Painting > Elementa Chemicae Triptych

#23, The blackness of purification (nigredo) is purified by Azoth, the living spirit, which is extracted from the quicksilver.

#24, Putrefaction is the gate to the conjunctio, and conception. It is the key to transmutation. The star indicates that the matter is self-enclosed, and that the seeds of the seven metals lie within.

#50 # 51 The more transparent and subtle the consistency of the lapis, the higher its penetrative capacities and the greater its strength of color. In order to intensify this, further sublimations occurs: it is now fertilized with philosophical mercury (serpent) until the serpent has swallowed its own tail” and the lapis dissolved.