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Through the

Alchemical Looking Glass

An Interpretation of Stephan Michelspacher’s

Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia concerning the Tincture of the Alchemists

A thesis presented to

the Graduate Faculty of Humanities University of Amsterdam

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS

in

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

by

Alinda van Ackooy

August, 2016

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Table of Contents.

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Chapter 1. The Cabala of Stephan Michelspacher .......................................................................... 5

1.1. Stephan Michelspacher and the Cabala ................................................................................. 5

1.2. Christological interpretation of the Cabala ........................................................................... 8

1.3. Paracelsian Influences in the Cabala...................................................................................... 9

1.3.1. The Four Pillars of Medicine ............................................................................................. 9

1.3.2. The Four Elements ........................................................................................................... 11

1.3.3. The Tria Prima of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt ............................................................. 12

1.4. Practical Instructions in the Cabala ..................................................................................... 13

1.5. Conclusion of the First Chapter ............................................................................................. 16

Chapter 2. The First Engraving: 1. Spigel der Kunst und Natur ................................................ 19

2.1. Color Symbolism in Alchemy ................................................................................................. 19

2.2. The Red Blood of the Lion and the White Gluten of the Eagle ......................................... 22

2.3. Prima Materia and Ultima Materia ...................................................................................... 24

2.4. The Diagram of Azoth and Vitriol ......................................................................................... 27

2.5. The Diagram of Four ............................................................................................................... 31

2.6. Via Humida vs. Via Sicca ....................................................................................................... 33

2.7. Alchemical Interpretation of the First Engraving ............................................................... 36

Chapter 3. The Second Engraving: 2. Anfang. Exaltation. .......................................................... 39

3.1. The Fiery and Venomous aspects of the Dragon ................................................................. 39

3.2. The Alphabet of Alchemy ....................................................................................................... 42

3.3. The philosophical Egg ............................................................................................................ 44

3.4. Alchemical interpretation of the Second Engraving .......................................................... 46

Chapter 4. The Third Engraving: 3. Mittel. Coniunction. ............................................................ 49

4.1. The Different Tinctures of the Planets .................................................................................. 49

4.2. In the Bowels of the Mountain .............................................................................................. 51

4.3. The Seven Steps of Transmutation ....................................................................................... 54

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4.4. Zodiacal Ingredients ............................................................................................................... 55

4.5. Alchemical Interpretation of the Third Engraving ............................................................. 57

Chapter 5. The Fourth Engraving: 4. Endt. Multiplication. ........................................................ 59

5.1. The Alchemical Fountain ........................................................................................................ 59

5.2. The Seven Planets, Again ....................................................................................................... 61

5.3. The Resurrection of the Christ .............................................................................................. 62

5.4. Alchemical Interpretation of the Fourth Engraving ........................................................... 63

Conclusion. .......................................................................................................................................... 65

Bibliography. ....................................................................................................................................... 67

Appendix 1. .......................................................................................................................................... 72

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.

Introduction.

The subject of this thesis is the Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia

(1615), written by Stephan Michelspacher. Due to the richness of its illustrations, the

details of the engravings in the Cabala are often discussed in works on the symbolism

of alchemical emblems. However, as fascinating and beautiful the Cabala is, the

treatise as a whole appears to be a rather undiscussed subject among scholars. Authors

such as Stanislas Klossowski de Rola and Johannes Fabricius (1587-1616) have written

about the engravings, considering them as representations of practical alchemy,

whereas others, like Marie-Louis von Franz (1915-1998) and Urszula Szulakowska,

tend to interpret the illustrations from a psychological or Christological point of view.

Antoine Faivre, a prominent scholar in the study of Western esotericism, pointed out

that “for a period of thirty years, beginning with the end of the sixteenth century, there

was a profusion of works whose engravings have as much, if not more, importance than

the text.” 1 We can therefore presume that the engravings in the Cabala contain more

information than would appear at first glance.

The goal of this thesis is two-fold. The thesis aims at presenting evidence that the

Cabala is not to be interpreted as a psychological, spiritual or Christological work. As

the following chapters will show, the engravings are full of alchemical symbolism, filled

with references to alchemical authorities and practical directions. A particular focus of

1 Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism, p.69.

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attention in our search for answers is the oeuvre of Paracelsus, famous for his works

on iatrochemistry (medical alchemy). Paracelsus firmly believed that a universal

medicine could be created by performing the right alchemical operations in the right

order and with materials that are prepared in the right manner. Carrying out this

alchemical transmutation, the Great Work or magnus opus, would eventually lead to

the attainment of the Philosophers’ Stone. With this Stone, which is not a regular stone

at all, the alchemist was able to transmute inferior metals into silver (argyropoeia) or

gold (chyrsopoeia). It has also been named the Elixir of Life, as this Stone was

supposedly able to consume all diseases.

Secondly, this thesis aims at presenting evidence that Michelspacher intended to write

a practical guideline for the alchemical transmutation in the Cabala. A significant

correlation between the Cabala of Michelspacher and Paracelsus’ The Treasure of

Treasures for Alchemists (1659) exists, assuming that Michelspacher too, has searched

for the treasure of treasures, that is the Tincture of the Alchemists. In chapters 2-5 the

engravings in the Cabala are examined in detail, interpreted and possible alchemical

instructions are set out. The first chapter provides some background information about

Michelspacher, the Cabala, Paracelsus and the operations concerned with alchemical

transmutation. An English translation of the Cabala, written by Leonhard Thurneisser

(1667), is added as appendix for further reading.

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Chapter 1.

The Cabala of Stephan Michelspacher

As mentioned before, this thesis holds that the engravings in Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur are not to be interpreted from a soteriological

perspective, but instead argues that they function as instructions for the alchemical

process. A closer look at the text of the Cabala and its engravings shows a correlation

between the Michelspacher’s treatise and several works of Paracelsus. This in itself is

not surprisingly, as Michelspacher was known to be a supporter of Paracelsian ideas

and theories. If we examine the engravings in the Cabala, we can state with certainty

that all four of the combined images illustrate concepts of Paracelsus’ theories on

medical alchemy. Before I continue with the analysis and interpretation of the

engravings in the Cabala (chapter 2-5), an introduction of Michelspacher’s life and

work, the Cabala itself, and a brief summary of Paracelsus’ most influential theories,

is in order.

1.1. Stephan Michelspacher and the Cabala

Few details are known about the life of Stephan Michelspacher, except for his short

career as a publisher (1613-1619). Starting as a Paracelsian physician in Tyrol in the

early part of the seventeenth century, he practiced medicine until he left Tyrol around

1613 and relocated to Augsburg, where he started a publishing house which he ran until

at least 1619. It is suggested that he moved to Augsburg, as Michelspacher was a

Lutheran in a re-Catholicized city, and Augsburg was one of the cities in the Holy

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Roman Empire where the Protestant and Catholic religions were allowed to coexist.2

Considering that Augsburg was the center of commerce and one of the most important

centers of print between 1480 and 1630, moving there whilst attempting to start a

publishing house, might simply have been the wisest choice for Michelspacher at that

moment to ensure success in establishing himself as a publisher.3

It has been argued that Michelspacher’s publishing list partly reflects the interests of

Philip Hainhofer (1568-1647), a merchant and art collector in Augsburg. In the period

1613-1619 Michelspacher published works on the subjects of mathematics, geometry,

physics and anatomy, to products of mystic and Hermetic science. Many of his works

contain detailed illustrations. A beautiful example of his illustrious works is the

Catoptrum Microcosmicum, a work on human anatomy with a series of complex prints

engraved by Lucas Kilian (1579-1637) and first published by Michelspacher in 1613.

This anatomical work, written by Michelspacher’s friend and colleague Johann

Remmelin (1583-1632), discusses the macrocosm and the microcosm as the reflection

of divine creation.4 In the following years two subsequent editions were published, the

Elucidarius (1614) and Pinax microcosmographicus (1615), both works featuring

Michelspacher’s name.5

Other works produced by Michelspacher’s publishing house are for example:

Ein Mathematisch new Invention, einer sehr nutzlichen und geschmeidgen

Hauβ- oder Handmühlen (1617) by Johann Faulhaber (1580-1635),

mathematician and Rosicrucian follower;

Tabulae Proportionum Angulorum Geometriae (1617) by Tobias Volkmer

(1586-1659), goldsmith and mathematician;

Inventum Petri Apiani (1616) by Georg Galgemair (1564-1619), mathematician

and astrologer;

Geometria et Perspectiva (1617) by artist Lorenz Stoer (c.1537-c.1621);

Ferinae Weltzheimenses (1619) by the earlier mentioned Johann Remmelin.

2 Ackooy, ‘Stephan Michelspacher’. In: Divine Wisdom – Divine Nature. The Message of the Rosicrucian

Manifestoes in the Visual Language of the Seventeenth Century, p. 113. See also Schadelbauer, ‘Zu Johnnes

Rümelin und Stephan Michelspacher’. In: Sudhoffs Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, pp. 123-127. 3 Künast, ‘Augsburg’s Role in the German Book Trade in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century’. In: The

Book Triumphant. Print in Transition in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, p. 320; p. 333. 4 Ackooy, ‘Stephan Michelspacher.’ p. 113. 5 Massey, ‘The Alchemical Womb: Johann Remmelin’s Catoptrum microcosmicum’. In: Visual Cultures of

Secrecy in Early Modern Europe, p. 209f4.

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In the year 1615 the first German edition of Cabala. Spiegel der Kunst und Natur was

published in the city of Augsburg and printed by Johann Schultes. The Cabala is

composed of a short twelve-page text, accompanied by four large and richly detailed

engravings. The illustrations were designed by Michelspacher and engraved by

Raphael Custos (1590/91-1664), engraver and publisher in Augsburg and son of

Dominicus Custos, who worked as an engraver for Rudolf II in Prague (1560-1612). The

Latin edition, Cabala, Speculum Artis et Naturae, in Alchymia, was published in 1616

in collaboration with David Francke, a printer in Augsburg. This Latin edition contains

a short dedication to the Rosicrucian Brotherhood underneath the title on the front

page: “Rosae Crucis fraternitati dicata edita, quo hac in material amplius nil

desideretur” (Published and dedicated to the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, so that

nothing more is lacking in this matter). The title-page further makes mention of “an

unknown, yet mentioned author” and further states that the author is made known

through his publisher’s mark in the first illustration (“Durch einen unbekandten, doch

genandten, wie ihm das Signet in diser ersten Figur Zeugnis gibt”). It is certain to

assume the author of the Cabala is in fact Michelspacher, as the first engraving

contains a monogram with the letters M, L, S and P, serving as a personal monogram

for MicheLSPacher. Furthermore, the first three pages of the Cabala consist of a

dedication to Remmelin, with whom Michelspacher collaborated on the Catoptrum

microcosmicum, signed by Stephan Michelspacher of Tyrol. 6

Whereas the dedication was simply a word of thanks to Remmelin and has no further

significance for the remainder of this work, the following nine pages of the treatise

reveal an explanation of the alchemical work Michelspacher intends to clarify. It is

subdivided into five sections, namely ‘The introduction to the reader of this Art’

(“Eingang an den Leser dieser Kunst”), ‘Preface’ (“Vorred”), ‘The Art’ (“Kunst”), ‘The

explanation of this Art’ (“Erklärung der Kunst”) and ‘A declaration of the most ancient

Stone instead of an epilogue’ (“Zum Beschluβ ein Erklärung des uhralten Steins”).

Throughout these pages Michelspacher explains the necessary steps the reader should

undertake and that by following these steps in the right order, the hidden secrets of

nature will become clear and the reader will have completed the Great Work.

6 Ackooy, ‘Stephan Michelspacher’, p. 113.

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1.2. Christological interpretation of the Cabala

One of the main contributors to the study and understanding of the engravings in

Michelspacher's Cabala is Urszula Szulakowska. She currently lectures at the Art

History Department of the University of Leeds and has published several monographs

and papers on the history of alchemy. Szulakowska tends to study alchemical

illustrations from a religious and political point of view. The importance of historically

contextualizing such images cannot be denied, however, it does leave the practical

alchemical content undiscussed. This becomes apparent in her publications on

Michelspacher's Cabala. Although Szulakowska does agree that the four engravings

are representing the alchemical work, she believes the illustrations only refer to

practical laboratory work in a superficial manner.7 In her article 'The Apocalyptic

Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala: Spiegel der

Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616)', Szulakowska argues that the illustrations are

“loosely related to a brief traditional account of chemical work,” and concludes that

“the apocalyptic symbology in Michelspacher's Cabala represents a judgement on

those who are not united with Christ within the soul but only within the empty formulas

of external ritual”.8 Thus, Szulakowska suggests that the images should be interpreted

within the frame of apocalyptic symbolism.

Such a Christological interpretation of the engravings in the Cabala is, according to

Szulakowska, connected to the religious and political events that took place in the area

of Tyrol before and during Michelspacher's life. As mentioned before, Michelspacher

originated from the Tyrol region, suggested by his signature underneath the dedication

to Johann Remmelin on the third page of the Cabala. During the 1550's this area

experienced a Counter-Reformation, turning the greater part of the Tyrol region

Roman Catholic. Naturally this brought about changes, such as the repression of

Paracelsian alchemists. The Paracelsians, however, grouped together and maintained

a lively correspondence with the alchemists in Augsburg, a city of religious tolerance.

Szulakowska suggests that Michelspacher was part of this network, as he was both a

Paracelsian and a Protestant, and his work was published in Augsburg.9 Whether

7 Szulakowska, 'The Apocalyptic Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616), p. 200; p. 216. 8 Idem, p. 221. 9 Szulakowska, 'The Apocalyptic Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616), pp. 202-203.

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Michelspacher was a Protestant or Catholic is significant according to Szulakowska

because “the emergence of Paracelsian alchemical illustration may have been its

function as a psychological compensation for the rejection of Catholic imagery by the

Protestants,” as she argues. Szulakowska underpins this argument by explaining that

illustrations with Paracelsian elements mostly appear in the Protestant regions.10

1.3. Paracelsian Influences in the Cabala

Whereas Szulakowska states that the Cabala is only loosely related to the practical

alchemical work, this thesis argues that the Paracelsian and other alchemical elements

are indicators that Michelspacher’s treatise is a practical guideline for medical

alchemy. Besides the visual Paracelsian elements, the text of Cabala itself seems to

contain direct quotations from several works of Paracelsus. Phillipus Aureolus

Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), more commonly known as

Paracelsus, was a Swiss physician and one of the most influential writers in the field of

medical alchemy. He wrote extensively on the subject of iatrochemistry, with which he

laid down the foundation for medical alchemy. Paracelsus rejected chrysopoeia (gold

making) as the ultimate goal for alchemical transmutation, but firmly believed that

alchemy should be a method for preparing medicine and explaining bodily functions.11

1.3.1. The Four Pillars of Medicine

Philosophy, astronomy, alchemy and virtues, also known as the four pillars of

medicine, are present in both the first and second engraving. Paracelsus held that a

general medical theory was necessary in the field of medicine and developed a fourfold

foundation in Das Buch Paragranum (1528-1530), which rests upon these four

pillars.12

Understand then thouroughly that I am expounding the basics of medicine upon which I stand

and will stand: namely, Philosophy, Astronomy, Alchemy, and Virtue. The first pillar,

Philosophy, is the knowledge of earth and water; the second pillar, Astronomy together with

Astrology, has a complete knowledge of the two elements, air and fire; the third pillar,

Alchemy, is knowledge of the experiment and preparation of the four elements mentioned;

10 Szulakowska, The Sacrificial Body and the Day of Doom, p. 2. 11 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 128. 12 Weeks, Paracelsus, pp. 6-10.

