Page 567

[Alexandr Korol]

“All alchemical teachings without exception are marked by mystery and secrecy, which often led to their misinterpretation. However, magical rites, ritual actions, and incantations were viewed as ways to influence natural and divine forces that could aid in performing the mystical act of creation — that is, the transformation of one substance into another (transmutation, tetrasomata).
These transformations were justified by the existence of prima materia — the original substance — and the fundamental elements: four in the Western tradition (fire, water, earth, and air) and five in the Eastern tradition (fire, water, earth, metal, and wood).
In European alchemy, between prima materia and the individual material bodies born from it, there are two intermediate “links.”
The first link consists of the universal qualitative principles of the masculine (sulfur) and feminine (mercury) forces. In the 15th century, a third principle was added — “salt” (motion).
The second link consists of the states, qualities, and properties of the primary elements: earth (solid state of matter), fire (radiant state), water (liquid state), air (gaseous state), and quintessence (etheric state).
As a result of the interaction between the qualitative principles (forces) and the states of the primary elements, any transmutation of substances becomes possible. In all alchemical traditions, mercury and its sulfide — cinnabar (HgS) — play an exceptional role. At times, they even give their name to the entire alchemical system, as in Rasāyana (one of its meanings being “chariot of mercury,” or “the doctrine of mercury”) in the Indian alchemical tradition, or dan (qin) (“(the art of) cinnabar”), the name for Taoist alchemy.
In European alchemy, the word for “mercury” is the same as the name of alchemy’s patron — Mercury (the god and the planet) and its legendary founder, Hermes Trismegistus.
In addition, alchemy employed sulfur, the six traditional metals (lead, iron, copper, tin, silver, gold), arsenic compounds (especially orpiment and realgar), antimony, saltpeter, alkalis, and various other inorganic and organic compounds. In Chinese, Indian, and Tibetan alchemy, precious stones and herbs were also used. In all alchemical systems, the following ideas hold great importance:
The purification and concentration of the substances involved in the work through calcination, smelting, amalgamation, and distillation;