Understanding Alchemical Theory
When you make or take an alchemical spagyric (a tincture, essence, elixir or other preparation), how is it prepared and what is it made of?
Here we will briefly outline the components of a spagyric that make up our products. This approach was made famous by the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1591). Alchemy had been practised since at least Ptolemaic Egypt, by then it was likely much much older but Paracelsus revolutionised alchemical practice by creating a new approach called Spagyrics. Spagyrics are laboratory operations undertaken to produce alchemical products.
In Hermetic cosmology we say that All is One. We conceptualise reality as being made entirely of One Energy (or One Thing, Prima Materia), moving and changing through various forms. This One Thing finds energetic expression in all living things itself through three different manifestations, known as the Tria Prima or "three essentials" of alchemy.
The Tria Prima are three components of all living things in the animal, mineral and vegetable realms. A simple way to think of this, is to imagine that we take our First Matter (a plant, animal or mineral in it's raw state), and reduce it down to it's most essential parts through spagyric operations: there will always be present a spirit (a liquor or strong volatile liquid), a soul (an oil or oil-like component) and a body (mineral component).
The Tria Prima are further outlined below.
Mercury - Vehicle of Spirit | Animating Life Force | Volatile Liquor
Spirit is represented by the cipher for Mercury, shown here at the right. The Mercury cipher is also a picture of the staff of Hermes, the caduceus, itself a combination of two serpents – one white and one red and a central staff or world tree. Mercury (Hermes) is a great symbol for spirit. As messenger, Mercury has the ability to travel between the realms of Gods and people - from the highest highs to the lowest lows. This is a very appropriate symbol because in labwork, the Spirit of each realm (animal, mineral and vegetable) is the most volatile liquor which is taken from a living thing that carries this volatile spirit. In a sense, that volatile liquor can, with heat applied, dissolve easily into the ether and thus once again be recycled as the Prima Materia. In the herbal realm, for example, alcohol or ethanol is the Mercury. We actually get the term alcoholic “spirits” from alchemy, because as alcohol is distilled, it becomes closer to Spirit in its volatile or etheric nature. Spirits are created in the operation of fermentation, after a plant has ‘given up the ghost’. When we drink alcohol we become “spirited”. So in alchemy we allow a substance to ferment before repeatedly distilling it so that it can be as pure and volatised as possible. Then we can obtain our Mercury or penetrating liquor.
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Sulfur - Vehicle of Soul | Personality | Oil
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The next important portion is the Soul, also called sulfur, shown here on the left. This symbol is actually two glyphs joined together – one glyph for fire, represented by the upward facing triangle. The other is the cross, representing the four elements of earth. The symbol for fire is above that of earth, so this means that soul is the firey essence which is tied to the four elements but is attempting to rise above earth to spirit. The soul of something in the vegetable, animal, mineral or metallic realm will depend on the matter being worked with. All things have unique profiles, and it is their uniqueness which is expressed through their soul. Soul refers to personality or character, and in alchemy this portion is typically carried in an oil or an oil-like substance. Most people are aware of essential oils in herbs, however animal products and metals will, if put under alchemical processes, produce something which looks and feels like an oil. The soul is that part of something which has the intelligence to direct energy (spirit) to a specific part of us. For example, the herb chamomile has an innate personality or medicinal profile which can be directed within the being of an individual to relax them, calm digestion, assist with hay fever, inflammation etc. So in the herbal kingdom, as an example, we separate the essential oil and just like we did with the spirit portion, we may distil it until it is free of impurities and then take it medicinally.
Salt - Vehicle of Body | Vessel | Mineral Structure
The final part of the three essentials is the body, also called Salt, shown here on the right. It is a circle (representing eternal energy) with a line through it (symbolising polarity, duality, in short our world). Salt in alchemy is a philosophical term for matter, or the body portion. If a person were to die, the salt portion is what is left behind after the mercury (spirit) and sulfur (soul) has left the body. The salt principle is that mineral portion of a thing which gives it a body, form and coagulates it structurally in space and time. The body is an often overlooked part of a natural medicine. In naturopathy, when a herbal tincture is made the salt portion, which is the herb body, is discarded after the herbal extraction is finished. In alchemy we throw nothing away; we take this discarded herb and purify it through alchemical processes to retrieve a special hidden salt, then we add it back into the tincture, reanimating it and catalysing new compounds in the medicine. The salt portion of the original substance gives a medicine grounding and the ability to be digested more effectively through introduction of the saline, alkaline component. Thus a spagyric which contains the salt essential is not required to be broken down by the digestive tract with loss of potency, like an ordinary more acidic tincture would be.
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What sets spagyrics as alchemical products apart from others? One definition is that alchemical operations in the lab have taken place to separate and purify the three essential components. When all three parts of our starting material are purified, what do we do? We combine them together again in a sacred marriage. After a special operation called "cohobation", a kind of conjunction, the matter at hand is born anew, “resurrected” if you will, into a new form that is more refined, more powerful and more pure than the starting material. The matter undergoes a death (of the old), and a rebirth (into a new form), being transmuted. Medicines of this order have the capacity to initiate healing through all three levels within us – body, soul and spirit, depending on the characteristic soul or sulfur correspondence of the medicine. This is because, with all three components present (particularly the salt or body portion), alchemical medicines have enhanced bio-availability.
As the age-old alchemical saying goes, Solve et Coagula (dissolve and coagulate) - when we practice alchemy in the lab, we are attempting to separate, purify and reunite Body, Soul and Spirit - these three essentials. After the three essentials in our First Matter are separated, purified and recombined, we are left with a product that is elevated, reborn if you will, on a completely new octave of creation. Not only this, but the alchemist themselves, in making the preparation, will have undergone their own inner change. It is said in alchemy that we cannot transform anything unless we first transform ourselves. Thus, alchemical medicines exist as an initiatory preparation that transform an individual once consumed, but to produce them initiates a transformation in the operator too.