The Dwellings of the Philosophers

«Be that as it may, it remains undeniable is that all the Gothic buildings without exception reflect a serenity and expansiveness and a nobility without equal.» — en el capítulo de historia y monumento, con que abre el libro primero, Fulcanelli sienta la premisa: la piedra gótica no muestra la miseria que cuentan los cronistas.

«A number of these figures randomly found in narrow streets, taverns, schools, sacristics, workshops, may be altogether marked or overdone, but in a picturesque tone, with a concern for character, for the sense of joy, for generous lines.» — sobre las figuras tomadas de la calle, la taberna y el taller: admite el exceso y lo lee como carácter, no como deformidad.

«Grotesque, you may say, but joyously grotesque and full of teaching.» — acepta lo grotesco de esas figuras y le atribuye enseñanza.

«This is so true that, search as you may, question the ogival statuary, you will never discover a figure of Christ whose expression reveals true suffering.» — el argumento del Cristo sin dolor: sostiene que ninguna estatuaria ojival muestra sufrimiento verdadero.

«Their interpreters --- those marvelous and modest carvers of images --- do not deceive us and could not be mistaken.» — llama intérpretes a los talladores de imágenes y les concede fe, porque toman sus modelos de la gente entre la que viven.

«These free, virile, and healthy images evidence that the artists of the Middle Ages did not know the depressing spectacle of human afflictions.» — de esas imágenes deduce que los artistas de la Edad Media no conocieron el espectáculo de la aflicción humana.

«Yet we know that art, the higher expression of civilized humanity, can freely develop only under the cover of a stable and sure peace.» — la premisa que sostiene la deducción: el arte solo se desarrolla al amparo de una paz estable y segura.

«As it is with science, art cannot exercise its genius in the atmosphere of troubled societies.» — y la extiende a la ciencia, que tampoco ejerce su genio en el aire de las sociedades revueltas.

«We confess that the description "of a sequence of calamities, disasters, and accumulated ruins over 146 years" seems to us truly excessive.» — al recoger la fórmula de los cronistas sobre 146 años de calamidades y ruinas acumuladas, la declara excesiva.

«Something is inexplicable amiss here, since it is precisely during this unfortunate One Hundred Years’ War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, that the richest buildings of flamboyant style were built.» — la paradoja con que apoya la objeción: los edificios más ricos del estilo flamígero se levantaron durante la Guerra de los Cien Años.

«It is the culminating point, the apogee of form and boldness, the marvelous phase where spirit, the divine flame, imposes its signature on the last creations of Gothic thought.» — y a ese mismo periodo lo llama apogeo de la forma y de la audacia del pensamiento gótico.

«And thus is elucidated the reason why our preference remains vested in the Middle Ages as it is revealed to us by Gothic buildings rather than in the same period as it is described by historians.» — la conclusión de método del capítulo: prefiere la Edad Media que revelan los edificios góticos a la que describen los historiadores.

«A very learned Jesuit of the 17th century, Father Jean Hardouin, did not fear to denounce as spurious numerous Greek and Roman coins and medals coined during the Renaissance and buried with the aim to fill in large historical gaps.» — el testimonio que aduce contra los documentos: el jesuita Jean Hardouin denunciando como falsas monedas y medallas griegas y romanas acuñadas en el Renacimiento para llenar huecos de la historia.

«Anatole de Montaiglon (2) informs us that in 1639 Jacques de Bie published a folio volume with illustrations called: The Families of France, Illustrated by the Monuments of Ancient and Modern Medals, which, according to him, "contains more invented medals than real ones» — y el de Anatole de Montaiglon sobre el folio de 1639 de Jacques de Bie, que a su juicio trae más medallas inventadas que reales.

«In Huysmans’ view, history is the "most solemn of lies and the most childish of deceits... Events are for a man of talent nothing but a spring-board of ideas and style, since they are all mitigated or aggravated according to the needs of a cause or according to the temperament of the writer who handles them.» — la sentencia de Huysmans que hace suya: la historia como la más solemne de las mentiras, moldeada según la causa o el temperamento de quien la escribe.

«And yet English money from this period still bears the imprint of such a pretense» — la moneda inglesa de la época, que a su ver sigue imprimiendo la pretensión sobre Francia.

«But in those distant times of the 5th century, are we so certain of the authenticity of the documents pertaining to Clodion’s doings?» — la duda que abre sobre la autenticidad de los documentos del siglo V acerca de Clodión.

«And even though the falsity of this attribution has today been demonstrated, the great majority of people persist in the belief that it is founded.» — sobre la carretilla atribuida a Pascal: señala que, dada hoy por falsa la atribución, la mayoría persiste en creerla fundada.

«Yet the Commission of Fine Arts, through the lips of its experts, declared that it was indeed the great Parisian magistrate, and these illustrious relics were taken down into the crypts of Notre-Dame» — el caso del sarcófago: la Comisión de Bellas Artes declaró por boca de sus peritos que era el gran magistrado parisino, y las reliquias bajaron a las criptas de Notre-Dame.

«And yet, following a hunch of the king who was visiting Bergamo, the municipality had the ornate mausoleum of the famous equestrian statue moved, had the tomb opened, and all those in attendance discovered, not without tremendous surprise, that it was empty» — y el de Bérgamo: movido el mausoleo por corazonada del rey y abierta la tumba, estaba vacía.

«histories of France around 1830 --- those of Dupleix, Mezeray, Vely, and Father Daniel --- says of the latter that the author, "a Jesuit famous for his descriptions of battles, completed in 20 years a history which has no other merit than erudition and in which the Count of Boulainvilliers found no less than 10,000 errors» — el juicio de Victor Hugo sobre las cuatro historias de Francia más leídas hacia 1830, con los diez mil errores que el conde de Boulainvilliers halló en la del Padre Daniel; la cita arranca después de *best-known*, que el troceo parte por el salto de renglón.

«However, that which is of consequence to elicit and that only counts for us is that, in the search for truth, it is preferable to call upon buildings rather than upon historical documents, sometimes incomplete, often tendentious, almost always unreliable.» — la regla de método del capítulo: para buscar la verdad prefiere los edificios a los documentos históricos, que llama incompletos, tendenciosos y poco fiables.

«Monsieur Andre Geiger comes to a parallel conclusion when, struck by the inexplicable homage rendered to the statue of Nero by Hadrian, he refutes the iniquitous accusations borne against this emperor and against Tiberius.» — el caso que aduce de Andre Geiger, quien a partir del homenaje de Adriano a la estatua de Nerón objeta las acusaciones contra ese emperador y contra Tiberio.

«If, as we have said, the falsification of a text, the writing of a chronicle demand nothing more than some skill and know-how, on the other hand, it is impossible to build a cathedral.» — el argumento que sostiene la regla: falsificar un texto pide destreza; levantar una catedral es imposible de falsificar.

«In spite of all that has been written, we ought to accustom ourselves, willy-nilly, to the true fact that at the beginning of the Middle Ages society was already reaching a high degree of civilization and splendor.» — sostiene contra lo escrito que la sociedad de comienzos de la Edad Media ya alcanzaba un alto grado de civilización y esplendor.

«When I saw the abundance of sustenance, the cheerfulness of the people, the good conduct of the clergy, the majesty and glory of the entire Church, the diverse occupations of men dedicated to the study of philosophy; it seemed to me that I saw Jacob’s ladder whose top reached heaven and which angels ascended and descended.» — el testimonio de John of Salisbury que trae en apoyo, con la escala de Jacob como imagen de lo que vio.

«"The Renaissance", he affirms, "despised the Middle Ages because true French literature, that which followed it, erased the last traces of it.» — y el de Charles de Remusat sobre el desprecio del Renacimiento por la Edad Media, que atribuye a que la literatura francesa posterior borró sus rastros.

«Must we indict ignorance, whim, perversion of taste? We do not know.» — Remusat declara no saber si la causa fue ignorancia, capricho o perversión del gusto.

«Several first rate men have successfully, albeit in vain, illustrated it; for modern generations their works do not exist.» — y añade que para las generaciones modernas las obras de aquellos hombres no existen.

«St. Anselm is an original metaphysician whose learned idealism regenerates common beliefs; he conceived and realized the audacious thought of directly touching the notion of divinity.» — dentro de la misma cita, Remusat llama a San Anselmo metafísico original, con un idealismo docto que regenera las creencias comunes.

«It was neither science, thought, nor genius; I am afraid that it was only one thing: style.» — el cierre del juicio de Remusat: a esos autores no les faltaba ciencia, pensamiento ni genio, sino estilo.

«It seems he foresaw this talent of our time, this art of examining the stand-still postures of the intellectual society in order to judge it.» — y su elogio de John of Salisbury como crítico clarividente que anticipa el arte contemporáneo de juzgar a la sociedad intelectual.

«As for us, we deem medieval thought to be of scientific nature and of no other, for which art and literature are only the humble servants of traditional science.» — la tesis propia de Fulcanelli frente a Remusat: el pensamiento medieval es de naturaleza científica, y el arte y la literatura solo sirven a la ciencia tradicional.

«It is true that the observer will never find alluring the image of Christ, such as it is presented on Romanesque porches, where Jesus appears, at the center of the mystical almond, surrounded by the four evangelical animals.» — sobre el Cristo románico dentro de la almendra mística rodeado de los cuatro animales evangélicos: concede que nunca resultará atractivo al observador.

«They are severe and austere productions, not the light, graceful, and pleasing motifs, such as those art fondly wasted on us since the Renaissance.» — y opone lo severo y austero de ese arte a los motivos ligeros y agradables que el Renacimiento puso de moda.

«The medieval colossus did not collapse all at once in the decline of the 15th century.» — niega que el coloso medieval se desplomara de golpe en la decadencia del siglo XV.

«We see its agony prolonged well into the middle of the next century, and we find in some of the buildings of that period the same philosophical impulse, the same foundations of wisdom which generated for three centuries so many imperishable works.» — y prolonga su agonía hasta mediados del siglo siguiente, donde halla el mismo impulso filosófico en los edificios.

«Notwithstanding their purpose and their use, we rank these refuges of the esotericism of antiquity, these sanctuaries of traditional science, quite rare today, in the hermetic iconology among the artistic guardians of the great philosophical truths.» — clasifica esos refugios del esoterismo antiguo, hoy raros, entre los guardianes artísticos de las grandes verdades filosóficas.

«Science thus appears as the ruler of Strength and Love, opposing the superiority of mind t the physical manifestations of power and feeling.» — y lee el tímpano del siglo XII como la ciencia gobernando a la Fuerza y al Amor; la capa de texto imprime *t* donde el original diría *to*.

«Of all the sciences cultivated in the Middle Ages certainly none was more in fashion and received more honor than the science of alchemy.» — abre el capítulo de la alquimia medieval declarándola la más honrada de las ciencias de la Edad Media.

«Such is the name under which the sacred or priestly Art was hidden among the Arabs, who had inherited it from the Egyptians and which the medieval West was to receive later on with so much enthusiasm.» — y adjudica el nombre al arte sacerdotal escondido entre los árabes, que lo heredaron de los egipcios.

«Many controversies have been raised about the diverse etymologies attributed to the word alchemy.» — reconoce que la etimología de la palabra alquimia está en disputa.

«Pierre-Jean Fabre in his Summary of Chemical Secrets claims it recalls the name of Cham, son of Noah, supposed to have been the first alchemical artisan, and he writes it alchamie.» — recoge la de Pierre-Jean Fabre, que la hace venir de Cham, hijo de Noé, y la escribe *alchamie*.

«The anonymous author of a curious manuscript (1) thinks that "the word alchemy is derived from als which means salt in Greek and from chymie which means fusion, and it is thus well named, since salt which is so admirable has been usurped".» — y la del autor anónimo de un manuscrito, que la deriva de sal y fusión.

«But if salt is named [*39-1 ] (als) in the Greek language, [ *39-2] (cheimeia) standing for [*39-3] (chymeia), alchemy, has no other meaning than that of sap or secretion.» — objeta las dos con el griego: para él la palabra no significa más que savia o secreción; los corchetes con asterisco son el marcador con que el OCR sustituye cada palabra griega.

«Napoleon Landais finds no difference between the two words chimie and alchimie (chemistry and alchemy); he simply adds that the prefix al should not be mixed up with the Arabic article al and simply means marvelous virtue.» — recoge también a Napoleon Landais, que no ve diferencia entre química y alquimia y lee el prefijo como virtud maravillosa, no como el artículo árabe.

«Those who hold the opposite hypothesis, using the article al and the noun chimie, understand it to mean chemistry par excellence or the hyperchemistry of modern occultists.» — y la hipótesis contraria, que con el artículo árabe la vuelve química por excelencia o hiperquímica de los ocultistas modernos.

«If we had to bring in our personal opinion in this debate, we would say that phonetic cabala recognizes a close relationship between the Greek words» — su propia opinión la funda en la cábala fonética, que empareja las voces griegas que siguen en el original.

«But we know, on the other hand, that the name and the thing are based on the permutation of form by light, fire or spirit; such is in any case the true meaning indicated by the Language of the Birds.» — y fija el sentido que él sostiene: la permutación de la forma por la luz, el fuego o el espíritu, tal como la indica el Lenguaje de los Pájaros.

«It was above all the result of Arabic conquests.» — data la entrada del arte en Occidente como resultado de las conquistas árabes.

«The Arabs, educators of the Greeks and Persians, transmitted to Europe the science of Egypt and Babylon, augmented by their own acquisitions, throughout the European continent (the Byzantine Road) around the 8th century of our era.» — con la ruta bizantina hacia el siglo VIII, por la que los árabes transmiten a Europa la ciencia de Egipto y Babilonia.

«Finally, closer to us, at the dawn of the 13th century, new elements of civilization, science, and art, coming around the 8th century from Northern Africa spread into Spain (the Hispanic Road) and increased the first contributions of the Greek-Byzantine center of learning.» — y la ruta hispánica en los albores del siglo XIII, que suma nuevos elementos a los del centro greco-bizantino.

«At first timid, hesitant, alchemy progressively woke up, and it was not long before it became stronger.» — describe la difusión como un despertar gradual.

«It tended to take the lead, and thus the exotic science transplanted to our soil acclimatized itself wonderfully to it with such vigor that it soon bloomed into an exuberant flowering.» — hasta la floración exuberante de la ciencia trasplantada.

«It was barely cultivated --- exclusively in the shadows of monastic cells --- in the 12th century; by the 14th, it had propagated everywhere, radiating upon all social classes, shining everywhere with the brightest glow.» — y fecha el salto: de las celdas monásticas del siglo XII a todas las clases sociales en el XIV.

«Every country gave to the mysterious science a nursery of fervent disciples, and each social condition devoted itself to it.» — señala que cada país dio un vivero de discípulos y cada condición social se entregó a ella.

«writes: "Abbots, bishops, doctors, recluses, all made it their occupation; it was the folly of the time, and everyone knows that every century has one which is its own; but unfortunately, this one lasted longer than the others and is not even completely over» — el testimonio de Lenglet Dufresnoy que trae al respecto: abades, obispos, doctores y reclusos hicieron de ella su ocupación, y esa locura duró más que las demás.

«Seton, Wenceslas Lavinius of Moravia, Zacharius, and Paracelsus are, in the 16th century, the only known heirs to the Egyptian esotericism, which the Renaissance rejected after corrupting it.» — adjudica a Seton, Wenceslas Lavinius de Moravia, Zacharius y Paracelso la condición de únicos herederos conocidos del esoterismo egipcio en el siglo XVI.

«the noble Bernard Trevisan (106-1490) who spent 56 years of his life pursuing the Great Work, and whose name will remain in the history of alchemy as a symbol of constancy, unshakable perseverance and obstinacy.» — y a Bernard Trevisan, con los cincuenta y seis años que le atribuye de persecución de la Gran Obra, el nombre de símbolo de la constancia; las fechas salen así del OCR.

«its prestige disappears; enthusiasm decreases, opinion is modified.» — data también la caída: el prestigio desaparece, el entusiasmo mengua, la opinión cambia.

«Practical operations, which had been collected, gathered after being unveiled and taught, allow dissidents to support the thesis of the alchemical void, to ruin philosophy while building the basis of our chemistry.» — y explica cómo: recogidas las operaciones prácticas, los disidentes sostienen con ellas la tesis del vacío alquímico y levantan las bases de la química.

«The 14th century sees a whole new pleiad of artists emerge.» — cuenta la pléyade de artistas del siglo XIV.

«The 15th century marks the glorious period of the science and surpasses even the preceding ones as much by the value as byte number of the masters who rendered it illustrious.» — y llama al siglo XV el periodo glorioso de la ciencia; el troceo imprime *byte number* (sic) donde el original diría *by the number*.

«From that moment on, hermetism falls into discredit.» — de ahí en adelante, dice, el hermetismo cae en descrédito.

«Although it was in vain, his intervention is nonetheless one of his highest titles to fame.» — sobre la intervención de Paracelso en esa caída: la da por vana y aun así por uno de sus mayores títulos.

«Yet, it is there, amidst the silence, that the prodigy is slowly accomplished.» — en el capítulo del laboratorio legendario, sitúa el prodigio en el silencio del taller.

«Untiring nature works --- better than in the rocky abysses --- under the prudent attention of man, with the help of the stars and the grace of God.» — y hace trabajar a la naturaleza bajo la atención prudente del hombre, con la ayuda de los astros y la gracia de Dios.

«The fearsome reptile emerges from an obscure recess, stretches the chain of his vertebrae on his stout legs and directs the bony abyss of his frightful jaws towards the arched ceiling.» — la escenografía del laboratorio de estampa, con el reptil temible saliendo del rincón oscuro.

«Such is the philosopher that the poet’s imagination or the painter’s brush like to depict for us.» — que atribuye a la imaginación del poeta y al pincel del pintor, no a la cosa misma.

«A chaotic conglomeration of archaic instruments, bizarre materials and out-of-date utensils; a confusion of all sciences, a tangle of impressive faunas!» — el inventario del laboratorio de estampa, que él resume como confusión de todas las ciencias.

«Here is the copper alembic --- homo galeatus (1) --- stained with green smudges; there the descensories, the cucurbits and their antenos, the two brothers or twins of the cohobation; coiled receivers; heavy cast-iron and marble mortars; a large bellows with its wrinkled leather sides, near a pile of muffles, tiles, cupels, and evaporators...» — y la lista concreta de sus piezas, con el alambique de cobre al que llama *homo galeatus*.

«Here, a thought based on the dogma of unity summarizes all of philosophy: Omnia ab uno et in unum omnia (4).» — la inscripción que hace resumir toda la filosofía en el dogma de la unidad: todo de uno y todo en uno.

«Such is the legendary painting of the alchemist and his laboratory. Fantastic vision, lacking truth, sprung from popular imagination and reproduced in the old almanacs, treasures of the peddler’s trade.» — el juicio con que cierra la escena: esa pintura legendaria no tiene verdad, nace de la imaginación popular y se reproduce en los almanaques viejos.

«Chemistry, incontestably, is the science of facts, just as alchemy is that of causes.» — abre el capítulo de química y filosofía con la distinción que sostendrá el libro: la química es ciencia de hechos y la alquimia de causas.

«The first, confined to the material domain, is supported by experiment.» — acota la primera al dominio material y al experimento.

«Therein lies their essential difference, enabling us to say that alchemy, compared with our positive science, the only one permitted and taught today, is a spiritualistic chemistry, for it allows us to catch a glimpse of God through the darkness of substance.» — y llama a la alquimia química espiritualista, porque a su ver deja entrever a Dios a través de la oscuridad de la sustancia.

«Furthermore, in our opinion, it seems insufficient to know how to recognize and classify facts exactly; one must still question nature, and learn from her in what conditions and under the control of what will her manifold productions can take place.» — objeta que reconocer y clasificar hechos no baste: hay que preguntar a la naturaleza bajo qué voluntad se producen.

«Indeed, the philosophical mind will not be content with the mere possibility of identifying bodies.» — porque la mente filosófica no se conforma con identificar cuerpos.

«We are obviously far from knowing all natural bodies and their combinations, since we discover new ones daily; but we know enough to temporarily leave aside the study of inert matter and direct our researches towards the unknown animator, agent of so many marvels.» — y propone dejar de lado el estudio de la materia inerte para buscar al animador desconocido.

«For, in the notation H2O, the essential agent, capable of provoking the intimate union of the gaseous elements is missing --- i.e., fire.» — su ejemplo mayor: en la notación del agua falta el fuego, el agente capaz de provocar la unión de los gases.

«Yet, we challenge the most skilled chemist to manufacture synthetic water by mixing oxygen and hydrogen in the indicated volumes: the two gases will always refuse to combine with one another.» — y el desafío con que lo apoya: mezclados oxígeno e hidrógeno en los volúmenes indicados, los dos gases se niegan a combinarse.

«So one recognizes, without being able to oppose the least serious argument to our thesis, that the chemical formula of water is, if not false, at least incomplete and truncated.» — de donde declara la fórmula del agua incompleta y truncada, si no falsa.

«And the elemental agent fire, without which no combination can be effected, being excluded from the chemical notation, the entire science proves to be filled with gaps and incapable of providing through its formulas a logical and true explanation of the studied phenomena.» — y extiende el reproche a la ciencia entera: excluido el fuego de la notación química, sus fórmulas no explican los fenómenos que estudia.

«These representations are most often perfect in their methods and results; but in their application to what is deeply unknown, we cannot make mathematics reveal truths whose elements we have not given them,» — su reserva sobre la matemática: no revela verdades cuyos elementos no se le han dado.

«The most gifted man presents the problem badly which he does not understand.» — porque quien no entiende el problema lo plantea mal.

«If these problems could be correctly formulated in an equation, we could have the hope of resolving them.» — y solo un problema bien puesto en ecuación deja esperar solución.

«But, in our present state of ignorance, we are fatally compelled to introduce numerous constants, to neglect certain terms, and to apply hypotheses.» — de la ignorancia presente deriva el recurso a constantes, términos despreciados e hipótesis.

«Even so, we console ourselves because it leads to a solution; but, it is a temporary arrest of the progress of science when such solutions are imposed for years on good minds as a scientific demonstration.» — y el daño que le imputa: la solución provisional impuesta durante años como demostración detiene el progreso de la ciencia.

«Sincere scientists, belonging to the creative schools of the same hypotheses --- considered to be certainties --- only grant them a very relative value;» — concede que los propios científicos otorgan a sus hipótesis un valor muy relativo.

«"As for theories", he writes, "they do not even propose to provide a casual explanation for the reality itself, but only to translate it into images or mathematical symbols.» — y trae la formulación de uno de ellos: las teorías no proponen explicación causal de la realidad, sino traducirla en imágenes o símbolos matemáticos.

«"For example", J. Duclaux (2) says, "bivalent copper iodide spontaneously decomposes into iodine and monovalent copper iodide.» — y el caso que J. Duclaux le da: el yoduro de cobre bivalente que se descompone solo.

«We have just spoken of fire; and yet, we only envisage it in its common form and not in its spiritual essence, which introduces itself in bodies at the very moment of their appearance on the physical plane.» — vuelve al fuego para distinguir su forma común de su esencia espiritual, que entra en los cuerpos al aparecer en el plano físico.

«If we put equal volumes of chlorine and hydrogen gas in a glass flask, the two gases will keep their own individuality as long as the flask that contains them is kept in darkness.» — el experimento del cloro y el hidrógeno, que en la oscuridad conservan su individualidad.

«But if we expose the vessel to direct solar rays, it explodes and shatters violently.» — y estallan al sol directo.

«The objection will be raised that fire, considered a mere catalyst, is not an integral part of the substance and therefore cannot be indicated in the expression of chemical formulas.» — se plantea él mismo la objeción de que el fuego es mero catalizador y no parte de la sustancia.

«The argument is more fallacious than true, since the experiment itself belies it.» — y la niega apelando al experimento.

«It matters little whether it be in water, air, or metal; the essential point is that it potentially exists inside one or the other of these bodies, perhaps in the three.» — sostiene que el fuego existe en potencia dentro del agua, del aire o del metal, quizá en los tres.

«Let no one come and talk to us about oxidation being in the normal order of igneous phenomena.» — rechaza que se le hable de la oxidación como fenómeno ígneo normal.

«If some energetic oxidations disengage heat or fire, it is most certainly because this fire was already engaged in it.» — porque si la oxidación desprende fuego es que el fuego ya estaba comprometido en ella.

«But if it meets with resistance, the energy immediately reveals itself with the qualities and in the form of fire.» — y hace de la resistencia la condición en que la energía se revela como fuego.

«Let us detach a particle of steel or of iron by grinding it on a stone or by striking it against a flint and we will see a spark shining, thus freed.» — con la chispa del acero contra el pedernal.

«We know the pneumatic lighter well enough, based on the property possessed by atmospheric air being ignited by simple compression.» — el encendedor neumático, que enciende el aire por simple compresión.

«It suffices to pour a few drops of concentrated nitric acid on oil of turpentine to provoke its inflammation.» — y las gotas de ácido nítrico concentrado sobre esencia de trementina.

«Ancient alchemists, who had, according to traditional sources, more knowledge than we are willing to grant them, assured us that the sun is a cold star and that its rays are dark (3).» — atribuye a los alquimistas antiguos la doctrina de que el sol es una estrella fría y sus rayos oscuros.

«High mountains remain crowded with snow despite the heat of summer.» — y la apoya en la nieve que persiste en la alta montaña pese al calor del verano.

«You can undo what you have done, but you will never remake that which you have undone in nature.» — la regla que opone al análisis: se puede deshacer, no rehacer lo deshecho en la naturaleza.

«I like the microscope; it simply shows us things as they are, merely extending our perception, therefore it is the scientists who attribute opinions to it.» — sobre el microscopio: concede que muestra las cosas como son y carga las opiniones a los científicos.

«Finally, when a learned doctor cuts into a cadaver with his scalpel to find the causes of the illness that killed the victim, using a microscope he can only find the results.» — pero acota que el escalpelo y el microscopio del médico solo encuentran resultados, no causas.

«And, as far as life is concerned, since there is nothing which resembles a living being less than a dead one, anatomy is the most pitiful of vanities.» — y llama a la anatomía la más lastimosa de las vanidades, porque nada se parece menos a un vivo que un muerto.

«So are all instruments a cause of error? Far from it; but they indicate truth within limits that are so restricted that their truth is nothing but a vanity.» — matiza que los instrumentos no son causa de error, sino que indican una verdad de límites tan estrechos que se vuelve vanidad.

«Positive in its facts, chemistry remains negative in its spirit.» — la fórmula con que resume el reproche: positiva en sus hechos, la química queda negativa en su espíritu.

«Let no one see in this argument any unfair or tendentious criticism directed against chemists.» — advierte que no se lea el argumento como crítica injusta contra los químicos.

«We respect all workers of whatever profession they may belong, and we personally profess the deepest admiration for the great scientists whose discoveries have so magnificently enriched modern science.» — y declara admiración por los grandes científicos cuyos descubrimientos enriquecieron la ciencia moderna.

«Life is too short, tie too precious to waste in vain polemics, and it does not honor oneself to despise the knowledge of others.» — con la reserva de que despreciar el saber ajeno no honra a nadie; el troceo imprime *tie* por *time*.

«From the fact that a truth is neither demonstrated nor demonstrable using the means at the disposal of science, we cannot infer that it will never be so.» — el argumento de fondo contra la negativa: que una verdad no se demuestre hoy no autoriza a decir que nunca se demostrará.

«"The word impossible is not French", said Arago; we add that it is contrary to the true scientific spirit.» — y la frase de Arago que hace suya sobre la palabra imposible.

«To call a ting impossible because its present possibility remains doubtful, is to lack confidence in the future and to deny progress.» — llamar imposible a algo por dudosa su posibilidad presente lo lee como falta de confianza en el porvenir y negación del progreso; el troceo imprime *ting* por *thing*.

«Spinoza and Leibnitz believed in the Philosophers’ Stone, the chrysopea; Pascal became certain of it (8).» — adjudica a Spinoza y Leibnitz la creencia en la Piedra Filosofal y a Pascal la certeza de ella.

«Jean-Baptiste Dumas, in his Lessons on Chemical Philosophy, expresses himself in these terms:» — y abre la serie de opiniones modernas con Jean-Baptiste Dumas y sus Lecciones de filosofía química.

«It is even opposed to rejecting this idea as an absurdity which could be demonstrated by the present state of our knowledge» — en la que Dumas se opone a rechazar la idea como absurdo demostrable por el estado presente del conocimiento.

«Marcellin Berthelot, was not content to adopt the opinion of the college.» — sobre Marcellin Berthelot, a quien atribuye no haberse conformado con la opinión de la escuela.

«the conviction was born in him that "hermetic principles as a whole are as tenable as the best modern theories".» — y la convicción que le adjudica: los principios herméticos en conjunto son tan sostenibles como las mejores teorías modernas.

«Today, although the unity of substance --- basis of the doctrine taught since antiquity by all alchemists --- is received and officially sanctioned, it does not seem that the idea of transmutation has followed the same progression.» — su diagnóstico del presente: admitida oficialmente la unidad de la sustancia, la idea de transmutación no siguió la misma progresión.

«Furthermore, given the great antiquity of the hermetic thesis, we would have some reason to think that in the course of centuries it could possible have been confirmed by experimentation.» — y la inferencia que saca de la antigüedad de la tesis hermética: pudo haberse confirmado por experimentación en el curso de los siglos.

«It is true that scientists usually do not pay much attention to this kind of argument; testimonies most worthy of faith and best supported seem suspect to them, either they ignore them or they prefer not to be interested in them.» — con la queja de que los científicos ignoran ese tipo de argumento y tienen por sospechosos los testimonios mejor apoyados.

«Jean Finot (11), having called upon competent men, asked them the following question: In the present state of science is metallic transmutation possible or realizable?» — la encuesta de Jean Finot y su pregunta sobre si la transmutación metálica es posible en el estado presente de la ciencia.

«I do not deny the theoretical possibility of artificially recreating, through laboratory means, a part of this evolution naturally produced in billions or trillions of years by cosmic forces and to transform lighter metals into gold. But I do not believe our century will witness the realization of the dream of the alchemists» — la respuesta del doctor Max Nordeau —así lo imprime el troceo—, que no niega la posibilidad teórica pero no espera verla en su siglo.

«Science cannot, and must not say never! It is possible that one day we will discover the principle of fabricating gold. But for now, the problem does not seem to be resolved» — la de Henri Poincare, que prohíbe a la ciencia decir nunca y da el problema por no resuelto todavía.

«Though it is true that spontaneous atomic transformations have been observed in radioactive bodies, (the production of helium by these bodies you mention and which is perfectly correct), we can, on the other hand, affirm that no transformation of a simple body has yet been obtained by the effort of man or due to the devices imagined by him.» — la de Madame Marie Curie, que admite transformaciones atómicas espontáneas en los cuerpos radiactivos y niega que se haya obtenido ninguna por obra del hombre.

«It is possible to transform steel into gold, as we transform, it is said, uranium into radium and helium --- but these transformations will most likely be on the scale of billionths of a milligram, and it would be then much more economical to extract gold from the sea which contains tons of it» — y la de Gustave Le Bon, que la da por posible en escala de milmillonésimas de miligramo y más cara que extraer el oro del mar.

«The fabrication of gold is not an absurd hypothesis! It is about the only affirmation that a true scientist can make… A scientist declares nothing a priori... Transmutation is a fact that we notice every day» — la respuesta de Charles Moureu que recoge diez años después: la fabricación de oro no es hipótesis absurda y la transmutación se observa a diario.

«I absolutely refuse any interview on the topic of synthetic gold. I consider that it must come from some attempt of fraud, like the famous diamonds of Lemoine» — y la de Henry Le Chatelier, que rehúsa la entrevista y da el oro sintético por intento de fraude, como los diamantes de Lemoine.

«It is their property, and no one could refuse them the privilege of an admitted priority of fifteen centuries.» — reclama para los alquimistas la prioridad de la idea, con quince siglos de antelación.

«We assert therefore, without taking sides, that the great scientists whose opinions we have quoted are mistaken when they negate the lucrative result of transmutation.» — y sostiene, sin tomar partido según dice, que los grandes científicos citados se equivocan al negar el resultado lucrativo de la transmutación.

«They are mistaken about the constitution and the profound qualities of matter, though they believe they have fathomed all its mysteries.» — porque a su ver se equivocan sobre la constitución y las cualidades profundas de la materia.

«It cannot therefore be denied that such a reaction has a profound non material cause, for we would not know how to explain without this impulse what other force would oblige crystalline particles to leave their apparent inertia.» — el argumento del cristal: la reacción tiene una causa no material, pues nada explicaría de otro modo que las partículas dejen su inercia aparente.

«It has successively reinforced all its weak parts and purposefully increased its coherence to better defend its integrity.» — atribuye al metal el refuerzo sucesivo de sus partes débiles para defender su integridad.

«If the angle of intersection of any crystal is broken and if its is plunged thus mutilated back into the mother liquor which produced it, not only does it immediately repair its wound, but it also grows with a greater speed than that of intact crystals which had remained in the same solution.» — y al cristal mutilado la reparación de su herida y un crecimiento más rápido que el de los intactos.

«Engineers charged with the study of the cause of these multiple ruptures attribute them to "premature aging" of the steel.» — recoge que los ingenieros achacan las roturas de rieles al envejecimiento prematuro del acero.

«Since death, corollary of life, is the direct consequence of birth, it follows that metals and minerals manifest their subjection to the law of predestination which rules all created beings.» — de la muerte como corolario de la vida deriva que metales y minerales quedan sujetos a la ley de predestinación.

«And, such is also the hermetic idea, which it has seemed necessary to us to emphasize first of all.» — y declara que esa es la idea hermética que le importaba subrayar.

«philosophy teaches and experimentation demonstrates that metals, thanks to their own "seed", can be reproduced and developed in quantity.» — atribuye a la filosofía y a la experimentación la reproducción de los metales por su propia semilla.

«For the divine logos, grow and multiply does not apply uniquely and only to man.» — y extiende el creced y multiplicaos del logos divino más allá del hombre.

