Spagyrics: A Practical Course in Plant Alchemy, Volume I of 2, Lessons 1-24

«Dom Pernety inspired this threefold division; he claims that should you wish success on the Alchemical Path, you shall need the three following qualities:» — el curso remite a Dom Pernety la división en filosofía, teoría y práctica, y la funda en tres cualidades exigidas al que quiera acertar en la vía.

«In the section of “Alchemical Theory” we intend to provide you with the necessary knowledge to achieve a sound judgment; its most obvious consequence will be liberated thinking which doesn’t at all imply the idea of a free thinker.» — asigna a la sección teórica la formación del juicio, y acota de inmediato el término: pensamiento liberado no quiere decir librepensador.

«The section of “Alchemical Theory” proposes two important goals. First, to provide the theoretical knowledge without which alchemical experimentation is impossible.» — el primero de los dos objetivos de la teoría es la condición de posibilidad del experimento: sin teoría no hay experimentación alquímica.

«never attempt an alchemical experiment if you don’t know the objective, the procedure and the desired result: in Alchemy, there is no random experiment, nor an experiment made out of curiosity.» — prohíbe el experimento sin objetivo, procedimiento y resultado previstos, y niega que en alquimia quepa el ensayo al azar o por curiosidad.

«As one becomes imbued with alchemical theory, the unintelligible language becomes clearer, then luminous.» — describe la lectura de los herméticos como efecto gradual de la teoría asimilada: el lenguaje ininteligible se aclara y luego se vuelve luminoso.

«Under the heading of “Practical Alchemy,” we describe the essential laboratory techniques in detail, along with the necessary accompanying precautions. The first experiments are simple and we shall gradually go on to more complex experiments so the students who do not have previous knowledge or experience in a chemical or alchemical laboratory will get a chance at developing a “skilled hand.”» — declara el plan de la sección práctica: técnicas de laboratorio con sus precauciones y una progresión de lo simple a lo complejo para quien no tenga experiencia previa.

«Obviously, in using this method, the same subjects will appear in the three different sections of the course, but they will be viewed from different angles. An advantage of these repetitions will be to make us sense, under seemingly divergent aspects at first, the unity of Knowledge and its resulting convergence.» — justifica la repetición de los mismos asuntos en las tres secciones: verlos desde ángulos distintos hace sentir la unidad del conocimiento.

«We should point out right away that some elements in the course will seem to contradict this introductory lesson.» — advierte de antemano que partes del curso parecerán contradecir esta primera lección.

«the philosophical and theoretical sections may concentrate more on the alchemical rather than the spagyric aspect, while the practical section will be devoted to the spagyric — or the vegetable aspect — for the theory is similar in all three realms.» — explica el desnivel entre secciones: filosofía y teoría tiran a lo alquímico y la práctica a lo espagírico, porque la teoría vale igual en los tres reinos.

«The adage says: “Read and reread.” Therefore, do not hesitate to read the texts again and again and become imbued with them, thereby following the example set by some chemical operations through which persevering repetition brings about an alchemical result.» — aplica al lector el adagio de leer y releer, y lo compara con las operaciones de taller donde la repetición perseverante produce el resultado.

«Another adage says one must rid matter of its superfluous terrestrial principles; therefore, we avoid literary dilution of information.» — deriva de un segundo adagio —quitar a la materia lo superfluo terrestre— la regla de estilo del curso: nada de dilución literaria.

«Nonetheless, you should know that each of our texts contains one or two previously undisclosed or little known — if known at all — principles or rules which are worth the effort of thought and deep meditation.» — sostiene que cada texto del curso guarda uno o dos principios poco o nada divulgados, y de ahí la exigencia de meditarlo.

«At this point, it is perhaps easier to describe what Alchemy is not, rather than what it is.» — declara el método de la definición que sigue: decir primero lo que la alquimia no es.

«Alchemy considers the spiritual aspect as well which is generally invisible to the sensory perception of the operator. This aspect of alchemical study brings the operator to spiritual progress, to a higher level of consciousness.» — añade a los mecanismos de la naturaleza el aspecto espiritual, invisible al operador por los sentidos, y hace de su estudio el vehículo del ascenso de consciencia.

«Spiritual advancement “makes one high” but, in order to accomplish the work, the Alchemist must remain grounded. He becomes aware of higher realities while he keeps in mind the significance of physical manifestations.» — presenta como ventaja de la vía alquímica su dualidad: el operador se eleva y a la vez queda obligado a mantenerse en tierra por el trabajo material.

«Whatever the nature of his belief, religion, and esoteric method or personal doctrine, it is important for him to start each working cycle, whether meditative or experimental, with an invocation and to close it with a prayer of thanks to God, the Cosmos, Unity, the Great Architect, the Divine or Spiritual Conception which he chooses in his heart.» — deja libre el contenido de la creencia y fija en cambio la forma del ciclo de trabajo: abrirlo con invocación y cerrarlo con acción de gracias.

«The second item which should be well understood and which shall be discussed is the goal the Alchemist sets for himself: it must concern his personal spiritual growth only.» — restringe el fin del alquimista a su propio crecimiento espiritual.

«Thinking of far away metallic transmutations in the aim to help others is not an excuse nor is it an apology to the Infinite.» — niega valor de excusa al propósito altruista de transmutar para ayudar a otros.

«We wish to warn you that the law of our country forbids individuals who do not belong to the medical profession to prescribe any product with the aim to cure or heal another individual.» — advertencia legal del curso, referida a la ley francesa: quien no sea del gremio médico no puede prescribir producto alguno para curar a otro.

«Thus, do not consider producing elixirs to cure others. To avoid temptations in this matter, we do not give the means that would permit production of the elixirs — at least in the beginning.» — de esa advertencia deriva una retención deliberada: el curso no da al principio los medios de fabricar elixires.

«There is a sacred selfish principle which requires one to personally advance first before one thinks of helping others advance.» — enuncia lo que llama un principio egoísta sagrado: avanzar uno mismo antes de pensar en hacer avanzar a otros.

«However good our intention may be, if we do not follow this principle, we risk helping others to move backwards rather than forwards.» — añade el riesgo de saltarse ese orden: con buena intención se puede hacer retroceder al otro.

«In chemistry, if you have the right ingredients and if operations are correctly performed, success will be achieved — independently of the operator.» — primera diferencia entre química y alquimia: en química el éxito no depende del operador.

«In Alchemy, even if you have the right ingredients and if operations are properly conducted, success is not necessarily achieved because it depends upon the personal state of the operator.» — el reverso de esa diferencia: en alquimia el éxito depende del estado personal de quien opera, aun con ingredientes y procedimiento correctos.

«In a very restrictive sense, Alchemy could be viewed as the parapsychology of chemistry, for the success of the operation depends upon the inner spiritual state of the operator.» — propone la fórmula de la alquimia como parapsicología de la química, con la reserva restrictiva puesta en la misma frase.

«Therefore, for a rational outset, start with the simplest operations: ATTEMPT THE MINOR WORK before you approach the major work.» — regla de orden del trabajo: empezar por lo simple e intentar la Obra Menor antes de acercarse a la Mayor.

«Chemistry doesn’t view the bodies it works with as alive. As a matter of fact, the processes are such that chemistry only deals with dead bodies which, of course, can’t evolve.» — segunda diferencia: la química trata con cuerpos muertos, que por serlo no pueden evolucionar.

«Conversely, Alchemy is a biodynamic system which uses the forces of life in its operations. A threefold work is accomplished on bodies: the effects are purification, regeneration and evolution.» — define la alquimia como sistema biodinámico que usa las fuerzas de la vida, con tres efectos sobre los cuerpos.

«The most powerful principles are found in the forces of fecundation and reproduction and from these they will be extracted in order to be used.» — sitúa los principios más potentes en las fuerzas de fecundación y reproducción, de donde han de extraerse.

«But if this operation seems possible in the vegetable realm, the extraction of the metallic semen or sperm, known only be a few adepts, is considered a Utopian venture by most.» — acota esa extracción: viable en lo vegetal, la del semen metálico la conocen pocos adeptos y la mayoría la tiene por utópica.

«The Alchemist or the skilled Artist can and must accomplish, through physical material, the manipulation of the divine, spiritual and invisible components which are, in beings and things, the genuine elements of life.» — fija la tarea del operador: manipular por medio de la materia física los componentes divinos, espirituales e invisibles que son los elementos verdaderos de la vida.

«To succeed, one must obey the laws of Nature, but the Alchemist must also, in his work, align himself with the designs of Nature.» — tercera diferencia, la del fin: obedecer las leyes de la naturaleza no basta, hay que alinearse además con sus designios.

«It is obvious, in view of the last statement, that the vegetable realm is more easily perceivable than the metallic realm or the mineral realm, and that, in the vegetable domain, an experience of appreciation of the level of psychic development and of the levels of attained consciousness doesn’t incur risk and may be an experience that bring about growth.» — deriva de ahí la ventaja del reino vegetal: más perceptible que el metálico o el mineral, y sin riesgo para medir el desarrollo psíquico alcanzado.

«I accelerate the process of Nature by never stepping out of its rules. e Tremove the obstacles which prevent Nature from acting spontaneously. e I strive to help Nature in the work of universal reintegration.» — los tres adagios con que cierra la teoría de la primera lección: acelerar sin salirse de las reglas, quitar los obstáculos y ayudar a la reintegración universal.

«200 to 300 grams (7 to 10.5 oz.) of dry lemon balm (melissa ofÏcinalis). You can buy this herb at a drug store or health food store.» — materia del primer experimento: melisa seca, comprada en droguería o tienda naturista; la grafía ofÏcinalis es del OCR, que rinde la ligadura fi como Ï.

«A mortar and a pestle or equivalent so that you can reduce the plant to powder. A manual tool is a preferable choice as electric grinders are not appropriate for this work.» — prescribe mortero manual para pulverizar la planta y descarta el molino eléctrico.

«About 300 cc of wine alcohol like cognac, armagnac, brandy or any other wine alcohol. e Any alcohol which does not come from the wine is absolutely excluded from this experiment.» — exige alcohol de vino y excluye de modo absoluto cualquier alcohol de otra procedencia.

«A ceramic dish which can resist very high temperatures. This dish is going to be used for calcinations. Borosilicate glass like Pyrex is not resistant enough to stand such heat. On the other hand, Coors porcelain may be used. The lid can be made of something like Pyrex because at its top the temperature is lower.» — detalle de taller para la calcinación: cerámica resistente, el borosilicato tipo Pyrex no aguanta, la porcelana Coors sí, y la tapa sí puede ser de Pyrex porque arriba baja la temperatura.

«A source of heat: gas heat is preferred over an electric heat because it permits better control of heat intensity. If one does not have a Bunsen burner a camping gas stove is adequate. Also a lab hot plate may be used if no gas is available.» — prefiere el gas a la electricidad por el control de la intensidad, y admite hornillo de camping o placa de laboratorio como sustitutos.

«When you are though with this experiment in several weeks, we would like to hear about the result, but do not mail any product to the organization. We prefer to talk about it during the following lessons.» — pide el resultado por escrito y prohíbe enviar producto a la organización; la grafía though por through es del impreso.

«But note that dry seeds keep their germinating power; they contain the spark of life:» — resuelve la contradicción aparente entre exigir materia viva y mandar usar melisa seca: la semilla seca conserva su poder germinativo y con él la chispa de vida.

«you will notice that using dry plants facilitates the operations when you do not have large equipment and a specialized menstruum.» — añade la razón práctica del uso de planta seca: facilita las operaciones cuando falta equipo grande y menstruo especializado.

«theory must precede the experimental work; but, on the other hand, personal experience shows that practice, the skilled hand, cannot be secured overnight.» — matiza la primacía de la teoría con la lentitud del aprendizaje manual, que no se adquiere de un día para otro.

«We shall then tackle a synthesis of a text which the alchemist Von Bernus considers to be the Rosicrucian testament prior to the Rosicrucians withdrawal from the public eye.» — anuncia el texto que sintetizará y adjudica a Von Bernus la opinión de que es el testamento rosacruz anterior al retiro público de la orden.

«This text is extremely interesting as it complements Qabalistic writings which offer a structure of creation (from a Qabalistic point of view), whereas this document expounds its mechanism and function according to Alchemical concepts.» — reparte el trabajo entre las dos disciplinas: los escritos cabalísticos dan la estructura de la creación y este documento su mecanismo y su función en clave alquímica.

«The ”Alchemical Theory” section of the first four lessons focuses on the three Alchemical principles which are Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt.» — anuncia el asunto de las cuatro primeras lecciones: los tres principios alquímicos.

«To record in writing the experience gained by personal work is impossible.» — declara el límite del propio género: la experiencia ganada trabajando no se deja poner por escrito.

«Finally, we shall tap information from the important collection of documents of the time period of the Alchemy—chemistry separation and there we will find some data to help uncover the meaning of ancient books through the understanding of the Chymistry of that time period.» — anuncia el uso de la documentación del momento en que alquimia y química se separan, como llave para leer los libros antiguos por la química de su época.

«This choice comes from the fact that spagyrics and, at a higher level, Alchemy are self-initiated paths; the advance on these paths depends for the most part upon each one’s esoteric attainments.» — define espagiria y alquimia como vías de autoiniciación cuyo avance depende sobre todo de lo alcanzado esotéricamente por cada quien.

«Realization often requires a rather long period of time regardless of the significance of the material. On the other hand, preparation can be considerably shortened by using sophisticated equipment.» — separa dos fases con economías distintas: la realización lleva su tiempo pase lo que pase, la preparación se acorta con equipo.

«Anyway, each one must maintain a certain balance between inner development and experimental achievements.» — pone como exigencia el equilibrio entre desarrollo interior y logro experimental.

«We believe that for equilibrium in a personal path, theory and practice must confirm each other.» — funda el reparto entre teoría ligera y práctica temprana en la exigencia de que las dos se den la razón mutuamente.

«In the beginning, we cannot pretend to be an alchemist or philosopher but we must strive to attain the corresponding state of mind.» — acota lo que cabe exigir al principiante: no ser alquimista ni filósofo, sino tender al estado mental correspondiente.

«The alchemical concept says that repetitive work on matter “opens its pores”. It actually means that matter (Salt for example) becomes easily receptive to its Sulfur, but can be irrevocably contaminated by an impurity.» — traduce la fórmula de abrir los poros de la materia: la sal se vuelve receptiva a su azufre y, por lo mismo, contaminable sin remedio.

«And it also means that the psychic sensitivity of matter can be increased. If the operator has a positive radiation, matter can be improved: conversely if the radiation is negative, matter will be adversely affected, also likely if an uninitiated person comes close and sees the matter.» — extiende esa apertura a la sensibilidad psíquica de la materia, que la radiación del operador mejora o daña, y añade el riesgo de la mirada del no iniciado.

«Prior to any alchemical work, we must energize ourselves, “positivize” ourselves, all the more because our work requires that we refine, “acuer” matter.» — primer principio de conducta del taller: cargarse uno mismo antes de trabajar, porque la operación consiste en afinar la materia; acuer es el término que el curso mantiene del francés.

«Our laboratory must be closed to the uninitiated and the matter removed from his (her) view and presence. This is also why the alchemical path is a solitary one, at the most for a couple or a family.» — segundo principio: laboratorio cerrado al no iniciado, de donde deriva el carácter solitario de la vía, a lo sumo compartida en pareja o en familia.

«Our work is sometimes active, sometimes passive and our laboratory is also an oratory where the old saying ’Ora et Labora!” applies (pray and work!).» — identifica laboratorio y oratorio bajo el lema ORA ET LABORA, que cierra cada lección del volumen.

«All creation happens through duality, that is to say that the undifferentiated, original elements separate in two: a positive, active part and a passive, negative part.» — enuncia la dualidad como mecanismo de toda creación: lo original indiferenciado se parte en activo y pasivo.

«The positive part is always present and constantly tries to act on its own initiative; the negative part, because of its passive character does not act, but can represent an obstacle or prison to the active part.» — reparte los papeles: lo positivo actúa por iniciativa propia y lo negativo, que no actúa, puede hacer de obstáculo o de cárcel.

«Generally, man cannot activate the positive part. His role solely consists in freeing these positive forces which will then act by themselves.» — limita el papel del operador a liberar las fuerzas positivas, que actúan solas; no a activarlas.

«In order to understand each other it is necessary that the meaning attributed to words be constant and identical, in all cases. Yet, it is not the case in Alchemy.» — advierte que el arte incumple la condición de constancia del vocabulario que la comunicación exigiría.

«Thus, the three principles Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt have nothing in common with what is generally understood by those words.» — niega toda relación entre los tres principios y las sustancias que esos nombres designan fuera del arte.

«According to the alchemical theory, all things and all beings possess a Sulfur, a Mercury and a Salt: these are principles which concentrate spiritual energies. The Sulfur concentrates the soul’s energies, the Mercury the spirit’s energies and the Salt, the body’s energies.» — reparte los tres principios como concentradores de energías: azufre el alma, mercurio el espíritu, sal el cuerpo, en todo ser y toda cosa.

«One of the greatest spagyric and alchemical secrets is the method to separate these three principles. Note, however, that in vegetable spagyrics the separation of these three principles is not always necessary: the separation of Sulfur and Mercury on one side and Salt on the other may be enough.» — declara secreto mayor el método de separar los tres principios, y acota enseguida que en la espagiria vegetal suele bastar con separar azufre y mercurio de la sal.

«In most cases, the making of allopathic remedies follows the classical chemical method and thus spagyric Sulfur and Mercury are eliminated. The remainder is what, in spagyrics, is called Salt.» — describe el remedio alopático por lo que le falta: hecho por vía química clásica, elimina azufre y mercurio y deja lo que la espagiria llama sal.

«Therefore such remedies can act on the material aspect, the body, but in no way can they act on the person’s psyche, that is the spiritual aspect.» — deriva de ahí el alcance del remedio alopático: obra sobre el cuerpo y de ningún modo sobre la psique.

«Alchemical or spagyric elixirs, on the other hand, retain the three principles and, though his own action, the Alchemist does his best to keep them. We have a “Soul Medicine“ which contains both negative body elements and positive elements of life.» — opone a eso el elixir espagírico, que conserva los tres principios y da lo que llama una medicina del alma, con elementos corporales negativos y elementos positivos de vida.

«The spagyric method is separation, purification, and reunification. It is consistent with the etymology of the word spagiry which means to separate and to reunite.» — define el método en tres tiempos y lo ancla en la etimología del nombre del arte.

«As we have not studied the art of the ACUER (how to effect changes or penetrate further), we choose an alcohol which is ready made and as strong (acue) as possible in the vegetable realm. An alcohol made from wine will do.» — justifica el uso de alcohol de vino en los primeros experimentos: a falta del arte de reforzar el menstruo, se toma el más fuerte ya hecho del reino vegetal.

«Then, when the Salt is separated, we purify it though fire, or through water and fire. We use the purified Salt to purify in turn the Sulfur-Mercury mixture before moving on to the cohobation.» — ordena las operaciones del experimento simplificado: purificar la sal por fuego o por agua y fuego, y con ella purificar la mezcla de azufre y mercurio antes de cohobar; la grafía though por through es del impreso.

«The physical properties can be found in a botanical book under the heading of the particular plant we use in our experiment.» — remite las propiedades físicas del elixir al libro de botánica, es decir, fuera del arte.

«The problem of determining the spiritual effect can be solved after we study the Signatures of Nature. In the case of balm (also called lemon balm), the psychic part is that of understanding and tolerance.» — remite el efecto espiritual a la doctrina de las signaturas y adjudica a la melisa la parte psíquica de la comprensión y la tolerancia.

«Before starting work, we must have the safety of our laboratory in mind: set it up according to legal safety rules.» — advertencia de taller: montar el laboratorio conforme a las reglas legales de seguridad.

«Our advantage is that if we were to possess a very refined menstrum, (very acues in the the alchemical sense, that is to say penetrating and strong) we would have to maintain, in our laboratory-oratory, a certain behavior and take several precautions which we shall study later on.» — lee como ventaja la falta de un menstruo refinado, porque el fuerte impondría conducta y precauciones que aún no se han estudiado.

«On the other hand, the inconvenience is that our liquid has a weaker power of extraction. Consequently, the operations are longer.» — y como inconveniente el reverso: menor poder de extracción y operaciones más largas.

«It is best to learn good habits from the beginning: a separate and discreet work place is best.» — regla de hábito: sitio de trabajo aparte y discreto desde el principio.

«Limit the access of the laboratory to your.spouse and immediate family.» — limita el acceso al laboratorio a cónyuge y familia inmediata; el punto en medio de la frase es del OCR.

«We do not advise occult methods for they require, among other things, knowledge of planetary attributions and elements of the Signature theory.» — desaconseja de momento los métodos ocultos para cargarse, por exigir atribuciones planetarias y signaturas que el alumno todavía no tiene.

«During this operation, try concentrate on the fact that your hands radiate and positively charge the balm.» — introduce la intervención del operador dentro de una instrucción manual: concentrarse en que las manos irradian y cargan la planta.

«Avoid breathing the dust from the plant and protect your respiratory tract with a surgical mask or by placing in a vertical position a glass sheet, 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 inches) wide between the product and yourself.» — precaución respiratoria durante la pulverización: mascarilla quirúrgica o una lámina de vidrio vertical entre el producto y el operador.

«Wait for the first Thursday of the waxing moon and energize yourself before you start the second phase of this work.» — introduce la elección del momento en la primera práctica: el primer jueves de luna creciente, con el operador cargado antes de empezar.

«In Spagyrics, the operation which consists of pouring alcohol on can be considered closest to the operation of fecundation. For the balm, therefore, the most favorable time for this operation is the first Thursday of the waxing moon.» — adjudica sentido a la operación: verter el alcohol sobre la planta se lee como fecundación, y de ahí sale la elección del jueves de luna creciente.

«To be more exact, it is a maceration-circulation: therefore the flask should be more high than wide (about a 3/1 ratio) and only filled to one third of its height.» — precisa el nombre y la forma del vaso: no maceración sino maceración-circulación, matraz tres veces más alto que ancho y lleno a un tercio.

«Mix the plant which is alcohol-soaked with the part of plant which is not macerated. Set the mixture on fire and the residual alcohol starts the calcination.» — instrucción de calcinación: el alcohol residual de la planta macerada prende y arranca el proceso sobre el resto sin macerar.

«Continue the calcination until all the powder becomes grayish white.» — fija el término de la primera calcinación por el color: se sigue hasta que el polvo queda gris blanquecino.

«We now have the choice between the way of fire or the way of fire and water. For the way of fire, calcine the grayish white residue until it turns reddish-orange after it has cooled down, That takes quite a while.» — abre las dos vías de purificación de la sal y describe la del fuego por su señal: del gris blanquecino al rojo anaranjado, y con advertencia de que tarda.

«Within the human body lies hidden a certain metaphysical substance known to only a few. This essence is in no need of a remedy for, in itself, it is a remedy second to none. It has a threefold nature: metaphysical, physical and moral.» — sitúa en el cuerpo humano una sustancia metafísica que es ella misma remedio y le adjudica naturaleza triple.

«The careful reader can deduce that we must go from the metaphysical to physical only through a philosophic process.» — deriva de esa triple naturaleza el tránsito obligado: de lo metafísico a lo físico solo por proceso filosófico.

«Our contemporaries, for the most part, picture the BEING on one side, and matter on the other, as never meeting. Conversely, the Alchemists see the BEING in the world and the world in the BEING.» — opone dos maneras de ver: el contemporáneo separa el SER de la materia y el alquimista los ve el uno en el otro.

«There is in natural things a truth that cannot be seen with outer eyes (the five ordinary senses). Philosophers knew this and found that the power of this truth is such that it can perform miracles.» — afirma en las cosas naturales una verdad invisible a los cinco sentidos y capaz, según los filósofos, de obrar milagros.

«We state that such a miracle can be found while observing a rose in a garden, or in a friendship, and can be perceived with physical eyes and the heart’s eyes as well.» — da ejemplos domésticos de ese milagro —una rosa, una amistad— y exige para percibirlo los ojos físicos y los del corazón.

«The mysterious meeting of the Alchemists, the mysterious marriage of the Sun and the Moon is the conjunction of physical fact with metaphysical reality.» — lee el matrimonio del Sol y la Luna como conjunción de hecho físico y realidad metafísica.

«This unique vision is not a result which is due only to material operations such as pouring acetic acid on stibnite, nor is it the result of a figurative allusion given to a substance, one of the Sun, the other of the Moon.» — niega que esa visión se reduzca a la operación material —verter ácido acético sobre estibina— ni a la alusión figurada de dos sustancias.

«With physical facts the quality of the ingredients is paramount because of the influence upon the results, so in the mental, the quality of thought will determine a final success or failure.» — traslada al plano mental la regla del taller: como la calidad del ingrediente decide el resultado físico, la calidad del pensamiento decide el éxito.

«The word “method” is perhaps not adequate for it seems to imply a group of formulas, a range of preconceived ideas, when spontaneity is in fact the essence of the alchemical meditation.» — objeta el propio término método para la meditación alquímica, porque sugiere fórmulas y la esencia de ésta es la espontaneidad.

«Meditation, after all, is a way to go fishing into the subconscious to bring the truth forth.» — define la meditación como pesca en el subconsciente para sacar la verdad.

«The conscious mind selects the subject or the question, and, like the fisherman, throws it as bait in the water. But the bait does not look for the fish. The fish looks for the bait.» — desarrolla el símil: la mente consciente elige el asunto y lo echa de cebo, pero el cebo no busca al pez.

«This is the biggest and most common error of interpretation of all metaphysics. We are not meditating, we cannot: we are “meditated”. In other words, we must be receptive.» — invierte la voz del verbo como corrección de lo que llama el mayor error de la metafísica: no meditamos, somos meditados.

«By analogy, in the privacy of our laboratory, we must not be tempted to modify the position of our flasks, or the quantity of substances, or to think, in an alchemical jargon, about what we are really trying to achieve through our manipulations.» — traslada esa receptividad al taller: no ceder a la tentación de mover frascos, cambiar cantidades ni razonar en jerga sobre lo que se persigue.

«Only the BEING directs the work, and no one of us can tap a stream of Wisdom unless we remain receptive.» — retira al operador la dirección del trabajo y la adjudica al SER, con la receptividad como única condición de acceso.

«This why Alchemy is an art as well as a science.. Not only is it the art of directing the work, according to our understanding from the teacher’s or book’s instructions, it is also the art of heart receptivity, the art of allowing ourselves to be cleansed by the work like matter is purified during an experiment.» — funda el doble carácter de arte y ciencia en dos artes distintas: dirigir el trabajo y dejarse limpiar por él como se purifica la materia.

«The genuine Alchemist’s experiment occurs at the convergence of the two worlds.» — sitúa el experimento verdadero en el punto donde convergen los dos mundos.

«With years of intellectual, emotional and physical efforts, we can and we must reach the goal. Actually the goal will reach us. It is possible only through meditation, through the “let it be done”.» — invierte en la misma frase la dirección del esfuerzo: se alcanza la meta y a la vez la meta llega, por el hágase de la meditación.

«You won’‘t achieve the Unity you are seeking if you are not One, first of all.» — pone como condición de la Unidad buscada la unidad previa del buscador; la doble comilla es del OCR.

«He understands and uses all the levels of his being. He adds to these levels a vigilance unknown to him before, and once this is accomplished, he withdraws.» — describe la técnica del punto único: recorrer todos los niveles del ser, añadirles vigilancia y luego retirarse.

«This technique will be familiar to readers and followers of Zen, Yoga, and Taoism and several other religious disciplines.» — empareja esa técnica con el zen, el yoga y el taoísmo, y con otras disciplinas religiosas.

«But was not consciously identified with Alchemy because our Art is not well understood. Its terminology is ignored and its methods are considered obscure and complex.» — explica por qué no se la había identificado con la alquimia: el arte se entiende mal, su terminología se ignora y sus métodos pasan por oscuros.

«The word meditation is used when a man has an inner dialogue with an invisible being. This might be with the BEING if it is invoked, with an angel or with himself.» — define la meditación por el interlocutor: diálogo interior con un ser invisible, que puede ser el SER, un ángel o uno mismo.

«It is essential to be certain that a preliminary organization of the theory results in a method. One must master the theory before the practice.» — repite el orden del curso, ahora como exigencia de método: dominar la teoría antes de la práctica.

«By choosing our words, we can state that the occultist receives a profound revelation from the Highest Self, the ceremonial Magician, the Knowledge and Conversation of the Guardian Angel.» — traduce la meditación a los vocabularios vecinos: revelación del Yo Superior para el ocultista, Conocimiento y Conversación del Ángel Guardián para el mago ceremonial.

«It may seem somewhat surprising to state that the Alchemist starts his work from a confused mass both in his mind and in his physical work. From a primordial chaos, he must extract a beneficial order.» — describe el punto de partida como masa confusa en la mente y en el trabajo, de la que hay que extraer orden.

«If his thoughts are not well-ordered, then his substance cannot be properly manipulated.» — hace depender la manipulación correcta de la sustancia del orden de los pensamientos del operador.

«He must also fear attack from the skeptical occulltist, on the one hand, who will doubt his laboratory methods, and, on the other hand, by his scientific friends who will think of him as a sentimental religious person among his flasks and retorts.» — sitúa al alquimista entre dos hostilidades: el ocultista escéptico que duda de su laboratorio y el amigo científico que lo toma por devoto sentimental; la grafía occulltist es del impreso.

«Only the man and the woman who enter with a praying and meditative heart can benefit from the pursuit of this work. Throughout the centuries, no writer has been able to say that this path was easy.» — restringe el provecho del trabajo a quien entra con corazón orante y meditativo, y señala que ningún autor ha llamado fácil a esta vía.

«For those who start, afÒiction reigns with vinegar, but for those who finish, joy reigns with laughter» — máxima que el curso adjudica a Michael Maier, sobre el vinagre del comienzo y la risa del final; la grafía Ò es la ligadura fl del OCR.

«This thing we searched for such a long time cannot be acquired nor accomplished by force nor passion; it can only be acquired through humility, patience and a determined perfect love.» — conclusión de la parte filosófica: la cosa buscada no se toma por fuerza ni por pasión, sino por humildad, paciencia y amor perfecto y decidido.

«No one can save oneself without the force granted by God, and without it, no one could continue the salvation of his soul which is the goal God designed for them.» — continuación de esa conclusión, que subordina la salvación propia a una fuerza concedida por Dios.

«We mentioned that the Alchemist only deals with living bodies, that is to say, bodies in which the three principles Sulfur, Mercury and Salt are present and alive. In accordance with tradition, we shall call these bodies composites.» — define el objeto del arte: cuerpos vivos, con los tres principios presentes y vivos, a los que la tradición llama compuestos.

«For example, an Alchemist considers the metallic ore which comes out of the mine alive, but dead as soon as it is transformed into a metal through fusion because it has lost almost the totality of its Mercury during this operation.» — da el criterio de vida y muerte de un cuerpo: el mineral sale vivo de la mina y muere al fundirse, porque en la fusión pierde casi todo su mercurio.

«In the three realms, the Sulfur is soul of the composite; it ensures its animation. But this animation is only possible if live Mercury is present because it ensures the Sulfur-Salt,» — reparte las funciones: el azufre es alma del compuesto y lo anima, y esa animación solo es posible con mercurio vivo, que hace de enlace; el tramo corta antes del compuesto soul-body, que el renglón parte y que la herramienta uniría en una palabra inexistente.

«If there is no Mercury, the Sulfur is constrained to remain inactive and undergo imprisonment.» — continuación de esa frase tras el corte: sin mercurio el azufre queda inactivo y preso.

«In itself Sulfur is always pure; it is disturbed by terrestrial impurities which get caught in it.» — adjudica al azufre pureza propia y atribuye su perturbación a impurezas terrestres adheridas.

«This is why experiments that attempt to have one Mercury act on one or several principles of another realm, cannot give satisfactory results.» — deriva de esa especificidad una prohibición operativa: el mercurio de un reino no obra sobre los principios de otro.

«In addition, within each realm, the Mercury presents various. degrees of maturity and perfection. In the metallic realm, the Mercury of gold is more mature, more evolved. In the vegetable realm, it is the Mercury of wheat or grape. In the animal realm, it is the Mercury of man.» — gradúa el mercurio dentro de cada reino y nombra el más maduro de cada uno: oro, trigo o uva, y hombre.

«The role of the Mercury (of the spirit) consists in the reunion of body and soul. It ensures the alchemical marriage of these two extreme principles. An Alchemist can mature and prefect a Mercury inside its realm.» — fija la función del mercurio como matrimonio alquímico de cuerpo y alma, y concede al operador madurarlo dentro de su propio reino.

«The two elements — Sulfur and Mercury — we just mentioned are, in their alchemical aspect, unknown to classical chemistry, but it is a different matter for the Salt which we are going to study now.» — separa los tres principios por su relación con la química clásica: azufre y mercurio le son desconocidos en su aspecto alquímico, la sal no.

«The Salt of the vegetable realm and the Salt of the animal realm are known to current classical chemistry, but the Salt of the metals is unknown. The metallic Salt we are indicating, is not composed of metal with another body, it is one of the constituting elements of metal.» — acota esa excepción: la química conoce la sal vegetal y la animal, no la metálica, que no es un compuesto del metal con otro cuerpo sino uno de sus constituyentes.

«The Mercury is in essence identical in the three realms, however, each Mercury is specific to its realm.» — sostiene a la vez la identidad esencial del mercurio en los tres reinos y su especificidad en cada uno; la frase que sigue, cortada por el límite de troceo, la explica por la tasa vibratoria.

«In the the three realms, the Salt is the composite’s matrix. It determines what the composite will be, which is made up from the vivifying influence of the Sulfur through the Mercury.» — define la sal como matriz del compuesto, que decide qué será éste bajo la influencia vivificante del azufre por el mercurio; el the doble es del impreso.

«Thus, in each realm, there is one Salt for each composite; one Salt for each plant in the vegetable and one Salt for each type of animal in the animal realm.» — individualiza la sal: una por compuesto, una por planta, una por especie animal.

«In addition, if the Salt is the body’s matrix it has a cleansing role in alchemical or spagyric processes.» — añade a la sal, además de matriz, una función limpiadora dentro del proceso.

«In the vegetable realm, the Sulfur is contained in the plant’s essential oils, then the Mercury is revealed and can be extracted in the plant’s alcohol; the Salt is obtained through calcination or by leaching it out of the ashes of the plant.» — da las señas operativas de los tres principios en lo vegetal: azufre en los aceites esenciales, mercurio en el alcohol de la planta, sal por calcinación o lixiviación de las cenizas.

«In the metallic realm, the alchemical dissociation separates the metals into their three principles: the Sulfur in an oily form, the Mercury in a very volatile and acid form to which the name vinegar was given and Salt in the form of a residual calx ( ash).» — da las mismas señas en lo metálico: azufre oleoso, mercurio volátil y ácido al que se llamó vinagre, y sal como cal residual.

«Since we excluded animal Alchemy and spagyrics from our course, we shall not describe the principles of this realm.» — declara fuera del curso la alquimia animal, aunque la última lección vuelva sobre ella.

«Our Christian members can ponder the alchemical reasons for the choice of bread, wine and salt in their religious rites.» — propone a los miembros cristianos leer en clave alquímica la elección de pan, vino y sal en sus ritos.

«The second method to purify Salt uses water and fire, that is to say a leach and calcination. The ashes are introduced into a flask and we pour distilled water on them, in a quantity of at least twenty times their volume. (preferably rain water, otherwise use demineralized water).» — describe la segunda vía de purificación de la sal: lixiviación y calcinación, con agua destilada en veinte veces el volumen de las cenizas y preferencia por el agua de lluvia.

«When the distilled water leaves no visible deposit on the filter, purification is sufÏcient and we can proceed to the next phase.» — da el criterio de fin de la purificación por lavados: cuando el agua destilada ya no deja depósito visible en el filtro.

«If the Salt obtained by simple calcination reaches a yellowish, reddish or slightly orange color, it is not necessary to leach it.» — exime de la lixiviación cuando la sola calcinación ha llevado la sal al amarillo, rojo o naranja pálido.

«A circulation should then occur and you will notice alcohol drops collecting on the glass, first close to the top of the flask, then falling down into the liquid. The liquor should become discolored.» — describe la señal visible de la circulación: gotas de alcohol en el vidrio que caen al líquido, y decoloración del licor.

«At each cycle the Salt is getting charged with the impurities which are discharged by the calcination. but it is also charged with positive elements which are fixed by the circulation, and which consequently, resist fire.» — explica el doble efecto de cada ciclo sobre la sal: carga de impurezas que la calcinación descarga, y de elementos positivos que la circulación fija y que resisten el fuego.

«At each cycle the force of the elixir increases, until the Salt is saturated with positive elements. At this point the circulation does not present any further interest.» — fija el término de la circulación en la saturación de la sal, a partir de la cual repetir ya no aporta.

«Since our extraction liquid, our menstruum, is not sharpened, the discoloration won’‘t be complete. The coloration of cognac due to vegetable elements in the oak will resist the Salt.» — explica por qué la decoloración quedará incompleta con menstruo sin afinar: el color del coñac viene del roble y resiste a la sal.

«We advise in this case not continue each circulation beyond three days and not circulate more than seven times.» — pone tope a la circulación en ese caso: tres días por ciclo y siete ciclos.

«The first problem concerns the word “medicine”. In Alchemy, this word may not necessarily be defined in terms of human medicine.» — abre la primera cuestión de vocabulario de la cuarta lección y niega que medicina se defina aquí por la medicina humana.

«For example, the term “vegetable medicine” can mean a preparation, extracted from plants, designed to cure man as a whole, but it can also mean a preparation designed to cure the vegetable itself.» — despliega la ambigüedad del término con el caso vegetal: preparado que cura al hombre o que cura a la planta.

«Similarly, a “metallic medicine” may refer to the cure of “metals” exclusively, or may simply be a remedy which acts on the level of the soul; the metal then is the symbol for a psychological or mental disorder or weakness.» — y con el caso metálico: cura del metal, o remedio del alma donde el metal hace de símbolo de un desorden psíquico.

«In Alchemy, context alone can determine the meaning or the scope of the word “medicine”.» — deja el sentido del término a cargo del contexto, sin definición fija.

«The second problem concerns the word “tincture”. In Alchemy, a tincture is the extract of an alchemical principle; it may be of Sulfur alone, or a mixture of Sulfur and Mercury, with the understanding that the Sulfur is the “tinctant”.» — define tintura como extracto de un principio, de azufre solo o de azufre con mercurio, y hace del azufre el que tiñe.

«The PRIMORDIAL DUALITY is present in the Alchemical Temple as well as in the human body.» — pone la dualidad primordial a la vez en el templo y en el cuerpo, que es la analogía sobre la que se monta la lección.

«The Temple is a place of invocation, prayer, meditation, and thanksgiving for Soul and Spirit. Like the body, it is a place of work and experimentation.» — describe el templo por sus dos funciones, como el cuerpo: culto y trabajo.

«In the Temple, the laboratory and the oratory must be separate; it should be possible either by a curtain or any other way to separate or join the oratory and the laboratory at will. Together they form the Alchemical Temple.» — exige laboratorio y oratorio separados pero unibles a voluntad, por cortina o por otro medio, y llama templo alquímico al conjunto.

«Stinking matter can enter this space, so can man with dirty hands; it is a space where the impurities of the physical world are purified.» — describe el templo como espacio donde entra lo sucio y lo hediondo, porque su oficio es purificar las impurezas del mundo físico.

«Here, the student's first test may be to have his hands covered with blisters after grinding a plant or a mineral in a mortar, or to have red eyes because of studying a hermetic and difÏcult text of Basil Valentine or Paracelsus.» — da la primera prueba del estudiante en forma corporal: ampollas del mortero u ojos enrojecidos de leer a Basil Valentine o a Paracelso.

«the laboratory, the apprentice can see himself or see the Universe in a boiling retort and may feel the boundaries fade between the flask and the self.» — describe la experiencia del aprendiz en el taller como borradura del límite entre el matraz y el sí mismo.

«As the laboratory work is proceeding — it is secondary work in the beginning — the student realizes that it becomes his primary reason for living and the Alchemist reaches the level of achievement where he is ONE with the laboratory which, itself, is ONE with the Universe.» — traza la progresión del trabajo, de ocupación secundaria a razón de vivir, hasta la identidad del alquimista con el laboratorio y de éste con el universo.

«In the laboratory which is a Temple, the Law is revealed in terms of books herbs and minerals but even more so of one’s own Self. Knowledge of the Law gives the Adept the power of choice.» — sostiene que la Ley se revela en libros, hierbas y minerales, y más aún en el propio sí mismo, y adjudica a su conocimiento el poder de elegir.

«In the Alchemical Temple, the student learns to read the signatures of Nature and the laws which govern them. In following these laws and developing his own sense of the Art, the Alchemist will make the elixirs and the stones of the various realms, through the process of separation, purification and reunion.» — pone la lectura de las signaturas como aprendizaje del templo, del que salen elixires y piedras de los distintos reinos por el método de tres tiempos.

«In the vegetable realm, one can practice with the keys and become familiar with the laws for in the lesser work, the powers which are used can be easily manipulated and generally do not have serious consequences.» — justifica el reino vegetal como campo de práctica: en la Obra Menor los poderes se manejan con facilidad y sin consecuencias graves.

«In this realm, which, however, should not be taken lightly by the beginner, the Temple-Laboratory can be more easily used, because, in this domain, the experiments or transmutations are less dependent upon the operator’s psychological state.» — acota esa facilidad —el principiante no debe tomarla a la ligera— y da la razón: aquí el resultado depende menos del estado psicológico del operador.

«In the vegetable realm, freedom of Spirit and Soul is better protected from the world’s violence than in the mineral realm because negative reactions are less destructive in their effect.» — añade que en lo vegetal la libertad de espíritu y alma queda más resguardada, porque las reacciones negativas destruyen menos que en lo mineral.

«Now, if this is applied to oneself, it becomes the Truth and the inner Stone will be the Philosopher Stone. The focal Point of the laboratory will transmute what is intangible.» — traslada la piedra al operador: aplicada a uno mismo, la piedra interior es la filosofal, y el punto focal del laboratorio transmuta lo intangible.

«We learn that Law is balance (justice) and that the laboratory leads us onto a higher path, the path of the true Love which gives more than it asks.» — identifica la Ley con el equilibrio y hace del laboratorio la vía hacia un amor que da más de lo que pide.

«Law gives you back according to what you gave, not as a reward but to maintain its own level of balance.» — niega el carácter de premio a la devolución de la Ley y la explica por el mantenimiento de su propio equilibrio.

«The Law is the structure of the work. In order to know the Law, one must have the tool, catch a glimpse of the Truth of the Goal and thus become a Philosopher.» — hace de la Ley la estructura del trabajo y pone tres condiciones para conocerla: la herramienta, el vislumbre de la verdad del fin y el hacerse filósofo.

«The Temple must be “activated”; it must be a living Temple, and when it starts moving and becomes an entity in this world,it becomes a life style, a power and an energy.» — exige activar el templo hasta que sea entidad viva en el mundo, y entonces lo describe como estilo de vida, potencia y energía.

«The law states: “you shall be judged as you have judged”.Love shows how judgments can be a heavy burden, and how much they can darken the true colors of spirit and soul in the laboratory.» — aplica al taller la máxima del juicio: los juicios pesan y oscurecen los colores verdaderos del espíritu y del alma.

«These things are neither good nor bad in themselves, but the life style they call for should not be an obstacle on the path; to use them is good, to seek them at the price of one’s time and tranquility is a waste of time and energy.» — acota la advertencia sobre los bienes materiales: no son malos en sí, y lo que se objeta es buscarlos al precio del tiempo y la tranquilidad.

«it is better for one who follows the path to let the path lead him and let him know what the the day’s necessities are.» — invierte la dirección de la marcha: que el camino conduzca al que lo sigue y le indique lo necesario de cada día.

«In a church or another place of worship if we use one of the several forms of meditation, we must remember that the goal is not the place of worship nor the meditation itself.» — niega que el lugar de culto o la meditación misma sean el fin.

«Thus, the path of Alchemy is not Alchemy itself, but a means by which those who are on their own Path learn the experience of the making of the Stone of the Self.» — aplica esa distinción a su propio arte: la vía de la alquimia no es la alquimia, sino el medio de aprender a hacer la Piedra del Sí Mismo.

«Alchemy is evolution; and evolution is the raising of vibrations, the refinement or transmutation of the coarse into the subtle, of low frequencies into higher ones, of the physical into the etheric.» — define la alquimia como evolución y la evolución como elevación de vibraciones, de lo grueso a lo sutil y de lo físico a lo etérico.

«Alchemy states that this is the only design and goal of all existence, and then indicates a path or a technique which can help Nature to. accelerate this process both within man and around him.» — universaliza ese fin —único designio de toda existencia— y describe el arte como técnica para acelerar el proceso dentro y fuera del hombre.

«It is commonly agreed that the alchemical dream has been longevity of life, perfect health and the capacity to transmute metals into gold, all this by means of the Philosopher’s Stone.» — recoge el sueño alquímico corriente: longevidad, salud perfecta y transmutación en oro por la piedra.

«In reality, these attributes which satisfy materialists are accessory products to the deeper search for Union with the Higher Self.» — degrada esos atributos a productos accesorios de una búsqueda más honda, la unión con el Yo Superior.

«However, the Great Art of Alchemy or of Hermetic Wisdom, as opposed to some Oriental paths, does not try to deny the body or attempt to destroy the ego or the lower self.» — opone el arte a algunas vías orientales: no niega el cuerpo ni intenta destruir el ego ni el yo inferior.

«Alchemy doesn’t attempt to elevate the self to higher realities by ascetic practices or purely meditative methods which lead the thought process to a resting point.» — añade a esa oposición el rechazo del ascetismo y de los métodos puramente meditativos que llevan el pensamiento al reposo.

«Body and Spirit become the Alchemical Laboratory in which transmutation and acceleration of evolution occur.» — traslada el laboratorio al operador: cuerpo y espíritu son el sitio donde ocurren la transmutación y la aceleración de la evolución.

«The body is gradually transmuted under the combined influences of purification, detoxification and regeneration through the elixirs which were prepared in the outer laboratory according to alchemical principles.» — describe la acción de los elixires del laboratorio exterior sobre el cuerpo, por purificación, desintoxicación y regeneración.

«These universal Laws, inseparable from alchemical principles, are revealed through the study of astrocyclic pulsations and of the Qabala.» — remite las leyes universales a dos estudios: las pulsaciones astrocíclicas y la cábala.

«All this does not mean that meditative practices have no place in Alchemy, on the contrary: the first requirement in order to advance on this path is to invoke God followed with the contemplation of Nature.» — acota el alcance del rechazo anterior de lo puramente meditativo: la primera exigencia de la vía es invocar a Dios y contemplar la naturaleza.

«Quoting Israel Regardie, not only is the Alchemist concerned with the purification of metals and with the elimination of disease from the human race, but he states that Alchemy as a “science and art” as well provides a means to synthesize all sciences and to train intellectual and spiritual faculties.» — adjudica a Israel Regardie, nombrándolo, la tesis de la alquimia como ciencia y arte que sintetiza todas las ciencias y adiestra las facultades.

«In addition, Alchemy differs from the other esoteric studies in that it emphasizes the practice of laboratory work strongly where esoteric theories can be demonstrated and applied.» — señala como diferencia frente a otros estudios esotéricos el peso del trabajo de laboratorio, donde la teoría se pone a prueba y se aplica.

«When this work is developed it will revolutionize orthodox medicine, natural therapeutics, agriculture and the use of energy. It will change our concept of Energy and Life.» — anuncia el alcance que atribuye a ese trabajo desarrollado: medicina ortodoxa, terapéutica natural, agricultura y uso de la energía.

«Alchemy is transmutation, revolution, renewal, and evolution both on the physical and spiritual levels. The only obstacle is the lack of a certain quality of consciousness.» — resume el arte en cuatro términos y adjudica el único obstáculo a la falta de cierta cualidad de consciencia.

«the physical purification of the body with preparations from the alchemical laboratory refine the energies and make them more receptive to the finer vibrations of the Cosmos.» — describe la simultaneidad de lo interior y lo exterior: la purificación física afina las energías y las hace receptivas a las vibraciones más finas.

«This increased consciousness enables us to further penetrate into the elixirs of the laboratory which reach then higher vibrations and raise our self to a higher level. And thus the process continues and accelerates into an inner and outer spiral, into an evolution of consciousness.» — cierra el circuito en espiral: más consciencia permite penetrar mejor los elixires, y éstos elevan de nuevo el nivel.

«However, this process is rarely so easy; the causes of resistance are numerous until the inner consciousness enlightens the outer path.» — acota esa espiral con las resistencias, numerosas hasta que la consciencia interior alumbra el camino exterior.

«This inner consciousness can also manifest in outer service because the goal of all genuine adepts is to help relieve the human race from its sufferings and its physical and spiritual misery. The acceptance of this goal is necessary and indispensable to advance on the path.» — sitúa el servicio exterior como fin de los adeptos genuinos y lo declara condición indispensable para avanzar.

«The astrocyclic (astrology) pulsations, when they are correctly understood and used in daily life, give us control over celestial influences which means that we no longer are at the mercy of chance, and that we can attract the best part of the good influences and avoid many negative influences.» — adjudica a la astrología, entendida y usada, el control sobre las influencias celestes y la salida del azar.

«Thus, one who gains knowledge and understanding in alchemy also gains knowledge and understanding in all things, as Alchemy is a path where all knowledge is systematized and transmuted into a Unity where Art is Science and Science is Art.» — sostiene que el conocimiento alquímico arrastra el de todo lo demás, por ser vía donde todo saber se sistematiza en una unidad de arte y ciencia.

«When it is accomplished, this synthesis is larger than the sum of the parts; such a synthesis of art and sciences makes the Law and the Divine Order resound in glory; Art and Science unite to serve the Spirit which is Life or the vital force.» — describe esa síntesis como mayor que la suma de sus partes y puesta al servicio del Espíritu o fuerza vital.

«To understand alchemical literary allegories which are profoundly veiled and to separate the wheat from the chaff, which will aid your advance on the path, we must know, understand and practice the universal laws on which Alchemy and necessarily all true occult and spiritual sciences are based.» — pone el conocimiento y la práctica de las leyes universales como condición para leer las alegorías veladas de la literatura del arte.

«The origin of the Universe is divine; the Universe is a manifestation and an emanation of the absolute and ONE cosmic Being; thus all is One.» — primera ley fundamental: origen divino del universo como emanación del Ser cósmico uno.

«All manifestations, whether material or of mental conception, exist. by virtue of a dual or opposite nature. It is the Law of polarity or duality. Each concept can thus be correctly defined by the relationship to its opposite.» — segunda ley, la de polaridad, con su consecuencia de método: cada concepto se define por su relación con el opuesto.

«The evolution of ideas proceeds from synthesis of theses and antitheses and the process is repeated again on a higher level.» — aplica la polaridad al movimiento de las ideas, por síntesis de tesis y antítesis repetida en un nivel superior.

«In effect, the themes of polarity such as sun-moon, male-female, creation-destruction, positive-negative, spirit-body, etc... are an integral part of alchemical and other occult symbolism.» — enumera las parejas de la polaridad como parte integrante del simbolismo alquímico y ocultista.

«All physical manifestations, whether animal, vegetable or mineral (the three realms) are composed of spirit, soul and body (the three essential principles).» — tercera ley: los tres reinos se componen de espíritu, alma y cuerpo, que son los tres principios.

«In the vegetable realm, the Spirit is contained in the alcohol and is common to all plants, and it is released by all plants during the fermentation process (death) of the body.» — sitúa el espíritu vegetal en el alcohol, común a todas las plantas, y lo hace liberarse en la fermentación, que llama muerte del cuerpo.

«The Spirit /Mercury § is the Life force of the Cosmos and its vital essence, and represents the major point of interest of Alchemy.» — identifica el espíritu o mercurio con la fuerza vital del cosmos y lo declara el interés principal del arte; los signos sueltos son los símbolos planetarios que el OCR no resuelve.

«The Soul # of the vegetable world is the essential oil which all plants possess to various degrees. The Soul # ( Sulfur) is the consciousness of the three worlds (kingdoms).» — sitúa el alma vegetal en el aceite esencial y hace del azufre la consciencia de los tres reinos.

«The body © (Salt) of the vegetable world is what remains after the Spirit has left. It is also called Caput-Mortem (dead head). It is then burnt until it turns into ashes and finally to white salt.» — define el cuerpo vegetal como lo que queda tras la partida del espíritu, lo nombra caput mortuum y describe su paso a ceniza y a sal blanca; la grafía Caput-Mortem es del impreso.

«In the mineral realm, the Spirit is common to all the metals; it is the precious Mercury of the Philosophers, and is the most volatile of the ALKAHESTS. It enables us to isolate the seed of the metal, which is a vital stage in the preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone.» — da el equivalente mineral: espíritu común a los metales, mercurio de los filósofos y el más volátil de los alkahests, que permite aislar la semilla del metal.

«These three processes are the basis of the evolutionary process of all alchemical work. It is also the work of Nature, and Alchemy assists in accelerating the process.» — funda los tres procesos del taller en la obra de la naturaleza, a la que el arte solo acelera.

«If we look at the lesser work or the lesser circulation of the vegetable kingdom, we see that in Nature, when a plant dies, its body is biodegraded and its essential principles return to the earth to be used in the life cycle of other plants. The cycle continues unless an animal eats the plant, in which case the vibrations of the plant are transmuted to a higher level by the alchemical power of the living animal realm.» — describe la circulación menor en la naturaleza: la planta muerta se biodegrada y vuelve a la tierra, salvo que un animal la coma y eleve sus vibraciones.

«In the external alchemical lab, an herb is separated into its essential principles: the oil 4, the alcohol ¥, and the Caput-Mortem ©. Each principle is then purified by using heat (the fire) through distillations, extractions and calcinations. The final step is cohobation which represents a rebirth on a higher level. Thus the plant is taken out of the bio-degradation cycle and is reborn through the raising of its vibrations to a level where it can be used for a higher purpose — that is medicine in the animal realm.» — describe la operación de taller como salida del ciclo de biodegradación: separación en aceite, alcohol y caput mortuum, purificación por fuego y cohobación como renacimiento en nivel superior.

«The same process in the mineral world results in the preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone, (Greater Circulation) and several other elixirs of lesser importance.» — traslada el mismo proceso al mundo mineral, donde da la piedra filosofal y elixires menores.

«The medicines which are prepared through alchemical methods are more efÏcient than any other vegetable medicine because they contain the three essential principles in a purified and cohobated state.» — adjudica a la medicina alquímica más eficacia que a cualquier otra vegetal, por conservar los tres principios purificados y cohobados; la grafía efÏcient es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«The elixirs of the mineral realm are generally of higher vibrations and deeper effects than those extracted from the vegetable realm.» — gradúa los elixires: los minerales de vibración más alta y efecto más hondo que los vegetales.

«All matters are composed of Fire (thermal energy), Water (liquid), Air (gas) and Earth (solid); a sensible and careful use of these four elements is an integral part of alchemical manifestations.» — cuarta ley, la de los cuatro elementos, traducidos a energía térmica, líquido, gas y sólido.

«The quintessence or fifth essence is found within the four elements but is none of them; it is one of the three essential principles known as the Mercury of the Philosophers.» — quinta ley: la quintaesencia está dentro de los cuatro elementos sin ser ninguno, y se identifica con el mercurio de los filósofos.

«In an ancient Rosicrucian document, it is said that the Brother Alchemists must be economical in their work and operate with a minimum of expenses.» — funda la economía del laboratorio en un documento rosacruz antiguo que no nombra, y del que solo da la máxima.

«Each of the following recommendations underline an important regulation but it is only a complement to ofÏcial legal requirements or to manufacturers notices. It is essential that you read these texts beforehand.» — subordina las recomendaciones de seguridad del curso a los requisitos legales y a los avisos de fabricante, que manda leer antes; la grafía ofÏcial es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«Know the theory of the experiment you are considering. Do not attempt anything at random.» — primera precaución del laboratorio, que repite la regla teórica de la primera lección.

«Study beforehand the physical and chemical properties of the products which you are going to use or which are going to be produced in the course of the experiment.» — segunda precaución: conocer de antemano las propiedades de lo que se usa y de lo que se va a producir.

«never eat, drink or smoke in the laboratory c. always wear glasses d. wear water-proof rubber gloves which will protect you when handling acid or alkali e. wear asbestos gloves to handle molten liquids f. wear asbestos gloves over the rubber gloves when handling acids or bases and hot liquids g. wear leather or waterproof plastic shoes; no cloth or perforated shoes» — lista de protecciones personales del taller: nada de comer ni fumar, gafas siempre, guantes de goma para ácidos y álcalis, de amianto para líquidos fundidos, y calzado impermeable.

«Mix unknown liquids in small quantities only. Always proceed as follows: pour a small amount of liquid in a test tube, and a little bit of the other liquid into another test tube, close and keep the tubes away from each other. Mix the content of the two tubes slowly.» — protocolo para mezclar líquidos desconocidos: cantidades pequeñas, tubos separados y mezcla lenta.

«The Qabala and astrocyclic pulsations are concomitant with the practical work of Alchemy the Qabala and its glyph, the Tree of Life, serve as a tool to establish relationships among all» — declara cábala y pulsaciones astrocíclicas concomitantes del trabajo práctico y asigna al Árbol de la Vida el oficio de relacionar entre sí todas las cosas; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo, y sigue en la plana 28 con el hombre como microcosmos frente al macrocosmos.

«Never smell directly from a flask, just wave a little bit of air towards your nose.» — prescribe cómo oler un producto sin acercar la nariz al matraz.

«Do not handle metallic salts or metals without glove for some of them have toxic effects (antimony, lead, mercury, etc.) on the skin.» — prohíbe manipular sales y metales sin guante y nombra tres tóxicos por la piel: antimonio, plomo y mercurio.

«Never distil to dryness bodies giving peroxides: ether, acids, etc...; only water and alcohol can be distilled to dryness.» — prohíbe destilar a sequedad los cuerpos que dan peróxidos y solo admite hacerlo con agua y alcohol.

«Most esoteric books can be classified in two categories: The most common books cover subjects of curiosity, historical interest or scholarship; their practical usefulness is nil as far as we are concerned.» — reparte la literatura esotérica en dos clases y descarta la primera —curiosidad, historia, erudición— por inútil para el propósito del curso.

«The other category contains a certain amount of knowledge but there is no warning whatsoever regarding the true nature of these studies or the risk involved and a number of students of esoterism attain an unbalanced state in their ordinary life instead of fulfillment.» — describe la segunda clase por lo que le falta: trae conocimiento pero ningún aviso del riesgo, y de ahí el desequilibrio de muchos estudiantes.

«Reading ancient or modern alchemical books leads to a surprising insight: the hermetism is so great, the apparent contradictions so numerous among the various authors that one benefits little from reading them.» — señala el hermetismo y las contradicciones aparentes entre autores como razón de que leer esos libros rinda poco.

«All the ancient authors agree on the fact that only God can entrust the secret to someone.» — recoge el acuerdo de los antiguos en que solo Dios entrega el secreto, y de ahí saca la pregunta por el sentido de ocultar la técnica.

«The first reason for this silence is linked to the state of society at the time these books were written. Then, when the all-powerful Catholic Church barely tolerated chemistry and meditation books, it would definitely have destroyed books authorizing Personal Revelation or personal initiation.» — primera razón del secreto: una Iglesia que apenas toleraba los libros de química y de meditación habría destruido los que autorizaran la revelación personal.

«The second reason pertained to the social and economic order. In a time of unenlightenment, when few could assess the difÏculty and true nature of a problem, the revelation of the great mysteries of Alchemy would have induced many to quit their occupations and devote themselves to the Alchemical Art; but what is the use of gold if no one is baking bread? Thus, these books contained the risk of destroying the social and economic structures.» — segunda razón: el riesgo económico de que muchos dejaran su oficio por el arte, con la objeción propia de para qué sirve el oro si nadie hornea pan; la grafía difÏculty es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«The third reason is that a certain state of consciousness, both an inner and intellectual maturity and “being an Old Soul” are required to take on the Initiatory Journey with a chance of success.» — tercera razón: el viaje iniciático exige un estado de consciencia, madurez interior e intelectual y lo que llama ser alma vieja.

«Nowadays a greater tolerance enables us to open the door to this first test more widely so that more human beings may present themselves alone and freely to ask for the Ultimate Secret, and obtain it if such should be His Will.» — data en el presente una tolerancia mayor que permite abrir más esa puerta, con la condición final puesta en la voluntad divina.

«The first reason is that man, made in His Image and of His Essence, has temporarily been deprived of his powers and faculties to test his free will under such conditions of limitation that his errors could not in any event threaten the Cosmos.» — primera razón que da del vacío en que el hombre existe: privado de sus facultades para probar su libre albedrío sin que sus errores amenacen el cosmos.

«The second reason is that man, through conscious separation from the Divine, finds thus his true free will, for man is only truly free in complete aloneness.» — segunda razón: la separación consciente de lo divino es la que da el libre albedrío verdadero, porque solo en la soledad completa hay libertad.

«He who hasn’t shown a certain degree of maturity in the use of his free will cannot obtain tangible certainty of the existence of the Being and the supra-sensible worlds. To him (her), the nature of physical laws remains inflexible and transmutation is not accessible.» — condiciona el acceso a la certeza de los mundos suprasensibles a la madurez en el uso del libre albedrío, y sin ella declara inflexibles las leyes físicas.

«When his (her) inner evolution progresses to a certain point, access to the laws of the higher worlds will be possible, and these laws which transcend physical laws will bring the possibility of transmutation.» — pone la transmutación como consecuencia del acceso a leyes superiores que trascienden las físicas.

«One must not forget the hierarchy of these laws and that the access to the absolute only occurs in successive steps.» — jerarquiza esas leyes y niega el acceso directo a lo absoluto: se llega por pasos sucesivos.

«These experiments are attempts to submit God to the scrutiny of materialist science and this is unthinkable.» — lee esos experimentos como sometimiento de Dios al escrutinio de la ciencia materialista, y lo declara impensable.

«If science wants to know, it must change its methods and ask in all humility, in meditation and prayer for the revelation which only can occur for one being at a time, and which cannot be transmitted orally or in writing, because this knowledge is an acquired power which transmutes the level of consciousness.» — pone a la ciencia una condición de método —humildad, meditación y plegaria— y declara la revelación intransmisible por vía oral o escrita, por ser poder adquirido que transmuta la consciencia.

«The first experiment we proposed is elementary, but interesting, because it shows the small quantity of harvested salt.» — lee el interés del primer experimento en su rendimiento escaso: la poca sal cosechada.

«To reach another level of experimentation, we must examine in detail three important alchemical processes: distillation, extraction and fermentation or putrefaction.» — nombra los tres procesos que hay que dominar para pasar de nivel: destilación, extracción y fermentación o putrefacción.

«Only the knowledge of these three processes enables one to produce and use the alchemical keys called “Menstrua”.» — hace de esos tres procesos la condición para producir y usar las llaves que llama menstrua.

«The third study relates to fermentation. This might seem surprising but fermentation is the key which opens all the locks of Nature.» — declara la fermentación llave de todas las cerraduras de la naturaleza, y advierte que la afirmación sorprenderá.

«We are saying that metallic fermentation is the secret to “the Secret Fire of the Alchemists.» — identifica la fermentación metálica con el secreto del Fuego Secreto de los alquimistas.

«In Alchemy, Menstrua are the liquids which have the power to dissolve or extract the elements of various materials. In general, the Mercury proper to a realm is an excellent menstruum for that realm.» — define los menstrua por su función disolvente y da la regla de correspondencia: el mercurio propio de un reino sirve de menstruo en ese reino.

«Very often, the word ALKAHEST designates a menstruum with limited power: sometimes it acts only on one of the principles of Sulfur or Mercury, or in other cases it acts on only one part of its realm.» — acota el término alkahest a un menstruo de poder limitado, por principio o por porción de reino.

«metallic and satisfactory in the mineral realm but not in the metallic realm.» — continuación del ejemplo tras el corte del renglón, que parte la palabra semi-metallic: ese alkahest sirve en lo mineral y no en lo metálico.

«The Menstruum is generally obtained or liberated through fermentation or putrefaction and it is separated by means of distillation. In the vegetable realm, the Mercury is vegetable alcohol.» — da la vía de obtención del menstruo —fermentación o putrefacción, y separación por destilación— e identifica el mercurio vegetal con el alcohol de la planta.

«Grapes + fermentation = fermented juice + distillation = Alcohol or Mercury This is valid for all the volatile substances of the vegetable realm.» — escribe la secuencia como fórmula y la generaliza a todas las sustancias volátiles del reino vegetal.

«If we undertake a second fermentation we have: Fermented juice or Alcohol + fermentation = vinegar or acetic acid. Acetic acid is a ’fixing menstruum according to the alchemical concept.» — añade la segunda fermentación, que da vinagre, y clasifica el ácido acético como menstruo fijador.

«a menstruum is a living being, that is to say the more pure it is the more sensitive it is to psychic influences.» — declara al menstruo ser vivo y hace crecer su sensibilidad psíquica con su pureza.

«a menstruum is contaminated by disharmonious sounds, negative words, selfish or malevolent thoughts. The closer the menstruum gets to perfection the more vigilant the operator must be with his (her) acts, words and thoughts.» — enumera lo que contamina al menstruo —sonidos desarmónicos, palabras negativas, pensamientos egoístas— y deriva de ahí la vigilancia exigida al operador.

«Symbolically, one may say that the menstruum starts in the laboratory and ends in the Temple.» — resume el recorrido del menstruo en una fórmula que reúne las dos mitades del templo.

«This prompted negative minds to comment that this is impossible because this solvent would then dissolve its own container.» — recoge la objeción corriente al disolvente universal: disolvería su propio recipiente.

«In fact, this menstruum separates living compounds but the glass is a dead body, it is not a living compound and so resists the menstruum.» — responde a esa objeción por la distinción entre compuesto vivo y cuerpo muerto: el vidrio, muerto, resiste.

«The goal of distillation is to separate two or several mixed liquids; this separation is based on the difference between the boiling temperatures of the liquids. The first liquid to boil is the first to evaporate.» — define la destilación por la diferencia de temperaturas de ebullición.

«Therefore the parapsychologists’ pretensions to tangibly prove the higher powers of the mind are erroneous, because attempting to show one’s powers in public cancels them since it is in contradiction to the cosmic intention:» — objeta a los parapsicólogos la pretensión de probar en público los poderes de la mente, y explica la cancelación por contradicción con lo que llama la intención cósmica; el tramo corta donde la frase pasa a la plana siguiente.

«In Alchemy there are ’six types of distillation: 1. ordinary distillation 2. rectification 3. fractional distillation 4, vacuum distillation 5. steam distillation» — enumera los tipos de destilación que el curso reconoce; el sexto, el filosófico, queda del otro lado del corte de troceo y es el que las lecciones persiguen.

«6. Never pour water into an acid 7. Permanent ventilation of the laboratory: —in case of the use of a solvent —in case of gas heating —-fume hood for dangerous gases 8. No flames during work with volatile liquids» — tres reglas seguidas del taller: agua nunca en ácido, ventilación permanente con campana para gases peligrosos, y ninguna llama con líquidos volátiles.

«The thermometer is a very good guide in distillation operations. It should not be in contact with the liquids for only the vapor temperature is significant.» — regla de medida: el termómetro no toca el líquido porque solo cuenta la temperatura del vapor.

«Let us suppose that our boiling flask is filled with wine. As soon as the wine starts boiling the temperature reading goes up and stops at around 70 to 72 C. The cooling water of the cooling system must then circulate,and drops of the liquid fall into the receiving flask. These drops will have to be discarded for the temperature stabilizes at around 78 C. At this point, the liquid must be preserved. (Between 70 and 78 C, the collected liquids are very volatile and are not alcohol).» — describe los tramos de temperatura de la destilación del vino y manda desechar lo que sale entre 70 y 78 grados, que no es alcohol.

«As soon as it reaches 82 to 83 C, remove the receiving flask in which the wine alcohol has collected. If we continue to heat rapidly, the temperature would soon reach 100 C, which is the boiling point of water.» — fija el corte de la recogida en 82 u 83 grados, antes de que el calor alcance el punto de ebullición del agua.

«With the type of still shown in the drawing, the quality of distillation depends upon the slowness at which the distillation occurs.» — hace depender la calidad de la destilación de su lentitud.

«If we remove the residual wine from the boiling flask and replace it with distilled alcohol, we are then proceeding with a second distillation generally called rectification.» — define la rectificación como segunda destilación del alcohol ya destilado.

«When there is little liquid left to distil, it becomes suddenly troubled with the appearance of whitish clouds and the temperature increases rapidly. Distillation must be stopped and the whitish residue must be disposed of.» — da la señal de parada de la rectificación: nubes blanquecinas y subida rápida de temperatura, con el residuo a desechar.

«The alcohol can be rectified 5 to 6 times consecutively, until the temperature is maintained at 78 C during the whole operation without the appearance of whitish clouds.» — fija el número de rectificaciones por su criterio de término: la temperatura sostenida en 78 grados sin nubes.

