Noodle473
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,046
Theoria philosophiae hermeticae https://wellcomecollection.org/works/c87kw9k7/items?canvas=43
Theatrum Chemicum - https://books.google.com/books?id=3...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Zosimos
The first vision occurs at the beginning - Zosimos introduces his treatise with some general remarks on the processes of nature and, in particular, on the “composition of the waters” (Thesis udaton) and various other operations, and closes with the words: “and upon this simple system of many colours is based the manifold and infinitely varied investigation of all things.”
"And as I spoke thus I fell asleep, and I saw a sacrificer standing before me, high upon an altar in the shape of a bowl. There were fifteen steps leading up to the altar. The priest stood there, and I heard a voice from above saying “I have performed the act of descending the fifteen steps into the darkness, and the ascending of the steps into the light. And he who renews me is the sacrificer, by casting away the grossness of the body; and by compelling necessity I am sanctified as a priest and now stand in perfection as a spirit.” I inquired of him who he was and he answered me in a fine voice, saying “I am Ion, priest of the inner sanctuaries, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment. For there came one in haste at early morning, who overpowered me, and pierced me through with the sword, and dismembered me in accordance with the rule of harmony. And he drew off the skin of my head with the sword, which he wielded with strength, and mingled the bones with the pieces of flesh, and caused them to be burned upon the fire of the arttill I perceived by the transformation of the body that I had become spirit.” And even as he spoke thus, and I held him by force to converse with me, his eyes became as blood. And he spewed forth all his own flesh. And I saw how he changed into the opposite of himself- into a mutilated anthroparion, and he tore his flesh with his own teeth, and sank into himself.
Full of fear I thought to myself “Is not this the composition of the waters?” I saw the same bowl-shaped altar, and on the upper part- boiling water, and a numberless multitude of people in it, but there was no one near the altar whom I could question. Then I went up to the altar and I perceived the anthroparion - a barber grown grey with age who said to me: “What are you looking at?” I replied that I was astonished to see the seething of the water, and the men burning and yet alive. He answered, “The sight that you see is the entrance, and the exit, and the transformation.” I asked him “What transformation?” and he answered “This is the place of the operation called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art enter here, and become spirits by escaping from the body.” Then I said “Are you a spirit?” And he answered "Yes, a spirit and a guardian of spirits.” As we spoke, while the boiling continued and the people uttered distressful cries, I saw a brazen man holding a leaden tablet in his hand. He spoke with a loud voice, looking upon the tablet, “I command all those who are undergoing the punishment to be calm, to take each of them a leaden tablet, to write with their own hand and to keep their eyes upraised in the air and their mouths open until their uvula swells.” The deed followed the word, and the master of the house said to me “You have beheld, you have stretched your neck upward and have seen what is done.” I replied that I had seen, and he continued: “This brazen man whom you see is the priest who sacrifices and is sacrificed (Sotor), and spews forth his own flesh. Power is given him over this water and over the people who are punished.”
At last I was overcome with the desire to mount the seven steps and to see the seven punishments, and, as was suitable, in a single day. So I went back in order to complete the ascent. Passing it several times, I finally came upon the path. But as I was about to ascend, I lost my way again. Greatly discouraged, and not seeing in which direction I should go, I fell asleep, and while I was sleeping, I saw an anthroparion, a barber clad in a robe of royal purple, who stood outside the place of punishments. He said “What are you doing?” and I replied “I have stopped here because I have lost my way.” And he said “Follow me.” I turned and followed him and we came near to the place of punishments. I saw my guide, this little barber, enter, and his whole body was consumed by the fire.
I stepped aside trembling with fear, then I awoke, and said to myself “What means this vision?” Again I clarified my understanding, and knew that this barber was the brazen man clad in a purple garment. And I said to my self “It is needful that he must enter the place of punishments.”
