The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

35The philosophical work requires more labour and time than expenditure, for someone who has the appropriate matter has only small expenses left to meet. Those who seek a large supply of money beforehand and make expense the chief difficulty of the work therefore trust more in other people's wealth than in their own art. Let the overcredulous beginner beware of these robbers. While promising mountains of gold, they lie in wait for gold: they demand the sun to walk before them, because they themselves walk in darkness.