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“Not because I shall refer to them thus in these lessons, but because they appear in the writings of nearly all alchemists, some explanation should be made of salt, mercury, and sulphur.
“It is a cardinal principle laid down by all that these three are the elementary constituents of everything.
“The most familiar example of crystallization is that of salt. When Lot’s wife, as related in the Bible, looked back, she crystallized. So does anyone who becomes so attached to present objects and conditions that he does not look ahead in the direction of progress. Salt is extensively used. Because of its recognized state of crystallization it becomes a universal symbol of the physical. The physical body is the salt of the alchemist.
“Of things that burn with great heat, sulphur is widely recognized. Lakes of fire and brimstone are alluded to from the pulpit. Sulphur, because of its association with intense heat, becomes the symbol of fire. Within all life there is a spark of the divine fire. This eternal spark of Deity that furnishes the energy to impel the soul ever onward in its toilsome journey through the vastness of life is well represented by a more than common fire. The indwelling spirit is the sulphur of the alchemist.
“No wonder the alchemists must conceal under universal symbols their ideas from the church; for they believed and taught that not only man but everything possessed of life has not merely a body but a spirit and a soul. The function of this evolving soul is to penetrate the realm of form and gather those experiences that ultimately becomes love and wisdom. Quicksilver penetrates quickly where water will not go. It may be strained through a chamois-skin bag. Of amazing activity, its globules run hither and thither, and actually gather up, or amalgamate with, precious metals. It is like the intellect in its activity and power of acquisition. Mercury is a universal symbol. To the alchemist, when mentioned in relation to salt and sulphur, it signifies the soul.”
C.C. Zain, Spiritual Alchemy, Chapter 1