Origins of Creation: The Four Elements and the Three Principles

He who would study the Book of Nature must walk its pages with the feet of the spirit.”

— Paracelsus

In the beginning, before leaf or flame, before stone or star, there was the One Ethereal Substance — subtle, luminous, and undivided. From this boundless field of potential, the first motions stirred. Currents of energy spiraled, intersected, and clashed until their movement generated heat. Out of this primordial vibration the first sparks of Fire arose, igniting the unfolding of creation.

As the One Substance continued to move and differentiate, it acquired four distinct modes of expression — hot, cold, moist, and dry. These are the elemental qualities, the hidden architecture from which the Four Elements are born. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth are not simply physical matter, but the living patterns formed by these qualities in balance and opposition. Together, they are the foundation of both nature and medicine.

To study Hermetic herbalism is to learn this language of qualities — to see how every plant, every mineral, and every drop of water carries within it these archetypal signatures, and how the movements of creation echo in both the cosmos and the body.

The Four Elements

In traditional herbalism, the Four Elements are recognized not only as building blocks of nature but also as keys to understanding a plant’s action in the body. Each embodies a pairing of qualities that reveal its temperament:

• Fire – Hot and Dry
  Fire embodies transformation, digestion, and stimulation. Herbs under the dominion of Fire are warming and drying, often pungent or spicy. They quicken circulation, spark metabolism, and dispel dampness.
  Examples: turmeric, rosemary, ginger, cayenne.

• Air – Hot and Wet
  Air carries harmony and maturation. Airy herbs are warming and moistening, restoring fluids while enlivening the system. They are used for cold, dry states — poor circulation, cold limbs, and withered tissues.
  Examples: cinnamon, dong quai, fennel, cardamom.

• Water – Cold and Wet
  Water soothes, nourishes, and restores. Its herbs are cooling and moistening, addressing dryness, heat, and irritation. They soften tissues and quench inflammation.
  Examples: marshmallow, licorice, slippery elm.

• Earth – Cold and Dry
  Earth contracts and absorbs. Earthy herbs are cooling and astringent, drawing out excess moisture and calming states of heat and dampness such as inflammation or excessive secretions.
  Examples: yarrow, agrimony, sage, oak bark.

Through this lens, the Four Elements form a living map of materia medica, guiding us to restore harmony by balancing qualities within the body.

The Birth of the Three Principles

From the union of the Elements, the Three Principles (tria prima) arise. These principles are not abstract ideas but the very structure of the material plane, distilled from the dance of elemental qualities:

• When Fire (hot and dry) joins with Air (hot and wet), their common heat becomes active, giving rise to Sulphur — the fiery soul that carries individuality and essence.

• When Air (hot and wet) meets Water (cold and wet), their shared moisture manifests as Mercury — the volatile spirit, subtle and mobile, the bridge between above and below.

• When Fire (hot and dry) encounters Earth (cold and dry), the hot and cold neutralize, leaving behind dryness, which crystallizes in matter as Salt — the body and unifier.

Thus:

• Sulphur = hotness (Fire + Air)

• Mercury = wetness (Air + Water)

• Salt = dryness (Fire + Earth)

Coldness alone, belonging to Water and Earth, is passive and unproductive; it does not generate a principle by itself.

The Three Principles in Plants

• Sulphur – The Fiery Soul
  Hot, digestive, and stimulating. It manifests in the volatile oils and fiery essences of plants — their fragrance, flavor, and individuality. Even plants low in oil contain fixed Sulphur that can be refined through the alchemist’s art into crystalline ash.

• Mercury – The Volatile Spirit
  Subtle, mobile, and connective. It is the universal solvent of life, found in alcohol, which is the same in all plants. Fermentation liberates Mercury, drawing out the subtle spirit and making it available as the carrier of transformation.

• Salt – The Body and Sacred Bond
  Coagulative, reactive, and preserving. It manifests in the mineral salts of plants, revealed through calcination. More than matter, Salt is the unifier, dissolving in Mercury’s waters and binding Sulphur with Mercury. It reconciles volatile and fixed, soul and spirit — the Spirit of Wisdom made manifest.

Trinity and Gnosis

This triune pattern echoes the Christian Trinity — Father (Sulphur), Son/Logos (Mercury), Holy Spirit (Salt as sanctifying bond) — while also resonating with Gnostic vision, in which Spirit is feminine: Sophia, the Breath of Wisdom. In this light, Salt becomes not only body but also womb, the matrix of reconciliation where opposites meet and wholeness is restored.

When we work with oils, spirits, and salts, we are not merely extracting plant constituents but re-enacting this eternal trinity: the meeting of opposites reconciled through Spirit in the alchemy of creation.

For the Curious: Where to Begin

For those drawn to the Green Art, luminous guides include:

• Spagyrics: The Alchemical Preparation of Medicinal Essences by Manfred Junius

• Hermetic Herbalism (modern translations of Paracelsus and contemporary commentaries)

• Real Alchemy by Robert Bartlett

These texts are gateways, but the true Work begins in practice: the stillroom, the alembic, the garden, and the inner sanctum of the soul.

Closing Reflection

Hermetic herbalism begins here, at the threshold of creation: where elements meet, principles are born, and Spirit binds matter into form. To study them is to glimpse the architecture of life itself — to see how Fire and Air spark Sulphur, how Air and Water yield Mercury, and how Fire and Earth crystallize into Salt.

To walk this path is to participate in the eternal rhythm of nature, perceiving the One Substance breathing through every leaf, every flame, every breath. Healing, in this view, is not simply the mending of parts but the remembrance of wholeness — the return to the Source from which all things arise.