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and the fourth pillar, Virtue, should remain with the physician until death, for this completes

and preserves the other three pillars.13

Philosophy, the first pillar, is understanding the authority of nature, because who is a

better teacher than nature itself? 14 Paracelsus explains that the knowledge of nature is

the foundation of the science of medicine, for “nature is the disease itself; and for this

reason it alone knows what the disease consists of”. 15 Paracelsus’ reasoning resulted in

the idea that in medicine like should heal like, therefore rejecting the medical theory

of treating diseases with contraries. Where philosophy is defined in relation to the

lower part of the natural cosmos and relates to the elements of water and earth,

astronomy, the second pillar, is concerned with the upper part of the cosmos and the

elements of fire and air.16 This division of the lower and upper part of the cosmos is

related to the idea of the microcosm and macrocosm. In the Tabula Smaragdina,

attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, it is said “that which is above is like to that which

is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above, to accomplish the

miracle of one thing.” It is a reference to the interconnectedness of the celestial world

and the terrestrial world, as for many centuries people believed that the celestial bodies

could affect the earth, its nature and its inhabitants. 17 In Paracelsus' case, however, the

microcosm refers to man himself. According to Paracelsus this meant that knowledge

about the universe is actually knowledge about the human body, as both are a reflection

of the other. Thus if the physician or alchemist knows how nature and astronomy work,

he knows how the human body works and he knows how to treat physical ailments. For

treatment of these ailments and diseases the physician turned to alchemy, the third

pillar of Paracelsus’ medical theory and a powerful instrument in the making of

medicine, as “alchemy is able to refine materials because it has an understanding of

the astronomical dimension of medicine.”18 In Paracelsus’ view, then, a true physician

has knowledge of all the wonders of nature, both of the lower and upper part of the

cosmos that is, and uses alchemy as a method to produce medicines according to this

knowledge, wherein the ethical virtue of the physician, the fourth pillar of this theory,

plays a pivotal part.19

13 Goodrick-Clarke, Paracelsus, pp. 72-73. 14 Weeks, Paracelsus, p. 10. 15 Idem, p. 111. 16 Idem, pp. 11. 17 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 111. 18 Weeks, Paracelsus, p. 13. 19 Weeks, Paracelsus, pp. 13-14.

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1.3.2. The Four Elements

The separation or Scheidung of the four elements of air, fire, water and earth – which

are illustrated in the first and third engraving – is the most significant part of

Paracelsian medicine. It was common for Paracelsus to invent words for methods,

substances, and other things alchemically related, so he called this process of

separation spagyria. As Principe explains, the term derives from the Greek words span

(“to draw out”) and ageirein (“to bring together”), indicating that spagyria was a

process of separating and (re)combining. Paracelsus considered the Creation itself as

a chemical process of separation. Debus elaborates on this idea by explaining the

cyclical process: “First het elements were formed, then the firmament was separated

from the fire. Further separations resulted in spirits and dreams (from the air); water

plants, salts, and marine animals (from earth). Other substances were then separated

from those already created and the process continued until the original primal matter

was once more obtained.”20 Or in other words, Genesis was the first example of the

opus magnum, or the Great Work, as God himself separated the water from the sky,

parted the seas and formed land.

The story of elemental separation in Genesis emphasizes the role of the four elements

in Paracelsus' chemical philosophy. The idea that all matter is composed of the four

elements – earth, water, fire and air – is not a new idea in itself. It was the basis of

Aristotelian physics and many scientists and philosophers after him accepted this idea.

Connected to these elements are the four primary qualities: hot, cold, wet and dry.

According to Aristotle, each element consists of two qualities. Fire is a result of the

qualities hot and dry, water of cold and wet, earth of cold and dry and air is created

from hot and wet.21 The Aristotelian system was later adopted by the eighth-century

Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, who developed the theory that one element can be

transmuted into another if the qualities of that element are replaced by the qualities of

a different element.22 Principe explains the Jabirian process of transmutation as

follows:

The “fire” distills off as a flammable and/or colored substance, the “air” as an oily

one, and the “water” as a watery one; the “earth” remains behind as the residue. Once

the elements are separated by distillation, Jābir wants to break them down further

20 Debus, The Chemical Philosophy, p. 56. 21 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 37. 22 Goodrick-Clarke, The Western Esoteric Traditions, p. 71.

12

by removing one of their two qualities. According to Aristotle, water is the

combination of the two qualities wet and cold with matter, so Jābir orders his

readers to distill the separated water repeatedly from something with the quality of

“dry” – he suggests sulfur. By repeated distillation, the dryness of the sulfur destroys

the wetness of the water, so the alchemist is left with something simpler than an

Aristotelian element: matter endowed with coldness alone.23

Paracelsus, however, differed on this theory. Although he did acknowledge the

existence of the four elements, Paracelsus rejected the Aristotelian theory that each

element consists of two qualities. Instead he proposed the idea that the elements have

only one quality, or nature: fire is hot, water is moist, air is dry and earth is cold.

1.3.3. The Tria Prima of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt

While Paracelsus partly agreed with the existence of the Aristotelian elements, he

developed a different theory to support his own system: the tria prima, or the three

principles of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt, illustrated in the second engraving. Before

Paracelsus' theory on the three principles, the Mercury-Sulphur theory of Jabir was

adopted by alchemists, which states that all metals are composed of the two principles

Mercury and Sulphur. It is the theoretical foundation of transmutation, as Principe

writes. According to this theory, gold is formed when the purest Mercury and purest

Sulphur are combined in the right ratio, but if the proportions are off or the substances

are impure, it will produce base metals such as silver or lead. This meant that if the

Mercury and Sulphur in a lower metal were purified and combined into the right

proportion, one could produce gold from base metals.24 By adding a third principle to

the Sulphur-Mercury theory – that is Salt – Paracelsus follows Hermes' idea that all

metals stem from three substances: body, spirit and soul.25 Sulphur (the soul) was

considered to be the combustible or flammable element; Mercury (the spirit) was the

volatile or fluid principle; and Salt (body) was the solid component of matter.

According to Paracelsus, then, each substance was composed of these three principles,

as is shown in his famous example of burning wood: “For that which smokes and

evaporates over the fire is Mercury; what flames and is burnt is Sulphur; and all ash is

Salt.”26 The Sulphur, Salt and Mercury they are speaking about here are not the

common substances of sulfur and mercury though. They are Decknamen or cover

23 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 37. 24 Idem, pp. 35-36. 25 Pagel, Paracelsus, p .267. 26 Waite, The Hermetical and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, p. 150.

13

names for the philosophical Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. Through various alchemical

operations the alchemist is supposed to extract the Salt, Sulphur and Mercury out of

the substances and combine them, resulting in the creation of the philosophers'

stone.27 In order to extract the three principles from any substance, Paracelsus used

the chemical process of separation. Paracelsus believed that even the most poisonous

substance could produce powerful medicines as long as the alchemist used chemical

separation to extract the beneficial parts, leaving the toxic part behind. The useful parts

in substances were, not surprisingly, the three principles Mercury, Sulphur and Salt.

Through several chemical processes (distillation, sublimation, putrefaction, etc.) the

principles could be separated from the toxic residue and were recombined once they

were purified and free of toxins, resulting in a powerful, toxic-free medicine.28

1.4. Practical Instructions in the Cabala

The belief that the Cabala is supposed to be read as a guide for practical alchemy is

furthermore supported by the text of the Cabala itself. Although Paracelsus’ seven

stages of transmutation are depicted in the third engraving – namely calcination,

sublimation, solution, putrefaction, distillation, coagulation and tincture –

Michelspacher gives a summary of all operations which are to be used and separates

these per illustration.

But these things do only concern the students of the true and solid alchymy and

spagyrick art, and those that are expert in chymical operations, to whom even the

least occult and arcana of nature will be clear, by help of the degrees, or order of the

scales which are often made use of in operation. As for example the figure by the

number 1 doth declare the degree of calcination, under which also reverberation and

commendation are understood. The second figure doth show the degree of

exaltation, which doth comprehend sublimation and elevation together with

distillation. The third figure doth note conjunction, together with putrefaction,

solution, dissolution, resolution, digestion, circulation. The fourth figure doth

contain multiplication, under which are latent, ascension, lavation, imbibition,

cohobation, as also coagulation, fixation, augmentation and tincture.29

27 Clulee, 'Astronomia inferior: Legacies of Johannes Trithemius and John Dee'. In: Secrets of Nature, p. 215. 28 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, pp. 128-129. 29 “Durch die grad, oder staplen so in der ordnung, in Labore sollen durchgangen werden. Als Erstlich die Figur

No.1 anzeigt, den grad der Calcination, dabei verstanden, das Reverberiren, auch das Cummendiren. Die

ander Figur inhalt ihres grads, als die Exaltation, darunder beriffen die Sublimation, und Elevation, sampt der

der Distillation. Die dritte Figur, belangt die Conjunction, darin wird auch verstanden, die Putrefaction, auch

14

The illustrations in the Cabala all represent certain alchemical operations as

Michelspacher writes.

The first engraving illustrates the operation of calcination, which also contains the

operations of reverberation and cementation.30 Calcination is “the Reduction of

Bodies by the powerful action of fire into Calx”, which means that the matter is burned

off, either by adding a dry corrosive or acids, leaving behind white-colored ashes or

calx. Both cementation and reverberation are methods for calcining matter:

cementation refers to the process of calcination where dry corrosives are added, such

as corrosive salts, and reverberation refers to calcination by adding acid or corroding

smoke to the matter.31 The overall goal of calcination is to remove the “body” of the

matter. “The power of the Arcana, i.e. the true remedies in contrast to the “soups” and

concoctions of traditional Galenic Medicine, derives from their volatility and the

absence of “body”, as Pagel summarizes from the Paragranum.32 Thus, the first phase

of the Great Work is to separate the body or Salt from the matter, hence the first

engraving in Michelspacher's Cabala illustrates the process of calcination. However, if

we read back a few paragraphs in the Cabala, Michelspacher speaks not only of

attaining the Salt as the goal of the first phase, but the alchemist should attain the

philosophical Mercury as well.33

The second engraving illustrates the operation of exaltation, under which the processes

of sublimation, elevation and distillation are also understood.34 Elevation and

exaltation are actually different terms for the same process, namely altering the

matter to a purer and higher level, and sublimation and distillation are two

methods to make this happen.

die Solution, Desolution, und Resolution, auch die Digestion, und Circulation. Die vierte Figur, helt in sich

die Multiplication, dabei ach verstanden, das Ascendirn Lavirn, Inbibiren, Cohobirn, auch Coagulieren,

Figirn, Augmentiern, Tingiern.” 30 The text actually reads cummendiren, which is translated into commendation by Leonardus Thurneiser, who

provided the only English translation of Michelspacher's work so far. However, this is not an actual

alchemical term and seeing that many passages from Michelspacher are copied from the works of Paracelsus

and Paracelsus speaks of cementation, it is more likely that “cummendiren” refers to the process of

cementation. See: Leonhardt Thurneisser zum Thurn, Cabala in Alchemy (1667), British Library, Sloane MS

3676, London; Paracelsus, Of the Nature of Things. In: Sendivogius, A New Light of Alchymie. 31 Ruland, A Lexicon of Alchemy, retrieved at http://rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxa.htm. 32 Pagel, Paracelsus, pp. 267-269. 33 “Erstlich hab ik einen so hoch auff Saphyer Farb durchscheinenden fewriger Art, mit viel weiβ ein

gesprembt, Spiegel gefunden, darin ich gesehen, der weissen Mercurii, und ihr Sal. So klar als hette ich diese

in meiner Hand.”

15

Elevation, is Rarefaction, when the spiritual portions of a substance are elevated from

the corporeal portions, the subtle raised from the gross, the volatile from the fixed, in

the form of a vapour, by the power of fire, and are condensed at the top of the vessel. Is

is either dry or humid. Dry Elevation (vulgarly, Sublimation) is a process by which the

subtler dry parts are elevated, with adherence to their proper vase. (…) The Humid

Elevation (vulgarly known as Distillation) is the rarified separation of the moist parts

into vapour away from the dry and crude parts.35

All of these methods thus separate the subtle from the gross; the volatile from the fixed;

the spirit and soul from the body. With other words, the principles of Mercury and/or

Sulphur are separated from the Salt. In Michelspacher's case the process of elevation

is only supposed to separate the Sulphur, as the Mercury and Salt are already acquired

via calcination.

The third engraving illustrates the operations of conjunction, putrefaction, solution,

dissolution, resolution, digestion and circulation. Conjunction is a process in which

the congealed spirit (Mercury) is united with the dissolved body (Salt). In alchemical

symbolic language it is often referred to as the marriage or copulation between man

and wife. Rulandus further writes that “the commencement of the union is the

calcination; then the Mercury calcines and triturates the bodies; coition takes place

when the matter begins to become white; then the feminine seed coagulates; and there

arises from both a third substance. Then this loses its individuality, and commences

anew.”36 The conjunction is performed during the chemical process of putrefaction,

a cover term for the methods of dissolution, resolution and solution. The difference

between the several methods then, is that dissolution takes place in a moist heat such

as a sand- or water bath or dung, whereas solution (sometimes called sublimation) is

a dry or philosophical putrefaction, performed in (philosophical) Mercury or vinegar.37

Resolution is similar to the process of solution, because a dissolving substance such

as vinegar of acid is applied to separate the matter.38 Circulation, then, is when a

substance is placed in a sealed vessel and by applying heat vapors will arise from the

matter and condensate in the top of the vessel. After this the condensed vapors will

return to the heated matter at the bottom of the vessel and the process will start from

the beginning.39 And lastly, digestion is “the action by which a liquid body and a

35 Ruland, A Lexicon of Alchemy, retrieved at http://rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxa.htm. 36 Idem. 37 Idem. 38 Idem. 39 Newman & Principe, Alchemy Tried in the Fire, p. 143.

16

fluidic body are united, either wholly or in part, to extract their tincture, to modify

them, to prepare them for dissolution or putrefaction, to cause them to circulate, and

thus to volatilize the fixed and to fix the volatile by means of proportioned heat.”40

Thus, during this process the earlier extracted Mercury and Sulphur are combined

(conjunction) and prepared for putrefaction, which generally speaking aims at opening

out the matter and dissolving or digesting it by the application of external heat, which

is actually nothing more than separating the pure from the impure, as the impurities

sink to the bottom during putrefaction.41

Finally, the fourth engraving illustrates the operations of multiplication, ascension,

lavation, imbibition, cohobation, coagulation, fixation, augmentation and tincture.

Multiplication or augmentation, is nothing more than multiplying the matter, so

that it can be used indefinitely by the alchemist.42 Ascension and cohobation both

are a form of distillation. During the first process the matter is sublimated into a vapor,

whereas the second method is a process of soaking the matter in liquid and then

removing the wetness by distillation.43 Lavation, commonly known as dealbation

(whitening), is the washing of the Laton, “a certain state of the philosophical matter

when the red color has appeared, but is not yet permanently acquired,” and its goal is

to remove all impurities.44 Imbibition, then, is adding a liquid to the residue in order

for it to soak or saturate in it.45 Through coagulation a fluid matter condensates into

a solid state, whereas fixation makes a volatile substance fixed.46 The final goal of all

these chemical processes is the tincture, the “treasure of treasures,” which is the

medicine the alchemist sought.

1.5. Conclusion of the First Chapter

The Cabala, then, is a representation of the whole alchemical magnus opus, explaining

all of its operations, the substances which are to be used during these processes, as will

become more clear in the following chapters, and the signs the alchemist should be

aware of during these operations, indicating if the transmutational process is going to

be successful. Although my intention is to provide an explanation as to how the Cabala

40 Ruland, A Lexicon of Alchemy, retrieved at http://rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxa.htm. 41 Idem. 42 Idem. 43 Idem. 44 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, p. 363; p. 371. 45 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 88. 46 Ruland, A Lexicon of Alchemy, retrieved at http://rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxa.htm.

17

is a prime example of practical alchemy, it should be noted that other interpretations

of this treatise and its accompanying illustrations are possible. In the following

chapters, however, I attempt to explain the basic alchemical principles shown in these

four figures and interpret them accordingly.