«The philosophers who wanted to transmit the exposition of their doctrine and the fruit of their labors to posterity took great care not to divulge the art by presenting it under a common form s that the layman could not misuse it.» — abre el capítulo de la cábala hermética con el motivo del ocultamiento: los filósofos evitaron la forma común para que el lego no abusara del arte; el troceo imprime *s* por *so*.

«Thus, because of the difficulty one has of understanding it, because of the mystery of its enigmas and of the opacity of its parables, the science has come to be shut up among reveries, illusions, and chimeras.» — y le imputa el efecto: por la dificultad de entenderla, la ciencia acabó encerrada entre ensueños y quimeras.

«In fact these sepia-toned old books are not easily penetrated.» — concede que los libros viejos no se penetran fácilmente.

«Nevertheless, the first impression we receive from them, as strange and confusing as it may seem, remains vibrant and persuasive.» — pero sostiene que la primera impresión que dejan sigue siendo vibrante y persuasiva.

«Beyond the allegorical language and the abundance of ambiguous nomenclature, we fathom in them this ray of truth, this profound conviction born from certain facts, duly observed, and which owe nothing to the whimsical speculations of pure imagination.» — y que bajo la alegoría se percibe una convicción nacida de hechos observados, no de especulación imaginativa.

«We shall answer that the philosophers had no other means at their disposal to steal from the ones what they wanted to expose to the others, but this confusion of metaphors, of diverse symbols,» — responde a la objeción de la confusión: los filósofos no tenían otro medio de sustraer a unos lo que exponían a otros.

«As for the argument about practice, it falls by itself for the simple reason that since the initial matter can be considered under any one of the multiple appearances which it takes during the course of the work, and since the artists never describe more than one part of the technique, as many distinct processes appear to exist as there are writers of the genre.» — y a la de la práctica: como la materia inicial se puede tomar en cualquiera de sus apariencias y cada artista describe solo una parte, parecen existir tantos procesos como autores.

«After all we should not forget that the treatises which have reached us were composed during the most beautiful alchemical period, the one which embraces the last three centuries of the Middle Ages.» — data los tratados que nos llegaron en los tres últimos siglos de la Edad Media.

«And at that time, folk mentality, totally impregnated with oriental mysticism, was fond of riddles, symbolic veils,» — y atribuye a la mentalidad popular de entonces, impregnada de misticismo oriental, el gusto por los acertijos y los velos simbólicos.

«This disguise flattered the rebellious instinct of the masses and provided the nobles with a new source for satiric verve.» — el disfraz, dice, halagaba el instinto rebelde de las masas y daba materia satírica a los nobles.

«To it we owe the variety of curious street signs whose number and singularity still add to the clearly original character of French medieval productions.» — y le adjudica la variedad de letreros callejeros que dan carácter original a las producciones medievales francesas.

«Nothing shocks our modern sense more than these tavern placards oscillating on a wrought iron axis.» — los rótulos de taberna oscilando sobre su eje de hierro forjado como lo que más choca al sentido moderno.

«Edouard Founier (3) explains that "la rue du Bout-du-Monde" (the street at the End of the World) existed in Paris in the 17th century.» — el ejemplo que toma de Edouard Founier —así lo imprime el troceo— sobre la rue du Bout-du-Monde de París en el siglo XVII.

«This name", adds the author, "which came from the fact that it had for a long time been near the walls of the city, had been represented in a rebus on the tavern sign.» — y el modo en que ese nombre se representaba en rebus sobre el rótulo de la taberna.

«We can see an arrow (bolt) piercing a little barrel (tun), hence Bolton (Plate III).» — el mismo procedimiento en el blasón de Bolton: una flecha atravesando un tonel.

«Louvois arranged in some manner to affix his memory on the Invalides in an immutable and very obvious manner.» — sobre Louvois, a quien atribuye haber fijado su memoria en los Inválidos de modo inmutable.

«So that no one could doubt it, on the next garret window to the right, he had sculpted an exploding barrel of powder, a symbol of war, whose impetuous minister he was;» — con el barril de pólvora estallando esculpido en la buhardilla contigua, símbolo de la guerra.

«Nevertheless, one could not maintain that it has been lost completely; a few initiates preserve its rules and know how to make advantage of the resources it offers in the transmission of secret truths or use it as a mnemonic key to teaching.» — sostiene que el arte del rebus no se ha perdido del todo y que algunos iniciados lo conservan como clave mnemotécnica.

«In reality, this class, so seductive for its students, was based on the traditional phonetic cabala (9).» — y funda esa enseñanza en la cábala fonética tradicional.

«That which the man was raising in his hand was used as a beacon --- beacon in hand or in French, phare a mains, phonetically identical to the name Pharamond (10).» — con el ejemplo del faro en la mano que suena como Pharamond.

«Clovis, we did not know it, was one of those scamps who could only be controlled with strong means Turbulent, aggressive, bellicose, quick to break everything, he thought of nothing but mischief and fights.» — y el de Clovis leído como un pendenciero que solo se domaba por la fuerza.

«It is the case in particular of a small and curious book so cleverly closed that it is impossible to know what the subject of it is.» — sobre un libro pequeño tan hábilmente cerrado que no deja saber de qué trata.

«It is attributed to Tiphaigne de la Roche, and it bears the unusual title of Amilec ou la graine d’hommes (17).» — que atribuye a Tiphaigne de la Roche con el título Amilec ou la graine d'hommes.

«One should read instead, Alcmie, ou la crème d’Aum (Alchemy, or the Cream of Aum).» — y que propone leer como Alcmie, ou la crème d'Aum.

«Neophytes will learn that it is an authentic alchemical treatise, since in the 13th century alchemy was written alkimie, alkemie, or alkmie;» — apoyándose en las grafías del siglo XIII para la palabra alquimia.

«Tiphaigne de la Roche, who is almost totally unknown, was nevertheless one of the most learned Adepts of the 18th century.» — declara a Tiphaigne de la Roche casi desconocido y uno de los adeptos más doctos del siglo XVIII.

«In another treatise entitled Giphantie (an anagram of Tiphaigne), he perfectly describes the photographic process, and shows that he knew the chemical manipulations concerning the developing and fixing of the image one century before its discovery by Daguerre and Niepce de Saint-Victor.» — y le atribuye haber descrito el proceso fotográfico en Giphantie un siglo antes de Daguerre y Niepce de Saint-Victor.

«But what people are generally unaware of is that the idiom from which the authors borrowed their terms is archaic Greek, the mother tongue according to the majority of Hermes disciples.» — sostiene que el idioma del que los autores tomaron sus términos es el griego arcaico, lengua madre según la mayoría de los discípulos de Hermes.

«The reason why we do not notice the cabalistic intervention owes precisely to the fact that French comes directly from the Greek.» — y explica que la intervención cabalística no se nota porque el francés viene directamente del griego.

«Consequently, all the words chosen in our language to define certain secrets have their orthographic or phonetic Greek equivalents, and it suffices to know them well to immediately discover their exact reestablished meanings.» — de donde deriva su regla de lectura: cada palabra elegida para definir un secreto tiene su equivalente griego ortográfico o fonético.

«For, if French is truly Hellenic as to its basis, its meaning became modified in the course of centuries as it went further from its source and before the radical transformation that the Renaissance had it undergo --- decadence hidden under the name of reform.» — con la reserva de que el sentido del francés se modificó al alejarse de su fuente, y más aún con la transformación del Renacimiento, que llama decadencia escondida bajo el nombre de reforma.

«The imposition of hidden Greek words under corresponding French terms of a similar texture but of amore or less corrupted meaning allows the investigator to easily penetrate the intimate thought of the masters and gives him the key to the hermetic sanctuary.» — y le atribuye la llave del santuario hermético.

«We have used this means after the example of the ancients, and we will frequently have recourse to it in the analysis of the symbolic works, bequeathed to us by our ancestors.» — declara haber usado ese medio siguiendo a los antiguos y anuncia que recurrirá a él en el análisis de las obras simbólicas.

«That is why we resolutely assert, without denying the introduction of Latin elements into our idiom since the Roman conquest, that our language is Greek, that we are Hellenes, or more exactly, Pelagians.» — afirma, sin negar la entrada de elementos latinos desde la conquista romana, que la lengua francesa es griega y que los franceses son helenos o pelasgos.

«we willingly take side with them, because we know that in spite of appearances they saw accurately, they judged soundly, and that they follow» — y toma partido por los que así lo juzgan.

«"To the pretended Latin philological fact", he writes, "we can oppose the evident Greek philological fact.» — el argumento filológico que recoge: al pretendido hecho latino se le opone el hecho griego evidente.

«This new philological fact, the only true one, the only demonstrable one, has a capital significance, since it proves without doubt that the tribes which came to people Western Europe were Pelagian colonies, and it confirms» — y su consecuencia: las tribus que poblaron Europa occidental habrían sido colonias pelasgas.

«The language of the Pelagians was archaic Greek, above all made up of the Aeolian and Doric dialects, and it is exactly this form of Greek which is found everywhere in France, even in Parisian slang (Argot d’Paris)» — con la lengua pelasga identificada como griego arcaico de dialectos eólico y dórico, que dice hallarse hasta en el argot de París.

«"I am only attached to useful things", says St Gregory in the 6th century in a letter which serves as a preface to his Morals, "without caring about style or the use of prepositions or endings, since it is not worthy of a Christian» — la carta de San Gregorio en el siglo VI, que declara no cuidar del estilo ni de las preposiciones por indigno de un cristiano.

«The language of the birds is a phonetic idiom solely based on assonance.» — y su propia definición: la lengua de los pájaros es un idioma fonético fundado únicamente en la asonancia.

«When I speak, your soul encounters, with each one of my words, the Truth that is gropingly looking for; and although its reason does not understand it, it has within it a nature which cannot but understand it» — el diálogo de De Cyrano Bergerac que cita en extenso, donde el interlocutor sostiene que el alma encuentra la verdad en cada palabra aunque la razón no la entienda.

«Nature sees it; without being able to understand how it absorbs us, it cannot but delight us, although we cannot know where it is.» — y donde la música sirve de comparación: la naturaleza ve esa verdad y nos deleita sin que sepamos dónde está.

«This is why, if you knew it, you could communicate and disclose all your thoughts to animals, and animals to you all of theirs» — con la consecuencia que ese interlocutor saca: quien conociera la lengua podría comunicarse con los animales.

«Therefore be no longer surprised by the ease with which you understand the meaning of a language which your ears have never heard.» — y el cierre del pasaje sobre entender un idioma nunca oído.

«He has some very old oak trees speak --- an allusion to the language which the Druids used» — Fulcanelli lee el episodio de los robles muy viejos de ese mismo autor como alusión a la lengua de los druidas.

«We also find this idiom among the Incas, sovereigns of Peru until the time of the Spanish conquest; the ancient writers called it lengua general (universal language), and lengua cortesana (language of the court), that is, diplomatic language, since it contains a double meaning corresponding to a double science, one apparent, the other profound» — y halla el idioma entre los incas, con la lengua general y la lengua cortesana de doble sentido.

«However, this secret, universal, indefinite language, in spite of the importance and the truth of its expression, is in reality of Greek origin and genius» — pero declara esa lengua universal de origen y genio griegos.

«From these specific grammars a mind such as his could not but ascend to a general theory of language» — sobre Roger Bacon, a quien Armand Parrot atribuye el ascenso de las gramáticas particulares a una teoría general del lenguaje.

«There is here absolute identity of figuration and meaning with the cabala expressed in prints from old works, in particular The Dream of Polyphilo.» — en nota, empareja esa cábala figurada con las estampas de El sueño de Polifilo.

«Held by a screw, in French, "clos-a-vis", which sound very much like Clovis.» — y despliega en nota la serie de homofonías de la clase de cábala fonética: la tuerca que suena a Clovis.

«Enclosed in his land, in French "clos dans sa terre", or Clotaire.» — el encerrado en su tierra que suena a Clotaire.

«I am dying here, in French "j’y peris" which sounds close to Chilperic» — el aquí perezco que suena a Chilperic.

«Dagger and mail, in French dague and haubert sound like Dagobert.» — la daga y la cota que suenan a Dagobert.

«Louis the Ninth can sound in French both like new louis (coins) or Louis Nine.» — Luis Noveno leído como louis nuevos.

«Tablecloth and saucepan in French, nappe et poelon --- Napoleon.» — y el mantel con la cacerola que suenan a Napoleón.

«Amilec or the Seed of Men --- This very well written little book was published around 1753.» — en nota fecha el librito Amilec hacia 1753.

«Sacrobosco --- sacro sounds like Latin for sacred, and bosco sounds like the French for shrub hence: consecrated wood for Sacrobosco.» — descompone en nota el nombre Sacrobosco como bosque consagrado.

«Gallinarius recalls the Latin word for hen: gallus.» — y liga Gallinarius al latín gallus.

«nothing but a vast swindle favored by a phonetic system different from ours which covered its thefts from it, and which must have been created after the Allia during the Senonaise occupation (390-345 BC)» — la tesis de A. Champrosay que cita en nota, que reduce todo eso a una estafa favorecida por un sistema fonético distinto.

«The famous founder of the Order of Franciscans, to which the illustrious Adept Roger Bacon belonged, knew hermetic cabala perfectly well;» — y la atribución, también en nota, de un conocimiento perfecto de la cábala hermética al fundador de los franciscanos, a cuya orden adscribe a Roger Bacon.

«It is to be expected that a good number of chemists --- and some alchemists as well --- will not share our point of view.» — abre el capítulo de alquimia y espagiria anticipando el desacuerdo de químicos y aun de algunos alquimistas.

«Should we be regarded as the most resolute partisan of the most subversive theories, we would still not be afraid to develop our thought here, deeming truth to be endowed with many more attractions than a vulgar prejudice and that it remains preferable, in its very nakedness, to the most made-up and sumptuously dressed error.» — y declara preferible la verdad desnuda al error suntuosamente vestido.

«Since Lavoisier, all the authors who have written on the history of chemistry agree to profess that our chemistry comes by direct affiliation from old alchemy.» — expone la tesis que va a objetar: desde Lavoisier los historiadores de la química la hacen descender en línea directa de la vieja alquimia.

«Consequently, the origin of the one is confused with that of the other, to such an extent that modern science would owe the positive facts on which it is built to the patient labor of the ancient alchemists.» — con la consecuencia de que la ciencia moderna debería sus hechos positivos al trabajo paciente de los antiguos alquimistas.

«This hypothesis, to which we could only have given a relative and conventional value, being regarded today as demonstrated truth, alchemical science, stripped of its own foundation, loses everything liable to motivate its existence, justify its reason for being.» — y el precio que le imputa: tenida esa hipótesis por verdad demostrada, la ciencia alquímica pierde lo que justificaría su existencia.

«The School peremptorily does not discuss, it decides.» — su reproche de método a la enseñanza oficial, que a su ver no discute sino decide.

«Let us clearly state, since so many educated and sincere people seem unaware of the fact, that the real ancestor of our modern chemistry is ancient spagyrics and not the hermetic science itself.» — y la tesis con que responde: el ancestro real de la química moderna es la espagiria antigua, no la ciencia hermética.

«There is indeed a profound abyss between spagyrics and alchemy.» — con el abismo que pone entre espagiria y alquimia.

«Nevertheless, we hope to extend our analysis far enough and to bring out sufficiently precise details to nourish our thesis.» — y la promesa de llevar el análisis lo bastante lejos para alimentar esa tesis.

«Nevertheless, in spite of their errors ---or rather because of them --- it is they, the archemists, who provided first the spagyrists and later modern chemistry with the facts, methods, and operations they needed.» — concede a los arquimistas, pese a sus errores o por ellos, el haber dado a espagiristas y químicos los hechos, métodos y operaciones que necesitaban.

«However, we repeat, alchemy has nothing to do with these successive contributions.» — pero repite que la alquimia no tiene parte en esas aportaciones sucesivas.

«It is in this manner that Blaise de Vigenere obtained benzoic acid by sublimating benzoin;» — adjudica a Blaise de Vigenere la obtención del ácido benzoico por sublimación del benjuí.

«that Brandt could extract phosphorus by seeking the alkahest in urine;» — a Brandt la extracción del fósforo mientras buscaba el alkahest en la orina.

«that Basil Valentine, a prestigious Adept who did not despise spagyric experiments, established the entire series of antimonial salts and the colloid of ruby gold (2);» — y a Basil Valentine, adepto que no despreciaba lo espagírico, la serie de las sales antimoniales y el coloide de oro rubí.

«But, with the exception of Lully and of Basil Valentine, all these researchers, wrongly classified among alchemists, were simple archemists or learned spagyrists.» — y salvo Lully y Basil Valentine, clasifica a todos esos investigadores como arquimistas o espagiristas doctos, no como alquimistas.

«This is why a famous Adept, author of a classical work (3), can say with much reason:» — introduce entonces a un adepto famoso, autor de una obra clásica, que le da la razón.

«They do not know that these texts are reserved for initiates, and that is essential, in order to understand them, to be in possession of their secret key.» — y cuya queja recoge: los lectores ignoran que esos textos están reservados a los iniciados y piden su clave secreta.

«It is the stumbling block against which our chemists have tripped.» — señala el escollo con que a su ver tropiezan los químicos: no entienden el lenguaje de los antiguos.

«And we can affirm that, if our scientists had understood the language of the ancient alchemists, the laws of the practice of Hermes would be known to them, and the philosophers’ stone would long have ceased to be considered a chimera.» — y sostiene que, entendido, la piedra filosofal habría dejado hace tiempo de tenerse por quimera.

«It is true that these processes are often incomplete and enveloped in mystery almost as dense as that of the Great Work.» — concede que los procesos arquémicos que va a dar son incompletos y velados.

«However, besides the fact that our oath is only answerable to alchemy and that we intend to remain strictly in the spagyrical domain, on the other hand, we wish to keep the promise we made» — declara que su juramento solo obliga respecto de la alquimia y que se mantendrá en el dominio espagírico.

«Thus they prepared the acid solvents which we use, and through the action of these on metallic bases they obtained the saline series well known to us.» — atribuye a los arquimistas la preparación de los solventes ácidos y la serie salina obtenida sobre bases metálicas.

«A few researchers, nevertheless, pushed their investigations much further; they remarkable extended the field of chemical possibilities even to such a point that their results seem doubtful, if not imaginary, to us.» — y a unos pocos investigaciones tan lejanas que sus resultados hoy parecen dudosos o imaginarios.

«We have stated earlier that archemists regulated their works according to hermetic theory --- at least as they understood it --- and that this was the point of departure for fertile experiments with purely chemical results.» — recuerda que los arquimistas regulaban sus trabajos por la teoría hermética tal como la entendían, y que de ahí salieron experimentos de resultado puramente químico.

«They can make the sound of their words resound, but they do not provide any understanding at all.» — el reproche a los que solo repiten las palabras: hacen resonar el sonido y no dan ninguna comprensión.

«It is then possible, from a metal close to gold --- silver preferably --- to produce a small quantity of the precious metal.» — declara posible obtener una pequeña cantidad de oro a partir de un metal vecino, de preferencia la plata.

«But this simple body, so easily obtained, although in a very small proportion, is it truly gold?» — y se pregunta él mismo si ese cuerpo simple así obtenido es de veras oro.

«Our sincerity compels us to say no or, at least, not yet.» — con la respuesta que su sinceridad le impone: no, o al menos todavía no.

«We could also give some variant likely to increase the yield, but we would thereby overstep the limits that we have voluntarily imposed on ourselves.» — dice poder dar variantes que aumentarían el rendimiento y no hacerlo por los límites que se impuso.

«Our role is confined to presenting facts; it is for modern archemists, spagyrists, and chemists to conclude (8).» — y confina su papel a presentar hechos, dejando concluir a arquimistas, espagiristas y químicos modernos.

«They allow us to achieve the decomposition of metallic bodies, long considered to be simple elements.» — atribuye a esos métodos la descomposición de cuerpos metálicos tenidos largamente por elementos simples.

«Hermetic philosophy teaches us that bodies have no action on bodies and that only spirits are active and penetrating (9).» — el principio hermético que invoca: los cuerpos no actúan sobre los cuerpos, y solo los espíritus son activos y penetrantes.

«wisdom demonstrates through experimentation that bodies cannot form among themselves anything but easily reducible, temporary combinations.» — con la contraprueba experimental: entre sí los cuerpos solo forman combinaciones temporales y fácilmente reducibles.

«Such is the case of alloys, some of which are liquefied by simple fusion, and of all saline compounds.» — como las aleaciones que se licúan por simple fusión y los compuestos salinos.

«For the alchemists, the spirits are real influences, although they are physically almost immaterial or imponderable.» — y la definición que da del espíritu para los alquimistas: influencias reales aunque físicamente casi inmateriales o imponderables.

«However, in spite of its simplicity, this operation does not proceed without some big problems.» — advierte que la operación, con ser simple, no va sin grandes problemas.

«If you do not want to lose half and more of the metal, you must first and above all avoid the fusion of the salts.» — el primero, evitar la fusión de las sales para no perder la mitad del metal.

«Furthermore, as soon as the temperature is established, the silver chloride, already very penetrating by itself, acquires such a bite in contact with the sal ammoniac, that it will pass through the glass walls (10)» — y el segundo, el cloruro de plata que en contacto con la sal amoniaco atraviesa las paredes de vidrio.

«Therefore, there are in this method, as in many others of the same order, certain secrets of practice which the archemists have prudently reserved for themselves.» — reconoce que en este método, como en otros del mismo orden, hay secretos de práctica que los arquimistas se reservaron.

«One of the best ones consists in dividing the mixture of chlorides by interposing an inert body capable of impasting the salts and hindering their liquefaction.» — y da el que considera mejor: interponer un cuerpo inerte que empaste las sales y estorbe su licuación.

«All metals do not yield to the same chemical agents.» — el principio del capítulo espagírico sobre los metales: no todos ceden a los mismos agentes químicos.

«It is known that silver and lead have a very marked affinity for one another; silvery lead ores prove it well enough.» — la afinidad entre plata y plomo, que apoya en los minerales de plomo argentífero.

«Therefore the affinity establishing the profound chemical identity of these bodies, it is logical to think that the same spirit, used in the same conditions, will bring about the same effects.» — y la inferencia que saca: siendo idéntica la naturaleza química, el mismo espíritu en las mismas condiciones dará los mismos efectos.

«When Mexican prospectors come to discover a sandy, very red earth composed mostly of iron oxide, they conclude that gold is not very far away.» — el indicio de los buscadores mexicanos, que ven cerca el oro donde hallan tierra roja de óxido de hierro.

«Consequently they regard this red earth as the matrix and the mother of gold, and the best indication of a nearby gold vein.» — y que tienen esa tierra por matriz y madre del oro.

«This fact seems rather unusual, given the physical differences of these metals.» — concede que el hecho es raro dadas las diferencias físicas de los dos metales.

«Man and vertebrates owe to iron and to gold the red coloration of their blood.» — y lo empareja con el color rojo de la sangre, que atribuye al hierro y al oro.

«The great, the enormous difficulty resides in the reunion of these elements which, in spite of their purification, energetically refuse to combine to form a new body.» — la dificultad mayor que declara: reunidos y purificados, los elementos se niegan a combinarse en un cuerpo nuevo.

«We shall continue without analyzing or resolving this problem, since our topic is simply to establish the proof that archemists always used chemical materials set in motion by means of chemical operations.» — y el límite que se pone: no resolver el problema, sino probar que los arquimistas usaron materiales y operaciones químicas.

«In the spagyrical treatment of iron, the energetic reaction of acids with a similar affinity for the metal is used to conquer its cohesion.» — el tratamiento espagírico del hierro, donde la reacción de los ácidos afines vence la cohesión del metal.

«If one uses pyrites, it will suffice to crush it as finely as possible and to redden it with fire once, while mixing it vigorously.» — la instrucción sobre las piritas: molerlas lo más fino posible y enrojecerlas al fuego una vez, removiendo.

«It is necessary to continue the boiling and the decanting until the pyrites appear white at the bottom of the container.» — y hervir y decantar hasta que aparezcan blancas en el fondo.

«You will see some oily drops distill, red as blood, which represent the sulphurous tincture, and later a beautiful white sublimate which clings to the top and the neck in the form of a crystalline down.» — la descripción de la destilación: gotas aceitosas rojas como sangre y luego un sublimado blanco cristalino.

«The sublimate is an authentic mercury salt --- called by certain archemists mercury of vitriol--- which is easily reduced to liquid mercury through the agency of iron filings, quick lime, or anhydrous potassium carbonate.» — que identifica como sal de mercurio, llamada por algunos arquimistas mercurio de vitriolo.

«Furthermore, it is easy to immediately ensure that this sublimate contains the specific mercury of iron by rubbing its crystals on a sliver of copper: the amalgam immediately appears and the metal seems silvery.» — con la prueba del amalgama frotando los cristales en una laminilla de cobre.

«As for iron filings, they yield a golden rather than red colored sulphur instead of being red, and some --- a very little bit --- of mercury sublimate.» — y lo que dan en cambio las limaduras de hierro: azufre más dorado que rojo y muy poco sublimado de mercurio.

«It is good to mix up the bottom with an agitator to prevent the filings from becoming one mass.» — el consejo de remover el fondo con un agitador para que la limadura no se apelmace.

«This is the dangerous part of the manipulation since it is rather common to see the retort explode or crack at the level of the acids.» — y la advertencia del punto peligroso: la retorta que revienta o se raja a la altura de los ácidos.

«Here we conclude the description of the processes used on iron, deeming that they are amply sufficient to uphold our thesis, and we will end the exposition of spagyric processes by that of gold, which is, according to the opinion of all philosophers, the body the most refractory to dissociation.» — cierra los procesos del hierro y pasa al oro, que según todos los filósofos es el cuerpo más refractario a la disociación.

«It is a common axiom in spagyrics that it is easier to make gold than to destroy it.» — con el axioma espagírico de que es más fácil hacer oro que destruirlo.

«Limiting our desire to simply prove the chemical reality of archemical research, we will be wary of teaching in clear language how one can fabricate gold.» — y la reserva de no enseñar en lenguaje claro cómo se fabrica.

«We prefer to remain in the purely alchemical domain rather than engage the researcher in following thorn-covered paths lined with potholes.» — prefiriendo quedarse en lo alquímico antes que meter al investigador en caminos de espinas.

«An old spagyric proverb claims that the seed of gold is in gold itself; we will not contradict it, provided it is understood what kind of gold is meant and how it is appropriate to grasp this "seed" disengaged from common gold.» — el proverbio de que la simiente del oro está en el oro mismo, que acepta a condición de entender de qué oro se habla.

«You will see some white, opaque vapors rise, light at first and then heavier.» — la observación de los vapores blancos y opacos que suben en la operación.

«Their color, a magnificent blood-red, takes on the brightness of ruby when a sun beam or some bright light comes to strike it.» — y del color rojo sangre de los cristales, que al sol toma brillo de rubí.

«These crystals, very deliquescent in the manner of other gold salts, disintegrate into a yellow liquid as soon as the temperature goes down...» — cristales que por delicuescencia se deshacen en líquido amarillo al bajar la temperatura.

«The great Adept assures us in this passage that it is possible to obtain a particular tincture by uniting the mercury with the sulphur of copper through the agency of an iron salt.» — el particular de Basil Valentine que reproduce por venir apoyado en razones filosóficas: unir el mercurio con el azufre del cobre por medio de una sal de hierro.

«"The Moon", he says, "has in it a fixed mercury thereby it can bear the violence of fire longer than other imperfect metals; and the victory which it gains shows very well how fixed it is, since ravenous Saturn cannot take anything from it or diminish any of it.» — en la voz de Basil Valentine, la Luna con su mercurio fijo que soporta el fuego y a la que el voraz Saturno nada quita.

«But since her body is leprous and ill, the fixed tincture cannot dwell there, and as the body flies away, the tincture must necessarily follow.» — Venus, cuyo cuerpo leproso no retiene la tintura fija.

«The fixed salt provides the warrior Mars a hard, strong, solid and robust body, wherefrom he gets his magnanimity and great courage.» — la sal fija que da a Marte cuerpo duro y de ahí su magnanimidad y su coraje.

«For this reason, it is very difficult to overcome this valorous captain, for his body is so hard that it can hardly be wounded.» — capitán valeroso al que por eso es muy difícil vencer.

«But if someone mixes his strength and hardness with the constancy of the Moon and the beauty of Venus, and harmonizes them through spiritual means, he will create in this manner a sweet harmony.» — y la armonía dulce que resulta de mezclar esa dureza con la constancia de la Luna y la belleza de Venus.

«It is known that in the course of a voyage which he undertook from Marseilles to Narbonne, St Vincent de Paul was captured by Barbary pirates and brought as a captive to Tunis.» — y el caso de San Vicente de Paúl, apresado por piratas berberiscos entre Marsella y Narbona y llevado cautivo a Túnez.

«He was, furthermore, a practical, positive, resolute man who in no way neglected his practical affairs; in no way a dreamer or inclined to mysticism.» — el retrato que hace de San Vicente de Paúl: hombre práctico y resuelto, nada soñador ni inclinado al misticismo.

«He was a deeply human soul underneath the harsh appearance of an active, tenacious, and ambitious man.» — y de alma profundamente humana bajo la apariencia dura.

«The first, written to Monsieur de comet, barrister of the provincial appellate court of Dax, was published several times and analyzed by Monsieur Georges Bois, in The Occult Menace (Paris, Victor Retaux, n.d.).» — sitúa la primera carta, dirigida a Monsieur de comet, y su publicación y análisis por Georges Bois en The Occult Menace.

«It was written from Avignon and dated the 24th of June, 1607.» — fechada en Aviñón el 24 de junio de 1607.

«"And being about to leave by land", he says, "I was persuaded by a gentleman with whom I had stayed to embark with him as far as Narbonne, because of the fortunate weather conditions; which I did to get there earlier and save money, or better said, to never reach this place and to lose everything.» — en la voz de la carta, la persuasión de embarcar hasta Narbona por el buen tiempo.

«The wind was a good as needed to bring us that day to Narbonne, which was 50 leagues away, if God had not allowed three Turkish brigantines that were cruising in the Gulf of Lions (to catch boats coming from Beaucaire, where a fair was taking place still regarded as the most beautiful of Christendom), to have hunted us down and attacked us so forcefully that two or three of our people were killed and all of the others wounded, including myself who was hit by an arrow, which I would have been able to use as a clock for the remainder of my days, if we then had not been forced to surrender to the scoundrels, worse than tigers;» — el asalto de los tres bergantines turcos en el golfo de León, con muertos y heridos y el propio narrador alcanzado por una flecha.

«This done, they chained us up, after having coarsely bandaged us.» — el encadenamiento de los prisioneros tras vendarles las heridas.

«They continued their voyage committing a thousand thefts, nevertheless freeing those who surrendered without fighting, having robbed them;» — y la costumbre de los captores de soltar, ya robados, a los que se rendían sin pelear.

«and finally, loaded down with merchandise, after seven or eight days, they sailed back to Barbary, den of the faithless thieves of the great Turk king, where having arrived, they put us for sale after having recounted our capture, which they said had been made on a Spanish ship, since without this lie we would have been freed by the King’s consul who was there to make free trade possible for Frenchmen.» — la mentira de haberlos tomado en nave española, sin la cual el cónsul del rey los habría liberado.

«For our sale, their procedure was, once having us stripped totally, to give us each a pair of shorts, a linen jacket, and a cap; they paraded us in the city of Tunis where they had come to sell us.» — el procedimiento de venta: desnudarlos, vestirlos de calzón, chaqueta de lino y gorro, y pasearlos por Túnez.

«After having been made to go round the city five or six times, chains around our necks, they brought us back to the ship so that the merchants could see which ones of us could eat and which could not, so as to show that our wounds were not mortal.» — y la vuelta a la nave para que los mercaderes vieran quién comía, prueba de que las heridas no eran mortales.

«I was sold to a fisherman, who was forced to get rid of me very soon since no one agrees less with the sea than I do, and from the fisherman to an old man, a spagyric doctor, sovereign tyrant of quintessences, a very human and tractable man who, from what he told me, had worked for 50 years in search of the philosophers’ stone, and in vain as far as the stone, but with good results as far as other transmutations of metals.» — la venta al viejo médico espagírico que llevaba cincuenta años buscando la piedra, en vano en cuanto a la piedra y con resultado en otras transmutaciones.

«In proof of which, I often saw him melt as much gold as silver together, putting them in little flakes and then introducing a layer of some powder, and then other flakes and then another layer of powder in a crucible or in a goldsmith’s smelting vessel, keep it in the fire for 24 hours, and then open it and find the silver turned into gold; and more often still, I saw him congeal or fix quicksilver into fine silver, which he sold to give to the poor.» — y lo que el narrador dice haber visto: oro y plata en hojuelas por capas con un polvo, veinticuatro horas al fuego y la plata vuelta oro; y el azogue fijado en plata fina que aquel vendía para dar a los pobres.

«In spite of the lack of credence which George Bois gives to alchemists and their science, he nevertheless recognizes that one cannot suspect the sincerity of the narrator, or the reality of the experiments which he saw being practiced.» — el juicio de George Bois, que descree de los alquimistas y aun así no sospecha de la sinceridad del narrador.

«He is a good witness, but he is a man: he is not infallible.» — con la reserva de que un buen testigo sigue siendo hombre y no es infalible.

«This is what we tend to believe, according to our present ideas and the habit which we owe to our education of classifying transmutation among fables.» — Fulcanelli atribuye a la educación recibida el hábito de clasificar la transmutación entre las fábulas.

«Yet, if we simply limit ourselves to the weighing of the testimony that we are examining, error is not possible.» — y sostiene que, ateniéndose al peso del testimonio, el error no es posible.

«It is clearly stated that the alchemist melted together as much gold as silver; here then is the alloy well-defined (18).» — porque la aleación queda bien definida: tanto oro como plata fundidos juntos.

«This powder is not the philosophers’ stone but it possesses one of its properties: it operates the transmutation.» — y el polvo, sin ser la piedra filosofal, tiene una de sus propiedades: obra la transmutación.

