OPENING THE 

BOOK OF LAMBSPRING

by Nicholas Barnaud Delphinas,

Doctor of Medicine, a zealous Student of this Art

Opening of the classical Alchemical Text

by Christopher Bradford,

Remotam in Albis

Copyright © 2011 Christopher Bradford

All Rights Reserved.

Guides to the Underworld

Published by Hadean Press

www.hadeanpress.com

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Lambspring is a series of emblematic images through which the processes of Hermetic Alchemy are alluded to; it has proven completely impenetrable to the un-initiated, which has been the case for all of the true Alchemical texts. Nature disrobes herself only after arduous labor on the part of the Alchemist, and so alchemical manuscripts—that follow nature in her path—do much the same.

The emblematic series make for fine teaching tools for the alchemical Master and fine learning tools for the Student. In Alchemy all things are the One thing, and that One thing clothes itself in many differing images and forms. In order to understand Alchemical imagery, and learn to truly speak the language of the birds, we have to learn to perceive the truth at the root of a given thing within the alchemical framework. This framework is referential to Nature’s wondrous Prima Materia; all things within the manuscript must in the end relate to it and operate upon it and within it.

What is a bird? A bird is a thing that flies. So…What else flies, and what flies within the Prima Materia? What is a fish? A fish is a thing that swims within the sea. What, within the Prima Materia is the Sea, and what swims within it? We must always relate back to the Prima Materia and its contents in order to draw the soul of emblematic alchemical manuscripts out into the light. First we have to grasp the First Matter, and learn to hold it; in this day and age, no obfuscation of this is necessary. The First Matter, the Prima Materia, is the Human Body. This is the case with Internal Alchemy. External Alchemy uses analogous substances. It is, therefore, a Lunar Art, as the processes seen in the External glass are reflective and analogous to the process occurring within the Alchemist. External alchemical processes reflect the light of the Solar art in the same manner in which the Moon reflects the light of the Sun. Internal alchemy works directly upon the Prima Materia, and so is Solar and Direct.

Once the matter is grasped and the division of the three Alchemical principles within the Matter are known, we can begin to discern processes from the images recorded by our alchemical forefathers. It is impossible to know exactly what any of the old Alchemists had in mind. We can instead, through our understanding of the Language of the Birds, reveal the essence of what the Alchemist wished to immortalize. The emblems themselves reflect the Alchemical understanding of the reader; they only reveal as much as the Alchemist who reads knows. It’s useless for a person with no understanding to read the emblems, for they will only have their misunderstandings reflected back at them. This is why it is so wonderful to have manuscripts written as plainly as possible by skilled Alchemists. Master Alchemists like Fulcanelli and Philalethes have given the rest of us a priceless gift with their works.

This understanding is one that should be plainly revealed. The Alchemical Masters under whom I have studied have made it clear that the wisdom of Alchemy is to be given to all; this is indescribably generous. We don’t live in a time when people’s lives are endangered by knowledge of this Art. The true danger to Alchemy in our present time is disinformation; people who misunderstand the aims and Materia or our Art teaching aspirants incorrectly. This is worse than ignorance, because it can alter the perceived truth of alchemical practice and do real damage to the tradition. With that in mind, I hope to increase the general understanding of Alchemy through my own small works. Certain specific methods of alchemical processing will remain secret and kept within the arms of initiates, as they should be. We are in a time when the wisdom of western Hermetic Alchemy is blossoming, and finding a Master isn’t so difficult a thing, if one is discerning. There are plenty of books detailing true alchemical processing, if one has eyes to see. This particular book doesn’t speak to direct methods, but to the process. Understanding the process brings the method to life.

In this small manuscript, we’ll take each emblem and speak with it. The Alchemical wisdom held within will shine from it and enlighten the aspiring Alchemist, while hopefully leading the practiced Alchemist down well-trodden paths of wisdom. It can only enlighten as far as I have been enlightened—we must have the Stone in order to make it—and so may not be perfect, as I am not yet perfected. I have been lucky to work with an alchemical Master, and to have been initiated into the Hermetic tradition...my understandings will not lead you astray. My hope is to open the door a crack and let the Light shine in; the alchemist will need to meditate further on the images with the start that I’ve given, and then work, work, read and work some more, if he wishes to truly grasp the essence of the Royal Art.

Text from the original work will be found in emphasis, and commentary by myself in plain text.

AIT

PREFACE

Philosophy I have read, and thoroughly understood,

The utmost depth of my teachers’ knowledge have I sounded.

This God graciously granted to me,

Giving me a heart to understand wisdom.

Thus I became the Author of this Book,

And I have clearly set forth the whole matter,

That Rich and Poor might understand.

There is nothing like it upon earth;

Nor (God be praised) have I therein forgotten my humble self.

I am acquainted with the only true foundation:

Therefore preserve this Book with care,

And take heed that you study it again and again.

Thus shall you receive and learn the truth,

And use this great gift of God for good ends.

O God the Father, which art of all the beginning and end,

We beseech thee for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ

To enlighten our minds and thoughts,

That we may praise Thee without ceasing,

And accomplish this Book according to Thy will!

Direct Thou everything to a good end,

And preserve us through Thy great mercy. -

With the help of God I will shew you this Art,

And will not hide or veil the truth from you.

After that you understand me aright,

You will soon be free from the bonds of error.

For there is only one substance,

In which all the rest is hidden;

Therefore, keep a good heart.

Coction, time, and patience are what you need;

If you would enjoy the precious reward,

You must cheerfully give both time and labour.

For you must subject to gentle coction the seeds and the metals,

Day by day, during several weeks;

Thus in this one vile thing

You will discover and bring to perfection the whole work of Philosophy,

Which to most men appears impossible,

Though it is a convenient and easy task.

If we were to shew it to the outer world

We should be derided by men, women, and children.

Therefore be modest and secret,

And you will be left in peace and security.

Remember your duty towards your neighbour and your God,

Who gives this Art, and would have it concealed.

Now we will conclude the Preface,

That we may begin to describe the very Art,

And truly and plainly set it forth in figures,

Rendering thanks to the Creator of every creature.

