The Philosopher's Stone: Spiritual Alchemy, Psychology, and Ritual Magic

«During the winter of 1936–37, while living in London, I came down with a severe cold which proved intractable to treatment. My respiratory tract had become sensitized in early childhood by a bout of bilateral bronchial pneumonia. The result was that I was confined to bed for two weeks.» — Regardie, en su Introducción a la Segunda Edición, data el libro en el invierno de 1936-37 y lo liga a una enfermedad respiratoria de infancia.

«Instead of the usual mystery and detective stories recommended for such situations, my reading companion was Mrs. Atwood’s Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery.12 For years I had struggled vainly with this large tome, annoyed continually by its obscurantism and pompous literary style that was almost as bad as A. E. Waite’s, but I had never really managed to comprehend her presentation of Alchemy.» — Regardie declara años de lectura fallida de Atwood y, de paso, su juicio sobre el estilo de A. E. Waite, cuya edición de Vaughan el mismo volumen reproduce.

«Now, bedridden, I was determined to give her book one final perusal. If, then, it still yielded nothing for me, I proposed to discard it along with some other books which had outlived their usefulness in my life.» — Regardie enuncia la última lectura como ultimátum al libro.

«So, with notebook and pencil by my side in bed, I began casually to glance through Mrs. Atwood’s book, underlining a significant passage here and there, and jotting down some brief notes on the pad.» — el método de lectura que él mismo describe: subrayado y cuaderno.

«on the pad. Suddenly, and to my utter amazement, the whole enigma became crystal clear and alive. The formerly mysterious Golden Tractate of Hermes and The Six Keys of Eudoxus seemed all at once to open up to unfold their meaning.» — el momento de comprensión súbita que Regardie pone en el origen del libro, y que abre a la vez los dos tratados del Libro Uno y del Libro Dos; el tramo arranca dentro del renglón porque la frase se repite en la introducción de los editores.

«Feverishly I wrote. In effect, the greater part of The Philosopher’s Stone got written in those two weeks of bronchitis. It is true that later I added some diagrams together with a short commentary to Vaughan’s alchemical text, and a few quotations from Carl G. Jung and other authors whose works were not immediately available while I was confined to bed. But actually the main body of the book was composed there and then.» — Regardie declara qué se escribió en dos semanas y qué se añadió después: los diagramas, el comentario a Vaughan y las citas de Jung.

«My book has been praised as a good, meaningful book by some reviewers and by many readers, to judge from the mail I have received during the past thirty years.» — la recepción que Regardie declara treinta años después.

«It is patently an open sesame to one level of interpretation. The Occult Review, now defunct, published a critical review by Archibald Cockren who took me rather severely to task for asserting that alchemical texts should be interpreted solely in terms of psychological and mystical terms.» — Regardie acota su propio libro a un nivel de interpretación y nombra a Archibald Cockren como quien le objetó la lectura exclusivamente psicológica.

«He himself, I subsequently discovered, had written a book Alchemy Rediscovered and Restored.13 Of course I immediately procured a copy. Since I was peeved by his review, I did not feel that his book had very much to offer—so I dismissed both offhand.» — Regardie declara haber desestimado a Cockren por despecho, no por argumento.

«I was about to write the editor of The Occult Review a scorching letter, but reason intervened so that fortunately it never got written.» — la carta que no escribió.

«The opportunity is rarely given to an author in his lifetime “to eat crow” and to enjoy it. This lot, it pleases me to say, is mine—after thirty years. Not that I would significantly change much of what I wrote then.» — Regardie enuncia su retractación y a la vez la acota: se retracta de la exclusión, no del contenido.

«significantly change much of what I wrote then. I admitted that I had not “proceeded» — el límite que Regardie pone a su retractación, cortado en el cambio de plana.

«to the praxis” but I felt then and still do that a mystical and psychological interpretation of some alchemical texts was legitimate.» — continuación: no haber pasado a la praxis no le quita legitimidad, a su juicio, a la lectura mística y psicológica de *algunos* textos.

«There is unequivocally this aspect of the subject. Certainly Jacob Boehme and Henry Khunrath, for example, cannot be interpreted except in these terms.» — Regardie nombra a Boehme y a Khunrath como los casos donde a su juicio no cabe otra lectura que la mística; *Henry Khunrath* es lo que imprime la capa de texto.

«Nor should one be permitted to forget some of the preliminary provisions laid down by Basil Valentine in The Triumphant Chariot of Antimony» — Regardie introduce la cita de Basil Valentine que le sirve para sostener que el alquimista de laboratorio era a la vez hombre de aspiración espiritual.

«This object I pursue not only for the honour and glory of the Divine Majesty, but also in order that men may render to God implicit obedience in all things.» — palabras de Basil Valentine en The Triumphant Chariot of Antimony, citadas por Regardie.

«I have found that in this Meditation there are five principal heads, which must be diligently considered, as much are in possession of the wisdom of philosophy as by all who aspire after that wisdom which is attained in our art. The first is the invocation of God; the second, the contemplation of Nature; the third, true preparation; the fourth, the way of using; the fifth, the use and profit.» — las cinco cabezas de la meditación alquímica, en la cita de Basil Valentine que Regardie reproduce: invocación de Dios, contemplación de la naturaleza, preparación, uso y provecho.

«He who does not carefully attend to these points will never be included among real Alchemists, or be numbered among the perfect professors of the Spagyric science. Therefore we will treat of them in their proper order as lucidly and succinctly as we can, in order that the careful and studious operator may be enabled to perform our Magistery in the right way.» — cierre de la misma cita de Basil Valentine, con la ciencia espagírica como nombre del arte.

«It is evident then that though some alchemists did work manually in a chemical laboratory, they were at the same time men of the highest spiritual aspirations. For them, the Stone was not only tangible evidence of successful metallic transmutation; it was accompanied by an equivalent spiritual transmutatory process.» — la conclusión que Regardie saca de la cita: la transmutación metálica y la espiritual iban juntas.

«My readers will know by now that my thinking on most of these occult subjects had been profoundly influenced by the life and work of Aleister Crowley.» — Regardie declara la deuda con Crowley.

«So far as his knowledge of Alchemy went, I ought to narrate that in the winter of 1897, he had gone to Switzerland for mountain-climbing and winter sports. While there he encountered a Julian Baker, with whom he had a long conversation about Alchemy.» — el episodio de 1897 con Julian Baker que Regardie usa para medir cuánta alquimia sabía Crowley.

«This indicates at the very least that Crowley had been widely reading on this topic as well as on mysticism. As a result of this conversation, Baker promised to introduce Crowley to a chemist in London, George Cecil Jones who might be instrumental in getting him admitted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.» — y la cadena que según Regardie llevó a Crowley a la orden: Baker, el químico George Cecil Jones y la admisión.

«There is not the least shred of evidence to indicate that Crowley, Baker or Jones had done any practical laboratory work in Alchemy. In magic—yes; in Alchemy, no!» — Regardie niega evidencia de trabajo de laboratorio en los tres.

«Many years later, Crowley came to use alchemical symbolism to elucidate the “Mass of the Holy Ghost,” the sex-magic principles of the O.T.O.» — el uso que Regardie le adjudica a Crowley: el simbolismo alquímico puesto a explicar la magia sexual de la O.T.O.; el tramo se corta ante un guion de fin de renglón.

«To refer back to the Golden Dawn, it seems to me that there was little that was really illuminating on Alchemy in its curriculum, though in other areas, particularly the magical, I feel today as I always have.» — Regardie objeta el currículo alquímico de la orden y a la vez sostiene su juicio sobre lo mágico.

«The Golden Dawn was essentially a Qabalistic and magical order, not an alchemical one. I do not know of any evidence pointing out that Mathers or Westcott» — Regardie niega el carácter alquímico de la orden; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«had ever engaged in operating an alchemical laboratory. One document, bearing the imprimatur of Mathers, deals with Alchemy, not from the laboratory viewpoint, but from that of ritual magic—and at best it is plain verbiage.» — continuación: Regardie desestima el único documento alquímico de la orden, el que lleva el imprimátur de Mathers.

«Its mystical interpretation is best expressed in a speech made by one Adept in its classic ritual: “In the alembic of thine heart, through the athanor of affliction, seek thou the True Stone of the Wise.”» — la fórmula del ritual que Regardie ofrece como la mejor expresión mística de la orden: alambique del corazón y atanor de la aflicción.

«To this extent, the Golden Dawn had severed its traditional ties with the parent Rosicrucian bodies of Germany and Central Europe which were patently alchemical.» — Regardie sostiene una ruptura entre la orden inglesa y los cuerpos rosacruces continentales, a los que atribuye carácter alquímico.

«One has only to glance casually through The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians18 to realize the extent to which Alchemy was considered the predominant feature in the Rosicrucian work of that era.» — lo que ofrece en apoyo es un libro de láminas; el *18* es llamada a nota de los editores.

«I know none of its members who could at any time have thrown any ray of light on Alchemy.19 One member, the late Capt. J. Langford Garstin, wrote a couple of books, Theurgy20 and The Secret Fire,21 about Alchemy, but they too yield little of practical value on the subject.» — Regardie niega valor práctico a los libros alquímicos de Garstin; la nota 19 de los editores contradice esta negativa nombrando a William Ayton.

«I have met people here and there in the past forty years who could talk about Alchemy, but I cannot say that any of them made much sense.» — el balance de cuarenta años que Regardie declara antes de contar su encuentro con Riedel.

«Events in the past few years—a Uranus cycle—have conspired to force upon me a thoroughgoing expansion or reorientation of my original point of view, so that I can now quite happily admit that Archibald Cockren was right.» — Regardie fecha su giro por un ciclo de Urano y le concede la razón a Cockren, su crítico de 1938.

«Through a friend of a friend of mine, I was introduced to Mr. Albert Riedel22 of Salt Lake City, Utah, while he was visiting Los Angeles. At the time I was domiciled there, enjoying the sunny climate and occasionally ruminating over the inclement weather of London where I was born. It took only a few minutes to realize that I was talking to the first person I had ever met who knew what he was talking about on the subject of Alchemy. We promised to keep in touch—and we did.» — el encuentro con Albert Riedel, a quien Regardie declara el primero que sabía de lo que hablaba.

«This promise later eventuated in an invitation to attend a seminar on Alchemy that he was conducting at the newly instituted Paracelsus Research Society in Salt Lake City. Most of the material presented in the Seminar concerned Alchemy, Qabalah, Astrology, etc.—with which I was already theoretically familiar—though even there some radically new and stimulating viewpoints were obtained. But the piece-de-resistance was the laboratory work. Here I was wholly dumbfounded.» — Regardie separa lo que ya sabía de lo que lo dejó pasmado: la parte de laboratorio.

«It took no more than a few minutes to help me realize how presumptuous I had been to assert dogmatically that all Alchemy was psycho-spiritual. What I witnessed there, and have since repeated, has sufficed to enable me to state categorically that, in insisting solely on a mystical interpretation of Alchemy, I had done a grave disservice to the ancient sages and philosophers.» — la retractación en su forma más explícita, y con la base que le da: haber presenciado y repetido el proceso.

«When Basil Valentine said, for example, in his work on antimony: “Take the best» — arranque de la receta de Basil Valentine que Regardie usa como prueba de literalidad; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«Hungarian Antimony … pulverize it as finely as possible, spread thinly on an earthenware dish (round or square) … place the dish on a calcinatory furnace over a coal fire …,” he means exactly what he says» — continuación: la receta con antimonio húngaro, plato de barro y horno de calcinación, que Regardie lee al pie de la letra.

«he means exactly what he says—exactly and literally. When he says a coal fire, he was not referring to the inner fire or Kundalini. It is simply ridiculous to assume he is talking in symbols which must be interpreted metaphysically, etc.» — Regardie niega la lectura simbólica del fuego de carbón y nombra la equivalencia que rechaza, la del Kundalini.

«Once you have followed his instructions to the letter, literally, or have been privileged to have seen this laboratory process demonstrated, then you know that “manually” is certainly not meant to be interpreted as by Mrs. Atwood in terms of mesmeric passes of the hands.» — y objeta a Atwood en el punto exacto: *manually* no son pases mesméricos.

«There is a more or less lengthy passage in Praxis Spagyrica Philosophica by Frater Albertus (Salt Lake City, 1966), which is worthy of quotation at this juncture. He wrote, in a footnote to page 77 et seq» — Regardie introduce la cita de Frater Albertus con su pie de imprenta y la nota de la que la toma.

«Some have gone to extreme pains to duplicate the ancient implements of former alchemists. They had to be able to obtain better, or at least for sure, the same results with our modern instruments. Take the regulation of heat alone.» — palabras de Frater Albertus, citadas por Regardie: reproducir el instrumental antiguo no es condición del resultado.

«To-day we have gas, natural or artificial, electricity and other means at our disposal giving us a much greater accuracy than was possible to obtain by manual operation. Vessels are stronger and not as fragile as formerly. Pyrex and similar glass containers can take much more heat and are in less danger of breaking.» — continuación de la cita de Frater Albertus: gas, electricidad y pyrex como ventaja moderna sobre la operación manual.

«Again, let me repeat, my analysis of the three alchemical texts of The Philosopher’s Stone is worth preserving. I am proud that Llewellyn Publications has seen fit to return it to print in a new edition.» — Regardie sostiene el valor de su análisis de los tres tratados y nombra a Llewellyn como editor de la reimpresión.

«I should have rewritten parts of the book in order to incorporate what I have since discovered through the person and work of Frater Albertus Spagyricus, the nom de plume which he prefers to be known by, but I have decided to let it stand as it was first written.» — la decisión de no reescribir, que los editores de 2013 invocarán para justificar el añadido de capítulos ajenos.

«It did represent the dawn of insight for me then, and it was the product of a genuine illumination, partial though it was, and outgrown it as I have today. As such I think it has the inherent right to continued existence in its original form.» — Regardie sostiene el derecho del libro a subsistir tal cual, y a la vez declara haberlo superado.

«it may prove useful to other students who have not yet discovered this point of view, which certainly is a valid one. They may be at the stage of growth I was in thirty years ago, where it could be of value. It needs merely to be supplemented by other reading of more recent vintage.» — el público al que Regardie destina el libro y la condición que le pone: complementarlo con lecturas posteriores.

«In the meantime, The Philosopher’s Stone, with these preliminary comments, should answer a wide-felt need which has called forth this new edition. I hope, being in print once more, it will bring new light and knowledge and values to present-day students who may be still groping in the dark areas of the occult towards Alchemy, where a guiding hand needs to be extended.» — el cierre de su introducción de 1968.

«So, to close this Introduction, I must use the ancient Rosicrucian greeting, and the close of a Golden Dawn ritual» — Regardie declara que lo que sigue es a la vez saludo rosacruz antiguo y cierre de ritual de la Golden Dawn.

«May what we have partaken here sustain us in our search for the Quintessence; the Stone of the Philosophers, True Wisdom and perfect Happiness, the Summum Bonum. Valete, Fratres et Sorores Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis. Benedictus Dominus Deus noster qui dedit nobis hoc signum.» — la fórmula misma, con la quintaesencia y la piedra de los filósofos como objeto de la búsqueda y el latín de la Rosa Roja y la Cruz de Oro.

«Israel Regardie Studio City, California November 1, 1968» — la firma y la fecha con que se cierra la Introducción a la Segunda Edición.

«The word “Alchemy” is an Arabic term consisting of the article al and the noun khemi. We may take it that the noun refers to Egypt, whose Coptic name is Khem. The word, then, would yield the phrase “the Egyptian matter,” or “that which appertains to Egypt.”» — la etimología con que abre el capítulo primero: el artículo árabe *al* más un nombre que Regardie remite al copto Khem, Egipto.

«The hypothesis is that the Mohammedan grammarians held that the alchemical art was derived from that wisdom of the Egyptians which was the proud boast of Moses, Plato, and Pythagoras, and the source, therefore, of their illumination.» — Regardie presenta como hipótesis, no como hecho, la derivación egipcia que atribuye a los gramáticos musulmanes.

«If, however, we assume the word to be of Greek origin, as do some authorities, then it implies nothing more than the chemical art, the method of mingling and making infusions. Originally all that chemistry meant was the art of extracting juices from plants and herbs.» — la etimología alternativa, que Regardie deja abierta: origen griego y sentido meramente químico.

«Modern scholarship still leaves unsolved the question as to whether alchemical treatises should be classified as mystical, magical, or simply primitively chemical. The most reasonable view is, in my opinion, not to place them exclusively in any one category, but to assume that all these objects at one time formed in varying proportions the preoccupation of different alchemists.» — la posición del libro sobre la clasificación de los tratados: ninguna categoría en exclusiva, y proporciones variables según el alquimista.

«There is no doubt that by some writers alchemy was interpreted in a categorical and literal sense—that is, as a chemical means whereby the baser metals could be transformed and made precious. There is a vast body of testimony to this end, evidence which cannot be made to yield any interpretation other than a physical and chemical one.» — Regardie concede desde el capítulo primero que hay testimonio irreductiblemente químico, treinta años antes de la retractación de su introducción de 1968.

«On the other hand, there are certain alchemistical philosophers to whom it would be impossible to impute any other interest than a mystical or religious one.» — y el otro extremo del mismo reparto.

«Alchemy is also called Hermeticism. Hermes, from the mythological standpoint, is the Egyptian God both of Wisdom and Magic—which concepts include therapeutics and physical science as it was then known.» — Regardie identifica alquimia y hermetismo, y hace de Hermes un dios egipcio de la sabiduría y la magia.

«It cannot be doubted in any way that such writers as Robert Fludd, Henry Khunrath, and Jacob Boehme aspired to and wrote of spiritual perfection, a state or» — la lista de los que Regardie pone del lado místico; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«mystical condition which was represented to them by the Stone of the Philosophers. With this idea I shall deal at some length in succeeding pages. It is equally certain that the first consideration of Paracelsus, for example, was the cure of disease and the prolongation of life.» — continuación: la piedra como figura de una condición mística, y Paracelso puesto en el otro extremo, el de la cura y la prolongación de la vida.

«At the same time his greatest achievements appear to most modern thinkers to have been his discoveries of opium, zinc, and hydrogen. We tend, therefore, to think of him as a chemist no less than we do Van Helmont, whose conception of gas ranks him as one of those rare geniuses who have increased human knowledge by a fundamentally important idea.» — Regardie adjudica a Paracelso los descubrimientos del opio, el cinc y el hidrógeno, y a Van Helmont la noción de gas.

«But another viewpoint is possible here, for alongside the genuine researchers, the alchemists who employed a psychological or spiritual technique, or who were genuine chemists or healers, we have the scrambling throng of the uninitiated. These had utterly failed to penetrate the secret of the true doctrine on any of its several levels, and commenced working on anomalous materials which could never bring them to the desired end. These were the false alchemists derisively named the Puffers.» — la tercera casilla del reparto: los no iniciados a quienes la tradición llamó Puffers.

«It is not, then, from alchemy proper or legitimate alchemists, as is so often assumed, that modern chemistry derives, but actually from the erratic work of the Puffers. These spent themselves in experiments on alien substances and animal excreta condemned by the true adepts.» — Regardie objeta la genealogía corriente y hace descender la química moderna de los Puffers, no de los alquimistas legítimos.

«In consequence, they never achieved the desired result—the Philosopher’s Stone. But on the other hand, they were led by chance into unexpected and, for us, most useful discoveries.» — el azar como fuente de los hallazgos que él les concede.

«As an instance we may cite Künckel, who isolated phosphorus, which he most certainly was not anticipating. Or Blaise de Vignêre, who discovered benzoic acid without being aware of it. We» — los dos ejemplos con que lo sostiene, Künckel y el fósforo y Blaise de Vignêre y el ácido benzoico, tal como el volumen escribe los nombres; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«may also cite the salts isolated by and named after Glauber. Historically, the literature is immense. Represented in India and the Near East, in the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and the Arabic civilizations as well as in Hebrew writings, the entire body of literature runs to thousands of titles.» — continuación: las sales de Glauber como tercer ejemplo, y el alcance geográfico que Regardie le atribuye a la literatura alquímica.

«In recent years, moreover, we have had the publication of an important Chinese text. Most treatises, from the Aesch Metzareph of the Qabalists to Valentine’s The Chariot of Antimoni, are deliberately couched in hieratic riddles.» — el enigma como forma deliberada de los tratados, con el Aesch Metzareph y el Chariot of Antimoni como extremos de la serie; *Antimoni* es lo que imprime la capa de texto.

«Persecution by church, and the profanation of the secrets of power, whether real or imagined, were equally dreaded by the adepts of the art. Worse still, from the modern viewpoint, these motives and these literary techniques induced their authors to insert intentionally misleading statements, the more deeply to bewilder unworthy pretenders to their mysteries.» — Regardie da dos motivos del secreto, la persecución y la profanación, y declara que llevaron a insertar afirmaciones engañosas a propósito.

«Others, ignorant of the first principles of the art, the unscrupulous charlatans whom we have seen were called Puffers, and many another quack, taking advantage of the general credulity and superstition prevailing at these times, issued utterly meaningless and nonsensical works pretending to reveal the working of the alchemical art.» — el segundo origen de la oscuridad de los textos: la impostura.

«My principal concern at the moment, when Analytical Psychology and psychological methods daily prove more absorbing, is to divine whether or not there is anything concealed within these obscurities which relates to man, revealing methods of perfecting or integrating his consciousness.» — Regardie declara el alcance de su propia pregunta, acotado y en primera persona.

«A cursory glance at certain sections of the alchemical literature reveals the fact that the art relates to what anciently was known as Theurgy—the divine work. Its object was to afford by technical methods of meditation, reflection, magical practices and forms of interior prayer, a more rapid mode of spiritual development and an acceleration of intellectual evolution.» — la equivalencia entre alquimia y teurgia, y los cuatro medios técnicos que le adjudica: meditación, reflexión, práctica mágica y oración interior.

«The alchemical and magical theories roughly amount to this: In the course of long aeons of time, Nature has gradually evolved a complex mechanism of reaction which we call Man. Marvelous as this organism is in many ways, yet it manifests several defects.» — Regardie enuncia el supuesto compartido de alquimia y magia: el hombre como mecanismo evolucionado y defectuoso.

«A stream cannot rise higher than its source. And without entering into the complicated and at first sight rather bewildering realm of alchemical cosmological theories, it is held that Nature has fallen from a certain divine state—from grace as it were.» — la caída de la naturaleza como premisa, presentada con el símil de la corriente que no sube más alto que su fuente.

«It may be said that man’s consciousness has relegated to a subordinate place the once proud and divine universal spirit. An efficient and useful servant, it has usurped the place of its lord and master.» — la consciencia como siervo que usurpa el sitio del espíritu universal.

«Because of this condition of things, it is held that, by herself and unassisted,» — arranque de la consecuencia, cortado en el cambio de plana.

«Nature cannot regain her former glorified condition of equilibrium. The alchemists referred to all things within the natural realm—especially the unawakened and unenlightened man, torn perpetually by internal conflict. For man to attain something other than an intolerable state of conflict with the misery and suffering and uncertainty resulting therefrom, some other and higher means than are found in the natural state are required» — continuación: la naturaleza no se restituye sola, y de ahí la necesidad de un medio superior al natural.

«The alchemists assert that everything within the circle of limited and fallen Nature can only beget its kind. Hence man’s own natural efforts in an intellectual direction cannot elevate him beyond his natural state and can only beget a similar kind of unregenerate, unillumined condition.» — el principio de que lo semejante solo engendra lo semejante, aplicado al esfuerzo intelectual.

«Thus the continual failure of philosophy, politics, and sectarian religion. But there is the aphorism» — la consecuencia que Regardie extrae y el giro hacia el aforismo; el tramo se corta ante la llamada a nota.

«But there is the aphorism “Art perfects what Nature began.”25 And, as another Alchemist has affirmed, “Our gold is produced by art, adding nothing, detracting nothing, but only eliminating superfluities.”» — el aforismo del arte que perfecciona lo que la naturaleza empezó, y la fórmula del oro que solo elimina lo superfluo, que Regardie atribuye a otro alquimista sin nombrarlo.

«In other words, the alchemical assertion is that in man is latent an element of Wisdom which, so long as the natural state of conflict and ignorance exists, remains dormant and in obscuration.» — la sabiduría latente como lo que el arte viene a descubrir.

«Within the material extreme of life, when it is purified, the Seed of the Spirit is at last found.» — la sentencia que Regardie intercala sin adjudicarla: la simiente del espíritu en el extremo material purificado.

«The entire object of art is the uncovering of the inner faculty of insight and wisdom, the “essence of mind which is intrinsically pure,”26 and the removal of the veils intervening between the mind and dividing it from its hidden divine root.» — el objeto del arte enunciado en dos tiempos, descubrir y retirar velos; la frase entrecomillada la remite una nota al Sutra de la Plataforma.

«Existence and the ordinary turmoil of life, the struggle and the confusion which sooner or later binds consciousness by manifold links to an unevolved infantile and emotional attitude towards life, create anxiety and deep-seated fears.» — el diagnóstico psicológico con que Regardie abre la parte central del capítulo.

«Fear and anxiety give rise in early life to automatisms and compulsive behavior, to what might be called a shrinkage of the sphere of consciousness. It sets up an involuntary habitual contraction of the ego instead of a full-hearted easy acceptance of whatever may come in life, be it joy or sorrow, pain or pleasure.» — el encogimiento de la esfera de consciencia como efecto del miedo.

«Continued sufficiently long, this attitude develops into mental rigidity, into a closed and crystallized conscious outlook, complacent and narrow, in which all further growth is impossible.» — la rigidez mental, que es el término que Regardie hará equivaler a la materia que la alquimia disuelve.

«The individual becomes enclosed within an iron cage of his own construction—forged through fear of life. From this, there seems no escape.» — la jaula de hierro forjada por el miedo.

«Now, it is with this rigidity of consciousness, with this inflexible crystallized condition of mind, that alchemy, like modern psychotherapy, proposes to deal, and, moreover, to eradicate.» — la equivalencia central del libro: alquimia y psicoterapia atacan la misma rigidez.

«Psychotherapy, according to one popular writer, is a means of obtaining self-knowledge through breaking down the shell of fantasy in which the ordinary person is confined.» — la definición de psicoterapia que Regardie toma de un autor que no nombra.

«The crystallization of the field of consciousness, with its consequent narrowing of the possibilities of experience, produces a species of living death. The alchemists proposed to kill death.» — la fórmula con que Regardie condensa el propósito alquímico.

«Their object, by the psychological method of interpretation, was to disintegrate this inflexible rigidity of mind. This process they call the dissolution or putrefaction.» — la lectura psicológica de la disolución y la putrefacción.

«Consciousness is broken down into its component parts. From this apparently amorphous and homogeneous resultant, it was their intention to reassemble the fundamental elements of consciousness on an entirely new and healthy basis.» — el momento de recomposición que sigue a la disolución.

«It was proposed to establish another foundation altogether, one capable of functioning in a completely regal and spiritual way. So that the divine root which, according to their theory, had become occultated and subordinated by the presumption of man’s ego, is able to manifest through a mentality that is free from the defects that characterize the average intelligence.» — la raíz divina liberada de la presunción del yo.

«Consciousness is to be vivified utterly and is not separated from the Unconscious by a sharp and unnatural cleavage or partition from the other levels of the psyche. Thus the contents of the one part, by a reversal of values and functions, have full access of entry into the other, and vice versa.» — el resultado descrito como paso franco entre consciente e inconsciente.

«Like modern psychological methods, the alchemical formulae have as their goal the creation of a whole man, of integrity. What the psychotherapist proposes is freedom from the nervous and defensive automatisms that render men slaves of» — la frase que los editores citan en su introducción desde una entrevista de 1985 está aquí, en el cuerpo del libro; el tramo se corta en el límite de chunk.

«impulse and emotion, the automatism of the drunkard, for example, the drug addict, the kleptomaniac, the chronic waverer, the choleric, the coward.» — continuación: la lista de automatismos que Regardie pone como ejemplo.

«I make but little mention of the normal habits and automatisms of the so-called average man, though the neurotic expressions are but slight exaggerations of them. One of the reasons why psychotherapy is so difficult for the layman to grasp is that few people are aware of the preponderance of such automatic reactions in all ordinary human conduct.» — Regardie acota: lo neurótico es exageración leve de lo normal.