«The mixture is heated for 24 hours, and the silver which partly composed the alloy is transformed into gold.» — con las veinticuatro horas de calor y la plata de la aleación transformada en oro.

«It is furthermore unbelievable, since the operation was frequent and the gold sold to merchants, that such an enormous error was produced so easily.» — añade que un error tan grande sería increíble siendo frecuente la operación y vendido el oro a los mercaderes.

«Since Archimedes, everyone knows how to identify gold by the ratio existing between its volume and its weight.» — y recuerda que desde Arquímedes se identifica el oro por la razón entre volumen y peso.

«This is, in our opinion, one of the most demonstrative facts that we have been able to gather to support the opinion of alchemists about the reality of transmutation» — por lo cual tiene el caso por uno de los hechos más demostrativos que ha podido reunir a favor de la realidad de la transmutación.

«As for the operation itself, it partakes exclusively from archemy and is very close to that taught by Pantheus in his Voarchadumia, and whose result he calls gold of the two cementations.» — adscribe la operación a la arquemia y la acerca a la que enseña Pantheus en su Voarchadumia, con el nombre de oro de las dos cementaciones.

«For, if Vincent de Paul gave us a broad description of the process, on the other hand, he was careful not to describe the order and the manner of operating.» — señala que Vicente de Paúl describió el proceso a grandes rasgos y se cuidó de dar el orden y la manera.

«Anyone today who would try to realize it, even if he had a perfect knowledge of this special cement, would only witness its failure.» — de modo que hoy, aun con perfecto conocimiento del cemento, la tentativa fracasaría.

«Because gold, in order to acquire the faculty of transmuting the silver alloyed to it, must first be prepared, as the cement only acts on the silver.» — porque el oro ha de prepararse antes: el cemento solo actúa sobre la plata.

«Spagyrists call this preliminary work exaltation or transfusion and it is also performed with the aid of a cement applied by stratification.» — trabajo preliminar que los espagiristas llaman exaltación o transfusión, hecho también con cemento por estratificación.

«The secret of exaltation, without whose knowledge one cannot succeed, consists in increasing --- in one burst or gradually --- the normal color of pure gold by the sulphur of an imperfect metal, ordinarily copper.» — y cuyo secreto pone en aumentar el color del oro puro con el azufre de un metal imperfecto, de ordinario el cobre.

«The latter gives precious metal its own blood through a sort of chemical transfusion.» — que le da su propia sangre por una suerte de transfusión química.

«By overheating, one would risk volatilizing the silver and dissipating the sulphur introduced into the gold, since this sulphur has not yet reached a perfect fixity.» — con la advertencia sobre el exceso de fuego, que volatilizaría la plata y disiparía el azufre aún no fijo.

«Finally, a third manipulation, purposely omitted since an enlightened archemist has no need for so much direction, includes the brushing of the extracted laminae, their fusion and cupellation.» — y una tercera manipulación que omite adrede, por innecesaria para un arquimista ilustrado.

«use the property that solar mercury possesses of strongly retaining a fraction of pure sulphur, when one operates on the metallic mass, so as to dissociate the previously formed alloy.» — la propiedad del mercurio solar que retiene una fracción de azufre puro al disociar la aleación.

«Thus, gold melted with copper, if it comes to be separated from it, never completely abandons a portion of the tincture that it stole from it.» — de donde el oro fundido con cobre nunca abandona del todo la tintura que le robó.

«So that, by often repeating the same action, gold gradually enriches itself and can then give of its excess tincture to the metal which is closest to it, i.e., silver.» — y repitiendo la operación se enriquece hasta poder dar su exceso a la plata.

«An experienced chemists, points out Naxagoras, knows well enough that if gold is purified up to 24 times or more by the sulphur of antimony, it acquires a remarkable color, brightness, and fineness.» — el testimonio de Naxagoras sobre el oro purificado veinticuatro veces por el azufre de antimonio.

«There is a loss of metal, contrary to what occurs with copper, because during the purification, the mercury of gold abandons a part of its substance to antimony, and the sulphur becomes overabundant through an imbalance of natural proportions.» — con la pérdida de metal que allí ocurre, por el desequilibrio de proporciones naturales.

«This renders the process useless and only permits a mere satisfaction of one’s curiosity.» — lo que a su juicio vuelve inútil el proceso y solo satisface la curiosidad.

«The exaltation of gold is also achieved by first melting it with three times its weight in copper, then decomposing the alloy turned into filings by boiling nitric acid.» — la vía que prefiere: fundir el oro con tres veces su peso en cobre y descomponer la aleación en ácido nítrico hirviendo.

«Although this technique is very laborious and costly, in view of the volume of acid required, it is nevertheless one of the best and one of the surest that we know.» — que da por laboriosa y costosa y a la vez por una de las más seguras que conoce.

«However, if one possesses an energetic reducing agent, and if one knows how to use it during the fusion of the gold and copper itself, the operation will be greatly simplified and one does not need fear a loss of material or excessive labor, in spite of the indispensable repetitions which this method still requires.» — con la simplificación que promete un reductor enérgico usado durante la propia fusión.

«Finally, the artist, by studying these different methods, will be able to discover better and even more efficient ones.» — y la confianza en que el artista hallará métodos mejores estudiando estos.

«For example, he only has to call upon sulphur directly extracted from lead to incinerate it back to a crude state and to project it little by little into molten gold which will keep its pure parts; unless you prefer to use iron, whose specific sulphur is, of all the metals, the one for which gold manifests the greatest affinity.» — como el azufre extraído del plomo, o el del hierro, por el que dice que el oro manifiesta la mayor afinidad.

«Let whoever wants to work, work; we care little whether one maintains his opinion, follows or despises our advice.» — el desapego con que despide al lector: trabaje quien quiera, y poco le importa que sigan o desprecien su consejo.

«We will repeat one last time that of all the operations benevolently described in these pages, none can be related in any way to traditional alchemy; none can be compared to its own operations.» — repite por última vez que ninguna de las operaciones descritas se relaciona con la alquimia tradicional.

«A thick wall separates the two sciences, an insurmountable obstacle for those who are familiar with the methods and formulas of chemistry.» — y pone entre las dos ciencias un muro espeso, obstáculo insalvable para quien solo maneja fórmulas de química.

«Many modern chemists believe in good faith that they are resolutely going far from chemical science, because they explain its phenomena in a special manner without using any other technique besides that of the learned men whom they criticize.» — el reproche a los químicos modernos que se creen lejos de la ciencia química usando la técnica de los sabios que critican.

«Alas, there have always been many of these erring and self-deluded people, and it perhaps for them that Jacques Tesson (20) wrote these words of truth: "Those who want to accomplish our Work through digestions, through common distillations, and similar sublimations, and others by triturations, all these people are off the good path, in great error and difficulty, and they will never succeed because all these names, words, and manners of operation are names, words, and manners of metaphor» — y las palabras de Jacques Tesson que aduce contra los que operan por digestiones y sublimaciones comunes, para quien esos nombres y maneras son metáfora.

«We believe that we have fulfilled our purpose and demonstrated, as much as it has been possible to do so, that the ancestor of modern chemistry is not the old and simple alchemy but ancient spagyrics, enriched with successive contributions from Greek, Arabic, and medieval archemy.» — el cierre del libro primero, que repite la tesis: el ancestro de la química moderna no es la alquimia sino la espagiria antigua, enriquecida por la arquemia griega, árabe y medieval.

«If one wants to have some idea of the secret science, let him bring his thoughts back to the work of the farmer and that of the microbiologist, since ours is placed under the dependence of analogous conditions.» — la analogía con que describe la ciencia secreta: el trabajo del labrador y el del microbiólogo.

«For, as Nature gives the farmer the earth and the grain, and the microbiologist the agar-agar and the spore, similarly she gives the alchemist the proper metallic terrain and the appropriate seed.» — donde la naturaleza da al alquimista el terreno metálico y la simiente apropiada.

«If all the circumstances favorable to the regular process of this special culture are rigorously observed, the harvest cannot but be abundant...» — y la cosecha resulta abundante si se observan las circunstancias favorables.

«It is interesting to note a curious fact, which makes it impossible to use this experiment on an industrial scale.» — en nota, el hecho que impide llevar el experimento a escala industrial.

«The result indeed varies in inverse ratio to the quantity of the metal used.» — porque el resultado varía en razón inversa a la cantidad de metal.

«The larger the masses we operate on, the less product we collect.» — cuanto mayores las masas, menos producto.

«The same phenomenon can be observed with metallic and saline mixtures from which only small quantities of gold are generally extracted.» — fenómeno que observa también en las mezclas metálicas y salinas.

«If the experiment usually succeeds by operating on a few grams of initial matter, by working with a much larger mass, it is frequently a total failure.» — y que hace fracasar del todo lo que sale bien con unos gramos.

«Before we discovered it, we long searched for the cause of this oddity, which resides in the manner in which solvents behave as they become saturated.» — cuya causa dice haber hallado en la manera en que los solventes se comportan al saturarse.

«The precipitate appears shortly after the beginning and until the middle of the attack; it is redissolved partly or totally later on according to the greater or lesser volume of acid.» — con el precipitado que se redisuelve según el volumen de ácido.

«Geber, in his Sum of Perfection of the Magistery, speaks of the power that spirits have on the bodies, "O sons of the doctrine", he exclaims, "if you want to cause certain changes in bodies, you will only succeed in doing so with spirits (per spiritus ipsos fieri necesse est).» — la sentencia de Geber en su Suma de la perfección del magisterio sobre el poder de los espíritus en los cuerpos.

«When these spirits fix themselves in the bodies, they lose their form and their nature; they are not what they once were.» — y la pérdida de forma y naturaleza de esos espíritus al fijarse.

«In the mass it colors them red when seen in transparency and green when seen in reflection.» — el juego de colores de la masa, roja por transparencia y verde por reflexión.

«Dr S. Bacstrom was affiliated with the Hermetic Society founded by the Adept de Chazal, who lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean at the time of the French Revolution.» — en nota, la afiliación del doctor S. Bacstrom a la sociedad hermética fundada por el adepto de Chazal en la isla Mauricio.

«Born in Poux near Dax in 1581, biographers say that he was born in 1576, although he himself gives his exact age,» — el desacuerdo sobre la fecha de nacimiento de Vicente de Paúl entre los biógrafos y el propio interesado.

«He founded, says Father Petin (Dictionaire hagiographique in the Encyclopedie de Migne, Paris, 1850), a hospital for galley slaves in Marseilles, the houses of Orphelins (orphans) in Paris, of the Filles de la Providence (Daughters of Providence) and of the Filles de la Croix (Daughters of the Cross); the Hospitals of Jesus, of les Enfants-Trouves (Lost Children), the general hospital of the Salpetriere. "Without mentioning the Hospital of Sainte-Renne, which he founded in Burgundy; he came to the rescue of several provinces ravaged by famine and pestilence; and the alms which he sent to Lorraine and Champagne amounted to nearly two millions» — y la lista de fundaciones que el Padre Petin le atribuye, con las limosnas enviadas a Lorena y Champaña.

«We do not know why historians and biographers continue to maintain the fanciful spelling of Vincent de Paul.» — declara no saber por qué historiadores y biógrafos sostienen esa grafía del nombre.

«It is all the more unlikely to be mistaken about the nature of this alloy because silver provokes in gold such discoloration that it would not go unnoticed.» — sobre la aleación: la plata descolora el oro de modo que el error no pasaría inadvertido.

«Basil Valentine insists on the necessity of giving to gold an overabundance of sulphur.» — y recuerda que Basil Valentine insiste en dar al oro sobreabundancia de azufre.

«In spite of our research, obtaining the least information about its first owners has been impossible.» — abre el capítulo de la Salamandra de Lisieux declarando que no logró averiguar nada de los primeros dueños de la casa.

«A study of the motifs of the façade allows us to affirm, with a conviction borne from a patient analysis, that the builder of the Manor was a learned alchemist, having given the measure of his talent, in other words, an Adept, possessor of the philosophers’ stone.» — pero afirma, por análisis de los motivos de la fachada, que el constructor fue un alquimista docto y adepto poseedor de la piedra.

«We also certify that his affiliation with some esoteric center that had many points of contact with the dispersed order of the Templars, proves unquestionable.» — y da por incuestionable su afiliación a un centro esotérico con muchos puntos de contacto con la orden dispersa de los templarios.

«We must admit our ignorance and leave the question unanswered.» — sobre qué fraternidad era, admite su ignorancia y deja la pregunta sin respuesta.

«However, although we unyieldingly loathe this hypothesis, the probability, the relevance of dates and the proximity of places suggest certain conjunctures, which we will mention as a suggestion, without committing ourselves.» — aunque, aborreciendo la hipótesis según dice, ofrece conjeturas sin comprometerse.

«Approximately a century before the Manor of Lisieux had been built, three alchemist companions labored in Flers (Orne) and accomplished the Great Work there in the year 1420.» — sitúa un siglo antes de la mansión a tres compañeros alquimistas que en Flers habrían dado cima a la Gran Obra en 1420.

«They were Nicolas de Grosparmy, a gentleman, Nicolas or Noel Valois, also called Le Vallois, and a priest by the name of Pierre Vicot or Vitecoq.» — y los nombra: Nicolas de Grosparmy, Nicolas o Noel Valois, llamado también Le Vallois, y el sacerdote Pierre Vicot o Vitecoq.

«Alone, de Grosparmy possessed some wealth along with the title of Lord and Count of Flers.» — solo a de Grosparmy le atribuye fortuna y el título de señor y conde de Flers.

«Yet it was Valois who first discovered the practice of the Work and who taught it to his companions, as he gives us to understand in his Cinq Livres (Five Books).» — y a Valois el hallazgo primero de la práctica y su enseñanza a los compañeros, según sus Cinq Livres.

«The three Adepts wrote different works between the years 1440-1450 (3).» — data entre 1440 y 1450 las obras de los tres adeptos.

«From a note added to the Manuscript #158 (125) of the Library of Rennes, a gentleman of Normandy, Monsieur Bois Jeuffroy, would have inherited all the original treatises by Nicolas de Grosparmy, Valois, and Vicot.» — según la nota del manuscrito 158 de la Biblioteca de Rennes, los tratados originales pasaron al normando Monsieur Bois Jeuffroy.

«He sold the entire copy to the "late Count of Flers for 1500 pounds and a prize horse".» — que los vendió al difunto conde de Flers por mil quinientas libras y un caballo de precio.

«This Count of Flers and Baron of Tracy is Louis de Pelleve, who died in 1660 and who was the great-grandson on the women’s side of the author» — conde que identifica con Louis de Pelleve, muerto en 1660 y bisnieto por vía de mujer del autor.

«However these three Adepts who lived and worked in Flers in the first half of the 15th century, were quoted without the least reason as belonging to the 16th century.» — y señala que a esos tres adeptos de la primera mitad del siglo XV se los ha citado sin razón como del siglo XVI.

«The original error, conscious or not, comes from an anonym, author of the notes, entitled Remarques, written in the margins of a few manuscript copies of the works of Grosparmy, and which belonged to the chemist Chevreul.» — adjudica el error cronológico a un anónimo, autor de las Remarques escritas al margen de copias de Grosparmy que pertenecieron al químico Chevreul.

«The latter, without further verifying the whimsical chronology of these notes, mentioned the dates, systematically extended by one century by the anonymous scrivener, and all the authors after him outdid each other in propagating this unforgivable error.» — y a los autores posteriores el haberlo propagado sin verificar, con un siglo de más.

«This passage from the manuscript of Valois actually points to the priest Vicot:» — lee un pasaje del manuscrito de Valois como referido al sacerdote Vicot.

«Nicolas Valois’ Cinq Livres, at the beginning of which this passage is found, bears the date of 1445 --- probably the date of completion --- which would lead us to believe that the alchemist, contrary to the account of the author of the Remarques, died at a very advanced age.» — y data los Cinq Livres en 1445, de donde infiere, contra las Remarques, que el alquimista murió muy viejo.

«However that may be, and although no written testimony has come to help us in filling this gap, one thing remains certain: the alchemist’s son, himself an Adept, never did build this domain, in all or in part; nor did he take any further measures for the ratification of the title attached to it; finally, no one knows whether he lived at Flers like his father or if he dwelled in Caen.» — declara no tener testimonio escrito sobre si el hijo adepto vivió en Flers o en Caen.

«We probably owe the building project of the Mansion of the Great Horse, a project realized in the city of Caen by Nicolas Le Vallois, his eldest son, to the first recognized owner of the titles of Esquire and Lord of Escoville, of Mesnil-Guillaume, and of other places.» — atribuye el proyecto de la Mansión del Gran Caballo, levantada en Caen, a Nicolas Le Vallois.

«In any case, we know from reliable sources that Jean Le Vallois, first of the name, grandson of Nicolas, "appeared March 24, 1511, wearing the brigandine and a sallet, to show himself to the noblemen of the district of Caen, according to a certificate from the Lieutenant-General of the said district, dated the same day» — con el dato del certificado de 1511 sobre Jean Le Vallois presentándose con brigantina y capacete ante los nobles de Caen.

«So Nicolas Le Vallois, great-grandson of the alchemist of Flers, undertook the work on the house of Escoville, which required approximately ten years, from 1530 to 1540 (12).» — y las obras de la casa de Escoville, que fecha entre 1530 y 1540.

«According to the report of de Bras, (Les Recherces et antiquitez de la ville de Caen, p. 132), Nicolas le Vallois is supposed to have died young, in the year 1541.» — recoge de de Bras que Nicolas le Vallois habría muerto joven en 1541.

«while he was about to be seated at his table in a room of the Pavilion of the beautiful and superb dwelling near the St Peter Intersection, which he had built the preceding year, while eating an oyster in the shell, being approximately 47 years of age, all of a sudden fell dead of a stroke which suffocated him» — con la escena de la muerte súbita comiendo una ostra a los cuarenta y siete años.

«According to Vauquelin des Yveteaux’ testimony, Nicolas Le Vallois, its owner, would have accomplished the great Work there, "in the city where the hieroglyphs of the house he had built and that can still be seen in St Peter’s Square facing the great church of the same name, bear witness to his science"» — el testimonio de Vauquelin des Yveteaux, que le adjudica la Gran Obra y hace de los jeroglíficos de la casa el testimonio de su ciencia.

«Adds Robillard de Beupaire, "There could be hieroglyphs in the sculptures of the Mansion of the Great Horse; then all these seemingly incoherent details could possibly have a very precise meaning for its builder and for all the adepts of the hermetic science, well versed in the mysterious formulae of the ancient philosophers, mages, brahmins, and cabalists"» — y el de Robillard de Beupaire, que admite un sentido preciso de esas esculturas para el constructor y los adeptos.

«Unfortunately, of all the statues which decorated this elegant dwelling, the principal piece from the alchemical standpoint, ‘the one placed above the door which first struck the eyes of passersby and which had given the dwelling its name, the Great Horse, described and celebrated by all contemporary authors, no longer exists today.» — señala que la pieza principal desde el punto de vista alquímico, el Gran Caballo que daba nombre a la casa, ya no existe.

«the latter writes that "the figure of the great horse which is on the main façade of the house of Monsieur Le Valois d’Escoville’s house is not, as Monsieur de la Roque believed, and after his many others, a Hercules; it is a vision of the Apocalypse.» — recoge del padre de la Ducquerie que esa figura no es un Hércules, como creyó Monsieur de la Roque, sino una visión del Apocalipsis.

«Another correspondent of the learned prelate of Avranches, the physician Dubourg, provides yet more specific details.» — y menciona al médico Dubourg, otro corresponsal del prelado de Avranches, con detalles más precisos.

«We did not intend here to undertake the study of the symbolic statues designed to express or expose the principal arcane of the science.» — declara no proponerse aquí el estudio de esas estatuas simbólicas.

«It is known that the Lord of Escoville was one of the wealthiest men of Normandy; what is less known is that he had always devoted himself with a passionate fervor to the mysterious researches of alchemy» — sobre el señor de Escoville: uno de los hombres más ricos de Normandía y, lo que dice sabido de pocos, entregado con fervor a la alquimia.

«There is in this hypothesis neither material impossibility nor improbability, yet we cannot give it any more value than can be expected from this kind of supposition.» — acota su propia hipótesis: no la halla imposible ni improbable, y no le concede más valor del que cabe a una suposición.

«From this succinct presentation we must above all remember that there existed in Flers, in the 15th century, a nucleus of hermetic philosophers; that they may have formed disciples --- which is confirmed by the science transmitted to the successors of Nicolas Valois, the Lords of Escoville --- and may have created an initiation center; and the city of Caen, being about equally distant from Flers and Lisieux, it would be possible that the unknown Adept, retired in the Manor of the Salamander, had received his first instruction from some master belonging to the occult group of Flers or Caen.» — y deja el resultado que le importa: un núcleo de filósofos herméticos en Flers en el siglo XV, con discípulos y quizá centro de iniciación, del que pudo salir el adepto desconocido de la Mansión de la Salamandra.

«Robillard de Beaupaire says, "It is an allusion to the musical duel between Apollo and Marsyas in which figure as companions the bearers of instruments (16) that we can see above.» — la lectura de Robillard de Beaupaire sobre el duelo musical de Apolo y Marsias en esas esculturas.

«Finally, to crown the whole thing, above the small turret, there is a little figure, today very worn, and in which Monsieur Sauvageon several years ago thought to recognize Apollo, god of the day and of light; and below the cupola of the large turret, in a sort of little temple, without columns, is the very recognizable statue of Priapus.» — con el Apolo que Monsieur Sauvageon creyó reconocer y el Príapo bien reconocible bajo la cúpula.

«It would perhaps not have been totally useless, in order to penetrate the meaning of all these sculptures, to inquire about the mental tendencies and the habitual occupations of the one who so lavished them on his dwelling.» — y su propia sugerencia de indagar las inclinaciones y ocupaciones de quien las prodigó en su casa.

«This Word of God, which is the Verbum Dismissum of Trevisan and the Lost Word of the medieval Freemasons, points to the material secret of the Work, whose revelation constitutes the Gift of God, and about whose nature, common name, or use, all philosophers maintain an impenetrable silence.» — identifica la Palabra de Dios con el Verbum Dismissum de Trevisan y con la Palabra Perdida de los masones medievales, y la hace apuntar al secreto material de la Obra.

«It is therefore evident that the bas-relief which accompanied the inscription must have been connected with the subject of the sages, and probably also with the manner in which to work it.» — de ahí infiere que el bajorrelieve acompañante trataba del sujeto de los sabios y del modo de trabajarlo.

«And so it is that one entered into the Work, just as one enters the house of Escoville through the symbolic gate of the Great Horse.» — con la entrada en la Obra comparada al paso por la puerta simbólica del Gran Caballo.

«One frequently encounters on the dwellings of alchemists, among many other hermetic symbols, musicians or musical instruments.» — observa la frecuencia de músicos e instrumentos entre los símbolos de las moradas de alquimistas.

«Among the disciples of Hermes, the alchemical science (and we will say why in the course of this book) was named the Art of Music.» — y recuerda que entre los discípulos de Hermes la ciencia se llamó Arte de la Música.

«We find ourselves here at the entrance, closed long ago, of the pretty manor.» — sitúa al lector ante la entrada, cerrada hace tiempo, de la mansión de Lisieux.

«The beauty of the style, the successful choice of motifs, the delicacy of execution, make this little door one of the most delightful specimens of 16th century wood sculpture.» — y elogia la puertecilla como uno de los más deliciosos ejemplares de escultura en madera del siglo XVI.

«In order to make the students more responsive to the particular value of the emblems analyzed, we shall respect the order of the work without allowing ourselves to be guided by considerations of architectural logic or aesthetic nature.» — declara el orden que seguirá: el de la obra, sin dejarse guiar por lógica arquitectónica ni estética.

«On the tympanum of the door with carved panels, we notice an interesting allegorical group composed of a lion and a lioness facing each other, They are holding in their forepaws a human mask which personifies the sun, encircled by a liana carved into a mirror handle.» — describe el tímpano con el león y la leona sosteniendo una máscara humana que personifica al sol.

«In spite of the general opinion averring that our subject had never been named, we assert on the contrary that many books name it and that all describe it.» — objeta la opinión general de que el sujeto nunca fue nombrado: sostiene que muchos libros lo nombran y todos lo describen.

«However, while it is mentioned by the good authors, it cannot be said that it is underlined or expressly shown;» — con la acotación de que los buenos autores lo mencionan sin subrayarlo ni mostrarlo expresamente.

«It is, indeed, genuinely a stone, for, out of the mine, it shows the external characteristics common to all ores.» — lo declara piedra verdadera, con los caracteres externos comunes a todos los minerales.

«It is the chaos of the sages, in which the four elements are contained, but in a confused, disorganized manner.» — y caos de los sabios, donde los cuatro elementos están contenidos de manera confusa.

«It is our old man and the father of metals which owe their origin to it, as it represents the first earthly metallic manifestation.» — viejo y padre de los metales, primera manifestación metálica terrestre.

«It is still called black dragon covered with scales, venomous serpent, daughter of Saturn, and "the most beloved of its children".» — con la lista de sus nombres: dragón negro escamoso, serpiente venenosa, hija de Saturno.

«And, though it is entirely volatile, this primitive mercury, materialized by the drying action of the arsenical sulphur, takes the shape of a solid, black, dense, fibrous, brittle, crushable mass rendered, by its lack of utility, vile, abject, and despicable in the eyes of man,» — y la forma en que se presenta: masa sólida, negra, fibrosa y quebradiza, vil y despreciable a los ojos del hombre por su inutilidad.

«Yet, in this subject --- poor relative of the metal family --- the enlightened artist finds everything that he needs to begin and perfect his Great Work, since it is present, say the authors, at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the Work.» — donde el artista ilustrado halla, según él, todo lo necesario para empezar y perfeccionar la Gran Obra.

«Therefore the Ancients have compared it to the Chaos of Creation, where elements and principles, the darkness and the light, were on and the other confounded, intermixed, and unable to mutually interact.» — recuerda que los antiguos la compararon al Caos de la Creación, con la luz y las tinieblas confundidas.

«For this reason they symbolically depicted their matter in its first being as the image of the world which contained in itself the materials of our hermetic globe (1), or microcosm, assembled without order, without form, without rhythm or measure.» — y que la pintaron como imagen del mundo, con los materiales del globo hermético reunidos sin orden ni medida.

«Thus given form and specified, subjected to the laws ruling the evolution and the progression of minerals, this chaos, which has become a body, contains in a confused manner the purest seed and the closest substance there is to minerals and metals.» — una vez formado, ese caos hecho cuerpo contiene la simiente más pura y la sustancia más cercana a minerales y metales.

«The philosopher’s matter is therefore of mineral and metallic origin.» — de donde declara la materia del filósofo de origen mineral y metálico.

«Hence, one must only seek it in the mineral and metallic root, which, says, Basil Valentine in the book, The Twelve Keys, was reserved by the Creator and intended only for the generation of metals.» — y la busca en la raíz mineral y metálica que, según Basil Valentine en Las doce llaves, el Creador reservó para engendrar los metales.

«Consequently, anyone who seeks the sacred stone of the philosophers with the hope of encountering this little world in substances alien to the mineral and metallic kingdoms, will never reach his goals.» — con la consecuencia: quien la busque fuera de los reinos mineral y metálico no llegará a su fin.

«Because nature only acts within its own appropriate species, only develops and perfects itself within itself and by itself, free from any heterogeneous thing occurring to hinder its progress or to oppose the effects of its generating power.» — porque la naturaleza solo obra dentro de su especie propia y sin lo heterogéneo.

«It is the substance which during sublimations rises above the water, floating like an oil on its surface; it is Basil Valentine’s Hyperion and Vitriol, Ripley’s and Jacques Tesson’s green lion, in a word, the real unknown of the great problem.» — identifica esa sustancia con el Hiperión y el Vitriolo de Basil Valentine y con el león verde de Ripley y de Jacques Tesson, la incógnita real del gran problema.

«Salomon Trismosin, in The Golden Fleece, shows him standing up, his feet planted on the edges of two water-filled vases, which reveal the origin and the source of this mysterious fountain; water of dual nature and virtue, issued from the milk of the virgin and the blood of Christ; igneous water and aqueous fire, virtue of the two baptism mentioned in the Gospels:» — la imagen de Salomón Trismosin en El vellocino de oro, con los pies en dos vasos de agua y el agua de doble naturaleza salida de la leche de la virgen y de la sangre de Cristo.

«Philosopher Solidonius’ manuscript reproduces the same subject in the image of a chalice filled with water, out of which two characters are half-emerging in the center of a rather busy composition summing up the entire work.» — y la del manuscrito del filósofo Solidonius, con el cáliz lleno de agua del que emergen dos personajes.

«As for the treatise of Azoth, it is a huge angel --- that of the parable of St John in the Book of Revelation --- who treads the earth with one foot and the sea with the other, while raising a burning torch with his right hand and compressing an air-inflated goatskin with the left one, clear images of the quaternary of the primal elements: earth, water, air, fire.» — el ángel del tratado de Azoth, con un pie en la tierra y otro en el mar, la antorcha y el odre hinchado como cuaternario de los elementos.

«The body of this angel, whose two wings replace the head, is covered by the seal of the open book, ornamented by the cabalistic star, and the seven words, emblem of Vitriol: Visita Interiora Terrae, Rectificandoque, Invenies Occultum Lapidem (3).» — con el sello del libro abierto, la estrella cabalística y las siete palabras del Vitriolo.

«"I then saw", writes St John (4), "another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was, as it were, the sun, and his feet were as pillars of fire.» — y el pasaje de San Juan sobre el ángel poderoso con el arco iris en la cabeza y los pies como columnas de fuego.

«This product, allegorically expressed by an angel or by a man --- the attribute of the evangelist St Matthew --- is none other than the Mercury of the Philosophers, double in nature and quality, partly fixed and material, partly volatile and spiritual, which suffices to begin, achieve and multiply the work.» — identifica el producto alegorizado por el ángel con el Mercurio de los filósofos, doble en naturaleza, en parte fijo y material y en parte volátil y espiritual.

«It is the unique and only matter that we need, without having to worry about finding any other; but we must know, so as not to err, that authors generally begin their treatises with this mercury and how to acquire it.» — y lo declara la única materia necesaria, con la advertencia de que los autores empiezan sus tratados por él.

«This Mercury definitely is the matrix and the root of gold, and not the precious metal which is absolutely useless and without function in the way we are studying.» — matriz y raíz del oro, y no el metal precioso, que en esta vía tiene por inútil.

«Eirenaeus Philalethes says with much truth, that our Mercury, barely mineral, is even less metallic because it only contains the spirit or metallic seed, while the body tends to move away from the mineral quality.» — recoge de Eirenaeus Philalethes que ese mercurio apenas es mineral y aún menos metálico, por contener solo el espíritu o simiente metálica.

«It is nevertheless the spirit of gold, contained in a transparent oil, easily coagulable; the salt of metals, since all stone is salt, and the salt of our stone, since the stone of the philosophers, which is this mercury of which we speak, is the subject of the Philosophers’ Stone.» — y lo llama espíritu del oro y sal de los metales, sujeto de la Piedra Filosofal.

«Hence several Adepts, intending to create confusion, called it nitre or saltpeter (sal petri, salt of stone), and copied the sign of the one onto the image of the other.» — explica que varios adeptos lo llamaron nitro o salitre para crear confusión, copiando el signo de uno sobre la imagen del otro.

«Further, its crystalline structure, its physical resemblance to melted salt, its transparency, have allowed it to be compared to salts and caused it to be given all their names.» — y que su estructura cristalina y su parecido con la sal fundida le valieron todos los nombres de las sales.

«It appears to be, in a fashion, the protecting corbel of the median pillar, located on the ground floor, and as far as on the attic window.» — vuelve a la casa de Lisieux: la salamandra como ménsula protectora del pilar mediano.

«However an unusual feature of human disposition prompts man to cherish more that for which he has suffered and toiled most; this reason would probably allow us to explain the triple usage of the salamander, hieroglyph of the secret fire of the sages.» — y atribuye su triple aparición a que el hombre quiere más aquello por lo que más ha penado, siendo jeroglífico del fuego secreto de los sabios.

«additives certain substitutes capable of a similar result; however, in the elaboration of Mercury, nothing could be substituted for the secret fire, this spirit likely to animate it, exalt it and blend with it after having extracted it out of filthy matter.» — sobre el fuego secreto: nada puede sustituirlo en la elaboración del Mercurio.

«"I would feel very sorry for you", wrote Limojon de Saint-Didier (7), "if, like myself, after having known the true matter, you had spent fifteen years entirely in work, study, and meditation without being able to extract from the stone the precious juice it contains in its midst, for want of knowing the secret fire of the sages, which from this apparently dry and arid plant, causes to flow a water that doesn’t wet the hands» — con el lamento de Limojon de Saint-Didier, que dice haber perdido quince años sin poder extraer de la piedra su jugo por no conocer ese fuego.

«Without it, without this fire hidden in a saline form, the prepared matter could not be tested or fulfill its function of mother, and our labor would remain forever chimeric and vain.» — sin el cual, dice, la materia preparada no cumpliría su oficio de madre y el trabajo quedaría en quimera.

«Every generation requires the help of a specific agent, determined for the realm in which nature has placed it.» — el principio que lo funda: cada generación pide un agente específico del reino en que la naturaleza la puso.

«Philalethes tells us, "it is the first to make the axle turn and the wheel move".» — con la fórmula de Filaleteo, que hace de ese fuego lo primero que mueve el eje y la rueda.

«Philalethes affirms that it is found hidden in the belly of Aries, or the Ram, constellation which the sun crosses in the month of April.» — y su localización, también según Filaleteo, escondido en el vientre de Aries, que el sol atraviesa en abril.

«Finally, to even better designate it, we will add that this Ram, "which hides within itself the magical steel", ostensibly bears on its shield the image of the hermetic seal, the star with six rays.» — con el carnero que esconde el acero mágico y lleva en el escudo la estrella de seis rayos.

«This spiritual fire, given form and materialized in salt, is the hidden sulphur, since during its operation it is never made manifest or perceptible to our eyes.» — llama a ese fuego espiritual, materializado en sal, el azufre oculto, porque nunca se hace perceptible en la operación.

