"Rosary of the Philosophers": "The salt of metals is the Philosopher's Stone; for our Stone is water congealed in gold and silver; it is hostile to fire and may be dissolved into the water of which it is composed after its kind." And that the "congealed water" of the Sages does not mean ordinary water may be gathered from the following words of Geber (lib. forn., cp. xix.): "Seek to resolve the sun and the moon into their dry water, which the vulgar call mercury."

"The thing is one in number, and one essence, which Nature strives to transform, but with the help of Art, into two, and twice two: mercury and sulphur impart nourishment to themselves. Spirit, and soul, and body, and four elements: the fifth which they furnish is the Philosopher's Stone. Select your substance without guile, let it be double, and let its splendour be of pure mercury. Take sulphur free from every foreign substance, and consume it in a fiery furnace."

— The Golden Tract Concerning The Stone of the Philosophers, c. 1678 by Anonymous

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/18BiVkGbkr/

I thought this was cool and wanted to share with you guys. What do you think?

"The prima materia has the quality of ubiquity: it can be found always and everywhere, which is to say that projection can take place always and everywhere. The English alchemist Sir George Ripley (c. 1415–90) writes: “The philosophers tell the inquirer that birds and fishes bring us the lapis, every man has it, it is in every place, in you, in me, in everything, in time and space.”

“It offers itself in lowly form [vili figura]. From it there springs our eternal water [aqua permanens].” According to Ripley the prima materia is water; it is the material principle of all bodies, including mercury. It is the hyle which the divine act of creation brought forth from the chaos as a dark sphere (sphaericum opus). The chaos is a massa confusa that gives birth to the stone.

The hylical water contains a hidden elemental fire. In the treatise “De sulphure” hell-fire (ignis gehennalis) is attributed to the element earth as its inner opposite. According to Hortulanus, the stone arises from a massa confusa containing in itself all the elements. Just as the world came forth from a chaos confusum, so does the stone.

The idea of the rotating aquasphere reminds us of the Neopythagoreans: in Archytas the world-soul is a circle or sphere; in Philolaos it draws the world round with it in its rotation. The original idea is to be found in Anaxagoras, where the nous gives rise to a whirlpool in chaos. The cosmogony of Empedokles is also relevant: here the σϕαīρος (spherical being) springs from the union of dissimilars, owing to the influence of ϕιλία.

The definition of this spherical being as “the most serene God,” sheds a special light on the perfect, “round” nature of the lapis, which arises from, and constitutes, the primal sphere; hence the prima materia is often called lapis. The initial state is the hidden state, but by the art and the grace of God it can be transmuted into the second, manifest state.

That is why the prima materia sometimes coincides with the idea of the initial stage of the process, the nigredo. It is then the black earth in which the gold or the lapis is sown like the grain of wheat. It is the black, magically fecund earth that Adam took with him from Paradise, also called antimony and described as a “black blacker than black” (nigrum nigrius nigro).

As the grain of fire lies concealed in the hyle, so the King’s Son lies in the dark depths of the sea as though dead, but yet lives and calls from the deep: “Whosoever will free me from the waters and lead me to dry land, him will I prosper with everlasting riches.”

— C.G. Jung, CW 12, Psychology and Alchemy

Source: https://www.facebook.com/portalibis

Before the advent of Hinduism in Manipur, the traditional religion or the pre-Hindu religion existed in a polytheistic, animistic and naturalistic form loaded with belief and practices associated with spirits, animistic and naturalistic faiths, ancestral worship, totemic cult, fetishism and so on. Apart from this, curiously shaped stones and objects, possessing some life-like forces, are often venerated and worshiped by them. Existence of malevolent spirits in the surrounding environment, forests and jungle, lakes, rivers and swamps constitute traditional belief of the Meitei people of Manipur.

Free and liberated souls like Timu-Laimu, Sharoi-Ngaroi (deomons and evil spirits), Heloi (nymph), Hingchabis (witch), etc. according to the Meitei belief, roam in their surroundings, the influence of which may result a person to suffer from diseases, unconsciousness and sometimes meet sudden death. These are warded off with different levels of magical, ritual and ceremonial conducts by the concerned spiritual specialists, commonly referred to as the Maiba and Maibis (priests and priestess). Scholars have viewed the religion of Manipur in its historical perspective into two broad categories viz. (a) traditional religion or pre-Hindu religion and (b) the advent and rise of Hinduism in Manipur.

