The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

49Some have sought their hidden philosophical earth through calcination, others through sublimation, some among glassy vessels, and others among vitriol and salt, as though among natural vessels. Others have instructed that sublimation be made from lime and glass. We, however, have learned from the prophet* that in the beginning God created heaven and earth; the earth was empty and void, darkness lay upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the waters. God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light; God saw that the light was good and divided the light from darkness, and so forth. The blessing pronounced upon Joseph by the same prophet will suffice for the wise:* “His land is of the blessing of the Lord, of the fruits of heaven and the dew, and of the deep lying beneath; of the fruits brought forth by sun and moon; of the summit of the ancient mountains; of the fruits of the everlasting hills”, and so forth. Ask God from your inmost heart, my son, to bestow on you a portion of this blessed earth.