From the book
The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise
Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Virgin earth is the place of an initial putrefaction in Nature's generation account, before the sought water comes forth. The exact phrase Jungfräwlichen Erden belongs to the dialogue's birth imagery: fire begets and nourishes a child in air, while earth provides an earlier hidden condition. The English preserves 'virgin earth' without naming a particular soil or asserting an ordinary botanical planting. In the same unit, Nature relates agent and patient, moist and dry, heavenly and elemental fire. The maternal or virginal image therefore belongs to an account of elemental formation, not an independently specified substance available under that name.
Places to read
- Nature’s Demonstration to the Erring Alchemist · unit 5The child first putrefies in virgin earth before the sought water emerges; fire subsequently begets and nourishes it in air.
Attested forms
Jungfräwlichen Erden