«Not only does alchemy envisage an individual whose several constituents of consciousness are united, but with the characteristic thoroughness of all occult or magical methods it proceeds a stage further. It aspires towards the development of an integrated and free man who is illumined. It is here that alchemy parts company with» — el punto donde Regardie separa la alquimia de la psicología: la iluminación; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«In much the same terms as Eastern philosophy, alchemy propounds the question, “What is it, by knowing which, we have all knowledge?”» — la pregunta que Regardie hace común a la alquimia y a la filosofía oriental: qué es aquello cuyo conocimiento da todo conocimiento

«The Tractatus Aureus avers that “All the wisdoms of the world, O Son, are comprehended in this, my hidden Wisdom.”» — y la sentencia del Tractatus Aureus con que la respalda, dirigida al Hijo

«life and heat to all about it, and without which life could not be—so at the center of man is this rational intellectual faculty without which man is no longer man.» — continuación del símil solar: como el Sol al sistema, el intelecto racional al hombre

«Inasmuch as it is the development of this particular type of consciousness which is assumed to differentiate man from and above all other creatures, elevating him above every other department of nature, it is quite often referred to as gold, the most perfect and precious of metals.» — por qué el intelecto se llama oro: es lo que a su juicio distingue al hombre de las demás criaturas

«In the Alchemical texts the intellect is also one of the Three Principles, the purified Mercury defined as “philosophic, fiery, vital, running, which may be mixed with all other metals and again separated from them.» — el intelecto identificado con el Mercurio purificado, uno de los Tres Principios, con la definición que Regardie cita

«It is prepared in the innermost chamber of life and there it is coagulated.» — y la coagulación en la cámara más interna de la vida

«And again, when referred to as the Philosopher’s Stone, we have this definition from The Golden Treatise of Hermes: “In the cavern of the metals, there is hidden the Stone that is venerable, splendid in color, a mind sublime and an open sea.”» — la definición de la piedra que Regardie toma del Golden Treatise of Hermes, con la caverna de los metales

«But this latter refers more accurately to the consciousness itself represented as a scintillating gem of untold price and brilliance, the redeeming, saving stone.» — Regardie acota esa definición: le corresponde más bien a la consciencia misma, como gema redentora

«It becomes this only after the several alchemical operations when it has been dissolved, coagulated, calcined, purified, refined, and sublimated into the newly arisen king’s son, crowned with the Spirit, cloaked with the royal purple, and exalted into the treasure of the world.» — las operaciones que la producen, en serie, hasta el hijo del rey coronado de espíritu

«The fifth principle on our chart30 is the emotional, feeling, and passional urge, which gives motive and direction to life.» — el quinto principio de su tabla: el impulso emocional que da motivo y dirección a la vida

«In contrast to most Western thinking, occultism sharply separates emotion as a principle from mental activity—though it is admitted that in actual practice the activities of the two do overlap each other considerably.» — Regardie separa emoción de actividad mental como principios distintos, contra el uso occidental, y acota que en la práctica se solapan

«The nature of this principle is fiery, as witness various colloquialisms and figures of speech: “the fire of thy love,” “the white heat of passion,” “consuming flames of passion,” and “ardent desires.”» — los giros del habla que ofrece como prueba de la naturaleza ígnea de ese principio

«Alchemistically, this identifies emotion and feeling with the principle Sulphur , a fiery dynamic principle, on the correct employment and application of which the entire work depends.» — la identificación de emoción y sentimiento con el Azufre, del que hace depender la obra entera

«The regimen of the Fire is the crucial and critical operation of alchemy—even as in a lesser way it is in psychotherapy.» — el régimen del fuego como operación crítica, con el paralelo psicoterapéutico

«In certain psychological cases the awakening of a dormant or repressed side of the patient’s nature, and the union of consciousness with the anima or fiery emotional nature, produces integrity and wholeness, and a higher synthesis of being.» — la unión de la consciencia con el ánima como caso clínico de esa operación

«The sixth principle31 implies form. Properly, it is the vehicular side of consciousness.» — el sexto principio: la forma, el lado vehicular de la consciencia

«One characteristic of occult philosophy is the theorem that every state of consciousness has its own particular type of matter.» — el teorema que atribuye a la filosofía oculta: cada estado de consciencia tiene su propia materia

«We have the idea in all magical philosophy of a so-called mental body or sheath, of a mind clothed with a fluidic body of thought, grounded in a substance of extreme tenuity and subtlety.» — el cuerpo mental como sustancia de tenuidad extrema

«Referred to the planet Mercury (not to the alchemical principle also of that name)32 which implies intelligence and consciousness of a kind, its elemental attribution is Water.» — su atribución al planeta Mercurio y al elemento Agua, con la advertencia de no confundirlo con el principio alquímico del mismo nombre

«Not only is this peculiar to all Hindu philosophy and psychology, but it underlies Hermeticism as well.» — Regardie extiende al hermetismo lo que dice de la psicología hindú

«Looked at from above, it is no longer simple and homogeneous but a compound of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury—of abstract philosophical principles.» — la Quintaesencia mirada desde arriba se resuelve en Sal, Azufre y Mercurio

«orthodox psychology. Its technique envisages a religious or spiritual goal. In much» — continuación de la plana anterior: lo que separa a la alquimia de la psicología ortodoxa es un fin religioso.

«In order to better comprehend the basic postulates of this aspect of alchemy which are concealed in a seemingly barbarous and unintelligible terminology, I propose to provide a brief comparison of its terms with those of other systems.» — el método declarado del libro: comparar la terminología alquímica con la de otros sistemas.

«Here we will employ a form of the Tree of Life as understood by the Jewish Qabalists as the fundamental basis of comparison. Its capacity to refer all symbologies to a single source of reference, thus rendering them more or less intelligible by a process of classification, is the indubitable virtue of this scheme.» — el árbol de la vida cabalístico como rejilla de comparación, y la razón que le da: reduce todas las simbologías a una sola referencia.

«Book One will be commented upon precisely in that light. The Six Keys of Eudoxus, the second text, will be interpreted in terms of certain aspects of magic and animal magnetism or mesmerism. These two attempts at interpretation will render the third text by Vaughan more or less clear.» — el reparto de rejillas entre los tres tratados: cábala y psicología para el primero, magia y magnetismo animal para el segundo, y los dos juntos para Vaughan.

«This diagram shows the Ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life arranged in such a way that the seven planets of the astrological scheme may be referred to them. In addition, there is another unnumbered sphere named Daath, Knowledge.» — las diez sefirot con los siete planetas, más Daath sin numerar.

«The philosophy supposes this to be an entirely new principle latent within consciousness, developing or externalizing itself as and when man acquires complete and full self-consciousness.» — Daath presentado como principio latente que se externaliza con la autoconsciencia plena.

«It is a final goal of the system, the purified and integrated consciousness developed after the various experimental stages of the alchemical work have been completed.» — y como meta final del sistema, no como punto de partida.

«For our purposes, those principles numbered 4 to 7 inclusive are more important, entering more frequently than the others into exegesis.28 The trinity of potencies comprising the first circle refer to that divine root of man’s being which is the deepest core of the Unconscious, the “It,” the “essence of mind which is intrinsically pure.”» — la tríada superior identificada con el núcleo del inconsciente; el *28* es llamada a nota de los editores.

«assimilation into the everyday thinking of man, which is the final goal of all spiritual techniques. Various faculties of consciousness, memory, will, etc., are comprised in the second and third spheres.» — continuación: la asimilación de esa raíz al pensamiento cotidiano como fin de toda técnica espiritual.

«The principle numbered 4 is the Ruach, the mind, the reasoning faculties. It is referred to the element Air. I am here reminded of the archaic and primitive correspondences—geist, pneuma, ruach, breath, spirit, etc.» — el Ruach como mente y aire, con la serie de equivalencias arcaicas del aliento.

«It is consciousness itself, operating as the ruler of the body. It is also named Tiphareth, meaning beauty and harmony and equilibrium, its symbol being the interlaced triangles.» — la identificación con Tiphareth y con los triángulos entrelazados.

«Fire is the upright triangle, and Water—the downpointing triangle. This intrinsic tendency toward reconciliation is considered implicit within the nature of consciousness.» — la lectura del hexagrama como reconciliación de fuego y agua.

«That is to say, it indicates intellectual acumen and insight into the nature of the pairs of opposites. This faculty of understanding enables it to arrive at a third and reconciling factor of poise and rhythm.» — el tercer término conciliador que Regardie adjudica al entendimiento.

«Albertus Magnus states that Mercury is “a watery element, cold and moist, a permanent body, an unctuous vapour, and the spirit of the body.”» — la definición del Mercurio que Regardie cita de Albertus Magnus: elemento acuoso, frío y húmedo, vapor untuoso y espíritu del cuerpo

«The above will show how ambiguous these definitions are without some fairly illuminating system which may give a clarified vision of their import.» — Regardie señala la ambigüedad de esas definiciones como el problema que su sistema de comparación viene a atender

«It remains to be added that one’s first clairvoyant view of astral matter seems to be of a white or silvery cloud, smoke, or vapour, in a state of great activity and movement.» — la primera visión clarividente de la materia astral, descrita como nube blanca o plateada en movimiento

«As a general concept we may more or less identify this Water of the Wise with the magician’s Astral Light, and this again with the Collective Unconscious of modern psychology.» — la triple identificación que sostiene el libro: Agua de los Sabios, Luz Astral del mago e Inconsciente Colectivo de la psicología

«It is defined by Jung in his commentary to The Secret of the Golden Flower as a psychic substrate common to all men alike.» — y la definición de Jung que le sirve de apoyo, tomada de su comentario a El secreto de la flor de oro

«After a perusal of Jung’s comments in The Secret of the Golden Flower it is difficult to gather whether, although corroborating the idea of psychic changes induced by the technique described in thatbook, he rejects the validity of the breath- or subtlebody hypothesis.» — Regardie declara no poder decidir, leyendo a Jung, si éste rechaza la hipótesis del cuerpo sutil; el troceo imprime *thatbook* sin espacio y parte *breath- or subtlebody* en el guion de renglón

«It is important to mention this inasmuch as it touches upon what the alchemists called their First Matter.» — y por qué le importa: la cuestión toca lo que los alquimistas llamaron su Primera Materia

«The result of his investigations was such as to prove beyond doubt that about each living human being—or for that matter, around every object in living nature—was a glow of living light, a dynamic emanation.» — el resultado que Regardie atribuye a las investigaciones de Reichenbach: un resplandor de luz viva en torno a todo ser vivo

«The hypnotic pioneer James Braid took Reichenbach to task, attempting to demonstrate that all of the observations that emanated from the Baron’s sensitives were due entirely and exclusively to suggestion.» — la objeción de James Braid a Reichenbach, que Regardie consigna: todo se debía a la sugestión

«Braid’s attitude is really characteristic of the whole of the extreme and one-sided scientific approach of the last century.» — Regardie lee la actitud de Braid como característica del cientificismo unilateral del siglo anterior

«Fortunately it is now outworn, and we are coming to adopt that point of view which accepts facts rather than attempts to force facts into a predetermined theory.» — y opone a esa actitud la que dice preferir: aceptar los hechos en vez de forzarlos dentro de una teoría previa

«Reichenbach approached his investigations with more or less an open mind.» — el juicio contrario sobre Reichenbach, a quien atribuye mente abierta

«the fact remains that quite by accident they stumbled across the various phenomena of “odism” which he spent the rest of his life in investigating.» — el odismo como hallazgo accidental al que Reichenbach dedicó el resto de su vida

«Reichenbach’s results have within the past couple of decades obtained definite verification from a totally unexpected source.» — Regardie declara que esos resultados recibieron verificación desde una fuente inesperada

«I refer to Dr. Kilner of St. Thomas’s Hospital.» — y la nombra: el doctor Kilner, del St. Thomas's Hospital

«It seems that he had invented some screens which he stained with dicyanin, through which he examined the atmosphere surrounding innumerable patients of his hospital.» — las pantallas teñidas con dicianina con que Kilner examinaba la atmósfera de sus pacientes

«At first sight it could be argued that what he perceived had no necessary connection with objective reality, being simply an optical resultant of the employment of chemical substances and stains.» — la objeción que Regardie se plantea a sí mismo: lo percibido podría ser un resultado óptico del tinte

«On the other hand, it had an empirical value.» — y la respuesta que da, de orden empírico

«By this means he was able to diagnose disease, to view the shape and size of the aura, and to describe the state and condition of the auras of different people in varying states of health and sickness.» — los usos que atribuye al procedimiento: diagnóstico, forma y tamaño del aura y estados de salud

«Quite apart from this, however, there is a third source of evidence.» — el tercer orden de evidencia que anuncia, el de la investigación psíquica

«It was found that objects could be moved experimentally at a distance, under rigorous test conditions, without physical contact.» — el movimiento de objetos a distancia bajo condiciones de prueba

«Materialized shapes of various kinds would manifest in the research chamber, apparently exuded unconsciously from the body of the medium.» — y las formas materializadas que atribuye a una exudación inconsciente del médium

«There is no doubt in my mind, from a critical examination of available material, that this ectoplasm corresponds to an objectified form of the plastic substance comprising the interior subtle or astral body, and which the alchemists named their First Matter.» — la conclusión que sostiene: el ectoplasma como forma objetivada de la sustancia del cuerpo astral, que los alquimistas llamaron Primera Materia

«W. J. Crawford, after a host of experimental work with a medium, showed that her weight and the volume of her thighs diminished when ectoplasm was projected in the form of a materialization.» — el experimento de W. J. Crawford, con la pérdida de peso y de volumen del médium al proyectarse el ectoplasma

«His description of this substance is that it is cold, heavy, damp, or, according to varying circumstances, as hard and rigid as metal.» — la descripción física del ectoplasma que Crawford da, según Regardie: frío, pesado, húmedo o rígido como metal

«He notes that it is variable in appearance, being sometimes vaporous, sometimes a plastic paste, sometimes a bundle of fine threads, or a membrane with swellings or fringes, etc.» — y su variabilidad de aspecto, de vaporoso a pasta plástica, haz de hilos o membrana

«Its visibility may wax or wane, and to the touch it may feel soft, elastic, fibrous, or hard.» — continuación de la descripción, ya en la plana siguiente: visibilidad variable y tacto blando, elástico, fibroso o duro

«It has the power of self-locomotion, and moves generally as with a slow reptilian movement, though that is not to say that it is incapable of moving with extreme rapidity.» — la locomoción propia que le atribuye, de movimiento reptil lento, con la salvedad de que puede ser rapidísimo

«It may be said to have an inherent tendency to organization, but it is of no mechanical kind.» — la tendencia a organizarse, que acota como no mecánica

«Its propensity is to take any form or shape which may be dictated or imagined unconsciously by the medium.» — y su propensión a tomar la forma que el médium imagine inconscientemente

«proportions, vibrating at enormous speed so as to give the sensory impression of solidity and hardness. Another individual of greater insight will perceive that what his fellow saw as a table or as a congeries of atoms, is in reality spiritual energy polarizing itself into positive and negative charges forming electrons, neutrons, and protons, which circulate and move at a tremendous vibratory rate. On its own plane, therefore, the Quintessence is a unity synthesizing the four elements of a lower plane.» — la escala de percepciones con que Regardie explica la Quintaesencia, de la mesa a los electrones a la energía espiritual.

«The Eastern equivalent of the Quintessence is prana, or the life force sustaining and permeating the body. Since the Qabalistic and magical attribution is Air, we have the idea of the atmosphere or oxygen concealing or being the vehicle of a» — la equivalencia entre Quintaesencia y prana, apoyada en la atribución al aire; el tramo se corta en el límite de chunk.

«dynamizing vital principle. Here is the rationale of certain types of Yoga breathing exercises.» — continuación: de ahí saca la razón de los ejercicios respiratorios del yoga.

«The breath is the vehicle of prana—life, vitality, animal magnetism—which as nervous energy transmits the commands of the mind to the body in much the same way as the atmosphere reflects or transmits the heat of the Sun.» — el aliento como vehículo del prana, que Regardie hace equivaler también al magnetismo animal.

«Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury are concepts synthesized by the term Quintessence, the First Matter. This is that which first of all must be sought out and discovered.» — la Primera Materia como síntesis de los tres principios y primer objeto de la búsqueda.

«Basil Valentine, defining the nature of this First Matter, declares it to be comparable to no manifested particular whatever, and that all description fails in respect of it without the light of true experience.» — la definición negativa que Regardie atribuye a Basil Valentine.

«Sendivogius proffers that “our Water is heavenly, not wetting the hands, not of the vulgar, but almost rain water.”» — la fórmula de Sendivogius sobre el agua que no moja las manos.

«Vaughan defines it as “a world without form, a divine animated mass of complexion like silver, neither mere power nor perfect action, but a weak virgin substance, a certain prolific Venus, the very love and seed of Nature, the mixture and moisture of heaven and earth.”» — y la de Thomas Vaughan, cuyo Coelum Terrae ocupará el Libro Tres.

«the Essence of Mind is intrinsically free from change! Who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the Essence of Mind!” Knowing that I had realized the Essence of Mind, the Patriarch said, “For him who does not know his own mind there is no use learning Buddhism.”—from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng.» — la fuente de la frase sobre la esencia de la mente que Regardie usa dos veces en el capítulo primero: el Sutra de la Plataforma del sexto patriarca Huineng.

«This was written in December 1936. The issue since that time appears to have been made considerably clearer. At this moment (March 1938) I have before me Jung’s new book of Terry Lectures Psychology and Religion, where the following statement is made: “I have often felt tempted to advise my patients to conceive of the psyche as of a subtle body …” this inasmuch as it touches upon what the Alchemists called their First Matter.—IR» — la única nota al pie firmada por el propio Regardie, con dos fechas de su puño: escrito en diciembre de 1936 y ampliado en marzo de 1938 con la frase de Jung sobre la psique como cuerpo sutil.

«Even thus saith Hermes: Through long years, I have not ceased to experiment, neither have I spared any labour of mind; and this science and art I have obtained by the inspiration of the living God alone, who judged fit to open them to me His servant.» — el Golden Treatise, en el texto que Regardie reproduce en el capítulo segundo, hace hablar a Hermes: la ciencia obtenida por inspiración del Dios vivo

«To those enabled by reason to judge of truth He has given power to arbitrate, but to none occasion of delinquency.» — el mismo tratado reparte la facultad de arbitrar entre quienes pueden juzgar la verdad por razón

«Understand ye then, O sons of Wisdom, that the knowledge of the four elements of the ancient philosophers was not corporally or imprudently sought after, which are through patience to be discovered according to their causes and their occult operation.» — el tratado advierte que el conocimiento de los cuatro elementos no se busca corporalmente, sino por sus causas y su operación oculta

«For their operation is occult, since nothing is done except it be compounded, and because it is not perfected unless the colours be thoroughly passed and accomplished.» — y por qué la llama oculta: nada se hace sin composición, y nada se perfecciona sin que pasen los colores

«Know then, that the division that was made upon the Water, by the ancient philosophers, separates it into four substances, one to two, and three to one, the one third part of which is colour, that is to say—a coagulating moisture; but the two third waters are the Weights» — la división del Agua en cuatro sustancias, con la parte que es color y coagulante y las dos que son los Pesos

«Behold, I have declared that which had been concealed, since the work is both with you and about you; taking what is within and fixed, thou canst have it either in earth or sea.» — la declaración de que la obra está con el operador y en torno suyo, en tierra o en mar

«Keep, therefore, thy Argent vive, which is prepared in the innermost chamber in which it is coagulated; for that is Mercury which is spoken of concerning the residual earth.» — el argento vivo coagulado en la cámara más interna, que el tratado identifica con el Mercurio de la tierra residual

«He therefore, who now hears my words, let him search into them; I have discovered all things that were before hidden concerning this knowledge, and disclosed the greatest of all secrets.» — el tratado declara haber descubierto lo antes oculto y el mayor de los secretos

«Know ye, therefore, Enquirers into the rumour, and Children of Wisdom, that the vulture standing upon the mountain crieth out with a loud voice, I am the White of the Black, and the Red of the White and the Citrine of the Red; and I speak the very truth.» — el buitre sobre la montaña que se proclama Blanco de lo Negro, Rojo de lo Blanco y Cetrino de lo Rojo

«Behold I have declared it unto thee; give thanks to God, who hath taught you this knowledge; for He loves the grateful.» — el tratado remite la gratitud a Dios como condición del don

«Sons of the Sages! For this reason are philosophers said to be envious; not that they grudge the truth to religious or just men, or to the wise; but to the ignorant and vicious, who are without self-control and benevolence, lest they should be made powerful in evil for the perpetration of sinful things; and in consequence philosophers are made accountable to God. Evil men are unworthy» — la explicación que da de la envidia de los filósofos: no niegan la verdad al justo, sino al ignorante y al vicioso; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Know that this matter I call the Stone; but it is also named the feminine of magnesia, or the hen, or the white spittle, or the volatile milk, the incombustible ash, in order that it may be hidden from the inept and ignorant, who are deficient in goodness and self-control; which I have nevertheless signified to the wise by one only epithet, viz, the Philosopher’s Stone.» — los nombres encubridores de la Piedra que el tratado enumera, y el único epíteto que reserva a los sabios

«I have received nothing from any, to whom I have not returned that which he had given me, nor have I failed to honour and highly respect Him.» — la declaración de reciprocidad con que el tratado cierra ese tramo

«By this, the Almighty favouring, the greatest diseases are escaped, and every sorrow, distress, and evil and hurtful thing is made to depart.» — y el efecto médico que atribuye a la obra

«If thou appliest cold to any nature that is hot, it will hurt it: in like manner, he who is rational shuts himself within from the threshold of ignorance; lest supinely he should be deceived.» — el precepto de no aplicar frío a lo caliente, leído como regla de prudencia contra el engaño

«For if thou shalt deliver it out of its straitness, after this imprisonment, and in the days known to thee shalt by reason have ruled it, then will it become a suitable companion unto thee, and by it thou wilt become to be a conquering lord, with it adorned.» — la materia liberada de su estrechez que se vuelve compañera y hace señor a quien la rigió por razón

«Take, my son, this redness, corrupted with the water, which is as a live coal holding the fire, which if thou shalt withdraw so often until the redness is made pure, then it will associate with thee, by whom it was cherished, and in whom it rests.» — la rojez corrompida por el agua, comparada al carbón que retiene el fuego, y su purificación por retiradas sucesivas

«And now I have made glad the heart of the hearers, and the eyes looking unto thee in hope of that which thou possessest.» — la fórmula con que el tratado se dirige a quien lo escucha

«Know, my son, that the fatness of our earth is sulphur, the auripigment, siretz, and colcothar, which are also sulphur; of which auripigments, sulphurs, and suchlike, some are more vile than others, in which there is a diversity; of which kind also is the fat of glewy matters, such as are hair, nails, hoofs, and sulphuritself, and of the brain, which too is auripigment; of the like kind also are the lion’s, and cat’s claws, which is siretz; the fat of white bodies, and the fat of the two oriental quicksilvers, which hunt the sulphurs and contain the bodies.» — la gordura de la tierra identificada con el azufre, con la lista de materias grasas y minerales que el tratado enumera; el troceo imprime *sulphuritself* sin espacio y une en *suchlike* el guion de fin de renglón de *such-like*

«I say, moreover, that this sulphur doth tinge and fix, and is the connection of the tinctures;» — el azufre que tiñe y fija, y es la conexión de las tinturas

«but this in the hen’s egg can, by no means, be found.» — y la negativa que le sigue sobre el huevo de gallina

«And he answers, certain of them are celestial, and some are terrestrial.» — la respuesta que reparte las materias entre celestes y terrestres

«But saith Hermes—it is not so; the masculine truly is the heaven of the feminine, and the feminine is the earth of the masculine.» — la objeción puesta en boca de Hermes: lo masculino es el cielo de lo femenino y lo femenino la tierra de lo masculino

«He replies—Each needs the other; for the precepts demand a medium.» — y la necesidad de un medio entre los dos

«Take away therefore the vapour from the water, and the blackness from the oily tincture, and death from the faeces; and by dissolution thou shalt achieve a triumphant reward, even that in and by which the possessors live.» — las tres sustracciones —vapor, negrura y muerte— de las que el tratado hace depender la recompensa

«Know, my son, that the temperate unguent, which is fire, is the medium between the faeces and the water, and is the Perscrutinator of the water.» — el ungüento templado, que es fuego, como medio entre las heces y el agua

«All the wisdoms of the world, O son, are comprehended in this my hidden Wisdom, and the learning of the Arts consists in discovering these wonderful hidden elements beneath which it hides completed.» — la sentencia sobre la sabiduría escondida, que Regardie ya había citado del Tractatus Aureus en su capítulo primero

«he knoweth nothing, nor can he perform anything; but if he knoweth this, he will be of great dignity, so that the kings shall reverence him.» — el contraste entre quien no sabe nada y quien, sabiéndolo, será reverenciado por los reyes

«our Stone is from many things and of various colours, and composed from four elements, which we ought to divide and dissever in pieces, and segregate in the limbs;» — la Piedra hecha de muchas cosas y de cuatro elementos, que hay que dividir y segregar

«Now it behoves us, with this watery soul, in order to possess ourselves of the sulphurous Form, to mingle the same with our Acetum.» — la mezcla del alma acuosa con el Acetum para poseer la forma sulfúrea

«Know, my son, that the philosophers bind up their matter with a strong chain, that it may contend with the Fire; because the spirits in the washed bodies desire to dwell therein and rejoice in them.» — la cadena fuerte con que los filósofos atan su materia para que contienda con el fuego

«CHAPTER TWO The Golden Treatise45 of Hermes Trismegistus, concerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher’s Stone.» — el encabezado con que el volumen abre el primero de los tres tratados, atribuido a Hermes Trismegisto; el *45* es llamada a nota de los editores.

«For myself, I had never discovered this matter to any one, had it not been from» — el tratado da su motivo para revelar; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«fear of the day of judgment, and the perdition of my soul, if I concealed it. It is a debt which I am desirous to discharge to the faithful, as the Author of our faith» — continuación: el temor del juicio y la perdición del alma como razón de la revelación, presentada como deuda con los fieles.

«Our most precious stone cast forth upon the dunghill, being most dear is made altogether vile.» — el tópico de la piedra preciosísima arrojada al estercolero, en el texto del Golden Treatise

«Understand ye Sons of Wisdom, the Stone declares: Protect me, and I will protect thee; give me my own, that I may help thee.» — la Piedra hablando en primera persona y pidiendo protección a cambio de protección

«My Sol and my beams are most inward and secretly in me.» — el Sol y los rayos que el tratado sitúa dentro de la propia materia

«Behold, that which the philosophers have concealed is written with seven letters: for Alpha follows two, viz. Yda and Liber; and Sol, in like manner follows: nevertheless, if desirous to have dominion to guard the art, join the son to Buba,» — el enigma de las siete letras, con Yda, Liber y Buba tal como el volumen los imprime

«Hearers, understand: and then let us use our judgment, for what I have written I have with most subtle contemplation and investigation demonstrated to you; the whole matter I know to be one only thing.» — la declaración de unidad de la materia con que el tratado cierra su sección

«Now saith Venus: I beget light, nor is the darkness of my nature; and if my metal were not dry all bodies would desire me, for I liquefy them and wipe away their rust, and I extract their substance.» — Venus hablando: engendra luz, licua los cuerpos, borra su herrumbre y extrae su sustancia

«But the king, the ruler, his brethren attesting, saith: I am crowned, and I am adorned with a diadem; I am clothed with the royal garment, and I bring joy and gladness of heart; for, being chained to the arms and breast of my mother, and to her substance, I cause my substance to keep together; and I compose the invisible from the visible, making the occult matter to appear.» — el rey coronado que compone lo invisible desde lo visible, encadenado a la sustancia de su madre

«Hear then these words, and understand them; keep them, and meditate thereon; and seek for nothing more: Man is generated from the principle of Nature whose inward substance is fleshy, and not from anything else.» — el principio de generación por semejanza aplicado al hombre

«Botri is made from the Citrine, which is extracted out of the Red, and from nothing else; and if it be Citrine and nothing else know it will be thy Wisdom.» — y el mismo principio aplicado al Botri, que sale del Cetrino y éste del Rojo

«Ye sons of Wisdom! Burn then the Brazen Body with an exceeding great fire; and it will imbue you with the grace which ye seek.» — la orden de quemar el Cuerpo Broncíneo con fuego grandísimo

«And know ye that the Art of this permanent Water is our brass, and the colouring of its tincture and blackness is then changed into the true red.» — el Agua permanente identificada con el bronce, y el paso de la negrura al rojo verdadero

«I declare before God, I have spoken nothing but the truth.» — el juramento de veracidad ante Dios

«My son, that which is born of the crow is the beginning of this Art.» — lo nacido del cuervo como principio del arte, que es la figura de la nigredo

«In the life and death thereof we work with the spirits; for as it dies by the taking away of the spirit, so it lives in the return and is revived and rejoices in them.» — la muerte por sustracción del espíritu y la vida por su retorno

«But these things, and how they attained to the knowledge of this secret, are given by our ancestors in figures and types;» — la transmisión del secreto en figuras y tipos, según el tratado

«It behoves us to give thanks to God, who bestows liberally to the wise, who delivers us from misery and poverty.» — la acción de gracias con que cierra la sección

«It is the Form of all other unguents in which is the occult and buried unguent, and of which there appears to be no preparation.» — el ungüento oculto y sepultado, del que dice no aparecer preparación alguna

«And know that the Heaven is joined mediately with the Earth; but the middle nature, which is the Water, is a Form along with the Heaven and the Earth.» — el Agua como naturaleza media que enlaza Cielo y Tierra

«the water holds of all the first place which goes forth from the Stone; the second is gold; but the third is our almost or medial gold which is more noble than the water with the faeces.» — la serie de tres que sale de la Piedra: agua, oro y el oro medial

«It behoves us, therefore, to drive away the vapour from the water, the blackness from the unguent, and death from the faeces, and this by dissolution.» — las tres sustracciones por disolución, repetidas aquí en la sección quinta

«Which being done we have the sovereign philosophy and secret of all hidden things.» — y lo que el tratado promete a cambio

«Know ye then, O sons of Science, there are seven bodies—of which gold is the first, the most perfect, the king of them, and their head—which neither the Earth can corrupt nor the fire devastate, nor the water change;» — los siete cuerpos, con el oro por rey e incorruptible a los cuatro elementos

«for its complexion is equalized, and its nature regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture; nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, therefore the philosophers have preferred and magnified it, saying that this gold, in relation of other bodies, is as the sun amongst the stars,» — la razón que da: complexión igualada y nada superfluo, de donde el símil del sol entre las estrellas

«and as, by the will of God, every vegetable and all the fruits of the Earth are perfected through it, so gold, which is the ferment Ixir, vivifies and contains every metallic body.» — el oro como fermento Ixir que vivifica todo cuerpo metálico

«Observe, moreover, that the ferment whitens the confection and hinders it from combustion, and holds the tincture lest it should fly, and rejoices the bodies,» — lo que el fermento hace, según el tratado: blanquea, impide la combustión y retiene la tintura

«and makes them intimately to be joined and to enter one into another, and this is the Key of the philosophers, and the end of their works; and by this science bodies are meliorated and the operation of them, God assisting, is consummated.» — continuación en la plana siguiente: la unión íntima de los cuerpos como Llave de los filósofos y fin de su obra

«The Stone, therefore, is the most precious gold without spots—evenly tempered, which neither fire, nor air, nor water, nor earth is able to corrupt;» — la Piedra definida como oro precioso sin manchas, incorruptible a los cuatro elementos

«The gold of the wise, concocted and well digested, with the fiery water, makes Ixir; for the gold of the wise is more heavy than lead, which, in a temperate composition is the ferment Ixir, and, contrariwise, becomes distempered by an equal composition.» — el oro de los sabios cocido con el agua ígnea, que hace el Ixir y pesa más que el plomo

«But, through negligence and a false opinion in the matter, the operation is perverted, as bad leaven on the dough, or curds for cheese, and musk among aromatics.» — el tratado explica el fracaso de la obra por negligencia y opinión falsa, con tres símiles de fermento echado a perder.

«The colour of the golden matter points to redness, and the nature thereof is not sweetness; therefore we make of them Sericum, i.e. Ixir; and of them we make the encaustic of which we have written, and with the king’s seal we tinge the clay, and in that have set the colour of heaven which augments the sight of them that see it.» — la rojez, el Sericum o Ixir y el sello del rey con que se tiñe el barro.

«For the work begins from the vegetable, next from the animal, as in the egg of the hen, in which is the great support; and our earth is gold, of all which we make seriacum, which is the ferment Ixir.» — el verso último del tratado, que ordena la obra del vegetal al animal y hace del huevo de gallina el gran soporte.