Hereunto follows the First Figure,

THE BOOK OF LAMBSPRING—FRONTISPIECE

The front page of the Book of Lambspring is an image of a Man—a Giant of a Man—standing upon a path. In his right hand he wields the rod of Authority. His expression is stern and commanding. He wears a tabard upon which the double-headed Eagle is drawn. Within that eagle is a blue orb, within which we see a pure and white bird standing atop a hill. At his side there is a large foundry, of which there are Seven openings and Three domes (one opening is a huge entrance, and the rest are windows within the building proper). The Giant’s left hand rests upon the building, grasping one of the domes. A flag atop the building hangs in the wind to the right, suggesting an Easterly wind.

ANALYSIS

Here, we discover the Prima Materia; in this case, it is the Foundry. The Physical Body contains the 7 planetary metals expressed as nerve centers and as more subtle centers within it. Just as the Foundry has seven portals with which it permeates itself with Light, so does the body. This body is the Salt of the Alchemist. There are three domes, which refer to the great reservoirs of natural Fire found within us; these are the Cinnabar Fields.

The man who looms in commanding fashion over the body is the enlightened mind/spirit. This is the Mercury of the Alchemist. The mind is a mercurial emanation of the Body, which is itself an emanation and coagulation of the Spirit. I say enlightened because the tabard he wears suggests a mind that has undergone the processes of Alchemy in order to obtain authority over the Body and its operations.

The vestments the man wears give us more insight. The double-headed Eagle is a symbol of the risen hermaphroditic virtue. This virtue is that of the Sun and Moon, the Male and Female, within the body of the Alchemist. Having brought these virtues into Union within itself, and made them to rise into the heaven of the Body (which lies within the head) the Alchemist has made himself a suitable vessel for the Gold. The Gold is the spark of soul which lit the fire of his existence, but stands apart until the more coagulated physical body and spirit is properly refined and able to contain it. Coagulation is the thickening process, the solidification process. Fully coagulated Spirit is solid, physical matter. Fully Sublimated matter is ethereal and heavenly Spirit. All the One thing, but in different states. The orb with the pure and white Bird within, standing atop a hill, is the hidden Soul.

The Alchemist has purified his Nature through alchemical processing. He has attained the Hermaphroditic spiritual state, unifying his internal Lunar and Solar energies (the double-headed Eagle), and through refinement has infused his physical and spiritual bodies with the full Light of the Soul. His work has earned him a golden scepter of Authority. His stern face and possessive grasp of the Foundry shows he has earned his place through discipline and control. His clothes should be colored Red, to symbolize his attainment of the Red Stone, the culmination of the alchemical work.

So, in this Frontispiece we have an emblem that shows the subject of the Great Work, its purpose and its Prima Materia.

EMBLEM 1

Be warned and understand truly that two fishes are swimming in our sea; The sea is our Body, the two Fishes are Soul and Spirit.

The Sages will tell you

That two fishes are in our sea

Without any flesh or bones.

Let them be cooked in their own water;

Then they also will become a vast sea,

The vastness of which no man can describe.

Moreover, the Sages say

That the two fishes are only one, not two;

They are two, and nevertheless they are one,

Body, Spirit, and Soul.

Now, I tell you most truly,

Cook these three together,

That there may be a very large sea.

Cook the sulphur well with the sulphur,

And hold your tongue about it:

Conceal your knowledge to your own advantage,

And you shall be free from poverty.

Only let your discovery remain a close secret.

ANALYSIS

This emblem and sonnet give us first and foremost a simple understanding of the alchemical composition of the being that is Man. Hidden within the depths of the Body—described as a “sea” in the verse—we find the Spirit and the Soul. Here we have our Salt, Mercury, and Sulfur. To cook them in their own water is to Calcine them within the Body, refining their natures. Sulfur is expansive, and a Fire; in the Alchemical body, the Sulfur is an allusion to both the Soul which enlivens the body and the external spiritual Fire which permeates the manifest universe. This external fire, which is also referred to as the “Unnatural Fire” in other manuscripts, is called Mana by the Hawaiian Kahuna, LVX by the Ceremonial Magicians, and Fire or Virtue by our renaissance Alchemical forebears. To cook Sulfur with Sulfur is to use the external Fire to stimulate and refine the internal Fire.

Note that our alchemist goes out of his way to state that there are not actually two fishes, but one. The Body, Spirit, and Soul are not truly separate things; instead they are one thing with different amounts of coagulation. Working upon one of these things creates ripples and effects on the whole. Upon this understanding the actual alchemical practice is built…we have everything we need readily at hand to refine the matter of our self. It is also important to note that the Mind and Spirit are often considered two poles of the same thing, one active and Conscious, and the other re-active and Unconscious. This is a useful way of parsing things, but in the end there is only the One thing. Within the Ordo Octopi, we understand the Soul to be the spark of the One thing that enlivens each entity.

The Spirit is an emanation and coagulation of the Soul, and the Body an emanation and coagulation of the Spirit. The Mind is an emanation of the Spirit and Soul-powered Body, rising from this Earth like the vapor of Fog from the water-drenched earth in Nature. We have to remember that the myriad descriptions of the One are not actually the One; they are simply more or less useful tools which we wield in our work to increase our Understanding and to come into Gnosis of the One. The Qabalists divide up the parts of man in one fashion, the Renaissance astrologers in another, and so on. There are many ways of describing the various stages of Coagulation the One goes through when it manifests as a Person, and many names to be given to the various levels of coagulation/sublimation of this One thing existent at any point of time within and as the Person. As long as we hold to the understanding of the Unity of these levels in truth, we won’t go wrong.

EMBLEM 2

Putrefaction.

The Sage says

That a wild beast is in the forest,

Whose skin is of the blackest dye.

If any man cut off his head,

His blackness will disappear,

And give place to a snowy white.

Understand well the meaning of this head:

The blackness is called the head of the Raven;

As soon as it disappears,

A white colour is straightway manifested;

It is given this name, despoiled of its head.

When the Beast’s black hue has vanished in a black smoke,

The Sages rejoice

From the bottom of their hearts;

But they keep it a close secret,

That no foolish man may know it.