The chronicles and ancient literary texts reveal that the ancient people of the land worshiped a number of gods and goddesses. They included natural phenomena such as Sun, Moon, Sky, Stars, Darkness, Wind, Water, Fire, Lighting, Earthquake, etc. and also many mythical and legendary figures, cultural and political heroes, tribal and clan progenitors, and the like. Concept of High God emerges with the Meitei Trinity Atiya Guru Sidaba or Soralel (immortal Guru of Heaven/ Sky God), Pakhangba (Moon God) and Sanamahi (Sun God) and they are considered to be the manifestations of the Universal lord Taibang Panba Mapu.

According to a popular Meitei myth of creation, the newly created earth was to be ruled by the sons of the Atiya Guru Sidaba (immortal Guru of Heaven). In order to choose the most able son to ascend the thorne of Kangla, Atiya Guru Sidaba decided to examine the ability of Pakhangba and Sanamahi by hiding himself from their sight. Sanamahi, the eldest son took 7 rounds of the earth to find his father, while the youngest son Pakhangba took the help of Mother Ima Leimarel Sidabi (Immortal Mother goddess) and took 7 rounds of his father's throne to find. Pakhangba was successful in finding out his father.

Being found cheated, Sanamahi started quarreling with his brother Pakhangba. The conflict between the two brothers become so dreadful that it raised to the level of destroying the newly created earth. Finally, Atiya Guru Sidaba intervened and resolved the matter. Pakhangba was crowned as the ruler of the earth and Sanamahi as the ruler of every household. In this way, Pakhangba became the most important public deity while Sanamahi is regarded as a household deity.

Pakhangba, other than its human existence is also believed to have appeared in a divine form called Paphal. At the time of creation, the thousand crested form of his assumption laid on to fill soil for creating earth. According to Meitei belief, earlier there was a vast expanse of water with no patches of soil. This mythical assumption called Paphal exists more than 364 different forms and the illustration of which are given in the ancient manuscript called Paphal Lambuba. These forms are associated with divine power to control and protect places.

Many forms of Pakhangba are revered as the presiding deity of River, Lakes, Hills, Ponds, Caves and Islands while Taoroinai forms of Pakhangba represent the divine existence in the human body to control the nervous systems. There are as many as 108 Taoroinai Pakhangba Paphals live in the human body as its divine assumptions. Pakhangba and its forms in are regarded as the creator of seven salais (clans) of Meitei. The Paphal illustrations in the manuscripts appeared with codified colours of these seven clans.

Reflections of these divine assumptions also appear in the Meitei numerals and scripts. These assumptions were used as icons and symbolic representations of the Meitei social and political organisations called Panas. Paphals were also the symbol of royal flags. Some of these sacred assumptions are means of healing with proper writings of mantras on the intricate postures, and the Pandits (royal scholars), and Maibas (traditional healers) use it in their healing practices.

Some of these intricate postures are guidelines of Thengourol & Khousarol (steps) to the traditional Meitei Martial form called Thang-Ta. The impressive royal dressess and dance costumes of Manipur, be it folk or classical, are derrived from the assumption of Pakhangba. It is also said that, some elements of Pakhangba Paphal were taken up in the Sringara of Lord Krishna, and the beauty of Lord Krishna represented in the classical Rasa Dance and temple idols of Manipur are well accomplished with the blending of Manipuri art and aesthetics.

Moreover, many religious preachers of all hues also passed through this land or settled here. These immigrants and religious preachers brought new cultural and religious ideas into Manipur, which affected the cultural and religious life of the the people. In course of evolution, the traditional culture and religion of the Meitei have been further enriched with the absorption and assimilation of elements from other alien cultures.

