The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

19Most philosophers have asserted that their royal work is composed entirely of sun and moon. Others chose to add mercury to the sun; some selected sulphur and mercury; and others assigned no small part in so great a work to nature's salt mixed with those two. These same writers have declared their stone to be created from just one thing, or from two, three, four, and even five. Thus, while writing of the same thing in such varied language, they nevertheless agree in their intention.