Sulphur process

The sulphur process (from Latin: sulphur "sulfur", actually "sun-bearer", from sol "Sun" and ferre "to bear") is one of the three fundamental processes of the alchemical Tria Principia. Sulphur - and in the same sense also phosphorus (from Greek: φωςφορος phosphoros "light-bearing"; Latin: Lucifer "light-bearer") - stands for everything combustible and is the principle with the highest inner dynamic. In it, the air and fire elements work together, which is why the alchemists also called this process "fire air". Its external material representatives are above all sulfur and all oily, fatty and aromatic volatile substances. In them the sulphur process has, as it were, come to rest externally to such an extent that they appear material. On the purely physical level, the sulphur process is related to the covalent bond known from chemistry.

The sulphur process in man and plants

In the threefold human organism, the sulphur process works mainly in the metabolic-limb system and fires his digestive and volitional activity. Only in midsummer does it reach up into the nerve-sense system (see below). The sulphur process seizes the physical and above all the etheric body, but does not penetrate as far as the astral body and the I-organisation (Lit.:GA 27, p. 73f). The etheric body, however, is precisely the main point of attack of the ahrimanic powers. Higher sulphur intake causes dizziness and a dulling of consciousness; sleep, when I and astral body are out, becomes more intense.

In the plant, which in a certain sense is to be understood as the inverted human being, the sulphurising processes work in the blossoming and ripening of the fruit.

The sulphur type in homeopathy

In the homoeopathic materia medica the sulphur type is very strikingly described. It is the "ragged philosopher", scruffy, with impure greasy skin and unkempt hair, with drooping shoulders and clumsy gait. He sweats easily, the body exhalations are malodorous. Nervous distraction, digestive and sleep disturbances up to frequent vivid nightmares are typical. Thinking is blurred and unsystematically erratic; however, occasional surprisingly ingenious ideas do occur. A strong self-centredness and complacency is usually noticeable, but only a low ability for realistic self-assessment. In social intercourse, an insensitive aloofness is often noticeable. A certain formlessness spreads both in shape and behaviour, everything seems to melt away. (Lit.: Kent, p. 736 ff)

Literature

• James Tyler Kent: Kents Arzneimittelbilder. Vorlesungen zur homöopathischen Materia medica., 8. Aufl., Karl F. Haug Verlag, Heidelberg 1990
• Rudolf Steiner, Ita Wegman: Grundlegendes für eine Erweiterung der Heilkunst nach geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen, GA 27 (1991), ISBN 3-7274-0270-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Miterleben des Jahreslaufes in vier kosmischen Imaginationen, GA 229 (1999), ISBN 3-7274-2290-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die vierte Dimension, GA 324a (1995), ISBN 3-7274-3245-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

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