First-Preparatory Works, Eagle Wings or Volatilization

Van Helmont, Occulta et Secreta Circulatione: “If you don’t know how to obtain alkahest, at least learn how to volatilize salts”. A caring and not-so-subtle suggestion to volatilize salts, indeed!

P.S: I don’t remember if van Helmont wrote “salts” or directly “tartar”, though.

True. The alcoholic part of the wine is indispensable in many humid path processes for its “lifting” characteristics. In fact, alcohol has a lower evaporation point than water, and this makes the difference during distillation.

Rectified Spirit of wine, that is, we have to increase the alcohol content by decreasing the water.

Van Helmont, Occulta et Secreta Circulatione: “When trying to mix Tartar Salt and ethanol (rectified Spirit of wine)  the first one sinks to the bottom like sand in water… ”

As said above, the tartar must help itself in the sense that the impurities present are necessary to help the uplift. With no impurities, the work would be impossible.

Because the path of tartarized wine was the main humid path par excellence, considered the didactic way (behind which other ways were hidden), for better or for worse, it is also the most described procedure in the treatises of the Middle Ages/Renaissance/Baroque age.

Not at all. You will not get very far with only cask wine with its tartar: it needed “vinegars“ to break down the raw material, essential oils to “unite the salts“, and “volatilized“ salts already prepared such as, for example, the famous sal armoniacum prepared from urine. And then, let’s not forget “the pinch of gold“.

The other advantage of the tartarized wine teaching method was the rotation of the colors from black to red through white: the immediate visual way to understand what stage one is at.

Yes, the salt should already have the origin of volatilization, also from the chemical point of view. We have to be flexible in our thinking, and not divide substances strictly according to their tasks, into those that must be dissolved and those that dissolve others. It’s an art. Salts that contain a metallic form are very precious because they contain a lot of Mercurius in origin, which, in the best scenario, should be opened through sublimation. Other substances intervene in the process: some extremely easy to volatilize, others intermediate that bind the heavy salt and suspend it with their “eagle wings”.

True. If it is tartar from a barrel, it would be good if it was not too pure … and that there was a good residue of alcoholic volatility inside. Analyze Brouault’s works in his Anatomy of Wine, in which he managed to obtain interesting things simply by using a cognac that is not entirely pure from the tartar residues of the barrels. In fact, we are looking for proportions, not purity.

“Volatilizing” is a general term embracing dispersing and opening raw matters. And without opening the raw matter, we go nowhere in alchemy because it is the only human way to extract the spiritus mundi/secret fire.

The matter should be subtle enough to be volatilized and coarse enough to be not totally volatilized. For instance, a completely volatilized salt cannot produce the philosophical egg, as there is no coarse matter to make the eggshell. The other more philosophical reasons are unknown to me.

By previous extreme subtilization, the previous dissolution in an acid substance, in the same juice, by distillation, circulation, sublimation, mixing with powerfully lifting substances, entering fast accelerators, by gravity, the explosion, strong oxidation, dispersion through electrical potential, dissolution in strongly ionized matters, dissolution in the nostoc from the sky, and – ultimately – direct dissolution in Mercurius/Alkahest.

Mainly for three reasons: they need to prevent the gaseous part from flying away, they need to prevent the volatile Mercurius of volatilizations from flying away, and they need a reliable method to fix the volatile Mercurius.

Because a chemical reaction generally brings a molecule from a stable state to another stable state. This way, the Spiritus Mundi/secret fire within is prevented from coming out.

For further information see Short Art Ars Brevis and Solar Alchemy.

… and preferably from half an hour before midnight to the hour before dawn.

Believe it or not, the Spiritus Mundi/Secret Fire follows the same schedule as the appearances of ghosts. Alchemists called it the hour of ghosts or the hour when the extinguished fire is revived.

The beginning of the first crescent, when the Moon is starting to get closer to the Sun. This is the strongest Moon-Sun correlation. But the Moon is not yet hit by the Sun’s rays, and the stars can still rule the sky.

I am giving here just one example of popular wisdom. In northern Italy, on the night between 28 and 29 June, adults prepared a game for children known as “St. Peter’s caravel”: a carafe of water with an egg white gently slipped inside became a similar construction under full sail to the wind. Ultimately, some force pushed the albumen to follow the mysterious ascension movements of the water molecules.

