L003

The Book of Imageswithout Words

(Mutus Liber) by

Magophon

Copyright © Inner GardenAll Rights Reserved

Translated by Moreh Published in 2010 by Inner Garden

First Edition

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HypotyposisThis title, despite its appearance, does not have the slightest

pretence. Technically, it is the only proper and !tting one forthe subject, because it traces in its brevity, the framework ofthis study. A hypotyposis (from ϋπ ό under Τυπος, imprint,emblem) is an explanation placed under abstract !gures. Wellthen, the Mutus Liber is a collection of enigmatic images.

An absurd legend has been formed around the MutusLiber. One school - which contains nothing hermetic exceptits name - has given this work a reputation of beingimpenetrable and obscure, and as such, worships it as asacrament, without understanding it. This is a mistake; eventhe translation of the Mutus Liber as the Silent Book, withoutwords, is a philosophical misinterpretation. All the signsadopted by human ability to express thought are words. Latin– when properly understood – corresponds to drawing,painting, sculpture and architecture, by means of which theScribe-Priests1 reserved the mysteries of science, the mutaeartes or the symbolic arts, for the elect.

What is a symbol? Συµβολη is a convention, Συµβολον, asign of recognition. A symbol is what we would call a "Code"in present times, an implicit system of writing adopted fordiplomatic correspondence or business, for abstract orsemaphoric communication, semaphores, etc. For an illiterateman, every book is mutus. A book written in Hebrew,Sanskrit, Chinese, is mute for most people, even if they areeducated in their own language. We can therefore concludethat the Mutus Liber simply is a book like others, which canbe read clearly if one has the key.

1 Note from translator: “Hiérogrammates” is used in the original.

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Moreover, the works on alchemy, in verse and prose, inLatin, French or any other language, are nothing butcryptograms. Though written with the regular letters of thealphabet and with common vocabulary, they neverthelessremain indecipherable to anyone that does not have the key. Intruth, considering the two systems of shorthand, that of theMutus Liber is certainly the most transparent, because anobjective image is de!nitely more explicative than literarytropes and ! gures of speech, especially in an area that is ofsuch experimental nature like chemistry.

Our aim in attaching these few pages of comments to theallegorical plates of the Mutus Liber, without leaving themantle of the philosopher, is as we have been proposed, tofacilitate reading and a sincere interpretation. This is for thetrue investigators of science, those that are honest, patient,hardworking and diligent like bees, and not the curious, idleand frivolous, who spend their lives uselessly " uttering fromone book to another, without ever stopping to extract themelli"uous substance.

Well then! The grammar, geography, history, mathematics,physics, chemistry and the rest will become available onlyafter long and painstaking effort, and one could not enter the"Palace of the King" without observing convention andcomply with the laws of etiquette! A hasty and super!cialreading is no substitute for austere and serious study. Evenordinary science can only be penetrated and assimilated afterworking hard and persistently.

It may be objected that Universities have distinguishedlinguists, geographers, historians, mathematicians, physicists,and chemists, but never is the least alchemist reported. And ifthe ! eld of alchemy is unknown, it is because alchemy is achimera. This ad hominem argument begs a response: ifsomething is hidden, it does not mean it is nonexistent.Alchemy is an occult science, or we should rather say: it is thescience of the occult in its entirety, the universal Arcanum, the

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seal of the absolute, the magic spirit of religions, and that iswhy it is called the Priestly and Sacred Art.

There is a proper mythology behind all commonly imposedbeliefs: the Bible, Vedas, Avesta, Kings, etc. There is aprofound substrate which is the foundation of the sanctuariesof religions all over the world. The mystery, recognized in thecatechism as the prerogative of pontiffs – not publicdignitaries – is that alchemy exists on all levels: physical andmetaphysical. The exclusive possession of the sacrarium gavepower to the churches, in the same way they ensure the carefuland jealous protection of the “Masonic Secret”, aided by anenforcement body and heavy censorship.

