Prophetissa, Maria

Haeffner, Mark. The dictionary of alchemy from Maria Prophetissa to Isaac Newton. London Aquarian P, 1991. 272 p. ISBN 1-85538-085-4... 

Maria Prophetissa s mantra of the one becoming two, the two becoming three, the three becoming the fourth that represents the One , in essence summarises the belief — common to all mystic traditions — that the multiplicity of the world originally came from one source in which all things are unified. It was this one thing that the alchemists sought, which they, or at least the more mystically minded of them, believed was the Philosopher s Stone. 

From the seventh through the thirteenth centuries, the study of alchemy flourished openly in the Islamic world. The first Muslim with an interest in alchemy may have been Khalid Ibn Yazid (d. 704), a Umayyad prince. He reputedly was tutored in alchemy by a student of Stephanos, Morienus of Alexandria (who is quoted by the author of the Splendor Solis). Whether or not this account is accurate, it is clear that Alexandria was the primary influence on Islamic alchemy The Islamic alchemists quoted Zosimos, Democritos, and Stephanos, as well as other Alexandrian alchemists such as Ostanes and Maria Prophetissa (second to third century often referred to as Mary the Jewess ). In addition, the Muslim alchemists also absorbed influences from Persia and Syria. 

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