of Sophic Mercury has been added and all of the moisture has disappeared, seal the flask with the ground glass stopper. Continue the digestion in a sandbath for four weeks, gradually increasing the heat during this time. At no point should the temperature rise high enough to sublime or distill the mercury within the flask. After four weeks of digestion, the added mercury will become fixed by the Sophic Gold.

Increase the heat until the flask is almost glowing red hot and the matter will fuse without fuming. Allow the flask to cool slowly, then break it free of the digestion flask.

You can repeat this process of multiplication as many times as you like and thus have a constant supply of Sophic Gold.

Now take 1 part of the Sophic Gold reduced to powder and place it into a clean digestion flask. Add two parts of Sophic Mercury all at once, then gently warm the flask to exhale all of the moisture. Seal the flask and continue the digestion until the powder and mercury form a fluid amalgam. Pour the amalgam into a clean glass mortar and begin gently grinding it with rainwater until no more blackness enters the water. When the wash water comes off clear, pour the amalgam into a dish and let it dry in the sun.

Place the dried amalgam into a clean digestion flask and gently heat to remove all moisture before sealing. The flask is digested in a sand bath at about 40 deg C and left undisturbed.

The matter will ferment, swell and bubble, then turn black like pitch. This is called “The Regimen of Saturn”. Keep up this gentle digestion for 40 or 50 days and the mercury will begin to circulate. Within several months, the matter will become lighter, and finally a pure white powder will form. This is the “White Sulfur of the Philosophers”.

The final phase of this process is the preparation of the White and Red Stones from this White Sulfur. For the White Stone we use pure silver metal and for the Red Stone we use Pure Gold. In each case the method is the same, so we will only describe here the preparation of the Red Stone.

Place the White Sulfur into a digestion flask and add small portions of Sophic Mercury until the matter is a soft dark mass. Warm the flask to exhale all moisture, then seal it tightly.

Digest with a gentle heat in a sandbath for 30 days and the darkness will begin to lighten. Continue the digestion for another 30 days and the matter will take on a greenish hue, then a blue green, similar to a peacock’s tail, which is what this phase of the work is called. As the digestion continues, the matter will become increasingly yellow, then reddish. At last, the entire mass will become a beautiful red powder which is called the “Red Sulfur of the Philosophers”.

Take 1 part of this Red Sulfur and encase it in a shell of beeswax. Now melt 2 or 3 parts of pure gold in a crucible and cast the Red Sulfur wax ball into it. Cover the crucible and let remain molten for half an hour. Once cool, break open the crucible and you will find a glassy material which you must reduce into powder.
Place 1 part of this powder into a digestion flask and add 2 parts of the Sophic Mercury. Exhale the moisture out, then seal the flask. Digest the flask with a gentle heat as before. The matter will become dark at first but will turn red much quicker than the first time.

Repeat the digestion with fresh Sophic Mercury several times. The matter will turn red sooner each time. At the end of this process, you will have “The Red Stone of the Philosophers”, “The Medicine of Metals”, which can transmute impure metals into gold.
The process of transmutation of metals into gold is called Projection. Making a judgment of how much metal your stone will transmute requires a little experimentation.

Take about 4 parts of pure gold and melt it in a clean crucible. Cast in 1 part of your Red Stone wrapped in beeswax and keep the matter in flux for half an hour. When cool, break out the resulting red glassy mass from the crucible and powder it.

Now heat 100 parts common mercury in a crucible and cast in 1 part of the Red Stone wrapped in beeswax. Keep the matter in flux for half an hour, then cast it out into an ingot mold. If the metal is still brittle, you must re-melt it with more mercury. If all of the metal did not change into gold, you must add more of the Stone. After a few trials, you will be able to judge the proportions in future transmutations.

In order to multiply the Stone in quantity and virtue, melt 1 part of it with 2 parts pure gold. Powder the resulting glassy mass and place it into a digestion flask. Add Sophic mercury until it becomes a soft mass, then seal the flask. Digest at a gentle heat and it will become fixed into the Red Stone in a short time.