Of Natural and Supernatural Things / Also of the first Tincture, Root, and Spirit of Metals and Minerals, how the same are Conceived, Generated, Brought forth, Changed, and Augmented.

by Basilius Valentinus

And know, my Child, for a Truth, that in the whole vegetable work there is no higher nor greater Secret than in Saturn; for we do not find that perfection in Gold which is in Saturn; for internally it is good Gold, herein all Philosophers agree, and it wants nothing else, but that first you remove what is superfluous in it, that is, its impurity, and make it clean, and then that you turn its inside outwards, which is its redness, then will it be good Gold; for Gold cannot be made so easily, as you can of Saturn, for Saturn is easily dissolved and congealed, and its Mercury may be easily extracted, and this Mercury which is extracted from Saturn, being purified and sublimed, as Mercury is usually sublimed, I tell thee, my Child, that the same Mercury is as good as the Mercury which is extracted out of Gold, in all operations; for if Saturn be Gold internally, as in truth it is, then must its Mercury be as good as the Mercury of Gold, therefore I tell you, that Saturn is better in our work than Gold; for if you should extract the Mercury out of Gold, it would require a years space to open the body of Gold, before you can extract the Mercury out of the Gold, and you may extract the Mercury out of Saturn in 14 days, both being alike good.

Would you make a work out of Gold alone, you must labour two whole years upon it, if it shall be well done: and you may finish a work of Saturn in 30 or 32 weeks at the most. And being both well made, they are both alike good; Saturn costs nothing or very little, it requires a short time, and small labour; this I tell you in truth.

My Child, lock this up in thy heart and understanding, this ♄ is the Stone which the Philosophers will not name, whose name is concealed unto this day; for if its name were known, then many would operate, and the Art would be common, because this work is short, and without charge, a small and mean work.

Therefore doth the name remain concealed; for the evils sake which might thence proceed. All the strange Parables which the Philosophers have spoken mystically, of a Stone, a Moon, a Furnace, a Vessel, all this is Saturn; for you must not put any strange thing unto it, only what comes from it, therefore there, is none so poor in this world, which cannot operate and promote this work; for Luna may be easily made of Saturn, in a short time, and in a little longer time Sol may be made out of it. And though a man be poor, yet may he very well attain unto it, and may be employed to make the Philosophers Stone.

Wherefore my Child, all is concealed in Saturn, which we have need of, for in it is a perfect Mercury, in it are all the Colours of the world, which may be discovered in it; in it are the true black, white and red Colours, in it is the weight, it is our Lattin.

Example.

The eye of a man cannot endure any thing that is imperfect, how little soever it be, though it be the least Atome of Dust, it would cause much pain, that he can rest no where. But if you take the quantity of a Bean of Saturn, shave it smooth and round, put it into the Eye, it will cause no pain at all; the reason is, because it is internally perfect, even as Gold and Precious Stones. By these and other Speeches you may observe, that Saturn is our Philosophers Stone, and our Latten, out of which our Mercury and our Stone is extracted with small Labour, little Art and Expence, and in a short time.

Wherefore I admonish you, my Child, and all those who know its name, that you conceal it from people, by reason of the evil which might thence arise; and you shall call the Stone our Laton, and call the Vinegar Water, wherein our Stone is to be wash'd; this is the Stone and the Water whereof the Philosophers have wrote so many great Volumes.

There are many and different works in the Mineral Stone, and especially in that Stone which God hath given us gratis, whereof many strange Parables are written in the Mineral Book.

But this is the true Stone, which the Philosophers have sought, because it makes projection upon all the imperfect Metals, especially upon quick Mercury, and moreover it makes projection upon all diseases whatsoever, which may come into mans Body, as likewise upon all Wounds, Cancer, Fistulaes, open Sores, Buboes, Imposthumes, and all whatsoever can come externally upon mans Body, therefore this Stone is not under the Mineral work, but under the Vegetable.