| The sixth process of Coagulation is also called The White Stone. Coagulation consists of the addition of basic elements to the new entity which emerges from the Black Stage. |
A prepared canvas does not constitute ART. Inspiration does not constitute action. It is merely a foundation on which to build. This process consists of the coagulation of all the knowledge and experience produced in the preceding processes into a perliminary 'sketch' to permit the desire to find realization in tangible form and being. The White Stone encompasses the addition of separate, individual art elements onto the prepared canvas and the initial problems of composing them into a scheme by which they react and relate to each other.
With the canvas prepared and the mind filled with experiential knowledge, the artist moves into the process of Coagulation ready to bring into existence the art which is the object of his desires. As the alchemical vapour (which is the essence of the mercury, sulphur and salt) reenters the Black Stage to impregnate it, so does the vapour of the art elements.
During this stage, the artist draws upon all the knowledge that has been acquired in the previous stages, and begins to put them onto the supporting surface.
Whereas the Black Stage of Putrefaction represented, in the mental state of the artist, a process of assimilation with the eventual release of inspiration; the White Stone represents the action of laying out the preliminary composition because of the energy given off by the inspiration. The stage of thought dies to be reborn as action.
