In Cabala Mineralis, a very simple, practical handwritten notation helps clear the three salts enigma about Mercurius Duplicatus so we can finally enter the Main Work.
Cabala Mineralis is the title of a London British Museum manuscript highly positioned at n. 5235 and signed by Rabbi Simeon Ben Cantara, who maintains the good Hebraic habit of generous dissemination.
The picture’s dimension will grant us a comfortable reading of the latin undernote: “ Duae, ad plus Tres partes, Mercuri nostri, liquant unam partem luna vel solis vulgi subtilitati…” That’s to say: “two, or three at maximum, parts of our Mercurius dissolve one part of vulgar Luna-Moon (metallic silver) or Sol-Sun (metallic gold), but already in Mercurius or spiritual form. Namely, they must be dissolved in Mercurius and then repeatedly volatilized until a complete Mercurius is reached (1).
Of course, metallic silver and gold cannot be put in pieces inside Mercurius Philosophorum to be dissolved. Before that, they must be reduced to “ rust”, a salt of any chemical form. Alchemy is not interested in molecular purity, just simply in the amount of Secret Fire inside.
But, before going any further, how can we be sure this Cabala Mineralis vessel, with a dark substance inside, is really about Mercurius Duplicatus (2) or Main Work beginning? It unquestionably represents the Mercurius Philosophorum, as seen from the detail of the air tubes and caduceus (this time, the state of due filigree can be avoided). Therefore, we should remember that the new couple’s honeymoon must occur in a death setting.
Our second putrefaction or blackness, as Rosarium Jacobi 7 masterly puts on display in the conception-putrefaction phase. See an Opus Magnum scheme.
Jean d’Espagnet, in his “Traicté de l’Ouvrage Secret de la Philosophie d’Hermes” or Treatise on Hermes Philosophy secret work, in appendix of “ La Philosophie Naturelle restabliée” Paris 1651 page 273 paragraph 25, writes:” Que l’on ne se trompe pas en adjoutant à deux un troisième… one has not to get it wrong adding a third to two”. Then d’Espagnet goes on comparing Mercurius Duplicatus to a marriage: “… a marriage is established between two persons, if one looks for a third one, then that comes committing adultery”.
Jean d’Espagnet, in his “Traicté de l’Ouvrage Secret de la Philosophie d’Hermes” or Treatise on Hermes Philosophy secret work, in appendix of “ La Philosophie Naturelle restabliée” Paris 1651 page 273 paragraph 25, writes:” Que l’on ne se trompe pas en adjoutant à deux un troisième… one has not to get it wrong adding a third to two”. Then d’Espagnet goes on comparing Mercurius Duplicatus to a marriage: “… a marriage is established between two persons, if one looks for a third one, then that comes committing adultery”.
Too frequently, Alchemy, instead, comes by with a third salt. The theory is a thing, and practice is something else. And, no wonder, hermetic symbolism arises from that confusion. Compare with Hollandus’s “Opera Mineralia, sive De Lapide Philosophico” to have an idea of real laboratory work, though in the renaissance period. Thus in an ancient chemistry environment.
We have many images of Mercurius Duplicatus, although it has been a secret for centuries. The most used method to keep it out of sight is its confusion with Mercurius Philosophorum. The two iconographies are recurrently forced to appear, not disconnected. In Alchemy, hardly an allegory or a symbol is not subjected to the rule of three; thus, three salts are expected to stand at least for three different concepts.
Mercurius Philosophorum, a volatile Mercurius out of Materia Tertia/Salts volatilization but made more stabilized, can be defined as a man-woman (3) product. A hermaphrodite. A Rebis, from “Res Bina” or two things. Former volatile, now fixed, still solving. This is our Universal Solvent to solve our metals indeed. When volatile is called Mercurius; when fixed is called Salt or Azoth (4). Very often, Mercurius becoming more fixed is defined as Sulphur and, consequently, again Salt.
They are just one thing, but too often, symbolism deals with Mercurius, Sulphur, and Salt as they were three. Symbola Aurea Mensae engraving number four, though very famed, represents one the most confusing Rebis or two things in conventional representations. To get things hardier is the appearance of an attending bishop.
So we have three individualisms, standing for the same thing, in the case of Mercurius Philosophorum, but three separate salts in the case of Mercurius Duplicatus. Canseliet presented this image in his “Etude diverses de Symbolisme Hermétique et de Pratique Philosophale” 1964, stating the bishop is the indispensable salt to celebrate the ceremony and unify the other two salts. Of course, he omitted to say if we are before Mercurius Philosophorum or Duplicatus. This image is considered one of the most brain-burning of all alchemic imaginary.