No, we need to reiterate-repeat the volatilizations over and over again. At least six. But seven to nine in most cases.

As for volatilizations, the achievement of Mercurius occurs at the beginning of the “sickle moon”. The reason is intuitive: Mercurius is the result of one of the repeated volatilizations.

Sometimes a strange large right triangle of a translucent white “sail-shaped” may appear for a time not exceeding a few seconds on the top of the volatilized material. It is a strange apparition that can often indicate that one is on the right path to obtaining the Mercurius.

In many cases the procedures for volatilizing the salts were the same, only the alchemists repeated the volatilizations until they obtained Mercurius. See also Concordances and Differences between Alchemy and Ancient Ordinary Chemistry.

Since volatilization is a “chemical” phase, it is necessary to respect the proportions of volatile that must exert its force to lift the fixed element. The general rule is that the volatile must always be in larger proportions than the fixed.

They called these proportions “weights”.

Because in the end there should be a single substance left (called salt) which seems fixed and has the same properties, but can easily volatilize. In a more chemical sense: we have obtained a chemically rather complex substance.

For the same reason mentioned above why the volatile was converted into fixed: because in the end there should be a single substance left (called salt) which seems fixed and has the same properties, but can easily volatilize. Again, in a more chemical sense: we have obtained a chemically rather complex substance.

Care must be taken that nothing of the volatile escapes from the apparatus.

True. The Elixir of nature and that of the art needs sublimation – the union is perfect only through sublimation because the sublimation of the Elixir converts the fixed into volatile, and then the volatile into fixed. With the volatile, the fixed is extracted, and the movement is impressed and communicated to the fixed. And by fixing them together you have the Elixir. And it is not the weight of Mercurius that counts in this case, but its perfection… In practice, it means extracting the maximum from the solution and making the solvent stable, which results in a product that will have all the characteristics of both. This union, once sublimated, can easily be elevated again and again. This kind of chemical miracle is called ‘perfection’. The union takes place between the fixed and the volatile in every kingdom – life consists in the continuity of the union, and death in the separation – the main cause of cooking is none other than the internal fire of the volatile substance, for which reason the Elixir is called “the son of fire”. The internal fire of the volatile substance is Mercurius.

Of course, this is exactly what it is: extracting Mercurius is not very difficult (you just need to understand what it is), the extreme difficulty lies in collecting, managing, dividing and conserving what is extracted. Difficulty so great as to make it a real alchemical arcane. Very often the various extraction methods are precisely chosen with this objective in mind.

For the fixation of the sublimate to be long-lasting, slow, gentle, continuous heat must be applied.

It could very well be true: in Alchemy the strangest mixtures are made. Melt common salt with quicklime, then leach and thicken with common water and you will obtain a salt very useful for the fixation of many volatiles. Obviously it depends on the path chosen at the beginning, that is, on the initial raw materials from which one intends to extract the Mercurius. It seems to be a system adopted for those who work with metals. Sulphides.

Augusto Pancaldi says that common salt plus quicklime could be the solution to the problem of closed-circuit distillation, without the application of vacuum.

Augusto Pancaldi says that common salt plus quicklime could be the solution to the problem of closed-circuit distillation, without the application of vacuum.

True. Augusto Pancaldi called Per Latus (by side) this common salt plus quicklime distillation.

It could very well be true. Obviously it depends on the path chosen at the beginning, that is, on the initial raw materials from which one intends to extract the Mercurius. It seems to be a system adopted by those who work with urine salts.

True. The successful union between the fixed and the volatile is confirmed from the blackness of putrefaction, which is also called alchemical marriage.

In theory, for alchemists, all things comprise volatile and fixed salt. The fixed salt correlates with the volatile like the earth correlates with the sky. The idea stems from the belief that the spirit is certainly “volatile”, and that however in the ashes the “signature” of the individual remains intact. Hence there is  the correlation between an animated being and the being that animates. More prosaically, to volatilize a “fixed” salt one needs a “volatile” salt. Without these two indispensable ingredients no change of state occurs.

