Aqua Ignis

In alchemical symbolism, the association of water and fire represents the union of opposites (the reconciliation of contraries, or coniunctio). In appearance, these two elements are mutually exclusive: water extinguishes fire, and fire vaporizes water. Yet Aqua Ignis transcends this apparent contradiction. It is neither the ordinary water of springs, nor the visible fire that consumes wood in the hearth. It is a paradoxical agent, a “water” that burns and a “fire” that moistens. Adepts often called it the fire against nature or the fire of the sages, for it acts without visible flame, effecting a gentle digestion and a dissolution of the philosophical matter.

For the alchemists, prime matter (Prima Materia) is inert until it is activated by this famed Secret Fire.