«Turning now to the opening verses of The Golden Treatise, what strikes us first is the preliminary demonstration of the essential religious or spiritual nature of the undertaking.» — Regardie abre su comentario señalando el carácter religioso que el tratado se da a sí mismo en sus primeros versos

«It strikes a keynote of the entire treatise, raising the level of the interpretation of its subject matter considerably above the merely physical.» — y de ahí saca la clave de lectura de todo el tratado, por encima de lo meramente físico

«To resign oneself patiently to God’s will, or to acknowledge as Hermes does that he obtained this knowledge by the “inspiration of the living God alone, who judged fit to open them to His servant,”47 implies a thorough-going acceptance of the whole of life, so that» — la resignación a la voluntad divina leída como aceptación total de la vida; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«It suggests an unconditional acquiescence in life as it actually is, an acceptance of oneself with all one’s faults and vices.» — continuación: la aceptación incondicional de uno mismo con sus faltas y vicios

«It intimates a willingness to sacrifice all other aims to the one end, the attainment of the Philosopher’s Stone.» — y el sacrificio de todo otro fin al de la Piedra

«The First Matter of the Alchemists is a synthesis or Quintessence of the four elements or qualities of dryness and moisture, heat and cold.» — la Primera Materia como síntesis de las cuatro cualidades: sequedad y humedad, calor y frío

«Nothing can be done to perfect the Stone until this interior subtle or design body is first known and then subjected to a decomposing process so that its crystallization and inflexibility is brought to naught.» — la condición que Regardie pone a toda la obra: conocer primero el cuerpo sutil y luego descomponerlo

«The colours to be passed through refer to the fact that in all occult systems a different colour is attributed to each specific item of the magical alphabet.» — los colores del tratado leídos como el alfabeto de color de los sistemas ocultos

«Usually for the elements we have black, russet, or dark green for earth, blue for water, yellow for air, red for fire.» — la atribución habitual de colores a los cuatro elementos

«But in the alchemical working another, possibly a simpler, attribution is employed.» — y la advertencia de que la alquimia usa otra, más simple

«The sequence runs—first black to represent the decomposition or putrefaction of the Stone as first it is found.» — el negro como descomposición o putrefacción de la Piedra tal como se la halla

«This is followed by greenness, which expresses immaturity and the possibility of complete spiritual growth, as witnessed by the colour displayed by Nature in Spring; the colour of expectancy and hope.» — el verde como inmadurez y posibilidad de crecimiento, con el símil de la primavera

«Red succeeds this, red for maturity, full growth, and ripeness; whilst citrine or yellow, the colour of gold and of value and worth, is the final and desired resultant.» — el rojo como madurez y el cetrino o amarillo como resultado final de la serie

«Here are described the nature of the alchemists’ basic material and the divisions made upon it.» — el comentario pasa a las divisiones que el tratado hace sobre su materia

«The four substances of the verse refer to the four elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.» — las cuatro sustancias del verso leídas como los cuatro elementos

«“One to two” represent the automatic division of the homogeneous magical Agent into its polarities of male and female, the two poles of positive and negative, active and passive, etc., the two opposites which pervade and characterize the whole of nature.» — el *uno a dos* leído como la polarización del Agente mágico en masculino y femenino

«Luna is the celestial symbol of the Astral, the philosophical Water, and therefore of the Collective Unconscious.» — Luna como símbolo del astral, del Agua filosófica y del Inconsciente Colectivo

«In every system of ancient symbolism, the Moon refers to the Soul of the World.» — y la Luna como Alma del Mundo en el simbolismo antiguo

«The first part of the operation, represented by the waning of the moon, the dark fortnight, is the breaking down process—decoction, putrefaction, which dissolves the matter, and discharges all and every impurity.» — la quincena menguante leída como decocción y putrefacción

«The second half is the bright fortnight, the waxing of the Moon—the reverse half of the “Solve et Coagula” formula, the reconstruction, the coagulation of the volatile.» — y la creciente como la mitad coagulante de la fórmula Solve et Coagula

«Argent-vive is Mercury which, naturally, is within man himself, in the innermost chamber of his being.» — el argento vivo situado dentro del hombre, en la cámara más interna de su ser

«He calls it the residual Earth; that is Holy Earth.» — la tierra residual del tratado leída como Tierra Santa

«Yesod the upper half of the seventh sphere on the diagram represents the state of the first purification, of which the term Quintessence can be used.» — Yesod como estado de la primera purificación, al que aplica el término Quintaesencia

«If you have found this argent vive, which is the residuum of the philosophic earth after the purification, keep it safely, for it is worthy.» — la instrucción de guardar el argento vivo hallado tras la purificación

«Also note the encouragement that Vaughan gives, for he says: “If thou dost know the First Matter, know also for certain that thou hast discovered the Sanctuary of Nature.» — el aliento que Regardie toma de Vaughan sobre el Santuario de la Naturaleza

«The uppermost three spheres called the Supernals are often classed together as a unit.» — los tres Supernos tratados como unidad

«Binah means Understanding, and as a glyph of the Triad conceals Wisdom and the essence of the divine Light.» — Binah como Entendimiento, que encubre la Sabiduría y la esencia de la Luz divina

«One of the astrological attributions to Binah is Saturn, among whose correspondences are such ideas as stability, peace, blackness, death, time, etc.» — y su atribución a Saturno, con estabilidad, negrura, muerte y tiempo entre sus correspondencias

«The versicle we are dealing with reads, “A Vulture stands upon the mountain.”» — el versículo del buitre sobre la montaña, que Regardie toma para comentar

«In addition to being that bird which preys upon deceased and putrefying things— represented in Alchemy by the corroded First Matter—the Vulture is also a maternal symbol.» — el buitre como ave que se ceba en lo podrido y a la vez como símbolo materno

«The Vulture in its travels flies extremely high, and is capable of wheeling about slowly, seeming often to remain poised and stationary in mid-air.» — el vuelo alto y suspendido que le atribuye

«It is also credited with extremely clear and penetrating vision, sensing its prey from a distance of many miles.» — y la vista penetrante

«The Crow is the so-called bird of Hermes—the volatile astro-mental body, capable of sustained and prolonged flights of ideation and fantasy.» — el cuervo como ave de Hermes y como cuerpo astromental volátil

«The throat is the seat of the voice, the instrument of the expression of the mind.» — la garganta como asiento de la voz e instrumento de la mente

«The tincture is clearly a mercurial extract, a thought-extract—it is therefore that intellectual ferment which eventually transforms consciousness.» — la tintura leída como extracto mercurial, es decir, fermento intelectual que transforma la consciencia

«This is obscurity and vanitas vanitatis. These further veils are deliberately employed, we are constantly assured, in order to confuse the ignorant and unworthy. The humidity possibly refers to the magical Earth, Meridian Redness is Fire, citrine Seyre is Air, and Auripigment is Water. The instruction simply names the ingredients of the Stone.» — Regardie resuelve el verso oscuro en cuatro elementos, y marca su propia lectura con un *possibly*.

«The Vine of the Wise is the perfected and purified Stone. It bears comparison with the opening verses of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of St. John» — la Vid de los Sabios identificada con la Piedra perfecta y comparada con el evangelio de Juan.

«I am the true Vine, and my Father is the husband-man. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through with the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.» — el pasaje de Juan 15 que Regardie intercala entero en su comentario.

«The Vine yields wine for man’s pleasure. But it does so only through the application of an intelligence and a skill external to itself. Itself unaided, it remains but a vine. So by the alchemical artifice of putrefaction and distillation, the crude material of the astro-mental sheath is purified, becoming, so to speak, the wine or spirit thereof.» — la vid necesita un arte externo, y de ahí saca Regardie la necesidad del artificio alquímico sobre la envoltura astromental.

«Noteworthy also, is the fact that the Vine and wine generally are sacred in mythology to Bacchus. On the Qabalistic Tree of Life he is referred to Tiphareth, the solar center, the source of reference of all the dying Gods who teach immortality, resurrection, and healing.» — Baco remitido a Tiphareth y al conjunto de los dioses que mueren.

«The glorified and purified consciousness which is the Philosopher’s Stone is likewise a Tiphareth attribution—and often is termed the Augoeidês, the deathless solar body, the wedding garment of scripture.» — la Piedra identificada con el Augoeidês, cuerpo solar inmortal y vestidura nupcial.

«the First Matter so important that although unwilling or unable to give absolutely clear indications of its nature, they were anxious constantly to throw out suggestive hints.» — Regardie explica la conducta de los alquimistas ante la Primera Materia: incapaces o reacios a definirla, sembraban indicios

«On the other hand, from a philosophical point of view, we could equally argue that because of its penetrating, incisive and illuminating quality the intellect might be that fire so beloved of the alchemists.» — la conjetura de que el fuego de los alquimistas sea el intelecto, por su cualidad penetrante e iluminadora

«I am inclined to believe that this last analogy would meet with the approval of the alchemical writers themselves, though I tend to the belief that rather more is implied by the technical use of the word “fire” in our text.» — y el límite que él mismo le pone: cree que el término fuego implica algo más

«Yet no single text gives a clear straightforward indication either as to its real nature or the means of its kindling.» — la negativa que consigna: ningún texto indica con claridad la naturaleza del fuego ni cómo encenderlo

«It is the effect of this fire which, it is said, reduces the silver-grey substance of the astral vehicle to dark ashes, the black Saturn.» — el efecto de ese fuego: reduce la sustancia gris plata del vehículo astral a cenizas negras, el Saturno negro

«It is the nature of the human mechanism to set or harden into fixities of habit, and this is true not only of the body but of the mind and emotions.» — el endurecimiento en hábitos como propiedad del mecanismo humano, del cuerpo tanto como de la mente

«The First Matter, which is to say the hard, inflexible condition of consciousness encased in its crystallized sheath, must be subjected to heat, and boiled.» — y de ahí la necesidad de someter la Primera Materia al calor

«By these means the dryness and crystallizing qualities of the etheric substance are destroyed, leaving only the essential root nature of the substance, devoid of the rigid and restricting attributes imposed upon it by the natural self-willed life.» — lo que ese hervor destruye y lo que deja: la naturaleza raíz sin los atributos rígidos impuestos por la vida propia

«Turning for aid to the psychological realm we are confronted with a maze of symbols which some consider illuminating, whilst others in all sincerity and intellectual honesty believe to be of no final value.» — Regardie declara el estado de la cuestión psicológica sin arbitrar entre quienes hallan valor a esos símbolos y quienes se lo niegan

«But adolescent fantasies of this kind are of no deep spiritual significance.» — su reserva sobre la lectura sexual del horno

«If we do accept the furnace as being a female symbol, then, instead of halting desperately here, we must proceed along an extended association track to discover other valid meanings and significations for such ideas.» — y la salida que propone: aceptar el símbolo femenino pero seguir la cadena de asociaciones

«It may be contended, therefore, that if we associate the furnace with the Unconscious we have a valid and reliable correspondence.» — la correspondencia que sostiene: el horno con el Inconsciente

«Dr. Jung, who differs very considerably from Freud’s rather narrow sexual interpretations, has something to say on this question of fire in his Commentary to The Secret of the Golden Flower.» — Regardie separa a Jung de Freud en la lectura del fuego y remite al comentario a El secreto de la flor de oro

«But not only consciousness, life itself must be heightened.» — la sentencia sobre el realce de la vida y no solo de la consciencia

«It is axiomatic that consciousness is a more or less recent development in the long history of man, and the Unconscious is its source and antecedent.» — la consciencia como desarrollo reciente y el Inconsciente como su fuente y antecedente

«Consciousness, however, is a late-born descendant of the unconscious psyche.» — la fórmula de Jung que cita: la consciencia como descendiente tardío de la psique inconsciente

«It would certainly show perversity if we tried to explain the lives of our ancestors in terms of their late descendants; and it is just as erroneous and stupid to regard the unconscious as a derivative of consciousness.» — y la advertencia contra explicar la vida de los antepasados por la de sus descendientes tardíos

«But it would be erroneous to suppose literally that consciousness has issued from the lower levels of the Anima Mundi.» — el límite que Regardie pone a la metáfora: no hay que tomar literalmente que la consciencia salga del Anima Mundi

«But before consciousness can attain to the Supernals, it must have passed through Avernus.» — el paso por el Averno como condición para llegar a los Supernos

«So long as we understand this, no harm may come.» — la condición con que declara que no hay daño

«Danger arises whenever the narrowly delimited but intensely clear individual consciousness meets the immense expansion of the Collective Unconscious, because the latter has a definitely disintegrating effect on consciousness.» — el peligro que Jung señala al encuentro de la consciencia individual con el Inconsciente Colectivo

«Their practical experience has taught them, the alchemists aver, that if the immersion of the heavenly flyer in the Sea where lies latent the internal fire be repeated sufficiently often, then instead of destruction being effected, the nascent spirit stirs to renewed activity.» — lo que los alquimistas afirman contra ese peligro: repetida la inmersión, el espíritu naciente se aviva en vez de destruirse

«The German poet Holderlin has written: “Danger itself fosters the rescuing power.”» — el verso de Hölderlin que cita, con la grafía que imprime el volumen

«What we observe here is a fundamental law of life—enantiodromia—the reversal into the opposite; and this it is that makes possible the reunion of the warring halves of the personality, and thereby brings the civil war to an end.» — la enantiodromía como ley que hace posible reunir las mitades en guerra

«In fact to do so implies an understanding of the mechanism of the unconscious.» — la condición que pone: entender el mecanismo del inconsciente

«And such a knowledge, psychotherapists inform us, confers freedom from unconscious automatisms, from compulsive domination of consciousness by repressed material stored in the Unconscious, and also from the dangers of any such lack of insight and discrimination.» — y las tres libertades que los psicoterapeutas atribuyen a ese conocimiento

«It is the spontaneous reversal of the spiritual life, the restoration of itself after continuous and persistent attempts to dissolve the frame and groundwork of the soul which the alchemists believed to occur, and claimed, furthermore, to have achieved.» — la reversión espontánea de la vida espiritual como lo que los alquimistas dicen haber logrado

«The perfected inner body restored spontaneously to itself by its own inherent dynamic power, glows and scintillates outwardly with an inward light like a diamond or other very precious jewel.» — el cuerpo interior perfecto que brilla con luz propia, como diamante

«It is the opinion of the Zurich school that the development of this inner or diamond body is the automatic adjustment on the part of the psyche itself in its preparation for death.» — la lectura que atribuye a la escuela de Zúrich: el cuerpo de diamante como preparación de la psique para la muerte

«Jung declared that such a development is “psychologically symbolical of an attitude which is invulnerable to emotional entanglements and violent upheavals; in a word they symbolize a consciousness freed from the world.» — y la fórmula de Jung que cita, sobre una consciencia liberada del mundo

«Death is psychologically just as important as birth and, like this, is an integral part of life.» — la muerte puesta a la par del nacimiento como parte integrante de la vida

«It is a truism in certain philosophies that man is not immortal though his essence is.» — la distinción entre el hombre y su esencia respecto de la inmortalidad

«His immortality as an individual conscious entity is a condition of things that requires achievement through his own unaided and unfailing effort.» — y la condición que le pone: la inmortalidad como entidad consciente hay que lograrla por esfuerzo propio

«It is the Buddhist claim that man is comprised of various bundles or aggregates of attributes and qualities.» — los agregados budistas que Regardie trae para explicar la composición del hombre

«Their view, moreover, is that man is a combination of several consciousnesses strung together by natural law to form an apparent unit.» — el hombre como haz de consciencias atadas por ley natural en una unidad aparente

«From such a point of view it follows that the goal to be sought—since this false ego-sense is responsible for an imperfect view of life and thus responsible for suffering, mental conflict, and psychic torture—is the dissolution of that obstinate and persistent falsity.» — y la consecuencia: disolver el falso sentido del yo, al que atribuye el sufrimiento y el conflicto

«Buddhism considers the Void most certainly not as a negative conception of nothingness, but rather as analogous to transcendental divinity, the Clear Light, or absolute Consciousness.» — el Vacío budista, que Regardie acota como no negativo sino análogo a la Luz Clara

«It is the Occidental view that the ego has some value for us in that we are individual human beings obliged by our destiny to deal with a very practical world.» — la posición occidental que le contrapone, sin armonizarlas: el yo tiene valor práctico

«The Western religious and philosophic ideal seems to be the enlightenment of the mind by God or the Absolute or the Universal Spirit removing the tarnish from the bright mirror of the mind.» — el ideal occidental descrito como quitar el empañado del espejo de la mente

«It tends to nullify the false accretions which a worldly civilization builds around the ego, without in any wise wishing to destroy the ego itself.» — que anula las adherencias del yo sin querer destruirlo

«For whilst all the alchemists urge that nothing can be known of the spagyric art save by the grace of God, yet Hermes states the entire process is a rational one and urges constant reflection and meditation on rational principles.» — la tensión que Regardie consigna en el propio tratado: nada se sabe sin la gracia de Dios, y a la vez el proceso es racional

«For, says he, consider the text as though you, the reader, had written it.» — el precepto de lectura que le adjudica: leer el texto como si uno lo hubiera escrito

«Not only so, but if persisted in, and if they become chronic or severe or intense, we have the production of psychosis, true schizophrenia, and other forms of insanity—rusts which eat up the metal of consciousness and involuntarily disintegrate the ego itself.» — el conflicto crónico como productor de psicosis, con la herrumbre que come el metal de la consciencia

«That is to say consciousness is to be drowned by its own activity—whilst it flies.» — la consciencia ahogada por su propia actividad mientras vuela

«Conscious conflict, however, has another value, quite apart from the superficial fact that a conscious conflict can consciously be dealt with.» — el valor que atribuye al conflicto consciente

«Our text appears to encourage conflict when, however, it is cultivated deliberately and with full intent in order to hasten the cessation of its activity.» — y la lectura del texto como aliento al conflicto deliberado para apresurar su cese

«What possibly is a more accurate expression is not that conflict is encouraged consciously or otherwise, but that analysis and meditation increase the perception of the presence of the conflict so that the true extent of the internecine warfare waging within is fully realized.» — la corrección que él mismo propone: no se fomenta el conflicto, se aumenta la percepción de que existe

«Jung has described at some length in Psychological Types72 the phenomenon whereby the conflict between the pairs of opposites when becoming too acute to be borne, causes consciousness of them to undergo an eclipse.» — el eclipse de la consciencia de los opuestos cuando el conflicto se vuelve insoportable, que remite a Psychological Types de Jung

«Whilst this battle royal proceeds, every care must be taken to prevent consciousness from flying off at a tangent, an escape, a defensive operation of the self-preservation mechanism.» — la advertencia de impedir la fuga de la consciencia mientras dura el combate

«The hysterical escape from one opposite to another, from the sea beneath into the “regions above,” must be checked, the pain and torture of the conflict being accepted and endured.» — la huida histérica de un opuesto al otro, que hay que atajar aceptando el dolor

«Then, says the text, the hysterical symptoms of escape pass away and disappear, and the flying volatile will truly forbear to fly.» — y el volátil que deja de volar, en la lectura psicológica del verso

«Patiently will it endure the appalling unsettling of itself, the threatened disintegration of its own being, with the quiet stoicism of a sage.» — la resistencia estoica a la desintegración amenazada

«And it does so primarily because of its full acceptance of itself and of the conflict raging within.» — cuya razón sitúa en la aceptación plena de sí y del conflicto

«If the analysand can endure the exposure of his inner life, the destruction of long-cherished points of view, the elimination of beloved yet loathsome symptoms and behaviour, by arriving consciously at an understanding of his own realized self by how much is he not enriched.» — lo que gana el analizado que soporta la exposición de su vida interior

«In making conscious and assimilating with intent the wealth of content domiciled in the Unconscious, the vast inspiration, the peace and power, Consciousness itself is enhanced.» — la asimilación deliberada del contenido inconsciente como realce de la consciencia

«The psyche thus integrated and made whole is indeed “a conquering lord, with it adorned.”» — la psique integrada leída sobre el verso del señor vencedor

«Because of the highly specialized nature of consciousness, its exaggerated independence and self-satisfaction and the guilt sense resulting therefrom, a barrier is erected in the psyche of modern man between the several levels of consciousness.» — la barrera que el hombre moderno levanta entre los niveles de su consciencia

«The treatise calls this barrier set up by persistent repression, “the shadow and impurity by which the clouds hang over it, defile and keep away the light.”» — el verso del tratado que Regardie hace corresponder a esa barrera

«Freud calls this overshadowing cloud of self-criticism and recrimination the Super-ego.» — y el nombre que Freud le da: el Superyó

«It prevents a free and adequate contact with people and things, dulls the brain, inhibiting the easy flow of life and light, the libido, from welling up from the Unconscious.» — los efectos que le atribuye sobre el contacto, el cerebro y el flujo de la libido

«The ray is, I take it, the light itself shining over and into consciousness after the latter has been separated from or has deliberately absorbed (accepted) its shadow.» — el rayo leído como la luz que entra una vez absorbida la sombra; Regardie marca la lectura con un *I take it*

«It is because of the psychic inhibitions, the “constrictions” of Hermes, that consciousness becomes inflamed and feverish within the narrow boundaries to which it is confined by repression—the fiery redness.» — la rojez ígnea leída como inflamación de la consciencia dentro de los límites de la represión

«These burn the psyche, causing it to become restless and costive, unable to accept and adapt itself to life, ill-capable of functioning smoothly and easily.» — lo que esas constricciones hacen a la psique

«Repression might be an alternative word to that employed by Hermes.» — y la equivalencia que propone entre el término de Hermes y la represión

«It is the domicile, so to say, of the libido, vital energy, the fire of life.» — el Agua como domicilio de la libido y fuego de la vida

«Invariably a neurosis is caused by repression of certain at one time conscious material.» — la neurosis atribuida invariablemente a la represión de material antes consciente

«The elements themselves require stimulation and purification before being reconstructed in the proposed new and perfected form.» — los elementos que hay que estimular y purificar antes de recomponerlos

«And the impact of their power upon the psyche of the candidate purified him, awakening within the psychic realm a dormant faculty corresponding to the nature of the element.» — el efecto que atribuye a su impacto sobre el candidato en la ceremonia

«“Convert the elements,” says Arnold of Villa Nova, “and you shall have what you desire.”» — la sentencia de Arnaldo de Vilanova sobre convertir los elementos

«Without doubt, also, the question of making the opposites conscious (conversion) means reunion with the laws of life represented in the unconscious or, expressed in Chinese terms, the bringing about of Tao (the conscious way of union).» — la equivalencia que trae de Jung entre hacer conscientes los opuestos y el Tao

«The phrase, “restore thou it, also, to the superiors by its proper windings,”77 is, I believe, a significant phrase.» — el verso de los rodeos propios, que Regardie declara significativo

«One of the simplest methods of classification is by means of the elements.» — la clasificación por elementos como la más simple

«Thus we have Chesed reflecting the Water from Binah, Gevurah reflecting the Fire from Chokmah and Tiphareth reflecting the Air down the Middle Pillar from Kether.» — el reparto de reflejos entre Chesed, Gevurah y Tiphareth sobre el árbol

«The spiritual energy, the life force manifesting through the Unconscious, must gradually be referred back to its manifest antecedent, and this further back, until finally we reach its ultimate source or a very lofty degree of expression.» — el remonte de la energía espiritual hacia su antecedente hasta la fuente última

«For where energy and attention is wasted in unproductive and antisocial habits, by cultivating a more creative and socially useful one the former bad habit is eliminated by the deviation of the life-giving force from its channel.» — la desviación de la fuerza vital como método para eliminar el hábito antisocial

«The magical view goes deeper, however, and holds out a better hope of true usefulness.» — y lo que sostiene que la visión mágica añade a eso

«When speaking of the masculine which is “the heaven of the feminine,”78 Hermes refers to what Jung would consider the animus.» — lo masculino del tratado leído como el animus de Jung

«The feminine is the earth of the masculine” without a doubt corresponds to the anima.» — y lo femenino como el anima

«I have defined the anima in a man,” continues he, “as a personification of the unconscious in general, and have therefore taken it as a bridge to the unconscious, that is, the function of relationship to the unconscious.”» — la definición del anima que cita de Jung: personificación del inconsciente y puente hacia él

«Briefly it may be said that the Dragon refers to the instincts, to undomesticated libido.» — el Dragón leído como los instintos y la libido no domesticada

«We have already defined the libido not as sexual desire alone as the Freudians claim, but as the sum total of all psychic energy, the life force peculiar to any organism.» — y la definición de libido que opone a la freudiana: suma de toda la energía psíquica

«All primitive and archaic concepts of the devil, satan, evil, etc., represent just such projected or objectified psychic energy that has not been recognized nor included within the scope of the ego.» — el diablo y el mal de las concepciones arcaicas leídos como energía psíquica proyectada y no reconocida por el yo

«Ignorance as to its true nature gives rise to further fear, and this emotion invests the psychic object with innumerable qualities and predicates born and bred from fantasy.» — el miedo que la ignorancia añade, y las cualidades de fantasía con que reviste al objeto psíquico

«The dragon, which is precisely such a projection of feared (because untamed) psychic energy and content, is symbolic of the instinctual nature.» — el dragón como proyección de esa energía temida y símbolo de lo instintivo

«It represents enormous power and dynamic energy, the emotional drives and urges which are at the foundation and root of all conscious development.» — la potencia que le atribuye: raíz de todo desarrollo consciente

«Accepted and thus brought within the possibility of development and utilization—for denial and repression transforms it into a fearful life-rending monster —it serves as a trained and faithful beast whereupon the psyche may ride and proceed upon its individual evolution.» — y la alternativa que plantea: aceptado sirve de montura, negado se vuelve monstruo

«One alchemical commentator defines the dragon as “the self-willed spirit, which is externally derived into nature, by the fall into generation.”» — la definición del dragón que cita de un comentarista alquímico anónimo

«That is to say, summarily, the instinctual life divorced from the higher and intellectual faculties.» — y su traducción a la vida instintiva divorciada de las facultades intelectuales

«It is evident that every attempt to classify such a condition must be in terms of evil and blackness.» — por qué esa condición se clasifica en términos de mal y negrura

«Even the mind, rational and logical as it may seem, is not exempt from this pollution.» — la mente tampoco exenta de esa contaminación

«As Hermes remarks, “By it (the blackness) he (the dragon) ascends into the air”85— air being the element representing the intellectual and rational life.» — el verso del dragón que asciende al aire, con el aire por vida racional

«The blackness requires elimination from the oily tincture—the emotions must be cleansed and purified following a full-blooded acceptance of their existence.» — la eliminación de la negrura de la tintura oleosa leída como purificación de las emociones tras aceptarlas

«Then they may shine forth in daily life for what they truly are, the fire of life.» — y lo que quedan siendo entonces: el fuego de la vida

«We know what tremendous changes can be wrought upon the physical body through neurosis» — los cambios que atribuye a la neurosis sobre el cuerpo físico

«One commentator here remarks, “The knowledge of this secret sulphur, and how to prepare it and use it in this work includes the whole art of perfection.» — la nota de un comentarista sobre el azufre secreto, del que hace depender el arte entero de la perfección

«It is the stirrer-up of the whole power and efficacy and purifier of the matter; hence Hermes calls it the Perscrutinator, eminently distinguishing the Rational Ferment.”» — y su identificación con el Perscrutinator o Fermento Racional de Hermes

«But in order to produce the Philosopher’s Stone, the elements as found in their natural state in the natural unillumined man, must be divided, dissevered, and broken down.» — la condición de la Piedra: dividir y romper los elementos tal como están en el hombre no iluminado

«There is no water that is only water; no fire that is only fire, nor any known earthly element that is complete or single by itself; no gas is complete in itself.» — la negativa de que exista elemento simple en este mundo

«The elements, therefore, in this world are all now compounded, mortal, subject to division—adulterated and mixed.» — los elementos aquí compuestos, mortales y adulterados

«After dividing and dissevering them, it will be possible to reassemble those principles and elements on an entirely new pattern for the further development of the individual.» — y la recomposición sobre un patrón enteramente nuevo

«The disintegration accomplished, it is the freed Mind united to its anima, forming a complete and reintegrated psyche, which is the key of the restoration.» — la Mente liberada unida a su anima como llave de la restauración

«No wonder Hermes apostrophizes the virtue of this healing water!» — el elogio del agua sanadora que Regardie recoge del tratado

«The regenerate soul does have the power to heal and to save—a mind cleansed by analysis, aware of its own true essence, made strong by the Union with its anima, and filled with the influx of the awakened vital spirit, the libido.» — y el alma regenerada con poder de sanar, con las cuatro condiciones que le pone

«Thomas Vaughan, in his Lumen de Lumine, describes the stage mentioned at the opening of the third section even more eloquently than Hermes: “Thou must incamp against them with the fire of nature, and be sure thou dost bring thy line round about.» — el pasaje del Lumen de Lumine de Thomas Vaughan que Regardie prefiere al de Hermes para describir esa fase

«The “binding” that Hermes recommends must be a similar operation.» — la equivalencia que propone entre la atadura de Hermes y esa operación

«It would refer to an advanced stage of self-immersion, when consciousness is withdrawn from all the avenues of sense and perception.» — y su lectura: una inmersión en sí mismo con la consciencia retirada de los sentidos

«And if we refer to oriental texts and philosophies of Yoga and concentration, we shall discover that it is in the deepest meditations that the spinal Spirit-Fire—which is called the Paraclete in the New Testament, Speirema by the Gnostics, and Kundalini by the Yogis—is aroused.» — los tres nombres que da al fuego espinal: Paráclito en el Nuevo Testamento, Speirema entre los gnósticos, Kundalini entre los yoguis

«The psychological approach hereto would be that in profound states of introversion, when there is no leakage of the attention on the objective plane, the focus of the entire field of attention is directed within.» — la traducción psicológica: introversión profunda sin fuga de atención al plano objetivo

«Since the Unconscious has a vehicle of its own type of substance, then the “washed bodies”88 refer to the vehicle of the Unconscious, and the “spirits”89 to the vital energetic current of libido.» — los cuerpos lavados leídos como vehículo del Inconsciente y los espíritus como corriente de libido

«In order once more to confuse the ignorant and unworthy, Hermes harkens back to the beginning in this inconsequential way.» — Regardie atribuye al tratado un desorden deliberado para confundir al indigno

«Groddeck has gone so far as to say that it is the analyst who benefits or learns most.» — la posición de Groddeck que consigna: el analista es quien más aprende

