Coagulatio

Coagulatio involves a cooling, combining and condensing of what has been previously dissolved so that through this fixation, a new homogeneous whole is formed. The operation is in contrast to destillatio, sublimatio and solutio, in which the lower fixed material is refined, purified and transferred to the airiness of the spirit or the liquid form of the water, for here, a reverse fixation and coagulation of the spirit occurs. The soul-spirit is again given a body in which to reside, like a deity in an earthly temple. Broadly speaking, it is the two operations that dissolve and join – solve & coagula – around which the entire opus magnum revolves. Through coagulatio, the queen and king, mercury and sulphur, or the astral and the etheric bodies are united into a single body of salt. In herbal alchemy, this means that the herb’s mercurial spirit and sulphurous soul are reunited with the body of salt, and the spagyric elixir is then completed. From a psychological point of view, the process often means that something crystallises and finds new clarity in order to be realised and manifested in life. In the great work, the work of a coagulatio is perfected when the golden and solar consciousness finally receives physicality and forever endures in the alchemically deified human being.

• Alchemy – the divine work

Illustration – Coagulatio, whereby the hermaphrodite of the Sun and the Moon creates the coveted body of salt through the dragon’s winged eggs and fire.

Rosarium Philosophorum,

Philosophia Reformata by J.D. Mylius (1622)