In the symbolic alchemy, Eagle or Eagles is the sublimation synonym. Eirenaeus Philalethes in an Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King, does not use this term to mean sublimation but a distillation.
Take care and seek an original text because, if it is the opposite, you can be induced in error if you don't know the modus operandi.
Therefore, some time, confrontations of opinions appear because the people have not read the same books.
EXPERIENCES by Eirenaeus Philalethes.
«V- Each preparation of Mercury with your arsenic is an eagle; as soon as the feathers of the eagle is purged of the blackness of the crow, do so that the eagle flies up to seven times; It means to say, that the sublimation is made so many times; then the eagle or the sublimation, is well prepared and disposed to rise naturally to the tenth time.» (Portuguese edition).
«V- Chaque preparation du Mercure avec son Arsenic est une aigle et pour purger les plumes de l'aigle de la noiceur du corbeau, fais que le volatile s'envole sept a dix fois, et tout sera préparé.» (French edition).
«V-The secret of the just preparation of the Sophic Mercury: every single preparation of the Mercury with its arsenic is one Eagle; the feathers of the Eagle purged of its Crow like blackness, make it fly to the seven flight and even until the ten flight and then it is prepared.» (English edition)
As you can see, only the Portuguese text makes reference to the sublimation and in the English text, to fly is synonymous of sublimation or distillation. For us, the more credible translation will be the English text.
«VI- I took the requested Mercury and mixed it with the true arsenic. The amount of Mercury was of four ounces more or less and I lighten the consistence of the mixture; I purged it in a convenient way then, I distilled it, which gave me the body of the Moon; then I knew that I had made my preparation very well and according to the Art.»
The same French text doesn't mention the distillation but the English one refers to it.
We know very well for having read Flamel's
Testament, that the lunar or solar regulus amalgam with the mercury is distilled in a
stainless steel dismountable retort.
What is the purpose of this distillation? Flamel in the Testament, tells us what is the purpose of this distillation:
«You can believe that this mercury ate a little of the King's body and that this will have force much more of dissolving the other, that it will be, further on, much more open for the Saturnia body.
He who is not acquainted with this symbolic terminology certainly won't understand anything that was described here, and for that, we will give some light so that the text is understood correctly.
Philalethes refers to the Arsenic. That is misleading because what he is referring to is the lunar or solar regulus. Flamel also misleads us with the term Saturnia that, here, means the martial regulus.
Why this distillation? It is to prepare the philosophical or live mercury by reiterating the distillations of the amalgam, which will transport in each distillation, a little of the soul of the Sun that in this work represents the alchemic Sulphur.
Some modern Iberian authors transposed this terminology for the work in the sublimation sense, taking to the letter what the Portuguese edition says and probably the Spanish edition also.
We have two Spanish editions but none of them contains the Experiences for us to confront them.
Let us say that the term Eagles is better adapted to the sublimation than to the distillation. But Philalethes uses it as the distillation synonym.
Like this to make the Eagle fly, it means one distillation of the amalgam of the philosophical mercury.
The majority of the alchemists accept this interpretation. We can say this with self-knowledge because we are almost daily in contact with them.
This comparison isn’t possible with the first operation or sublimation of the Way referred to by an Iberian alchemist. While in the Philalethes' work a solar or lunar amalgam of regulus with the quicksilver is distilled, in another way, it is made a sublimation of the red Dragon for the acquisition of such Azoth or Philosophical mercury.
And speaking of this sublimation, we wanted here to underline some small operative details that some of the artists that did or that are about to proceed with this work, probably ignore.
As we know, there are two antagonistic salts that are used as secret fire in this operation.
The author just designates the secret fire as one of the salts, but in our opinion, as it is obvious, the group of the two salts is the secret fire because it is the agent that will provoke the sublimation, and one of them is effloresced and the other decrepited.
The agent that is effloresced can also be calcinated; it is just partially dehydrated. Then, in the sublimation done in a vase that, in my opinion is not the most appropriate, it will, before the sublimation, distil a liquid called Spirit (?) that is lightly acid, or at the least, not arriving to 1º Baume.
Evidently, the author can call it what he wants because he very well understands it but that designation is not conform to the spagyrical terminology that designates a spirit.
If the compost didn't have the red Dragon inside, then yes, it would distil a spirit of salt of great graduation that could be rectified up to 30º Baumé, according to the distilled amount.
But this distilled spirit is different from your essence and, for incredible that it may seem; it doesn't have any action on the mineral subject. The solvent spirit of this Dragon is the royal water that it gives, as a product of that dissolution, the same Azoth but under a different aspect.
This will serve you to verify the amount of silica that your mineral subject contains.
Unhappily, in a mineral of reasonable quality, we verified that it had almost 50% of silica.
That is just a curiosity because in the philosophical way to prepare such Azoth it is by the sublimation way.
But as the essence of the secret fire (group of the two salts) is activated in the red Dragon by transforming it in such Azoth, the water remaining is under the spagyrical point of view a spirit of a light mixture of acidified water with some Azoth. You can easily confirm what we say.
Rubellus Petrinus