«Jung also writes that: the analyst is as much a part of the psychic process of the treatment as is the patient, and is equally exposed to the transforming influences.» — y la de Jung: el analista es parte del proceso psíquico y está igualmente expuesto

«Indeed, if the doctor is more or less inaccessible to this influence, he is correspondingly robbed of his influence over the patient;» — el corolario que cita: el médico inaccesible a esa influencia pierde la suya sobre el paciente

«if he is influenced only consciously, he shows a defect of consciousness which prevents him from seeing the patient clearly.» — y el otro extremo, el que solo se deja influir conscientemente

«The fourth stage of analytical psychology, then, demands not only the transformation of the patient, but also the counter-application to himself by the doctor of the system which he prescribes in any given case.» — la cuarta fase de la psicología analítica, que exige al médico aplicarse a sí mismo lo que prescribe

«There must be a mutual interplay and interaction between the Unconscious of both analyst and patient.» — el juego recíproco entre los dos inconscientes

«No longer is it the cold distant scientific process envisaged some thirty years ago.» — y el contraste con el proceso frío que dice haber sido el de treinta años antes

«That the union of male and female produces offspring in the biological world is a commonplace fact.» — el lugar común biológico del que parte para leer la unión de los dos factores psíquicos

«Just as the abreaction of repressed material is accompanied by an emotional storm, so the union of these two psychic factors is likewise characterized by an intensity of feeling, and by a release of enormous energy expressing itself in terms of Light and Fire.» — la tormenta emocional que le atribuye, con desprendimiento de Luz y Fuego

«A gentle fire, not hurtful, is quite an appropriate expression for such an intensity of feeling.» — el fuego suave del tratado leído como esa intensidad de sentimiento

«It is not, naturally, an objective product visible to the eyes of the world.» — y su límite: no es producto objetivo visible

«It is a sense of intense happiness and satisfaction radiating from some deep interior source.» — la felicidad intensa que irradia de una fuente interior profunda

«It is this tranquility of soul and spirit which is the true characteristic of integrity, of wholeness, of saint-like holiness.» — la tranquilidad de alma como marca de la integridad

«And it is this which stabilizes the newly formed Quintessence, the recently born child within.» — y lo que estabiliza: la Quintaesencia recién formada, el niño nacido dentro

«She is no animal, or vegetable, no mineral, neither is she extracted out of animals, vegetables, or minerals, but she is pre-existent to them all, for she is the mother of them.» — el pasaje de Vaughan sobre la Primera Materia que no es animal, vegetal ni mineral, sino madre de los tres

«She yields to nothing but love, for her end is generation and that was never yet performed by violence.» — y el que declara que solo cede al amor, porque su fin es la generación y no se logra por violencia

«As Solomon, speaking of the Divine Wisdom, says, “Exalt her and she shall promote thee.» — la sentencia de Salomón sobre la Sabiduría divina que Regardie trae al comentario

«It is considerably reminiscent in certain senses of that mystical treatise The Light on the Path, where we read: Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.» — el pasaje de The Light on the Path que Regardie asocia a esa doctrina

«Venus is a goddess of the same kind as Hera, Isis, Rhea, etc.» — Venus puesta en la misma clase que Hera, Isis y Rea

«Bhakta or love is, according to many schools of mysticism, the supreme and ineffable means of divine union—that is to say of integration.» — y el bhakta o amor como medio supremo de unión divina, es decir, de integración

«But a higher principle still remains concealed and latent within.» — el principio superior que queda latente después de Venus

«Mrs. Atwood’s footnote to this verse is: “And when she (Venus) appears, the artist is rejoiced, and thinks perhaps his work is finished, and that he has the treasure of the world in hand; but it is not so; for if he tries it the light still will be found imperfect, alone, and transient, without the masculine tincture to fix it in manifestation.”» — la nota de Atwood que Regardie recoge: aparecida Venus, la luz sigue imperfecta sin la tintura masculina que la fije

«For though the freed psyche, the king, is crowned and adorned with the diadem, it is only by being chained to the arms and breast of his mother—to Venus, his sister and wife, the higher soul—that his substance keeps together.» — el rey coronado que solo se sostiene encadenado a la madre, a Venus, hermana y esposa

«The love of Venus acts as a cohesive force, for otherwise the power of the king’s attainment would soon be dissipated, and the virtue would soon depart from consciousness, which would thus exist without a firm foundation.» — el amor de Venus como fuerza de cohesión, sin la cual la virtud se disiparía

«Binah is the Great Sea, the element of Water, and is therefore blue, but because of its Saturnine attribution is also indigo or black.» — Binah como Gran Mar y elemento Agua, azul por eso e índigo o negro por su atribución saturnina

«The verse recalls Mrs. Atwood’s definition of the Hermetic Art. “Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the seeking out of The Sophia in the mind.”» — la definición del arte hermético de Atwood que Regardie recuerda, la misma que los editores pondrán de epígrafe en 2012

«Hermes says, “Behold I have obscured the matter treated of, by circumlocution, depriving it of light.» — la confesión del tratado de haber oscurecido a propósito la materia

«It is this that has made the study of alchemy so difficult.» — y lo que Regardie deriva de ello para el estudio de la alquimia

«Elsewhere, the crow has been defined as the Bird of Hermes.» — el cuervo definido en otro lugar como Ave de Hermes

«The simplest elemental attribution, discussed on a former page, helps a little here.» — la atribución elemental más simple como auxilio de lectura

«We know that the ego has certain uses and functions.» — los usos y funciones que reconoce al yo

«If our present ego is evil, let us cleanse and refine this ego, eliminating the evil, the dross, and confusion so that, where it failed in its prior state, it may serve us faithfully and well when placed in its proper sphere.» — y la alternativa que propone: limpiarlo en vez de suprimirlo

«Though the crow, the black bird of sorrow and foreboding and ill-omen, the mind in all its complacency and confused chaotic thinking, is evil, nevertheless what it yields following its deliberate decapitation is the beginning of this art.» — el cuervo decapitado, cuyo producto es el principio del arte

«Black is the colour of death, of evil, of impurity.» — el negro como color de la muerte, del mal y de la impureza

«There is a twofold death; the One indeed universal known, in which the body is liberated from the soul; but the other peculiar to Philosophers in which the soul is liberated from the body;» — las dos muertes que el tratado distingue: la del cuerpo liberado del alma y la del alma liberada del cuerpo

«Nature therefore liberates the body from the soul, but the soul may also liberate herself from the body.» — y la asimetría entre lo que hace la naturaleza y lo que puede hacer el alma

«Plotinus of the Neo-platonic school, and the methods of the Hindu Yogis, illustrate this point of view perfectly.» — Plotino y los yoguis hindúes como ilustración de esa segunda muerte

«The horse is a universal symbol of the Mother.» — el caballo como símbolo universal de la Madre

«Again, the horse in astrological symbolism corresponds to the zodiacal sign Sagittarius, which represents aspiration and spiritual yearning.» — y su correspondencia astrológica con Sagitario, la aspiración

«But if thy meditation prolongeth itself thou shalt unite all these Symbols in the form of a Lion.» — la instrucción de unir todos los símbolos en la forma de un León si la meditación se prolonga

«The alchemical writers inform us that those who search for urine and faeces are assuredly on the wrong track.» — la advertencia que atribuye a los alquimistas contra quienes buscan en la orina y las heces

«It is this which renders explicable the phrase that Hermes employs.» — lo que a su juicio hace explicable la frase de Hermes

«The dissolved elements are transformed by a slow gentle heating into what is called the “Dragon eating his own wings and destroying himself.”» — el dragón que devora sus propias alas como figura de los elementos disueltos por calor suave

«The effect of this siege, of introversion or meditation, is to turn anxiety against anxiety.» — el efecto del asedio, que describe como volver la ansiedad contra la ansiedad

«In homeopathic treatment, any ailment is treated by such drugs and medicines as by themselves will duplicate the symptoms thrown up by the bodily system.» — el símil homeopático con que lo explica

«There is another viewpoint of alchemy, an ethical one, which is worthy of consideration.» — la lectura ética de la alquimia que Regardie añade a las anteriores

«Life and everyday experience are, by this interpretation, the means of initiation.» — la vida cotidiana como medio de iniciación, en esa lectura

«The heart here is the furnace, whilst affliction, that is to say the experience generally of this world, is the initiating fire.» — el corazón por horno y la aflicción por fuego iniciático, que es la fórmula del ritual de la Golden Dawn que él cita en 1968

«the heating of the psychic contents gives rise to a phenomenon which can only be described in terms similar to any physical one.» — el calentamiento de los contenidos psíquicos descrito en términos físicos

«The dormant libido, formerly confined to the depths of the sea, rises to the higher levels, to the surface of consciousness.» — la libido dormida que sube del fondo del mar a la superficie de la consciencia

«Sharp vinegar must without doubt refer to the libido, the vital living spirit.» — el vinagre agudo leído como la libido, el espíritu vivo

«Wolf’s bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceth the body more subtly.» — el verso del acónito que hiere más sutilmente que el acero

«I shall not rest until I have dissolved it all.» — y el propósito de no descansar hasta disolverlo todo

«Jung too observes that the impact of the narrow delimited yet intensely clear consciousness with the wide expanse of the Unconscious is disintegrative.» — la observación de Jung sobre el efecto desintegrador del encuentro con el Inconsciente

«The process, naturally, should be repeated again and again.» — la repetición del proceso como requisito

«How then could men have so deliberately misunderstood the terms of the art as to have fallen into the “torturing of metals”?» — la pregunta que Regardie deja abierta sobre cómo se llegó a la tortura de los metales

«He states deliberately that the magical Form, wherein is concealed the unguent or elixir of Life, is within man himself in exactly the same sense as combustion is latent in combustible natures.» — la Forma mágica situada dentro del hombre, con el símil de la combustión latente

«Gold when found is valueless until the grime and grit have been washed off, and the gold itself refined.» — el oro que nada vale sin lavarlo y refinarlo

«If the element Air is required for invocation purposes in Temple, then as a preliminary every element and every other force even including that particular element the Magus desires later to work with, has to be powerfully banished from the Circle.» — el destierro previo de todo elemento antes de invocar uno, en la práctica de templo

«When purified by art, and illuminated by the processes of Alchemy, indeed consciousness may transmute all the other metals, or principles, in man.» — la consciencia purificada por el arte como lo que transmuta los demás metales del hombre

«Unity of the individuality is indispensable to the commencement of the transforming action—otherwise we have not fermentation, but disintegration and chaos.» — y la unidad de la individualidad como condición sin la cual hay caos y no fermentación

«There is but little question that the application of the psychological method, though it does explain much, does not fully cover the ground in alchemy in a way that is particularly satisfying to the critical sense.» — el capítulo quinto abre con el límite que Regardie le reconoce al método psicológico: explica mucho, no cubre el terreno

«Possibly, we should be content in that it affords us some degree of empirical understanding and insight into obscure modes of thought.» — y lo que concede que sí da: comprensión empírica de modos de pensar oscuros

«It seems offensive to our particular modern type of consciousness that men, otherwise of good character, sound intellectual judgment and capacity, should in the past have expressed no small degree of sympathy with this subject.» — la incomodidad moderna ante la simpatía de hombres capaces por este asunto

«Analytical psychology and its fellow, psychoanalysis, are quite recent appearances on the threshold of intellectual accomplishment.» — la psicología analítica y el psicoanálisis presentados como llegadas recientes

«In mediaeval times we find but little evidence of the psychological method.» — la escasez de evidencia del método psicológico en la Edad Media

«Former epochs abounded with mystical systems of interior prayer and meditation, and Magic too was well represented.» — frente a la abundancia de sistemas de oración interior y de magia

«It is in the past, in my estimation, and in ancient systems, that we must look for another and possibly more enlightening clue to the hermetic mystery.» — y de ahí su decisión de buscar la clave en los sistemas antiguos

«Mrs. M. Atwood, who has given us what indubitably must be admitted to be the best volume on alchemical hermeneutics, does posit the theory that Mesmerism or Magnetism gives the key—though no more —to this mystery.» — la tesis de Atwood sobre el mesmerismo, con el límite que ella misma le pone: da la clave y no más

«From a study of Greek and Latin literature it is almost certain that a species of healing by a laying on of hands was so commonly practised in ancient days as not to demand a detailed or particularized description.» — la imposición de manos como práctica común en la antigüedad, según su lectura de la literatura griega y latina

«Underlying such a method was the belief that the human organism generates or is permeated by an electric or creative power or fluid, animal magnetism, or vital emanation.» — la creencia que le subyace: un fluido o emanación vital que permea el organismo

«It need hardly be laboured that the Bible contains many references to cures of an apparently magnetic nature.» — las curas de aspecto magnético que dice hallar en la Biblia

«He remarks: “All bodies emit corporeal rays serving as vehicles through which the soul transmits her influence, by communicating to them her energy and power of acting; and these rays are not only corporeal, but they are even composed of various kinds of matter.» — los rayos corpóreos como vehículos del alma, en la cita que Regardie recoge

«Sebastian Wirdig, a learned philosopher-physician of the same generation, averred: “The whole world exists through magnetism; all sublunary vicissitudes occur through magnetism; life is preserved by magnetism; everything functions by magnetism.”» — la sentencia de Sebastian Wirdig sobre el mundo entero existiendo por magnetismo

«All more or less affirm the existence of a universal ether, the medium both of light and thought activity.» — el éter universal como medio común de luz y pensamiento en esos autores

«But it is only when we come to Mesmer and his disciples and colleagues that we realize the superiority of his theoretical formulation of the concept of magnetism and the advantages of his particular approach.» — y la superioridad que Regardie le concede a la formulación de Mesmer

«His inaugural address maintained that the sun, moon, and stars affect each other and cause tides, not only in the ocean and sea, but in the atmosphere too.» — la tesis inaugural de Mesmer sobre las mareas del océano y de la atmósfera

«It was his theory that they affect in a similar way all organized bodies, through the medium of a subtle and mobile fluid which he conceived to pervade and permeate the universe, and to associate all things together in material intercourse and harmony.» — su extensión a todo cuerpo organizado por medio de un fluido sutil que permea el universo

«His theory further included the idea that all things soever in Nature possess a peculiar power which manifests itself by special action upon other bodies.» — el poder peculiar que atribuye a cada cosa de la naturaleza

«That is to say, it is a physical and dynamic power acting exteriorly, without any chemical union, or without being introduced physically into the interior of the organization.» — acotado como poder físico y dinámico que obra exteriormente, sin unión química

«Mesmer also contemplated the idea that all organic bodies, animals, plants, trees, waters, metals, might be magnetized.» — la magnetización extendida a animales, plantas, árboles, aguas y metales

«By this he meant that they could be charged or impregnated with a flow or current of vital energy.» — con el sentido que le da: cargarlos de energía vital

«This cosmic vitality or animal magnetism could be transmitted, he claimed, by direct contact with a body already magnetized, or by means of the hand, the look, or even the will.» — las vías de transmisión que le adjudica: contacto, mano, mirada y voluntad

«Like light and electricity it could penetrate solid and fluid bodies, and, so he thought, could be reflected by mirrors, or polished surfaces, especially in the direction of its poles.» — y su penetración y reflexión, comparadas con la luz y la electricidad

«So far as the practical application of general theory is concerned, Mesmer, like modern psychological exponents, believed that moral causes and erroneous attitudes towards life may constitute the underlying factors in disease.» — el paralelo que Regardie traza entre Mesmer y los psicólogos modernos sobre las causas morales de la enfermedad

«That is to say an attitude towards life which was in conflict or at variance with reality could interfere with the psychic distribution of vitality throughout the bodily system.» — y su traducción: la actitud en conflicto con la realidad estorba la distribución psíquica de la vitalidad

«His theory held that the magnetism is continually circulating in the bodily system.» — el magnetismo circulando de continuo por el sistema corporal

«Not only so but that it emanates to an appreciable distance about the body.» — y emanando a distancia apreciable del cuerpo

«When the rapport is made between patient and healer, that is when contact is established either by glance or mesmeric passes or physical touch, it circulates through the systems of the two people, just as blood would if their arteries and veins were interconnected— assuming that such a condition were possible.» — el rapport descrito como circulación entre los dos sistemas, con el símil de las arterias interconectadas

«The reception of his theories and then startling cures was not particularly happy.» — la recepción adversa que consigna

«Commissions were authorized to examine the cures announced by Mesmer and his patients, and following unfavourable reports and much antagonism he fell afoul of public opinion almost everywhere.» — las comisiones y los informes desfavorables

«In passing, it may be well to mention that somehow or other in the early part of his career he had received some suggestive ideas from two Jesuits named Gassner and Hehl.» — y las ideas que dice haber recibido Mesmer de dos jesuitas, Gassner y Hehl

«Mesmer did not long persist in the use of these plates, passing on to the use of his baquet, and much later on discarding all these accessories, coming to rely exclusively on the magnetism generated by or emanating from his own personality.» — el abandono de placas y baquet hasta quedarse solo con su propia persona

«He pictured man as a closed circuit of the magnetic fluid; also as taking part in a larger cosmic circuit, or in many larger circuits of magnetism or energy which flowed through him from the universe about him, thus renewing the vitality of his personality.» — el hombre como circuito cerrado dentro de circuitos cósmicos mayores

«We find Mesmer constantly speaking both of increasing the rapidity of the flow of magnetism through the body and of equilibriating that vital flow.» — los dos términos en que Mesmer habla del flujo: acelerarlo y equilibrarlo

«His theory consisted solely in the idea of equilibriating the disturbed vitality in the body of his patient.» — y la reducción de su teoría a equilibrar la vitalidad perturbada

«Following Mesmer, we come to the Abbé Faria, a French priest who, after experimenting some time with mesmerism, announced in 1814 a view of the subject comparable to that held at this day.» — el abate Faria y su anuncio de 1814

«He held the view that the effects were mainly subjective.» — la posición que le atribuye: los efectos son subjetivos

«The mesmeric state was possibly due to changes in the mind and body of the subject produced by faith and expectancy.» — el estado mesmérico explicado por fe y expectativa

«At the time, however, this view was glossed over and forgotten.» — y el olvido en que dice que cayó esa explicación

«Although at the date of Mesmer’s death in 1815 his system of procedure of inducing a violent crisis in the patient was followed in its integrity by a considerable number of practitioners almost everywhere, more especially in Germany, there were already two other more or less important schools of Animal Magnetism in existence.» — el estado del campo a la muerte de Mesmer en 1815, con dos escuelas ya en pie

«One of these was the school of de Barbarin, who taught that the cures were effected directly through the providence of God, being in reality the result of faith alone.» — la escuela de de Barbarin, que atribuía las curas a la providencia y a la fe

«The processes of Mesmer, he held, served but to disguise that fact, and in no way to assist the cure which was in every instance produced by an “act of the soul.”» — y su lectura del procedimiento de Mesmer como disfraz de un acto del alma

«The development of magnetism in the so-called “Experimental” school of the operators who were undoubtedly the legitimate heirs and successors of Mesmer, caused the disappearance of the schools both of Mesmer proper and of de Barbarin.» — la escuela experimental que desplazó a las otras dos

«Very soon, de Puységur, as a pioneer, began to move away from his master both in the theory and practise of magnetism.» — de Puységur apartándose de su maestro en teoría y práctica

«Indeed we may safely say that the later magnetizers followed the pupil rather than the master.» — y los magnetizadores posteriores siguiendo al discípulo

«Were we to call the processes of Mesmer and the violent effects in the artificial crisis which he encouraged as “Mesmerism,” then the real discoverer of Animal Magnetism, as it has been known for the last hundred years, as a phenomenon rather than as a theory, is the Marquis de Puységur, the acknowledged founder of the experimental school.» — la distinción que propone entre el mesmerismo de Mesmer y el magnetismo animal como fenómeno, cuyo descubridor hace a de Puységur

«It is to him that are due the processes now generally known as mesmeric—processes which are productive of results differing considerably from those produced by Mesmer himself.» — y la diferencia de resultados entre uno y otro procedimiento

«There was a fundamental difference between the theories of Mesmer and de Puységur.» — la diferencia de fondo entre las dos teorías

«It is only man’s egotism and self-willed complacency that shuts off the free flow of the spirit.» — el egotismo como lo que corta el flujo libre del espíritu

«The libido flows up freely from the Unconscious when there are no resistances, the individual Unconscious receiving its power and its very existence from the Collective Unconscious—that which is common to all men and the whole of life.» — la libido que sube del Inconsciente individual, que a su vez recibe su ser del Colectivo

«De Puységur’s first discovery of any importance was that in the drowsy or somnambulistic state which quite early is produced by the application of magnetism, it was possible to address the patient and obtain evidence of a very high order of intelligence.» — el hallazgo de de Puységur: en el sonambulismo se obtiene inteligencia de orden muy alto

«Mesmer was previously aware of the induction of somnambulism but rarely interfered with it, considering it as a natural state by means of which the system adjusted its inequilibrium.» — y la actitud previa de Mesmer, que lo tenía por ajuste natural del sistema

«Dr. William Gregory, many years later, in describing the somnambulistic patient declares that his whole manner seems to undergo an improvement and refinement.» — el refinamiento de maneras que William Gregory atribuye al paciente sonámbulo

«What interested de Puységur most about this new discovery was that not only did the replies he received from sleeping patients show the most marvellous insight into their own symptoms and the means of treating them, but they gave evidence of the extraordinary phenomenon of telepathy.» — lo que más interesó a de Puységur: el diagnóstico propio del paciente y la telepatía

«Chiefly responsible for introducing Mesmerism into England was Dr. John Elliotson, who employed it surgically at University College Hospital, London.» — John Elliotson y la introducción del mesmerismo quirúrgico en Inglaterra

«No sooner had Elliotson demonstrated its efficiency—and he did that in a most remarkable way—than his medical colleagues commenced to deride and ridicule both him and his practice.» — y la burla de sus colegas apenas demostrada la eficacia

«The term hypnotism as a less objectionable and more scientific term for certain aspects of the mesmeric state was first coined in 1843 by a Manchester physician, Dr. James Braid.» — la acuñación del término hipnotismo por James Braid en 1843

«Even the bright object was after a while eliminated, since in some patients it aggravated conjunctivitis, the entire stress being now laid upon verbal suggestion.» — el paso del objeto brillante a la sugestión verbal

«Many of his operations were for the removal of monstrous scrotal tumours weighing nearly a hundredweight, horrible but deadly convincing evidence of the effectiveness of his technique.» — las operaciones de tumores enormes como prueba de la técnica

«On the Continent, however, we come across famous names like Liébault, Bern-heim, Moll, Charcot, Janet, and the beginning of different groups of hypnotic operators coming to hold vastly different theories—the Nancy School, the Salpétrière School, etc.» — los nombres continentales y las escuelas de Nancy y la Salpêtrière; el troceo imprime *Bern-heim* partido

«It is only in an indirect way that we are here concerned with animal magnetism as a therapeutic agent.» — Regardie acota su interés: el magnetismo animal le importa aquí solo de modo indirecto

«That she had vast insight and understanding is a statement which cannot be doubted.» — y su juicio sobre Atwood, a quien concede penetración indudable

«She believed it might be possible to pass the consciousness regressively through its many phases of historical evolutionary development back to the long-forgotten life in Reality, “passing behind the murky media of sense and fantasy to behold reflected in the brightened mirror of our own intelligence the pure» — la regresión de la consciencia por sus fases evolutivas hasta la vida en la Realidad, en la cita de Atwood; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«The trance state when justly and perseveringly ordered for that end, affords the metaphysical condition pre-eminently perfect; for it removes the sensible obstruction and presents a clearer glass before the mind than it can ever regard in the natural state.» — continuación: el trance como condición metafísica perfecta, porque retira el obstáculo sensible

«The patient is no sooner lightly entranced than he begins to feel an internality never before known to him and which may be intensified as the intention is fixed and the calibre of the mind and circumstantial conditions are favourable;» — la internalidad que el paciente empieza a sentir apenas entra en trance

«the passive personality collapses from its circumferential and phenomenal life into that central Omnipresence whose circumference is not;» — el colapso de la personalidad pasiva hacia la Omnipresencia central

«the mind, rightly disciplined and related to the Universal becomes universalized and one with the great magnetic Will of Nature,» — la mente universalizada y unida a la Voluntad magnética de la Naturaleza

«revolving with the Infinite Medium (the pure ether) through all its spheres, perceiving all things in all and in itself, until at length becoming perfectly converted to its principle,» — girando con el Medio Infinito por todas sus esferas

«the divinized microcosmic epitome moves with demiurgic power and grace.» — y el epítome microcósmico divinizado con poder demiúrgico, cierre de la cita de Atwood

«Although the alchemists were firm and adamant in their instruction that nothing could be accomplished without the preliminary dissolution, they have left but little clues as to the significance of this operation.» — la disolución previa como requisito firme de los alquimistas, y la escasez de indicaciones que Regardie les reprocha

«It is true that they have spoken of manual operations, but it seems that this could lend countenance not only to the mesmeric passes but also to the physical and metallurgical theory where transmutation was accomplished or attempted by hard labour and by sweat of the brow.» — las operaciones manuales, que a su juicio admiten tanto la lectura mesmérica como la metalúrgica

«Nor, if we may accept the admonition contained in their own writings, would it be possible to discover the method from a cursory examination of their books alone.» — y la imposibilidad de dar con el método leyendo solo sus libros

«For it is called by some of them a play of children and is represented as very trivial, slight, almost a ridiculous thing.» — el juego de niños con que algunos de ellos lo describen

«Recent observation, or rather experience, during the last one hundred years or so, has elicited various means of discovering this secret.» — los medios que el último siglo ha ido dando para descubrir ese secreto

«On the contrary, it is claimed that consciousness becomes heightened and exalted by these methods, and all the faculties of mind are sharpened and left in a much stronger condition than before.» — lo que ese apologista sostiene contra la objeción: la consciencia sale realzada y las facultades afiladas

«But the trance state as induced by magnetism and the reactions induced in the subject are so suggestive over and above these other symptoms that we are tempted to wonder whether there is not some technical method which answers to the enigmatic descriptions left to us by the ancients.» — la conjetura que Regardie deja abierta: si habrá un método técnico detrás de las descripciones enigmáticas de los antiguos

«We know full well that some magnetic method of entrancement was widely practised in Greece.» — el trance magnético como práctica extendida en Grecia

«Thousands of years ago the Phrygian Dactyli, the initiated priests, spoken of as the magicians and exorcists of sickness, healed disease by these processes.» — los Dáctilos frigios como sacerdotes iniciados que curaban por ese procedimiento

«These methods were the principal agents in theurgic mysteries as also in the Aesculapiea—the healing Temples of Aesculapius, where the patients were treated during the process of “incubation,” as it was termed, magnetically in sleep.» — y la incubación en los templos de Esculapio como su forma institucional

«It would be difficult to find anywhere such unnecessary controversial criticism as is found in Mr. Waite’s book.» — el juicio de Regardie sobre el libro de Waite, al que reprocha crítica controversial innecesaria

«He remarks towards the end of his book that: it is of common knowledge that the psychic state of many entranced subjects conveyed an impression of purity, refinement, beauty, as if the actual or comparative grosser part has been put to sleep for the time being.» — y la frase del propio Waite que le opone, sobre la impresión de pureza del sujeto en trance

«Naturally, the ordinary mesmeric state bore no resemblance to the sublime mystic state of the great saints and philosophers.» — la diferencia que Atwood mantiene entre el estado mesmérico ordinario y el místico

«And it is her hypothesis that this was realized by and known to the alchemists who employed magnetism only as the first step towards the consummation of the divine mystery.» — y su hipótesis: los alquimistas usaban el magnetismo solo como primer paso

«It was by this means that the hermetic solution was accomplished.» — la solución hermética lograda por ese medio

«From this the other steps could be perceived and climbed.» — desde el cual se dejaban ver los pasos siguientes

«To effect this solution was only the beginning of the Hermetic art.» — con la acotación de que la solución era solo el comienzo del arte

«The medium (that is the astro-mental sheath) in its natural state is volatile, immanifest, fantastic, irrational and impotent, compared with what it subsequently is able and by artificial conception suffers itself to become.» — el medio astromental en estado natural, volátil e impotente frente a lo que puede llegar a ser

«Thus it is seen that the strictures of Mr. Waite are wholly without foundation.» — la conclusión de Regardie contra Waite

«I confess to a sense of sad disappointment in him.» — y la decepción personal que declara

«The Atwood theory of mesmerism as applied to the Hermetic mystery is, in my opinion, so important and so suggestive that it may be well to quote from her work at greater length in order to clarify exactly what it is that she proposes.» — por qué decide citar a Atwood más largamente

«First of all it was her belief that there was a secret connected with the Mystery celebrations of the ancients which no modern so-called intellectual criticism has explained away or divulged.» — la creencia de Atwood en un secreto de los Misterios antiguos que la crítica moderna no ha explicado

«But no one, that we are aware, has developed this suggestion or carried the idea sufficiently above the therapeutic sphere;» — y su objeción a quienes no llevaron la sugerencia más allá de lo terapéutico

«they appear to have taken a broad view, without particular inquiry into the nature of the rites from the ancients themselves.» — sin indagar en la naturaleza de los ritos entre los propios antiguos

«The ordinary effects of Animal Magnetism, or Mesmerism, or vital Magnetism, or by whatever other term the unknown agency is better expressed, are now so familiarly known in practice that it will be unnecessary to describe them; they have attracted the attention of the best and leading minds of the present age, who have hailed with admiration a discovery which enables man to alleviate pain and maladies insurmountable by other means …» — el estado del magnetismo animal según Atwood, con los puntos suspensivos de la cita

«But years have passed and the science has not grown, but retrograded rather in interest and power, since de Mainaduc, Puysegur, Coiquhoun, Elliotson, Townsend, Dupotet, and the rest, faithful spirits, first set their fellow men on the road of inquiry.» — y su balance de retroceso, con la lista de nombres tal como el volumen los imprime, incluido *Coiquhoun*

«Her position and her attitude to the history and theory of Magnetism is thus made crystal clear; no possibility exists for misunderstanding.» — el juicio de Regardie sobre la claridad de esa posición

«The First Key is that which opens the dark prisons in which the Sulphur is shut up: this is it which knows how to extract the seed out of the body, and which forms the Stone of the philosophers by the conjunction of the spirit with the body —of sulphur with mercury.» — la Primera Llave de las Six Keys of Eudoxus, en el texto que Regardie reproduce en el capítulo sexto: extraer la simiente del cuerpo y unir azufre y mercurio

