after Basilius Valentinus


alchemical blood blud sang sing
bodye of four humour

melancolik saturn
sanguine iupiter

push this map onto willing tongue
the sun and moon of goldfire

a stream of milk from right breast
and blood from the left

lead into gold – saturn into sun
blaspheme the body of earth

the blood of my bodye my terra
blood of choler, phlegm, melancholy

melancholy in blood under saturn
turn to gold in wretchèd arm

this curse this foul air
alkemy is not of the devout

nae the gold in my frozen bodye
is the fault of those who sin for it

as sure as there is sinfull cemist
burning salt in dark room

my body of lead sungold moonsilver
becomes fixed in sin

that sin of the other is as mine
and the spirit needeth not gold

to ascend.


antimony
the cross atop the erth

erth as the form of iesus
and holy geist l’esprit

the bodye of erthe as bred
the blood of venus as blood

(milk from the ryght brest
blud of the left)

the earth as a bodye
containing antimony

burn three parts antimony
one quicksilver in a windowless room

you ascend to meet christ
the spirit is not purifyed

by gold or air
but by erthe and holy deth

the procession of wandering stars
from east to west

the sonne who is fixt
luna who is bashful

saturn who is dry and rules death, lead, melancholy
iupiter who is sweet and rules gentle life, tin, sanguine

mars who is bitter and rules destructive life, iron, choler
venus who is love and rules spiritual rebirth, copper

mercury who is sound and rules the keen spirit, quicksilver
erthe who is body and awaits rebirth, ruler of antimony

the cross atop the globe who wanders
these stars wander and the others

[...]
keep watch over gentle life and body

the stars who rule bodye and element
wander from east to west

and so the blood myrrors them
blud of four humours

blud of no gold but searching for gold
blud of wretchèd blasphemes and heretiks


the dark world of the vater
drynes, swetenes, biternes

saturn, iupiter, mars
here be the father

the lyght world of holy geist


venus, mercury, erth
here be the holy spirit

the world of the world of iesus
of fyre of fyre of Lucifer

the sun and the moon
here be the bodye of christ

the goldsun and silvermoon
fader sonne and holy geist

but is not too the bred the bodye of christ
ye heretic goldsmits

is not the blood of christ that which
flows through mine own arm

ye who would pull the sonne from heven
to eat the gold in’t

the spyrite is not cleansed through
quicksilver mind bodye of salt

is not sulfur the spyrite
does not the three-person’d god

clense the spirite not the alembik
nor the gold by blade


the wandering star
walks from east to west

the heretic follows
from east to west

by water by erthe
by blood of sword and

foul air – he knoweth
not that the lord favor

antimony nor that the
sun of gold is fix’t in the skie

gold meant to rest and
cannot cleanse what moveth

he knoweth not that the lord
favors gentle life iovial

and gentler deth by metallic air
in cold windowless room

nor that the lord favoreth most
the gentlest deth by living

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