18

Figure 1. First engraving, entitled “Mirror of Art and Nature”. From Stephan Michelspacher,

Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur: in Alchymia (Augsburg, 1615). Courtesy of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

19

Chapter 2.

The First Engraving: 1. Spigel der Kunst und Natur

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, the first engraving of the Cabala, illustrates the

operation of calcination according to Michelspacher. During the process of calcination,

the body (Salt) is separated from its soul (Sulphur) and its spirit (Mercury), making it

possible to remove the body from the matter. Michelspacher further mentions that

during the first stage, not only its body or Salt is to be collected, but the spirit or

philosophic Mercury too. Alchemical concepts such as prime matter and ultimate

matter, the azoth and vitriol are discussed in the following chapter, an explanation is

given about color symbolism, the significance of the planets and the difference between

the ‘wet path’ and the ‘dry path’ of alchemy, and an interpretation is given about the

first engraving.

2.1. Color Symbolism in Alchemy

The first engraving (fig. 1), sharing the same title as the book itself, consists of three

horizontal and two vertical parts, combined into one image. In the middle of the top

section a coat of arms is illustrated. It is likely that this is not a personal or ancestral

coat of arms, but should actually be read alchemically. The coat of arms consists of a

shield, a helmet with a torse or wreath and a crest. The shield is divided into quarters

and although the engravings are not colored, the patterns of dots and small lines likely

represent colors. If we consult a standard work on heraldry, it appears that the second

and third quarters are then golden and bear three roundlets in the colors white, black

20

and red, while the other two parts of the shield are colored blue and silver.47 The

mantling behind the helmet is barred and appears to bear the colors red, white and

black, similar to the quarters on the shield. Above the helmet the crest is placed, which

consists of a crown and wings, and on the wings we see the exact same circles as on the

second and third quarters off the shield. The figure between the wings seems to wear

the same colors as on the first and fourth quarters off the shield and shows seven small

arrows pointing in different directions.

Color is a potent element in visual language, as it is in alchemy. There are several

distinct stages in the alchemical transmutational process and the use of color is one

way to identify the different stages. White, black and red are recurring colors in this

engraving as they are the three major colors in alchemy. They represent the stages of

albedo (white), rubedo (red) and nigredo (black). The first colored stage the alchemist

encounters is the stage of nigredo or blackness. Nigredo is the result of putrefaction or

decomposition. The prepared substance is placed in a closed vessel, hermetically

sealed, and placed in either warm compost or a warm water bath, to prevent the

material from overheating. It induces fermentation and stimulates digestion, resulting

in a black mass, marking the “death” of the prepared substance. It is the first sign that

the transmutational process is going accordingly.48 Upon reaching the nigredo stage,

a continued heating is applied over the following weeks, which starts another change

in the color. This stage is called cauda pavonis, or the “peacock’s tail”, because the

blackness is “replaced by a multitude of short-lived and often-changing colors…

Gradually, the semiliquid mass grows lighter and lighter, finally becoming a brilliant

white, the second of the primary colors of the Philosophers’ Stone”, and marks the

completion of the White Philosophers’ Stone or White Elixir, also known as the albedo

stage. The white material is yet again exposed to continued heating, after which it

changes into the third primary color, red. This is known as the rubedo stage and

indicates the final stage and completion of the Red Philosophers’ Stone or Red Elixir.49

All the elements in alchemical illustrations have a specific meaning or purpose, so even

the colors themselves can tell us which metal to use or in which month the process

should start.

47 Pama, Rietstaps Handboek der heraldiek, p. 69. 48 Haage, Dictionary of Western Esotericism, p. 17. 49 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 124.

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In his article Hermatic Heraldry, Rafal Prinke gives an overview of the colors and

corresponding planets and metals, as shown below (Table 1).50 Returning to the first

engraving in Cabala, the colors gold, silver and blue appear besides the three primary

alchemical colors. As mentioned before the pattern of dots indicate that these two

quarters of the shield are golden. Therefore, both the color and the three roundlets

(black, red and white) symbolize the components for making the Philosophers' Stone

or gold. According to Prinke, the remaining quarters in silver and blue represent the

“idea of interpenetration of the two opposing forces,” such as the female and male.51

There might even be other explanations. The blue and silver might indicate that tin is

the substance used for the transmutation of metals in silver (argyropoeia), the

alchemical process is supposed to take place in a month ruled by Jupiter, or even that

the result of the whole process depicted in these engravings can result in either the

metal silver or a tincture.

Colour Planet Metal Heraldic Colours

White or silver Moon Silver Argent (metal)

Grey or purple Mercury Mercury Purpure (tincture)

Green Venus Copper Vert (tincture)

Yellow Sun Gold Or (metal)

Red Mars Iron Gules (tincture)

Blue Jupiter Tin Azure (tincture)

Black Saturn Lead Sable (tincture)

Table 1. Colors and their corresponding planets and metals.

There are, of course, other details that suggest the coat of arms should be read

alchemically. The three circles, for example, are similar to those on the shield from the

engraving of the hermaphrodite in Thurneisser's Quinta Essentia (1574) and the arms

from the final plate of the Mutus Liber (1677). Three is a significant number in alchemy

and it possibly represents the three principles Mercury, Sulphur and Salt.

50 Prinke, ‘Hermetic Heraldry', p. 65. 51 Idem, p. 68.

22

2.2. The Red Blood of the Lion and the White Gluten of the Eagle

Prinke explains that the shield is commonly accompanied by important alchemical

symbols. 52 Illustrated beside the coat of arms are an eagle and a lion, who appear to be

in a combative position towards each other. The eagle and lion are common alchemical

symbols, often representing the volatile and fixed state of the matter. Thomas Vaughan

(1621-1666) wrote in The House of Light (1651) about the eagle and lion:

In a word, separate the Eagle from the Green-Lyon, then clip her wings, and you have

perform'd a miracle ... the Eagle is the water, for it is volatil, and flies up in clouds as an

Eagle doth, but I speak not of any common water whatsoever. The greene Lion is the

body or Magicall earth, with which you must clip the wings of the Eagle, that is to say,

you must fix her, that shee may fly no more.53

During the process of distillation, the matter is heated in a vessel, releasing vapors and

these vapors are collected in a separate container as a basis for the following

operations. In Of the Sum of Perfection, Geber tells us that the “special cause of that

Distillation, which is made by ascent into the Alembeck, is the desire of acquiring water

pure without Earth.”54 The earth is of course the remaining matter in the vessel,

whereas the vapors that are released during this process result in the purified water.

This is exactly what Vaughan meant when he said that the wings of the eagle should be

clipped after she was separated from the lion. The eagle (water) and lion (matter) are

separated, i.e. vapors ascend from the matter, and fixing the eagle should be done by

clipping its wings, i.e. collecting the vapors in a separate vessel where it will condense

and turn into a liquid. It is interesting to note that Vaughan indicates that the eagle is

female. This corresponds with Prinke's explanation that the eagle and lion represent

two opposing forces, namely female and male.

Another explanation, however, is that the animals symbolize the White Gluten of the

Eagle and the Red Blood of the Lion, as mentioned by Paracelsus in The Book

Concerning the Tincture of the Philosophers:

Take only the rose-coloured blood from the Lion and the gluten from the Eagle.

When you have mixed these, coagulate them according to the old process, and you

will have the Tincture of the Philosophers.55

52 Idem, pp. 66-68. 53 Vaughun, Aula Lucis, or, The House of Light, pp. 17-18. 54 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 89. 55 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, pp. 25-26.

23

In The Transmutation of Base Metals into Silver and Gold (1718), David Beuther

explains that the Blood of the Red Lion is the Sulphur of the Sun and the Gluten of the

White Eagle is synonymous for mercury.56 The Red Lion he speaks of is cinnabar,

which “in its first coagulation, appears to be red in color” Paracelsus wrote in his The

Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists. This Red Lion, or Sulphur of Cinnabar, is

prepared in the following manner:

Take mineral Cinnabar and prepare it in the following manner. Cook it with rain

water in a stone vessel for three hours. Then purify it carefully, and dissolve it in

Aqua Regis, which is composed of equal parts of vitriol, nitre, and sal ammoniac.

Another formula is vitriol, saltpeter, alum, and common salt.57

The mineral cinnabar Paracelsus speaks of is obtained by combining common sulfur

with common mercury, which coagulates into solid cinnabar (mercuric sulfide).58

Vitriol is either real vitriol, that is iron or copper sulfate, or a cover name for antimony

ore.59 Niter or saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is a naturally found salt, as is sal ammoniac

(ammonium chloride). An eagle is shown in Valentine’s Second Key in Von dem

grossen Stein der Uhralten (1602), where it is equated with sal ammoniac and its

volatily, because of its ability to sublime, that is, when sal ammoniac is gently heated

the salt vaporizes and condenses again, leaving a white salt in the cooler parts of the

vessel. When saltpeter and sal ammoniac are mixed and heated in a retort in a furnace,

a highly corrosive acid mixture is formed, which is able to dissolve gold. It is a type of

aqua regia, or aqua regis as Paracelsus calls it.60 Paracelsus further explains that the

cinnabar dissolved in aqua regis is to be distilled in an alembic with ‘a fire of the first

degree’, putrefied for a month in horse-dung, so that the elements are separated and

the ‘dead’ earth remains. This is the Red Lion. Paracelsus adds that the Red Lion

transmutes itself into the White Eagle by adding fire to putrefaction and sublimation,

whereafter the matter firstly appears black and turns into white. This White Eagle is

actually mercury and the Blood of the Red Lion is the sulfuric component that remains

in at the bottom of glass the vessel.61 According to Waite, the Red Lion is also called

Laton, reminding us of the operation of lavation, where the Laton is washed or

56 Beuther. The Transmutation of Base Metals into Silver and Gold. Retrieved at

http://rexresearch.com/beuther/beuther.htm 57 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, p. 36. 58 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 36; p. 122. 59 Idem, pp. 119-120. 60 Idem, pp. 147-149. 61 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Vol. 1, p. 37.

24

whitened.62 When the Red Lion is put in the pelican for further, where after the aurum

potabile or potable gold is formed. This gold is then sweetened with the alcohol of wine,

distilled in an alembic, creating the Oil of the Sun. After elevating and coagulation this

three times, the Tincture or Quintessence of the Sun is produced. 63

2.3. Prima Materia and Ultima Materia

Above the head of the eagle and lion, we notice two short rhymes with the following

text:

Cabala and Alchemy, O God help us to be grateful,

Give thee the medicine most high. For this gift sublime and pure.

Also the Stone of the Wise, The man whose heart and mind Thou openest,

In which alone the foundation lies. Who is perfect herein.

As is plain before thine eyes, To prepare here this Work,

Betimes in these effigies.64 To him may all strength be given.65

On the left side of the coat of arms we see a man standing on the pillar of nature (Natur)

holding the book of prime matter (Primat Materia) in his left hand and an aludel in

his right hand, a glass vessel usually used for the process of sublimation. The man on

the right is depicted on the pillar of art (Kunst) holding the book of ultimate matter

(Ultimat Materia) in his right hand and a pelican in his left hand, a device used for the

process of distillation. An inverted version of the image on the aludel seems to be

illustrated in the pelican (fig.2).

62 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Vol. 2, p. 378. 63 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Vol. 1. p. 38.

Commentary by Waite on the difference between aurum potabile, Oil of Sun and Tincture of Sun: “Aurum

Potabile is gold rendered potable by intermixture with other substances, and with liquids. Oil of Gold is an

oil extracted from the precious metal without the addition of anything. The Quintessence of Gold is the

redness of gold extracted therefrom and separated from the body of the metal.” 64 “Cabala und die Alchymei, Geben dir die hochste artzney. Darzu auch den weisen Stein, In dem das

fundament allein. Ligt, wie fur augen zu sehn ist, In disen figurn zu der frist.” Translation from: Klossowski

de Rola, The Golden Game, p. 58. 65 “Ach Gott hilf das wir danckbar sei, Fur diese Gab so hoch und rein. Wenn du nun auf thuts hertz und fin,

Der da volkomen ist hierin. Zu bereitten hie Dises Werck, Dem sey gegeben alle Sterck.” Translation from:

Klossowski de Rola, The Golden Game, p. 58.

25

Figure 2. Two alchemists showing books concerning the prime and ultimate

matter, while holding alchemical apparatus.

It appears that the pillars both men are standing on are connected to the image below

their feet. Both images underneath them show men working in the mine, either hewing

stone from the inside of the mountain (left) or sorting the extracted minerals outside

the mountain (right). Interestingly, the man holding the book of prime matter looks at

the reader and seems to be walking towards the man on the right, who appears to be

standing still and whose face is directed at the other man. As explained in the previous

chapter, Paracelsus believed that the Creation by God is the first example of Scheidung.

However, during the Creation, God created matter in its ‘prime’ instead of its ‘ultimate’

form. According to Paracelsus, all objects are then to be perfected, as nature is in a

process of transformation. This transformation is possible by the work of Vulcan, “an

immanent virtue or power which works in the matrices (the traditional Elements)”, in

which he is assisted by two other powers or principles, that is the Iliaster, “a type of

primordial matter-energy which essentially is and expresses the entire potential of all

nature”, and the Archeus, “a specific agent to impress the specific and individual

attributes upon the elemental material world”. The work of Vulcan and the Archeus is

often symbolically described by Paracelsus as the alchemist, perfecting prime matter

into ultimate matter.66

The symbols depicted on the apparatus are somewhat difficult to decipher, because

they do not correspond to commonly used alchemical glyphs. It could indicate a

relation with borax or the salt of borax (sal borax). Borax is a dissolvent of all metals,

as Paracelsus describes in A Manual of Paracelsus the Great.67 It is an artificial salt

made from sal ammoniac, nitre, calcined tartar, sea salt and alum, dissolved in urine,

66 Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Paracelsus, p. 28. 67 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Vol. 2, p. 357.

26

and it is known for its ability for soldering gold.68 In A Lexicon on Alchemy, Rulandus

even equates borax with the albedo stage, or the White Philosophers’ Stone.69 In the

pamphlet Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemististisches Oraculum (1755) we find an

extensive list of chemical symbols and their Latin and German definitions. The symbol

for borax (bolus communis or gemeiner Bolus) is . If we were to combine the

symbol of borax with the common glyph for salt this would in theory result in

a glyph similar to the image pictured on the aludel. Theoretically, this glyph could

symbolize the salt of borax or the use of borax in the transmutational process as a

whole, or even achieving the White Elixir or White Philosopers’ Stone.

Another explanation for the symbol is that it refers to Mars or iron in

combination with salt and vitriol. Although Mars or iron is usually pictured as , the

arrow points upwards in several alchemical writings such as in the earlier mentioned

Oraculum or Georg von Welling’s Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum (1735).

Although this might be a bit farfetched, we could also connect this image with the

symbol of vitriol . Turning the glyph 90° counterclockwise, we have combined the

three symbols of iron, salt and vitriol which correspond with ferrous (iron) sulfate or

green vitriol, a significant element within alchemy and one of the possible ingredients

described above for making the aqua regis. A third, and perhaps more plausible theory,

is that both symbols in Michelspacher’s first engraving illustrate the fixed and the

volatile, as “make the fixed volatile and the volatile fixed” was one of the key guidelines

in the making of the Philosophers’ Stone.70 If we take a closer look at the image on the

aludel on the right, it appears that the bottom half of the circle is darker than the upper

half, as if the circle is half filled with a substance. The arrow is pointed upwards, which

could illustrate the chemical process of sublimation, a method used to purify matter or

“make the fixed volatile”. The image on the pelican on the left shows an arrow pointing

downwards, illustrating the “volatile made fixed”.

68 Quincy, Lexicon Physico-medicum, p. 54. 69 Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy. Retrieved at http://www.rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxm.htm. 70 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 152.