«We know how to isolate it, how to extract it from the body that conceals it, by an occult means and in the appearance of a dry powder which, when it is in that state, becomes improper and without effect for the philosopher’s art.» — declara saber aislarlo como polvo seco, estado en que resulta impropio para el arte del filósofo.

«This pure fire, of the same essence as the specific sulphur of gold but less digested, is, on the other hand, more abundant than that of the precious metal.» — lo hace de la misma esencia que el azufre específico del oro, menos digerido y más abundante.

«This is why it easily unites with the mercury of minerals and imperfect metals.» — y por eso fácil de unir con el mercurio de los minerales y de los metales imperfectos.

«Among the emblematic subjects of the small mansion of Lisieux, we have mentioned earlier the important place occupied by the salamander, specific emblem of its modest and learned owner.» — vuelve al lugar principal que la salamandra ocupa entre los emblemas de la mansión de Lisieux.

«We were saying that it can be found as far as the attic window of the roof, almost inaccessible and rising up against the open sky.» — hasta la lucarna del tejado, casi inaccesible.

«It embraces the kingpost of the gable between two parallel dragons sculpted on the exposed wooden sides of the gable (Plate VI).» — abrazando el pendolón del hastial entre dos dragones.

«These two dragons, one apterous ( [*126-1], without wings), the other chrysopterous ([*126-2], with golden wings), are those about which Nicolas Flamel speaks in his Hieroglyphic Figures, and which Michael Maier (Symbola aurea mensae, Frankfurt, 1617) considers to be, along with the globe surmounted with the cross, specific symbols of the style of the celebrated Adept.» — dragones uno áptero y otro crisóptero, que empareja con los de las Figuras jeroglíficas de Nicolas Flamel y con los que Michael Maier tiene por símbolos propios de ese adepto.

«On the other hand, the very choice of the salamander leads us to believe that our alchemist must have searched for a long time and spent many years to discover the secret fire.» — y de la elección misma de la salamandra infiere que su alquimista buscó largos años el fuego secreto.

«Each piece of fruit is the result of a progressive condensation of the solar fire by the secret fire, a word incarnate, a celestial spirit embodied in all things of this world.» — hace de cada fruto una condensación progresiva del fuego solar por el fuego secreto, palabra encarnada y espíritu celeste.

«Once it has reached this point of exaltation, the igneous principle, material and spiritual, by the universality of its action becomes assimilable to bodies contained in the three kingdoms of nature; it is as efficient with animals and plants as it is within mineral and metallic bodies.» — principio ígneo que por la universalidad de su acción se asimila a los cuerpos de los tres reinos.

«It is the magical ruby, agent endowed with igneous energy and subtlety and clothed in the color and the multiple properties of fire.» — y al que llama rubí mágico, agente con la energía y el color del fuego.

«Again the Oil of Christ or of crystal, the heraldic lizard, attracts, devours, vomits and feeds the flame, resting on his patience like the old phoenix on his immortality.» — con el lagarto heráldico que atrae, devora, vomita y alimenta la llama, como el fénix sobre su inmortalidad.

«One can only see in Francis I a brilliant madman, who caused the unhappiness and the shame of France» — el juicio sobre Francisco I, a quien llama loco brillante causante de la desgracia y la vergüenza de Francia.

«We do not want to insinuate here that he meant to give it the erotic and vulgar meaning which Francis I valued so much; it would be insulting artisan, dishonoring science, and outraging truth in the manner of this» — niega haber querido dar al emblema el sentido erótico que Francisco I apreciaba; la cita se corta antes de *high-bred*, que el troceo parte por el salto de renglón y que *span()* uniría en una palabra inexistente.

«For, in his patient work, the alchemist must be the scrupulous imitator of nature, the monkey of creation, according to the genuine expression of several masters.» — abre el capítulo pidiendo al alquimista ser imitador escrupuloso de la naturaleza, mono de la creación según la expresión de varios maestros.

«All classical authors are unanimous in recognizing that the Great Work is an abridgement, reduced to human proportions and possibilities, of the divine Work.» — y declara unánimes a los autores clásicos en tener la Gran Obra por compendio de la obra divina reducido a proporciones humanas.

«However, as we are compelled, obeying the desire or the whim of our philosopher, to begin at the very point where art and nature completed their concerted piece of work, would we be acting like blind men if we were to concern ourselves first with knowing what it is that we are looking for?» — objeta a su propio plan que empezar sin saber qué se busca sería obrar como ciegos.

«And is not, in spite of the paradox, the method excellent which begins with the end?» — y defiende, pese a la paradoja, el método que empieza por el fin.

«He who clearly knows what he wants to obtain will more easily find what he needs.» — porque quien sabe qué quiere obtener halla más fácilmente lo que necesita.

«Many educated people call the hermetic gem a ‘mysterious body’; they share, about it, the opinion of certain spagyrists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who classified it among abstract entities, styled non-beings or rational beings.» — recoge que muchos eruditos llaman cuerpo misterioso a la gema hermética y la clasifican, con espagiristas de los siglos XVII y XVIII, entre los entes de razón.

«as Basil Valentine (1) says, “Its color ranges from rosy red to crimson red, or from ruby to pomegranate red; as for its weight, it weighs much more than it has quantity”.» — la descripción de Basil Valentine: color de rojo rosado a carmesí, y peso muy superior a su cantidad.

«We hear the same from Heinrich Khunrath when he writes in his Ampitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, “At last, when the Work will have passed from ashy color to pure white, then to yellow, you will see the philosophers stone, our King raised above the dominators, come out of his glassy sepulcher, arise from his bed and come onto our worldly scene in is glorified body, that is to say, regenerated and more than perfect;» — y la de Heinrich Khunrath en su Amphitheatrum, con el rey que sale de su sepulcro vidrioso tras el paso del ceniciento al blanco y al amarillo.

«the English adventurer Edward Kelley, surnamed Talbot, had acquired, from an innkeeper, the philosophers’ stone found in the tomb of a bishop who was said to have been very rich; it was red and very heavy, but without any odor.» — el testimonio sobre Edward Kelley, llamado Talbot, y la piedra roja y pesada hallada en la tumba de un obispo.

«Helvetius (Jean-Frederic Schweitzer) saw the stone, sown to him by a foreigner, an Adept, on December 27, 1666, in the form of a metal powder the color of sulphur.» — el de Helvetius, que la vio el 27 de diciembre de 1666 como polvo metálico color de azufre.

«According to several trustworthy witnesses, this stone, directly obtained in powder form, could take on a color as bright as that of a stone formed in a compact mass.» — concede que, obtenida directamente en polvo, la piedra puede tomar un color tan vivo como la formada en masa compacta.

«Helmont, relating hi experience in 1618 in his laboratory at Vilvorde near Brussels, writes, “I have seen and touched te philosophers’ stone more than once; its color is like powdered saffron, but heavy and shining like pulverized glass”.» — el testimonio de Helmont sobre 1618 en Vilvorde, con el color de azafrán en polvo y el brillo del vidrio pulverizado; el troceo imprime *hi* y *te* por *his* y *the*.

«The famous chemist Henckel (5), according to Valentini, reports the following anecdote: “One day a stranger, who had a brown tincture with a smell close to hartshorn oil (6), came to a famous apothecary of Frankfort-on-Main, named Salwedel; with our drops of this tincture he changed a gros of lead into 7-1/2 grains of gold o 23 carats.» — y el que Henckel toma de Valentini sobre el forastero y la tintura parda que en Fráncfort convirtió plomo en oro.

«Without disputng the truth of the last two statements, we nevertheless refuse to categorize these as transmutations brought about by the philosophers’ stone in its special state of powder of projection.» — objeta que esos dos últimos casos se cuenten como transmutaciones por el polvo de proyección.

«Furthermore, these tinctures, being metallic, have no other action but to penetrate the metals which have been used as a basis fr thei penetration.» — porque tales tinturas, siendo metálicas, solo penetran los metales que les sirvieron de base; el troceo imprime *fr thei* por *for their*.

«mass, yellow after pulverization, dense and very fusible, although fixed at any temperature, and which its inner qualities render incisive, fiery, penetrating, dense and very fusible, although fixed at any temperature, and which its inner qualities render incisive, fiery, penetrating, irreducible, and incalcinable.» — la descripción de la masa amarilla tras pulverizarla, densa y fusible aunque fija a cualquier temperatura, con la repetición que trae la capa de texto.

«The universal Medicine has become the Inextinguishable Light; the light-giving product of those perpetual lamps, which certain authors have mentioned as having been found in some ancient sepulchers.» — identifica la Medicina Universal vuelta Luz Inextinguible con las lámparas perpetuas halladas en sepulcros antiguos.

«It becomes clearly evident from the preceding considerations, that the philosophers’ stone or universal Medicine, in spite of its undeniable metallic origin, is not uniquely made from metallic matter.» — y sostiene que la piedra, pese a su origen metálico innegable, no está hecha únicamente de materia metálica.

«Only the metallic spirits possess the privilege to alter, modify and denature metallic bodies.» — porque solo los espíritus metálicos pueden alterar y desnaturalizar los cuerpos metálicos.

«Thus radiant and liquid, the philosophers’ stone is not likely, in our opinion, to be pushed further; desiring to amplify its igneous quality would seem dangerous to us; the least that could be feared would be to volatilize it and lose the benefit of a considerable labor.» — advierte que llevarla más lejos sería peligroso y arriesgaría volatilizarla y perder el trabajo.

«Finally, if we ferment the solid, universal Medicine with very pure gold or silver, through direct fusion, we obtain the Powder of Projection, third form of the Stone.» — y da la tercera forma de la piedra: fermentada por fusión directa con oro o plata muy puros, el Polvo de Proyección.

«However, if the maximum number of its multiplications is exceeded, it changes form and instead of resuming its solid crystalline state when cooling down, it remains fluid like quicksilver» — advierte que, pasado el número máximo de multiplicaciones, la piedra ya no vuelve al estado cristalino al enfriarse; la cita se corta antes de *non-coagulable*, que el troceo parte por el salto de renglón.

«That is why Basil Valentine recommends that we take the spirit out of the metallic root and Bernard of Trevisan forbids the use o metals, minerals and their salts in the construction of the body.» — recoge la recomendación de Basil Valentine de sacar el espíritu de la raíz metálica y la prohibición de Bernard de Trevisan de usar metales y sales en la construcción del cuerpo.

«But what we ask for, along with all the philosophers, is not the union of a metallic body with a metallic spirit, but rather the condensation, the agglomeration of this spirit into a coherent, tenacious and refractory envelope, capable of coating it, impregnating all its parts and quaranteeing it an efficacious protection.» — y precisa lo que los filósofos piden: no la unión de un cuerpo con un espíritu metálicos, sino la condensación de ese espíritu en una envoltura tenaz y refractaria.

«And we can certify that any undertaking which does not have this spirit for guide and this mater for basis will never lead to the proposed objective.» — certifica que sin ese espíritu por guía y esa materia por base ninguna empresa llega al objetivo.

«We shall even affirm that for not being cognizant of this point of doctrine --- and also for having followed too literally the teachings of the old authors --- many good artists were unable to reap the fruit of their labors.» — e imputa a la ignorancia de ese punto, y a seguir muy literalmente a los antiguos, que buenos artistas no recogieran fruto.

«And so beware of introducing, in your observations, that which you think you know, for you would be forced to conclude that it would have been better to learn nothing rather than to have to unlearn everything.» — con la advertencia de no meter en la observación lo que uno cree saber, para no tener que desaprenderlo todo.

«This is perhaps superfluous advice, since putting it into practice demands the application of an unyielding will, of which mediocre are incapable.» — y la reserva de que ponerlo en práctica pide una voluntad inquebrantable.

«We know how costly it is to exchange diplomas, seals, and parchments for the humble mantle of the philosopher.» — reconoce lo caro que sale cambiar diplomas y sellos por el humilde manto del filósofo.

«The tree trunk that this artisan of another age has grasped seems only intent to serve his industrious genius. Yet, it is indeed our dry tree, the same that had the honor of giving its name tone of the oldest streets of Paris, after having appeared for a long time on a very famous street sign.» — identifica el tronco que sostiene el artesano del relieve con el árbol seco que dio nombre a una de las calles más viejas de París.

«The Dry Tree was a memory of Palestine; it was the tree planted very close to Hebron (2), which, after having been "green and full of leaves" since the beginning of the world, lost its foliage on the day our Lord died on the cross, and dried up; "but to become green again, when a Lord, Prince of the West, will reach the Promised Land with the aid of Christians and will have a mass sung underneath this dry tree» — y recoge la leyenda del Árbol Seco de Hebrón, verde desde el principio del mundo, seco el día de la muerte de Cristo y verde otra vez cuando un príncipe de Occidente llegue a Tierra Santa.

«Once this goal has been reached, the agent separates from the body, which then ceases to live, becomes fixed and no longer capable of transformation.» — explica la muerte del metal: alcanzado el fin, el agente se separa del cuerpo, que deja de vivir y se fija.

«Were it to stay on earth for several centuries, it still could not, by itself, change state or abandon the characteristics which distinguish metal from mineral aggregate.» — y que ni en siglos podría por sí mismo cambiar de estado.

«Consequently metals solidify and remain mineralized with the qualities acquired up to then, without being able to go beyond the evolutionary stage they have reached.» — de modo que los metales quedan mineralizados sin pasar del grado evolutivo alcanzado.

«In this native form, even though metallurgic treatment did not have to intervene, these metals are as insensitive as those whose ores have undergone roasting and fusion.» — aun los nativos, tan insensibles como los que pasaron por tostación y fusión.

«The Sages tell us that they are dead, at least in appearance, because it is impossible for us to bring out the latent potential life hidden in the depth of their being under their solid crystallized mass.» — y por eso, dice, los sabios los llaman muertos al menos en apariencia.

«So with good reasoning certain authors assert that gold and mercury cannot help, wholly or partially, in the elaboration of the Work.» — recoge que ciertos autores niegan al oro y al mercurio todo papel en la elaboración de la Obra.

«Other philosophers maintain nevertheless that gold, although sterile in its solid form, may recover its lost vitality and resume its evolution if we know how to "put it back into its first state".» — y la posición contraria, que devuelve al oro su vitalidad si se sabe ponerlo en su primer estado.

«It is impossible for nature, and more so for the art, to destroy the effect of the work of centuries.» — objeta la lectura regresiva de esa fórmula: ni la naturaleza ni el arte destruyen el trabajo de los siglos.

«There is no example of regression anywhere in the world.» — porque no hay ejemplo de regresión en el mundo.

«The operation, thus understood, boils down to the mixture of one and the same body taken in two different stages of its evolution, one liquid, the other solid.» — y así entendida la operación se reduciría a mezclar un mismo cuerpo en dos etapas de su evolución.

«Besides, it is in formal opposition to the philosophical axiom we have often stated: bodies have no action on bodies; only spirits are active and acting.» — lo que choca con el axioma que repite: los cuerpos no actúan sobre los cuerpos, solo los espíritus obran.

«Therefore, by the expression to put gold back into its first matter, we must understand the animation of the metal accomplished by means of the vital agent of which we have spoken.» — de donde da su propia lectura: poner el oro en su primera materia es animar el metal por el agente vital.

«The spirit fled out of the body during its manifestation on the physical plane; it is the metallic soul, or this first matter which we have not wished to designate otherwise and which dwells in the womb of the undefiled Virgin.» — espíritu que llama alma metálica y hace morar en el vientre de la Virgen intacta.

«The animation of gold, symbolically vivifying of the dry tree or resurrection of the dead, is allegorically taught to us by the text of an Arab author.» — y cuya enseñanza alegórica halla en el texto de un autor árabe.

«We would not know how to say it better or to speak with more clarity.» — y que declara no saber decir con más claridad.

«Although it has suffered much and today exhibits itself mutilated, fissured, and corroded by bad weather, we are nevertheless still capable of discerning its subject.» — sobre el relieve mutilado y corroído de Lisieux, del que dice poder discernir aún el tema.

«It is a character holding between his legs a griffin whose paws, equipped with claws, are very apparent, as well as the lion’s tail extending from its rump, details which alone permit an exact identification.» — un personaje con un grifo entre las piernas, reconocible por las garras y la cola de león.

«We recognize in this motif one of the major emblems of the science, one which covers the preparation of the raw materials of the Work.» — que lee como uno de los emblemas mayores de la ciencia, el de la preparación de las materias primas.

«While the combat between the dragon and the knight signifies the initial encounter, the duel of the mineral products trying to defend their threatened integrity, the griffin marks the result of the operation, veiled moreover by myths variously expressed, but all showing the characteristics of incompatibility, of natural and profound aversion which the substances in contact have for on another.» — distinguiendo el combate del dragón y el caballero, que es el encuentro inicial, del grifo, que es el resultado.

«However, we should not hope to attain this dignity from the first conjunction.» — con la advertencia de no esperar esa dignidad de la primera conjunción.

«For this reason it is important to submit to several levigations (which are Nicolas Flamel’s laveures or fire purifications),» — y la prescripción de varias levigaciones, que empareja con las laveures de Nicolas Flamel.

«Initiates know that our science, although purely natural and simple, is in no way vulgar;» — recuerda a los iniciados que la ciencia, con ser natural y simple, no es vulgar.

«This is the reason why some authors have described these operations under the chemical title of calcinations, because the matter, long subjected to the action of the flame, yields its impure scorched parts to it.» — explica por qué algunos autores llaman calcinaciones a esas operaciones.

«Know also that our rock --- veiled in the form of the dragon -- - at first allows a dark, evil-smelling, and poisonous liquid to flow, whose thick volatile smoke is extremely toxic.» — advierte que la roca velada bajo forma de dragón deja correr un líquido oscuro y fétido cuyo humo es muy tóxico.

«This water, symbolized by the crow, cannot be washed or whitened except by means of fire.» — y que esa agua, simbolizada por el cuervo, solo se lava y blanquea por el fuego.

«Thus fire, by its frequent reiterated action on water, forces the latter to better defend its specific qualities by abandoning its superfluities.» — fuego que, reiterado, la obliga a abandonar sus superfluidades.

«For you, unknown brothers of the mysterious city of the sun, we have formed the resolution of teaching the diverse and successive modes of our purifications.» — declara su resolución de enseñar los modos sucesivos de purificación a los hermanos desconocidos de la ciudad misteriosa del sol.

«This is why, aware of our responsibility, we urgently beseech those who do not possess this secret to abstain until then.» — y ruega abstenerse a quien no posea el secreto, invocando su propia responsabilidad.

«When you perceive a noise resembling that of boiling water in the vessel --- a hollow rumbling of the earth, whose entrails fire is tearing out --- be ready to fight and maintain your composure.» — la instrucción práctica: al oírse el ruido de agua hirviendo en el vaso, estar listo a pelear y conservar la calma.

«Once the effervescence has passed and calm has been restored, you will be able to enjoy a magnificent spectacle.» — con el espectáculo magnífico que promete tras la efervescencia.

«In describing the difficult and critical preparation of our stone, we have neglected to speak of the effective cooperation which certain external influences must provide.» — reconoce haber callado la cooperación de ciertas influencias externas.

«And the earthly star, occult torch of our nativity, will be the proving mark of the blessed union of heaven and earth, or as Philalethes writes, of "the union of superior virtues in inferior things".» — y hace de la estrella terrestre la prueba de la unión del cielo y la tierra, que Philalethes llama unión de las virtudes superiores en las cosas inferiores.

«It is useful to know that the brief but violent fight fought by the knight --- be his name St George, St Michael, or St Marcel in the Christian tradition; Mars, Theseus, Jason, or Hercules in the myths --- only ceases with the death of both champions (hermetically, the eagle and the lion) and their union into a new body whose alchemical signature is the griffin.» — el combate del caballero —San Jorge, San Miguel o San Marcelo; Marte, Teseo, Jasón o Hércules— que solo acaba con la muerte de ambos campeones y su unión en el grifo.

«Let us recall that in all ancient Asian and European legends, the dragon is always appointed guardian of treasures.» — recuerda que en las leyendas asiáticas y europeas el dragón guarda siempre tesoros.

«A Chinese legend tells us about the learned alchemist Hujumsin, numbered among the gods after his death, that this man, having killed a horrible dragon which ravaged the country, fixed this monster to a column.» — con la leyenda china del alquimista Hujumsin, que mató al dragón y lo fijó a una columna.

«The combination of the two initial matters, one volatile, the other fixed, produces a third body, fixed, which marks the first stage of the stone of the philosophers.» — y da la operación: de las dos materias iniciales, una volátil y otra fija, sale un tercer cuerpo fijo, primer grado de la piedra.

«Indeed we must point out that the griffin bears, instead of a lion’s mane or a necklace of feathers, a crest of fish fins.» — señala en el grifo la cresta de aletas de pez en lugar de melena o collar de plumas.

«Poets tell us that Vulcan, catching Mars and Venus at adultery, immediately surrounded them with a net or string so that they could not escape his revenge.» — trae el mito de Vulcano sorprendiendo a Marte y Venus y envolviéndolos en la red.

«Likewise, the masters also advise us to use a fine thread or subtle net to capture the product gradually as it appears.» — y el consejo paralelo de los maestros de usar un hilo fino o red sutil para captar el producto conforme aparece.

«If we look for some secret meaning attached to the Greek word [*155-1] (gryps), griffin, which has for root [*155-2] (grypos), that is to say, "to have a crooked beak", we will find a related word, [*155-3] (griphos),whose sound comes much closer to our French word.» — cierra con la etimología griega de grifo y la palabra vecina cuyo sonido acerca al término francés.

«We have seen how, and as a result of what reaction, the griffin is born, that comes from Hermogene or from the prime mercurial substance.» — resume el nacimiento del grifo a partir del Hermógenes o sustancia mercurial primera.

«Hyperion, in Greek [*156-1] (Hyperion), is the father of the sun; he releases, out of the second white chaos formed by the art and represented by the griffin, the soul that he holds imprisoned, the spirit, fire, or hidden light, and clears the doorway above the mass in the form of a clear and limpid water: Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas.» — e identifica a Hiperión, padre del sol, con lo que libera el alma presa en el segundo caos blanco y despeja el paso como agua clara.

«We must mortify and decompose this earth, which amounts to killing the griffin and fishing the fish, or separating the fire from the earth, the subtle from the gross, "gently, with great skill and prudence", as Hermes teaches in his Emerald Tablet.» — la operación siguiente: mortificar esa tierra, matar al grifo y pescar el pez, separando lo sutil de lo grueso como enseña Hermes en la Tabla de Esmeralda.

«His very name, formed from [*156-1] (Hyp) contraction of [*156-2] (Hyper), above, and from [*156-3] (erion) --- meaning sepulcher, tomb, which has for root [*156-4] (Hera), earth, indicates that which rises from the earth, above the sepulcher of matter.» — con la etimología que da del nombre Hiperión, lo que se alza de la tierra sobre el sepulcro de la materia.

«With its horns and its crown, the solar symbol takes on the meaning of a genuine Baphomet; in other words, of the synthetic image in which Templar Initiates had assembled all the elements of high science and tradition.» — lee el símbolo solar cornudo y coronado como un Baphomet, imagen sintética en que los iniciados templarios reunieron los elementos de la alta ciencia.

«As for us, our conviction is firm; we are certain not to be mistaken in front of so many categorical assertions: we indeed have before our eyes a baphomet, renewed from the one of the Templars.» — y declara firme su convicción de tener delante un baphomet renovado del de los templarios.

«This image, about which we possess but vague indications or simple hypotheses, never was an idol, as some believed, but rather a complete emblem of the secret traditions of the Order, especially used outwardly as an esoteric paradigm, a seal of chivalry, and a sign of recognition.» — niega que esa imagen fuera un ídolo: la tiene por emblema completo de las tradiciones secretas de la Orden y por signo de reconocimiento.

«A second similar triangle, inverted in relationship to the first, but smaller, was inscribed in its center and seemed to occupy the position reserved for the nose on the human face.» — describe el segundo triángulo invertido inscrito en el centro del primero.

«This sign in hermetic steganographiy indicates the universal Spirit, the Creative Spirit, God.» — signo que en la esteganografía hermética designa al Espíritu universal y creador.

«Thus presented, the baphomet assumed a gross animal form, imprecise and uneasy to identify.» — y explica que así presentado el baphomet tomaba forma animal imprecisa.

«This would probably explain the diversity of descriptions it inspired, where the baphomet is seen as a haloed death head or a bucrane, sometimes the head of the Egyptian Hapi, of a goat, and, even better, the horrifying face of Satan himself!» — de donde deriva la variedad de descripciones: calavera con halo, bucráneo, cabeza de Hapi, de macho cabrío o del propio Satanás.

«Simple impressions, far removed from reality, but images so unorthodox that they, alas, contributed to spread the accusation of demonology and sorcery upon the learned Knights Templar and became one of the foundations of their trial, one of the causes of their condemnation.» — e imputa a esas imágenes haber contribuido a la acusación de demonología contra los templarios y a su condena.

«"The brothers of the Temple", says the author, "--- and we could no longer uphold the opposite view --- were truly affiliated to Manichaeism".» — la tesis de Pierre Dujols, que cita literalmente de su Bibliographie Generale des Sciences Occultes: los hermanos del Temple estaban afiliados al maniqueísmo.

«Furthermore, Baron de Hammer’s thesis conforms to this opinion.» — con la tesis del barón de Hammer conforme a esa opinión.

«Precisely a rite of this name has been established among the Ophites.» — el rito de ese nombre entre los ofitas.

«Mete was an androgynous divinity representing naturing Nature.» — y Mete como divinidad andrógina que representa a la Naturaleza naturante.

«Proclus says verbatim that Metis, also called [*160-2] (Erikarpaios) or Germinating Nature, was the hermaphroditic god of the Snake worshippers.» — el testimonio de Proclo sobre Metis, llamada también Naturaleza germinante, dios hermafrodita de los adoradores de la serpiente.

«We also know that the Greeks venerated Prudence, designated by the word Metis, as Jupiter’s wife.» — y la Metis griega venerada como Prudencia y esposa de Júpiter.

«In a word, this philological discussion indisputably confirms that the Baphomet was the pagan expression of Pan.» — de esa discusión filológica saca que el Baphomet fue la expresión pagana de Pan.

«And like the Templars, the Ophites had two baptisms: one, exoteric, the baptism of water, the other esoteric, that of the spirit, or fire.» — atribuye a los ofitas, como a los templarios, dos bautismos: el exotérico de agua y el esotérico de espíritu o fuego.

«The latter was called the Baptism of Mete.» — el segundo llamado Bautismo de Mete.

«St Justin and St Irenaeus called it illumination.» — que San Justino y San Ireneo llamaron iluminación.

«It is the Freemasons’ baptism of Light.» — y que identifica con el bautismo de Luz de los masones.

«This purification --- the word is truly appropriate here --- is found on one of the Gnostic idols discovered by Monsieur de Hammer, which he illustrated.» — purificación que halla en uno de los ídolos gnósticos publicados por Monsieur de Hammer.

«It holds in its lap --- mark well the gesture as it is very revealing --- a fire-filled basin.» — con el cuenco lleno de fuego en el regazo, gesto que declara revelador.

«And yet it is from this allegory that the famous myth of the Grail takes its origin.» — y de esa alegoría hace nacer el mito del Grial.

«Indeed, the erudite baron talks abundantly about this mysterious vessel, whose exact meaning is still being sought.» — cuyo sentido exacto, dice, todavía se busca.

«Everyone knows that in the ancient Germanic legend Titurel raises a temple to the Holy Grail at Montsalvat and entrusts its guard to twelve Knights Templar.» — recuerda la leyenda germánica de Titurel levantando el templo del Grial en Montsalvat con doce templarios de guardia.

«Monsieur de Hammer would like to recognize in it the symbol of gnostic Wisdom, a very vague conclusion after having burned (4) for so long.» — objeta a Hammer que reconocer allí el símbolo de la Sabiduría gnóstica es conclusión muy vaga.

«The Grail -- - who doubts it today? --- is the most elevated mystery of mystical Chivalry and of Masonry which degenerated from it; it is the veil of the Fire creator, the Deus absconditus (5) in the word INRI, engraved above Jesus’ head on the cross.» — y da la suya: el Grial es el velo del Fuego creador, el Deus absconditus de la palabra INRI.

«When Titurel erected his mystical temple, it was to light the sacred fire of the Vestals, of the Mazadaens, and even of the Hebrews, for the Jews kept a perpetual fire in the temple of Jerusalem.» — con el templo de Titurel destinado a encender el fuego sagrado de las vestales, de los mazdeístas y de los hebreos.

«The twelve custodians recall the twelve signs of the Zodiac annually crossed by the sun, a symbol of living fire.» — y los doce custodios leídos como los doce signos del zodiaco.

«The vase of Baron de Hammer’s idol is identical with the pyrogenous vase of the Parsees, which is represented full of flames.» — empareja el vaso del ídolo de Hammer con el vaso pirógeno de los parsis.

«The Egyptians also possessed this attribute: On the banks of the Nile, Serapis is often represented with the same object on his head, named Gardal.» — y con el Gardal que Serapis lleva en la cabeza a orillas del Nilo.

«kings of France are accustomed to carrying the fleur-de-lys painted three times on their coat of arms as if saying to the world: Faith, Wisdom, and Chivalry are, by the gift and the grace of God, more abundant in our kingdom than in any other.» — la lectura de la flor de lis triplicada en las armas de los reyes de Francia como Fe, Sabiduría y Caballería.

«On the second window, a baby head, round and moon-shaped, surmounted by a phallus, cannot but strike out curiosity.» — la cabeza de niño redonda y lunar coronada por un falo en la segunda ventana.

«This hieroglyph of the agent and the patient, of sulphur and mercury, of sun and moon, the philosophical parents of the stone, is obvious enough for us not to explain it.» — que declara jeroglífico bastante evidente del agente y el paciente, azufre y mercurio, sol y luna, padres filosóficos de la piedra.

«We do not have to repeat an interpretation we have already given.» — y por eso no vuelve a explicar.

«On the opposite small column, continuing to the right, a little angel, its forehead ribboned, stands hands folded in an attitude of prayer.» — el angelito de frente ceñida en actitud de oración sobre la columnilla opuesta.

«The figures which are the capitals of the three columns of the windows respectively show, from left to right, Number 1: a man’s head, which we believe is that f the alchemist himself, whose glance is directed towards the man riding the griffin;» — los capiteles de las tres columnas: primero, una cabeza de hombre que cree del propio alquimista, mirando al jinete del grifo.

«Number 2: a small angel, pressing against his breast a quartered shield, that distance and lack of depth prevent us from describing in detail;» — segundo, un ángel con escudo cuartelado que la distancia impide describir.

«Number 3: finally, a second angel, showing the open book, the hieroglyph of the matter of the Work, prepared and liable to manifest the spirit it contains.» — y tercero, otro ángel con el libro abierto, jeroglífico de la materia dispuesta a manifestar el espíritu.

«The sages have called their matter Liber --- the book --- because its texture, crystalline and lamellated, is formed of superimposed leaves, like the pages of a book.» — con la razón del nombre: los sabios llamaron Liber a su materia por su textura laminada, como las hojas de un libro.

«Finally, carved in the mass of the last pillar, a kind of Hercules, entirely naked, carries with great difficulty the enormous mass of a solar-inflamed baphomet.» — el Hércules desnudo del último pilar cargando con dificultad la masa de un baphomet solar.

«Although it dates from the same period, it seems that this little man, stout, malformed, with a swollen belly, with disproportionate genital organs, must have been carved by some unskilled and second-rate artist.» — que atribuye a un artista poco hábil y de segundo orden.

«With the exception of the face, neuter in its physiognomy, everything seems purposely tormented in this disgraceful caryatid.» — y en el que todo, salvo el rostro, le parece atormentado adrede.

«Out Hercules might very well represent Jonah, that little prophet miraculously saved after having stayed three days in the belly of a whale.» — propone leer ese Hércules como Jonás, salvado tras tres días en el vientre de la ballena.

«For us, Jonah is the sacred image of the Green Lion of the sages, which remains for three philosophical days locked up in the mother substance before it rises through sublimation and appears on the waters.» — y hace de Jonás la imagen del León Verde de los sabios, encerrado tres días filosóficos antes de aparecer sobre las aguas por sublimación.

«For this reason this belief is found, albeit altered and disfigured, among all the peoples of the earth.» — abre el capítulo del mito alquímico de Adán y Eva con la universalidad de la creencia entre todos los pueblos, aunque alterada.

«"This fundamental dogma of Christianity", writes Abbot Foucher, "was not unknown in ancient times.» — el testimonio del abate Foucher sobre la antigüedad de ese dogma.

«"The fall of degenerate man", says Voltaire himself, "is the foundation of the theology of all ancient nations".» — y el de Voltaire, que hace de la caída del hombre el fundamento de la teología de todas las naciones antiguas.

«According to the Pythagorean Philolaus (5th century BC), ancient philosophers said that the soul was buried in the body as in a tomb, in punishment for some sin.» — el del pitagórico Filolao sobre el alma sepultada en el cuerpo como en una tumba, en castigo de algún pecado.

«Plato also testified that such was the doctrine of the Orphics, and he himself professed it.» — y el de Platón, que atestigua la doctrina órfica y la profesa.

«As Bergier points out, this tradition certainly must go back to the beginning of mankind; for if it had been born among one particular people after the dispersion, it could not have spread from one end of the world to the other.» — con el argumento de Bergier: si la tradición hubiera nacido en un pueblo tras la dispersión, no se habría extendido de un extremo al otro del mundo.

«Not only was this liberator expected by the Patriarchs and by the Jews, who knew that he would appear among them, but also by the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Hindus, the Siamese, the Arabs, the Persians, and by various nations of America.» — y la lista de pueblos que esperaban al libertador, de los patriarcas a los persas y a varias naciones de América.

«Among the Greeks and the Romans, this hope was shared by some men, as Plato and Virgil testify.» — con Platón y Virgilio como testigos de esa esperanza entre griegos y romanos.

«Both of them are holding phylacteries, attributes meant to express the fact that the two characters have an occult meaning, different from that of Genesis.» — y las filacterias de las dos figuras, que lee como señal de un sentido oculto distinto del del Génesis.

