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Jung, C G - Religious Ideas in Alchemy
The substance that harbours the divine secret is everywhere, including the human body.  It can be had for the asking and can be found anywhere….

As Morenius says to King Kalid ‘For this thing is extracted from thee and thou art its ore [raw material]; in thee they find it, and that I may speak more plainly, from thee they take it; and when thou hast experienced this, the love and desire for it will be increased in thee.  And know that this remains true and indubitable’

In these circumstances the opus is no longer a ritualistic officium but the same work of redemption which God himself accomplished upon mankind through the example of Christ and which is now recognised by the philosopher who has received the donum spiritus sancti, the divine art, as his own individual opus.  The alchemists emphasize this point.

‘He who works through the spirit of another and by a hired hand will behold results that are far from the truth; and conversely he who gives his services to another as assistant in the laboratory will never be admitted to the Queen’s mysteries’.

One might quote the words of Kabasilas: ‘As kings, when they bring a gift to God, bear it themselves and do not permit it to be borne by others.’