[85] I must make clear at once that the following observations on the visions of Zosimos of Panopolis, an important alchemist and Gnostic of the third century A.D., are not intended as a final explanation of this extraordinarily difficult material. My psychological contribution is no more than an attempt to shed a little light on it and to answer some of the questions raised by the visions.
[86] The first vision occurs at the beginning of “The Treatise of Zosimos the Divine concerning the Art.”1 Zosimos introduces the treatise with some general remarks on the processes of nature and, in particular, on the “composition of the waters” (θέσιςủδάτων) and various other operations, and closes with the words: “… and upon this simple system of many colours is based the manifold and infinitely varied investigation of all things.” Thereupon the text begins:2
(III, i, 2.) And as I spoke thus I fell asleep, and I saw a sacrificer3 standing before me, high up on an altar, which was in the shape of a bowl. There were fifteen steps leading up to the altar. And the priest stood there, and I heard a voice from above saying to me: “I have performed the act of descending the fifteen steps into the darkness, and of ascending the steps into the light. And he who renews me is the sacrificer, by casting away the grossness of the body; and by compelling necessity I am sanctified as a priest and now stand in perfection as a spirit.” And on hearing the voice of him who stood upon the altar, I inquired of him who he was. And he answered me in a fine voice, saying: “I am Ion,4 the priest of the inner sanctuaries, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment.5 For there came one in haste at early morning, who overpowered me, and pierced me through with the sword, and dismembered me in accordance with the rule of harmony.6 And he drew off the skin of my head with the sword, which he wielded with strength, and mingled the bones with the pieces of flesh, and caused them to be burned upon the fire of the art, till I perceived by the transformation of the body that I had become spirit. And that is my unendurable torment.” And even as he spoke thus, and I held him by force to converse with me, his eyes became as blood. And he spewed forth all his own flesh. And I saw how he changed into the opposite of himself, into a mutilated anthroparion,7 and he tore his flesh with his own teeth, and sank into himself.
(III, i, 3.) Full of fear I awoke from sleep, and I thought to myself: “Is not this the composition of the waters?” And I was assured that I had well understood, and again I fell asleep. I saw the same bowl-shaped altar and, on the upper part, boiling water, and a numberless multitude of people in it. And there was no one near the altar whom I could question. Then I went up to the altar to see this sight. And I perceived an anthroparion, a barber8 grown grey with age, who said to me: “What are you looking at?” I replied that I was astonished to see the seething of the water, and the men burning and yet alive. He answered me thus: “The sight that you see is the entrance, and the exit, and the transformation.” I asked him: “What transformation?” and he answered: “This is the place of the operation called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art9 enter here, and become spirits by escaping from the body.” Then I said to him: “And you, are you a spirit?” And he answered: “Yes, a spirit and a guardian of spirits.” As we spoke, while the boiling continued and the people uttered distressful cries, I saw a brazen man holding a leaden tablet in his hand. And he spoke with a loud voice, looking upon the tablet: “I command all those who are undergoing the punishment to be calm, to take each of them a leaden tablet, to write with their own hand, and to keep their eyes upraised in the air and their mouths open, until their uvula swell.”10 The deed followed the word, and the master of the house said to me: “You have beheld, you have stretched your neck upward and have seen what is done.” I replied that I had seen, and he continued: “This brazen man whom you see is the priest who sacrifices and is sacrificed, and spews forth his own flesh. Power is given him over this water and over the people who are punished.”11
(III, v, 1.) At last I was overcome with the desire to mount the seven steps and to see the seven punishments, and, as was suitable, in a single day; so I went back in order to complete the ascent. Passing it several times, I at length came upon the path. But as I was about to ascend, I lost my way again; greatly discouraged, and not seeing in which direction I should go, I fell asleep. And while I was sleeping, I saw an anthroparion, a barber clad in a robe of royal purple, who stood outside the place of punishments. He said to me: “Man, what are you doing?” and I replied: “I have stopped here because, having turned aside from the road, I have lost my way.” And he said: “Follow me.” And I turned and followed him. When we came near to the place of punishments, I saw my guide, this little barber, enter that place, and his whole body was consumed by the fire.
(III, v, 2.) On seeing this, I stepped aside, trembling with fear; then I awoke, and said within myself: “What means this vision?” And again I clarified my understanding, and knew that this barber was the brazen man, clad in a purple garment. And I said to myself: “I have well understood, this is the brazen man. It is needful that first he must enter the place of punishments.”
