The Seventh Rule.
Of the Sun, its Nature and Property.
Corporeal ☉ is the seventh Metal of the six spiritual ones; in it self it is a meer Fire; but the Reason of its being outwardly of an elegant, yellow, visible, sensible, ponderous, cold and malleable body, is, because it hath in it the coagulation of the other six metals, whereby ’tis compell’d into a visible body. And as to its being melted with Elemental fire, ’tis from hence, because it hath a fluidity of Mercury, ♓, and ♒, spiritually hidden in it self; the which is also outwardly evident, because it is most easily mixt with the ☉, and detained by him.
And whereas after melting, it grows hard by the Cold, viz. is coagulated, and grows stiff, that comes from the other five metals, ♃, ♄, ♂, ♀, and ☽; in these five metals the Cold dwells and bears sway, and therefore ☉ cannot be fluid out of the fire, because of Cold. Nor can ☿ with his heat, nature, and fluidity help him against the five cold metals, for its heat sufficeth not to keep the ☉ in perpetual flux, so that it is enforced to obey the other metals rather than one only, ☿, who (as to coagulation of metals) hath nothing to do, its Property being to make liquid, and not hard: It is the work of heat and life to make liquid, but cold is the cause of hardness, stiffness, and unmovable, being therefore likened to Death.
For Example. If you would reduce the six cold metals to fluidity, whether it be ♃, ♀, ♄, ♂, ☽, ☉, it is to be done by the heat of the fire, for metals are not melted with cold Snow or Ice, but are hardened thereby. Now, as soon as they are melted by the fire, and that the heat ceaseth, the cold rusheth in, whereby the metal stands still, grows stiff, dies, and remains immovable. And because that ☿ is alwaies fluid and living, tell me, I pray, whether or no such a thing proceeds from heat or cold? Some or other may say, it is because of its cold and moist nature, and that it is living because of Cold; but whoever saith thus, and believes thus, is ignorant of Nature, and deceived and seduced with the vulgar, whose belief of any thing is out of the right way, & amiss, & are therefore to be avoided and shun’d by him that would truly know; for ☿ is not living, by reason of cold, but because of its heat and fiery nature, as all things else live because of heat, for heat is the cause of life, and cold the cause of death.
But that ☉ is in it self a meer Fire, not alive indeed, but hard, shewing its fiery heat only outwardly, as yellow mixt with red, and the other five metals, are cold, viz. ♃, ♂, ♄, ♀, and ☽, giving their virtues to the ☉, viz. according to their frigidity a body, by their fire colours, by their siccity hardness, by their moisture weight or heaviness, by their resplendancy sound; and that it is not combustible, and to be destroyed by the Element of Terrestrial Fire, that is by reason of its fixedness. Fire doth not burn Fire, nor destroy it, but Fire joined to Fire becomes the greater and more powerful in strength. The Cœlestial fire descending from the ☉ upon Terrestrials, is not such a fire as is in Heaven, nor such as our fire is on Earth; but with us the Cœlestial fire is cold, a rigid and congealed fire; and this is the body of Gold, and therefore we cannot tame or master ☉ with our fire, we can only divide it and melt it, as the sun dissolves and melts snow, congealed ice and water. Wherefore it is not permitted for one fire to destroy another, because ☉ it self is fire, and in Heaven it is resolved, but with us it is coagulated.
Gold is in a threefold state with its Essence.
| 1. The Cœlestial |  | is |  | Resolved. |
| 2. The Elemental | Liquid. | |||
| 3. The Metallick | Corporeal. |
The End of the Seven Rules.
Glaub.
We are now come to ☉, a kingly and most excellent Metal, the which Paracelsus compares to a meer absolute Fire, and so ’tis found to be, if it be separated into parts; ’tis likewise endued with a seed-like nature, more hot than the Herb it self or the Flower. But to what end should we write of bettering it, when as it needs it not, being already constituted in the highest degree of perfection, and Nature not being able to promote it to an higher degree: Now then if it be to be made better, ’tis behoveful to make it Medicine, for never was a more excellent metal than it seen. An Herb planted in a fruitful soil, and brought to its perfection by the heat of the Sun, the seed being ripe, it remains not in the same form, but withers, and the seed falls away; but if it be seasonably gathered, it lasts a long while, and may, at your pleasure, be put into the Earth, for the production of new Herbs of its kind; or else it may be used for the health of Mankind, having no other notable Use besides. In like manner, Gold having arrived to its perfection, if it be to be farther advanced, it must be made Medicine, or be put upon the Metallick Earth, as Seed is on the Common Earth; where putrefying or augmenting, or growing, it may exhibit and produce a metalline Off-spring. Every body knows that a good Medicine may be thence made, and that various waies, but few know the manner how; but that ’tis able (like the Vegetable seed) to make Encrease out of the imperfect metals (being its own Earth) Paracelsus teacheth in this place, and many Philosophers witness the same, which is not only true in a particular melioration, where by attracting its like out of the imperfect metals, it is encreased; but ’tis also to be believed as true, that from it may be separated, by the industry of a skilful metallick Philosopher, its inmost Vegetative power and purest portion (all its husks, or outside, wherewith ’tis cloathed, being laid aside) and may thereby be exalted to a more than perfect estate, although ’tis incredible to many, yet ’tis not in the least to be doubted of, except we would make all the Philosophers to be Lyers.
As for my self, although I never set my hand to so hard a Task, yet I believe and affirm it to be in the nature of things, as having evidently observed by my other metallick Labours, that this Medicine is in the possibility of Art; the which I will also in due time set upon, if God give Life and Leisure. What the other properties of ☉ are, and by what means good Medicines may be prepared therefrom, I have spoken thereof in many places of my writings, and in its proper place more also shall be spoken. And here we rest and conclude this little Book of the Rules of the Seven Metals.