Aerial Mercury and Raymond Lulle

Meaning

Raymond Lulle is invoked for the name aerial Mercury and for the most general genus, expressions that place the universal spirit before its specification into particular kinds. Aerial refers to the spirit’s subtle carriage and mediation, not an identification with ordinary quicksilver suspended in air. The general genus explains adaptability without cancelling the determinate kind of a receiver.

The name also authorizes the virgin earth of the cited Testament, and later the “most general genus of genera” distinguishes the universal source from the first matter specifically of metals. These are local uses of an attributed authority. The supplied text does not establish authentic authorship of a particular Lullian work or warrant silently equating the historical person with the entire later alchemical corpus circulating under his name.