(III, v, 3.) Again my soul desired to mount the third step also. And again I followed the road alone, and when I was near the place of punishments, I again went astray, not knowing my way, and I stopped in despair. And again, as it seemed, I saw an old man whitened by years, who had become wholly white, with a blinding whiteness. His name was Agathodaimon. Turning himself about, the old man with white hair gazed upon me for a full hour. And I urged him: “Show me the right way.” He did not come towards me, but hastened on his way. But I, running hither and thither, at length came to the altar. And when I stood at the top of the altar, I saw the white-haired old man enter the place of punishments. O ye demiurges of celestial nature! Immediately he was transformed by the flame into a pillar of fire. What a terrible story, my brethren! For, on account of the violence of the punishment, his eyes filled with blood. I spoke to him, and asked: “Why are you stretched out there?” But he could barely open his mouth, and groaned: “I am the leaden man, and I submit myself to an unendurable torment.” Thereupon, seized with great fear, I awoke and sought within myself the reason for what I had seen. And again I considered and said to myself: “I have well understood, for it means that the lead is to be rejected, and in truth the vision refers to the composition of the liquids.”
(III, vbis.) Again I beheld the divine and holy bowl-shaped altar, and I saw a priest clothed in a white robe reaching to his feet, who was celebrating these terrible mysteries, and I said: “Who is this?” And the answer came: “This is the priest of the inner sanctuaries. It is he who changes the bodies into blood, makes the eyes clairvoyant, and raises the dead.” Then, falling again to earth, I again fell asleep. And as I was ascending the fourth step, I saw, to the east, one approaching, holding a sword in his hand. And another [came] behind him, bringing one adorned round about with signs, clad in white and comely to see, who was named the Meridian of the Sun.12 And as they drew near to the place of punishments, he who held the sword in his hand [said]: “Cut off his head, immolate his body, and cut his flesh into pieces, that it may first be boiled according to the method,13 and then delivered to the place of punishments.” Thereupon I awoke and said: “I have well understood, this concerns the liquids in the art of the metals.” And he who bore the sword in his hand said again: “You have completed the descent of the seven steps.” And the other answered, as he caused the waters to gush forth from all the moist places: “The procedure is completed.”
(III, vi, 1.) And I saw an altar which was in the shape of a bowl, and a fiery spirit stood upon the altar, and tended the fire for the seething and the boiling and the burning of the men who rose up from it. And I inquired about the people who stood there, and I said: “I see with astonishment the seething and the boiling of the water, and the men burning and yet alive!” And he answered me, saying: “This boiling that you see is the place of the operation called embalming. Those who seek to obtain the art enter here, and they cast their bodies from them and become spirits. The practice [of the art] is explained by this procedure; for whatever casts off the grossness of the body becomes spirit.”
[87] The Zosimos texts are in a disordered state. At III, i, 5 there is a misplaced but obviously authentic résumé or amplification of the visions, and at III, i, 4 a philosophical interpretation of them. Zosimos calls this whole passage an “introduction to the discourse that is to follow” (III, i, 6).
(III, i, 5.) In short, my friend, build a temple from a single stone, like to white lead, to alabaster, to Proconnesian marble,14 with neither end nor beginning in its construction.15 Let it have within it a spring of the purest water, sparkling like the sun. Note carefully on what side is the entrance to the temple, and take a sword in your hand; then seek the entrance, for narrow is the place where the opening is. A dragon lies at the entrance, guarding the temple. Lay hold upon him; immolate him first; strip him of his skin, and taking his flesh with the bones, separate the limbs; then, laying [the flesh of] the limbs16 together with the bones at the entrance of the temple, make a step of them, mount thereon, and enter, and you will find what you seek.17 The priest, that brazen man, whom you see seated in the spring and composing the substance, [look on] him not as the brazen man, for he has changed the colour of his nature and has become the silver man; and if you will, you will soon have him [as] the golden man.
(III, i, 4.) And after I had seen this apparition, I awoke, and I said to myself: “What is the cause of this vision? Is not that boiling white and yellow water the divine water?” And I found that I had well understood. And I said: “Beautiful it is to speak and beautiful to hear, beautiful to give and beautiful to receive, beautiful to be poor and beautiful to be rich. How does nature teach giving and receiving? The brazen man gives and the hydrolith receives; the metal gives and the plant receives; the stars give and the flowers receive; the heavens give and the earth receives; the thunderclaps give forth darting fire. And all things are woven together and all things are undone again; all things are mingled together and all things combine; and all things unite and all things separate; all things are moistened and all things are dried; and all things flourish and all things fade in the bowl of the altar. For each thing comes to pass with method and in fixed measure and by exact18 weighing of the four elements. The weaving together of all things and the undoing of all things and the whole fabric of things cannot come to pass without method. The method is a natural one, preserving due order in its inhaling and its exhaling; it brings increase and it brings decrease. And to sum up: through the harmonies of separating and combining, and if nothing of the method be neglected, all things bring forth nature. For nature applied to nature transforms nature. Such is the order of natural law throughout the whole cosmos, and thus all things hang together.”
(III, i, 6.) This introduction is the key which shall open to you the flowers of the discourse that is to follow, namely, the investigation of the arts, of wisdom, of reason and understanding, the efficacious methods and revelations which throw light upon the secret words.