Pernety - A Treatise On The Great Art.pdf - cyjack.com

The Great Art page 82The author we have just quoted says: “The first digestion operateth the solution of the Body, wherebycomes the first conjunction of male and female, the commixtion of both seeds, putrefaction, theresolution of the elements into homogeneous water, the eclipse of the Sun and Moon in the head ofthe Dragon, and lastly it bringeth back the whole World into its ancient Chaos, and dark abyss. Thisfirst digestion is as in the stomach, of a melon colour and weak, more fit for corruption thangeneration. In the second digestion the Spirit of the Lord walketh upon the waters; the light begins toappear, and a separation of waters from the waters occurs; Sol and Luna are renewed; the elementsare extracted out of the chaos, that being perfectly mixed in Spirit they may constitute a new world; anew Heaven and new Earth are made; and lastly all bodies become spiritual. The Crow’s young oneschanging their feathers begin to pass into Doves; the Eagle and Lion embrace one another in aneternal League of amity. And this generation of the World is made by the fiery Spirit descending inthe form of Water, and wiping away Original sin; for the Philosophers’ Water is Fire, which is movedby the exciting heat of a Bath. But see the separation of Waters be done in Weight and Measure, lestthose things that remain under Heaven be drowned under the Earth, or those things that are snatchedup above the Heaven, be too much destitute of aridity. The third digestion of the newly generatedEarth drinketh up the dewy Milk, and all the spiritual virtues of the quintessence, and fasteneth thequickening Soul to the body by the Spirit’s mediation. Then the Earth layeth up a great treasure initself, and is made like the coruscating Moon, afterwards like to the ruddy Sun; the former is calledthe Earth of the Moon, the latter the Earth of the Sun; for both of them are begot of the copulation ofthem both; neither of them any longer feareth the pains of Fire, because both want all spots; for theyhave been often cleansed from sin by fire, and have suffered great Martyrdom, until all the Elementsare turned downwards. The Fourth digestion consummateth all the Mysteries of the World, and theEarth being turned into most excellent leaven, it leaveneth all imperfect bodies because it hath beforepassed into the heavenly nature of quintessence. The virtue thereof flowing from the Spirit of theUniverse is a present Panacea and universal medicine for all the diseases of all creatures. Thedigestions of the first work being repeated will open to thee the Philosophers’ Secret Furnace.” 64The entire Philosophical process consists in the solution of the body and the congelation of theSpirit, and both of these are made by one operation. The Fixed and the Volatile are closely mixed, butthis cannot be done unless the Fixed is first volatilized. They finally embrace, and by reduction theybecome absolutely fixed.The operative principles which are called also the Keys of the Work, or the Regimen, are four innumber; the first is Solution, or Liquefaction; the second Ablution; the third Reduction, and thefourth Fixation. By Solution bodies return to their First Matter, and become crude again by Coction.Then the marriage of the male and female is made, and the Crow is born. The Stone is resolved intofour Elements, which are confounded; the Heaven and the Earth unite to give birth to Saturn.Ablution teaches to whiten the Crow 65 and to cause Jupiter to be born of Saturn: this is done by thechanging of body into Spirit. The function of Reduction, is to return to the body its spirit of which ithas been deprived by volatilization, and to nourish it then on a spiritual Milk, in the form of dew,until the little Jupiter has acquired perfect strength.“During these last two operations, says d’Espagnet, the Dragon descends from Heaven, becomesinfuriated against itself; it devours its tail, and swallows itself little by little, until at last it is changedinto stone.” Such was the Dragon of which Homer speaks,(Illiad, b. 2 v. 306 and following); it is thetrue image, or symbol, of these two operations. “While we were assembled under a beautiful planetree,says Ulysses to the Greeks, for the purpose of making hecatombs, near a fountain which issuedfrom that tree, there appeared a wonderful prodigy. A horrible Dragon, with a spotted back, sent byJupiter himself, came out of the base of the altar and ran up the plane-tree. In the top of this tree wereeight little sparrows with their mother flying around them. The Dragon seized them furiously and64 Translation by W. Wyne Westcott. Loco Cit.65 The Crow becomes the Dove. – Stanislas de Guaïta.