Valuable Alchemical Texts

[Hellin Hermetist]

No. When you separate gold from silver by means of nitric acid the calx is black or dark. When you seprate it from copper, though, the calx is reddish-brown, it looks a lot like precipitated copper. But that happens even at the first separation. No amount of further separations from copper seem to deepen this color of the gold calx. At least I could not notice it.

As I understand it, the whole thing hasn't anything to do with the colour of the calx which is produced after the parting. The redness must be discerned at the metal which we get after the melting of that calx. Till far I have accomplished four melting and partings and the metal which I get after the melting of the produced calx has the usual colour of gold, not a red one. Do you make use of propane - oxygen torch for your meltings? Our conclusions seem to agree then.

No, I just granulated the alloy by pouring it in a metal bucket full of agitated water. Division to calx is not necessary for nitric acid to act upon such alloys that contain much larger quantities of copper or silver than gold. Even in a solid nugget or ingot the acid will work its way through the alloy, eventually.

Yeah, granulation sounds good too. From my part I use a solid nugget of the alloy but the reaction takes a lot of time to reach the end. I have heard that its dangerous to pour molten copper in water. That the reaction is violent. Have you found anything like that?

 

[JDP]

As I understand it, the whole thing hasn't anything to do with the colour of the calx which is produced after the parting. The redness must be discerned at the metal which we get after the melting of that calx. Till far I have accomplished four melting and partings and the metal which I get after the melting of the produced calx has the usual colour of gold, not a red one... Our conclusions seem to agree then.

Yes, seems so.

Do you make use of propane - oxygen torch for your meltings?

No, I use improvised furnaces that work with propane torches of various sizes. I make them out of refractory ceramic fiber blankets, refractory cement and steel cans of various sizes (the largest one I have built was using one of those metal trash cans that people use to put the garbage bags outside!)

Yeah, granulation sounds good too. From my part I use a solid nugget of the alloy but the reaction takes a lot of time to reach the end. I have heard that its dangerous to pour molten copper in water. That the reaction is violent. Have you found anything like that?

No, not really. Sometimes the molten metals splash water but that's about it.

 

[Krisztian]

So I think you can still gain from a translation even if it is not perfect.

I think you brought out some important points in your explanation. I also don't condemn Old English or other older manuscripts, yes, everything in life has something to offer and teach.

I merely explained my own process with the alchemical and allegorical images of old - say 16th Century - manuscripts provide.

 

[Ezalor]

I'm reading Jean Dubuis' alchemy course. it starts out with Spagyrics then gets into mineral alchemy. I just started the Spagyrics part so can't form n opinion, but based on what I read from him so far I expect good quality. You can download it from the Internet, but for the sake of completeness regarding his approach suggest you start with his "Fundamentals of Esoteric knowledge (1 volume) then Spagyrics (2 volumes) and finally Mineral Alchemy (4 volumes). He also has after these 3 volumes on Qabala and a final volume titled "The Experience of Eternity". All available in English.

Anyone knows Dubuis' work already and can share an opinion? I would be interested.

 

[Awani]

Anyone knows Dubuis' work already and can share an opinion? I would be interested.

Dubuis is mentioned in several threads, here are some:

Jean Dubuis' Acorn Experiment

Jean Dubuis' Acorn Elixir Has anyone ever successfully completed the experiment for Jean Dubuis Acorn Elixir? I have attempted this experiment and it seems to me that instead of months, he means days. Is this common to substitute months for days in spagyrics? I have documented my results...

alchemyforums.com

Best Alcohol to use for Jean Dubuis Experiments

Thanks for your time guys. Im gonna start the Jean Dubuis Guides, and although it states Wine Base Alcohol, I'm curious if anyone has any specifics they favor. I am in BC Canada, so a few things suggested in forums are not available to me here (like Ever Clear). Thanks for your time. Jon

alchemyforums.com

Death of Jean Dubuis

Hi everyone. I regret to announce the death of Jean Dubuis April 6, 2010. Peace to the soul of a person who puts his heart in the alchemy that has allowed many people to be interested in this field.

alchemyforums.com

I am sure you can PM some of the folks that have participated in the above threads if you have specific questions.

 

[Krisztian]

Anyone knows Dubuis' work already and can share an opinion? I would be interested.

Barátom Ezalor,

I'm quite familiar with almost all of his publications, not just philosophically, but also by many experimentation in the practical realm.