«Adamus, Latin for Adam, means made of red earth; it is the first being of nature, the only one among human creatures who was endowed with the two natures of the androgyne.» — descompone Adamus como hecho de tierra roja y hace del primer Adán el único ser humano dotado de las dos naturalezas del andrógino.

«According to the Mosaic tradition, as soon as God gave birth to woman by individualizing, into two distinct and separate bodies, these natures that had been primitively associated in one single body, the first Adam had to withdraw, specifying himself by losing his original constitution and becoming the second Adam, imperfect and mortal.» — y lee la tradición mosaica como el paso del primer Adán al segundo, imperfecto y mortal, al individualizarse la mujer.

«But what about this steel called [*172-6] (adamas) about which the philosophers say so much?» — de ahí pasa al acero que los filósofos llaman adamas.

«Thus we learn that sulphur and mercury, generating principles of metals, were originally one and the same matter; for only later did they acquire their specific individuality and» — y sostiene que azufre y mercurio, principios generadores de los metales, fueron en origen una misma materia.

«Although this individuality is maintained by a powerful cohesion, art can nevertheless break it and isolate sulphur and mercury in the form specific to them.» — individualidad que, aun sostenida por una cohesión poderosa, el arte puede romper para aislarlos.

«It is she who endows the bodies which she bears, or more exactly which she reincrudates, with vitality, vegetativeness, and the possibility of mutation.» — atribuye a Eva —el mercurio— la vitalidad y la posibilidad de mutación de los cuerpos que reincruda.

«We shall go further and say for those who already have some smattering of science, that the mother common to all alchemical metals does not enter in substance into the Great Work, although, without her, it is impossible to produce or undertake anything.» — con la paradoja que declara: esa madre común no entra en sustancia en la Gran Obra y sin ella nada puede emprenderse.

«We can also grasp in which way it is appropriate to understand Basil Valentine when he affirms that metals (4) are creatures twice born from mercury, children of the one and only mother, produced and generated by her.» — y desde ahí lee a Basil Valentine, para quien los metales son criaturas dos veces nacidas del mercurio.

«Further we can conceive more clearly where the stumbling-block lies which the philosophers have thrown across our paths when they assert in common agreement that mercury is the unique, sole matter of the Work, whereas the necessary reactions are only» — y el escollo que los filósofos pusieron al afirmar de común acuerdo que el mercurio es la única materia de la Obra.

«It is also useful to learn that, if we need the cist of Cybele, Ceres, or Bacchus, it is because it contains a mysterious body which is the embryo of our stone;» — el cesto de Cibeles, Ceres o Baco, que contiene el cuerpo misterioso, embrión de la piedra.

«Water in and of itself has no shape, although it is liable of espousing them all and of taking that of the container which contains it.» — con el agua que no tiene forma propia y toma la del vaso que la contiene.

«And this truth finds its justification in the image of the infant Bacchus standing on the lid of a hermetic vessel.» — verdad que halla justificada en el niño Baco de pie sobre la tapa de un vaso hermético.

«Since they reassume, upon contact with their mother, their original faculties, we can assert that they became close to what she is and have taken a nature similar to hers.» — y los metales que al tocar a su madre recobran sus facultades y toman naturaleza semejante a la suya.

«Hence we must conclude that the mercury of which we speak and which has for symbol the Eve of the Mosaic Eden, is not the one to which the sages have assigned the role of matrix, of receptacle, the vase, suitable for the reincrudated metal, called sulphur, sun of the philosophers, metallic seed and father of the stone.» — de donde concluye que ese mercurio simbolizado por Eva no es aquel al que los sabios dieron el papel de matriz y vaso del azufre.

«Do not be mistaken; there lies the Gordian Knot of the Work, the one that beginners must try to untie if they do not want to be stopped short at the beginning of practice.» — y llama a esa distinción el nudo gordiano de la Obra, que el principiante ha de desatar para no quedarse parado al empezar.

«The anonymous author of The Ancient War of the Knights (5), in a discourse told by the metal reduced to the state of sulphur under the action of first mercury, teaches us that this first sulphur needs a second mercury with which it must be joined so as to multiply its kind.» — el discurso del anónimo autor de La antigua guerra de los caballeros, donde el metal reducido a azufre pide un segundo mercurio con que multiplicarse.

«However, the artists who have succeeded in this path and who found with certainty a part of the art are truly in a very small number.» — con el corto número de artistas que dice haber acertado en esa vía.

«Since they did not know whence the tinctures come, it was impossible for them to push their work any further, and in the final analysis they did not find anything very useful in their process.» — y la razón del fracaso de los demás: no supieron de dónde vienen las tinturas.

«But if these artists had taken their research beyond this point and had seriously examined who is the proper wife for me, and if they had looked for her and united me with her, then I could have tincted a thousand times more» — y el reproche que ese metal les dirige: buscada la esposa apropiada, habría teñido mil veces más.

«It is not without foundation that this divine fountain is called by the author the wife of the stone» — de ahí el nombre de esposa de la piedra que aquel autor da a la fuente divina.

«In a word, this magnetic conjunction is the magical marriage of earth with heaven, about which some philosophers have spoken» — conjunción magnética que llama matrimonio mágico de la tierra con el cielo.

«Our explanation, nevertheless, could not resist an examination, and whosoever will take the trouble to dissect it will find in it certain contradictions, obvious errors of logic or judgment.» — y su propia advertencia: quien disecte esta explicación hallará en ella contradicciones y errores de lógica o de juicio.

«It was appropriate nevertheless to call attention to the different qualities they took on, and to show --- be it at the cost of the twisting of reason or an improbability --- how they can be distinguished and identified and how it is possible to directly extract the appropriate wife of sulphur, mother of the stone, from the womb of our primitive mother.» — justifica esas contradicciones: quería mostrar, aun a costa de forzar la razón, cómo se extrae del vientre de la madre primitiva la esposa apropiada del azufre.

«May the authors --- and they are numerous --- in whose texts similar contradictions are not noticed, throw the first stone at us!» — y desafía a los autores en cuyos textos nadie nota contradicciones semejantes a tirar la primera piedra.

«Nessus, knowing he was dying, gave to Deianira his tunic tinged in his blood, assuring her that she could use it to bring back her husband if he left her and became attached to other women.» — el mito de Neso entregando a Deyanira la túnica teñida en su sangre.

«The tale refers to the last operations of the Magistery; it is an allegory of the fermentation of the stone by gold, so as to direct the Elixir towards the metallic kingdom and to limit its use to the transmutation of metals.» — que lee como alegoría de la fermentación de la piedra por el oro, para dirigir el Elixir al reino metálico.

«Nessus represents the philosophers’ stone, not yet determined or assigned to any one of the great natural realms, whose color varies from carmine to brilliant scarlet.» — con Neso por la piedra filosofal aún no determinada, de color entre carmín y escarlata.

«Hercules represents the sulphur of gold whose virtue, refractory to the most incisive agents, cannot be vanquished by anything except the action of the red garment or blood» — Hércules por el azufre del oro, vencible solo por la acción de la vestidura roja.

«Deianira, wife of Hercules, personifies the mercurial principle of gold, which fights together with sulphur to which it is joined but which nevertheless succumbs under the ardor of the igneous tunic.» — y Deyanira por el principio mercurial del oro, que sucumbe bajo el ardor de la túnica ígnea.

«The lion, hieroglyph of the fixed and coagulating principle, commonly called sulphur, has wings so as to show that the primitive dissolving agent, by decomposing and reincrudating the metal, gives to sulphur a volatile quality without which its reunion with mercury would become impossible.» — el león alado como signo de que el disolvente primitivo da al azufre la cualidad volátil sin la cual no podría reunirse con el mercurio.

«But while the word [*181-6] (Armenos), meaning that which is needed, which is prepared and appropriately disposed indicates the passive and feminine principle, the Dog of Khorassan, or sulphur, gets its name from the Greek: [*181-7] (Korax), equivalent of crow (14).» — con la etimología griega del Perro de Corasán, que hace venir de la voz que equivale a cuervo.

«It is also, according to the version of the Cosmopolite, the fish without bones, echeneis, or remora, "which swims in our philosophical sea", and about which Jean Joachim d’Estinguel d’Ingrofort (15) affirms that "once you possess the small fish named Remora, which is very rare if not unique in this great sea, you will no longer need to fish but only to ponder about the preparation, the seasoning, and the cooking of this small fish".» — el pez sin espinas del Cosmopolita, la rémora, y la sentencia de Jean Joachim d'Estinguel d'Ingrofort sobre no tener ya que pescar sino cocinar.

«Some authors have described how to achieve this important operation in their allegory of the fight of the eagle and the lion, of the volatile and the fixed a fight which has been sufficiently explained elsewhere (12).» — la alegoría de la pelea del águila y el león, de lo volátil y lo fijo, que dice haber explicado en otro sitio.

«The Sons of Science whose perseverance has led to the threshold of the sanctuary, are aware that next to the knowledge of the universal dissolving agent --- unique mother taking on Eve’s personality --- there is no other more important knowledge than that of metallic sulphur, first son of Adam, effective generator of the stone, which received the name of Cain.» — y el conocimiento que declara más importante tras el del disolvente universal: el del azufre metálico, primer hijo de Adán, al que dan el nombre de Caín.

«Indeed, he speaks of the dog of Khorassan and of the Bitch of Armenia, emblems of the sulphur and the mercury, parents of the stone (13).» — con el perro de Corasán y la perra de Armenia de Artefio como emblemas del azufre y del mercurio.

«We believe that we must interrupt the teaching here and maintain the wise silence of Nicolas Valois and of Quercetanus, the only ones, tour knowledge, who revealed the verbal epithet of sulphur, gold, or hermetic sun.» — aquí interrumpe la enseñanza y guarda el silencio de Nicolas Valois y de Quercetanus, únicos a su ver que revelaron el epíteto verbal del azufre.

«The Greek term [*180-2] (Acheloos) does not only apply to the river Achelous but is also used to mean any course of flowing water or river.» — en nota, el término griego Acheloos aplicado no solo al río sino a cualquier curso de agua.

«Hercules, although looking for Iole, does not enter into union with her.» — y Hércules que busca a Iole sin unirse con ella.

«Iole is the hieroglyph of the first matter, violent poison, say the sages, yet with which the great medicine is made.» — Iole como jeroglífico de la primera materia, veneno violento con el que se hace la gran medicina.

«The common metals, dissolved by it, thus fall prey to this venom which changes their nature and decomposes them.» — veneno que disuelve los metales comunes y los descompone.

«The Greek word [*180-3] (Ioleia) is formed from the Greek word [*180-4] (Ios), venom and [*180-5] (leia), booty or prey.» — con la etimología de Ioleia a partir de las voces griegas de veneno y presa.

«The Latins called the crow Phoebeius ales, Bird of Apollo or of the Sun [*181-8] (phoibos).» — y el nombre latino del cuervo como ave de Febo o del Sol.

«The mysterious side of a historical figure is revealed to us through one of his works.» — abre el capítulo de Louis d'Estissac con la regla que lo guía: el lado misterioso de una figura histórica se revela por una de sus obras.

«We do not know it for a fact, but we would like to believe that the learned doctor and philosopher Francois Rabelais (1) could very well have to do with the initiation.» — declara no saber de dónde vino su ciencia y querer creer que Francois Rabelais tuvo que ver con la iniciación.

«It is well known that Geoffrey d’Estissac had for a long time entertained a relationship of the most intense and warm friendship with Rabelais.» — apoyándose en la amistad de Rabelais con Geoffrey d'Estissac.

«"In 1525", writes H. Clouzet (2), "our philosopher lived in Liguge as an attaché in the service of Geoffrey d’Estissac".» — y en el dato que toma de H. Clouzet sobre el filósofo agregado al servicio de Geoffrey d'Estissac en 1525.

«But why not governor of his nephew Louis V, who is only 18 years of age and does not marry until 1527?» — de donde pregunta por qué no habría sido preceptor del sobrino Louis V.

«we must assume that his scholarship was not purely theoretical but that it was also the fruit of an earlier practice» — y supone que su erudición no era solo teórica sino fruto de práctica anterior.

«Be that as it may, this leads us to believe that the search for the philosophers’ stone in the 16th and 17th centuries was more active than we tend to believe, and, that its fortunate owners did not represent the tiny majority of the spagyric world that people usually tend to assign it.» — sostiene que la búsqueda de la piedra en los siglos XVI y XVII fue más activa de lo que se cree.

«King Francis I, by prohibiting the use of printing through his decree of 1537, probably was the determining cause of this shortage of books, noteworthy in the 16th century, and also was the unconscious promoter of the new symbolic development worthy of the most beautiful medieval period.» — e imputa al decreto de Francisco I de 1537, que prohibió la imprenta, la escasez de libros y sin quererlo el nuevo desarrollo simbólico.

«Stone takes the place of parchment, and sculpted ornamentation comes to the aid of prohibited printing.» — con la fórmula que resume el traslado: la piedra toma el lugar del pergamino.

«This temporary return of thought to monuments, of the written allegory to the stone parable, has given us some brilliant works of real interest for the study o the artistic versions of the old alchemy.» — y las obras que ese retorno dejó, de interés real para el estudio de las versiones artísticas de la vieja alquimia.

«At the time of Jean Astruc (3), physician to King Louis XV, that is to say, around 1720, there was a dwelling in Montpellier, in rue Cannau opposite the convent of the Capuchin monks, which, according to tradition, is said to have belonged to Master Arnold of Villanova in 1280, or where he might have lived.» — el caso de Montpellier: la casa que hacia 1720, en tiempos de Jean Astruc, la tradición atribuía a Arnaldo de Vilanova.

«One could see on it, sculpted on the door, two bas-reliefs representing, one a roaring lion, the other a dragon biting its own tail, acknowledged emblems of the Great Work.» — con el león rugiente y el dragón que se muerde la cola esculpidos en la puerta, emblemas reconocidos de la Gran Obra.

«His disciple, Raymond Lully, returning from Rome, stopped in Milan in 1296 to pursue his philosophical research.» — y la parada de Raymond Lully en Milán en 1296.

«It is known that the houses, the churches, and the hospitals built by Nicolas Flamel served as turning points for the distribution of images of the sacred Art; his own dwelling, "l’hostel Flamel", built in the year 1376 on rue Marivaux close to the St Jacques Church in Paris, was, according to a chronicle, "all beautiful with painted and gilded stories and mottoes".» — las casas, iglesias y hospitales de Nicolas Flamel como puntos de distribución de las imágenes del arte sacro, con su hostel de 1376 lleno de historias pintadas y doradas.

«Louis d’Estissac, contemporary of Rabelais, Denis Zachaire, and Jean Lallemant, also wanted to devote to the science which he dearly loved, a dwelling worthy of it.» — y Louis d'Estissac, contemporáneo de Rabelais, Denis Zachaire y Jean Lallemant, queriendo dar a la ciencia una morada digna.

«Once the topics were well-established and appropriately veiled --- so that the layman could not discern their mysterious meaning --- once the broad outlines of the architecture were decided upon, he entrusted its execution to an architect who might have been Philibert de l’Orme --- in any case it is Monsieur de Rochebrune’s opinion.» — con el arquitecto que, en opinión de Monsieur de Rochebrune, pudo ser Philibert de l'Orme.

«Thus was born the superb castle of Coulonges-sur-l’Autize (in the district of Deux-Sevres), whose construction demanded 26 years, from 1542 to 1568, which today offers but an empty interior with barren walls.» — el castillo de Coulonges-sur-l'Autize, veintiséis años de obra entre 1542 y 1568, hoy vacío de interior.

«Some of these artworks were acquired by the famous etcher, Etienne-Octave de Guillaume de Rochebrune, and were used for the refurbishing and embellishment of his house in Fontenay-le-Comte, (in the district of Vendee).» — y las piezas que el aguafuertista Etienne-Octave de Guillaume de Rochebrune compró para su casa de Fontenay-le-Comte.

«This detail led people to suggest that the plans of the Castle of Coulognes could have belonged to the architect-priest Philibert de l’Orme (5).» — el detalle que llevó a proponer a Philibert de l'Orme como autor de los planos.

«Later, while studying a similar dwelling, we will come back to the secret meaning of the ancient monogram adopted by the mistress of Henry II, and shall point to the mistake that caused so many magnificent dwellings to be erroneously attributed to Diane de Poitiers.» — y el aviso de que volverá sobre el monograma de la amante de Enrique II y sobre el error que atribuyó tantas moradas a Diane de Poitiers.

«The inscription, in verse, which is under the porch, was composed by Nicolas Rapin himself.» — la inscripción en verso bajo el pórtico, que atribuye a Nicolas Rapin.

«Of all these marvels, the one which most interests us is without question the monumental fireplace of the Grand Salon, bought in Coulonges and rebuilt in the Castle of Terre-Neuve in March 1884.» — de todo ello, la chimenea monumental del Gran Salón comprada en Coulonges y rearmada en Terre-Neuve en marzo de 1884.

«More remarkable even, by the accuracy of the hieroglyphs which decorate it, the finishing quality of the workmanship, the mastery, to the extent of virtuosity, of the carving, and its surprising preservation, rather than by its artistic merit, it constitutes for the disciples of Hermes a precious document, very useful to consult (Plate XIII).» — que declara documento precioso para los discípulos de Hermes por la exactitud de sus jeroglíficos más que por su mérito artístico.

«The art critic would indeed be justified to aim at this stonework the reproach common to decorative productions of the Renaissance, namely, that it tends to be heavy, inharmonious, and cold in spite of its sumptuous appearance, and the display of a far too gaudy luxuriousness.» — concede al crítico de arte el reproche de pesadez y frialdad común a lo decorativo del Renacimiento.

«He could pick out the excessive weightiness of the mantle bearing on its meager jambs, the panes poorly balanced among themselves, a poverty of form, of invention, painfully masked under the brilliance of ornaments, moldings, or arabesques lavished in vain ostentation.» — con la pobreza de forma mal disimulada bajo el brillo de los ornamentos.

«As for us, we voluntarily leave aside the aesthetic feeling of a brilliant albeit superficial period, where affectations and mannerisms replaced missing thought and failing originality, and we will concentrate on the initiatory value of the symbolism for which this fireplace serves both as pretext and support.» — y declara dejar de lado la estética de un periodo brillante y superficial para atender al valor iniciático del simbolismo.

«The mantle, structured as an entablature filled with interlacing and symbolic figures, is carried by two cylindrical and polished stone pillars.» — la descripción del manto sostenido por dos pilares cilíndricos de piedra pulida.

«A fluted lintel is bearing on their abacus under a quarter-round ovum and flanked by three acanthus leaves.» — el dintel acanalado con el óvolo y las tres hojas de acanto.

«Above, four girdled caryatids, two men and two women, hold up the cornice; the women’s girdles are ornamented with fruit while those of the men show the mask of a lion biting a crescent moon, by way of a ring.» — las cuatro cariátides, dos hombres y dos mujeres, con frutos en los ceñidores de ellas y máscara de león mordiendo una luna creciente en los de ellos.

«Between the caryatids, three frieze panels unfurl various hieroglyphs in a decorative form designed to better veil them.» — los tres paneles de friso entre las cariátides, cuyos jeroglíficos dice velados por la forma decorativa.

«The cornice is divided horizontally into two levels, by a jutting fillet covering four motifs: two vases filled with fire and two shield escutcheons bearing the engraved date of execution, March 1563 (7).» — la cornisa con dos vasos llenos de fuego y dos escudos con la fecha grabada de marzo de 1563.

«They serve as a frame for three panels receiving the three words of a Latin sentence: Nascnedo quotidie morumur.» — los tres paneles con la sentencia latina, que el troceo imprime *Nascnedo quotidie morumur* y que el encabezado del capítulo da como *NASCENDO QUOTIDIE MORIMUR*.

«Finally, the upper part displays six little panels, opposed two-by-two, from the extremities toward the center; there we can see small kidney-shaped panels, bucranes, and near the median axis, some hermetic shields.» — los seis panelillos de la parte alta con bucráneos y escudos herméticos.

«Such are, briefly described, the most interesting emblematic pieces for the alchemist, that we shall analyze in great detail.» — y el anuncio de analizar en detalle esas piezas emblemáticas.

«The old man’s mask is the emblem of the primary mercurial substance to which, say the philosophers, all metals owe their origin.» — lee la máscara del viejo como emblema de la sustancia mercurial primera, origen de todos los metales según los filósofos.

«"You must know", writes Limojon de Saint-Didier (2), "that our old man is our mercury; that the name suits it because it is the raw matter of all metals; the Cosmopolite says it is their water, and gives it the name of steel and magnet, and he adds, to further confirm what I have just uncovered for you: Si undecies coit aurum cum eo, emittit suum semen, et debilitatur fere ad mortem usque; concipit chalybs, et generat filium patre clariorem" (3).» — con el pasaje de Limojon de Saint-Didier que identifica al viejo con el mercurio y con el acero y el imán del Cosmopolita, y el latín que cita sobre el oro que se une once veces.

«On the west portal of the Chartres Cathedral, we admire a very beautiful 12th century statue where the same esotericism is so luminously expressed.» — y la estatua del pórtico oeste de Chartres, del siglo XII, donde halla el mismo esoterismo.

«It is a tall old man of stone, crowned and haloed --- which already signifies his hermetic personality --- draped in the ample mantle of the philosopher.» — un viejo de piedra coronado y nimbado con el amplio manto del filósofo.

«In his right hand he holds a zither (4).» — con una cítara en la mano derecha.

«In his left hand he raises a bulging phial somewhat like the pilgrims’ calabash.» — y en la izquierda un frasco panzudo parecido a la calabaza de los peregrinos.

«These monsters represent the raw bodies whose decomposition and assemblage into another form of volatile quality provides the secret substance we call mercury and that suffices to single-handedly accomplish the entire work.» — los monstruos que lee como cuerpos crudos cuya descomposición da la sustancia secreta llamada mercurio.

«The calabash, which contains the beverage of the peregrinator, is the image of the dissolving qualities of the mercury, cabalistically called pilgrim or traveler.» — la calabaza como imagen de las cualidades disolventes del mercurio, llamado cabalísticamente peregrino.

«Here, in addition to the purely chemical meaning, the two shells, still teach the seeker that the regular and natural proportion demands two parts of the dissolving agent for one of the fixed body.» — y las dos conchas como proporción de dos partes de disolvente por una de cuerpo fijo.

«Philalethes advises us that in order to achieve the goal we must kill the living so as to resuscitate the dead.» — el consejo de Philalethes de matar lo vivo para resucitar lo muerto.

«"By taking", he says, "the gold, which is dead, and the water, which is living, we form a compound in which, after a brief decoction, the gold seed becomes alive while the living mercury is killed.» — con su formulación: tomado el oro muerto y el agua viva, la simiente del oro se aviva mientras el mercurio vivo muere.

«The rose is sometimes white, sometimes red, depending on the ferment, silver or gold, which serves to orient our first stone.» — la rosa blanca o roja según el fermento, plata u oro, que orienta la primera piedra.

«It is known that the celestial Virgin wears a crown of white roses and it is also known that the red rose is the signature reserved to the initiates of the higher order, the Rose Cross (8).» — con la corona de rosas blancas de la Virgen celeste y la rosa roja reservada a los iniciados de la Rosa Cruz.

«The fact that Louis d’Estissac had conquered the title par excellence of hermetic nobility is beyond doubt.» — y el título de nobleza hermética que da por conquistado a Louis d'Estissac.

«Therefore, it is clearly the graphic of the spark.» — sobre la X: la declara el grafismo de la chispa.

«Its radiation can be multiplied, but it is impossible to further simplify it.» — cuya radiación puede multiplicarse y no simplificarse más.

«The Greek X and the French X represent the writing of light by light itself, the trail of its passage, the manifestation of its movement, the affirmation of its reality.» — escritura de la luz por la luz misma y afirmación de su realidad.

«Until the 12th century, no other mark was used to authenticate old charters; from the 15th century on, the cross became the signature of illiterates.» — recuerda que hasta el siglo XII no se usó otra marca para autenticar cartas y que desde el XV la cruz fue firma de analfabetos.

«In Rome, auspicious days were signed with a white cross and unfavorable ones with a black cross.» — y que en Roma los días fastos se marcaban con cruz blanca y los nefastos con negra.

«It is the complete number of the Work, because unity, the two natures, the three principles, and the four elements give the double quintessence, the two Vs joined in the Roman cipher X for the number ten.» — la hace número completo de la Obra: unidad, dos naturalezas, tres principios y cuatro elementos dan la doble quintaesencia, las dos uves de la cifra diez.

«One could believe this word to be of Latin origin and apply to the nomads this maxim which the cats --- living objects of art --- strive to practice: Patria est ubicumque est bene --- wherever we are comfortable, there is our country; but their emblem refers to a Greek word [*198-1] (Patria), with the meaning of family, tribe, race.» — sobre la cruz de los gitanos, cuya etimología prefiere griega, de familia, tribu y raza, antes que latina.

«The cross of the Gypsies or Romanies therefore indicates the place of refuge assigned to a tribe.» — y que indica el lugar de refugio asignado a una tribu.

«Furthermore, almost all meanings revealed by the sign X have a transcendent or mysterious value, and this fact is singular.» — señala como singular que casi todos los sentidos del signo tengan valor trascendente o misterioso.

«In algebra, X is the unknown quantity; it is also the problem to be solved, the solution to be discovered; it is the Pythagorean sign of multiplication, and the element to cast out the nines in arithmetic; it is the popular symbol of mathematics in what concerns higher or abstract development.» — con la incógnita del álgebra, el signo pitagórico de multiplicar y la prueba del nueve.

«It characterizes that which, generally is excellent, useful, remarkable ([*198-2] --- Chresimos).» — y la voz griega de lo excelente, útil y notable.

«The X is the emblem of measure ([*199-1] --- metron), taken in all its meanings: dimension, area, space, duration, rule, law, boundary or limit.» — hace de la X el emblema de la medida en todas sus acepciones.

«For this occult reason, the international standard of the meter, made of platino-iridium and kept in the pavilion of Breteuil in Sevres, has the shape of an X in its cross-section (15).» — y por esa razón oculta da la sección en X del patrón internacional del metro guardado en el pabellón de Breteuil.

«All bodies of nature, all beings either in their structure or in their appearance, abide by this fundamental law of radiation, all are subjected to this measure.» — con todos los cuerpos de la naturaleza sujetos a esa ley de radiación.

«The canon of the Gnostics applies this measure to the human body (16); and Jesus Christ, spirit incarnate, St Andrew, and St Peter, personify its glorious and painful image.» — el canon de los gnósticos que la aplica al cuerpo humano, personificada por Cristo, San Andrés y San Pedro.

«Have we not noticed that the aerial organs of vegetables --- be they lofty trees or tiny herbs --- show along with their roots the characteristic divergence of the branches of the X?» — la divergencia en X de ramas y raíces de los vegetales.

«Section vegetable leaves, leafstalks, nervures, etc., examine the cross-sections under a microscope and you will observe, with your own eyes, the most brilliant, the most marvelous confirmation of this divine will.» — y las secciones vegetales al microscopio como confirmación de esa voluntad divina.

«Its whiskers gave the cat its name (17); we do not doubt that they hide a meaning of high degree of knowledge and that this gracious feline owes the honor of being raised to the rank of Egyptian deities to this secret reason.» — los bigotes del gato, a los que atribuye un sentido de alto grado y la razón secreta de su rango entre las deidades egipcias.

«On the one hand the talent of a fervent, idealistic youth made up of aesthetes seeking glory, carefree, blind, and incapable of suspicion; on the other, the confidences of a mysterious science mixed up with obscure diplomacy, a two-faced tableau deliberately exhibited in a medieval framework.» — el contraste que traza entre el talento de una juventud idealista y las confidencias de una ciencia misteriosa mezclada de diplomacia oscura.

«The enigmatic "tournee des grands ducs" (19) signified by a cat with scrutinizing eyes under its black coat, with its rigid, disproportionate X-shaped whiskers, and whose heraldic posture gave to the wings of Montmartre mill a symbolic value equal to its own (20), was not a pleasure outing for princes!» — y la tournee des grands ducs, que niega haber sido paseo de placer de príncipes.

«Whether held by the god’s hands, trampled underfoot by him or whether bursting out of the eagle’s claws, Zeus’ lightning bolts, which make Olympus tremble and scatter terror among mythological humanity, do espouse the graphic shape of radiation.» — los rayos de Zeus, que toman la forma gráfica de la radiación.

«It is the translation of celestial fire or terrestrial fire, of potential or virtual fire which composes or disintegrates, engenders or kills, vivifies or disrupts.» — traducción del fuego celeste o terrestre que compone o desintegra, engendra o mata.

«It is the Agnus (lamb) sacrificed since the beginning of the world and it is also Agni, Vedic god of fire (21), but is the Lamb of God bears the cross on his banderole just as Jesus bears it on hi shoulder, if he supports it with his foot, it is because he has the sign of it inlaid in his very foot: image outside, reality inside (22).» — con el Agnus sacrificado desde el principio del mundo emparejado con Agni, dios védico del fuego; el troceo imprime *hi* por *his*.

«These elects, disciples of Elias and children of Helios, modern crusaders having for guide the star of their elders, go for the same conquest with the same cry of God wills it!» — y los elegidos, discípulos de Elías e hijos de Helios, cruzados modernos guiados por la estrella de sus mayores.

«This higher and spiritual force, acting mysteriously amidst concrete substance, compels crystal to take its form and its immutable characteristics; it is this force which is its pivot, its axis, its generating energy, its geometric will.» — la fuerza espiritual que obliga al cristal a tomar su forma, a la que llama su voluntad geométrica.

«Owing to their same arrangements, spider webs old back gnats, nets catch fish, birds, and butterflies without hurting them, fabrics become translucent, wire gauze cuts off flames and oppose the inflammation of gases.» — con las telarañas, las redes y la tela metálica que corta la llama como ejemplos de esa misma disposición.

«Finally, in space and time, the same immense ideal cross divides the 24 centuries of the cyclic year ([*201-1] --- Chiliarmos), and separates the 24 elders of the Apocalypse into four groups of ages, of whom twelve sing the praises of God, while the other twelve bemoan the downfall of man.» — y la cruz ideal que divide los veinticuatro siglos del año cíclico y reparte a los veinticuatro ancianos del Apocalipsis en cuatro grupos.

«How many unsuspected truths remain hidden in the simple sign that Christians renew every day on their own person without always understanding its meaning nor its hidden virtue!» — sobre la cruz que los cristianos repiten cada día sin entender siempre su sentido ni su virtud oculta.

«"For the word of the cross is folly for those who go astray; but for those who save themselves, that is to say for us, it is the instrument of God’s power.» — con el pasaje paulino que la llama locura para los que se pierden e instrumento del poder de Dios para los que se salvan.

«This is why it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.» — y la sentencia sobre destruir la sabiduría de los sabios.

«In the alchemical domain, the Greek cross and the cross of St Andrew have come meaning that the artist must know.» — en lo alquímico, atribuye a la cruz griega y a la de San Andrés un sentido que el artista debe conocer.

«The Greeks also used a similar sign to indicate an earthenware matrass.» — con el signo semejante que los griegos usaban para el matraz de barro.

«It is also the Sign, without any other qualification, the seal that reveals to man the intrinsic virtues of the prime philosophical substance through certain superficial lineaments.» — y el Signo sin más calificación, sello que revela las virtudes intrínsecas de la sustancia filosofal primera.

«St Peter holds the keys of Paradise, although only one is sufficient to insure access to the celestial dwelling.» — sobre las llaves de San Pedro, de las que dice que una basta para entrar en la morada celeste.

«Nevertheless, if no one could deny our Adept the grade of Rose Cross, one should not deduce from this fact that he belonged to the hypothetical brotherhood of the same name.» — objeta que del grado de Rosa Cruz de su adepto se deduzca pertenencia a la hipotética hermandad del mismo nombre.

«We will probably never know what obscure reason guided Valentin Andraea, or rather the German author called by this pseudonym, when he had the pamphlet entitled Fama Fraternitatis Rosae-Crucis printed in FrankfurtOder, around 1614.» — declara que nunca se sabrá qué razón guio a Valentin Andraea, o al autor alemán con ese seudónimo, al imprimir la Fama Fraternitatis hacia 1614.

«They called themselves invisible, claimed they could make gold, silver, precious stones; cure paralytics, the blind, the deaf, all the contagious, and the incurables.» — con los poderes que aquellos se atribuían: hacerse invisibles, fabricar oro y piedras, curar paralíticos, ciegos y sordos.

«Finally, if we mention, without entering them, those little chapels where one get lazily promoted under the Rose Cross banner, we will have uncovered the diverse modalities of the apocryphal Rose Cross.» — y las capillas modernas donde se asciende con pereza bajo la bandera rosacruz, que llama modalidades de la Rosa Cruz apócrifa.

«Moreover, we will not maintain that Valentin Andraea exaggerated much the extraordinary virtues that certain philosophers, more enthusiastic than sincere, give to the Universal Medicine.» — concede que Andraea no exageró mucho las virtudes que ciertos filósofos dan a la Medicina Universal.

«If he attributes to the brothers what could only belong to the Magistery, at least we find therein the proof that his conviction was based upon the reality of the stone.» — y ve prueba de que su convicción se apoyaba en la realidad de la piedra.

«A light emanating from a golden sun lights the cave and symbolizes the incarnate spirit, divine spark imprisoned in things, already discussed.» — la luz del sol de oro que alumbra la cueva, símbolo del espíritu encarnado y chispa divina presa en las cosas.

«True Rose Cross, the only ones who are worthy of bearing this title and provide the material proof of their science, have no need of it.» — sostiene que los verdaderos Rosa Cruz, únicos dignos del título, no lo necesitan.

«Living isolated in their austere retreats, they do not fear ever being known, not even by their brothers.» — y viven aislados sin temer ser conocidos ni siquiera por sus hermanos.

