ALCHEMICAL GLOSSARY

It is believed to be useful to give, at the beginning, a sufficiently general meaning of the terms commonly used by authors who have dealt with Alchemy. This small glossary will allow readers willing to deeply study material Alchemy which, parallel to spiritual Alchemy, will allow the understanding of very closed works, such as "The Book of Images Without Words", or Mutus Liber, "The Symbolic Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone" by JC Barchunsen, "The Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom" by Henry Khunrath. And, thus familiarized with the general meaning of these somewhat obscure terms, it will be easier to approach the works of modern alchemists, and above all of the great Jean-Julien-Hubert Champagne, alias Fulcanelli( ). In his works "The Mystery of the Cathedrals" and "The Philosophers' Abodes", he addresses the material domain of Alchemy. But the meanings we give here will usefully be supplemented by the practical aspect he gives us.

TUNING: Operation by which everything that is foreign to it is separated from a metal. It is particularly practiced on gold and silver.

WATER: One of the Four Elements of the Ancients. It has nothing in common with ordinary water.

EAGLE: Symbol of volatilization, and also of the acids used in the Work. An eagle devouring a lion means the volatilization of the fixed by the volatile. Two eagles fighting each other have the same meaning.

ALBIFICATION: White or red calcination.

ALLUDEL: Apparatus composed of superimposed and communicating vessels to carry out a slow sublimation.

AMALGAMATION: Intimate union of several metallic elements in a homogeneous and very malleable whole.

ANIMALS: As a general rule, when two animals of the same species but of a different sex are found in the figure (such as a lion and a lioness, a dog and a dog), this means Sulfur and Mercury prepared in view of the Work, or the fixed and the volatile. The male then represents the fixed, Sulfur, the female represents the volatile, Mercury. United, animals express conjunction, nuptials, marriage. They are fighting each other: fixation of the volatile or volatilization of the fixed. See the figures by Basilio Valentin, in "The Twelve Keys of Occult Philosophy"( ). Animals can also symbolize the Elements: Earth (lion, bull), Air (eagle), Water (fish, whale), Fire (dragon, salamander). If a terrestrial animal figures in a hermetic image with an aerial animal, they mean the fixed and the volatile respectively.

ANGEL: Sometimes it symbolizes sublimation, the rise of a volatile principle, as in the figures of the "Viatorium spagyricum".

APOLLO: The sun, the gold.

AIR: One of the four elements of the Ancients. It has nothing to do with the air we breathe.

TREES: A tree bearing moons means the small magisterium, the stone in white. If it bears suns, it is the Great Work, the stone in red. If it bears the symbols of the seven metals, or the signs of the sun, moon and five stars, then it signifies the unique matter from which metals are born.

ATHANOR: Oven for reverb.

BALLOON: Large and round glass vessel, destined to receive the products of the distillation.

BATH: Symbol: 1) of the dissolution of gold and stone; 2) the purification of these two metals.

MARINE BATH: Apparatus arranged in such a way that the vessel containing the matter is bathed with boiling water.

WHITE: Stone in white, still imperfect stone, where all the transmuting possibilities have not yet been developed and obtained.

CRUCIBLE: Refractory clay vessel with an open top, intended for melting metals and hard bodies.

CALCINATION: Reduction of bodies in heat. It can be dry or wet.

CALADITION: Heat.

CHAMBER: Symbol of the philosophical egg, when the King and Queen are enclosed in it (Sulfur and Mercury).

CHAOS: Symbol of the unity of Matter, sometimes black (first stage of the Work), of putrefaction.

DOG: Symbol of Sulfur, of Gold. The dog devoured by a wolf means the purification of gold by antimony. Dog and dog mean, associated, the fixed and the volatile.

CAPITEL: A glass cavity equipped with a spout, which adapts to the neck of the cucurbit or urine, in order to distil mineral spirits. Capital, hat, hat, still, are more or less the same thing.

MARRIAGE: Union of Sulfur and Mercury, Fixed and Volatile. The priest who celebrates represents Salt, the means of union between them.

RAIN: Symbol of the white color in the Work, or albification. It is also the image of condensation in the course of making.

CEMENTATION: Operation by which, by means of mineral powders called cement, we purify metals to the point where they are no more than pure metallic substance.

CIRCULATION: Consists of circulating liquids in a closed vessel by the effect of slow heat.

CIRCULAR: See Pelican.

CIRCUMFERENCE: Unit of Matter. Universal harmony.

SWAN: Symbol of the Work in white, second state after putrefaction and irisation. The latter does not figure in the classic ternary of the Great Work: black, white and red.

COOBATION: Action of placing the distilled metallic spirit on its residue.

CORNIJA OR RETORT: Round glass vase, with a curved tip downwards, used to distil materials in the course of the Work.

