White and red tinctures

Use in the book

At p. 91 a quoted hierarchy places the philosophers’ stone first, followed by the tincture of Sun and Moon ad rubeum et album, then other named tinctures (II.091.1). The next paragraph says all arise from one seed and matrix (II.091.2). The pair therefore belongs to derivative philosophical works flowing from a common source, not two unrelated ordinary starting materials.

At p. 155 white and red qualify Sulphur. The author is answering the claim that diamond arises from nature’s vapour without Sulphur. A diamond can no more be without sulphur than without salt; he then notes that both white and red Sulphur occur in his philosophy (II.155.1). The existence of white Sulphur helps resist a simplistic inference from visible colourlessness to the absence of the fire principle. The passage does not give a recipe or assign a modern composition to either form.

At p. 170 water changes through colours to the highest colour and fixed redness, at which point the tincture is possessed (II.170.1). The importance of red here includes fixation and perfection. It should not be reduced to any red appearance, nor should it be assumed that this one sentence explains every use of white elsewhere.

The theological identification at p. 201 says Urim and Thummim were the philosophical White and Red (II.201.1). At p. 224 the reply writer agrees with those holding this view and finds it highly probable that God answered Israel through the purified substance, appealing especially to ruby-like crystals seen in his own labours (II.224.1). White and Red here function substantivally. The claim concerns purified substance and sacred knowledge as much as ordinary colour.

The title’s White Philosophical Phoenix supplies another reason for restraint. Although white frames the title, the work repeatedly discusses red perfected matter. The title adjective cannot alone define the work as an exclusively white operation or cancel the later endpoint of fixed redness.

Places to read

1. Part II · II.091.1; II.091.22White and red within the hierarchy of tinctures from one source.
2. Part II · II.155.1; II.170.12White and red Sulphur and the separate endpoint of fixed redness.
3. Part I and Part II · I.001; II.201.1; II.224.123The title and the biblical identification of philosophical White and Red.

Translation

Album and rubrum are translated as white and red; when they act as names, the English can use White and Red. The edition does not silently append “tincture” where the source has substantival adjectives, or replace Sulphur with tincture where Sulphur is actually written. The headword gathers the pair for reference while the individual passages keep their grammar.¹⁰⁸

Connections

Colours covers the larger range of signs and the three-or-four principal-colour statement. Sulphur philosophical supplies the elemental relation. Urim and Thummim develops the qualified biblical interpretation. Tincture and elixir concerns the powers of the resulting preparations, while Phoenix explains the title’s paratextual force.

Cautions

No complete standardized sequence or exact chemical identity follows from this pair alone. The Urim-Thummim identification is the author’s interpretation, not an archaeological conclusion. Likewise, white and red Sulphur do not authorize treating ordinary white and red substances as interchangeable philosophical ingredients.

Tinctura Solis & Lunæ ad rubeum & album

Tinctura Solis & Lunæ ad rubeum & album — tincture of Sun and Moon for red and white. II.091.1.

album & rubrum Sulphur

album & rubrum Sulphur — white and red Sulphur. II.155.1.

Album & Rubrum Philosophicum

Album & Rubrum Philosophicum — philosophical White and Red. II.224.1.