Symbols ana a

Seven
“aioavuv “OiAceR,”
“meRCURg,”
ADD “POiSOT>”
M M I e have spoken of the ev to ttccv. But we need I to begin by establishing the "chaos” or "every­thing” aspect of the "one.” In the strictest sense, tin's is the First Matter; the undifferentiated possibility, the origin of all generation. In hermetism, although the symbolism that designates it is rather diverse, it recapitulates the symbols utilized by many ancient civilizations. It is "Night,” the "Abyss,” the "Matrix”; the place of the "Tree,” and as we have also seen, the W>man—the Mother, the "Lady of the Philosophers,” the "Goddess of sublime beauty.”⁹⁸ But the technical and specific symbols of the her me t ico-alchemic al texts are, above all, those of Water and Mercury.
"Without the divine Water”—Oefov {JSatoi;—"nothingexists”—ou&vecrnv— says Zosimos:² "it works every operation through its components [that is to say, in that by which it takes form].” Water of the Abyss—€vaj3ija Mysterious Water, Divine Water, Permanent Water, Living Water (or Water of
Life), Eternal Water, Silver Water (vdpapyopov), Ocean, Mare Nostrum, Mare Magnum Philosopher um, Aqua-Spirit, Fons Perennis, Heavenly Water, etc., are expressions found everywhere, in the texts. On the other hand, between the symbols of the Feminine Principle and those of the Waters—"Mother Earth," "Waters,” "Mother of the Waters,” "Stone,” "Cavern,” "House of the Mother,” "Night,” "House of Profundity” or of "Strength" or of "Wisdom"—there is a connection that goes back to the beginning of time. '^{99 100 101} And this is what hermetism reclaims.
Meanwhile the Waters, the "Radical Wetness,” the "Lady of the Philosophers,” Chaos, the £v id TiCtv, the "mystery sought for eons and finally found,” etc. all come down, alchemicalfy, to Mercury. Everything is composed of Mercury (or Mercurial Water), say the texts; it is what constitutes, they say, the Matter, the beginning and the end of the Work.
We have mentioned another association: the Serpent or Dragon. This is— KadoXiicog O0iC the "universal" or "cosmic Serpent” which, according to the gnostic expression, "moves through all things.”⁴ Its relation to the chaos prin­ciple—"our Qiaos or Spirit is a Dragon of fire that conquers all’’⁵-and to the principle of dissolution¹⁰²—(the. Dragon Ourobouros is the dissolution), goes back to the most ancient myths.
Hermetism, however, also uses more particular symbols for this. Venom, Viper, Universal Solvent, and Philosophical Vinegar designate the. power of the undiffer­entiated, at whose touch all differentiation can but be destroyed. But at the time we find the word menstruum to indicate the same principle and, as such—rhat is, as the blood of the symbolic "Lady” which nourishes generation—it also takes on the opposite, meaning of the Spirit of Life, the "Fountain of Living Water,” the "Life in the bodies, that which attracts, rhe Light of lights.”¹⁰³
The principle in question, then, has a double meaning. It is Death and Life. It has the double power of solve and of coagula: it is the "Philosophical Basilisk," like a bolt of lightning burning all "imperfect metal” (CroIIius); "Terrible Fountain,” which if allowed to run over would lead to ruin, but which confers victory over all things to the "King” who knows how to bathe in it (Bernard of Treviso). It is

the Kuach, Spirit or Breath, the "undifferentiated principle in every individual’’;⁸ it is the "black Lead,’’ and also the "Magnesia,” the "Quintessence,” that which can do everything in all things—ptin Afa pHsi —and that to those who know -nown— and who understand its use, it supplies Gold and Silver.⁹
In reality, by the same absolutely undifferentiated nature of that which it signifies, the symbolism used by the texts for this purpose is unlimited. The hermetic authors say explicitly that everything can be designated by anything— including the most extravagant things—with the aim of misleading the ignorant.
What is of interest, however, is how we relate these symbols to a spiritual state under the guise of an experience: given that for hermecism one must consider true what Aristotle said of the Mysteries, that perhaps one went to them not to learn, but to acquire a deep impression from a lived experience—OV fJOlOeiv, ttXXct TtccOsiv.¹¹¹ it is in this sense that one must understand the expressions relative to the same priniciple of which we have just spoken, that we. find in certain kindred currents of hermecism: "Water that produces trembling”— (fipiKTOV "The
darkness is a terrible Water!”—to Se OKorog ijScop t'orz (ftofiPpOV;¹² "Complete power of violent agitation, like water in constant movement”; that which brings "What makes permanent, frees what goes, destroys what grows”; and in whose image were made Cepheus, Prometheus and Japheth. ’’^{1 J>} Boehme says it better, ’’ The essence is squeezed wholly out of death through the death process, which is effected in the great anguish of the impressure where there is an existential death torment, which is the mercurial life . . . and this fearfulness comes from the Mercury, or the anguish of death.”¹⁴ It’s a matter of coming into contact with the venom, with its dissolving force, as death, that breaks up the finite essences.
So, hermetic Mercury, the "Philosophical Basilisk,” that acts like a bolt of lightning (recall the bolt that struck the Titans), corresponds to prana, the life force, which in the Hindu tradition is also called the "supreme cause of terror" and "brandished fireball,” which, however, "makes who knows it immortal.”¹⁵ In Assyrian mythology, the god Marduk has thunderbolts in both bands when in combat against the Chaos monster, Tiamat. Tin's symbolic combat leads us to the next phase, that of separadon.