Yet unto their Sons, in kindness of heart,

They partly reveal it in their writings;

And therefore let those who receive the gift

Enjoy it also in silence,

Since God would have it concealed.

The second emblem of our Book of Lambspring shows a martial Male individual battling a fierce and combative winged Serpent-Dragon. The male wields a sword, and a shield of Bronze. The Dragon has not risen into the air. They fight upon the earth, with a river in the background among the hills and trees.

ANALYSIS

Our first Emblem led us to understanding the disparate parts that make up the One, and to realizing the truth of their unity. This emblem and verse turns us inward to internal contemplation; meditation upon the self that results in the hidden nature, the hidden desires and emotions and motivations, rising onto the surface of the Mind where they can be fully perceived. This emblem tells us to approach a specific manifestation of the Earth Dragon, which is Passion. As the Dragon prepares to rise—see that he is winged—from his place of rest within the Earth into the head, the fires of the physical desires are set alight. The Earth Dragon rests in the lowest Cinnabar field, within the navel, and when rising invigorates the parts of the self that surround it. These newly powerful passions can distract the mind; in our Alchemy, an image of a fighting male is invariably the Mind, just as that of a female is often the Spirit. This is not a call for celibacy or any such nonsense; it is quite the opposite. This is a warning of what will happen during the work, a pitfall to be aware of. The empowered passions will assault the mind of the Alchemist. The Mind defends itself by raising the Bronze shield (symbol of Venus, and therefore an allusion to Love) and taking the sword in hand.

With the aid of Love and judicious use of his Sword, held Erect and wielded with authority, the Mind can weather the attack of the passionate force, preventing obsession, and aid in its rise into the Heaven of the body which is in the Cinnabar field within the Head.

Putrefaction is the “blackening” of the alchemical substance. This is the decay and destruction of the conscious mind that leads to an experience of dissolution within the Sea of Mind that is the Azoth, the Macrocosmic mind. Plainly, it is meditation. The vision is turned inward, and the plain and simple thought erased and destroyed, until nothing is left but the living darkness. This state is the inevitable result of Calcination. To Calcine, we use the bellows of the breath combined with the conscious awareness, which is a point of Fire—this is where the Soul interacts with the external and physical world through agency of the Mind. With the awareness we can hold the Prima Materia within the Alchemical Vessel, and apply Heat to it with the breath. Putrefaction occurs while one is within the meditative state of mind. The head of the serpent turning Black is the death of extraneous thought; it becomes a raven, a thing that flies. The thoughts then serve the mind and assist in the Work, instead of distracting. The Black serpent becoming White is the refining of the risen internal Fire.

EMBLEM 3

Hear without terror that in the forest are hidden a deer and an unicorn.

In the Body there is Soul and Spirit.

The Sages say truly

That two animals are in this forest:

One glorious, beautiful, and swift,

A great and strong deer;

The other an unicorn.

They are concealed in the forest,

But happy shall that man be called

Who shall snare and capture them.

The Masters shew you here clearly

That in all places

These two animals wander about in forests

(But know that the forest is but one).

If we apply the parable to our Art,

We shall call the forest the Body.

That will be rightly and truly said.

The unicorn will be the Spirit at all times.

The deer desires no other name

But that of the Soul; which name no man shall take away from it.

He that knows how to tame and master them by Art,

To couple them together,

And to lead them in and out of the forest,

May justly be called a Master.

For we rightly judge

That he has attained the golden flesh,

And may triumph everywhere;

Nay, he may bear rule over great Augustus.

The third emblem in our Book of Lambspring shows our customary natural earth, with river running through it, trees about, and clouds in the sky. In this emblem we can see the Body, Spirit, and Mind, in addition to having insight into the natural alchemical process and the masculine and feminine powers. For the Virtue of the Sun permeates the Earth and the Sea; the attendant heat (Calcination) causes the subtle vapor to Rise (Sublimation) and become Separate from the Earth(Separation). When the height of the Vessel is reached (in the Earth this is the atmosphere, in the External work the Glass, and in the Internal work the Sphere of Sensation) the Sun-pregnant vapor condenses (Coagulation) into clouds and then falls as rainfall back into the Earth and Sea. This marries the “Fixed”—the Earth—to the “Flying”—the subtle vapor.

If this Solar virtue is consumed by persons or animals, either directly or through the medium of plants and minerals, it can undergo the putrefaction and incineration (digestion within the acids of the Stomach) followed by the multiplication (dispersal of the consumed virtue through the body via the intestines and then the blood stream, where it permeates every cell).

This is how Nature works the alchemy of Life. Returning to our emblem, we find that a Stag and a Unicorn stand within the clearing, holding each other’s gaze.

ANALYSIS

An extremely simple analysis would be that this emblem is describing the work of joining the male to the female, in all the permutations that would imply.

Internally this would refer to unifying the Female Spirit to the Male Mind, within the Earth (Body) that is symbolized by the forest. Looking a bit deeper, we find that the emblem can open further. This emblem gives us a specific sort of Union that must occur in certain methods of alchemical processing. This is the union of the physical Male and Female, and the union of the internal Male and Female. Stags are an earthy symbol, a male symbol of the Body, and Unicorns a feminine version of the same. Their gazes are locked upon each other, and the combination of his two horns and her single horn form Three, the number of completion as understood in Alchemy, combining the Sulfur, Salt, and Mercury. With the combined Stag and Unicorn we find something completed. Externally this is the Man and Woman, internally this is the Soul and the Mind joined within the body, and the Lunar and Solar virtues found present within each of us.

Man and Woman are said to be two halves of the same whole, and each is spiritually a hermaphrodite. Within the manifest world, Nature has allowed for us to physically express polarity in a variety of fashions. Bringing these divergent natures together is truly a Holy business, and every spiritual tradition worth its Salt has understood this. Alchemy is, in many ways, a way of Completeness. We aim to unite more fully the disparate parts of the Soul within the person and thereby complete nature’s good work.

