Cannabis in Alchemical Literature: Green Lion,
\nPhilosopher’s Stone<\/p>\n
Michael Maier
\nAtalanta Fugiens<\/p>\n
Of this self-same body, which is the matter of the Stone, three
\nthings are chiefly said; that it is a green Lion, a stinking Gum, and a
\nwhite Fume. Having twelve pounds of Green Lion thus brought into gum,
\nthou mayst believe…<\/p>\n
St. Dunstan (pseudo)
\nPhilosophia Maturata<\/p>\n
A green Gum called our green Lyon, which Gum dry well, yet beware thou not burn his Flowers nor destroy his greenness.<\/p>\n
Sir George Ripley
\nThe Bosome-Book of Sir George Ripley<\/p>\n
You will see marvelous signs of this Green Lion, such as could be
\nbought by no treasures of the Roman Leo. Happy he who has found it and
\nlearned to use it as a treasure!<\/p>\n
Paracelsus
\nThe Treasure of Treasures<\/p>\n
Perfect bodies we naturally calcine with the first, without adding
\nany impure body but one commonly called by philosophers the green
\nlion, and this is the medium for perfectly combining the tinctures of
\nthe Sun and Moon.<\/p>\n
The Golden Tract<\/p>\n
Then the sowing of the field can take place, and you obtain the
\nMineral Stone, and the Green Lion that imbibes so much of its own
\nspirit.<\/p>\n
The Glory of the World<\/p>\n
Beware therefore of many, and hold thee to one thing. This one thing is naught else but the lyon greene…<\/p>\n
Bloomfield’s Blossoms<\/p>\n
Green Lion, Bird of Hermes, Goose of Hermogenes, two-edged sword
\nin the hand of the Cherub the Tree of Life, etc.; it is our true, secret
\nvessel, and the Garden of the Sages in which our Sun rises and sets.<\/p>\n
The Three Treatises of Philalethes<\/p>\n
You have then nourished and dissolved the true lion with the blood of the green lion.<\/p>\n
The Golden Tripod<\/p>\n
I know well this Lyon Greene…<\/p>\n
Hunting of the Greene Lyon<\/p>\n
I have seen the Green Catholic Lion, and the Blood of
\nthe Lion, i.e., the Gold of the Sages, with my own eyes, have touched it
\nwith my hands, tasted it with my tongue, smelled it with my nose.<\/p>\n
Heinrich Khunrath<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Upon the delicate leaves thereof it retaineth for our
\nuse that sweet heavenly honey which is called the manna, and, although
\nit be of a gummy, oily, fat, and greasy substance, it is,
\nnotwithstanding, unconsumable by any fire.<\/p>\n
Rabelais
\nGargantua and Pantagruel<\/p>\n
This is called the blessed stone; this earth is white and
\nfoliated, wherein the Philosophers do sow their gold… The fourth color
\nis Ruddy and Sanguine, which is extracted from the white fire only.<\/p>\n
Jean dEspagnet
\nThe Hermetic Arcanum<\/p>\n
O how many are the seekers after this gum, and how few there are
\nwho find it! Know ye that our gum is stronger than gold, and all those
\nwho know it do hold it more honorable than gold… Our gum, therefore,
\nis for Philosophers more precious and more sublime than pearls…<\/p>\n
Turba Philosophorum<\/p>\n
Therefore I affirm that the Universal Medicine for bodies is the
\nphilosophic gold, after it has been separated and drawn to the highest
\nstate of perfection. Our common gold has absolutely nothing in common
\nwith the philosophic gold we use to begin our task. In that respect
\ncommon gold is dead and clearly useless.<\/p>\n
Philip a Gabella
\nConsideratio Brevis<\/p>\n
By gold I mean our green gold- not the adored lump, which is dead and ineffectual.<\/p>\n
Thomas Vaughan
\nAula Lucis<\/p>\n
Take the fire, or quicklime, of which the philosophers speak,
\nwhich grows on trees, for in that God himself burns with divine love.<\/p>\n
Gloria Mundi<\/p>\n
It appears then that this Stone is a Vegetable, as it were, the sweet Spirit that proceeds from the Bud of the Vine…<\/p>\n
Count Bernard Trevisan
\nVerbum Dismissum<\/p>\n
Trust my word, seek the grass that is trefiol. Thou knowest the name, and art wise and cunning if thou findest it.<\/p>\n
The Sophic Hydrolith<\/p>\n
You ought to know concerning the Quintessence, that it is a matter
\nlittle and small, lodged and harbored in some Tree, Herb, Stone, or
\nthe like…<\/p>\n
The Tomb of Semiramis<\/p>\n
It contains the fire of Nature, or the Universal Spirit; with Air
\nas its vehicle it contains Water, which must be separated in the
\nbeginning of the work, and also earth which remains behind in the form
\nof caput mortuum, where the fire has left it, and is the true Red Earth
\nwherein the fire dwelt for a while. The subject, duly collected, should
\nnot be less than eight nor more than sixteen ounces: place it in a
\nchina or glazed basin and cover it loosely to keep the dust out.<\/p>\n
Sigismond Bacstrom
\nRosicrucian Aphorisms and Process<\/p>\n
Long have I had in my nostrils the scent of the herb moly which
\nbecame so celebrated thanks to the poets of old… this herb is entirely
\nchemical. It is said that Odysseus used it to protect himself against
\nthe poisons of Circe and the perilous singing of the Sirens. It is also
\nrelated that Mercury himself found it and that it is an effective
\nantidote to all poisons. It grows plentifully on Mount Cyllene in
\nArcadia…<\/p>\n
Michael Maier
\nSeptimana Philosophica<\/p>\n
Our secret fire, that is, our fiery and sulfurous water, which is called Balneum Mariae… This water is a white vapor.<\/p>\n
The Secret Book of Artephius<\/p>\n
Know the secret fire of the wise, which is the one and sole agent
\nefficient for the opening, subliming, purifying, and disposing of the
\nmaterial.<\/p>\n
Letter to the True Disciples of Hermes<\/p>\n
Study, then, this fire, for had I myself found it at the first, I
\nshould not have erred two hundred times upon the veritable material.<\/p>\n
John Pontanus
\nThe Secret Fire<\/p>\n
No philosopher has ever openly Revealed this secret fire, and this
\npowerful Agent, which works all the Wonders of the Art.<\/p>\n
The Hermetic Triumph<\/p>\n
Mercury, i.e. the white flower, can be used and applied to the tinctures of all planets.<\/p>\n
The Little Peasant<\/p>\n
Our true and real Matter is only a vapor… This Green Dragon is
\nthe natural Gold of the Philosophers, exceedingly different from the
\nvulgar, which is corporeal and dead… but ours is spiritual, and
\nliving… Our Gold is called Natural, because it is not to be made by
\nArt, and since it is known to none, but the true Disciples of Hermes,
\nwho understand how to separate it from its original Lump, tis also
\ncalled Philosophical; and if God had not been so gracious, as to create
\nthis first Chaos to our hand, all our Skill and Art in the Construction
\nof the great Elixir would be in vain.<\/p>\n
Baron Urbigerus
\nAphorismi Urbigerani<\/p>\n
This stone is of delicate touch, and there is more mildness in its
\ntouch than in its substance. Of sweet taste, and its proper nature is
\naerial.<\/p>\n
Khalid said: Tell me of its odor, before and after its confection.<\/p>\n
Morienus answered: Before confectioning, its odor is very heavy
\nand foul. I know of no other stone like it nor having its powers. While
\nthe four elements are contained in this stone, it being thus like the
\nworld in composition, yet no other stone like it in power or nature is
\nto be found in the world, nor has any of the authorities ever performed
\nthe operation other than by means of it. And the compositions attempted
\nby those using anything else in this composition will fail utterly and
\ncome to nothing. The thing in which the entire accomplishment of this
\noperation consists of the red vapor, the yellow vapor, the white vapor,
\nthe green lion, ocher, the impurities of the dead and of the stones,
\nblood, eudica, and foul earth.<\/p>\n
Begin in the Creators
\nname, and with his vapor take the whiteness from the white vapor. The
\nwhole key to accomplishment of this operation is in the fire, with
\nwhich the minerals are prepared and the bad spirits held back, and with
\nwhich the spirit and body are joined.<\/p>\n
In answer to
\nyou question about the white vapor, or virgins milk, you may know that
\nit is a tincture and spirit of those bodies already dissolved and dead,
\nfrom which the spirits have been withdrawn. It is the white vapor that
\nflows in the body and removes its darkness, or earthiness, and
\nimpurity, uniting the bodies into one and augmenting their waters.<\/p>\n
Without the white vapor, there could have been no pure gold nor any profit in it.<\/p>\n
The Book of Morienus<\/p>\n
Let it be sublimed in an high body and head…<\/p>\n
Geber
\nSearch of Perfection<\/p>\n
Our Subject cannot be called the fiery Serpent of the
\nPhilosophers, nor have the power of overcoming any created thing, before
\nit has received such Virtue and Quality from our Green-Dragon…<\/p>\n
Baron Urbigerus
\nAphorismi Urbigerani<\/p>\n
The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart<\/em>, chapter 12, The Pilgrim Examines Alchemy:<\/p>\n Another burned his eyes out, and was thus unable to supervise the These blear’d eyes Ben Jonson I have cast fire upon the earth, and see, I watch until it blazes.
\ncalcination and the fixation: or bleared his sight with smoke to such
\nan extent that before he cleared his eyes the nitrogen escaped. Some
\ndied of asphyxiation from the smoke. But for the greatest part they did
\nnot have enough coal in their bags and were obliged to run about to
\nborrow it elsewhere, while in the meantime their concoction cooled off
\nand was utterly ruined. This was of very frequent, in fact of almost
\nconstant, occurrence. Although they did not tolerate anyone among
\nthemselves save such as possessed full bags, yet these seemed to have a
\nway of drying up very rapidly, and soon grew empty: they were obliged
\neither to suspend their operations or to run away to borrow.<\/p>\n
\nHave wak’d to read your several colours, sir,
\nOf the pale citron, the green lion, the crow,
\nThe peacock’s tail, the plumed swan.
\nThou has descry’d the flower, the sanguis agni?<\/p>\n
\nThe Alchemist<\/p>\n
\nGospel of Thomas<\/p>\n