Read his "Fundamentals of Esoteric Knowledge" first, then the later years have produced his follow up to that manuscript called "Experience of Eternity". Both set the tone for how to approach the practical side of alchemy. His recommendations are not unlike Franz Bardon's, and I even found his superb meditation also mentioned by James of Wingmakers. Neither credits the other, maybe they didn't know of each others' work; but the meditation itself I highly recommend!

The practical aspect of his suggestions can be supplemented with other writers, modern and ancient. Bartlett writes clearly, and he's background is that of a chemist.

 

[Ezalor]

Köszönöm a választ!

I'm already past half of the Fundamentals, and just looked into Spagyrics vol. I. I expect that I will finish the Fundamentals by the time I acquire everything I need for the first experiment in Spagyrics I. The Fundamentals is right now the main source of my personal research I started to sketch up the fundamentum of my personal "magickal workbook" (or my personal grimoire as I call it). In this workbook I alredy implement everything though my personal approach and add my personal research rather than just copying.

In the Dubuis collection I acquired Experience of Eternity is listed last, but then I will move onto it once I finished Fundamentals.

What I really love in Fundamentals, that so far most of the informations in it are the same, or very similar to what I've known already, and it even corresponds to informations I acquired directly from the spirit world, and so far I've never read any author who would have correspond to this information. I only had to make minor additions and changes to his structure of the Universe in order to have it fully correspond to these informations I had, and this is why I greatly respect him, as today it's pretty hard to find anyone who knows this much (and correctly). Or at least, very few such people are ever publicly accessible and known.

I will look into Bardon and Bartlett, thank you!

Minden jót,
Ezalor

 

[Krisztian]

as today it's pretty hard to find anyone who knows this much (and correctly). Or at least, very few such people are ever publicly accessible and known.

The true practitioners of this Royal Art today are usually work behind the veil. For successful results oftentimes depend on staying out of the limelight. There's no hiding, and it's just my contention, that the closer you get to more serious Opus, the more astral light you emit from this Side. So those who can "see" will see you when traveling 'outside'. It's like among the shades of gray smoke, you see more stronger colour of red and that draws attention on the Other Side.

In Potpourri Alchemia, the Cappucine monk, alludes to it:

"Take note, during your work, many Fratres Rosea Crucis will come to you because you caused them to see it".
​

​

I know you know what I mean.

/

I'm happy to hear that you're prepared well. That's prerequisite to the process.

 

[Andro]

If I gave you a transcribed German text of some parts of the letter of Dr. Edmund Dickinson to the "adept" Theodorus Mundanus, do you think you could provide a good English translation of it?

Yes I can. And there are others here as well, who know both English and German.

The response letter [...] was almost completely translated into English in the 17th century [...]

For anyone interested, the response letter is in RAMS, under Quintessence. [link broken]

 

[JDP]

Yes I can. And there are others here as well, who know both English and German.

Let me know where can I send it to you (send me a PM), if you don't already have it. I have a transcription of the German translation of the whole Dickinson letter that was not translated into English by Brice. It is unfortunate that he did not, because the Mundanus response letter by itself at some points leaves the reader wondering what is it exactly that was asked or said to him by his correspondent.

 

[Andro]

I'll start working on that translation as soon as I can. It may take some time, as I currently have quite lot on my plate. But it will be done.

Meanwhile, is there anyone here who has 'Les Recreations Hermetiques' in French and is able to translate it into good English? It would make a nice addition to the Cyliani/Old Nature Way lineage...

Also, how about the genuine 3rd part of 'The Golden Chain'? Any volunteers? I know there exists a French translation and also a German version (in Old German script - difficult to decipher for me).

We could cooperate and make this stuff available to each other!

 

[Illen A. Cluf]

Meanwhile, is there anyone here who has 'Les Recreations Hermetiques' in French and is able to translate it into good English? It would make a nice addition to the Cyliani/Old Nature Way lineage...

Yes, there is a draft English version of Recreations Hermetiques, which will be published in the near future. It is currently undergoing a final edit.

Illen

 

[True Initiate]

Also, how about the genuine 3rd part of 'The Golden Chain'? Any volunteers? I know there exists a French translation and also a German version (in Old German script - difficult to decipher for me).

We could cooperate and make this stuff available to each other!