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2.4. The Diagram of Azoth and Vitriol

In-between the mineworkers two diagrams are portrayed (fig. 3). Here we get some

closer sense of what Michelspacher probably intended with his use of the term Cabala,

for the circle on the left contains the alchemical words Vitriol and Azot in the center.

Vitriol derives from the V.I.T.R.I.O.L.U.M acrostic “Visita interiora terrae

rectificandoque invenies occultum lapidem verum medicinalum”, which translates as

“Visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying thou shalt find the hidden true

medicinal stone.”71 It underlines that the primal matter is found inside the earth, which

is portrayed by the two miners in the engraving.

Figure 3. Detail of the first engraving.

As for the word azoth, Paracelsus held that it is the universal medicine and the ultimate

purpose of the alchemical work. Remembering that Michelspacher wrote Cabala from

a Paracelsian standpoint, we could consider that the Cabala of Michelspacher is the

Cabala of Paracelsus. The word azoth is formed of the first and last letters of the Latin,

Greek and Hebrew alphabets: the A and Z, the Alpha and Omega, and the Aleph and

Tau. Being the first letter of the alphabet in these three languages, the letter A

corresponds with the primal matter at the beginning of the alchemical process, whereas

the last letter of the alphabets symbolizes the ultimate matter or the completion of the

Great Work. The term azoth therefore refers to the beginning and end of all things, and

71 Klossowski de Rola, The Golden Game, p. 58.

28

in a sense containing all that is in between. This, again, corresponds with the

philosophers or alchemists illustrated on the pillars of Nature and Art, holding their

books Primal Matter and Ultimate Matter. For the primal matter, found in nature, is

the beginning of the Great Work, whereas the ultimate matter, the final goal of the

alchemical work, is achieved by the art of alchemy, which is simply the imitation of

nature.72 “You must use the venerable nature, because our art is generated from this,

through this, and in this nature. And therefore, our alchemical work is the workings of

nature and not of the human will”, as Arnold of Villanova wrote in the Rosarium

Philosophorum (1550).73 In his Lexicon of Alchemy, Ruland explains that different

interpretations were given to the term azoth. It is, for example, synonymous with

quicksilver or mercury, the Philosophical Stone, or the “mercury of philosophers”.74

Azoth is thus considered as a significant element for the alchemical work. This idea is

confirmed through the placement of the words azoth and vitriol in the engraving. They

appear in a geometrical image of a circle, square and triangle. The squaring of the circle

is a well-known alchemical symbol occurring in numerous alchemical tracts, of which

the twenty-first emblem in Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1617) is probably the

most famous (fig. 4). Heinrich Khunrath makes mention of it in Vom Hylealischen,

das ist Primaterialischen Catholischen oder Allgemeinen Naturlichen Chaos (1708)

and the frontispiece of Bernard Penot’s De Denario Medico (1608) depicts a

minimalistic image of the “squared circle”. This “rotation of the circle”, as Maier

termed it in his De Circulo Physico, Quadrato (1616), symbolizes the process of

attaining the Philosophers’ Stone. It refers to Aristotle’s “Make of the Man and Woman

a round Circle, and from that extract a Quadrangle, and from the Quadrangle a

Triangle, and from the Triangle make a round circle, and you will have the Magistery”.75

The man and woman personify the opposites of male and female, Sun and Moon, in

the sacred marriage wherein the spirit and the soul conjoin together to become one

72 Wamberg, Art & Alchemy, p. 32. 73 “Igitur venerabili utimini natura, quia ex ea, per eam et in ea generator ars nostra. Et ideo magisterium nostrum

est opus naturae et non opificis”. Villanova, reprinted in Artis Auriferae, vol. I, p. 143. 74 Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy. Retrieved at http://www.rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxm.htm. See also

Holmyard, Alchemy, p. 151. 75 “Fac de Masculo & Fæmina Circulum rotundum, & de eo extrabe Quadrangulum, & de Quadrangulo

Triangulum, & de Triangulo fac circulum rotundum, & habebis Magisterium,” in: Khunrath, Vom

Hylealischen, p. 126.

29

body, also known as conjunction (coniunctio).76 Of this, Paracelsus wrote the following

in his The Aurora of the Philosophers (Aurora thesaurusque philosophorum, 1577):

There are also two matters of the Stone, Sol and Luna, formed together in a proper

marriage, both natural and artificial. Now, as we see that the man or the woman,

without the seed of both, cannot generate, in the same way our man, Sol, and his

wife, Luna, cannot conceive, or do anything in the way of generation, without the

seed and sperm of both. Hence the philosophers gathered that a third thing was

necessary, namely, the animated seed of both, the man and the woman, without

which they judged that the whole of their work was fruitless and in vain. Such a

sperm is Mercury, which, by the natural conjunction of both bodies, Sol and Luna,

receives their nature into itself in union … Hence the philosophers have said that

this same Mercury is composed of body, spirit, and soul, and that it has assumed the

nature and property of all elements.77

In The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy (1650), the work of “a concealed

author”, but supposedly written by Jean D’Espagnet, it is further explained that Sol

and Luna, forming the philosophical Mercury, is then transformed into the four

elements, which in turn produces Sulphur and lastly the Elixir:

The material means of the Stone are of divers kinds, for some are extracted out of

others successively: The first are Mercury Philosophically sublimated … of the

former the seconds are produced; namely the four elements, which again are

circulated and fixed: of the seconds, the third is produced, to wit, Sulphur, the

multiplication hereof doth terminate the first work: the fourth and last means are

leaven or ointments weighed with the mixture of the things aforesaid, successively

produced in the work of the Elixir. By the right ordering of the things aforesaid, the

perfect Elixir is finished, which is the last term of the whole work, wherein the

Philosophers' Stone resteth as in its centre, the multiplication whereof is nothing

else than a short repetition of the previous operations.78

The geometric shapes thus symbolize the conjunction of Sol and Luna, or the

philosophical Mercury (the circle), the four elements (the square) and the

philosophical Sulphur (the triangle), whereas the circle in the center illustrates the

Elixir or the Philosophers’ Stone.79 Rotating the circle is therefore synonymous with

the entire alchemical process according to Maier, wherefore it might represent the

76 Linden, ‘The Ripley Scrolls and The Compound of Alchymy’, p. 92. 77 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, Vol. 1, pp. 65-66. 78 Dee, Fasciculus Chemicus: or chymical collections, pp. 202. 79 Chen-Morris, ‘From Emblems to Diagrams: Kepler’s New Pictorial Language of Scientific Representation’,

pp. 144-146.

30

azoth, as this is the beginning and end of all things.80 Interesting, as Michelspacher

turned the letter A of azoth into a stylized triangle in the first engraving, perhaps

implying that the A of azoth is also the tria prima of Paracelsus.

Figure 4. Emblema XXI. In Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens.

Returning to the engraving in Cabala, two crowned serpents enclose the azoth and

vitriol, forming a caduceus similar to the caduceus in the illustration of Basil

Valentine’s Twelve Keys (1599). The caduceus is a famous symbol for Hermes, the

messenger of the gods, in Greek mythology, and connected with the planet Mercury in

Roman iconography, therefore symbolizing either the planet Mercury, quicksilver or

the principle Mercury of the Paracelsian tria prima. However, the most plausible

explanation for the crowned serpents, who appear to be hissing towards each other, is

that they symbolize the philosophical Mercury. Nicolas Flamel (c.1330-1417) wrote

about the two serpents, wrapped around a caduceus, in his Exposition of the

Hieroglyphicall Figures (1624):

These are the two Serpents, given and sent by Juno (that is, the nature Metallic) …

These are the two Serpents, wrapped and twisted around about the Caduceus or rod

of Mercury … these two I say, being put together in the vessel of the Sepulcher, do

bite one another cruelly, and by their great poison, and furious rage, they never leave

80 Szulakowska, The Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics in Late Renaissance Alchemical Illustration, pp.

154.

31

one another … and finally, killing one another, be stewed in their proper venom,

which after their death, changeth them into living and permanent water.81

The Sepulcher is a reference to the philosophical egg (ovum philosophicum), a glass

vessel in the shape of an oval body and a long neck, in which the substance is placed.

The neck of the flask is sealed by melting the sides together, also known as the “seal of

Hermes”, and then, for example, placed in a furnace for putrefaction, until the matter

turns black (nigredo).82 The two serpents Flamel speaks off, changing “into living and

permanent water”, is referring to the philosophical Mercury, which is the first matter

of the Great Work. Around the snakes the four elemental qualities are depicted – hot,

dry, cold and moist – referring to Galen’s theory of the elements, where each element

is connected to two of these qualities. Paracelsus rejected Galen’s medical system of

wet, cold, dry and moist, wherefore the placements of these humors outside the

mercurial caduceus show that Galen’s theory has no place in Paracelsian alchemy. The

circle is furthermore divided into 360 degrees, showing the twelve regions of the

zodiac, each region counting 30 degrees.

2.5. The Diagram of Four

Composed of three separate rings, the diagram on the right illustrates the four

Aristotelian elements of earth (Erdt), water (Waser), air (Lufft) and fire (Feuer) in the

outer sphere; the four pillars of medicine as described by Paracelsus in Das Buch

Paragranum in the second circle, namely Philosophy (Philosophiæ), Astronomy

(Astronomiæ), Alchemy (Alchimæ) and Virtues (Virtutes)83; and the four alchemical

substances sulphur, bismuth (Wismatt), vitriol and antimony (Antimonium) in the

inner circle. In the middle of the diagram we find a square in which the planets are

repeatedly represented in the following numbers: Venus twice, Mars twice, Jupiter

twice, Saturn twice, Mercury four times, the Moon four times and the Sun once. If we

look at the placement of the planetary symbols, it seems as though Saturn is connected

with antimony, Mars with Sulphur, Jupiter with bismuth and Venus with vitriol. In

Offenbahrung Der verborgenen Handgriffe auff das Universal gerichtet (1624),

Valentine wrote that antimony is the bastard of Saturn, bismuth or marcasite the

bastard of Jupiter and vitriol the bastard of Venus. Mars dissolved in the ‘red Oil’ turns

81 Flamel, Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures, pp. 67-69. 82 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, pp. 123-124. 83 Weeks, Paracelsus, pp. 8-14.

32

into vitriol (of Venus), becoming the ‘Sulphur of Mars and Venus’. This mixed with the

‘Sulphur of Sol’ becomes a medicine for both men and metals.84 Looking back at the

‘Tincture of the Sun’ described in paragraph 2.2., which leaves a white body, Valentine

explains that through various preparations of this tincture, the body or ‘Salt of Sol’

remains at the bottom like calx vive. Abstracting the spirits of it will leave a red powder,

the ‘Sulphur of Gold’. The extracted ‘Sulphur of Gold’ grinded together with the

‘Sulphur of Mars’ is then dissolved in the ‘Spirit of Mercury’ and prepared with the

silver calx (calcined silver), forming the “united Bride and Bride-groom”, or the

conjunction of the King and Queen, Sol and Luna. With this “extracted soul of Sol” one

can prepare the aurum potabile.85 The seven sigils in the right diagram are therefore a

practical reference to the alchemical work, as they represent that Venus, Mars, Jupiter

and Saturn are to combined first, whereafter Mercury and Luna are conjoined and Sol

is the final preparation of the process.

Figure 5. Personal monogram of Michelspacher.

Returning to the first engraving in the Cabala, letters are placed around the diagrams,

forming the word Gott or God. Although this might assume that the mentioning of God

indicates that the work itself is religious, this is often not the case. Many alchemists

used to call their alchemical knowledge donum dei, or in other words a gift of God, a

term which is “a technical phrase used in medieval and Renaissance theological and

legal literature dealing with the status of knowledge”. Science and religion are separate

disciplines nowadays and referring to God without religious intention is considered

unusual. Michelspacher's use of the word God is therefore common usage regarding its

historical context and it is possible that it has no specific religious meaning

whatsoever.86 The A and O in the middle refer again to the Alpha and Omega, a symbol

84 Valentine, Offenbahrung Der verborgenen Handgriffe auff das Universal gerichtet, pp. 42-43. 85 Valentine, The Last Will and Testament of Basil Valentine, pp. 179-183. 86 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, pp. 192 – 193.

33

for the totality of God. It is also a reference to the Azoth mentioned earlier and it is

likely connected to Michelspacher's fourth engraving illustrating Christ. Remaining is

the symbol in the middle of the diagrams, a combination of the letters M, L, P and S,

which is likely a personal monogram for MicheLSPacher (fig.5).87

Figure 6. Example of the Wet Path or via humida (left) and the Dry Path or via sicca (right),

two different methods to produce the Philosophers' Stone.

2.6. Via Humida vs. Via Sicca

Lastly, the third and final part of the engraving Spigel der Kunst und Natur (fig. 6)

illustrates two alchemists at work in the laboratory. Regarding laboratory alchemy,

specifically the preparation of the Philosophers' Stone, a distinction can be made

between the Wet Path (via humida) and the Dry Path (via sicca).

Via Humida, or the Wet Way, provokes separation of the three essentials by a

process of fermentation and exaltation, or their extraction with a menstruum

derived from a fermentation process and determined to the particular kingdom of

the matter. Via Sicca, or the Dry Way, provokes separation of the essentials by

processes of calcination, fusion, sublimation, amalgamation, and dry distillation or

prepared materials. The transfer of subtle principles from medium to medium

occurs during fusion.88

Via humida involves a process of numerous distillations and solutions and is

reasonably safe, although it takes a longer period of time to complete. An example of

87 Szulakowska, 'The Apocalyptic Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616)', p. 217. 88 Bartlett, Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy, p. 100.

34

this route is found in Basil Valentine's Twelve Keys, where the twelve “keys” refer to

the different operations in the alchemical process towards the Opus Magnum or the

Great Work, such as a watery separation of materials, a solution process, putrefaction

with fire or the cycle of volatilization and fixation.89 In Michelspacher's engraving the

alchemist on the left represents the Wet Way, illustrated by the numerous flasks and

furnaces (fig. 7). Positioned in the back is the centerpiece of any alchemical laboratory:

the

Figure 7. Alchemist with distillatory equipment.

athanor. The origin of this term derives from the Arabic tanncron and the Hebrew

tannour or altannour, both meaning oven or furnace. Others believe the origin of

athanor is found in the Greek athanatos, meaning “immortal, because of its durable

fire”.90 Its unmistakably tower-like shape earned it its name turris athanoris, or the

tower athanor.91 Looking back, we see that the coals are contained in the turret (A), the

lower part of the middle furnace, and the athanor (B) itself is placed on top of the turret.

89 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, pp. 160-161; Greenberg, From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story,

p. 56. 90 Chambers, Cyclopœpedia, I, C.V. ‘athanor’. 91 Plaisance, ‘Turris Philosophorum: On the Alchemical Iconography of the Tower’, p. 340.

35

The athanor is connected with the other two furnaces on its left and right side, most

likely a sand bath (C) and a water bath (D).

Figure 8. Alchemist working with open fire.

Although not visible in this image, both baths are connected with the athanor by means

of small openings, making it possible for the heat to travel from one furnace to the

other. Both baths are used for distillation, illustrated with the alembics, consisting of a

vessel, or cucurbit, containing the matter (1); a capital or the head of the apparatus,

for the condensation of the vapours (2); and a receiver on a stool, where the condensed

substance is collected (3). Around the athanor shelves are placed, holding other vessels

and capitals. The alchemist is standing in front of a still (E), a furnace also used for

distillation, while next to it a sublimatory (F) is placed, a furnace used for sublimation.

A basket of coals (4), a tub with water (5) and some tools are laying on the ground next

to him, including a trough for goldwashing (6), a coal-shovel (7) and a tool to remove

the ashes from the furnace (8).

As opposed to the time consuming via humida, the via sicca is a more difficult,

accelerated process, and rather dangerous, due to the risk of combustion or

36

explosion.92 Authors connected to this route are for example Nicholas Flamel (ca. 1330-

ca. 1417) and Eirenaeus Philalethes (1628-1665).

In the engraving this is illustrated by the alchemist standing in front of his furnace (A)

with an open fire (fig.8). Bellows (1) and tongs are placed on the side of the furnace and

in his hands he holds a diopter (2), a tool to protect the eyes from the blazing fire. On

his left side a crucible (B) is placed surrounded with flames, to illustrate the use of a

crucible, namely to fuse metals. The image further shows a melting pot (C), wherein

crucibles are placed. Surrounding the melting pot are several heat-resistant tongs,

casts and other tools to handle molted metal.

Although it appears that both pathways were known to the alchemists of the past, the

humid path was commonly used. Whether they were cautious to perform the

operations of the dry path and therefore could only describe the wet path, or if they

were reserved in sharing their knowledge regarding the dry route, is something we

cannot know for certain.

2.7. Alchemical Interpretation of the First Engraving

Although the first engraving of the Cabala is covered in alchemical symbolism

referring to the alchemical process of transmutation as a whole, certain elements of the

image indicate actual practical directions. The interpretation of the eagle and the lion

shows a connection with The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists of Paracelsus, in

which he describes the method for preparing the Sulphur of Cinnabar. First, cinnabar

is obtained by combining vulgar sulfur with vulgar mercury, which coagulates into

solid cinnabar. Second, this artificial cinnabar is purified and afterwards dissolved in

aqua regis, a highly corrosive acid able to dissolve metals, even gold. The aqua regis

Paracelsus speaks of, is either composed of vitriol, saltpeter and sal ammoniac, or

vitriol, saltpeter, alum and common salt. Vitriol can refer to both the iron or copper

sulfate or to antimony ore. Third, this mixture of cinnabar and aqua regis is distilled

for a month, leaving the ‘dead’ earth or residue behind. This earthy residue is called the

Sulphur of Cinnabar or the Red Lion. Fourth, the Red Lion is transmuted into the

White Eagle through putrefaction and sublimation. The Blood of the Red Lion remains

as a residue at the bottom of the vessel, whereas the mercurial White Eagle is collected.

92 Caron, Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, p. 238.

37

The name Eagle indicates sal ammoniac or the Mercury after sublimation. When the

Red Lion is further prepared, aurum potabile, the Oil of the Sun and the Tincture of

the Sun is being produced. It appears, therefore, that the first engraving illustrates the

first stage of producing the Tincture of the Philosophers.

38

Figure 9. Second engraving, entitled “Beginning. Exaltation”. Courtesy of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

39

Chapter 3.

The Second Engraving: 2. Anfang. Exaltation.

Anfang. Exaltation, the second engraving of the Cabala, illustrates the operation of

exaltation according to Michelspacher, under which the processes of sublimation,

elevation and distillation are also understood. All these methods separate the spirit

(Mercury) and soul (Sulphur) from the body (Salt). Michelspacher further explains that

the process of elevation is only supposed to separate the Sulphur, as the principles of

Mercury and Salt have already been acquired through calcination. According to

Klossowski de Rola, the second engraving of the Cabala shows the entire process of the

Magnus Opus, illustrating the beginning and the end in producing the Philosophers’

Stone.93 The following chapter discusses the different interpretations of the dragon, the

significance of the philosophical egg and the circular alphabet is translated.

3.1. The Fiery and Venomous aspects of the Dragon

The engraving Anfang. Exaltation shows a wingless, dragon-like beast with a three-

tiered crown, horns and udders, and appears to be breathing fire. Several

interpretations have been given for the fire-breathing dragon underneath the vessel.

Some scholars assume that it represents or relates to one of the beasts from the biblical

Book of Revelation. Szulakowska, for example, argues that the beast is a combination

of the four characters from the Book of Revelation, that is “the two Beasts from the Sea

93 Klossowski de Rola, The Golden Game, p. 58.

40

and the Earth, the dragon who pursues the Apocalyptic Virgin and the Whore of

Babylon.”94 In the Book of Revelation the red dragon has seven heads, ten horns and

seven crowns (Revelation 12:3), whereas the beast from the sea has seven heads, ten

horns and ten crowns upon his horns (Rev. 13:1), has similarities with a leopard, feet

like that of a bear and the mouth of a lion (Rev. 13:2). The beast coming from the earth

has two horns, similar to a lamb and made fire come down from heaven on earth (Rev.

13:11-12), while the beast connected to the Whore of Babylon has seven heads and ten

horns (Rev. 17:3). Szulakowska furthermore compares the engraving in the Cabala with

the engravings of the papal Antichrist on Lutheran pamphlets, which appear to share

a certain resemblance.95 Klossowski de Rola, author of The Golden Game, also assumes

that the beast refers to the Book of Revelation, although he provides a further

interpretation of the beast in relation to alchemy. He suggests that the beast portrays

the primal matter with horns that show a connection to the zodiac sign of Aries,

whereas the “triple crown” refers to the three realms of nature: animal, vegetable and

mineral.96

As the engraving is titled Exaltation, the main purpose of the image is to show the

exaltation of the common base metals and in which manner this is executed. According

to the text of the Cabala, sublimation and distillation are required in this stage. While

both operations tend to purify a different substance, sublimation is usually performed

to purify (mineral) salts, whereas distillation is primarily the purification of liquids.

However, the basis of both operations are the same: the substance is heated, then

cooled down, after which the condensed vapor can be collected. Because the remaining

liquid (distillation) or solid matter (sublimation) has been exposed to the continued

application of heat, the impure qualities of the matter are removed, leaving a purer

substance to continue the work with. Due to the importance of fire in these operations,

it is possible that the beast is in fact a dragon representing the fire used during these

operations. Its dragon-like feet, reptile-like tail (dragons are often depicted with

scales), horns and its fiery breath, are characteristics commonly used to illustrate a

dragon. Michelspacher himself writes that “the philosophers’ fire is the art, seeing

without fire all labour is vain”. As fire is the prime instrument of alchemy, the dragon

94 Szulakowska, 'The Apocalyptic Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616)', p. 215. 95 Idem, p. 214. 96 Klossowski de Rola, The Golden Game, p. 58.

41

might symbolize fire with all of its creative and destructive aspects. Although dragons

are usually depicted with wings, the wingless-dragon in the Cabala might refer to the

separation of the volatile from the fixed. Paracelsus told us “that which is spirituall is

raised from what is corporeall, and is subtilized, volatile from fixed, and that in dry

things, as are all Mineralls, and the pure is separated from the impure”.97 Therefore,

the dragon might also a representation of the fixed matter, while the two winged

dragons or chimaeras at the top of the engraving portray the volatile substance.

However, taking the possible interpretations above in consideration, there is another

explanation for the dragon in this engraving, namely that the dragon is a Deckname for

a component used to produce the philosophical Mercury, or philosophical Mercury

itself. “Mercury is our doorkeeper … secret furnace, oven, true fire, venomous Dragon

… Green Lion … it is our Royal Mineral”, Philalethes wrote in the Metamorphosis of

Metals.98 In Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King (1667), he mentioned “our

Fiery Dragon, in whose belly is hidden the magic Chalybs” and “the Babylonian dragon,

which kills everything with its venom”.99 The dragon in Philalethes’ obscure

description symbolizes antimony, whereas the matter inside his belly refers to iron.100

Newman explains that, in this chapter Of the First Operation – Preparation of

Mercury by means of the Flying Eagles, Philalethes is telling us that crude antimony

and iron must be combined.101 Philalethes further states that “it is best when extracted

by means of our Chalybs (steel), which is found in the belly of the Ram”.102 Aries is one

of the zodiacs belonging to the fiery triplicity, therefore representing fire. If the

antimony ore is reacted with iron through the application of heat, the star regulus of

antimony is formed, which, combined with common mercury produces the

philosophical mercury.103 Philalethes even speaks of “the kingly diadem, which is cast

out of the menstruum of our harlot”, referring to the star regulus of antimony being

extracted from the impurity of antimony and reminding us of the three-tiered papal

crown Szulakowska spoke of.104 Although the dragon’s crown might simply be a

reference to the royalty of this mineral.

97 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 158. 98 Waite, The Hermetic Museum, p. 243. 99 Waite, The Hermetic Museum, p. 166; p. 170. 100 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, pp. 162. 101 Newman, Gehennical Fire, pp. 126-130. 102 Waite, The Hermetic Museum, p. 114. 103 Newman, Gehennical Fire, pp. 126-130. 104 Waite, The Hermetic Museum, p. 166; Newman, Gehennical Fire, p. 130.

42

The horns of Michelspacher’s dragon are most likely a reference to the zodiac sign of

Aries, the first sign of the zodiac under which the beginning of creation took place and

a possible indication that the alchemical work commences in spring. Aries plays a

significant role in John Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica (1564), wherein he states that the

zodiacal sign Aries is part of the fiery triplicity.105 Considering that Aries is associated

with iron, as Aries makes up one of the two houses of Mars, this could symbolize iron

sulfate or green vitriol, as discussed in the previous chapter.106 The dragon’s udders,

then, could refer to the second sign of the zodiac, Taurus, which is depicted underneath

the belly of the dragon. However, as Taurus is usually considered a bull and not a cow,

a more plausible explanation is that the udders of the dragon refer to the lac virginis

or ‘virgin’s milk’. According to Rulandus it is also called ‘Philosophical Vinegar’ and it

has the ability to dissolve metals. Paracelsus thought the philosophical vinegar to be

vitriol-water, whereas the virgin’s milk is also synonymous with the water of

mercury.107

3.2. The Alphabet of Alchemy

Similar to the diagrams in the first engraving, concentric circles are illustrated in the

second engraving (fig. 9). The outer sphere is divided into twelve sections of 30

degrees, which presumably shows the regions of the zodiac with its degrees, even

though the actual zodiac signs are not inserted in the circle. The twenty-three letters of

the Latin alphabet are shown in the inner circle, which are connected to the twenty-

three alchemically related terms illustrated in the middle disc of the diagram. From A

to Z the following cabalistic-alchemical alphabet is depicted in Table 2.

Cheyri refers to the four-petalled yellow wallflower cheiranthus cheiri, which

supposedly contains both cleansing and warming effects, and is an arcane remedy as

Paracelsus writes in De Vita Longa (1562).108 It could also refer to flos cheiri, defined

by Ruland as the essence of gold. A third possible explanation is that cheyri is a

reference for cheizi, a Paracelsian term related to quicksilver, the White Elixir, the Red

Elixir, aurum potable (potable or colloidal gold) or antimony.109

105 Josten, A Translation of John Dee's “Monas Hieroglyphica”, p. 103. 106 Newman, Gehennical Fire, p. 164. 107 Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy. Retrieved at http://www.rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxm.htm 108 Soukop, Chemie in Österreich, p. 239. 109 Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy. Retrieved at http://www.rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxm.htm

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A Aurum Gold

B Bley Lead

C Cheyri Cheiranthus cheiri

D Dracken blutt Dragon’s blood

E Eisen Iron

F Farb des Wercks Color of the Work

G Grad des Δ Degree of temperature

H Haupt des Rabe Raven’s Head

I Iovis Jupiter

K Kupffer Copper

L Luna Moon

M Mercurius Mercury

N Natur Nature

O Oleum Oil

P Potabile Potable

Q Quinta Esse. Quintessence

R Rebis Rebis

S Salmiac Sal ammoniac

T Tragant Tragant

V Vitriol Vitriol

X Essig Vinegar

II Ignis Fire

Z Zinober Cinnabar

Table 2. Alchemical alphabet.

‘Dragon’s blood’ (sanguis draconis) could refer to any dried resin, cinnabar (mercury

sulfide) or the Philosophers’ Stone.110 The ‘Head of the Raven’ (caput corvi) refers to

the nigredo stage of the alchemical work.111 ‘Potable’ could be another reference to

aurum potable, or simply to a tincture in general. The Rebis refers to the first stage of

the alchemical process, in which man and wife, masculine and feminine, body and soul,

110 Stratford, A Dictionary of Western Alchemy, p. 28; Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy; Greenberg, From Alchemy

to Chemistry in Picture and Story, p. 71. 111 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 123.

44

are conjoined. 112 Rebis literally means “two-thing” in Latin and it defines the

philosophical Mercury and Sulphur combined into the starting material.113 ‘Tragant’ or

gum tragacanth is obtained from the sap of a plant and used to bind powders,

therefore making it a useful ingredient for making pharmaceuticals.114

3.3. The philosophical Egg

At the central point of the engraving an alchemical vessel is portrayed, also known as

the philosophical egg, as its function is to “give birth” to the stone.115 Enclosed in the

philosophical egg is a variety of animals representing the whole alchemical process.

From bottom to top is illustrated: a lion and a white swan, a black raven, a peacock, a

phoenix and finally the Sun emerging from the vessel. The lion and swan are the

impure substances that ‘die’ through putrefaction, represented by the raven (caput

corvi), after which the matter is ‘reborn’ like a phoenix rising from its ashes and turns

into the Solar Perfection of the Philosophers’ Stone, symbolized by the Sun. An

intermediate stage of this process is the cauda pavonis, or the Peacock’s Tail.116 The

fire, or dragon, underneath the alchemical vessel heats the matter inside, illustrated by

the circular lines in the vessel going straight upwards and representing the vapor

produced by the heat of the fire. The abbreviation V.W.I.W.V. stands for “Our Water is

Water Ours” (Unser Wasser ist Wasser Unser) and might relate to the biblical text of

John 4:14: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;

but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into

everlasting life”, as Szulakowska argues.117 In Abraham von Franckenberg’s (1593-

1652) Raphael oder Artzt-Engel (1676), we find an appendix from an anonymous

author, titled De Aqua VW+WV sapientum (‘The Water of the Wise’), in which the

axiom V.W.I.W.V. is expanded to: Unser Wasser ist Wasser Unser: ein himlisch

Wasser, ein Wasser des Lebens: ein Schlisch Wasser, welchem alle Geister lieben;

roughly translated into: Our Water is Water Ours: a heavenly water, a water of life: an

artificial water, which all spirits love.118 Alhthough Schlisch could also refer to the

112 Ruland. A Lexicon of Alchemy. Retrieved at http://www.rexresearch.com/rulandus/rulxm.htm. 113 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 122. 114 Soukop, Chemie in Österreich, p. 239; Schmieder, Geschichte der Alchemie, p. 402. 115 Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, p. 123. 116 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 16. 117 Szulakowska, 'The Apocalyptic Eucharist and Religious Dissidence in Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala:

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia (1616)', pp. 217 – 218. 118 Franckenberg, Raphael oder Artzt-Engel, p. 45.

45

English Schlick, a metallurgical definition for finely crushed ore or metals (i.e. gold, tin

or lead).

Figure 10. Detail of the philosophical egg. Second engraving.

The axiom V.W.I.W.V. could, however, simply be a reference to the alchemical sigil for

water, represented by the upside-down triangle illustrated around the alchemical

vessel. Although one might assume that this triangle contains the Paracelsian tria

prima of Salt, Mercury and Sulphur, the circular sigil slightly differs from the regular

symbol for Salt , as there is an extra vertical line added forming the symbol ,

suggesting a particular salt. Where the vertical line pointed to the right, the symbol for

vitriol had appeared. The vertical line pointing upwards, however, suggests Alumen

plumosum (asbestos) or cinnabar.119 Each triangular point is connected to a cluster

containing zodiacal signs. The symbol for Sulphur points at a cluster containing the

symbols of Aries, Cancer and Scorpio, of which Leo is the ruler. The symbol for Salt is

connected with a cluster containing the symbols of Libra, Virgo and Gemini, with the

sign of Taurus as their ruler in this illustration. The symbol for Mercury points towards

the signs of Sagittarius, Pisces and Aquarius, ruled by the sign of Capricorn. Clustering

these four together might relate to the one third of the year, as Sagittarius represents

the last period of autumn and the Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces the following winter.

