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

When the Regimen of Venus is over,and therein has appeared the philosophical tree, with all'its branches and leaves, the Reign of Mars begins with a light yellow, or dirty brown colour, but at last exhibits the transitory hues of the Rainbow, and the Peacock's Tail. At this stage the compound is drier, and often shews like a hyacinth with a tinge of gold. The mother being now sealed in her infant's belly, swells and is purified, but because of the present great purity of the compound, no putridness can have place in this regimen, but some obscure colours are chief actors, while some middle colours come and go, and they are pleasant to look on. Our Virgin Earth is now undergoing the . ast degree of its cultivation, and is getting ready to receive and

AN OPEN ENTRANCE. I95.

mature the fruit of the Sun. Hence you should keep up a moderate temperature; then there will be seen, about the thirtieth day of this Reign, an orange colour, which, within two weeks from its first appearance, will tinge the whole substance with its own hue. i

CEPATDPTER XX. |
Of the Regimen of the Sum.

As you are now approaching the end of the work, the substance receives a golden tinge, and the Virgin's Milk which you give your substance to drink has assumed a deep orange colour. Pray to God to keep you from haste and impatience at this stage of the work ; consider that you have now waited for seven months, and that it would be foolish to let one hour rob you of the fruits of all your labour. "Therefore be more and more careful the nearer you approach perfection. Then you will first observe an orange-coloured sweat breaking out on the body ; next there will be vapour of an orange hue. Soon the body below becomes tinged with violet and a darkish purple. At the end of fourteen or fifteen days, the substance will be, for the most part, humid and ponderous, and yet the wind still bears it in its womb. Towards the 26th day of the Reign it will begin to get dry, and to become liquid and solid in turn (about a hundred times a day) ; then it becomes granulated ; then again it is welded together into one mass, and so it goes on changing for about a fcrtnight. At length, however, an unexpectedly glorious light will burst from your substance, and the end will arrive three days afterwards. "The substance will be granulated, like atoms of gold (or motes in the Sun), and turn a deep red —a red the intensity of which makes it seem black like very pure blood in a clotted state. "This is the Great Wonder of Wonders, which has not its like on earth.

(OEDASPADEARE XOXOXCE,

Of the Fermentation of the Stone.

I forgot to wern you in the last chapter to be on your guard
against the danger of vitrification ; too fierce a fire would render:
N2

his God in peace and safety. He will not care for pomp or dazzling outward show. But if he lived a thousand years, and daily entertained a million people, he could never come to want, since he has at hand the means of indefinitely multiplying the Stone both in weight and virtue, and thus of changing all imperfect metals in the world into gold.

In the second place, he has it in his power to make stones and diamonds far more precious than any that are naturally procured.

In the third place, he has an Universal Medicine, with which he can cure every conceivable disease, and, indeed, as to the quantity of his Medicine, he might heal ali sick people in the world.

Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, and sole Almighty, be everlasting praise for these His unspeakable gifts and invaluable treasures.

I exhort all that possess this Treasure, to use it to the praise of God, and the good of their neighbours, in order that they may not at the last day be eternally doomed for their ingratitude to their Creator.

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24 MD 9 E Ww

THE SECRETS OF ALCHEMY.

'the liberal arts and sciences, and in the company of wise men and judicious scholars, I was compelled, as