d [Symbol: Gold] and [Symbol: Silver]. Now subject and object are
bound together and man enters, as is so wonderfully expressed in
Chandogya-Upanisad, VIII, 13, as a being adapted into the unadapted
(uncreated-primordial) world of Brahma. [Symbol: Sol] and [Symbol: Luna]
may, to be sure, be conceived also as the love of God towards man and the
love of man towards God. The different masters of the art are the same in
different ways in that the one sees more the intellectual, the other the
emotional. They describe different sides or aspects of the same process,
for which we do not indeed possess appropriate concepts, and whose best
form of expression is through symbols. The sign [Symbol: Sol] is then
neither = subject nor love but just = [Symbol: Sol], i.e., a thing to
which we may approximate nearest by a form of integration of all partial
meanings. In view of the fact that [Symbol: Sulfur] and [Symbol: Mercury]
are contrasted at the beginning of the process also as body and soul, we
can, by making [Symbol: Sulfur] = passions and [Symbol: Mercury] =
knowledge (reason) conceive the rest thus: [Symbol: Sulfur] is to be
purified by an exalted [Symbol: Mercury] (in distinction from the common
[Symbol: Mercury], called also "our" [Symbol: Mercury]), and so to be
purified by a higher knowledge. From [Symbol: Sulfur] is developed (i.e.,
it unmasks itself to the initiated as) [Symbol: Luna], i.e., Maya, the
object, that in its difference from the subject is mere illusion; and from
[Symbol: Mercury] comes [Symbol: Sol], the Brahm or subject, and now the
_unio mystica_ can take place. Another use of symbolism is the one by
which we are able to concoct gold out of sulphur; from the affects we
derive, through purification, love (toward God). The spirit [Symbol:
Mercury] exalts [raises] the antithesis [Symbol: Sol] and [Symbol: Luna]
(soul and body) in such a way that finally it simply opposes itself as
subject and object. (Cf. H. A., pp. 143 ff.)

Sometimes the making of gold is described as an amalgamation; from the raw
material, [Symbol: Sol] is derived by an amalgamation with [Symbol:
Mercury] [quicksilver]. That naturally signifies the search for the Atman
or highest spirit in man by means of contemplation, which belongs to
[Symbol: Mercury], the [act of] knowing.

With regard to the trinity [Symbol: Sol] [Symbol: Luna] [Symbol: Mercury]:
The solar divinity [creating, impregnating] in man is [Symbol: Sulfur]
that by its triangle