Aurora Consurgens (a 15th-century alchemical treatise attributed to Thomas Aquinas or “Pseudo-Aquinas”) presents a stunning monologue of Lady Wisdom identified with the materia prima. She proclaims:
“I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys, I am the mother of fair love and of knowledge and of holy hope… As the fruitful vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor… I am the most prudent virgin, coming forth as the dawn, shining exceedingly, elect as the Sun, fair as the Moon… I am exalted as a cedar… and my name is as ointment poured forth…. I am the mediatrix of the elements, making one to agree with another… I am the end and my beloved is the beginning.”Aurora Consurgens (15th c.), “Wisdom” speaking
, Nature-Sophia describes herself as the holy bride of the alchemical wedding – the maternal font of love and knowledge, the lily and rose, the dawn and moon, the mediating soul uniting the elements. Such imagery shows how alchemists revered the natural world not as inert matter but as a living, ensouled feminine presence.
They often called her Natura naturans (Nature naturing/creating), depicting her as a magician and teacher. Paracelsian writers described Nature as a magissa (sorceress) who performs God’s work in the sublunary world, imprinting all things with divine signatures for those with eyes to see . The concept of Anima Mundi, the world-soul, likewise cast Nature as a universal spirit suffused through matter – a hidden Venus or Sophia whose “invisible light” animates all forms . In sum, the alchemists honored Nature as a Mother and Wisdom figure: nurturing, mysterious, and worthy of devotion. They sought union with this Anima Mundi or Sophia, believing that in cooperating with the feminine soul of the world, they could heal the split between Man and Nature and perfect both.