… “Alchemists used a different language to express the same reality: they spoke of ‘fixing the volatile’, that is to say, of capturing what, by definition, cannot be captured: the volatile spirit. As long as the physical body is gross, dense and impure, it cannot vibrate in unison with the spirit nor hold it captive. This is why there is always need for a great deal of purification and decantation. Once this is done, the physical body becomes capable of receiving the divine spirit.

Cabbalists, for their part, have expressed this idea in the two interlaced triangles of the seal of Solomon. The triangle pointing downwards represents the descent of the spirit into matter, whereas the triangle pointing upwards represents the tendency of matter to rise and become one with the spirit. In this symbol, the two meet in mid-course and fuse into one. When the spirit encounters matter capable of holding it, it no longer tries to escape.

The chalice of the holy grail is the symbol of a human being who has succeeded in capturing and fixing the spirit within themselves. The legend says it was carved out of a single emerald and that it had been used to hold Christ’s blood. An emerald is green, the colour of Venus, the feminine principle; blood is red, the colour of Mars, the masculine principle.

The Grail, therefore, is the symbol of the union of the masculine and feminine principles, Mars and Venus, but in their highest aspect, on the level at which they become identical with the sun and the Moon. Iron, which is the metal attributed to Mars, and gold, which is that of the sun, have many aspects in common, and the same is true of copper, the metal of Venus, and silver, the metal attributed to the Moon. We can see innumerable examples in nature of how green attracts and stores up the sun’s rays.
Vegetation, which is green, captures and condenses the sun’s rays, and the sun’s rays are yellow and orange because they are fire. All this is present in this marvellous symbol of the Holy Grail…”

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov – ‘The Fruits of the Tree of Life’, Vol. 32
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The Holy Grail, Chap. 24