Die Alchemie. Das ist die Lehre von den grossen Geheim-Mitteln der Alchemisten und den Speculationen, welche man an sie knüpfte

When heights and depths form, creating mountains and valleys, it follows that the Orbis terrarum fluidus fluid sphere of the earth collects in the depths as the sea, while the Orbis terrarum fixus fixed sphere of the earth towers above this fluid sphere. Thus, one has the fixed earth as land and the fluid earth as the sea enclosed by that land.

Drawing on the idea that the Nile absorbs the heavens—meaning that in the Nile, one possesses the Nile itself, Egypt, and the Sky—Jewish alchemy set out to involve the heavens in the Great Water-Transformation Experiment. They do so in the following way.

The Jewish alchemists said that the sky, as it exists above us, has the shape of half an eggshell. Since the Great Water-Transformation Experiment is being established, it requires a vessel, just like the small-scale water experiments in a laboratory. Let us assume that the vessel for this Great Experiment has the shape of a whole eggshell. Now the experiment proceeds, and the fixed earth and fluid earth are created. Once these exist, the lower half of the eggshell is broken away. The upper half remains and represents the sky as it is above us. This is the Jewish solution to the problem of the origin of the World Egg Weltenei. In its totality, it represents the vessel in which the Great Experiment is conducted. In its upper half, it represents the sky, which stands over us in the shape of a bell—or, as the Jewish alchemists said, in the shape of half an eggshell with the point facing upward.

This was the state of Jewish alchemy originally, before the six days of creation were introduced. It establishes three Cosmologica cosmological entities: the Orbis terrarum fixus fixed earth, the Orbis terrarum fluidus fluid earth, and the Coelum heaven or sky. The latter is taken as the firmament. It is assumed that wherever one has the firmament, one implicitly has the sun, moon, and stars. The fixed and fluid earths arise based on the actual water-transformation experiment. The sky arises from the vessel in which the experiment takes place. It is God who performs this Great Water-Transformation Experiment.

However, as soon as the six days of creation appear, the matter changes. The specific nature of the six days requires a closer look at the process of creation. It is said that God creates the world by performing the Great Water-Transformation Experiment. But if God is going to create, He must first create the materials with which He can perform the experiment. He must first create the World Egg, and then the water suitable for the transformation. Only after He has created these can He begin the experiment and create the actual world. This results in two periods: the period of preparation for the experiment and the period of the actual experiment itself. The actual creation of the world falls into the second period. This second period is supposed to last six days. It is therefore logical to divide the experiment into six parts, with one part assigned to each day. However, it is difficult or even impossible to divide a water-transformation experiment into six distinct parts. Therefore, adjustments must be made. One says that in a cosmogenesis origin of the universe, one does not have to stick strictly to the inorganic world; one can also include the organic world. This moves away from the strict ground of the water experiment, which is the central axis of the cosmogenesis. Yet, this is not too bold a leap. If we insist on the water experiment alone, we have already left its pure grounds by involving the sky. Since we had no hesitation in involving the sky, we should have no hesitation in bringing in the organic world. Once the organic world is pulled into the realm of cosmogenesis, it is logical

to divide the work into equal parts. Of the six days of creation, three are distributed to the inorganic world and three to the organic world. The three days for the inorganic world must come first. Before the inorganic world exists, there is no substrate underlying material for the organic world. Thus, the fourth, fifth, and sixth days fall to the organic world. By giving each day its due, it seems most natural for the plant world to come on the fourth day, the animal world on the fifth day, and the crown of creation, man, on the sixth day. The plant world is created first so that the humans and animals who feed on plants have food. Man is created last so that he can feed on plants and animals, and because he is the master over the animals. If man were created before the animals, he would lack animal food on one hand, and on the other, the master would be there without the servant. What is the lord of creation without a servant?

The first, second, and third days would therefore belong to the inorganic world. The question is how to assign the appropriate parts to each individual day. Originally, in Jewish alchemy, we had three Cosmologica cosmological entities: the Sky including the sun, moon, stars, and firmament, the fixed earth, and the fluid earth. Thus, it would seem most logical to give one of these to each of the three days. However, this does not work. If creation is to proceed by days, the "day" must first exist. But the day is tied to the sun, moon, and stars, with the sun ruling the day in the narrower sense and the moon and stars ruling the night. In a creation that proceeds by days, the sun, moon, and stars take on prominent importance. With this prominence, one can no longer simply say that we have a firmament and the sun, moon, and stars are eo ipso by that very fact part of it. One might say this is easily fixed. Previously, the sky was viewed from the perspective of the firmament; now, one reverses it and views the sky from the perspective of the sun, moon, and stars. Previously, the firmament implied the sun, moon, and stars; now, the sun, moon, and stars may imply the firmament. This settles it. We now have: the Sky from the viewpoint of the sun, moon, and stars, the fixed earth, and the fluid earth. This would bring the old perspective into harmony with the new one, mutatis mutandis with the necessary changes. At first glance, this seems quite fitting. Upon closer inspection, however, it does not work. While we can say we have these three cosmological entities, we cannot distribute them over three days. In the Great Water-Transformation Experiment, the fixed and fluid earths do not exist until the experiment has reached its conclusion. Once it reaches its end, both are present a tempo simultaneously. This simultaneous arrival of the fixed and fluid earth makes it impossible to give each of them a separate day. It forces us instead to put both on the same day. As soon as creation is to proceed by days, the distribution of the original three entities—or the transformation of the sky-as-firmament into the sky-as-celestial-bodies—is insufficient. One must look for other counsel. Therefore, four Cosmologica are assumed: the sun, moon, and stars; the firmament; and the fixed and fluid earth. The sun, moon, and stars go on one day; the firmament goes on another day; and finally, the fixed and fluid earth go together on one day. But one might say this also falters. If the earth and sea must exist simultaneously, then the sun, moon, stars, and the firmament must also be simultaneous. The ancients imagined the sun, moon, and stars as being fixed to the sky. One must have the firmament isochronically at the same time as the celestial bodies. If the firmament did not go hand in hand with them, the sun, moon, and stars would fall down. Therefore, one might say that the

