Alchemy Glossary
I. Core Matter and Principles
Prima Materia — The original subject-matter of the Work, presented as a paradoxical, common, and hidden beginning.
Chaos — The confused, undifferentiated state of the matter at the start, before separation and ordering.
The Seed of Gold — The internal seminal virtue within metals and within the operator, treated as the hidden generative spark of perfection.
The Central Salt — The stable core or “body” that receives spirit, holds tincture, and makes the medicine durable.
The Philosophers’ Mercury — The alchemists’ central volatile principle, purified and transformed from common mercury into an operative, philosophical agent.
The Philosophers’ Sulphur — The active, tincturing, “fiery” principle, associated with soul, color, and the power to transform.
The Philosophers’ Salt — The fixed, preserving, coagulating principle, associated with body, crystallization, and stability.
Azoth — The universal agent or “all-in-all” principle, often treated as the key solvent and life-force of the Work.
Alkahest — The mythical universal solvent, a principle of radical dissolution used as a cipher for ultimate analysis of bodies.
The Stone of the Philosophers — The perfected agent of transformation, medicine, and stability, symbolizing completion of the Great Work.
The Lesser Work — A name for a limited but real circulation or medicine (often vegetable), distinct from metallic transmutation claims.
The Great Work (Magnum Opus) — The full arc of dissolution, purification, conjunction, and perfection culminating in stable tincture.
Prima Ens — A term for the first essence or primary being of a substance, understood as the most subtle extract of its virtue.
Spiritus Mundi — A name for the world-spirit or universal subtle medium that binds and animates the elements.
Quintessence — The fifth essence extracted from the four elements, considered the most subtle, incorruptible part of a substance.
Vitriol (Sulfuric Acid) — A strongly corrosive substance identified in alchemy with a key dissolving agent and symbol of radical purification.
Tria Prima — The three philosophical principles Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, used to describe body, soul, and spirit aspects of matter.
II. Fires, Heats, and Invisible Energies
The Secret Fire — An interior or philosophical heat that drives transformation without crude burning, often identified with a subtle energetic principle.
Our Fire — The regulated heat of the operation, physical and symbolic, governing digestion, circulation, and fixation.
The Mercurial Fire — A subtle, penetrating heat associated with the action of Mercury on bodies.
Balneum Mariae (Bain-marie) — A gentle water-bath used to give moderate, even heat to vessels.
Ash Bath — A heating method using hot ashes to provide a steady, enveloping warmth for vessels.
Reverberatory Fire — A strong, reflected heat used to calcine and drive off volatile parts from matter.
Ignis Equinus — A concealed, mild fire associated with dung-heat or compost heat, described as a hidden, living fire suitable for slow philosophical operations.
III. Waters, Menstrua, and Dissolving Media
Aqua Vitae — A distilled “water of life,” often a strong spirit or subtle solvent used as a carrier of extracted virtues and as a sign of enlivened tincture.
Aqua Regia — A corrosive royal solvent emblematic of the power that can open gold and the most fixed bodies.
Aqua Fortis — A strong mineral acid, often identified with nitric acid, used to dissolve silver and other metals.
Aqua Philosophica — A philosophical water, treated as a compound menstruum prepared according to hermetic principles.
The Alchemical Waters & The Philosophic Bath — A family of dissolving media in which the body is washed, opened, and renewed.
The Bath of the King — The immersion of the fixed in the solvent, associated with the death-and-revival of the royal principle.
Diana’s Tears — A limpid, lunar, mercurial moisture or distillate associated with the volatile dissolving principle and its dew-like descent.
The Celestial Dew — A subtle moisture gathered from air or condensation, used as a cipher for a pure, universal, life-bearing water.
May Dew — Seasonal dew imagery for a fertile, volatile water prized for its supposed living virtue.
Virgin Milk: Milk of the Virgin — A whitening, purifying menstruum associated with gentle dissolution and the approach to Albedo.
The Milk Of Wisdom — A nourishing, whitening principle associated with the lunar-sophian nourishment of the Work.
The Red Oil — A final, penetrating tincture-like essence associated with Rubedo and medicinal power.
The White Oil — A purified, bright essence associated with whitening and stabilization.
The Philosophers’ Vinegar — A sharp dissolving water used as a figure for the acidic opening of bodies and the initiation of fermentation.
Acetum Acerrimum — “Most sharp vinegar,” a cipher for an intensified dissolver used to unlock the body of metals.
The Menstruum — The extracting and dissolving solvent used to draw out soul and tincture from the body.
The Universal Menstruum — A generalized name for an all-purpose dissolver in the symbolic vocabulary of the Art.
The Magnetic Water — A solvent described as attracting and binding its like, emphasizing sympathy and true conjunction.
The Mercurial Water — A volatile, penetrating water associated with Mercury’s dissolving and carrying power.
The Living Water — A water understood as animated, active, and capable of generating transformation, rather than passive moisture.
The Water of the Wise — A classic name for the central solvent of the Art, presented as common yet concealed.
The Fire-Water — A paradox-name for a solvent that behaves like fire, dissolving and transforming by inner heat.
IV. Emblems of Matter, Soul, and Transformation
The Black Madonna — A dark, hidden form of the divine feminine indicating the secret matrix of the Work, the fertile Nigredo, and the concealed Sophia within matter.
Cauda Pavonis: The Peacock’s Tail — The iridescent outbreak of many colors during a transitional phase, commonly marking the approach to whitening and stabilization.
The Green Lion — A devouring dissolver that “eats the Sun,” used for a powerful solvent or corrosive agent that breaks down fixed metals.
The Red Lion — A symbol of the perfected sulfurous tincture and the mature red stage of projection and fixation.
Ouroboros in Alchemy — The self-devouring, self-renewing cycle indicating circulation, reintegration, and the closed economy of the vessel.
The Alchemical Dragon — The raw mercurial-sulfuric power of the matter, dangerous and necessary, often guarding treasure or the Stone.
The Winged Dragon — The volatile aspect of the dragon, indicating sublimation, ascent of spirit, and aerial potency.
Toad, Serpent, Eagle — A triad of emblems for earthy residue, serpentine mercuriality, and volatilized spirit.
The Crow — The sign of Nigredo, mortification, and the first blackening that indicates true entry into the Work.
The Swan — A sign of whitening, purification, and the softening of the matter toward Albedo.
The Phoenix — The emblem of death by fire and rebirth into a higher form, indicating successful putrefaction and renewal.
The Pelican — The self-feeding circulation apparatus and its emblem, indicating continual cohobation and self-nourishing of the matter.
The Blood of the Lion: Red Tincture — A symbol-name for the red tincture or extracted red soul of the matter.
The Philosophers’ Blood — The vital tincture extracted and stabilized, presented as the living essence of the compound.
The Red Tincture: The Red Rose — The sign of the completed tincture and the flowering of the Work into power and beauty.
The White Rose — The sign of achieved purification and the flowering of the white stage.
Johann Daniel Mylius - Philosophia Reformata — Source of Tree and animal emblems frequently used to depict the unfolding of the Work.
The Forest, Stag & Unicorn: The Body, Soul & Spirit — An emblem sequence in which stag and unicorn represent refined mercurial forces and the disciplined animal soul.
V. Vessel, Furnace, and Laboratory World
The Athanor — The philosophical furnace of steady heat, symbolizing the sustained discipline of transformation.
The Philosopher's Egg — The sealed vessel and womb of the Work, where the matter dies, gestates, and is reborn.
The Hermetic Seal — The closure that prevents loss of spirit and enables true circulation within the vessel.
The Glass House — The vessel-world of the operation, where nature is made visible and governed by art.
The Starry Regimen — A name for timed operations aligned to celestial cycles, emphasizing cosmic correspondence in laboratory work.
Crucible — A refractory container used to melt and calcine metals and minerals under strong heat.
Retort — A curved glass or ceramic vessel used for distillation, in which vapors are driven off and condensed.
The Alembic — The distillation head and receiver set placed on a cucurbit, used for separating volatile from fixed.
Pelican (vessel) — A glass vessel with recurved arms that return condensate to the body, used for circulation of liquids.
Cucurbit — The lower part of a distillation vessel that holds the substance to be heated.
Aludel — A vertically stacked series of caps and receivers used in sublimation and collection of volatile products.
Vas Hermeticum — The hermetically sealed vessel, treated as the inner world in which the whole Work is performed.
VI. Royal Figures, Marriages, and the Alchemical Child
The Sun & The Moon: King & Queen — The coniunctio of Sol and Luna, symbolizing the union of fixed and volatile, king and queen.
The White Wedding — The purified conjunction associated with Albedo and the stabilization of a new compound.
The Red Wedding — The mature conjunction associated with Rubedo and the birth of the red tincture.
The Philosophical Marriage: Mysterium Coniunctionis — The total symbolic register of conjunction, reconciliation of opposites, and generation of a third.
The Alchemical King & Queen — Sol and Luna in their royal forms, also the active and receptive poles that must be reconciled.
The Royal Couple — The same polarity emphasized as sovereignty within the vessel and within the operator.
The Widow — A common emblem for matter deprived of its spirit or partner, awaiting reunion and regeneration.
The Orphan — The separated principle that must be reunited with its source, often used for the child-product of the Work.
The Philosophers' Child — The new third thing born of the conjunction, sometimes shown as an androgyne or crowned infant.
Rebis & the Divine Androgyne — The doubled-and-one being formed after conjunction, symbolizing integrated opposites.
The Alchemical Hermaphrodite — A more technical emblem of the same unity, often used for the perfected compound.
The Crowning of Nature (Coronatio Naturae) — The crowning of the matter after successful purification and fixation, marking attainment of a stable royal state.
The King in Red — The perfected solar principle in its red state, associated with the final tincture.
