Introduction: The hermetic cabinet: Concepts of natural philosophy

BLOG Introduction: The hermetic cabinet: 3. Concepts of natural philosophy

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Introduction: The hermetic cabinet:
3. Concepts of natural philosophy

It is said of the philosophers and thaumaturge Empedocles that he asserted the existence of two suns. The hermetic doctrines also include a double sun, and distinguish between a bright spirit-sun, the "philosophical gold", and the dark natural sun, corresponding to "material gold". The former consists of the essential fire that is conjoined with the ether or the 'glowing air'.

Empedocles also taught that all life lay in the movement resulting from the clash between the two polar forces, love and conflict. In the Opus Magnum these correspond to the two alternating processes of dissolution and coagulation, disintegration and bonding, distillation and condensation. They correspond to the two polar agents of Arabic alchemy: mercury and sulphur, philosophical quicksilver and brimstone, sun and moon, white woman and red man. The climax of the Work is the moment of conjunctio, the conjunction of the male and female principle in the marriage of heaven and earth, of fiery spirit and watery matter (materia from the Latin mater, mother). The indestructible product of this cosmic sex act is the lapis, the "red son of the Sun".

In alchemy, the necessary counterforce to mercury, a force which also defines and shapes, is represented by male sulphur. Paracelsus added a further principle to the medieval doctrine of the dual principles, thereby making a decisive contribution to a more dynamic view of the natural processes.

Paracelcus identified the third fundamental principle as salt. Its property as a solid corresponds to that of the body. Sulphur, with its property of greasy, oily combustibility, mediates in the position of the soul. And mercury, the fluid principle with a propensity to sublimation, is the volatile intellect.

These Paracelcian Tria Prima are not chemical substances, but spiritual forces, from whose changeable proportions the invisible blacksmiths or craftsmen of nature produce the transient metarial compositions of the objective world. In more modern, speculative alchemy, particulary in Masonic beliefs of the 18th century, the arcanum salt finally moved into the centre of hermetic, gnostic mysticism. Because of its curative properties it was often interpreted in Christological terms as the "coagulated light of the world", the "secret central fire" or the "salt of wisdom".

It is said of the philosophers and thaumaturge Empedocles that he asserted the existence of two suns. The hermetic doctrines also include a double sun, and distinguish between a bright spirit-sun, the "philosophical gold", and the dark natural sun, corresponding to "material gold". The former consists of the essential fire that is conjoined with the ether or the 'glowing air'.

Empedocles also taught that all life lay in the movement resulting from the clash between the two polar forces, love and conflict. In the Opus Magnum these correspond to the two alternating processes of dissolution and coagulation, disintegration and bonding, distillation and condensation. They correspond to the two polar agents of Arabic alchemy: mercury and sulphur, philosophical quicksilver and brimstone, sun and moon, white woman and red man. The climax of the Work is the moment of conjunctio, the conjunction of the male and female principle in the marriage of heaven and earth, of fiery spirit and watery matter (materia from the Latin mater, mother). The indestructible product of this cosmic sex act is the lapis, the "red son of the Sun".

In alchemy, the necessary counterforce to mercury, a force which also defines and shapes, is represented by male sulphur. Paracelsus added a further principle to the medieval doctrine of the dual principles, thereby making a decisive contribution to a more dynamic view of the natural processes.

Paracelcus identified the third fundamental principle as salt. Its property as a solid corresponds to that of the body. Sulphur, with its property of greasy, oily combustibility, mediates in the position of the soul. And mercury, the fluid principle with a propensity to sublimation, is the volatile intellect.

These Paracelcian Tria Prima are not chemical substances, but spiritual forces, from whose changeable proportions the invisible blacksmiths or craftsmen of nature produce the transient metarial compositions of the objective world. In more modern, speculative alchemy, particulary in Masonic beliefs of the 18th century, the arcanum salt finally moved into the centre of hermetic, gnostic mysticism. Because of its curative properties it was often interpreted in Christological terms as the "coagulated light of the world", the "secret central fire" or the "salt of wisdom".

The doctrine of the four elements also goes back to Empedocles. He referred to them as the "four roots of all things": earth, water, air and fire. Hippocrates applied it as the theory of the four humours to the microcosm, and in the 4th century B.C. this theory was considerably refined by Aristotle. He traced all elements back to a common, prime matter, the proté hyle or prima materia. The alchemists also described this as "our chaos" or the "dark lump" that resulted from the fall of Lucifer and Adam. Accordingly, to sublimate it and elevate it to the lapis meant nothing less than bringing fallen creation back to its paradisal, primal state.

According to Aristotle, the prima materia conjoins, with the four qualities of dryness, coldness, moisture and heat, thus developing to form the four elements. By manipulating these qualites, it was also possible, so he thought, to change the elemental combinations of materials, therby bringing about their transmutation.

Accordingly, the work of the alchemists lies "only in the 'rotation' of the elements".

According to a law attributed to Pythagoras, quadernity definies the spectrum of all earthly possibilites. The Aristotelian fifth element, the refined "quintessence", is thus found only in the upper divine fiery heaven. It was the goal of all alchemists to bring this fifth element down to earth through the repeated transmutations that their work entailed. This meant they would often be distilling alcohol or imagining the divine light to be within salt.

Source: Roob, A. (2009) The Hermetic Cabinet, Köln: Taschen.

Puzzle pictures & linguistic riddles
Gnosis & Neoplatism

"The climax of the Work is the moment of conjunctio,
the conjunction of the male and female principle in the marriage of heaven and earth."

The doctrine of the four elements also goes back to Empedocles. He referred to them as the "four roots of all things": earth, water, air and fire. Hippocrates applied it as the theory of the four humours to the microcosm, and in the 4th century B.C. this theory was considerably refined by Aristotle. He traced all elements back to a common, prime matter, the proté hyle or prima materia. The alchemists also described this as "our chaos" or the "dark lump" that resulted from the fall of Lucifer and Adam. Accordingly, to sublimate it and elevate it to the lapis meant nothing less than bringing fallen creation back to its paradisal, primal state.

According to Aristotle, the prima materia conjoins, with the four qualities of dryness, coldness, moisture and heat, thus developing to form the four elements. By manipulating these qualites, it was also possible, so he thought, to change the elemental combinations of materials, therby bringing about their transmutation.

Accordingly, the work of the alchemists lies "only in the 'rotation' of the elements".

According to a law attributed to Pythagoras, quadernity definies the spectrum of all earthly possibilites. The Aristotelian fifth element, the refined "quintessence", is thus found only in the upper divine fiery heaven. It was the goal of all alchemists to bring this fifth element down to earth through the repeated transmutations that their work entailed. This meant they would often be distilling alcohol or imagining the divine light to be within salt.