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Sylvia Rose

Molybdochalkos: Nigredo Black Lead of Maria

Updated: Oct 13

Molybdochalkos is a blend of copper and lead. It's the standard metal used in the kerotakis, an alchemical creation attributed to Maria or Mary the Jewess c. 100 AD. Maria's concept is the basis for the later alchemical process defined as blackening or nigredo.



sludgy black stuff


Mary lives and works in Alexandria, Egypt, where the Nile delta becomes the Mediterranean coast. A center of scholarship and medicine since the days of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, Alexandria is also a center of glass-making.


This promotes the rise of alchemy due to the ability to see one's experiments in action. Maria, called the "first true alchemist" by Zosimos, delights in watching her processes through the glass stomach of vessels such as the retort or alembic.


With glass, one can make specialized inventions and Mary is credited with a few. She refers to metal alloys as "our lead" or "our copper", common phraseology in later alchemical writings.



gold making of maria

In Mary's texts, the "blackened lead" produced by exposing the alloy to sulfur vapors is an artificial breakdown. This is distinct from naturally occurring black lead. Graphite is known as black lead. It's not officially discovered until 1565, but in use since Neolithic times.


Molybdochalkos (Greek: Χαλκομόλυβδος or Chalkomólyvdos "copper-lead") is 90% lead and 10% copper. When copper interacts with sulfur-containing substances like specific chemicals, gases, or even fingerprints, it blackens due to creation of copper sulfide compounds.



vapors drifting


Sulfur vapors cause the copper to break down and the metal turns black. In later alchemy nigredo is the Latin one of four color phases Maria teaches. She uses the colors black, white, yellow and red to explain the alchemical process as applied to copper.


These are the basic colors of the Greek scribal or artists' palette. Maria gets the idea for her innovative kerotakis based on the method of keeping the palette on a small brazier. Wax is often used as a medium so heat keeps paint liquid. It's vital to maintain a steady temperature.



Kerotakis invention by maria
Kerotakis

Eventually these four color phases become standard reference for all alchemical works, rather than simply a treatment of copper. Later alchemists drop the yellow or see it as a "bridge". Even later, spiritual alchemy injects the blackening with deep personal relevance.



Non-Fiction Books:


Fiction Books:

READ: Lora Ley Adventures - Germanic Mythology Fiction Series

READ: Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries





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