Table Of ContentTHE
ALCHEMY
OF THE
MASON
BY
François-Nicolas Nöel
Inner Garden Press
L023
Translated by Via Veritatis for Inner Garden Press
Formated for Kindle by Moreh
Published by Inner Garden Press
2019, Utrecht, the Netherlands
ISBN: 978-94-6163-034-6(E-book)
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st
1 Edition:
Manuscript, dated 1812
The Alchemy of the Mason
By
François-Nicolas Nöel
Regular Mason
Honorary member of the A∴ A∴ L∴ L∴
of Saint John under the distinctive names of
‘Joan of Arc’ and of ‘Moral Crucible.’
Or∴1 of Orleans
To the O∴ of Cléry
5813
Discourse
[54]2 You have come to a science that has always been considered madness
by cold-hearted men (whose soul is not moved by any emotion). Let them
say whatever they want, we look at them as passive beings who are not
susceptible to any sentiment or anything that would allow them to observe
with the discernment that belongs only to those whose spirit goes beyond
their immediate surroundings.
If you have a mind totally stuck in false preconceptions you will get not far.
If you hope to learn here how to transmute a specific metal I would take
you for a fool but if, on the contrary, you hope to gain knowledge in
following the order of nature then you will be among the ranks of those
who aspire towards true knowledge.
In my Physics, I have presented you the knowledge of the dimensions of
bodies and their properties, these bodies, as well as their properties, are
nothing if they have not received the motion by a generating spirit, and this
spirit is the workman who works under the command of the Creator, who is
our great and divine alchemist. It is this generating spirit on which
generative operations rest; it is our philosophical stone, the true transmutor
of our metals, it is this universal spirit that unites with the body and attracts
the life of the soul.
Consider our geometry as the body, our physics as the spirit, and our
alchemy as the soul and the bond of body and spirit. Consider also that our
geometry is our flat earth, which receives a depth by the spirit that gives
form and, at the same time, life by attracting to it the soul which is our
eternal fire stirred by the spirit of the air.
To give you an idea of our science, you need to know that we have three
principles that are:
1. sulphur or oil;
2. mercury ☿ or liquor;
3. salt .
Which are related to:
1. soul;
2. spirit;
3. body.
It is in this double ternary that you will find the visible which contains the
invisible in itself. Furthermore it is this double ternary that is manifested in
man.
You will find in this double ternary the eternal heavenly world and the
transitory temporal world; in the first you will find the health, in the second
the illness that is cured by our medicine which is contained in our sulfur.
This medicine is the treasure that you must seek since without it everything
would be in a state of death. However just as everything is regenerated in
the beginning of life, so also it is in this principle where you must seek this
medicine that restores health that is rightly called balm of the vegetables.
You will also recognize in this double ternary what these words described
by T∴ A∴ symbolize.
Moses says that the Spirit of God has spoken: let it be done — mysterious
words that refer to the creation of the first matter that contains the three
principles that are separated to engender our four elements.
You will learn that these four elements are immobile by themselves and that
they cannot exist without having their spirits in them. It is these spirits that
we call spiritual elements, the sustainers of the matter.
These elements are double. It is this ternary that will lead you to the
knowledge of the agent and the patient, to their marriage in the operations
of the great work. It is this marriage that gives us the cross of nature, for if
you consider the four fixed points of the sphere, you will find the agent in
the solstices and the patient in the equinoxes, which are joined at the central
point to form the cross of the motion that governs the circulations.
You will also find, philosophically speaking, these elements at the top and
bottom of the cross, since two of them are light and two are heavy.
This knowledge will lead you to that of the manifested word and to this
spirit over the waters, combining the principles of the bodies causing them
to appear in the forms that are suitable to them, designating their places in
nature, their domiciles and their virtues.
It is through effort and meditation that your intelligence will develop as the
need arises. It is thus that, after having understood our three principles and
our elements, you will be led to the knowledge of the seed of all things,
which are retained and bound to the stars and hidden in the elements, like in
an inexhaustible abyss. Then you will understand how, from the beginning
of matter, the visible things are not like the invisible ones and how that
which is external is touched, joined and is generated within certain periods
of time.
You will also learn what we mean by ‘beginning’ which is said to be
everywhere and at all points, for it is found everywhere you are. The
