Mercury (Alchemy): Difference between revisions

In the ancient art of alchemy, mercury, sulfur, and salt were the Earth's three principle substances. Each civilization had its own legends about [[Mercury (Alchemy)]], and it was used as everything from a medicine to a talisman. Mercury's chemical symbol, Hg, comes from the Greek "hydrargyrum" meaning liquid silver. Mercury is also known as "quicksilver," a reference to its mobility and used as the physical symbol to represent the [[Azoth]] or fire-water in ancient alchemy. Speed and mobility were characteristics of the Greek-Roman god, [[Mercury (Hermes)]], who served as a messenger of knowledge to all the other gods and shares his name with the planet nearest the sun.  

Parts of the Hermetica appeared in the 4th-century Gnostic library found in Nag Hammadi.— another famous tract is the Emerald Tablet of Thoth, which teaches the doctrine "as above, so below". The Hermetica are Egyptian-Greek wisdom texts from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, which are mostly presented as dialogues in which a teacher, generally identified as Hermes Trismegistus ("thrice-greatest Hermes"), enlightens a disciple. The texts form the basis of Hermeticism. They discuss the divine, the cosmos, mind, and nature. Some touch upon alchemy, astrology, and related concepts. Orders -Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn - Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor -Hermetic Brotherhood of Light -Ordo Templi Orientis ([[Aleister Crowley]])<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetica  Hermetica]</ref>