CROWN: Symbol of chemical royalty, metallic perfection. In "La Margarita Préciosa", the six metals are first represented as slaves, bare heads at the feet of the king, the Gold. But after their transmutation they are pictured with a crown on their head. Hence, in spiritual alchemy, the phrase of LC de Saint-Martin: "Every man is his own king...", that is, every man carries within himself the possibility of returning to his lost "royalty", on the spiritual and angelic plane .

RAVEN: One of the first states of the Work: putrefaction.

CAUPELLATION: Alchemical refinement or control of gold and silver by melting lead in a crucible.

CHILD: Dressed in royal clothes, or simply crowned: symbol of the philosopher's stone, sometimes of the Work in red.

CHRYSOPEA: The Philosopher's Stone, the Great Work accomplished.

CUCURBITA: Pumpkin-shaped vase open to the top, covered with a capital for the distillation of vegetables and other materials.

DECREPITATION: Action of heating common salt with a crucible to remove moisture.

DELIQUID: Or deliquescent, Natural resolution of salts in water by exposure in a humid place.

DESFLEUGMAR: Consists of separating the water contained in the bodies (or phlegm), by evaporation or distillation.

DISTILLATION: Operation during which the subtle parts of solid or liquid bodies, or even the spirit of the matter that swallowed it, are separated.

DIANA: See Moon.

DIGESTION: Disaggregation, involution or maturation of the material obtained by exposing the vessel that contains it to the heat of the sea bath for a convenient time.

DRAGON: A dragon biting its tail: the unit of Matter. A dragon in flames: symbol of Fire. Several dragons fighting each other: putrefaction. Dragon without Wings: the Fixed. Winged Dragon: the Volatile.

SULFUR: One of the hidden constitutive principles of Matter. It has nothing in common with the vulgar body of this name. It is also the symbol of Gold, prepared for the final work.

SPHERE: Designates the unit of Matter.

SWORD: Symbol of Fire.

SKELETON: Putrefaction, the Work in the black state. Synonymous with Raven

LAYERING: Superposition, by alternate planes, of several materials subjected to a violent fire, in a closed vessel. Mixing then operates by fusion, but the superposition is not left to chance, it must be rational and scientific.

FAULX: Symbol of Fire.

PHOENIX: Symbol of the red color in the Work. The Phoenix Egg is the Philosophical Egg. The Phoenix is ​​also the Sulfur and Mercury of the Sages united and conjugated at the end of the Work.

FIXED: The Metallic Sulfur, or Corascene dog.

FLOWERS: Generally represent the successive colors that appear in the course of the Work.

FIRE: One of the Four Elements of the Ancients. It has nothing in common with common fire.

FIRE OF THE WHEEL: First phase of the Second Work, gentle and slow fire.

GROUND FIRE: Interposition of gravel between the fire and the vessel containing the matter to be treated.

SECRET FIRE: Universal Spirit enclosed within the metallic darkness, spark of life hidden in everything that is in its primitive natural state.

SOURCE: Three sources generally represent the three principles: Sulfur, Mercury and Salt. See also Bath. There are still other aspects of this word, which would require a little longer development. We find them remarkably described in Fulcanelli's works.

COLD: One of the four elemental qualities of Nature.

HERMAPHRODITE: The result of the conjunction of Sulfur and Mercury, also called Rebis.

MAN AND WOMAN: Sulfur and Mercury. Naked designates impure gold and silver. Her nuptials: conjunction of Sulfur and Mercury. Enclosed in a tomb: the two principles united in the philosophical Egg.

JUPITER: Symbol of tin.

LION: Only: symbol of the Fixed, of Sulfur. Winged: the Volatile, the Mercury. The lion also represents the mineral (or green vitriol), from which the vitriol oil (sulfuric acid) is extracted, which alchemists use. The lion, opposite three other animals, symbolizes the Earth. It is still the symbol of Chrysopea.

LIONESS: The volatile, Mercury.

LIQUATION: The Philosophical Egg.

WOLF: Symbol of Antimony.

MOON: The Volatile, the Mercury, the Silver of the Sages.

MOURNING: Product made of thick and greasy materials designed to fill the joints that connect several vessels to each other.

MARMORIZING: Crushing the materials on the marble, with the help of a pestle. It is also said to porphyrize.

MARS: Iron, the orange nuance in the Work.

MATRAZ: Glass vase, round, oval or flat, with a long neck. In it, it is placed to digest the prepared matter.

MENSTRUUM: Vegetable or mineral waters with solvent properties. Corrosive.

MERCURY: One of the hidden constitutive principles of Matter. It has nothing in common with the vulgar body of this name. It is also the symbol of the Silver prepared for the final Work.

MOUNTAIN: Oven of the philosophers. Apex of the Philosophical Egg.

MORTIFICATION: Change of matter by grinding or adding an active element.

NEGRO: Also symbolized by Crow. Image of putrefaction.

NEPTUNE: The Water.

NUPTIALS: See Marriage.

GOLD OF THE SAGES: Philosophical sulfur.

PRIEST: Marrying a man and a woman or a king and a queen, symbolizes the principle Salt.

