The alchemists carried out a series of procedures by which they believed they could extract gold from base metal. However, one very important fact needs to be remembered: it was much more than a series of tasks to be performed in their laboratories. Alchemists lived their work in body and soul, totally committed and dedicated to their task and identified in body and mind with what took place in the flask. Some became seriously ill, some died. Like all mystical processes and the unconscious itself, alchemical work can be very dangerous if approached without proper knowledge and preparation.
The process consisted of three works. Paradox must be kept in mind through their entirety. For the first, ignis innaturalis (‘the secret fire’ or ‘the dry water’)
had to be prepared. Following this, a mysterious substance called the prima
materia had to be found. This is described as something right under your nose, yet
you might have to spend your whole lifetime searching to find it. It is that which you reject and despise and it may require a long perilous quest to find it. Once the alchemist had the prima materia he placed it in a mortar, pulverised it with a pestle, mixed it with the ignis innaturalis and then left it out all night to be moistened by the morning dew. There would then be an extremely long period of waiting for the right moment to proceed. Whilst waiting for however long it took, the alchemist would recite prayers and take astrological readings. It was crucial that he waited until it was the right time; forcing it or becoming impatient destroyed the whole procedure. Alchemists were certain in their belief, as with any venture, however good the procedure it will not work if it is performed at the wrong time.
Once the alchemist found the right time he would enclose the resulting sub- stance in ‘the philosopher’s egg’, a hermetically sealed vessel strong enough to contain the chemical reactions and exactly right for the purpose. More waiting could then be necessary in order to obtain the exact vessel and this also must not be rushed. He then placed the egg inside the athanor – a furnace capable of maintaining an even temperature. Alchemists understood there were two opposing principles at work inside the philosopher’s egg. These he described as the sulphur and the mercury, also called the solar and the lunar, the hot and the cold, the male and the female. Today we might call them the masculine and the feminine, the animus and the anima. He applied the heat most carefully and gradually these two principles separated. Following this, there is a long process of decay and putrefaction without which no transformation is possible. When this eventually ended it was the conclusion of ‘the first work’.
After this followed ‘the second work’, known as ‘the death’. The couple dissolve into black, called the nigredo. It is said they produce a perfect child and this process continues until all is totally putrefied and the opposites are dissolved in the liquid, often illustrated by the terrifying imagery of dismemberment and dissolution, giving meaning to the phrase ‘no generation without corruption’. It is called ‘blacker than black’, a time of indescribably vile suffering, truly, ‘the dark night of the soul’; all hope is lost and despair takes over. The decaying and putrefying continues seemingly without end until a stage begins which may or may not actually be visible. The tiniest speck of light appears in the black followed by the appearance of many colours. This is called cauda pavonis, ‘the peacock’s tail’. It is comparable to the Christian story of the night sky in Bethlehem at the moment of the birth of Jesus and the Christian ritual of Advent, a ritual process leading up to Christmas. Each day gets darker and darker until all the light is gone. Then new light begins and the child is born.
There is a star spoken of in the Jewish mystic tradition which illuminated the whole sky at the moment of the birth of the patriarch Abraham (Anon, Bet
Hamidrash, 1820, II, 118–196). The Zohar (lit. the book of splendour) is popularly
the most well-known of the Hebrew mystical texts. In it is a story of how, at the
moment of the birth of Moses, everything was filled with the brilliance and radiance of primordial light, the special light created before the beginning of the world and all that is in it. G-d first made this light and then everything was created from it. Shortly after its creation G-d hid this light, a light of immense brilliance equal to the power of both the sun and the moon together in the sky (Zohar II, 11b). The Christian New Testament describes an eastern star which appeared over the birth place of Jesus (Matthew, Chapter 2, verse 9). The second alchemical work came to an end when a white colour appeared in the egg, the albedo.
The third work is to repeat the first two as many times as it takes until ‘the ultimate perfection’, is reached; and there appears, ‘the Red King who is reunited with his Queen in the fire of love’. At this point the third work is completed. Great patience and fortitude is called for throughout as the three works had to be repeated countless times before the gold was formed, hence the alchemist’s motto orare et
laborare, ‘work and pray’.