in the “Book of Krates” (Berthelot, Moyen âge, III, p. 48). In the Greek Magic Papyri, Hermes is invoked as “circle of the moon” (Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae, I, p. 195).1 Maier, Circulus physicus quadratus, pp. 15ff.
2 Theatr. chem., IV (1659), pp. 198ff.
3 “Nouveaux documents pour l’étude de la religion des Harraniens,” p. 341.
4 Theatr. chem., V (1660), pp. 101ff.
5 Berthelot, Alch. grecs, Introduction, p. 236.
6 Theatr. chem., IV (1659), p. 510. [Supra, par. 106.] He corresponds to the stella semptemplex which appears at the end of the work. “… cook, until the sevenfold star appears, running about through the sphere” (ibid., p. 508). Cf. the early Christian idea of Christ as the leader of the “round dance” of the stars. (“Transformation Symbolism in the Mass,” pp. 273ff.)
7 “Tabula smaragdina,” Rosarium, in Art. aurif., II, p. 253, and Mylius. Phil. ref., p. 101.
8 “Allegoriae super librum Turbae,” Art. aurif., I, p. 155: “origo Solis”; Ventura, Theatr. chem., II (1659), p. 296: “The sun rises together with the moon in the belly of Mercurius.”
9 Wei Po-yang, “An Ancient Chinese Treatise,” p. 241.
10 “Epistola ad Hermannum,” Theatr. chem., V (1660), p. 800; “Gloria mundi,” Mus. herm., pp. 224, 244. As the arcane substance magnesia he is called the “full moon” (Rosarium, in Art. aurif., II, p. 231) and succus lunariae (p. 211). He has fallen down from the moon (Berthelot, Alch. grecs, III, vi, 9). The sign for Mercurius is in the “Book of Krates” (Berthelot, Moyen âge, III, p. 48). In the Greek Magic Papyri, Hermes is invoked as “circle of the moon” (Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae, I, p. 195).
11 Vision of Krates in Berthelot, Moyen âge, III, p. 63. As Adam with Venus in the bath, Valentinus, “Practica,” Mus. herm., p. 425 (cf. Mysterium Coniunctionis, pp. 303, 383). As Sal Veneris, green and red lion (= Venus), Khunrath, Hyl. Chaos, pp. 91, 104. The substance of Mercurius consists of Venus (Mylius, Phil. ref., p. 17). Since his mother Venus is the matrix corrupta, Mercurius as her son is the puer leprosus (“Rosinus ad Sarratantam,” Art. aurif., I, p. 318). In the Magic Papyri. the day of Aphrodite is associated with Hermes (Preisendanz, Pap. Graec. Mag., II, p. 120). In Al-’Irāqī the attributes of Venus are identical with those of Mercurius: sister, bride, air, green, green lion, phoenix (Holmyard, p. 420).
12 “Aurelia occulta,” Theatr. chem., IV (1659), p. 480.
13 Ed. Ruska, p. 204.
14 Art. aurif., II, p. 379. The same in Dorn, Theatr. chem., I (1659), pp. 560f.
15 Cited in Mylius, Phil. ref., p. 302.
16 Hyl. Chaos, p. 197.
17 “Aenigma philosophorum,” Theatr. chem., IV (1659), pp. 458ff.
18 Hyl. Chaos, p. 195.
19 “Rhasis Epist.” in Maier, Symb. aur. mens., p. 211. Like Saturn, Mercurius combines all metals in himself (ibid., p. 531).
20 Mylius, Phil. ref., p. 305. “Saturn’s Chyld” in Ripley’s “Medulla” (Theatr. chem. Brit., p. 391).
21 Pantheus, Ars transmut. metall., fol. 9f .
22 Ripley, Opera, p. 317.
23 Hippolytus, Elenchos, V, 16, 2.
24 “Liber Platonis quartorum,” Theatr. chem., V (1660), pp. 127, 136.
25 Preller, Griechische Mythologie, I, p. 43.
26 Hyl. Chaos, p. 93.
27 Cf. Christ as lion in the Ancoratus of Epiphanius and as lion cub in St. Gregory, In Septem Psalm. Penit., Ps. 5 : 10 (Migne. P.L., vol. 79, col. 609).
28 Hyl. Chaos, p. 195.
29 Bousset, Hauptprobleme der Gnosis, pp. 10, 321, 352.
30 For Saturn’s day as the last day of creation, see infra, par. 301.
31 Codex Parisiensis 2419, fol. 277r. Cited in Reitzenstein, Poimandres, p. 75.
32 Phil. ref., p. 18.
33 Sulphur is the “fire hidden in Mercurius” (Trevisanus in Theatr. chem., I, 1659, p. 700). He is identical with Mercurius: “Sulphur is mercurial and Mercurius is sulphureal” (“Brevis manuductio,” Mus. herm., p. 788).
34 Hyl. Chaos, p. 186. Therefore, he says, we should pray to God for the spirit of discretion, that it may teach us the distinction between good and evil.
35 It is conceivable that the curious name for the alchemists in Rupescissa’s La Vertu et propriété de la quinte essence, “les poures hommes evangelisans,” goes back to the Cathar perfecti and pauperes Christi. Rupescissa (Jean de Roque-taillade) lived about the middle of the 14th cent. He was a critic of the Church and the clergy (Ferguson, Bibliotheca chemica, II, p. 305). The Cathar trials lasted into the middle of the 14th cent.