The Red Lion & White Queen — A pair of figures expressing the union of perfected sulfurous and lunar principles.
The Three Alchemical Weddings — A triad of major conjunctions or marriages mapping distinct phases of union between Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.
VII. Operations, Processes, and Stages of the Work
The Alchemical Operations — Collective name for the classical series of manipulations used to purify, separate, and recombine the principles of the matter.
Circulatio — The operation of repeated circulation and return, used to refine and intensify the medicine.
Cohobation — Repeated distillation and returning of the distillate, a practical method for strengthening and unifying.
Rectificatio — Purification by repeated distillation or refinement, applied to both substances and operations.
Putrefactio — A controlled decomposition producing blackness and new fertility, treated as necessary death before rebirth.
Mortificatio — The deliberate killing of the old form, symbolizing the surrender of prior identity in the work.
Sublimatio — The rising of the subtle from the gross, physically and symbolically.
Fixatio — The making-stable of the volatile principle so it can endure fire and act reliably.
Fermentatio — The enlivening phase where a new spirit enters and activates the compound, often linked to multiplication.
Digestio — Slow cooking under gentle heat, a name for internal maturation and integration.
Calcinatio — Reduction by fire to ash and salt, symbolizing purification through burning away the superfluous.
Distillatio — The ascent and condensation of the subtle, used to separate, purify, and concentrate.
Separatio — The analytical division of principles so they can be recombined in a higher unity.
Coniunctio — The binding union that generates a new nature, the turning point from division to synthesis.
Imbibitio — Feeding the body with spirit or tincture in measured doses until saturation and stability.
Cibatio — Feeding the matter, a term for sustaining the work through incremental nourishment.
Multiplicatio — The increase of power and quantity of the Stone or tincture without loss of virtue.
Projectio — The act of applying the tincture or Stone to transform a larger body, emblematic of effective medicine.
Solutio — Dissolving a body into a liquid or subtle state, often the first step in analysis and re-creation.
Coagulatio — The re-solidifying or fixing of a dissolved principle into a new, more perfect body.
Exaltatio — Raising a substance or operation to a higher degree of purity and power.
Illuminatio — A phase associated with the appearance of inner light, clarity, and insight within the Work.
Nigredo — The black stage of decomposition, concealment, and initial purification.
Albedo — The white stage of cleansing, washing, and clarification.
Citrinitas — The yellow stage of dawning light, discrimination, and spiritualization.
Rubedo — The red stage of completion, integration, and stable embodiment.
The Dry Path & The Wet Path — Paired modes of work emphasizing, respectively, direct fiery action on metallic subjects and gradual solution, fermentation, and circulation in liquids.
VIII. Maxims, Mottoes, and Philosophic Sayings
V.I.T.R.I.O.L — “Visit the interior of the earth and by rectification you will find the hidden stone,” a maxim naming descent, purification, and discovery.
Solve et Coagula — The operational law of dissolve and rebind, naming the rhythm of analysis and synthesis.
Ora Et Labora: Pray & Work — “Pray and work,” a maxim joining spiritual devotion with practical labor.
In Stercore Invenitur — “It is found in dung,” a saying indicating the value hidden in what appears lowest or most vile.
Omnia in Omnibus: Everything in Everything — “Everything in everything,” summarizing the idea that each part reflects the whole.
Omnia Ab Uno — “All things from One,” a formula for the origin of multiplicity from a single source.
As Above, So Below — A Hermetic axiom expressing the correspondence between higher and lower orders of reality.
Natura activa laetatur nature passiva — A saying about active and passive natures delighting in one another, used to characterize the interaction of Sulphur and Mercury.
Liber librum aparit: One book opens another — A maxim on the interdependence of texts and revelations.
INRI — Interpreted in alchemical sources as “By fire, nature is perfectly renewed,” applied to the purifying role of fire in the Work.
IX. Symbolic Persons and Personified Principles
The Black Madonna — A dark image of the divine feminine and hidden wisdom present in matter and in the Nigredo.
Diana — A lunar-hunting archetype associated in alchemical sources with subtle, mercurial dew and nocturnal collection.
Sophia — Personification of divine Wisdom, often linked to the suffering and restoration of the imprisoned light in matter.
Python Mercurius: The Inner Dragon — A personified form of Mercury, treated as a trickster, mediator, and double-natured guide of the Work.
The Adept — The completed or nearly completed practitioner whose understanding and experience have united theory and operation.
Puffers — A critical name for literalists who focus only on blowing bellows and chemical manipulation without philosophical understanding.
The True Philosopher — An ideal practitioner who unites natural philosophy, ethics, and practice in pursuit of the Stone.
X. Additional Lexicon Entries (for future expansion)
This glossary is designed as a working index for the Hermetic Art corpus. Further entries can be added here for:
- Planetary metals and their specific Decknamen.
- Named laboratory compounds and recipes preserved in particular emblems or texts.
- Cross-references to Kabbalistic, astrological, and Christic terms where they directly function as alchemical code-words.