Ancient Alchemy of Water— Solutio

Purification by Disolving Differences on Symbolic Level

Feb 23, 2009

Alchemical change by water or solutio is metaphor for softening of masculine ego in the waters of feminine aspect of personality. Solutio a symbol for blend of opposites

Solutio is the second order of alchemical practices. It is considered one of the major procedures in alchemy. Having to do with water and with its purifying and dissolving properties, solutio is the process by which the prima material or matter is returned to its most basic, undifferentiated state.

For the ancient alchemists it was the process of solutiothat turned the differentiated or varied state of matter into its most primal or undifferentiated state. This was essential because unless a substance was first transformed to its most basic state, it could not be worked with successfully.

Dissolving the Overpowering Ego

From a psychological perspective this is what must take place when a strong ego controlled personality, which has becomes fixed and rigid, is allowed to open. The process of dissolving back, softening to a more liquid flowing state, is the beginning of the process of change. Once the ego is softened, allowed to accept other possibilities into its realm, the possibility for growth and change ensues. Without this dissolving of the fixed and rigid patterns of thought and belief, the person stays caught like a wolf in its own trap. (See article on Calcinatio in which the wolf devours king.)

Sol and Luna Symbolize Masculine/Feminine

Chemically speaking, solutio refers to the capacity for substances such as mercury to dissolve with gold and silver, which the alchemist refers to as Sol and Luna, the sun and moon. This was based on even more ancient techniques for extracting gold from crude ore. “The ore is pulverized and treated with mercury, which dissolves the gold.” Sol and Luna also stand for the masculine and feminine aspects of personality. The dominant aspect of the personality is represented by Sol, the sun while the changeable aspect is represented by the moon or Luna. It is the comingling of these two aspects in the alchemical process which brings about change.

This coming together of the sol or masculine and lunaor feminine aspects of personality is represented by a various images, some of which have a positive, even blissful appearance and others which have a more violent appearance. Examples of each included a dissolving back into the blissful solution of a more primitive state, something considered by some more dangerous as the ego itself can be entirely overcome in a state of regressive submission.

Bizarre Images of Male/Female

The less comfortable image is even more bizarre: “The body of that woman (who slays her husband) is full of weapons and poison.” The ancient text states, “Let the woman be buried with him so that the more he winds and coils himself around her the more he will be cut to pieces.” This image is to symbolically represent how the masculine Sol can be broken down by the passive energy of the Luna and thus made ready for change. Needless to say, the illustration for this gruesome text is horrendous indeed.

Alchemical processes often go in for the truly macabre. That’s why it’s important to keep in mind that they are merely symbolic representations of processes that existed more in the alchemist’s mind than in any literal sense.

German Romantic's Liebestod

In its most poetic interpretation, solutio recalls the great Liebestod of the German Romantics wherein the lovers want only to surrender into one another's arms and become one with each other through death. Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde based on the ancient Celtic story is very much a story of solutio. The longing for perfect union with the other is a longing to return to theuroboric mother or earth.

From Isolde’s final Liebestod in Wagner’s great opera Tristan and Isolde comes this poem:

Source: Edinger, E.F. Anatomy of the Psyche; Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy (1998). Chicago: Open Court.

The copyright of the article Ancient Alchemy of Water— Solutio in Metaphysics is owned by Megge Hill Fitz-Randolph. Permission to republish Ancient Alchemy of Water— Solutio in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.