«Hermes has manifestly demonstrated the operation of this First Key by these words: In the caverns of the metals there is hidden the Stone, which is venerable, bright in colour, a mind sublime, and an open sea.» — el verso de Hermes que la Primera Llave invoca, con la piedra escondida en las cavernas de los metales

«This Stone has a bright glittering: it contains a Spirit of a sublime original; it is the Sea of the Wise, in which they angle for their mysterious Fish.» — la Piedra como Mar de los Sabios donde pescan su Pez misterioso

«But the operations of the three works have a great deal of analogy one to another, and the philosophers do designedly speak in equivocal terms, to the end that those who have not the Lynx’s eyes may pursue wrong, and be lost in this labyrinth, from whence it is very hard to get out.» — el tratado declara equívoco deliberado en el lenguaje de los filósofos, para perder al que no tenga ojos de lince

«In effect, when one imagines that they speak of one work, they often treat of another.» — y la consecuencia: cuando se cree que hablan de una obra, tratan de otra

«Take heed, therefore, not to be deceived here; for it is a truth, that in each work the Wise Artist ought to dissolve the body with the spirit; he must cut off the Raven’s head, whiten the Black, and vivify the White; yet it is properly in the First operation that the Wise Artist cuts off the head of the Black Dragon and of the Raven.» — la advertencia de que en cada obra hay que disolver, cortar la cabeza al Cuervo, blanquear y vivificar

«Hence, Hermes says, What is born of the Crow is the beginning of this Art.» — con el verso de Hermes sobre lo nacido del Cuervo

«Consider that it is by separation of the black, foul, and stinking fume of the Blackest Black that our astral, white, and resplendent Stone is formed, which contains in its veins the blood of the Pelican.» — la Piedra astral y resplandeciente formada por separación del humo negrísimo, con la sangre del Pelícano en sus venas

«It is at this First Purification of the Stone, and at this shining whiteness, that the work of the First Key is ended.» — y el fin de la obra de la Primera Llave en esa blancura

«The Second Key dissolves the compound of the Stone, and begins the separation of the Elements in a philosophical manner: this separation of the elements is not made but by raising up the subtle and pure parts above the thick and terrestrial parts.» — la Segunda Llave y la separación de los elementos por elevación de lo sutil sobre lo terrestre

«He who knows how to sublime the Stone philosophically, justly deserves the name of a philosopher, since he knows the Fire of the Wise, which is the only instrument which can work this sublimation.» — el Fuego de los Sabios como único instrumento de esa sublimación, y título del filósofo

«No philosopher has ever openly revealed this Secret Fire, and this powerful agent, which works all the wonders of the Art: he who shall not understand it, and not know how to distinguish it by the characters whereby it is described, ought to make a stand here, and pray to God to make it clear to him; for the knowledge of this great Secret is rather a gift of Heaven, than a Light acquired by the natural force of reasoning; let him, nevertheless, read the writings of the philosophers; let him meditate; and, above all, let him pray: there is no difficulty which may not in the end be made clear by Work, Meditation, and Prayer.» — la declaración de que ningún filósofo reveló ese Fuego Secreto, con la triple receta de Obra, Meditación y Oración

«Water of Earth, Air of Water, and Fire of Air, is the only way whereby our Mercury can be prepared.» — la escala Agua de Tierra, Aire de Agua y Fuego de Aire como única vía de preparación del Mercurio

«Apply yourself then to know this Secret Fire, which dissolves the Stone naturally and without violence, and makes it dissolve into Water in the great sea of the Wise, by the distillation which is made by the rays of the Sun and Moon.» — el Fuego Secreto que disuelve sin violencia por destilación de los rayos del Sol y de la Luna

«It is in this manner that the Stone, which, according to Hermes, is the vine of the Wise, becomes their Wine, which, by the operations of Art, produces their rectified Water of Life, and their most sharp Vinegar.» — la vid de los Sabios que se hace Vino, Agua de Vida y Vinagre agudísimo

«The Elements of the Stone cannot be dissolved but by this Nature wholly Divine; nor can a perfect dissolution be made of it, but after a proportioned digestion and putrefaction, at which the operation of the Second Key of the First Work is ended.» — y el fin de la Segunda Llave tras digestión y putrefacción proporcionadas

«The Third Key comprehends of itself alone a longer train of operations than all the rest together.» — la Tercera Llave, que el tratado declara más larga que todas las demás juntas

«the sincerest even, as Artefius, Trevisan, Flammel, have passed in silence the Preparation of our Mercury, and there is hardly one found who has not feigned, instead of showing the longest and the most important of the operations of our Practice.» — el reproche a Artefius, Trevisan y Flamel por callar la preparación del Mercurio

«I am sure, that you who are the true Sons of Science will receive a very great satisfaction in the explaining of these hidden Mysteries, which regard the separation and the purification of the Principles of our Mercury, which is made by a perfect dissolution and glorification of the body, whence it had its nativity, and by the intimate union of the soul with its body, of whom the Spirit is the only tie which works this conjunction.» — y la promesa de explicar la separación y purificación de sus principios

«ought to take notice that in this homogeneous substance, which appears under the form of Water, there are three different substances, and three natural principles of bodies—Salt, Sulphur and Mercury—which are the spirit, the soul, and the body; and though they appear pure and perfectly united together, there still wants much of their being so;» — las tres sustancias que el tratado distingue bajo la forma de Agua: Sal, Azufre y Mercurio, espíritu, alma y cuerpo

«for when by distillation we draw the Water, which is the soul and the spirit, the Body remains in the bottom of the vessel, like a dead, black, and dreggy earth, which, nevertheless, is not to be despised; for in our subject there is nothing which is not good.» — el cuerpo muerto y negro que queda al fondo tras la destilación, que el tratado no desprecia

«The philosopher, John Pontanus, protests that the very superfluities of the Stone are converted into a true essence, and that he who pretends to separate anything from our subject knows nothing of philosophy; for that all which is therein superfluous, unclean, dreggy—in fine, the whole compound, is made perfect by the action of our Fire.» — la protesta de John Pontanus contra quien separe algo del sujeto: hasta lo superfluo se convierte en esencia

«This advice opens the eyes of those, who, to make an exact purification of the Elements and of the Principles, persuade themselves that they must only take the subtile and cast away the heavy.» — y a quiénes va dirigido ese aviso

«But Hermes says the power of it is not integral until it be turned into earth; neither ought the Sons of science to be ignorant that the Fire and the Sulphur are hidden in the centre of the Earth, and that they must wash it exactly with its spirit, to extract out of it the Fixed Salt, which is the Blood of our Stone.» — el verso de Hermes sobre la potencia que no es íntegra hasta volverse tierra, y la Sal Fija como Sangre de la Piedra

«You know that nothing is more contrary than fire and water; but yet the Wise Artist must make peace between the enemies, who radically love each other vehemently.» — la paz que el Artista debe hacer entre fuego y agua, enemigos que se aman radicalmente

«Cosmopolite told the manner thereof in a few words: All things therefore being purged make Fire and Water to be Friends, which they will easily do in their earth, which had ascended with them.» — la fórmula del Cosmopolita sobre hacer amigos al fuego y al agua en su tierra

«Be then attentive on this point; moisten oftentimes the earth with its water, and you will obtain what you seek.» — y la instrucción de humedecer a menudo la tierra con su agua

«According to philosophers, the Spirit is Eve, the Body is Adam; they ought to be joined together for the propagation of their species.» — el Espíritu por Eva y el Cuerpo por Adán, que han de juntarse para propagar su especie

«Hermes says the same in other terms: “For Water is the strongest Nature which surmounts and excites the fixed Nature in the Body, that is, rejoices in it.”» — con el verso de Hermes sobre el Agua que excita la naturaleza fija del Cuerpo

«Our Water is a living Spring which comes out of the Stone by a natural miracle of our philosophy.» — el Agua como fuente viva que sale de la Piedra por milagro natural

«It is Hermes who has pronounced this great Truth.» — atribuida a Hermes

«He acknowledges, further, that this water is the foundation of our Art.» — y reconocida como fundamento del Arte

«Yet I let you know that it is properly called the Vinegar of the Wise, and that in the distillation of this Divine Liquor there happens the same thing as in that of common vinegar; you may hence draw instruction: the water and the phlegm ascend first; the oily substance, in which the efficacy of the water consists, comes the last, etc.» — el Vinagre de los Sabios y el orden de su destilación, con el aceite al final

«Reduce then the whole compound into water, and make a perfect union of the volatile with the fixed; it is a precept of Senior’s, which deserves attention, that the highest fume should be reduced to the lowest; for the divine water is the thing descending from heaven, the reducer of the soul to its body, which it at length revives.» — el precepto de Senior sobre reducir el humo más alto a lo más bajo

«The Balm of Life is hid in these unclean faeces; you ought to wash them with this celestial water until you have removed away the blackness from them, and then your Water shall be animated with this Fiery Essence, which works all the wonders of our Art.» — el Bálsamo de Vida escondido en las heces inmundas, que hay que lavar hasta quitar la negrura

«The first is the compound of Nature, whereof I have spoken in the First Key; for it is Nature which makes it in a manner incomprehensible to the Artist, who does nothing but lend a hand to Nature by the adhibition of external things, by the means of which she brings forth and produces this admirable compound.» — el primer compuesto, el de la Naturaleza, en el que el Artista solo presta la mano

«The compound of Art is not altogether the same in the Second as in the Third Work; yet it is always the Artist who makes it.» — el compuesto del Arte, que varía entre la Segunda y la Tercera Obra

«Geber defines it, a mixture of Argent vive and Sulphur, that is to say, of the volatile and the fixed; which, acting on one another, are volatilized and fixed reciprocally into a perfect Fixity.» — la definición de Geber: mezcla de argento vivo y azufre, volátil y fijo, que se fijan recíprocamente

«Consider the example of Nature; you see that the earth will never produce fruit if it be not penetrated with its humidity, and that the humidity would always remain barren if it were not retained and fixed by the dryness of the earth.» — el ejemplo de la tierra y su humedad, que sin la sequedad quedaría estéril

«The water which ascends by distillation carries up with it a part of this fiery salt, so that the affusion of the water on the body, reiterated many times, impregnates, fattens, and fertilizes our Mercury, and makes it fit to be fixed, which is the end of the second Work.» — y la afusión repetida del agua que engrasa y fertiliza el Mercurio, fin de la segunda Obra

«But there are none who have been willing to show distinctly to the Sons of Science by what means they may get these two mercuries.» — el reproche de que nadie haya mostrado cómo obtener los dos mercurios

«The Lunaria is the White Mercury, the most sharp Vinegar is the Red Mercury; but the better to determine these two mercuries, feed them with flesh of their own species—the blood of innocents whose throats are cut; that is to say, the spirits of the bodies are the Bath where the Sun and Moon go to wash themselves.» — la Lunaria por Mercurio Blanco y el Vinagre agudísimo por Rojo, con la sangre de los inocentes degollados

«I have unfolded to you a great mystery, if you reflect well on it; the philosophers who have spoken thereof have passed over this important point very slightly.» — y el mérito que el tratado se atribuye por decirlo

«Cosmopolite has very wittily mentioned it by an ingenious allegory, speaking of the purification of the Mercury: This will be done, says he, if you shall give our old man gold and silver to swallow, that he may consume them, and at length he also dying may be burnt.» — la alegoría del Cosmopolita sobre dar oro y plata a tragar al viejo

«You must not be ignorant that Our Old Man is our Mercury; this name indeed agrees with him because He is the first matter of all metals.» — con la clave: el Viejo es el Mercurio, primera materia de todos los metales

«but the Chalybes conceives and begets a son more glorious than the Father.» — y el Chalybes que engendra un hijo más glorioso que el padre

«I not only speak to you more intelligibly than any philosopher before has done, but I also reveal to you the most essential point in the Practice;» — la pretensión de hablar más inteligiblemente que ningún filósofo anterior

«Therefore despair of nothing—search the source of the Liquor of the Sages, which contains all that is necessary for the work; it is hidden under the Stone—strike upon it with the Red of Magic Fire, and a clear fountain will issue out;» — la fuente que brota al golpear la Piedra con el Rojo del Fuego Mágico

«Hermes says, that there is so much sympathy between the purified bodies and the spirits, that they never quit one another when they are united together:» — la simpatía entre cuerpos purificados y espíritus, que ya no se separan

«because this union resembles that of the soul with the glorified body; after which Faith tells us, there shall be no more separation or death;» — comparada con la unión del alma con el cuerpo glorificado

«The Fourth Key of the Art is the entrance to the Second Work (and a reiteration in part and development of the foregoing): it is this which reduces our Water into Earth; there is but this only Water in the world, which by a bare boiling can be converted into Earth, because the Mercury of the Wise carries in its centre its own Sulphur, which coagulates it.» — la Cuarta Llave, que reduce el Agua a Tierra porque el Mercurio lleva en su centro su propio azufre

«But Hermes assumes that our mercurial water shall obtain all the virtues which the philosophers attribute to it if it be turned into earth.» — y la condición que Hermes le pone: que se vuelva tierra

«The Fifth Key includes the Fermentation of the Stone with the perfect body, to make thereof the medicine of the Third order.» — la Quinta Llave y la fermentación de la Piedra con el cuerpo perfecto

«And that the Spirit ought to make the union of the paste with the leaven in the same manner as water moistens meal, and dissolves the leaven to compose a fermented paste fit to make bread.» — con el símil del agua que humedece la harina y disuelve la levadura

«Hermes first made it, saying, that as a paste cannot be fermented without a ferment;» — atribuido a Hermes

«I have given you, upon the principal point, all the instructions which are necessary for you, so that it would be superfluous to tell you more of it;» — la declaración de haber dado ya las instrucciones necesarias

«I will tarry no longer upon this point, and will tell you nothing more of what relates to the Projection of the Medicine, because the success you expect depends not thereon.» — y la negativa a hablar de la Proyección, de la que dice que no depende el éxito

«I have not given you very full instructions except on the Third Key, because it contains a long train of operations which, though simple and natural, require a great understanding of the Laws of Nature,» — la razón de haberse extendido solo en la Tercera Llave

«Take this in good part from me, in the design which I had of sparing you a thousand labours and a thousand troubles, which I myself have undergone in this painful journey for want of an assistance such as this is,» — el propósito de ahorrar al lector los trabajos que el propio autor sufrió

«I should much bewail, if, like me, after having known the true matter, you should spend fifteen years entirely in the work, in study and in meditation, without being able to extract out of the Stone the precious juice which it encloses in its bosom, for want of knowing the secret fire of the wise,» — los quince años que dice haber perdido por ignorar el fuego secreto

«But I give you notice, moreover, that even after you shall be arrived at the knowledge of the Secret Fire of the Wise, yet still you shall not attain your point at your first career.» — y la advertencia de que ni aun sabiéndolo se acierta a la primera

«I wish with all my heart that the instructions which I have given you may enable you to go directly to the End.» — el deseo con que cierra

«This truth is acknowledged by all artists; it is for this reason that it is not enough to work;» — y el principio de que no basta con trabajar

«Experience will give you knowledge in the practice of this great truth, for you will in effect find that this philosophical calcination, which sublimes and distills the Stone in calcining it, much augments its humidity;» — la calcinación filosófica que aumenta la humedad de la Piedra en vez de secarla

«Our stone is an Astral Fire which sympathizes with the Natural Fire, and which, as a true Salamander receives its nativity, is nourished and grows in the Elementary Fire, which is geometrically proportioned to it.» — y la Piedra como Fuego Astral que, cual salamandra, nace y crece en el Fuego Elemental

«According to the magnetic theory, the approach to the first alchemical stage of dissolution is by means of the magnetic trance.» — el capítulo séptimo abre con la tesis magnética: el trance mesmérico como puerta de la disolución

«Exactly what occurs to consciousness during hypnosis or mesmerism remains even to this day a moot point.» — y el reconocimiento de que lo que ocurre en la hipnosis sigue en disputa

«In Dr. Milne Bramwell’s book on hypnotism, some hundred pages or so are taken up in a consideration of the various opinions as to the true state of consciousness.» — con el libro de Milne Bramwell por testigo del desacuerdo

«We adopt the term dissolve here in accordance with the old doctrine;» — la razón por la que conserva el término disolución

«Because of the transmission of great vitality from a skilled and initiated operator, consciousness suffers an eclipse, enabling the secondary consciousness, or the divine core of the Unconscious, to hold unrestricted expression.» — el eclipse de la consciencia por la vitalidad transmitida del operador iniciado, que deja hablar al núcleo divino del Inconsciente

«The Stone clearly represents the brilliant selfshining aura, the luminous emanation from the inner Body of Light, glittering like some rare and precious jewel.» — la Piedra leída como el aura, emanación luminosa del Cuerpo de Luz interior; el troceo imprime *selfshining* sin guion

«Eudoxus identifies it with the Collective Unconscious, the Sea of the Wise, using this term in its highest, widest, and allinclusive sense as before implied.» — el Mar de los Sabios de Eudoxo identificado con el Inconsciente Colectivo; el troceo imprime *allinclusive* sin guion

«It is not only the psychic realm of the instincts, but also of the archetypal world of the higher faculties of discrimination, intuition, and spiritual wisdom and inspiration.» — cuyo alcance amplía Regardie a los arquetipos de la intuición y la sabiduría, no solo a los instintos

«The cave denotes an interior state or condition from which external things issue, or from which they are born—as in the case of the conscious intellectual life.» — la caverna leída como estado interior del que salen las cosas externas

«Our text affirms the speculation that every state of consciousness has associated with it, or functions in, a vehicle of substance of some kind.» — y lo que dice hallar en el texto en apoyo de su tesis de que todo estado de consciencia tiene su vehículo

«The beginning of the work, says Albertus Magnus, is a perfect solution; and all those that we teach is nothing else but to dissolve and recongeal the spirit, to make the fixed volatile and the volatile fixed, until the total nature is perfected by the reiteration, both in its Solary and Lunar form.» — la fórmula de Alberto Magno sobre la solución perfecta y la reiteración solar y lunar

«The word fermentation conveys an idea of the perfecting principle and of the possibility of transmutation beyond any other word, and also of the fixation or everlasting preservation of which they speak (explains Mrs. Atwood); and so of immortality, it is the best image of the Divine Art which earthly processes give.» — la fermentación como mejor imagen terrenal del Arte Divino, en la cita de Atwood

«Alchemy is a process of fermenting the vital spirit in and by its own light.» — la alquimia definida como fermentación del espíritu vital en y por su propia luz

«The vital light is in the Universal as well as in the individual.» — la luz vital presente a la vez en lo universal y en lo individual

«In the Art the Individual draws the Universal.» — y el Arte como el modo en que el individuo atrae lo universal

«The root of evil, of imperfection and confusion lying latent in consciousness—that which primarily caused the inhibition of emotion, and the compulsive motivation of the mind by the repression mechanism—must be uncovered and recognized.» — la raíz del mal que hay que descubrir y reconocer, con el mecanismo de represión por causa

«For no man, unless he be psychically compelled or bound by folly and utterly without volition or common sense, will persist in a course of action which he knows will lead to his final destruction.» — y el supuesto en que se apoya sobre la conducta del que ve su propia destrucción

«With recognition comes an abreaction of the complex and a release of pent-up emotion and spiritual energy.» — la abreacción del complejo que sigue al reconocimiento

«By the decapitation of the Raven, a black bird, enjoined by Eudoxus, is meant a separation in understanding (thus the name of Alchemy, the Spagyric or separative art) of the head—the higher spiritual and intellectual principles—from the lower part of the body, the world of conflicting desires and instincts.» — la decapitación del Cuervo leída como separación en el entendimiento, de donde deriva el nombre espagírico del arte

«It is the mystical death of the body.» — llamada muerte mística del cuerpo

«But there is another death which the sages and saints cultivate, inasmuch as it culminates in life and in fullness of spiritual perception.» — y la otra muerte, la que cultivan sabios y santos y termina en vida

«To whiten the black is part and parcel of the same type of operation.» — el blanqueamiento del negro como parte de la misma operación

«Yet as averred by Eudoxus, it is in the first operation that the true and preliminary dissolution, without which nothing is of value, is begun.» — el peso que Eudoxo pone en la primera operación

«The dragon is the libido or vital spirit, undomesticated and untrained, as we have previously determined when examining The Golden Treatise of Hermes.» — el dragón otra vez por la libido no domesticada, según lo fijó al comentar el Golden Treatise

«The blackness again signifies the preponderance of anxiety and fear generated by consciousness, weighing it down, impeding its free circulation in the blood and bodily system, and knotting it, so to speak, in the Unconscious levels from which it is unable to escape or by which it is constantly dominated.» — y la negrura por la ansiedad que impide la circulación libre y anuda la libido en el inconsciente

«To destroy this anxiety and to release the libido—more or less synonymous or simultaneous operations—by means of the magnetic trance is the first work.» — de donde saca la primera obra: destruir la ansiedad y liberar la libido por el trance magnético

«Therefore you only have to make the Light circulate: that is the deepest and most wonderful secret.» — el precepto de hacer circular la Luz, que cita como el secreto más hondo

«The Light is easy to move, but difficult to fix.» — con su dificultad: la Luz es fácil de mover y difícil de fijar

«If it is allowed to go long enough in a circle, then it crystallizes itself: that is the natural spirit-body.» — y su cristalización en cuerpo espiritual natural tras girar bastante

«This is the astral Body of Light, white and resplendent, the glowing Stone of the Wise, whose purified and glorified emanations glow as the aura, some glittering and flaming jewel of incomparable scintillation, invaluable, ineffable.» — que Regardie identifica con el Cuerpo de Luz astral y con la Piedra de los Sabios

«The solution of the problem relating to the restoration of consciousness to its own divine integrity lies not exclusively in a conversion into its opposite, though this of course is necessary.» — el límite que pone a la conversión en el opuesto: necesaria, pero no la solución entera

«Actually such a process is imperative, for without this conversion consciousness would be cut off from its archetypal roots and would tremble in mid-air without adequate support.» — y por qué es imperativa: sin ella la consciencia queda cortada de sus raíces arquetípicas

«But the true solution lies in the retention of the former values of consciousness plus a recognition of their dynamic opposites in the personal unconsciousness.» — la solución verdadera: retener los valores previos y reconocer sus opuestos dinámicos

«Compare with Osiris, who sings: “This is my body, which I destroy in order that it may be renewed.”» — el verso de Osiris que trae para ilustrarlo

«Here the alchemical theory would seem not only to recognize but to develop the psychological theory so recently enunciated by Jung.» — y su juicio de que la teoría alquímica no solo reconoce sino desarrolla la de Jung

«Thus “begins the separation of the elements in a philosophical manner.”» — la separación filosófica de los elementos como paso siguiente

«The task confronting the patient or the student is to differentiate the elements of his own personal unconscious from the primordial archetypes or dominants of the collective unconscious, to enable the psychical energy to well up, activating and vitalizing the faculties and powers of consciousness itself.» — con su traducción clínica: diferenciar el inconsciente personal de los arquetipos del colectivo

«The Pelican, it may be remarked in conclusion of this symbolism, possesses under its bill a great pouch in which it can preserve food, principally fish.» — la bolsa del pelícano, dato de historia natural con que explica la leyenda

«It is conceivable that from this appearance there developed the legend that it tore open its breast in order to feed its young with its own life-blood.» — y el origen que le supone al emblema del ave que se abre el pecho

«The alchemists represented the Philosopher’s Stone, the red tincture, as a Pelican or the more fabulous Phoenix.» — la Piedra representada por los alquimistas como Pelícano o como Fénix

«The newly formed Stone must be dissolved.» — y la exigencia de disolver de nuevo la Piedra recién formada

«The vitality of the Stone destroys its own basis in order to renew itself.» — la vitalidad de la Piedra que destruye su propia base para renovarse

«The trance state must be continued again and again, and persisted in until consciousness finally eclipses itself, when it proceeds spontaneously to evolve in an entirely new direction.» — la repetición del trance hasta que la consciencia se eclipsa y evoluciona en dirección nueva

«Again the separation of the pure from the impure must be achieved.» — la separación de lo puro y lo impuro, otra vez

«The spirit, vitality, must be separated from every level and type of consciousness, its soul and vehicle.» — el espíritu separado de cada nivel de consciencia, de su alma y de su vehículo

«This accomplished, then the very elements which constitute the residue can be changed and sublimated—or redirected into new and worthier channels.» — y la sublimación del residuo hacia canales nuevos

«When employing the psychological method, we associated the emotions and feelings with the philosophical Fire.» — la correspondencia entre emociones y Fuego filosófico que había establecido por vía psicológica

«When using the magnetic interpretation, this correspondence did not seem very much to help us.» — y su reconocimiento de que esa correspondencia no sirve por vía magnética

«We must look elsewhere for a further and more complete explanation.» — de donde la busca en otra parte

«There is the interpretation that the Fire is the penetrating power of the intellect, and this sometimes is the sense in which the author of The Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery interprets the mystery of the secret fire.» — la primera lectura: el Fuego como poder penetrante del intelecto, que atribuye a la autora del Suggestive Inquiry

«Various writers at various times have identified it with a spiritual principle permeating and pervading the universe.» — la segunda: un principio espiritual que permea el universo

«Possibly from all these hints we can proceed a step farther, and by amalgamation and synthesis produce a workable hypothesis.» — y su decisión de sintetizar las pistas en una hipótesis de trabajo

«This can be assumed to imply that desire directs will, and gives to it an object to achieve.» — el deseo que dirige la voluntad y le da objeto

«Or else it may imply that the basis or background of the Will is desire or emotion, and that the former has grown out of the latter, as an evolution or sublimation, even as consciousness depends upon the Unconscious.» — o bien la voluntad nacida del deseo, como la consciencia del Inconsciente

«The motive power of the instinctual life is the libido, desire, the vital spirit, while the motive power of the intellectual life is the Will.» — el reparto que propone: libido para la vida instintiva, Voluntad para la intelectual

«In its developments and peregrinations, in its eclipse by the magnetic trance state, the will loses its former sense of direction.» — la voluntad que pierde su rumbo en el eclipse del trance

«But having almost reached the verge of annihilation, so to speak, reaching the nadir of its life, it restores itself by an effort which is mighty beyond words.» — y su restauración desde el nadir por un esfuerzo enorme

«One step towards this divine restoration is the fierceness of its fire and heat, as though desperation towards life urged forth every ounce of inherent vitality.» — la fiereza del fuego como paso de esa restauración

«At this stage, when it associates itself with and is given life by desire, the emotional nature, it is often called the Vitriol of Venus or the Green Lion, both implying the volitional power of penetration, fiery and crude, of immature but evolving spiritual energy.» — el Vitriolo de Venus y el León Verde como nombres de esa energía inmadura pero en evolución

«The sages will tell you That two fishes are in our sea Without any flesh or bones. Let them be cooked in their own water; Then they also will become a vast sea, The vastness of which no man can describe.» — los versos del Book of Lambspring que acompañan la lámina de los dos peces, reproducidos por Regardie.

«Moreover, the Sages say That the two fishes are one, not two; They are two, and nevertheless they are one, Body, Spirit and Soul. Now I tell you most truly, Cook these three together That there may be a very large sea. Cook the sulphur with the sulphur, And hold your tongue about it; Conceal your knowledge to your own advantage, And you shall be free from poverty. Only let your discovery remain a close secret.» — continuación de los mismos versos: los dos peces que son uno, la tríada cuerpo, espíritu y alma, y el mandato de secreto.

«We are now brought to the central definition of Alchemy, that it is the science of regeneration, of fermenting the individual consciousness so that it soars to its own high root of perfection.» — la definición que Regardie declara central: alquimia como ciencia de la regeneración.

«The cause of the dissolution appears to proceed from the action of the vital heat stirred up artificially in the blood, and which, being so continuously triturated, ignites and opens for itself a passage, endeavouring forthwith to absorb the circulating light by the efflux of its own abundant chloric spirit being transfixed.» — el pasaje de Atwood sobre el calor vital en la sangre, que Regardie llama oscuro y toma como núcleo de la hipótesis mesmérica.

«In order to explain the implication of this passage, and the whole of the Atwood mesmeric hypothesis, it is necessary that we resort to various references in comparative religion, or at least to their practical aspects as may be perceived in such mystical arts as Yoga, Tantra, and meditation.» — el recurso al yoga, el tantra y la meditación como vía de explicación.

«From a study of Tibetan Yogic practices we know that the development of the so-called external psychic heat— which permits the anchorite to live on mountain heights several thousand feet above sea level clad only in a single cotton garment—is achieved by various forms of breathing.» — el calor psíquico tibetano atribuido a técnicas de respiración.