My soul desired to mount the third step, so I followed the road alone. When I was near the place of punishments I went astray, and I stopped in despair. Again I saw an old man whitened by years, who had become wholly white, with a blinding whiteness. His name was Agathodaimon. Turning himself about, the old man with white hair gazed upon me for a full hour. And I urged him “Show me the right way.” He did not come towards me, but hastened on his way. But I, running hither and thither, at length came to the altar. And when I stood at the top of the altar, I saw the white-haired old man enter the place of punishments and he was transformed by the flame into a pillar of fire. On account of the violence of the punishment, his eyes filled with blood. I spoke to him, and asked “Why are you stretched out there?” But he could barely open his mouth, and groaned “I am the leaden man, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment.” Seized with great fear, I awoke and sought within myself the reason for what I had seen. I said to myself - The lead (pain) is to be rejected, and in truth the vision refers to the composition of the liquids.
I beheld the divine and holy bowl-shaped altar, and saw a priest clothed in a white robe reaching to his feet, who was celebrating these terrible mysteries. I said: “Who is this?” And the answer came: “This is the priest of the inner sanctuaries. It is he who changes the bodies into blood, makes the eyes clairvoyant, and raises the dead." Then, falling again to earth, I fell asleep. And as I was ascending the fourth step, I saw to the east one approaching holding a sword in his hand. And another came behind him, bringing one adorned round about with signs, clad in white and comely to see, who was named the Meridian of the Sun. And as they drew near to the place of punishments, he who held the sword in his hand said “Cut off his head, immolate his body, and cut his flesh into pieces, that it may first be boiled according to the method, and then delivered to the place of punishments.” Thereupon I said "This concerns the liquids in the art of the metals.” And he who bore the sword in his hand said “You have completed the descent of the seven steps.” And the other answered, as he caused the waters to gush forth from all the moist places “The procedure is completed.”
I saw an altar which was in the shape of a bowl, and a fiery spirit stood upon the altar, and tended the fire for the seething and the boiling and the burning of the men who rose up from it. And I inquired about the people who stood there, and I said: “I see with astonishment the seething and the boiling of the water, and the men burning and yet alive” And he answered me, saying: “This boiling that you see is the place of the operation
called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art enter here, and they cast their bodies from them and become spirits. The practice of the art is explained by this procedure; for whatever casts off the grossness of the body becomes spirit.”
In short, my friend, build a temple from a single stone, like to white lead, to alabaster, to Proconnesian marble, with neither end nor beginning in its construction. Let it have within it a spring of the purest water, sparkling like the sun. Note on what side the entrance to the temple is, and take a sword in your hand, then seek the entrance, for narrow is the place where the opening is. A dragon lies at the entrance, guarding it. Lay hold upon him and immolate him. Strip him of his skin, and take his flesh and bones to separate the limbs. Laying the flesh of the limbs together with the bones at the entrance of the temple, make a step. Mount thereon and enter - you will find what you seek. The priest, the brazen man, whom you see seated in the spring and composing the substance, has changed his color and has become the silver man. If you will, you will soon perceive him as a golden man.
I said to myself “What is the cause of this vision? Is not that boiling white and yellow water the divine water?” And I found that I had well understood. “Beautiful it is to speak and beautiful to hear. Beautiful to give and beautiful to receive. Beautiful to be poor and beautiful to be rich. How does nature teach giving and receiving? The brazen man gives and the hydrolith receives. The metal gives and the plant receives. The stars give and the flowers receive. The heavens give and the earth receives. The thunder claps give forth darting fire.
All things are woven together and all things are undone again. All things are mingled together and all things combine. All things unite and all things separate. All things are moistened and all things are dried. All things flourish and all things fade in the bowl of the altar, for each thing comes to pass with method and in fixed measure and by exact weighing of the four elements.
The weaving together of all things and the undoing of all things and the whole fabric of things cannot come to pass without this method. It is a natural one, preserving due order in its inhaling and its exhaling. It brings increase and it brings decrease. Through the harmonies of separating and combining, all things bring forth nature. For nature applied to nature transforms nature. Such is the order of natural law throughout the whole cosmos, and thus all things hang together.” This is the key which shall open the flower of art, wisdom, reason and understanding.
