A New Light of Alchemy

3For example, place a small vessel of water in the middle of a flat table. Arrange various things around it—different colours, salt, and so forth, each separately. Then pour the water out in the middle. You will see it run in different directions. When one little stream reaches a red colour, it becomes red; if it reaches salt, it takes on the taste of salt, and likewise with the other things. The water does not change the places: the diversity of the places changes the water. In the same way, seed cast by the four elements into the earth’s centre passes outward from there to various places. A thing acquires its nature according to the nature of its place; if the seed reaches a pure place of earth and water, a pure thing results. The seed of all things is one, yet it generates diverse things, as the following example shows. A man’s seed is noble seed, created solely for the generation of a human being. Nevertheless, if a man misuses it—which lies within his free choice—a failed birth results.