Materia Prima

In a manner comparable to Christian eschatology, alchemical literature insisted on its own purificatory rituals that involved the preliminary torture, death and dismemberment of the prima materia. The canonical Catholic depiction of Christ s sacrificed body was a primary source for sixteenth and seventeenth century illustrations of the tortured body in anatomical and alchemical publications. In eflfect, the practice of Paracelsian alchemical medicine and surgery had a sacramental connotation, since the physician acted on the human body in the same manner as God worked on the great universal Macrocosmic Body. In like manner, the Paracelsian physician introduced the universal panacea, a liquid form of the philosopher s stone, into the alchemical alembic that was the Microcosmic human body. This alchemical medicine was permeated with the starry virtues of the heavens and the grace of Christ s Spirit, redeeming the body and soul of the patient by granting him not only an extended life on earth, but even eternal salvation. 

Ruland, Martin. Ruland - On the Prima Materia. rhttp //www.levitv.com/alchemy/ruland e.htmll. 

The sole purpose of alchemy is to take that which is gross and unrefined to transform it into perfection. Perfection, it is to be noted, is a process, not always a quantifiable end. Concurrently, the purpose of alchemical perfumery is to create a perfected and refined scent from the prima materia of individual aromatic materials... 

Bartas, Guillaume du.The divine weeks and works of Guillaume de Salustre Sieur du Bartas, translated by Josuah Sylvester, edited by Susan Snyder. Edited by Susan Snyder. Translated by Josuah Sylvester. Oxford Clarendon P, 1979. 2 vols References to Prima Materia, Etc (Abraham)... 

But what of the nature of the First Matter itself Jung says The basis of the opus, the prima materia, is one of the most famous secrets of alchemy. This is hardly surprising since it represents the unknown substance that carries the projection of the autonomous psychic content. 7 It is, as we stated before, omnipresent and the root substance of all forms. Oriental texts term it Akasha the alchemical texts of the Occident give it many names. Taoism, the alchemical practice of China, has the primal intuition that the universe must have some unborn origin (prima materia). This is given verbal form in the Tao Teh Ching, XXV ... 

Secondary Matter, or Seed of Metals, the primal Matter of the Philosopher s Work, to distinguish it from the Prima Materia, or First Created Matter, which is beyond the reach of the Artist. 

Thus Nature employed from the beginning only two simple principles, from which all that which exists was made, namely, the passive Prima Materia, and the Luminous Agent which gave it form. The Elements proceeded from their action, as secundary principles, from the different mixture of which was formed a Secunda Materia31 subject to the vicissitudes of generation and corruption. 

The nature of Water is rather humid than cold, because it is thinner and more open to the Light than the Earth. Water has preserved the humidity of the Prima Materia and of chaos the Earth has retained its cold. 

The Stone is generated from the Prima Materia, or first substance, that which contains the four elements. It is brought forth by two things, body and spirit. It is borne in the womb of the wind, and receives the "manna" continually from its heaven, in the form of rays or influences, which permeate every atom of it. It is born and reborn of the "Water and Spirit," just as Jesus declared. It is the Air that eventually brings forth our Stone. It is a crystal made from fire, air, water, and an invisible earth. 

Usually interpreted as the retort in which the prima materia is placed. The yoke represents the gold that is waiting to be brought forth. The egg is often seen as a symbol of the soul. 

Before their Nobel Prize-winning work on radium, Marie and Pierre studied alchemy. (They were said to have used pitchblende as their prima materia.) After Pierre s death, Marie was approached by a mysterious cabal. They advised her to desist in her alchemical studies, a secret which, if it got out, would badly tarnish Curie s reputation at a time when she was rapidly becoming a woman of some political importance and a French national heroine. 

We live in a vast ocean of energy and everything seen and unseen is a part of it. The alchemists called this energy the Celestial Fire, Prima Materia, the First Matter, Chaos, and many others. Everything around us, though it seems separate and different from ourselves is One only One. All is from One is the First Law of Hermetics. 

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