Text.Figulus.1609-01.!2r/Translation
To the Illustrious and High-Born Prince and Lord, Lord Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg, in Prussia, Stettin, Pomerania, of the Kashubians and Wends, also in Silesia, to Crossen and Jägerndorf, Duke, Burgrave of Nuremberg, and Prince of Rügen, etc., my Gracious Sovereign and Lord, etc.
Dedication Preface.
Illustrious High-Born, gracious Prince and Lord, your Princely Excellence's humble and eager services, in the most submissive compliance, are always with the utmost diligence, gracious Prince and Lord. Therefore, as a student of the Hermetic Medical Discipline and the Immortal Philosophy of Theophrastus Paracelsus, etc., in the past year, I have published several Chemical Treatises concerning the great mystery of the Philosophical Blessed Stone, openly along with other Philosophers and promoters of true Alchemy who have done the same, and have also prepared several more for printing, which were meant to be published, some of which were to be released at this current Frankfurt Spring Fair, but have been postponed against my will. I could not forego issuing a brief yet substantial treatise, unprecedented in its kind, on the Universal grand Tincture Work and the Arcanum of the Philosophical Adrop, and Chemical Matter, including a detailed and complete preparation, to publicly release it, thereby stirring and encouraging my publishers of Chemical books to not withhold these works from the students of the doctrine any longer, but to expedite their publication as promised, making them more readily available.
Nevertheless, gracious Prince and Lord, since Your Princely Excellence is a significant patron and a fervent admirer of Theophrastian Medicine and other great Arcana, I am comforted by the hopeful assurance that Your Princely Excellence will not be opposed to this brief exposition of the Mercury of Alchemists, its discovery and nature, about which I intend to speak here, but will kindly accept and favor it, for which I humbly request.
However, the Mercurius Alchymistarum is not the Mercury of the masses or any imperfect metallic body, but is the principle and root of all such materials: it is not a Metal Body, but the most quintessential and balanced Metallic Spirit in its qualities, and it is a subtle, clear, pure, and eternal substance of Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, representing the Mercury of the Sun and Moon.
This Philosophical Mercury is the beginning of the Sun and Moon, where Nature starts the process of creating Gold and Silver, and yet it is not the Mercury of the Sun and Moon, as many thousands have believed until now, but a Mercury found in mines that dissolves Gold and Silver back into Mercury.
This Mercury of ours is compared to the common Gold and Silver, for there is no other substance on Earth that can harness the Metallic Power capable of coagulating the proper Sulphur of our Mercury, except in Gold and Silver: For without these two, it cannot be prepared or brought to its ultimate state of Fixity: Therefore, the right Astral Influence to perfect the Mercury lies within Gold and Silver. But it is important to note that in the initial operation, we must add the Moon to our volatile Mercury, which softens the inherent Sulphur of Mercury, thereby coagulating the Mercury into Gold: Initially, it cannot withstand intense heat, so the process must be conducted with gentle warmth, For if Gold is added at the outset, requiring intense heat, then the Mercury must also be subjected to the heat characteristic of Gold, resulting in the transformation of Mercury into a red Sulphur, which would be neither fluid nor suitable for the Art, as its Salt would be removed, and anyone attempting to figure the rubeum Philosophorum with Gold afterwards would be engaging in a futile effort, Because a transition from one extreme to another cannot occur without an intermediary.
Our Mercury also fully embodies the Metallic Property, capable of bestowing Metallic perfection and form, but it does not actively possess this within itself, only potentially, until it is matured through cooking with the addition of the Sun and Moon, only then does it become actualized.
For our Metallic fire, unless it is colored with Gold and Silver and made stable with their fixed power, it cannot color, or mix stably with the water of the imperfect metals: For our Mercury is highly volatile, and an ephemeral water, but once it is stabilized, it assimilates the Metallic Root of the metals, becoming a substance of permanence.
Thus, in our Mercury, Gold and Silver are dissolved: They are incapable of doing so in their Corpus, even if allowed to flow in intense fire for a long duration, they still do not properly mix with the metals, or color them homogeneously and permanently, in their essence, hence one cannot exist or function without the other.
Now we have described what our Mercury is, but not yet where it can be found: Indeed, it is present in Gold and Silver, but they cannot be unlocked to extract the Mercury from them, hence it must be accomplished with this Mercury, for it is the Philosophers' Key.
Therefore, where to seek it has been kept very secret by the Philosophers, so that among many hundreds, scarcely one can achieve it. It is hinted at through an obscure saying. Initially, the Earth was created without Valley, Mountain, Stone, Ore, flat and fertile, and was first transformed by the Sun's heat into various kinds of Colors, Ores, Metals, including the types and Roots of the 7 Metals. Initially, due to the constant heat of the Sun, a sweltering, misty warmth arose, which penetrated the entire Earth in the abyss, along with the Qualities or 4 Elements: And because the Earth retained its inherent watery moisture, the Color mixed with it, resulting in a fumus nebulosus, or a vapor of the 4 Elements enclosed within the Earth. Eventually, it proliferated here and there, as each Vapor sought to rise above itself, thus the Earth was upheaved here and there, forming Mountains and Hills. In such Mountains, this Dampness was most temperately and best mixed over time, and therein best enclosed: But in flat lands, such Dampness did not accumulate as strongly and abundantly, hence not as much good Ore is found in flat lands, for the soil of the Mountains is particularly spongy, sticky, and fertile in its Depths. This Vapor, mixed with subtle, pure Earth, is from where the Nature of the Mercurius Philosophorum arises, but when this compound is purified from its superfluity and cooked, a subtle Ignea sicca substance is generated, and this is the Mercurius Philosophorum.
This conclusion, gracious Prince and Lord, clearly indicates the correct path to seek our Mercury, the foundation of our Art. And although this Mercury is found in ample quantities where ore is mined, it is still recognized by very few. It is neither Gold nor Silver, nor the common Mercury, nor any of the other Metals, not even Sulphur vulgi, not Antimony, not Arsenic, Vitriol, Marcasites, Bismuth, Spat, Cobalt, Orpiment, Saltpeter, or similar substances, but the Philosophers describe it as a vaporous, minor Substance composed of the 4 Elements, a Material containing all other Metals within it, from which they can all be produced. Having sufficiently clarified what our Mercury is, and where it can be found, and also demonstrated from the Light of Nature that the Transmutation of Metals is feasible, I deem it excessive to have elaborated so much on the Key, which is the Mercurius Philosophorum, through which access to the Arcanum of the univalis Lapidis Benedicti is obtained. This Arcanum has been considered by all Philosophers as the highest and greatest treasure of Nature, that nothing higher exists in the world. How to proceed further with this exalted Tincture work, Your Princely Excellence will find ample guidance in the present Treatise, unlike any found in others until now.
This Outstanding, most beneficial Treatise (which arrived in the country in a marvelous manner through a Spaniard, and originates from the Illustrious and High-Born Prince and Lord Frederick, Elector and Count Palatine, of the most praiseworthy and blessed memory) I have thus, like other highly significant and selected writings, which have been withheld for a long time, intended to publish publicly under your illustrious Patronage in open print for the benefit of all students of the doctrine, humbly begging and pleading, Your Princely Excellence will not disfavor this my most humble Dedication, but kindly and graciously accept and embrace me, as a significant Patron and Advocate of the Study of Spagyric, highly esteemed, for further Advancement of such Arcana and other Theophrastian writings, as I have humbly requested previously in another Dedication, to be commended in all Grace. Herewith, I most faithfully commend Your Princely Excellence to the Fatherly Grace of the Highest Spagyrist Trismegistus. Nuremberg, 21st March, on the day of Benedict, in the year 1609.
Your Princely Excellence's Most Humble Client and Servant,
Benedictus Figulus Utenhovius Francus, Crowned Laureate Poet, Theosophist, Theologian, Philosopher, Physician, Hermit, T. M.
