Work acting by itself · Lexicon

From the book

The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise

Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordThe work's acting by itself means that the operative power is attributed to the matter or to Nature, not that every condition and every human responsibility disappears.
In the Sophic HydrolithThe main treatise says that the process proceeds successively by itself without further work except tending the fire.
In this editionThe translation preserves “by itself” and the exception for tending the fire in the main text.
A place to readAfter initiation the work proceeds itself except for fire-tending.

Meaning

The work's acting by itself means that the operative power is attributed to the matter or to Nature, not that every condition and every human responsibility disappears. Reflexive verbs describe self-purifying, self-exalting, and self-dissolving. Each occurrence must be read with its stated qualification about preparation, heat, nourishment, or the scope of human assistance.

Use in the book

The main treatise says that the process proceeds successively by itself without further work except tending the fire. This claim follows conjunction and placement of the compound; it is not a description of an untouched starting material. The exception is explicit, and the same passage warns against an imbalance in the figurative relation of woman and man. Self-operation therefore still belongs to a governed situation.

In Nature's dialogue, the answering alchemist says that the one matter contains what is needed for beginning, middle, and end, lacking only a little warmth supplied by a person. His analogy with seed explains the sufficiency of an inward principle. He nevertheless attributes the drawing forth of what is needed to Nature's wisdom and art. Human administration and natural effect are distinguished rather than made mutually exclusive.

The Philosophical Summary's self-multiplication is differently bounded. The grain can increase while it remains within its Mercury or ore and receives substance from it. Removal breaks the nourishing relation, just as plucking unripe fruit prevents continued growth. It would be wrong to quote “can multiply itself” as an unconditional power of any isolated metal.

The Way of Truth makes reflexive operation central to its polemic: through a single plain coction the subject purifies, exalts, sublimes, and dissolves itself. This is offered against treating those terms as a repertoire of separately imposed operations. Its definition cannot simply be inserted into the main treatise's stage-by-stage description without acknowledging the difference. The shared rejection of excessive handling does not yield one uniform account of what remains to be done.

Places to read

Part II: matter and the work · unit 20After initiation the work proceeds itself except for fire-tending.
Nature’s Demonstration to the Erring Alchemist · unit 15Alchemist describes natural work making itself visible colours.
Philosophical Summary · unit 5Grain multiplies while retained within its Mercury.
Way of Truth · unit 35Purification, elevation, sublimation and dissolution occur themselves through coction.

Translation

The translation preserves “by itself” and the exception for tending the fire in the main text. It also gives the Via a repeated “itself,” matching the emphatic source repetitions. In the Summary, the conditional “provided only that it can obtain substance from its Mercury” is indispensable. These grammatical qualifiers prevent a modern reader from mistaking a theory of dependent natural agency for a promise of unconditional automatic success.

Attested forms

von jme selbsten allein; ohne einige weitere; sich schwartz; weiß vñ roth macht; sich multipliciren; reiniget es sich selber; erhöhet vnnd sublimirt sich selber; löset sich selber auff