The figure of a man, like that of Saint Paul, clothed with a robe white
and yellow, bordered with gold, holding a naked sword, having at his feet a man
on his knees, clad in a robe of orange colour, black and white, holding a
roule.
Mark well this man in the form of Saint Paul, clothed in a robe entirely
of a yellowish white. If thou consider him well, he turns his body in such a
posture, as shows that he would take the naked Sword, either to cut off the
head, or to do some other thing, to that man which is on his knees at his feet,
clothed in a robe of orange colour, white and black, which saith in his roule,
DE LE MALA QVAE FECI, that is, Blot out all the evil which I have done, as if
he should say, TOLLE NIGREDINEM, Take away from me my blackness; A term of Art:
for Evil signifieth in the Allegory blackness, as it is often found in Turba
Phylosophorum: Seeth it until it come to blackness, which will be thought Evil.
But wouldest thou know what is meant by this man, that taketh the Sword? It
signifies that thou must cut off the head of the Crow, that is to say, of the
man clothed in divers Colours, which is on his knees.
I have taken this portrait and figure out of Hermes Trismagistus, in his
Book of the Secret Art, where he saith, Take away the head of this black man,
cut off the head of the Crow, that is to say, Whiten our black. Lambspring,
that noble German, hath also used it in the Commentary of his Hieroglyphics,
saying, In this wood there is a Beast all covered with black, if any man cut
off his head, he will loose his blackness and put on a most white colour. Will
you understand what that is? The blackness is called the head of the Crow, the
which being taken away, at the instant comes the white colour: Then that is to
say, when the Cloud appears no more, this body is said to be without a head.
These are his proper words. In the same sense the Sages have also said
in other places, Take the Viper which is called De rexa, cut off his head,
&c. that is to say, take away from him his blackness. They have also used
this Periphrasis when to signify the multiplication of the Stone, they have
fained a Serpent Hydra, whereof, if one cut off one head, there will spring in
the place thereof ten; for the stone augments tenfold, every time that they cut
off this head of the Crow, that they make it black, and afterwards white, that
is to say, that they dissolve it anew, and afterward coagulate it again.
Mark how this naked Sword is wreathed about with a black girdle, and
that the ends thereof are not so wreathed at all. This naked shining Sword is
the stone for the white, or the white stone, so often by the Philosophers
described under this form. To come then to this perfect and sparkling
whiteness, thou must understand the wreathings of this black girdle, and follow
that which they teach, which is the quantity of the imbibitions. The two ends
which are not wreathed about at all, represent the beginning and the ending:
for the beginning it teacheth that you must inbibe it at the first time gently
and scarcely, giving it then a little milk, as to a little Child newborn, to
the intent that Ifir, as the Authors say, be not drowned: The like must we do
at the end, when we see that our King is full, and will have no more. The
middle of these operations is painted by the five whole wreathes, or rounds, of
the black girdle, at what time, (because our Salamander lives of the fire, and
in the middest of the fire, and indeed is a fire, and an Argent vive, or
quicksilver, that runs in the middest of the fire fearing nothing), thou must
give him abundantly, in such sort that the Virgins Milk compass all the matter
round about.
I have made to be painted black all these wreaths or rounds of the
girdle, because these are the imbibitions, and by consequence, blacknesses: for
the fire with the moisture (as it hath been often said) causeth blackness. And
as these five whole wreathes or rounds show that you must do this five times
wholly, so likewise they let you know that you must do this in five whole
months, a month to every imbibition: See here the reason why Haly Abenragel
said, the Coction or boiling of the things is done in three times fifty days:
It is true that if thou count these little imbibitions at the beginning and at
the end, there are seven. Whereupon one of the most envious hath said, Our head
of the Crow is leprous, and therefore he that would cleanse it, he must make it
go down seven times into the River of regeneration of Jordan, as the Prophet
commanded the leprous Naaman the Syrian.
Comprehending herein the beginning, which is but of a few days, the
middle, and the end, which is also very short. I have then given thee this
table, to tell thee that thou must whiten my body, which is upon the knees, and
demandeth no other thing: for Nature always tends to perfection, which thou
shalt accomplish by the apposition of Virgins milk, and by the decoction of the
matters which thou shalt make with this milk, which being dried upon this body,
will colour it into this same white yellow, which he who takes the Sword, is
clothed withall, in which colour thou must make they Corfufle to come. The
vestments of the figure of Saint Paul are bordered largely with a golden and
red citrine colour.
Oh my Son, praise God, if ever thou seest this, for now hast thou
obtained mercy from Heaven; Imbibe it then, and teine it till such time as the
little Infant be hardy ans strong, to combat against the water and the fire: In
accomplishing the which, thou shalt do that which Demagoras, Senior, and Haly
have called, The putting of the Mother into the Infants belly, which Infant the
Mother had but lately brought forth; for they call the Mother the Mercury of
Philosophers, wherewith they make their imbibitions and fermentations, and the
Infant they call the Body, to teine or colour the which this Mercury is gone
out. Therefore I have given thee these two figures, to signify the
Albifications, for in this place it is that thou hast need of great help, for
here all the World is deceived.
This operation is indeed a Labyrinth, for here there present themselves
a thousand ways at the same instant, besides that, thou must go to the end of
it, directly contrary to the beginning, in coagulating that which before thou
dissolvedst, and in making earth that which before thou madest water. When thou
hast made it white, then hast thou overcome the enchanted Bulls that cast fire
and smoke out of their nostrils. Hercules hath cleansed the stable full of
ordure, of rottenness, and of blackness. Jason hath powred the decoction or
broth upon the Dragons of Colchos, and thou hast in thy power the horn of
Amalthea which (although it be white) may fill thee all the rest of thy life
with glory, honour, and riches. To have the which, it hath behoved thee to
fight valiantly, and in manner of an Hercules, for this Achelous, this moist
river, is indewed with a most mighty force, besides that he often transfigures
himself from one form to another. Thus hast thou done all, because the rest is
without difficulty.
These transfigurations are particularly described in the Book of the
Seven Egyptian Seals, where it is said (as also by all Authors) that the Stone,
before it will wholly forsake his blackness, and become white in the fashion of
a most shining marble, and of a naked flaming sword, will put on all the
colours that thou canst possibly imagine, often will it melt, and often coagulate
itself, and amidst these divers and contrary operations (which the vegetable
soul which is in it makes it perform at one and the same time) it will grow
Citrine, green, red (but not of a true red) it will become yellow, blue, and
orange colour, until that being wholly overcome by dryness and heat, all these
infinite colours will end in this admirable Citrine whiteness, of the colour of
Saint Pauls garments, which in a short time will become like the colour of the
naked sword; afterwards by the means of a more strong and long decoction it
will take in the end a red Citrine colour, and afterward the perfect red of the
vermillion, where it will repose itself forever.
I will not forget, by the way, to advertise thee, that the milk of the
Moon, is not as the Virgins milk of the Sun; think then that the inbibitions of
whiteness, require a more white milk than those of a golden redness; for in
this passage I had thought I should have missed, and so I had done indeed had
it not been for Abraham the Jew; for this reason I have made to be painted for
thee the Figure which taketh the naked sword, in the colour which is necessary
for thee, for it is the Figure of that which whiteneth.
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