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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 Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 18r · Scan 55

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The Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 18r · Scan 55

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French

Ms. 18r

lorsque l’esprit monte vers la partie supérieure du vaisseau. Si un serpent en dévore un autre, c’est un monstre dans la nature, parce qu’il est cruel contre son espèce ; c’est pourquoi le serpent du soufre vitriolique est étranglé, c’est-à-dire mortifié par le mercuriel ; il devient un dragon et un monstre d’une énorme grandeur, tel qu’on le voit attaché à la croix ou que ceux qui errent çà et là sur la montagne que nous avons dépeinte.

On appelle serpent du nom Rebis, ceux dont l’un indique l’esprit solaire et l’autre l’esprit mercuriel ou, pour mieux dire, c’est l’esprit mercuriel engrossé de l’esprit solaire et spiritualisé en lui et résolu dans sa résolution ; c’est pourquoi on les dépeint tous avec des ailes excepté deux petits, afin d’indiquer les corps devenus esprits et prêts à être sublimés jusqu’à ce qu’ils attendent le temps d’être fixés dans leur domination ; ce qu’on démontrera dans le troisième septenaire des feuillets, où est représentée une solitude stérile et montagneuse, ravagée par une infinité de serpents qui sortent de quatre fleuves, qui développe le temps de la

Ms. 18r

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Flower on the Mountain and Solution

Ms. 18r

when the spirit rises toward the upper part of the vessel. If one serpent devours another, it is a monster in nature because it is cruel toward its own kind. Thus the serpent of vitriolic sulfur is strangled—that is, mortified—by the mercurial serpent; it becomes a dragon and a monster of enormous size, such as the one seen fastened to the cross, or those wandering here and there upon the mountain we have depicted.

The serpents are called by the name Rebis: one indicates the solar spirit and the other the mercurial spirit. Or, to speak more precisely, it is the mercurial spirit impregnated with the solar spirit, spiritualized in it and dissolved in its dissolution. Thus they are all depicted with wings except for two small ones, to indicate bodies that have become spirits and are ready to be sublimed, awaiting the time when they will be fixed in their dominion. This will be demonstrated in the third group of seven leaves, where a barren and mountainous wilderness is represented, ravaged by innumerable serpents issuing from four rivers, which discloses the time of

Ms. 18r

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.