Prima Materia

In Hermetic philosophy, before any differentiation of form can manifest, there exists a primordial substance. Prima Materia has neither name nor quality of its own. It is the formless, the inert and confused matter, which carries within itself, in potential, all forms and virtues. The authors affirm that it lies before the eyes of all, despised by the vulgar, who see in it only dust.

So as not to reveal its nature to the uninitiated, they cloaked it in these hermetic names: the Mercury of the Philosophers, the Black Dragon, Sal Ammoniac, the Gold and Silver of the poor...