Spiritus Mercurius

One determinant of whether there is a forward movement is the therapist s ability to detect the patient s regressive tendencies and bring them into the open. The children of the fountain do remind us that the defense of regression may be expressed actively, as with the boy s upraised stick, or passively, as with the girl s stick resting on the shoulder. The mercury reminds us that the ever-changeable trickster, the Spiritus Mercurius, is likely to play a prominent role at this stage. 

This Universal-Menstruum is the proper Separator and the true Chymicus, who separates the impurities of the two Sulphuras. He kills and brings to life, and initiates the putrefaction and resurrection of our Subjecti, and it has the form of a Mercurius duplicatus, and is also called Spiritus aceti and is a doubly Corrosive. 

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