tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536854065433425156.post855243965470718340..comments2023-11-02T01:20:32.436-07:00Comments on The Forbidden Gospels: Look at the alchemical picture closelyApril DeConickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616757055618151612noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536854065433425156.post-9338336217267699022008-10-10T14:33:00.000-07:002008-10-10T14:33:00.000-07:00Rather than being a piece of Esoteric Christianity...Rather than being a piece of Esoteric Christianity, this is actually a Hermetic piece describing the creation of the Lapis Philosophorum of the alchemists.<BR/><BR/>Notice at the very bottom you see the separate image of male and female, demarcated by the Sun and the Moon. Also notice the Phoenix sealed hermetically with the 4 colors of the Great Work on the pillars underneath.<BR/><BR/>Just this alone is enough to highlight it's alchemical origins... That minute section of this piece details the ingredients of the Great Work, as well as the stages of it's completion.<BR/><BR/>The rest of the allegory is about the laboratory operations that would need to be performed to bring forth the Elixir represented by the Tree of Life, brought forth as the the fruits of Wisdom, represented here as the Divine Androgyne.<BR/><BR/>While it's a beautiful piece, the underlying philosophy is practical or operative Hermeticism more so than Christianity.<BR/><BR/>One could argue whether or not it's meant to depict stages of Inner Alchemy, or Laboratory Alchemy, but the inclusion of Leo, Taurus, and what appears to me to be Scorpio tends to hint at a lab operation.<BR/><BR/>But that's just my two cents on the matter...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05794213556865607568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536854065433425156.post-26122847203698081692008-10-09T19:02:00.000-07:002008-10-09T19:02:00.000-07:00If the Zodiac signs guard the gates, then presumab...If the Zodiac signs guard the gates, then presumably there are 12 of them, as in Revelation.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08846941559414654227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536854065433425156.post-72636464955400075382008-10-09T18:53:00.000-07:002008-10-09T18:53:00.000-07:00THANK YOU!!THANK YOU!!April DeConickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06616757055618151612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536854065433425156.post-27904747874440408092008-10-09T18:11:00.000-07:002008-10-09T18:11:00.000-07:00Janus Lacinius, Pretiosa MargaritaNovella (1577-15...Janus Lacinius, Pretiosa Margarita<BR/>Novella (1577-1583).<BR/><BR/>Source: Alexander Roob, The Hermetic Museum (Taschen 1997), p. 36.PLP Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06825214575647260585noreply@blogger.com