ch, if it
could universally prevail, mankind would be constituted into a
brotherhood." (H. A., pp. 48 ff.) [The tests] ... "begin with the
stripping of the metals. Now alchemy recommends, once the propitious
matter is seen, carefully examined and recognized, to clean it externally
for the purpose of freeing it of every foreign body that could adhere
accidentally to its surface. The matter, in fine, should be reduced to
itself. Now it is an absolutely analogous matter that the candidate is
called to strip himself of everything that he possesses artificially; both
it and he ought to be reduced strictly to themselves. In this state of
primitive innocence, of philosophic candor retrieved, the subject is
imprisoned in a narrow retreat where no external light can penetrate. This
is the chamber of meditation which corresponds to the matras of the
alchemist, to his philosophic egg hermetically sealed. The uninitiated
finds there a dark tomb where he must voluntarily die to his former
existence. By decomposing the integuments that are opposed to the true
expansion of the germ of individuality, this symbolic death precedes the
birth of the new being who is to be initiated." (W. S. H., pp. 87 ff.)

Note I (411). As to the Chamber of the Companion hung in red, it
represents the sphere of action of our individuality, measured by the
extent of our sulphurous radiation. This radiation produces a kind of
refractive [refringent] medium, which refracts the surrounding diffused
light [[Symbol: Mercury] is meant] to concentrate it on the spiritual
nucleus of the subject. Such is the mechanism of the illumination, by
which those benefit who have seen the blazing star shine. Every being
bears in himself this mysterious star, but too often in the condition of a
dim spark hardly perceptible. It is the philosophic child, the immanent
Logos or the Christ incarnate, which legend represents as born obscurely
in the midst of the filth of a cave serving as a stable. The initiation
becomes the vestal of this inner fire [Symbol: Sulfur]; archetype or
principle of all individuality. She knows how to care for it as long as it
is brooded in the ashes. Then she devotes herself to nourishing it
judiciously, to render it keen for the moment when it finally should
overcome the obstacles that imprison it and seek to hold it in isolation.
It means, as a matter of fact, that the Son is put en rapport with the
external [Symbol: Mercury], or in other words, that t