Solve et coagula

Cockburn, J.A. Solve et coagula and the synthetic philosophy. Metropol College Trans (1922) 37-43. 

McLean, Adam. Hermetic Meditation Number 3. Solve et coagula. Hermetic J, no. 3 (Spring 1979) 24. 

Solve et Coagula, the motto of Alchemy, is repeated in text after text. Dissolve and congeal is the literal translation, but solidify is a better translation of coagula. Psychological commentators upon the Art have taken solve to refer to the releasing of psychic energy held within emotional complexes in the subconscious. This is valid, as far as it goes, but... 

Ibid., 77 Quatrieme dimension Pouvoir de desagregation et reagregation immediate des corps, Solve et coagula Noircarme s italics. 

In the liquid state materials are much more susceptible to astrological influences (especially through the Moon) and we use this to impress or augment a planetary power in our subject. It is not uncommon to repeat this process of solve et coagula a number of times using distilled water or a specially prepared type of water which has already captured certain astrological influences during its manufacture. With each cycle, the subject becomes more powerful. 

There really is a lot of fire in this salt It can be prepared by mixing nitric acid and ammonium hydroxide until neutral, then crystallizing. Solve Et Coagula a few times by... 

A period called the Rule of Saturn takes 46 to 50 days to form the Black mass. In the period the alchemist repeatedly dissolves and coagulates Solve et Coagula ... 

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