The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Unions, Embryos, and Births

Before a child, there must be a birth, and before that, there must be a couple, at least at the time the alchemical lexicon was written.

In the alchemical lexicon, births are a symbol of transmutation, unions are a symbol of different aspects. Pay attention, it’s not the same thing.

In theory, I should also mention weddings, that is, one-day events, but since some aspects of unions are irreversible, the word marriage will be more appropriate. Marriage, or union, was a metaphor for the doubling of materials that after a separation had changed a lot. Only after the union can the child be born, that is, a third material so different from the “parents” (often even more than two) that it could be considered a true transmutation.

True. Alchemical unions were often complex. The whole series of works demonstrates, in fact, the intervention of “officiants” or third parties. But, surely, the two spouses, that is, father and mother, cannot be the result of bad choices. As for the voyeurs, Fulcanelli called them “catalysts“. Their presence was not always necessary, but depended on the chosen path, just like an extravagant wedding.

Of course. On the other hand, like real life. Always keeping in mind, however, that the two spouses potentially were father and mother, that is, they had to potentially be able to procreate

The ancients believed that the biological father deposited an invisible miniature individual in the woman’s womb. Thus, alchemically, the father represents an element that, although indispensable for the offspring, is invisible and destined to always have to be “amplified”. This practice was the considered as the release of the alchemical “seed”, which, at least in theory, should be an infinitesimal double of something. The father could be that “spark” that is unique and immortal in every individual.

The ancients thought that the mother was the breeding ground where the father’s seed could be planted. The mother should be able to “develop” the paternal spark into a real ray, and in fact, the moon is responsible for this task.

Indeed, the alchemical father and mother seem incapable of bringing the “offspring” to maturity without the indispensable assistance of wind and earth. It is easy to think of earth as the embodiment and wind as the movement of air.

The strange concept that a life is strengthened and amplified by its killing is truly disconcerting for us moderns, who are instead culturally inclined to its preservation and prolongation at all costs. Even the idea that a “signal” that is too weak can be amplified by being turned off and on again seems bizarre from an electromagnetic point of view – if the comparison is even apt. During alchemical works, metals are “killed” to be “amplified”.

If, in the light of what has been said so far, it is easy to understand what an alchemical union could be, the same cannot be said for the concept of “birth”. Yet in alchemical treatises this latter concept is fundamental and means the result of a transmutation from which there is no turning back. The child is always different from the parents and unpredictable. Therefore: child = irreversibility.

If the child represents a transmutation that is now irreversible, the embryo is the result of alchemical insemination. But an alchemist is not a physician, and will describe the “carrier” of life appearance and consistency in many different ways depending on the path chosen. Anyway, if it is an “embryo of light” we are talking about the Mercurius that comes out of the darkness, if instead we are talking about a “new body” here too the appearance is different depending on the methods undertaken. The embryo represents the alchemical border between the Second-main Work and the Third Work. From this last stage, in fact, the alchemist is in search of the Ultima Materia, ultimate matter.

Not in these terms. The word “materia” in Latin means “that which serves as a basis for subsequent processing”. These are the Materia in Alchemy: a scale from the crude to the supreme. The difficulty increases when we must translate the philosophical term into a practical laboratory understanding: in fact, depending on the chosen approach, the appearance and consistency of the “final” materials will vary. Consequently, the language of alchemists is necessarily vague and open to many possibilities.

The adjective ultimus in Latin does not mean “the last” – as most Italians translate it, sure that Latin is just an Italian with many final -us and -um. Oddly enough, Anglo-Saxon languages ​​are more attentive to the original meaning of Latin terms and translate with “ultimate”, meaning final in the sense of supreme.

We have already seen that, like a fruit that must generate another fruit, this one has a seed. Therefore, the Ultimate Matter of minerals is transformed into Materia Prima. The ultimate matter of nature can be materia prima for humans.

In many Baroque treatises, the terms are reversed. In theory, the ultimate/supreme matter should be worked to form the prime matter to make the series of transmutations possible. In fact, the alchemist cannot work the ultimate/supreme matter, but only the prima materia, after having obtained it.

We can better understand this concept if we imagine the seed that comes out of the Ultima Materia as something ineffable and flowing that will give life to the raw matter. Many alchemists have identified this water as an actually liquid material, such as the famous Guhr. Today, that we know the wave-particle properties of the electron, we can imagine a different “sea”.