Monday, December 19, 2011

La Toyson d'Or


This particular picture is from Adam McLean's Alchemy Website but he doesn't give any insite into the imagery.  And there's quite a bit of imagery to discuss.  In the center, and I've seen this particular image several times, is the wheel of V.I.T.R.I.O.L.  In the bottom left is the philosophic King and Queen, the Sun and Moon below their feet respectively.  To their left we see the Sun with a cross and Christian banner behind...

Holy crow!  There is so much going on in this picture, it'll take me the next week to meditate on it in order to come up with a plausible explanation for the imagery.

One thing that stands out almost immediately is the Green Lion, which I still haven't worked out why there are two lions - Green and Red.  However, I did recently come across a forum post regarding an experiment with coal.  This particular forum poster burned the coal and was left with a red residue which he dissolved, strained and then let stand for the liquid to evaporate.  The salt left behind was greenish.  The exact procedure used and a medieval text explaining what it is will be posted tomorrow.

In the mean time, feel free to comment your own observations of the other images from the picture above.

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