«Since, according to the theory delineated above, there is some connection between air and spirit on the one hand, and between the rate of inspiration and the motion of the mind on the other hand, illumination and spiritual attainment may be achieved by this technical method.» — la cadena aire-espíritu y respiración-mente de la que hace depender el método técnico

«Clearly such a course is impossible for the average man of the West, no matter how great his sympathy for the Eastern ideal.» — y el límite que le pone para el occidental medio

«It would be a violation of his nature and his racial heredity to refute his ancestry and adopt the Eastern hermit life.» — con la razón que da, de herencia y naturaleza

«Magnetism, or prana, is imparted from operator to subject by the usual magnetic practical methods and then thrown back again by the subject to the former operator.» — el ida y vuelta del magnetismo entre operador y sujeto

«Hence it is by some contended that the alchemistic and mesmeric theory is almost an ideal adaptation principally for such an individual.» — la tesis que consigna: la teoría alquimicomesmérica como adaptación ideal para ese individuo

«It is a European version of the Eastern Yoga technique, developed essentially for the evolving Western man.» — presentada como versión europea de la técnica del yoga

«Its voltage, so to speak, is increased, the psychic state opened thereby transcending the mere impassivity of the ordinary mesmeric trance—developing slowly but gradually a charge or flow of libido which becomes so powerful in its intensity and quality as well to be named the Secret Fire of the Wise.» — y el aumento de voltaje que hace del flujo de libido el Fuego Secreto de los Sabios

«If, then, we go out at once to throw our common life to common lives (that is, impart our own unpurified and undeveloped prana to equally unpurified subjects), what wonder we have only common results?» — la advertencia de Atwood sobre impartir prana no purificado a sujetos no purificados

«It is in this last couple of sentences where the really significant secret is contained.» — y el peso que Regardie pone en esas dos frases

«It is my contention that anyone, sceptic or otherwise, by following the simple directions so far as the practical instructions are concerned, can prove for himself the validity of the magnetic hypothesis.» — su ofrecimiento de que cualquiera compruebe por sí mismo la hipótesis magnética

«In this connection it is worth stressing my belief that on the whole magnetic “passes” do not conduce to a satisfactory transmission of power.» — la objeción que hace a los pases magnéticos como vía de transmisión

«The technique described by de Puységur is extremely efficient, and is really a vast improvement on the passes.» — y la técnica de de Puységur que prefiere

«So long as the operator definitely realizes, with humility and a lack of egotism, that he is but a channel through which the cosmic forces may flow, his ability to transmit energy is never impeded.» — la condición que pone al operador: saberse canal y no fuente

«He comes to consider himself as a powerful healer, stressing his own personal abilities and forgetting that the spiritual power is not his own.» — con el defecto contrario, el del sanador que se atribuye el poder

«The common assumption that mesmeric methods are dangerous does not require much consideration.» — la acusación de peligrosidad, que Regardie despacha

«All the hypnotic authorities refute the charge that the practice of hypnotism has a deleterious effect upon the patient.» — con el testimonio de las autoridades hipnóticas

«Nevertheless, this latter argument is true also of medical and psychological practice.» — y la salvedad de que el mismo argumento vale para la práctica médica

«It asserts that the practice of mesmerism interferes with the free function of the will, which faculty is precisely that which should operate in the study of occultism.» — la segunda objeción: que el mesmerismo estorba la voluntad libre, que es la facultad del ocultista

«In fact, to adopt what is in my opinion a balanced and sane attitude one might state that an ideal form of training would be the conjoining of the analytical procedure of psychology, the induction of the mesmeric or somnambulistic state, and the practice of one of the occult meditation techniques.» — la forma de entrenamiento que propone: análisis, trance mesmérico y meditación oculta juntos

«That is to say, in a few words, that the state induced by hypnosis is comparable in every respect to a condition of extreme introspection.» — el estado hipnótico equiparado a una introspección extrema

«The major difference is that the subject is assisted in the production of this one-pointed condition by a second person guiding his consciousness along a predetermined track.» — con la diferencia de que hay un segundo que guía por una vía prefijada

«It all depends on how this condition is used as to whether good, that is desirable, results shall follow, or whether failure be one’s reward.» — y la neutralidad del estado respecto del resultado

«The ideal of being “wholly the master of himself” in the case of the yogin is, from one point of view and from a legitimate and valid angle of argument, an instance of excessive individualism.» — el ideal yóguico de bastarse a sí mismo, leído como individualismo excesivo

«It is far more common for Europeans to work one with another than is the case in the East.» — la costumbre europea de trabajar de a dos

«Consequently, the Eastern system is prone to elevate its own weakness, making a sublime virtue of what in reality is a psychological and neurotic defect.» — y la objeción que dirige al sistema oriental por elevar su flaqueza a virtud

«And, so it is argued, there can thus be no harm in the use of mesmerism or hypnosis as a means of obtaining proficiency in the meditative art, provided in addition the subject is aware of two things.» — con la condición doble que pone al uso del mesmerismo

«This, at any rate, seems to be the import of the Atwood technique—a method whereby the cooperation of two interested individuals is employed towards a certain end, and that a spiritual one.» — la técnica de Atwood resumida como cooperación de dos con fin espiritual

«The deliberate breaking-down of the crystallized elements of the personal sphere spontaneously releases the power latent within them.» — la ruptura deliberada de lo cristalizado que libera la potencia latente

«That is to say it is a transfer of energy from a lower form of activity or level of consciousness to a higher.» — leída como transferencia de energía de un nivel a otro más alto

«Indeed, this position is analogous to the Yoga system.» — con el paralelo yóguico

«No knowledge, true nonillusory knowledge, of the universe and of life is really possible without first having experienced some degree of Samadhi, the mystical experience.» — y la condición que pone al conocimiento verdadero: haber experimentado algún grado de samadhi; el troceo une en *nonillusory* el guion de fin de renglón de *non-illusory*

«This ascent of vital energy to the psycho-mental chakra in the brain, or rather above the crown of the head, induces a condition of consciousness which is characterized by the immediate acquisition of intuitive knowledge and by the experiencing of an ineffable bliss which is unlike any other experience in life.» — el ascenso de la energía vital al chakra sobre la coronilla, con el conocimiento intuitivo y la dicha que le atribuye

«In a word, the mechanisms of introjection and projection of psychic qualities are realized in full consciousness, and overcome.» — la introyección y la proyección hechas conscientes y superadas

«The second Key of Eudoxus informs us that the unfolding of the nature of consciousness cannot be undertaken without the preliminary dissolution of conscious restriction and inhibitions.» — la Segunda Llave de Eudoxo leída como exigencia de disolver primero las inhibiciones

«Following upon this, the sublimation of libido can be accomplished.» — y la sublimación de la libido como paso siguiente

«These three Principles have been likened to Selflessness, with its opposite of Self for Mercury; Change, with its opposite of Stability for Sulphur; and Sorrow, with its implicit of Bliss for Salt.» — los tres Principios puestos en pares con sus opuestos: Mercurio, Azufre y Sal

«The Sun and Moon are astrological symbols for male and female, positive and negative, the psychological equivalents of Consciousness and the Anima (or Animus) principle.» — el Sol y la Luna leídos como Consciencia y anima o animus

«And it is only the whole man, the equilibrated and balanced individual, who can truly initiate.» — con la condición que pone al iniciador: ser hombre entero y equilibrado

«It is this distillation which requires to be manumitted to the prepared subject.» — y la destilación que hay que entregar al sujeto preparado

«The great Sea of the Wise is, as we previously determined, the Collective Unconsciousness, or the higher divine Astral plane, the ubiquitous all-pervasive storehouse of magnetism, vitality, feeling, and memory.» — el gran Mar de los Sabios como Inconsciente Colectivo y almacén de magnetismo, vitalidad, sentimiento y memoria

«Dissolved in this way, into what, for lack of other and better words, may be termed a homogeneous magnetic fluid, the Stone may well be called the Vine of the Wise.» — la Piedra disuelta en fluido magnético homogéneo, que por eso se llama Vid de los Sabios

«The Wine is extracted from the Vine—that is, the dissolved constituents of the entire personality which, because of this dissolution, evinces a possibility of further and new growth.» — el Vino extraído de la Vid como personalidad disuelta con posibilidad de crecimiento nuevo

«Because of the attention we have given to it, and the processes to which we have subjected it, the wine we extract and develop from the grape vine is a higher development of the source from which it came.» — el vino como desarrollo superior de su fuente por obra de la atención y del proceso

«So far as this alchemical Wine is concerned, as it continues to be subjected to the coction and influence of the fire, further development increases its virulence, so to speak, at which junction it is denominated as a most sharp Vinegar.» — y su paso a Vinagre agudísimo bajo la cocción del fuego

«It is an acid fluid continuing the process of disintegration yet further and in a more subtle way invading the entire mental and psychic sphere, as a preliminary to the reconstruction of the sphere of sensation on a better and diviner plan.» — descrito como ácido que invade la esfera mental antes de reconstruirla

«It is a psychological fact that neurasthenia, constipation, indigestion, arthritis, pruritis, and many other ailments are direct results of psychological causes.» — las dolencias que atribuye a causas psicológicas

«In other words, mind and body may not be considered as two separate entities.» — y la negativa a considerar mente y cuerpo como entidades separadas

«The more accurate viewpoint might be that they are two poles of a single entity, two different functions adopted by that entity for the purpose of obtaining experience and dealing with external life.» — con la formulación que prefiere: dos polos y dos funciones de una sola entidad

«Changes therefore occurring anywhere along that continuum, affecting any link, must produce inevitably a result or change in some other part of the chain.» — y la consecuencia sobre la cadena entera

«Though I am not aware of any definite experiments, it ought to be possible to show that the blood-specimens of hypnotictrance subjects exhibit alterations and a slightly different chemical composition from those of ordinary persons.» — el experimento que propone sin haberlo visto hecho: comparar la sangre de sujetos en trance; el troceo une en *hypnotictrance* el guion de fin de renglón de *hypnotic-trance*

«Hence in dealing with such powerful media as meditation, magnetism, and the reverse transmission of vitality, we are fairly certain to find that physical effects should ensue.» — de donde espera efectos físicos de la meditación y el magnetismo

«Transmutation thus becomes an actual physiological and experimental fact, the entire physical frame becoming more sensitive, purified, and responsive to the delicate impulses transmitted to and from the consciousness dwelling within.» — la transmutación tomada como hecho fisiológico y experimental

«The principal operation to be undertaken according to the description of this Key is the extraction of the three principles of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury from the comparatively homogeneous base called the Water of the Wise, or our Mercury.» — la operación principal de la Tercera Llave: extraer Sal, Azufre y Mercurio del Agua de los Sabios

«It is also furthered or engineered by means of the Spirit, or Sulphur—the end being the union of the soul with the body.» — con el Espíritu o Azufre por agente de la unión del alma con el cuerpo

«Here Eudoxus emphasizes a fact which I stated above.» — Regardie remite a lo ya dicho para leer a Eudoxo

«Hence the process begun originally requires to be continued so that a distillation is made of the homogeneous and amorphous astral base.» — la destilación continuada de la base astral amorfa

«A separation then occurs. A cleavage takes place, dividing the natural unity of Mercury and Sulphur, soul and spirit, from their vehicle, the Salt.» — la escisión que separa Mercurio y Azufre, alma y espíritu, de su vehículo la Sal

«This earth, or Salt, remains fixed within the physical body “like a dead, black, and dreggy earth.”» — la Sal que queda fija en el cuerpo físico, con el verso del tratado

«Nothing in the alchemical art is discarded, for “Nature teaches us” so assert the Chaldaean Oracles, “and the Oracles also affirm that even the evil germs of matter may alike be made useful and good.”» — la sentencia de los Oráculos Caldeos sobre los gérmenes malos de la materia que pueden hacerse útiles

«In her Memorabilia Mrs. Atwood remarks that “the principle of body is preserved in what they call the ashes, or Caput Mortum, and that, one principle being saved, the whole life is restored from it; Khunrath calls it ‘our pigmy’, also the ‘diadem of the body’» — la Memorabilia de Atwood sobre el Caput Mortum y el pigmeo de Khunrath

«Latent within the blackness of the ashes is life—interatomic life, which by no means can be snuffed out, and which sooner or later asserts itself, communicating movement and life to the mass.» — la vida interatómica latente en la negrura de las cenizas

«Ultimately, there can be no distinction made between spirit and matter.» — y la negativa a distinguir en último término espíritu y materia

«It is by the persistent subjection of the dregs to the fire of the Wise that the innate and implicit spiritual life and energy is stirred to renewed and desperate activity.» — el fuego de los Sabios que remueve la energía implícita en las heces

«Fire and Water, being opposite, are yet mutually attractive.» — fuego y agua opuestos y a la vez mutuamente atractivos

«The union therefore of spirit and soul is enjoined on us with great and emphasized earnestness.» — la unión de espíritu y alma como precepto enfático

«Thus it is that the alchemical tradition asserts that the union of the individual soul with the universal spirit can only ensue through the mediation of a third thing, the Earth, or the subtle Body of Light.» — con el tercero mediador: la Tierra, el Cuerpo de Luz sutil

«It is the age-old philosophy which is here expounded.» — que Regardie declara filosofía antiquísima

«But one can succeed by formulating an entirely new point of view which does not consist exclusively of either of the two opposites.» — la salida que propone al conflicto de opuestos: un punto de vista nuevo que no sea ninguno de los dos

«Or, to state it more properly, the ego reconciles them because it has risen above them.» — o, dicho mejor, el yo que los reconcilia por haberse elevado sobre ellos

«The author of this cryptic text now adds that fire and water, though of different genders or polarities, are fundamentally and essentially of the same nature.» — fuego y agua de géneros distintos pero de una misma naturaleza de fondo

«Having achieved a separation, the material basis, the Salt, is to be moistened occasionally by its water.» — la Sal humedecida de tanto en tanto por su agua

«The union of Salt and Sulphur, the two opposites, brings to birth once more the individual consciousness, formerly eclipsed by the magnetic trance and the vital transfer.» — y el renacer de la consciencia individual por unión de Sal y Azufre

«Just as, in a magical ceremony, the invocation of an element into a clearer space after its prior banishing is not the same element as obtained before, but a purer quintessence of it, so by the spagyric art the unity of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury appears “under a more noble and more perfect form that it was before”.» — el símil de la invocación tras el destierro: el elemento vuelve como quintaesencia más pura, no como el mismo

«Another commentator chose to interpret this union as between Ruach, the mind or ego, and Neschamah, the Higher Soul or Fiery Mind, understanding.» — la lectura de otro comentarista, que hace de esa unión la de Ruach y Neschamah

«This paragraph teaches that from the Stone, the generic term for the homogeneous compound, issues Water. This divine Water can only be realized by our fiery dissolution.» — el Agua divina que solo se realiza por disolución ígnea

«In certain forms of occult symbolism, to the Sephirah Hod is attributed the symbol of the cup.» — la copa atribuida a Hod en cierto simbolismo oculto

«The base of the Cup is triangular, or rather pyramidal. Upon this rests a circle, or sphere, whilst above this is a crescent, the actual bowl of the Cup.» — la anatomía de la copa: base piramidal, esfera y creciente

«The circular symbol, by employing the symbology of the Hindu tattwa system, refers to the element of Air.» — el círculo por el Aire en el sistema de los tattwas

«Above the circle is the crescent, which by the same system of symbolism is attributed to the element of Water.» — el creciente por el Agua

«The triangle of fire is attributed to the instinctive and emotional principle.» — el triángulo de fuego por el principio instintivo y emocional

«Air, as we have previously determined, is the elemental characteristic of the mind; thus the circle represents consciousness.» — y el aire, es decir el círculo, por la consciencia

«The employment of Water at this particular stage in our alchemical text implies the gradual coming into operation of a spiritual principle.» — el Agua en esa fase leída como entrada en operación de un principio espiritual

«By the dissolution of the bonds that cramp and bind consciousness, chains that hold it in thralldom to purely illusory concepts in conflict with reality, the inner spiritual life is released.» — la vida espiritual liberada al disolverse las ataduras ilusorias

«That this Water has a lofty significance can hardly be doubted when one remembers the references in both sections of Scripture.» — y las referencias escriturarias que le da por respaldo

«Future success in this type of working depends entirely and exclusively on this condition having been reached.» — la condición de la que hace depender todo éxito posterior

«Mercury is the “divine Water” “descending from heaven,” which by invading the psyche reduces or breaks down the astral form to its component principles or element.» — el Mercurio como Agua divina que baja del cielo y descompone la forma astral

«Your water shall be animated with this fiery essence, which works all the wonders of our art.» — el agua animada por la esencia ígnea que obra todas las maravillas del arte

«Other interpretations of this fundamental symbolism may occur to the reader. But it is hardly necessary here to enter all the intricacies of interpretation.» — Regardie deja abiertas otras lecturas del simbolismo

«If such is the case, I do not know it.» — con una abstención expresa sobre lo que no sabe

«What is of concern, however, is the claim made by certain students of occultism and alchemy, which is this: that the production of spiritual changes within the psyche, and the accomplishment of the interior transmutation, brings to light hidden powers previously dormant and latent in consciousness.» — la pretensión que sí consigna: la transmutación interior despierta poderes latentes

«They say that these powers are such as to give their possessor the ability, for instance, to perform a physical transmutation.» — entre ellos, según esos estudiosos, el de operar una transmutación física

«And from this Mr. Waite utters with attendant disparagements that such a feat is impossible.» — la negativa de Waite, que Regardie reproduce con sus descalificaciones

«While fully conscious of the philosophical implications of the spiritual interpretation of the alchemical theory insofar as it relates to transmutation, I join my predecessors in confessing that I too have not proceeded to the practice.» — y su propia confesión de no haber pasado a la práctica

«The other aspect may be less acceptable to critics, though its validity is attested to by vast numbers of individuals, and by tradition, secular and religious.» — el otro aspecto, que dice atestiguado por multitud de individuos y por la tradición

«commonplace that devotion to the religious life, or the practice of spiritual techniques, quite definitely develops abnormal powers in the psyche.» — los poderes anormales que atribuye a la vida religiosa; el tramo arranca dentro del renglón por cambio de plana

«These are known in India as the Siddhis. Legend is rife as to the miracles, so-called, that may be achieved by fakirs, anchorites, and Yogis.» — los Siddhis y las leyendas de faquires, anacoretas y yoguis

«Most of these with whom the average tourist comes into contact are manifestly hardly spiritual types.» — con la reserva sobre los que el turista medio encuentra

«These individuals have followed the primary rule of occult practice.» — y la regla primaria de la práctica oculta que les reconoce

«By doing certain things, certain results will follow. This rule they have followed, and have achieved a certain control over mind and body,» — es decir, que a ciertos actos siguen ciertos resultados

«Such a philosophy of psychism, extended considerably so as to include spiritual development, is the only one which will explain the miracles of Scripture.» — la filosofía del psiquismo como única que a su juicio explicaría los milagros de la Escritura

«Most Western theologians, unable to explain these phenomena, and incapable of accepting them in the face of scientific criticism, have thrown them overboard, thus interfering very considerably with biblical narrative and verisimilitude.» — con la objeción que dirige a los teólogos occidentales que los desecharon

«By adopting the philosophy of Yoga, or any allied or similar art, we have a complete explanation to hand.» — y el yoga como explicación completa que propone en su lugar

«Through the pursuit of a specialized and scientific study of the psyche, in various of its branches which are not included in modern psychological knowledge, the awakening spirit within manifests through the personality undreamt-of faculties and powers.» — las facultades no soñadas que el espíritu despierto manifestaría por la personalidad

«The exercise of these spiritual powers are responsible for the miracles of both the Old and New Testaments and the scriptures of the East.» — a las que adjudica los milagros de ambos Testamentos y de las escrituras orientales

«Moreover, I suggest the interested reader consult Hereward Carrington’s excellent work on the psychic life of Christ entitled Loaves and Fishes.» — con la remisión al libro de Hereward Carrington sobre la vida psíquica de Cristo

«In view of both these lines of evidence, the Yoga philosophy of India and modern psychical research, I see on theoretical grounds no valid reason why the interior psychical or magical power should not be able to effect a physical transmutation.» — el argumento con que no ve razón teórica contra la transmutación física

«If this power can move a physical object without physical contact; if it can exude its own subjective astral substance into objective materialization; if, finally, it can pass one solid object through another without injury or damage to either, why then should it not be able to rearrange the atomic structure of a metal?» — desplegado en la serie de preguntas sobre telequinesis, materialización y penetración de materia

«Theoretically, there is no reason why it should not be so, and I feel confident that, although I have not proceeded to the practice thereof, the future will demonstrate and confirm the truth of what these ancient students have affirmed.» — y su conclusión, expresamente teórica y sin práctica propia

«We have so far considered the most important theories concerning the nonmetallurgical aspect of Alchemy.» — el capítulo octavo hace balance de las dos teorías ya expuestas; el troceo imprime *nonmetallurgical* sin guion

«It must be admitted that the psychological and the magnetic theories are the most important and yield the most significant material.» — con el juicio que les da: son las más importantes y las más fecundas

«Yet there is a third viewpoint which is worth consideration here—I refer to the magical theory.» — y anuncia la tercera, la teoría mágica

«It touches so closely on the alchemical practice that to ignore it would be to neglect a highly informative branch of research.» — con la razón de no omitirla

«All magical initiations require the presence of initiating officers.» — el requisito de oficiantes en toda iniciación mágica

«They represent, even as figures in dreams do, different aspects of man himself,» — leídos como aspectos del propio hombre, igual que las figuras del sueño

«Through the admittedly artificial or conventional means of a dramatic projection of these psychic principles in a well-ordered ceremony a reaction is induced in consciousness.» — la proyección dramática de esos principios como medio, que Regardie admite artificial y convencional

«This reaction is calculated to arouse from their dormant condition those hitherto latent faculties represented objectively by the officers.» — y su fin: despertar las facultades latentes que los oficiantes representan

«Without the least conscious effort on the part of the candidate an involuntary current of sympathy is produced by the external delineation of psychic faculties which may be sufficient to accomplish the purpose of the ceremony.» — la corriente de simpatía involuntaria que produce, sin esfuerzo del candidato

«The aesthetic appeal to the imagination, quite apart from what I would call the intrinsic magical virtue of the ceremonial, stirs to renewed activity the life of the inner domain.» — el apelo estético a la imaginación, distinguido de la virtud mágica intrínseca

«And the entire action of this type of dramatic initiatory ritual is that the soul may discover itself whirled in exaltation to the heights, and during that mystical elevation receive the influx of the Light.» — y el fin del rito iniciático dramático: el alma elevada recibiendo el influjo de la Luz

«Thus, to refer to one practical magical scheme practised in the Order of the Golden Dawn, and described at length in my book My Rosicrucian Adventure,164 there is a preliminary ritual called the Neophyte Grade.» — la remisión al grado de Neófito de la Golden Dawn, descrito en My Rosicrucian Adventure

«He is the intelligent part of the mind, functioning in obedience to the Will; the Qabalistic Ruach, in a word.» — el Ruach cabalístico repartido a uno de los oficiantes

«The higher part of that mind, the aspiring, sensitive, and the intuitive consciousness, the Neschamah, is represented by the Hegemon, who ever seeks the rising of the Light.» — la Neschamah al Hegemón, que busca el alba de la Luz

«The active will of man is signified by the Hiereus, the guardian against evil.» — la voluntad activa al Hiereus, guardián contra el mal

«In this initial ceremony of Neophyte the Hierophant acts on behalf of the higher spiritual soul of man himself, that divine self of which but too rarely, if ever at all, we become aware.» — y el alma espiritual superior al Hierofante

«He represents that innermost core of the psyche which, itself; moves not, though it directs the other officers and initiates, and commands movement and activity.» — descrito como el núcleo que no se mueve y sin embargo dirige

«Seldom does that Genius leave its palace of the stars except when, voluntarily, the lower self opens itself to the higher by an act of sincerest aspiration or self-sacrifice, which alone makes possible the descent of the Light within the heart» — con la condición del descenso de la Luz: que el yo inferior se abra por aspiración o sacrificio

«Now, it is upon the Hierophant and his activity that the efficacy of initiation depends.» — la eficacia de la iniciación puesta en el Hierofante

«Without an understanding of the magnetic theory, no likelihood of realizing the rationale of initiation is possible.» — y la teoría magnética como llave para entenderla

«The central factor of initiation consists in the communication of spiritual power from the Hierophant to the candidate by a physical and magnetic contact.» — el factor central: comunicación de poder por contacto físico y magnético

«There is one point in the ceremony when the Hierophant leaves the Throne of the East, representing the Higher Self in action.» — el momento en que el Hierofante deja el Trono del Este

«While leaving the dais, with wand uplifted, he utters: “I come in the power of the Light.» — con la fórmula que pronuncia

«In actual practice, in modern times, most Hierophants have contented themselves solely with the symbolic gesture and speeches.» — la objeción que Regardie dirige a los hierofantes modernos, que se quedan en el gesto simbólico

«The real significance of the movement, as a practical magnetic technique, has not suggested itself to them.» — por no haber visto en él una técnica magnética

«There is another point, just previous to the one mentioned above, when the Hierophant stands at the altar facing the kneeling Neophyte.» — el otro momento, ante el altar y el Neófito de rodillas

«Whilst the latter aspires strongly by the recitation of an obligation defining his purpose and intention, the Hierophant takes hold of his left hand.» — con la toma de la mano izquierda durante la obligación

«It is this action which, in my estimation, constitutes the principal gesture of successful initiation.» — que Regardie declara el gesto principal de una iniciación lograda

«Now, it is here that we have an analogy to the Atwood conception of alchemical practice.» — y la analogía que traza con la práctica alquímica según Atwood

«According to the Atwood theory, such a solution was accomplished by means of the transference of magnetism or spiritual energy from operator to subject.» — la solución lograda por transferencia de magnetismo de operador a sujeto

«This transference induced a trance state in the subject.» — que induce el trance

«There is one marked difference however; no trance state is produced by the ceremony itself.» — con la diferencia que él mismo señala: la ceremonia no produce trance

«Moreover, the action of this Neophyte ceremony is intended—so runs the rubric attached to the ritual—deliberately to produce a species of schizophrenia.» — la rúbrica del ritual, que según él busca deliberadamente una especie de esquizofrenia

«It is believed that the various principles comprising man become temporarily dissociated.» — por disociación temporal de los principios del hombre

«So striking is the resemblance of the Atwood technique to the magical one that I am profoundly convinced that the magnetic interpretation, when raised to a higher level and developed to its highest magnitude, is at the basis of ceremonial initiation.» — y su convicción de que el magnetismo elevado está en la base de la iniciación ceremonial

«Thus the preliminary Neophyte ritual has a definite connection with the Alchemical dissolution.» — con la conexión entre el rito de Neófito y la disolución alquímica

«Should the Hierophant be successful in communicating, with the help of his fellow officers, a magnetic or spiritual charge to the candidate, that charge acts as a ferment.» — la carga magnética que obra como fermento

«Slowly but surely in the months ensuing after the ceremony the vital ferment stirs up the psyche of the aspirant, unconsciously breaking down resistances and crystallizations, to the end that Light may enter his mind.» — rompiendo resistencias y cristalizaciones en los meses siguientes

«First, however, it is necessary that they be awakened.» — la condición previa de despertarlas

«For, psychological truism that it is, until their presence is divined their transmutation cannot be accomplished.» — con el axioma que invoca: sin adivinar su presencia no hay transmutación

«We have here, again, a definite point of contact with the hermetic technique.» — el punto de contacto con la técnica hermética

«For after the dissolution of the inner psychic vehicle into its own homogeneous base there must follow the conversion of the elements.» — la conversión de los elementos como paso posterior a la disolución

«And as a steel placed in close proximity to a magnet receives some degree of its magnetism, and comparable to the electrical phenomenon of induction, so the presence of power induces power.» — el símil del acero junto al imán y de la inducción eléctrica

«Contact with the appropriate type of elemental force produces an identical type of reaction within the sphere of the Neophyte, and it is thus that growth and advancement proceeds.» — y el crecimiento por contacto con la fuerza elemental correspondiente

«Water is germinative and maternal, whilst fire is paternal and fructifying; from their interior stimulation and union is the higher life born even as has been said, “Except ye be baptised with water and the Spirit ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”» — el agua germinativa y materna frente al fuego paterno, con el versículo del bautismo por agua y espíritu

«Therefore in this grade the Candidate’s sphere, symbolized by stagnant water, is by the presence of solar and fiery elements vitalized and rendered a perfect creative base.» — la esfera del candidato, agua estancada, vitalizada por lo solar e ígneo

«The emotional life, through the impact of the elemental initiations and contacts, thus becomes enormously stimulated, and a terrific impetus is communicated to the Unconscious psyche.» — y el impulso que eso comunica a la psique inconsciente

«The fourth grade of Philosophus carries the candidate another step forward.» — el cuarto grado, Filosofo

«The Sephirah involved is Netzach, Victory, to which is referred the operation of the Planet Venus and the element of Fire, while the paths that connect to the lower rungs of the ladder are principally of a watery nature.» — con Netzach, Venus y el Fuego, y senderos de naturaleza acuosa

«Thus the elements ceremonially encountered are of an identical nature with those of the preceding grade.» — de elementos idénticos a los del grado anterior

«Now the Fire rages and whirls in lurid storm, with Water only as the complementary element whereon, or through which, it may reveal itself, and in order that due equilibrium may be maintained.» — pero con el Fuego en tormenta y el Agua por complemento equilibrador

«These two are the primary terrestrial elements which, intelligently controlled and creatively employed, may lead eventually to the restoration of the Golden Age.» — los dos elementos terrestres primarios de los que hace depender la restauración de la Edad de Oro

«And by their transmutation a new paradise may be recreated from the darkness and chaos into which it formerly had fallen.» — y la recreación del paraíso desde el caos

«For the Light may not legitimately be called forth upon man nor dwell within him until chaos has been turned into equilibrium or complete realization and enlightenment.» — con la condición: la Luz no baja hasta que el caos se vuelve equilibrio

«And until order has been restored to the lower elements of his earthly kingdom neither peace nor inner security may be his rightful lot.» — ni hay paz hasta que se restaura el orden en los elementos inferiores

«Though Fire and Water, warmth and moisture, feeling and emotion raised to their maximum intensity are essentially creative, their stimulation within the being of the Neophyte draws his attention, perhaps for the first time, to the chaotic condition of his natural existence, and the complete psychic muddle into which his ignorance and spiritual impotence have stranded him.» — el efecto que atribuye a esa intensificación: el candidato ve por primera vez su propio desorden

«The first steps in the magical work, as in alchemy, are analytical—the leveling down of all that man formerly held true and holy.» — los primeros pasos, mágicos o alquímicos, declarados analíticos y demoledores

«An unhappy state but a very necessary one if progress is to be made and if the chaos is to be transcended.» — estado que llama infeliz y necesario

«From these ruins may be erected the new temple of Light; it is always from the rubbish heap that are selected the materials for the manifestation of god-head.» — con el templo nuevo levantado de las ruinas y el basurero por cantera

«Not only do they refer to the epochs of creative evolution whose memory has long since faded even from the visible memory of Nature, but also to the recapitulation of those periods within consciousness itself.» — las épocas de la evolución creadora recapituladas dentro de la consciencia

«the aspirant on the threshold of Initiation”, observes Aleister Crowley, “find himself assailed by the ‘complexes’ which have corrupted him, their externalization excruciating him, and his agonized reluctance to their elimination plunging him into such ordeals that he seems (both to himself and to others) to have turned from a noble and upright man into an unutterable scoundrel.”» — la descripción de Crowley sobre el aspirante asaltado por sus complejos

«These are the experiences and events which occur to every aspirant when initiation forces the realization upon him that “all is sorrow.”» — y la fórmula budista con que Regardie la cierra

«insofar as it is the synthesis of the four elements, but it is taught that within it are concealed the Three Alchemical Principles.» — los Tres Principios ocultos dentro de la síntesis de los cuatro elementos; el tramo arranca dentro del renglón por cambio de plana

«The functions of the higher grades must be then to develop these principles, to separate them from their base, and to become fully and consciously aware of their implicits.» — con la función que asigna a los grados superiores

«A gestation period of at least nine months elapsed prior to initiation to the Adeptus Minor grade, a grade which is excessively difficult to describe except by quotation from the Ritual concerned.» — la gestación de nueve meses antes del grado de Adeptus Minor

«The chief characteristic of this grade is that it marks at least symbolically the attainment of a distinct phase of spiritual realization.» — cuya nota característica declara la realización espiritual, al menos simbólica

«At one juncture of the ceremony, the candidate is affixed to a large upstanding Cross.» — con la fijación del candidato a una Cruz

«During this obligation because of the symbolism attached to it, and because of the active aspiration which is induced at this stage, illumination may quite easily occur, and very often does.» — y la iluminación que dice ocurrir con frecuencia durante esa obligación

«The element offered for the work of transmutation in the grade of Zelator is the earthy part of the Candidate. Here is the beginning of the alchemical conversion of the elements. The ritual symbolically admits him to the first rung of that mighty ladder whose heights are lost in the Light above. The first rung is the lowest sphere of the conventional Tree of Life, Malkuth. To it is ascribed the first grade and the element of Earth.» — el grado de Zelator emparejado con Malkuth y la Tierra, primer peldaño de la conversión de los elementos.

