Air Alchemy

Yes, atmospheric air is an unexpectedly important element in alchemical works. One current of thought defines the Olympic deities as aspects of the air and its movements. For example, Hera, the wife/sister of Zeus, was said to be the stirring principle of atmospheric air. Hermes, being nursed by Hera, the actual movement of the air. And so on, in a chain of cause and effect.
Alchemists said it was the task of the air to bring spirits to earth.

In Alchemy, it is said that every day is different precisely because every day has different solar, lunar, and stellar conditions.

When the sun is at its weakest. Because in those moments, some stellar positions become very strong.

And if, on those nights, some stars are particularly powerful. The ancients said this could have a perceptible influence on the consistency of the air.

Indeed, the ancients also spoke of air “palaces”. But something had to “group” the molecules of which it is composed. Pay attention to these words because Greek mythology says potency becomes an act only when it is “delimited” inside a “box”.

In Alchemy, it is easier to offer clues than to state principles. So let me give you an example: when Orion is born, the sun no longer rules, and there is calm after the winds raised by the sun, and this phenomenon also happens with the birth of other celestial bodies, for example, with the Pleiades and Arthur.

We cannot strictly speak of the dew’s chemical composition, which makes it so interesting for alchemical work. If we can talk about chemistry in the case of aqueous dew, it is due to its ionization state. Let us not forget that water presents alchemically interesting aspects.

The wind is a sizeable messy mass of air molecules that fill areas of lower density. The wind behaves like a waterfall or a storm surge. Above, I spoke of air architecture, meaning the air in conditions not disturbed by intense atmospheric pressures. This atmospheric wind produces chemical reactions, not strictly alchemical.

However, an alchemical theory wants the origin of wind and sound to be the same. The alchemists did not speak of disorderly tidal waves of air molecules.

We have spoken of “palaces of the air” or constructions of air. The air does not build itself but can be moved by stellar, solar, lunar, watery, mineral, and other conditions waves of various kinds emitted by bodies of various kinds.

Perfumes surround the bodies. They can often be considered as a second skin. The skin symbol is analogous to the aura.

It is said that Spirit has the nature of air besides having that of fire (see also First Preparatory Works page).

There is talk of “trumpets” or cannulas to introduce air into the tools and help some types of Mercurius fixation. Furthermore, a series of special alembics, pelicans, and vases were foreseen in the Baroque era to help fix volatile substances. For example, Nicaise le Febvre calls some of these tools “eggs”. It was also said that the Spirit had an affinity for fumes.

The ancient alchemists never admitted the pressure differential theory but compared the world to an immense alembic, in which the laws of the ascent of liquids were in force. The pressure differential could cause the liquids to rise; perhaps they wanted to ignore it.