Hermes is the Primal Source.
After so many injuries have been done to the human race,
I flow forth, by divine decree and assisted by the Art,
as a healing giving medicine.
He who is able to, drink out of me.
He who wants, purify himself in me.
He who dares, jump into my depths.
Drink, brother, and live. -- Chymische Hochzeit, Christiani Rosencreutz
No alchemical symbol is so confusing as Mercury. Here are some explanations of this mysterious substance. As sulphur is the symbol for the spirit, mercury is the symbol of the soul. The soul can be described in many ways, and thus mercury has gained a really mysterious character in alchemy. It is used for almost everything. It is the highest divinity, but also a devil. It is used to symbolize certain aspects of the alchemical work, but at the same time it is them all. It is ambiguous with many names and functions. The alchemists often speak about mercury in the form of the god Mercury, whom we encounter in their engravings and paintings. As the god Mercury he is often seen as having qualities that belong both to mercury and to sulphur.Usually mercury is used in its chemical form, quicksilver. Symbolic of course, it indicates volatility or fluidity, by which it is also named ‘water of life’ or ‘root humidity’.
In his aspect of fire, Mercury is the sole fire in the entire process. He is the working force in the Great Work. He is an ‘invisible, secretly working fire’. He is the fire of hell, the infernal fire in the earth. Mercury is the spirit of man that works in the lower aspects of being, and thus is looked upon as an infernal fire.
In his air aspect, he is the spirit, the air, the wind that is present everywhere in Nature and vivifies everything. He is ‘the spirit of truth hidden in the earth’.
As hermaphrodite he unifies the sexes within himself. He is both the helper and trickster, Lucifer and Christ. When depicted as a dragon, he is flying and without wings. He is bride and groom. It is obvious that Mercury contains and unifies duality. He is Ouroboros, the serpent-dragon that bites in his own tail, representing the circle and unity, eternity, where the beginning and the end coincide. He is the alpha and omega.
He is called the ‘prima materia’, the chaos, the rough stone at the beginning of the Great Work. As Saturn he initiates putrefaction, but also gives immortality. At the same time he is the goal of the Great Work, the philosopher’s stone, the elixir of life, the philosophical gold. Mercury is the process of transmutation.
In alchemical images Mercury is depicted both as a young man and an old man. As an old man he is usually in the form of Saturn, the common man, fixed in matter with his habits, prejudices, and other material chains. As a young boy, he comes forth from the ‘coniunctio’, the joining of the King and Queen, representing rebirth, and eternal youth.
Mercury is also called ‘quadratus’ because he contains the four elements, thus he is the quintessence. Another name for him is ‘azoth’ a word formed from the Latin letters A and Z, the Greek words Alpha and Omega, and the Hebrew words Aleph and Thau, all meaning the beginning and the end. (Source: Soul Guidance.com)