There is no genuine third part of Golden Chain because it was attached to original Golden Chain and it was a forgery but if you are interested in reading it anyway it is already being translated in English.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/goldenchainIII.html

 

[Andro]

There is no genuine third part of Golden Chain because it was a forgery but if you are interested in reading it anyway it is already being translated in English.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/goldenchainIII.html

Thanks, but this is not the one.

I'll list the chapters of the one I mean, in a day or two.

 

[Salazius]

Index

The third part of the "transmutatione metallorum" the inside dealing especially about the "Lapide philosophorum"

1. What our materia actually is, and how the extraction from salt, sulfur and mercury happens.

2. From the "conjunction of principiorum" as salt, sulfur and mercury.

3. From the other way of the ancients in rework

4. From the short ways of the ancients in the rework

5. From the tincture in white, in the short way

6. From the "augmentation and multiplication" of our philosophical water

7. From the "augmentation and multiplication" of our triplicate mercury, on different ways

8. From the long ways of the ancients

9. From the secret resolution of our materie

10. From a tincture in white from another materie

11. How out a "Primordial" chaos the "hylean" salt can be found

 

[ArcherSage]

The Fountain of John is the greatest detailed work I have read yet regarding the sexual transmutation and the exact time it takes when done properly

 

[Murgen]

I come back to the list of "valuable texts" page 1.

"Treatise on the Great Art", from Pernety, does not correspond to any title (as far as I know) in his french bibliography.

Could anyone enlighten me about this strangeness?

 

[JDP]

I come back to the list of "valuable texts" page 1.

"Treatise on the Great Art", from Pernety, does not correspond to any title (as far as I know) in his french bibliography.

Could anyone enlighten me about this strangeness?

The editor explains how this "treatise" was actually composed:

https://books.google.com/books?id=-vXAkQabIegC&pg=PA8&dq=The+present+work+which+we+have+entitled+Treatise+On+The+Great+Art&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivg-bKhunTAhVG5CYKHclZBQcQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=The present work which we have entitled Treatise On The Great Art&f=false

The present work which we have entitled Treatise On The Great Art is composed of the introductory remarks preceding the principal works on Alchemy of the savant dom Pernety, especially his "Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques devoilees et reduites au meme principe", (a Paris, chez Bauche, 2 volumes, in-12, 1758).

So it is really a composite from several writings by Pernety, not an original work that he actually wrote.

By the way, those of you interested in the alchemical interpretation of Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology should read the work that Pernety himself used to compose his on that subject: Michael Maier's Arcana Arcanissima. For those who can read French, there is a great French translation of it, published by Beya Editions:

[link broken]

And for those of you who can read Italian, read also Bracesco's "The Exposition of the Philosopher Geber" (La Espositione di Geber philosopho, 1544), which is apparently the first text to devote a good deal of space to alchemical explanations of Greek/Roman myths. Bracesco is actually quite lucid and describes most of the operations and reactions, and even openly declares the metallic matter he used to get the "sulphur/tincture/soul" of the Stone. The only exception to his clarity is: the preparation of the "vinegar" (i.e. a common deckname for the secret solvent or "water") that operates the solution of the metallic matter and all the subsequent reactions and changes it will undergo, and where the whole secret lies. The composition of the secret solvent Bracesco keeps jealously guarded and the little he says touching directly on the subject is vague or obscure. But if you have loads of experience in all types of reactions, his descriptions of what this "vinegar" does to the metallic matter and the byproducts obtained in the several operations that follow its solution will give you a few "pointers" regarding some of the substances employed in its preparation. I like Bracesco. A generally nice and generous man. Unlike the "one matter only" scoundrels, who only want to fool you into wasting time & money in a hopeless search for something that does not exist anywhere until the operator actually makes it himself.

 

[Murgen]

Thank you JDP.

What a pity for a french native speaker : the best book of/about a french alchemist who used to write in french is only written in english

Beya Editions : I confirm that the team is composed of amazing men of learning. I rarely met so much erudition going hand in hand with kindness (And I do not say that because it is a Belgian publishing house).

 

[JDP]

Thank you JDP.

What a pity for a french native speaker : the best book of/about a french alchemist who used to write in french is only written in english

Beya Editions : I confirm that the team is composed of amazing men of learning. I rarely met so much erudition going hand in hand with kindness (And I do not say that because it is a Belgian publishing house).

