The Alchemy Key.pdf - Veritas File System

one part of linseed oil, and grind it all and mix it with what you
obtained from the distillation, and grind and mix it well, and put
these powders into a new flask, and put it into a pit full of dung,
and cover it well for seven days and you will find in the flask
something like a piece of metal, and make a powder and take the
metal, whatever it may be, and heat it and put [some] of this
powder on top and [word illegible] it, and then take of lead one
part, and cut it up and throw its powder upon two parts of
quicksilver, and when you see the smoke from the quicksilver
rising, throw on it [some] of this powder, and take of this
quicksilver one part, and one part of gold, and mix them together,
and it will colour it to gold which will be good for all tests, and
try it. And he who understands from this will be right, and will
live to the end of days.
The method is in code, which we learned of in the last chapter:
Quicksilver is not metallic mercury but Philosophers' Mercury, Sulphur is
gold, vinegar is something equivalent to aqua regia and the mysterious
úbr [A., eagle, sal ammoniac] is not sal ammoniac or ammonium
chloride. The term úbr probably derives from the ancient Egyptian word
for gold, nub. Egyptian gold mines were predominantly in Nubia. The
emblem of royalty, the eagle, and A for aurum or gold confirms that úbr is
the red powder of the Philosophers' Stone made from gold.
Chapter 3 compared the lilac Philosophers' Stone with the lilac
plant or Syringa vulgaris of the Olive family. The lilac is a native of
Persia and some mountainous regions of Eastern Europe. It arrived in
Britain in the sixteenth century. Lilac found uses in homoeopathic
alchemy and medicine. It dispelled parasitic worms, reduced fever, and
treated malaria. Sometimes, lilac substituted for Aloe Vera.
Scottish legends abound with alchemical symbolism and purple
flowers such as the lilac. One Scottish folktale recounts how a young
bride-to-be died on the eve of her marriage. She asked that lilacs grow on
her grave. The lilacs bloomed white and remained so even after
transplanting. This pure young girl clearly represents the female essence
of philosophic Mercury. We saw the same white maiden as Ophelia in
Hamlet and Portia in the Merchant of Venice.
Another legend tells of a falcon dropped the first lilac seeds in an
old woman's garden. The seed sprouted and grew into a beautiful bush,
but it did not bloom. One day a young prince stopped to admire the bush.
255