Working Notes from the lab: mare nostrum

Our Sea.

In alchemy, the sea is rarely just a body of water; it’s rather a symbol of Prima Materia - the primitive, chaotic “first matter” from which all things are born and to which all things must return.

Alchemists often referred to their basic chemical solutions or the state of dissolved matter as “Our Sea”. This wasn’t the salty waters, but a philosophical environment. Dissolution (Solutio) was the first step of the Great Work. To create something new, the old form must be “drowned” or dissolved back into the sea of the unconscious. The sea represents Alkahest, the hypothetical power to reduce any solid body into its primary liquid state.

Just as life emerged from the primordial oceans, the alchemical “child” is often depicted like a small figure rising from a vessel of water. The sea is the primary source of Salt in alchemy, one of the most important elements, representing body and stability.

Sal Sapientiae (Salt of Wisdom) - while sea water evaporates, salt remains, meaning that the “fixed” soul survived the “volatile” trials of life. “The sea is source of all things, and the salt is its concentrated essence”.

Sometimes Ouroboros is depicted as floating in a celestial sea…

In Jungian alchemy, the sea is the Collective Unconscious.

In alchemy, coral was seen as a “sea-plant” that turned to stone when it touched the air, representing the transition from life to mineral. Sea anemones look like flowers but they are predatory animals representing “living trap” or extreme sensitivity. Pearls are the result of an “irritant”, like a grain of sand, being transformed into something precious through layers of defence.