Kaçan Atalanta

Hermes, the most diligent investigator of every natural secret, describes the natural work graphically, albeit succinctly, in his Emerald Tablet, where, among other things, he says: The wind carried him in its belly. As if he were saying: That one, whose father is the Sun, and whose mother is the Moon, will be carried by windy vapors before it is brought into the light, just as a bird is carried by the air while it flies. From the vapors or winds (which are nothing other than air in motion) that have been coagulated, water is made, and from this, when mixed with earth, all minerals and metals are formed. But it is asked: Who is this who must be carried by the wind? I answer, chemically, it is sulfur, which is carried in quicksilver. Physically, it is the fetus that must soon be born into the light. I say also arithmetically, it is the root of a cube; musically, it is a double octave; geometrically, it is the point which is the beginning of a flowing line; astronomically, it is the center of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, the planets. Although these are different subjects, if they are compared well among themselves, they will easily demonstrate the fetus of the wind. But I will state the matter more clearly thus: Every Mercury is composed of vapors, that is, of water raising earth with itself into an aerial rarity, and of earth forcing the air to return into watery earth or earthy water. Since the elements are in it throughout, mixed and crushed and reduced into a certain viscous nature, they do not easily depart from each other, but either the volatile follow above, or they remain below with the fixed, the first of which appears in common Mercury. Nor is it without cause that Mercury, the messenger, interpreter, and as it were the intermediate minister of the other gods, is said and held to be running, with wings adapted to his head and feet. For he is windy and flies through the air, just as the wind itself.