s (among which was the sun) and seven metals.

Planet. Symbol. Metal.
Saturn. [Symbol: Saturn] Lead.
Jupiter. [Symbol: Jupiter] Tin.
Mars. [Symbol: Mars] Iron.
Sun. [Symbol: Sun] Gold.
Venus. [Symbol: Venus] Copper.
Mercury. [Symbol: Mercury] Quicksilver.
Moon. [Symbol: Moon] Silver.

Relative to the technical language, which I must use in the following
discussion also, I have to make a remark of general application that
should be carefully remembered. It is a peculiarity of the alchemistic
authors to use interchangeably fifty or more names for a thing and on the
other hand to give one and the same name many meanings. This custom was
originally caused partly by the uncertainty of the concepts, which has
been mentioned above. But this uncertainty does not explain why, in spite
of increase of knowledge, the practice was continued and purposely
developed. We shall speak later of the causes that were active there. Let
it first be understood merely that it was the case and later be it
explained how it comes about that we can find our way in the hermetic
writings in spite of the strange freedom of terminology that confuses
terms purposely and constantly. Apart from a certain practice in the
figurative language of the alchemists, it is necessary, so to speak, to
think independently of the words used and regard them only in their
context. For example, when it is written that a body is to be washed with
water, another time with soap, and a third time with mercury, it is not
water and soap and mercury that is the main point but the relation of all
to each other, that is the washing and on closer inspection of the
connection it can be deduced that all three times the same cleansing
medium is meant, only described three times with different names.

The alchemistic interpretation of our parable is a development of what its
author tried to teach by it. We do not need to show that he pursues an
hermetic aim, for he says so himself, and so do the circumstances, i.e.,
the book, in which the parable is found. In this respect we shall fare
better in the alchemistic exposition than in the psychoanalytic, where we
were aiming at the unconscious. Now we have the conscious aim before us
and we advance with the author, while before we worked as it were against
his understanding, and deduced from the product of his mind things that
his conscious personality would hardly ad