"Ripley is of the opinion that the fire must be extracted from the chaos and made visible. This fire is the Holy Ghost, who unites father and son. He is often represented as a winged old man, i.e., Mercurius in the form of the god of revelation, who is identical with Hermes Trismegistus and, together with the King and the King’s Son, forms the alchemical trinity. God wrought this fire in the bowels of the earth, just as he wrought the purging flames of hell, and in this fire God himself glows with divine love." — C. G. Jung Collected Works Volume 12 Psychology And Alchemy
MERCURIUS DE MERCURIO
(Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert)
"The Dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth is our Art-Subject or Matter. It is neither mineral nor metal; the Pythagorean Y shows us that there are two mercurial substances from one root, Fire and Water, Schammajim [Heavens], drawn from Minerva. It is [symbol of Salt] the Dew of Heaven, but more mineral and metallic than celestial dew, in which all colors of the world lie, and which can be coagulated by Art into a sweet Salt, called Manna, for medicine. Sol is the father, Luna the mother, from both of them it receives its light, life, and brilliance; from Sol its oiliness, from Luna its watery transparency. We find it coagulated and dissolved. This dew falls from above into the depths of the earth, and from the subtlest part of the earth comes its body, and from there also come its soul and spirit, fire and light. To our eyes, this mineral dew appears in white, yellow, green, red, and black colors. It divides into two nests, white and red, from the single root Y. From it grow the white and red rose of Jericho, and it blooms like a lily in the valley of Josaphat. This is enough concerning its bodily form; it is not a metal nor a mineral, and yet it is the initial mother and primary matter of all metals and minerals. It is nothing other than the Lion with its coagulated blood, and the down of the white Eagle."