«Which biographer would dare to certify that Philalethes ---this friend of truth --- was the pseudonym of the nobleman Thomas Vaughan, and that under the epithet of Sethon (the wrestler) was hidden an illustrious member of a powerful Scottish family, the Lords of Winton?» — con la pregunta que deja sin resolver la identidad de Philalethes como Thomas Vaughan y la de Sethon como noble de los señores de Winton.

«By attributing this strange and paradoxical privilege of invisibility to the brothers, Valentin Andraea recognizes the impossibility of identifying them, much as great lords traveling incognito in private dress and carriage.» — y su lectura de la invisibilidad: Andraea reconocía con ella la imposibilidad de identificarlos.

«Such is the case of a so-called Leriche, a humble blacksmith, unknown Adept and possessor of the hermetic gem.» — el caso de un tal Leriche, herrero humilde y adepto desconocido poseedor de la gema hermética.

«If all Rosicrucians had maintained themselves in this prudent reserve, if they had observed the same discretion, we would not have to deplore the loss of so many quality artists, carried away by blundering zeal, blind faith, or pushed by the irresistible need to attract attention.» — con la conjetura de que igual reserva habría evitado la pérdida de tantos artistas de calidad.

«The pretended Brotherhood of the Rose Cross never had any social existence. Adepts bearing this title are only brothers through knowledge and the success of their work.» — niega toda existencia social a la pretendida Hermandad de la Rosa Cruz: sus adeptos solo son hermanos por el saber y el éxito de su trabajo.

«No oath compels them, no statute binds them together, no rule apart from the hermetic discipline, freely accepted, voluntarily observed, influences their free will.» — sin juramento ni estatuto, con la sola disciplina hermética libremente aceptada.

«which was formerly written, more accurately, harmoniac, because it realizes the harmony ([*202-3] --- assembling), the agreement of water with fire, because it is the mediator par excellence between heaven and earth, the spirit and the body, the volatile and the fixed.» — la sal amoniaca de los sabios leída como sal de Amón y escrita harmoniac, mediadora entre el cielo y la tierra, lo volátil y lo fijo; la cita arranca después del corchete con que el OCR sustituye la voz griega, que *span()* uniría en una cifra inexistente.

«They did not pay dues and would never have accepted the title given to some brothers, of Knights of the Stomach since banquets were unknown to them.» — sobre los rosacruces: no pagaban cuotas ni habrían aceptado el título de Caballeros del Estómago, por serles desconocidos los banquetes.

«If the Rose Cross are brothers through discovery, work, and science, brothers through acts and works, it is in the manner of the philosophical concept which considers all human beings members of the same human family.» — y su fraternidad la funda en el descubrimiento, el trabajo y la ciencia, al modo del concepto que hace de todos los hombres una familia.

«In summary, the great classical authors who taught the precepts of our philosophy and the arcane of the art in their literary or artistic works, those also who left irrefutable proofs of their mastery, all are brothers of the true Rose Cross.» — de donde declara hermanos de la verdadera Rosa Cruz a los grandes autores clásicos que dejaron pruebas de su maestría.

«May the reader excuse us for this digression which led us farther than we wished.» — y pide excusas por la digresión.

«If gold is joined eleven times with her (the water), it emits its seed and becomes debilitated to the point of death; then the seed conceives and engenders a son, clearer than its father» — en nota, el latín de Limojon traducido: unido once veces el oro con el agua, emite su simiente y engendra un hijo más claro que el padre.

«It isn’t rare to find alchemy characterized as the Art of Music in medieval texts.» — recuerda que en los textos medievales no es raro que la alquimia se llame Arte de la Música.

«We have also seen them reproduced on the house of Adam and Eve at Le Mans, and we can again find them in the Cathedral of Amiens (the kings-musicians of the high gallery), as well as in the dwelling of the counts of Champagne, commonly called house of the musicians in Reims.» — con los músicos de la casa de Adán y Eva en Le Mans, la galería alta de Amiens y la casa de los músicos de Reims.

«The Greek word [*194-1] (musikos) has for root [*194-2] (mythos), fable, apologue, allegory, which also means spirit, the hidden meaning of a tale.» — y la etimología que da de musikos, cuya raíz hace de fábula, alegoría y sentido oculto de un relato.

«In Greek [*194-3] (aggelos), angel, also means messenger, a position which the divinities of Mt Olympus had reserved for Hermes.» — con el ángel griego que significa también mensajero, oficio reservado a Hermes en el Olimpo.

«The symbol of light is found in the visual organ of man, window of the soul opened onto nature.» — halla el símbolo de la luz en el órgano visual del hombre, ventana del alma abierta a la naturaleza.

«It is the X-shaped crossing of bands and the optic nerves which anatomists call chiasma (from Greek [*197-4] --- chiasma, disposed as a cross, root [*197-5] --- chiazo, to cross in X).» — en el cruce en X de los nervios ópticos que los anatomistas llaman quiasma.

«The ceiling of Lallemant’s house in Bourges offers a remarkable example of this image.» — y en el techo de la casa de Lallemant en Bourges, que da como ejemplo notable de esa imagen.

«We are not speaking here of the copy #8 kept in the Conservatory of Arts and Professions in Paris, which is the legal standard, but of the international prototype.» — aclara en nota que no habla de la copia número 8 del Conservatorio de Artes y Oficios sino del prototipo internacional.

«Leonardo da Vinci used and taught it, transporting it from the mystical domain to that of aesthetic morphology.» — atribuye a Leonardo da Vinci el uso y la enseñanza de esa medida, llevada de lo místico a la morfología estética.

«The Hindu swastika, or in French croix grammee, cross with branches in the shape of a gamma g, is the sign of divine, immortal, and pure spirit, the symbol of life and fire and not, as people wrongly believe, a utensil designed to produce flame.» — y objeta la creencia que hace del suástica hindú un utensilio para producir llama: lo declara signo del espíritu divino y símbolo de la vida y del fuego.

«We assert that we speak in a positive manner, and initiates will not be mistaken by it.» — declara hablar de manera positiva y confiar en que los iniciados no se engañarán.

«All their treatises being achromatic, the hope of finding the least indication concerning the basis and foundation of the art is useless.» — con la advertencia de que en tratados acromáticos es inútil esperar la menor indicación sobre la base del arte.

«So it is that Gothic cathedrals had their facades built according to the essential lines of the alchemical symbol of spirit and that their floor plan is a copy of the imprint of the redeeming cross.» — hace construir las fachadas góticas según las líneas del símbolo alquímico del espíritu y sus plantas según la cruz redentora.

«Inside they all show these bold interesting ribs in the form of crosses whose invention properly belongs to the Freemasons, enlightened builders of the Middle Ages.» — y adjudica a los masones, constructores ilustrados de la Edad Media, la invención de las nervaduras en cruz.

«So that in the medieval temples the faithful find themselves situated between two crosses, one lower and earthly on which they walk --- the image of their daily Calvary --- the other, higher and celestial, towards which they aspire, but which only their eyes allow them to reach.» — con el fiel situado entre dos cruces, la terrestre que pisa y la celeste a la que solo llegan sus ojos.

«Ammon, saline mediator, completes the trinity of the principles of the Work, of which he realizes the concord, unity, and perfection it realizes in the philosophers’ stone.» — hace de Amón, mediador salino, el que completa la trinidad de los principios de la Obra.

«The grade of Rose Cross is the eighth of the French Masonic rite and the eighteenth of the Scottish rite.» — sitúa el grado de Rosa Cruz como octavo del rito francés y decimoctavo del escocés.

«Ammon-Ra, the great solar divinity of the Egyptians, was normally represented with a ram’s head, or, when he kept his human head, with spiral horns that originated above his ears.» — describe a Amón-Ra con cabeza de carnero o con cuernos en espiral sobre las orejas.

«Remember that the ram is the image of the water of the sages, just as the solar disk, with or without the uraeus --- another attribute of Ammon --- is that of the secret fire.» — y empareja el carnero con el agua de los sabios y el disco solar con el fuego secreto.

«In the 19th century, two Rosicrucian Orders were created and quickly fell into oblivion: (1) The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose Cross, founded by Stanislaus de Guaita; (2) The Order of the Rose Cross of the Temple and the Grail, founded in Toulous around 1850 by the Viscount of Lapasse, spagyric physician, student of Prince Balbiani of Palermo, supposedly a disciple of Cagliostro.» — enumera las dos órdenes rosacruces del siglo XIX: la Orden Cabalística de la Rosa Cruz de Stanislas de Guaita y la Orden de la Rosa Cruz del Templo y del Grial del vizconde de Lapasse.

«This idealistic movement, lacking enlightened initiatic direction and a solid philosophical basis, could only have a limited duration.» — y les imputa la falta de dirección iniciática y de base filosófica que limitó su duración.

«The Rosicrucian Salon opened its doors from 1892 to 1897 and then ceased to exist.» — con el Salón rosacruz abierto de 1892 a 1897.

«The corn alone, purposely placed next to the flowers and fruit, is a very revealing symbol.» — señala el maíz puesto adrede junto a flores y frutos como símbolo revelador.

«Philosophers have described it in the image of the black dragon covered with scales, which the Chinese call Loung, whose» — con el dragón negro escamoso que los filósofos describen y que los chinos llaman Loung.

«The gigantic dragon on Scythian banners was called Apophis. The Greek word [*213-3] (apophysis), which means execresence, offspring, has for its root [*213-4] (apophuo) with the meaning to» — y el Apofis de los estandartes escitas, con la etimología griega que le da.

«The vegetative power, indicated by the fructifications of the symbolic vase is therefore expressly confirmed in the mythical dragon which divides into common mercury or solvent, Later the primitive mercury, joined to some fixed body, renders it volatile, living, vegetative, and fructifying.» — el poder vegetativo del vaso simbólico confirmado en el dragón mítico que se divide en mercurio común o disolvente.

«Philalethes affirms, lighting the lamp or the furnace of the philosophers is useless.» — con la sentencia que atribuye a Philalethes: sin él es inútil encender la lámpara o el horno de los filósofos.

«We will not say any more here because we will have the opportunity to resume to topic and develop later on the major Arcanum» — y el aplazamiento del gran Arcano para más adelante.

«The two gnomes (1) facing each other translate --- the reader will have guessed --- our two metallic principles, first bodies or natures with whose help the Work is started, perfected and completed. They are the sulpurous and mercurial genies appointed to guard the subterranean treasures, nocturnal artisans» — los dos gnomos enfrentados leídos como los dos principios metálicos, genios sulfuroso y mercurial que guardan los tesoros subterráneos.

«The rabbinical tradition reports in the Talmud that a gnome cooperated with the building of the Temple of Solomon, which means that the philosophers’ stone must have played some part in it.» — con la tradición rabínica del gnomo que cooperó en el Templo de Salomón, de donde infiere que la piedra tuvo parte en él.

«But nearer to us, don’t our gothic cathedrals, according to George Stahl, owe the inimitable coloration of their stained glass windows to it? "Our stone", writes an anonymous author (2), "has two other very surprising virtues; the first on glass to which it gives internally all sorts of colors, such as in the windows of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and those of the churches of Saint-Gatien and Saint-Matin in the city of Tours".» — y el testimonio anónimo, apoyado en George Stahl, sobre el color de las vidrieras de la Sainte-Chapelle y de las iglesias de Tours.

«Thus the obscure, latent, and potential life of the two primitive mineral substances is developed through the contact, the fight, and the union of their opposite natures, one igneous, the other aqueous. Those are our elements, and there are no others.» — declara que esos son sus elementos y que no hay otros.

«We therefore certify with the best authors that two bodies are sufficient to accomplish the magistery from beginning to end.» — y certifica con los mejores autores que dos cuerpos bastan para todo el magisterio.

«"It is impossible to acquire the possession of our mercury", says the Ancient War of the Knights, "in any other way than by means of two bodies one of which cannot receive the perfection it requires, without the other". If we must admit a third, we shall find it in the one which results from their combination and born from their mutual destruction.» — con el pasaje de La antigua guerra de los caballeros sobre los dos cuerpos, de los que uno no recibe su perfección sin el otro.

«For no matter how much you look and multiply the experiments, you will never find any other parents of the stone besides the above mentioned two bodies, called principles from which comes the third one, heir of the qualities and the mixed virtues of its parents. This important point is well worth being stated precisely.» — y la insistencia en que no hay otros padres de la piedra que esos dos, de los que nace el tercero.

«They are the sun and the moon, of mercurial source and sulphurous origin which, by means of continual fire, beautify themselves with royal ornaments so as to vanquish, once they are united, and change any metallic thing --- solid, hard, and strong --- into quintessence.» — el sol y la luna, de fuente mercurial y origen sulfuroso, que unidos vuelven quintaesencia cualquier cosa metálica.

«They are the serpents and dragons that ancient Egyptians painted as a circle, head biting the tail, to express that they came from one and the same thing, which alone was enough, and that it perfected itself in its contour and circulation.» — las serpientes y dragones que los egipcios pintaban en círculo mordiéndose la cola, para decir que vienen de una sola cosa.

«They are the dragons that the ancient poets charged with guarding without sleeping the golden apples of the gardens of the Hesperide virgins.» — los dragones que guardan sin dormir las manzanas de oro de las Hespérides.

«They are the same ones on which Jason, during his adventure of the Golden Fleece, poured the juice prepared by the beautiful Meda and whose discourse so filled the books of the philosophers, that no philosopher ever existed who did not write about them, from the true Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Artephius, Morienus and others up to myself.» — y aquellos sobre los que Jasón vertió el jugo preparado por Medea, de los que dice que escribieron todos los filósofos desde Hermes Trismegisto.

«They are the two serpents sent and given by Juno who is the metallic nature, which the strong Hercules, that is to say the Sage, must strangle in his crib, that is to say vanquish and kill them so as to make them rot, corrupt, and engender at the beginning of his Work.» — las dos serpientes enviadas por Juno, naturaleza metálica, que el fuerte Hércules debe estrangular en la cuna.

«He, says Haly, who kills one of them will also kill the other because one cannot die but with his brother.» — con la regla que atribuye a Haly: quien mata a una mata a la otra, porque una no puede morir sino con su hermano.

«These two (which Avicenna calls Bitch of Khorassan and Dog of Armenia), being then united in the vessel of the sepulcher, bite each other cruelly and through their great venom and furious rage never leave each other from the moment they have grabbed each other.» — y la perra de Corasán y el perro de Armenia de Avicena, que unidos en el vaso del sepulcro se muerden sin soltarse.

«These two sperms, said Democritus, cannot be found on the earth of the living» — con Demócrito, que niega hallar esos dos espermas en la tierra de los vivos.

«The headgear which ends in a horn of Ammon and is called in Greek [*220-1] (cranos, because it covers the head and protects the skull ([*220-2] --- cranion), allows us to identify them.» — el yelmo rematado en cuerno de Amón, cuyo nombre griego liga al cráneo que cubre.

«The Greek word used to indicate used to indicate the head (cranion), already brings a useful indication since it also marks the location of Calvary, the Golgotha where Jesus, Redeemer of men, had to suffer his Passion in his flesh before transfiguring himself into spirit.» — voz que además señala el lugar del Calvario, el Gólgota de la Pasión.

«And our two principles one of which bears the cross and the other the lance which will pierce his flank (5) are an image, a reflection of the Passion of Christ.» — de donde hace de sus dos principios, uno con la cruz y otro con la lanza, un reflejo de la Pasión de Cristo.

«Just like him, if they must resuscitate into a new clear, glorious, and spiritualized body, they must together climb their Calvary, suffer martyrdom, endure the torments of fire, and die of a slow agony at the end of a long hard fight» — que como él han de subir su Calvario y morir de agonía lenta para resucitar en cuerpo glorioso.

«It is known, on the other hand, that the puffers called their alembic, homo galeatus --- man covered with a helmet --- because it was composed of a cucurbit, that is, an inflated part covered with a helmet.» — recuerda que los sopladores llamaban a su alambique homo galeatus, hombre con yelmo.

«Our two helmeted geniuses cannot represent anything other than the alembic of the sages, or the two assembled bodies, the container and the contained, the matter itself and its proper vessel.» — y lee sus dos genios con casco como el alambique de los sabios, el continente y el contenido.

«For if the reactions must be provoked by one (thee agent), they can only happen by breaking the balance of the other (the patient) which is used as a receptacle and a vase for the opposite energy of the adverse nature.» — con la mecánica que da: el agente provoca la reacción rompiendo el equilibrio del paciente, que sirve de vaso.

«In the present motif the agent is indicated by its grooved, striped helmet.» — y el agente señalado en el motivo por su yelmo estriado.

«It is first of all the stick that Mercury throws between the grass snake and the serpent (Rhea and Jupiter), around which they curl crating the Caduceus, emblem of peace and reconciliation.» — el bastón que Mercurio arroja entre la culebra y la serpiente, en torno al cual se enroscan formando el caduceo.

«All hermetic authors speak of a terrible fight between two dragons and Mythology teaches us that such was the origin of the attribute of Hermes who provoked their agreement by putting his stick between them.» — con el combate de los dos dragones que Hermes concilia poniendo su bastón entre ellos.

«It is the sign of union and of concord which one must be capable of realizing between fire and water.» — signo de unión y concordia entre el fuego y el agua.

«And fire being represented by a triangle hieroglyph Delta and water by the same, but inverted triangle, the two superimposed signs form the image of the star sure mark of union, pacification and procreation, because the star (stella) means fixation of the sun (6).» — con los dos triángulos superpuestos que forman la estrella, marca de unión y procreación.

«The Seal of Solomon, geometric figure, resulting from the assembly of the triangles of fire and water confirm the union of the sky and earth.» — y el Sello de Salomón como confirmación de la unión del cielo y la tierra.

«It is the messianic star announcing the birth of the King of Kings; moreover the Greek [*221-3] (kerukeion), caduceus, derived from [*221-4] (kerukeuo), to publish, to announce reveals that the distinctive emblem of Mercury is the sign of the good news.» — estrella mesiánica cuyo nombre griego del caduceo hace derivar del verbo publicar o anunciar, signo de la buena nueva.

«Among North American natives the peace pipe, the calumet which they use in their civil and religious ceremonies is a symbol similar to the caduceus by its form as well as by its meaning.» — con la pipa de la paz de los nativos de América del Norte comparada al caduceo por forma y sentido.

«Hermes’ stick is truly the scepter of the sovereign of our art, hermetic gold --- vile, abject, despised, more sought after by the philosopher than natural gold;» — y el bastón de Hermes como cetro del soberano del arte, oro hermético vil y despreciado y más buscado que el oro natural.

«As for the second body --- passive and feminine --- Louis d’Estissac had it represented under the shape of a harelipped gnome, equipped with breasts, head covered with a scaly helmet.» — el segundo cuerpo, pasivo y femenino, que Louis d'Estissac hizo representar como gnomo labihendido con pechos y casco escamoso.

«We already knew from the descriptions left by classical authors that this mineral substance as it is extracted from its mine is scaly, black, hard, and dry.» — sustancia mineral que los autores clásicos describen escamosa, negra, dura y seca al salir de su mina.

«And so it is essential to drive away the coarse and superficial impurity from the body by removing its scaly envelope ([*222-3] --- lepizo), an operation which we easily realize with the aid of the active principle, the agent with the grooved helmet.» — y de la que hay que quitar la envoltura escamosa con ayuda del principio activo, el agente del yelmo estriado.

«It is the first solvent, common mercury of the sages, faithful servant of the artist, the only thing he needs and that nothing can replace according to the testimony of Geber and of the most ancient Adepts.» — primer disolvente y mercurio común de los sabios, único necesario según Geber y los adeptos más antiguos.

«However, in our opinion, the best name that authors have given to their mercury seems to be Spirit of magnesia.» — cuyo mejor nombre le parece Espíritu de magnesia.

«The latter, penetrating like a burning flame into the body of the passive nature, burns, consumes its heterogeneous parts, drives away the arsenical (leprous) sulphur, and animates the pure mercury it contains and which appears in the conventional form of a liquor both humid and igneous --- the fire water of the Ancients -- - which we call Spirit of Magnesia and universal solvent.» — que penetra como llama en el cuerpo de la naturaleza pasiva, expulsa el azufre arsenical y anima el mercurio puro, agua ígnea de los antiguos.

«This is why, having already mentioned that our steel is the matrix of gold, we must equally point out that our magnet is the true matrix of the steel of the sages» — con la relación que establece: si el acero es matriz del oro, el imán es la verdadera matriz del acero de los sabios.

«Finally --- detail useless to the work, that we nevertheless indicate because it comes to prove our examination --- a word close to [223-2] lepis, the word [*223-3], leporis, once indicated the hare in the Eolian dialect (Latin --- lepus, leporis), hence this facial deformity, at first inexplicable yet necessary for the cabalistic expression which stamps the face of our gnome with its typical physiognomy.» — y la razón cabalística del labio hendido del gnomo, por la voz eolia de la liebre.

«Philalethes, although writing under the same discipline, pretends to fill the void left by his predecessors.» — sobre Philalethes, que pretende llenar el vacío dejado por sus predecesores escribiendo bajo la misma disciplina.

«It is but necessary for us to assert how much we disapprove of similar abuses which are, in spite of the rules, nothing better than disguised mystification.» — declara desaprobar esos abusos, que tiene por mistificación disfrazada.

«He also adds that this is not the true path of the Sages although it leads to the same end.» — y recoge su reserva: no es el camino verdadero de los sabios, aunque lleve al mismo fin.

«Thus, after a time-consuming work filled with difficulties and dangers, they obtain a mercury only slightly more impure than before they started, instead of a mercury animated with the celestial quintessence.» — con el resultado que le imputa: un mercurio apenas menos impuro que al empezar, no animado con la quintaesencia celeste.

«The cabala and symbolism offer enough resources to express what must be understood by only a few.» — sostiene que la cábala y el simbolismo bastan para decir lo que solo unos pocos deben entender.

«the mystery veiling our second operation is the greatest of all; it alludes to the elaboration of the philosophical mercury which has never been taught openly.» — y declara el misterio de la segunda operación el mayor de todos, jamás enseñado abiertamente.

«It neither requires any special trick nor professional skill but only the knowledge of an unusual artifice, which is the secret of secrets that has not been revealed and probably never will be.» — operación que no pide destreza profesional sino el conocimiento de un artificio insólito, secreto de los secretos no revelado.

«No philosopher knows, and many admit it, in what manner the initial matters, while in contact with one another, react, interpenetrate, and finally unite under the veil of darkness which envelops, from beginning to end, the intimate exchanges of this peculiar procreation.» — y de la que ningún filósofo sabe, según él, cómo reaccionan y se unen las materias iniciales bajo el velo de tinieblas.

«This unique and powerful means thus allows a development of an unsuspected scope by the multiple, new, simple elements and compounds derived from the same elements, but whose genesis remains an enigma for the chemical rationale.» — medio único cuya génesis queda como enigma para la razón química.

«let us say of this unknown artifice --- which from the chemical viewpoint should be called preposterous, absurd, or paradoxical because its inexplicable action defies all scientific rules --- that it marks the intersection where alchemical science strays from chemical science.» — y que marca, dice, la intersección donde la ciencia alquímica se aparta de la química.

«It is not for us to teach what is the artifice used for the production of the philosophical mercury.» — declara no tocarle enseñar ese artificio.

«To our great regret and in spite of all the solicitude we feel for the Sons of Science, we must imitate the example of the sages who deemed it wise to hold the remarkable word.» — y decir con pesar que ha de imitar a los sabios que juzgaron prudente callar la palabra.

«We will be content to say that the second mercury or next matter of the Work is the result of the reactions of two bodies --- one fixed, the other volatile.» — se limita a decir que el segundo mercurio resulta de la reacción de dos cuerpos, uno fijo y otro volátil.

«The first, veiled under the epithet of philosophical gold is by no means common gold; the second is our living water already described under the name of common mercury.» — el primero velado bajo el epíteto de oro filosófico, que niega sea oro común, y el segundo su agua viva.

«This solution, performed according to the rules of the art, with all the required dispositions and conditions, is quite removed from analogous chemical operations.» — solución que aparta de las operaciones químicas análogas.

«Apart from the length of time and the knowledge of the appropriate means it demands many difficult repetitions.» — y que exige tiempo y muchas repeticiones difíciles.

«Philalethes (15) himself claims it when he says: "We who have worked and who know the operation certainly know that there is no more boring work than the one for our first preparation» — con la queja de Philalethes de que no hay trabajo más aburrido que la primera preparación.

«For that reason Morienus warns King Calid that many Sages often complained about the boredom that this particular Work caused them.» — y el aviso de Morienus al rey Calid sobre el hastío que la obra causaba a los sabios.

«This caused the famous author of the Secret Hermetique to say that the work required for the first operation was a work of Hercules.» — de donde el autor del Secret Hermetique la llamó trabajo de Hércules.

«We should follow here the excellent advice of the Triomphe Hermetique and "not be afraid to often drench the earth with its own water and to dry it up as many times» — con el consejo del Triomphe Hermetique de no temer regar la tierra con su propia agua y secarla otras tantas veces.

«Through repeated lixivations or Flamel’s laveures or fire purifications, through frequent and renewed immersions, one progressively extracts the viscous, oily, and pure humidity of the metal, "in which, affirms Limojon de Saint-Didier, lies the energy and the greatest efficacy of the philosophical mercury» — y la afirmación de Limojon de Saint-Didier de que en esa humedad untuosa está la energía del mercurio filosófico.

«Our solvent, all spirit, plays the symbolic role of the eagle taking away its prey and this is the reason why Philalethes, the Cosmopolite, Cyliani, d’Espagnet, and several others advise to let it fly away, emphasizing the need to make it fly.» — el disolvente como águila que se lleva su presa, con Philalethes, el Cosmopolita, Cyliani y d'Espagnet aconsejando dejarlo volar.

«Now Basil Valentine teaches that, "If the philosophers’ stone is made in the same manner that villagers make butter", by churning or shaking the cream which represents, in this similarity, our philosophical mercury.» — la comparación de Basil Valentine con los aldeanos que baten la crema para hacer mantequilla.

«Therefore all the awareness of the artist must be focused on the extraction of the mercury which is collected on the surface of the dissolved compound by creaming the viscous and metallic unctuousness as it is being produced.» — y la atención que pide al artista: desnatar la untuosidad metálica de la superficie del compuesto disuelto conforme se produce.

«Hermes, indicating the basic and fixed matter by the solar hieroglyph and its solvent by the lunar symbol, explains it in few words: "The sun", he says, "is its father and the moon its mother» — la sentencia de Hermes, con el sol por padre y la luna por madre, leída como la materia fija y su disolvente.

«the philosopher is right to affirm tha the wind is the matrix of our mercury, quintessence of the gold of the sages and pure mineral seed» — y el viento como matriz del mercurio, quintaesencia del oro de los sabios.

«"He who has mollified the dry Sun", said Henckel (19), "by means of the wet moon to the extent that one has become similar to the other and that they remain united, has found the holy water which flows in the Garden of the Hesperides» — con la fórmula de Henckel sobre quien ablanda el Sol seco con la luna húmeda y halla el agua santa del jardín de las Hespérides.

«Thus is accomplished the first part of the axiom: solve et coagula, by the constant volatilization of the fixed and by its combination with the volatile; the body spiritualized itself and the metallic soul, leaving behind its stained garment, takes on another, even more precious, to which the ancient masters gave the name of philosophical mercury.» — así cumple la primera parte del axioma solve et coagula, con el cuerpo espiritualizado y el alma metálica vestida de nuevo, a lo que los antiguos llamaron mercurio filosófico.

«The eagle indicates how to proceed, and the caduceus points out the one who must attack the adversary, our dissolving mercury.» — el águila que indica cómo proceder y el caduceo que señala quién ataca al mercurio disolvente.

«As for the mythological youth, his nakedness translates the complete stripping of the impure part, and the crown, the sign of his nobility.» — la desnudez del joven mitológico como despojo de la parte impura, y la corona como signo de nobleza.

«It is the mercury duplex that is represented on the fireplace of Terre-Neuve, by the symbolic human head which holds between its teeth the small cord of the emblem-filled shield.» — el mercurio duplex representado en la chimenea de Terre-Neuve por la cabeza que sostiene entre los dientes el cordoncillo del escudo.

«We have seen that it is collected on the surface of the water of which it occupies the highest area; this drove Louis d’Estissac to have its image positioned at the top of the decorative panel.» — recogido en la superficie del agua, razón por la que Louis d'Estissac lo puso en lo alto del panel.

«As for the bucrane sculpted in the same axis but at the bottom of the composition, it indicates the foul and coarse caput mortuum, the impure, inert, and sterile cursed earth of the body, that the action of the solvent separates, rejects, precipitates as a useless and valueless residue.» — y el bucráneo del eje bajo como caput mortuum, tierra maldita e inerte que el disolvente precipita como residuo sin valor.

«Philosophers have translated the union of the fixed and the volatile, of the body and the spirit as the image of the serpent which devours its tail, The Uroboros of the Greek alchemists» — con el Uróboros de los alquimistas griegos por unión de lo fijo y lo volátil.

«notice the same on the bas-relief we are studying, but ornamented with leaves and fruit to signify vegetative abilities and productive power.» — aquí ornado de hojas y frutos para significar la facultad vegetativa y el poder productor.

«Furthermore, the sign is complete in spite of the care our Adept took to disguise it.» — signo que declara completo pese al cuidado del adepto por disfrazarlo.

«By dissolving philosophical gold which nothing indicates here or elsewhere (21), we obtain philosophical mercury composed of the fixed and volatile, not yet radically united, but able to coagulate.» — y que da la operación: disuelto el oro filosófico se obtiene el mercurio filosófico, fijo y volátil aún no unidos radicalmente.

«The first of these asterisks, isolated in the lower third of the shield, indicates our first mercury or the living water, whose composition has been taught to us by the two stephanophore gnomes.» — el primer asterisco del escudo como su primer mercurio o agua viva, cuya composición enseñan los dos gnomos estefanóforos.

«Our mercury is, we know it, the alembic of the sages, whose inflated round bottom and helmet represent the two spiritualized and assembled elements.» — mercurio que es el alambique de los sabios, con el fondo y el yelmo por los dos elementos espiritualizados.

«Only with philosophical mercury do the sages undertake this long labor made up of numerous operations (22), which they called coction or maturation.» — y solo con él emprenden los sabios el largo trabajo que llamaron cocción o maduración.

«It becomes volatile a second time, but regains, in contact with the heat, the dry and hard consistency which it had previously acquired.» — con el mercurio que se vuelve volátil por segunda vez y recobra al calor su consistencia dura.

«We finally arrive at the top of the ascender of the strange graphic, whose shape reminds us of the number 4, but which in reality figures the path, the way which we must follow,» — el grafismo que recuerda un cuatro y que declara ser el camino que hay que seguir.

«In alchemical notation, any cross bar, whatever its direction, is the conventional graphic signature for the spirit, a fact worth remembering,» — con la regla de notación: toda barra transversal es la firma convencional del espíritu.

«The capital letter M serves to identify our magnesia of which it is in fact the first letter.» — y la M mayúscula como inicial de su magnesia.

«The sages are therefore right to teach that "the stone of the philosophers, or our mercury, and the philosophers’ stone are one and the same thing, of one and the same kind", although one is more mature and more excellent than the other.» — la enseñanza de los sabios de que la piedra de los filósofos y el mercurio son una misma cosa, aunque una más madura que la otra.

«As its exuberant fertility comes from the primitive and celestial water which gives metallic sulphur activity and movement in exchange for its coagulating virtue, it becomes clear that the stone only differs from philosophical mercury in perfection rather than in substance.» — de donde la piedra solo difiere del mercurio filosófico en perfección y no en sustancia.

«we quote an excerpt from Khunrath (24), quite clear in spite of its very pompous style and the abuse of parenthetical sentences.» — el pasaje de Khunrath que cita, claro a su ver pese al estilo pomposo y al abuso de paréntesis.

«He has ruled, rules and shall naturally and universally rule over all natural things.» — con el gobierno natural y universal que Khunrath atribuye a esa sal sobre todas las cosas naturales.

«The Salt of Wisdom, not without serious cause, has been adorned by the Wise Man with many nicknames; they have said nothing was more useful in this world, besides it and the sun.» — y la Sal de la Sabiduría, de la que dice que nada hay más útil en el mundo fuera de ella y el sol.

«For it is our intention to provide here the complement to that which we have taught in a former book (25).» — declara querer completar aquí lo enseñado en un libro anterior.

«In the 18th century the learned chemist Jean-Frederick Henckel (27) admits in this Treatise of Appropriation that, for a long time, he devoted himself to these costly and useless experiments.» — el testimonio del químico Jean-Frederick Henckel, que en su Tratado de la apropiación admite haberse entregado largo tiempo a experimentos costosos e inútiles.

«"Regulus of antimony", he says, "is regarded as a means to unite mercury to metals; here is the reason why, the regulus is no longer mercury and it is not yet a perfect metal; it has ceased to be one and has begun to become the other. However, I could not pass over the fact in silence that I uselessly worked, quite hard, to unite gold and mercury more intimately by means of regulus of antimony» — con el régulo de antimonio tenido por medio de unir mercurio y metales, y su confesión de haber trabajado en vano.

«Let us then recall that another similarity of words would allow us to infer that the philosophers’ stone could come from antimony.» — recuerda que una semejanza de palabras deja inferir que la piedra vendría del antimonio.

«It is known that alchemists of the 14th century called their universal medicine Kohl or Kohol, from the Arabic words al cohol, meaning subtle powder, words which later took on in our language the meaning of spirits (of alcohol).» — con el Kohl o Kohol de los alquimistas del siglo XIV, del árabe al cohol, polvo sutil, que dio en la lengua el sentido de alcohol.

«It is said that in Arabic Kohl is the pulverized antimony oxysulfide with which Muslim women used to dye their eyebrows black.» — y el Kohl árabe como oxisulfuro de antimonio pulverizado con que las mujeres se teñían las cejas.

«We could certainly agree if we did not know that not the slightest molecule of stibnite is a part of the platyopthalmon of the Greeks (sublimed mercury sulfide), the Kohl of the Arabs and the Cohol or Cohel of the Turks.» — objeta la identificación: ni una molécula de estibina entra en el platyopthalmon de los griegos ni en el Kohl de los árabes.