True. Fixing the too volatile Mercurius with calcined gold was one of the systems used. See also Gold & Alchemy, Apples to Stop Atalanta.

Both. Adding calcined gold to a Mercurius that is too volatile increases the power of the Mercurius while stabilizing it. However, this is a masterly operation. To understand what “Mercurius power increase” means see also Second-Main Work and Gold & Alchemy, or Adorn with a Star Ray.

Unfortunately, yes. See also Gold & Alchemy, Apples to Stop Atalanta.

True. Mercurius dissolves salts, but especially metals and especially calcined gold. So much so that alchemists called it a true “coupling”.

The great masters could do it. The problem was to avoid the clog.

The addition of gold involved a simple and proven alchemy: the way of tartarized wine. Tartar, vinegar, urine salts, brandy…

True. The lioness represents the Mercurius.

No, calcination was a widespread practice to obtain already finely dispersed salts even in iatrochemistry.

Ordinary calcination of a metal is achieved by oxidation.

In fact, gold oxidizes with extreme difficulty. However, the primary purpose of calcination was to obtain a powder in which the metal was extremely dispersed.However you obtain a stable and highly dispersed metal powder – usually an oxide – you have achieved your goal.

True. Provided a fine and subtle powder, quite dust, was obtained.

No, it is not about that. We have already seen that both alchemists and ancient chemists were not interested in the purity of a substance but in its texture.

In the Baroque era, reports of skilled calcifications of metal powders by concentrating solar rays with lenses or burning mirrors became widespread. These were practices that amazed the chemical experts of the time, because they seemed to border on the secrets of solar Alchemy.

The resulting powder had to be volatilized at this point – there was no escape – and then it had to be further dispersed and then “lifted”. The most common practice was, again, to break it with boiling vinegar and/or volatilized sea or urine salts.

No, the modern distillation apparatus may fit the simple spagyric separation. Special distillation devices with larger and stronger helms (heads-caps) and gathering pipes are needed in alchemy. If you do not have it, expect clogs and ruptures.

The series of cases of the onset of problems is almost infinite. Still, the main issue arise with the preliminary works, which closely resemble the procedures of the iatrochemists of the Baroque age. It will therefore be of the most significant interest to study their suggestions. I will cite just one example to show how these masters of distillation empirically solved problems with their tools. From Brouaut’s Anatomy of Wine: “If you distill inside the glass, you need to have your vessel well set so as not to fall or float when in the water balneum. Always replace the evaporated water with no cold water to prevent vessel breaking. My ovens are made with holes peculiar to the purpose”.

Additionally, distillations should be performed at low temperatures precisely to avoid clogs and breakage.

The distillation process can best be understood by checking out the faq on water alchemy. Or, even better and more exhaustively, on LeBreton on Distillation.

It should not be underestimated that modern devices are tightly closed so that no gaseous part escapes, but in this way, due to the different processes, there is a risk of breaking everything. The ancient chemists knew this danger and worked with pretty loose apparatus, although this may seem counterintuitive since in Alchemy one should not let go of volatile substances. A proper balance must be maintained, though.

The alchemists had observed that nature purified all the exhalations of the earth with frequent spontaneous distillations. Subsequently, nature itself united the volatile with the fixed and thus it was believed all the so-called mixed were generated. Ultimately, they observed that this operation made not only water thinner but also solids.

The work, or effort, is never in vain, it is not lost, it always remains in the form of a special “motion” which lies in the electronic cloud of the atoms so harshly stressed. An electron jumping a level and then returning or pairing in another level is never a simple turn of material. Actually, that is precisely where a considerable part of the strength of the Mercurius lies.

We have already seen how the Spiritus Mundi tends to end its course from the stars in the recesses of the Earth’s crust. The Mercurius is instead the result of the volatilization of salts and the operation should be as “aerial” as possible: a high tower is certainly better.

We have already described the cloud chambers in Alchemy and Modern Physics Particles, and we had already asked ourselves whether this “cloud” process for the detection of particles could somehow be employed as an alchemical volatilization system. We had already observed that, provided that the evaporating alcohol was able to carry with it even particles of larger matter, perhaps some Mercurius could be obtained. The difficulty then would have been in the fixation phase.

