Espagnet says: “Regeneration is done by

means of a spirit of fire that descends in

the form of a water that removes the

original stain of matter.”

From above you must bring down the

philosophical fire that will purify your

concepts and cleanse your soul. Here

there is a great mystery.

You will only obtain this enigmatic fire

with a marvelous effort of will and with

an ardent demand.

These things are in God’s mercy, as

Basile Valentin says. Pontanus acknowledges having erred more than two

hundred times, and although he worked on the true matter, he did not

know the nature of the philosophical fire.

Let your hands and intentions be pure, otherwise this celestial help will be

wholly rejected. He is the astral influx, the lightning born from heaven that

flows from the cloud toward the atanor, the bond that unites the

macrocosm and the microcosm. Without him you can accomplish nothing,

and with him you are strong with all force. Zoroaster called it Berezesengh,

the fire that stands before Ormuz. Moses called it the flame of gold, and

the Magi expressed it on the Caldean tablets.

It is the Spirit of God Himself that descends impetuously upon the

Philosopher, and that, when it combines with the central fire, i.e., with the

inner inclination of his soul toward the Mystery, makes him prophecy and

gives him the power to work miracles.

Gather yourself, my Disciple, you must be the temple of this fiery spirit that

works great things.

Remember that the ashes of the Philosophers contain the diadem of their

King. Close your soul to exterior impressions. Anoint your atanor with the

pitch of Wisdom. Do not look outward, in darkness. Remain at the center;

come as close as you can to ignition for fear of being led astray, the icy

whirlwind of the Malign that roars, “quaerens quem devoret” (seeking

whom to devour).

Guard yourself from deadly specters, the catabolic spirits that swirl around

you. See how the ghosts spy on you, invoke the egrégores, warmly harbor

the Hermes’s bird in your bosom.

The elk is about to be born, my Disciple, rejoice; and if you know how to

provoke this magnetic current that must establish itself between you and

the higher spheres, then you possess the Mastery, and the rest is child’s

play.

Look at the right portal of Notre Dame de Paris; there is sculpted the

bishop perched on the aludel where the philosophical Mercury sublimates,

though chained in the limbos.

He points you to where the sacred fire comes from.

The chapter, leaving behind this door closed all year by secular tradition,

indicates that here lies the not vulgar path, unknown to the common

people and reserved to the small number of those chosen by Wisdom.

But I am not permitted to say more about this topic.

Grillot de Givry