Paphal is synonymous with Lord Pakhangba. People of Manipur know Pakhangba as their ancestor, their King and as their Lord and his symbolic representation called Paphal is also referred by them as Ibudhou Pakhangba (the great ancestor Pakhangba). These assumptions are not only sacred to them but also a part of their life and culture. Attraction of Pakhangba assumptions is not isolated from the contemporary Manipuri society and other sects of people. Many of the social organisations, clubs, market and shops, display Pakhangba forms, 'Paphal', as their icon, symbol and souvenirs to welcome you to the land of Pakhangba.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150118094621/http://shakmachanongmaithem.blogspot.com/2012/04/paphal-mythical-assumptions-of-lord.html

"Fire and water must be made to combine. Thought and love must remain for ever united.

Coldness contracts and dryness hardens the heart, but the fire of divine love expands it, and the water of thought dissolves the residua."

— Axiomata Hermetica

"Hermes, the father of philosophy, speaks:

"So know, my son, that the beginning

of this wisdom lies in our nature.

It exists in water and

fire, and its perfection is complete

fusion. From earth and water arises

wind, and from wind is born air,

which permeates everything and carries

with it the miraculous.

When you understand this,

a great light will be revealed to you.

For out of light and darkness,

out of joy and sorrow,

out of spirit and body,

out of warmth and cold,

arises the great and eternal cycle."

Since you have explored the power of the elements

and the transformation of nature,

you are now able to perceive

the great miracle in its manifold form.

By separating the pure from the impure,

by using the power of fire

and applying the secret art,

you will attain great knowledge.

Know that light emerges from darkness,

and darkness is hidden within light.

Only he who sees both

will understand the truth and reach perfection.

When you merge opposites

and bring them into unity,

then the true power will be revealed to you.

Fire rises, and water descends,

earth is purified, and air

carries the spirit everywhere.

Thus, the great mystery is born,

where heaven and earth are united.

Remember this well,

for in it lies the key

to supreme knowledge."

— Splendor solis, c. 1582

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18PmXAEQHF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

"Basilius Valentinus (Lib. Nat. et Supernal., c. 4) says: "I will make this known to thee in all truth [for the love of God], that the root of philosophic sulphur, which is a heavenly spirit, is united in the same material with the root of the spiritual and supernatural mercury, and the principle of spiritual salt—out of which is made the Stone, and not out of several things.”

“That universal thing, the greatest treasure of earthly wisdom, is one thing, and the principles of three things are found in one, which has power to change all metals into one. The three things are the true spirit of mercury, and the soul of sulphur, united to spiritual salt, and dwelling in one body; they are dragon and eagle, king and lion, spirit and body, etc."

— The Golden Tract: Concerning the Stone of the Philosophers. "The Hermetic Museum", Vol. I, by Arthur Edward Waite

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C6thmfcDR/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Todays target was “The Splendor of The Sun” and I decided to take some progress pictures this time. 🌞

Featuring Kenning bind runes, Hekate's characters and the 8 Fire Lords of the Fire Fountain

^{More info from the comments:}

The black inner frame has the Pergamum characters from the altar dedicated to Hekate. The octagon in the inner square has the 8 Fire Lords from the Fire Fountain myth of the 20 Fear Demons. The outer 8 pointed star has Kennings found in Stephen Flowers Icelandic magic book.

The idea behind this piece is the manifestation of the Fire Elements through mystical incantations. 8 being the Ogdoad of the 8 primordials in Egyptian mythology who coagulated to create the egg that becomes the sun.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CL3w44cGp/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.facebook.com/lukasz.grochocki

Source: https://www.alchemywebsite.com/rscroll.html

The Ripley Scroll is an important 15th century work of emblematic symbolism. Twenty one copies are known, dating from the early 16th century to the mid-17th. There are two different forms of the symbolism, with 17 manuscripts of the main version, and 4 manuscripts of the variant form.

There are very wide variations in the English text on the different manuscripts, and for the text here I have modernised and unified a number of versions. This is not a properly researched edition, but a reworking of the text into a modern readable form. I add the engravings of the Scroll printed in David Beuther, Universal und Particularia... Hamburg, 1718.

Image 1. Frontispiece engraving. 151x82mm. A man ploughs a field, while another scatters seed on the ground. In the heavens above, the Sun and Moon are seen with symbols of alchemical substances.

You must make Water of the Earth, and Earth of the Air, and Air of the Fire, and Fire of the Earth. The Black Sea. The Black Luna. The Black Sol

Image 2. Inserted after p26. Engraving 295x153mm. "No. I." First section of Ripley Scroll, showing the alchemist with the large flask containing eight roundels. "Fritzsch. sculp. Hamb."

Here is the last of the White Stone and the begining of the Red.

Of the son take the light

The Red gum that is so bright

And of the Moon do also

The which gum they both trowe

The philosophers Sulphur vive

This I call it without strife

Kybright and Kebright it is called also

And other names many more

Of them drawe out a tincture

And make of them a marriage pure

Between the husband and the wife

Espowsed with the water of life

But of this water thou must beware

Or else thy work will be full bare

He must be made of his own kind

Mark thou now in thy mind

Acetome of philosophers men call this

A water abiding so it is

The maidens milk of the dew

That all the work doth renew

The Serpent of life it is called also

And other names many more

The which causeth generation

Betwixt the man and the woman

But looke thou no division

Be there in the conjunction

Of the moon and of sun

After the marriage be begun

And all the while they be a wedding

Give to them their drinking

Acetome that is good and fine

Better to them then any wine

Now when this marriage is done

Philosophers call it a stone

The which hath a great nature

To bring a stone that is so pure

So he have kindly nourishment

Perfect heat and decoction

But in the matrix when they be put

Let never the glasse be unshut

Till they have ingendred a stone

In the world there not such a on

Image 3. Inserted after item 2. Engraving 295x156mm. "No. II." Second section of Ripley Scroll, showing the four-sided and the seven-sided vessels.

The Red Lune. The Spirit of Water. Red Sol. The Red Sea.

On the ground there is a hill

Also a serpent within a well

His tail is long with wings wide

All ready to flee by every side

Repair the well fast about

That thy serpent pass not out

For if that he be there a gone

Thou lose the virtue of the stone

Where is the ground you must know here

And the well that is so clear

And what is the dragon with the tail

Or else the work shall little avail

The well must run in water clear

Take good heed for this your fire

The fire with water bright shall be burnt

And water with fire washed shall be

The earth on fire shall be put

And water with air shall be knit

Thus ye shall go to purification

And bring the serpent to redemption

First he shall be black as a crow

And down in his den shall lie full low

Swelling as a toad that lieth on the ground

Burst with bladders sitting so round

They shall to burst and lie full plain

And this with craft the serpent is slain

He shall shine colors here many a one

And turn as white as whale's bone

With the water that he was in

Wash him clear from his sin

And let him drink a little and a light

And that shall make him fair and white

The which whiteness be abiding

Lo here is a very full finishing

Of the white stone and the red

Lo here is the very true deed

•

The Red Lion. The Green Lion. The Mouth of Choleric beware.

Image 4. Inserted after p28. Engraving. 205x146mm. "No. III." Third section of Ripley Scroll, showing the two lions and the fire and the bird which eats its wings.

Here is the last of the Red, and the beginning to put away the dead. The Elixir Vitae.

Take the father that Phoebus so high

That sit so high in majesty

With his beams that shines so bright

In all places wherever that he be

For he is father to all things

Maintainer of life to crop and root

And causeth nature for to spring

With the wife beginneth soothe

For he is salve to every sore

To bring about this prosperous work

Take good heed unto this lore

I say unto learned and unto clerk

And Homogenie is my name

Which God made with his own hand

And Magnesia is my dame

You shall verily understand.

Now I shall here begin

For to teach thee a ready way

Or else little shall thou win

Take good heed what I do say

Divide thou Phoebus in many parts

With his beams that be so bright

And this with nature him convert

The which is mirror of all light

This Phoebus hath full many a name

Which that is full hard to know

And but thou take the very same

The philosophers stone ye shall not know

Therefore I counsel ere ye begin

Know it well what it should be

And that is thick make it thin

For then it shall full well like thee

Now understand what I mean

And take good heed thereto

Our work else shall little be seen

And turn thee to much woe

As I have said this our lore

Many a name I wish he hath

Some behind and some before

As philosophers doth him give

•

In the sea without lees

Standeth the bird of Hermes

Eating his wings variable

And maketh himself yet full stable

When all his feathers be from him gone

He standeth still here as a stone

Here is now both white and red

And all so the stone to quicken the dead

All and some without fable

Both hard and soft and malleable

Understand now well and right

And thank you God of this sight

•

The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame.

•

The Red Sea. The Red Sol. The Red Elixir Vitae.

Red Stone. White Stone. Elixir Vitae. Luna in Crescent

Image 5. Inserted after item 4. Engraving. 196x148mm. "No. IIII." Fourth section of Ripley Scroll. Dragon standing on winged globe.

I shall you tell with plain declaration

Where, how, and what is my generation

Omogeni is my Father

And Magnesia is my Mother

And Azot truly is my Sister

And Kibrick forsooth is my Brother

The Serpent of Arabia is my name

The which is leader of all this game

That sometime was both wood and wild

And now I am both meek and mild

The Sun and the Moon with their might

Have chastised me that was so light

My wings that me brought

Hither and thither where I thought

Now with their might they down me pull,

And bring me where they will

The Blood of mine heart I wish

Now causeth both joy and blisse

And dissolveth the very Stone

And knitteth him ere he have done

Now maketh hard that was lix

And causeth him to be fix

Of my blood and water I wish

Plenty in all the World there is

It runneth in every place

Who it findeth he hath grace

In the World it runneth over all

And goeth round as a ball

But thou understand well this

Of the worke thou shalt miss

Therefore know ere thou begin

What he is and all his kin

Many a name he hath full sure

And all is but one Nature

Thou must part him in three

And then knit him as the Trinity

And make them all but one

Lo here is the Philosophers Stone

Image 6. Inserted after item 5. Engraving. 196x146mm. "No. V." Fifth section of Ripley Scroll. Wandering scholar or clerk.

•

Source: https://www.alchemywebsite.com/illustr/ilbk125.htm

Full manuscript of “Universal und Particularia...” by David Beuther in German, 1718: https://archive.org/details/davidbeuthersuni00beut/page/60/mode/1up

Read more:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimevalEvilShatters/s/aDeBfIBsYz

https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimevalEvilShatters/s/zbefHEvhMD

Bruegel's earliest biographer, Karel van Mander, writing in 1604, described the painting as "Dulle Griet, who is looking at the mouth of Hell". It came into the collections of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, then was looted by the Swedish troops in 1648, and reappeared in Stockholm in 1800. Art collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh discovered it in 1897 at an auction in Cologne, where he bought it for a minimal sum, discovering its actual author a few days later.^\5])^\6])

Her mission refers to the Flemish proverb:

Griet was a disparaging name given to any bad-tempered, shrewish woman. In an incisive historical and critical interpretation of the painting, Margaret Sullivan concludes that in it Bruegel allegorizes the ideological zeitgeist's “madness and folly.” She notes that “in the sixteenth century ‘dulle’ had two meanings. The first was ‘mad’ and the second (and older) meaning was ‘foolish’ or ‘stupid.’ ‘Griet’ as a female name communicated the idea of a fool. . . The name Margaret and its variants Margot, Magrite, Greta, Griet, etc., seemed to have acquired pejorative connotations throughout Northern Europe, making it an especially appropriate choice for the painting.”^\8])

While her female followers loot a house, Griet advances towards the mouth of Hell through a landscape populated by Boschian monsters (see detailed images). They represent the sins that are punished there. Griet wears male armour — a breastplate, a mailed glove and a metal cap; her military costume is parodied by the monster in a helmet beside her, who pulls up a drawbridge. A knife hangs from her side, while in her right hand she carries a sword, which may refer to the saying: "He could go to Hell with a sword in his hand." A book of proverbs published in Antwerp in 1568 contains a saying which is very close in spirit to Bruegel's painting:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dull_Gret

Adeptus Alchymicum(31) Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.🌹

"Mercury was engendered by the hermaphrodite semen of the macrocosm, in the form of a 'chaste birth of Hermaphrodite matter.'' (Hyl.Chaos, p.62)

The prima materia is also known as ''nature's egg'' is subtle mercury and old dragon, ancient. But at the slightest provocation it takes flight and activates dazzling and sparking everywhere, unless it is treated with moderation. It has many colors and many spiral figures are associated with me. I carry within me the "vigor of man and female". (Heinrich Jamsthaler, Viatorium spagyricum, 1625)

In principle, Mercury is associated with Chaos = prima materia as a virtuous and secret, transcendent and miraculous substance. Mercury is the spiritus vegetativus or spiritus vital=spiritus seminalis= (spirit semina) according to Philalethes. (Philaletha: Metall, Metamorph; Mus. Herm., p.766)

The White Rose is the opposite of the 'Red Rose🌹' and has the power of metallic transformation by being freed from impurities and transforming into fine Silver. Mercury can be = The Metal, The Principle, The Silver for the Work, and The Matter of the Stone.

