Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Relations Within the Text

These sixteen relationships follow comparisons or explanations made in Sal Lumen. The linked passages show how a term changes with the scale of the argument: universal generation, a particular living body, the work of art or a Christian mystery.

Sixteen relationships explained by the author

Concept: Natural movement and continuing life Relations in text: The motion of the world soul is offered as the source of bodily motion and evidence that the world lives. Linked passages: Motion

Concept: Spirit between soul and body Relations in text: Spirit shares the nature of both extremes and binds them, as Christ's divine and human natures enable mediation between God and humanity. Linked passages: Mediation

Concept: The sun as father Relations in text: Solar heat awakens earthly seeds; in the particular alchemical reading, philosophical gold is the father of the stone. Linked passages: Sun; Gold

Concept: The moon as mother Relations in text: Lunar moisture and solar heat are paired as conditions of generation. Linked passages: Generation

Concept: Roots in air, summits in earth Relations in text: Calid's reversed plant image explains how air fosters the growth of a mine within earth. Linked passages: Airy root

Concept: Earth as mother and nurse Relations in text: Earth receives celestial powers, bears seeds and supplies the exhalations from which different terrestrial bodies form. Linked passages: Earth; Exhalations

Concept: Salt, first matter and last residue Relations in text: The saline residue of resolution is used to identify the body's first matter; salt-making then models the appearance of earth from primordial waters. Linked passages: First matter; Salt-making

Concept: Earth's centre and preserved celestial power Relations in text: Heavenly influences converge in matter; its conversion into earth is therefore said to preserve, rather than extinguish, their powers. Linked passages: Retained power; Specification

Concept: Distinction within a plant and removal of impurity Relations in text: Bark, wood, leaves and fruit remain connected parts; impurity, by contrast, must be removed to release the substance's powers. Linked passages: Distinction; Removal

Concept: The grain's death and renewed generation Relations in text: The grain's putrefaction provides a model for the mortification that must precede the regeneration of matter. Linked passages: Mortification

Concept: Water, fire and Christian regeneration Relations in text: Water's washing and fire's consuming are compared with baptism, Christ's blood and the fire of the Holy Spirit. Linked passages: Two means; Actions; Pure centre

Concept: Phoebus, Python and the first earth Relations in text: The killing of Python is read as natural heat drying superfluous moisture, so that the generative substance becomes active within earth. Linked passages: Python; Ode

Concept: Fire and water as agents of separation Relations in text: Calcination, sublimation and descension are grouped under fire; distillation and dissolution under water. Linked passages: Classification; Sublimation; Washing

Concept: Repeated treatment and patient skill Relations in text: Alternating dissolution and calcination is preferred to an uninterrupted fire that carries off the desired substance or vitrifies the remainder. Linked passages: Repetition; Crystal; Gentleness

Concept: Winged and wingless creatures Relations in text: Hermes's birds and Flamel's dragons express a volatile power restrained by a fixed component. Linked passages: Birds and dragons

Concept: Ascent to heaven and descent to earth Relations in text: Dissolutions make the matter spiritual or airy; renewed congelations bring it back to bodily consistency and fixation. Linked passages: Ascent and descent

The sun and moon supply an account of generative heat and moisture. The author also accepts Hortulan’s particular reading of philosophical gold as father of the stone. These applications belong to connected levels of his argument. Their connection does not make every term a single ordinary material or provide a general list of planetary assignments. See the particular interpretation and the two generative conditions.

Separation requires its own distinction. Different parts of a plant remain joined through shared substance and power, while obstructive impurity is removed. Original mixture may be necessary for generation without being useful at every later stage. This is why the account can describe dregs as present from the beginning and still make purification the artist’s purpose. See distinction, removal and the original mixture.

The Christian comparisons likewise retain qualifications. In the account of regeneration, water washes and fire consumes corruption; the later treatment expressly says that Christ’s centre needed no purging. The shared pattern does not give sin and material dregs the same identity. The author’s own defence of sacred correspondences should be read with those limits. See the parallel actions, the uncorrupted centre and the defence of correspondence.