«Our alcohol is then rectified, but it is not absolute alcohol, for this procedure does not allow for a complete purification. However, it isa good menstruum for vegetable extractions done with the Soxhlet apparatus.» — acota el resultado: alcohol rectificado, no absoluto, y sin embargo buen menstruo para la extracción vegetal con Soxhlet.

«In all cooling systems, the cold water inlet is always the lower one. The flask heater, if electrical, must have a heat regulator, (Variac - variable transformer). Gas heating is possible but not at all recommended because the alcohol is very flammable during the rectifications.» — detalle de montaje y advertencia: entrada de agua fría por abajo, regulador en el calentador eléctrico y gas desaconsejado por la inflamabilidad del alcohol.

«Do not forget to place boiling stones in the alcohol (small pieces of lava or pumice stone).» — recuerda las piedras de ebullición en el alcohol, de lava o piedra pómez.

«Glass is a very important material in Alchemy, but its use is not as simple as we generally think. There are actually three kinds of glass available:» — declara el vidrio material importante del arte y advierte que su uso no es tan simple como suele creerse.

«chemistry glass: which can be used up to 350 C; it is fragile, sensitive to thermal shocks and must be cooled down slowly. We do not recommend its use for any heating work.» — descarta el vidrio de química para todo trabajo con calor, por frágil y sensible al choque térmico.

«borosilicate glass: more often known as “Pyrex”, can be used up to 400 C and a borosilicate glass flask heated to 100 C may be plunged into cold water. This glass cannot be worked with a blow torch without oxygen, except for small sections.» — acota el borosilicato: hasta 400 grados, resiste el paso brusco al agua fría y no se trabaja con soplete sin oxígeno salvo en tramos cortos.

«quartz or fused silica glassware: it can be used up to 1300 C and can be plunged into cold water after being heated to 1000 C. It is expensive and not too resistant to some molten vegetable salts.» — acota el cuarzo: hasta 1300 grados y resistente al choque, pero caro y poco resistente a algunas sales vegetales fundidas.

«Although we are trying to be as precise as possible in each of our lessons, little tricks of the art cannot be easily described in writing.» — declara el límite del curso escrito: los pequeños trucos del arte no se dejan describir por escrito, y los remite a los seminarios prácticos.

«Acuation from the French verb acuer is an ancient term which can mean both to refine and make more penetrating, stronger.» — nota terminológica del curso sobre el término francés que conserva sin traducir: afinar y a la vez hacer más penetrante.

«Our success in this work depends upon our ability to correctly identify constituent parts. Therefore, we shall strive to define the terms faith, knowledge and understanding.» — abre la sexta lección con la distinción entre fe, conocimiento y comprensión, y la funda en la necesidad de identificar bien las partes.

«There is a hierarchy of ideas in the sense that they do not all have the same value, nor the same degree of certainty, and we should strive to put the highest and surest ideas apart from non-justified preferences. One should not be in love with one’s ideas or concepts.» — jerarquiza las ideas por su grado de certeza y añade una regla de higiene mental: no enamorarse de las propias.

«Faith is not exclusively religious but also belongs to the domain of science and is unfortunately the basis of most current ideas. It is a free idea which is impossible to prove and is founded on simple afÏrmations.» — extiende la fe al dominio científico y la define como idea libre, indemostrable y fundada en meras afirmaciones; la grafía afÏrmations es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«Faith may belong to the scientific domain; the postulate of Euclid’s geometry upon which all science is based is in the domain of faith.» — da su ejemplo dentro de la ciencia: el postulado de Euclides sobre el que descansa el edificio.

«Any reading is in the domain of faith, for ideas become knowledge only through personal experience.» — sitúa toda lectura en el dominio de la fe y hace de la experiencia personal la única vía al conocimiento.

«Knowledge lies on a higher level; there is a logical correspondence or convergence between the idea and the perception of the senses which itself may be illusion or reality and as long as we are within the domain of perception, knowledge gives satisfactory explanations and allows the prediction of facts.» — define el conocimiento por la correspondencia entre idea y percepción, con la reserva de que la percepción puede ser ilusión o realidad.

«Understanding lies on an even higher level and has an inner certainty which is independent of the experience of the senses. It is obtained through meditation and is achieved through intuition. It is the awareness of the unity in all things.» — define la comprensión por su certeza interior independiente de los sentidos, alcanzada por meditación e intuición.

«In knowledge, ideas may be divided into two categories. One category corresponds to perceptions of nature and have a certain degree of harmony with nature, they are reflections of Nature’s Laws and man cannot modify them. He can use them or dominate them by surrendering to them. The other category corresponds to human conventions; their value is practical but not real. Justice is a law of nature in all domains; law is an artificial convention of men.» — parte el conocimiento en ideas que reflejan leyes de la naturaleza, inmodificables, y convenciones humanas de valor práctico, y opone la justicia a la ley como ejemplo.

«The word science carries prestige for people nowadays. It is almost magical for those who do not understand it, and each of us interpret the word according to our favorite reflection of things.» — describe el prestigio de la palabra ciencia como casi mágico para quien no la entiende.

«Science does not produce anything practical. The achievements of electronics, mechanics, chemistry and medicine belong to the domain of technique. And technique is the utilization of knowledge to dominate matter. Science only makes theories. Pure, it is a work of curiosity.» — separa ciencia y técnica: los logros de la electrónica o la medicina son de la técnica, y la ciencia pura solo hace teorías.

«As a matter of fact, it is preferable to be more discerning. Science’s theories help technique and the achievements of technique help science. Intellectual methods are similar for the technician or for the scientist. The state of mind makes you one or the other.» — matiza esa separación: los métodos intelectuales son los mismos y lo que distingue al técnico del científico es el estado de ánimo.

«The scientific method is comprised of two parts: experimentation with inductive reasoning and mathematical deduction.» — reparte el método científico en experimentación con inducción y deducción matemática.

«A formula or an equation gives the same result as a result obtained through a long succession of reasonings. They are used as a device to avoid repeating the whole demonstration performed at the problem’s first study.» — describe la fórmula como abreviatura de un razonamiento ya hecho, para no repetir la demostración.

«A scientist uses the experiment as a starting point and, with logic or mathematics, he attempts to build a theory according to which he designs new experiments that will either consolidate or destroy the theory.» — describe el proceder del científico: del experimento a la teoría y de vuelta a experimentos que la sostienen o la echan abajo.

«The purpose of these theories is to explain the whole mechanism of nature or part of it, the how of things, since science has completely excluded the search for the original WHY from its domain. Science studies the functioning of the nature-tool without paying attention to its use.» — objeta a la ciencia haber excluido el porqué original y quedarse con el cómo: estudia el funcionamiento de la herramienta sin atender a su uso.

«Experience shows that these theories never explain the totality of a thing. Truth seems to escape right before them. As theories advance, the immensity of the abyss of ignorance which precedes them, grows. The resolution of a problem results in ten new ones.» — sostiene que las teorías nunca explican la totalidad y que el abismo de ignorancia crece con ellas.

«The history of science shows that these theories have a relatively short life. Sometimes, non-reconcilable theories remain, for scientists cannot settle them.» — señala la vida corta de las teorías y la persistencia de teorías irreconciliables que los científicos no dirimen.

«But a beginning and an end based on our senses are no more trustworthy then the senses themselves. The use of microscope, telescope, X-rays improve the possibilities of the senses but do not go beyond the confines of the physical realm.» — acota el valor del razonamiento deductivo por sus extremos sensoriales, y niega que microscopio, telescopio o rayos X salgan de lo físico.

«Science only knows of things, the outer results of sensory expression and ignores everything of the non-physical inner causes.» — restringe el saber científico a los resultados exteriores de la expresión sensorial e ignorante de las causas internas no físicas.

«According to some occultists, their pronunciation creates the thing. It is, in this case, the spiritual names of beings and things.» — adjudica a ocultistas sin nombrar la tesis de que pronunciar el nombre espiritual crea la cosa.

«The classification by type, group, and family brings out the unity and the common bond between things within the apparent diversity of nature.» — lee la clasificación por tipo, grupo y familia como vía para sacar a luz la unidad bajo la diversidad aparente.

«According to what you are undertaking, dry or fresh plants may be used for the extraction of ethereal oils. For other preparations, (vegetable stone or purifying menstruum) it is preferable to use fresh plants.» — reparte el uso de planta seca y fresca según la operación, y reserva la fresca para la piedra vegetal y el menstruo purificador.

«Faith and knowledge are transmitted through words and particularly through names and, of course, names are current, arbitrary labels, because the ones mentioned» — opone los nombres corrientes, etiquetas arbitrarias, a los del primer capítulo del Génesis; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y la frase continúa adjudicando a esos nombres la comprensión.

«bark: collect it on the trunk or branches of young trees in the fall or the beginning of the spring. Clean it and cut it in thin strips and dry them in the shade.» — regla de recolección de la corteza: árboles jóvenes, en otoño o al principio de la primavera, cortada en tiras finas y secada a la sombra.

«roots: collect them just after the leaves have fallen off or before the spring when the sap is still in them.» — regla de recolección de la raíz, atada al movimiento de la savia.

«seeds and flowers: should be gathered only when they are perfectly ripe; dry them quickly in the shade.» — regla de recolección de semillas y flores: solo maduras y secadas deprisa a la sombra.

«One of the best ways to dry plants is to spread them on a clean sheet of paper in a dark, well ventilated room. Then, keep in dark, tight boxes, after you have ground them to a powder.» — describe el secado y la conservación: papel limpio en cuarto oscuro y ventilado, y guarda en cajas herméticas y oscuras tras moler.

«Alchemists attribute a certain number of plants to each of the seven planets; this will be passed on to you in lesson #8.» — anuncia para la octava lección la tabla de atribuciones planetarias de las plantas.

«The plants of the Sun heal the heart and the blood. The plants of the Moon heal the brain. The plants of Venus heal warts. The plants of Saturn heal the spleen. The plants of Jupiter heal the lungs. The plants of Mars heal the pancreas. The plants of Mercury heal the liver.» — primera lista de correspondencias entre planeta y órgano curado, de la que la propia lección se desdice enseguida en varios puntos.

«Different planetary attributions exist according to the organ or the function. The sun heals the heart, but blood healing may be attributed to Mars.» — consigna la divergencia sin dirimirla: la misma lista admite la sangre bajo Marte y no bajo el Sol.

«The plants of Venus heal the genital organs and excretion organs. Saturn heals the spleen as well as the skeleton and the bones.» — amplía dos atribuciones de la lista, la de Venus a los órganos genitales y de excreción y la de Saturno al esqueleto.

«Some authors attribute the lungs to Mercury, an air sign, and to Jupiter, kidney and liver functions.» — recoge la atribución de otros autores, que dan a Mercurio los pulmones y a Júpiter riñón e hígado, contra lo que la propia lista había dicho.

«As opposed to the simple distillation we studied beforehand, this distillation permits the purification of a product within a few operations (3 or 4).» — define la destilación fraccionada por su rendimiento: purifica en tres o cuatro operaciones.

«The vapors arriving in the column heat up the rings and condense; the rings become covered with a mixture of water/alcohol which is richer than the mixture contained in the flask. The less volatile water condenses before the alcohol. Consequently, the rising vapors become poor in water and rich in alcohol. They wash a mixture which is progressively richer in alcohol as they rise up the column.» — explica el mecanismo de la columna de anillos: el agua, menos volátil, condensa antes, y el vapor sube empobreciéndose en agua y enriqueciéndose en alcohol.

«The quality of the alcohol increases if the column is heat-insulated. Two or three distillations with this system give the same result obtained with 6 or 7 simple distillations.» — cuantifica la ventaja de la columna aislada: dos o tres destilaciones equivalen a seis o siete simples.

«The distilling column containing the rings is sold as a Hempel Column, and the rings under the name of Rashig Rings. There are also small rings called “spiral rings”. The Rashig Rings may be replaced with cut glass tubes or pieces of glass since the Rashig Rings are very expensive.» — da los nombres comerciales de columna y anillos y propone sustituir los anillos Rashig por tubo de vidrio cortado, por el precio.

«However, we would like to insist on the fact that it is not mandatory nor desirable to acquire the material at this time: the equipment is expensive and the expense is justified only if one is sure of the chosen path.» — desaconseja comprar equipo todavía: es caro y el gasto solo se justifica cuando la vía está elegida con certeza.

«Science cannot accede to real knowledge because the experiments it performs are conducted in laboratories, under artificial conditions which distort natural mechanisms. Nature alone, under its original conditions, can lead one to real knowledge.» — objeta a la ciencia el artificio del laboratorio, que deforma los mecanismos naturales, y reserva el conocimiento real a la naturaleza en sus condiciones propias.

«Furthermore, science cannot know what it doesn’t seek and what it ignores. Since it doesn’t acknowledge the difference between intellectual knowledge and spiritual understanding, it has deleted the latter from its field of investigation, and views it as totally non-existent.» — añade una segunda objeción: al no reconocer la diferencia entre conocimiento intelectual y comprensión espiritual, la ciencia borra esta última de su campo.

«Religion, on the other hand, doesn’t deny its existence, but nevertheless considers it unworthy of research. Mysticism alone attempts to establish the subtle link which unites knowledge with understanding.» — reparte los papeles entre religión y mística: la primera no niega la comprensión pero la deja sin investigar, y solo la segunda intenta el enlace.

«Nobody has ever seen a rabbit eating poisonous grass in the fields. On its own, it chooses the right herbs for food or even for healing. The same rabbit, locked in a cage, will be poisoned as soon as it is given an unfortunate choice of cut herbs.» — introduce el ejemplo del conejo, que en el campo elige bien la hierba y en la jaula se envenena con hierba cortada.

«A naturalist examines the leaves to see if they are opposed or staggered, and counts the number of petals in flowers, or other similar details. He can say if it is agropyron repens, that is couch grass or euphorbium, but he cannot tell whether it is a toxic plant without performing experiments at life’s expense. He is working in the domain of intellectual knowledge.» — opone al conejo el naturalista, que nombra la especie y no puede decir si es tóxica sin experimentos a costa de una vida.

«In Nature, the rabbit recognizes the signature of the herb which informs it about the toxic or non-toxic state of the herb or more precisely which indicates the degree of reciprocal harmony.» — explica la elección del conejo por la lectura de la signatura, que precisa como grado de armonía recíproca.

«If the rabbit is sick, its harmonic complement is no longer the same, and it chooses an herb that won't interfere with its condition but will cure it. It is fundamentally guided to choose what pleases it, what is in harmony with it.» — añade que el complemento armónico cambia con la enfermedad y que el animal se guía por lo que le agrada.

«For this to work, the individual’s fundamental harmony must be in agreement with the Cosmic harmony, either because the fall from Grace did not occur or because re-harmonization happened.» — pone la condición de esa lectura: acuerdo entre la armonía propia y la cósmica, sea por no haber caído, sea por rearmonización.

«Since the rabbit is no longer informed of the harmonic degree of the grass when it is cut, we assume that the fatal wound directed to the grass has caused the departure of its psychic body and with it the departure of Nature’s signatures which reside in Nature’s soul — the principle of life.» — explica la hierba cortada como cadáver: la herida hace partir el cuerpo psíquico y con él las signaturas que residen en el alma de la naturaleza.

«As the rabbit hasn’t fallen from Grace, it can read the signatures of Nature thanks to its spiritual perception and thus possesses innate knowledge.» — adjudica al conejo conocimiento innato porque no ha caído de la Gracia.

«Science studies dead beings and therefore ignores their vanished signatures which are the true causes of things. Science looks for the causes in the facts which have already become consequences.» — reformula la objeción a la ciencia: estudia seres muertos y busca las causas en hechos que ya son consecuencias.

«Just like the physical is divided into three realms: mineral, vegetable and animal, so the principles of life, the psyche, the fourth dimension, and all the same things called by a different name, form three levels of hierarchy, which correspond to the three realms.» — replica en el orden psíquico la división en tres reinos del orden físico.

«When the plant is cut, its principles of life disappear, and only the mineral life principle remains. The physical constitution of the plant remains, because the physical elements’ return to the dust of earth (mineral realm) is slow unless it is quickened through fire.» — describe lo que queda de la planta cortada: solo el principio de vida mineral, mientras la constitución física tarda en volver al polvo si no la apura el fuego.

«The animal then, only detects the mineral signature, that of the simple elements, while the physical structure still comprises the complex molecules of the vegetable realm. Poisoning comes from imposing a mode of artificial feeding.» — explica el envenenamiento por el desajuste entre la signatura mineral que el animal percibe y las moléculas vegetales que aún hay en la planta.

«The fall from Grace which deprives man of the spiritual perception of harmony’s Inner Love places him under the same conditions as the rabbit which has been given dead food.» — aplica al hombre el mismo desajuste: la caída lo deja en la condición del conejo alimentado con comida muerta.

«The search for real knowledge starts with respect for life and its observation within the framework of Nature only. Yet the primary causes would still escape scientists and technicians because the psychic domain does not yield to physical investigation.» — pone el punto de partida en el respeto por la vida y la observación en la naturaleza, y sigue negando el acceso físico al dominio psíquico.

«Inner spiritual perception enables one to read Nature’s signatures ; this constitutes absolute knowledge protected from error.» — adjudica a la percepción espiritual interior la lectura de las signaturas y llama a eso conocimiento absoluto, a salvo de error.

«Intellectual knowledge is often confused with spiritual knowledge. The first originates in the brain while the other is transmitted through the heart.» — separa los dos conocimientos por su órgano: el intelectual nace en el cerebro y el espiritual se transmite por el corazón.

«Real knowledge cannot be transmitted; each one acquires it only on his own, through his own inner development.» — declara intransmisible el conocimiento real y lo remite al desarrollo interior de cada quien.

«One of the keys of this perception is the reharmonization, the re-integration of man in Nature.» — nombra la rearmonización, o reintegración del hombre en la naturaleza, como llave de esa percepción directa.

«Faith is not satisfactory; it is at best an anxious hypothesis as opposed to knowledge which is a serene certitude.» — opone la fe como hipótesis angustiada al conocimiento como certeza serena.

«This statement explains the intolerance of faith because it is fearful and the benevolence of knowledge because it is strong and unswerving in its certitude.» — deriva de esa oposición el carácter de cada una: la fe intolerante por temerosa, el conocimiento benévolo por firme.

«The Euclidian postulate which we mentioned in the previous lesson is faith and is presently being contested in the atomic and astronomical realms of science.» — repite el ejemplo del postulado euclidiano como fe científica y añade que se le objeta en los dominios atómico y astronómico.

«Faith is a necessary step to knowledge, it gives the courage to begin. Enthusiasm must accompany it if the chosen path is to awaken higher inner lights. But it must be seen as a first stage which has to be left behind.» — concede a la fe la función de dar el arranque, con el entusiasmo al lado, y la declara etapa que hay que dejar atrás.

«The next step is knowing, then one no longer says “I believe” but “I know”. Thus, in the scientific domain, experience transforms faith into knowing, for one realizes a similarity between the uncertain hypothesis and the mechanism of nature. Knowing is nothing but a physical and sensory certitude, demonstrating an identity between thought and the sensory mechanism.» — describe el paso de creer a saber en el dominio científico y acota el saber como certeza física y sensorial, identidad entre pensamiento y mecanismo.

«Materialistic scientific research has a positive side, for it shows a convergence towards unity, at least in some fields. Even though unity remains inaccessible to it, scientific research detects its own limits and encourages one to turn to other directions.» — concede a la investigación materialista un valor: converge hacia la unidad y detecta sus propios límites, aunque la unidad le quede inaccesible.

«The first stages of psychic development demonstrate to the adept on the path, the reality and duality of being; he reaches a higher level of knowing.» — adjudica a las primeras etapas del desarrollo psíquico la demostración de la realidad y la dualidad del ser.

«Thus, the tolerance of the mystic who is willing to examine, without prejudice, the opinions of others. He understands that to each evolutionary step corresponds a level of faith, of knowing or knowledge, and that error is nothing but lower knowledge which will disappear with the progress of its seeker» — funda la tolerancia del místico en la correspondencia entre etapa evolutiva y nivel de fe o de conocimiento, y define el error como conocimiento inferior que se disuelve con el avance.

«In effect, to transmit it, we have to intellectualize it, that is, we subject it to the narrow symbolism of words, which limits it and» — explica por qué la transmisión deforma: intelectualizar somete el conocimiento al simbolismo estrecho de las palabras; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y la frase sigue diciendo que solo deja un aspecto distorsionado.

«One may use all of the plant, or only a part: roots, bark, leaves, flowers, fruit, depending on the medicinal properties of the plant.» — admite usar la planta entera o una parte según sus propiedades medicinales; la frase anterior, que niega que secar haga perder propiedades, queda partida por el corte de troceo.

«This lesson is entirely devoted Alchemical Theory and focusses on the planetary attributions of the plants.» — declara la octava lección dedicada entera a las atribuciones planetarias de las plantas; la falta de preposición es del impreso.

«Following are seven lists of plants, one for each planet, the chosen order is as below:» — anuncia siete listas, una por planeta, y advierte que el orden en que las da no es indiferente.

«We present both Latin and the scientific names of the plants. The number 1, 2,or3 preceding each name have the following meaning: 1. Plant’s which may be used without special precautions. 2. Plants which should not be used without extensive documentation. 3. Dangerous or toxic plants, which should be used with much caution.» — da la clave del código de tres grados que precede a cada nombre en las listas, del uso libre a la planta tóxica.

«contact with iron or steel, causes the plant to become toxic.» — nota al pie de la lista solar sobre la Potentilla: el contacto con hierro o acero la vuelve tóxica, y es la única advertencia por metal de las siete listas.

«Notice that, in this lesson, some of the planetary attributions given plants evolve with the plants themselves. We shall develop this feature later on in the course. We advise you to keep this lesson handy, for it quickly becomes a much-needed tool.» — advierte que algunas atribuciones planetarias evolucionan con las plantas mismas, y remite el desarrollo a lecciones posteriores.

«The tubes used for water flow in the condensers may be made of polyvinyl chloride. Those used as coupling between glass tubes should be made of “teflon” (see Figure #1) or silicon elastomer.» — prescribe los plásticos del montaje: cloruro de polivinilo para el agua de refrigeración y teflón o elastómero de silicona para los acoples.

«As much as possible, avoid any contact between rubber or cork stoppers and the extraction liquids. Never use force to join ground glass tubes. Do not exert mechanical force on glass welds. Wet the flexible tubes (rubber or plastic) to be slipped on the glass.» — reglas de manejo del vidrio: nada de goma ni corcho en contacto con el líquido de extracción, nada de fuerza en juntas ni soldaduras, y mojar el tubo flexible antes de calzarlo.

«Bleach is excellent in all cases, particularly to clean up calcination residues. It must be less than three months old. Never place bleach in contact with acid because chlorine, a very toxic gas is given off.» — admite la lejía para los residuos de calcinación con dos condiciones: menos de tres meses de vieja y nunca en contacto con ácido, por el cloro.

«We say on page 1 “when the plant is cut, its life principle disappears.” This afÏrmation does not exactly correspond to the reality of things, for life cannot be defined in the same way for the vegetable and the animal domains.» — el curso se enmienda a sí mismo: retoca la fórmula de la plana anterior porque la vida no se define igual en lo vegetal y en lo animal.

«In the vegetable, there is no life center. Each cell, each tissue possesses a relative autonomy. A small piece of it can be detached and placed somewhere else where it can start another stem.» — funda esa enmienda en la ausencia de centro vital en la planta: cada célula tiene autonomía relativa y un trozo separado puede dar otro tallo.

«When one pulls out a plant, it seems that it loses the terrestrial influx which it both carries and distributes, but each cell does not loose its vitality as long as it is not completely dehydrated.» — precisa lo que la planta arrancada pierde: el influjo terrestre que transporta y reparte, no la vitalidad de cada célula mientras no se deshidrate.

«It is possible that part of the medicinal properties of plants come from the terrestrial influx that they circulate, or from a certain form of ether more than from their specific chemical components.» — propone, con el condicional puesto en la frase, que parte de la virtud medicinal venga del influjo terrestre o de cierta forma de éter antes que de los componentes químicos.

«This could explain why animals do not make mistakes when, in nature, they are in the presence of a toxic plant. The terrestrial vibration emitted by this plant warns them that it is bad for them, while they eat the same plant when it is pulled out, even though still fresh, because the terrestrial vibration is no longer there and warning signal exists no longer.» — aplica esa hipótesis al caso del conejo de la lección anterior: la vibración terrestre avisa mientras la planta está en tierra, y desaparece al arrancarla aunque siga fresca.

«One day, the Buddha met the Gods and they told him: “Say your wish and it will be granted”. Buddha said: “Oh, Gods! Grant me the meaning of words and I shall have nothing else to learn.» — anécdota con que la novena lección abre el asunto de la Palabra Perdida, puesta en boca del Buda ante los dioses.

«We shall attempt to define the Verb, language and knowledge. Our study can only be partial because if we fully knew the Verb, we would have returned to the eternal empire.» — acota de entrada el alcance del estudio: solo puede ser parcial, porque conocer el Verbo entero sería haber vuelto ya al imperio eterno.

«According to mystics, a long time ago, on earth, there used to be a unique language called the original language which is sought today as the “Lost Word.”» — adjudica a los místicos la memoria de una lengua original única, buscada hoy bajo el nombre de Palabra Perdida.

«The true Verb, the Verb of the Bible’s ”Fiat Lux is the energy which is ceaselessly radiated by the formless being.» — identifica el Verbo del Fiat Lux con la energía irradiada sin cesar por el ser sin forma.

«Putting order into this energy results in Time, form, space; without these operations there it can only be the Void, the Non-Manifest.» — hace del orden puesto en esa energía el origen de tiempo, forma y espacio, y de su ausencia el Vacío y lo No Manifestado.

«Our body, our flesh, our blood are but vibrations which are subjected to the ultimate law of vibrations: harmony.» — reduce el cuerpo a vibraciones sometidas a la ley última que llama armonía.

«Harmony exists in all realms, but we can get a clear idea of it in the realm of music.» — elige la música como el reino donde la armonía se deja ver con claridad, y de ahí sale el modelo del teclado.

«If we start with a G, each time we strike the higher note of G, we notice that each note is recognizable as such; but the G evolves. The number of vibrations per second (384 for the G) is characteristic of each note.» — describe la octava por el número de vibraciones y da la cifra del sol, que la lección usará después para pasar de la nota a la luz.

«If we could build a piano fitting this description, the vibrations would eventually disturb the radio, then television, then radar. The next note would produce heat and after the forty second G there would be a red light.» — extiende el teclado hasta escalas físicas: radio, televisión, radar, calor y luz roja en la cuadragésima segunda octava del sol.

«A C would create hydrogen, an A would create oxygen. If we make a chord with these two notes we would obtain water.» — lleva la analogía musical a la composición química: do por hidrógeno, la por oxígeno y el acorde de ambos por agua.

«All created things are but a chord of notes on the cosmic keyboard. If we made the same chord in the audible realm, we could have an idea of the vibrations and this would be the true name of its manifestation into the language of the Lost Word.» — generaliza el modelo: toda cosa creada es un acorde del teclado cósmico, y ese acorde sería su nombre verdadero en la lengua perdida.

«The non-initiate vibrates the air of the physical world and his word has little resonance with the higher frequencies. The initiate is an energy-transformer: he re-establishes within himself the links between the various levels of consciousness and the various vibratory levels of the Universe.» — opone el no iniciado, cuya palabra solo mueve el aire físico, al iniciado como transformador de energía que restablece en sí los enlaces entre niveles.

«Thus we can understand in the Bible the part of Genesis where it is said that men created animals by naming them by their true names. Moses pronounced the authentic name of water which sprang forth from the sands of the desert.» — lee dos pasajes bíblicos como aplicaciones del nombre verdadero: la nominación de los animales en el Génesis y el agua que Moisés hace brotar.

«The original language is only useful to man when he has re-established his inner harmony. In this case, the Lost Word is at once Harmony, Power and Knowledge, and as Harmony it includes Love.» — condiciona el provecho de la lengua original a la armonía interior recobrada, y define entonces la Palabra Perdida como armonía, poder y conocimiento.

«Nowadays, the closest language to the original language is Hebrew, as long as we use the letters in accordance with their hieroglyphic meaning, linkages and pronunciation.» — adjudica al hebreo la mayor cercanía con la lengua original, con la condición de usar las letras en su sentido jeroglífico.

«Adam is the androgynous man-God, He is then differentiated into male and female, that is to say, that within himself the passive energies become opposed to the active energies He voluntarily breaks away from the harmony of Unity in order to be able to work his evolution in the world of matter.» — lee a Adán como hombre-Dios andrógino y su diferenciación en macho y hembra como ruptura voluntaria de la unidad para trabajar en la materia.

«The Tower of Babel is his desire to return to Unity too fast. The sky is the symbol of unity and the tower, the means to reach it.» — interpreta la torre como deseo de volver demasiado pronto a la unidad, con el cielo por unidad y la torre por medio.

«The confusion of tongues is the loss of the original language which takes away from man the means to a premature return. It forces him to a complete experience in the level of matter since the loss of the Word isolates him temporarily from higher levels.» — lee la confusión de las lenguas como retirada del medio de retorno prematuro, que obliga a la experiencia completa en la materia.

«The Original Language is a vibratory image of reality. If man reintegrates with unity, it becomes reality for him. This is why this language says: “All words are truth, for the Verb is”.» — define la lengua original como imagen vibratoria de lo real y le adjudica la fórmula de que toda palabra es verdad.

«All the words known to an individual are like a gigantic spider web where each word is a knot joined to other word-knot by the threads. The surface of the web indicates our degree of understanding of Earth languages. All these terms are mere conventions without any absolute value.» — da la imagen de la telaraña de palabras y niega valor absoluto a esos términos.

«Thus, we can’t acquire real knowledge through language or through reading. Only through our personal experience can we slowly change conventional language into a knowledge of Nature’s laws.» — niega el acceso al conocimiento real por lengua o lectura y lo remite a la experiencia personal.

«conventional knowledge which for most represents 98% of knowledge and - the knowledge of Nature’s laws, that is “our reality at our present level of consciousness. It is the only tangible, eternal notion within us, but it is unfortunately very weak in most of humanity.» — reparte lo que se cree saber entre un noventa y ocho por ciento convencional y un resto de conocimiento de las leyes naturales, que llama la única noción tangible.

«Imagine an electrician who, in principle, knows about the laws of nature in the domain of electricity. He makes a plan conforming to these laws, because one does not dominate Nature but respects her in her laws. If his plans and his realization conform, he obtains the desired result and his machine works.» — primer ejemplo de la distinción: el electricista que respeta las leyes y por eso obtiene el resultado.

«Imagine now legal experts establishing a new civil code. What lawyers and law makers presently know would become obsolete as soon as the government ratifies this new code. Yet these laws won’t have any effect on the functioning of the electrician’s machine because the conventions of men have no effect on the laws of Nature.» — segundo ejemplo, por contraste: el código civil nuevo deja obsoleto el saber jurídico y no altera el funcionamiento de la máquina.

«Actually, as a result of confusion, few people separate the real from the conventional, but if we were to meditate to find out what is real, we would realize that many failures come from the fact that we give priority to convention over the real, whereas the reverse is a necessity and a condition for success.» — adjudica muchos fracasos a dar prioridad a la convención sobre lo real, e invierte el orden como condición de éxito.

«Our language is conventional in its intellectual interpretation but the sounds have a certain value. Music has an effect on the inner because it is the reflection of the Lost Word.» — salva el sonido dentro de la lengua convencional y explica el efecto interior de la música como reflejo de la Palabra Perdida.

«applies to the sounds AUM, RA, MA. Even in our conversations, sounds preserve their quality; our primary essence vibrates with A, R is active, M is passive.» — adjudica valor propio a tres sonidos y reparte sus letras entre esencia primaria, actividad y pasividad.

«If we use the proper vibrations, even if they do not have an equivalent in our intellectual language, they resonate in our psychic centers, the progressive awakening of which corresponds to an increase of our consciousness level.» — sostiene que las vibraciones justas resuenan en los centros psíquicos aunque no tengan equivalente intelectual, y que su despertar sube el nivel de consciencia.

«Imagine a pyramid with a missing apex like that of Cheops for example and let us visualize it and the successive regular layers of stones which constitute it.» — introduce la pirámide truncada de Keops como figura de los niveles de conocimiento.

«The bottom layer is that of conventions which fixes the meaning of words: one stone will represent history, another music, another chemistry, another physics. At that level, knowledge is multiple and there does not seem to be any link between the various disciplines of the mind. Thus, they appear separated from each other.» — sitúa en la capa baja de la pirámide las convenciones, donde las disciplinas parecen separadas.

«If we move to a higher layer, we shall then be in the realm of the physical laws of Nature, and there will be, for example, a relationship between physics and chemistry, but not between science and music. The various branches of knowledge are getting closer but unity is not yet apparent.» — describe la capa siguiente, la de las leyes físicas, donde física y química se acercan y la música queda todavía aparte.

«Let us move up a little further; music, chemistry and physics have here several common points, because we are at the beginning of harmony and these sciences are a reflection of universal harmony.» — describe la tercera capa, donde música, química y física comparten puntos por reflejar la armonía universal.

«If we reach the top platform, harmony appears there at its highest level and the unity of knowledge can be perceived. What we call feelings are part of it and knowledge, understanding and love are but a single thing.» — describe la plataforma alta, donde conocimiento, comprensión y amor son una sola cosa y los sentimientos entran en ella.

«However, the unity is not complete. That is the meaning of the mutilated apex of the pyramid. Complete unity - the Apex of the pyramid - is not materialized because it is not accessible to man before he has returned to the invisible empire.» — lee el ápice mutilado como signo de que la unidad completa no es accesible al hombre antes del retorno al imperio invisible.

«It is necessary to touch upon the subject of the Qabala before we can understand and use the planetary attributions of plants in Alchemy.» — pone la cábala como paso previo para entender y usar las atribuciones planetarias de las plantas.

«The Qabala is an attempt to explain the macrocosm of which man, the microcosm, is the image.» — define la cábala como intento de explicar el macrocosmos del que el hombre es imagen.

«On figure #1, the circles represent the successive emanations of creation which correspond to the different levels of consciousness in man. These emanations are called Sephiroth and are numbered from 1 to 10. This numbering represents the different stages through which higher energies pass on their path downward.» — identifica los círculos de la figura con las emanaciones, las llama sefirot y las numera como etapas del descenso de las energías.

«The Sephiroth 1 and 2, Kether and Chockmah, are outside the world of form and cannot be reached by alchemical spagirics.» — deja las dos primeras sefirot fuera del alcance de la espagiria por estar fuera del mundo de la forma.