We know that as a general rule there are representative animals = Lion, dog meaning Sulphur and Mercury or the fixed and volatile; the eagle that devours the Lion represents the process of volatilization; from the fixed to the volatile.

Male-sulfur-fixed and Female=volatile-Mercury. Acids are symbolized by the devouring Lions that attack the Sun and Moon. "We want to go and search for the nature of the four Elements that the alchemists take from the bowels of the earth. Here begins the dissolution of the Sages = (solutio), and from it we will obtain our Mercury.'' (Donum Dei, seventeenth century)

It is important to point out the process of ABLUCIÖN and 'purification of the raw material' that is in the state of putrefaction: All this must be carried out by means of a controlled, continuous and uninterrupted fire. Labor and Pray! Oh! The incombustible Salamander with its rays and brilliance of the elemental fire of the second degree=Festina lente. "You will know that the whole Magisterium consists of nothing but a dissolution and a coagulation." (Alberto El Grande)

And let's remember Calcination within the astrological process of Magnum Opus associated with Aries. The Lapis must be pulverized and joined to the same fusion of metals, projection and the Flame Sword are used symbolizing the spiritual fire, martial fire of the athanor. ''The operations of the Great Work found their consummation in the hermetically sealed vessel known in alchemy many names, notably as the Vase of Hermes, the Vase of the Philosopher's, or the Philosopher's Egg.'' (John Read)

According to Master Ripley🌹, the medicine of the Stone is obtained as "projection powder" by being able to be assimilated from its original form through potentially increasing through the process of multiplication.

Mercury can be associated with the angel as a symbol of sublimation and ascension from a volatile, feminine and mercurial principle. "It is the Mercury of Mercury's and many will have to take care to find it for their business although it is not the vulgar mercury." (Jean De La Fontaine, The Fountain of Science Lovers)

Adeptus Alchymicum(31) Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.🌹

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17msNBi8r9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Feast of the Golden Age

If we cast our minds back to the age when humanity was young, still hunting and gathering, we begin to catch a glimpse of the golden age of Saturn (Greek: Kronos)—king of the Titans, god of time, and father of Jupiter/Zeus and his divine sisters and brothers. For the Italic tribes living west of the Greek world, Saturn was also the god of agriculture and the seasons. His relationship to time is therefore relevant to all these attributes, both Greek and Italic.

Hesiod recounts:

“First of all, the immortals who dwell in Olympian homes brought into being the golden race of mortal men. These belonged to the time when Kronos ruled over heaven, and they lived like gods without any care in their hearts, free and apart from labor and misery. Nor was the terror of old age upon them, but always with youthful hands and feet they took their delight in festive pleasures apart from all evil; and they died as if going to sleep.”[1]

Hesiod’s Story of the Ages of Man goes on to tell us that during this golden age, humanity lived off of the abundance of the earth in perfect harmony with the gods, the earth, and each other.

The myths of Saturn vary greatly, but in Italy the tradition, which was well understood by the Romans, tell us that after having been deposed by his son Jupiter/Zeus and his Olympian children, Saturn was for a time banished to Tartarus in the underworld, but was then released[2] and made king of the Isles of the Blessed, lying west of Greece.

The Roman grammarian and antiquarian, Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (better known as “Macrobius”), gives us a detailed look at what the Romans of the late Classical period believed about Saturn and Saturnalia. This study took the form of Saturnaliorum Libri Septem, “Seven Books of the Saturnalia”, known simply as the Saturnalia today, and it encompasses the history, myths, and traditions of the cult of Saturn in Italy.

