64. Patience
…… Statistical Significance ………
Supporting sources: 12 Contradicting sources: 0
Statistical significance: 0.9999999
This premise is statistically significant
…… Supporting Quotations ………
[735] You must not yield to despondency, or attempt to hasten the chemical process of dissolution. For if you do so by means of violent heat, the substance will be prematurely parched up into a red powder, and the active vital principle in it will become passive, being knocked on the head, as it were, with a hammer.
[736] Patience is, therefore, the great cardinal virtue in Alchemy.
~ Philalethes, Eirenaeus. A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby. 1694 AD. Alchemical Tract
[884] The Philosophers agree with one Voice, that one worthy of this Science must be strictly Virtuous, leading a holy Life, or God will not prosper him: He must have a competent Understanding, or he will not be able to conceive: He must be Diligent and Laborious, or he will not be able to work out what he conceives; and he must be private or he will not quietly enjoy that which he works out. To these must be added Patience and Leisure, together with a Competent Fortune; which is the more necessary in this Study, because it requires, as is already said the whole Man to find out the means, and then a careful Application is absolutely necessary to accomplish the Work.
~ A Lover of Philalethes. A Short Enquiry Concerning the Hermetic Art. 1714 AD.
Alchemical Tract
[155] The greatest secret of our operation is no other than a cohobation of the nature of one thing above the other, until the most digested virtue be extracted out of the digested body of the crude one. But there are hereto requisite: Firstly, an exact measurement and preparation of the ingredients required; secondly, an exact fulfilment of all external conditions; thirdly a proper regulation of the fire; fourthly, a good knowledge of the natural properties of the substances; and fifthly, patience, in order that the work may not be marred by overgreat haste.
[803] As you are now approaching the end of the work, the substance receives a golden tinge, and the Virgin's Milk which you give your substance to drink has assumed a deep orange colour. Pray to God to keep you from
p.190 64. Patience
haste and impatience at this stage of the work; consider that you have now waited for seven months, and that it would be foolish to let one hour rob you of the fruits of all your labour. Therefore be more and more careful the nearer you approach perfection. Then you will first observe an orange-coloured sweat breaking out on the body; next there will be vapour of an orange hue.
Soon the body below becomes tinged with violet and a darkish purple. At the end of fourteen or fifteen days, the substance will be, for the most part, humid and ponderous, and yet the wind still bears it in its womb. Towards the 26th day of the Reign it will begin to get dry, and to become liquid and solid in turn (about a hundred times a day); then it becomes granulated; then again it is welded together into one mass, and so it goes on changing for about a fortnight. At length, however, an unexpectedly glorious light will burst from your substance, and the end will arrive three days afterwards. The substance will be granulated, like atoms of gold (or motes in the Sun), and turn a deep red—a red the intensity of which makes it seem black like very pure blood in a clotted state. This is the Great Wonder of Wonders, which has not its like on earth.
~ An Anonymous Sage and Lover of Truth. An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King. 1645 AD. Alchemical Tract
[33] be patient, and follow always in the footsteps of Nature
~ Lacinius, Janus. Nuncupatory Discourse. 14-5th Cen. (?). Alchemical Tract [196] in this Art it will always be true that the man who is in a hurry will never be without matter of complaint. Rest assured also that haste will precipitate you from the pinnacle of truth. It is the Devil's subtlest device to ensnare us; for this haste is an ignis-fatuus by which he causes us to wander from the right path. The man who has found grace stoutly sets his face against hurry; he does so as a matter of habit, for in a moment of time haste may mar your whole work.
[204] Few students possess the gift of perseverance. They are in a great hurry and the work seems too long. They wish you to do violence to Nature, and the zeal of some is so much like a straw fire that at the end of six months it has quite burned down. Many change their minds after a week, some after twenty-four hours. Some believe in our Art most fervently for a month; but at the end of the month they will have nothing more to do with it. For such persons it would be better to stay their hands at once than to waste their time with the study of our Art. Let these butterflies flutter whither they will. But let us, before we put our hands to this work, learn with our hearts the truth of the saying;
"Let us do everything from beginning to end strenuously, and yet softly and gently." All foolish and doubleminded people must necessarily be fickle and unstable; and it is natural that simple folk, who have been stripped of all their savings by heartless impostors, should conceive a deep-seated aversion to our Art. But only men of constant and persevering minds are fitted to be students thereof. If any such man undertakes the study of this science, whether he be a
64. Patience p.191
layman or a priest, a merchant, a knight, an abbot, or a gentleman, he is not likely to fail of success: for his mind is in harmony with his work.
