Salt

Alchemy

• Salt is used in Alchemy.

  Later alchemy names salt as one of the principles of matter. That “salt” is a craft term, not only kitchen mineral.

  used in · interpretive · culturally specific

• Sulfur is connected to Salt.

  Later alchemical schemes pair sulfur and salt among the principles of matter. The pair is a craft diagram.

  connected to · interpretive · culturally specific

European folklore

• Salt is associated with Offerings.

  Salt appears in European household and covenant customs as a thing given or shared. The uses are local and should not be read as one church.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Salt is associated with Death.

  Salt holds flesh from rot. The material fact has been used as a picture of holding off decay; that picture is not a doctrine.

  associated with · interpretive · documented

• Salt is used in Medicine.

  Pliny’s Natural History lists salt among aquatic remedies: drying, cleansing, and compounded into salves and poultices. A Roman-era pharmacological use of a mineral, not alchemical “salt” as a principle of matter and not a folk purity charm.

  from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE

  used in · sourced · documented

• Water is associated with Salt.

  Salt and water meet in brine, preservation, and body fluids. The pairing is material before it is symbolic.

  associated with · interpretive · documented