Virgin earth

Meaning

II.2.4 calls the sought earth virgin in connection with a Lullian authority and a first tangible manifestation. Salt is expressly called this virgin earth because it has not yet produced anything; it is the first body through which the first matter becomes palpable and visible. It is not a statement about ordinary soil's agricultural use, nor a name sufficient to identify an ingredient.

The phrase stands among water, salt, hardness and vitrification. Water alone makes watery; salt's dissolubility and the body's emergence toward solidity help the author describe a subject that can still receive further determination. The surrounding distinctions are essential: the first tangible earth is not simply the dregs of common ground, and its virgin status does not by itself mean the final purity or fixity sought by the art.