/freedomzine/ - FreedomZine

Consider these quotes from the recipe

"Know then, that the division that was made upon the Water, by the ancient philosophers, separates it into four substances; one into two, and three into one; the third part of which is colour, as it were – a coagulated moisture; but the second and third waters are the Weights of the Wise."

The philosopher's split the "water" into four portions, literally. As in the philosopher's bodies split the "water" when they digest it. The urine and semen/milk is thought to come back out as urine (two into one), and semen/milk, blood, and feces is thought to come back out as feces (three into one). The third part is a "coagulated moisture", which is to say soft stool. The second and third waters are the Weights of the Wise, which is to say the contents are what the philosophers would normally excrete on any other day.

"And know that the chief principle of the art, is the Crow which is the blackness of the night and clearness of the day, and flies without wings. From the bitterness existing in the throat, the tincture is taken; the red goes forth from his body, and from his back is taken a thin water."

Feces are "black", urine is "clear". They "fly without wings" during urination / defecation as they fall to the ground. "From his back is taken a thin water" - self explanatory.

"Know that this matter I call the Stone; but it is also named the feminine of magnesia, or the hen, or the white spittle, or the volatile milk, the incombustible oil, in order that it may be hidden from the inept and ignorant, who are deficient in goodness and self-control.

…

…

…

The disposition sought after by the philosophers, O son, is but one in our egg; but this in the hen's egg is much less to be found. But lest so much of the Divine Wisdom as is in a hen's egg should not be distinguished, our composition is, as that is, from the four elements adapted and composed. Know, therefore, that in the hen's egg is the greatest help with respect to the proximity and relationship of the matter in nature; for in it there is a spirtuality and conjunction of the elements, and an earth which is golden in its tincture."

Basically, if anybody asks what it is, just call it regular semen, milk, or an oil of some sort. "Hen's egg" seems to be the preferred euphemism, as the philosopher's produce it in a similar fashion to how a hen would lay an egg. Furthermore, what you believe you know about this "egg" only constitutes a small portion of its true meaning; all of nature can be explained by examining it.

Mary Anne Atwood herself maintains the air of obscurity that any Hermeticist would be obligated to do. Her book is essentially an attempt to defend Hermeticism and deliver the recipe to those considered worthy while not revealing its secrets directly. She views this as necessary because those otherwise-worthy individuals are being drawn to competing contemporary philsophical schools, and thus are being actively mislead from the truth.

On page 153, she has this to say about the recipe…

"How many earnest and curious books there have been written relative to the powers of magic and transformations by spells, talismans, and circumstantial conjurations of all sorts, which, taken according to the letter, are ridiculous without the key. But the records of Alchemy are, above all, calculated to mislead those who have gone abroad thoughtlessly seeking for that perfection which was to be found only by experimentally seeking at home within themselves.

Man then, shall we conclude at length, is the true laboratory of the Hermetic art; his life the subject, the grand distillatory, the thing distilling and the thing distilled, and Self-Knowledge to be at the root of all Alchemical tradition? Or is any one disappointed at such a conclusion, imagining difficulties, or that the science is impracticiable because it is humanely based? – or some may possibly think the pursuit dangerous, or inexpedient, or unprofitable, scientific investigation having been so long and successfully carried on in every adverse direction? Behold we invite not the unwilling, nor will these studies be found to reward the sordid seeker after riches or gold only : such may find better employ and easier emolument from the abundant offering of the precious metal upon earth, nor do we anticipate that many will in the present day be attracted to our goal."

This explains a lot about soul-cooking