The Laboratory and Oratory
The integration of practical work and prayer.
The complete alchemist works in both laboratory (practical work) and oratory (prayer and meditation). Material operations are accompanied by spiritual work; the two support and enhance each other.
Ora et labora - pray and work.
The union of practical and spiritual work is essential to true alchemy.
Monastic/Alchemical
Written about in
- What Hermeticism says about reverence
The alchemical tradition pairs the workbench with the prayer room and treats neither as sufficient alone. Work and prayer are described as supporting each other.
- What Hermeticism says about habit and discipline
Ora et labora — the complete alchemist works in both the laboratory and the oratory, practical operations alongside prayer and meditation. A discipline made only of doing, or only of contemplation, is treated as half-equipped.