Edward Kelley (1555 – c. 1597) was an English alchemist who also worked in Bohemia. A treatise attributed to him describes a curious sight at the furnace. An eagle is to come back to life in a vessel and take the form of a crystalline stone.
The chapter on the white tincture keeps track of changes in the appearance of a mass. Its white resembles alabaster. When it cools, its consistency is compared to hard gum. These changes give the reader something quite concrete to follow before the eagle appears.[1]
The whole magistery takes place in one vessel, and with one fire, viz., the dry and moist elementary fire of the matter, till it is all dissolved again and again, and coagulated and thickened into a mass of a clear snow-white colour, which, when cool, becomes like a hard gum. The decoction, however, must be continued till the Eagle is revived (or vitrified), and becomes a crystalline stone which melts, tinges, and coagulates Mercury and other imperfect metals into pure silver.[1]
A parenthesis does much of the work in the decisive sentence. The revival of the eagle can also be called vitrification. The word “crystalline” belongs to two registers here. One concerns what the alchemist expects to see, the other what he believes the resulting substance can do to metals.[1]
Search
The whole magistery takes place in one vessel, and with one fire, viz., the dry and moist elementary fire of the matter […]
Edward Kelley (1555 – c. 1597)
The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy · XII · 1893 · p. 142
Attributed to Kelley · translation by A. E. Waite · excerpt
So hills and valleys into singing break; And though poor stones have neither speech nor tongue, While active winds and streams both run and speak, Yet stones are deep in admiration.
Henry Vaughan (1621/22–1695)
Silex Scintillans · The Bird · 1896 · p. 207
English text of the 1896 edition
I find I incorporate gneiss, coal, long-threaded moss, fruits, grains, esculent roots, […]
Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
Leaves of Grass · Song of Myself, § 31 · 1891–92 · p. 54
English text · opening line of the stanza
What infinite melancholy there is in these ancient stones, full of rust and gold!
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
Impresiones y paisajes · Baeza, II · 1918 · p. 135
Our translation from Spanish
I always wore his eyes in my ring, angry, veiled stones; my gestures grew hard.
Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945)
Briefe und Bilder · Die Aktion, 3. Jg., Nr. 42 · 1913 · col. 993
Our translation from German
The longer he looked, the more it seemed to him that the image was slowly opening its soulful eyes, that its lips would move in greeting, that life was blossoming up through its beautiful limbs, warming them like a lovely song.
Such a stone, being conscious merely of its own endeavour and not at all indifferent, would believe itself to be completely free, and would think that it continued in motion solely because of its own wish.
Baruch de Spinoza (1632–1677)
Letter on freedom and necessity · Letter LXII · 1898 · p. 390
Translation by R. H. M. Elwes · excerpt
With these thoughts I draw near to you, oldest and worthiest monuments of time.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
Goethes Werke, II. Abteilung, Band 9 · p. 173
Our translation
The jewels came to life, the fossils began to move; the wondrous Pyrosmalite and the Almandine flashed in the light of the miner's candles; the Rock-Crystals glittered, and darted their rays.
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822)
The Serapion Brethren, volume I · p. 188
Translated by Alexander Ewing
In an amber-drop the bee lies hid and lightens, so that it seems to be shut in its native sweets.
Martial (c. 40–c. 104)
Martial, Epigrams, volume I · p. 252–253
Translated by Walter C. A. Ker · Excerpt
Painters vie to copy the sweep of the snow-white waves. In the work of heaven no trace of the thunder axe is seen.
Make me a watcher of your open spaces, make me one who listens at the stone,
Phone: +43 677 628 66 628 | 
Cart