«The third one, Binah, whose Planetary Chakra is the planet Saturn, is the first obstacle to the descent of energies; thus, the first we should cleanse ; this is accomplished with an elixir made with a Saturn plant. Then, we move onto Chesed with a Jupiter plant, and Geburah with a Mars plant, Tiphereth with a Sun plant and so on until Yesod where the path to Malkuth is open.» — ordena la limpieza sefirótica por elixires planetarios, de Binah con planta saturnina hasta Yesod, y con eso abre el camino a Maljut.

«This work enables the operator to perform a psychic detoxification.» — nombra el efecto que atribuye a esa serie de elixires: una desintoxicación psíquica.

«If we examine figure #2, the Chymical Sky, where the attributions of metals and plants are represented, we should notice that the sequence is the same as the one of the Tree of Life of the Kabala except for the Moon and the Sun. The difference comes from the fact that, in this case, the emphasis is on the ascent more than the descent.» — coteja el Cielo Químico con el Árbol de la Vida y explica la diferencia en Sol y Luna por el sentido del recorrido, que aquí es de ascenso.

«This figure does not show the planetary attributions of Malkuth for the metal which is affected is antimony, and it has different properties from all other metals.» — explica la ausencia de Maljut en la figura por el metal que le toca, el antimonio, de propiedades distintas de las de los demás.

«In the vegetable realm, there is only one plant whose alchemical behavior is analogous to that of antimony, and we shall study it in the near future.» — anuncia una única planta de comportamiento análogo al antimonio, sin nombrarla todavía.

«By azeotrope, we mean the impossibility to completely separate two liquids through distillation. In the case of water-alcohol, the azeotrope is stabilized when there is about 3 to 4% of water left in the alcohol.» — define el azeótropo y da la cifra del par agua-alcohol: entre tres y cuatro por ciento de agua residual.

«The mixture of the two liquids has a boiling temperature less than that of each of the liquids separately.» — consigna que la mezcla hierve por debajo de cada líquido por separado.

«The azeotrope is modified. At normal pressure, one can reach a percentage of alcohol of 95.6% and ina vacuum of 95 mm, 99.5%, which is very close to absolute alcohol.» — cuantifica el efecto del vacío sobre el azeótropo: del 95,6 por ciento a presión normal al 99,5 en vacío.

«During vacuum distillation, it is important to place distillation (boiling) stones in the liquid. They are small chunks of pumice stone or teflon which have been carefully cleaned; they are neutral from a chemical point of view. 3 or 4 of these stones are placed in the boiling flask. They are cleaned after each use and can be used indefinitely. Their use is recommended for any distillation for they smoothe the boiling action.» — prescribe las piedras de ebullición, su material neutro, su número y su reutilización indefinida.

«There is no need to have a vacuum that is too low; it is at about 95 or 75 mm of mercury of residual vacuum that the strength of the alcohol is the highest. If the vacuum is too low, the liquid will evaporate at the ambient temperature and thus water can go through.» — pone tope al vacío por dos razones: el alcohol alcanza su grado máximo entre 95 y 75 milímetros y un vacío mayor deja pasar agua.

«We should point out that the current language is just a set of conventions. If we wish to» — describe la lengua corriente como mero conjunto de convenciones; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y sigue con el recurso al diccionario.

«boiling occurs at lower temperatures. With a vacuum of 9/10 atmospheres, that is 95 mm of mercury of residual pressure, a temperature of 51C is needed to reach water boiling point» — primera ventaja del vacío con sus cifras: a 95 milímetros de presión residual el agua hierve a 51 grados; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo, y la frase sigue con el alcohol a 33,5 y la razón de no destruir por calor la esencia frágil.

«As in figure #5, a ballast-flask which serves as a vacuum reservoir is useful to prevent the water from returning to the distillation products. The tube which joins the vacuum pump to the vacuum intake must be specially made for vacuum because tubes that are too thin collapse and it is then impossible to establish a vacuum.» — detalle de montaje del vacío: matraz de lastre para que el agua no vuelva al producto, y tubo específico para vacío porque el delgado colapsa.

«Ancient Names ammoniac salt blue vitriol Chilian saltpeper cream of tartar deer horns salt English Salt-Epsom Salt Flame salt Glauber salt green vitriol grey salt lemon salt liberating salt Magnesia Salt niter salt red vitriol rock salt roman vitriol Salt of the Wise saltpeter saturn salt Sedlitz salt soda salt tartar salt tartaric acid Venice salt vitriol oil vitriol salt vitriol vitriol stone vitriol tartar watercress salt» — columna de nombres antiguos del léxico de sales con que cierra la novena lección; la columna moderna que le corresponde va aparte en el impreso.

«Modern Names ammonium chloride copper sulfate sodium nitrate acid potassium tartrate (purified) ammonium chloride Magnesium sulfate Magnesium sulfate melted rock salt Sodium sulfate iron sulfate impure marine salt potassium oxalate» — columna de equivalencias modernas del mismo léxico, con las dos columnas impresas seguidas y no enfrentadas.

«The Alchemy student must be tolerant. This is why we are considering the notions of Absolute and not the Absolute itself, because, according to the mystics, the Absolute is the Whole, the Unity, which is only accessible through Being Re-integration.» — funda la exigencia de tolerancia en una distinción: se tratan las nociones de absoluto y no el Absoluto, accesible solo por reintegración.

«The only absolute which exists in this world is precisely the fact that, physically speaking, Absolute is inaccessible here below.» — formula como único absoluto de este mundo la inaccesibilidad física del absoluto.

«When an argument seems decisive and categorical, most likely one part of the reality is being veiled-doubt, for instance, may be hidden, and this takes away the absolute character of the argument.» — da una regla de lectura de los argumentos: lo categórico suele velar una parte de lo real, y ese velo le quita el carácter absoluto.

«Conversely, if an idea appears to be whole, then probably the problem wasn’t studied well enough; one must then look for the elements which will smooth the edges.» — invierte la regla: la idea que parece completa señala un estudio insuficiente.

«The fact of realizing that the Absolute is not accessible in this world leads to tolerance, to comprehension. However, doubt should not lead us to hesitation or even indecisiveness.» — deriva de esa inaccesibilidad la tolerancia, y acota enseguida que la duda no debe volverse indecisión.

«We can compare each situation to the two sides of a coin, each side having its advantages and drawbacks. After an observation or a meditation, we choose one or the other knowingly.» — propone la moneda de dos caras como modelo de decisión: elegir a sabiendas después de observar o meditar.

«When the scientists, relying on their knowledge, challenge metaphysical concepts, we can answer that nothing is verified in an absolute manner; that mathematics are based upon postulates that can’t be demonstrated; that other sciences are based upon sensory experiments, and thus their knowledge is no more certain than their senses.» — da la respuesta que propone frente al científico que objeta lo metafísico: postulados indemostrables en matemáticas y sentidos falibles en las demás ciencias.

«Tolerance does not mean to accept all beliefs, we would otherwise become unstable and changing. True tolerance consists in the willingness to examine facts, compare them with our own concepts and accept to modify or change what was accepted until then.» — acota la tolerancia contra su malentendido: no es aceptar toda creencia sino disposición a examinar y a modificar lo aceptado.

«Tolerance is a mandatory element to evolution, as evolution is itself constant modification. Whoever places himself in a fixed, determined point of view, cannot progress because his intolerance leads him to refuse any change required for any kind of progress.» — hace de la tolerancia condición de la evolución, por ser ésta modificación constante, y de la intolerancia el bloqueo del progreso.

«One aspect of tolerance is understanding; understanding is in fact the application of tolerance to the domain of others behavior in life.» — define la comprensión como aplicación de la tolerancia a la conducta ajena.

«To understand is to not judge, nor to excuse, but only to try to light the way for our kin onto his path.» — acota la comprensión entre dos extremos: ni juzgar ni excusar, sino alumbrar el camino del prójimo.

«In knowledge, there is no good nor evil, just a degree of understanding.» — niega el par bien y mal dentro del conocimiento y lo sustituye por grados de comprensión.

«Some philosophical schools classify their members into three categories: —apprentices —journeymen —masters The apprentice performs the separation, the journeyman performs the purification, and the master performs the cohobation.» — reparte los tres tiempos del método entre los tres grados de las escuelas: aprendiz separa, oficial purifica, maestro cohoba.

«Our menstruum must be sharp. If there is residual water in this alcohol, it will dissolve some salts of the plant and the separation will not be perfect.» — exige menstruo afinado y da la razón operativa: el agua residual disuelve sales de la planta y estropea la separación.

«In addition, if our alcohol is not absolute, it will not be indeterminate. A universal menstruum for a realm must be indeterminate, it shouldn’t have any specific traces of its origin. It must be at the point of highest maturity for its realm.» — define el menstruo universal de un reino por su indeterminación: sin traza de su origen y en el punto de madurez máxima del reino.

«One must remember that the Stone or Elixir is made from only one thing. For example, for lemon balm, we have a choice between indeterminate, absolute alcohol and the alcohol extracted from the balm which will be sharpened later by cohobation on the lemon balm salt.» — repite la regla de la materia única y da la alternativa práctica para la melisa: alcohol absoluto indeterminado o alcohol de la propia planta afinado por cohobación sobre su sal.

«If we are capable of producing a perfect vegetable mercury, that is, the indeterminate absolute grape alcohol, the separation of the seven planetary elixirs will be greatly facilitated.» — hace depender la facilidad de los siete elixires planetarios de disponer del mercurio vegetal perfecto, el alcohol de uva absoluto e indeterminado.

«First, we need to buy the tartar sold under the name of potassium carbonate; later, we shall make it ourselves. Spread it onto an oven proof dish and place the dish in the oven at 150-200C (300-400F) for an hour. Collect it while it is hot and place it in a sealed jar.» — instrucción para deshidratar el alcohol: carbonato de potasio calentado una hora y guardado en caliente en frasco cerrado.

«After a 24 hour maceration, proceed with distillation, avoiding any air intake into the apparatus. The distillation must not be pushed beyond 2/3 of the alcohol contained and the alcohol must be kept in airtight flasks.» — limita la destilación a dos tercios del alcohol y manda guardarlo en frascos herméticos.

«The instrument which is most often used nowadays is the SOXHLET extractor. It consists of three parts.» — nombra el extractor Soxhlet como instrumento corriente de la extracción y anuncia sus tres partes.

«This notion of the relativity of the physical absolute should be considered in relation to what is often heard among scientists, “this is scientifically demonstrated, this is a certitude”. Further, no more in the mathematical realm than in sciences, is there an absolute demonstration.» — aplica esa relatividad a la fórmula corriente de lo científicamente demostrado y niega la demostración absoluta también en el terreno matemático.

«The less contact the alcohol has with the air, the better it» — da la razón de guardar el alcohol al abrigo del aire; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y la frase sigue diciendo que absorbe humedad hasta bajar al 96,5 por ciento.

«The solvent (water, alcohol or acetic acid) boils, its vapors condense in the upper condenser; from there, the distilled liquid falls drop by drop into the thimble, impregnates the vegetable powder, dissolves its principle, fills the thimble and slowly fills up the body of the extractor. When the liquid reaches the upper level of the siphon, the latter is primed and the liquid flows into the bottom flask where it is again boiled and the cycle starts all over again.» — describe el ciclo del Soxhlet, del disolvente que hierve al sifón que devuelve el líquido al matraz.

«Because the vegetable powder is saturated with a hot distilled liquid, the extraction is more dynamic than a maceration or circulation.» — opone la extracción con Soxhlet a la maceración y la circulación por su carácter más dinámico.

«The liquid siphoned off. will be very dark at first, then lighter and lighter. When it has become very clear, generally following 7 or 12 cycles of the siphon, the extraction is finished.» — da la señal de fin de la extracción por el color y el número de ciclos del sifón, entre siete y doce.

«The heat must be reduced progressively as the liquid in the bottom flask becomes more concentrated, for these products are often sensitive to heat. A certain volume (about 1/4 of the total) of liquid should remain in the flask at the time of the priming of the siphon.» — precaución de la extracción: bajar el calor conforme se concentra el líquido, porque el producto suele ser sensible, y dejar un cuarto del volumen en el matraz.

«It is necessary to install a chimney made of filter paper in the center of the thimble, down to 2/3 of its height. It helps the saturation of the plant matter.» — detalle de taller: una chimenea de papel de filtro dentro del dedal para que la materia vegetal se sature.

«A paper thimble may not be used again unless it is used for a product similar to the one last used.» — restringe el reúso del dedal de papel a productos semejantes al anterior.

«You can also find Pyrex thimbles with a porous glass bottom; they have the following advantages: 1) it prevents the retention of alcohol in the paper of the thimbles. 2) thus distillation is not needed to recover the alcohol. 3) it can be used again with any kind of plant, after it has been cleansed.» — enumera las tres ventajas del dedal de vidrio poroso frente al de papel, entre ellas ahorrar la destilación para recobrar el alcohol.

«There are two kinds of condenser (upper part), those in which the vapor circulates in the same direction as the liquid and the others where the condensed liquid flows back, (called reflux condensers). These are condensers with big tubes or with balls called ALLIHN balls; they are necessary in the Soxhlet extraction.» — distingue los dos tipos de condensador y declara necesarios los de reflujo, de bolas Allihn, para el Soxhlet.

«We recommend that you use a Saturn plant for the first extraction. The liquid thus obtained is called the plant tincture. It contains both its Sulfur and its Mercury. The salts will be extracted from the residues of the plant contained in the Soxhlet thimble.» — prescribe planta saturnina para la primera extracción y define la tintura como lo que lleva azufre y mercurio, con la sal aún en el residuo.

«Close the top of the condenser to avoid any intake of moisture; a flat lid with a small weight on top of it (or a balloon slipped over the top of the condenser) prevents the risk of explosion in case of overpressure.» — detalle de seguridad del montaje: cerrar el condensador contra la humedad, pero con tapa lastrada o globo para que ceda ante una sobrepresión.

«Some people think that electrical heat is a heresy, in alchemy or spagyrics. But, based on our experience, our point of view is different.» — recoge la objeción corriente al calor eléctrico y la niega apelando a la experiencia propia.

«We think this opinion is a superstition due to a misunderstanding of the alchemical problem. Alchemy is a process which is similar to the generation brooded while in the egg by the hen, hence the name of the philosophical Egg.» — llama superstición a esa objeción y funda su respuesta en la analogía del huevo empollado, de donde viene el nombre del Huevo filosófico.

«An electrical incubator allows the hatching of the chicks it does not block the evolution of the animal sperm; why should it not be the same for the metallic or vegetable sperm?» — cierra el argumento con la incubadora eléctrica, que no estorba al esperma animal, y traslada la pregunta al metálico y al vegetal.

«to give an overview of the spiritual concept that alchemists have of the world. — to present the nature of Knowledge and its development through the elevation of the levels of consciousness. — to understand that personal experience has priority over dogma.» — resume en tres puntos lo hecho en la parte filosófica, y el tercero da primacía a la experiencia personal sobre el dogma.

«The world is created by the repetition of the phenomenon of dividing a primary element. This leads to a ternary law expressed in the symbol of the triangle. From the Apex, two lines diverge, representing the two elements created by the dividing of one.» — funda la creación en la división repetida de un elemento primario y la representa por el triángulo.

«we start from the universe’s most subtle matter, the chaos (or hyle), called the water of Chaos in the Bible, the ones above and the ones below. This chaos, a wholly spiritual element, is divided into two imperfect spiritual elements: Niter and Salt;» — parte del caos o hyle, que empareja con las aguas bíblicas de arriba y de abajo, y lo divide en dos elementos espirituales imperfectos; el tramo corta antes del compuesto positive-active, partido por el renglón.

«active element; Salt is a negative-passive element.» — continuación de esa frase tras el corte: el niter es positivo y activo, la sal negativa y pasiva.

«The Niter consists of the active Fire and the passive Air, therefore the symbol of the line in the triangle, that of an enclosed energy, an obstacle. The Salt consists of Water, an active element, and the Earth, a passive element. Here we are not speaking of the Salt which is part of the three principles: Sulfur, Mercury and Salt.» — compone niter y sal con los cuatro elementos, y advierte que esta sal no es la de los tres principios.

«As primary elements, Fire and Air are elements of the invisible worlds. Water and Earth belong to the material world.» — reparte los cuatro elementos entre los mundos invisibles y el material.

«In the sequence, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, we go from the most volatile to the most fixed. In reverse, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, we go from the most fixed to the most volatile. Air is fixed in relation to fire, but volatile in relation to Water.» — ordena los elementos por volatilidad y fijeza y muestra que los términos son relativos con el caso del aire.

«The Alchemists attribute colors to these elements; the presence of the colors inform them as to the nature of the dominant element, and thus, of the stage in progress of the experiment or process.» — hace del color el indicador del elemento dominante y, con él, de la etapa del proceso.

«Fire; red — Air; yellow — Water; blue (white in solid bodies) — Earth; green (black in solid bodies)» — da la tabla de colores por elemento, con la variante que toman en los cuerpos sólidos.

«In alchemical operations, the sequence of colors will be: — black, white, yellow, red, whether we are talking about the vegetable Stone or the mineral Stone.» — fija la misma secuencia de colores para la piedra vegetal y la mineral.

«The first divisions are not taking form into what the ancients called the sublunar world; they are represented by circles. The horizontal line symbolizes the passive; the vertical one, the active.» — da la clave de los signos: círculo para lo que aún no toma forma, horizontal para lo pasivo y vertical para lo activo.

«Upon arrival in the world of form, the division into duality is represented by a triangle with its point above for the subtle, below for the coarse.» — completa la clave con el triángulo, cuya punta arriba o abajo distingue lo sutil de lo grueso.

«Because of the presence of these four elements in all mixtures, operations will be carried out in four successive stages. As each of the elements has a different degree of volatility or fixity, different reactions occur in the various stages of the operation.» — deriva de la presencia de los cuatro elementos la operación en cuatro tiempos, por sus distintos grados de volatilidad.

«For those of you who are interested in numerology, there are seven secondary causes which govern the material world; they will give birth to the three principles, which gives us ten.» — cuenta siete causas segundas que rigen el mundo material y con los tres principios completa el diez.

«Spreading sheets on grass to collect the dew is romantic but completely useless; the dew water from plants is not the best: the greater part of its alchemical force has already been lost.» — desecha la recogida de rocío por inútil: el agua de rocío de las plantas ya perdió lo principal de su fuerza.

«Rain water is useful in Alchemy if it is charged with the niter coming from Chaos — which the Easterners refer to as prana — in fact the spiritual principle of life.» — condiciona el valor del agua de lluvia a su carga de niter, que empareja con el prana oriental y llama principio espiritual de la vida.

«As soon as the water touches the earth or the plants, it looses its niter and from “electrical” it becomes “magnetic”. Its charge of niter is higher in the summer, especially during thunderstorm rains.» — describe la pérdida del niter al tocar tierra como paso de eléctrico a magnético, y sitúa la carga máxima en las tormentas de verano.

«When the rain touches the earth, it gives its niter away to everything that lacks it. Ona roof, the rain progressively charges the tiles with niter; when the tiles are saturated, the water ceases to lose its niter. Note that this explains why some alchemical recipes recommend the use of old crushed tiles.» — explica la saturación progresiva de las tejas y saca de ahí la razón de las recetas que mandan usar teja vieja machacada.

«Thus, after the rain falls for an hour or two the roof is washed and the water keeps its niter. That is when it needs to be collected, before it reaches the ground. We collect it directly into a glass or plastic container but never into a metallic container.» — fija el momento de recoger el agua, con el tejado ya lavado, y prohíbe el recipiente metálico.

«The water will be kept in open flasks; cover the neck with fabric of which the weave is as tight as possible. The fabric will enable the air to come in and out, while preventing the contamination of the water with dust.» — prescribe frascos abiertos con tela tupida, que dejan pasar el aire y no el polvo.

«The first test consists of pouring water in a pyrex dish which is very clean to a height of 1/2 cm and let the water evaporate by heating it without boiling it. We should be very close to the boiling point without ever reaching it. When the dish is dry, there should not be any deposit. If there is a deposit, either our filtering through the cotton was not done well or the rain still had not washed the roof clean enough.» — da la primera prueba de calidad del agua, por evaporación sin hervir, y las dos causas posibles de que quede depósito.

«The ancient Philosophers say that, during this time, it is desirable that the water not be seen by either the sun or the moon. A maturation period of one lunar month is a minimum but six to seven lunar months is better.» — adjudica a los filósofos antiguos la condición de que el agua no sea vista por el sol ni por la luna, y da el plazo de maduración.

«The water will then be ready for the preparation of the universal menstruum of water, the Archeus, and for the extraction of the universal seed, the Gur, the primordial elements brought to the earth by the air and then by the rain water.» — nombra los dos productos de esa agua madurada, el Archeus y el Gur, y describe al segundo como semilla universal traída por el aire y la lluvia.

«The white is purification. The yellow is the successful fecundation. The red is the mature and perfect fruit.» — traduce los tres últimos colores de la secuencia a su operación: purificación, fecundación lograda y fruto maduro; el negro, que la lección da por muerte, putrefacción o separación, queda del otro lado del corte de troceo.

«The second test consists in taking a liter or half a liter of this water and distilling it; we» — da la segunda prueba de calidad del agua, por destilación; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y el criterio, que pase todo, queda en la plana siguiente.

«When it is well performed, the experiment shows that creation belongs to Alchemy: it shows in the microcosm what is possible in the macrocosm.» — declara lo que el experimento del Gur mostraría: que la creación pertenece a la alquimia, mostrada en el microcosmos.

«When the liquid to be distilled is boiling, small bubbles burst on the surface; a large portion of the liquid falls back down, but some micro-droplets of liquid are carried away by the vapor and may reach the receiving flask without undergoing distillation. The Kjedahl sphere is a trap for these micro-droplets.» — explica para qué sirve la esfera Kjeldahl: atrapar las microgotas que el vapor arrastra sin destilar.

«The control of the distillation is done by measuring the temperature of the vapors.» — repite el criterio de control de la destilación: la temperatura del vapor.

«we strongly recommend against buying mercury thermometers with a graduation going beyond 350C, for mercury boils at 356C and a gas under pressure prevents it from boiling; but in case of violent breakage, the vapor of mercury spreads and it is lethal to inhale this vapor.» — desaconseja los termómetros de mercurio de más de 350 grados y da la razón: el mercurio hierve a 356 y su vapor es letal si el vidrio revienta.

«The simplest control is done by measuring the density. It is the weight in grams of one liter of liquid. The density of water is 1.000.» — define la densidad como control más simple del producto destilado.

«Prior to all distillation, it is necessary to do a vacuum test for at least one hour without heating. If the vacuum is not maintained, the ground joints should be taken apart, cleaned with some trichlorethylene, or sulfuric acid and chromic acid cleaner, greased again making sure there is absolutely no dust.» — prescribe una hora de prueba de vacío en frío y el remedio si no aguanta: desmontar, limpiar y engrasar las juntas sin polvo.

«As it heats up, the vacuum may decrease; in this case, the condensing circuit is not sufÏcient; surround the receiving flask with a mixture of water and ice.» — diagnostica la caída del vacío al calentar como condensación insuficiente y da el remedio de agua con hielo.

«The Elements Fire, Air, Water, and Earth can act upon each other or can be combined. On Figure #3 (page 7) we can see the reciprocal action: — Fire and Air give the hot quality. — Air and Water give the humid quality. — Water and Earth give the cold quality. — Earth and Fire give the dry quality.» — da las cuatro cualidades como resultado de la acción recíproca de los elementos por pares.

«Fire and Air, the subtle elements, give the Sulfur and are said to belong to the “electrical” realm; the Sulfur is the power, the means.» — deriva el azufre de fuego y aire, lo adscribe al orden que llama eléctrico y lo define como potencia y medio.

«Air and Water — one is subtle, the other coarse — give the Mercury, the force; the Mercury is essentially the link which unites the two worlds.» — deriva el mercurio de aire y agua y lo define como fuerza y enlace entre los dos mundos.

«Water and Earth give the Salt, the coarsest element. It is the element of the body which has the potential to realize what the power of the Sulfur imposes on it through the vehicle of the Mercury. If the Mercury is the volatile Elixir, the Salt is the foundation of the Fixed Stone. The two elements Earth and Water are said to be “magnetic”.» — deriva la sal de agua y tierra y le adjudica el cuerpo, la fundación de la piedra fija y el orden magnético, frente al elixir volátil del mercurio.

«The balanced combination of the four elements gives the quintessence which, like the Mercury, is a linking element.» — define la quintaesencia como combinación equilibrada de los cuatro elementos y elemento de enlace, como el mercurio.

«We may, however, say that there are different kinds of quintessences, and that it is the balance of the elements which gives the vegetable quintessence which is not the same as the balance of the mineral or animal quintessence.» — multiplica la quintaesencia por reino: el equilibrio de los elementos que da la vegetal no es el de la mineral ni el de la animal.

«This order is that of Nature, but the Art which completes the work of nature proceeds differently. We can purify the three principles with the ALKAHEST. Their combination will give the Passive Philosophical Silver and the Active Philosophical Gold, which have nothing in common with the metals bearing the same names.» — separa el orden del arte del de la naturaleza y nombra sus dos productos, Plata Filosófica pasiva y Oro Filosófico activo, negando que sean los metales homónimos.

«The AZOTH allows their union, the outcome of which is the Fixed Red Stone.» — adjudica al Azoth la unión de esos dos y le hace dar por término la Piedra Roja Fija.

«ALKAHEST, MERCURY, AZOTH are of the same nature, but they differ from each other in their degree of life force and maturity.» — identifica en naturaleza los tres nombres y los separa solo por grado de fuerza vital y madurez.

«The elements are not indentically distributed in the various parts of a given being. In the vegetable realm, the roots are the element Earth, the trunk and the branches the element Water, the leaves, the element Air, and the flowers the element Fire.» — reparte los cuatro elementos por partes de la planta, de la raíz terrestre a la flor ígnea; la grafía indentically es del impreso.

«Thus, if we compare this theory with the theory of the four temperaments we can find in each vegetable what is suitable for each one, in order to compensate for the imbalance of elements in oneself.» — empareja ese reparto con la doctrina de los cuatro temperamentos para elegir en cada vegetal lo que compense el desequilibrio propio.

«repetition of the same operation on the same product to obtain evolution. 2. fermentation or putrefaction to liberate certain elements; death to experience rebirth. 3. separation or cohobation of the principles to obtain through their reunion a product exalted to a higher level.» — resume en tres los procesos operativos del arte: repetición para evolucionar, fermentación para liberar, y separación y cohobación para exaltar.

«We could start with the making of the seven infusions, one per planet, always starting with Saturn. But the principles of the plants, and in particular their essential oils (Sulfur) are partly lost and there is neither repetition nor purification.» — descarta la vía de las siete infusiones por lo que pierde: parte de los aceites esenciales, y sin repetición ni purificación.

«If we use the undetermined menstruum we mentioned in pages 3 and 5 of lesson 10, we can make the seven elixirs, one per planet. They are already much more powerful because the menstruum is more perfected.» — propone hacer los siete elixires con el menstruo indeterminado, más potentes por la perfección del disolvente.

«To proceed to the next stage we must undertake the separation of the three principles.» — pone la separación de los tres principios como umbral de la etapa siguiente.

«As we advance in Alchemy, we should keep in mind that nature and its inner mechanisms are only slowly awakened. Nobody tears the Veil of Isis; it may only be lifted with patience and the love of Nature and Humankind.» — cierra la parte teórica con la imagen del velo de Isis, que nadie rasga y solo la paciencia levanta.

«One should get sulfur-free rubber stoppers, of a 22 mm size (small diameter) which are perforated with two holes. You can also get champagne corks and boil them, which brings them back to their original size. Perforate two 6 mm holes in them and finish with a smooth rat-tail file, so that the 8 mm tubes are able to pass through if you push them in. For greater safety, this last operation should be performed with thick gloves.» — detalle del montaje casero: tapones de goma sin azufre o corchos de champán hervidos, perforados a lima con guantes gruesos.

«All ends of the glass tubes are fire-polished. The 8 mm tubes should not be bent at a radius of curvature less than 3 cm (1.18 in) or better 5 cm (1.96 in), otherwise the tube will collapse and the section is shortened.» — regla de curvado del tubo de vidrio, con el radio mínimo para que no colapse.

«Mix half of glass pieces and half of sand. Pour the mixture into a metallic box mounted on the table of an old turn-table (Figure #2 C). After rotating for several hours, the glass becomes round. Separate it from the sand with a strainer, and clean it with rain water.» — receta casera para fabricar el relleno de la columna: vidrio y arena girando horas sobre un tocadiscos viejo, cribados y lavados con agua de lluvia.

«This glass has a disadvantage; it retains much liquid. You should have several numbered columns and use each one always for the same product.» — declara el inconveniente de ese vidrio casero, que retiene líquido, y de ahí la regla de una columna numerada por producto.

«In most hermetic texts, important sentences are often buried in the midst of long discourses or symbolic allegories. The following text is quoted from an old hermetic book from which we eliminated the unnecessary and obscure terms.» — declara la operación editorial que el curso hace sobre el texto que sigue: es de un libro hermético antiguo, del que dice haber quitado lo innecesario y lo oscuro; el índice del volumen rotula esta lección como máxima de la Cadena de Oro de Homero.

«As we previously mentioned, we do not use dead bodies in Alchemy. That is why regular metals can’t be used. Only living metallic salts are useful for the work in the mineral realm.» — deriva de la regla de los cuerpos vivos la exclusión del metal corriente y la elección de las sales metálicas vivas.

«In Nature, everything issues from a unique operative principle which produces all generations and all dissolutions.» — [texto hermético antiguo condensado por el curso] reduce generación y disolución a un principio operativo único.

«Nature is the body of all beings forming the visible world and of the invisible principle which animates them and which, although distinct from God, emanates from Him.» — [texto hermético antiguo condensado por el curso] define la naturaleza por el cuerpo visible y el principio invisible que lo anima, distinto de Dios y emanado de él.

«God drew Nature out of the Void by virtue of his Word which engendered an immense and subtle Vapor in which he imprinted a Spirit of force and power.» — [texto hermético antiguo] hace salir la naturaleza del vacío por el Verbo, que engendra un vapor inmenso y sutil con un espíritu impreso.

«Vapor condenses into a Water qualified as Universal and Chaotic by Philosophers: The Chaos. From this water the universe is formed.» — [texto hermético antiguo] condensa el vapor en el agua que los filósofos llaman universal y caótica, de la que se forma el universo.

«The chaotic water is twofold, the universal, visible water and the invisible spirit inherent within it. Two things in one.» — [texto hermético antiguo] desdobla el agua caótica en agua visible y espíritu inherente, y las declara dos cosas en una.

«Water without Spirit would be without form. Spirit without water would be without action.» — [texto hermético antiguo] hace de cada mitad la condición de la otra: sin espíritu no hay forma y sin agua no hay acción.

«All things draw their existence from the same root and all can therefore be reduced to that same root.» — [texto hermético antiguo] funda la reducción de todo a una raíz común en el origen compartido.

«This is why philosophers say: “our matter is in all things, but not in the same quality or quantity in all things.» — [texto hermético antiguo] cita el adagio de los filósofos sobre la materia presente en todo, con la acotación de calidad y cantidad dentro de la propia frase.

«The original crystal-clear and pure water is passive, but under the action of the active Spirit, it putrefies. Subtle parts and coarser parts are formed.» — [texto hermético antiguo] hace putrefacta el agua original pasiva bajo la acción del espíritu activo, y de ahí las partes sutiles y las gruesas.

«The most subtle form the Sky or Fire, the less subtle form the Air, and the coarsest form the Water and finally, the Earth.» — [texto hermético antiguo] ordena los cuatro elementos según ese reparto de sutileza.

«These four elements only differ between them in their degree of fixity or subtlety. But the double chaotic water becomes quadruple through the separation of elements.» — [texto hermético antiguo] reduce la diferencia entre elementos a fijeza y sutileza, y hace cuádruple por separación el agua caótica doble.

«Each element continually produces a seed in the likeness of itself, in its center. From the union of these seeds a chaotic water of the same nature as the primordial water is engendered.» — [texto hermético antiguo] hace que cada elemento engendre en su centro una semilla, y de la unión de esas semillas otra agua caótica igual a la primordial.

«This water generated by the elements is called: Universal Seed, Soul and Spirit of the World. It is the unspecified universal spirit, visible in the form of water: the ARCHEUS of Nature.» — [texto hermético antiguo] nombra esa agua Semilla Universal, Alma y Espíritu del Mundo, y Archeus de la naturaleza.

«The Animating Spirit provokes emanations: coming from above, these are influences coming from below, these are exhalations.» — [texto hermético antiguo] reparte las emanaciones por su dirección: influencias las de arriba, exhalaciones las de abajo.

«Emanations provoked by the Spirit as specific seed engender The Universal Seed through their reunion. Fire with Air, Water with Earth and the two composites unite as male and female.» — [texto hermético antiguo] compone la Semilla Universal por parejas de elementos que se unen como macho y hembra.

«You can’t go from one extreme to the other without passing through the middle.» — [texto hermético antiguo] enuncia la regla de la que salen las dos secuencias de fijación y volatilización que siguen.

«The union of elements fixes the volatile if we have the following sequence: Fire with Air, then with Water, then with the Earth. The union of the elements renders the fixed quality of the Earth volatile if we have the sequence Earth with Water, with Air, then with Fire.» — [texto hermético antiguo] da las dos secuencias inversas: fuego hacia tierra fija lo volátil, y tierra hacia fuego volatiliza lo fijo.

«The Universal Seed is formed through the emanations of the Sky, Air, Water, Earth, through the degradation of these elements into their respective coarse matter. Its elements are homogeneous as they are only constituted from Chaotic Water and Spirit.» — [texto hermético antiguo] declara homogénea la Semilla Universal por estar hecha solo de agua caótica y espíritu.

«The Earth is a fixed Sky, the Sky a volatile Earth, Air is a rarefied Water, and Water a condensed Air. The most subtle element is also the most mobile; it is the one which transmits motion to others.» — [texto hermético antiguo] convierte los elementos unos en otros por rarefacción y condensación, y adjudica el movimiento al más sutil.

«We recommend you read this part again and meditate upon it before undertaking the distillation of elements or experiments on the GUR.» — el curso retoma su propia voz para mandar releer y meditar ese texto antes de destilar elementos o de operar sobre el Gur.

«Modern alchemists have established a link between certain simple bodies of current chemistry and alchemical elements: — Fire to hydrogen — Air to nitrogen — Water to oxygen — Earth to carbon.» — recoge la equivalencia que atribuye a alquimistas modernos entre los cuatro elementos y cuatro cuerpos simples de la química.