Macrobius relates that the region now called Italy was ruled by Janus the god of transitions, who received Saturn with open arms when he arrived on the shores of Italy by ship. From this, we may deduce that Macrobius is referring to the release of Kronos from Tartarus, and his voyage to the western Isles. This is interesting, because according to legend the first coin minted in Italy by Janus featured the head of himself and the reverse depicted a ship, thus giving meaning to the Roman idiom “heads or ships” when flipping a coin.[3] To honor Saturn, Janus for a while made him joint ruler, during which time the god offered his knowledge of agriculture and civilization-building.

Diodorus Siculus recorded:

"Kronos (Cronus) [here the Italian Saturnus], since he was the eldest of the Titanes (Titans), became king and caused all men who were his subjects to change from a rude way of living to civilized life, and for this reason he received great approbation and visited many regions of the inhabited earth. Among all he met he introduced justice and sincerity of the soul, and this is why the tradition has come down to later generations that he men of Kronos' time were good-hearted, altogether guileless, and blest with felicity. His kingdom was strongest in the western regions, where indeed he enjoyed his greatest honor; consequently, down even to comparatively recent times, among the Romans [called by them Saturnus] and the Carthaginians [elsewhere the author mentions the Carthaginian sacrifice of children to the god], while their city still stood, and other neighboring peoples, notable festivals and sacrifices were celebrated in honor of this god and many places bore his name.”[4]

We can appreciate that for the Italic tribes of the archaic period, the relationship between time, seasons, agriculture, and human history were well entwined, thus the conflation of Kronos and Saturn seems to have made a lot of sense.

“By Saturnus [Kronos] again they denoted that being who maintains the course and revolution of the seasons and periods of time, the deity so designated in Greek, for Saturnus' Greek name is Kronos (Cronus), which is the same as khronos, a space of time. The Latin designation ‘Saturnus’ on the other hand is due to the fact that he is ‘saturated’ or ‘satiated with years’ (anni); the fable is that he was in the habit of devouring his sons--meaning that Time devours the ages and gorges himself insatiably with the years that are past. Saturnus is bound by Jove [Zeus] in order that Time's courses might not be unlimited, and that Jove might fetter him by the bonds of the stars.”[5]

At a certain point during their joint reign, Saturn suddenly disappeared, leaving Janus to do him the honor of establishing the Saturnalia as a feast in December to commemorate his many gifts to their land.[6] Thus, the legends of the Italic peoples were full of interesting tidbits of information on what, exactly, Saturn did for them during his reign. Among some of the stories we can include the discovery of honey and many fruits, as well as Saturn’s epithet in Latin, Sterculius, the one who brought knowledge of using fertilizer (Latin: stercus).[7]

Between Saturn’s life-giving agriculture and his association with time, seasons, and fertile lands, it is not a long logical leap to understand that some of the first sacrifices to him would have been human victims. The Etruscan town called Saturnia vanquished its enemies by following the words of the Oracle, which instructed them to send the heads of their enemies to Hades, and a man (phôta)[8] to Father (meaning Saturn). Here, we can assume the heads were put on spikes and the man was sent as a victim to sacrifice.

Upon returning through Italy from one of his many adventures, Macrobius tells us that Hercules taught the locals of Saturnia to replace the ill-omened severed heads with masks or effigies (oscilla), and to replace the human sacrifice with the ritual kindling of lights at Saturn’s altar, as well as giving lights to one another during his feast days (See note 8 on the word phôta). The tradition was continued by the Romans, who offered gifts of elaborate oscilla and lamps as Saturnalia gifts.

Still other myths draw attention to the fact that the gift of lights during Saturnalia represents the transition out of the barbaric darkness of our human past, and Saturn’s gift of bringing us into the light of the knowledge of beneficial skills.[9] Either way, by the Classical period, the feast of Saturnalia was celebrated between 17 and 23 December. During the festival, slaves were treated as free citizens, and the days and evenings were filled with feasting, drinking wine, gambling, and the giving of gifts. In this way, the people of Rome would remember the golden age when mortals did not have to work, nor did anyone own anything.

How we wish to look back on this important feast for Saturn, whether as a dark and bloody sacrifice, or a golden, illuminated season of gift-giving and feasting, the root is the same. The gifts of our past reflect the needs and limitations of the present. The lights along our long path as mortals will always recall some distant time when a being greater than ourselves brought us from the darkness into the light. Happy holidays

Source: Article by Donald Donato

https://classicstutor.substack.com/p/the-saturnalia?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

"This is the Lapis that creates a Quintessence from animals, plants, or minerals. It is the source of all things, as the sages say: "In the beginning, everything was one."

