Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Perfection

Perfection is completion at a particular degree and according to a subject’s nature. Natural completion and the further efficacy attributed to art remain distinguishable. SL_I_08S001; SL_II_04S019.

Philosophy

Philosophy is the effective understanding of Nature’s principles and hidden operations, directed chiefly towards life’s preservation. Its cosmological, practical, literary and religious arguments remain connected. SL_IIIS010; SL_II_04S036.

Putrefaction

Putrefaction enables passage from one form to another within generation. The account gives it a constructive place without treating every corruption or failed preparation as beneficial. SL_I_05S002; SL_II_04S021.

Quintessence

The fifth essence is the separable simple spirit described in relation to the four elements. Book III expressly denies that its fifthness is merely a position above them. SL_I_03S001; SL_IIIS012.

Radical Moisture

Radical moisture sustains life at its root and is exhausted by destructive heat. It is a historical explanatory term, not an identification of one modern bodily substance. SL_II_01S004; SL_IIIS011.

Root

Root denotes origin, nourishment or the basis of an operation. Its location depends on whether the passage discusses celestial reception, the central storehouse or the return of distilled water. SL_I_06S001; SL_I_09S004.

Salt

Salt is the first palpable body of the embodied spirit and the last matter sought in resolution. Particular salts and their impurities must be distinguished; no single modern compound is securely identified. SL_II_02S004; SL_II_03S023.

Secrecy

Secrecy governs qualified disclosure through fable, analogy and reserved teaching. The author presents concealment as compatible with instruction, while acknowledging the danger that unwritten knowledge may disappear. SL_II_04S027; SL_II_04S035.

Seed

Seed is the generative power and its bearer, visible or hidden. A shared universal source produces effects according to the particular species receiving it. SL_I_01S007; SL_I_09S002.

Separation

Separation removes or distinguishes particular parts according to its context. Hermes’ earth and fire are interpreted as impurity and purity within the subject, whose proper union must be preserved. SL_II_04S009; SL_II_04S014.

Soul

The soul animates and bears formative causes; the spirit communicates and embodies its powers. The ideal intellect is distinguished from the soul attracted by material forms. SL_I_09S001; SL_I_09S001.

Sulphur

Sulphur may be a purified constituent fitted for perfection or a corrupting power associated with impurity and destructive heat. Its meaning depends on its condition and subject. SL_II_03S035; SL_IIIS012.

Sun

The celestial sun awakens and nourishes generative heat. The philosophical sun can name living gold in the particular work; the text expressly allows both levels. SL_I_04S002; SL_I_04S003.

Vital Heat

Vital heat is the inward activity sustaining generation and maturation, awakened by wider natural powers. Its moderation, continuity and relation to moisture determine its effects. SL_II_01S008; SL_I_03S003.

Water

Water can name primordial moisture, mercurial water or a means of dissolution and washing. Its local office is distinguished from fire’s removal of combustible impurity. SL_II_02S004; SL_II_03S030.

World Spirit

The general spirit carries the soul’s powers into bodies and is itself capable of embodiment. Its universal scope exceeds the particular metallic work. SL_I_02S001; SL_II_01S006.