Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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French Page · Branch 105 of 351
The Wilderness Rivers and Fixation · Manuscript 43v · Scan 114
French
Ms. 43vy font leur demeure, qui y exercent leur rage et leur fureur, de même qu’aux dragons qui habitent dans les antres froids et humides ; la raison en est évidente : le loup est le plus vorace de tous les animaux, et quelques-uns prétendent que pendant quelque temps il ne vit que de terre et de vent ; c’est pourquoi cet animal très sec, ou ce soufre, dévoré d’une faim enragée et insatiable, tout ce qui se présente devant lui, c’est-à-dire gèle et fixe par son haleine et sa puanteur autant qu’on lui donne de vif-argent ou de soufre volatil, qui sont la fumée, le vent et la terre dont il se repaît et se nourrit ; en ce temps il est si ennemi de lui et de sa race et si venimeux que les ulcères et plaies qu’il se fait s’enveniment dès qu’il y porte la langue ; de même notre soufre teint ce qu’il touche et fixe aussi par son venin le corps extérieur des métaux, et ainsi il est fort cruel puisqu’il n’épargne pas les siens propres et qu’il les dévore.
Il faut penser du lion de la même manière ; ces animaux sont les plus chauds et les plus secs de tous ; c’est pourquoi on dit qu’étant toujours en flammes de fureur et de rage, ils sont travaillés d’une fièvre continuelle
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Wilderness Rivers and Fixation
Ms. 43vmake their home there and exercise their rage and fury, as also with the dragons dwelling in cold and damp caves. The reason is evident: the wolf is the most voracious of animals, and some maintain that for a time it lives only upon earth and wind. Thus this exceedingly dry animal, or this sulfur, consumed by raging and insatiable hunger, devours everything set before it: that is, through its breath and stench it congeals and fixes as much quicksilver or volatile sulfur as it is given. These are the smoke, wind, and earth upon which it feeds and is nourished. At this stage it is so hostile to itself and its own kind, and so venomous, that the ulcers and wounds it inflicts upon itself become poisoned as soon as its tongue touches them. Likewise, our sulfur tinctures whatever it touches and also fixes the outward body of metals through its venom. It is therefore exceedingly cruel, sparing not even its own kind but devouring them.
We must think of the lion in the same manner. These animals are the hottest and driest of all; hence it is said that, always aflame with fury and rage, they are tormented by a continual fever
Socrates
Reading The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I · The Wilderness Rivers and Fixation · Manuscript 43v · Scan 114
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The first manuscript in the Manly Palmer Hall collection at the Getty Research Institute: the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, presented in French and English with 463 explanatory notes, 13 manuscript plates, 25 source details, an introduction, chapter outline, glossary, bibliography, and register of readings.
Historical Text and Translation
Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), attributed in the witness to Abraham the Jew. Getty Research Institute, Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, accession 950053, Box 1, Hogart manuscript 3; French witness catalogued circa 1800. Manly Palmer Hall is the collector, not the author.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The circa 1800 source manuscript is public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, outline, glossary, register, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. Source photographs are credited to the Getty Research Institute and Internet Archive in the supplied edition.
- Manuscript collection and Box 1 identificationGetty Research Institute: Hall collection finding aid
- Underlying manuscript photographsInternet Archive: Hall collection, Box 1
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