«We note that carbon is a key element of nature; it insures the link between the mineral world and the organic, animal and plant worlds.» — hace del carbono la llave que enlaza el mundo mineral con el orgánico.

«In our experiments, the residual vegetable salt is a body without carbon that has been burned, the salt is thus brought back to its mineral world. The mineral world provides the plant world with its matrices. As soon as carbon is present, organic life appears.» — explica el retorno de la sal vegetal al mundo mineral por la ausencia de carbono tras la quema, y hace del carbono el umbral de la vida orgánica.

«If we consider the division of modern chemistry, organic chemistry deals with the realm of vegetable sulfur and mercury and inorganic chemistry with that of vegetable salt.» — reparte la química moderna sobre los tres principios: la orgánica cubre azufre y mercurio vegetales, la inorgánica la sal.

«We should note that in the process of the separation of the plant, volatile salts are forming which belong to the organic world. They should be incorporated with the vegetable Sulfur.» — señala las sales volátiles que se forman al separar la planta y manda incorporarlas al azufre vegetal por pertenecer al mundo orgánico.

«The primary component of the earth’s vegetable realm is its salt, potassium. Tartar salt is potassium carbonate. The primary component of the salt of sea vegetables is sodium; sodium is a metal very close to potassium. The blood of man belongs to the realm of sodium.» — reparte potasio y sodio entre vegetales de tierra y de mar, y adscribe la sangre humana al orden del sodio.

«We are studying the separation of vegetable Sulfur which, for the greatest part, lies in the essential oils of the vegetable realm. These can only be separated through steam distillation.» — sitúa el azufre vegetal en los aceites esenciales y declara la destilación por vapor su única vía de separación.

«The plant chosen for this work can be either caraway (seeds) or lavender (flowers) or matricary. Proportions are 50 g for a 1 liter flask, or 250 g for a 5 liter flask.» — da las plantas y las proporciones del experimento de separación del azufre vegetal.

«The tube (C) is filled with water; it can be replaced by a relief valve, for its role is simply to prevent flask (A) from exploding if the steam circuit becomes clogged.» — explica la función de seguridad de un elemento del montaje: evitar que el matraz reviente si el circuito de vapor se obstruye.

«The steam injector (B), should have a small diameter curved outlet so that the vapor stream stirs the plant/water blend.» — detalle del inyector de vapor: salida curva y estrecha para que el chorro agite la mezcla.

«the first one: set up a distillation head followed by a condenser on flask B, then the vapor and the oil will condense into one container; the oil is separated from the water only by slowly decanting but the separation won’t be perfect.» — describe la primera alternativa de recogida y declara su límite: la decantación lenta no separa del todo el aceite del agua.

«The experiment shows that if, after the extraction, you let the plant sit, when you again operate 24 hrs later you can obtain the same quantity of oil again, sometimes repeating this 3 or 4 times in a row.» — consigna un resultado medido: la misma planta, dejada reposar un día, vuelve a dar la misma cantidad de aceite tres o cuatro veces.

«The extraction of the plant’s soul principle kills the plant which thus undergoes the putrefaction stage accompanying death. It is the fermentation process, which allows the separation of the spirits of the elements from the body (Mercury and Salt).» — encadena extracción del azufre, muerte de la planta, putrefacción y fermentación, que separa los espíritus del cuerpo.

«the definition we give of nature is a little bit short for the philosophical tradition. One member had to give a definition for a discourse on biological agriculture, he defined it as being the comprehensive set of moods and humours that life gives to beings. It seems impossible to talk about Nature without evoking the word life. In Latin, “natura” is the female form of “naturus”, that which is destined to be created, and, is the future participle of the verb “nascor”(to be born). Nature is the comprehensive set of inner relations, which are inherent to vital phenomena.» — nota complementaria en que el curso enmienda su propia definición de naturaleza, refiere la de un miembro que hablaba de agricultura biológica y la funda en la etimología de natura como participio futuro de nascor.

«the primary component of the earth’s vegetable salts is potassium. This was learned from the washing of the salts where we usually draw only potassium salt, mainly the carbonate, but don’t forget that the most common element in the vegetable realm is calcium. Most vegetable ashes and wood are composed of calcium carbonate.» — otra nota complementaria que acota la afirmación de la lección: el potasio es lo que se recoge al lavar las sales, pero el elemento más común del reino vegetal es el calcio.

«Calcium (Atomic number 40), according to the theory of Kervran, is only K + H, that is to say 39 + 1» — adjudica a la teoría de Kervran, nombrándolo, la descomposición del calcio en potasio más hidrógeno; el tramo corta donde acaba la nota.

«We shouldn’t forget that, in the mental realm, when you take note about a subject, when you study it, it is like performing an “alchemical fixation”. To meditate on a problem is like an “alchemical circulation”.» — traslada dos operaciones del taller al orden mental: tomar nota fija, meditar circula.

«In one case, matter becomes fixed therefore stable and durable; in the other, matter matures and perfects itself.» — completa esa analogía por los efectos de cada operación sobre la materia: estabilidad en una, maduración en la otra.

«Fermentation is the key that opens the secrets of Nature, that is why it should be seriously studied and experimented with.» — repite la fórmula de la fermentación como llave de los secretos de la naturaleza y saca de ella la exigencia de estudiarla y experimentarla.

«All fermentations or putrefactions require the reunion of three conditions to be realized: — the presence of a living element — an adequate composition or an adequate state of the body to be fermented — temperature conditions and, depending on the nature of the fermentation, presence or absence of air.» — da las tres condiciones de toda fermentación: elemento vivo, composición adecuada del cuerpo y régimen de temperatura y aire.

«If we take into account the evolution of terms in general and in particular the meaning that the word “putrefaction” has taken since Pasteur’s theories and the inception of microbiology, we should emphasize that, in the old days, the “putrid” characteristic wasn’t attributed to putrefaction as it is presently.» — advierte del desplazamiento del término putrefacción desde Pasteur y la microbiología: antes no llevaba el carácter pútrido que hoy se le supone.

«The living element is usually killed through heat. The steam extraction kills the ferment. In the same way, in the metallic realm, the ferment is killed by the fusion of metal and» — señala que la extracción por vapor mata el fermento, como la fusión lo mata en el metal; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y la frase sigue diciendo que entonces la fermentación no arranca.

«In the case of the vegetable realm, some authors recommend the use of brewer’s yeast, but this is an error.» — objeta a autores que no nombra la recomendación de levadura de cervecero para el reino vegetal.

«Nature is unique, we have to use the specific ferment for each plant or metal. Otherwise we need an undetermined ferment, and unfortunately there is none in the vegetable realm.» — exige fermento específico por planta o metal, y declara que en lo vegetal no hay fermento indeterminado.

«It is better to mix in with the dead plant a little bit of a plant which didn’t undergo any treatment so as to bring the elements needed for the fermentation.» — da la solución práctica: mezclar planta sin tratar con la muerta para aportar lo que la fermentación pide.

«In the metallic realm, the metal to be fermented is dead. It should be mixed with a part of its ore which can’t be fermented but which brings life to the prepared metal.» — traslada esa solución al metal: mezclarlo con parte de su mineral, que no fermenta pero le devuelve vida.

«If, following agricultural treatments, the plant doesn’t have its own ferment any longer, one possibility would be to seed it with a foreign yeast which should preferably be obtained from the bottom of a wine tun. Do this only as a last resort.» — admite como último recurso sembrar levadura ajena, de fondo de cuba de vino, cuando el tratamiento agrícola ha dejado la planta sin fermento propio.

«If air is in contact with the liquid, it is mostly the yeast which develops, while little alcohol is produced. (aerobic fermentation). — If little air comes in contact with the liquid, yeast develops only a little while a great deal of alcohol is produced (anaerobic fermentation).» — opone las dos fermentaciones por su rendimiento en alcohol: con aire crece la levadura, sin aire crece el alcohol.

«Alcoholic yeasts become dull and lose their liveliness at a temperature above 30C and under 20C.» — acota el margen térmico de las levaduras alcohólicas entre veinte y treinta grados.

«Yeasts do not live in a basic (alkaline) milieu, they only develop in a neutral or acidic milieu; the latter often blocks the proliferation of parasitic ferment. For the most part, the cut stalks and seeds of the fruit produce the acidity of the liquor (ph < 7).» — exige medio neutro o ácido para las levaduras y señala la ventaja del ácido, que corta el fermento parásito.

«During the 2 or 3 first days, you should renew the stagnant air which is above the liquid to evacuate the carbon dioxide which hinders yeast development. — Stir the plant/water mass with a wooden or glass rod. — After two or three days, let the carbon dioxide stagnate in order to increase alcohol production.» — reparte el manejo del aire en el tiempo: renovarlo los primeros días para sacar el gas carbónico y dejarlo estancar después para que suba el alcohol.

«In alcoholic fermentations, yeasts cease to work when the alcohol is at 32 to 34%, whether there is any transformable matter left or not. In acetic fermentation, which we shall deal with later, yeasts cease their work when the acidity is 8%.» — da los dos topes en que las levaduras se detienen, el alcohólico y el acético.

«Plant fermentation essentially produces two kinds of alcohol: — ethyl alcohol — methyl alcohol; the latter is very dangerous and should be carefully eliminated from spagyric products.» — nombra los dos alcoholes de la fermentación vegetal y ordena eliminar el metílico de los productos espagíricos por peligroso.

«The separation of the methyl alcohol is rather simple because no aezotropes are formed with the ethyl] alcohol and its boiling point is at a temperature of 64C. Eliminate then all liquid that distils under 76C.» — da el procedimiento de separación del metílico por su punto de ebullición y la ausencia de azeótropo con el etílico.

«The artificial enrichment of a vegetable maceration with solutions similar to the sweetening of the must in wine making very strongly increases the presence of methyl alcohol.» — desaconseja azucarar la maceración como se hace con el mosto, porque eleva mucho el metílico.

«To summarize, all vegetable or metallic spagyric fermentations are controlled through three elements: — choice of the ferment — choice of the solution to be fermented and its chemical composition — choice of the temperature and whether it is the aerobic or anaerobic.» — resume el gobierno de toda fermentación en tres elecciones: fermento, solución y régimen térmico y de aire.

«It is a delicate matter to attempt to change the realms of the mercuries. But, for the principles of fermentation and putrefaction it isn’t the same. An ancient Philosopher used to say: “Seek what rots quickly in the animal realm. Using fish, extract the fish principle, and it shall accelerate metallic putrefaction which is otherwise very long.» — separa mercurios y fermentos por su tolerancia al cruce de reinos, y cita a un filósofo antiguo sin nombrar sobre el principio del pez que acelera la putrefacción metálica.

«As everything in Alchemy follows logic, so does Kerkring’s menstruum which allows a rather rapid extraction of the metallic Alkahest and is composed of sal ammoniac (principle released by the putrefaction of fish) and of absolute alcohol, a vegetable median which permits the animal to act in the vegetable realm. One can’t go from one extreme to the other without going through a median.» — explica la composición del menstruo de Kerkring por la regla del medio: sal amoniacal de origen animal y alcohol absoluto vegetal para que lo animal obre en lo vegetal.

«This mode of distillation is typically alchemical. Philosophers assemble under that heading two very different methods.» — declara la destilación filosófica propia del arte y advierte que bajo ese nombre caben dos métodos distintos.

«We already know that boiling creates myriads of micro bubbles which, carried away by the vapors, short-circuit the process of distillation. The reflux sphere of KJELDAHL eliminates most of them, but it is best to have none. For that reason, the temperature of the liquid should be just below boiling temperature.» — deriva del problema de las microburbujas la regla del primer método: mantener el líquido justo por debajo del hervor.

«This distillation should be very slow, a drop every 7 to 8 seconds. Ancient Philosophers recommend reciting a Pater Noster between the drops.» — fija el ritmo de la destilación filosófica y consigna la medida de tiempo que atribuye a los filósofos antiguos, un padrenuestro por gota.

«The second method consists in repeated distillations of the same product that is poured over the feces that were left in the bottom of the flask. The aim we are looking for here is the enrichment of the product, not separation. Repeated distillation surprisingly reinforces the alchemical elements of the product.» — describe el segundo método por su fin, que no es separar sino enriquecer, repitiendo la destilación sobre las heces.

«Repeated distillation of the vinegar does not increase its percentage of acetic acid, but its “maturing and fixing power” according to alchemical concepts.» — acota lo que la repetición hace y lo que no hace en el vinagre: no sube el ácido acético y sí lo que llama su poder de maduración y fijación.

«Always let the flask cool down before adding the distilled liquid to it. If the feces are solid, remove them from the flask and reduce them to as fine a powder as possible.» — precaución de la cohobación sobre las heces: enfriar el matraz antes de verter y pulverizar las heces sólidas.

«This operation has the essential aim of purification. It can be conducted in two different ways:» — declara la purificación como fin del solve et coagula y anuncia sus dos formas.

«the first method consists in dissolving the body to be purified, generally a salt, in a liquid, usually water. If the salt is insoluble in water, you can try alcohol or acetic acid. When the salt is dissolved, filter the solution and slowly evaporate, without boiling. Recover the salt cleansed of its insoluble impurities, but the soluble impurities are not eliminated.» — describe el primer método y declara su límite: quita las impurezas insolubles y deja las solubles.

«The second method also consists in a dissolution and a filtering, but do not evaporate to dryness. Reduce, for example, the volume of the liquid to a fourth of its initial volume and let it cool down.» — describe el segundo método, que no evapora a sequedad sino que reduce el volumen y deja enfriar.

«Do not try to crystallize the totality of the salt because the solution precipitates impurities that are eliminated by filtering.» — prohíbe cristalizar toda la sal, porque el resto de solución arrastra las impurezas que el filtrado quita.

«Let’s return to the lead acetate. The first crystals shall as be thin as needles, but at each cycle of dissolution and crystallization, the salt is purified and crystals grow larger.» — da la señal visible del avance de la purificación: agujas al principio, cristales cada vez mayores.

«Done cold, the crystallization won’t happen, which indicates that the degree of purity of the salt is good. If you have been careful to keep a few crystals from the first experiments, throw a little piece of it into the solution to obtain in a few seconds the crystals in the solution.» — lee la ausencia de cristalización en frío como señal de pureza, y da el truco de sembrar un cristal viejo para provocarla.

«If we keep going, a refusal to crystallize occurs, the crystalline seed has no effect, and it is the indication of purification. You should then thicken the solution by heating it slightly until it reaches the consistency of a wax which becomes very fusible when hot.» — describe el término del proceso: la sal se niega a cristalizar aun sembrada, y espesada al calor toma consistencia de cera muy fusible.

«Let’s take the example of lead acetate. If we saturate water at 100C, once the water cools» — abre la cuenta del rendimiento en cristales del acetato de plomo; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y el resultado, 177 gramos por décimo de litro, queda en la plana siguiente.

«When the salt reaches the degree of purity indicated, it is said by Philosophers to be “reincruded to Chaos”.» — da el nombre que los filósofos ponen a la sal llegada a ese grado de pureza.

«Whether vegetable, mineral or metallic, if it is correctly nourished, it can be lead to real alchemical fermentation.» — hace de esa reintegración al caos, en cualquier reino, la condición para la fermentación alquímica verdadera.

«For some salts, Chaos can be reached in 6 or 7 crystallizations; for others, several dozen or even hundreds of crystallizations are necessary, hence the saying “The labors of Hercules”.» — da la horquilla de cristalizaciones necesarias y explica por ahí el mote de los trabajos de Hércules.

«If vegetable residues come from an alcohol extraction, it sufÏces to burn them when they are still saturated with alcohol, in order to attain the black-grey phase.» — reparte el arranque de la calcinación según el menstruo previo: los residuos de alcohol se queman saturados y llegan solos a la fase gris.

«If the vegetable residues come from rain-water maceration, dry them first in a fire-resistant dish. Then reduce them to powder.» — da el otro arranque, para los residuos de maceración en agua de lluvia: secar antes y pulverizar.

«If you heat the crucible by gas heat, the matter doesn’t receive the temperature of the flame because the burners caloric contribution is not sufÏcient. Experience taught that, for an open crucible, temperature rarely goes beyond 500C.» — acota lo que el gas alcanza en crisol abierto y consigna la cifra por experiencia: rara vez más de 500 grados.

«As soon as the color grey is reached, you can put a piece of stainless steel mesh over the crucible to prevent the snow-like powder from flying away and to quicken the whitening.» — da un remedio de taller para que el polvo no vuele y para acelerar el blanqueo.

«Temperature increases of at least 200C 2. Volatile salts are sublimed and deposited in the upper crucible. In addition, they have a greater degree of purity than those which remained at the bottom. They must be collected separately and kept for higher experiments (like a circulatum or stone).» — da las dos razones del crisol invertido: sube al menos doscientos grados y recoge aparte las sales volátiles sublimadas, más puras que las del fondo.

«Generally, if you calcine before extraction, salts are more fusible and using the technique of the reversed crucible, or using an enameling kiln, it is easy to obtain a vegetable glass. If this vegetable glass is soluble in water, or in alcohol or in the oil of the plant, it yields a better result.» — prefiere calcinar antes de extraer porque las sales quedan más fusibles y se llega al vidrio vegetal, mejor aún si es soluble.

«The stone or circulatum, summum bonum of the vegetable work, can only be obtained through soluble glass or volatilized or sublimed salts.» — declara la piedra o circulatum el sumo bien de la obra vegetal y restringe su vía al vidrio soluble o a las sales sublimadas.

«Page 2, fermentation of plants, there are rather few yeasts to be found on plants. They are mostly on fruit. They become active only on glucosidic substances. The bacterial population of plants is composed for the most part of lactic bacterias or infusorians. When a plant is put to maceration for the purpose of fermentation, more often a development of infusorians and bacterias is obtained, the action of a lysis rather than an alcoholic fermentation.» — nota complementaria que acota lo dicho sobre la fermentación: en la planta hay pocas levaduras y lo que suele obtenerse es lisis por bacterias e infusorios.

«To put a plant to fermentation, we should add a bit of sugar.» — remedio que la misma nota propone frente a esa escasez de levaduras.

«The first way is that of spagyrical alchemy, which, in fact, can be only followed by people who are certified doctors. This alchemy specifically treats healing through alchemical vegetable extracts. In this path, elixirs and quintessences are sufÏcient.» — primera de las tres vías que ofrece al alumno, la de la curación por extractos vegetales, y la reserva a médicos titulados; la grafía sufÏcient es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«The second way, a little different from the first one, consists in attempting to obtain the mastery of the vegetable realm either through “circulatums” or through the vegetable stone.» — segunda vía: el dominio del reino vegetal por los circulatums o por la piedra vegetal.

«The third way concerns those, who, after learning in the vegetable realm, wish to go on into the metallic realm.» — tercera vía: la que atraviesa lo vegetal como aprendizaje para pasar al reino metálico.

«Do not read too many books, but read and reread thoroughly the ones you chose to read.» — repite la regla de lectura del curso: pocos libros, leídos y releídos.

«Le livre des plantes medicinales et veneneuses de France” (The book of medicinal and toxic plants of France) by P. Fournier - Paul Le Chevalier, publisher, Paris. This book is rather expensive, but it is the most complete book about the characteristics and uses of the plants.» — primera obra que recomienda para el reino vegetal, la de Fournier, con su precio alto declarado y su alcance.

«Les plantes medicinales” (Medicinal Plants) by Emile Perrot. This expensive book contains 245 color plates enabling identification of almost all the plants of France.» — segunda obra recomendada, la de Émile Perrot, por sus láminas en color para identificar.

«Essential Oils of Gunther, in English, (for those who want to study aromatherapy), gives all the characteristics of plants and the oils obtained along with various methods of extraction and purification.» — tercera obra recomendada, la de Gunther en inglés, para quien vaya a la aromaterapia.

«Do not confuse this operation with fermentation. In maceration, there is simply dissolution, in the maceration liquid, of the principles contained in the vegetable or mineral.» — separa maceración de fermentación: en aquélla solo hay disolución de los principios en el líquido.

«Maceration occurs at a lower temperature than fermentation, just so as to prevent fermentation from occurring. Generally maceration occurs at room temperature, between 18 and 20C. Note, however, that the disciples of Von Bernus macerate at 40 C.» — fija la temperatura de la maceración por debajo de la fermentación y consigna, sin dirimirla, la práctica distinta de los discípulos de Von Bernus.

«Maceration is mainly used in the preparation of plants. Dried plants are macerated in wine spirit, fresh plants preferably in distilled rain water, generally for 24 or 48 hours.» — reparte el líquido de maceración según la planta esté seca o fresca, y da el plazo.

«The water must be well distilled because if it were to contain some salts, they would contaminate the Salt of the plant and the spagyric purification would no longer be possible.» — exige agua bien destilada porque sus sales contaminarían la de la planta y arruinarían la purificación.

«It is better not to use too much water because it must be evaporated in order to recover the salts of the plant.» — limita la cantidad de agua por el trabajo de evaporarla después para recobrar las sales.

«Circulation is a continuous distillation in which the distilled liquid falls back into the liquid to be distilled.» — define la circulación como destilación continua en circuito cerrado.

«Traditional apparatus, the Pelican, designed for slow circulations with spontaneous condensation in the neck of the flask which is naturally stopped.» — describe el pelícano por su modo de condensación espontánea en el cuello del vaso.

«Traditional apparatus called the “two brothers” or meeting vessel, which can be either a continuous operation or an alternating operation. Each flask is alternatively heated; with each change of fire, the degree of the liquid increases. (In Christopher Glaser, the definition of this flask is a little bit different. They are two florentine vases (matras), the necks going into each other.» — describe el vaso de los dos hermanos y consigna, sin armonizarla, la definición algo distinta que atribuye a Christopher Glaser.

«Circulation is an important operation in alchemy. It can last many months. During the practical work, we shall find out that some liquids circulate almost spontaneously.» — da la duración posible de la circulación, de meses, y consigna que algunos líquidos circulan casi solos.

«Digestion occurs in a closed air-tight container. There is no yeast as in the case of fermentation. The temperature conditions are the same, often 40C. It generally lasts longer than fermentation. In principle, no gas is released.» — separa la digestión de la fermentación por la ausencia de levadura y de gas, con temperatura semejante y más duración.

«It is very important that the temperature be constant during the whole digestion: as the cooling down of eggs kills a brood, likewise a momentary cooling down blocks the cohobation resulting from the digestion.» — exige temperatura constante y da la razón por analogía con la nidada que muere si el huevo se enfría.

«Maceration concerns the preparation of the product. The term digestion is used to design a terminal operation in the making of the product. Digestion is sometimes combined with circulation.» — reparte los dos términos por el lugar que ocupan en la serie: maceración al preparar, digestión al terminar.

«According to Von Bernus definition, the aim and the effect of digestion is to obtain the loosening of the texture of substances to allow their opening and dissolution. This phenomenon must be considered as identical to the one that happen in the stomach of an animal.» — adjudica a Von Bernus, nombrándolo, la definición de la digestión como aflojamiento de la textura de la sustancia, con la analogía del estómago.

«In Alchemy, cohobation is the reassembling of purified elements. In principle, it occurs when reuniting the alchemical Sulfur, Mercury and Salt. It certainly is the most delicate operation.» — define la cohobación como reunión de los elementos purificados y la declara la operación más delicada.

«However, if the Sulfur and the Salt have been purified, the cohobation between them occurs equal weight to equal weight. As for the Mercury, it should only imbibe the other two. Only by carefully watching the operation can you tell if there is too much or too little Mercury.» — da la proporción de la cohobación, peso por peso entre azufre y sal, y deja la del mercurio a la vigilancia del operador.

«During this operation, you can direct the product toward the fixed or the volatile, toward the stone or the elixir, because this orientation depends on the proportion of the components.» — hace de la cohobación el punto donde se decide piedra o elixir, según la proporción de los componentes.

«This operation consists in impregnating a solid, generally a salt, with a liquid, its Sulfur, its Mercury or a Menstruum.» — define la imbibición como impregnación de un sólido con su azufre, su mercurio o un menstruo.

«Start the imbibition again until the matter refuses it, which is manifest when its surface no longer dries out.» — da el término de la imbibición: cuando la materia la rechaza y la superficie ya no se seca.

«Imbibition through a menstruum nourishes matter and can re-vivify it. Thus a dead molten metal can find its metallic sperm again, even with a Menstruum that is not specifically of its realm. In this case, the operation can be rather long, a few months generally.» — atribuye a la imbibición la revivificación de la materia y admite que un metal fundido recobre su esperma aun con menstruo de otro reino, a costa de meses.

«oozing. The product is then put into an air-tight flask and put to digestion for 8 to 10 days.» — da el plazo de digestión de la imbibición; el tramo arranca al otro lado del corte de troceo, donde el criterio de superficie apenas húmeda queda en la plana anterior.

«Again, we should emphasize the fact that it is useless to buy all the materials described in the lessons: each works according to his own path and must thus choose his material accordingly.» — repite que no hace falta comprar todo el material descrito, porque cada quien elige según su vía.

«repeat the process from (X) above until the alcohol ceases to be colored when in contact with the plant. As the plant is saturated in the alcohol of the preceeding maceration, examine the color right away, as soon as you have poured and mixed the distilled alcohol. The next day, see if the color has evolved. We usually count 7 distillations for the extraction to be» — da el criterio y el número de repeticiones del Soxhlet casero por maceraciones sucesivas; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y la frase termina en la plana siguiente.

«Extraction through this process will require between one and two weeks, whereas extraction through a Soxhlet apparatus barely takes a whole day.» — cuantifica lo que cuesta ahorrarse el aparato: de una a dos semanas contra un día del Soxhlet.

«The reflux-condenser is easier to clean and is also more efÏcient than a simple condenser.» — prefiere el condensador de reflujo por limpieza y rendimiento; la grafía efÏcient es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«Use small fire porcelain containers and assemble them as in figure #3. The upper container (reversed) is only put on when the grey color is attained. Collect the volatile salt on the reversed container and mix it with the sulfur or with the tincture.» — da el montaje de calcinación con crisol invertido y manda mezclar la sal volátil recogida arriba con el azufre o con la tintura.

«To put into circulation, we use a long-neck flask placed in a 1 to 3cm-thick polystyrene box. Let the neck come out 10 to 15cm. Place a lamp inside which has a maximum power of 10 watts and which has been painted red. The difference of temperature between the inside and outside creates a rapid circulation that can reduce the time-span of the operation considerably.» — describe el dispositivo casero de circulación: matraz de cuello largo en caja de poliestireno con una bombilla roja de diez vatios dentro.

«Each preparation is enclosed in a polystyrene box in order to avoid provoking a thermal shock to the preparations which are still undergoing treatment, when introducing new ones.» — da la razón de aislar cada preparación: no dar choque térmico a las que siguen en tratamiento.

«In the preceding lessons, we mentioned a few elements concerning the state of mind of the alchemist. We ceased the study of these texts for a while, because we believed the content should be put to maceration-circulation.» — explica la pausa de la parte filosófica con el vocabulario del taller: el contenido se dejó en maceración y circulación.

«Concerning the practice of spagiry or alchemy, the most “talkative” books are those who were written at the time where the transition chemistry-alchemy occurred. There are three interesting books from this epoch: — Glaser, Chemistry Course — Lemery, Chemistry Course — Crollius, The Royal Chemistry» — adjudica la mayor locuacidad a los libros del momento en que química y alquimia se separan, y nombra tres: Glaser, Lemery y Crollius.

«There are other books, but these have the advantage of describing the material in detail, the method and many of the necessary precautions, both in the mineral and vegetable realms. Many experiments described in these lessons were taken from these books.» — declara la deuda del curso con esos tres libros: de ellos salen muchos de los experimentos que enseña.

«In the universal menstrua, we distinguish the following hierarchy: — Philosophers Mercury — Philosophic Mercury . — Menstrua extracted from human urine — the Archeus of Water» — jerarquiza los menstrua universales en cuatro grados, del Mercurio de los Filósofos al Archeus del agua.

«In specific menstrua and even in universal menstrua, we can distinguish two categories: those which give the volatile and those which give the fixed. This distinction is important for various alchemical and spagirical reasons. In the old treatises, it is said that the volatiles heal temporary illness’s and the fixed, chronic diseases, whether in the vegetable, animal or metallic realms.» — cruza la clasificación de los menstrua con el par volátil-fijo y adjudica a los tratados antiguos el reparto terapéutico: lo volátil para lo agudo, lo fijo para lo crónico.

«The first vegetable fermentation is alcoholic, it gives a menstruum that makes volatiles. The second vegetable fermentation is acetic and gives a “fixing” vinegar. - A first metallic fermentation of the ore releases the “volatile” Philosophical Mercury. The fermentation of the Philosophical Mercury gives elements that lead to the fixed Stone.» — pone en paralelo las dos fermentaciones vegetales y las dos metálicas para mostrar la misma serie de volátil a fijo en los dos reinos.

«If we wish to obtain products that are neither fixed nor volatile, the vegetable menstruum would be acetone, and the metallic one, the Acetone of the Sages, derived from Antimony.» — nombra los dos productos intermedios, ni fijos ni volátiles: la acetona en lo vegetal y la Acetona de los Sabios en lo metálico.

«Commercial acetic acid is forbidden because it doesn’t come from wine and contains toxic products. In Alchemy, acetic acid only comes from vinegar» — prohíbe el ácido acético comercial por no venir del vino y por sus tóxicos, y restringe el del arte al que sale del vinagre.

«Acetone is a very flammable product and it is only mentioned here as a theoretical example.» — acota la mención de la acetona a ejemplo teórico por su inflamabilidad.

«We shall now talk about dried plants. They didn’t necessarily loose their germinative power, their sperm. They are able to determine their. species, their type. They cannot correctly produce their own Mercury, because the yeasts which are the typical ferment of the plant, have disappeared.» — acota lo que la planta seca conserva y lo que pierde: guarda su poder germinativo y su especie, y no puede producir su propio mercurio por falta de fermentos.

«The plant must be as dry as possible because the little humidity it contains strongly decreases the power of extraction of the vegetable Mercury (absolute alcohol). With a dried plant, the use of an undetermined Menstruum is mandatory.» — exige sequedad máxima porque la humedad rebaja el poder de extracción, y de ahí hace obligatorio el menstruo indeterminado con planta seca.

«The feces are calcined. They shouldn’t contain any products soluble in alcohol. Extract the Salt through leaching, or as in the solve-coagula, or by placing the salts in a Soxhlet. In this last case, we can do two extractions, one with distilled water, the other with acetic acid. If you use both methods, carefully mix the Salts together that you recovered, and then reduce them to powder.» — da las tres vías de extraer la sal de las heces calcinadas y manda mezclar y pulverizar las sales de las dos extracciones.

«In the books that are re-printed today, we recommend for those who are thinking of taking the metallic path, the books of Basil Valentine:» — recomienda para la vía metálica las obras reimpresas de Basil Valentine; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y los cuatro títulos quedan en la plana siguiente.

«Treatise on the Tinctures of the 7 Metals — The Triumphant Chariot of Antimony — The Last Will and Testament. — The Twelve Keys of Philosophy» — lista de los cuatro títulos de Basil Valentine que el curso recomienda, tal como los imprime.

«we can attempt to separate the Sulfur and the Mercury through distillation. This is rarely possible. Only by trying can we know if we can separate the essential» — da la segunda opción tras la extracción y advierte que rara vez sale; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y sigue recomendando el vacío a temperatura baja.

«You can buy glacial acetic acid (at laboratory suppliers), or buy acetic acid at a drugstore in which case distill it with the required precautions. This acid boils at 117 C and its vapor is toxic.» — da las dos procedencias del ácido acético de taller y su advertencia: hierve a 117 grados y su vapor es tóxico.

«The alchemical path is never, just one way only, and so each must experiment and choose the path that suits him the best.» — niega vía única al arte y deja la elección al experimento de cada quien.

«Then, on a clean copper sheet, attempt the experiment of the Salt melting as a wax without smoke and which re-solidifies when cooling down.» — da la prueba de la sal sobre lámina de cobre: fundir como cera sin humo y volver a solidificar al enfriar.

«We use this elixir in the following dose: 1 grain, about 50 milligrams of Salts, in a glass of liquid. If, for example, 100 ml of vinegar dissolved 1 gram of salt, you'll need 5 ml of this solution in a glass of wine or water.» — da la posología del elixir, con el grano traducido a cincuenta miligramos y la regla de tres para la solución madre.

«It is good to keep the mother solution fifteen days as it must not form any deposit.» — da la prueba de estabilidad de la solución madre: quince días sin formar depósito.

«after 10 to 12 circulations, the Salts are dissolved in the tincture and the elixir is complete.» — da el término de la segunda vía: entre diez y doce circulaciones hasta que la sal se disuelve en la tintura.

«We practice the imbibition of Salts with transparent Mercury outside the laboratory because the Salt “opens up” in this operation and can absorb a parasitic Sulfur impossible to extract afterwards.» — manda hacer esa imbibición fuera del laboratorio y da la razón: la sal se abre y absorbería un azufre parásito irrecuperable.

«When the refusal of Mercury is reached, practice the imbibition with the essential oils, then digest at 42C. Watch the colors which should be white at first, then black, yellow and red.» — encadena la imbibición con aceites esenciales y la digestión a 42 grados, con la serie de colores como control.

«If this is attained, we have a vegetable stone which should be able to separate vegetable macerations without fire. The success in this case depends on the quality of the Salt when starting and the absence of Sulfur. The digestion with the color phases can require 9 months to a year.» — declara el producto —una piedra vegetal que separa maceraciones sin fuego—, sus dos condiciones de éxito y el plazo de la digestión.

«This stone must be insoluble in water. If this weren’t the case, it would be due to the quantity or the quality of the Sulfur (essential oil) which must have been insufÏcient.» — da la prueba de la piedra por su insolubilidad y adjudica el fallo a la cantidad o la calidad del azufre.

«In this method, the Salts must have been extracted only with distilled water, whereas in the preceding case, it was better to have extracted them with water and acetic acid.» — separa las dos vías por el disolvente de la sal: agua destilada sola en una, agua y ácido acético en la otra.

«COCKREN’s Alchemy Recovered and Restored:” This book is of interest to those who are considering work on the metallic realm. It contains about 70 pages of practical advice concerning an inexpensive path (we are currently translating it into French and presenting in addition the commentary of a foreign alchemist).» — primera obra inglesa que reseña, la de Cockren, con la nota de que la asociación la estaba traduciendo al francés con comentario de un alquimista extranjero sin nombrar.

«LAPIDUS’: Pursuit of Gold” It concerns another metallic path, its practical aspect is important.» — segunda obra reseñada, la de Lapidus, por otra vía metálica y por su lado práctico.

