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Because through the constant, unceasing boiling and putrefaction Putrefaction: In alchemy, this is the stage of "rotting" or breaking down the matter, often called the Nigredo or Blackness, which allows the inner spirit to be released from the solid body. our true solution and philosophical dissolution into a water must occur, the Philosophers have called it only one single water throughout original: "unicam tantum aquam per totum." This implies that although the substance goes through many changes, it remains a single, continuous substance in the vessel.. For the moisture of the spirit original: "Spiritu" is a water, and the moisture of the soul is an oil; therefore it is also said that our Stone is an oily vapor original: "Vapor unctuosus est Lapis noster." The "Stone" here refers to the matter in its gaseous, transformative state.. Thus the soul is a bond of the spirit, just as the spirit in turn is a bond of the soul. Yet this bond is as nothing compared to the bond of nature. Everything must become water if one wishes to proceed correctly. Dissolve the bodies into our living quicksilver, which is the water of the Mastery, and it becomes permanent water original: "Solvite corpora in argentum vivum nostrum, quod est aqua Magisterii, & fit aqua permanens." Permanent water is an alchemical term for a "water that does not wet the hands," a metallic liquid that is stable even in high heat., say the Philosophers; that is: Dissolve the bodies into our living quicksilver Quicksilver: Not common mercury, but "Philosophical Mercury," a refined substance capable of dissolving metals., which is the water of the mystery, and so you obtain our enduring water. For just as at the beginning of Creation everything was water, and the Spirit of God hovered above the water, so the beginning of our work must also be a water—that is, our Body original: "Corpus" must be brought into a water through solution and dissolution, and putre-