Pot Vitriola

Basil Valentine je opisal pot Vitriola v Le Dernier Testament Bibliotheca, Hermetica Éditions Retz, 114, Champs-Élysées, 75008, Pariz, 1978.

Stran 212. "Resnica je, da sem že v svojih predhodnih spisih o Dvanajstih Ključih dal spoznati svojo zasnovo od točke do točke svojim naslednikom in se spustil v prakso svojega Petega Ključa, sem parabolično pokazal in dal videti, kako lahko naredi veliki kamen filozofov, ki ekstrahira iz žvepla in soli zlato najboljše in najčistejše, in to s pomočjo živega srebra, ki je še posebej potrebno, predvsem pa, da ga ekstrahira iz surovega in ne staljenega minerala."

Stran 238. "Ko boš našel mineral takšne in tako lepe stopnje, ki je čist in neokrnjen, ki se imenuje, kot sem ti povedal, vitriol, prosi potem Boga, naj ti da pamet in modrost, da boš lahko nadaljeval svoj načrt. Po kalcinaciji ga dajte v močno in tesno zaprto retorto.

Distil it, firstly, to a moderate fire, then, to a strong one. The white spirit will distil as the snow that leaves in the form of a horrible and frightful exhalation or wind until it doesn't come anymore and that everything has come out. Observe that in this wind or white spirit, all the three beginnings are occult and contained...And, that, it is not absolutely necessary to seek these three beginnings in the precious things..."

Page 239. "Now, if you take this white spirit extracted by distillation and that you disentangle it of its terrestrial humidity, you will find and will perceive in the glass vase bottom the treasure and foundation of all the philosophers of the world before your eyes and in your hands, that is ignored of the masses; it is a red oil that weigh as much as gold or lead, as thick as blood, and of a burning fire property.

It is the philosophers' true liquid gold, whose composition is made by the nature of three beginnings that consist of a soul, a spirit and a body..."

Here it is brothers a summary description of the vitriolo distillation with view to the extraction of the three fundamental beginnings for the Great Alchemic Work: Sulphur, Mercury and Salt.

Before you make this distillation just as the Master tells us, you will need a special mud refractory retort called Glauber's retort. In the best Pyrex glass alembic you will never make it.

Besides, so much as we know, this distillation is not easy to execute because if you don't know nor have the "hand work" or the special touch of the practice, well instead of the white spirit and of the red oil, it will just leave you with sulphurous acid.

We never made this distillation for lack of the referred retort but we have knowledge that other brothers attempted it and they didn't get it.

The "prima materia" or first matter, will be a vitriol of Mars and Venus as what was showed to you in the image. It won't be easy to get in its natural state just as the Master tells us in his writings, that is to say the Hungary vitriol.

Happily in Portugal, our country, it is relatively easy to find in Alentejo and the Aljustrel' mines and others, a native Mars and Venus vitriol.

Rubellus Petrinus

prevod: Justitius

opomba prevajalca: ker se v alkimističnih in hermetičnih besedilih pojavljajo termini, ki opisujejo koncepte, alegorije ali prenesene pomene, ki bi jih lahko zamenjevali za običajno uporabljane termine, so le-ti vedno pisani z veliko začetnico (recimo: Žveplo, Merkur in Sol) in sicer z namenom, da se ta razlika nedvoumno poudari. Branje (in tudi prevajanje) je lahko zato zelo zahtevno za popolno razumevanje (*), zato priporočam študij v skladu s starim rekom bralcem hermetičnih besedil:

"Lege, lege, lege, relege, ora, labora et invenies."
("Preberi, beri, beri, še enkrat preberi, moli in s trudom boš našel, kar iščeš.")

* v kolikor je prevod nerazumljiv preverite še osnovno besedilo v angleškem jeziku

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