| “Therefore the Philosophers say their Stone is first an Old Man that is white, & then a Young man, which is Red. And they say further that the Old Man must be placed together with the Tree, not in the open air, but in a House, & that not dry, but moist, with Dew. It may seem strange that Trees should spring & grow in a close place, but if it be moist, there is no doubt of their continuance. For the Nutriment of a Tree is moisture & Airy Earth that is fat, which can ascend into the body & Bough, & these produce leaves, blossoms & fruit. In which Natural work then is the concurrence of all the Elements.” (28) Lastly, we read about dung again and the red and white symbolism is mentioned yet again: “But this Latona is brown and blackish, and hath many moles in her Face, which must be taken away by Dealbation or blanching. … But if she be taken from a more worthy place, she is to be submersed in a place more vile- that is, into Dung. For there, indeed she grows white and becomes white lead, which being obtained there is no doubt of success; for from White Lead proceeds the Red Lead, which is the beginning and End of the Work.” (29) Next, in the following paragraph, we read about the “fountains” and the tail of the serpent, which is swallowed by the same serpent. This denotes the waters of life, or mushroom infused urine being drunken up by the initiate. That is what is implied by the dragon eating its own tail or the Ouroboros: “For at the founteins or Rivulets which fall from the mounteins the Dragons meet, and so by Accident are said to keep watch over the gold enclosed in them. For this reason do the Philosophers assign so many Dragons to their Treasury, as to the Golden Fleece, the Garden of the Hesperides, and the others persons or chymicall subjects such as Cadmus, Saturn, Æsculapius and Mercury, whose Caduceum is bound with two serpents, a male and female. For they mean nothing else by Dragons but Chymicall subjects. Hence, they say, Dant Rebis montes dracones terraque fontes: Dragons to Rebis do give mounteins, And the earth does give him Founteins. And they denote his extreme hunger by his devouring his Tayle, which though some may interpret this as the year returning into itself and resembling a Circle, yet it was first applied to their work by the Philosophers, who by this Dragon would have such a Serpent understood as devours another of its own kind, and which is properly called Sulphur, as all of them Attest in innumerable places.” (30) “Thus Lully says in his Codicillus, chapter 31: This my son (saith he) is Sulphur, and this the Serpent and Dragon devouring his Tayle, the rearing Lyon and sharp sword cutting, mortifying and tearing all thinges. And the Rosary says the Dragon does not dye unlesse he be killed with his Brother and Sister.” … “the Dragon is Argent Vive, extracted out of Bodyes, having in itself a Body, Soul and Spirit. This in the same place by another Name is called Stinking Water, which is to be had after the separation of the Elements. Now the Dragon is said to devour his Tayle when he consumes the Voluble, Venomous and moist part, so that afterwards being without a Tayle he may seem more corpulent and slower, as if his Motion and Volubility had in a great measure consisted in his Tayle.” (31) |
Mercury is now compared to the serpent, because the mushroom is the god Mercury as well as the serpent: “For as a Serpent moves so also does Mercury, who therefore has Wings upon his feet and Head. It is reported that in Africa there are flying Serpents which would depopulate all places if they were not destroyed by the Bird called Ibis. Wherefore Ibis is placed among the sacred Images of the Ægyptians, as much for the manifest good that it does to the whole Country as for a secret reason which very few of them understand.” Fire becomes the drying and purifying agent, in the next phase of this alchemy: “In like manner the Potter mixes Clay with Water, and that so he may make the masse tractable which he shapes upon his wheel, and he sets it in warm Air so it may drye leisurely. Then he adds the Violence of Fire, that his vessells may be well hardened and condensed into a durable Stone which can resist both Water and Fire.” (32) The paragraph which just preceded gives me the impression that the “Philosopher Stone” is actually dried mushroom urine concentrate, a crystal now available for stealth transportation and consumption, a salt. Some scholars are putting forth the argument of late that the Philosopher Stone is DMT, because it is referred to as a salt, but I don’t think that’s the case, as all the ingredients resemble mushroom components, not DMT. In the next section, we learn about the Philosophical Dragon, which admittedly, is used by alchemists as an allegory. When allegory is admitted to, in a text which is suspect to allegory itself, the safest way to approach it would be to assume allegory is also being employed: “The People of Epyrus worshipped a Dragon in the Temple of Apollo in memory of Python that was slain by him. There is by Nature a continuall war between the Dragon and the Elephant, at whose eyes and throat he always strikes, till the Elephant falling upon the ground kills the Dragon with his Weight, from whence by many is said to come that Dragon's Blood which is imported into these parts. The Dragon's Eyes are of equall Value with Jewells. His sight is very sharp and clear, and therefore he is placed as a guard over Treasures, as to the Garden of the Hesperides and the Golden Fleece at Colchis. The Ancients also joined him to Æsculapius as a Hieroglyphick.” (29) ibid, p. 27 (30) ibid, p. 32 (31) ibid, p. 33 (32) Atalanta Fugiens, p. 34 |