Well, technically it is available in French, sort of, in a "scattered" way. After all, the English-language editor used several of the French works by Pernety to compose it.

Regarding Beya Editions: yes, great guys, they have already put out a good number of translations of old texts (including several alchemical ones) out there available for the French-reading public. It is a true shame that there just is no English-language equivalent to Beya Editions. Those guys from Ambix made big promises about making many old alchemical texts available in English with their "Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry" project, but so far they have only published one volume in all these years. Their output moves at turtle-pace compared to that of Beya Editions or the German publishers of alchemical texts (though the German publishers have the BIG advantage that the large majority of those old texts are already available in German thanks to the massive 16th-18th century output of printed alchemical and "chymical" texts in the German-speaking lands, so modern German publishers do not have to bother much about having texts translated from scratch. They already have the majority of the literature on those subjects available in German, it only needs to be reprinted in more modern formats.)

 

[Murgen]

To finish with that Pernety sub-subject.

I should have dug deeper before talking : the "english synthesis" called "a treatise on the great art" corresponds grosso modo to the first 200 pages of Pernety's "Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques", where Pernety proposes a systematisation/structuration of his hermetical knowledge.

 

[Tiberius]

Think of me as tabula rasa and please recommend me some books for a real beginner because i want to start over from scratch! Thank you

 

[Schmuldvich]

Think of me as tabula rasa and please recommend me some books for a real beginner because i want to start over from scratch! Thank you

Dwellings has been posting some great excerpts here: Easy To Read & Comprehend Alchemical Tracts


Personally, I appreciate Albert Magnus and Sendivogius for their wording. Though they both veiled their speech, as most legitimate Alchemists did, the way they present their knowledge resonates well within me.

Louis Grassot is someone I keep going back to over and over again. His lucidity and fluff-free delivery is totally up my alley.

Rhumelius and Cyliani both clear up tons of minor details regarding the more advanced stages of our Work.

Eirenaeus Philalethes provides wonderful insights and is supremely easy reading compared to most authors.

Glauber wrote so much! He stimulates the mind with many interesting ideas and concepts if you're willing to take the time to read through all he has to say. Boerhaave too!

Roger Bacon, George Ripley, and Basil Valentine of course. These Masters are never to be forgotten and their works should be read over and over again.

Flamel provides neat symbolism interpretation that can help you understand Alchemy more sufficiently, and as hesitant as I am to recommend modern authors Fulcanelli is worth poking through when you have time.

Don't forget to read the "Turba Philosophorum" and "Rosarium Philosophorum" while you're at it!

Arnold de Villa Nova, Morenius, Artephius, Zosimos, etc.

...Too many to list!

http://alchemywebsite.com/texts.html

[links broken]

Buy R.A.M.S. when you get the chance: https://www.ramsdigital.com

 

[Tiberius]

Dwellings has been posting some great excerpts here: Easy To Read & Comprehend Alchemical Tracts


Personally, I appreciate Albert Magnus and Sendivogius for their wording. Though they both veiled their speech, as most legitimate Alchemists did, the way they present their knowledge resonates well within me.

Louis Grassot is someone I keep going back to over and over again. His lucidity and fluff-free delivery is totally up my alley.

Rhumelius and Cyliani both clear up tons of minor details regarding the more advanced stages of our Work.

Eirenaeus Philalethes provides wonderful insights and is supremely easy reading compared to most authors.

Glauber wrote so much! He stimulates the mind with many interesting ideas and concepts if you're willing to take the time to read through all he has to say. Boerhaave too!

Roger Bacon, George Ripley, and Basil Valentine of course. These Masters are never to be forgotten and their works should be read over and over again.

Flamel provides neat symbolism interpretation that can help you understand Alchemy more sufficiently, and as hesitant as I am to recommend modern authors Fulcanelli is worth poking through when you have time.

Don't forget to read the "Turba Philosophorum" and "Rosarium Philosophorum" while you're at it!

Arnold de Villa Nova, Morenius, Artephius, Zosimos, etc.

...Too many to list!

Wow, that is a big list. Thank you for all this comprehensive information, i will try to study them one by one. Even though english is not my native language, if i will have some misunderstandings i will ask for help on this forum, because many of the alchemical concepts are not translated in my language.

 

[Uambra]

... and as hesitant as I am to recommend modern authors Fulcanelli is worth poking through when you have time.

Why are you hesitant to recommend modern authors?