«John French’s A rt of Distillation:” Collection of clearly explained processes, such as the extraction of Philosophic Mercury.» — tercera obra reseñada, la de John French, por la claridad de sus procesos; el espacio en A rt es del OCR.

«Reproduction of the 1770 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica” Collection of alchemical and spagyric processes, clear extraction of mineral kermes, treatment of plant oils, metals, etc..» — cuarta referencia, la Encyclopedia Britannica de 1770, por su colección de procesos alquímicos y espagíricos.

«The two volumes of Alchemical Writings by Paracelsus, translated from Latin into English by A. Waite. Thick but extremely interesting book. It requires a very good alchemical knowledge.» — quinta referencia, los Alchemical Writings de Paracelso en la traducción de Waite, con la advertencia de que exige conocimiento previo.

«There are always different paths which all lead to the same result. Numerous variations are possible within each path.» — repite la multiplicidad de vías, ahora para la piedra vegetal, el circulatum minor, el gran elixir y la piedra filosofal.

«What is given in this lesson only concerns one path in the making of the Vegetable Stone. It is not the easiest or the quickest, but the only one possible considering the current state of our work.» — acota lo que la lección enseña a una sola vía, ni la más fácil ni la más rápida, y da la razón en el estado del trabajo de la asociación.

«The elixirs of the preceding lesson which were done with a Soxhlet are obtained from dried plants, because it is useless to purify the vegetable mercury if it is contaminated with the water of the plant.» — explica por qué los elixires anteriores parten de planta seca: purificar el mercurio no sirve si el agua de la planta lo contamina.

«The mastery of the vegetable realm is obtained when one achieves either the making of a circulatum, or a Vegetable Stone. The circulatum and the Stone have the advantage over an ordinary menstruum, in that you can at the same time achieve the separation and the purification.» — define el dominio del reino vegetal por el circulatum o la piedra, y da su ventaja: separan y purifican a la vez.

«If we dip the dry powdered plant into the Circulatum Minor (name of the completed plant circulation), the Sulfur which contains the dissolved Salt floats on the surface. The Spirit is dissolved in this circulatum and the earth falls to the bottom of the flask.» — describe lo que el circulatum minor hace con la planta en polvo: el azufre con la sal disuelta flota, el espíritu se disuelve y la tierra cae.

«The Stone shouldn’t melt and can serve indefinitely. The making of the stone is time consuming.» — declara la piedra reutilizable sin fin y su fabricación larga.

«The choice of the plant is important but few plants are satisfactory. As a matter of fact, the plant needs to yield a maximum of oil, to correctly ferment and its salt needs to be relatively abundant. Our experiments showed us that caraway seeds or lavender flowers are suitable for this work.» — da los tres requisitos de la planta para la piedra vegetal y nombra las dos que su experiencia aprueba.

«This extraction should be renewed three to four times every 24 hrs in order to draw out all the oil of the plant.» — fija la repetición de la extracción del azufre para agotar el aceite de la planta.

«A first purification of the Sulfur can be done through vacuum distillation. It is also possible, but not essential, to purify the Sulfur by dissolving it into absolute alcohol, filtering and distilling it.» — da dos purificaciones del azufre, la segunda declarada no esencial en la misma frase.

«Then begin to ferment the plant with the water that was used for the steam extraction. Add a little bit of the fresh plant to help the fermentation to start. If it doesn’t start, put a little bit of yeast which, if possible, you collected from a wine barrel. This is a “substitution”, like brewer’s yeast, but put in a very little bit.» — encadena la fermentación con el agua de la extracción y admite la levadura de barrica como sustitución, en muy poca cantidad.

«Some German authors proceeded with the fermentation, before the extraction of the oils. It is possible, but it seems to us that it is of no advantage for this present case. If a natural fermentation is easier to obtain, we lose a quantity of the oils when they are already very scarce.» — consigna la práctica inversa de autores alemanes sin nombrar y da su reserva: fermentar antes facilita, pero pierde aceites ya escasos.

«Separate the solid from the liquid, calcine the solid residue to the white which, once cooled down, is mixed with the extraction and fermentation water. Filter this water and evaporate until coagulation of the salt. The latter is then dissolved in freshly distilled rain water, and it is coagulated again after filtering, two or three times.» — da el tratamiento de la sal: calcinar al blanco, mezclar con las aguas, filtrar, coagular y recristalizar dos o tres veces.

«After having calcined the solid residue to black, place a porcelain cover, or hard glass, above the calcination container. It is possible that some salts deposit on the cover. They must be recovered and mixed with the Sulfur, if they turn out to be insoluble in oil.» — manda recoger las sales que se depositan en la tapa y mezclarlas con el azufre si resultan insolubles en aceite.

«Mix a mixture of half Sulfur for half Mercury, that you pour on the Salt so that about 1 cm of liquid remains above (the solid). Make the flask air-tight. It shouldn’t be filled more than 1/3rd of its height, and put in the mixture to digestion-circulation for a whole week.» — da la proporción y el montaje del ciclo semanal de digestión y circulación sobre la sal.

«The operation is renewed until the fact that during calcination, the salt melts without releasing smoke, like wax. The Stone is then completed.» — da el criterio de término de la piedra: la sal funde como cera sin soltar humo durante la calcinación.

«Take a little piece of it to find out if it melts in water. If it is the case, put the Stone back in a flask with a mix richer in Sulfur (Sulfur 90%, Mercury 10% ).» — da la prueba final y el remedio si falla: volver al matraz con mezcla mucho más rica en azufre.

«To a higher degree, the Stone possesses the properties of the plant from which it issued. But it extracts the elements of any other plant and in this case, these elements are extremely potent.» — atribuye a la piedra las propiedades exaltadas de su planta de origen y la capacidad de extraer, muy potentes, los elementos de cualquier otra.

«For the cohobation, variations are possible. Some authors recommend, for the beginning, a Sulfur-Salt cohobation, a separation of Sulfur through distillation, and only then, cohobation of the three.» — consigna la variante de otros autores para la cohobación, en dos tiempos en vez de uno.

«Everyone has his method, and we hope that each one of you, according to his way of sensing Nature, will achieve his own.» — cierra la exposición devolviendo el método a cada alumno, según su modo de sentir la naturaleza.

«Flasks 2 and 4 prevent liquids from mixing or contaminating the products of distillation in case of low pressure.» — describe la función de dos de los cuatro matraces del dispositivo antiolores.

«The tubes reaching to the bottom must have a tapered end in order to neutralize the small bubbles more easily.» — detalle del mismo dispositivo: extremo afilado para deshacer mejor las burbujas.

«One of the problems that you could have encountered or that you will inevitably encounter in the course of the practical work is the one of odors released during certain types of experiments.» — plantea el problema práctico de los olores que sueltan ciertos experimentos; la frase siguiente, sobre la explicación que hay que darle al vecino, queda del otro lado del corte de troceo.

«All Alchemists agree that astrological conditions have an influence on alchemical processes. But as the Chinese saying goes: “the star leads the fool but the Wiseman guides his star» — funda la parte astrológica del curso en el acuerdo de los alquimistas y la remata con un dicho que atribuye a los chinos, sobre el necio que sigue a su estrella y el sabio que la guía.

«We can therefore choose one of two attitudes: being subjected to astrological conditions or attempting to master them through various techniques.» — deja al alumno dos actitudes ante las condiciones astrológicas, sufrirlas o dominarlas.

«Regarding the process of plant alchemy, to wait for the proper time to operate is the most important consideration.» — pone la espera del momento oportuno como la consideración principal de la alquimia vegetal.

«The determining planet in vegetable alchemy is the Moon. We should consider the moon here as being like the sun of classical astrology, with, however, a few modifications, because of the differing phases of the two planets.» — hace de la Luna el planeta determinante del reino vegetal, en el papel que el Sol tiene en la astrología corriente.

«From new moon to full moon, the planet is called positive; from full moon to new moon, it is called negative.» — define positivo y negativo en la Luna por el tramo creciente y el menguante.

«A positive moon is propitious for enriching a vital element and for accomplishing the following operations: the last cohobations before the digestion, or a distillation with cohobation or circulation.» — reparte las operaciones de enriquecimiento a la luna creciente: últimas cohobaciones antes de la digestión, y destilación con cohobación o circulación.

«The negative moon is propitious for operations such as distillation, separation or purification, or the separation of the pure from the impure.» — reparte a la luna menguante las operaciones de separación y purificación.

«Whenever possible, it is preferable to complete a menstruum around the time of a full moon.» — fija el momento preferente para terminar un menstruo, cerca de luna llena.

«During its cycle, the moon passes through all the 12 signs. This determines another aspect: if the moon is in Sagittarius, it is positive for all the plants under the rule of Jupiter, for example, lemonbalm. When in Pisces, it will be negative for the same plants.» — añade el segundo criterio, el del signo lunar, con el ejemplo de la melisa joviana, positiva en Sagitario y negativa en Piscis.

«The latter influence is certainly less powerful than the influence of the moon phases, but there is an obvious advantage of combining these two effects properly.» — jerarquiza los dos criterios: el signo pesa menos que la fase, y la ventaja está en combinarlos.

«However, because of the rotation of the earth around the sun, a shift occurs with the moon in relation to the signs. Consequently, the maximum positive or negative combination of the two effects doesn’t happen with every moon cycle.» — acota esa combinación: el desfase entre luna y signos hace que el máximo no caiga en cada ciclo.

«The full moon occurs in the sign when the sun is in the opposite sign and the new moon occurs when the sun is in the same sign as the moon» — da la regla que empareja fase lunar y posición solar, sin punto final en el impreso.

«You can find out which sign the moon is in by consulting specialized astrological papers but you can also find it - approximately - by the following method: knowing the date of the new moon, find out in which sign the sun was on that day. The moon was in the same sign and in the same position as the sun. Then calculate the number of signs the moon went through, considering it goes through a sign in 2 1/4 days (approximately). Therefore, 9 days after a new moon, the moon has already passed through 4 signs.» — da un método aproximado para saber el signo lunar sin efemérides, contando dos días y cuarto por signo desde la luna nueva.

«Note that during a complete moon cycle, the moon goes through almost 13 signs (12.97). This method is not absolutely accurate, because of the irregular course of the moon; thus, if you operate around the beginning or the end of a sign, it is better to refer to a chart of lunar positions.» — acota ese método por la marcha irregular de la Luna y manda ir a las tablas cuando se opera en el borde de un signo.

«The preceding considerations are effective mostly for the major plant operations or for the preparation of its necessary elements as the Circulatum Minor, the Stone or the complete Elixir.» — restringe el peso de esas condiciones a las operaciones mayores: circulatum minor, piedra y elixir completo.

«For the lesser works, such as the elixir without the Sulfur-Mercury separation or the quick spagyric preparations that we shall see later, the German alchemists use the following method: work with the plant on the plant’s day, Jupiter-Thursday, Sun-Sunday but start the true work, for example the extraction, only at sunrise.» — da para las obras menores el método que atribuye a los alquimistas alemanes: trabajar la planta en el día de su planeta y arrancar al salir el sol.

«These methods are not always practically applicable. Extracting the tincture with an absolute alcohol using a Soxhlet is only possible for dry plants. And even in this case, the separation of the Sulfur and Mercury tincture is not always possible nor necessarily advantageous.» — acota los métodos ya enseñados: el Soxhlet con alcohol absoluto solo sirve con planta seca, y aun así la separación no siempre sale ni conviene.

«The plant is macerated in rain water (preferably distilled) for 24 or 48 hrs. The plant shouldn’t be crumpled up.» — primer paso del método que adjudica a Paracelso: maceración en agua de lluvia sin estrujar la planta.

«Distil the whole and recollect D, the distillate or distillation water; R is the residue in the flask. The distillation ceases as soon as R becomes dry.» — segundo paso del mismo método, con los dos productos nombrados por letra y el criterio de parada.

«R is cooled down. Pour D, the water, on the plant. Let macerate for 24 hrs. Distil again until dry. Let the new residue R heat for about 10 min.» — tercer paso: devolver el agua destilada a la planta, macerar, redestilar y calentar el residuo.

«If you continue with a dry-heat in the round bottom flask, even if it is made of pyrex, it obviously won’t last very long. Stop as soon as it starts to smoke.» — nota práctica que advierte del desgaste del matraz con calor seco y da la señal de parada, el humo.

«Only terra cotta or quartz round bottom flasks resist this operation; but the first is not convenient and the latter is very expensive.» — acota los dos materiales que resisten esa calcinación y objeta a cada uno lo suyo, la incomodidad y el precio.

«The dry plant R is heated as before but for a double amount of time. If you do not heat in the flask, the heating dish should have a cover; the vapors that condense on it yield a black-brown resinous residue which should be added to the already collected oil.» — cuarto paso, con la recogida del aceite flotante y del residuo resinoso que condensa en la tapa.

«This residue is often difÏcult to collect, but you can achieve this by dissolving it in distilled trichlorethylene and add it to the oil flask.» — nota práctica para recoger ese residuo resinoso con tricloroetileno destilado; la grafía difÏcult es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«We now have the Salt and the Sulfur of the plant. This is where Paracelsus’s document ends.» — marca dónde termina el documento que adjudica a Paracelso y qué queda en la mano: sal y azufre de la planta.

«These oils are soluble in absolute alcohol; it is useful to dissolve them, for instance, in a 1 to 10 ratio. The alcohol enables us to recollect the oil which sticks to the glass in the extractor or the condenser and reduces loss of it during filtering.» — da el uso del alcohol absoluto con los aceites de vapor: recobrar lo pegado al vidrio y perder menos al filtrar.

«The solubility of these oils diminishes with each distillation.» — consigna que la solubilidad de esos aceites baja con cada destilación.

«These last two are empireumatic and called stinking oils. They are not soluble in normal absolute alcohol. For the filtering, only trichlorethylene or acetone is appropriate. The solvent is eliminated through distillation.» — opone los aceites empireumáticos a los de vapor por su insolubilidad en alcohol absoluto y da sus disolventes.

«These oils must be distilled 10 to 12 times; with each distillation the solubility increases. Little by little, they near the quality and even the smell of essential oils.» — consigna el efecto inverso en los empireumáticos: destilarlos diez o doce veces los acerca a la calidad y al olor de los esenciales.

«The alcohol called “tartarized alcohol” which is treated with salt of tartar without distillation dissolve these oils better and can be used for their decantation.» — nombra el alcohol tartarizado y le adjudica mejor poder disolvente sobre esos aceites.

«As soon as the fermentation is complete and whenever possible, it is always better to perform the cohobation with the alcohol of the plant.» — prefiere siempre que se pueda cohobar con el alcohol de la propia planta.

«This operation should be repeated at least three times until the residue no longer releases any empireumatic oil - also called in some alchemical books stinking oil.» — fija la repetición del ciclo por el agotamiento del aceite empireumático, que otros libros del arte llaman aceite hediondo.

«We shall complement the above with what we learned from our own studies and experiments about the Sulfur obtained through this process.» — declara el paso de la voz ajena a la propia: lo que sigue son conclusiones de sus estudios y experimentos sobre el azufre, no del documento de Paracelso.

«In the experiments we are proposing, we often leave a few unknown factors. These unknown factors become obvious to those who actually perform the experiments. They find the solution on their own and question us about their difÏculties.» — declara deliberadas las lagunas de los experimentos, y consigna que quien opera las resuelve y luego pregunta; la grafía difÏculties es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«If we proceed in this way, it is not because we wish to hide a few keys or principles, but because we wish that those who participate in our group form the habit to seek on their own. We do not wish for blind followers, but enlightened and independent seekers.» — niega que esas lagunas escondan llaves y las funda en un propósito pedagógico: no discípulos ciegos sino buscadores independientes.

«Alcohol is the cloak of Mercury in the vegetable realm. When Nature acts, fermentations spontaneously occur which yield alcohol and the invisible principles of the vegetable seed take refuge in it. The seed includes the true invisible germinative principle, but it is not this principle.» — llama al alcohol manto del mercurio vegetal y acota que la semilla incluye el principio germinativo invisible sin ser ese principio.

«After maceration and solid/liquid separation, the calcination performs the separation of the mineral from the vegetable elements and the solve coagula(e) yields a salt uniquely of the mineral world.» — asigna a la calcinación y al solve et coagula la separación de lo mineral y lo vegetal, con una sal ya solo mineral por resultado.

«According to the Ancients, calcination opens the pores of mineral matter and the salt more or less becomes sal amoniac, that is to say harmonic. It will then harmonically fix the elements which befit it.» — adjudica a los antiguos la fórmula de la apertura de poros y traduce sal amoniacal por armónica, capaz de fijar lo que le conviene.

«If you then cohobate the Salt with the impure Sulfur/Mercury tincture, the Salt will absorb the Sulfur and the impurities. But if the Salt is in harmony with the Sulfur, it won’t be in harmony with the impurities and the calcination is going to fix the Sulfur in the Salt and draw the impurities out. Thus, little by little, with each cohobation, the ratio of Sulfur in the Salt increases and the dissolved impurities of the menstruum disappear.» — explica el mecanismo del ciclo de cohobación por la armonía diferencial: la sal fija el azufre afín y suelta las impurezas.

«As the Sulfur is the tingeant, the menstruum normally loses its color. It must come back to a transparent clear color, a little like scintillating water.» — da la señal visible del avance: el menstruo pierde color hasta quedar como agua centelleante.

«The Salt is charged with Sulfur and should become white and a bit oily; it becomes progressively sticky and shouldn’t fall off an upside down spoon. In addition, its fusion temperature progressively decreases.» — da las señales táctiles y térmicas de la sal cargada de azufre, con la prueba de la cuchara invertida.

«If the process were brought to perfection, we would obtain a Sulfur-saturated Salt and a perfectly pure Mercury. This is only possible, however, in a reasonable amount of time, if we begin with different elements than those used in the first experiment.» — acota el término ideal del proceso con la condición que lo hace impracticable: no se llega en tiempo razonable partiendo del material del primer experimento.

«The elixir includes then two elements: a Sulfur-enriched Salt and a purified Mercury. The Salt/Mercury cohobation can lead to an elixir, as the Salt is dissolved through repeated maceration and distillation in the Mercury. We obtain an element which is more or less close to the Stone - that is a Mercury-saturated Salt/Sulfur.» — describe la composición del elixir y el producto de la cohobación sal-mercurio, próximo a la piedra.

«Purifying the elements often renders weak or downright destroys the female germinative power, that of the Mercury. It should then be replaced.» — señala el costo de la purificación: debilita o destruye el poder germinativo femenino del mercurio, que hay que reponer.

«the vegetable or metallic Salt is deprived of its Sulfur/Mercury elements through the appropriate menstruum; then we open its pores through calcination; the Salt then becomes what the ancients call a magnet which only waits to attract the Universal Astral» — describe la fabricación de lo que los antiguos llaman imán: sal despojada y calcinada que espera atraer el espíritu astral universal; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo, donde ese espíritu se nombra niter.

«The alchemical Salt can have two functions: 1) a function of purification due to its “armoniac” characteristic when it is combined with the appropriate Sulfur; 2) a magnet to attract the niter, often through the atmospheric dew.» — reparte las dos funciones de la sal alquímica, purificar por armonía y atraer el niter como imán.

«The Philosophical Egg is a symbol used by the Ancients. The yolk is the Sulfur, - the male ferment; the white is the Mercury, - the female ferment; the shell is the Salt which enables the union of the two. The incubation temperature of the egg is moreover identical to that of the vegetable and even mineral Philosophical egg, at least in the beginning.» — traduce las partes del huevo a los tres principios y empareja la temperatura de incubación animal con la del huevo filosófico.

«True alchemy is the creation of the Alchemical Child through the union of the male Sulfur and female Mercury in conjunction with the Salt matrix. While the quality of the Sulfur resists well the necessary purification treatment, it is not the case with the female seed of the Mercury which is easily destroyed and which, when free, immediately returns to the Chaos.» — define el arte por la generación del Niño Alquímico y opone la resistencia del azufre a la fragilidad de la semilla femenina del mercurio.

«The first step is the psychic preparation which yogis call the cleaning of the nadirs. You must clean the body’s psychic part of the impurities which prevent a normal functioning of the spiritual and invisible energies.» — nombra la primera etapa de la iniciación personal con el término que atribuye a los yoguis y la define como limpieza de la parte psíquica del cuerpo.

«The first task is to prepare seven elixirs, one for each planet. To start with, use for each of them a plant classified in the #1 category in the chart of lesson #8. These elixirs are made with dried plants and an undetermined menstruum.» — da la tarea de esa etapa y remite a la lista de plantas de la octava lección, restringida a la categoría más segura.

«After the extraction of the tincture, the calcination and the leaching of the salts, the tincture is poured on the salts and macerated for a week, then distilled to the dry point on the salts which should be calcined again. Do this 3 times, and reduce the Salts to powder after each calcination.» — da el ciclo triple de maceración, destilación a sequedad y calcinación con que se hace cada uno de los siete elixires.

«Expect to do about 1 year to 18 months of this practice before considering the first metallic phases.» — fija el plazo de esa práctica antes de pensar en las fases metálicas.

«After a few months, consider replacing the first series of elixirs with a second series made with the complete Sulfur/Salt/Mercury separation. In the method described above, the Sulfur’s Salt is incorporated into the Salt. The effects of these elixirs are significant.» — anuncia una segunda serie de elixires con separación completa de los tres principios y opone su efecto al de la primera.

«Under every element we drew a small line which symbolizes the fact that in each element the three principles, Sulfur, Mercury and Salt are present. Moreover, each element contains a little bit of the other three because everything is in everything.» — despliega cada elemento en sus tres principios y añade la fórmula de que todo está en todo.

«In 1, we have the Sulfur of Fire; in 2, the Mercury of Fire; in 3, the Salt of Fire; in 4, the Sulfur of Air; and so on until 12, the Salt of the Earth. 1 is the most volatile, 12 the most fixed. The degree of volatility diminishes from left to right and the degree of fixity diminishes right to left.» — ordena los doce estados de la materia entre lo más volátil y lo más fijo.

«In nature, the energy - the essence - starts with an involution from 1 to 12, in twelve obligatory steps in the same numerical order as in the figure.» — describe la involución como descenso obligado por los doce pasos en orden.

«When it arrives in 12 and after having experienced the fixed, the energy - the essence - reverses its tendency and climbs back up, evolves, towards the volatile in the reversed order but always without missing a step.» — describe la evolución como el mismo recorrido invertido, también sin saltarse ningún paso.

«The alchemist must obey this rule: all the steps must be made one at a time; the duration of a step can only be shortened through Art.» — deriva de ahí la regla del operador: ningún paso se salta y el arte solo acorta su duración.

«In addition, only the universals contain - equally or sensibly so - the elements of the 12 steps. All other mixtures only contain a few phases. In an important way, the Archeus, or universal spirit, contains these twelve phases of evolution.» — reserva los doce pasos completos a los universales y nombra el Archeus como el que los contiene.

«the flask should be closed with a fine weave cloth so that air can circulate but dust is prevented from entering the flask. 2) the water should not be exposed to sun or moonlight. 3) the temperature shouldn’t be too low, 20C is good, but between 25 and 30C is better. 4) the longer the fermentation, the better the result: 7 moon cycles are enough but 12 are» — repite las cuatro precauciones de la fermentación del agua, del paño tupido al plazo en ciclos lunares; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo.

«What we are going to explain is based on oral information from two foreign Alchemists and from two alchemical texts, one very ancient, the other modern. The synthesis we shall present will be a synthesis of the oral instructions, these two texts and our experience in this domain.» — declara las fuentes de la lección siguiente: instrucción oral de dos alquimistas extranjeros sin nombrar, dos textos y la experiencia propia, y advierte que a algunos les parecerá increíble.

«This experiment can be conducted in the three realms, and we experimented in the vegetable and mineral realms, but not in the animal realm as yet. As a result of these experiments, we had to modify certain details concerning our knowledge of the subject. We mentioned in the beginning that we were excluding animal Alchemy from our lessons and that is why we didn’t experiment with it. In addition, for various very serious ethical reasons, we believed it is better not to conduct this experiment in the animal realm.» — acota el alcance de lo experimentado y da dos razones para no operar en lo animal: la exclusión declarada del curso y razones éticas.

«In order for the results of the experiment we are attempting to make tangible, approximately 40 liters (10.5 gal.) of water is required. However, for practical reasons, we suggest operating on a smaller quantity. For instance, if you have 40 liters (10.5 gal.) of water at your disposal, go through the process described ten times, and only treat 4 liters (1.05 gal.) of water at a time because the distillation should be very slow and with ordinary equipment these 4 liters will require between 24 and 48 hrs of distillation.» — da la cantidad de agua del experimento del Gur y la reparte en tandas por la lentitud exigida a la destilación.

«Look at figure #1 in lesson #20. As 2 is less volatile than 1 and 2 is more volatile than 3, in theory a series of a well conducted distillations should separate the 12 elements. In actuality, it is impossible and we are going to describe a system of distillation in 4 and 3 stages which has often been used by ancient or modern Alchemists. Very often when you encounter the sentence “distil seven times” it refers to this system.» — declara impracticable separar los doce elementos y presenta el sistema en cuatro y tres etapas, al que adjudica la fórmula de destilar siete veces.

«These flasks are to be thoroughly cleaned, rinsed out with distilled water and dried. In this experiment cleanliness is essential.» — exige limpieza extrema de los frascos del experimento y lo declara condición esencial.

«The distillation can be started. Conduct it like a philosophic distillation (see lesson #14, page 4). If you are experienced and certain not to reach the boiling point, it is better not to use the Kjeldahl sphere. In the philosophic distillation, vapors do not rise up very much and the sphere considerably slows down the distillation. In any case, the distillation should be as slow as possible and shouldn’t be interrupted, at least not before the 3/4 of the water has distilled over. If you are really sure to maintain and control it at the limit of the boiling point, we repeat: do not use the Kjeldahl.» — manda destilar a la filosófica y desaconseja la esfera Kjeldahl para quien controle el límite del hervor, porque frena mucho la operación.

«The first liter that goes through is kept in the flask Fire A. The second liter in the flask Air B and the third in the flask Water C.» — reparte los tres primeros litros del destilado entre los frascos de fuego, aire y agua.

«From there, note that the water in the 5 liter flask seems viscous, sticky. Slow down the distillation to the extreme. If you placed a Kjeldahl sphere in the circuit, it is best to remove it at this point.» — da la señal de que se llega al tramo terrestre, el agua viscosa, y manda extremar la lentitud.

«When 0.8 liter of the Earth water is distilled, bring the experiment to a stop and leave the 200 ml which are left over to cool down. This water is charged with the Gur, the universal seed which, when it is concentrated, can be easily destroyed around the temperature of 60 to 65C (140 to 149F).» — fija el corte del experimento y advierte que el Gur concentrado se destruye con facilidad entre sesenta y sesenta y cinco grados.

«Numerous alchemists or so-called alchemists fail their experiments for the simple reason that they do not know the theory or do not understand what is happening during experiments. Applying cookbook recipes to Alchemy never yields the desired results. When you don’t understand what you are doing, you kill the subtle principles and you move from Alchemy back to chemistry.» — adjudica el fracaso de muchos operadores a la ignorancia de la teoría, niega valor al recetario y llama química a lo que resulta de operar sin entender.

«The maceration of a plant in brandy (cognac) produces the following results: the alcohol dissolves the vegetable Sulfur and absorbs the vegetable Mercury along» — empieza a explicar por dentro el primer experimento del curso, con lo que el alcohol disuelve y absorbe; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y sigue con las impurezas y las sales.

«The water contained in the brandy (cognac) partially dissolves the vegetable salts; as a matter of fact, these salts can only be partly dissolved because: a) the alcohol disturbs the water in this particular work b) the salts haven’t been liberated through calcination.» — da las dos razones de que el agua del coñac solo disuelva en parte las sales vegetales.

«Complete the distillation in a water-bath, by maintaining the bath water between 60 and 65C (140 to 149F). Pull a vacuum in the apparatus so that the water boils at 55 C (131F).» — primera de las dos vías para terminar la destilación del Gur, con vacío para bajar el hervor por debajo del umbral que lo destruye.

«Follow the method of the Ancients who leave the water in the sun so it evaporates. However, the water can be contaminated in this process and it becomes difÏcult to collect the Gur.» — segunda vía, la de los antiguos por evaporación al sol, con su inconveniente declarado: contamina y dificulta la recogida.

«When everything is dry, carefully collect the brown and somewhat silky product which remains at the bottom of the flask. It is the Gur, the universal seed of the three realms.» — describe el Gur por su aspecto al final de la operación y lo declara semilla universal de los tres reinos.

«The second part is devoted to the preparation of the Archeus which is needed for the fecundation of the Gur.» — anuncia la segunda parte del experimento y la relación entre los dos productos: el Archeus fecunda el Gur.

«Some authors cohobate two principles to start with and then cohobating the two with the last third.» — consigna la variante de otros autores sin nombrar en el orden de la cohobación de los tres principios.

«We obtain then 400 ml of a new circulatum which is the INDETERMINATE UNIVERSAL ARCHEUS.» — nombra el producto de la segunda circulación, el Archeus universal indeterminado.

«If you own a pH meter (this is not essential) you can make sure everything is proceeding smoothly by making sure that the following measurements are respected: -—— after the first distillation, all Ph should be 5 — the circulatum of 300 ml have the following pH: LA 5.7, 456, V5.2, 7 4.7 — the circulated Archeus has a pH of 4.8» — da las cifras de pH que deben salir en cada etapa como control, y declara el aparato no imprescindible.

«If you do not own a pH-meter, do not attempt measuring pH with papers which can contaminate the water and which are inefÏcient anyway in measuring such a small variation of pH. Only the Gur water which can attain a ph of 8 before evaporation, could be read accurately.» — prohíbe el papel indicador por contaminante e insuficiente para variaciones tan pequeñas, y salva de esa objeción solo el agua del Gur.

«In each Archeus, the four elements must be present, but not equally: —if the earth element is predominant, we have an Archeus of the metallic realm — if the elements of earth and water are predominant, we have an Archeus of the mineral realm —if Water and Air are predominant, we have an Archeus of the vegetable realm | — if Fire and Air are predominant, we have an Archeus of the animal realm.» — reparte los cuatro Archeus por el elemento dominante en cada uno, del metálico terrestre al animal ígneo.

«Therefore the various ratios of elements directs the fecundation of the Gur to one realm or another, and the same ratio directs the fecundation within a same realm.» — generaliza la regla: la proporción de elementos decide el reino de la fecundación y también el lugar dentro del reino.

«When the Archeus of our choice is ready, impregnate the Gur with the Archeus. The Gur must be moist but the liquid shouldn’t flow. This part of the experiment is done in an open mouth flask which is then kept closed. The Gur absorbs the moisture and then dries out; start the imbibition again, and let it dry again and so on until the Gur ceases to absorb moisture. Then cease the imbibitions and open the flask.» — da el modo de impregnar el Gur con el Archeus y el criterio de término, el rechazo de humedad.

«If the Archeus chosen is from the vegetable realm, a plant will appear after some time. You should then offset, but only offset, the moisture taken by the plant with the Archeus. As soon as this plant dies, calcine it and mix the ashes with the Gur. A new plant will appear. Start the operations of moisturizing, calcination, blending again and a new plant will appear and so on. The reproduction occurs without fecundation and the plants which grow one after the other generally form a sequence which corresponds to a progression up the evolutionary ladder.» — describe el resultado que declara para el Archeus vegetal: plantas que nacen sin fecundación y se suceden en una serie que lee como progresión evolutiva.

«If the Archeus chosen belongs to the mineral realm, the Gur will take progressively, as imbibitions proceed, a sandy aspect, and if examined under a microscope it will show some small silver and gold metal particles.» — describe el resultado del Archeus mineral: aspecto arenoso y partículas de plata y oro al microscopio.

«If you choose the Undeterminated Archeus and if all works well, you can achieve the Red Stone. But this way is very difÏcult to follow and the results are very chancy.» — admite la Piedra Roja por el Archeus indeterminado y acota de inmediato la dificultad y lo azaroso del resultado; la grafía Undeterminated es del impreso.

«The Universal Undetermined Archeus is a menstruum that acts in all realms and which already has important healing powers.» — define el Archeus universal indeterminado como menstruo de todos los reinos y le adjudica ya poderes curativos.

«We very strongly recommend against using an Archeus of the animal realm and we won’t say any more about it in this lesson. Those driven by curiosity could, before undertaking anything, refer to what Paracelsus wrote about the homonculus.» — desaconseja con fuerza el Archeus animal y remite al curioso a lo que Paracelso escribió sobre el homúnculo; la grafía homonculus es del impreso.

«If we describe more than one method or experiment, it is not intended that each of you perform them exactly as described, but rather that you have different ways available, so you can choose the one that appeals to you most. In addition, studying the different systems gives a more or less complete overview of the achemical and spagyric methods; it is an important factor that encourages personal advance on the path.» — explica por qué el curso da varios métodos: no para ejecutarlos todos, sino para elegir y para tener vista de conjunto.

«In Alchemy, you don’t need to wait for a master’s good will to be initiated. Through study and practical work, we progressively come to the state of mind which opens up for us the the secrets of hermetic books.» — niega que la iniciación alquímica dependa de la voluntad de un maestro y la remite al estudio y al trabajo.

«To illustrate this we are giving, in this lesson, the translation of an ancient text. You can see for yourself that this text, although it is one of the most accessible ones, is not very easy to transpose into practical experiments. This reading and pondering permits you to determine your degree of progress in hermetic understanding.» — declara el texto que sigue traducción de un texto antiguo y lo propone al lector como medida de su propio grado de comprensión hermética.

«The following text is entitled Circulatus Minus Urbigeranum and the author dedicated it to all true lovers of hermetic philosophy.» — nombra el texto traducido y su dedicatoria; la grafía Circulatus Minus del título convive en el mismo volumen con Circulatum Minus.

«In previous aphorisms, we clearly delivered the unfailing rules and instructions necessary to produce the Great Elixir, the Circulatum Major, the only true secret of the Adepts, which commands all realms of Nature.» — [Urbigerus, en la traducción del curso] remite a sus aforismos anteriores sobre el Circulatum Major y lo llama único secreto verdadero de los adeptos.

«We call it Circulatum because, even though it is repeatedly used in some Chemical Extraction or Experiment, it doesn’t loose any of its qualities or properties, which is a particularity attached to the Universal Elixir, also called Circulatum Major because it commands in three Realms of Nature, while this one, reduced to only one Realm, is for this reason called Minor.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo II] explica los dos nombres por su alcance: el mayor manda en tres reinos y el menor en uno, y ninguno se gasta al usarse.

