From this one is now to understand that one should take Mercury, the highly honoured and esteemed tree, which has the Sun and Moon together within itself, unseparated. Then one may transplant it into another soil nearer to the Sun, to obtain wonderful benefit; sufficient dew is available for this. For where it was planted before, wind and cold had beaten it so badly that little fruit could be hoped for. It remained there a long time and bore only small fruits. The philosophers have a garden in which the Sun is always present without ceasing, early and late, day and night, together with a lovely dew that thoroughly sprinkles it. The earth bears trees and fruits planted there, which receive their proper nourishment from pleasant pasture. This takes place from day to day, and they grow strong and vigorous there without withering, at least in about one year, as they would otherwise not have done in a thousand years, so to speak, in the place where they stood before and the cold struck them. One must take them and keep them constantly in the furnace over the fire, day and night. But it should not be a wood or charcoal fire, rather a clear, bright fire like the Sun, never too hot or burning, but always evenly warm. For the vapour or mist is the dew and seed of all metals, which must not be altered. You see in growing fruits that when they have too much heat without a little dew, they remain dry and die on the shoots or never attain any perfection. But when they are nourished on the tree by warmth and moderate moisture, they become beautiful and flourishing. For warmth and moisture nourish all things on earth: animals, plants and minerals. A wood or charcoal fire is not good for them. These are violent fires that do not nourish like the fire coming from the Sun, whose warmth preserves all bodily things because it is natural.

For this reason the true philosophers have wished to choose no fire for them except the natural fire, which they follow. This does not mean that the philosopher makes what Nature makes, for Nature has created all things—plants, minerals and animals—each in its own degree in which it rules. Nor do I mean that human beings make natural things through their art. But when Nature has worked such things out, a person can assist them by art and make them more perfect than Nature has done. To instruct us all, the ancient philosophers worked in this way alone: naturally, with the Moon and the true mother, Mercury. From these they made the philosophers’ Mercury, which is far stronger in its operation than natural Mercury. The latter is good only for ordinary perfect and imperfect metals, cold or warmed; philosophical Mercury also serves for the more than perfect and imperfect metals, swiftly perfecting and restoring them all without any diminution, addition or alteration. It leaves them as Nature made them, and yet omits nothing. However, I do not mean that the philosophers put all three together to make and perfect their Mercury, as some foolish people and unlearned alchemists do. They take common gold, silver and Mercury and handle them so badly that they pass away in smoke, supposing that they are making the philosophers’ Mercury in this way. But they do not arrive at it, although it is the Stone’s first matter and true ore. If they wish to reach it and find something good, they must go to the mountain of the seven, where there is no level ground, and look down from above upon the sixth, which they will see from afar. On that high mountain they will recognise the triumphant royal herb, which some philosophers call mineral and others vegetable, and which is called Saturnian. But one must leave the bones and take the broth that comes from them, entirely pure and clean; from this the greater part of the work can be made. This is the true subtle philosophers’ Mercury which you should take.

First it will make the work white and afterwards red, if you understand my words correctly. For both are no more than one practice: the Sun and Moon are made and prepared by the same path. From this come white and red in the practice, which is so simple and easy that a woman can carry it out without hindrance beside the distaff or while spinning. It is like setting eggs under a hen in winter to hatch them without washing them. For one does not wash eggs when one wishes to set them for hatching; one puts them under the hen just as they are, doing nothing more than turning them daily and turning them over beneath the brooding hen, to obtain the young chicks sooner. With this I have sufficiently explained everything. But to carry the example through: first you should not wash your Mercury. Rather, take it and set it with its like, which is the fire, in the ashes, which are the straw, in a single glass, which is the nest, without anything else, in a suitable furnace, which is the house. From there a young chick will emerge which will heal you of every illness through its blood, satisfy you with its flesh for food, clothe you with its feathers and protect you from the cold. I therefore ask the highest Creator to grant all good-hearted alchemists the grace to find this chick, so that they may sustain and nourish themselves from it. For the little I have explained here I received from above, from God the Father, who gave it to me out of love according to his goodness. For this reason I have made this small treatise for you, so that you may have greater desire to seek and may find the right way. I have gathered the treatise into a summary so that, in accordance with the sayings of the philosophers, which you will henceforth understand more fully, you may grasp the work better.