"In order that you may desire nothing that belongs to the theory and practice of our

Philosophy, I will tell you that, according to Philosophers, there are three kinds of Gold.
"First one is an astral Gold, whose center is in the Sun, which with its rays
communicates it, at the same time than its light, to all heavenly bodies under it. It is an
igneous substance, and a continuous emanation of solar corpuscles which, being in a
perpetual flux and reflux, because of the movement of the sun and the stars, fills up the
whole universe. Everything is penetrated by this Gold in the immensity of heavens upon
earth, and, in its bowels, we breathe continuously this astral Gold, this solar particles
penetrate our bodies and are ceaselessly exhalated from them.
"The second one is an elemental Gold, that is, the purest and most fixed portion of the
elements, and of all substances composed by them; so that every sublunar being of the
three genera contains in its center a precious grain of this elemental Gold.
"The third one is the handsome metal, whose brightness and inalterable perfection give it
a price, which make it to be considered by all men as the sovereign remedy for all evils
and needs of life, and as the only foundation of greatness and human power." etc.
The first kind of Gold has to be related with what the ancients called the Universal Spirit.
On the particular, we find in Johannes Trithemius:
"It is a Universal Fluid, a living one, extended throughout all Nature, which penetrates all
beings; it is the most subtle of all things, incorruptible in its essence, and permeating the
infinite space ( ...). The sun and planets are but condensed states of this Universal
Principle, distributing their abundances through their palpitating hearts, and sending them
to the forms of the lower worlds and to every being, acting through their own centers, and
impelling those forms to a higher state in the path of perfection ... This spirit may be
obtained in the same way as it is communicated to earth: from the stars The forms in
which this living principle becomes fixed, become per fect and permanent ... Thus, the
philosophal stone is the ultimate that can be made using it, making that which is volatile
to become fixed."
Thus, the first kind of Gold might be condensed into the lapis philosophorum, and this, as
Limojon de Saint-Didier, again, will instruct us, by means of a gold of the second
species:
"The gold of the wise is proper the gold of the second species; for, when this gold is
perfectly calcinated, and exalted to the cleanness and whiteness of snow, it acquires, by
Magistery, a natural simpathy for the astral gold, of whom it has become visibly a true
magnet, it attracts and concentrates in itself so great a quantity of astral gold and of solar
particles, received from the continuous emanation of them done in the center of Sun and
Moon, that it is in a disposition near to become the living gold of the Philosophers."
Reading The Golden Chain of Homer, the idea is found again on the possibility of
materializing subtle principles, of fixing what is volatile:
"The Universal Fire fills that immense space of the universe between the Heavenly
bodies, and as a power to become material, it generates a subtle vapor or invisible
humidity, its first passive principle. It causes therein a gentle reaction, and a most subtle
fermentation takes place universally, and by this reaction the universal acid is
everywhere generated, which we can call anything else than a most subtle incorporated

NITRE; it is inwardly fire and outwardly cold.

"Thus this spiritual NITRE or universal ACID we call the second invisible change of the
universal Fire, generated out of the chaotic invisible HUMIDITY; and as this approaches
the atmosphere of the Heavenly Bodies it becomes gradually more and more material,
until it meets an alkaline passive principle, wherein it fixes itself and forms native Nitre,
so that from universal spiritual Nitre it becomes material Nitre. "Thus we say without
good reason that the Solar Rays of light are nothing else than a most subtle spiritual
Nitre it becomes material comes more and more nitrous as it approaches the Earth."
It is obvious that to get that condensation of Universal Spirit, special conditions of
weather are required, as A. v. Bernus has already indicated himself. There is a cosmic
breathing. and the Universal Spirit descends to Earth at Spring, and returns to heavens at
Autumn. Lets read again The Hermetic Triumph:
"Several Philosophers indicated the most propitious season of the year for this operation.
Some made no mystery of it; other more circumspect ones only did explain this point by
means of parables. 'The first ones mentioned the month of March and Springtime. (...)
Cosmopolita, to indicate the most propitious season for the Philosophical work, says it is
that one in which all living beings, sensitive and vegetable, seem to be animated by a
newfire, which impels them reciprocally to love, and to the multiplication of the species,
that Venus is the godess of this charming island, in which he soon discovered all the
secrets of nature; but, to indicate more clearly this season, he says that lambs and bulls
were seen to pasture in the meadow, accompanied by two young shepherds, thus
expressing clearly with this spiritual allegory the three months of Springtime, by means
of the three celestial signs corresponding to them: Aries, Taurus, Gemini."
L. Kolisko, in her study "Spirit in Matter"9, has shown the particular forces which play
through solved metals at springtime. By sinking the tip of a filter-paper into a solution of
silver nitrate, a precipitation is made on the paper as the solution rises up through it. The
experience done in winter, no forms will appear. At spring, soft radiating forms appear in
the precipitate, thus showing the presence of etheric forces.
The alchemist of the dry way knows how to attract and fix these etheric forces into a
salinous substance, the secret Fire. When this is done, a green tincture ensues, which is
worth noting when considering the relationships Venus-Spring-Prana; The green energy
of Osiris, etc. That this green tincture is truly the color of immature astral gold, and not
explicable by current chemical knowledge, has been proved to myself by experience.
Working in such a polluted city as Madrid, only a slightly yellowish color ensued, which
is what could be expected from the chemical point of view, greenish tinctures seldom
appearing. At the same time, a friend of mine worked in the country, performing just the
same operation, and a most beautiful emerald green appeared. By an over-exact work, the
increasing in weight of the secret fire, because of the condensation of the Universal
Spirit, may even be determined.
Those who have read Frater Albertus' meeting with Eugene Canseliet in The Alchemist of
the Rocky Mountains may read it again with this article in mind, and will surely find it
more understandable.
Now to the question, "what do you understand under philosophical mercury?" the reply
of Canseliet comes:

"The soul, this is the minute part, that can be obtained from the mass during the
sublimating in the dry way. This is also called the little fish (LA REMORE) that becomes
a stone."
The 'little fish" is the magnet attracting astral gold, will be the lapis philosophorum. To
produce this magnet, a gold of the second species, "the purest and most perfect portion of
the elements, and of all substances composed by them", must be extracted from a metallic
body. Both metals and salts are required here as dry menstrua, the extracted soul been
finally treasured the secret fire. Thus, the works Fulcanelli begin to have some meaning
unto us. For example, when refering to the fruits of the Garden of Hesperides (elixir vitae
and transmutation stone):
"Each of these fruits is the rest of a progressive condensation of solar fire by secret fire,
incarnated word, celestial spirit corporified all things of this world." So much could be
said . . . there is enough food for thinking. Thus, those who may be interested in
developing the immense possibilities of Alchemy in this area, may thus find a way of
entrance to dry workings, workings which are not fancies, but experienced by many as
laboratory realities at present, ad majorem Dei gloriam.