. The Secret Book of Artephius: Commentary & Analysis

[Dwellings]

You definitely can use it as an expression of the Acid Principle and a 'lower-level substitute' for 'our water', but it is not an absolute necessity. Other means can be used.

Unless you work completely 'purist' and move through the density scale from there, there is a need to 'magnetize' your initial matter/body by 'opening' it so it can attract AND keep 'our water'. There are various ways to 'magnetize/open/spiritualize' matter. Some (but not all) of these ways may involve acids, such as in the long process with Marcasite (a sulfide), where sulfuric acid forms naturally.

Besides, you have already mentioned that you haven't performed the work yet, so IF this is still the case and all your info comes from reading and from a set of fixed ideas you have formed in your mind, you are in no position to preach what 'alchemy proper' is or isn't, or what 'auxiliary' means are at our disposal to kick-start the process.

Interesting to note what a combination of mild shit-storm as well as positive feedback my admitted memory-related mistake has caused here and in PM as well



What particular knowledge of chemistry would that be?



If he/she doesn't get distracted, as 5 year olds often do ... Also, if you have a preference for a path using high temperatures, would you allow a 5 y/o child near it?
_____________________

Addendum: As 'proof of concept', in the past I have used more 'common' expressions of the 'acid principle' to 'open' various matters/bodies and 'elevate' them, such as changing 'states' (from 'closed' to 'open', from 'fixed' to 'volatile', from polar-soluble to non-polar soluble, etc...).

To further exemplify, various 'waters' such as dew, rainwater, even a body's own 'waters' are examples of (perhaps relatively week but nevertheless efficient) expressions of the 'Acid Principle'.

Another interesting example of using the 'Acid Principle' is found HERE.

What is often referred to as 'Our Water' (Secret Fire) can be (somewhat and quite loosely) compared with a 'dew on steroids'.

It is archetipally derived from 'Spiritus Mundi Acidus Corporeus' (Golden Chain). Aso in the Golden Chain, 'Our' Subject/Matter is similarly described as 'Spiritus Mundi Fixus Alcalicus Corporeus'.

IF we commence our work with common (corporeal) matter(s), we inevitably work with CHEMICALS ('Code'). Using 'Code against Code' is similar to the Hermetic Way of using 'Law against Law'. A variation of 'hacking', if you will...

It matters little whether I have performed experiments or not, the moment you add a substance foreign to it it is ruined. I am only talking about Alchemy Proper, not side stuff.

Instead of calling it shit storm, you must thank God that you have a bunch of well meaning friends. I am assuming they PM'ed you regarding acid part.

Regarding chemistry, the knowledge of certain salts and their behavior.

Regarding 5yr old, talking about the easiness.

 

[Andro]

It matters little whether I have performed experiments or not

On the contrary, it makes all the difference.

the moment you add a substance foreign to it it is ruined.

Foreign usually means 'of UN-like nature'. This is not the case here, principle-wise.

I am only talking about Alchemy Proper, not side stuff.

Are you claiming to be a practiced expert on what 'Alchemy proper' is?

Side note: Even IF we use 'helpers' or 'catalysts', they are of 'similar' natures and they don't end up in the final 'product' anyway.

Instead of calling it shit storm, you must thank God that you have a bunch of well meaning friends.

I will ignore this last statement for now.

 

[Dwellings]

On the contrary, it makes all the difference.

Foreign usually means 'of UN-like nature'. This is not the case here, principle-wise.

Are you claiming to be a practiced expert on what 'Alchemy proper' is?

Side note: Even IF we use 'helpers' or 'catalysts', they are of 'similar' natures and they don't end up in the final 'product' anyway.

I will ignore this last statement for now.

Acid is a corrosive, bringer of death, lookup acid attack photos and you are using it to volatize stuff and open it up. Assuming the substance opens up, the corrosive is only going to destroy the tender mercury. How can you attract SM under such a situation?

As for Alchemy Proper:

I find it appropriate to quote Paracelsus in the middle of such an intense thread:

To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondences, to control, purify and transform them by the living power of the spirit, this is true alchemy.

Like Attracts Like

 

[Andro]

Acid is a corrosive, bringer of death, look up acid attack photos and you are using it to volatilize stuff and open it up. Assuming the substance opens up, the corrosive is only going to destroy the tender mercury. How can you attract SM under such a situation?

You're speaking theoretically without having the actual practice. In 'Hermes Old Nature Way', for example, the same things are said about the heat of common fire:

We can see then, that common fire does not serve toward maturation, but is a destroyer of the seed; it is the death of all things, because it consumes all the power within the seed of all bodies, and those are thereby no longer fit to generate more of themselves.

I am not going to spend more time explaining the correspondences and expressions of the Acid/Nitre Principle. Suffice to say that they don't call its highest expression 'Our Vinegar' on a mere whim. 'Lower' expressions of the same principle also include rainwater, dew, etc. There's an innate Acid Principle involved in Urine Works as well. Also consider the role of Gastric Acid. Sometimes, in Alchemy, an auxiliary Acid 'helper' is referred to as 'Fire against Nature'.

My current research revolves around 'rendering' the Universal Central Salt, which is not physically readily manifest in nature. The Central Salt is the EARTHLY and FIXED Alchemical counterpart of the CELESTIAL and VOLATILE Universal Spirit ('Mercurius Sideribus').

In my current work there are no acids involved, but quite different procedures, so I won't dwell on 'salt volatilization & opening' anymore, even though it can be done with the help of the Acid Principle, without 'destroying' anything - which is something I have already proven to myself in practice. Also, the resulting salt(s) were not physically present in the matter before, so in a sense they are 'newly corporified matter', making the term 'volatilized salts' a bit of a misnomer IMO... and by being the Earthly counterparts of the Celestial Spirit, they are also its 'Magnets', as per the Paracelsus quote.

So, given that my current work doesn't involve 'opening' matters such as common salts/minerals/metals, I feel I have nothing to add to the 'Acid Principle' discussion at this point.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[Andro]

Logistical Post

All posts straying too much from the topic of 'The Secret Book of Artephius' but rather dealing more with wet/dry/long/short path notions have been moved to This Thread.

 

[Seraphim]

Artephius - His Secret Booke

Hey AF,

This translation is by Sir Isaac Newton and includes John Pontanus Epistle upon the Mineral Fire.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/nfdpimai7k9wzlu/Artephius_-_His_Secret_Booke.pdf

 

[Blacksmith]

(4) Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i.e., of sol and luna; and therefore it is mixed with gold and silver and sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture and shines with inestimable brightness. Whoever knows how to convert or change the body into medicinal white gold may easily, by using the same white gold, change all imperfect metals into the best or finest silver. And this white gold is called by the philosophers "luna alba philosophorum, argentum vivum album fixum, aurum alchymiae, and fumus albus" [white philosophical silver, white fixed mercury, alchemical gold, and white (something)]; therefore, without this our antimonial vinegar, the aurum album of the philosophers cannot be made. And because in our vinegar there is a double substance of argentum vivum, one from antimony and the other from mercury sublimated, it does give a double weight and substance of fixed argent vive and also augments therein the native color, weight, substance, and tincture thereof.

When he says that the vinegar of the mountain is OF sol and luna, i believe that it means that " our water " just has afinity with sol and luna because : reduceth a perfect body into its prima materia, or first matter, viz. into sulphur and argent vive

So we can get some conclusions based on this:

1. Our water,The vinegar of the mountains, antimonial vinegar, etc.
Just swallow Sol and Luna

2. Our water,The vinegar of the mountains, antimonial vinegar, etc.
Open the sulphur of Sol and Luna and reveal "Our mercury"

3. Our water,The vinegar of the mountains, antimonial vinegar, etc.
Open "Our Salt" to the amalgmation with "Our Mercury" and The sulphur

*(THINK IN THE COLORS)