[450] The substance you must prepare with gentle heat, and so long as there is no violent effervescence, you may keep it over the fire: you should gradually consume it by gentle coction, but it must not be suffered to throw up great bubbles, as such a course would be indicative of haste.
[743] Nobody sooner mars our work, than he who is in too great a hurry to complete it. The man who would bring this matter to perfection, should set about it cautiously and heedfully.
[744] The greater haste we make, the less will be our speed.
[745] "let the enquirer be patient and of an even temper, for those who are in a hurry will never reach the goal." The length of time required for the purification of the substance, is a stone of stumbling to many who will not believe in it.
~ Norton, Thomas. The Chemical Treatise, Or, The Ordinal of Alchemy. 1477 AD.
Alchemical Tract
[734] Bear in mind that the chief error in this Art is haste
~ Bonus, Peter. The Epistle of Bonus of Ferrara. 14th Cen. Alchemical Tract
[122] Students of Nature should be such as is Nature herself --- true, simple, patient, constant, and so on;
~ Sendivogius, Michael. The New Chemical Light. 17th Cen. Alchemical Tract [3] The vessel being well and perfectly closed, and never so much as once opened till the perfection or end of the work; so that you see the vessel is to be kept close, that the spirit may not get out and vanish. Therefore saith Rhasis, keep thy vessel and its junctures close and firm, for the conservation of the spirit. And another saith, close they vessel well, and as you are not to cease from the work, or let it cool, so neither are you to make too much haste, neither by too great a heat, nor too soon opening of it. You must take special care that the humidity, which is the spirit, gets not out of the vessel; for then you will have nothing but a dead body remaining, and the work will come to nothing.
[9] digest, and digest again, and be not weary; the most exquisite and industrious artist can never attain to perfection by too much haste, but only by a long and continual decoction and digestion, for so nature works, and art must in some measure imitate nature.
[741] Therefore saith Rhasis, pursue your business incessantly, beware of instability of mind, and too great expectations, by a too hasty and precipitate pursuit, lest you lose your end.
~ Bacon, Roger (Pseudo). The Root of the World. 13-7th Cen. Alchemical Tract [737] Haste slowly -- for it is of the greatest importance that the influence of the fire should be brought to bear gently and gradually. In the meantime you will observe various chemical changes (e.g., of colour) in the distilling vessel, to which you must pay careful attention. For if they appear in due order, it is a sign that your undertaking will be brought to a prosperous issue.
p.192 64. Patience
[738] Of the time required for the whole process, it is impossible to say anything very definite; and, indeed, the Sages have put forward the most conflicting opinions on this point -- no doubt because some have been occupied with it longer than others. But if any man will carefully observe the working of Nature, and be guided by her teaching, and in all things hold a middle course, he will gain his object sooner than one that trusts too blindly to his own wisdom. But I tell thee not to go beyond the middle point of the letter X either in the former or latter stage of the operation, but to take one half (V) for the time of the solution and the other half for the composition. Then, again, for the final union, the number XX should be thy guide (unless anything unforeseen should occur). Be satisfied with that space of time. On the other hand, do not try to hurry on the consummation, for one hour's mistake may throw thee back a whole month. If thou strivest unduly to shorten the time thou wilt produce an abortion. Many persons have, through their ignorance, or self-opinionated haste, obtained a Nihilixir instead of the hoped for Elixir.
~ Anonymous. The Sophic Hydrolith, Or, Water Stone of the Wise. 17th Cen.
Alchemical Tract
[840] make not too much haste to come to an end of your work.
~ Anonymous. The True Book of the Learned Greek Abbot Synesius. 16-7th Cen.
Alchemical Tract
[236] unless ye have patience, ye err in ruling, and corrupt the work. Cook, therefore, the same in a gentle fire until ye see that it is dissolved.
~ Anonymous. The Turba Philosophorum. Alchemical Tract
[742] you must exercise considerable patience in preparing our Elixir, if it is to become all that you wish it to become. No fruit can grow from a flower that has been plucked before the time. He who is in too great a hurry, can bring nothing to perfection, but is almost sure to spoil that which he has in hand.
~ Valentinus, Basilius. The Twelve Keys. 1618 AD. Alchemical Tract
…… Commentary ………
Patience is absolutely necessary. It takes years to make the Stone and many have been spoiled by one moment of impatience.