Priestess, Empress, Emperor: Alchemy of Thoth

In The Book of Thoth, we learn that the Priestess is Mercury, the Empress salt, the Emperor sulphur. (See under "Emperor" description.)
How does this Alchemical Triad express how the human soul undergoes alchemic progress, transformation, balancing, realization? As I simply gaze over and ponder the three Images together, they feel so complete and joyfully peaceful. But, again, what is their significance as to human Alchemy?

The Priestess is Mercury ?!!! I thought the Magus was Mercury.

Priestess, Empress, Emperor

Alchemically, Crowley sees it as I summarized it, hence the post.
See his Book of Thoth on the three referred to cards. It is also accurate to associate the Magician as Mercury, as often considered. Here, I'm following Crowley's alchemical approach to the three cards, as a set : mercury II , salt III, sulphur IV. An interesting and significant Triad of Images that hold together to tell us something about human transformation...

Could you please reference the sections of the BoT your referring to Frank? I also understood the Magician was the alchemical Mercury, and cannot spot (on a cursary perusal) the reference to the High Priestess being such. Presumably it is there, but I cannot see it easily.

Duquette explicitly says the Magician is the first of the Alchemical Trumps and is the element Mercury, so there must be some confusion/discussion on the topic out there.

I'm looking forward to hearing about the application of the triad regardless of which card.

Medicinally the three elements have an interesting relationship in how they affect the human body. Sulphur causing deficiency or reduction, Salt causing excess or hypertrophic diseases, and Mercury causing destruction and perversion. I don't know much about alchemy, but have known those same physical reactions to be taken as "soul" reactions also in other systems.

Frank Hall said:

In The Book of Thoth, we learn that the Priestess is Mercury, the Empress salt, the Emperor sulphur. (See under "Emperor" description.)

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There are quite a few editorial mistakes and in the Book of Thoth. The reference to card II as one of the alchemical cards is most definitely a mistake.

From the section X. Fortune, page 90 - Book of Thoth:

The Gunas are represented in European philosophy by the three qualities, sulphur, mercury and salt, already pictured in Atu I, III and IV.

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U.k

I thought that the Magus was ruled by mercury - Air and the High Priestess ruled by the moon - Water.

Priestess, Empress, Emperor

Under the section on "The Emperor": "The Emperor is also one of the more important alchemical cards: with Atu II and III he makes up the triad Sulphur, Mercury, Salt.... Sulphur is the male fiery energy...." From the "Empress," "[She] is fitted to represent one of the three alchemical forms of energy, Salt." That leaves II for alchemical Mercury, unless we are dealing with a terrible typo error, which warrants correction. It works both ways, I think, since the High Priestess is more than mere Moon ; she is the bearer of final truth, as Thoth/ Hermes/Mercury speaks in the Corpus Hermeticum. So, the union of Empress-Salt and Emperor-Sulphur may alchemically relate to the High Priestess, as vast and deep wisdom or the one who unites the archetypal and formative worlds. Maybe this needs to change to Magician, Empress, Emperor, maybe not....

Interesting quote from The Crowley Tarot of Akron and Banzhaf, on the High Priestess : "The seven moon crescents... represent... the seven levels of the alchemical process, the crowning climax of which is the successful unification of opposites (hermaphrodite), as expressed here in the crown in which sun and moon are united."

The mercury of the alchemists refers to the liquid metalic ellement, not the god. Imo, the Magus symbolizes the God while the High Priestess does indeed represent the Philosophic Mercury of the alchemists. To the alchemists, mercury was a living and feminine principle. Paracelsus refers to it as Azoth, a term of uncertain meaning but which has been loosley translated by some as "essence." I've seen mercury associated with water in other alchemical writings as well.

Whether or not it is a typo in the BoT I don't know, but based on what I know of alchemy, I see nothing inconsistent with Crowley's association of II, III, and IV with Mercury, Salt, and Sulfer. It is confusing because he assigns the mercury glyph to the Magus, but it makes perfect sense when you understand that when the alchemists refer to mercury, they mean the metal, not the god.

-fof

Yes, the Priestess would be the alchemical mercury, which is female. The alchemical mercury is - in addition - not the metal we know, but a materia prima, a lunar metal often represented (in alchemical texts and plates) as a serpent, a half-woman half-serpent (like the sorceress Mélusine) or a mermaid (fools_fool - have you also read what Paraceslus wrote about that aspect of Azoth?). Hence - the link to the Priestess, a lunar card; it is at the basis of all transformation of other elements - and of the alchemical conjuction (marriage).

Frank, you are asking a wonderful question, and one that has been working in me in the past few days, though in my case through the study of the Lovers, that rich and complex card where so many myths and ideas play together and against each other. The marriage, of course, might also be seen as that of salt and sulfur - The Empress and The Emperor - but the materia prima, the alchemical mercury of the Priestess is implied in the card too, just as the Alchemist-Hermit is expressly shown. The serpent around the Orphic egg in the Lovers card echoes the serpent of alchemical mercury and the serpent-lilith that seduced Eve (both Lilith and Eve are in the top corners of the Lovers card; the serpent is at the bottom, curled around the Orphic egg).

When I look at the Priestess, Empress & Emperor, I get a strong sensation of order and balance, a world that works like clockwork, in ordered movement (thank G-d, then, for the mad Fool and the creative streak of the Juggler!), which is strongly shown in the Lovers card (the latter, according to Crowley, represents the Creation of the World)

BTW, II-The Priestess, III-The Empress and IV-The Emperor together come to IX-The Hermit, the alchemist who officiates at the marriage of the Black King and the White Queen in The Lovers.