The Hermetic and Alchemical Figures of Claudius de Dominico Celentano Vallis Novi, from a manuscript written and illuminated at Naples A.D, c. 1606
Extract of white Mercury, from which the earthly land is calcined, from which the first beginning of the work is made, the earth with white sulphur. “I am the fountain…”
Extract of red Mercury, from which you do not see, because the Most High created two Mercuries; they are extracted from one fountain. “…me extracted from two Mercuries.”
Saturn collects through white Mercury, and is called water of the dew, and conjoins the water of heaven, because it is washed by it: of the Philosophers, Athenian Ashes.
Venus collects through red Mercury, which is called warm water, because cold water of Saturn retains (or restrains). With warm water it is received and comes alive through its service with its own moisture.
The God who created Heaven and Earth is the Stone of the Philosophers; and in my belly I carry that which the wise seek. Behold, I am sweet, and I am extracted among the bitter. I remain for you a guide, a father, mother, brother, and sister; I am the root, and in me all things end and begin. Know me, for I am the natural thing most necessary.
I want the gentle Reader to remember that whoever works this greatest work must first recover the Sulphur of nature, and then extract the water from the bone. Then wash with water, and revive with the dew, and then cook everything together until you know that it is complete.