Library of the Sages — Valentine, Khunrath, Hollandus, Bernard

any mixture of terrestrial wateriness and the
Celestial water of which many have written. For
by this spirit of mercury can be opened,
destroyed, and resolved, without any corrosives, all
metals into their first matter. This spirit
rejuvenates the person and gives life like the eagle.
If need be, it consumes every bad thing
and leads to a long old age. This mercury
is the Clef capitalle Capital Key; the primary secret of my other keys
of which I wrote at the beginning.
Therefore, I will call out: come here, you blessed
of the Lord, let yourselves be anointed with
oil, and comforted with water, and embalm
the bodies so that they do not smell foul and do
not rot. For the celestial water is the beginning,
and the oil the middle which does not burn, for
it was made of a spiritual sulfur. The balm
of the salt is bodily, which is joined with the water by
the oil. I will speak of these more
amply later when I set myself to the task
of writing something of them.

And so that I may declare further of what
substance, matter, and form this spirit
of mercury is, I say that its substance is
animated, its matter spiritual, and its form
terrestrial, which nonetheless must be understood

by an impalpability. These truly
are harsh words, and many will think
his saying is always but one and the same thing, and
these are terrible discourses which breed
terrible thoughts. That is true, they are
terrible, and also require such persons
who understand such discourses. It is not a
writing for peasants, like how one must
grease the plow, nor discourses for those
who have no knowledge, even though they
believe themselves to be very learned.
But I deem him to be learned who, after
searching, probes terrestrial things and the
true knowledge of them, and separates the good
from the bad.

What then does the beginning of this
spirit of quicksilver require? It is not necessary that you
know it, insofar as that gives you no
help or profit. But only remark this:
that its beginning is supernatural,
given from the beginning by the sideres astris celestial stars and constellations
and elements to afterwards enter into
a terrestrial substance. But insofar as
that is not necessary to you, as has been said,
leave the celestial to the soul and understand it by
Faith. Leave also in peace the siderima starry influences; celestial signatures in matter