day that brings the sun, moon, and stars must also bring the firmament. The celestial bodies cannot wait a day or longer for the firmament. Thus, we have one day for the celestial bodies and firmament together, and one day for the fixed and fluid earth. This only provides material for two days, when three must be used. This is correct. However, here one relies on the first period of creation. This shows that the six days of creation require a preceding period for the preparation of the water experiment. In this first period, we have the World Egg. This is not yet the sky, though its upper half is intended to become the sky. Nevertheless, because the World Egg exists as a whole, its upper half exists. Since this upper half is there, the place where the sun, moon, and stars are to be fixed is also there. If the sun, moon, and stars are created on the first day, they exist without the "official" sky which only arises when the egg is cracked and the lower half vanishes. However, the place where they are to stand is already present. By utilizing this place, a barrier is created so that the sun, moon, and stars do not fall down, which is the main concern. Thus, while one cannot think of the celestial bodies without a sky in an absolute sense, they can be thought of without a sky in a relative sense regarding the World Egg. Therefore, the first day, by bringing the celestial bodies without the firmament, involves no absurdity. Now, by having the sun, moon, and stars, one has the sky indirectly but not directly. To obtain the sky directly, one of the following days is used. Thus, there is no further absurdity in giving one day to the celestial bodies, another to the sky, and another to the fixed and fluid earth. The question then is how these entities should be specifically distributed. The distribution is: First Day: sun, moon, and stars; Second Day: firmament; Third Day: fixed and fluid earth. It is obvious that the first day must bring the celestial bodies. If creation proceeds by days, the day must first exist. This begins with the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The first day brings itself into being, and after that, the remaining days follow naturally since the celestial bodies remain. The sphere of time, once set in motion, rolls on. While the celestial bodies without a proper sky are not an absurdity relative to the first period, they represent a state that is somewhat unstable. It is best to exit this state as soon as possible. Therefore, it is appropriate that the second day brings the sky. But one might say that the sky, the firmament, can only arise when the egg is cracked. As soon as it is cracked, however, its contents would drain out, and the experiment could not continue. In a small experiment, if you break the vessel before the sediment has formed, the experiment ends. The Jewish alchemists thought about it in this way. The earth we inhabit is solid. From this, it follows that while the sediment in a small experiment might be whatever it is, in the Great Experiment, it is solid. As soon as the water-transformation experiment begins, we immediately have sediment. If we did not have it immediately, the experiment would not have started. Since the

sediment in the Great Experiment is solid, we have solid sediment the moment the experiment begins. If we assume that at the same moment the sky-egg is cracked, the water-transformation experiment also begins, then we have solid sediment at that very moment. This solid sediment forms concentrically sharing the same center with the lower half of the eggshell. It forms a vessel within a vessel. By forming a vessel within a vessel, it makes the original outer shell unnecessary. This makes it impossible for the cosmic waters to drain away. Thus, nothing stands in the way of distributing the entities over the first three days. The first day brings the celestial bodies. On the second day, the World Egg is cracked, and at that same moment, the transformation experiment begins. Thus, on the second day, we have the sky and the beginning of the water's transformation. This transformation continues through the second day and is completed on the third day, which brings the fixed and fluid earth.

Now we turn to the first period of creation, which we have seen is a necessary requirement for the second period. The water-transformation experiment, as we know, is linked to the Nile. If we parallel the Great Experiment with the formation of Egypt from the Nile, then the World Water Weltenwasser used in the experiment parallels the Nile. It must be noted, however, that the Nile in its normal state does not produce Egypt; rather, it is the flooded Nile, which is the Nile impregnated with silt. Therefore, the water for the Great Experiment does not parallel the Nile in general, but the flooded Nile impregnated with Nile-mud. If one wants to represent this latter Nile, one takes ordinary Nile water and impregnates it with mud or earth. The ordinary Nile is always there, whereas the flooded Nile is not. Applying this to the water for the Great Experiment, one takes the water that is always there and mixes it with earth. Following this, Jewish alchemy says that when God prepares the water for the Great Experiment, He takes the water that is always there, that was always there from eternity, and mixes it with earth. In preparing the experiment, God does not create the union of water and earth from nothing. The Jews did not experiment with pure water, but with water that was predisposed to drop a sediment because it contained earth. No, He does not create this union out of nothing; He takes the eternal water and impregnates it with earth. First, however, He creates the cosmic vessel, the sky-egg, for without it, He would not be able to fix solidify or contain His water.

To summarize the whole matter clearly, Jewish alchemy, as it aligns with the six days of creation, is as follows:

First Period. God prepares for the Great Water-Transformation Experiment. He creates the celestial vessel and surrounds the eternal water with it. He then impregnates this water with earth. This period is timeless because the sun, moon, and stars—to which the day and time are tied—do not yet exist.

Second Period. This counts by days. God creates the inorganic and organic world. It brings: