"From the elements of the elements are composed fire, air, water, and earth, these are the roots of all things, and from their concord and discord all generation proceeds, for nature works through nature and perfects itself by nature.
From one comes two, from two comes three, from three comes four, and from the four the one returns again, thus the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning, and he who understands this has the key of the Art.
From the dead comes the living, and from corruption generation, blackness precedes whiteness, and whiteness precedes redness, and through these the work is accomplished.
This work is perfected in the vessel of the philosophers, not by the hand of man but by the ministry of nature, time, and heat rightly governed.
The raven signifies blackness and putrefaction, the swan signifies whiteness and purification, the eagle signifies sublimation, and the phoenix signifies the renewal of the stone.
The King signifies sulphur, the Queen signifies mercury, nature is joined to nature, the male to the female, the sun to the moon, and from their union the Stone is born.
Thus nature loves nature, nature conquers nature, and nature rules over nature, and this is the whole work of the philosophers."