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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Abraham the Jew

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume ISpirits of Orpiment · Manuscript 63v · Scan 154

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English Page · Branch 147 of 351

Spirits of Orpiment · Manuscript 63v · Scan 154

French

Ms. 63v

Hercule empoisonna les flèches, qui ne doit sa naissance qu’aux démons qui l’ont fabriqué dans [mot grec incertain : Ερεβο…] c’est-à-dire dans les ateliers de l’enfer, et l’ont vomi pour détruire entièrement la nature.

Après eux viennent les esprits de Vénus ou de cuivre ou des marcassites qui participent du cuivre qui sont contraires aux aspects, conjonctions et révolutions fortunées de Vénus dans le ciel et aux bons esprits du cuivre semblables aux furies infernales et à leurs compagnons ou sœurs amies de la mort, ils tendent des pièges à la vie de toutes choses, et machinent la mort de toutes les créatures comme Tisiphone qui ronge son cœur, qui a les cheveux épars et pleins de serpents et que l’envie fait sécher sur pied. Si nous comparons ces noires et infernales furies aux esprits verts ou à ceux de quelque autre marcassite vitriolique, je ne sais lesquels sont les plus pernicieux. Elles sont teintes d’un jaune qui tire sur la couleur verdâtre des serpents, elles portent dans leurs dents un venin qui est très pernicieux, et dans toutes les parties de leur corps, elles cachent l’aiguillon de la mort, qui a tant de force que comme l’aigle qui

Ms. 63v

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: Spirits of Orpiment

Ms. 63v

Hercules poisoned his arrows. It owes its birth only to demons, who fashioned it in [uncertain Greek word beginning Erebo…]—that is, in the workshops of hell—and vomited it forth to destroy nature entirely.

After them come the spirits of Venus or copper, or of marcasites partaking of copper. They are opposed to the fortunate aspects, conjunctions, and revolutions of Venus in heaven and to the good spirits of copper. Resembling the infernal Furies and their companions or sisters, friends of death, they lay traps for the life of all things and contrive the death of all creatures, like Tisiphone, who gnaws her heart, whose hair is disheveled and filled with serpents, and whom envy makes wither where she stands. If we compare these black and infernal Furies with the green spirits or those of some other vitriolic marcasite, I do not know which are more pernicious. They are tinged with a yellow shading toward the greenish color of serpents; their teeth carry a most pernicious venom, and in every part of their bodies they conceal death’s sting, which has such power that, like the eagle which

Ms. 63v

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.