“There is this one green lion, which closes and opens the seven indissoluble seals of the seven metallic spirits which torments the bodies, until it has perfected them, by means of the artist’s long and resolute patience.” — “The Cosmopolite,” (16th century)
This green vitality of Nature embodies dissolution's sacred power, preparing the menstruum through which the prima materia yields its hidden spirits.
the embodiment of Nature's own discriminating fire—that "green lion devouring the sun" for its aggressive dissolution of noble metals.
it strips away all dross, dissolving base matter until only the incorruptible essence remains. Like Truth itself, it is vitriolic in the deepest sense—corrosive to all pretense, caustic to all falsehood, leaving only that which cannot be dissolved: the golden reality of the Stone.
When the alchemist subjects iron's sulfate to the dragon's breath of flame, roasting it within the iron retort until it yields its viscous treasure, there emerges what the ancients called "oil of vitriol"—that concentrated essence which carries within its amber depths the power of universal dissolution.
In the process of creating gold from base substances, vitriol is used early in the work to dissolve and purify the prima materia (e.g., antimony or iron), extracting "spirits" or salts that are rectified through repeated distillation and calcination to form a "philosophical mercury" or elixir. This purified essence is then combined with sulfur and mercury in the hermetic vessel, undergoing fermentation and transmutation to yield the Philosopher's Stone,
Visita—Visit. This speaks not of permanent residence but of temporary sojourn. You descend into earth's interior not to dwell there forever, but to retrieve what can only be found in those infernal depths.
The interior of the earth—this is Hell itself, the realm of shadow, fear, and demonic dissolution where all that is false burns away in purifying flame. Here dwells the essence of nigredo, that first death which must be endured again and again throughout the Great Work's turning wheel.
For the alchemist learns that the descent is never singular—throughout the entire opus, one must repeatedly return to earth's dark chambers, each visitation revealing deeper chambers, each dissolution preparing for more perfect coagulation. Like the phoenix, the seeker dies and is reborn through countless cycles, each time emerging more refined, more golden, more Stone-like.
The Green Lion thus becomes both destroyer and creator, both the acid that dissolves and the fire that purifies—the very agent through which the Superior descends to marry the Inferior, that earth might be raised to heaven's glory.
The acrostic formulation is attested in late-seventeenth to early-eighteenth-century alchemical compilations and spreads through Rosicrucian and Masonic traditions, where V.I.T.R.I.O.L. often appears in the Chamber of Reflection. That room dramatizes the descent: salt, sulfur, mercury, bread, water, a skull—Earth’s interior staged as a rite of purification.
The hidden medicine lies in matter, unlocked by right art.
Green Lion devouring the Sun vitriolic solvent dissolving gold (dissolution of the fixed solar ego so the true Sun may be born).
Athanor/Alembic the microcosmic earth; the Stone literally grows “in the bottom.”
Rectification harmonizes the Tria Prima - Sulfur (soul/fire), Mercury (spirit/volatile), and Salt (body/earth), transmuting the dark Salt into transparent body of light.
Working in/with the Depths
“Believe me, by working the depths of the world one may be blessed.” “If you discover the depth, you will possess all, you will be able [to achieve everything].”
Vitriol itself (outside the acrostic) is not a metaphor but a family of salts—metal sulfates—named from vitrum (“glass”) because their crystals look glassy: green vitriol (iron(II) sulfate), blue vitriol (copper(II) sulfate), white vitriol (zinc sulfate). “Oil of vitriol” became sulfuric acid, the sovereign solvent of early chemistry. In emblem books the “Green Lion devouring the Sun” points to vitriolic solvents eating gold—the capacity to dissolve the fixed so it may be reborn more perfect. So the word already carries the operation: dissolution, purification, extraction of a quintessence.
Laboratory: the “earth” is the caput mortuum, the black, heavy residue at the bottom of the vessel during nigredo. The seed of perfection hides in the darkest compost. The lapis is not imported from heaven; it is raised from the putrefied earth of the work.
Cosmic/Elemental: Terra is the principle of Salt (body, fixity, form). The hidden thing is embedded in fixity itself. The task is to liberate subtle fire from dense body—Hermes’ circulation: “it ascends to heaven and again descends to earth,” but the germ is buried below.
Anthropological/Initiatory: the “earth” is your interior—instinct, shadow, memory, the Saturnine depth. Descent precedes ascent. The Stone is the integrated center discovered when the lower is redeemed rather than bypassed.
Etymology: rectus = straight/right; rectificare = to set right. It implies correction, alignment, making true to a standard.
Operation: repeated purification by solve et coagula: dissolution, distillation, cohobation, calcination—again and again—until the tincture runs clear. Early texts speak of “rectified spirit of wine” (ethanol repeatedly distilled) as a model: the same material, made subtler by cycles.
The correction of perception and will—discrimination, temperance, right measure. The vessel is both alembic and conscience.
Ohne Ort: 1700, Handschrift; 168 Bll.
Partial translation: "There are three marvels of God: Man, Nature, and Matter. Three and One. God is Man. Body, Spirit, Soul. There are three marvels. The Secret of the Philosophers. By rectifying (purifying), you will find the hidden stone. By separating the inner parts. Watch the Chaos. The Philosophers' Mercury. The hidden foundation of the elements. You will find the elements. Let there be a firmament... philosophical sublimation. And let the birds appear... it ascends from the sky to the earth... The kingdom of the earth (has) green herbs... so has this circle of the whole world. Known to its kind. And enclosed in dark shadows... From darkness, light..."