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As if she had watch'd all the night,
And underneath her hand was spread
The white supporter of her head.
But at my second, studied view
I could perceive a silent dew
Steal down her cheeks, lest it should stain
Those cheeks where only smiles should reign.
The tears stream'd down for haste and all
In chains of liquid pearl did fall.
Fair sorrows - and more dear than joys,
Which are but empty airs and noise -
Your drops present a richer prize,
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Israel Regardie - The Philosophers Stone
For they are something like her eyes.
Pretty white fool, why hast thou been
Sullied with tears and. not with sin?
'Tis true thy tears, like polished skies,
Are the bright rosials of thy eyes;
But such strange fates do them attend
As if thy woes would never end.
From drops to sighs they turn and then
Those sighs return to drops again
But whites the silver torrent seeks
Those flowers that watch it in thy cheeks
The white and red Hyanthe wears
Turn to rose-water all her tears.
Have you beheld a flame that springs
From incense when sweet curled rings
Of smoke attend her last weak fires,
And she all in perfumes expires?
So did Hyanthe. Here - said she -
Let not this vial part from thee.
It holds my heart, though now 'tis spill'd
And into waters all distill'd.
'Tis constant still. Trust not false smiles:
Who smiles and weeps not she beguiles.
Nay, trust not tears: false are the few;
Those tears are many that are true.
Trust me and take the better choice:
Who hath my tears can want no joys.
I know some sophisters of the Heptarchy - I mean those whose learning is all noise, in which sense
even pyannets and paraquitoes are philosophical - will conclude this all bait and poetry; that we are
pleasing, not positive, and cheat even the reader's discretion. To prevent such impotent calumnies, and
to spend a little more of our secret light upon the well-disposed student, I shall in this place produce the
testimonies of some able philosophers concerning the First Matter itself, as it is naturally found before
any alteration by art. And here verily the reader may discover the mark. It is most easily done, if he will
but eve the flights of my verse or follow the more grave pace of their prose. The first I shall cite is
Arnoldus de Nova, an absolute perfect master of the Art. He describes the Philosophical Chaos in these
plain terms:
It is (saith he) a stone and no stone, spirit, soul, and body; which if thou dissolvest, it will be
dissolved; and if thou dost coagulate it, it will be coagulated; and if thou dost make it fly, it will fly;
for it is volatile or flying and clear as a tear. Afterwards it is made citrine, then saltish; but without
shoots or crystals, and no man may touch it with his tongue. Behold, I have described it truly to
thee, but I have not named it. Now I will name it; and I say that if thou sayest it is water thou dost
say the truth; and if thou sayest it is not water thou dost lie. Be not therefore deceived with
manifold descriptions and operations, for it is but one thing, to which nothing extraneous may be
added.
Thus Arnoldus, and he borrowed this from the Turba. Let us now hear his disciple Raymund Lully,
who, speaking very enviously and obscurely of seven metallic principles, describes the third - wherein
four of the seven are included - in these words. Saith he:
The third principle is a clear, compounded water, and it is the next substance in complexion to
quicksilver. It is found running and flowing upon the earth. This quicksilver is generated in every
compound out of the substance of the air, and therefore the moisture of it is extreme heavy.
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Israel Regardie - The Philosophers Stone
To these I will add Albertus Magnus, whose suffrage in this kind of learning is like the stylanx to
gold, for he had thoroughly searched it and knew very well what part of it would abide the test. In plain
English saith he
The Mercury of the wise men is a watery element cold and moist. This is their Permanent
Water, the spirit of the body, the unctuous vapour, the blessed water, the virtuous water, the water
of the wise men, the philosopher's vinegar, the mineral water, the dew of heavenly grace. the
virgin's milk, the bodily Mercury; and with other numberless names is it named in the books of the
philosophers; which names truly - though they are divers notwithstanding - always signify one and
the same thing, namely, the Mercury of the wise men. Out of this Mercury alone all the virtue of the
Art is extracted and - according to its nature - the Tincture, both red and white.
To this agrees Rachaidibi, the Persian.  The sperm or First Matter, saith he,  of the stone is
outwardly cold and moist but inwardly hot and dry. All which is confirmed by Rhodian, another
instructor, it seems, of Kanid. King of Persia. His words are these:
The sperm is white and liquid, afterwards red. This sperm is the Flying Stone, and it is aerial
and volatile, cold and moist., hot and dry.
To these subscribes the author of that excellent tract entitled The Book o the Three Words.
This (saith he) is the Book of Three Words, meaning thereby Three Principles; the Book of
the Precious Stone, which is a body aerial and volatile, cold and moist, watery and adustive; and in
it is heat and drought, coldness and moisture, one virtue inwardly, the other outwardly. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]