Nothing is developed randomly, and yet these allegationsmay seem wanton and improbable, because since theinvention of the printing press, books on hermeticism havealways been published freely with permission of civil andreligious authorities. In fact nothing opposed the distributionof writings in common language, writings that werenevertheless only understandable for insiders. This was doneto such extent that the leading chemists of the Schools – fromLavoisier to Berthelot – have broken their heads over thesewritings without result. There is no better place than this torecall the contemptuous quote of Artephius and haughtywarnings of the Adepts who bluntly declared only to write forthose who know, and leave the others in confusion! Thus wespeak of “Christ” in the Gospels, and the disciples thatmodelled themselves to the “Master”.

However, even though Alchemy is a hidden science, it isnonetheless a real science, accurate, conforming to logic andabove all to reason. Throughout history, there were “goldmakers” and master glassblowers who were held in highregard and were Hermeticists. Even in our day, transmutationstill works miracles. Following the sensational debates a short

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while ago2 it was said – in a state of moral stupor – the MintAdministration had con!scated without any form of process –and with good reason! – the production facility of a modernalchemist. He was told in threatening tone: “You are notsupposed to know how to make gold!”, and he was released,free but empty handed. Is it then forbidden to be educated, oris alchemy perhaps a state secret? This should not lead to thenaive conclusion that successive ministers are acquainted withQabalah. As the saying goes: Kings rule but do not govern.And indeed it seems even these times there is still a greyeminence behinds the scenes who pulls the strings! Thefamous Galatea of the Temple might not be abolished to theextent we suppose it is, and a book full of surprises could bewritten about the watermarks on banknotes and the images oncoins.

But in this case, one could ask why gold has become so rarethat its life in public has been as if paralysed? The bars havenot gone up in thin air, they were moved, and can be expectedto return to their point of departure only by an inverseeconomic movement. However, their return, if too slow, canhave incalculable consequences.

The politics of nations are governed by a secret pact of ametallic nature, which can not be violated without causing themost serious international complications. Banknotes arefervently issued, but gold coins are no longer struck. Yet it isnot the case that gold is missing: it openly circulates withmuch pomp, on countless shoulders, around wrists, on !ngersand even legs, whose elegance and beauty sometimes leavesmuch to be desired. Nothing would therefore be easier for thestate to exchange their paper for the precious material and tocirculate the “coins” for the job. It is paradoxical, but it is thetruth. There is a profound reason based on wisdom behindthis momentary eclipse of the value of Gold. There is a saying:

2 Note from translator: this introduction was written before the FirstWorld War.

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"Gold is worth gold". If the striking of coins was permitted tonations that have exhausted their normal reserves, theoverabundance would result in de"ation. The !duciarystandard would no longer hold any guarantee, and its valuewould become equivalent to counterfeit money. The !nancialequilibrium would be broken and it would be the end ofbusiness, and global bankruptcy. Therefore the production of"natural" gold is limited, and concessions for new mines arerefused, even for extractions with low yield from "uvial sandsand other sources.

However, the time is near when science will reclaim its fullrights, and the occult will once again regain its presence offormer days. The wise Girtaner announced the followingbased on ignored yet undeniable laws: “In the 20th century,Chrysophy will become public domain”. This important eventis of course subject to the presence of a social climate statusquite different from that which governs us, but we're are wellunder way, the world is turning, and may provide the privilegetomorrow!

However, if alchemy would only be con!ned to thetransmutation of metals, it would be a science undoubtedly ofvalue from an industrial point of view, but rather poor in aphilosophical sense. In reality, this is not the case. Alchemy isthe key to all knowledge, and its full disclosure would herald acomplete overthrow of all man-made institutions that arebased on falsehood, in order to restore them to truth.

These preliminary considerations are thought to beopportune, before we charitably take the reader by the hand tolead him through the inextricable winding corridors of thelabyrinth.

It is our wish to be of use to the seeker, but since we cannot write a technical treatise in just a few pages, we must referthe disciple to the works that correspond best with the platesof the Mutus Liber before we enter upon the subject. Mostmanipulations shown in this collection of symbols are fairly

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well described by the most renowned philosopher, in “AnOpen Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King”, byEirenaeus Philalethes.