Theatrum Chemicum - https://books.google.com/books?id=3...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Zosimos
The first vision occurs at the beginning - Zosimos introduces his treatise with some general remarks on the processes of nature and, in particular, on the “composition of the waters” (Thesis udaton) and various other operations, and closes with the words: “and upon this simple system of many colours is based the manifold and infinitely varied investigation of all things.”
"And as I spoke thus I fell asleep, and I saw a sacrificer standing before me, high upon an altar in the shape of a bowl. There were fifteen steps leading up to the altar. The priest stood there, and I heard a voice from above saying “I have performed the act of descending the fifteen steps into the darkness, and the ascending of the steps into the light. And he who renews me is the sacrificer, by casting away the grossness of the body; and by compelling necessity I am sanctified as a priest and now stand in perfection as a spirit.” I inquired of him who he was and he answered me in a fine voice, saying “I am Ion, priest of the inner sanctuaries, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment. For there came one in haste at early morning, who overpowered me, and pierced me through with the sword, and dismembered me in accordance with the rule of harmony. And he drew off the skin of my head with the sword, which he wielded with strength, and mingled the bones with the pieces of flesh, and caused them to be burned upon the fire of the arttill I perceived by the transformation of the body that I had become spirit.” And even as he spoke thus, and I held him by force to converse with me, his eyes became as blood. And he spewed forth all his own flesh. And I saw how he changed into the opposite of himself- into a mutilated anthroparion, and he tore his flesh with his own teeth, and sank into himself.
Full of fear I thought to myself “Is not this the composition of the waters?” I saw the same bowl-shaped altar, and on the upper part- boiling water, and a numberless multitude of people in it, but there was no one near the altar whom I could question. Then I went up to the altar and I perceived the anthroparion - a barber grown grey with age who said to me: “What are you looking at?” I replied that I was astonished to see the seething of the water, and the men burning and yet alive. He answered, “The sight that you see is the entrance, and the exit, and the transformation.” I asked him “What transformation?” and he answered “This is the place of the operation called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art enter here, and become spirits by escaping from the body.” Then I said “Are you a spirit?” And he answered "Yes, a spirit and a guardian of spirits.” As we spoke, while the boiling continued and the people uttered distressful cries, I saw a brazen man holding a leaden tablet in his hand. He spoke with a loud voice, looking upon the tablet, “I command all those who are undergoing the punishment to be calm, to take each of them a leaden tablet, to write with their own hand and to keep their eyes upraised in the air and their mouths open until their uvula swells.” The deed followed the word, and the master of the house said to me “You have beheld, you have stretched your neck upward and have seen what is done.” I replied that I had seen, and he continued: “This brazen man whom you see is the priest who sacrifices and is sacrificed (Sotor), and spews forth his own flesh. Power is given him over this water and over the people who are punished.”
At last I was overcome with the desire to mount the seven steps and to see the seven punishments, and, as was suitable, in a single day. So I went back in order to complete the ascent. Passing it several times, I finally came upon the path. But as I was about to ascend, I lost my way again. Greatly discouraged, and not seeing in which direction I should go, I fell asleep, and while I was sleeping, I saw an anthroparion, a barber clad in a robe of royal purple, who stood outside the place of punishments. He said “What are you doing?” and I replied “I have stopped here because I have lost my way.” And he said “Follow me.” I turned and followed him and we came near to the place of punishments. I saw my guide, this little barber, enter, and his whole body was consumed by the fire.
I stepped aside trembling with fear, then I awoke, and said to myself “What means this vision?” Again I clarified my understanding, and knew that this barber was the brazen man clad in a purple garment. And I said to my self “It is needful that he must enter the place of punishments.”
