Prima Materia

"the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things." - Thomas Vaughan

“You have need only of one thing, which at any stage of our experiment can be changed into another nature.” - Raymond Lully. The Golden Tract Concerning The Stone of the Philosophers

"Water of Life, Dew, Bride, Spouse, Mother, Eve, Pure and Uncontaminated Virgin, A Spiritual Blood, The Soul and Heaven of the Elements, The Matter of All Forms, Heart of the Sun, Shade of the Sun, Heart and Shade of Gold, Chaos, Venus, Isis, Mother, The Sea, Bird of Hermes, The Woman, Water of Gold, Soul of Saturn, the Earth, Spirit." - Martin Ruland’s Alchemical Lexicon -a list of expressions that various alchemists used to refer to prima materia

According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or prima materia (first matter), associated with chaos. Prima materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the philosopher's stone.

The raw material out of everything is made

The primary, primordial material

Is Prima Materia pure consciousness?

“The alchemist’s prima materia is the empty and desolate Earth that has been fertilised by the light of the creative word from which the primordial egg arose, and consequently, all life and opportunity for transformation. The seed of life is concealed in the centre of all things and is the original, holistic, and unprocessed consciousness from which all states of consciousness arise. It is the Quintessence, the material beginning and end of all things. The prima materia is the unifying water of life in the mercurial fountain and chaos of the primordial ocean – the massa confusa – from which the other principles originate.” - Alchemy - The divine work

“He who would enter the kingdom of wisdom must be born again; he must become as a little child, for he must divest himself of all the preconceived opinions and erroneous ideas that he has acquired in schools or from books. He must go back to the prima materia, the first substance of nature, and recognize in it the divine life that permeates all things. Alchemy is not merely the art of making gold and silver, but it is the art of making man, of purifying him from all that is gross and material and leading him to the perception of divine truth. The true alchemist transmutes not lead into gold, but darkness into light, ignorance into wisdom, and death into immortality.” — Paracelsus. 1493 - 1541. “The Great Work of Alchemy”

Prima Materia, Quinta Essentia

"This is the Lapis that creates a Quintessence from animals, plants, or minerals. It is the source of all things, as the sages say: "In the beginning, everything was one." The ancients said that the Lapis comes from Chaos, where all things lay hidden until fire ordered and shaped them. Thus, the Lapis gains its true life through the power of the sun, for light grants it perfection. In this stone lies everything: the four elements and their transformation. The philosophers state that the Quinta Essentia is the ultimate goal of all art. For it unites the material with the spiritual and grants life. The Lapis itself manifests as something fluid and solid. Born of the union of opposites, it embodies harmony. Its transformative power is drawn from fire and the heavens. Its origin lies in Chaos, where all things were one. It is said that the Lapis is the bridge between the earthly and the divine. Connecting matter with the purest essence of spirit. In it, all natural properties are united: The powers of creation and destruction, growth and decay. The sages state that its essence is the secret of true transformation. A symbol of rebirth and the eternal cycle. Thus, the Lapis holds the key to the Philosopher's Stone. The source of wisdom and the path to enlightenment. The ancients and later scholars confirm: The Quintessence is in everything, from the elements to the spirit of life." — Sammelhandschrift mit alchemistischen Texten, Mscr.Dresd.J.345 https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/179487/773

“The alchemist’s prima materia is the empty and desolate Earth that has been fertilised by the light of the creative word from which the primordial egg arose, and consequently, all life and opportunity for transformation. The seed of life is concealed in the centre of all things and is the original, holistic, and unprocessed consciousness from which all states of consciousness arise. It is the Quintessence, the material beginning and end of all things. The prima materia is the unifying water of life in the mercurial fountain and chaos of the primordial ocean – the massa confusa – from which the other principles originate.” - Alchemy - The divine work

“The alchemists believed that they couldn't function without the help of God. They believed there was a spirit hidden in the prima materia, interpreted as the Holy Spirit. The dragon represents the prima materia fertilized by the Holy Spirit (Hermetis opinion). Prima materia is the original material from which the universe is created. The idea that all things in the world are ultimately made of the same substance is based on the alchemical theory of transmutation and the infamous belief that lead can be turned into gold.”

"Although some persons, possessed with foolish notions, dream that the First Matter is to be found only in particular places, at such and such times of the year, and by virtue of a Magical Magnet; yet we are most certain (according to our Divine Master Hermes) that all these suppositions are false, it being to be found everywhere, at all times, and only by our Science." - Aphorismi Urbigerani, or, Certain rules clearly demonstrating the three infallible ways of preparing the grand elixir, or circulatum majus of the philosophers, c. 1690

The Earth: Matter & Mater

‘Thou shalt separate the Earth from the Fire’ (this refers to the separation of the solid and subtle states of sulphur), ‘the subtle from the gross, softly, with great ingenuity’. It rises from the Earth to the sky [solve] and again descends into the Earth [coagula] and receives the force of things superior and inferior.”

”The Earth is in a broad sense our Matter, or Mater, the Mother from whom all corporeal things take their source. ‘Terra enim est mater Elementorum; de terra procedunt et ad terram revertuntur,’

‘The Earth is the Mother of the Elements; from the Earth they proceed, to the Earth they return.’ - Hermes

‘Thou shalt separate the Earth from the Fire’ (this refers to the separation of the solid and subtle states of sulphur), ‘the subtle from the gross, softly, with great ingenuity’. It rises from the Earth to the sky [solve] and again descends into the Earth [coagula] and receives the force of things superior and inferior.”

‘Make the Earth light, and give weight to the Fire, if you would meet what is rarely met,’

"All lies within the mountains; the Earth brings it forth by the will of the Creator. He is the beginning and the end. Whoever seeks rightly and does not shun labor, to him shall be opened the secret and the riches of the Earth." - Alchemistische Sammlung, c. 1550

Jung in Mysterium Coniunctionis:

“Materia prima in its feminine aspect: it is the moon, the mother of all things, the vessel, it consists of opposites, has a thousand names, …, as Mater Alchimia it is wisdom and teaches wisdom, it contains the elixir of life in potentia and is the mother of the Saviour and of the filius Macrocosmi, it is the earth and the serpent hidden in the earth, the blackness and the dew and the miraculous water which brings together all that is divided.“ (par. 15). “She is that piece of chaos which is everywhere and yet hidden, she is that vessel of contradictions and many colours – a totality in the form of massa confusa, yet a substance endowed with every quality in which the splendour of the hidden deity can be revealed.“ (par. 422) “… she personifies that arcane substance, be it dew or the aqua permanens, which unites the hostile elements into one. … The cognomen of Isis was the Black One. … since ancient times she was reputed to possess the elixir of life as well as being adept in sundry magical arts. She was also … rated as a pupil of Hermes, or even his daughter. … She signifies earth, according to Firmicus Maternus, and was equated with Sophia, … the vessel and the matter of good and evil. An inscription invokes her as ‘the One, who art All.‘ She is named the redemptrix. In Athenagoras she is ‘the nature of the Aeon, whence all things grew and by which all things are.‘ (par. 14)

Names assigned to the Prima Materia in Ruland's 1612 alchemical dictionary, Lexicon alchemiae sive dictionarium alchemistarum: