Short Glossary

These definitions explain the terms as they function in this volume. German and Latin forms identify the source vocabulary. A shared word may have different senses in different works; the linked passages take precedence over a general definition.

Absolution

The release of a repentant sinner from sins, called holy solution in the German theological comparison. It answers to renewed dissolution of a damaged compound. The author connects it with the office of the keys, distinguishing a releasing key from the binding of the impenitent. Part IV §54.

Adam, Old

Der alte Adam names fallen humanity as it persists in sin and resistance within a person. Spiritual regeneration must put this old Adam to death. The figure also enters the Saturn comparison, where the Christian’s contest with old Adam and Satan precedes final rest. Part IV §48; Part IV §52.

Antimony

Antimonium appears as an agent through which gold is refined before fermentation. Part IV also assigns it the character ♄, ordinarily Saturn’s sign, and develops the sign into a comparison with the cross. This edition retains that historical assignment rather than substituting a modern elemental identity. Part III §11; Part IV §52.

Arcanum

Arcanum is a secret or mystery whose knowledge and use require a qualified recipient. The Hydrolith calls its art holy because it portrays a heavenly mystery. The term therefore bears a religious and ethical weight alongside its reference to concealed natural knowledge. Part I §2; Part I §5.

Azoth

Azoth is one of the names assigned to the first matter alongside double mercury and unusual kinds of water. The passage describes the subject through its nourishment, spirit and penetrating power. Its use here does not supply a secure modern chemical identification. Part II §4.

Coagulation

Coaguliren means bringing the separated or flowing material back into a united, graspable condition. In the preliminary work, the extracted inward constituents are reunited with their own salt. In Part IV, this restoration of unity also becomes a theological comparison concerning the divine being. Part II §14; Part IV §20.

Coction

Cochen, digestion or coction denotes the sustained maturation attributed to appropriate heat. Via veritatis makes natural coction the central operation and says it accomplishes what other writers distribute among several named processes. This emphasis should be read within that companion’s argument rather than imposed uniformly on the volume. Via veritatis §7; Via veritatis §35.

Compound

Compositum is the joined material undergoing the subsequent work. Its enclosure and proportion matter because escape, excessive moisture or faulty heat may hinder the intended result. Part IV transfers the compound’s preparation and correction into comparisons concerning the regenerated person and the restoration of a sinner. Part II §19; Part IV §54.

Conjunction

Conjunction is the joining of the prepared aqueous matter and a suitable metallic body. The Hydrolith represents their relationship through marriage and the behaviour of husband and wife. Part IV uses the joined two beings as a likeness for contemplating Christ’s Incarnation and subsequent passion. Part II §17; Part IV §22; Part IV §26.

Cornerstone

Eckstein and Grundstein designate Christ as the heavenly foundation and cornerstone, drawing on biblical stone passages. The rejected cornerstone supplies the principal theological counterpart to the neglected philosophers’ stone. The author applies the comparison through knowledge, incarnation, suffering, resurrection and the regeneration of Christ’s members. Part IV §4; Part IV §30.

Distillation

Distilliren belongs to the preliminary preparation in which the inward constituents are separated and then reunited. The process poem gives distillation a place among dissolution, putrefaction and coagulation. The term should be followed in that particular sequence, without assuming every companion endorses the same named operations. Part II §14; Part II §30.

Dry Water

Trocken Wasser is a paradoxical designation for a water said not to wet the hand. It occurs among descriptions of the first matter, distinct from ordinary rain or spring water. The phrase asks the reader to recognise an unusual subject rather than simply select familiar liquid water. Part II §4.

Elements

The four Elementa are fire, air, water and earth, discussed through qualities, mixtures and natural generation. The main treatise describes its matter as a balance above their ordinary conflict. Nature’s Demonstration assigns their transformations to Nature’s governance and disputes the artist’s ability to reproduce them unaided. Part II §3; Nature §7.

Elixir

Elixir names the achieved philosophical medicine or tincture. The author contrasts the hoped-for ELIXIR with a failed NIXIR, a pun on nothing. The joke accompanies a warning about haste and faulty reckoning, reminding the reader that a named goal does not guarantee a successful preparation. Part II §27; Part IV §52.

Essence

Wesen and essentia can indicate a thing’s being or inward nature rather than its outward appearance. Via veritatis makes metallic essence the proper subject of transformation. The word’s scope depends on its local argument; it should not be treated throughout as the name of one extracted modern substance. Via veritatis §11; Via veritatis §32.

Faith

Glaube is true and living when it springs from inward hearing of God’s Word and acts through love. Part IV also discusses the articles of Christian faith as material for gradual instruction. These uses connect assent, understanding and conduct, rather than reducing faith to outward recitation. Part IV §39; Part IV §46.

Fermentation

Fermentiren is a further preparation by which the completed tincture is made capable of communicating its benefit to imperfect bodies. The text distinguishes this from repairing a defect in the stone itself. Its theological application concerns Christ’s union with members who remain weak and require his communicated perfection. Part IV §32; Part IV §40.

Fifth Essence

Quinta essentia or fifth essence describes the matter’s claimed superiority to the conflicting properties of the four elements. Part III praises the spirit hidden within it in cosmological language. This is an assertion within the historical natural philosophy, not a designation authenticated by modern analytical chemistry. Part II §3; Part III §3.

Fire, Philosophical

The philosophical or vaporous fire is said to be an inward, essential fire assisted by ordinary outward heat. The Hydrolith identifies it in context with mercurial water. Part IV compares this relation with the inward Word and Spirit sustained through outward practice and attention to Scripture. Part II §20; Part IV §44.

First Matter

Prima materia or erste Materia names the required starting subject whose recognition must precede labour. The Hydrolith also calls it second matter and describes it through many names. Companion discussions of original matter and proximate metallic matter require separate attention; they do not establish one uniform usage. Part II §3; Nature §3.

Fixation

Fixiren means establishing a union which no longer flies away or falls apart. The material process reaches an indissoluble state of body, soul and spirit. Part IV uses that permanence to contemplate Christ’s risen body and the enduring blessedness towards which a restored sinner is directed. Part II §22; Part IV §29; Part IV §54.

Gold

Gold or Sol appears both as a highly honoured metal and as a body requiring qualification for the work. The author distinguishes common gold from the pure and suitable subject. Its later refining and use in fermentation should not be collapsed into the initial selection of matter. Part II §16; Part III §11.

Inward Light

Innerliches Liecht is the divinely given light through which the reader must discern outward testimony rightly. The examples of coloured tablets and concealed fire distinguish stimulus from judgement. The author binds this inward knowledge to Scripture and godly practice, while criticising merely bodily or literal perception. Part IV §10; Part IV §11; Part IV §12.

Keys, Office Of

Schlüsselambt is the Church’s ministry of releasing and binding sins. Part IV names both holy absolution and Christian excommunication, linking their exercise to repentance or persistent sin. The office belongs to the text’s account of spiritual correction and should not disappear into a general metaphor of personal renewal. Part IV §54.

Magnesia Catholica

Magnesia catholica is a Latin name placed beside Sperma mundi, seed of the world, in the catalogue of the matter’s titles. The description stresses unity and the origin of natural things. It does not justify identifying the phrase with a modern commercial substance called magnesia. Part II §3.

Mercury

Mercurius, mercury or quicksilver can function as an ordinary substance-name, a philosophical subject or a generative principle. The Summary describes a mother containing two seeds; Via rejects ordinary mercury as first matter. Determine the intended sense locally rather than substituting one meaning throughout all the collected works. Part II §14; Summary §2; Via veritatis §28.

Multiplication

Multipliciren is the increase or extension of the prepared tincture’s effective benefit. Part IV describes Christ’s multiplication with his members through incorporation into a pure spiritual body. The theological application concerns communicated perfection; it does not propose that Christ’s own completeness is deficient or needs material supplementation. Part IV §30; Part IV §32.

Oratory and Laboratory

Oratorium and Laboratorium distinguish the place or exercise of prayer from manual work. The author orders the practitioner to begin with prayer and right recognition before applying diligence in the laboratory. Their sequence makes devotion part of the proposed practice, while retaining the distinct demand for physical labour. Part II §12; Part I §8.

Panacea

Panacea is an all-healing medicine in the praise of the stone and a spiritual title applied to Christ. The material and theological applications must be distinguished. The edition reports the work’s sweeping medicinal claims as historical assertions, while preserving the author’s higher application to the healing of souls. Part III §8; Part IV §18.

Putrefaction

Putrefaction or Fäulung is a stage of apparent corruption and loss of the body’s powers before renewal. Its black colour receives the name raven’s head. Part IV compares it first with Christ’s humiliation and then with a living Christian’s spiritual dying to the old Adam. Part II §20; Part IV §28; Part IV §48.

Raven’s Head

Caput corvi, the raven’s head, names the blackened appearance associated with putrefaction. The author connects this rejected and apparently powerless body with Christ’s humiliation and with the believer’s disfigurement before the world. It is a stage within an argued sequence, rather than a universal symbol with one timeless meaning. Part II §20; Part IV §28.