If you look at this beautiful picture from Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens, you will begin by noticing a woman wandering through the night, leaving her footprints behind on the sand. She carries a bunch of flowers on her right hand and several fruits on her left.

Following on her footsteps, we see an old man holding a staff in his right hand. On his left, a lit torch. On the top left corner, we can also see the waning moon.

The symbolism one can find here is highly remarkable from an alchemical perspective.

The old man alone with his spectacles seems to tell us, as did Basil Valentine at the end of his First Key:

"Because, truly, if by now you haven't seen the light in my words, there are no spectacles that might assist you, or natural eyes to guide you, so that you may find in the end what you missed in the beginning"

This actually means that spectacles (i.e. observation) are needed in order to follow Nature.

Eugène Canseliet, in L'Alchimie Expliquèe Sur Ses Textes Classiques, page 26, says:

"Apothegm that clearly shows that following Nature is not as easy as one might believe, because one actually needs a staff, spectacles and a torch. These are the essential objects so that our footsteps may exactly match the moonlit footprints on the sand."

The lunar influence is highly noticeable on some alchemical operations, especially along the whole work of the dry path of the antimony, and mostly in its first operations.

This influence may be seen not only here but also on the wet path, mostly during the deliquescence of the salts of the secret fire, as well as while collecting the dew.

How, then, must one follow Nature on the course of our alchemical efforts? Here is a good subject for meditation.

Cyliany briefly mentions this question on his Hermes Devoile. It is much more deeply discussed on a little treatise by an anonymous author, the Deux Traités Alchimiques Du XIX Siécle, Recreations Hermetiques, page 241:

"Nowadays, everyone knows that the moon light is but a reflex of the Sun's light, with other astral bodies' lights mixed in. Consequently, the moon is like a recipient, or the common fire mentioned by all philosophers: the source of their living water. Therefore, if you would like to turn the sunbeams into water, choose the moment when the moon reflects them in full, i.e., as soon as it reaches its fullest aspect. By this mean, you will have the igneous water from the sun and the moon's beams in its greatest strength. Nevertheless, there are some essential requirements without which your water wouldn't differ from pale and useless water. Also be aware that there is a proper time to collect these astral spirits. That is the time when Nature regenerates itself and the atmosphere is filled with the universal spirit."

"One can begin to work right after sunset, and continue all night long. But one must stop as soon as the sun rises, because its light dispels the spirit, and only useless phlegm would remain. All philosophers have so far kept these things most secret, speaking only through veil and allegory in a most obscure manner."

So, brothers, here it is, a brief description of Nature’s subtle energies. It far from exhausts this subject.

We have read these little treatises many and countless times. Nevertheless, we haven’t so far fully understood how to actually follow Nature on alchemical operations, so much more on the work this artist describes.

Perhaps one day we will have the "intuition" required for lifting the veil and seeing the light.

We strongly recommend you to read this little treatise from which your practical operations will surely and highly benefit, as long as you can find the matters and the Nature's forces of its modus operandi.