Second-Main Work

According to alchemists, the Spirit of Life/Spiritus Mundi/Secret Fire/Mercurius is a different nomenclature for different stages of the same ineffable and undistinguishable substance for every entity every kingdom of nature. Of course, different nomenclatures refer to different “host” textures and compositions.

If the first work is about the extraction of Mercurius, the second is about the extraction of Sulphur. The second work aims to have Sulfur/Soul extracted by Mercurius/Spirit.

Sulfur/Soul is extracted by reducing raw matters to Mercurius/Spirit. This means a dissolution in our universal dissolvent alkahest/Mercurius. Then a unification of at least two Mercurii through the putrefactive phase. Further, pouring/washing and feeding with the set-aside Mercurius will extract Sulfur from the first black phase of the second work.

No, because all the wedding processes, pouring/washing, and embryo feeding will be done with the Mercurius set aside at the end of the first-preparatory work.

Because salt, to get ready for the alchemical wedding, must be previously reduced in Mercurius by another Mercurius. So the marriage is a union between at least two Mercurii, and one of the key symbols of the mercury is a woman.

Because one will play the role of Sulfur and be dissolved in a proportionally much greater part of Mercurius, and in return, will shake, fix, shape, and give consistency, color, and offspring to Mercurius. But without Mercurius, Sulfur would be dead.

No. Some believe that a single dissolution is enough to free the seed of matter inside. But the real “reincrudation”, or the release of the seed, needs at least another dissolution.

When the couple is lying in blackness, it is Double Mercurius. Hermaphrodite is when the matter comes out of the blackness.

A fact of alchemical life: often, Secret Fire must be added to the alchemical couple.

If they fall into perfect black, the most “spiritual” part is when Spirit successfully extracts the personal Soul. When Mercurius extracts Sulphur, the process must be carried out in a well-closed container.

Because, from the wedding, the couple will wholly turn into Sulphur. And Mercurius will be added only in little dosage. So the alchemical child and embryo are sulfur, symbolizing the man.

The appearance of metallic gold on the scene, calcined or in foils, often helped the ancient authors introduce the main work in their treatises. When an author introduces metallic gold, he often supposes that the Alkahest/Dissolvent/Mercurius was previously obtained. Unless he knows some secret ways to disperse gold, such as with nostoc from the sky or other physical way…… The reduction of metallic gold in the seed of metals, or “Reincrudation”, through a double dissolution in Mercurius, is an excellent way to prepare a male Mercurius for the alchemical wedding, so it is an indication of preparation for the wedding. Metallic gold is just a raw matter very rich in Secret Fire, but it is not indispensable. An alchemist who knows what he/she is doing can add gold even during the second work after the wedding has been celebrated and after the consequent putrefaction has been achieved. Every time gold is added, putrefaction occurs. Some alchemists do that to produce the peacock tail.

Because everything must be reduced to Mercurius to get married, but after the wedding, the tiny sulfurous seed inside will turn all into Sulfur.

Because alchemists believe that when a body gets destroyed, it releases at first the undifferentiated Spirit of Life/Mercurius/Woman, and just after, by further dissolutions in the same Mercurius, the personal Soul/Sulfur/Man will come out. However, you may find that some authors and some ancient Mediterranean myths swap the terms. This nomenclature isn’t only symbolic but also actual.

It all depends on the quality of Mercurius. If the Mercurius is hosting a great amount of secret fire, in theory, it will be powerful enough to cook the matter it is poured on without heating in mildly warm conditions. Here I don’t mean an exothermic reaction, of course.

Commonly the quality of Mercurius hosted in the matter is relatively poor, so the pouring of Mercurius needs the help of an external source of heat depending on the chosen path and raw matters – in some cases relatively mild, in other cases stronger.

In the second work, the addition of Mercurius to the matter produces the typical rotation colors, which are three: black, white, and red. Always in that order and with their overtones, that’s to say, and there is grey from black to white and orange from white to red. These are the compulsory colors of the second work. Other colors may vary according to the chosen way and the starting raw matters.

No, the matter is being cooked uniformly as cooking an egg fried. Don’t expect the egg will stay of the same consistency from the start to the end.

Because, like a newborn baby, the matter tends naturally to “grow”. Although not in size but in weight.

Yes, they are all performed by adding Mercurius and then red sulfur in some dosage.

Yes, because the alchemical child is at the stage of drinking milk from the mercurial mother’s breast.

Every time a color rotation reaches red, the rotation can continue until the final perfect red is achieved. So the less perfect alchemical children are “sacrificed”. And, because of their red color, the sacrificed alchemical children are always of the male sex.

The matter in the second work, composed by Mercurius, is already a magnet, more and more powerful as the work continues. So when we meet the term magnet, we expose the matter to the external influx.

Yes. But this is ever more rarefied alchemy.

Yes, the Babylonian priestess’ sacred waiting on the top of a high tower for a god to come on a moonless night.

Yes, the alchemical child will suffer from loss of appetite and will be fed with tiny doses of red matter.

The last blackness traditionally marks a turning point between the second and third work. It simply means the matter will transform.