Nature is creative and transformative, and in order to aid in her work we must learn to emulate her closely. We are closest to God when we are surrounded with and inter-penetrated by Love. At the moment of orgasm, we can find ourselves dissolving into the Azoth, the Sea of Mind that permeates existence. With loving physical Union, we guide the creative power of life, and it is by this Union that the true Alchemical work can be done. This emblem from this particular perspective, which is by no means the only valid one, but is certainly a valid one, instructs us to bring the physical Male and Female bodies together in Union. This describes a Wet Internal Method of Alchemy, which is work with a Partner using the internal Fires, as opposed to a Dry Internal Method which primarily uses the External Fire to create alchemical changes within the person and is a solitary working.

EMBLEM 4

Here you behold a great marvel — two lions are joined into one.

The Spirit and Soul must be united in their Body.

The Sages do faithfully teach us

That two strong lions, to wit, male and female,

Lurk in a dark and rugged valley.

These the Master must catch,

Though they are swift and fierce,

And of terrible and savage aspect.

He who, by wisdom and cunning,

Can snare and bind them,

And lead them into the same forest,

Of him it may be said with justice and truth

That he has merited the meed of praise before all others,

And that his wisdom transcends that of the worldly wise.

The fourth emblem of our Book of Lambspring shows us a forest that is deep inland. Trees rise in verdant and leafy groves, and clouds hover above in the sky. Within a clearing in the forest stand two golden Lions; one has the full mane of the male Lion, and the other the more modest mane of the female. The male gazes forward assertively, and the female follows his lead. Their movements are matched and they’re in lockstep, with tails erect and one paw off the ground as if caught mid-step.

ANALYSIS

The first thing we note is that there is no watery feature other than the vapor of the clouds, nothing to represent Spirit. I contend that is because the Lions themselves represent Spirit, or rather a particular combination of Spirit and Earth. The Lion is a symbol of Sun and Fire; we need look no further than Astrology to see that Leo is home of the Sun, and the very height of the summer season, when the Earth receives its largest measure of the Fire of the Sun. In this emblem we find our Lions deep within the Earth, far from Water; what we are being shown are the fires of the Earth itself. These are the hidden fires, tucked away in “secret groves”. The Earthly fires are, of course, the Inner Fire of the physical body.

The Male and Female lion moving in unison suggest Unification of the secret Fire found within the Male and that found within the Female. Our Alchemists are to unify their physical Bodies, as found in the meeting of the Stag and Unicorn, and also to unify their internal Fires, which we see in the joint movement of the Lions. These internal energies are to move together—the manner in which they should move is found later in Emblem 6.

EMBLEM 5

A wolf and a dog are in one house, and are afterwards changed into one.

Alexander writes from Persia

That a wolf and a dog are in this field,

Which, as the Sages say,

Are descended from the same stock,

But the wolf comes from the east,

And the dog from the west.

They are full of jealousy,

Fury, rage, and madness;

One kills the other,

And from them comes a great poison.

But when they are restored to life,

They are clearly shewn to be

The Great and Precious Medicine,

The most glorious Remedy upon earth,

Which refreshes and restores the Sages,

Who render thanks to God, and do praise Him.

The fifth emblem of our Book of Lambspring is an image of a city and a wilderness, with two being split by a river. There is a bridge between the two. In the foreground we see two canine entities in combat, one a smaller brown domestic Dog, and the other a wild and larger Wolf. Were the picture split in twain, the dog would lie in the half with the City, and the Wolf with that of the wilderness.

ANALYSIS

I have a multi-layered method for teaching this emblem, because its nature allows for it. With knowledge of varied alchemical methods, both Eastern and Western, we can see more in the Emblem than perhaps the author is aware of communicating! This is part of why the emblems make such fine teaching tools. Alchemy is an approach to the One thing, and with proper understanding imagery describing one valid method of alchemical processing can describe nearly any other that is similar.

We can’t speak directly to the Alchemists who wrote the old tomes, but we can read and analyze their writings from an initiated standpoint. If we’ve studied and applied ourselves, and experienced alchemical processing, we will find our understandings are in alignment with the spirit of the emblem.

The first approach is to understand the verse and image, which speaks to combat between the forces of two disparate directions. First we see that the two in combat are full of passionate fury; they rage, and are jealous and angry. Their disparate natures make conflict inevitable; when they come together there is always a combat. This is, put plainly, the reference to the Male and Female natures. We can see in this emblem a very specific process which joins certain physical substances, and the spark of Life, into a wonderful Elixir that has been held as a great secret in many of the occult Orders of old. This secret has long since been revealed, and so I see no sense in attempting to obfuscate that which has already been made clear.

This speaks to a method of Holy Union, of sexual alchemy, that gives us access to a wondrous Elixir. The violence is necessary to point toward the welling of “blood” from the one of the pair that is “killed”. We must remember the time when these things were written—directly speaking of sexual matters was simply unacceptable. Heavy obfuscation was necessary, and we find that here. The male and female natures come together in combat—this is the sexual Union. The timing of the Union is alluded to by the emotional state of the combatants. Being full of rage and lusty madness, we can assume that the Moon is full.

It was once thought that the full Moon was a literal cause of madness, hence the term “lunacy”. This union occurs not only during a full Moon externally, but also when the Moon is full for the woman—the one who is “killed”, impaled by the male “sword” (the metaphor works because she bleeds when penetrated, due to the alchemical rite occurring during her menstrual period). This is an allusion to her time of menstruation. Another important thing to understand is that female menstrual fluid was considered a poison in the West before modern times, and as something distinctly sinister. The timing of the combat during her menstrual period would result in flowing menstrual blood, the “great poison” alluded to in the verse. When the male and female have “fought” to orgasm, and their sexual fluids have joined with the “poison”, restoring all to “life”, we are given the Great Medicine of old.

Tantric alchemists of the East have consumed this elixir to prolong the life, and to increase the spiritual understanding of the participants. So it has been in the West as well. We need look no further, in my opinion, than the Holy Tronosophia of Cogliostro or St.Germain for understanding of that. Again, this is no secret, and has been stated plainly by scholars and some few oath-breakers over the years.

