From the book
The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy
Attributed to Jean d’Espagnet · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordsNourishment replenishes and becomes part of the developing body. Ferment communicates a determinate perfection to what is joined with it.
- In the bookMilk, food, drink and nursing explain growth and restoration; ferment has a particular role in the completed elixir, supplying tincture and fixation (Canon 125).
- In this editionReceived nourishment and its assimilation are distinct; “ferments or unguents” is a local paired expression.
- A place to readCanons 87–90 shows how receiving nourishment differs from digesting it; Canons 124–127 distinguishes the proper ferments.
Meaning
fermentum in Canon 51 is the ferment already present in mercury in a measure sufficient for itself. fermenta sive unguenta in Canon 62 means “ferments or unguents,” the last material intermediates produced in the work of the elixir. lac roridum in Canon 70 is “dewy milk,” given to the newly born earth.
cibus & potus in Canon 89 is “food and drink,” supplied by turns. nutrimentum susceptum in Canon 90 means “the nourishment received”; its conversion into homogeneous bodily parts explains digestion's role. nutrix in Canon 82 is “nurse,” said of earth in the ascent-and-descent imagery.
Use in the book
The language of nourishment is not confined to a single substance. The moon nurtures the received seed; dewy milk strengthens the renewed stone; earth nurses the ascending and descending work. These images share a relation: a recipient is to develop by receiving something suitable. They do not provide a universal substitution rule in which every milk, drink or nurse must name the same material under all conditions.
Canon 51 places a grain and ferment within mercury before the later composition of elixir. Mercury possesses enough for itself but must acquire enough for others. This distinction connects nourishment with excess power that can be communicated. The text's goal is not merely the survival of an isolated body; it is a body capable of imparting perfection beyond itself. The possibility remains a claim of the historical theory.
The third digestion gives newly born earth dewy milk and the spiritual powers of quintessence (Canon 70). Its phrasing distinguishes recipient, gift and mediator. The soul is bound to the body through spirit, not simply renamed as the milk. Nourishment belongs to a sequence already framed as generation: the earth can be fed because the preceding operations have made it newly born. Feeding is not a substitute for that birth.
The fourth digestion turns earth into an excellent ferment (Canon 71). Its effectiveness is explained by an earlier transition into the heavenly nature of quintessence. The temporal “already” is consequential: the author grounds its present capacity in a perfected prior condition. The claims about a universal medicine are the asserted result of this theoretical passage, not evidence that any ordinary earth acquires medical efficacy through being called ferment.
Restoration and digestion distinguish receiving from assimilating. Restoration gives drink to a panting, weakened body and softens earth for shaping (Canon 87). Its distribution must be measured, since an excess could extinguish the implanted fire. Food and drink are supplied by turns to improve digestion and achieve a fitting relation of dry and wet (Canon 89). Digestion then converts the received nourishment into parts like the body (Canon 90). The same gift can thus be helpful only if its recipient is able to assimilate it under the right conditions.
Ferment's final role is more specific than nourishment in general. The elixir receives tincture and fixation from ferment, penetration from sulphur, and fusibility from quicksilver (Canon 125). The perfect metals supply the proper ferments, and the author warns against interchanging or mixing them (Canons 126–127). In this context, ferment carries a determinate quality and enduring form. It is not simply any added liquid or any substance that causes a visible change.
The vocabulary consequently joins two levels without collapsing them. Feeding describes how a body is sustained, restored and transformed; ferment describes a prepared principle's communicating action and its place in the final composition. In the completed work the two relations converge: the matter must have received and assimilated what makes it able to give. That sequence links the bodily images to the repeated contrast between a power sufficient for itself and one capable of acting upon others.
Places to read
- Canon 22Latin(1623, p. 21) — The moon receives and nurtures seed.
- Canon 51Latin(1623, p. 38) — Mercury's own grain and ferment, sufficient for itself but not yet for others.
- Canons 62–63Latin(1623, pp. 44–47) — Ferments as final intermediates; the stone nourished and strengthened.
- Canons 70–71Latin(1623, pp. 52–53) — Dewy milk, newly born earth and its eventual transformation into ferment.
- Canon 82Latin(1623, p. 59) — Earth as nurse.
- Canons 87–90Latin(1623, pp. 63–65) — Drink, measured replenishment, alternate food and drink, and assimilation.
- Canons 124–127Latin(1623, pp. 87–89) — Ferment's distinct contribution and the proper ferments of the two elixirs.
Translation in this edition
“Ferments or unguents” translates the complete paired phrase fermenta sive unguenta at Canon 62. It is not warrant for glossing every occurrence of ferment as ointment. Similarly, “the nourishment received” at Canon 90 includes the participle susceptum, which marks what digestion acts upon. The received gift and the assimilating operation are grammatically distinct.
Lemma mini-records. fermentum (Canon 51), mercury's own ferment; fermenta sive unguenta (Canon 62), final ferments or unguents; lac roridum (Canon 70), dewy milk; cibus & potus (Canon 89), food and drink; nutrimentum susceptum (Canon 90), received nourishment; nutrix (Canon 82), nursing earth; susceptum (Canon 90), received, qualifying nourishment.
food and drink — cibus & potus
Attested form. cibus & potus.
Meaning. Food and drink, supplied by turns to improve digestion and the balance of wet and dry. Their alternation explains nourishing governance rather than a universal identity of all feeding images.
Read. Canon 89.
ferment — fermentum
Attested form. fermentum.
Meaning. The ferment already present in mercury, sufficient for itself but to be increased so that it suffices for others. This local occurrence precedes the later choice of elixir ferments.
Read. Canon 51.
ferments or unguents — fermentum sive unguentum
Attested form. fermenta sive unguenta.
Meaning. Ferments or unguents, the final material intermediates successively produced in the work of the elixir. The paired names occur locally and do not make every ferment an ordinary ointment.
Read. Canon 62.
dewy milk — lac roridum
Attested form. lac roridum.
Meaning. Dewy milk, the nourishment given to newly born earth in the third digestion. It accompanies spiritual powers and must be distinguished from spirit’s mediating role in binding soul to body.
Read. Canon 70.
received nourishment — nutrimentum susceptum
Attested form. nutrimentum susceptum.
Meaning. Nourishment received, the object which digestion cooks and converts into homogeneous bodily parts. Reception is distinguished from subsequent assimilation.
Read. Canon 90.
its nurse — nutrix
Attested form. nutrix.
Meaning. Nurse, said of earth in the image of the stone’s ascent and descent. Earth sustains the work as it receives powers from above and below.
Read. Canon 82.
received — suscipere
Attested form. susceptum.
Meaning. Received, the participle qualifying nourishment. It marks what the body has taken in as the material on which digestion subsequently acts.
Read. Canon 90.