«From the extract of the undetermined Tears of Diana when Apollo appeared after the separation of the three Elements, the Determination, Digestion and glorious Resurrection, we can, without the addition of any other created object, prepare the determined Elixir which is the first, the noblest and the most secret art of the Philosophers.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo III] da la materia del elixir determinado en lenguaje de decknamen, con las Lágrimas de Diana y la aparición de Apolo.

«The characteristics of Diana’s Tears consist in their perfect and indissoluble union with the fixed vegetable Earth, which is philosophically prepared, purified and spiritualized,» — [Urbigerus, aforismo IV] define las Lágrimas de Diana por su unión indisoluble con la tierra vegetal fija ya preparada; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo.

«We thought it convenient to provide in the same way the three different techniques for the» — [Urbigerus, en la traducción del curso] anuncia las tres técnicas del elixir vegetal; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo, donde sigue el plazo de un Mes Filosófico.

«making of the Vegetable Elixir or Circulatum Minor which can be prepared and brought to a greater perfection during a Philosophical Month by any skilled artist who understands and follows our reliable directions.» — [Urbigerus, continuación de esa frase al otro lado del corte] fija el plazo del Circulatum Minor en un Mes Filosófico para el artista hábil que siga sus instrucciones.

«Our Circulatum Minor is a Specific Elixir which belongs to the Vegetable Realm through which we can, in one moment, extract the true Essence of the Plant which» — [Urbigerus, aforismo I] define el Circulatum Minor por lo que hace al instante con la planta; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y sigue con la virtud, la calidad y la propiedad extraídas sin fuego.

«The third common way only consists in the conjunction of a fixed Vegetable Salt with its own volatile sulfurous Spirit, things that can be easily found already prepared at any drugstore; and since in their preparation the purest sulfur, which contains the spirit suffered through non-philosophical manipulation, they cannot be inseparably linked without a sulfurous medium, through which the Soul is reinforced, whilst the Body and the Spirit are also rendered capable, through it, of the most perfect union.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo VI] describe la tercera vía por sus dos materiales de botica y declara que no se ligan sin un medio sulfuroso que refuerce el alma.

«The specific Medium required for the indissoluable union of these two Subjects is only a sulfurous and bituminous substance extracted from a plant, whether dead or alive, found in various parts of the world, and which is known by all kinds of men. After it has been separated from its starchy parts through our Universal Menstruum, all the pores and the atoms of the fixed vegetable Salt, which is extremely strengthened by this passage, (this substance) as it is dilated, is rendered capable of receiving its own Spirit and uniting with it.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo VII] define ese medio como sustancia sulfurosa y bituminosa de una planta conocida de todos, sin nombrarla; la grafía indissoluable es del impreso.

«To fortify the Sulfur and open the Pores of the Salt no method is required other than imbibing this salt with the bituminous substance in a moderate digestive heat, identical to that needed for the brooding of eggs; as the salt is dries up (absorbs the substance), the impregnation (imbibition) is repeated many times until you find it so fully saturated that it refuses to imbibe any more matter.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo VIII] da el método de imbibición con calor de incubación y el criterio de saturación.

«In the course of the impregnations, the whole mass must be turned over at least nine or ten times a day with a spatula or any other instrument made of dry wood, with a the repeated movement by which the bituminous matter obtains a better access to the Body and perfects its operation very early.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo IX] prescribe remover la masa nueve o diez veces al día con espátula de madera seca.

«Great care must be taken to avoid any kind of dust or rubbish to fall into your Matter during the working of the Impregnations. To prevent this, keep your container covered with a cardboard or any appropriate cover; and nothing should come close that would have its own inner Sulfur because the pores of the Salt are very dilated and open and the Salt can easily determine itself according to any other subject, and thus bring your undertaking to an end.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo X] manda cubrir el recipiente y apartar todo cuerpo con azufre propio, porque la sal de poros abiertos se determinaría según él.

«If in three or four weeks at the most, your fixed vegetable Salt doesn’t manifest its true saturation, it would certainly be vain for you to go on further, because you can be certain that you are wrong either in the notion of Salt or in the true sulfurous medium, or in the working of the Impregnations.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XI] pone plazo a la saturación y reparte el error entre tres causas posibles.

«When your Impregnations are accomplished, your Salt will then be in a favorable state to receive its own Spirit through which it becomes volatile, spiritual, sheer, and marvellously penetrating, entering in a moment the Pores and particles of any plant and separating, in a brief moment, its true essence or its elements.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XII] describe la sal ya dispuesta a recibir su espíritu y lo que hace entonces con cualquier planta.

«Before you start the Distillations and Cohobations, and after you added the vegetable Spirit to its own salt, a putrefaction of 8 to 10 days must precede during which the sulfurous Spirit, reinforced by the bituminous substance and finding its salt ready for conjunction with it, has the power to enter in its Pores to facilitate its Volatilization and its union.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XIV] intercala una putrefacción de ocho a diez días antes de las destilaciones y cohobaciones.

«If, after six or seven Distillations and Cohobations of the Distillate on the residue you do not find that the Spirit is extremely bitter and that the residue is totally insipid, it will be an obvious sign that you failed in the true knowledge of the vegetable Spirit which, as it is volatile, has in its nature the power to volatilize its own Body and to unite inseparably with it, finding it capable of receiving it.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XV] da la prueba del éxito por el sabor: espíritu muy amargo y residuo insípido.

«Note that in the progression of your distillation the sulfurous medium doesn’t rise at all because it’s a true medium which intervenes to unite the Body with the Spirit before the spiritualization of the Body, and without its help no perfect union of these two subjects can be expected; so, on the contrary, in the course of the work, its participation would be highly disadvantagous for them and would throw your operation overboard.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XVI] advierte que el medio sulfuroso no debe subir, porque su papel termina antes de la espiritualización del cuerpo.

«The rising of the sulfurous medium when the Spirit starts to move on its own Body to unite with itself irreparably, obviously and certainly means that you didn’t adjust your fire as you should have and that, instead of giving a soft and vaporous heat to facilitate union, you gave a violent heat that destroyed it.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XVII] lee la subida de ese medio como diagnóstico del fuego: calor violento en vez de suave y vaporoso.

«When your salt is driven to perfect spiritualization and true union with its own volatile spirit, then you obtain the Circulatum Minor or vegetable Elixir or Menstruum with which you are capable of performing wonders in the vegetable realm by separating in a moment not only their principles or elements, but also within a single operation the pure from the impure.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XVIII] nombra el producto terminado y le adjudica la separación instantánea de principios y de puro e impuro.

«If, in your vegetable Elixir you put any green vegetable, cut in pieces, it will putrefy in less than 15 minutes without any outer heat and it will fall to the bottom as if dead (which is nothing but damned earth, terra damnata), and on the surface a yellow oil floats which contains the Salt and the Sulfur; the Elixir becomes the color of the plant because it contains its vegetable spirit. If this doesn’t happen, it is an indication that the operations were not philosophical.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XIX] da la prueba visible del elixir en quince minutos, con la tierra condenada al fondo y el aceite amarillo arriba, y hace de su ausencia señal de operación no filosófica.

«A single drop of this yellow oil given every morning and evening in a glass of wine to treat nausea, in accord with the virtues and qualities attributed to the plant, will unfailingly and imperceptively cure the disorder and reinforce the vital spirits and purify the blood against nausea or infection.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XX] da la posología de ese aceite amarillo y los efectos que le atribuye.

«If you put some coral in this Menstruum, you'll see a remarkable experience. Even though its pores are more compact than those of any other vegetable, it transmits its inner spirit instantly to the Menstruum, and sends» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXI] anuncia la experiencia del coral, cuyos poros declara más compactos que los de cualquier vegetal; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo.

«This vegetable Menstruum not only dissolves all kinds of resins and other sorts of substances of the vegetable realm, but also all kinds of oils or bases, which comes from trees. It separates their true essence through which you can accomplish marvellous things on living or dead bodies, which it eternally preserves without need of an opening or later preparations.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXII] amplía el alcance del menstruo a resinas, aceites y bálsamos de árbol, y le adjudica la conservación eterna de cuerpos vivos o muertos.

«If myrrh, aloes or saffron, each in equal quantity, is put into this Menstruum, then the true Elixir Proprietatis (as Paracelsus calls it), which is an excellent cordial and as efÏcient and virtuous as the Universal Elixir itself by healing all curable disorders, will presently float at the top and its Caput Mortem will separate from it and fall to the bottom.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXIII] da la receta del Elixir Proprietatis y adjudica el nombre a Paracelso; la grafía XXHI del numeral y efÏcient son del OCR.

«Even though this Menstruum is specific to plants, it will extract in one moment tinctures of metals and ores but it will not separate all their principles as it is not the appropriate Menstruum for these operations. Even though these sulfurs are highly balsamic for the lungs and spleen, our Elixir is superior to such preparations which we only indicated as curious chemical experiments.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXIV] acota el alcance metálico del menstruo vegetal: extrae tinturas pero no separa principios, y esas preparaciones quedan como curiosidad.

«Because this vegetable Menstruum is eternal and can be used over and over, make sure that you do not lose any of its quantity or its quality. Separate it from the Oil or the Spirit of the vegetable by gentle distillation or water-bath, while the container is very well sealed with luting and previously dried. The Menstruum, floating on top of the vegetable Phlegm from which it should be separated through distillation or water-bath for later uses, leaves its oil at the top ;the oil is united with its own Spirit which will easily disappear with any common heat, and leave nothing behind it, which is the proof of the Spiritualization, Purification, Regeneration, it received from the Menstruum.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXV] manda no perder cantidad ni calidad del menstruo, da el modo de separarlo por baño maría y hace de la desaparición sin residuo la prueba de la espiritualización.

«An extract of your Oil or Essence prepared in this way or any other philosophical way (as specified in the second way to make the Elixir), if you know how to putrefy it naturally without any fire and to separate all the Principles, purify and inseparably unite them together, so that both are rendered transparent and spiritual, you'll have obtained, from this second regeneration, the greatest Arcana in the World for the plants, minerals and metals with the exception of Gold and Silver.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXVI] promete de esa segunda regeneración el mayor arcano del mundo para plantas, minerales y metales, con oro y plata exceptuados.

«If this regenerated Essence is determined with the raw material, it will have the radical capacity of dissolving all kinds of metals and minerals and principally Gold which is imperceptibly dissolved in it, like ice in common water, and common, regular gold can never be separated, whether through distillation or digestion. After a philosophical digestion and a separation of the three principles with their purification, union and digestion and third regeneration, you can prepare the great medicine of the doctors which has an equal virtue and quality on human bodies as the Great Elixir and, with simple mercury, on metals and minerals as well.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXVII] adjudica a la esencia regenerada la disolución del oro como hielo en agua y, tras la tercera regeneración, la gran medicina de los médicos.

«The way of determining this regenerated Menstruum with your raw material must be performed through amalgamation with it, during which the Vegetable Menstruum draws all the qualities and properties and unites them with its own and is thus rendered capable of the same properties and virtues like the simple Mercury which dissolves and volatilizes any created object that comes in contact with it.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXVIII] describe la determinación por amalgamación, que hace al menstruo capaz de lo mismo que el mercurio simple.

«volatilize metals, cannot however ameliorate any of them because their dissolution and volatilization are neither natural nor philosophical and we think with good reason that all these opinions are only false and imaginary suppositions, not founded notions.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXIX] objeta a esos menstrua que disuelven y volatilizan sin mejorar, por no ser natural ni filosófica su operación, y llama a esas opiniones suposiciones imaginarias; el tramo arranca al otro lado del corte de troceo.

«We, with our divine master Hermes, solemnly afÏrm that God Almighty, after he created all things, ordered each one. to procreate from its own kind. Then our elixirs shouldn’t be produced through sophisticated means, as was clearly mentioned in the preceding and present aphorisms in which we gave ample instruction for the preparation of the Universal Elixir from undetermined matter, and the specific factor from vegetable roots.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXX] se ampara en Hermes para negar los medios sofisticados, apoyado en el mandato de que cada cosa procree según su especie; la grafía afÏrm es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«Apart from the true affection and charity we have for all lovers of the Art, we are warning anyone who wishes.to prepare one of our Elixirs only to follow our unfailing rules, as they are the sum of the entire theory and practice according to the true philosophers, and without criticizing others, because some have taught the subject from hear-say, some others from readings and few from their own experience, they can easily be impressed by those and deceived by any pseudo-chemist or pretended adept.» — [Urbigerus, aforismo XXXI] pide seguir solo sus reglas y reparte a los maestros ajenos en tres clases, los de oídas, los de lecturas y los pocos de experiencia propia.

«We presented this text which we considered one of the least troublesome for the readers. It is surely necessary to reread it a few times before you obtain some kind of teaching out of it.» — el curso retoma su voz para justificar la elección del texto y exigir relecturas antes de sacar de él enseñanza.

«Fire is needed to prepare the Circulatum. It won’t serve for the use of the Circulatum, but to collect it.» — primer comentario del curso al aforismo I: el fuego sirve para preparar el circulatum, no para usarlo.

«In this specific case, circulation means maceration, percolation or, according to modern means, Soxhlet extraction.» — comentario del curso al aforismo II, que traduce el término antiguo a las operaciones modernas.

«The separation of the three elements means that the Sulfur, the Salt and the Mercury must be separated in the form of essential oils, spirit and mineral residue. This first process of preparation happens by applying a Philosophical Mercury of mineral origin into the vegetable realm. The preparation is very fast.» — comentario del curso al aforismo III, que traduce la separación de elementos a aceites esenciales, espíritu y residuo mineral.

«A complete separation of these three essential elements is imperative. Without it, nothing can be accomplished thereafter. This means that the Philosophical Mercury becomes specific to the vegetable realm in this operation.» — comentario al aforismo IV: sin separación completa no hay obra, y en esa operación el Mercurio Filosófico se especifica al reino vegetal.

«We can obtain the salt at a drugstore. It is almost a paradox because the alchemists claim that we can’t obtain their preparations in the shop of a chemist or pharmacist. But here we have the case of a product without sulfur and mercury, which can therefore be bought at a drugstore and bring the expected result.» — comentario al aforismo VI que consigna la paradoja: los alquimistas niegan que sus preparados se compren en botica, y aquí sí, por tratarse de un producto sin azufre ni mercurio.

«The text emphasizes the sulfurous matter also called bituminous. There is a direct relation to the resinous substance which is attached to the pure alchemical Sulfur of the plant. The extraction can be performed on a fresh or dry plant. When the Salt has been purified, it is ready to receive the purified essential oil and the purified spirit that is to say the alcohol.» — comentario al aforismo VII que identifica lo bituminoso con la sustancia resinosa unida al azufre puro de la planta.

«What is called bituminous is none other than the calcined residue of the sulfur, which is also known as ’The Salt of the Sulfur”. It is placed ina retort with the residue calcined black (carbon) of the plant which was extracted. Perform a vacuum-distillation with the old method at a temperature that shouldn’t go beyond that of the brooding of eggs. The Salt of the Sulfur is the volatile salt with an organic characteristic which can be separated by sublimation. Push the distillation to dryness and then pour the distillate on the bituminous substance until the salt becomes progressively clearer. This process is repeated until no alcohol or oil is retained. The quantity collected at the distillation is equal to the amount that was introduced into the flask.» — comentario al aforismo VIII que nombra lo bituminoso Sal del Azufre y da su procedimiento de destilación al vacío y cohobación.

«When the Salt becomes more subtle, it attracts dust or fine particles which would be difÏcult to extract.» — comentario al aforismo X que explica la exigencia de limpieza por la avidez de la sal ya sutil.

«When you conduct the impregnations according to this method the Salt should theoretically look like a crystalline transparent substance. The outcome of our own experiment, however, was an opaque white substance.» — comentario al aforismo XII donde el curso consigna el desacuerdo entre lo que la teoría promete, una sustancia cristalina transparente, y lo que su experimento dio, un blanco opaco.

«The Sulfur should not and won’t distill over the Spirit, but it will progressively be more strongly united to the Salt (alchemical marriage).» — comentario al aforismo XVI que nombra matrimonio alquímico la unión creciente del azufre con la sal.

«When a plant different from that of the circulatum is finely cut and placed in the distilled Spirit mentioned in XV, the dead and damned earth falls to the bottom while the oil which contains the Salt floats. The three essentials are extracted and purified through the power of the Menstruum’s spirit. The Spirit is collected by distilling the circulatum.» — comentario al aforismo XIX que describe la separación instantánea de la planta ajena en el menstruo.

«This menstruum acts on the coral, that is to say on a substance which is on the borderline of the mineral realm.» — comentario al aforismo XXI que sitúa el coral en el límite del reino mineral.

«Paracelsus’ Elixir whose properties are close to the properties of the Great Elixir is prepared from three plants treated in equal quantities.» — comentario al aforismo XXIII, que nombra el elixir por Paracelso y reduce la receta a tres plantas en partes iguales.

«This menstruum can extract metallic tinctures but it can’t dissolve metals like the Philosophic Mercury can. This extraction has been practically demonstrated.» — comentario al aforismo XXIV que acota el alcance metálico del menstruo y declara el punto comprobado en la práctica.

«What is explained here is contrary to alchemical principles and only means that the menstruum can extract the mineral tincture but can’t perform the transmutation.» — comentario al aforismo XXVI donde el curso objeta al propio texto que comenta: lo que ahí se dice va contra los principios y solo vale para la tintura mineral.

«All this paragraph is true only if the menstruum is united to the Philosophical Mercury.» — comentario al aforismo XXVII que condiciona su verdad a la unión con el Mercurio Filosófico.

«There must be a distinction between what extracts a tincture and what dissolves a substance. All the menstrua are not like that, even though the common of mortals thinks it is Mercury or Philosophical Mercury and call them so.» — comentario al aforismo XXIX que separa extraer una tintura de disolver una sustancia y objeta el uso corriente del nombre de mercurio filosófico.

«These elixirs can only be produced through knowledge coming from divine inspiration.» — comentario al aforismo XXX que remite la producción de esos elixires a la inspiración divina.

«If you follow these prescriptions you can avoid many disillusions, but alchemical practice only can lead you to a valid result. The circulatum is not as easy to use as the Vegetable Stone, but it allows other experiments.» — comentario final del curso, que opone el circulatum a la piedra vegetal por manejo y por alcance.

«As a practical application of this text you can try this other method to obtain the Stone which we found in an old text. We have not performed the experiment to date.» — presenta el método de la piedra de trigo como venido de un texto antiguo y declara no haberlo ejecutado, que es la reserva que acompaña a la receta.

«put 800 grams (28.21 oz.) of wheat seed to fermentation in 4 liters of water (1.05 gal.) for 6 months until the whole thing is reduced to a mush.» — primer paso de esa receta ajena: seis meses de fermentación del trigo hasta la papilla.

«perform a distillation according to the principles used for the Gur, but here we have the sequence Mercury, Sulfur and Salt and the oil distils after the alcohol.» — segundo paso, que reordena la serie del Gur y sitúa el aceite después del alcohol.

«cohobate an equal part of liquids 1 to 6 and pour them on the solid residues of 12. After 6 weeks of digestion, the liquid should be of a green color. 1 to 6 represent the active positive part of the plant.» — reparte los doce estados entre la parte activa y la pasiva, y da el color verde tras seis semanas de digestión como señal.

«when nothing is absorbed any more the solid residue is melted and, once it cooled down, it is saturated with the essential oil of the plant. The Stone is then completed.» — cierra la receta de la piedra de trigo con la fusión del residuo y su saturación con el aceite esencial.

«Truly, if the Circulatum Minor is correctly and well prepared it looses nothing of its vigor even after repeated use. A circulatum the author did in his laboratory some years ago continues to instantly separate any plant which is placed in it, into its three essential principles.» — [Manfred Junius, en los comentarios que el volumen imprime a continuación] declara inagotable el circulatum bien hecho y da como testimonio uno de su propio laboratorio, hecho años antes y todavía activo.

«The Tears of Diana are the Mercury, the undetermined or pure ethyl alcohol, that is to say the ethyl alcohol which hasn’t been specified by the addition of mineral salts (Fixed Earth). Apollo appears, after the volatile Sulfur, meaning the essential oils, have been extracted from the chosen vegetable species by vapor-distillation, for example. Apollo’s appearance, the distillation of the essential oils, is always the first stage of the separation.» — [Manfred Junius] descifra los decknamen del aforismo III: las Lágrimas de Diana son el alcohol etílico indeterminado y la aparición de Apolo la destilación de los aceites esenciales.

«Urbigerus claims that the separation of a species in its three essential principles (which he calls here elements) is necessary for the accomplishment of the Work. The Mercury is then specified by the addition of the other purified substances. That is to say the Salt as well as the fixed and non-fixed Sulfur. This is followed by a digestion and subsequent distillations. In this way we can prepare the Circulatum Minor starting with one single thing without any addition. Ubigerus considers it to be the noblest way of preparation.» — [Manfred Junius] adjudica a Urbigerus la exigencia de separar los tres principios y describe la vía que éste tiene por más noble, la que parte de una sola cosa sin añadidos.

«But the Salt extracted from the body of the plant (fixed vegetable Earth) should be alchemically prepared, that is to say correctly calcined, purified and spiritualized (made volatile); this transforms their nature.» — [Manfred Junius] acota la determinación de las Lágrimas de Diana: la sal ha de ir calcinada, purificada y espiritualizada, lo que le cambia la naturaleza.

«Urbigerus alludes to the vineyard. During what is called Opus Vini, where work on wine is proceeding, there is a stage, at a certain point, where the worker can choose between a liquid and volatile result or a fixed result, a stone. For the reduction into an oil the reader shall refer to Hollandus, Glauberus Concentratus and Opera Vegetabilis. The method is too long and we can’t describe it here, that is why we are concentrating on the first and the third method of realization of the Circulatum.» — [Manfred Junius] identifica la alusión del aforismo IV con el Opus Vini, remite al lector a Hollandus y declara que el método es demasiado largo para exponerlo ahí.

«The sulfurous volatile spirit is an alcoholic essence which is distilled from a plant. (“Sulfurous Spirit” always indicates an alcohol distillate containing the essential oil that is to say the volatile Sulfur of the species). These aromatic alcoholates were usually sold by apothecaries and numerous treaties on the art of distillation allude to it. THE CARMELITE’S WATER and THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY’S WATER are famous examples of these compound distillates.» — [Manfred Junius] define el espíritu sulfuroso volátil como alcoholato aromático que las boticas vendían, y nombra dos famosos, el Agua de las Carmelitas y el Agua de la Reina de Hungría.

«Urbigerus clearly alludes to resins. These are complex blends mainly of aromatic substances which possess acid properties, of other alcohols, phenols and highly desaturated substances. Resins are close to terpenes. Resins are obtained by cutting certain trees, mainly pines, firs and spruce, larches and some exotic varieties. Amber is a particular kind of resin.» — [Manfred Junius] identifica con resinas la sustancia bituminosa del aforismo VII y las describe por su composición y por los árboles de donde salen.

«Urbigerus’s German text contains a conclusive sentence: “Und Von allen Arten derer Meerfishern erkandt Wird” (and this is known by all fish of the sea or fishermen of the sea). This obvious allusion to amber put the author on the right track. (The succinic acid contained in amber is a marvellous catalyst).» — [Manfred Junius] apoya la lectura del ámbar en una frase del original alemán de Urbigerus, que traduce entre paréntesis, y añade el ácido succínico como catalizador.

«But Urbigerus tells us himself what are the kind of resins which he considers as particularly fitting for the operation. First comes that of the copaiba (the balm extracted from the copaiba tree, copaifera ofÏcinalis. N.d.T) then in order of preference, he indicates the Italian resin, extracted from the characteristic pines which are abundantly present in the Italian countryside.» — [Manfred Junius] ordena por preferencia las resinas que adjudica a Urbigerus, la de copaiba primero y la italiana después; la sigla N.d.T marca ahí una nota de la traductora dentro del comentario.

«This resin must be purified of all its starchy parts through water. The best method of purification seems to be a distillation correctly conducted.» — [Manfred Junius] exige purificar la resina de sus partes feculentas y prefiere la destilación bien conducida.

«One should reduce the resin to powder and mix it with three parts of crushed bricks and a part of common salt which should be first dried out through heat. The whole should be placed in a retort and distilled by continually increasing the temperature. Therefore one can use part of the oily distillate thus obtained. We can also rectify the distillate by adding three parts of common salt and distilling again.» — [Le Febure, citado por Junius desde su Chymischer Handleiter] da el procedimiento de destilación de la resina con ladrillo machacado y sal común.

«The easiest for us is to buy already clarified resins like balm of copaiba (balms are blends of resins and etheric oils partly mixed with aromatic oils) or balm of Canada which is the exudation of the North American resin pine (Abies Balsamica) which is, strictly speaking, a turpentine. It contains approx. 24% essential oil, 60% resin which is soluble in alcohol and 16% resin soluble in ether.» — [Manfred Junius] recomienda comprar las resinas ya clarificadas y desglosa la composición del bálsamo de Canadá.

«The author conducted experiments with various resins while working on circulata.. Because of the excellent results obtained with balm of Canada, he wishes to recommend it to his friends of the Art.» — [Manfred Junius, que habla de sí en tercera persona] declara sus ensayos con varias resinas y recomienda el bálsamo de Canadá por los resultados.

«Whatever resinous matter you decide to use, make sure that it is natural and hasn’t been fractioned. Natural balm of Canada is easily obtainable, it is not however the cheapest resin.» — [Manfred Junius] pone la condición de la materia resinosa —natural y sin fraccionar— y consigna su precio.

«Before he adds the resinous matter, the operant is at a crossroad. He can at that moment choose, if he wants, to use the dry or the wet way. In the first case, the salts of the fixed part of the Sulfur which was obtained by calcination will be added. They won’t volatilize the salt of the body and the result will be a stone.» — [Manfred Junius] sitúa ahí la bifurcación entre vía seca y vía húmeda, y hace de la seca la que lleva a la piedra.

«Since, at this stage, we already operate on highly purified substances, we should make sure that no impurities contaminate the work. The author obtained good results by using rather big, completely sealed vials. The vials are periodically opened for some time in order for fresh air to come in and then closed again. The dangers of contamination are tremendously reduced when working in a closed oven (incubator).» — [Manfred Junius] describe su modo de evitar contaminaciones con viales sellados abiertos de tanto en tanto, y prefiere la estufa cerrada.

«The alcohol should be in higher proportion than the fixed. The author obtained good results with a proportion of 6 to 1 or even 8 to 1.» — [Manfred Junius] da la proporción de alcohol sobre lo fijo que su experiencia aprueba.

«During this putrefaction which is none other than a pushed digestion, a color change occurs and the Salt takes the appearance of a kind of phlegm. The reinforced Sulfur and the Spirit act at this moment on the Salt and volatilize it. Then, we start the distillations.» — [Manfred Junius] describe la putrefacción como digestión forzada y da sus señales, el cambio de color y el aspecto flemático de la sal.

«The distillations are performed in a water-bath. Between the distillations, after cohobation (when we reverse the distillate on the residue) a complementary time of digestion is useful. After seven distillations you'll find that your distillate has a characteristic and penetrating odor with an acid and corrosive taste.» — [Manfred Junius] prescribe baño maría y digestión intermedia, y da el olor y el sabor del destilado tras siete pasadas.

«To avoid it, proceed with water-bath for all distillations. If the temperature is too high the result will be more a fixation of the volatile parts of the Salt than a volatilization. In all attempts of volatilizations, a careful and slow distillation is required.» — [Manfred Junius] advierte que el calor excesivo fija en vez de volatilizar, y exige destilación lenta en toda volatilización.

«If you worked properly, you now obtained the Circulatum Minor in accord with the third method. Now, you can understand the first method because all you have to do is to proceed and start with the same vegetable species you extracted the resinous matter from, like pine or spruce for example. You can extract the resinous matter from small branches of the pine or spruce by vapor-distillation. In this way, you obtain natural turpentines. For the rest, proceed as above.» — [Manfred Junius] declara alcanzado el circulatum por la tercera vía y deriva de ahí la primera, que parte de la misma especie de donde sale la resina.

«When you place a freshly cut green plant in it, one or two leaves for example, you'll notice that the liquid becomes milky and even completely opaque, at first. It indicates an emulsion. If you leave it to rest for some time, very small drops of oil will progressively surface and eventually form a yellow coat of oil.» — [Manfred Junius] describe la emulsión lechosa que da la planta fresca y la capa amarilla de aceite que aparece al reposar.

«A dry herb will immediately color the menstruum while separating the principles.» — [Manfred Junius] opone a esa lentitud lo que hace la hierba seca, que colorea el menstruo de inmediato.

«The aphorisms XXI to XXIV say more about the use of the Circulatum Minor. It can extract a tincture of coral (XXI), it can be used to make the Elixir Proprietatis if equal quantities of myrrh, aloes, and saffron are put into it (XXII), it dissolves all kinds of gums, oils and balms while separating their essences (XXIII). It also extracts the tincture of a certain number of metals and minerals.» — [Manfred Junius] resume los usos que los últimos aforismos atribuyen al circulatum, con la numeración de los aforismos corrida en un punto respecto de la del propio texto.

«We have worked together for a year now. Some of you are still working with the theory and for personal reasons, did not get to the practical work. To these members, we say that you are losing a legitimate and profitable part of the Alchemical Work.» — abre la última lección del volumen haciendo balance del año y objeta a quien se quedó en la teoría que pierde una parte legítima de la obra.

«Spagyrics essentially deals with the healing of the body and Alchemy with the healing of the soul.» — separa espagiria y alquimia por su objeto: el cuerpo la una, el alma la otra.

«In general, do not use alchemical elixirs for healing purposes because: 1. it is forbidden by law to prescribe a substance not intended for the accomplishment of medical art. 2. vegetable elixirs primarily have a spiritual effect and we shouldn’t deal with another’s spiritual facet: an elixir could awaken a chakra in one person who doesn’t have an adequate understanding to withstand this awakening 3. the most efÏcient treatments are metallic extractions but they are not included in the first parts of this class.» — da tres razones para no curar a otros con elixires alquímicos: la ley, el riesgo de despertar un chakra ajeno sin preparación, y que lo eficaz es metálico y no entra en el curso.

«As Spagyrics doesn’t specifically seek a spiritual approach, it uses different processes from those of alchemy. As an example, we shall describe one process used by the spagyrists of the German school.» — deriva de esa separación la diferencia de procesos y anuncia el ejemplo de la escuela alemana.

«As water is not bothered by the presence of alcohoL, it will dissolve some of the plant’s salts specifically those of mineral characteristic. Organic salts are not generally soluble in water; they only become soluble through calcination which, because it eliminates their carbon, returns them to the mineral state.» — explica el reparto de sales entre agua y calcinación: el agua saca las minerales y la calcinación devuelve al estado mineral las orgánicas al quitarles el carbono; la mayúscula de alcohoL es del OCR.

«When this is finished, the solid residue of the thimble is calcined at a high temperature: 1200°C (2192°F) minimum, even 1600°C (2912°F) is sometimes preferable. The residual ash is thrown into the menstruum while very hot and the whole is put to maceration for a week. Then a simple filtering yields the spagyric elixir.» — cierra el proceso de la escuela alemana con la calcinación a temperatura alta y la maceración de la ceniza en el menstruo caliente.

«Note here that, contrary to Alchemy, there is no clear Salt-tincture separation and no separation Sulfur-Mercury at all. The Salt is not charged with Sulfur, but it simply has the role of absorbing impurities of the tincture.» — señala en qué se aparta ese proceso de la alquimia: sin separación de azufre y mercurio, y con la sal cumpliendo solo el papel de absorber impurezas.

«The German school which uses this process does not intend to join the alchemical path through it. It remains within the framework of healing authorized by laws of this country.» — declara el propósito de esa escuela ajeno a la vía alquímica y ajustado al marco legal de la curación.

«the process of saturation-distillation-calcination is repeated three times, each cycle of which lasts a month.» — da la cadencia del ciclo central de ese método, tres veces y un mes cada vez.

«The substance is then placed in a porcelain cup and heated with a bunsen burner. It melts into a clear liquid which becomes opaque white while solidifying. This white solid is then reduced to powder (about 2 grams)» — describe la fusión de la sustancia y consigna el rendimiento final en unos dos gramos.

«Again the substance is reduced to powder and the cycle starts again until the substance no longer absorbs any liquid and easily melts in a flame. The Stone is completed.» — da el criterio de término de la piedra por ese método: la sustancia deja de absorber y funde con facilidad.

«This method seems by far the easiest and the most often successful.» — prefiere ese método entre todos los que el volumen ofrece, por facilidad y por tasa de acierto.

«150grams (5.29 oz.) to 200grams (7.05 oz.) of black pepper grains are reduced to powder. 2. extract the tincture with absolute alcohol by cycling it in a Soxhlet» — materia del segundo método final, la pimienta negra, y su extracción con alcohol absoluto en Soxhlet.

«this cycle is repeated until the substance no longer absorbs the extract and becomes opaque white. The Stone is completed.» — da el criterio de término del segundo método, con la sustancia opaca y blanca.

«Those who worked on some of the experiments understand that the problem of the Salt is one of the bigger problems of vegetable Alchemy.» — declara el problema de la sal uno de los mayores de la alquimia vegetal, y lo apoya en la experiencia de los alumnos.

«If we don’t leach the salt, we apparently have a greater mass, but it takes longer to purify it.» — consigna el intercambio entre masa y tiempo de purificación al decidir si se lixivia la sal.

«We shall speak of the four phases-distillation later and mention what Paracelsus calls the first being of plants, what others call their quintessence. Various authors recognize the qualities of this product, which are very close to those of the Great metallic Elixer.» — nombra el primer ser de las plantas por Paracelso y lo empareja con la quintaesencia de otros, con calidades próximas al gran elixir metálico; la grafía Elixer es del impreso.

«Of course, in the cohobation that revivifies the elements of a plant, you need to use the Salt of that plant, but for purification another salt can be used. In addition, if you don’t want the Salt to fix the Sulfur, it should not be in harmony with the plant.» — reparte el uso de la sal propia y de otra según se busque revivificar o purificar, y hace de la desarmonía la condición para que la sal no fije el azufre.

«The Ancients speak highly of sea salt and its acid, but we should remain circumspect here. A plant of the earth can be purified with sea salt without losing its Sulfur. But a marine algae can only be purified with potassium salts (see lesson # 13).» — acota el elogio antiguo de la sal marina y reparte los purificadores según la planta sea de tierra o alga.

«calcine some potassium carbonate between 200°C (392°F) and 300°C (572°F) for at least an hour. 2. spread a thin coat of it on a glass plate; we can start on a 50cm x 50cm plate with 1 or 2mm of carbonate on the surface. 3. put this plate in a ventilated room, preferably an attic rather than a cellar and slant the plate. The deliquescent salt will flow and the two corners will lead it to the flask where it will» — da el modo de obtener por delicuescencia el aceite de tártaro sobre placa de vidrio inclinada; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo.