I’ve come to this particular understanding through study of public materials, paired with my own alchemical experience. In this area, I have no oaths to break, and find the idea of not discussing secrets that have already been told quite silly.

Another angle to view the emblem from is very direct; the Dog on the side of the City is the disciplined and domestic nature. This is the reasonable and conscious Mind, and its habits. The Wolf is the wild and instinctual nature, which is powerful. That this fight is carried out in the Earth (as opposed to in the sea between fish, or in the air between birds) tells us that this is a combat primarily involving the physical Body, not a purely spiritual or mental struggle. The presence of the Sea and the Clouds in the sky (the clouds rise over the City, suggesting the Mind is on the side of Reason) make us aware that this is also an all-encompassing conflict. Alchemy requires the involvement of the entirety of the Matter. The instinctual desires of the physical body must be brought out into the light of awareness and directly engaged in order for the Work to be successful, and the controlled and civilized Nature must engage them. This speaks to moderation and control of those things that the instinctual nature controls, such as eating. Gluttony is detrimental to alchemy, as the state of the body is directly related to the success of the work. This doesn’t mean that one needs to be thin, or a powerful athlete, but that the natural alchemical processes of digestion are significant to the Great Work. Over-consumption results in the Fire being directed to the stomach and intestines to digest, instead of moving with the Mind into the Heaven in order to accomplish the calcination and refinement of the Prima Materia. We carefully time our work so that the most Fire is available to calcine the Materia.

We learn from analyzing alchemical emblems that one has to have the spiritual Gold in order to make it. In order to understand alchemical documents, we need to already have alchemical understanding. Reading texts written by alchemists, paired with scholarly works like David Gordon White’s The Alchemical Body, are an excellent start to developing this understanding. Nothing will open the understanding like active alchemical practice.

EMBLEM 6

This surely is a great miracle and without any deception– that in a venomous dragon there should be the great medicine.

A savage Dragon lives in the forest,

Most venomous he is, yet lacking nothing:

When he sees the rays of the Sun and its bright fire,

He scatters abroad his poison,

And flies upward so fiercely

That no living creature can stand before him,

Nor is even the Basilisk equal to him.

He who hath skill to slay him, wisely

Hath escaped from all dangers.

Yet all venom, and colours, are multiplied

In the hour of his death.

His venom becomes the great Medicine.

He quickly consumes his venom,

For he devours his poisonous tail.

All this is performed on his own body,

From which flows forth glorious Balm,

With all its miraculous virtues.

Hereat all the Sages do loudly rejoice.

The Sixth emblem of our Book of Lambspring shows a forest glade (with no river or ocean). The trees are many and full of green life, the earth is hilly and rocky. Within the forest is a clearing containing a winged and powerful dragon. The fierce and green-scaled dragon has wings raised, and bites its own tail.

ANALYSIS

The dragon is forming an Orobouros; in alchemical imagery this is a symbol of circulating Internal Fire. The dragon isn’t a pure serpent—it is both Winged and Legged. The Wings tell us that this dragon rises and flies into the Heavens. He lies within the Earth, this understanding made more explicit by the position of the dragon within the forest and not in the air.

The Legs tell us that the Dragon also lands upon the Earth. It is worth noting that the Dragon only has two legs, in the manner of a Bird…something that rises into the Heavens, but must descend back onto the Earth, having its life in both things. Were it not meant to rise it would have four legs and not the two. The biting of its own tail is a further symbol of the work of the Dragon. Just as the wings and legs speak to revolution between the land and the air, so does the forming of this circle allude to lateral movement in addition to the rising and falling of internal fires within the body.

This is an instruction and demonstration of the movement of the internal Fire. The allusion to a poison is a reference to the Fire’s sexual nature, and of this particular internal fire’s root in the body’s formation of sexual fluid. The sexual fluid is a concentration and materialization of the Internal Fire. When diverted to alchemical use, it serves as a powerful Fire and is wonderfully efficacious. When the heat of calcination is applied, and the Dragon made to rise, the physical manifestation of the fluid within the body is refined as well. At the hour of the dragon’s death—when the sexual fluid is consumed by the body, and refined into Internal Fire—all manner of colors can be viewed in the subtle body and mind’s eye of the Alchemist.

The dragon which lies within the Earth, and is a creature of the Physical Body, rises and falls in circular movement. This is what happens during the Alchemical work, and this is what we must do in order to complete it. The body is a mirror of the greater Earth and Nature—the Serpent is a particular measure of our own internal Fire. It rises and falls like the watery vapor that becomes Clouds and Rain in the external Earth, in order to complete the Great Work of nature. It circulates vertically, as shown in its wings and legs, and horizontally, shown by it forming the Ouroboros and biting its own tail. So, the Dragon must be made to rise and fall, and to circulate about the Earth.

EMBLEM 7

We hear two birds in the forest, yet we must understand them to be only one.

The Mercury having been often sublimed, is at length fixed, and becomes capable of resisting fire: the sublimation must be repeated until at length the fixation is attained.

A nest is found in the forest, 
In which Hermes has his brood; 
One fledgling always strives to fly upward, 
The other rejoices to sit quietly in the nest; 
Yet neither can get away from the other. 
The one that is below holds the one that is above, 
And will not let it get away from the nest, 
As a husband in a house with his wife, 
Bound together in closest bonds of wedlock. 
So also do we rejoice at all times, 
That we hold the female eagle fast in this way, 
And we render thanks to God the Father.

The seventh emblem in our Book of Lambspring shows us an expansive natural realm, with sky above and a castle and town amid the forest glades below. The foreground is dominated by a particularly large Tree. At the feet of the Tree, among its roots, a large snail crawls upon the Earth. Within the upper branches of the tree we find a nest with another bird inside. In a branch above we find a bird with wings out-spread, as if rising into the sky.

ANALYSIS

We have already determined that a thing that flies and returns is a symbol for Vapor, itself a way of describing the rising and condensing of the Internal Fire. Our bird in this case represents that which Flies, the vapor that rises from the Earth itself. This is, of course, the Internal Fire that rises from the physical body. The young bird must be fed; this is the attractant, the Magnet that keeps the bird returning to the Tree itself.

