Dissolution, Alchemical Process

"Dissolution is the transformation of a substance by immersing it in a liquid. Dissolution can break down corrupted and artificial structures. It releases inner properties and powers of a substance. Most commonly, the ashes from the calcination process are dissolved. The water then takes on the properties of the original substance, but in a purer, more concentrated form..." *

Robert Place gives us: "[Dissolution is a process] in which the Materia Prima...is dissolved and separated into its four elements, Water..., Earth..., Air..., and Fire." **

Dissolution is ordinarily represented by the Astrological symbol for Cancer "69". I've found little reference to the process of Dissolution in general, and fewer representations of its symbol. In Robert Place's excellent and well-researched Alchemical Tarot, he represents this process with the symbol or "glyph" ordinarily associated with Aquarius. Place's indispensable companion book (see footnote **) contains many wonderful explanatory lists, diagrams, and tables as well as a robust bibliography. As of yet, though, I haven't been able to correlate Place's information on the process of Dissolution with its source in the bibliography. If anyone has this information, and especially if anyone knows the historico-mythological source of the "snowbynight.com" quote, please message me.

* http://www.snowbynight.com/almanac/processes.php

** Place, R. (2011) Alchemy and the Tarot. Saugerties, New York, Hermes Publications