Alchemy posed as a sacred science, whereas chemistry came into its own when substances had shed their sacred attributes. - Mircea Eliade

Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different form the profane. To designate the act of manifestation of the sacred, we have proposed the term hierophany. It is a fitting term, because it does not imply anything further; it expresses no more than is implicit in its etymological content, i.e., that something sacred shows itself to us. It could be said that the history of religions — from the most primitive to the most highly developed — is constituted by a great number of hierophanies, by manifestations of sacred realities.

De atunci nu mai cred în expresia oamenilor. Mi se pare că regulile schimbării feței nu au nimic de-a face cu adevăratele experiențe sufletești. Poate numai ochii, singurii, pot trăda un om.

Every ritual repetition of the cosmogony is preceded by a symbolic retrogression to chaos. In order to be created anew, the old world must first be annihilated.