In Alchemy, our Magnet for the internal Fire is the Mind; for where the Mind goes, the Fire follows. Our little bird within the Tree is the Spirit itself, which in our Alchemy must be fed by the Inner Fire in order to fully develop into a thing of the Heavens itself. The flying bird is the Spirit, which in meditation is the facilitator of the transmission of heavenly fire to the Body.

Our snail, which moves among the roots of the Tree, is another thing entire. A rooted thing is a thing that is stuck, that is fixed. A snail is a creature of the Earth itself, and a symbol for Earth…for the physical and coagulated. In other manuscripts we see frogs and toads in this position as well. Both are excellent creatures for describing the state of material coagulation, because both are earthy animals that require moisture to survive. Water in Alchemy is mind and spirit. The body can’t live without the invigorating power of the Soul and the permutation of the spirit throughout itself, and snails and frogs can’t live without moisture either. The snail is particularly poignant in this setting because it eats wastes, including that of birds.

Our final actor in this emblem is the Tree itself. It has roots in the Earth and the material, and stretches its limbs into the Heavens and the spiritual. Our Tree in this emblem is also the Soul. It reaches down into the Earth for nourishment, and up into the Heavens as well, receiving nutrients from the Earth and the solar Light from the Heavens. The Tree is the Soul doing its work, which is to marry the Fixed to the Flying. This is primarily about alchemical Coagulation. The Inner Fire is made to rise (The bird flying into the Sky) and then condenses in the Heavens (getting sustenance for the young bird.) It returns to the Tree and feeds the young bird (this is the Inner Fire, having been refined, being coagulated where the mind is placed) who in turn feeds the Snail (the Physical Body) with its droppings. Unifying them all is the Soul, which marries the Fixed and coagulated Matter of the body to the Flying and ethereal Inner Fire, through agency of the mind and the awareness. Where the mind goes, the LVX follows. If after the Inner Fire is made to rise the Mind returns its concentration to the body or certain of its parts, the Inner Fire will coagulate at that point of awareness and nourish the whole. It isn’t enough to bring the Inner Fire up; we have to return to the Earth below, in Promethean fashion. We must work with Mind and Spirit to marry the fixed to the flying.

Emblem 8

Here are two birds, great and strong – the body and spirit; one devours the other.

Let the Body be placed in horse-dung, or a warm bath, the Spirit having been extracted from it. The Body has become white by the process, the Spirit red by our Art. All that exists tends towards perfection, and thus is the Philosopher’s Stone prepared.

In India there is a most pleasant wood, 
In which two birds are bound together. 
One is of a snowy white; the other is red. 
They bite each other, and one is slain 
And devoured by the other. 
Then both are changed into white doves, 
And of the Dove is born a Phoenix, 
Which has left behind blackness and foul death, 
And has regained a more glorious life. 
This power was given it by God Himself, 
That it might live eternally, and never die. 
It gives us wealth, it preserves our life, 
And with it we may work great miracles, 
As also the true Philosophers do plainly inform us.

The eighth emblem in our Book of Lambspring shows another natural setting, with river, forest, and sky. In the foreground we find to Swans fighting in a forest clearing, one Red and White. Their bodies are juxtaposed to one another, the graceful arch of their necks and heads forming in movement a figure 8.

ANALYSIS

First we note that these are Birds, things that Fly. They are therefore an image of Vapor, of the Inner Fire. The difference in coloration tells us that they are Fires of differing natures. They are Red and White—in alchemy these colors are the Masculine and the Feminine. These are the Red and White gums as described in other manuscripts, and are in truth the polarized male and polarized female Fires of the body. Our Eastern brothers term them the Solar and Lunar Current.

Studying the emblem, we see that the birds fight on the Earth, and not in the Sky; this is significant. It drives home the understanding that these are birds of the Earth, that they are our own Red and White Vapors.

The shape of the Birds’ embrace gives us yet another clue; the movement of the figure 8 is a classical one, and is seen as the winding of the Serpents upon the caduceus of Hermes/Mercury. This “combat” of the Red and White gums is the rising and meeting of the two Fires upon the ladder of the spine. The two polarized Fires are made to rise in a weaving motion—where they meet we find the root of the Metals upon the spine.

The Metals are concentrations of the Internal Fire as it is expressed in our nervous system. They are more coagulated than the Cinnabar Fields, but still have their roots in the Spiritual realm. This is why the Metals where named for the seven Planets and called interior Stars; they are of both the Heavens and the Earth. Becoming conscious of the polarized force of the Red and White gums and causing them to rise and twine about the spine is an important step in the Alchemical process.

It’s also important to understand that this isn’t something that occurs once, but is something that must be done regularly by the Alchemist as part of his refinement of the Prima Materia. Discovering these gums within the Earth is simple. You need only look with the Inner vision, grasp with the awareness, and they are there. Move the Mind while grasping them, and they will follow.

The text alludes to these substances and the process. The body immersed in warm dung is a body that is gently heated. This is the gentle calcination the body is subject to in alchemical processing. The flying Spirit that becomes Red is the spirit that becomes infused with the full nature of Soul. The body is “whitened” by lengthy periods of continued calcination. The dove that gives rise to the Pheonix is the unified Solar and Lunar force, from which a great Fire is lit that is immortal.

EMBLEM 9

The lord of the forests has recovered his kingdom, and mounted from the lowest to the highest degree. If fortune smile, you may from a rhetor become a consul; if fortune frown, the consul may become a rhetor.

Thus you may know that the Tincture has truly attained the first degree.

Now hear of a wonderful deed, 
For I will teach you great things, 
How the King rises high above all his race; 
And hear also what the noble lord of the forest says: 
I have overcome and vanquished my foes, 
I have trodden the venomous Dragon under foot, 
I am a great and glorious King in the earth. 
There is none greater than I, 
Child either of the Artist or of Nature, 
Among all living creatures. 
I do all that man can desire, 
I give power and lasting health, 
Also gold, silver, gems, and precious stones, 
And the panacea for great and small diseases. 
Yet at first I was of ignoble birth, 
Till I was set in a high place. 
To reach this lofty summit 
Was given me by God and Nature. 
Thence from the meanest I became the highest, 
And mounted to the most glorious throne, 
And to the state of royal sovereignty: 
Therefore Hermes has called me the Lord of the Forests.