«Batsdorff’s assertion dangerous because of his hypocritical positivism: the number of those who have let themselves be caught in this crude trap is simply prodigious.» — y llama peligrosa por su positivismo hipócrita la afirmación de Batsdorff, con el número prodigioso de los que cayeron en esa trampa.

«It is the solar eye Egyptians called oudja, which also figure among the Masonic emblems, surrounded by a halo, in the center of a triangle (28).» — el ojo solar egipcio llamado oudja, que figura entre los emblemas masónicos dentro de un triángulo.

«This symbol offers the same meaning as the letter G, seventh of the alphabet, initial of the common name of the Subject of the sages, represented in the middle of a radiating star [N.B. --- gold, gur, galena, graphite, gabbro, granite, gypsum, gneiss, garnet].» — y la letra G como inicial del nombre común del Sujeto de los sabios en medio de la estrella radiante.

«From Artephius, who begins his treatise (26) with these words: "Antimony comes from parts of Saturn", all the way to Philalethes, who entitles» — con la serie que va de Artefio, que abre su tratado diciendo que el antimonio viene de las partes de Saturno, hasta Philalethes.

«As for mineral stibnite, it possesses none of the required qualities, and whatever the manner in which we want to treat it, neither the secret solvent nor the philosophical mercury will ever be obtained from it.» — niega a la estibina mineral las cualidades requeridas: de ella no se obtendrá nunca el disolvente secreto ni el mercurio filosófico.

«Basil Valentine gives philosophical mercury the nickname of pilgrim or traveler ([*235-1] --- stibeus) (29), because it must, says he, go through six celestial cities before fixing its residence in the seventh» — con el apodo de peregrino o viajero que Basil Valentine da al mercurio filosófico, obligado a pasar por seis ciudades celestes antes de fijarse en la séptima.

«if Philalethes affirms it is our only path ([*235-2] --- stibia), this is not sufficient to invoke that these masters claimed to designate common antimony as the regenerator of philosophical mercury.» — y la afirmación de Philalethes de que es su única vía, que a su ver no basta para identificarlo con el antimonio común.

«raw matter directly extracted from the mine, "is not properly mineral, and even less metallic as Philalethes (30) teaches us; but without partaking of these two substances it is something between one and the other.» — la materia cruda que Philalethes declara ni propiamente mineral ni metálica, sino algo entre las dos.

«It is not corporeal however, because it is entirely volatile;» — no corpórea, por ser enteramente volátil.

«It is therefore a chaos which stands in stead of mother to all metals» — caos que hace las veces de madre de todos los metales.

«From it, from this flower of flowers (flos florum) we first draw our frost ([*235-4] --- stibe) which is the spirit moving on the surface of the waters and the white ornament of the angels;» — de cuya flor de las flores se saca la escarcha, espíritu que se mueve sobre las aguas y ornamento blanco de los ángeles.

«Know then, brothers, so as to no longer err, that our term of antimony, derived from the Greek [*235-9] --- antemon, designates through a pun familiar to philosophers, the ane-Timon (32), the guide which in the Bible leads the Jews to the Fountain.» — con el juego de palabras que hace del antimonio el guía que en la Biblia lleva a los judíos a la Fuente.

«The names modified by this process formed genuine cryptograms, although their form and their pronunciation did not seem to have undergone any alteration.» — y la regla del procedimiento: los nombres así modificados forman criptogramas sin que forma ni pronunciación parezcan alteradas.

«Written in this manner [*236-5] --- simmi, it is no longer the stibnite of mineralogists, but indeed a matter signed by nature, or still better, a movement, a dynamism, or a vibration, a sealed life ([*236-6 --- simenai) so as to allow a man to identify it, a very peculiar signature submitted to the rules of the number six.» — escrito de ese modo, dice, ya no es la estibina de los mineralogistas sino una vida sellada sujeta a la regla del número seis.

«It would be easy for us to complete what we have said about the philosophical mercury and its preparation, but it is not up to us to entirely unveil this important secret.» — declara fácil completar lo dicho del mercurio filosófico y no tocarle develar del todo ese secreto.

«Because before they receive the supreme initiation, the Greek mystes swore on their life and in the presence of the Hierophant to never reveal anything of the truths» — con el juramento de los mystes griegos ante el hierofante de no revelar nada.

«we believe, along with the philosopher (35), "that it is more worthy of human nature and more instructive to first admit the marvelous» — y la máxima que hace suya de que es más digno de la naturaleza humana admitir primero lo maravilloso.

«Alas! The last Mystagogues have taken their secret with them; and only to God, Father of Light and dispenser of all truths, can we appeal for the grace of higher revelations.» — sostiene que los últimos mistagogos se llevaron su secreto y que solo a Dios cabe pedir revelaciones superiores.

«Only divine illumination will bring them the solution of the obscure problem: where and how to obtain this mysterious gold, unknown body, capable of animating and fertilizing water, first element of metallic nature?» — y deja el problema oscuro: dónde y cómo obtener ese oro misterioso capaz de animar el agua.

«The monograph quoted from the castle of Terre-Neuve which we think was written by the late Monsieur Rochebrune, holds a rather peculiar passage concerning these symbols» — sobre la monografía del castillo de Terre-Neuve, que atribuye al difunto Monsieur Rochebrune.

«It is one of the beautiful works of stone executed by the decorators of Louis d’Estissac.» — y la obra de piedra que allí se cuenta entre las bellas ejecutadas por los decoradores de Louis d'Estissac.

«We are looking for the key to this curious sign of the guilds» — con la busca de la clave de ese signo de los gremios.

«It does not belong to any of the coats of arms of the corporation because in this case they would have to show the tools and insignias specific to the given corporations.» — que niega pertenecer a armas de corporación, pues llevarían las herramientas propias de cada una.

«On the other hand, we know pertinently that the artists entrusted by Louis d’Estissac with the decoration of his dwelling are totally forgotten; their names have not been preserved.» — y el olvido total en que dice haber caído el nombre de los artistas de Louis d'Estissac.

«Meditate upon this; an important secret is hidden beneath this cabala.» — con la orden de meditar sobre un secreto importante escondido bajo esa cábala.

«This woman says of herself in the Song of Songs , ch. 1:5, "I am black but I am beautiful» — el verso del Cantar de los Cantares sobre la negra y hermosa.

«He pierces with a blow of his lance the side of Christ just as the celestial knights and the Greek heroes pierce the dragon.» — y el paralelo entre la lanza que hiere el costado de Cristo y la de los caballeros celestes contra el dragón.

«This esoteric truth is wonderfully expressed in the Hymn of the Christian Church:» — verdad esotérica que dice maravillosamente expresada en el himno de la Iglesia cristiana.

«According to the Armenian version of the Gospel of Childhood, translated by Paul Peeters, Jesus during his sojourn in Egypt renews in the presence of children of his age the miracle of Moses:» — con la versión armenia del Evangelio de la infancia traducida por Paul Peeters, donde Jesús repite en Egipto el milagro de Moisés.

«We can see that the Adept s speaking of the preparation of the philosophical Mercury as if it were the first of all;» — y la observación de que el adepto habla de la preparación del Mercurio filosófico como si fuera la primera de todas.

«He assumes it is known and realized.» — dándola por sabida y realizada.

«You must know that this solution and separation has never been described by any of the ancient Sage Philosophers who have lived before me and who have known this Magistery.» — en la voz del adepto que cita, la solución y separación que ningún sabio anterior describió.

«And if they have spoken of it, it has been only through enigmas and symbols and not in an open fashion» — y si hablaron de ella, solo por enigmas y símbolos.

«The artists who believed that the third work to complete with a continuous coction requiring no other help but a specific fire of equal and constant temperature were badly mistaken.» — objeta a los artistas que tuvieron la tercera obra por cocción continua con un solo fuego constante.

«The true coction is not accomplished in such a manner, and it is the last stumbling block against which those who stumble, who after long and painful efforts, have finally taken possession of the philosophical mercury.» — y llama a ese punto el último escollo de quienes ya poseen el mercurio filosófico.

«In being born, we die every day.» — la divisa esculpida en Coulonges: naciendo morimos cada día.

«Therefore Limojon de Saint-Didier states a primordial truth when he affirms: "The stone of the philosophers is born from the destruction of two bodies» — que apoya en Limojon de Saint-Didier, para quien la piedra nace de la destrucción de dos cuerpos.

«For there is a fundamental law in hermetics expressed by the old adage: Corruptio unius est generatio alterius» — con la ley hermética del viejo adagio: la corrupción de uno es la generación del otro.

«Huginus a Barma tells us, in the chapter about Hermetic Positions (3) that: "Whoever does not know the means of destroying the bodies does not know wither the means of producing them» — y la sentencia de Huginus a Barma: quien no sabe destruir los cuerpos tampoco sabe producirlos.

«Elsewhere the same author teaches that "if the mercury is not tincted it will not tinct» — del mismo autor, que el mercurio no teñido no teñirá.

«"Indeed", writes Nicolas Flamel in the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, "whoever does not see this blackness at the beginning of his operation, during the days of the stone, whatever other colors he may see, he is totally failing the magistery and he can no longer perfect it with this chaos.» — y la advertencia de Nicolas Flamel en el Libro de las figuras jeroglíficas: quien no ve la negrura al principio yerra del todo el magisterio.

«Their language is true; they actually die together not only to give it being, but also to ensure the growth and multiplication of the stone.» — con los padres herméticos que mueren juntos no solo para darle ser sino para asegurar el crecimiento de la piedra.

«Thus the mystery, free from its matrix, gives away the hidden reason for the amphibological axiom.» — y el misterio que, libre de su matriz, entrega la razón oculta del axioma anfibológico.

«Further, the great Adept asserts that dissolving the compound and liquefying it under the influence of fire provokes the disintegration and liquefying it under the influence of fire provokes the disintegration of the assembled parts whose black parts whose black color is a sure proof.» — el gran adepto que hace de la negrura prueba segura de la desintegración de las partes bajo el fuego, con la repetición que trae la capa de texto.

«"Therefore", he says, "this blackness and color clearly teaches that in this beginning the matter and compound are beginning to rot and to dissolve the matter and compound are beginning to rot and to dissolve into a powder tinier than the atoms of the Sun, later transforming themselves into permanent water.» — y su explicación: esa negrura enseña que la materia empieza a pudrirse y a disolverse en polvo más menudo que los átomos del Sol.

«A certain number of authors --- Philalethes in particular --- demonstrated the necessity, the utility of death and of mineral putrefaction by using a simile drawn from wheatseed.» — con el símil del grano de trigo, que atribuye a varios autores y en particular a Philalethes, para probar la necesidad de la muerte y la putrefacción mineral.

«We believe to have sufficiently developed the secret meaning of the epigraph: Nascendo quotidie morimur, and demonstrated how this classical axiom, skillfully used by Louis d’Estissac throws a new light on the lapidary work of the hermetic scientist.» — declara desarrollado el sentido secreto del epígrafe Nascendo quotidie morimur y su aplicación a la obra lapidaria de Louis d'Estissac.

«It is divided into six oblong panels, ornamented with symmetrical motifs repeated two by two and it summarizes the essential points of experimentation.» — pasa a los seis paneles oblongos, que resumen los puntos esenciales de la experimentación.

«Their field displays the image of a medusa head with its snake hair, out of which two lightning bolts are flashing.» — con la cabeza de medusa de cabellera de serpientes de la que salen dos rayos.

«The mutual reaction of these primary elements --- water and fire --- yield common mercury, of mixed quality, which is this igneous water or aqueous fire that we use as a solvent in the preparation of the philosophers’ mercury.» — reacción de agua y fuego que da el mercurio común, agua ígnea o fuego acuoso usado como disolvente.

«After the shields, the bucranes indicate the two mortifications marking the beginning of the preliminary works: the first creates common mercury and the second gives birth to the hermetic rebis,» — los bucráneos como las dos mortificaciones: la primera crea el mercurio común y la segunda el rebis hermético.

«It is the common epithet applied to decomposing matters, matters being corrupted, which are characterized in the philosophers’ work by an oily, greasy appearance, a strong and disgusting odor, a viscous and sticky condition, a quicksilver-like consistency, a blue, violet or black coloration.» — con los caracteres de la materia en descomposición: aspecto aceitoso, olor fuerte, viscosidad y color azul, violeta o negro.

«You will notice the bandlets connecting the bucrane’s horns; they are crossed in the shape of an X, divine attribute and first manifestation of light, previously diffuse in the darkness of mineral earth.» — y las cintas cruzadas en X entre los cuernos del bucráneo, atributo divino y primera manifestación de la luz.

«As for the philosophers’ mercury, whose elaboration is never revealed, not even under the hieroglyphics veil, we find nonetheless its image on one of the decorative shields adjacent to the median acanthus.» — el mercurio de los filósofos, cuya elaboración dice no revelarse ni bajo el velo jeroglífico, y cuya imagen halla en uno de los escudos.

«Two stars are engraved above the moon crescent, images of the mercury duplex or Rebis that coction first transforms into white, semi-fixed and fusible sulphur.» — con las dos estrellas sobre el creciente lunar como mercurio duplex o Rebis que la cocción vuelve azufre blanco.

«Under the action of the elementary fire, the operation resumed and pursued, leads to the great final realizations, figures on the opposite shield by two roses.» — y las dos rosas del escudo opuesto como grandes realizaciones finales.

«These, as we know, mark the result of the two, lesser and greater, magisteries, white Medicine and red Stone, whose fleur de lys below them, sanction the absolute truth.» — marca de los dos magisterios, Medicina blanca y Piedra roja, con la flor de lis que las sanciona.

«It is the sign of perfect knowledge, the emblem of Wisdom, the crown of the philosopher, the seal of Science and Faith united with the double spiritual and temporal power of Knighthood.» — signo que llama de conocimiento perfecto y sello de la Ciencia y la Fe unidas al doble poder de la Caballería.

«It is the so-called house of the Man of the Woods, a noggin building, reduced today to the first and second floors only.» — abre el capítulo del Hombre de los Bosques con la casa de Thiers, de entramado, reducida hoy a dos pisos.

«Its surprising preservation makes it precious to art enthusiasts as well as to dilettantes of the Middle Ages (Plate XVII)» — cuya conservación declara preciosa para los aficionados a la Edad Media.

«Engaged little columns with capitals composed of grotesque masks which are covered with long-eared head-dresses, separate them from one another and support as many figurines sheltered under light, delicate, and perforated canopies.» — con las columnillas de capiteles de máscaras grotescas y las figurillas bajo doseles calados.

«The main character which serves as a sign for this old dwelling is a character similar to the one we have seen maneuvering a stump, on the corner sorb tree pillar of the manor of Lisieux.» — y el personaje principal, semejante al que maniobra un tocón en el pilar de la mansión de Lisieux.

«We know nothing of him except that it getting close to five centuries old and, since it has been built, generations of Thiers inhabitants have always seen him leaning against the panel of his old dwelling.» — de quien declara no saber nada salvo que lleva cerca de cinco siglos allí.

«Such is this man of the Woods called by a local chronicler the Sphinx of Thiers.» — y a quien un cronista local llama la Esfinge de Thiers.

«"The local people", he writes, "are not concerned about his origins, his gesture, or his silence.» — recogiendo del mismo cronista que la gente del lugar no se ocupa de su origen ni de su gesto.

«Furthermore, the very absence of Jesus on the shoulder of the colossus justifies the exclusion of a possible resemblance with St Christopher.» — descarta el parecido con San Cristóbal por faltar el Jesús sobre el hombro.

«We will agree that he could not have been created and placed there without purpose, and that, from this standpoint, the decorative concern seems only to intervene on a secondary level.» — y sostiene que no pudo ponerse allí sin propósito, quedando lo decorativo en segundo plano.

«In our opinion, what was meant to be asserted, what this bas-relief of Thiers clearly indicates, is that it designates the dwelling of an unknown alchemist.» — su lectura: el bajorrelieve señala la morada de un alquimista desconocido.

«It officially stamps the ancient philosopher’s dwelling and reveals its mystery.» — sellando oficialmente la casa del viejo filósofo y revelando su misterio.

«As for the correct meaning of the Man of the Woods, it is mostly focused on the old woman’s head at the top of his rustic scepter.» — con el sentido concentrado en la cabeza de vieja que remata el cetro rústico.

«This mother of the insane, or crazy Mother is no other than the hermetic science itself, its body of knowledge considered as a whole.» — esa Madre Loca que identifica con la ciencia hermética misma tomada en conjunto.

«He is the Enlightened one for he has received the light spiritual enlightenment.» — y el personaje como el Iluminado, por haber recibido la luz.

«The Man of the Woods reveals yet another function, apart from his esoteric one demonstrating what the alchemist should be: a learned man of simple spirit, an attentive investigator of nature, always attempting to imitate, just as the monkey imitates man (3).» — de quien saca además lo que el alquimista debe ser: hombre docto de espíritu simple, imitador de la naturaleza como el mono imita al hombre.

«This mercury or insane man who is the absolute master of the Work, the obscure and never lazy worker, the secret agent and faithful and loyal servant of the philosopher.» — con el mercurio u hombre loco por amo absoluto de la Obra y servidor fiel del filósofo.

«In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the artist cared to write the name of each planet under its proper sign.» — señala que el artista escribió el nombre de cada planeta bajo su signo para evitar equívocos.

«It is, therefore, a genuine symbolic formula, used in the middle ages for the esoteric translation of celestial Mercury and quicksilver of the sages.» — fórmula simbólica que la Edad Media usaba para el Mercurio celeste y el azogue de los sabios.

«We should not be surprised that court jesters, among whom several have remained famous, have a hermetic origin.» — atribuye origen hermético a los bufones de corte.

«Finally, due to its fickleness and volatility, the mercury called the Crazy Man of the Great Work, has it meaning confirmed in the first card of the Tarot, called the Joker, the Magician or sometimes the Alchemist (6).» — y halla confirmado el sentido del mercurio llamado Hombre Loco en la primera carta del Tarot, el Loco, el Mago o a veces el Alquimista.

«The two attributes share an obvious analogy, although the court fool’s bauble expresses, in» — con la analogía entre el cetro del bufón y el caduceo.

«In the final analysis, the rattle or jester’s bauble seems to be a caduceus whose esotericism is clearer than that of the stick with snakes, whether surmounted by a winged figure or not.» — y su juicio de que el cascabel del bufón es un caduceo de esoterismo más claro que el bastón con serpientes.

«If nothing in the bas-relief of Thiers reminds us of this bird, it cannot, however, be denied that it is hidden in the word caduceus, which our herald is holding in both hands.» — el ave que, aunque no esté en el relieve de Thiers, dice escondida en la palabra caduceo.

«And if this king at arms, this triumpher, prefers his faun outfit to the opulent uniform of the heralds, it is to demonstrate the straight path he was able to abide by, the indifference which he manifests towards material goods and worldly glory.» — y el traje de fauno preferido al uniforme de heraldo como signo de indiferencia hacia los bienes y la gloria mundana.

«we would be wrong, nevertheless, to neglect their study.» — advierte que sería un error descuidar el estudio de los personajillos.

«Often they have brought us the solution of the most abstruse problems and, in the practice, the success which we were seeking in vain without the help of their teaching.» — porque de esos jeroglíficos dice haber sacado la solución de los problemas más abstrusos.

«Some authors --- Nicolas Flamel and Basil Valentine in particular --- have given to these elements the conventional name of dragons; the celestial dragon which they represent with wings designates the volatile body, the terrestrial wingless dragon indicates the fixed body.» — recoge de Nicolas Flamel y Basil Valentine el nombre de dragones para los dos principios, alado el volátil y áptero el fijo.

«"Of these two dragons or metallic principles", writes Flamel (11), "I have said in my Summary mentioned above that the enemy would enflame by his ardor the fire of his enemy and then if we pay heed, one would see in the air a venomous fume of a bad odor, worse in flame and in poison than the envenomed head of a snake and of a Babylonian dragon» — con el pasaje de Flamel sobre el humo venenoso peor que la cabeza de la sierpe y del dragón babilónico.

«They recommend to kill it by piercing it with the thrust o a lance; and this operation has become among them the subject of numerous fables and various allegories.» — y el consejo de matarlo atravesándolo con la lanza, tema de fábulas y alegorías.

«"The fixed blood of the red Lion", says Basil Valentine (13), on the subject, "is made of the volatile blood of the green Lion because they are both of the same nature» — con Basil Valentine, para quien la sangre fija del león rojo se hace de la sangre volátil del león verde por ser de una misma naturaleza.

«But it is only a hypothesis and nothing allows us to develop a discourse.» — acota que su lectura de un motivo es hipótesis y nada le permite desarrollarla.

«We will therefore skip this gracious motif regretting that it is incomplete in order to study the last of the figures, the Pilgrim.» — y pasa por alto ese motivo incompleto para estudiar la figura del Peregrino.

«Our traveler, without doubt, has traveled for a rather long time; yet his smile tells how happy and satisfied he is to have accomplished his vow.» — el viajero que sonríe satisfecho de haber cumplido su voto.

«For his empty bag, his pilgrim staff without the calabash show us that this worthy son of the Auvergne province no longer has to worry about food and drink.» — con la bolsa vacía y el bordón sin calabaza como signos de que ya no ha de cuidarse de comida ni bebida.

«Further, the shell attached to his hat, special sign of the pilgrims of St James of Compostella, proves that he comes straight back from Compostella.» — y la concha del sombrero como prueba de que vuelve de Compostela.

«The tireless pedestrian beings back the open book --- the book adorned with beautiful images which Flamel did not know how to explain --- which a mysterious revelation allows him now to translate and to put into action.» — el libro abierto que trae, aquel de bellas imágenes que Flamel no supo explicar y que una revelación le permite ahora traducir.

«This book, although quite common, and even though everyone can easily acquire it, cannot be opened without previous revelation.» — libro común que cualquiera puede adquirir y que no se abre sin revelación previa.

«God alone, through the intercession of Monsieur St James, grants, only to those whom he deems worthy, the essential enlightenment.» — iluminación que solo Dios concede, por intercesión de Santiago, a quien juzga digno.

«It is the Book of Revelation, whose pages are closed with seven seals, the initiatory book presented to us by the characters in charge of exposing the higher truths of science.» — Libro de la Revelación de siete sellos, libro iniciático de las verdades superiores de la ciencia.

«St James, disciple of the Savior, always keeps it.» — que Santiago, discípulo del Salvador, guarda siempre.

«Here is the first secret, the one which the philosophers do not reveal and which they keep under the enigmatic expression of the Path of St James (15).» — y el primer secreto que los filósofos esconden bajo la expresión del Camino de Santiago.

«He must constantly watch the vase, the matter, and the fire.» — con la vigilancia continua del vaso, la materia y el fuego.

«He must day and night stay at the Work.» — y la permanencia día y noche en la Obra.

«Compostella, emblematic city, is not on Spanish ground, but in the very earth of the philosophical subject.» — declara que Compostela, ciudad emblemática, no está en suelo español sino en la tierra misma del sujeto filosófico.

«The sages have veiled this delicate preparation of the first matter or common mercury under the allegory of the pilgrimage to the city of Compostella.» — y que los sabios velaron bajo esa peregrinación la preparación de la primera materia o mercurio común.

«Our mercury, we believe it has been mentioned, is this pilgrim, this voyager to whom Michael Maier has consecrated one of his best treatises (16)!» — mercurio que identifica con el peregrino al que Michael Maier dedicó uno de sus mejores tratados.

«By imposing this symbolical formula on sculptors and painters, the alchemist Flamel hid the middle class personality of Flamel the writer, under that of St James the Great, hieroglyph of the secret mercury.» — sostiene que Flamel escondió al escritor burgués bajo Santiago el Mayor, jeroglífico del mercurio secreto.

«These images no longer exist today, but we can still have a rather exact picture of what they looked like by the statues of the apostle, carved at the same time.» — y que, perdidas las imágenes, cabe reconstruirlas por las estatuas del apóstol talladas entonces.

«We know how much the Adept is stingy in giving information about his trip which he accomplished at a stretch, "And so in the same fashion", he is content to write (20), "I began my trip and I did so well that I arrived at Mount Joy (the cairn) and then at St James where with great devotion I accomplished my vow» — con la tacañería del adepto al contar su viaje, que despacha diciendo que llegó al Monte del Gozo y luego a Santiago.

«At that time, the English occupied the entire French territory: Flamel does not say one word about it.» — y el silencio de Flamel sobre la ocupación inglesa del territorio francés.

«The matter has undergone a first preparation, the common quicksilver has turned into philosophical hydrargyrum, but we learn nothing more.» — concluye que la materia sufrió una primera preparación y que del resto nada se aprende.

«Flamel tells us that a merchant of Boulogne (22) --- whom we identify with the indispensable mediator --- put him in contact with a Jewish rabbi, Master Canches, "a man quite learned in the sublime sciences» — con el mercader de Boulogne, que él identifica con el mediador indispensable, poniéndolo en contacto con el rabino Maestro Canches.

«During the sublimation, the merchant acts as an intermediary (23), which requires a violent fire.» — lee al mercader como intermediario de la sublimación, que pide fuego violento.

«It is our secret fire, called lunatic Vulcan by author of The Ancient War of the Knights.» — y lo identifica con el fuego secreto que el autor de La antigua guerra de los caballeros llama Vulcano lunático.

«Flamel does not tell us the reasons for this decision, which he simply submits to the appreciation of the researchers.» — señala que Flamel no da las razones de su decisión y las deja al juicio de los investigadores.

«Be that as it may, the second part of the trip is long, dangerous, uncertain, and vain, says an anonymous author, if the least error slips into it.» — con el anónimo que declara larga, peligrosa e incierta la segunda parte del viaje si se desliza el menor error.

«Indeed, in our opinion, the dry path would be preferable, but we have no choice.» — y su propia preferencia por la vía seca, que dice no poder elegir.

«To direct the hermetic ship is not a small task, and master Canches, whom we suspect to have been pilot and conductor for the Argonaut Flamel, must have been very skilled in the matter.» — con el maestro Canches por piloto y conductor del argonauta Flamel.

«The vomitings of sulphur are the best clues of its dissolution and mortification.» — los vómitos de azufre como mejor indicio de su disolución y mortificación.

«From then on, the mercury blackens more and more each day and its consistency becomes syrupy, and then pasty.» — y el mercurio que se ennegrece cada día y pasa de jarabe a pasta.

«When the blackness reaches its maximum intensity, the putrefaction of the elements is accomplished and their union realized; everything appears firm in the vase until» — hasta que la negrura máxima cumple la putrefacción de los elementos y su unión.

«It is the great eclipse of the sun and of the moon; no luminary shines on the earth any longer, and the sea disappears» — gran eclipse del sol y de la luna en que ningún astro alumbra y el mar desaparece.

«Thus we understand why Flamel relates the death of his friend; why the latter, having undergone the dislocation» — de donde explica por qué Flamel cuenta la muerte de su amigo.

«These unusual and precise concordances demonstrate that the pilgrimage of Flamel is a pure allegory,» — y concluye que la peregrinación de Flamel es pura alegoría.

«In spite of certain book-lovers’ opinions, we confess that it has always been impossible for us to believe in the reality of the Book of Abraham the Jew,» — confiesa haberle sido siempre imposible creer en la realidad del Libro de Abraham el Judío.

«It is a summary of the characteristics which distinguish the primal matter of the Work, as well as the properties it acquires during preparation.» — al que tiene por resumen de los caracteres de la materia primera y de las propiedades que adquiere.

«We teach certain, positive and genuine things, things seen by our own eyes, a thousand times touched by our hands, sincerely described, so as to direct anew those onto the simple and natural path» — declara enseñar cosas ciertas vistas por sus ojos y mil veces tocadas por sus manos.

«According to the testimony of Albert Poisson (28), Cardinal Richelieu would have had it in his possession;» — recoge de Albert Poisson que el cardenal Richelieu habría poseído el manuscrito.

«Nevertheless, nothing proves that Dubois inherited the unusual manuscript, and even less proves that Richelieu seized it,» — y objeta que nada prueba que Dubois lo heredara ni que Richelieu se apoderara de él.

«These books, in very small number, have no relationship among themselves, and are spread over a few private libraries.» — con las copias, escasas y dispersas en bibliotecas privadas, sin relación entre sí.

«Flamel exalts the clarity of the text, "written in beautiful and very understandable Latin", to the extent that he takes legal cognizance of it and refuse to transmit the least excerpt to posterity.» — y el elogio de Flamel al latín claro del texto, que se niega a transmitir.

«As a consequence, no correlation can exist between the alleged original and the apocryphal copies we mention.» — de donde niega toda correlación entre el original alegado y las copias apócrifas.

«Finally, since no bibliographer has ever been able to discover the original, and since we are not materially able to correlate the Adept’s account, we are forced to conclude that it is a nonexistent and fictitious work.» — y concluye que se trata de una obra inexistente y ficticia, al no haber bibliógrafo que diera con el original.

«I think that they might have been Greek characters or some similar ancient language.» — con la conjetura de Flamel de que los caracteres pudieron ser griegos o de una lengua antigua semejante.

«It is, we are told, golden, although its cover is of copper, which is not very clear.» — y la incoherencia que señala del libro dorado con cubierta de cobre.

«Finally, in spite of Flamel’s affirmations, this old manuscript had just been written --- one cannot think of everything --- when he acquired it.» — sostiene que el manuscrito acababa de escribirse cuando Flamel lo adquirió.

«In fact, Abraham says he only want to reveal his secrets so as to come to the help of the sons of Israel, persecuted at that same period when the future Adept was reading his text:» — porque Abraham dice querer socorrer a los hijos de Israel perseguidos en ese mismo periodo.

«And so, the great master Abraham, doctor and light of Israel, reveals himself, if we take him literally, to be a bona fide mystifier and his work, fraudulently archaic, to have no authenticity, as if it were unable to hold through critical examination.» — de donde tiene al gran maestro Abraham por mistificador y a su obra por fraudulentamente arcaica.

«However, if we consider that the book and the author never had any other existence except in Nicolas Flamel’s fertile imagination, we must think that all these things, so diverse, so unusual, hold a mysterious meaning important to discover.» — aunque, si el libro y el autor solo existieron en la imaginación de Flamel, les supone un sentido misterioso que importa descubrir.

«The Latin name Abraham, which the Bible gives to the venerable ancestor of the Hebrews, means Father of a multitude.» — con el nombre Abraham, que la Biblia da al antepasado de los hebreos y que significa padre de una multitud.

«Flamel buys this book for the sum of two florins, which means the total price of the materials and combustibles necessary for the work was valued at two florins in the 14th century.» — y los dos florines del precio, que lee como el costo total de materiales y combustibles en el siglo XIV.

«Philalethes, who wrote his treatise of the Introitus in 1645, brings the total cost to three florins.» — frente a los tres florines en que Philalethes lo cifra en su Introitus de 1645.

«And if the Adept affirms that it is old, it is only to establish the high antiquity of the hermetic subject.» — lee la antigüedad que el adepto atribuye al libro como afirmación de la alta antigüedad del sujeto hermético.

«"I will therefore say", asserts an anonymous author (32), "that the matter from which the stone of the philosophers is made was immediately made when man was first created, and its name is philosophical earth... But no one knows it, except the true philosophers, who are the children of the Art".» — con el anónimo que hace la materia de la piedra tan antigua como la creación del hombre y la llama tierra filosófica.

«Flamel is not very assertive about this point, and for good reason: he knows very well that besides a few very rare exceptions, for the past three centuries, medieval parchment had been substituted for Egyptian papyrus (33).» — y el dato que explica la vacilación de Flamel: hacía tres siglos que el pergamino medieval había sustituido al papiro egipcio.

«This operation is not advisable, because it takes away any work value; but we can assert that the philosophical matter truly contains the gold of the sages, imperfect, white and crude gold, vile compared to precious metal, yet much higher to gold even when we only consider the Hermetic labor.» — desaconseja la operación de extraer el oro de la materia filosófica y aun así declara que esta contiene el oro de los sabios, blanco y crudo.

«In spite of its humble copper cover with engraved scales, the book of Abraham the Jew, is» — el libro de Abraham el Judío, de humilde cubierta de cobre con escamas grabadas.

«indeed a golden book, and it is the famous little book of fine gold of which Bernard de Trevisan speaks in his Parable.» — que declara sin embargo libro de oro, el librito de oro fino de que habla Bernard de Trevisan en su Parábola.

«Further, it seems that Nicolas Flamel understood the confusion that could result in the reader’s mind from this duality of meaning when he writes in the same treatise: "May no one blame me if he doesn’t easily understand me, for he will be more blameworthy than I, as he has not been initiated into these sacred and secret interpretations of the first agent (which is the key opening of all sciences), nevertheless he wants to understand the most subtle conceptions of the most envious (34) philosophers, which are only written for those who already know these principles, principles which can never be found in any book» — con el aviso de Flamel de que no se le culpe si no se le entiende, porque escribe para quien ya conoce principios que nunca se hallarán en libro alguno.

«Finally, the author of the Figures Hieroglyphiques concludes his description by saying: "As for the inside, the bark pages were engraved with a great workmanship, written with an iron stiletto» — y la descripción de las hojas de corteza grabadas con estilete de hierro.

«Therefore, we shall not attempt to comment in clear language, as we have done up to now, on the ambiguous and rather allegorical sentence of Flamel.» — declara que no comentará en lenguaje claro esa frase ambigua y alegórica de Flamel.

«It is important to communicate this active fire to the passive subject: only it has the power to modify its cold and sterile complexion by rendering it fiery and prolific.» — el fuego activo que hay que comunicar al sujeto pasivo, único capaz de volver ígnea y prolífica su complexión fría.

«If the reader has understood what we wish to teach, he will find without difficulty in these diverse symbolic expressions of the combat of the two natures the secret materials whose reciprocal destruction opens the first door to the work.» — y la promesa al lector de hallar en esas expresiones del combate de las dos naturalezas los materiales secretos.

«The Church has veiled it in the dogma, entirely spiritual and rigorously true, of the Visitation.» — que la Iglesia, dice, veló en el dogma de la Visitación.