For the umpteenth time in these pages I would like to mention Die Sonne von Osten, 1783, where we can read: “Hermetic Philosophers say that their Materia is being born like the thunder and leaves behind similar signs”.

Because gunpowder immediately reaches the primary objective of the first works: an instantaneous change of state of the raw material, together with an optimal sublimation. The negative sides are two: the danger of use and the impossibility of “imprisoning” the raw material thus sublimated. In fact, if the alchemist survives the explosion (and many have died in this naive and crazy practice) he (you will rarely see women into this practice) is unable to collect the sublimated material to repeat the operation and obtain the Mercurius. And it is a pity, because this path would be wonderfully “short” (see Short Art Ars Brevis)

True, because distillation, in addition to ascension, also implied cohobation, ablution, fixation and imbibition. That is, the “subtilization” of the volatile was never an end in itself but always aimed at the subtilization of the solid.

The true “Ascensum” distillation is in fact in a closed circuit, as above mentioned.

It is a distillation like the “Ascensum“ only made with less volatile substances, so that expansion is not necessary and in its place there is the invitation to fall downwards. The substance, as soon as it rises, is induced to pass and then forced to fall into the refrigerated container. The falling apparatus is not refrigerated so that the oily parts can flow more freely downwards, to avoid the risk of occluding the apparatus.

By “Circulation of the wheel” we mean the multiplication.

By “Multiplication” we mean the reiteration of operations.

Yes, we can use a pelican with a large head and arms if it can be quickly done. This tool was invented for repeating the same operation over and over. And sometimes, two interconnected pelicans are better than a single one.

We have understood what magnetization is in Before Preparatory Work, Magnetization. We know that in modern chemistry deliquiescence is the property of some hygroscopic substances to pass into solution by absorbing water vapor from the environment (and we will understand why this is not the case). Now we must know that in some humid paths the already worked materials are hermetically sealed in a vial or a bottle and placed in a cellar or in a cave or underground to “mature” like a good wine. Alchemists call this phase “deliquiescence” in the sense that the substances in the vial, after a while are actually more liquid and more amalgamated with each other. The hermetic closure of the vial or bottle should in fact guarantee a watertight seal against any humidity in the environment. As with many alchemical facts, take it as it is told.

The fixation of the volatile Mercurius. In the less hidden way, alchemists do use gold, or another salt, which they call sulfur, as it fixes the volatile Mercurius. But, this is not a very effective way. The best is to fix the volatile in a way other than dissolution.

In the humid path, sometimes the so-called “air systems” were used: special tools, such as pelicans, trumpets, or vases with pendants inside.

Another Secretum Artis, secret of the Art, is about the Athanor: the composition of the philosophical egg. We will talk about this in Third Work.

The laboratory tools. I insist they cannot be standard industry-manufactured tools we can typically see in modern chemical laboratories. For example, look at the laboratory tools of Nicaise le Febvre.

The matter’s weights, or better, the matter’s proportions.

Mercurius is so strictly connected to motion that it identifies with it.

The didactic alchemical path par excellence is the humid path, and the didactic humid path par excellence is the path of wine in barrels (Trismosin). The wine in the barrels contained everything the alchemist needed: lots of water, salts (which oenologists call ashes), tartar from the barrels, essential oils, alcohol, even a little vinegar. With the final addition of calcined or flaked metallic gold (on the Mercurius obtained) it was a simple way to explain and understand.

Some have defined alchemical art as the art of the potter: earth, water, a wheel, and the artist’s hands. From a philosophical point of view, water is “that which flows” (see Water Alchemy) while from the ancient alchemists’ operational point of view the Spirit was everything that could “rise by fleeing”, in particular fumes, vapors and everything that easily sublimated. From a philosophical point of view, the body was an embodied spirit, while from the ancient alchemists’ operational point of view the body was seen as a ripe cradle for the alchemical embryo. The first they call Mercurius/Water and the second Salt/Earth. Sulfur, which a philosopher would define as the conceived shape of the vessel, an alchemist would instead say is the alchemical embryo, which made Mercury coagulate around its shape. The wheel is the star pillar, and the potter’s hands are the artist’s imprint of his position in the field.