«After the Earth elementals are invoked the Candidate is ceremonially conducted to three stations, the first two being those of evil and the» — las tres estaciones del rito de Zelator; el tramo se corta ante el salto de renglón.

«higher divine presence. At each of these Stations the Guardians reject him at the point of the sword, strongly urging him in his unprepared state to return whence he came. His third attempt to go forward places him in a balanced position, the path of equilibrium, the Middle Way, where he is received. And a way is cleared for him by the Hierophant who again represents the celestial soul of things.» — continuación: los dos rechazos y la admisión por la vía del equilibrio.

«The grade after the Earth Ceremony is that of Theoricus. It is referred to the ninth Sephirah on the Tree, Yesod, the foundation, and to it are attributed the sphere of the operation of Luna and the reflection of the element Air.» — el grado de Theoricus con Yesod, la Luna y el reflejo del Aire.

«The Kerubim are defined by MacGregor Mathers in his Qabalah Unveiled167 as the presidents of the elemental forces, the vivified powers of the letters of Tetragrammaton operating in and through the four elements.» — la definición de los Kerubim que Regardie toma de Mathers; el volumen escribe aquí *Qabalah Unveiled* y la nota de los editores, *The Kabbalah Unveiled*.

«prompt and active as the Sylphs, but avoid frivolity and caprice. Be energetic and strong as the Salamanders, but avoid irritability and ferocity. Be flexible and attentive to images, like the Undines, but avoid idleness and changeability. Be laborious and patient like the Gnomes, but avoid grossness and avarice. So shalt thou gradually develop the powers of thy soul, and fit thyself to command the spirits of the elements.» — la exhortación del rito de Theoricus, con una virtud y un vicio por cada familia elemental.

«No code of thought, philosophy, or religion, no logical process can bind or limit it. Always does it represent, spiritually, a marked attainment, a liberation from the perplexing turmoil of life, from conflict, and from every psychic complication.» — la experiencia que cierra el capítulo octavo, declarada indefinible por cualquier código de pensamiento.

«As Jung has expressed it, it “thereby frees the inner personality from emotional and imaginary entanglements, creating thus a unity of being which is universally felt as a release.”» — con la fórmula de Jung que Regardie le adosa.

«It is the attainment of spiritual puberty, a significant stage in spiritual growth, marking the proper concoction of that precious gem, the Stone of the Wise, and fulfilling the complete transmutation of the bodily lead into the gold» — la pubertad espiritual como nombre de esa fase; el tramo se corta ante el guion de fin de renglón de *soul-realization*.

«First, I shall speak of that one only thing which is the subject of this Art and the mother of all things.» — el Coelum Terrae de Thomas Vaughan, reproducido íntegro en el capítulo noveno, anuncia su asunto: la cosa única que es madre de todas

«Lastly—though with some disorder—I will discover the means how and by which this Art works upon the subject; but these being the keys which lead to the very estrado of Nature, where she sits in full solemnity and receives the visits of the philosophers, I must scatter them in several parts of the discourse.» — y declara desordenar a propósito las llaves del arte por el discurso

«Remember that prejudice is no religion and by consequence hath no reward.» — con la advertencia sobre el prejuicio

«If this Art were damnable you might safely study it notwithstanding, for you have a precept to “prove all things” but to “hold fast that which is good.”» — y el precepto escriturario que invoca para justificar el estudio

«There are many Platonics—and this last century hath afforded them some apish disciples—who discourse very boldly of the similitudes of inferiors and superiors; but if we thoroughly search their trash it is a pack of small conspiracies—namely, of the heliotrope and the sun, iron and the lodestone, the wound and the weapon.» — la objeción de Vaughan a los platónicos de su siglo, cuyas correspondencias llama pequeñas conspiraciones

«This is an humour much like that of Don Quixote, who knew Dulcinea but never saw her.» — con el símil de Don Quijote y Dulcinea

«This general patient is the immediate catholic character of God Himself in His Unity and trinity.» — el paciente general como carácter católico e inmediato de Dios en su unidad y trinidad

«In plain terms it is that substance which we commonly call the First Matter.» — que llama en llano la Primera Materia

«But verily it is to no purpose to know this notion (or) Matter unless we know the thing itself to which the notion relates.» — con la advertencia de que la noción no basta

«We must see it, handle it, and by experimental ocular demonstration know the very central invisible essences and properties of it.» — y la exigencia de verla, tocarla y conocerla por demostración ocular

«One nature (saith he) is such it may be seen with the eyes and felt with the hands, and it is subject to alteration almost in every moment.» — la naturaleza visible y alterable, en la cita que introduce

«You must pardon—as Apuleius saith—this strange expression, because it makes for the obscurity of the thing.» — con la excusa que toma de Apuleyo por lo extraño de la expresión

«The other nature or principle of substances is incorruptible, immutable, constant, one and the same for ever, and always existent.» — y la otra naturaleza, incorruptible y siempre existente

«Now, this changeable nature whereof he speaks is the first, visible, tangible substance that ever God made: it is white in appearance and Paracelsus gives you the reason why: “All things,” saith he, “when they first proceed from God are white, but He colours them afterwards according to His pleasure.”» — la primera sustancia visible declarada blanca, con la razón que atribuye a Paracelso

«An example we have in this very matter, which the philosophers call sometimes their Red Magnesia, sometimes their white, by which descriptions they have deceived many men.» — la Magnesia ora roja ora blanca, con la que dice que engañaron a muchos

«For in the first preparation the chaos is blood-red, because the Central Sulphur is stirred up and discovered by the Philosophical Fire.» — el caos rojo sangre de la primera preparación, por el Azufre Central removido

«In the second it is exceeding white and transparent like the heavens.» — y su blancura transparente en la segunda

«First, she sheds at her nipples a thick, heavy water, but white as any snow: the philosophers call it Virgin’s Milk.» — la Leche de Virgen que la materia derrama por sus pezones

«Some few—but such as knew her very well—have written that she is not only one and three but withal four and five, and this truth is essential.» — la materia declarada una y tres, y además cuatro y cinco

«They call her their Catholic Magnesia and the Sperm of the World out of which all natural things are generated.» — llamada Magnesia Católica y Esperma del Mundo

«Her birth—say they—is singular and not without a miracle, her complexion heavenly and different from her parents.» — con nacimiento singular y complexión distinta de la de sus padres

«Her body also in some sense is incorruptible and the common elements cannot destroy it, neither will she mix with them essentially.» — cuerpo incorruptible que no se mezcla esencialmente con los elementos comunes

«Moreover, they affirm her to be of that nature that no fire can destroy her, which of all other descriptions is most true, for she is fire herself,» — e indestructible por el fuego porque ella misma es fuego

«which spirit is animated and quickened by God Himself, wherefore also they call her their Most Blessed Stone.» — animada por Dios mismo, de donde el nombre de Piedra Bendita

«Lastly, they say she is a middle nature between thick and thin, neither altogether earthy nor altogether fiery but a mean aerial substance—to be found everywhere and every time of the year.» — naturaleza media entre lo espeso y lo tenue, hallable en todo lugar y tiempo

«She is a sperm that Nature herself draws out of the elements without the help of art.» — esperma que la Naturaleza extrae de los elementos sin ayuda del arte

«Man may find it where Nature leaves it; it is not of his office to make the sperm, nor to extract it.» — y el oficio que deja al hombre: hallarla donde la Naturaleza la deja

«Let not your thoughts feed now on the phlegmatic, indigested vomits of Aristotle; look on the green, youthful and flowery bosom of the earth.» — la objeción de Vaughan a Aristóteles, con el seno florido de la tierra por alternativa

«The stars and planets overlook her and—though they may not descend hither themselves—they shed down their golden locks, like so many bracelets and tokens of love.» — los astros que no bajan pero derraman sus rizos de oro

«If the sun makes her dry she can drink as fast; what gets up in clouds comes down in water; the earth swallows up all and like that philosophical dragon eats her own tail.» — el ciclo del agua leído como el dragón filosófico que se come la cola

«The wise poets saw this and in their mystical language called the earth Saturn, telling us withal she did feed on her own children.» — y los poetas que llamaron Saturno a la tierra por devorar a sus hijos

«One of these, I can assure you, is earth. The influences of the spirit animate and quicken the matter, and in the material extreme the seed of the spirit is to be found.» — la tierra como uno de esos extremos, con la simiente del espíritu en el extremo material

«But stay, my friend; this intelligence hath somewhat stirred you, and now you come on so furiously, as if you would rifle the cabinet.» — el freno que Vaughan pone al lector impaciente

«The eye of man never saw her twice under one and the same shape; but as clouds driven by the wind are forced to this and that figure— but cannot possibly retain one constant form—so is she persecuted by the fire of Nature.» — la materia que nunca se ve dos veces bajo una misma figura, con el símil de las nubes

«The nature,” saith he, “of the universe delights not in anything so much as to alter all things and then to make the like again.”» — y la sentencia sobre la naturaleza que se deleita en alterarlo todo y rehacerlo

«This is true; as the air and all the volatile substances in it are restless, even so is it with the First Matter.» — el aire y lo volátil como imagen de esa inquietud

«Now, Nature is a free spirit that seeks no applause; she observes none more than herself but is pleased with her own magic, as philosophers are with their secret philosophy.» — la Naturaleza como espíritu libre que no busca aplauso

«It is reported of Mark Antony, a famous but unfortunate Roman, how he sent his agent over the world to copy all the handsome faces, that amongst so many excellent features he might select for himself the most pleasing piece.» — el ejemplo de Marco Antonio y los retratos, que Vaughan trae para explicarla

«Truly Nature is much of this strain, for she hath infinite beauteous patterns in herself, and all these she would gladly see beyond herself, which she cannot do without the Matter—for that is her glass.» — y la Materia como espejo donde la Naturaleza ve sus patrones

«but his gallantry is spoiled if his mistress doth not observe it.» — con el galán cuya gallardía se pierde si la dama no la mira

«Another fights, but his victory is lost if it be not printed; it is the world must hear of his valour.» — y el que pelea y pierde la victoria si no se imprime

«It holds my heart, though now ’tis spill’d And into waters all distill’d.» — los versos del corazón destilado en aguas

«It is (saith he) a stone and no stone, spirit, soul, and body;» — la fórmula de la piedra que es piedra y no piedra, espíritu, alma y cuerpo

«Be not therefore deceived with manifold descriptions and operations, for it is but one thing, to which nothing extraneous may be added.» — con la advertencia de que es una sola cosa y nada extraño se le añade

«CHAPTER NINE COELUM TERRAE Or The Magician’s Heavenly Chaos. By Thomas Vaughan.» — el encabezado del tercer tratado, adjudicado en portadilla a Thomas Vaughan.

«I have now, Reader, performed my promise and—according to my posse—proved the antiquity of magic. I am not so much a fool as to expect a general subscription to my endeavours.» — Vaughan abre remitiendo a la obra anterior en la que dice haber probado la antigüedad de la magia.

«There is one point I can justly bind an adversary to—that he shall not oppose man to God, heathen romances to Divine Scriptures. He that would foil me must use such weapons as I do, for I have not fed my readers with straw, neither will I be confuted with stubble.» — la regla de disputa que impone a quien quiera objetarle.

«In the next place, it is my design to speak something of the Art itself, and this I shall do in rational terms, a form different from the ancients; for I will not stuff my discourse like a wilderness with lions and dragons.» — y su promesa de hablar en términos racionales, apartándose del enigma de los antiguos.

«In fresh green damask she was dressed And o’er a sapphire globe did rest. This slippery sphere when I did see, Fortune, I thought it had been thee.» — los versos con que Vaughan figura a la Naturaleza sobre el globo de zafiro.

«Pretty white fool, why hast thou been Sullied with tears and not with sin? ‘Tis true thy tears, like polished skies, Are the bright rosials of thy eyes; But such strange fates do them attend As if thy woes would never end.» — continuación del mismo poema, con las lágrimas de Hyanthe.

«The third principle is a clear, compounded water, and it is the next substance in complexion to quicksilver.» — el tercer principio del Coelum Terrae, agua clara y compuesta próxima al azogue

«The Mercury of the wise men is a watery element cold and moist.» — el Mercurio de los sabios como elemento acuoso frío y húmedo

«The sperm is white and liquid, afterwards red.» — el esperma blanco y líquido, luego rojo

«This quicksilver is generated in every compound out of the substance of the air, and therefore the moisture of it is extreme heavy.» — y su generación a partir de la sustancia del aire

«Amongst all great philosophers (saith he) it is magisterial that our Stone is no stone; but amongst ignorants it is ridiculous and incredible.» — la fórmula magistral entre filósofos: nuestra Piedra no es piedra

«And yet in very truth it is so.» — que Vaughan sostiene verdadera pese a parecer ridícula

«For this very Permanent Water is the Stone; but whiles it is water it is no stone.» — con la explicación: el Agua Permanente es la Piedra, y mientras es agua no es piedra

«But in this sense the ancient Hermes abounds and almost discovers too much.» — el juicio de Vaughan sobre Hermes, que a su ver descubre casi demasiado

«Know (saith he), you that are children of the wise: the separation of the ancient philosophers was performed upon water, which separation divides the water into four other substances.» — con el verso de la separación del agua en cuatro sustancias

«There is extant a very learned author who hath written something to this purpose, and that more openly than any whom we have formerly cited.» — el autor docto que dice citar con más franqueza que los anteriores

«As the world (saith he) was generated out of that Water upon which the Spirit of God did move, all things proceeding thence, both celestial and terrestrial, so this chaos is generated out of a certain Water that is not common, not out of dew nor air condensed in the caverns of the earth, or artificially in the receiver; not out of water drawn out of the sea, fountains, pits, or rivers; but out of a certain tortured water that hath suffered some alteration.» — y su tesis: el caos nace de un agua que no es común ni de rocío ni de mar, sino torturada y alterada

«Obvious it is to all but known to very few.» — obvia para todos y conocida de muy pocos

«This water hath all in it that is necessary to the perfection of the work, without any extrinsical addition.» — con todo lo necesario dentro y sin añadido extrínseco

«I could produce a thousand authors more, but that were tedious.» — la renuncia a seguir acumulando autores

«I shall conclude with one of the Rosy Brothers, whose testimony is equivalent to the best of these, but his instruction far more excellent.» — y el testimonio final que atribuye a uno de los Hermanos de la Rosa

«I am a goddess (saith he, speaking in the person of Nature), for beauty and extraction famous, born out of our own proper sea which compasseth the whole earth and is ever restless.» — la Naturaleza hablando como diosa nacida del mar propio que ciñe la tierra

«Out of my breasts I pour forth milk and blood: boil these two till they are turned into silver and gold.» — con la leche y la sangre que hay que cocer hasta volverlas plata y oro

«The blood of this Lion, incorporated with the tears of the Eagle, is the treasure of the earth.» — la sangre del León y las lágrimas del Águila como tesoro de la tierra

«After that the ancient philosophers had perfectly understood this subject they diligently sought in this mystery for the centre of the middlemost tree in the Terrestrial Paradise, entering in by five litigious gates.» — el centro del árbol del Paraíso Terrestre y las cinco puertas litigiosas

«She is not any known water whatsoever but a secret spermatic moisture, or rather the Venus that yields that moisture.» — la humedad espermática secreta, o más bien la Venus que la produce

«Therefore do not you imagine that she is any crude, phlegmatic, thin water, for she is a fat, thick, heavy, slimy humidity.» — con la advertencia de no tenerla por agua fina y flemática

«I tell thee further (saith he) that we could not possibly find, neither could the philosophers find before us, anything that would persist in the fire but only the unctuous humidity.» — y la humedad untuosa como lo único que persiste en el fuego

«To these I say it is Water of Silver, which some have called Water of the Moon; but ’tis Mercury of the Sun, and partly of Saturn, for it is extracted from these three metals and without them it can never be made.» — el Agua de Plata o Mercurio del Sol, extraída de tres metales

«Raymund Lully—a man who had been in the centre of Nature and without all question understood a great part of the Divine Will—gives me a most terrible charge not to prostitute these principles.» — la prohibición terrible que Vaughan atribuye a Raimundo Lulio

«I Swear to thee upon my soul that thou art damned if thou shouldst reveal these things.» — con el juramento de condenación que le adosa

«For every good thing proceeds from God and to Him only is due.» — y la razón que da

«Now, for my part, I have always honoured the magicians, their Philosophy being both rational and majestic, dwelling not Upon notions but effects, and those such as confirm both the wisdom and the power of the Creator.» — el elogio de los magos por atenerse a efectos y no a nociones

«But these could not remove me; with a Spartan patience I concocted my injuries and found at last that Nature was magical, not peripatetical.» — y la conclusión propia de Vaughan: la naturaleza es mágica, no peripatética

«God (saith he), incomparably good and great, out of nothing created something; but that something was made one thing, in which all things were contained, creatures both celestial and terrestrial.» — la creación desde la nada en una sola cosa que contenía todas

«It is indeed nihil quo ad nos—nothing that we perfectly know.» — que llama nada solo respecto de nosotros

«But, by your leave, it is the True Thing, of Whom we can affirm nothing.» — y Cosa Verdadera de la que nada podemos afirmar

«This is that nothing of Cornelius Agrippa, and in this nothing when he was tired with human things—I mean human sciences—he did at last rest.» — identificada con la nada de Cornelio Agrippa

«“To know nothing is the happiest life.” True indeed, for to know this nothing is life eternal.» — con el axioma sobre no saber nada leído al revés

«Learn, then, to understand that magical axiom “the visible was formed from the invisible,” for all visibles came out of the invisible God, for He is the well-spring whence all things flow, and the creation was a certain stupendous birth or delivery.» — el axioma mágico de lo visible formado desde lo invisible

«The First Matter was existent before man and all other creatures whatsoever, for she is the mother of them all.» — la Primera Materia anterior al hombre y madre de todo

«It is totally impossible to reduce any particular to the First Matter or to a sperm without our Mercury, and being so reduced it is not universal but the particular sperm of its own species,» — con la imposibilidad de reducir nada a ella sin el Mercurio propio

«Some call it the remote matter and the invisible chaos, but very improperly, for it was not invisible.» — y la objeción a quienes la llaman caos invisible

«But the magicians, when they speak strictly, will not allow of this other extreme, because Nature does not stay here:» — el extremo que los magos no admiten, porque la Naturaleza no se detiene ahí

«the mean creation, from which he must recede to one of two extremes—either to corruption, as commonly all men do, for they die and moulder away in their graves; or else to a spiritual, glorified condition, like Enoch and Elijah, who were translated.» — la creación media que ha de irse a uno de dos extremos, corrupción o traslación como Enoc y Elías

«And this—they say—is a true extreme, for after it there is no alteration.» — con la marca del verdadero extremo: después de él no hay alteración

«Now, the magicians, reasoning with themselves why the mean creation should be subject to corruption, concluded the cause and original of this disease to be in the chaos itself, for even that was corrupted and cursed upon the Fall of man.» — la causa de la corrupción puesta en el caos mismo, maldito por la Caída

«But examining things further they found that Nature in her generations did only concoct the chaos with a gentle heat.» — con la observación de que la Naturaleza solo cuece el caos con calor suave

«She did not separate the parts and purify each of them by itself; but the purities and impurities of the sperm remained together in all her productions, and this domestic enemy prevailing at last occasioned the death of the compound.» — sin separar ni purificar, de donde el enemigo doméstico que mata al compuesto

«Hence they wisely gathered that to minister vegetables, animals or minerals for physic was a mere madness, for even these also had their own impurities and diseases, and required some medicine to cleanse them.» — y la consecuencia contra la medicina hecha de vegetales, animales o minerales

«Upon this adviso they resolved—God without all question being their guide—to practise on the chaos itself.» — de donde la resolución de operar sobre el caos mismo

«They opened it, purified it, united what they had formerly separated and fed it with a twofold fire, thick and thin, till they brought it to the immortal extreme and made it a spiritual, heavenly body.» — abriéndolo, purificándolo y alimentándolo con fuego doble hasta el extremo inmortal

«In this performance they saw the image of that face which Zoroaster calls the pre-existent countenance of the Triad.» — con la faz preexistente de la Tríada de Zoroastro

«They perfectly knew the Secundea which contains all things in her naturally, as God contains all things in Himself spiritually.» — y la Secundea que contiene todo naturalmente como Dios espiritualmente

«They saw that the life of all things here below was a thick fire, or fire imprisoned and incorporated in a certain incombustible, aerial moisture.» — la vida como fuego espeso preso en humedad aérea incombustible

«They found, moreover, that this moisture was originally derived from heaven, and in this sense heaven is styled in the Oracles: “Fire, derivation of fire and food of fire.”» — derivada del cielo, con el verso de los Oráculos

«In a word, they saw with their eyes that Nature was male and female, as the Kabalists express it: a certain fire of a most deep red colour, working on a most white, heavy, salacious water, which water also is fire inwardly, but outwardly very cold.» — la Naturaleza macho y hembra según los cabalistas: fuego rojísimo sobre agua blanca y pesada

«By this practice it was manifested unto them that God Himself was Fire, according to that of Eximidius in Turba: “The beginning of all things,” saith he, “is a certain nature, and that eternal and infinite, cherishing and heating all things.”» — Dios mismo como Fuego, con la sentencia de Eximidius en la Turba

«The truth is, life—which is nothing else but light—proceeded originally from God and did apply to the chaos, which is elegantly called by Zoroaster “the fountain of fountains and of all fountains, the matrix containing all things.”» — la vida como luz que procede de Dios y se aplica al caos, fuente de fuentes según Zoroastro

«We see by experience that all individuals live not only by their heat, but they are preserved by the outward universal heat which is the life of the great world.» — el calor universal externo que preserva a cada individuo

«Even so truly the great world itself lives not altogether by that heat which God hath enclosed in the parts thereof, but it is preserved by the circumfused, influent heat of the Deity.» — y el calor circunfuso de la Deidad que preserva al mundo entero

«I say then that the God of Nature employs Himself in a perpetual coction, and this not only to generate but to preserve that which hath been generated; for His spirit and heat coagulate that which is thin, rarefy that which is too gross, quicken the dead parts and cherish the cold.» — el Dios de la Naturaleza en cocción perpetua, que genera y conserva lo generado

«thee the philosophers call this fire their bath, but it is a bath of Nature, not an artificial one; for it is not any kind of water but a certain subtle, temperate moisture which compasseth the glass and feeds their sun or fire.» — el baño de los filósofos declarado natural y no artificial; el tramo arranca dentro del renglón por cambio de plana

«For this very reason the least violence destroys it and prevents all generation; for if it be overheated but for some few minutes the white and red sulphurs will never essentially unite and coagulate.» — la delicadeza del régimen: unos minutos de exceso impiden la unión de los azufres

«On the contrary, if it takes cold but for half an hour—the work being once well begun—it will never sort to any good purpose.» — y media hora de frío arruina la obra empezada

«Nature moves not by the theory of men but by their practice, and surely wit and reason can perform no miracles unless the hands supply them.» — con la sentencia de que la Naturaleza se mueve por la práctica y no por la teoría

«But for thy better security I will describe it to thee once more.» — la promesa de describirlo una vez más

«It is in itself natural, but the preparation of it is artificial.» — el fuego natural en sí y artificial en su preparación

«It is no part of the matter, neither is it taken out of it; but it is an external fire and serves only to stir up and strengthen the inward oppressed fire of the chaos.» — externo a la materia y destinado solo a avivar el fuego oprimido del caos

«But let us hear Nature herself, for thus she speaks in the serious romance of Mehung.» — con la remisión al romance de Mehung, donde hace hablar a la Naturaleza

«But it must not be a fire of coals, nor of any wood, but a bright shining fire, like the Sun itself, whose heat must never be excessive but always of one and the same degree.» — el fuego que no ha de ser de carbón ni de leña, sino brillante como el Sol y de un solo grado

«This is enough and too much, for the secret in itself is not great but the consequences of it are so—which made the philosophers hide it.» — y la razón del secreto: no es grande el secreto, lo son sus consecuencias

«better intelligence thou must know that spirits whiles they move in heaven, which is the fireworld, contract no impurities at all,» — los espíritus que no contraen impureza mientras se mueven en el mundo del fuego

«All,” saith he, “that is above the moon is eternal and good, and there is no corruption of heavenly things.”» — con la sentencia sobre lo que está por encima de la luna

«On the contrary, when spirits descend to the elemental matrix and reside in her kingdom they are blurred with the original leprosy of the matter,» — y su contaminación al descender a la matriz elemental

«Thus he. Now, the astronomers pretend to a strange familiarity with the stars;» — la objeción de Vaughan a los astrónomos y su pretendida familiaridad con los astros

«Ask them but where the influences are received and how; bid them by fair experience prove they are present in the elements, and you have undone them.» — a quienes reta a probar por experiencia que las influencias están en los elementos

«If you will trust the four corners of a figure or the three legs of a syllogism you may: this is all their evidence.» — reduciendo su evidencia a la figura y al silogismo

«Well fare the magicians, then, whose Art can demonstrate these things and put the very influences in our hands.» — frente a los magos, cuyo arte dice poner las influencias en la mano

«Let it be thy study to know their Region of Light and to enter into the treasures thereof, for then thou mayst converse with spirits and understand the nature of invisible things.» — con la exhortación a entrar en la Región de la Luz para conversar con espíritus

«In the PYTHAGORICAL SYNOD which consisted of three score and ten philosophers, all Masters of the Art, it is thus written:» — el Sínodo Pitagórico de setenta filósofos que cita

«The thickness or sperm of the fire falls into the air.» — con la escala del esperma del fuego que cae al aire

«Therefore the earth itself is thicker than the other elements, as it openly appears and to the eye is manifest.» — y la tierra como el más espeso de los elementos

«Remember now what I have told thee formerly concerning the earth, what a general hospital it is,» — la tierra como hospital general, según lo dicho antes

«They speak the very truth it is God’s own principle and He first taught it Adam.» — con el principio que atribuye a Dios y a la enseñanza de Adán

«But lest any man should be deceived by us, I think it just to inform you there are two reductions.» — la distinción entre dos reducciones

«One is violent and destructive, reducing bodies to their extremes; and properly it is death, or the calcination of the common chemist.» — la violenta y destructiva, que es la calcinación del químico común

«The other is vital and generative, resolving bodies into their sperm or middle substance, out of which Nature made them;» — y la vital y generativa, que resuelve los cuerpos en su esperma

«An egg is the sperm or middle substance out of which a chick is engendered, and the moisture of it is viscous and slimy, a water and no water, for such a sperm ought to be.» — con el huevo por ejemplo: agua y no agua

«Now, to reduce bodies into elements of earth and water—as we have instanced in the egg—is to reduce them into extremes beyond their sperm,» — reducir a tierra y agua sería pasarse del esperma

«But that is impossible for man to do: it is the power of God and Nature.» — cosa que declara imposible al hombre

«It is a quick celestial fire, incorporated in a thin, oleous, aerial moisture.» — el fuego celeste vivo incorporado en humedad aérea y oleosa

«It is incombustible, for it is fire itself and feeds upon fire ; and the longer it stays in the fire the more glorious it grows.» — incombustible porque es fuego y se alimenta de fuego; el espacio antes del punto y coma es lo que imprime la capa de texto

«If thou dost place them both on their crystalline basis, thou hast the philosopher’s flying Fire-Drake, which at the first sight of the sun breathes such a poison that nothing can stand before him.» — el Fire-Drake volador de los filósofos sobre su base cristalina

«I know not what to tell thee more unless—in the vogue of some authors—I should give thee a phlegmatic description of the whole process, and that I can despatch in two words.» — la renuncia a dar una descripción flemática del proceso

«It is nothing else but a continual coction, the volatile essences ascending and descending, till at last they are fixed according to that excellent prosopopoeia of the Stone:» — reducido a cocción continua con ascenso y descenso de lo volátil hasta la fijación

«I have elsewhere called this subject “a celestial slime” and the middle nature.» — el limo celestial y la naturaleza media como nombres que él mismo le ha dado

«The philosophers call it the venerable nature; but amongst all the pretenders I have not yet found one that could tell me why.» — la naturaleza venerable, cuyo porqué dice no haber hallado en ningún pretendiente

«This chaos hath in it the four elements, which of themselves are contrary natures; but the wisdom of God hath so placed them that their very order reconciles them.» — los cuatro elementos contrarios reconciliados por el orden en que Dios los puso

«For example, air and earth are adversaries; for one is hot and moist, the other cold and dry.» — con el ejemplo del aire y la tierra

«Hence it is that air and earth, which are contraries in themselves, agree and embrace one another in the water, as in a middle nature which is proportionate to them both and tempers their extremities.» — y el agua como tercero amigo que los concilia

«But verily this salvo makes not up the breach, for though the water reconciles two elements like a friendly third, yet she herself fights with a fourth—namely, with the fire.» — aunque ella misma pelee con el fuego, de modo que el remedio no cierra la brecha

«Thus you see—as I told you at first—that contrary elements are united by that order and texture wherein the Wise God hath placed them.» — con la conclusión que ya había anunciado

«You must now give me leave to tell you that this agreement or friendship is but partial—a very weak love, cold and skittish.» — y la acotación de que esa amistad es parcial y débil

«This blessed cement and balsam is the Spirit of the Living God, which some ignorant scribblers have called a quintessence.» — el cemento y bálsamo declarado Espíritu del Dios Vivo, contra quienes lo llaman quintaesencia