Not that there is nothing more to add. On the contrary, farfrom that. The patronage of Philalethes, presented to us underthe guise of friendliness and persuasiveness, is one of the mostsubtle and treacherous pieces of ! ction of the Hermeticliterature. It does contain the truth, but in a way as poisonsometimes conceals its antidote, if you know how to isolate itspoisonous alkaloids. Where necessary, we will indicate thepitfalls as they present themselves to us along our way.

T h e Mutus Liber comprises ! fteen plates of emblems,some true, others sophisticated and arranged in such abeautiful disorder that according to the precepts of Boileau, itis a result of the art.

The !rst plate, which serves as frontispiece, is of capitalimportance. The entire success of the Work depends on itsunderstanding. One can see within a cartouche formed of twointertwined rose branches, a man sleeping on a rock uponwhich are growing a few small Kermes oak. A limpid waterwith a metallic re"ection springs from it. Beside the sleepertwo angels on a ladder – the ladder of the Wise – are blowingtheir trumpets to wake him. Above him is a propitious andquiet night sky: the stars shine and the moon traces its horn ofplenty.

This initial page comes with a point of critique that is notdirected to the learned author, but to the profane artist whohas unwittingly included a serious misinterpretation in thereproduction of the !gures. A great milestone has been passedfor those who notice this, without having it pointed out. Thehermetic glosses warn the disciple of the necessity to inquire.

The Sleeping Man is the subject of the Work. What is thissubject? Some say it is a body, others say it is a water. Both theformer and the latter are right, because water, also called 'the

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silver beauty’, " owed from the body that the Sages call theFountain of the Lovers of Science. It is the mysterious Selagoof the Druids, the matter, which gives the salt (Selage isderived from sel for salt and agere to produce).

The secret of the magisterium subsequently, is to extricateits sulphur and to use its mercury, because everything is ineverything. Some artists claim to look elsewhere for thatpurpose. We will not deny in this respect that the hydrargyrumof cinnabar could be of some help in the work, if one knowshow to properly prepare it, but we should use it only whennecessary and appropriate. As far as we are concerned, he whosucceeds to open the rock with the rod of Moses - and this isno small secret - has found the ! rst operative key. On thissteep rock then, will "ower the two roses that hang from thebranches of the Eglantine rose, one white and the other red.

One will ask us, with good reason, what magic word canpull our Epimenides from the embrace of Morpheus, whoseems completely deaf to the sounding of the trumpets. ThisWord comes from God, carried by the angels, messengers of!re. It is a divine breath that works in an invisible butunfaltering way, and this is no exaggeration. Without theassistance of Heaven, the work of man is useless. One does notprune trees or sow seeds in every season, there is a time foreverything. The Philosophical work is called CelestialAgriculture for good reason. One of the greatest writers signedhis writings with the name of Agricola, and two otherexcellent adepts were known by the name of the Great Farmerand the Small Farmer.

The disciple should therefore intensively meditate on the!rst plate, and compare it with the fables in commonlanguage. May he be fortunate enough himself to hear thevoice from heaven, but let it be known beforehand, that he willlend his ear in vain if he has not nourished himself on theHoly Scriptures.

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The second plate is not in the order of operation. It representsthe egg of the philosophers, although as of yet nothing hasbeen divulged about the elements of which it is composed. Togive an idea, we must carefully go over a number of symbols.

Every egg contains a seed – the Purkinje vesicle – which isour Salt, the egg yolk, which is our Sulphur, and the albumen,which is our Mercury. The whole is enclosed in a "ask whichcorresponds with the shell. The three products are personi!edhere by Apollo, Diana and Neptune, the God of pontic waters.

Traditionally this "ask is contained in a second, and this isenclosed again in a third made of wood of an oak. Flamelspeci!cally states: "Note the oak”, and Vico, the chaplain ofthe Lords of Grosparmy and Valois commends it with no lessinterest. This insistence is signi!cant, and we recall that the!rst plate shows the Kermes Oak which grows on the rock ofthe Sages. The Kermes oak, is the Hermes of the Adepts,because in the Hebrew language, K and H are but one and thesame letter, substitutes of each other. But here one must be onguard, the mineral kermes leads to the trap set by Philaletes,Artephius, Basil Valentine and many others, and we must notlose sight of the fact that philosophers delighted in certainverbal deceptions. Ερµηξ is the arti!cial mercury that amalga-mates the compost.

The size of the egg is of importance. In nature, the eggvaries from that of the wren to that of the ostrich, but as thewise say: in medio virtus. We must also say something aboutthe philosophic glass. The authors speak little about it, andwhen they do, with reservation. However we know byexperience that the best is that from Venice. It must be of goodthickness, clear and without bubbles. In the past the strongglass of Lorraine was used, which was made by the masterglassblowers. Yet a good practitioner must learn to make hisglassware himself.

The lower ! gure of this second plate presents an athanorbetween a man and a woman on their knees, as if in prayer,

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leading some shallow-minded to the belief that prayer isinvolved in work as a ponderable element. Here it is a factor oflittle importance. Of primary importance here is to use theappropriate materials, but the zest of the created towards theCreator may have a favourable in"uence on the process, sincethe light comes from God. One should free himself howeverfrom such ineffective assumptions. The prayer of the artist israther the work itself, hard work, often hard, dangerous andnot for those with delicate hands. Remember therefore tofocus on the improbus labor.

The third plate is not in its proper place. It leads us into thekingdom of Neptune. One can see, frolicking in the waves, thedolphin that is so dear to Apollo and on a boat some!shermen throw out their nets and ! shing rod. On anothership a man is lying down in a nonchalant pose. In anotheraisle, a man is lying in a nonchalant pose. In the second circle,a landscape is shown with on one side a ram and a bull on theother. We will encounter these again later, and study them at amore appropriate time. The lower left side shows a womanholding a basket, which is the symbol of the trellised lanternof the philosophers. On the right side is a man throwing his!shing line into the sea which is found in the third circle (theone that encloses the other two). The third circle is decoratedwith a " ock of birds to the left; a mermaid below andAmphitrite at the top. Along the sides the sun and moon arepictured, and hovering over the nautical scene is Jupitercarried by his eagle. The image as a whole aims to show thatthe operator must exert all his faculties and use all theresources of the art in order to capture the mystical !sh, aboutwhich d'Espagnet speaks.

The author should have taught us ! rst how to weave thenet that is required for this miraculous ! shing. The authorshould ! rst have instructed us how to weave the threadnecessary for this miraculous ! shing. Let us amend his

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omission: the winch must be ! reproof, strong and unfailing.The !shing apparel must be well suited for use in deep waters,and will be mounted with a lantern whose light will draw theprey into the nets. According to the other symbols one couldalso use the line, but the Arcanum lies in the preparation ofthe bag net. Its name is circumstantial, for it concerns herenothing less than the catching of the golden !sh.

One will !nd the secret of this operation in a classic bookcalled Ariadne’s Thread, because we cannot summarize theprocess in a few lines in this scope of this small work. As tohow to light the magic lantern as symbolized by the basket, itis only described in a few very rare books, and in a vague way.We must therefore say a few words about that. Some authors, and not the lesser ones, have asserted thatthe greatest art in the operation is to capture the rays of thesun, and to imprison them in a bottle that is closed with theseal of Hermes. This simple image has caused others to rejectthe operation is rejected as something ridiculous andimpossible. And yet it is literally true, in fact the image is aphysical reality. It is quite surprising that one should not havethought of it. This miracle is accomplished in a similar way bythe photographer when he makes use of a sensitive platewhich is prepared in different ways. In the Typus Mundi,published in the 17th century by the Priests of the Society ofJesus, we see a camera, as described by Tiphaine de Laroque,by means of which one can catch the Heavenly !re and !x it.The process could not be more scienti!c, and we sincerely saythat what we reveal here is, if not a great mystery, at least avaluable application of practical philosophy.

