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.When they say that their Stone is made with the Sun and the Moon,we must understand that the reference is to the Volatile Matter for the Moon, and to the FixedMatter for the Sun.They also call their White Sulphur or White Gold by the same name.Thedominion of the Moon in the operations begins when the Matter, after putrefaction, changes itscolour of grey into that of white.When the sages speak of their Moon in this state they call it DianaUnveiled, and they say that happy is the man who has beheld Diana naked, that is to say, the Matterat the perfect White Stage.He is happy as a fact because the perfection of the Red Sulphur, or ofPhilosophical Gold, depends only, when once this point is reached, upon the sustenance of the fire.MOON OF THE PHILOSOPHERS --- The Matter of the Philosophers, not isolated, but makingpart of a Composite.It is not Common Silver nor Mercury extracted therefrom.It is the VegetableSaturn, the Daughter of Saturn, called by some Venus, and by others Diana, because she has a forestwhich is consecrated unto her.Common Silver performs the office of the male in the operations ofthe Great Work, and the Moon of the Philosophers performs the office of female.An infinitenumber of names have been applied to it, some of which appear to exclude one another, but it mustbe always borne in mind that such designations are relative only, either to the operations or else tothe colours of the work, or again to the qualities of this Matter.At times they have termed it Water,and at times Earth.In respect of perfect bodies it is a Pure Spirit, and relatively to mineral water it isa Body, but a Hermaphrodite Body.Having regard to Gold and Silver, it is a Living Mercury, aFugitive Water.In comparison with Mercury it appears to be an Earth, but an Adamic Earth, aChaos.It is the true Proteus.MOON --- Horned Moon.The chemists apply this name to Calx of Silver made by aquafortis in themanner following: Dissolve one ounce of fine silver in two ounces of aquafortis.When thedissolution has taken place add spirit of common salt, which will precipitate the silver to thebottom.When this calx has been subsequently edulcorated the resultant is called the Horned Moon.MOON --- The Moon Compressed.Cupellated Silver.But when the chemists speak of their LunaCompacts the reference is to the Philosophical Luna, or the Matter of the Work arrived at the WhiteState, which is also called White Gold and the Mother of the Stone.MUD --- Mud, Lute, or Slime, is properly a species of Mortar, composed of different substances,which artists make use of to harden or encrust glass vessels, so that they may the better resist theaction of fire.Lute also serves to join the orifices of two vessels, or their communicating beaks, toprevent the spirits when passing from one to another, or therein circulating, from escaping andbecoming dissipated in the air.MULTIPLICATION --- An operation of the Great Work by means of which the Powder ofProjection is multiplied, either in quantity or quality, to infinity, according to the good pleasure ofthe artist.In consists in recommencing the operation which has been already performed, but withexalted and perfected matters, and not with crude substances as in the previous case.The wholesecret, says one Philosopher, is a physical dissolution in Mercury and a reduction into its FirstMatter.With this end in view the Philosophers take the Matter, as prepared and cocted by Nature,and reduce it into its First Matter, into the Philosophical Mercury from which it has been extracted.In order to attain to a full acquaintance with this operation five points must be observed:1.That the Adepts reduce years into months, months into weeks, weeks into days, days into hours,etc.2.It is an axiom among the Philosophers that all dry matters absorb greedily their proper moistures.3.That then the dry matter acts more rapidly upon its humid part than it did previously.4.That the greater, the proportion of earth, and the less that of water, the sooner does solution takeplace.5.That every solution is made according to expediency, and that every matter which dissolves theMoon dissolves also the Sun.N N NNAMPHORA --- Oil of Stone.NAPORAN --- A Sea-shell whence the colour Purple is obtained.The Adepts have occasionallyapplied this name to their Sulphur because it possesses this colour.NASSE --- Furnace.NEAGULA --- New Milk.NECTAR --- The Beverage of the Gods.It is the Medicine of the Philosophers.The philologicalmeaning makes it equivalent to a drink which preserves youth.The Hermetic Philosophers attributethe same property to their Medicine.In the course of the operation of the Work, they give the nameof Nectar to their Mercury or Azoth, because it drinks the Matter which remains at the bottom of thevessel, which they term Saturn, Jupiter, Venus.NESTUDAR --- Sal Ammoniac.NEPSU --- Pewter; an Alloy of Tin and Lead.NEUSI --- The Magisterium at the Red.NEST OF THE FOWL --- The Mercury of the Sages.It is also sometimes the Vase containing theMatter, or the Triadic Vessel which Flamel calls the Domicile of the Fowl.NUCLEUS --- The Mercury of the Philosophers, so called because it must be extracted from itsOre by separation from the terrestrial parts, the aqueous parts, and the heterogeneous parts in whichit is imbedded like the kernel of a nut in the shell.NUCHT --- Brass.NURSE --- The Philosophers apply this name to their Mini2re or Ore; that is, to their Matter fromwhich they extract their Mercury and their Sulphur.This must be understood as referring to thecondition which antecedes the first preparation and also during the course of the second.MichaelMaier represents the Philosophical Child by an emblem in which is depicted a woman having aterrestrial globe about the middle of her belly.From this globe two breasts issue, which are suckedby a child whom she carries.Above there are these words, which are taken from the Emerald Tableof Hermes --- Nutrix ejus est Terra --- The Earth is its Nurse
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