The Secret of the Adepts

[BeautifulEvil]

This book is brought to us by Pierre, even though I'm posting it. He asked if I could post it for him.

http://www.2shared.com/file/4450971/bb414b8c/SECRETS_OF_THE_ADEPTS_COMPLETE_CONTENTS_INDEX.html

[theFool]

BeautifulEvil, if you read the first recipie of this book, you 'll see that it describes the spirit of wine which according to Lully, is the Quintessence.

[BeautifulEvil]

I've heard that before, but I've also heard that the quintessence is actually obtained from digesting the spirit of wine and vinegar. Supposedly it should fill a room with a very sweet smell, like that of flowers, or even more noble. This sounds to me like some kind of ester, and interestingly enough, we do obtain an ester by digesting the spirit of wine and vinegar.

I've also heard it was acetone, or a form of acetone. Maybe an acetaldehyde.

Each path should have it's own "quintessence."

-------------------------

Why not try to use the radical vinegar obtained from the dry distillation of acetate salts to make the quintessence of wine? It should turn out to be very interesting, and quite alchemical. You'll probably have a slew of different esters. I'd like to see the result from this, and I sometimes wonder if that's what they did.

Vinegar is the next evolutionary step of wine/alcohol. If you combine this with a metal, you'll end up with an acetate salt. You have married the evolutionary energy from the vinegar (organic/vegetable life) to the evolutionary energy of the metal. You can distill this to obtain the the acidic portion (combine this with the red oil, the sulphur of the metal), and then add this to the spirit of wine (digest, etc). In this way your quintessence will be a united version of the energy from wine, vinegar, and your metal of choice (the metallic and vegetable realm). Whereas your normal quintessence (without philosophical vinegar) will only contain the energy from wine and vinegar (the vegetable realm).

Is this real alchemy? I don't know, but it sure as heck sounds good. It's my version of alchemy; it's really eclectic.

[solomon levi]

This quintessence they also called Philosophers' sky or heaven,
thus my reference in the first matter thread -
Lamb - agneau - fire water - shamayim - heaven - philosophers' sky - quintessence.

[theFool]

I've heard that before, but I've also heard that the quintessence is actually obtained from digesting the spirit of wine and vinegar.

I know about a radical menstruum produced this way but I'm not after that. I try to avoid to use vinegar or to allow it to form with fermentation. I think esters, acetone and acetaldehyde are highly flamable, so I will sort them out easily in case they appear.

Each path should have it's own "quintessence."

As I see it, we seek to isolate the quintessence of former living things. If it will be concentrated in acetone, ethanol, ester or water, it is another thing.

Why not try to use the radical vinegar obtained from the dry distillation of acetate salts to make the quintessence of wine? It should turn out to be very interesting, and quite alchemical. You'll probably have a slew of different esters. I'd like to see the result from this, and I sometimes wonder if that's what they did.

I stay away from vinegar and acetone cause my equipment is leaky. However, it is strange to see that in this path, the quintessence does not concentrate in acetone but into a different oil. (The Acetate Work and The Dry Distillation & Sublimation of Zinc).

Vinegar is the next evolutionary step of wine/alcohol. If you combine this with a metal, you'll end up with an acetate salt. You have married the evolutionary energy from the vinegar (organic/vegetable life) to the evolutionary energy of the metal. You can distill this to obtain the the acidic portion (combine this with the red oil, the sulphur of the metal), and then add this to the spirit of wine (digest, etc). In this way your quintessence will be a united version of the energy from wine, vinegar, and your metal of choice (the metallic and vegetable realm). Whereas your normal quintessence (without philosophical vinegar) will only contain the energy from wine and vinegar (the vegetable realm).

My opinion is this: Without using a salt (or metal), the quintessence oil stays volatile but upon cohobation or digestion on a salt, it becomes fixed, cause it extracts sth maybe. Lets say it becomes determined to the mineral kingdom then. (ok, risky assumption!). My opinion is formed from the book "Art of Distillation", recipie: "The spagyrical anatomy of wine". Also the book posted at the beginning of the topic, refers a similar experiment under "The Spirit of crude Tartar". If you have the book "Real Alchemy" at page 122 you 'll see what I'm after. Your point of view and the acetate path, are analysed also by Alan Bartlett at page 134, via humida. (Amazing book, the "quintessence" of alchemy.)
Actually, I have encountered a white vapor behaving similar to the one seen at the acetate path, without using vinegar (I've posted sth on this on the oil of wine topic). But vast amounts of wine are needed in order to collect a serious quantity.

[pierre]

BeautifulEvil, if you read the first recipie of this book, you 'll see that it describes the spirit of wine which according to Lully, is the Quintessence.

Hi, theFool; Von Bernus warns that the "spirit vini philosophici" is not the product of the distillation of common wine, but a product of the distillation of acetates. The famous phrase "Recipe vinum rubeum vel album," does not refer to the common wine, but the product of a long and complicated alchemical process that goes beyond even the obtaining of acetone.

Not confirm anything, just quote the words of Von Bernus. ¿ok?

[Weidenfeld]

Hi, theFool; Von Bernus warns that the "spirit vini philosophici" is not the product of the distillation of common wine, but a product of the distillation of acetates.

No, Alexander von Bernus clearly rejected acetates beeing the precursor or the initial subject for the Spiritus Vini Philosophici or Lull's secret spirit of wine. If you would follow A. v. Bernus more closely then you would certainly recognize that he even rejected the speculations of the late Dr. Christian August Becker (Das Aceton, Mühlhausen 1867) who thought that acetone respectively its derivatives might be the SVP. This whole false theory about the preparation and usage of the distillates of metallic acetates for alchemical purposes originally derived from Albert Riedel (with whose interpretations Bernus never agreed) and Jean Dubois. That's also the reason why the misbelief mainly had propagated in the U.S.

[theFool]

Von Bernus warns that the "spirit vini philosophici" is not the product of the distillation of common wine, but a product of the distillation of acetates.

I agree that "spirit vini philosophici" is not the common spirit of wine (alcohol). This book here, states it clearly. However, if it is the product of distillation of acetates, I don't know. In the first recipie, Lully describes what he thinks of "Spirit of Wine" and it is from acetate. In this book also, a menstruum that dissolves gold is described at "The Spirit of crude Tartar" recipie. Could it be a potassium acetate distillation?
About the "wet path" (or acetate distillation), Hollandus at "Opus Saturni" speaks of a spirit of Vinegar and his final product is a Red oil. It is not acetone itself. The same is observed by modern operators (like the link I posted above, or Robert Bartlett). Actually Bartlett says this Red oil is the Sulfur of the metal.

[Weidenfeld]

Actually Bartlett says this Red oil is the Sulfur of the metal

Why we should trust modern authors such as Bartlett, Riedel or anyone else who had not produced any philosphical substances but pure chemicals up till now ? The distillation of acetates and its corresponding components had never been an alchemical secret and why ? It's not relevant for the art of transmutation at all. You should stop to interprete terms like 'sugar of saturn' literally. The work of Hollandus is not based on lead acetate but on philosophical sugar of saturn and for example, Johann Seger Weidenfeld was aware of this fact too.

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