Verse on the Threefold Sophic Fire

 

Heat, that produces many things, must prepare
Their Bodies, and disclose what Forms they wear,
By Fire, the Sovereign Element, we thence
A Vinegar derive, no Friend to Sense,
Nor flatterer of the Palate, ’tis composed
Of Earth and Water, amicably closed;
Thence it dissolves to Water, and the white
Sublimate Sal-Armoniac, which unite
Into Earths White and Red, and Mercury,
To form the Prior Body does comply,
And Triple Vessel of Philosophy:
The Blood, that fiery Dragon qualifies,
And makes the Mercurial Vessel rise;
And thence the Female Dragon does proceed,
Who to the Male must afterward recede:
As Nature in the Orb does circulate
By sending (ordered by the Laws of Fate)
The Spermatic Doses to the Earth, which sink,
And thence the Sun does rising moisture drink;
And leaves the multiplying Sperm, which does
Proceed on Bodies; ’tis the way that’s chosen
By Nature, and her Circulation shows.
Three Eagles do resemble it, and show
The Compound Vinegar’s free Medium there,
By which the Blood and Body strengthened are;
The one its Central Spirit does allow,
The other does its vital Life bestow;
And both combine together to produce
Our Second Fire of Philosophic use;
Thence the Third Fire, the Mountain’s Floody Sperm
Is freed; and this we Artfully affirm;
Unveiled, unbound, from Earthly Chains set free,
This third most sacred Fire the Sophi see;
Which Azoth some, but others do it name
The Lion Green, well known in Rolls of Fame;
By which they do their Sun and Moon conjoin,
And Nature thus with nature does Combine:
By this are clipped the swift Cyllenian Wings;
The Body this to Dissolution brings;
By this moist Heat the Sun and Moon descend,
And all their Virtues downward it attend;
These downward drawn afford a lovely sight,
While in the Blood and Body they unite;
And under these two Forms when they come near,
Far stronger than before they then appear;
Since in the Triune Fountain we behold
What e’er in Mystic Fable we are told,
Of that fierce fiery Colchian Beast,
Within whose Bowels Treasures hid do rest;
Who doth the Magi’s Chalybs there conceal,
Which worthy is of Wisdom to reveal:
The Elixir gives our Second Fire complete,
The Volatile is fixed by its Heat;
Nor of Addition is here any need,
Besides it can produce a living Seed;
The living Seed of Metals here does lie,
Not dead, discovered by the Artists Eye;
This is that Gur, that noble Lunar Oil,
For which so many vainly rove and toil;
This Fire it is which made Pontanus wise,
The Fire, which made Artephius so to rise.
In Years, and all the living Weights excel;
For nothing can its mighty force repel:
From Sulphur is its Birth; but make not haste,
If you would not your Time and Labour waste;
Since from the Matter this you must not take,
For it’s a Sulphur of another make:
But when the Blood and Mercury you have found,
And it by dextrous hidden Art have bound;
Then Nature learn sweetly to imitate,
As she will teach you how to circulate;
In her Circulations your Pattern see
Always; and from this Pattern never flee:
This now to animate and fortify,
Eagles, be sure, you must seven more let fly;
By every flight the Light begets a day,
While Darkness from the Light makes haste away;
In every one a Separation is made,
The vanquished Darkness now can’t make afraid;
For see, behold the Splendour that appears;
See the bright Nymph, that here her Head uprears;
A living Resplendent Fountain now doth run,
With a Transcendent Brightness, as the Sun,
Shining and streaming Virtue all around,
By which it penetrates whole Nature’s Ground;
This, as the Azoth true, our living Spring,
The Body to Perfection soon will bring:
Here Laton, melted, opened and calcined,
By this Mercurial Fire is refined;
Laton, our Gold, here many times baptize,
We do imbibe and wash, till to its Size
And Standard true, it do at last arrive,
For which it will be worth our while to strive;
Nor is there loss of any other part,
But all remains, neither touched, nor changed by Art:
For this Immortal Fiery Liquor is such
As naught can ever change, or ever touch;
This with the Matter cannot altered be;
By it the Matter altered we shall see;
So as thereby to be transparent quite,
And thus made almost of a radiant white;
Which to the Nature of a Spirit turns,
While it in Spirit unconsumed burns:
The Spirit with the Body thus conjoined,
We thence a most excelling Creature find;
In which a Trine of Principles doth lie,
Pure Salt, pure Sulphur and pure Mercury;
These Art can separate, and then unite;
That Art of which the hidden Sophi write,
But none besides, none but Dame Nature’s Art
This wondrous Secret ever did impart:
Within this Mine two Stones of old were found,
Whence this the Ancients called Holy Ground;
Who knew their Value, Power and Extent,
And Nature how with Nature to Ferment
For these if you Ferment with Natural Gold
Or Silver, their hid Treasures they unfold,
According to their Natures then proceed,
And take care properly each one to feed;
Imbibe, Multiply, and when you project,
Then shall be seen the wonderful Effect;
Which may indeed the ignorant amaze,
Not so the Wise, who will not vainly gaze;
But falling prostrate down will God adore
And, joyful, offer up to him their Store.