The other clusters, however, are not categorized by this order, making Michelspacher’s

intentions with this categorization quit unclear.

119 Lüdy, Alchemistische und Chemische Zeichen, Tafel 4, p. 4.

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A large star is placed on top of the vessel pointing towards the M of Mercury,

accompanied by two dragons or chimaeras at the top of the vessel, representing the

volatile aspect. It appears that their claws illustrated that the fumes coming from the

alchemical vessel should be captured and condensed for the next stage of the

alchemical process. Although one might assume that the six-pointed star refers to the

Seal of Hermes, the neck of the tube does not appear to be sealed. Radiating from the

star are six lines, each leading to a separate star in the circle. One line radiates from

the bottom left point of the mercurial star, two lines from the bottom middle point and

the last three lines radiate from the bottom right point. Although it is quit unclear what

these stars symbolize, a possibility is that each star is connected to a letter of the

alphabet mentioned in the previous paragraph. If we follow the lines of the six stars

from left to right, it appears they are connected to cheyri, gold, fire, vitriol, tragant and

sal ammoniac. This, of course, could simply be a coincidence, but remembering that

alchemical emblems are filled with obscure details, the stars are most likely of

significance in the engraving.

3.4. Alchemical interpretation of the Second Engraving

Similar to the previous chapter, the second engraving illustrates both generic

alchemical symbols, as well as direct practical guidelines. It has been suggested that

the dragon in the second figure symbolizes Mercury, also called the Green Lion.

Philalethes’ interpretation of the dragon explains that antimony ore is to be combined

with iron, forming the star regulus of antimony. The star regulus combined with

common mercury then produces the philosophical Mercury. Considering the Red Lion

mentioned in the previous chapter, however, the dragon here refers to Paracelsus’

Green Lion. In The Treasure of Treasures of Alchemists, the Green Lion is the next

stage in producing the Tincture of the Philosophers. In his chapter Concerning the

Green Lion, Paracelsus teaches us that the vitriol of Venus is to be putrefied for a month

with the elements of water and air, after which the matter is separated into two colors,

white at the bottom and red above white, being the red tincture of vitriol. Here, the

vitriol of Venus could to the aqua regis discussed in the previous chapter, making

copper sulfate the vitriolic element in the aqua regis, whereas the water and air

probably refer to the remaining two ingredients of the aqua regis: saltpeter and sal

ammoniac. Interesting though, is that the red vitriol is synonymous with the Eagle and

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the white matter at the bottom of the vessel with the Blood of the Red Lion (sanguis

draconis). Paracelsus, however, explains that “the red tincture of the vitriol is so

powerful that it reddens all white bodies, and whitens all red ones, which is wonderful”.

Throughout the putrefaction of the Eagle and the Red Lion, the matter will turn black

first (caput corvi), then white, and finally the Green Lion will appear. Paracelsus calls

this the tincture, transparent gold, the true and genuine Balsam, the Balsam of the

Heavenly Stars. He further explains that this balsam, or the Green Lion, is to be

combined with the Earth of red Sol and the Sulphur of Sol. Looking back at the previous

chapter, it is explained that the Tincture of the Sun, or the Red Lion, leaves a white

body (Salt of Sol) as a residue, which is most likely the Earth of red Sol Paracelsus

means. Abstracting its spirits will leave a red powder, that is the Sulphur of Gold. The

Earth of red Sol, the Sulphur of Gold and “the liquid of the minerals’, that is, the Green

Lion, are then put together into a pelican, congelate (the process of congelation) and

dissolved, completing the Tincture of the Alchemists.120 The second engraving, thus,

illustrates how the Red Lion is turned into the Green Lion, that is, the second stage of

attaining the Tincture of the Philosophers.

120 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, pp. 38-39.

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Figure 11. Third engraving, entitled “Middle: Conjunction”. Courtesy of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

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Chapter 4.

The Third Engraving: 3. Mittel. Coniunction.

The third engraving, titled Mittel. Conjunction, illustrates the operations of

conjunction, putrefaction, solution, dissolution, resolution, digestion and circulation.

Whereas the first two engravings illustrate the process of extracting Mercury and

Sulphur, the third figure illustrates the conjointment of the two principles and their

putrefaction, where the impure qualities are separated and the matter is purified. In

the following chapter this ‘sacred marriage’ of Mercury and Sulphur is explained and

the alchemical sigils are interpreted.

4.1. The Different Tinctures of the Planets

In the third engraving a terraced mountain is depicted, or the outside of a mountain to

be more precise, with a fountain on top (fig. 11). Two separate jets of water emerge from

the fountain in the engraving and at its foot we can read again the abbreviation

V.W.IW.V. The two men in the foreground show that the alchemist must follow Nature

or his natural instinct, as is illustrated by the adept on the left who follows the animal

into the mountain, while the other man, blindfolded, is too blind to see his way. The

animal entering the mountain symbolizes Nature, the primal matter, or perhaps the

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volatile nature of Mercury.121 The mountain has three terraces and on each plateau a

personification of the planets is portrayed. On the left side of the mountain we see, in

ascending order, Venus as a female holding a burning heart and a mirror, Mars as a

male wearing a suit of armor with a sword and shield in his hands, and the Sun as a

regal man with a scepter in his hand while making a V-shaped hand gesture. Although

the illustration is slightly unclear, the gesture of the Sun is perhaps illustrating the ICXI

sign (the name of Jesus Christ), a benediction or blessing sign, or a reference to the

heavenly sphere, considering that the Sun points towards the zodiac sphere. Ascending

on the right there is Saturn as a man holding a scythe and a baby, Jupiter as a crowned

male with a scepter in one hand and what appears to be a bundle of thunderbolts in the

other, and the Moon as a female wearing a crescent moon on her head while holding a

spear and a horn in her hands, most likely representing Artemis or Diana. The male

figure at the top of the mountain is wearing a winged helmet and wings around his

ankle and is a personification of the planet Mercury. In his hands he holds a caduceus

and a six-pointed star, similar to the star in the previous engraving, while he is standing

with one leg on the top of a hexagonal fountain. Interesting about this placement is

that it reminds us of the tinctures and their differences of which Valentine speaks of in

his Triumphal Chariot of Antimony (1678):

Moreover the Reader will observe that many Stones tinge particularly, (for all fixt

tinging powders are by me called Stones) but yet one tingeth deeper than another;

as first; The Stone of the Philosophers which far transcends all others. Next which

are the Tinctures of the Sun, and of the Moon. As to the white. Then the Tincture of

Vitriol or Venus, and the Tincture of Mars, both which contein in them the Tincture

of the Sun, if they have bin formerly brought unto fixation; next to these follow the

Tincture of Jupiter and Saturne for the Coagulation of Mercury and then finally the

Tincture of Mercury itself. 122

Valentine further explains that this stone, which he calls the Stone of Fire, tinctures

Luna, Jupiter and Saturn into gold, whereas Mars and Venus are untouched by its fiery

essence, as they both already contain the Tincture of the Sun. This Stone of Fire, which

he also calls the Tincture of Antimony, is not made of crude melted antimony, but is

121 Sirc, Emblems and Alchemy, p. 205; Sestak, Science of Heat and Thermophysical Studies, p. 92; Wamberg,

Art & Alchemy, p. 158. See also: Franz, Alchemy, p. 12; Jung, Dreams, p. 269. 122 Valentine, Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, pp. 187-188.

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prepared antimony made of the mineral stibium, which is a native sulfide, and fused

with iron.123

Another explanation for the hierarchical order are the ingredients linked to the seven

planets. Although Venus is the personification of copper and Saturn the personification

of lead, the first engraving showed a direct connection between Venus and vitriol, and

Saturn and antimony, both two starting ingredients in the alchemical process. Mars

and Jupiter are normally personifications of iron and tin, but in the first engraving a

connection between Mars and sulfur, and Jupiter and bismuth is made. The

hierarchical order in the third engraving might actually refer to vitriol and antimony

as the starting ingredients, after which sulfur and bismuth are to be added, resulting

either in Sol and Luna, or suggesting that Sol and Luna should be added in order to

attain the philosophical mercury.

4.2. In the Bowels of the Mountain

Inside the mountain a temple is placed wherein the sacred marriage, or conjunction,

of the King and Queen takes place. The King holds a scepter and seems to reach towards

the Queen, who holds three flowers in her hand. The flowers might refer to the white

and lunar ‘philosophical tincture’, the red and solar ‘metallic tincture’ and the blue

‘flower of wisdom’,124 or one of the alchemical triplicities, such as the Paracelsian tria

prima or the the albedo, rubedo and nigredo stages. The image of the royal couple,

however, is similar to the First Key of Basil Valentine (fig. 12), symbolizing the

“primitive materials” of the Stone. Greenberg explains that “if impure gold is heated in

the fire (three times – the queen holds three flowers), the king will emerge. The king is

gold (perhaps seed of gold or sophic Sulphur). The queen represents purified silver

from which is derived sophic mercury. The first purification gives the “primitive

materials” of the Stone – derived from gold, silver, and mercury.”125 The three flowers,

then, could therefore refer to the triple purification of the King.126 This motif of three

roses is also visible in the earth surrounding the mountain. The sacred marriage of the

King and Queen allude to the section of the Tabula Smaragdina, which says that “the

123 Thompson, Alchemy and Alchemists, p. 242. 124 Roob, Het Hermetische Museum, p. 420. 125 Greenberg, From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story, p. 57. 126 Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry, p. 57.

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father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon.”127 At the back of the temple a furnace

is placed. The cupola is decorated with the Sun and Moon, corresponding to the King

and Queen below, accompanied by ten stars possibly referring to the ten Sefirot of the

Cabala or the Pythagorean tetraktys 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.128 A phoenix with widely spread

wings stands on top of the temple as the ‘crown of the alchemical work’, symbolizing

the consummation or completion of the Great Work.

Figure 12. Prima Clavis or the ‘First Key’ of Basil Valentine.

The mountain might symbolize the Philosophers’ Stone or could indicate that, as the

temple is hidden inside the mountain, the Philosophers' Stone “lies buried in the earth

and must be extracted and cleansed”, reminding us of the V.I.T.R.I.O.L.U.M. acrostic

‘Visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying thou shalt find the hidden true

medicinal stone’.129 This could be a reference to the primal matter, metals or minerals

that are found inside the earth, hinting towards the two miners in the first engraving.

Another explanation of the mountain in the third engraving, however, is that it

represents the alchemical vessel itself. The temple itself is then a representation of the

127 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 28. 128 Wilson, ‘Jabirian Numbers, Pythagorean Numbers and Plato’s Timaeus’, p. 5. 129 Jung, Dreams, p. 274.

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contents of the alchemical vessel wherein the King and Queen, masculine and

feminine, are joined together in the process of conjunction.130 According to the words

of Hermes Trismegistus “the earth is the nurse thereof,” which might indicate that the

vessel is made of some sort of earth, such as clay.131 Therefore the mountain could be ‘the

earth that nurses’ or in other words: the vessel that provides continuous warmth. This

idea corresponds to Paracelsus’ Of the Nature of Things, in which he said:

As a man may return into the womb of his Mother, i.e. into the Earth, out of which

hee was first made a man, and shall again bee raised at the last day: so also all Metalls

may returne into living Mercury againe, and become Mercury, and by Fire bee

regenerated and purified, if for the space of forty weeks they bee kept in a continuall

heat, as an infant is in his Mothers wombe. So that now there are brought forth not

common Metalls, but Tinging Metalls.132

In this passage we see the reference to the earth as the womb, i.e. the mountain as the

vessel, where the man refers to the king in the temple, or the golden matter in the

vessel. If we take a closer look at the mountain it becomes clear that the mountain itself

is placed both on the earth as well as in the water. In The Triumphal Chariot of

Antimony, Valentine teaches us that:

all Things, which are generated in the Bowels of Mountains, to be infused from the

Superior Stars, and take their beginning from them, in the form of an aqueour Cloud,

Fume or Vapour, which for a very long time fed and nourished by the Stars, is at

length educted to a tangible form by the Elements. Moreover, this Vapor is dried,

that the Wateriness may lose its Dominion, and the Fire next, by help of the Air,

retain the Ruling Power. Of Water Fire, and of Fire and Air Earth is produce: which

notwithstanding are found in all things consisting of Body, before the Separation of

them. Therefore this, viz. Water is the first Matter* of all things, which by the

Dryness of Fire and Air is formed into Earth.133

Valentine, too, refers here to the alchemical vessel as “the Bowels of Mountains”, in

which the matter is prepared so as to separate it from the elements. Corresponding

with this are the four circles in the corners of the engraving, representing the four

elements of earth, water, air and fire and possibly refer to the entire process and its

130 Von Franz, Alchemy, p. 12. 131 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 28. 132 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, p. 126. 133 Valentine, The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, p. 184-185.

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wholeness. However, the mountain might also represent the furnace or fire itself,

heating or “nursing” the vessel, i.e. the temple.

4.3. The Seven Steps of Transmutation

Paracelsus’ seven steps of transmutation lead up to the temple and each step is

inscribed with an alchemical operation: calcination, sublimation, solution,

putrefaction, distillation, coagulation and tincture. Of this, Paracelsus said in Of the

Nature of Things (1650), that the alchemists must know about the degrees to

Transmutation, i.e., the stage leading to transmutation: “If any one will climbe that

Ladder, he shall come into a most wonderfull place, that hee shall see and have

experience of many secrets in the Transmutation of Naturall things.”134 The third

engraving thus symbolizes the entire opus and the ascending aspect of the steps is a

common theme in emblems and allegories throughout the Middle Ages. The reference

is here to Jacob’s heavenly ladder, connecting the terrestrial and celestial world, as

captured in the Tabula Smaragdina’s famous phrase ‘that which is above is like that

which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above’.135 In the Mutus

Liber (1677) the ladder is seen standing on the first engraving, reaching from heaven

to earth, whereas the fifteenth and last plate shows the ladder laid upon the ground,

symbolizing the completion of the Work.136

Like all components in the transmutation of metals, the number of operations and their

order differed from writer to writer. Where Paracelsus argued that the above

mentioned seven stages were necessary to complete the opus, Philalethes set out ten

steps in Tres tractatus de metallorum transmutatione (1668), which were calcination,

dissolution, separation, conjunction, putrefaction, distillation, coagulation,

sublimation, fixation, and exaltation. Ripley wrote about twelve processes or ‘gates’ in

his Compound of Alchymie, being calcination, solution, separation, conjunction,

putrefaction, congelation, cibation, sublimation, fermentation, exaltation,

multiplication and projection.137 Valentine, too, described twelve ‘keys’ or operations

to complete the Great Work. Like Ripley and Valentine, Antoine-Joseph (Dom) Pernety

134 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 157. 135 Idem, p. 28. 136 Patai, ‘Biblical Figures as Alchemists’, p. 203-204. 137 Newman, Gehennical Fire, p. 118.

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(1716-1796) held that there were twelve processes necessary, but connected each of

these operations to a sign of the Zodiac in Dictionnaire mytho-hermétique (1758):

1. Calcination – Aries, the Ram 2. Congelation – Taurus, the Bull 3. Fixation – Gemini, the Twins 4. Solution – Cancer, the Crab 5. Digestion – Leo, the Lion 6. Distillation – Virgo, the Virgin 7. Sublimation – Libra, the Scales 8. Separation – Scorpio, the Scorpion 9. Ceration – Sagittarius, the Archer 10. Fermentation – Capricorn – the Goat 11. Multiplication – Aquarius, the Water-carrier 12. Projection – Pisces, the Fishes138

Interesting though, is that the order of operations set out by Michelspacher in the

Cabala differ somewhat with Paracelsus’ seven steps, even though he appears to follow

Paracelsian writings. As Michelspacher explains, the first image illustrates calcination,

under which also reverberation and commendation are understood. This is in

agreement with Paracelsus’ first step, and with the other order of operations described

above. Calcination, therefore, seems to be the first stage in the alchemical process,

regardless of which path or theory is being followed. The second engraving then

illustrates exaltation, which comprehends sublimation and elevation together with

distillation. Although sublimation is also the second step in Paracelsus’ ladder,

distillation is only the fifth process. Similar irregularities in the order of the operations

is seen in the third and fourth engraving, although both Michelspacher’s last engraving

and Paracelsus’ final two steps mention coagulation and finally tincture, as the

completion of the Great Work.

4.4. Zodiacal Ingredients

Encircling the image are the twelve signs of the zodiac and its degrees, accompanied

by twelve alchemical hieroglyphs symbolizing ingredients. Regarding the alchemical

hieroglyphs, they supposedly represent, from left to right, the following ingredients:

the star regulus of antimony, verdigris, vitriol, sulfur, antimony, sal ammoniac,

cinnabar, auripigment/orpiment, salt of tartar, nitre, common salt and alum.

138 Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry, pp. 32-33.

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Figure 13. The ‘sacred marriage’.

According to Valentine, the star regulus (‘little king’) of antimony is, together with the

sophic mercury a necessary component for preparing the ‘Balsom of Antimony’, a

balsam beneficial against severe diseases. With Hungarian antimony, crude tartar and

saltpeter, the regulus is prepared.139 Theodor Kerckring (1638-1693), however, wrote

in his commentary on the The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, that the regulus of

antimony should not be prepared with crude tartar, but with the salt of tartar.140

Although, in the previous chapter it is discussed that the preparation of the star regulus

consists of antimony and iron. Verdigris, then, is a copper acetate, often used as a

pigment for dying, due to its green color, and is made by subjecting copper to vinegar.141

Like verdigris, orpiment is an ‘artificial’ pigment, yellow-colored, and commonly

known as arsenic.142

139 Valentine, Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, p. 42. 140 Kerckring, Basil Valentine his Triumphant Chariot of Antimony with Annotations, p. 97. 141 Newman, Promethean Ambitions, p. 65. 142 Idem, p. 119.

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Interestingly, though, the signs of the zodiac are placed in order relating to the

personifications of the planets, instead of their regular order. This might be a reference

to the work of Paracelsus, The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists (1659) in which

he states: “Have your stars wandered out of their course, and are they straying in

another orbit, away from the line of limitation.”143 On the far left of the zodiac arc,

Taurus and Libra are connected with their planetary ruler Venus. Scorpio and Aries are

placed next to their ruling planet Mars and Leo is linked to the Sun. Mercury is the

ruling planet of the highest two signs, Virgo and Gemini, while the Moon rules Cancer,

Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces and Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn and Aquarius.

Taurus is the second astrological sign of the Zodiac, again indicating that the work

starts in springtime.

4.5. Alchemical Interpretation of the Third Engraving

The main purpose of the third engraving is thus the ‘sacred marriage’ of Sulphur and

Mercury. In the second chapter it is explained that the first engraving illustrates the

process of preparing the Red Lion, whereas the third chapter illustrates how the second

engraving symbolizes the process of preparing the Green Lion. The third engraving,

then, illustrates the conjunction of the Red Lion, or Sulphur of Sol, with the Green Lion,

or philosophical Mercury. This conjunction takes place in a pelican, where both Lions

are congelated and dissolved together, or ‘married’, whereafter the Tincture of the

Alchemists is created. The third engraving thus illustrates the third and final stage of

producing the Tincture of the Philosophers.

143 Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, p. 38.

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Figure 14. Fourth engraving, entitled “End: Multiplication”. Courtesy of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

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Chapter 5.

The Fourth Engraving: 4. Endt. Multiplication.

Finally, the fourth engraving, titled Endt. Multiplication, illustrates the operations of

multiplication, ascension, lavation, imbibition, cohobation, coagulation, fixation,

augmentation and tincture. The final goal of all these chemical processes is the

Tincture of the Philosophers, or the Tincture of the Alchemists, which is the ‘treasure

of treasures’ and the medicine the alchemist sought. In the following chapter the

Fountain of Life is explained, as well as an analogy of Christ’s resurrection with the

creation of the Philosophers’ Stone.

5.1. The Alchemical Fountain

In the final engraving of the Cabala, Christ is seated in a hexagonal baptismal font,

while water is streaming from a wound in his chest (fig. 15). After Christ was crucified,

his body was pierced by a lance, so as to be sure that he was dead. According to the

Gospel of John, “one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came

there out blood and water” (John 19:34). The fountain in which Christ is seated is

inscribed with the words The Fountain of Life (Der Brun des Lebens). The basin, which

is topped by a large three-tiered fountain, is similar to the hexagonal fountain in the

third engraving and refers to Book of Zechariah, wherein “a fountain will be opened

for the House of David and the citizens of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and

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impurity” (Zech. 13:1). “Those who took upon the exalted figure of Jesus on the cross

and see there the saving love of Yahweh will receive eternal life from the Savior’s

fountain”, as Forestell further explains. The water gushing from Christ’s side

symbolizes the gift of living water as he promised the woman of Samaria in John 4:10

and it is the gift of eternal life. “But the water that I will give him, shall become in him

a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting”, as written in John 4:14. The

water thus symbolizes the gift of life, whereas blood is a biblical symbol for life, while

signifying the importance of Christ’s death.144 In the fourth engraving of the Cabala,

Christ therefore represents the matter which has undergone death and became

resurrected or reborn in a more perfect form, similar to the alchemical death and

resurrection of putrefaction.145

The alchemical fountain is a recurring element in alchemical imagery and is often

depicted in the alchemical garden of roses (Rosarium). Due to the flourishing garden

surrounding it, the fountain can be seen as a symbol for growth in the alchemical work.

The fountain reminds us of Valentine’s First Key in which he speaks of Der Brun des

Lebens:

For whoever drinks of this golden fountain, experiences a renovation of his whole

nature, a vanishing of all unhealthy matter, a fresh supply of blood, a strengthening

of the heart and of all the vitals, and a permanent bracing of every limb. For it opens

all the pores, and through them bears away all that prevents the perfect health of the

body, but allows all that is beneficial to remain therein unmolested.146

The fountain can also refer to the regenerative and healing powers of Mercury,

symbolizing its dissolvent qualities. In Andreas Libavius’ Alchymia (1606), the

alchemical fountain, or ‘Bath of the Philosophers’ symbolizes the “menstruum in which

the resulting sophic Sulphur and sophic mercury are conjoined”. Another example of

such a ‘mercurial fountain’ can be found in the first woodcut of the Rosarium

Philosophorum (1550). The fountain pours three spouts, the lac virginis (Virgin’s

Milk), acetum fontis (the Spring of Vinegar) and aqua vitae (the Water of Life).

According to McLean, the Virgin’s Milk symbolizes a female, lunar principle, whereas

the Spring of Vinegar symbolizes a male, solar principle. The three streams merge

144 Forestell, The Word of the Cross, pp. 89-90. 145 Linden, The Alchemy Reader, p. 17. 146 Valentine, Ein kurtz summarischer Tractat, von dem grossen Stein der Uralten. Retrieved at

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/twelvkey.html.

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together at the basin of the fountain, representing the primal substance or the Mercury

of the Philosophers, wherefore the fountain symbolizes the vessel in which the water

of Mercury is transformed.147 David Beuther wrote about the ‘Fountain of Youth’ that:

The Green Dragon of Hermes, or as the Green Corrosive (Omnivorous)

Snake, or as the Green Lion, although Theophrastus called it the Tree

Frog, imbibing an air of wisdom and coating his back with wax; but in

reality, it is the White Lily, the water of the Wise, for from it comes the

Elixir of Life, and the Fountain of Youth… This is our Fountain and

our Soil, in which is found that which you will harvest --- the Corpus

Solis et Lunae (Body of the Sun and Moon), which can be further

purified.148

Again we see the reference towards the ‘Water of the Wise’, or sophic Mercury, bringing

forth the Elixir of Life, the Fountain of Youth, i.e. the completion of the work. This

mercurial water is often one of the first components made in the alchemical process,

as this water is essential to the latter stages of the operation.

5.2. The Seven Planets, Again

Returning to the fourth engraving, the topmost tier shows Mercury with the acronym

V.W.I.W.V. displayed again. The acronym is written above Mercury in this image,

contrary to the third engraving where V.W.I.W.V. is placed underneath Mercury and

the second engraving where the axiom is placed in the middle of the alchemical egg.

The placement of the axiom most likely differs purposely in each engraving, perhaps

illustrating the significance of Mercury in the process. Saturn and Jupiter are depicted

below Mercury in the fourth engraving and below these Mars and Venus stand in the

alchemical fountain. Interestingly though, Venus is making a similar V-shaped hand

gesture as the Sun in the third engraving. Whereas the Sun pointed towards the

heavenly sphere with his right hand, Venus is pointing downwards with her left hand,

perhaps symbolizing the Gospel of Matthew wherein Christ told the blessed who went

to Heaven to stand on his right and the damned who were send to Hell on his left (Matt.

147 McLean, ‘A Commentary on the Rosarium philosophorum’, accessed at

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/roscom.html. 148 Beuther. The Transmutation of Base Metals into Silver and Gold. Retrieved at

http://rexresearch.com/beuther/beuther.htm.

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25:31-46). Connecting the third and fourth engraving, the Sun and Venus might

illustrate "that which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like

that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing”. Similar to the placement of

the axiom, the position of the planets or metals deviates from their positions on the

third engraving. As explained in the previous chapter, the third engraving shows a

hierarchical order with Mercury on top, followed by the Sun and the Moon, Mars and

Jupiter and lastly Venus and Saturn. The fourth engraving, then, might indicate that

the philosophical mercury should be prepared first and is to be combined with

antimony (Saturn) and bismuth (Jupiter), forming the first stage of the process. This

matter, then, is to be prepared with sulfur (Mars) and vitriol (Venus) as the second

stage of the process. Lastly, if these five planets are conjoined into two separate matters

(each tier in the fountain pours two streams), Sol and Luna or Sulphur and Mercury

are to be married, creating the Water of Life.

5.3. The Resurrection of the Christ

While seated in the fountain, Christ offers two chalices to the Sun and the Moon

kneeling on either side of him. Lying near them are respectively three and two crowns,

connected to the five remaining planetary signs or perhaps referring to the number of

times the process needs to be repeated, similar to the three flowers in the third

engraving symbolizing the triple purification of the King. At the bottom of the

engraving the five planets or metals angrily shake their bellows at Sol and Luna,

possibly positioned at the same peak illustrated in the third engraving as it displays a

similar fountain on its summit. A crossed pair of flaming swords hovers above them,

referring to ‘fiery sword’ of Vulcan, symbolizing the necessity of fire in the opus. Clouds

surround the scene, reminding us again of Hermes Trismegistus’ saying that above is

like below and vice versa, while the scene with Christ is encircled with a rainbow,

perhaps referring to the various colors of the alchemical work. The font is enclosed by

a squared vineyard, reminding us of the circle, square and triangle configuration in the

first engraving. The vineyard itself is possibly a reference to Ripley’s Fifth Gate of

putrefaction: “Soon after that Noah planted his vineyard / Which royally flourished

and brought forth grapes / After which space you shall not be afraid / For it likewise

shall follow the nourishing of our stone / And soon after that 30 days be gone / You

shall have grapes right as ruby red / Which is our Adrop, our Ucifer, and our red

63

lead.”149 In Ripley reviv’d (1678), Philalethes goes into further detail about this fifth

gate:

Thy Earth then being renewed, behold how it is decked with an admirable green

colour, which is then named the Philosophers Vineyard. This greenness, after the

perfect whiteness, is to thee a token that thy Matter hath re-attained, through the

will and power of the Almighty, a new vegetative life: observe then how this

Philosophical Vine doth seem to flower, and to bring forth tender green Clusters;

know then that thou art now preparing for a rich Vintage.150

The reference about the “greenness, after the perfect whiteness” refers to the Green

Lion, attained after the Red Lion which leaves a white body.

Behind Christ a winding path or water stream leads towards the walled city of

Jerusalem where a scene from Christ’s crucifixion is shown, while an angel floats above

the city. This again is a reference to the Book of Zechariah, which states that “on that

day the Lord will put a shield about the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest

among them on that day shall be like David, and the House of David shall be like God,

like the angel of the Lord, at their head” (Zech. 12:8). The angel refers to the ‘angel of

the Lord’ and the path towards Christ makes it possible for the citizens of Jerusalem to

cleanse themselves from sin and impurity. A straight line connects the city of

Jerusalem with the tetragrammaton on the left, the Hebrew name for God (YHWH)

engraved within the Sun. A dove wearing a halo is flying from the city of Jerusalem

towards the Sun, referring to Yahweh who pours a spirit of kindness and prayer over

the House of David (Zech. 12:10). 151 The dove then passes through Mercury in his flight

and descends into the font. This creates an equilateral triangle, formed by the apex in

the tetragrammaton, the Fountain of Eternal Life and the city of Jerusalem as its basal

corners.

5.4. Alchemical Interpretation of the Fourth Engraving

The fourth and final engraving of the Cabala, illustrates the Tincture of the

Philosophers, the Water of Life, Elixir of Life. Christ symbolizes the death of the Red

Lion and the resurrection of the Green Lion after the process of putrefaction. He offers

149 McLean, Ripley’s Fifth Gate. Retrieved at http://www.levity.com/alchemy/ripgat5.html. 150Philalethes, Ripley reviv’d, pp. 352. 151 Forestell, The Word of the Cross, p. 89.

64

both Sol and Luna a chalice, symbolizing that Sulphur and Mercury are to be conjoined

together in order to attain the Tincture of the Philosophers. The fourth engraving thus

illustrates the Tincture of the Philosophers, the Universal Medicine, which consumes

all diseases.

65

Conclusion.

Considering the information that is gathered in the previous chapter, this thesis

concludes that the Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia, is in fact a

treatise written for the alchemist who sought practical directions. It is demonstrated

that an important connection between The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists of

Paracelsus and the Cabala of Michelspacher exists, therefore we assume that it is

plausible that Michelspacher’s Cabala is a practical guideline for the creation of the

Tincture of the Philosophers. “Take only the rose-coloured blood from the Lion and the

gluten from the Eagle. When you have mixed these, coagulate them according to the

old process, and you will have the Tincture of the Philosophers.” These words, written

by Paracelsus in The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists, are in a sense the essence

of the Cabala.

As we have explained, the engravings in the Cabala illustrate the three major stages in

Paracelsus’ transmutational work for the Tincture of the Philosophers. The first

engraving illustrates how the alchemist is to obtain the Sulphur of Cinnabar, or the

more commonly known Red Lion, by the operations of coagulation, dissolving,

distillation, putrefaction and sublimation. Ingredients such as cinnabar, vitriol,

saltpeter and sal ammoniac are possibly the key elements in this first stage of making

the Tincture. The second engraving of the Cabala illustrates the second stage of this

process, that is preparing the Green Lion through processes such as putrefaction.

Vitriol of Venus, copper sulfate, saltpeter, sal ammoniac are probable ingredients

during this process. The Green Lion is then to be combined with the Red Lion, by

placing both matters into a pelican to congelate and dissolve, after which the Tincture

of the Alchemists is created. This ‘sacred marriage’, or conjunction of the two

66

substances, is illustrated in the third engraving. To conclude the Cabala,

Michelspacher portrays the completion of the alchemical transmutation in the fourth

engraving, where Christ symbolizes the death of the Red Lion, the resurrection of the

Green Lion and the Water of Life, or Universal Medicine, that is attained after this.

67

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Appendix 1.

Cabala

The looking Glass of Art and Nature in Alchymy

What that most ancient stone of the wise men is,

which being a triple, yet but a simple stone.

All which being already briefly considered from several writings, and for the benefit of all

and every one of the laborious lovers of the Art, by the assistance of God proposed so

perspicuously and in a very clear glass, and exhibited by four pictures cut upon brass

plates.