The eagles that " y at the left side in the large circle,symbolize the sublimations of mercury. One should do threeto seven for the Moon, and seven to ten for the Sun. They aremarked by the " ight of the birds and are indispensable,because they prepare the nuptial robe of Apollo and Diana,without which their mystical union would be impossible. This

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is why Jupiter, the God who governs the eagle, presides overthese operations.

The fourth plate shows how one goes about collecting the !oscoeli. Sheets are suspended on poles to receive the heavenlydew. Below a man and a woman are wringing them to pressout the divine liquor, which falls into a large bowl that is readyfor that purpose. To the left one sees the Ram; on the right theBull.

The poor puffers3 have tortured their minds over the natureof the !os coeli. Some have seen this as a sort of magicalin"ux. For them magic is a supernatural power gained by theconcurrence of good or bad spirits. Others, more realistic andcloser to the truth, have recognized it as the morning dew. The!os coeli is in fact called the water from the two equinoxes,from which we can infer that it is obtained in the spring andin the fall and is a mixture of these two " uids. Others yet,believing themselves to be wiser, would collect this mysteriousproduct from a kind of algae or lichenoid whose commonname is Nostoc. In the Seven Shades of The PhilosphicalWork, Etteilla, who was perhaps worth more than hisreputation, seems to have obtained some satisfactory resultswith a similar moss, but one must read his short tract withscrutiny.

Rosicrucians called themselves the Brothers of the Dew4 ofthe Earth, according to the testimony of Thomas Corneille, agood Hermeticist like his brother, who died tragically.However, Philalethes mocks those who collect dew and

3 Note from translator: "puffer" is a depreciative name for people whoclaim achievement in alchemy, but who are mainly after making vulgargold, and undertake operations which are merely chemistry. The termPuffer comes from the relentless blowing of common !re.

4 Note from translator: “Rosée cuite” is here translated as Dew of theEarth. The Latin “Rosa” stems from the older “Roseh” and in manylanguages evolved to mean both dew and rose.

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rainwater disdainfully, even though the Abbot of Valmontrecognized some of its virtues. It is up to each disciple to forman opinion according to his own proper judgement. But thereis no doubt that a secret agent, called "Heavenly Manna",plays an important role in the work.

We must add, in all honesty, that the Ram and the Bull ofthe plate, which were always considered to be the signs of theZodiac under which one must collect the !os coeli, have noconnection with the astrological symbols. Aries is theCriophore of Hermes, which is the same as Jupiter Ammon,and the Bull, whose horns delineate the crescent, attribute ofDiana and of Isis, who identify with the cow, Io, a lover ofJupiter. This is the Moon of the Philosophers. These twoanimals personify the two natures of the Stone. Their unionforms the Azim of the Egyptians. The Asimah of the Bible, thehybrid monster designating the orichalcum, the brass orbronze Oryx, the bronze bull of Phalaris, the golden calf orchrysocale calf5 This differs, of course, from the pinchbeck ofMannheim and is in a way similar to mechior. To put it brie"y,it is the electrum of the poets, but we must hear the word-riddle that contains the magic Arcanum. Philalethes teachesthat the gold of the Hermetists is, to a certain degree, similarto common gold. We could add that, according to mythology,the stone devoured by Saturn was called betulus, which is, infact, the same word as vitellus - Latin for calf – and vitellus -the yolk of the egg. The dough of unleavened6 bread was itshieroglyph. The priests living on the banks of the Nile nevertouched the sacri!cial breads with a sharp cutting tool of ironor steel: that would be a case of sacrilege. From this comes theancient custom, still in use today, of breaking the bread.

5 It is not amiss to recall that Helvetius wrote a treatise on alchemy in thetitle vitulus aureus (the golden calf).

6 Note from translator: Unleavened is “azyme” in the original Frenchversion, which stems from “azyma” in Latin, and “azymus” in AncientGreek: ἄζυµος.

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