«The Ancients call this tartar oil by deliquescence. It must first be filtered and then kept as such. 5. in order to enrich a product in “niter”, vacuum-distill this oil and the liquid you obtain is said to be “Angel Water”, according to the old texts.» — nombra el producto con el término de los antiguos y llama Agua de Ángel a lo que se obtiene destilándolo al vacío.

«Note: we know that some people would put the potassium hydroxide into deliquescence also, but it is very likely that potash treated in this way, no longer is potash. This one, hungry for the C02 from the air becomes potassium carbonate. To enrich the potash with “niter”, without it becoming a carbonate, you need to imbibe it with “Angel water” and do not leave it in contact with the air for long.» — objeta la práctica de poner la potasa en delicuescencia, porque el gas carbónico la vuelve carbonato, y da el modo de enriquecerla sin eso.

«A priest lent us a book: Le Sang peut-il vaincre Ja mort? (Can Blood Conquer Death?). This book deals with a part of Animal Alchemy, which in fact is known as the “Blood Arcana”.» — nombra el libro que da pie al tramo de alquimia animal y su procedencia; la grafía Ja por la es del OCR.

«After dedicating a few nights to the subject, we came to believe that the semi-knowledge transmitted by this book is not without danger, as is any semi-knowledge. We feel therefore compelled to provide you with a theoretical explanation of Animal Alchemy which is clear and complete.» — declara peligroso el medio saber de ese libro y funda en eso la decisión de exponer la teoría completa, contra la exclusión de lo animal que el curso había declarado.

«The books of Glaser and Lemery present a certain number of alchemical experiments on animal products. But to our knowledge, only the book Nature Unveiled, author anonymous, warns us about the negative, psychic or spiritual reactions of these experiments.» — nombra a Glaser y Lemery por sus experimentos con productos animales y adjudica solo a Nature Unveiled, de autor anónimo, la advertencia sobre las reacciones psíquicas.

«Animal Mercury is in the blood; the bones are the Salt and the flesh is a mixture of volatile Salt and Mercury coagulated by animal Sulfur. Obviously these elements can be separated and we can, in this domain, obtain the Sulfur, the Mercury and the Salt, separated and purified, but this is not the problem.» — reparte los tres principios en el cuerpo animal y concede que se dejan separar, para negar enseguida que ahí esté la cuestión.

«Many people thought that blood alone was enough. In actuality, if blood is the privileged carrier of Mercury, it also contains the Salt and the Sulfur, through the red corpuscules.» — objeta la creencia de que basta la sangre y precisa que ésta lleva los tres principios, no solo el mercurio.

«As a matter of fact, if man is the most evolved of all Nature’s products and if he is pure, his blood will contain the most perfect Sulfur, Mercury and Salt of the creation. This blood would then be the Circulatum Major, equal and even higher than the Red Stone.» — expone el razonamiento que denuncia: si el hombre puro es lo más evolucionado, su sangre sería el Circulatum Major.

«One of the most awful illustrations of this semi-knowledge is given by Gilles de Rais who, knowing what we just mentioned, sacrificed many new-born infants, thinking that he could find pure blood there. But the blood of a new born is no purer than his mother’s blood.» — nombra a Gilles de Rais como ilustración de ese medio saber y niega el supuesto en que descansaba: la sangre del recién nacido no es más pura que la de su madre.

«Truly, blood can only become pure through spiritual rebirth: the re-born Master alone possesses that blood. That’s where the legend of the Graal came about illustrating the property of the blood of an adept of Jesus.» — condiciona la pureza de la sangre al renacimiento espiritual y lee por ahí la leyenda del Grial.

«Moreover, some projections made by ancient masters do not describe a brilliant blood-like red powder but a brownish blood-like red powder.» — añade un argumento de color contra la lectura sanguínea: los maestros antiguos describen un polvo rojo pardo, no brillante.

«Hopefully, what we just mentioned will prevent errors or temptations. However, to bring a positive side to this lesson, we shall describe an experiment on animal alchemy which is of no danger to any one.» — cierra la advertencia y anuncia, como contrapeso, un experimento de alquimia animal que declara inocuo.

«According to the size of your Soxhlet extractor or equivalent equipment, take 6 to 12 hen eggs as fresh as possible. Hard boil them in the usual way. Separate the yolks from the whites and crush the yolks to make a powder or a light mixture.» — primeros pasos del experimento del huevo, con la cantidad de huevos y la separación de las yemas.

«The carbonate absorbs the jar’ s moisture and the yolks dry progressively. When the yolks are dry, reduce them to powder and place them in the Soxhlet extractor; the menstruum used is absolute alcohol.» — describe el secado de las yemas por el carbonato calcinado y el paso al extractor con alcohol absoluto.

«After at least 12 cycles of extraction, the menstruum is distilled and an oil is collected. Its ancient name is ovum vitelli.» — nombra el aceite obtenido con su nombre antiguo.

«The Ancients say that this oil cures wounds 10 times faster than usual and that through absorption it cures an illness whose name suggests that it is cholesterol. Dissolve this oil in a strongly flavored alcohol since it tastes awful.» — adjudica a los antiguos las virtudes del aceite de yema y añade el consejo práctico sobre su sabor.

«Plant Arthemisia Tridendata. Use approximately 1800 grams (63.49 oz.) of the fresh plant. 1. vapor-distillation yields 15 ml of oil. 2. ferment the plant in wat» — materia y primeros pasos del primero de los dos métodos finales de la piedra vegetal; la grafía Arthemisia Tridendata es la del impreso y el tramo corta a media palabra en el límite de troceo.

«take one liter of rain water and melt 300 grams (10.5 oz.) of salt in it. — filter the water, evaporate it and gather the salt crystals as they form. Do not push» — da el ciclo de purificación del cloruro sódico con la advertencia de no cristalizar a sequedad; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo, donde se fijan diez o doce repeticiones.

«study the process of 4 + 3 distillation because we shall give a method for the making of the vegetable Stone which will use this system.» — remite la destilación en cuatro y tres etapas a la fabricación de la piedra vegetal, para quien no emprenda el experimento del Gur.

«We would be glad to help those of you who are going to launch in this adventure of the Gur and the Archeus. Do not hesitate to write if you need complementary clarifications, or to tell us how you lead the experiment to its completion.» — ofrece ayuda por correspondencia a quien emprenda el experimento del Gur y pide que le cuenten el resultado, que es el modo en que el curso recogía experiencia de sus miembros.

«ALWAYS WET THE GLASS IN ORDER TO SLIP THE TUBES (RUBBER AND/OR PLASTIC).OVER THE GLASS JOINTS. WELDED GLASS JOINT HOLD HERE _-—— WET HERE | PLASTIC TUBE B. DO NOT USE MECHANICAL FORCEO ON GLASS WELDS.» — las dos reglas que la lámina del acoplamiento de tubos imprime en versalitas; la grafía FORCEO es del OCR.

«Pour molten lead into a frying pan. 8 to 10 mm thick 20 cm (7.87 in) in diameter. The vertical 10 mm threaded rod is mounted with two nuts which rest on two thick washers. Three legs placed in a triangle» — instrucción impresa dentro de la lámina de trucos de taller, para la base de plomo del montaje; el tramo corta antes del renglón que remata en la estabilidad.

«This arrangement enables the grinding of materials or the shaking of liquids. Do not exceed the level material shown in this figure. The container or the flask filled with liquid may be held on the turntable with rubber bands( see a & b) attached to the edges of the turntable.» — instrucción impresa en la misma lámina para el tocadiscos inclinado, que sirve de molino y de agitador.

«white vitriol zinc sulfate wormwood salt potassium carbonate» — últimas equivalencias del léxico de sales, donde el desajuste de las dos columnas del impreso junta el nombre antiguo de una con el moderno de otra.

«1 Agrimonia 1 Vaccinum myrtillus 1 Asparagus 1 Chrysanthemum balsamita 1 Borago ofÏcinalis 1 Anthriscus 1 ? Sibylum marianum 1 Castanea sativa 2 Quercus 1 Cynodon dactylon 1 Colchlearia 1 Chicorium endiva 1 Figus carica 3 Anemone hepatica» — lista joviana de la lección 8 en su forma original.

«2 Angelica archangelica 1 Anthemis nobilis 2 Chelidonium majus 1 Crithmum maritimum 1 Euphrasia 1 Fraxinus excelsior 2 Juniperus communis 2 Heliotropium europaenum 3 Laurus nobilis 1 Levisticum ofÏcinalis 2 Hypericum perforatum 1 Juglans 2 Centaurium vulgare 1 Sanguisorba 2 Rosmarinus ofÏcinalis 2 Ruta graveolens 2 Crocus sativus 1 Calendula ofÏcinalis 1 Potentilla (+)» — lista solar de la lección 8, que remata en la Potentilla con la llamada a la advertencia por metal.

«1? Acanthus mollis 1 ? Cardamina 1 Trapa natans 1 Brassica 1 Cucumis sativus 2 Nasturtium ofÏcinalis 1 Dentaria 1 Lythrum salicaria 1 Galium aparine 1 Iris versicolor 2 Lactuca sativa 2 Lilium candicum 1 Stellaria media 1 Hieracium pilosella 3? Anacyclus 1 Salix 1 Saxifraga 1 Salvia sclarea 1 Veronica (beccabunga)» — lista lunar de la lección 8, la última de las siete.

«Solanum dulcamara _ Bittersweet Nightshade 2 Calamintha ofÏcinalis Calamint 1 Carum carvi Caraway 1 Daucus carota Carrot 1 Apium graveolens Celery 1 Anethum graveolens Dill 1 Inula hellenium Elecampane 2 Foeniculum vulgare Fennel 3. Mercurialis annua Good Henry, English Mercury 1 Corylus, spp. Hazel Nut 2 Lonicera caprifolium Honeysuckle 1 Marrubium vulgare § Horehound 1 Lavandula ofÏcinalis Lavender 1 Glycyrrahiza ginbra Licorice 3 Convallaria majalis Lily Of The Valley 1 Adiantum capillus Maidenhair (Common), Also Asplenium (White Maidenhair) 1 Morus, spp. Mulberry 1 Avena sativa Oats 1 Parietaria ofÏcinalis Pellitory 3 Anthemis pyrethrum Pellitory of Spain 1 Alliara ofÏcinalis Sauce-Alone, Garlic Cress MERCURY - Continued 1 Satureia hortensis Savory 3 Artemisia abromatum Southernwood, Lad's Love 1 Meum athamanticum Spignel, broad-leaved 2 Majoranahortensis Sweet Marjoram» — lista mercurial en la reedición de Russell House, ahora con el nombre latino y el común en el mismo renglón.

«1 ? Hypericum androsoeum 1 Centaurea cyanus 1 Capsella bursa pastoris 1 ? Bupleurum rotundifolius 1? Asplenium trichomanes 1 Cuscuta 1 ? Aegopodium podogaria 1 Epilobium 2 Fumaria ofÏcinalis 1 Symphytum ofÏcinalis 1 Plantago psyllium 2 Fagus silvatica 3 Taxus baccata 1 Centaurea jacea 2 Lotus corniculatus 1 Mespilus germanica 1 Hordeum sativum 1 Ulmus 2 Osmonda regalis 1 Viola tricolor 2 Verbascum thapses» — lista saturnina de la lección 8 en su forma original, con el código de peligro delante de cada nombre latino y los signos de interrogación que la traductora dejó en las entradas que no halló; las columnas latina e inglesa van seguidas en el impreso, no enfrentadas.

«JUPITER 1 Agrimonia 1 Vaccinum myrtillus 1 Asparagus 1 Chrysanthemum balsamita 1 Borago ofÏcinalis 1 Anthriscus 1 ? Sibylum marianum 1 Castanea sativa 2 Quercus 1 Cynodon dactylon 1 Colchlearia 1 Chicorium endiva 1 Figus carica 3 Anemone hepatica» — lista joviana de la lección 8 en su forma original.

«MARS 3 Artemisia absinthium 2 Allium sativum 1 Crataegus 1 Ocimum basilicum 3 Ranonculus bulbosus 3 Bryonia dioica 1 Centaurea calcitrapa 2 Berberis vulgaris 1 Rubia tinctorum» — arranque de la lista marcial de la lección 8, con tres plantas marcadas como peligrosas.

«VENUS 1 Alchimilla vulgaris 1 Cynara scolymus 1 Arctium 1 ? Meum athamanticum 2 Anchusa ofÏcinalis 1 ? Brunella vulgaris 2 Nepeta cataria» — arranque de la lista venérea de la lección 8.

«1 ? Gallium cruciata 2 Spiracia oleracea 1 Filipendula hexapetala 1 Fragaria vesca 3 Rumex acetosa 1 Ribes uva crispa 1 Althea ofÏcinalis 2 Chrysanthemum leucanthenum 2 Mentha 3 Mercurialis annua 1 Alchillea millefolium 1 Vinca minor 1 Pyrus communis 1 Cicer arietinum 1 Primula ofÏcinalis 1 Filipendula ulmaria 1 Rubus fruticosus 1 Sanicula 1 ? Succisa praemorsa 2 Ligustrum 1 Tussilago farfara 1 Verbena ofÏcinalis» — continuación de la lista venérea; la grafía ofÏcinalis es la ligadura fi del OCR, que se repite en todas las listas.

«MERCURY 1 Apium graveolens 1? Alliara ofÏcinalis 1 Anethum graveolens 3 Artemisia abromatum 1 Avena sativa 2 ? Calamintha ofÏcinalis 1? Asplenium ruta muraria 1 Daucus carota 1 Carum carvi 2 Lonicera periclymenum 3 Solanum dulcamara 2 Foeniculum vulgare 1 Inula hellenium 1 Lavendula ofÏcinalis 2 Majorana hortensis 1 Marrubium vulgare 3 Convallaria majalis 1 Morus 1 ? Corylus avellana 1 Parietaria ofÏcinalis 1 Glycyrrahiza glabra» — lista mercurial de la lección 8 en su forma original.

«Mv esoteric researches started when I was twelve, after a tremendous inner experience: the invisible world had become for me as true as the world of matter where we live.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword] data el origen de su vía en una experiencia interior a los doce años tras la cual, dice, el mundo invisible le resultó tan cierto como el material.

«From there on. I wrote three courses. one on Alchemy. one on Qabala. and one called The Fundamentals of Esoteric Knowledge.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword] enumera los tres cursos que escribió, y este volumen es la primera mitad del de espagiria dentro del de alquimia.

«Jean founded a group in France around 1984 to disseminate his work. and to conduct group research. The association. Les Philosophes de la Nature. or LPN, ceased operations several years ago and was legally dissolved in 1999.» — [Sue y Russ House] datan la fundación de Les Philosophes de la Nature hacia 1984 y su disolución legal en 1999.

«Its English-language counterpart. The Philosophers of Nature closed on December 31. 1999. Triad Publishing is now the sole publisher of these courses for the English language. duly authorized by Mr. Dubuis.» — [Sue y Russ House] fechan el cierre de la rama inglesa el 31 de diciembre de 1999 y declaran a Triad Publishing único editor autorizado de estos cursos en inglés.

«Jean's research was based on some of the classical texts in these fields, such as the "Sepher Yetzirah" and works of MacGregor Mathers in Qabala. as well as "The Golden Chain of Homer" and the works of numerous alchemists including Flamel. Becker. and Hollandus.» — [Sue y Russ House] enumeran las fuentes que adjudican al trabajo de Dubuis: el Sepher Yetzirah y Mathers para la cábala, la Cadena de Oro de Homero y alquimistas entre los que nombran a Flamel, Becker y Hollandus.

«These courses are not. however. mere reworks of library books by some scholar. The emphasis of Mr. Dubuis has been in practical work. and the courses are meant to support experimentation.» — [Sue y Russ House] niegan que los cursos sean refundiciones de libros de biblioteca y sitúan su énfasis en el trabajo práctico.

«Originally both associations sent the lessons a few at a time to their subscribers. so that one lesson was studied each month.» — [Sue y Russ House] describen el régimen original de distribución: las lecciones llegaban por correo y se estudiaba una al mes.

«It was required that the Spagyrics (Plant Alchemy) course of 48 lessons be received before taking the Alchemy course which expanded in time to have 84 lessons. Similarly, the Qabala course of 72 lessons was to be studied progressively.» — [Sue y Russ House] fijan el orden y el tamaño de los cursos: 48 lecciones de espagiria antes de las 84 de alquimia, y 72 de cábala en progresión.

«When we founded the association "Les Philosophes de la Nature’, no organization accessible to the public was in existence - at least in France - that clarified or disocculted esoteric disciplines such as Alchemy and Qabala.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword desde la introducción a otro de sus cursos] sitúa el motivo de la asociación en la ausencia, en Francia, de una organización pública que desocultara la alquimia y la cábala.

«This course is. perhaps. Mr. Dubuis' finest publication to date. It provides a synthesis of a number of important ideas in esoteric studies. and provides a suitable foundation for a novice.» — [Sue y Russ House] valoran el curso de Fundamentals of Esoteric Knowledge como la mejor publicación de Dubuis, con la reserva perhaps dentro de la propia frase.

«We have heard from numerous long time students of esoteric groups who say that they have learned more from this course than in several vears of study with their association.» — [Sue y Russ House] refieren, como testimonio de terceros y no como medición propia, que estudiantes veteranos de grupos esotéricos dicen haber aprendido más aquí.

«The plant kingdom is relatively safe for experimentation. and the costs are minimal because plants are readily available. and the equipment required is not particularly specialized.» — [Sue y Russ House] dan las razones prácticas de que el reino vegetal vaya primero: seguridad, costo mínimo y equipo poco especializado.

«The theoretical aspects of Alchemy. which are the foundation for all practice. can be learned more readily using plants than with metals.» — [Sue y Russ House] sostienen que la teoría, base de toda práctica, se aprende antes con plantas que con metales.

«Further, the Mineral courses are written with the assumption that the person has studied all of the Spagyrics courses. There are many references to ideas and techniques which are explained fully in the Spagyrics course, and which are absolutely necessary to benefit from the course on Mineral work.» — [Sue y Russ House] señalan la dependencia de los cursos minerales respecto de este: dan por estudiada la espagiria y remiten a ideas y técnicas que solo aquí se explican.

«Our association with Mr. Dubuis began as earnest students of his lessons. around 1988. when they were first translated into English.» — [Sue y Russ House] datan hacia 1988 su relación con Dubuis y la primera traducción inglesa de las lecciones.

«Jean has often repeated the admonition that we must respect the personal freedom of each one on the Path of Return.» — [Sue y Russ House] atribuyen a Dubuis, como dicho repetido de viva voz, la exigencia de respetar la libertad personal de cada uno en el Camino del Retorno.

«We believe that the dissemination of these courses through the agency of a publishing firm. rather than through that of a fraternal group or membership association. will support that objective.» — [Sue y Russ House] derivan de esa exigencia su decisión editorial: difundir por editorial y no por grupo fraternal ni por asociación de miembros.

«In 1995. the author of the present work wrote: "My name is Jean Dubuis. I am. this present day that I write. aged 76 years old. and I have a practice of esotericism of more than half a century.» — el foreword de Triad abre citando un texto que fecha en 1995, donde Dubuis se presenta por su edad y por su medio siglo de práctica; la puntuación con puntos donde irían comas es del OCR, y la contracubierta de la plana 195 reimprime este mismo pasaje.

«My researches started with books. where I didn’t find much. so my early progress was rather slow. Much later. I found the only book that really helped me. the Sepher Yetzirah.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword] nombra el Sepher Yetzirah como el único libro que de veras le sirvió, tras un arranque lento por vía de lecturas; el pasaje se reimprime en la contracubierta de la plana 195.

«After the ill success of books. I became a member of groups of Rosicrucian or Martinist spirit. I did not find really useful elements there. Their habit of illegitimate secrecy led me far from these groups.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword] declara su paso por grupos de espíritu rosacruz y martinista y su salida de ellos, y adjudica la causa a lo que llama secreto ilegítimo; se reimprime en la contracubierta de la plana 195.

«It is. in fact. a persevering personal effort that lead me to renew my experience. and that resulted in my few contacts with the Eternity.» — [Dubuis, citado por el foreword] atribuye la renovación de su experiencia al esfuerzo personal perseverante, y no a los libros ni a los grupos; se reimprime en la contracubierta de la plana 195.

«INDEX OF THE SPAGYRICS LESSONS Volume 1, Lessons 1 - 24» — el índice de Triad reparte el curso en dos volúmenes y este cubre las lecciones 1 a 24.

«I checked each plant in the following books * Websters dictionary * The Herb Book by John Lust * Natural Healing with Herbs by Humbart Santillo I left question marks by the plant I could not find.» — [nota de la traductora, Brigitte Donvez] declara las tres obras contra las que coteja los nombres botánicos de las listas y el signo con que marca los que no halló.

«Hypericum androsoeum : Tutsan ? (We have Hypericum perforatum which is St Johnswort)» — [nota de la traductora] primera de sus dudas sobre la lista saturnina, con la especie que sí encuentra puesta entre paréntesis.

«Sybilum marianum ? (Milk thistle is Carduus marianus) — Smyrnium olutrasum: Maceron?» — [nota de la traductora] sus dudas sobre la lista joviana, con el cardo mariano remitido a otro nombre latino.

«The same plant or plant family may have a different latin name in Europe and America.» — [nota de la traductora] primera de las dos causas que da de las discrepancias: el mismo vegetal lleva nombre latino distinto a un lado y otro del Atlántico.

«Some plants found in Europe do not have a corresponding plant in America. But you may find that with the American variety of the plant often the first latin name is the same and the latin qualifier is different.» — [nota de la traductora] segunda causa: hay plantas europeas sin correspondiente americano, y la variedad americana suele compartir el primer nombre latino y no el calificativo.

«When lesson 8 of the Spagyrics Course was being translated from French into English, the translator, Brigitte Donvez, encountered a difÏculty. The lesson was primarily a chart of plants and their planetary rulers. Some of the scientific names used in the French lesson did not correspond to those used in the reference books available to the translator.» — [Russell House, en las Revisions to Spagyrics Lesson 8 de las planas 67 a 70] describe el problema que Brigitte Donvez halló al traducir la octava lección: nombres científicos del original francés sin correspondencia en sus obras de consulta; la grafía difÏculty es la ligadura ffi del OCR.

«At present, we are looking over the lessons, and making improvements that make them more legible, complete and correct. Since some of the references were in question, the lesson was published with the unresolved entries identified.» — [Russell House] declara el estado del trabajo editorial y la decisión de publicar la lección con las entradas dudosas marcadas en vez de resolverlas en silencio.

«Culpepper’s Complete Herbal, by Nicholas Culpepper, W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd., England. This was the primary text, since it was apparently the source for the creation of the table in the original lessons.» — [Russell House] adjudica al Complete Herbal de Culpepper la fuente aparente de la tabla original y lo toma como texto primario del cotejo; la grafía Culpepper es la del impreso.

«Even this classic text is not without error. For example, All-Heal, is identified as Prunella vulgaris.» — [Russell House] objeta al propio Culpepper una contradicción: la misma especie asignada a dos plantas de talla distinta y a dos regentes distintos, Marte y Venus.

«This error leads me to believe that the Latin names for the plants are a later addition to the text. Such errors are not numerous but must be considered.» — [Russell House] deriva de esa contradicción una hipótesis sobre la transmisión del texto: los nombres latinos serían añadido posterior, y acota que los errores no son numerosos.

«Devil’s Bit, described as ‘venereal’ by Culpepper under “Government and Virtues” was listed as ‘not ascribed to a planet or astrological sign’. Venereal herbs are under Venus, just as jovial herbs are under Jupiter, and martial herbs under Mars.» — [Russell House] resuelve una entrada sin planeta por el adjetivo mismo que Culpepper usa, y enuncia la regla: lo venéreo va bajo Venus como lo jovial bajo Júpiter.

«Also of value was The Alchemist’s Handbook by Frater Albertus, Samuel Weiser, 1981. This text gives charts which are intended as a list of attributions assigned by Culpepper in his Complete Herbal. It is a good check list, and yet it has a few flaws.» — [Russell House] añade como cotejo el Alchemist's Handbook de Frater Albertus, que reproduce las atribuciones de Culpepper, con reserva sobre sus defectos.

«In several instances, two plants are printed on the same line, such as “vine viper’s bugloss” and “sage samphire”. In other cases, a two-part name is printed on two lines, such as “benedictus cardines”.» — [Russell House] enumera los defectos tipográficos que atribuye a la tabla de Albertus: dos plantas en un renglón y un nombre de dos partes repartido en dos.

«J. M. Nickell’s Botanical Ready Reference, Trinity Center Press, CA, 1976, is an extensive cross reference by scientific name and common name. This proved very useful, as did A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve, Dorset Press, NY, 1992. In addition to having indices by scientific and common names, it offers complete descriptions of the plants, and cites Culpepper. This combination of features proved helpful in making some decisions.» — [Russell House] nombra las otras dos obras de referencia del cotejo, la de Nickell y A Modern Herbal de Mrs. Grieve, y dice qué aportó cada una.

«The original French Spagyrics lesson was also an important resource. This edition has a French to English table of plant names which sorted out some problems. It is not included in the English-language lessons, since it is not common for English readers to use French-language references for identifying plant names.» — [Russell House] declara que la lección francesa original tenía una tabla de nombres franceses e ingleses y por qué no se imprime en la versión inglesa.

«These were generally because of naming problems: the Latin names of plants have changed from time to time with reclassifications by botanists, and often the species name used by the editor of Culpepper’s Complete Herbal, is not a common species in France.» — [Russell House] explica los pocos errores de adscripción por la deriva de los nombres latinos con las reclasificaciones botánicas y por especies poco comunes en Francia.

«The list of plants in the lesson was corrected to agree with Culpepper, and to use the most widely accepted Latin name according to the references I have cited.» — [Russell House] declara el criterio de su corrección: acuerdo con Culpepper y el nombre latino más aceptado según las obras citadas.

«That Culpepper was the original source is apparent because there were not more than two plants in the original lesson that were not classified by Culpepper. Further, the choice of plants is unusually like those catalogued by Culpepper, including many plants rarely available and therefore not in common use today.» — [Russell House] razona la adjudicación de la fuente por dos indicios: casi ninguna planta de la lección falta en Culpepper y la selección incluye especies hoy raras.

«For example, hemlock, henbane, black hellebore, and nightshade are not listed. NOTE: These plants are dangerous.» — [Russell House] nombra cuatro de las plantas omitidas y añade el aviso en versalitas.

«This was done, presumably, for reasons of safety, since the l, lessons: are received by people beginning practical work in spagyrics, and there is no reason for them to 2. consider chosing any of these plants for their work. I mention this here, only to be somewhat complete in 3. discussing how this lesson was re-edited.» — [Russell House] atribuye la omisión a razones de seguridad, con el presumably dentro de la frase, y declara que solo la menciona por completar el relato de la reedición.

«It is worth noting that the Spagyrics lesson does not include all of the plants catalogued by Culpepper.» — [Russell House] señala que la lección no recoge todo el catálogo de Culpepper; el tramo corta en el límite de troceo y sigue diciendo que las omisiones se concentran bajo Saturno.

«Horn Plantain under Saturn. While Culpepper was not explicit about this species of plantain being under Venus along with the common plantain, it would be uncharacteristic for him to neglect mentioning a ruler changing within a plant species. There is no indication, at any rate, that 1t should be under Saturn.» — [Russell House] objeta a Albertus la adscripción del llantén cuerno de ciervo a Saturno, por argumento de coherencia con el modo de proceder de Culpepper; el 1t por it es del OCR y el tramo arranca donde el renglón parte el nombre de la planta.

«There remains much to be said about the equivalences given in this lexicon, because they were valid at the end of the 18th century, at. the time of the last spagyrists and encyclopedists. If we read more ancient authors, especially authors of the 15th and 16th century, one might be completely mislead by these equivalences. There was no exact term equivalence; the designations were rather generic terms.» — [comentario de un miembro, sin firma, impreso bajo el rótulo COMMENTS OF A MEMBER] acota la vigencia del léxico de sales de la novena lección al final del siglo XVIII y advierte que aplicarlo a autores del XV y XVI extravía.

«The name “salt” was given to derivatives of alkaline bases, potash, soda ash, ammoniac, etc... They usually appear in a pulverized or powdered form or as fine, colorless crystals which have the common characteristic of no bitterness of taste. The name of vitriol was given to all kinds of metallic salts with a glassy, translucent, and colored consistency which generally have a rather bitter or astringent taste. Metallic and alkaline salts have also been called Vitriols.» — [comentario de un miembro] describe el uso genérico antiguo de sal y de vitriolo por sus caracteres sensibles, sabor y aspecto, y no por su composición.

«According to an ancient author such as Chistopher Glaser, the vitriols may be all kinds of chemical compounds. For example, Moon vitriol is silver nitrate, copper vitriol may be the acetate, the chloride or the sulfate, the oil of vitriol is the product of the distillation of one of the above.» — [comentario de un miembro] adjudica a Christopher Glaser el uso de vitriolo para compuestos dispares y da tres ejemplos; la grafía Chistopher es del impreso.

«In Basil Valentine we find: during the distillation of a vitriol we extract a spirit and an oil which do not seem to be of identical nature. One might conclude that they are complex salts.» — [comentario de un miembro] cita a Basil Valentine sobre los dos productos de la destilación de un vitriolo y saca de ahí, con el condicional puesto, que serían sales complejas.

«Ammoniac salt was the name that was given to all volatile salts, to all those which can be collected in an alembic dome or a sublimation vase. This name was used until the era of Glauber, that is, to the end of the spagyrists. Glauber could already count 6 or 7 in his time. All the volatile chlorides may be considered to be ammoniac salts and also most of the ammonium salts.» — [comentario de un miembro] describe el uso antiguo de sal amoniacal para todo lo volátil sublimable, y data su vigencia hasta Glauber, con quien acaban los espagiristas.

«Contact with iron or steel causes tormentil to become toxic.» — [Russell House, en la tabla corregida de la lección 8] repite la advertencia por metal de la lista solar, ahora con la planta nombrada tormentil donde la lista original decía Potentilla.

«INDEX OF THE SPAGYRICS LESSONS Volume 2, Lessons 25 — 48 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Inner Balance - Mezla Energy - Akasha; The Twelve Salts; Distillation Of Ether» — el índice de Triad anuncia el segundo volumen del curso, con las lecciones 25 a 48, que este fichado no cubre.

Azufre (principio sulfúreo) — Concentra las energías del alma y es el alma del compuesto, que anima el cuerpo por medio del mercurio; en el reino vegetal reside en los aceites esenciales y se separa por destilación al vapor. Es puro en sí y solo lo perturban las impurezas terrestres adheridas.

Mercurio de los filósofos (Mercurius) — Espíritu y enlace entre cuerpo y alma; en lo vegetal su portador es el alcohol, común a todas las plantas y liberado por la fermentación. Es idéntico en esencia en los tres reinos y específico en cada uno por su tasa vibratoria, y encabeza la jerarquía de los menstrua universales.

Cuatro elementos (fuego, aire, agua, tierra) — Fuego, aire, agua y tierra se ordenan de lo más volátil a lo más fijo, con fuego y aire en los mundos invisibles y agua y tierra en el material; sus combinaciones por pares dan las cuatro cualidades y los tres principios, y su presencia en toda mezcla obliga a operar en cuatro tiempos.

Quintaesencia (quinta essentia) — Está dentro de los cuatro elementos sin ser ninguno y hace de enlace como el mercurio; la da la combinación equilibrada de los cuatro, y ese equilibrio difiere por reino, de modo que hay una quintaesencia vegetal, otra mineral y otra animal.

Materia prima — El caos o hyle es la materia más sutil del universo, agua espiritual que se divide en niter activo y sal pasiva; el texto hermético que la lección 13 condensa la hace salir del vacío por el Verbo, como vapor que condensa en agua universal.

Piedra filosofal (lapis philosophorum) — En el orden interior es la Piedra del Sí Mismo, que la vía alquímica enseña a hacer; en el taller la piedra vegetal es el sumo bien de la obra menor, insoluble en agua, reutilizable sin fin, y solo se alcanza por vidrio soluble o sales sublimadas. La Piedra Roja se admite por el Archeus indeterminado, con la dificultad declarada.

Putrefacción (putrefactio) — El curso le retira el sentido pútrido que tomó desde Pasteur y la identifica con la fermentación, llave que abre los secretos de la naturaleza; en el Circulatum Minor es la digestión forzada de ocho a diez días que precede a las destilaciones.

Nigredo (la obra al negro) — Primero de los cuatro colores de la serie que el curso reconoce igual para la piedra vegetal y la mineral, y que traduce por muerte, putrefacción o separación.

Albedo (la obra al blanco) — Segundo de esa serie, que el curso traduce por purificación; en la calcinación es el término al que se lleva la ceniza antes de trabajarla.

Rubedo (la obra al rojo) — Cuarto de esa serie, que el curso traduce por fruto maduro y perfecto, y el color con que cierra la digestión de la piedra vegetal.

Iniciación (recepción por grados / metamorfosis del ser) — El curso niega que la iniciación alquímica dependa de la voluntad de un maestro y la remite al estudio y al trabajo; su primera etapa práctica es la limpieza psíquica por siete elixires planetarios, de un año a dieciocho meses antes de las fases metálicas.

Decknamen (nombres cubiertos) — El curso advierte que en el arte las palabras no significan lo que fuera de él, que en los textos herméticos las frases importantes van sepultadas en discursos largos, y descifra por ese camino las Lágrimas de Diana y la aparición de Apolo.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — Da tres razones del silencio de los antiguos —la Iglesia, el orden económico y la madurez exigida—, declara secreto mayor el método de separar los tres principios, y niega a la vez que sus propias lagunas escondan llaves.

Sefirot (las diez numeraciones) — Las emanaciones numeradas de uno a diez son las etapas del descenso de las energías; Kéter y Jojmá quedan fuera del alcance de la espagiria, y desde Biná se limpian una a una con el elixir del planeta correspondiente hasta abrir el camino a Maljut.

Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — El Árbol de la Vida hace de herramienta para relacionar al hombre microcosmos con el macrocosmos exterior, y el experimento del Gur muestra en el microcosmos lo que es posible en el macrocosmos.

Anima mundi (alma del mundo) — El agua engendrada por las semillas de los elementos se llama Semilla Universal, Alma y Espíritu del Mundo, y Archeus de la naturaleza; es espíritu universal inespecífico visible como agua.

Homúnculo (el hombre artificial) — El curso desaconseja con fuerza el Archeus del reino animal y remite al curioso a lo que Paracelso escribió sobre el homúnculo, sin exponerlo.