The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

59Place the eagle and lion, each most thoroughly purified, in their transparent enclosure and join them, with its entrance tightly shut and guarded so that their breath cannot escape or foreign air enter. In their encounter the eagle will tear apart and devour the lion. Then, seized by a long sleep and made dropsical with a swollen stomach, it will pass by a wonderful metamorphosis into the blackest crow. Gradually unfolding its feathers, the crow will begin to fly and in its flight shake water from the clouds, until, repeatedly drenched, it sheds its feathers of its own accord, falls down again, and changes into the whitest swan. Let those who do not know the causes of things marvel in astonishment, considering that the world is nothing other than a continual metamorphosis. Let them marvel that the perfectly digested seeds of things end in the highest whiteness. Let the philosopher imitate nature in his work.