«For this very Spirit is in the chaos and to speak plainly the fire is His throne, for in the fire He is seated, as we have sufficiently told you elsewhere.» — con el fuego por trono suyo dentro del caos

«This was the reason why the Magi called the First Matter their Venerable Nature and their Blessed Stone.» — de donde los nombres de Naturaleza Venerable y Piedra Bendita

«The soul is not the artificer of her house, for that which can make a body can also repair it and hinder death; but the soul cannot do this; it is the power and wisdom of God.» — la negativa a hacer del alma la artífice de su casa

«In a word, to say that the soul formed the body because she is in the body is to say that the jewel made the cabinet because the jewel is in the cabinet; or that the sun made the world because the sun is in the world and cherisheth every part thereof.» — con los símiles de la joya y el cofre y del sol y el mundo

«Learn therefore to distinguish between agents and their instruments, for if you attribute that to the creature which belongs to the Creator you bring yourselves in danger of hell-fire.» — y la advertencia de distinguir agentes de instrumentos

«I advise my doctors therefore, both divines and physicians, not to be too rash in their censures, nor so magisterial in their discourse as I have known some professors of physic to be—who would correct and undervalue the rest of their brethren when in truth they themselves were most shamefully ignorant.» — el consejo a teólogos y médicos contra la censura precipitada

«It is not ten or twelve years’ experience in drugs and sops can acquaint a man with the mysteries of God’s creation.» — con la insuficiencia de diez o doce años de drogas

«We should therefore consult with our judgments before we venture our tongues and never speak but when we are sure we understand.» — y la regla de no hablar sino cuando se entiende

«To this the Adeptus replied: “Sir, it may be so at this time, but if hereafter I find Nature in those old elements where I have sometimes seen her very busy, I shall at our next meeting confute your opinion.”» — la réplica del Adepto sobre volver a hallar a la Naturaleza en los viejos elementos

«They must be serious, silent men, faithful to the Art and most faithful to their teachers.» — las condiciones que pone a los discípulos: serios, callados y fieles

«We should always remember that doctrine of Zeno: “Nature,” said he, “gave us one tongue but two ears, that we might hear much and speak little.”» — con la doctrina de Zenón sobre una lengua y dos orejas

«Let not any man therefore be ready to vomit forth his own shame and ignorance.» — y la advertencia contra vomitar la propia ignorancia

«Let him first examine his knowledge and especially his practice, lest upon the experience of a few violent knacks he presume to judge Nature in her very sobrieties.» — antes de examinar el propio conocimiento y la propia práctica

«To make an end: if thou dost know the First Matter, know also for certain thou hast discovered the Sanctuary of Nature.» — el remate: quien conozca la Primera Materia ha descubierto el Santuario de la Naturaleza

«Now if thy desire leads thee on to the practice, consider well with thyself what manner of man thou art and what it is that thou wouldst do; for it is no small matter.» — con la advertencia final a quien quiera pasar a la práctica

«Have a care therefore that thou dost not hinder His work;» — y el aviso de no estorbar la obra de Dios

«The entirety of this book Coelum Terrae is based upon Qabalistic implicits.» — el capítulo décimo abre declarando cabalísticos los supuestos del Coelum Terrae

«he says, quoting one of the Qabalistic authorities, that “the building of the sanctuary which is here below is framed according to that of the sanctuary which is above.”» — con el verso cabalístico del santuario de abajo construido según el de arriba

«This is simply a repetition, of course, rather similar to the other Hermetic one that “that which is above is like unto that which is below,” and vice versa.» — que Regardie hace equivaler al axioma hermético

«It was upon that philosophical foundation that the alchemists reared their art.» — y pone por cimiento filosófico de la alquimia

«For whatever powers and forces their philosophy posited as existent in the macrocosm, in the universe, just those forces were mirrored and so were operative in the microcosm that was man.» — con la consecuencia: lo que hay en el macrocosmos se espeja y opera en el hombre

«They sought a differentiation of the myriad elements of the human personality so that the inward spirit could be rendered independent in consciousness of the physical frame.» — la diferenciación de los elementos de la personalidad como propósito de los alquimistas

«Being thus separated from its vehicle, that spirit could by its own innate divine power gain complete control of that vehicle and rebuild it, in very much the same way as the waters of creation were manipulated and made subject to the original creative fiat.» — y el espíritu separado que reconstruye su vehículo, con el símil de las aguas de la creación

«He personalizes the entire concept in a very poetic way, speaking of her as a “pure sweet virgin”.» — la personificación poética que Vaughan hace de la Primera Materia como virgen dulce y pura

«In so far as he gives a description of her, stating that “she yields to nothing but love and her end is generation”, we at once are enabled to associate the idea with concepts inhering in our own philosophical scheme of things.» — con la frase de que solo cede al amor y su fin es la generación

«First of all, we are able to identify her with what in the Qabalah is called the Sephirah named Binah, who, in a cosmic sense, is described as being the Great Mother of all.» — identificada por Regardie con Binah, la Gran Madre

«Another of her attributions is the Great Sea, that passive plastic base over which the Spirit of Life originally hovered.» — y con el Gran Mar sobre el que se cernía el Espíritu de Vida

«Hence when Vaughan speaks of an active and a passive agent in Nature, identifying this Pure Virgin whose nature is love with the passive First Material who is our Qabalistic Great Mother, we are able to assume that the active agent is what the Zoharists speak of as Chokmah, the Father.» — de donde deriva el agente activo: Chokmah, el Padre de los zoharistas

«His statement that he has experimentally handled the First Material in itself is not the strange fantastic thing that it might at first sight have seemed.» — la pretensión de Vaughan de haber manejado experimentalmente la Primera Materia, que Regardie no toma por fantástica

«It is not, because, in a word, you and I and everybody else in this world has done precisely the same.» — porque, sostiene, todos han hecho lo mismo

«The only difference is that some have realized their own true natures consciously.» — con la única diferencia de haberlo realizado conscientemente

«Quite early in his book he says that there are in this world two extremes—Spirit and Matter.» — los dos extremos de Vaughan, Espíritu y Materia

«He also proceeds to state that in the middle natures such as fire, air, and water the seed of the spirit is not constant.» — y su tesis de que en las naturalezas medias la simiente del espíritu no es constante

«Most commonly held, however, is the view that fire is mind, water emotion, air the vital life energy, and earth the body in which all of these forces operate.» — con la atribución más común de fuego, agua, aire y tierra a mente, emoción, energía vital y cuerpo

«It is also added that in the material extreme the seed of the Spirit is to be found.» — la simiente del Espíritu hallada en el extremo material

«The implication is that Alchemy is a technical process of extracting the seed of the spirit from the gross body in which it has been imprisoned for countless ages.» — de donde la alquimia como proceso técnico de extraerla del cuerpo grosero

«Therefore the building up or the concoction of the Philosopher’s Stone is nothing more nor less than consciously reorganizing the material with which one has to deal in life.» — y la Piedra reducida a reorganizar conscientemente el material de la propia vida

«Like all other alchemists, Vaughan too lays great stress on that secret fire which is to encompass that differentiation.» — el fuego secreto como lo que en Vaughan opera esa diferenciación

«She it is who works in our interior natures as love, as intuition, as aspiration, and all those higher and finer emotions which we seek to express just a little more easily in our own daily lives.» — con las emociones superiores por obra de ella en nuestra naturaleza interior

«Therefore the fire of the alchemists is libido, the internal fire—the Will, the Superior Will which Blavatsky has elsewhere defined as the power of the Spirit in action.» — el fuego de los alquimistas identificado con la libido y con la Voluntad Superior que define Blavatsky

«In one of the Golden Dawn documents entitled “Man, the Microcosm” we are told that “in the Adept death can only supervene when the Higher Will consenteth thereto, and herein is implied the whole Mystery of the Elixir of Life.”» — y el documento de la Golden Dawn sobre la muerte del Adepto y el Elixir de la Vida

«Our text says of the fire that “it is in itself natural, but the preparation of it is artificial.”» — el verso de Vaughan sobre el fuego natural de preparación artificial

«Vaughan goes on to remark that “it is not part of the matter, neither is it taken out of it, but it is an external fire and serves only to stir up and strengthen the inward oppressed fire of the Chaos.”» — y el que lo declara externo a la materia

«All these systems, therefore, while expressing the necessity of an inward development, point to the necessity of some extraneous force or personality, which answers to the external fire, to awaken the individual into enlightenment.» — de donde saca la necesidad de una fuerza o persona externa que despierte al individuo

«Not only so—and this is most important—but at once something in us begins to stir, to awaken slowly into a new life.» — el movimiento interior que dice iniciarse con esa lectura

«And while from all we have said it seems that the alchemists required the stimulus of an external fire in order to arouse the internal, I am quite convinced that the individual who attempts to divine the significance and subtle implications of Alchemy is doing two things.» — y su convicción de que quien intenta descifrar la alquimia hace dos cosas a la vez

«Not only will he acquire some intellectual knowledge of what Alchemy is, but he will at once awaken, partially at any rate, his own internal fire.» — adquirir noticia intelectual y despertar el propio fuego interno

«They, we are told, never refuse the training of those made ready by life and by experience.» — con lo que se dice de los adeptos: no rechazan a quien la vida ha preparado

«It is a commonplace in occultism that surrounding each individual is a magnetic light-sphere, which glows with different colours corresponding to the status of that individual.» — la esfera de luz magnética en torno a cada individuo, de colores según su estado

«It has been written in a book which nowadays possibly we are prone to ignore, The Light on the Path, that “when the disciple is ready the teacher appears.”» — el aforismo de The Light on the Path sobre el discípulo preparado y el maestro que aparece

«By reflection, by study, by deep meditation upon these mysteries, we can make our light glow from within.» — y el medio que propone para encender esa luz desde dentro

«By an ineluctable process of magnetic attraction we will be drawn to, and likewise draw to us, the presence of just those students or teachers who will further our growth in the direction of self-knowledge and self-transmutation.» — con la atracción magnética que traerá a los maestros

«The Alchemists themselves have promised that divine aid is always forthcoming to those who in all sincerity and humility do even no more than study their writings.» — la promesa que atribuye a los alquimistas sobre la ayuda divina al que estudia con humildad

«For, as power awakens power, and as light does expel the darkness, so by assimilating the written word of their wisdom, their illumination, and their undoubted spiritual experience, we awaken within ourselves spontaneously a reflection of what it was that blessed them.» — y el mecanismo que le supone: el poder despierta poder

«How that came about we do not know, and I hardly need to labour the point.» — con una abstención expresa sobre el cómo

«In this instance the initiator at the beginning of the path upwards to the Light can well be hardly more than a text.» — el iniciador que al principio del camino puede ser apenas un texto

«I have a theory, and it is only a theory, that the adepts of all time—the saints, the Bodhisattvas, call them by what name you will—in having achieved the spiritual heights that they did achieve, left an indelible impress on the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World, what Jung has called the Collective Unconscious.» — la teoría, expresamente declarada teoría, de que los adeptos dejan huella indeleble en el Anima Mundi

«At great length this master psychologist has spoken of primordial archetypes or archaic images that exist in the Unconscious of the Collective psyche.» — con los arquetipos primordiales de Jung por respaldo

«I believe that, because of what they have done, these great beings become identified with these archetypes, or themselves become other primordial images.» — y su tesis de que esos seres se identifican con los arquetipos o se vuelven imágenes primordiales

«Their spiritual liberation identifies them with the celestial substratum shared by all men alike.» — identificados con el sustrato celeste común a todos los hombres

«The energy involved in such an attainment sets into motion powerful currents of impulse and ideation which work their way, gradually and slowly, through the unconscious levels of the mass into the consciousness of the individual.» — cuyas corrientes de impulso llegan por lo inconsciente hasta la consciencia individual

«Thus changes occur to an individual here and an individual there without his actually being aware of the process involved in the incubation of ideas.» — de modo que el individuo cambia sin advertir la incubación

«These archetypes are the final cause of the instigation of movements based upon apparent personal inspiration.» — con los arquetipos por causa final de movimientos que parecen de inspiración personal

«For Jung says, in confirmation, that the Unconscious contains not memories of infancy alone, but ideas as root and stem and seed which may not develop into conscious thought and action for very many years.» — y lo que dice tomar de Jung en apoyo, sobre las ideas latentes como raíz y simiente

«Since every individual is not only a conscious ego, but also possesses a personal Unconscious, and since, moreover, that personal Unconscious is always in direct contact with, or is a part of, the Collective Unconscious, we as ordinary individuals have direct access at all times to those primordial archetypes, to those great beings.» — el acceso permanente a esos arquetipos por el inconsciente personal

«In a word, they exist in ourselves, as mainsprings of our psychic and spiritual life, of which we are not even aware.» — que a su juicio existen dentro de nosotros como resorte de la vida psíquica

«For in confirmation of ancient occultism it has demonstrated to the world that there may exist psychological principles of which we may be totally unconscious.» — con el mérito que reconoce a la psicología: haber mostrado que hay principios de los que no somos conscientes

«Logically, it would follow, then, that by conscious reflection and inspired meditation upon the writings of these beings we have at least one technical method of evocation of the divine in us.» — y la conclusión: la meditación sobre esos escritos como método técnico de evocación de lo divino

«We can realize it. They realized it. They were but men even as we are now. They achieved and accomplished the supreme transmutation. We also can achieve. That transmutation already exists in us now—at this very moment both of space and time.» — el cierre del texto original de Regardie: la transmutación declarada ya existente en el lector.

«As we come to understand that Jesus and Buddha, Hermes, and all the other adepts and saints of all time already exist deep within us, then by reflection upon their lives and their words we make manifest what hitherto had been concealed.» — con los adeptos de toda época situados dentro del lector.

«We evoke them from within, and become consequently that which we have invoked. The transmutation is effected for all to see. The Philosopher’s Stone of divine understanding and knowledge will then have been concocted.» — y la última frase del libro de 1938, que define la Piedra como comprensión y conocimiento divinos.

«Chic’s interest in Freemasonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition led him to become a member of several Masonic, Martinist, and Rosicrucian organizations. He is a Past Grand Commander of the Grand Commanders of Knights Templar in Florida (2010– 2011). He was also a close personal friend and confidant of Dr. Israel Regardie. Having established a Golden Dawn temple in 1977, Chic was one of the key people who helped Regardie resurrect a legitimate, initiatory branch of the Golden Dawn in the United States» — la nota *About the Editors* presenta a Chic Cicero por su filiación masónica, martinista y rosacruz y declara el vínculo personal con Regardie que legitima esta edición anotada; el guion partido de *2010– 2011* es lo que imprime la capa de texto.

«He is currently the G.H. Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (www.hermeticgoldendawn.org), an international Order with temples in several countries.» — el cargo con que la misma nota lo presenta al abrir el volumen.

«She is currently the Supreme Magus (Imperatrix) of the Societas Rosicruciana in America (www.sria.org) as well as the G.H. Cancellaria of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.» — y los de Sandra Tabatha Cicero, la otra firmante del aparato.

«Sandra “Tabatha” Cicero was born in rural Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in 1982, Tabatha worked as an entertainer, typesetter, editor, commercial artist, and computer graphics illustrator.» — la formación en artes plásticas que la nota editorial le adjudica, y de la que dependen las ilustraciones rehechas para esta edición.

«The Philosopher’s Stone: Spiritual Alchemy, Psychology, and Ritual Magic © 2013 by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero.» — la página de derechos pone el copyright del volumen a nombre de los dos editores, no del autor del texto que edita.

«First e-book edition © 2013 E-book ISBN: 9780738737362» — el ejemplar troceado es esa primera edición electrónica.

«Cover design by Lisa Novak For a complete list of art credits, please see page 519» — la remisión a la plana 519 declara que la edición impresa tiene una paginación propia que el ejemplar electrónico no conserva: el troceo llega a la plana 391.

«Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.» — el pie editorial, que la misma plana sitúa en 2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125.

«INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION by Israel Regardie» — el índice reparte las dos introducciones por firmante, que es el mapa de voces del volumen: la tercera es de los Cicero y la segunda, de Regardie.

«CHAPTER ONE Introduction BOOK ONE: Alchemy, Psychology, and Qabalah CHAPTER TWO The Golden Treatise of Hermes Trismegistus CHAPTER THREE Commentary CHAPTER FOUR Commentary (cont.)» — el índice del Libro Uno: el tratado atribuido a Hermes y los dos capítulos de comentario de Regardie.

«BOOK TWO: Magnetism and Magic CHAPTER FIVE The Magnetic Theory CHAPTER SIX The Six Keys of Eudoxus CHAPTER SEVEN Commentary on the Six Keys of Eudoxus CHAPTER EIGHT The Magical View BOOK THREE: The Mystic Core CHAPTER NINE Coelum Terrae by Thomas Vaughan CHAPTER TEN Conclusion» — los Libros Dos y Tres, con los otros dos tratados que Regardie reproduce y comenta; el índice adjudica el Coelum Terrae a Thomas Vaughan.

«CHAPTER ELEVEN The Spiritual Alchemy of the Golden Dawn by Charles “Chic” Cicero» — el índice firma el capítulo once a nombre de Chic Cicero solo, no de los dos editores.

«CHAPTER TWELVE Introduction to Alchemy—A Golden Dawn Perspective by Mark Stavish CHAPTER THIRTEEN Basic Alchemy for the Golden Dawn by Samuel Scarborough CHAPTER FOURTEEN Golden Dawn Ritual Method and Alchemy by Samuel Scarborough CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Elixir of the Sun: A Ritual of Alchemy by Steven Marshall» — cuatro capítulos del Libro Cuatro los firman terceros: Mark Stavish, Samuel Scarborough y Steven Marshall. Ni Regardie ni los Cicero.

«by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero BOOK FIVE: Resources APPENDIX ONE A Selection of Books on Alchemy APPENDIX TWO Practical Alchemy: Some Basic Safety Rules GLOSSARY BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY BIBLIOGRAPHY Art Credits» — el capítulo dieciséis lo firman los dos Cicero, y el Libro Cinco es el aparato de consulta que ellos añaden.

«List of Illustrations The Alchemist in His Laboratory The Tree of Life Alchemical Mercury Hermes Trismegistus The Four Elements An Athanor, or Alchemical Furnace» — el índice de láminas abre con el programa iconográfico que los editores montaron: el laboratorio, el árbol de la vida cabalístico, el mercurio, Hermes, los elementos y el atanor.

«An Athanor, or Alchemical Furnace The Elements on the Tree The Dragon Lady Alchimia The Black Crow with the Body and Twin Birds of Soul and Spirit (Basilius Valentinus, Azoth, Paris, 1659) Mesmer Projecting Magnetism The Hermetic Triumph “Two Fishes” from The Book of Lambspring» — la serie emblemática, con el único pie que el índice fecha y localiza: el Azoth de Basilius Valentinus, París, 1659.

«The Alchemist at Labor and at Prayer Cabala and Alchemy The Altar Setup for Alchemy A Simple Alchemical Laboratory Setup Alchemical Hexagram Temple Setup» — el índice mezcla la lámina antigua con el diagrama de uso, que es el giro de esta edición: montaje de altar, montaje de laboratorio y montaje de templo.

«The Spirit Pentagrams The Elemental Pentagrams Walking the Hexagram Invoking Earth Invoking Water Invoking Air Invoking Fire Invoking Spirit Active/Invoking Spirit Passive Invoking Sol/Invoking Luna Banishing Hexagrams» — y cierra con los diagramas rituales de la Golden Dawn: pentagramas de espíritu y de los elementos, hexagramas de invocación de Sol y Luna y de destierro.

«INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the seeking out of the Sophia in the mind.1 —mary anne atwood» — el epígrafe con que los Cicero abren su introducción, tomado de Mary Anne Atwood; el *1* es la llamada a la nota que remite a la edición de 1850.

«T he Philosopher’s Stone was written in 1936–37 when Israel Regardie was confined to bed for a prolonged period of time due to a severe bout of bronchitis.» — los Cicero fechan la escritura del libro en 1936-37 y la ligan a una bronquitis; la *T he* separada es la letra capital tal como la imprime la capa de texto.

«Published in 1850, Atwood’s comprehensive tome documented the enormous impact of hermetic philosophy on human spirituality. A Suggestive Inquiry presents readers with cryptic alchemical treatises such as “The Golden Tractate of Hermes” and “The Six Keys of Eudoxus”—documents infused with riddles and symbolic codes used to secretly communicate to fellow alchemists the true purpose of the Hermetic Art.» — los Cicero derivan los dos primeros tratados del volumen del libro de Atwood, y les atribuyen un código deliberado entre alquimistas.

«After this breakthrough, insights came rapidly, and over the course of the next two weeks, Regardie wrote the bulk of The Philosopher’s Stone which was published in 1938.» — la fecha de la primera edición, 1938, la declara el aparato de los Cicero, no la portada.

«Born in 1817, the only child of metaphysical historian Thomas South, Mary Anne Atwood took an active role in her father’s research at an early age. Her first book, Early Magnetism in Its Higher Relations to Humanity, was published under a pseudonym in 1846. Her magnum opus, A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, was published by her father in 1850.» — la semblanza de Atwood que los Cicero anteponen, con su primer libro publicado bajo seudónimo.

«Later, both father and daughter became convinced that the book exposed far too many alchemical secrets, and except for a few copies sold or owned by the author, all other copies were destroyed.» — y la destrucción de la tirada, que los Cicero atribuyen a la convicción de padre e hija de haber revelado demasiado.

«alchemy was actually a method for transforming the human soul through altered states of consciousness, during which the soul ascended to the spiritual world for powerful transformational experiences and descended back again into the physical body.» — los Cicero resumen así el secreto que adjudican a Atwood: ascenso y descenso del alma por estados alterados de consciencia.

«Atwood posited that all mention of metals, minerals, and alchemical processes were merely symbols and metaphors for spiritual alchemy.» — y la consecuencia que le adjudican: metales y procesos como puro símbolo.

«At this point in his life, only a couple of years after finishing his Golden Dawn studies and having left the Bristol Temple of the Stella Matutina, Regardie was convinced that alchemy was in reality a thinly veiled psycho-spiritual process—the operations in laboratory alchemy that professed to work on metals, minerals, and plant matter were essentially focused solely at man’s mind, soul, and spirit.» — los Cicero sitúan la tesis de 1937 en la biografía de Regardie: recién salido del templo de Bristol de la Stella Matutina.

«He had concluded that “practical” laboratory alchemy was simply wrong-headed, and that only theoretical, spiritual, or psychological alchemy was valid.» — y le adjudican la exclusión de la alquimia de laboratorio, que es la posición que él mismo revisará en 1968.

«Some thirty years after writing The Philosopher’s Stone, Regardie underwent a change of heart on the matter after attending a seminar conducted by Albert Riedel, otherwise known as acclaimed alchemist Frater Albertus, founder of the Paracelsus Research Society in Salt Lake City.» — los Cicero fechan el cambio de posición treinta años después y lo atribuyen al seminario de Albert Riedel, Frater Albertus.

«In his Introduction to the Second Edition of this book, Regardie candidly acknowledged his earlier mistake and changed his opinion about the validity of laboratory alchemy, relishing the opportunity to “eat crow” and admitting that “in insisting solely on a mystical interpretation of alchemy, I had done a grave disservice to the ancient sages and philosophers.”» — los Cicero remiten a la introducción de 1968 y citan de ella las dos frases con que Regardie se retracta.

«His original approach was to analyze these seventeenth-century texts emblematically, using the symbol systems of magic, Qabalah, and Jungian psychology to explain how laboratory operations described by alchemy are in reality psychoanalytical processes of self-realization and spiritual attainment» — los Cicero describen el método de Regardie como lectura emblemática con tres rejillas: magia, cábala y psicología junguiana.

«Like modern psychological methods the alchemical formulae have as their goal the creation of a whole man, of integrity. … Not only does Alchemy envisage an individual whose several constituents of consciousness are united, but with the characteristic thoroughness of all occult or magical methods it proceeds a stage further. It aspires towards the development of an integrated and free man who is illumined. It is here that Alchemy parts company with orthodox Psychology.» — palabras de Regardie que los Cicero citan de An Interview with Israel Regardie, editado por Christopher S. Hyatt en 1985; los puntos suspensivos son de la cita.

«He refrained from doing so because he felt that the book in its original form could still be of immense value to students who were at the same stage in their spiritual evolution as he had been in 1937.» — los Cicero explican por qué el texto de 1938 se reimprime sin reescribir.

«Alchemy is once more rearing his head not only in this vast country of ours, but in Great Britain and in the heart of Europe as well, and in the Antipodes.» — Regardie, citado por los Cicero desde un ensayo suyo titulado *Alchemy in the World Today*, señala un renacer de la alquimia repartido por varios países.

«days between its advocates as there always has been, since many of the famous texts were simply the means whereby one adept in the art could convey to others something of his own knowledge and experience.» — continuación de la misma cita de Regardie, que el troceo parte en el guion de *now-a-days*: los textos famosos como medio de comunicación entre adeptos.

«With the exception of added footnotes and a few minor changes in spelling, Regardie’s initial thoughts on alchemy as exemplified in The Philosopher’s Stone stand as they were first written.» — los Cicero declaran el alcance de su intervención sobre el texto de Regardie: notas al pie añadidas y retoques de grafía.

«Rather than rewrite the original text to accommodate information on laboratory alchemy as Regardie was tempted to do in 1968, we opted to supplement the text with articles on practical alchemy contributed by contemporary alchemists and writers in the later part of the book.» — y declaran la solución editorial que explica la doble naturaleza del volumen: no reescribir, sino añadir colaboradores.

«The result is a balanced approach that honors the past but also addresses current views on the Hermetic Art, offering readers something of the knowledge and experience of modern practitioners, particularly those working in the Golden Dawn Tradition.» — los Cicero enuncian el público al que dirigen el añadido: quienes trabajan en la tradición de la Golden Dawn.

«Israel Regardie’s influence on modern magicians cannot be overstated. With the publication of The Golden Dawn: The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn (1937–40), Regardie made the Golden Dawn system of magic available to a wide and eager audience of esoteric students.» — los Cicero datan la publicación de The Golden Dawn entre 1937 y 1940, y le adjudican la difusión del sistema.

«According to Francis King and Isabel Sutherland: “That the rebirth of occult magic has taken place in the way it has can be very largely attributed to the writings of one man, Dr. Francis Israel Regardie.”» — el juicio no es de los Cicero: lo atribuyen a Francis King e Isabel Sutherland.

«These works included: A Garden of Pomegranates (1932), The Tree of Life (1932), My Rosicrucian Adventure (1936) The Middle Pillar (1938), The Art and Meaning of Magic (1964), Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment (1969), A Practical Guide to Geomantic Divination (1972), How to Make and Use Talismans (1972), Foundations of Practical Magic (1979), Ceremonial Magic (1980), The Lazy Man’s Guide to Relaxation (1983), and The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic (1984).» — el catálogo de Regardie que los Cicero levantan con sus fechas, y donde The Middle Pillar comparte año con la primera edición de este libro.

«However Regardie’s most important book was undoubtedly The Golden Dawn, since it contained much of the Order’s essential teachings in the form of initiation» — los Cicero jerarquizan la obra de Regardie y ponen The Golden Dawn por delante; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«ceremonies, assigned gradework for the various levels of student development, magical diagrams and symbols, side lectures, rituals, meditations, and exercises, as well as ritual outlines for advanced Adept-workings.» — continuación de la enumeración anterior, ya en la plana siguiente: qué contiene aquel volumen.

«Some of the more advanced magical workings of the Golden Dawn were described in a Second Order paper entitled “Z.2: The Formulae of the Magic of Light.”4 This paper was given out to those Initiates who had attained the grade of Zelator Adeptus Minor and higher.» — los Cicero presentan el documento Z.2, que es la bisagra entre el libro de Regardie y los capítulos rituales añadidos; el *4* es llamada a nota.

«In the Ritual of the Enterer are shadowed forth symbolically, the beginning of certain of the formulae of the Magic of Light. For this Ritual betokeneth a certain Person, Substance or Thing, which is taken from the Dark World of Matter, to be brought under the operation of the Divine Formulae of the Magic of Light.» — palabras de MacGregor Mathers, que los Cicero citan de su introducción al manuscrito Z.2.

«In other words, the Golden Dawn’s Neophyte Ritual contains all the formulas necessary for practical magic, hidden under many layers of symbolism.» — la lectura que los Cicero hacen de esas palabras.

«All magic performed by the Adepts of the Order was classified as one of five types listed under the five letters of the Pentagrammaton or “five-lettered name.”» — la clasificación quíntuple de la magia por las letras del Pentagrammaton.

«This refers to the Hebrew name of Yeheshuah ( ) or the Hebrew name of Jesus, which is the Tetragrammaton, YHVH ( ), with the letter Shin ( ), representing Spirit, placed in the center of the name.» — la construcción del Pentagrammaton por inserción de Shin en el Tetragrámaton; los paréntesis vacíos son las letras hebreas, que la capa de texto del ejemplar electrónico no conserva.

«Each letter of the Pentagrammaton signified a different type of magic known collectively as the Magic of Light. The five types of the Magic of Light are classified as follows: Evocations and invocations fall under the category of the Hebrew letter Yod ( ) and the element of fire. Consecrations of Talismans and the production of natural phenomena are classified under the second letter Heh» — las dos primeras casillas del reparto: Yod con fuego para evocaciones e invocaciones, Heh con agua para talismanes.

«All works of spiritual development, invisibility, and transformations are attributed to the letter Shin ( ) and the element of spirit. All works of divination are assigned to the letter Vav ( ) and the element of air. Finally, all works of alchemy are classified under the final letter Heh» — y las tres restantes: la alquimia queda bajo la Heh final y el elemento tierra, que es lo que justifica todo el Libro Cuatro.

«Instead of complete ritual instructions, the Z.2 manuscript on the Magic of Light is largely composed of outlines for rituals meant to be fleshed out by each Adept working the system.» — el Z.2 da esquemas, no rituales cerrados: de ahí que los colaboradores puedan escribir los suyos.

«In Book Six of The Golden Dawn, Regardie provided examples of rituals he had written based on some of the Z.2 outlines.7 He did not, however include a ritual based on the Heh Final ( ) outline for alchemy. He gave his reasons for this» — los Cicero señalan el hueco que esta edición viene a llenar: Regardie no escribió el ritual de la Heh final.

«The section on Alchemy remains quite obscure since the subject does not interest me; and I regret that I have not been able to acquire a record of an operation based on it.» — Regardie, citado por los Cicero desde The Golden Dawn, declara que la sección de alquimia del Z.2 no le interesaba.