The Hermetic Museum, Vol. II — trans. A. E. Waite (1893)

his gaolers? — V/ozce : They are of his own kindred, but grievous tyrants. — A/chemist : And who are you? Voz: I am the judge and the chief gaoler,and my name is Saturn. /eemzst : (Then Sulphur is detained in your prison? Jozce&; Yes; but I am not his keeper. /cLezst: What does he do in prison? Voice; Whatever his gaolers command. | A/cezzzst ; And what can he do? oce : He can perform a thousand things, and is the heart of all. He can perfect metals and minerals, impart understanding to animals, produce flowers in herbs and trees, corrupt and perfect air ; in short, he produces all the odours and paints all the colours in the world. —Z/cLems?: Of what substance does he make the flowers ? J/ozce: His guards furnish him with vessels and matter ; Sulphur digests it; and according to the diversity of the digestion, and the weight of the matter, he produces choice flowers, having their specialodours. 4/cemzst; Master, is he old? — Vozce: Know, friend, that Sulphur is the virtue of the world, and though Nature's second-born—yet the oldest of all things. —'T'o those who know him, however, he is as obedient as a little child. He is most easily recognised by the vital spirit in animals, the colour in metals, the odour in plants. Without his help his mother can do nothing. 4/cezzs£ : Ishe the sole heir, or has he any brothers? ^e: He has some brothers who are quite unworthy of him; and a sister that he loves, and who is to him as a mother. | A/ekemzst.: Is he always the same? — Vozce : As to his nature, it is always the same. But in person his heart only is pure: his garments are spotted. —4/chemzst ; Master, was he ever quite free? Voice: Yes; in the days of the great Masters and Sages, whom Nature loved, and to whom she gave the keys of the prison. Alchemist : Who were these wise adepts? loce: There have been very many, and among them Hermes, who was one and the same with the mother of Sulphur. After him there were kings, princes, a long line of Sages, including Aristotle and Avicenna. A]I these delivered Sulphur from his bonds. — A/ciezzst ; What does he give to them for delivering him? — /ozee; When he is set free, he binds his gaolers, and gives their three kingdoms to his deliverer. He also gives to him a magic mirror, in which the three parts of the wisdom of the whole world may be seen and known at a glance: and this mirror clearly exhibits the 2creation of the world, the influences of the celestial virtues on earthly things, and the way in which Nature composes substances by the regulation of heat. With its aid, men may at once understand the motion of the Sun and Moon, and that universal movement by which Nature herself is governed—also the various degrees of heat, cold, moisture, and dryness, and the virtues of herbs and of all other things. By its means the physician may at once, without consulting an herbarium, tell the exact composition of any given plant or medicinal herb. But now-a-days men are content to trust to the authority of great writers, and no longer attempt to use their own eyes. They quote Aristotle and Galen, as if there was not much more to be learned from the great Book of Nature which is spread open before them. Know that all things on the earth and under the earth are engendered and produced by the three principles, but sometimes by two, unto which the third, nevertheless, adheres. He who knows these three principles, and their proportions as conjoined by Nature, can tell easily by their greater or less coction, the degrees of heat in each subject, and whether they have been well, badly, or passably cooked. For those who know the three principles know also all vegetables—by sight, taste, and odour, for these senses determine the three principles, and the degree of their decoction. 4/cezzsz : Master, they say that Sulphur is a Medicine. Joezee: Nay, you might rather call him a physician, and to him who delivers him out of prison, he gives his blood as a Medicine. 4/cZezzst ;: How long can a man ward off death by means of this universal Medicine? J/oeze; Until the time originally appointed. But many Sages who did not take it with proper caution, have died before that time. Alchemist : Do you call it a poison then? /ozee ; Have you not observed that a great flame swallows up a small one? Men, who had received the Art by the teachings of others, thought that the more powerful the dose they took of our Medicine, the more beneficial would be the effect. They did not consider that one grain of it has strength to penetrate many thousand pounds óf metals. 4/cezzst: How then should they have used it? J/ozce ; They ought to have taken only so much as would have strengthened and nourished, without overwhelming, their natural heat. 4/cemst : Master, I know how to make