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

...rejuvenation, moving also upwards toward the heavens to its Center. Above, it has been called a moisture of the Moon or the radical moisture original: "humidum radicale"; in alchemy and medieval medicine, this was the essential fluid or "vital moisture" thought to sustain the life of all creatures and the integrity of matter. of all creatures.

Upon this follows: The second part of the water, according to the teaching of Moses Referring to the creation account in Genesis 1:9, where the waters are gathered to allow dry land to appear., had to collect itself and become dry. This is now the second piece of our Art The "Art" is a common term for alchemy, specifically the Great Work of transforming matter.: the substance of the Lion itself, which remains behind when the aforementioned Eagle has flown away from its body (as if hatched from an egg by the warmth). To speak of it correctly or clearly, it is a dry, waste, empty, and stinking earth, as it stands in Genesis Genesis 1:2: "And the earth was without form, and void.", and it retains its first name of the Lion because of its aforementioned strength and sharpness. For just as a lion has sharp teeth and bites through whatever it seizes, so also is this earth original: "terra" so sharp that one cannot endure it on the tongue (on account of its sharp and penetrating nature); it cannot be touched without injury to the tongue, as that philosopher says. Theophrastus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (1493–1541), the famous Swiss physician and alchemist. calls it otherwise: an invisible, consuming fire. With Bernhard Bernard of Trevisan, the 15th-century alchemist mentioned on the previous page. it retains