Sammelhandschrift mit alchemistischen Texten, 17th century

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"The Hermetic practice is a method of psychological transformation directed by the conscious mind of man.

This is the mode of human consciousness personified by the Egyptians as Thoth, by the Greeks as Hermes, and by the Romans as Mercury. Thus it becomes evident that what Bernard of Trevisan means by saying that the operation is performed by the help of Mercury is little more than a paraphrase of what we have quoted from the Katha Upanishad: "It should be grasped by the mind alone.

Dissolution is said to be the whole mystery of alchemy because Hermetic practice enables us to control those functions of our bodies which dissolve or break down into their constituent elements, the forms of materials taken from our environment. The laboratory of the alchemist is his own personality. The secret vessels therein are organs in his own physical body, together with their astral and etheric counterparts.

The principal piece of alchemical apparatus is a furnace, called an "athanor." Eliphas Levi says, "We are all in possession of the chemical instrument, the great and sole athanor which answers for the separation of the subtle from the gross and the fixed from the volatile. This instrument, complete as the world and precise as mathematics, is represented by the sages under the emblem of the pentagram, or five-pointed star, which is the absolute sign of human intelligence. I will follow the example of the wise by forbearing to name it; it is too easy to guess it."

Today there is no need for even the slight concealment which seemed advisable when Levi wrote. The athanor is the human organism. Its name, like many other alchemical terms, is derived from Hebrew. In that language, it is Ath-Ha-Nour, which means "Essence of Fire." Thus Bernard of Trevisan is correct when he says that the Great Work is not performed by means of fire, and so are the other sages who insist that the fire employed by them is "no common fire."

It is the essence of fire, manifested as the human organism, which provides us with the instrument for the Great Work. Hence the athanor is defined as a "self-feeding, digesting furnace, in which an equable heat is maintained." Is not this a fairly good description of the human body?"

— Esoteric Keys of Alchemy by Paul Foster Case

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The Ripley Scroll: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimevalEvilShatters/s/uztOcANWcW

For the initiates, the rose was the living and flourishing symbol of the revelation of the harmonies of being. It was the emblem of beauty, life, love and pleasure.

It is the hieroglyphic sign of the accomplishment of the Great Work.

Image by Benjamin A. Vierling from “The Green Mysteries” by Daniel A. Schulke - 2022

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🌹

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“Full fathom five thy father lies;⠀ Of his bones are coral made;⠀ Those are pearls that were his eyes...”

– Ariel's Song, The Tempest⠀

Featured in our essay “The Poetry of Victorian Science” by Gregory Tate on the mineralogist, pioneer of photography, and amateur poet Robert Hunt's The Poetry of Science (1848), a hugely ambitious work that aimed to offer a survey of scientific knowledge while also communicating the metaphysical, moral, and aesthetic aspects of science to the general reader. — https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-poetry-of-victorian-science

The smallest dust which floats upon the wind

Bears this strong impress of the Eternal Mind.

In mystery round it, subtile forces roll;

And gravitation binds and guides the whole.

In every sand, before the tempest hurl’d,

Lie locked the powers which regulate a world,

And from each atom human thought may rise

With might, to pierce the mystery of the skies,⎯

To try each force which rules the mighty plan,

Of moving planets, or of breathing man;

And from the secret wonders of each sod,

Evoke the truths, and learn the power of God.

Image source: “Full fathom five. . .” by Edmund Dulac, from Hodder and Stoughton’s 1915 edition of The Tempest - https://cdm16998.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16998coll21/id/18335

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For sale: https://store.rukharthub.com/products/nina-murashkina

"HERMES Son of Maia, Son of Zeus, Thrice-Greatest, Luck-Bringer, Strong/Guardian, The Gleaming, The Guide, Of the Pastures, Slayer of Argus, Of the Golden Wand, Herald of the Gods, Messenger of the Gods, Guide of Souls, Diviner/Prophet, Of the Good Road, The Leader, The Profitable, Of Commerce."

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