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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 IThe Sun Moon and Mercury · Manuscript 102r · Scan 237

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French Page · Branch 230 of 351

The Sun Moon and Mercury · Manuscript 102r · Scan 237

French

Ms. 102r

et notre soufre sous une autre espèce que sous celle de l'or et de la lune, les chimistes ont cru devoir les marier et leur faire des noces célestes et royales et avec raison, s'ils avaient compris ces choses comme il faut, près que aucun d'eux n'a connu que chaque métal contenait les deux sexes, et était de nature hermaphrodite, de sorte que le soleil dans l'obscurité fait les fonctions de la femme, et celle du mâle en plein jour, et que, au contraire, la lune, en cachette agit comme le principe agent, et de même que le principe patient en plein jour. Que fait enfin Mercure qu'on a regardé comme de toute nature doutente et amphibie? de ce grand nombre de conjonctions de semences différentes, qu'en provient-il sinon quelque monstrueux et illégitime mariage contraire aux lois de la nature, car la couche d'un mariage légitime n'admet pas de troisième c'est pourquoi celui qui doit célébrer ces noces si royales, a besoin surtout de reconnaître leurs natures et de séparer les natures des natures même et enfin d'avoir entre les mains le sperme aqueux de nos

Ms. 102r

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Sun Moon and Mercury

Ms. 102r

and our sulfur in a guise other than gold and the moon, chemists thought they should marry them and celebrate celestial, royal weddings for them. They would have been right had they understood these things properly. Almost none recognized that each metal contained both sexes and was hermaphroditic in nature: in darkness the sun performs the female's functions, and in broad daylight the male's; conversely the moon acts secretly as the active principle and in broad daylight as the passive principle. Finally, what does Mercury do, regarded as doubtful and amphibious in every nature? From this great number of conjunctions of different seeds, what arises except some monstrous and illegitimate marriage contrary to nature's laws? The bed of a legitimate marriage admits no third party. Whoever is to celebrate these royal weddings must therefore above all recognize their natures, separate natures from the natures themselves, and finally have in his hands the watery sperm of our

Ms. 102r

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.