The ninth emblem of our Book of Lambspring shows a King seated upon a throne in a White temple. The King wears a purple robe and is duly crowned; in his right hand he holds the Globus Cruciger, an orb surmounted by a Cross. In his left hand he holds the scepter of his authority. He sits on a throne, upon whose arms are the aforementioned deep-sea Fish, and rests his feet upon the subdued Earth-Dragon. His temple sits upon a hill overlooking the city proper, and not out in wild nature.

ANALYSIS

The Prima Materia is the White temple itself; the physical Body within which the Mind-Spirit of the Alchemist is King. The Globus Cruciger, a symbol of dominance and power over the World in the mundane realm, is also the alchemical symbol for Antimony. In external alchemy Antimony is used to cleanse gold of any impurities it may contain, removing the lesser metals and purifying the gold. Analogically this is a symbol of purification, cleansing the Prima Materia of its dross. This, like all of Alchemy, applies to the entirety of the Alchemist, from his grossest and most coagulated elements in physicality to his most subtle and sublimated spiritual nature.

The body itself is cleansed by the Work, as well as the Mind and Spirit. The Internal Antimonic work is that of ritual and physical purification, making the temple a fit place for the crowned King to inhabit. The creatures of the deep sea that are the arms of his Throne are those hidden elements that are normally beneath the awareness; here we see the alchemist has brought those things up into the light and supports himself with them. The hidden influences are brought into the service of the Alchemist. In alchemy the whole of the Microcosm is involved in the Work.

The Earth-Dragon at his feet display the Alchemist’s mastery of his own internal fires, and that those very same fires are foundational to alchemical work. The temple being upon a hill within the City is significant as well. Each of the homes of the city is the Body of a man or woman. The Alchemist has purified and calcined his Body, and so has set himself apart.

EMBLEM 10

A salamander lives in the fire, which imparts to it a most glorious hue.

This is the reiteration, gradation, and amelioration of the Tincture, or Philosopher’s Stone; and the whole is called its Augmentation.

In all fables we are told 
That the Salamander is born in the fire; 
In the fire it has that food and life 
Which Nature herself has assigned to it. 
It dwells in a great mountain 
Which is encompassed by many flames, 
And one of these is ever smaller than another - 
Herein the Salamander bathes. 
The third is greater, the fourth brighter than the rest - 
In all these the Salamander washes, and is purified. 
Then he hies him to his cave, 
But on the way is caught and pierced 
So that it dies, and yields up its life with its blood. 
But this, too, happens for its good: 
For from its blood it wins immortal life, 
And then death has no more power over it. 
Its blood is the most precious Medicine upon earth, 
The same has not its like in the world. 
For this blood drives away all disease 
In the bodies of metals, 
Of men, and of beasts. 
From it the Sages derive their science, 
And through it they attain the Heavenly Gift, 
Which is called the Philosopher’s Stone, 
Possessing the power of the whole world. 
This gift the Sages impart to us with loving hearts, 
That we may remember them for ever.

The tenth emblem of our Book of Lambspring is dominated by two figures; that of Vulcan, stoking a huge Fire with a trident on the right-hand side of the emblem, and a Salamander covered in stars cooking within the fire on the left. A huge amount of smoke billows into the sky from the burning salamander. In the background there is the customary river, and a city upon a hill.

ANALYSIS

This emblem shows us the process of Incineration. We have a divinity—in this case Vulcan, God of Fire—holding a starry serpent to the flame with a tri-pronged implement. The God in this figure represents the intervention of divinity in the work. In this image the Heavenly representative tempers the Serpent in the fire. The trident is the three alchemical principles of Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt, used to hold the Serpent to the flame. These principles in combination are the fundamental substances upon which the World is manifest.

Here the God uses the manifest universe to hold the Starry Serpent—the Salamander, who is the Earth-Dragon after it has risen and consumed the interior Stars—to an especially intense fire of Calcination, divinely stoked and inspired. The smoke billowing from the fire is the impurities rising from the super-heated Salamander.

This emblem makes it clear that heavenly intervention becomes necessary at this stage of the work, after the Dragon has risen and made the interior Stars a part of its self. The method for acquiring this intervention and starting the process of incineration has ever been the same; prayerful meditation.

Emblem 11

The father and the son have linked their hands with those of the guide: know that the three are body, soul, and spirit.

Here is an old father of Israel, 
Who has an only Son, 
A Son whom he loves with all his heart. 
With sorrow he prescribes sorrow to him. 
He commits him to a guide, 
Who is to conduct him whithersoever he will. 
The Guide addresses the Son in these words: 
Come hither! I will conduct thee everywhere, 
To the summit of the loftiest mountain, 
That thou mayest understand all wisdom, 
That thou mayest behold the greatness of the earth, and of the sea, 
And then derive true pleasure. 
I will bear thee through the air 
To the gates of highest heaven. 
The Son hearkened to the words of the Guide, 
And ascended upward with him; 
There saw he the heavenly throne, 
That was beyond measure glorious. 
When he had beheld these things, 
He remembered his Father with sighing, 
Pitied the great sorrow of his Father, 
And said: I will return to his breast.

The eleventh emblem in our Book of Lambspring gives us a natural scene in the background, with river and a white-stoned castle. In the foreground we have a King on the left, Crowned and be-sceptered; a prince in the middle, red-robed and also crowned, and a curiously attired angelic figure on the right. The King is joined to the winged angelic figure by the Prince who unites all three by joining hands. The King is robed in his customary royal purple, and the angelic figure is robed in white.

ANALYSIS

This emblem shows us the first gift given by the red-Robed Son. The Prince in this image is the seed of Soul. Brought into action by the deep calcination and purification of the previous Incineration, the Prince unites the Mind and Spirit within the body. He joins the king with the angelic figure, who is dressed in a sleeping gown (In other alchemical manuscripts this same figure is a Queen).

