Alchemy

We now turn our attention to Mars, the proud, invincible warrior, who for many reasons should be favored, since we find him so necessary, indeed among the most needed and useful materials on the earth. There exists no art, science or other human activity that can do without him. Even most of our food and sustenance depends on him, as is evidenced in the clays of the earth, from which we make bricks, whose red color shows the presence of iron, which can be separated out by Fire, even if in small quantities. Clay, especially of the yellow variety, was once iron that has broken down day by day in the earth, torn from its matrix and root by the plow and left to decay. Grass, herbs, vegetables and all sorts of grans and fruits take it from the soil and provide it to us for nourishment. And if we leave iron exposed to the air and moisten it, so that it begins to rust, and then continue to moisten it, in time a natural yellow coating or clay accumulates, which is as good for seeding as any other loam or soil. Almost the entire earth was covered at one time with iron ore, which in time decayed. We see evidence of this in the fact that there are many iron-ore deposits still around, especially in those places where the earth is not high above the sand-base, so that the sun's rays - the Red Solar Sulfur - and the water of the base-sand - the sand- and stone-making Water - can easily be captured by the soil. With the help of the Water from the base-sand and heat from the underground fire [mantle], these rays are then cooked into the matrix of iron. It can also be viewed as proof of what we say here, that there is hardly a fruitful field anywhere that does not have such yellowish, rusty, iron-tasing Water beneath it. Thus, we see what kind of a companion Mars is, where he comes from, how absolutely necessary he is, but also very dangerous, when human evil tempts the retribution of the Most High, such that the Lord holds back the fruitful rain, the dissolving Water, thus fulfilling what was said in Deuteronomy 28, verse 23: "May the skies above you be bronze and the earth beneath you iron," etc. But if Water is not lacking, the words of Job 38, verse 14 will come to pass: "That the earth changes, like the clay under a seal." We have not put these citations here without purpose. The Sun is the actual father of Mars, but the Moon is only his stepmother, since his father consorted with another woman and produced him outside of the legitimate marriage bed. That is the reason why he is so unruly and imperfect, despite having much of his father's noble blood in him. We mortals can thus learn to recognize our own unruliness, clumsiness, evil and bloodthirstiness as coming from our daily nourishment, which, as noted above, derives in large part from Mars. However, we can also look at the noble blood that we have inherited from the father (and which, we believe, is a perfectly pure, bright, eternally indestructable Fire), in order to know from where and from what kind of seed our spiritual inner immortal body arose, namely, as Scripture says, from the red earth of Paradise (Min Aphar min Haadamah). This Mars, or iron, was symbolized by the ancients as in figure 37, as a complete circle with an entire diameter line extending outward on an angle from the top. At the end of this line two radius lines or semidiameters extend downward toward the circle at right angles. This symbol has many secret meanings, of which we will only mention the most important ones here. We'll begin with point a from which the two radius lines or semidiameters of the upper light a-c-a-d radiate downward, forming a right angle with point a. That is, the only thing missing for this figure to be a perfect Fire-globe (i.e., the pure perfect Fire-essence: red Sulfur) is the water Schamajim, the Lunar white Sulfur. The two rays of the light which lack the connecting line c-d mixed with an impure mother a-b, that is, with the whole diameter line of the circle below, that is, with a crude earthly Salt, which is its vitriolic Salt, thus resulting in its crude body. It can be clearly shown, however, that this salt is much purer and has greater healing powers than the Salt of Copper. Iron's salt, as shown by its diameter line, is already a purified or risen Salt that mixes in the air with the rays of light, and yet is at the same time enclosed by them. This is why it is so sweet and mild, for it has in large part been purified by these rays of light. The Salt of Mars is quite different from that of Venus, which is entirely dominated by its earthly qualities, since it places its circle at the very bottom. The salt of Mars, on the other hand, is similar to that wonderful salt called nitre, which is produced by the upper ligt- and fire-rays. We will elaborate on this later.

Although the circle of iron is created from this excellent Sulfur and the aforementioned Salt, there is still no center point present. This shows that the light-rays have been entirely incorporated by the rising diameter line, thus allowing a crude Salt to completely dominated the red Solar Sulfur. Therefore, the Salt of iron would be useful as its own solvent for the purpose of its own improvement and transformation, that is, to unite it internally with the Sulfur composed of Fire. This means that anyone who knows how to join the wheel with its spokes (radius lines) will move it once again back to its own center, thus revealing the perfect circle. As we noted previously, all things make their way toward their predestined goal along the path which they will take from their conception to their last transformation, back to their original state.