By an unknown, yet known Author, as the engraved figures of the first figure, now

translated out of the German language into Latin doe testify.

By a mighty lover of wisdom, and there with a description by way of an argument of a

certain most excellent Philosopher, dedicated to the fraternity of the Rosy Cross, and

printed, where by no more may be desired in this matter.

Printed in Augsburg, by Johann Schultes

in Verlegung Stephan Michelspacher of Tyrol

1615

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To the most excellent and renowned Johann Remmelin a Suede, a famous

Doctor of Philosophy and Physics at Ulm.

To my much respected Lord and Patron.

Most excellent and most famous Doctor, and very much to be respected, after so many

petitions and requests some while [?], your excellency out of your mere propense

affection, as well towards me, as towards the most commendable and excellent arts and

sciences, especially of true medicine and philosophy (that I as one unskillful may in the

meantime not express the singular knowledge and experience thereof, wherewith your

Excellency being endowed, doth exceed many others) hath delivered an Anatomical

work of the wonderful frame and condition of all and every part of man’s body, being

the most noble of all the creatures, most artificiously described, and with a due

proportion one to another, as if they did represent something of these parts closely

joined together, together with a brief and [?] description of the same, entitled and newly

conceived in Latin Pinax microcosmographicus, which after ages doubtless will not

forget.

But when I had resolved from that time daily to publish that anatomical work, and the

longer I forbore to put the thoughts of my mind into art, I have been impeded by several

obstacles, yet nevertheless at the earnest request of many learned men, who seemed to

be very well pleased with the work of the Anatomy, I obeying with the consent of your

excellency very hardly obtained, at last I put it forth to Light a little before the due time:

only I did admire ascribing it to the exceeding great modesty of your Excellency, which

would not consent that that work should come forth by prefixing the name of the

Authors thereto, whereas notwithstanding the effigies and arms cut in the frontispiece

of the Catoptrum might instruct and informed the beholder thereof.

But having in consideration that most excellent and most noble person Philip

Hainhofer, a most famous noble man of Augsburg that Catoptrum together with Pinax

hath been humbly dedicated by me and presented to him, as to the safeguard and

protection of a most worthy patron, in regard his noble excellency is a singular lover of

such artifices, and a very doctorous priser thereof, and with all that these things may

be made known to princes and potentates, to all and every one of which the most

famous virtues of his excellency have been known, and at present he may especially

enjoy due thanks for the same, and of his great clemency have a favour for me.

But that most noble Hainhofer from a mere delectation, and never enough

praiseworthy assertion wherewith his excellent virtue is fervent towards such artificial

undertakings, as also many very great lovers of artifices, and very learned men have

earnestly, more earnestly, yes most earnestly have asked the unknown name of the

Author, as a due trophy of his labour, and how soon the Anatomical Labour and treatise

was perceived, and had obtained by my earnest solicitations the liberty of prefixing and

making known the name of the Author, it was printed. Having therefor obtained this

occasion, to with having received the present judgment of very learned and skillful men

of the stone of wise men not impertinently elaborate, but in a very useful treatise from

the author somewhat obscurely nominate therein, by submissively offering and

ascribing it to your Excellency I shall endeavor to make it appear, partly that the desire

of very many who admire the anatomies may be obviated in notifying the Author of the

74

Microcosmicum Catoptrum, and his Pinax microcosmographicus [?] having indeed

obtained a grant to my repeated petition, partly that it may in some measure be

satisfactory to the memorable love and desire of your Excellency, as it were natural in

you to true Chymistry amongst the other arts and sciences which adorn ingenious

spirits. Partly also that as far as by the assistance of God I shall obtain a more dexterous

commodity, I may in the meantime in some measure declare and manifest my gratitude

due to your Excellency for the manifold benefits hitherto conferred upon me.

Withal I beg that this little Treatise may be cheerfully received by your Excellency, and

that I have after may enjoy your favour and love, and that you and all precious unto

you may be embraced under the gracious protection of the almighty, and that I may be

comprehended by his integrity. Given at Augsburg the 5th of May 1615.

Your Excellences,

Most dutiful servitor

Stephan Michelspacher

of Tirol

The Author of this translation salutes the benevolent/candis reader.

Friendly reader, seeing many things cut out in pictures doe here and there occur in the

[?] or German tongue, which might easily be an impediment to other nations, and at

the very entry some things may seem obscure to a man of small experience: therefore

I have judged it necessary to premise the interpretation thereof over against the work

of the Author, and the context. And to subjoin by the addition of a brief discourse a

more full declaration thereof, of that most excellent and anonymous philosopher. Good

men will take this in good part. Farewell.

The interpretation of those things which in the pictures are written in the

German language.

The first picture of this little treatise, as a title thereof.

1. The looking glass of Art and nature – nature, art. Cabala and Alchymia doe exhibit

to you a very great medicine, as also the Wiseman’s stone, which is but one foundation,

as may be seen in these figures. God grant that we may be thankful for this very great

and precious gift. O God when thou doth open any man’s mind and heart, that he may

be perfect for preparing this work, thou certainly bestows upon him all courage and

fortitude. The hot, cold, dry and moist, the earth, the water, the air, the fire.

The second picture.

2. The beginning, the exaltation. Nature, Sal ammoniac, Tragacanth, vinegar,

Cinnabar, Lead, sanguis draconis, iron, the color of the work, the degree of fire, the

ravens head, Copper.

The third picture.

75

3. The middle, The Conjunction, the Tincture, the coagulation, distillation,

putrefaction, solution, sublimation, calcination.

The fourth picture.

4. The end, multiplication, the fountain of life. Follows the Drexode or Context of the

Author.

The introduction to the reader of this art.

Seeing he that readeth without understanding doth see many things, but has no relish

to them, he is rightly compared to the shadow of a wall, and is more miserable then one

that is wholly blind, who not seeing doth understand. Wherefore turning the looking

glass, you shall summarily observe, and all things are to be seen in this looking glass,

namely to enter into no by paths and labyrinths, but to pass straight through a circle,

and to meet a ternary placed in a quaternary by a unity in the centre, and on the other

hand to be free carried from the centre into the ternary by the quaternary to the circle.

Hence the whole looking glass is made up, wherein a blind man doth see black, white

and red, otherwise plunged in the mine. From thence the mystery is revealed, and the

gross body is freed from the elementary bonds, and is made subtle, until it be

augmented, a hundred, if so a thousand times, and without end. He is indeed happy,

who doth perfect this thus. I do assuredly present and offer these things to any instead

of a New Year’s gift for the perfection of this art.

The preface.

Friendly Reader, beloved in Christ, seeing all things, and all arts and gifts are in the

hand of the Almighty God, that they may be bestowed on whom he willeth according

to his mercy. So of his mercy he hath abundantly bestowed on me his own creature, a

miserable man in this corruptible world, and with his infinite grace hath supported me

in this present work, seeing he hath called me who am unworthy to reveale his high

mysteries, whereas the Almighty God might have granted and bestowed the same upon

many others who for exceed me by many degrees in virtues, honours, learning, and

dignities of this world.

Wherefore seeing this light is granted to me by God, that thence the praise may be to

himself, and the benefit to my neighbour, it will be convenient not to hide it under a

bushel or bed, but to set it upon the table, that all that cometh and entreth in may see

and understand what he must do or intermit in this business.

I have therefore proposed this light most simply, as in a looking glass for the vulgar like

to myself in figures or pictures, and by the Cabala, or the art of Alchymy. I frame for

all, I have resolved to communicate to the lovers of nature who are expert in Spagyrick

operations, wherein I trust they shall clearly see an absolute knowledge of the looking

glass, that from their they may at their pleasure reap the fruits and utilities thereof, and

chiefly such as are condureable for the life and health of man’s body, and then may find

also a decent temporal sustentation of a Christian life and for a most plentiful eternal

life both of body and soul.

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The Art.

O beginning consider thine end, and then O end consider thy beginning: for I bestow

upon the lovers of this art only both steel and a looking glass so far off and subtly sought

for any man from hence shall know briefly the way and path of attaining to the true

place, wherefore take mine advise, and frequent smiths shops, if you would obtain your

desire. Because in iron wrathful enough you shall find precious sugar for he knows

nothing in this Art, who refuses to work in iron, neither doth he find the end of his

time, as he that fighteth shall find it, because the balsam thereof doth balsomat all

things, and doth shew to every one the [?] of science and art. For a point is a part of a

circle, which also is found both in a quadrangle, and in a triangle. If you attain to this

point, you attain to a perfection, and escape from all tribulation, misery and danger. In

this thing you have the complete art, which if you understand not the things that I have

written are in vain, but impute the blame on your selves, and forbear to meddle there

with.

The explanation of this Art.

In this celestial looking glass, elicited out of steel by three distinct forms, and very being

diaphanous by the truth of art and nature cooperation by some celestial fire, faculty

and power of a ray, I could see very thing which mine eyes, yea which heaven and earth

were able to comprehend.

For first of all I found this looking glass to be of a pleasant sapphire colour throughout

very white, of a fiery property, in which respect, I saw Mercury and the Philosophers’

Salt so manifestly, as if they had been in mine hand.

Then I found another looking glass of the strength and virtue of pure steel, wherein I

saw the Philosophers’ Sulphur, like the flower called Celandine of so with a salt of a

vegetable–nature: by increasing, and augmenting, that I could not pull enough of the

flowers therefrom, it appeared so fruitful in this glass.

The third looking glass sprung out of these two perfectly, wholly of a fiery redness, and

like fire, for within a little spare it presently waxed hot, and as pure fire did flame, so

that without fear I could not touch it with mine hand, for I declare that I saw the divine

power, and the chiefest Arcanum lying hid therein. For I found therein the

Philosophers’ Fire, by which all things in all are maturated, by the means of the visible

elementary fire, which fire hath been sought by many, but found by few.

Now by sedulous diligence, and help of the spagyrick art, I [?] these three glass

altogether in one, wherein when I please I see most perfectly God, and all things, with

the riches of the poor: whence it deserved rightly to be termed the treasure of treasures.

This I keep carefully by me, lest it be taken away by stealth, or lest others get hurt

thereby.

Hence I trust without question that this slender introduction will sufficiently declare

to wise men, how these pictures will produce fruit to the lovers of the spagyrick art,

provided they be in favour with God and nature, they shall also draw out of this glass

77

more then I, or other shall describe form the things that are now described and

proposed, and in these figures signified for finding out the same.

But these things doe only concern the students of the true and solid Alchymy, and

spagyrick art, and those that are expert in Chymical operations, to whom even the least

occult and arcana of nature will be clear, by help of the degrees, or order of the scales

which are often made use of in operation. As for example, the figure by the number I

doth declare the degree of calcination, under which also reverberation and

commendation are understood. The second figure doth shew the degree of exaltation,

which doth comprehend sublimation, and elevation together with distillation. The

third figure doth note conjunction, together with putrefaction, solution, dissolution,

resolution, digestion, circulation. The fourth figure doth contain multiplication, under

which are latent ascension, lavation, imbibition, cohobation, as also coagulation,

fixation, augmentation and tincture.

They who are to pass this way must ascend by these degrees, to wit, of these three

glasses to make one by means of the four chiefest pillars, which are Philosophy,

Astronomy, Alchymy, and the Virtues. And by the Alphabet of the second figure in the

circumference of the circle declaring plainly and perspicuously from letter to letter the

true matter of this art. Where for when A.B.C. and the characters are in order known,

you will easily see what is to be seen, even as in the first and third figure, the four

qualities and the elements, which are the hot, dry, cold and moist, which truly shew the

first and last matter, by which you shall attain to all as I have briefly described them,

but I forbear to add more: seeing very excellent, illuminated and very learned men of

God have also written after this manner before me, especially because I have here

proposed to young students those things which might be done, from which they shall

draw perhaps a greater understanding conducible for their profit.

For much writing yields little profit, seeing all the four things are sufficiently clear (I

trust) here in figures. But when I shall understand that the lovers of this art are not

content here with, but doe require more, not sparing my pen to cloath those things in

a better order, and by approved experience from the foundation. For shortly a little

book shall follow if God and leisure permit, which from point to point shall be divided

into four parts for the rule of the two pillars or columns which are to be seen in the first

figure of nature and art.

In the meantime, rest satisfied with this simple proposal and forerunner of this very

looking glass, and remember that sublime things doe rather appear to those that are

humble, then to the proud seeing the proud require not a slender understanding.

Wherefore this prescribed and proposed glass is only set before those who understand

this art, and the spagyrick operations.

A declaration of the most ancient stone instead of an Epilogue.

Here I conclude, the foundation in the Chymical art is the chiefest medicine, which is

a little compounded flower, created and framed, most worthy by God, the viscous

nature, the first ens, as philosophers teach: for from our art, nature, as the highest

tincture doth proceed, wherein there are three principles, for which cause our Stone is

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also triple mineral, animal, vegetable, that is, the body, the soul, and the spirit,

produced thus from nature itself, like sweet honey, and moist salt, the Lunar Stone is

liquid like butter, the Solar is the Green Lion, the occult Sulphur, the philosophers’

gain, better than the soul of the body. The quintessence is our fire, a flower causing

generation, besides which no other fire can operate it.

The philosophers’ fire is the art, seeing without fire all labour is vain, albeit you should

work a hundred, or a thousand years, yet without it your undertakings would all be in

vain, nor would you attain to any perfection, but lose both your time and money:

wherefore be diligently watchful in your studies, and certainly inquire. Make use of the

spirit that doth vivify fire without light and coals, which may quicken dead metals, for

this fire is supernatural, hid in vive calx, and horse dung; yet you shall remark, that

albeit by these things you be freed of many troubles, yet you cannot attain to the end

thereby, and therefore they must not be sought amongst horse dung. For it is folly to

handle such [?], which easily deserve the decision of all. Wherefore see that you know

that most ancient stone, and you shall obtain your desire. He is a most happy man that

obtains this gift from God.

The Authors context

here follows a description of the Anonymous

philosopher dedicated to the fraternity.

A brief discourse, or proofe of the tenuity of sacred

philosophy, and chiefest medicine.

Jehovah is trinune.

All things were made of nothing

the spirit of God moved upon the waters

the chaos

the first hyle of philosophers, all things

were created of water.

The firmament, minerals, vegetables, animals.

The macrocosme is

from the centre and quintessence

the microcosme is

the most perfect creature of all created things

man is the image of the most high God

the immortall soule is the invisible celestiall fire

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rom the fall: beholds the Messias

who is the light of grace and nature

he is the first matter of a perfect body

the matrix of the mid world

the balsome and mumy

and the incomparable magical magnes

in the microcosme.

The philosophers water, from which are all things,

in which are all things, which governeth all things

wherin a mistkae is, and wherin that mistake is

corrected.

A sound mind in a wholsome body

pryaers without weariness

patience and delay

the matter, the vessel, the furnace, the fire, the

coction is but one thing only

one thing alone and therin only one, the beginning

the middle and the end.

It doth admit no forain (?) thing, and without it, it is perfected

behold it is in mercury, which the philosophers seek.

Fontina diaphanous

is the two fold mercury

the rotation of the sphear of all the planets

and the black ens (?) in a moment fuming from the lucent

death and life

regeneration and renovation

the beginning of fixation, the midle and end

the summe and foundation of all secret magick

the quintessence, of macrocosmo and microcosme,

or philosophical mercury

of the celestiall invisible fire of the living salt

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of metalls and as much as is sufficient

let it be done by the magi-philosophical art,

by circulation, solution, coagulation and fixation

the highest medicine

wherin is the greates wisdome, the perfect

health, and wealth more then sufficient.

All things proceed from one, and all are for one,

festimation and ostentation tend to the pit.

There is enough spoken

of the simple and plaine manner, all malice

beeing rejected: Pathmos is an obstacle.

The will of God be done,

to God alone be glory.

At last both name and age must pass through fire – Paulus

The end.

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Finis.