In Alchemy, the Elements combine to form the three principles of Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt. Alchemical Sulfur is the combination of elemental Fire and Air. It is the Soul. Water and Earth combine as alchemical Salt. That which unites these two, alchemical Mercury, is formed from elemental Air and Water. (Only alchemical Salt has a correspondence with physical matter and the common science of chemistry.)
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
KJV
The "breath of life" corresponds with the Spirit, without which the Soul cannot unite with and animate the Body. As
@Lemongrass00 pointed out, occultists believe that we possess many "bodies" simultaneously at different planes of existence, each with it's own form. At the other extreme, materialists deny that consciousness is anything other than an electro-chemical process entirely within the nervous system of the material body. Various religious authorities will always have divergent opinions about the soul, spirit, and body(s), so take anything you read with a grain of proverbial Salt.
The work of the Qabalist is to "store up treasures in Heaven," so to speak. As the physical body dies, soon after the etheric counterpart itself
usually dies. (There are purported exceptions to this claim that the etheric dies.) What remains of our life in any particular incarnation will depend on what was accomplished. What, if anything, will be remembered in the next incarnation? What will be "stored up" in the Astral, Mental, and Spiritual planes? This is our Great Work. I don't think anyone can do it all in a single incarnation, but we all, eventually, will Know ourselves beyond time. (And if you think your death in the physical body is The End of it all, what do you have to lose by trying anyway?)
