Symbols ana a

Twenty-Four
seem, virus,
Ano trop
& -
■ he Greek alchemists have a technical term that ex­
presses the power of the "stem,” that is, idg(ios). And imcTig(iosis), therefore, is the result of the action of the log. The idg in itself has the same sense as wus, and iosis is the state of virulence, understood as the active and specific property that leads in certain metals to their oxidation. On the other hand, oxidation is usually accompanied by a rusting in metals, and the reddish color of the rust provides an allusion to the solar virile nature of the new force manifesting in the metal.²³⁶ This is why iosis has been assigned the. sense of "purification" via "separation,”² that is to say, of an energy that recovers its orginal power by separating from the corporeal amalgams. The violent aspect of transcendental force that emerges at the moment of separation is given the value of "poison" or "dissolving acid,” which at times goes by the same term, iosis. Having alluded to rust and oxidation, we wish to turn to another variation on the vegetable symbolism: upon being oxidized and experiencing iosis, certain flowers are produced in the metals, the equivalent of symbolical corollas that blossom on the "stem.”
In this sense, iosis is a "virulence,” that is, virility Note, however, that if idg
is the equivalent of virus, from the root v/r (cf. Latin: vis, vircus), it is identical to the Sanskrit virya, a technical term of the Hindu doctrine of regeneration whose sense corresponds entirely to what is hidden in alchemical iosis, In reality, virya, in the Hindu doctrine, and especially in Buddhism, is that purely spiritual energy that, once isolated, is capable of reacting on the habitual functioning of the elements, setting in motion an action that is no longer a part of nature and that is a result of the "unnatural Fire” and the "Fire against Nature,” whose meaning attributed by the hermetic texts we shall explain below. In order to isolate the virya, an energy is necessary that is capable of suspending desire (canda riddhipadah), after which is awakened the spiritually virile power that brings the elements of the human being to a state no longer in flux (virya riddhipadatijd The rising of the stalk over the Water and the Earth, and its blossoming hermetically adumbrate these same meanings.
The virile character of the power at work in the resurrections (virus, virtus, virya, vis, vir) suggests that in hermetism the elements, although in their vulgar, dead, or terrestrial state, constitute an approximation or a transposition, often felt to be most apt for the preparation of the Philosophical Gold. By that we are told that Mars (god of iron and war) is a metal from whose ''tincture" (or tint)—if its extraction be obtained (that is, if one manages to separate the virile-warrior element of man from its corporeal condition)—one could obtain Gold,^{237 238} Braccesco returns time and again to iron: "Iron is called man [vir], because he has a flexible soul and a healthy spirit, because his root is pure; he is young and strong because he is hard and strong.’’ "On Mars,’’ he says, "depends the perfection of the elixir,’’ given that it possesses "the power nearest to conversion into Elixir”; it is a "fixed Sulfur”;²³⁹ its property is not found in any other substance. "In its //me, it dominates Fire, and is not dominated by it ... , but, admirably, it reposes in it, rejoicing in it. ’’
Senior also has the symbolic Iron say: "I am Iron, the strong one, hammer and hammered, all good comes through me; and Light, the secret of secrets, by me is generated.” Because it possesses a stronger will chan other bodies, it has been chosen by the Wise.⁵
Naturally, as encountered in man, Mars has impure parts: it is prone to ''com­bustion," resists "fusion” too much, and "lacks lustre” (Francis Bacon, Geber); it must be. washed and "subtly triturated.” Nevertheless, the "heroic" power, the spiritual-warrior virtue hidden in the symbol of this metal and god, is recognized
as one of the best principles and "prime matters" for the Work; it can do no less than confirm the sprit of that tradition to which this same Work pertains and about which we have already spoken.
In conclusion we must add that in more recent times, the symbolism of the philosophers has particularly turned to the hardness and infrangibility acquired by iron when treated by Water and Fire: we refer to seed. The Cosmpolite compares the "Steel of the Wise” to the symbolic virtue of the Magnet, which here is understood as the transcendent "hardness" of the dominating Spirit and incombus­tible Sulfur to which the mercurial forces in a state of freedom are attracred and submit, as the female to rhe male. And Philalethes says: "Our steel is, in the end, the true key of the Work, without which it is completely useless to try to light the lamp or the philosophical furnace. It is the vein of Gold, it is the purest spirit of all, an infernal and secret fire, and it is, also, in its way, extraordinarily volatile. It is, in sum, the wonder of the world and the focus of the higher virtues by inferior beings. ”²⁴⁰
Now it only remains for us to see in detail the operations on which the foundation of such power must be completed in order to attain that prodigious existence, which beyond all the allegories and enigmas, the hermetic masters promise us as "heirs of the wisdom of the centuries."


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