My soul desired to mount the third step, so I followed the road alone. When I was near the place of punishments I went astray, and I stopped in despair. Again I saw an old man whitened by years, who had become wholly white, with a blinding whiteness. His name was Agathodaimon. Turning himself about, the old man with white hair gazed upon me for a full hour. And I urged him “Show me the right way.” He did not come towards me, but hastened on his way. But I, running hither and thither, at length came to the altar. And when I stood at the top of the altar, I saw the white-haired old man enter the place of punishments and he was transformed by the flame into a pillar of fire. On account of the violence of the punishment, his eyes filled with blood. I spoke to him, and asked “Why are you stretched out there?” But he could barely open his mouth, and groaned “I am the leaden man, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment.” Seized with great fear, I awoke and sought within myself the reason for what I had seen. I said to myself - The lead (pain) is to be rejected, and in truth the vision refers to the composition of the liquids.
I beheld the divine and holy bowl-shaped altar, and saw a priest clothed in a white robe reaching to his feet, who was celebrating these terrible mysteries. I said: “Who is this?” And the answer came: “This is the priest of the inner sanctuaries. It is he who changes the bodies into blood, makes the eyes clairvoyant, and raises the dead." Then, falling again to earth, I fell asleep. And as I was ascending the fourth step, I saw to the east one approaching holding a sword in his hand. And another came behind him, bringing one adorned round about with signs, clad in white and comely to see, who was named the Meridian of the Sun. And as they drew near to the place of punishments, he who held the sword in his hand said “Cut off his head, immolate his body, and cut his flesh into pieces, that it may first be boiled according to the method, and then delivered to the place of punishments.” Thereupon I said "This concerns the liquids in the art of the metals.” And he who bore the sword in his hand said “You have completed the descent of the seven steps.” And the other answered, as he caused the waters to gush forth from all the moist places “The procedure is completed.”
I saw an altar which was in the shape of a bowl, and a fiery spirit stood upon the altar, and tended the fire for the seething and the boiling and the burning of the men who rose up from it. And I inquired about the people who stood there, and I said: “I see with astonishment the seething and the boiling of the water, and the men burning and yet alive” And he answered me, saying: “This boiling that you see is the place of the operation
called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art enter here, and they cast their bodies from them and become spirits. The practice of the art is explained by this procedure; for whatever casts off the grossness of the body becomes spirit.”
In short, my friend, build a temple from a single stone, like to white lead, to alabaster, to Proconnesian marble, with neither end nor beginning in its construction. Let it have within it a spring of the purest water, sparkling like the sun. Note on what side the entrance to the temple is, and take a sword in your hand, then seek the entrance, for narrow is the place where the opening is. A dragon lies at the entrance, guarding it. Lay hold upon him and immolate him. Strip him of his skin, and take his flesh and bones to separate the limbs. Laying the flesh of the limbs together with the bones at the entrance of the temple, make a step. Mount thereon and enter - you will find what you seek. The priest, the brazen man, whom you see seated in the spring and composing the substance, has changed his color and has become the silver man. If you will, you will soon perceive him as a golden man.
I said to myself “What is the cause of this vision? Is not that boiling white and yellow water the divine water?” And I found that I had well understood. “Beautiful it is to speak and beautiful to hear. Beautiful to give and beautiful to receive. Beautiful to be poor and beautiful to be rich. How does nature teach giving and receiving? The brazen man gives and the hydrolith receives. The metal gives and the plant receives. The stars give and the flowers receive. The heavens give and the earth receives. The thunder claps give forth darting fire.
All things are woven together and all things are undone again. All things are mingled together and all things combine. All things unite and all things separate. All things are moistened and all things are dried. All things flourish and all things fade in the bowl of the altar, for each thing comes to pass with method and in fixed measure and by exact weighing of the four elements.
The weaving together of all things and the undoing of all things and the whole fabric of things cannot come to pass without this method. It is a natural one, preserving due order in its inhaling and its exhaling. It brings increase and it brings decrease. Through the harmonies of separating and combining, all things bring forth nature. For nature applied to nature transforms nature. Such is the order of natural law throughout the whole cosmos, and thus all things hang together.” This is the key which shall open the flower of art, wisdom, reason and understanding.
