The Three Primes of Alchemy
In modern alchemy there has been an evolvement in the philosophical outlook of comprising elements of the great art. The classification of elements can be understood through the correlation to three primal norms of alchemy, or the Tria Prima, first ascertained by alchemy’s great requisite to the development of 16th century Renaissance Alchemy, Paracelsus.
The conception of this tripartite alternative to the demystification of the nature of composite forms of matter by Paracelsus, was given by the idea that all forms of matter embodied the archetypal quintessence of three profound elements of nature - Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.
Paracelsus rendered the prominence of sulphur, mercury, and salt from medieval texts of alchemy, where they had long been considered important. He thus demonstrated a theory, whereby the burning of a piece of wood, fire alluded the work of sulphur, smoke, the work of mercury, and the residual ash was that of salt.
It was through this demonstration that each of these three classical elements of alchemy had taken on the relevance to the primal essence of a material archetype of nature. These three-fold archetypes were later interpreted through philosophical, spiritual and more recently psychological forms of alchemy as the primary means of understanding the transmutation of physical substance and conscious phenomena, whilst the revelation of the Tria Prima began to embellish the conceptual philosophy to the further development of alchemy.
The esoteric and philosophical interpretations of the three-fold aspects of the Tria Prima and their configurative nature:
Mercury:
Esoterically, containing the idealogical attributes of the Spirit and the Mind, Mercury possesses the qualities of a malleable substance. It’s characteristics are capable of inhabiting the state of infinite figures and forms, and an amalgamate nature, able to combine with other elements, compounds and metals to create new alloys, elixirs and concoctive medicines.
Due to the properties of such a composite substance, it has been likened similar to the abilities of a spirit assimilating a body.
Philosophically, these transcendent and transmutative aspects of mercury have provided the correlation to the omnipotent archetypal stream of consciousness, found throughout the whole of the cosmos, as the fundamental basis for the intellectual structure or mental framework, through which the conception of physicality, matter and reality are employed. If we can understand that consciousness creates reality, that thought provides an etheric means of accomplishing the manifestation of vibrational wavelengths of light and matter to make up the physical realm, than we can understand that Mercury is the symbolic archetype of the Spirit of cosmic creation.
In alchemical terms, this spirit was known as ‘Aznoth’, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega, and was noted to embody the quintessential essence of mercury, also providing it’s precise characteristic mechanisms and inherent peculiarities.
In short, Mercury is an attribution of heaven, the spirit and the mind. It represents the workings of the light, and the underlying forces of conception that give perception to space, time and the occupancy of material substance.
Sulphur:
A transcendent theme throughout Heaven and Earth, Sulphur embodies the recondite principles of the Soul. It’s capabilities are that of binding the cosmic energies of the intellectual forces to the life force energies of material form (known in the east as Prana or Qi) through the processes of coagulation. Conversely, noted to oxidize many non-metals and most metals, it also plays an important role in releasing material bonds. These characteristics of Sulphur make it an essential element for all life, as it’s work in enzymes and antioxidant materials are vital to the metabolism of a body.
For the reasons above, it has been seen closely related to the element of fire where together they conduct the qualities of connection and separation to spirit. There, it is an intermediary link between the realm of above and the realm of below.
In a philosophical light, Sulphur has been comprehended as the presiding force over Love, Karma, Emotion and Desires. Often associated as the Psyche, the internal force which governs all the states of mind of life experience, it can also be considered the Persona which applies feeling to the phenomena of sensations of the existential world. In that light, Sulphur becomes the methodology through which the criterion of all features of reality are realized.
In other words, since creating and releasing bonds is the primary attribute of this Tria Prima, it holds the key role in the relative manner that consciousness applies itself to matter; and this is why it can likewise be defined as the soul of an organism or the essence of anything of organic substance for that matter.
Salt:
It is the body of the soul and the spirit. The foundation for the heavenly manifestation of the conscious mind to raise creation. The attribution of this crystalline compound substance can be a assimilated to the bringing together of two abstract structures of elementary substance to create the form of one thing, the one mind, and the solidarity of abstraction into concrete form.
All is one; and one is all.
Salt is that esoteric representation of the concrete form of reality which gives rendition to our spiritual, intellectual pools of thought. Akin to salting food, it also holds the means of preventing the decay of the informative nature of energy; Without a vessel to hold, without a body to contain and utilize the cosmic and transformative energies of the spirit and the psyche, there would be nothing to be realized within the material, physical universe. Therefore, the symbology of the philosophical insight of this prime is conceding towards the realization and preservation of the embodiment of conscious material manifestations.
If we try to simplify the definition of conscious material manifestations, we can see that manifestations are quite simply the elucidation of conscious spiritual data transmuted into a physical incarnation. The Third Dimensional platform is merely a rendering of conscious data organized into a body of physicality.
Alchemy has thus presented Salt, the body as the container, the Will, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom, where the higher intellectual energy of creation becomes written into an anatomical scribe of conscientiousness.
Summary:
If you understand the purpose of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body, would it not be easy to realize the Tria Prima as the alchemical interpretation of the universal, archaic Trinity of Birth, Life and Death. These three arcana of cosmic origin are always foretold throughout the vast accompany of spiritual traditions among the world. Whether seen through Christianity as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, or on account of Ayurvedic traditions, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, the three substantial dosha of a body, to the far eastern traditional understandings of Heaven, Earth, and Man, these primal norms of old hold an everlasting exegesis on the fundamental method of construction for the chronicles of the cosmos.
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©︎EmeraldArchives by Logan Luciano Romero
Other Related Archives:
Introduction to Alchemy: onhttps://youtu.be/O6e8iTxKNlE
Three Primes and Four Aspects: http://www.hogwartsishere.com/courses/ALCH-201/lesson/181/
The Three Primes (Tria Prima): http://www.alchemyguildohio.org/three-primes-tria-prima
Alchemy Electronic Dictionary: https://www.alchemylab.com/dictionary.htm
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