ALCHEMY - TWELVE KEYS - MARRIAGE - JANUS - NEPTUNE The Sixth Key of Basil Valentine, from Practica cum Duodecim Clavibus in the Tripus Aureus of Michael Maier, 1618. The Hieros Gamos, or Sacred Marriage of Alchemy, relates to the union of Sulphur and Salt, as well as to the union of the animus and anima, the much-sought-after Union of Opposites. The male and female are married with the aid of burning fire (Sulphur), which is sometimes called the Secret Fire (this curious athanor is two-faced, like Janus, whose secret relates to Time - that is, to Past and Future). The elemental opposite of Fire is Water, which is why Neptune, with his trident, pours water, or some liquid into the slow-burning distillation unit. Just as male and female are reconciled, so are Fire and Water, and even Past and Future in what has been called 'the specious Present'. The identity of Basil Valentine is not known, though he tells us in one of his works that he comes from the Rhineland, and spent some of his youth in England and Belgium. He was a Benedictine monk in the monastery of St. Peter at Erfurt - some records refer to him being in that monastery in 1413. His name is said to be a play on the Greek Basileus (King) and the Latin Valens (Powerful), which is in turn a play on one of the alchemical names for the Lapis, or Stone of the Philosophers, which is the powerful stone of kings.