We may regard the earth element as the primary matter – materia prima, cruda – a hazily defined raw material without any particular properties, which is needed to make the philosophers' stone. It is from this that the great work, the magnum opus, proceeds. The same starting state is also called virgin earth, the philosophical egg, or Adam's muddy earth. From this last was taken the body of the first man, for the water element has a fertilising effect on the earth element, and the air element joined it as the divine breath. Earth is at once stone and not-stone. In its initial state the earth element is stone: our stone, or materia prima, while its final stage is no longer ordinary stone but a superstone or metastone, the philosophers' stone, lapis philosophorum. This is the final element, the ultima materia, which is now the fifth element, the essence, that is, the Quinta essentia.
The wind seeping through the pores of the earth mingles with the alchemical waters. At this stage it is merely moist vapour, from which the principles of all substances then unfold, and which is the first element of the philosophers. And fire is the central unifying, stabilising element in alchemy. ‘The operation begins with fire and ends with fire’ – says Ibn Bishrun, meaning that the starting point is the fire of the soul, the process is a purifying oxidation, the result is the blazingly pure soul.
A man's character is his fate. (Heraclitus)
These three factors – earth, water and fire – define three dimensions. The earth element specifically defines the dimension of space, together with the notions of extension, place and void. The water element determines time, inasmuch as it carries change, flow, transience and coming-into-being, while the fire element determines the law of karma, for on the one hand it burns, like the flame of suffering, and on the other it sets aglow, like the purifying fire of liberation.
These form the cosmic background, and once they have fallen into place, all is ready for the miracle, for the manifestation of life, of the human and the divine play!
The great work, the art of transformation, is not without obstacles. Every change consumes energy, and this energy must be drawn from somewhere. What can one do when short of energy? What might be the remedy for a lack of energy? Yoga points to a particular method of gathering strength. Not rest, not training, but penance. Self-discipline releases energies, which can then be turned to furthering one's spiritual development. Depending on what is lacking, further means are named.
If you lack strength, practise self-discipline, and with it you can gain the powers you wish for. The remedy for a lack of knowledge is meditation, that is, not mere intellectual effort but a connection to the highest field of consciousness, from which even supernatural knowledge may be drawn. And if it is love that one lacks, then the method recommended is devout worship, when a man surrenders with his hands raised and entrusts his fate to the heavens.
Besides this, the strength released through self-discipline is also regarded as an energy that ripens thoughts. As the broody hen hatches her eggs with the warmth of her body, so the sage, with the heat of his self-discipline, helps his thoughts, his meditation, into life. In the beginning, so it is taught, God too brooded thus over the thought of the world and cherished it, and in due time it became manifest. When energy is imparted, the possible becomes real.
If alchemy is not gold-making but an allegorical operation for ennobling human character, then all of the above is true many times over: the starting point and the end product alike are man; the same and yet different, as if everything were repeated in a higher octave. Stone becomes superstone, primary matter becomes fifth essence, the ordinary man becomes a purified, superhuman man.