Solve et Coagula

Solve et Coagula is the supreme axiom of the Art — the twofold rhythm that governs every operation in the Great Work. To dissolve (solve) is to reduce composite matter back to prima materia; to coagulate (coagula) is to recombine the purified elements into a higher unity. The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus encodes this as 'it ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to earth, and receives the power of the upper and the lower.' Every stage of the Magnum Opus — nigredo through rubedo — is a local iteration of this universal pulse of dissolution and recrystallization.