The Sophic Nucleus: An Interpretation of the Tincture of the Physicists of Paracelsus

...can Completes the thought from the previous page: "can [be]"; for it can be overcome, killed, or subdued by no one (unless it be with Fire original: "Fewer"; in alchemy, fire is the primary agent of purification and transformation, as those know who have such monstrous beasts in their keeping), so that one may rightly attribute to it the title of the invincible, and thus it may rightly and fairly be called a strong Lion because of the firm joining together of the Elements The four classical elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.. For when these same [elements] are separated from one another and purified, and also in a proper manner wedded together among themselves, there is born from them a tempered substance original: "temperirte ſubstanz"; a balanced matter where the four qualities are perfectly harmonized which can neither be pulled apart by the power of Fire, nor defiled by the Earth, nor overwhelmed by the slime of Water, nor oppressed by the Air.

However, so that one might not think that such a Lion is a strange, foreign thing, he says: That this Lion is named by many, but known by few; and it is true, this Lion is constantly carried in the mouths of many people—not only by those who study in this Art original: "Kunſt"; a standard term for the "Great Work" of alchemy., but also by common folk—and although the smallest part...