This gives us the key to the Lunar and dreaming nature of the angelical figure. Here we have the Son, who is brought into activity by the previous incineration by the Divine Vulcan, joining the body-rooted mind to the subtle and flying lunar-spiritual body. This is the dreaming body, which until this point the Alchemist has been unable to mount consciously with his Mind. This lunar body rises from the physical body during sleep, in the same way that the Virtue ascends from the Earth as watery vapor after being heated by the Sun. The Son brings the Mind and the Lunar Body together, so that the Alchemist can consciously travel within it. The mastery of the dreaming body is a sure sign of progress in the alchemical work, and again is had through calcination and earnest meditative prayer.

EMBLEM 12

The father and the son have linked their hands with those of the guide: know that the three are body, soul, and spirit.

Here is an old father of Israel, 
Who has an only Son, 
A Son whom he loves with all his heart. 
With sorrow he prescribes sorrow to him. 
He commits him to a guide, 
Who is to conduct him whithersoever he will. 
The Guide addresses the Son in these words: 
Come hither! I will conduct thee everywhere, 
To the summit of the loftiest mountain, 
That thou mayest understand all wisdom, 
That thou mayest behold the greatness of the earth, and of the sea, 
And then derive true pleasure. 
I will bear thee through the air 
To the gates of highest heaven. 
The Son hearkened to the words of the Guide, 
And ascended upward with him; 
There saw he the heavenly throne, 
That was beyond measure glorious. 
When he had beheld these things, 
He remembered his Father with sighing, 
Pitied the great sorrow of his Father, 
And said: I will return to his breast.

The twelfth emblem of our Book of Lambspring is a lovely scene; the Sun shines in the sky to the left, and the Moon to the right. The Son stands upon a high mountain with the robed lunar Spirit, showing it the entirety of the earth and heavens.

ANALYSIS

The winged Lunar Spirit, having come into congress with the red Son, rises into the heavens with the Soul. The Son in the verse is filled with joy and amazement at the wonders of the heavenly realms, but returns to the body and its attendant mind. The developed Lunar Body gives the Alchemist the ability to perceive and travel within the Heavenly realms. This is only possible because the Son, the Soul, has come forth and joined the lunar Spirit to the King, the Body and Mind. The Alchemist has attained freedom from the physical body before death, with a fully developed spiritual body to travel within.

EMBLEM 13

Here the father devours the son; the soul and spirit flow forth from the body.

My Son, I was dead without thee, 
And lived in great danger of my life. 
I revive at thy return, 
And it fills my breast with joy. 
But when the Son entered the Father’s house, 
The Father took him to his heart, 
And swallowed him out of excessive joy, 
And that with his own mouth. 
The great exertion makes the Father sweat.

The thirteenth emblem in our Book of Lambspring shows our King, seated upon his throne and crowned, consuming the Prince in view of the Guide.

ANALYSIS

The Son, having traveled into the heavens and been permeated with the Solar Fire in abundance there with the aid of the Lunar Body, returns to the physical body and is promptly taken within. This Fire is powerful and has a tremendous effect upon the body, resulting in profound alchemical changes. This is the beginning of the Multiplication phase of the alchemical work.

EMBLEM 14

Here the father sweats profusely, while oil and the true tincture of the sages flow forth from him.

Here the Father sweats on account of the Son, 
And earnestly beseeches God, 
Who has created everything in His hands, 
Who creates, and has created all things, 
To bring forth his Son from his body, 
And to restore him to his former life. 
God hearkens to his prayers, 
And bids the Father lie down and sleep. 
Then God sends down rain from heaven 
To the earth from the shining stars. 
It was a fertilizing, silver rain, 
Which bedewed and softened the Father’s Body. 
Succour us, Lord, at the end, 
That we may obtain Thy gracious Gift!

The fourteenth emblem in our Book of Lambspring shows our King in his bed, sweating profusely with a strong fever.

ANALYSIS

This emblem is simple to understand. This is the heat of multiplication, the great solar Fire of the Son permeating the Alchemists body in its entirety. The Son has returned to the Body, and brought with him the power of Heaven. The rain referenced in the text is the spiritual Mana permeating the earth of the physical body. The Alchemist prays for heavenly intervention, and finds that the Heavens responds! The rainwater penetrates the body and softens it. This “softening”, making the Earth moist, is the interpenetration of the Earth with the Soul in its fullness.

EMBLEM 15

Here father and son are joined in one so to remain for ever.

The sleeping Father is here changed 
Entirely into limpid water, 
And by virtue of this water alone 
The good work is accomplished. 
There is now a glorified and beautiful Father, 
And he brings forth a new Son. 
The Son ever remains in the Father, 
And the Father in the Son. 
Thus in divers things 
They produce untold, precious fruit. 
They perish never more, 
And laugh at death. 
By the grace of God they abide for ever, 
The Father and the Son, triumphing gloriously 
In the splendour of their new Kingdom. 
Upon one throne they sit, 
And the face of the Ancient Master 
Is straightway seen between them: 
He is arrayed in a crimson robe.

ANALYSIS

This is our easiest emblem to understand; the Father has become the Son, and the Son the Father. After the Multiplication, which leads to the earth being fully permeated with the Soul, the matter of the body is refined into more spiritual substance. The separation of body, soul, and spirit is dissolved, and the Alchemist becomes a mirror of the heavens in an un-corruptible body. This unified body is the Solar body, which is fully enlivened by the Soul—at this point the body is made of purified and spiritualized Soul, and has become Solar. The Alchemist perceives the unified reality, and is freed from the necessity to endless rebirth. This is the completion of the great Alchemical work.

To the invisible king of the world, 
To the only true and immortal god 
Be praise and glory 
Now and evermore. 
Amen.

This concludes our opening of the Book of Lambspring.

AIT

Table of Contents

Introduction

Preface

Emblem 1

Emblem 2

Emblem 3

Emblem 4

Emblem 5

Emblem 6

Emblem 7

Emblem 8

Emblem 9

Emblem 10

Emblem 11

Emblem 12

Emblem 13

Emblem 14

Emblem 15