Ancient initiations were often undergone in three successive chambers. Three Orders, one for each the Body/Mind, the Soul, and the Spirit. Three Baptisms, Three Weddings - Three Orders of the Universal Mystery School Curriculum And in the final vaulted chamber, ready for the initiate to ascend to meet it, stands the robed Great Mystery.
Body, Mind, Spirit
Body, Mind, Spirit Salt, Mercury, Sulphur
"The three aspirations of the alchemist - the transmutation of metals, the discovery of the universal medicine, and the making of the diamond - are symbolic terms beneath which they concealed the three steps of alchemical philosophy. The lowest of the three was the transmutation of metals and the highest the making of a diamond. Between those two was the formulation of the universal elixir. The transmutation referred to the reforming of the physical body. The making of the universal medicine was symbolic of soul growth, while the hardening of the diamond in the fire signified the attainment of spiritual perfection. The alchemists divided the nature of man into three essential parts: spirit, soul, and body. These they declared to be, in reality, only three manifestations of one principle. In the same way they divided the elements of the philosopher's stone into three parts - salt, mercury, and sulphur; and these in turn they declared to be only three parts of one divine element - spiritual sulphur. Man's physical body they symbolized by salt and the element of earth, because crystallization is a power which acts over both of these natures equally. Man's intellectual and soul nature they symbolized by mercury. Mercury has two natures: divine mercury and human mercury. In the same way, man's mind has two spheres of activity. His spiritual mind is creative, idealistic and synthetic. His material and earthy mind is destructive, animalistic, and analytic. These are opposites one to the other. In every case the lower must be transmuted into the higher if spirituality is to result. Man's highest divine principle - his spirit - was symbolized by sulphur, because sulphur is closely allied to fire, whereas mercury more nearly resembles water. In fact, the philosophers called mercury "the living water", here again using Biblical terminology. Whoever can adjust his life so that his physical nature, his intellectual nature, and his spiritual nature cooperate one with the other, resulting in a harmonious, unified personality, has achieved proficiency in the ancient science of alchemy, for alchemy is the chemistry of human life and the chemistry of body, faculty, and function as these react upon each other. Philosophy is a masculine element; intuition is feminine. With intuition, the alchemist cannot attain his ends. Therefore he must woo intuition. In alchemy, intuition is symbolized by the moon, while philosophy and reason are symbolized by the sun. Hence one of the first steps in alchemy is the marriage of the sun and moon, or the union of logical and intuitional intellects. These are most often symbolized by an androgynous figure, one side of the figure masculine and the other feminine; often with two heads, male and female. The male head is surrounded with the solar nimbus, while the female head is surrounded with the lunar halo. Intuition and reason are also called silver and gold." — Mental and Spiritual Alchemy by Manly Palmer Hall
