A Modern Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery

Part I: An Overview of Alchemy’s History and Theory

Chapter 2: The Theory of Transformation and the Universal Matter (Continued)

The Transformative Power of Mercury

The alchemical Mercury, or universal matter, is like light or heat, blending with substances to harden, soften, destroy, or nurture them, changing their forms and qualities. Unlike ordinary elements, it works within itself, perfecting without confusion or external influence. Initially, it appears pure and white, emerging from the alchemical process of breaking down matter to its essence. As the adept refines it, this essence reveals three core principles—Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury—acting as agent, patient, and universal offspring, flowing into countless forms.

This essence, often called Proteus or Mercury, is hidden under many names to protect its secrets. It can become anything—mineral, vegetable, animal, fire, air, earth, water, a stone, a vapor, a dry water, an oil, a phoenix, a dragon, or a chameleon. It embodies all colors and thoughts, nourishing, destroying, living, dying, purifying, yet remains a potential chaos, the “philosophers’ egg.” As Virgil wrote:

The more it shifts into every form,
The stronger its bonds hold, O son.

Alchemists used its mutable nature to confuse the greedy while guiding the wise. Their talk of elements or colors refers to stages in refining this Mercury, not ordinary substances. The three principles—Salt, Sulphur, Mercury—are modes of the same essence, like a tree’s leaves, trunk, and fruit, all from one root.

In its raw state, this essence is common and cheap, but when purified, it becomes the most potent medicine. It starts as a “green lion” or “serpent” (crude vitality), turns venomous in decay, then, calcined by its own fire, becomes the “magnesia” or “lead of the wise.” Dissolved again, it’s a sharp solvent, then an oil, whitening into “milk” or “dew,” until it reaches the “phoenix” or “Red Stone.” Bloomfield’s verse captures this:

Our great Elixir, priceless and rare,
Our Azoth, Basilisk, and Cockatrice—
Some call it Mercury of metal’s essence,
Others a desert lion, an eagle soaring,
A toad for its fierce strength.
Few name it truly—it’s a hidden quintessence.

Challenges of Understanding

Alchemical texts are deliberately obscure, using metaphors to hide the truth from the unworthy. Geber, Sendivogius, and others spoke of “sulphur” or “mercury,” but meant the qualities of the universal essence, not common materials. Hermes’ Golden Treatise describes separating “water” into four substances, but this isn’t ordinary water—it’s the ethereal essence of life, transformed by art. Thales and Moses also spoke of a creative “water,” not the physical kind.

The Rosarium marvels, “How wonderful is this Thing, containing all we seek, needing nothing added, only purified!” These varied descriptions—water, fire, stone—confuse without experiential insight. Patience is needed to navigate this “Hermetic labyrinth” and find the true light amid shadowy metaphors.

The Universal Essence and Nature

Alchemists saw this essence as the pure, ethereal substance of nature, refined and made tangible through art. It’s the “Stone of Fire,” born from and returning to fire, its spirit dwelling in flame. Eirenaeus Philalethes wrote:

No water alone could cause such change,
Linking sulphur and mercury so firmly.
An inner agent, Light, shapes the matter,
Stamping its form to create a seed,
Which transforms the substance to its destined end.

This essence perfects minerals into gold, plants into elixirs, and, most profoundly, humans into divine beings. In humans, it’s an embryonic divine image, awaiting a “new birth” to transcend earthly limits and commune with universal intelligence.

Modern science explores light, electricity, and magnetism but can’t grasp their source. Despite experiments with prisms and machines, the true cause remains elusive, as Robert Hunt noted: “The more we uncover, the more miraculous it seems.” Alchemists claimed to access this cause—the universal essence—through their art, urging us to rediscover their methods.

Transmutation Across Kingdoms

Nature’s forms are flawed, trapped in specific molds. Alchemy’s dissolution purifies this essence, uniting agent and patient in one, as the Smaragdine Table states: “What is below is like what is above, for the miracles of the One Thing.” Like wine from grapes or butter from milk, the essence transforms through its own ferment, not external additions. Unlike natural processes bound by species, the alchemical essence, freed by art, shapes itself around its infinite light, transmuting and multiplying freely.

Gold is closest to this essence, pure and untainted, dissolving into it like ice in warm water. Sendivogius advised, “Seek the hidden thing that dissolves gold gently, its mother. If you find it, you have the source of gold’s creation.” The process is the same across mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, but minerals are easiest to perfect due to their simpler nature. Geber noted, “Metals have less perfection than animals, relying on proportion. Thus, we can more freely perfect them.”

Conclusion and Next Steps

The Hermetic art requires identifying this universal matter, finding it, and mastering its refinement—a task beyond ordinary nature. It demands a skilled adept and deep understanding. To explore this further, we turn to the Golden Treatise of Hermes, a revered text summarizing the art. Though mystical and complex, it offers a glimpse into alchemy’s secrets, demanding patience and insight to unlock its wisdom, as Norton warned:

Trust me, it’s no small feat
To know the secrets of this craft—
The profound philosophy
Of this subtle, holy alchemy.