«Bow down, Magi o the Orient, and you, Doctors of the Law; bow your forehead, sovereign princes o the Persians, of the Arabs and of India!» — con la invocación a los magos de Oriente y a los príncipes de Persia, Arabia y la India.

«This is the divine Work, supernatural, ineffable, whose mystery no mortal will ever penetrate, In the nocturnal, silent and deep firmament shines one single star, an enormous heavenly body, resplendent, composed of all the celestial stars, your luminous guide and the torch of universal Wisdom.» — y la estrella única del firmamento nocturno como guía luminosa y antorcha de la Sabiduría universal.

«On it we notice our first parents, tempted by the human-headed snake, curled around the Tree of Paradise.» — los primeros padres tentados por la serpiente de cabeza humana enroscada al Árbol del Paraíso.

«(3) This is the reason for the appearance of his clothing and his local name.» — en nota, la razón del atuendo y del nombre local del personaje.

«(6) Some occultists place the Jester or the Alchemist as the last of the 21 cards of the deck, that is to say, after the card The World and it is given the highest value.» — en nota, la posición que algunos ocultistas dan al Loco o al Alquimista al final de las veintiuna cartas.

«Such an order would be without any great consequence --- the Jester having no number, being out of the sequences --- if we did not know that the tarot, complete hieroglyph of the Great Work contained the 21 operations or stages through which the philosophical mercury must pass before it reaches the final perfection of the Elixir.» — orden que declararía indiferente si el tarot no fuera para él el jeroglífico completo de la Gran Obra con sus veintiuna operaciones.

«(8) It is only in the 16th century that a crossing bar was added to the original vertical line so as to represent the cross, image of death and resurrection.» — en nota, la barra transversal añadida en el siglo XVI a la línea vertical original para figurar la cruz.

«(12) The myth of the dragon and of the knight who attacks it, plays an important role in the heroic or popular legends as well as in the mythologies of all people.» — y el papel del mito del dragón y del caballero en las leyendas y mitologías de todos los pueblos.

«Houses, just like books and men, often have a strange destiny.» — abre con la sentencia de que las casas, como los libros y los hombres, tienen a menudo un destino extraño.

«We can assume that this golden square house, if we judge by the elongated shapes of its corner pillars in an out of plumb position, must have looked like the harmonious and original type of building which was favored by medieval esthetics.» — y la conjetura sobre la casa cuadrada dorada, que por sus pilares supone del tipo armonioso de la estética medieval.

«(15) Thus it is still called the Milky Way.» — en nota, la Vía Láctea que conserva ese nombre.

«The Greek mythologists tell us that the gods walked this Way to go to the Palace of Zeus and that the heroes also used it to enter into Mount Olympus.» — camino por el que los mitógrafos griegos hacían subir a los dioses al palacio de Zeus y a los héroes al Olimpo.

«The path of St James is the starry road, accessible to the elect ones, to the brave, knowledgeable, and persevering mortals.» — y que empareja con el camino de Santiago, ruta estrellada accesible a los elegidos y perseverantes.

«(20) In other words, in the disguise of a pilgrim; he had himself later represented at the Charnal house of the Innocents wearing the same disguise.» — en nota, Flamel haciéndose representar con disfraz de peregrino en el osario de los Inocentes.

«It is our Messiah who in the Work fulfills the mediator’s function of Christ between the Creator and his creature, between God and man.» — el Mesías que en la Obra cumple la función mediadora de Cristo entre el Creador y su criatura.

«Orleans, French town; the name sounds like "or leans", which in old French means "gold is here", or "there is gold her".» — con la cábala fonética sobre Orleans, que en francés antiguo suena a oro está aquí.

«Similar to that of Christ, the passion, the martyrdom of sulphur which dies to redeem its metallic brothers, ends with the redemptive cross.» — la pasión del azufre, que muere para redimir a sus hermanos metálicos y acaba en la cruz redentora.

«On that day the spring equinox opens the time for the Great Work.» — y el equinoccio de primavera que abre el tiempo de la Gran Obra.

«The use of papyrus was completely abandoned at the end of the 11th century or at the beginning of the 12th.» — con el abandono del papiro a fines del siglo XI o principios del XII.

«In outer architecture, though elegant and in good taste, remains very simple and presents nothing remarkable; but it is with buildings as it is with certain people: their unobtrusive bearing and the modesty of their appearance only serve to veil that which in them is of a higher essence.» — abre el capítulo de Dampierre con la arquitectura exterior, elegante y sencilla, que vela lo de esencia superior.

«While we may know today the name of who built the new buildings destined to replace the old feudal fortress of Chateau-Gaillard (3), we are still ignorant of the unknown and mysterious individual to whom Hermetic philosophers owe the symbolic pieces which they shelter.» — declara conocido el nombre de quien levantó los edificios nuevos de Chateau-Gaillard e ignorado el del autor de las piezas simbólicas.

«It is almost certain, and on this point we share Leon Palustre’s opinion, that the paneled ceiling of the higher gallery, where all of Dampierre’s fascination lies, was executed between 1545 or 1546 and 1550.» — y fecha el techo artesonado de la galería alta, donde está toda la fascinación de Dampierre, entre 1545 o 1546 y 1550, con Leon Palustre.

«Less certain however is the attribution of this work to individuals, no doubt well known, but who nevertheless are total strangers to it, certain authors suggested the emblematic motifs emanated from Claude de Clermont, baron of Dampierre, governor of Ardres, colonel of the Grisons and gentleman of the Privy Chamber.» — objeta la atribución de esos motivos a Claude de Clermont, barón de Dampierre.

«Now, in his Vie des Femmes Illustres (4), Brantome says that during the war between the king of England and the king of France, Claude de Clermont was ambushed by the enemy and died in 1545. Therefore he could not have been even remotely involved» — porque Brantome, en su Vie des Femmes Illustres, lo hace morir en 1545 tras una emboscada.

«And yet, as convincing as this hypothesis may seem, it is impossible for us to endorse it.» — declara imposible suscribir la hipótesis siguiente por convincente que parezca.

«We strongly refuse to acknowledge a woman of 25 as the beneficiary of a science demanding more than twice as many years of sustained efforts and persevering studies.» — y rehúsa reconocer a una mujer de veinticinco años como beneficiaria de una ciencia que pide más del doble de años de esfuerzo.

«Even supposing that, in her prime and in defiance of all philosophical rules, she could have been the recipient of an oral initiation from some unknown Artist, it remains, nonetheless, that she would have had to control, through obstinate and personal toil, the truth of the teaching.» — aun suponiendo una iniciación oral, sostiene que habría tenido que comprobar por trabajo propio la verdad de la enseñanza.

«writes Brantome "at the early age of eight, she was raised there and forget nothing of it; and it was good to hear her speak as I have seen our kings and queens take pleasure in hearing her do so for she knew nothing of it; and it was good to hear her speak as I have seen our kings and queens take pleasure in hearing her do so for she knew everything of her time and of the past; so much so that she was accepted as an oracle.» — con el elogio de Brantome a Jeanne, tenida por oráculo, en el pasaje que el troceo imprime dos veces.

«These are mysteries that we cannot solve.» — declara insolubles esos misterios de la propiedad de Dampierre.

«And so the opinion is confirmed --- according to which the philosopher to whom we owe all the embellishments of the castle --- paintings and sculptures --- is unknown to us and will perhaps remain so forever.» — y da por confirmado que el filósofo a quien se deben pinturas y esculturas es y quizá seguirá siendo desconocido.

«It seems to result from this deed: (1) that Jeanne de Vivonne does not enjoy Dampierre nor her daughter Catherine who owns it; (2) that Claude de Clermont had a younger brother, Francois, who was under age but emancipated in 1547.» — con el acta que hace a Jeanne de Vivonne y a su hija Catherine sin disfrute del castillo y saca a la luz a Francois, hermano menor emancipado en 1547.

«We believe it is a great deal even to be able to glimpse some of the issues at play» — y su conformidad con haber al menos vislumbrado los problemas en juego.

«Madame de Dampierre, says that "she was a genuine court register".» — recoge que a Madame de Dampierre la llamaban un verdadero registro de la corte.

«Jeanne de Vivonne was a register, no doubt pleasant and instructive for consultants, but she was not anything else.» — y añade que Jeanne de Vivonne no fue nada más que eso.

«The composition as a whole presents a paradigm of the hermetic science.» — lee el conjunto de la composición como paradigma de la ciencia hermética.

«Mastiff and dragon hold the place of the two material principles assembled and held in check by the gold of the sages, in accordance with the proper ratio and natural equilibrium, such as the image of the scales teaches us.» — con el mastín y el dragón por los dos principios materiales sujetos por el oro de los sabios, según la imagen de la balanza.

«As for the rolls of gold coins, they clearly indicate the nature of the final result and one of the objectives of the Work.» — y los rollos de monedas de oro como naturaleza del resultado final.

«The mark made up of a crowned L has always been the traditional sign, in graphic notation, to mean projection gold, that is to say, alchemically produced gold.» — la L coronada como signo tradicional del oro de proyección, es decir del oro obtenido alquímicamente.

«The heraldic fleur-de-lis indeed corresponds to the hermetic rose, as an ensign and a coat of arms for the practicing knight who, thanks to divine grace, achieved the philosophers’ stone.» — y la flor de lis heráldica correspondiendo a la rosa hermética, blasón del caballero que alcanzó la piedra.

«However, while this emblem brings us proof that the unknown Adept of Dampierre had knowledge, it also convinces us of the futility, the uselessness of any of our attempts to identify his true personality.» — de ese emblema saca a la vez la prueba del saber del adepto de Dampierre y la inutilidad de intentar identificarlo.

«We know why Rosicrucians used to call themselves invisible; therefore it is likely that, during his lifetime, ours invariably surrounded himself with the indispensable precautions and took all appropriate measures to conceal his identity.» — porque, sabiendo por qué los rosacruces se llamaban invisibles, lo supone rodeado de precauciones para ocultar su identidad.

«About this text already long gone, Dr Texier, the physician, has been kind enough t give us a few precise details: "The inscription about which you speak", he writes us, "was carved on a beam found in a second story room which, because it fell into decrepitude, had to be changed about sixty or eighty years ago.» — el testimonio del doctor Texier sobre la inscripción tallada en una viga cambiada hace sesenta u ochenta años.

«Paraphrasing Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:13, where it is said that "every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God", this fragment defines in a positive way, and is sufficient to explain, the mysterious occupation to which the enigmatic lord of Dampierre was, under cover, devoting himself.» — que parafrasea el Eclesiastés y define, a su ver, la ocupación misteriosa del señor de Dampierre.

«In any case the inscription reveals in its author an unconventional wisdom.» — y revela en su autor una sabiduría poco convencional.

«And as practical science that has always been recognized as a genuine gift of God by all the possessors of the Magistery, the fact that this profession of faith considers an acquired fortune as a gift of God is enough to point to its alchemical origin.» — con el argumento de que tener la fortuna por don de Dios basta para señalar el origen alquímico de esa profesión de fe.

«Its gradual and honorable increase could not, in these conditions, surprise anyone.» — y el aumento gradual y honorable que en esas condiciones no sorprendería a nadie.

«The Second one, which decorated a larger fireplace covered with ornaments of red, gray and gold, is a simple proverb of a beautiful ethical nature but which the superficial and presumptuous human beings of our time are loath to practice:» — la segunda inscripción, proverbio ético que a su ver los hombres superficiales de su tiempo se resisten a practicar.

«Our Adept is right; knowing oneself is what enables us to acquire the knowledge, the purpose and the meaning of life, the basis of all genuine values, and this power, which raises the hard working man who can acquire it, incites him to live in a modest and noble simplicity, the outstanding virtue of higher minds.» — con su comentario: conocerse a uno mismo da el sentido de la vida e incita a la simplicidad modesta y noble.

«It was an axiom that masters used to repeat to their disciples, and through which they signified to them the only means of attaining the highest knowledge: "If you want to know wisdom", they used to say, "know thyself well and you will know it".» — y el axioma que los maestros repetían a sus discípulos sobre conocerse para conocer la sabiduría.

«(1) The just dampens the proud one.» — en nota, la traducción de la divisa: el justo modera al soberbio.

«When reading the Epigraphie Santone, it would seem that whim, fantasy and extravagance presided over its execution.» — objeta a la Epigraphie Santone que capricho y extravagancia presidieron su ejecución.

«And so the least that can be said about this work is that it does not appear very serious, lacks any depth, is odd, and without any interest save an excessive peculiarity.» — y la declara poco seria, sin profundidad ni interés fuera de su rareza.

«Thus, an example, the author mistakes a cubic stone, cut, and placed on the water (Series I, Panel 5) for "a ship on rough water"; elsewhere (Series IV, Panel 7) a stooped woman planting pits near a tree becomes for him "a traveler who tramps wearily across a desert» — con los errores que le imputa: la piedra cúbica leída como nave sobre agua brava y la mujer que planta huesos leída como viajero en el desierto.

«In the first panel of the fifth series --- may our female readers forgive him this involuntary comparison --- he sees a woman in place of the devil himself, hairy, winged, horned, perfectly clear and visible.» — y la mujer que ve donde hay un diablo peludo, alado y cornudo.

«Such mistakes denote an inexcusable heedlessness in an epigraphist conscious of his responsibility and the accuracy required by his occupation.» — errores que atribuye a una ligereza inexcusable en un epigrafista.

«According to Dr Texier, to whom we are obliged for this information, the figures of Dampierre were never published in totality.» — informa, por el doctor Texier, que las figuras de Dampierre nunca se publicaron completas.

«It is to this drawing that we have resorted for some patterns lacking in precision and so as to make our description as thorough as can be.» — y declara haber recurrido a un dibujo para los motivos poco precisos.

«While the image refers straight to the practical side of the science, the epigraph mainly proposes a moral or philosophical meaning; it appeals to the worker rather than to the work and, using now an apothegm, now a parable, it defines a quality, a virtue the artist must possess, or appoint» — con la división de trabajo que establece: la imagen mira a la práctica de la ciencia y el epígrafe al sentido moral o filosófico.

«And, by the very fact that they are provided with phylacteries, these figures reveal the scope of their secrecy, and their being assigned to some occult science, In fact, the Greek [*296-1] (phulakterion), formed from [*296-2], to keep, maintain, and from [*296-3] (terein), to preserve, indicates the function of this ornament, in charging of keeping and preserving the occult and mysterious meaning hidden behind the natural expression of the composition it accompanies.» — la etimología griega de filacteria, que hace de ese ornamento el guardián del sentido oculto de la composición.

«Therefore, one should not be surprised to find streamers and parchments abundantly represented among the attributes of religious scenes or profane compositions of our great cathedrals as well as in the less restrictive framework of lay architecture.» — de donde no le sorprende hallar cintas y pergaminos en catedrales y en arquitectura laica.

«We eventually came to the conclusion, a rather surprising one, that most mansions or castles bearing the double D linked to the letter H and the triple crescent have a decoration of indisputable alchemical character.» — y la conclusión a que dice haber llegado: casi toda mansión con la doble D ligada a la H y el triple creciente tiene decoración alquímica indiscutible.

«"Henry II", writes the Abbot of Montgaillard (2), "was a foolish, brutal prince showing a deep lack of concern for the well-being of his subjects; this wicked king was constantly dominated by his wife and his old mistress; he left the reins of the state to them and did not shrink from any of the cruelties exerted on the Protestants.» — el juicio del abate de Montgaillard sobre Enrique II, príncipe brutal dominado por su mujer y su vieja amante.

«It is therefore impossible to admit that well-read philosophers, men of education and high ethics, would have entertained the thought of offering their works as a token of esteem to the royal couple whose debauchery was to render them shamefully famous.» — de donde declara imposible que filósofos de alta ética dedicaran sus obras a esa pareja real.

«The truth is different, for the crescent belongs neither to Diane de Poitiers nor to Catherine de Medici.» — y niega que el creciente pertenezca a Diane de Poitiers o a Catalina de Médicis.

«It is a symbol issuing from ancient times, known to the Egyptians and the Greeks, used by the Arabs and Saracens long before it was introduced into our Western Middle Ages.» — por ser símbolo antiguo, conocido de egipcios y griegos y usado por árabes y sarracenos antes de entrar en Occidente.

«It has a triple meaning: alchemical, magical, cabalistic, and this triple hierarchy meaning, synthesized in the image of interlaced crescents, embraces the scope of ancient and traditional knowledge.» — con su triple sentido alquímico, mágico y cabalístico sintetizado en los crecientes entrelazados.

«Consequently we should be less surprised to see the symbolic triad represented close to obscure signs, since it provides them with its support and permits to indicate to the investigator the science to which they belong.» — que a su ver presta apoyo a los signos oscuros vecinos y señala al investigador la ciencia a que pertenecen.

«As for the monogram, it can easily be explained, and it shows once again how the philosophers have used emblems of known meaning, and endowed them with a special, usually unknown, sense.» — y el monograma como muestra de cómo los filósofos dotaron emblemas conocidos de un sentido especial.

«It was the surest means they had at their disposal to hide from the layman a science figuratively exposed in full view: a revived Egyptian method whose teaching, translated in hieroglyphics on the outer walls of temples, remained worthless to those who did not possess the key.» — método egipcio revivido, con la enseñanza a la vista y sin valor para quien no tenga la clave.

«The masters used to say again and again, "God gives wisdom to whom he pleases and transmits it through the Holy Ghost, the light of the world; that is why the science is said to be a Gift of God, formerly solely for his ministers, hence the name sacerdotal Art which it originally bore» — con la máxima de los maestros sobre la sabiduría dada por el Espíritu Santo, de donde el nombre de Arte sacerdotal.

«But if we transpose this truth within the hermetic domain, it takes on a definite positive sense, one which ought to have secured its being chosen by our Adept.» — traslada la verdad al dominio hermético, donde adquiere sentido positivo.

«According to the alchemical doctrine, ordinary metals, torn out of their ore bearing earth to satisfy the demands of industry, forced to yield to man’s whims, seem in fact to be the victims of a glaring evil spell.» — con la doctrina de que los metales ordinarios, arrancados a su mina, son víctimas de un maleficio.

«The smelting process, while separating them from the nutritive elements associated with the mineralizing elements responsible for maintaining their activity, kills them by fixing the temporary and transitory form which they had acquired.» — y la fundición que los mata al fijar la forma transitoria que habían adquirido.

«Gold opens closed doors. Everyone knows that. But this proverb, whose application is at the basis of privilege, favoritism and all unfair promotions, cannot have, in a philosopher’s mind, the figurative meaning we know it to possess.» — el proverbio del oro que abre las puertas cerradas, que niega tenga en el filósofo el sentido figurado corriente.

«Zeus, a great lover of romantic episodes and of metamorphoses, ever preoccupied with deceiving Hera’s vigilance and enlarging his progeny, noticed Danae. Little troubled by the choice» — con Zeus acercándose a Dánae.

«Danae represents our crude mineral, such as it is extracted from the mine.» — Dánae leída como el mineral crudo tal como sale de la mina.

«It is the earth of the sages which contains within it the active and hidden spirit, alone capable, says Hermes.» — tierra de los sabios que contiene el espíritu activo y oculto de que habla Hermes.

«Philosophers teach that their raw material is a fragment of the original chaos and it is indeed what is meant by the name Acrisius, king of Argos and Danae’s father: [*303-3] (Akrisia), is confusion,» — con la materia prima como fragmento del caos original, sentido que da al nombre de Acrisio, padre de Dánae.

«Therefore this god appears as the personification of water, of a water capable of penetrating bodies, of a metallic water, for it is of gold or at least golden.» — y el dios como personificación de un agua metálica, de oro o al menos dorada.

«It is precisely the case of the hermetic solvent, which, after undergoing fermentation in an oak barrel, assumes, upon decantation, the appearance of liquid gold.» — tal como el disolvente hermético que, fermentado en barril de roble, toma al decantarlo apariencia de oro líquido.

«If you let this water run, you will see with your very eyes the gold shining in its first being with all the colors of the rainbow» — el agua que al correr deja ver el oro en su primer ser con todos los colores del arco iris.

«Thus a softer and softer paste is obtained which becomes syrupy, oily, and eventually fluid and clear.» — y la pasta que se vuelve jarabe, aceite y al cabo fluido claro.

«This is our precious sulphur, the newborn child, the little king, and our Dauphin (or dolphin) (3), symbolic fish otherwise called echeneis, remora or pilot fish, Perseus or fish of the Red Sea» — su azufre precioso, el niño recién nacido y pequeño rey, al que llama delfín, remora, pez piloto y pez del Mar Rojo.

«These oracles, four in number, correspond to the four flowers or colors which appear during the evolution of the Rebis and reveal outwardly to the alchemist the successive stages of the inner work.» — los cuatro oráculos del panel emparejados con las cuatro flores o colores que aparecen en la evolución del Rebis.

«According to the widely-held opinion, planets and divinities develop their power simultaneously in a fixed hierarchy.» — con la opinión corriente de que planetas y divinidades despliegan su poder en jerarquía fija.

«To the reign of Mercury ([*304-1] --- Hermes --- basis, ground work), the first stage of the work, succeeds that of Saturn ([*304-2] --- Chronos --- the old man, the fool);» — y el orden de los regímenes, de Mercurio a Saturno.

«However the various regimens are more or less clear, and vary considerable as far as duration and intensity» — acota que los regímenes varían en claridad, duración e intensidad.

«The ancient authors advise prudence and warn apprentices against a too detrimental impatience; praecipiatio a diabolo (precipitous action goes to the devil), they say; for in seeking to reach the goal too quickly, they only succeed in burning the flowers of the compost and provoking the irremedial loss of the work.» — con el aviso de los autores antiguos contra la impaciencia, que quema las flores del compuesto y pierde la obra.

«It is therefore better, as the Adept of Dampierre teaches, to develop the oracles, which are the colored predictions or forebodings of the regular operation, with patience and perseverance, for as long as nature may demand it.» — y la enseñanza que atribuye al adepto de Dampierre: desarrollar los oráculos con paciencia mientras la naturaleza lo pida.

«Nothing of the great secret is unknown to him any longer.» — declara que ya nada del gran secreto le es desconocido a ese adepto.

«The prison also serves as an emblem of the imperfect body, initial subject of the Work, in which the aqueous and metallic soul is firmly attached and held.» — la prisión como emblema del cuerpo imperfecto donde el alma acuosa y metálica queda sujeta.

«"It is this imprisoned water", says Nicolas Valois (5), "that unceasingly cries out: Help me, and I shall help you, that is, release me from my prison, and if one day you can liberate me, I shall make you master of the fortress where I am.» — con el pasaje de Nicolas Valois donde el agua encarcelada pide ser liberada y promete la fortaleza a cambio.

«And so the water locked up in this body is of the same water-nature as that which we gave it to drink, which is called Mercury Trismegistus, and that Parmenides understands when he says: Nature contains Nature.» — y la sentencia que atribuye a Parménides: la naturaleza contiene a la naturaleza.

«It is therefore right that our divine Water is called the Key, Light, Diana who shines in the thick of night.» — de donde llama a su Agua divina la Llave, la Luz y la Diana que brilla en plena noche.

«Panel 5 --- For having ascertained it experimentally, the philosophers certify that their stone is nothing else but a complete coagulation of mercurial water.» — con la certificación de los filósofos, hecha por experiencia, de que su piedra no es sino coagulación completa del agua mercurial.

«Although such an operation seems impossible, it is nevertheless natural because our mercury carries within itself the sulphurous principle, rendered soluble, to which it owes its subsequent coagulation.» — operación que parece imposible y declara natural, porque el mercurio lleva en sí el principio sulfuroso.

«It is, however, unfortunate that the extremely slow action of this potential agent does not allow the observer to register the least sign of any reaction whatsoever in the beginning of the work.» — acota que la lentitud extrema de ese agente no deja registrar señal alguna al comenzar la obra.

«This is the cause of many artists’ failure, who, quickly disappointed, abandon a difficult work which they deem to be in vain, although they have followed the right path and operated on the proper materials, canonically prepared.» — y en eso pone la causa del fracaso de muchos artistas que iban por buen camino.

«In truth we cannot know anything without the help of faith, and whosoever does not possess it cannot undertake anything.» — declara que nada se conoce sin ayuda de la fe y que quien no la tiene nada puede emprender.

«We have never seen skepticism and doubt build anything stable, noble or durable.» — porque nunca vio al escepticismo construir nada estable ni duradero.

«We must often remember the Latin saying: Mens agitat molem (The mind puts the mass into motion), for it is the deep conviction in this truth that will lead the wise worker to the happy end of his labor.» — con el dicho latino que hace mover la masa al espíritu.

«For it is so true that nature in her simplicity seems to delight in proposing enigmas, before which our logic recoils, our reason gets confused, and our judgment misled.» — y la naturaleza que en su simplicidad se complace en proponer enigmas ante los que la lógica retrocede.

«Now the cubic stone, which the industrious nature engenders out of water alone --- the universal matter of the Peripatics --- and of which the art must sculpt the six facets» — la piedra cúbica que la naturaleza engendra del agua sola y cuyas seis caras debe esculpir el arte.

«Built in 1633 by the Benedictine monks of St Martin-des-Champs, this fountain was originally erected inside the priory leaning against the surrounding wall.» — la fuente de Vertbois, levantada en 1633 por los benedictinos de Saint-Martin-des-Champs dentro del priorato.

«In 1712 the monks offered it to the city of Paris, for public use, along with the grounds needed to rebuild it, provided "that the site would be established in one of their convent’s ancient towers and that an outer door would be placed there" (6).» — y la condición de la donación de 1712 a la ciudad de París.

«The small structure, restored at the expense of the government in 1832, is made up of "a shallow, rectangular niche flanked by two Doric pilasters, with vermiculated embossments, which support an architraved cornice.» — con la descripción de la hornacina entre pilastras dóricas restaurada por el Estado en 1832.

«And so it is that all the descriptions of the fountain of Vertbois, in all likelihood copied one from the other, are content to mention without further description, a vessel as the main motif.» — señala que todas las descripciones de esa fuente, copiadas unas de otras, se contentan con mencionar un vaso.

«True, the accuracy of our remark could be questioned, and, where we identify an enormous stone, trimmed to the ship of which it is an integral part, one could but notice an ordinary package of some kind of merchandise.» — concede que su propia lectura podría discutirse, y que donde él ve una piedra enorme otro vería un fardo de mercancía.

«Hence is the intention of the work’s creator manifest; it is an occult cargo, normally veiled to indiscreet surveys, rather than a package traveling on the deck.» — y sostiene la intención del autor de la obra: un cargamento oculto velado a las miradas indiscretas.

«means flower, and it is known that the raw material is called the flower of all the metals; it is the flower of flowers (flos florum); the root of this word, [*311-1] (anthos) also conveys youth, glory, beauty, the most noble part of things, everything that possesses luster and shines like fire.» — la materia prima llamada flor de todos los metales, flos florum, con la raíz griega que añade juventud, gloria y belleza.

«We should not be surprised that Basil Valentine in his Triumphal Chariot of Antimony gave to the prime substance of the particular work he describes Fire Stone.» — y el nombre de Piedra de Fuego que Basil Valentine da a la sustancia primera en su Carro triunfal del antimonio.

«As long as it remains fixed to the hermetic ship (10), this stone, as we have said, must be considered as being in the process of elaboration.» — la piedra atada a la nave hermética, que declara en curso de elaboración mientras siga fija a ella.

«It is therefore essential to help it pursue the crossing so that neither tempests nor rocks (11) nor the thousand incidents of the journey can delay its arrival at the blessed haven its traveler, to anticipate, to avert possible causes of shipwreck, to maintain the vessel loaded with the precious cargo straight on its route, such is the task of the artisan.» — con la tarea del artesano: prevenir tempestades y escollos hasta el puerto bendito.

«It is known that the cross in the speculative order is figurative of the spirit, the dynamic principle, while it is used, in the practical domain, as the graphic sign for the crucible.» — la cruz como figura del espíritu en lo especulativo y como signo gráfico del crisol en lo práctico.

«The cables fastening it to the ship clearly indicate, by their being crossed on its visible facets, the transitory condition of its evolution.» — y los cables cruzados sobre las caras visibles como condición transitoria de esa evolución.

«Nevertheless, and so that no one is mistaken, let us say once more that we are not at all speaking of common mercury here, although its liquid quality could put us on a false trail and allow comparison with the secret water, the metallic humid radical.» — advierte que no habla del mercurio común, aunque su calidad líquida pueda llevar a confundirlo con el agua secreta.

«Being the masterful initiate that he was, Rabelais (12) gives in a few words the true characteristics of the philosophical mercury.» — y toma de Rabelais, a quien llama iniciado magistral, los verdaderos caracteres del mercurio filosófico.

«The text is categorical and cannot lend itself to misunderstanding.» — texto que declara categórico y no sujeto a equívoco.

«The mercury of the sages, as all authors certify, presents itself as a body of metallic appearance, with the consistency of a solid, and consequently immobile compared to quicksilver, of mediocre volatility in the fire, and finally liable to fix itself by a simple coction in a sealed vessel.» — con el mercurio de los sabios de apariencia metálica y consistencia sólida, fijable por simple cocción en vaso sellado.

«As for the stork which Rabelais attributes to mercury, its meaning is drawn from the Greek word [*313-1] (pelargos), stork, formed from [*313-2] (pelos), pallid brown or black, and [*313-3] (argos), white, which are two colors of the bird and of the philosophical mercury; [*313-1] (pelargos) also designates a pot made of white and black clay, the emblem of the hermetic vase, i.e., of mercury whose water, alive and white, loses its light, its brightness, mortifies itself and becomes black, surrendering its soul to the stone’s embryo that is born from its decomposition and is nourished by its ashes.» — y la cigüeña que Rabelais atribuye al mercurio, con la etimología griega que junta el pardo y el blanco y designa la olla de barro blanco y negro.

«Two oars and one caduceus intercrossed bear Hermes’ petasus, represented under the modern form of a winged helmet, upon which a little dog watches.» — los dos remos y el caduceo cruzados con el petaso de Hermes y el perrillo que vigila.

«This "van" (winnowing basket) is none other than the matrix, the vessel carrier of the stone, the emblem of mercury principal subject of our bas-relief.» — el van o criba como matriz y vaso portador de la piedra, emblema del mercurio.

«We will only say that the Greek word [*314-1] (kerukeion), caduceus, by its etymology recalls the cock, [*314-2] (keruss), consecrated to Mercury as the herald of the light.» — con la etimología del caduceo, que recuerda al gallo consagrado a Mercurio como heraldo de la luz.

«All these symbols evidently converge towards one and the same object, also indicated by the small dog positioned on top of the small helmet, whose special meaning ([*314-3] --- kranos --- head, summit) marks the important part, in other words the culminating point of the Art, the key to the Great Work.» — y todos esos símbolos convergiendo en la clave de la Gran Obra.

«Noel, in his Dictionnaire de la Fable, writes that "the dog was consecrated to Mercury as the most vigilant and most clever of all the gods".» — con Noel, que en su Dictionnaire de la Fable consagra el perro a Mercurio por ser el más vigilante de los dioses.

«According to Pliny, the flesh of young dogs and served at the meals prepared for them.» — y el dato que atribuye a Plinio sobre la carne de perros jóvenes.

«But we know for a fact that the science, the true gift of God, the spiritual light obtained through revelation, cannot be prone to such hazards.» — sostiene que la ciencia, don de Dios obtenido por revelación, no está sujeta al azar.

«however, of alchemy amounted only to the acquisition of a special technique, of some laboratory artifice, it would amount to very little and would not exceed the value of a simple formula.» — porque reducida a una técnica de laboratorio no valdría más que una fórmula.

«Even if we remain in the physical domain, which is that of material manifestations and fundamental certainties, we can assert that the Work is not subject to the unexpected.» — y declara que la Obra no depende de lo inesperado.

«It must be unveiled, its process must be understood, its causes and its accidents well known before proceeding with its implementation.» — sino que exige entender el proceso, sus causas y sus accidentes antes de ponerlo en práctica.

«The gambling die therefore has another esoteric meaning.» — el dado, al que atribuye otro sentido esotérico.

«Its shape, which is that of the cube ([*315-1] --- kubos --- gambling dice, cube), designates the cubic or chipped stone, our philosophers’ stone and the cornerstone of the Church.» — por su forma cúbica, que designa la piedra tallada, la de los filósofos y la angular de la Iglesia.

«stone requires three successive repetitions of the same series of seven operations, which brings the total to 21 operations.» — con las tres repeticiones de la serie de siete operaciones que suman veintiuna.

«This number corresponds exactly to the sum of the points marked on the die’s six faces, since by adding up the first seven numbers one obtains 21.» — número que hace coincidir con la suma de los puntos de las seis caras del dado.

«Their descriptions reveal such awareness of the subject that it would be impossible for us to say more or to say it better.» — declara que las descripciones ajenas revelan tal conocimiento del tema que no podría decirlo mejor.

«The famous doctor and philosopher unquestionably declares himself to be an Adept and a Rosicrucian and put his writings under the aegis of the sacred Art.» — sobre Rabelais: sostiene que se declara adepto y rosacruz y pone sus escritos bajo el amparo del Arte sacro.

«Moreover, in the Prologue to Gargantua, Rabelais indicates rather clearly that his work belongs to the category of hermetic and acroamatic closed books, the understanding of which requires an extensive knowledge of symbols.» — y que en el prólogo de Gargantúa lo adscribe a los libros herméticos y acroamáticos que piden conocimiento de los símbolos.

«The attribution of bronze to Mars proves that Rabelais knew the alchemical correspondence between planets and metals perfectly.» — con el bronce atribuido a Marte como prueba de que Rabelais conocía la correspondencia de planetas y metales.

«As for the Corinthian bronze, Pliny asserts that it presented itself under three forms.» — el bronce corintio, del que Plinio da tres formas.

«It has sometimes the luster of silver, sometimes that of gold, and could also be the result of an alloy of gold, silver and copper in approximately equal ratios.» — con brillo de plata o de oro y aleación de los tres metales en razón casi igual.

«In phonetic cabala, rame (French for oar), equivalent to aviron (French for paddle), also designates the philosophical water.» — y la cábala fonética que hace del remo el agua filosófica.