Dew is symbolic of divine incarnation or manifestation from Above. Alchemists believed natural dew contained the divine Salt (thoughts of the One Mind) that could transform the Sulfur and Mercury of the First Matter. In many ways, dew represented the Elixir or contents of the cup of God, the Holy Grail.
Of the two paths, one is the water of the Wise, the Dew, and the other is the vinegar. The Dew is linked to the principle of Mercury, which is the analogy for the vehicle of consciousness, the spirit.
http://www.crcsite.org/Tabulatext.htm
Now thou hast the entire way in its length
On which are not more than two paths.
From these one soon wandereth and goeth astray,
Else it all standeth clear and plain.
The one is the water of the Wise Men,
Which is the Mercurius alone.
The other is called a vinegar,
And it is known only to a very few.
And this vinegar doth circle
Away from the philosophical iron.
http://www.geocities.com/mindstuff/jung3.html
http://www.edward-bulwer-lytton.org/pausanias-the-spartan/ebook-page-48.asp
Alcman paused, and sweeping his hand once more over his lyre, chanted as follows:
"Dewdrop that weepest on the sharp-barbËd thorn, Why didst thou fall from Day's golden chalices? 'My tears bathe the thorn,' said the Dewdrop, 'To nourish the bloom of the rose.'
"Soul of the Infant, why to calamity Comest thou wailing from the calm spirit-source? 'Ask of the Dew,' said the Infant, 'Why it descends on the thorn!'
"Dewdrop from storm, and soul from calamity Vanish soon--whither? let the Dew answer thee; 'Have not my tears been my glory? Tears drew me up to the sun.'
"What were thine uses, that thou art glorified? What did thy tears give, profiting earth or sky? 'There, to the thorn-stem a blossom, Here, to the Iris a tint.'"
Tao : TAU : chinese "peach, symbol of long life"