PALACE: Entry into the closed Palace: discovery of the Agent capable of operating the reduction of the Fixed, the return to a form analogous to that of its primitive substance. It also designates access to Living Gold, Sages' Gold or Philosophical Sulfur, in the case of access to the King's closed Palace, and designates, on the contrary, Living Silver, Sages' Silver or Philosophical Mercury, in the case of entry into the Closed Palace of the Queen.

BIRD: Soaring in the sky: volatization, ascension, sublimation. Flying towards the ground: precipitation, condensation. These two images gathered in the same figure: the distillation. Birds, as opposed to terrestrial animals, mean the Air, or the Volatile.

NARROW PASSAGE: Hole.

PELICAN: Closed cucurbite equipped with two handles reconnecting the head to the belly. It is also called circulatory because of its function.

SILVER OF THE WISE: Mercury of the Philosophers.

RAW MATERIAL: Raw material of the Hermetic Work. Usually iron or lead pyrite (Galena).

SQUARE: Symbol of the Four Elements.

HOT: One of the four elemental qualities in Nature.

RÉBIS: Result of the amalgamation of the Gold of the Wise and the Mercury of the Wise, double material, at the same time wet and dry, having received from Nature and Art a double occult property that is exactly balanced.

CONTAINER: Designates in this case a glass balloon.

KING AND QUEEN: See Man and Woman.

WASTE: What remains at the bottom of a vase after distillation. Synonymous with feces, dead earth, condemned earth, caput mortem.

CORRECTION: Last distillation to obtain an extremely pure metallic spirit. It is then made over a very lively fire.

REVERBERATION: Exaltation of the internal energy of the metallic spirit by the action of a violent fire on the matter that contains this spirit. Sometimes: total dissection.

ROSE: Designates the red color, the last state of the Work. A white rose and a red rose: union of Fixed and Volatile, Sulfur and Mercury. Sometimes the rose is the emblem of all Hermetic Art.

RUBIFICATION: Action to destroy combustible Sulfur, and externalize non-combustible Sulfur, the principle of aurification hidden within the mineral.

RUBI MÁGICO: Energetic agent, with a fiery subtlety, coated with color and the multiple properties of fire. Also called Oil of Christ, Oil of Crystal, it is also symbolized by the heraldic Lizard, or Salamander, which lives on fire and grows fat in it.

OUTPUT: Operation consisting of separating silver from gold through saltpeter. It's a tuning.

SAL: Also called Arsenic, one of the three mysterious components of bodies. It has nothing in common with any ordinary salt. In the union of Sulfur and Mercury in metals, it is obtained as a result. As, moreover, from the reciprocal action of the spirit and the soul, or of the soul and the psychic double, the bodies of human beings are constituted. Salt can even be compared to the "result" in the addition of two factors.

SALAMANDRA: Symbolizes Fire. Sometimes it means the red color, the ultimate state of the Work, or even the white color that precedes it. See the Magic Ruby.

SATURN: Designates lead. Likewise, the black color of the Work, in the state of putrefaction. Synonymous with Raven.

DRY: One of the four elemental qualities in Nature.

SEPULCRUS: Philosophical Egg.

SEQUIDÃO: Dryness.

SNAKE: Same meanings as for the Dragon. Three serpents designate the three principles: Salt, Sulfur and Mercury. Two Serpents on the Caduceus: Sulfur and Mercury of the Sages. Winged Serpent: the Volatile. Wingless: the Fixed. Crucified Serpent: represents the fixation of the volatile.

SUN: Sometimes the ordinary gold, prepared for the Work, sometimes designates the Brimstone of the Wise.

SUBLIMATION: Violent or slow. Slow is best. Matter is placed in a closed vessel with a large neck, over a slow fire, so that the subtle (or pure) parts separate from the gross (or impure) parts, rising from the bottom of the vessel upwards.

EARTH: One of the Four Elements of the Ancients. It has nothing to do with the ground we walk on.

TRIANGLE: Symbol of the three mysterious constituent principles of metals: Salt, Sulfur, Mercury.

MOIST: One of the four elemental qualities in Nature.

URINAL: Vessel similar to a cucurbit, but a little longer. It serves the same purposes.

VENUS: Designates copper.

RED: Ultimate state of the Great Work. It also symbolizes Fire.

VOLATILE: Image of Mercury. What can be separated from the fixed elements.

VOLATIZATION: Action of transforming a solid body into a gas or vapor. Separation of volatile and fixed elements.

VOLCANO: Symbol of ordinary fire.

Some of the terms found in a number of works dealing with alchemy are summarized here. In particular, we follow the meanings given by Albert Poisson, in his book "Theories and Symbols", and by the scholarly researcher Jean Mavéric, in his book "A Arte Metálica dos Antigos". When the subject was worth it, we turned to two works by Fulcanelli, "O Mistério das Catedrais" and "Demeures Philosophales", and to "Five Livros" by Nicolas Valois, etc...

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