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Brad Ramsey about Number words 270 Milan St. #205 Toronto, ON (416) 928-1231 bradrammseytoronto@gmail.com TRANSMUTATION OF SHAPESHIFTERS by Iggy the Dwarf

Iggy the Dwarf / TRANSMUTATION OF SHAPESHIFTERS / 2 1 SPAGYRICS To the alchemist, the transmutation of metals from imperfection to perfection involves several practical methods. Mix one with the other, and then separate the pure from the impure. There is nothing but the process of permutation, set in order through perfect alchemical labor. Although all substances are liquefied to a single mass, nevertheless each stay in its nature whatever it is. Thus, this is the judgment that can be passed on corporeal mixture. Yet concerning spiritual mixture and communion of the metals, it should be known that no liquefaction is spiritual because such spirits can never exist without bodies. Though the body should be taken away from them and mortified, nevertheless, they would always acquire another much more noble body than the former. And this is the transmutation of the metals from one death to another; that is to say, from a lesser to a higher, namely Luna; from a better into the best and most perfect; that is, Sol, the brilliant and altogether royal metal. It is true, then, that the six metals – Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Luna - always generate a seventh or produce it from themselves. Fluidity is the nature of heat and life; hardness, consolidation, and immobility in its coldness are death. The five cold metals are Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Luna. To be brought into a state of liquefaction, there must be the condition of the heat of fire. When the

Iggy the Dwarf / TRANSMUTATION OF SHAPESHIFTERS / 3 metals liquefied by fire are removed, coldness renders each hard and immovable. However, Mercury stays fluid and alive continually, not by having a cold and damp nature, but a warm and fiery nature. Subsequently, heat is life, but cold is the occasion of death. Sol is pure fire, yet not alive but hard, for the five cold metals – Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Luna – affect the firmness of Sol. Thus, celestial fire is cold and congealed, and such is the celestial body of the Sun. Its fire, therefore, does not have the power of burning fire, for Sol is liquefied by the five cold metals and is coagulated in being. Luna and every metal derive their origin and are generated from the other six. From Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Sol, comes Luna. Moreover, Luna is composed not only of the six spiritual metals but also their corresponding virtues, which are the seven planets and the twelve zodiac signs. Altogether, twelve virtues are thus posited in one corporeal metal. From the planet Mercury and from Aquarius and Pisces, Luna has its liquidity, its bright white color, and its firmness in fire. From Mars, with Cancer and Aries, comes its hardness and clear sound. From Venus, with Gemini and Libra, comes its degree of coagulation and its malleability. From Saturn, with Virgo and Scorpio, comes its homogeneous body and gravity. From Sol, by Leo and Virgo, comes its purity and resistance to the power of fire. Thus, in the spirit and body of Luna - by its composite - nature and wisdom exist. By the destruction of corporeal substance - its crushing and subsequent liquefaction - comes the virtue of a malleable substance. Consequently, the Alchemist, who artificially prepares the metallic body, by the spirit of the metal, by transmutation, makes a more noble and

Iggy the Dwarf / TRANSMUTATION OF SHAPESHIFTERS / 4 perfect body. Perfectly united, the metallic spirit and body are safe from the corruption of elementary fire. Then, Sol, the seventh metal, though it is pure fire – in outward appearance most beautiful and most brilliant – is congealed in its very destruction, by the other six metals, and becomes externally a heavier, colder, and homogeneous body, which unlike elementary fire, does not burn. It is a composite of incorruptibility. Mercurius Vivus, or living Mercury, the earthly substance, is thought to be living because it is not cold and moist by its nature, but rather highly warm and moist. Due to its warm and moist properties, it stays in a constant state of fluidity. If it were cold and moist, it would resemble ice, solid and cold, requiring the heat of fire to liquefy. This is how Mercury distinguishes itself from the other six metals, which are all cold. According to magicians and hermetic philosophers, Mercury is alive because it is "swift" and cannot be killed, congealed, or coagulated. The virtues of the seven metals, as their spirits intermingle, compete to manifest their powers and spirits, striving to be the master of liquefaction and transmutation. The six other metals try to congeal the warm and moist fluidity of Mercury by absorbing its virtues. By interacting as the seven metals, or however many the alchemist chooses, the vapors or spirits of the metals mutually influence one another, undergoing transmutation from one virtue to another. The spirits or vapors of the colder and less fluid six metals are agitated by the heat until a more perfect, virtuous, and pure substance is achieved. Alchemy has no other purpose, intention, or subtle endeavor than to transmute kinds of metals from one to another. Alchemy is otherwise called Spagyria and according to De Colica, it is a kind of lower heaven, by which the sun is separated from the moon, day from night,

Iggy the Dwarf / TRANSMUTATION OF SHAPESHIFTERS / 5 medicine from poison, and what is useful from what is refuse. Thus, the stars are the informing virtue and cause the virtues of all stones. The Sol and Luna of the firmament are nothing but stones themselves, and the terrestrial stone comes from the celestial stone – from outer space – through the same fire, coals, ashes, by degree, as all substances have the virtues of its own nature in its sphere or plane and the added virtues of the bodies in space. For the ball of earth was thrown, mixed, ground, and coagulated, and liquefied into a geological mass amidst the firmament. Its expanse is the elementary nature of Earth. It has taken its form through transmutation from the virtues of the substances by which it was formed, both corporeal and astronomical. If, in the universe, there is quicksilver, as was reasoned that Mercury is alive, and supposing the Alchemist can make silver and gold, or the physicist can change one element into another by radioactive decay or nuclear bombardment, the limits of the bodies, or corporeal substances, and their virtuous forms, are, in elemental theory, as numerous as the stars and the planets and satellites that orbit them. The jeweler cuts precious stones, yet the stars are the informing spirit of all stones…

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