Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone · Manuscript 84v · Scan 198
French
Ms. 84vcertaine imitation entonnent et expriment toute la vérité qu’ils nous découvrent par le moyen du feu, nous découvrant tout ce qui est caché lorsque la théorie nous ouvre le chemin et lorsque la raison et le jugement surviennent, nous voyons vivement tout ce qui est au-dessus de la nature et caché même jusque dans la [ruelle ?] de la même manière que les objets présentés devant un miroir renvoient fidèlement à nos yeux leurs images et leurs espèces. Après donc avoir dissipé les ombres qui obscurcissent la vérité dans cette table, qui empêche qu’elle ne se présente devant nous ? La fable nous représente la pucelle Hésione prête à être dévorée par un monstre marin que Persée délivre après avoir tué ce dragon. Ici nous voyons les premiers principes de la nature, non pas crus et sans préparation comme dans les premières tables, mais travaillés selon l’art industrieusement et formés en Mercure ou soufre blanc de nature. Par Mercure nous entendons cet ancien et horrible dragon à sept têtes qui sort non pas du sein de la mer, mais de la flamme sans être blessé, car les anciens prétendent
The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone
Ms. 84vcertain imitation, proclaim and express all the truth they disclose to us through fire, revealing everything hidden. When theory opens the way, and reason and judgment intervene, we see vividly everything above nature and concealed even within the [inner chamber?], just as objects placed before a mirror faithfully return their images and appearances to our eyes. Once we have dispelled the shadows obscuring the truth in this table, what prevents it from presenting itself before us? The fable represents the maiden Hesione ready to be devoured by a sea monster, whom Perseus delivers after killing the dragon. Here we see nature’s first principles, no longer raw and unprepared as in the first tables, but skillfully worked according to art and formed into Mercury, or nature’s white sulfur. By Mercury we understand that ancient, horrible, seven-headed dragon emerging unharmed from flame rather than from the sea’s bosom; for the ancients maintain
Socrates
Reading The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I · The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone · Manuscript 84v · Scan 198
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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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