escaping
hell he will attain to heaven. His ascent up the holy mountain is hindered
by a violent storm; he is thrown into the depths by the tempest: a symbol
of circulation in the closed vessel of the alchemists, which vessel
corresponds to the protected lodge. During the circulation the volatile
parts rise and fall again like rain, which is symbolized by the tears upon
the walls. To be sure, it is not here that the neophyte is subjected to
the water test, and if a confusion is possible on this point it comes from
the fact that all the operations of the great work go on in one vessel,
while the masonic initiation is completed in a suite of different rooms,
so that the symbolic series here suffers disintegration. The circulating
water, which soaks into the pores of the earthly parts of the subject,
purifies it more and more, so that it goes from gray through a series of
colors (peacock's tail) to white. In this stage the material corresponds
to the wise man who knows how to resist all seduction. Yet we are not to
be satisfied with this negative virtue; the fire test (we should remember
that the four tests by the elements were to be found in the parable also)
is still to be gone through, the calcination, which burns everything
combustible. After the calcination there is a perfectly purified salt
[Symbol: Salt] of absolute transparence. So long as the novice has not
attained this moral clearness, the light cannot be vouchsafed to him. In
brief, in the first degree, the main thing is the comprehensive
purification. The salt layers must be made crystal clear, that surround
the inner sulphur [Symbol: Sulphur] like a crust and hinder it from its
free radiation. Sulphur is to be regarded as a symbol of the expansive
power, as individual initiative, as will. Mercury stands opposite to it as
woman does to man, as that which goes to the subject from without, or as
absolute receptivity. Salt is midway between both; in it the equilibrium
between [Symbol: Sulphur] and [Symbol: Mercury] is found. It is a symbol
of what appears as the stable being of man. In the first degree the
purification of the salt is worked out for the release of the sulphur. The
red column J corresponds to the red sulphur, by which symbolically the
novices get their reward. For the rest, the first degree is satisfied with
getting the novices to see the universal light (the blazing star). (W. S.
H., pp. 88-92.)

The fire test takes place in the second degree. The