ALCHEMY - MICROCOSM AND MACROCOSM . This plate, engraved by Merian for Johann-Daniel Mylius, Opus Medico-chymicum, 1618, is one of the most complex and symbolically satisfying from the heyday of learned alchemy. In essence it is designed to portray the relationships that subtend between the Higher and Lower worlds, between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The upper third of the picture is a double sunburst - an esoteric reference to the Sun behind the Sun. The area is peopled by four-winged angels, who represent the Cherubim, the highest servitors of God. The Lamb of God, which is Christ, is pictured to the right of the Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered Hebrew name of God, while the dove of the Holy Spirit is pictured to the left. This is the Three in One, who look down on the arc containing the twelve sigils for the zodiacal signs. Within the concentrics below this zodiac, are spheres of Mercury [yellow], Sulphur [orange] and Salt [blue], which are the lower Trinity, or the Three Principles in Nature and in Man. At the centre of he concentrics is the perfected Mercury of the alchemists, with the dot in the circle of the glyph, to show that it is penetrated with solar light. The five segments of flying creatures represent alchemical processes; the Raven symbolizes Nigredo (the Blackening process), the Swan, Albedo (the Whitening process), the Dragon itself (symbol of all Wisdom) represents the Art of Alchemy itself; the Pelican represents Mercury, while the Phoenix symbolizes Sulphur. In accordance with the hermetic teaching, which holds that the sublunar realm is totally dominated by opposites, or polarities, the Lower world is represented mainly in terms of such polarities - Man-Woman, Sun-Moon, the lunar, stag-headed devotee of Diana triformis, with the solar Lion, and so on.

ALCHEMY - MICROCOSM AND MACROCOSM . This plate, engraved by Merian for Johann-Daniel Mylius, Opus Medico-chymicum, 1618, is one of the most complex and symbolically satisfying from the heyday of learned alchemy. In essence it is designed to portray the relationships that subtend between the Higher and Lower worlds, between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The upper third of the picture is a double sunburst - an esoteric reference to the Sun behind the Sun. The area is peopled by four-winged angels, who represent the Cherubim, the highest servitors of God. The Lamb of God, which is Christ, is pictured to the right of the Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered Hebrew name of God, while the dove of the Holy Spirit is pictured to the left. This is the Three in One, who look down on the arc containing the twelve sigils for the zodiacal signs. Within the concentrics below this zodiac, are spheres of Mercury [yellow], Sulphur [orange] and Salt [blue], which are the lower Trinity, or the Three Principles in Nature and in Man. At the centre of he concentrics is the perfected Mercury of the alchemists, with the dot in the circle of the glyph, to show that it is penetrated with solar light. The five segments of flying creatures represent alchemical processes; the Raven symbolizes Nigredo (the Blackening process), the Swan, Albedo (the Whitening process), the Dragon itself (symbol of all Wisdom) represents the Art of Alchemy itself; the Pelican represents Mercury, while the Phoenix symbolizes Sulphur. In accordance with the hermetic teaching, which holds that the sublunar realm is totally dominated by opposites, or polarities, the Lower world is represented mainly in terms of such polarities - Man-Woman, Sun-Moon, the lunar, stag-headed devotee of Diana triformis, with the solar Lion, and so on.

ALCHEMY - MICROCOSM AND MACROCOSM . This plate, engraved by Merian for Johann-Daniel Mylius, Opus Medico-chymicum, 1618, is one of the most complex and symbolically satisfying from the heyday of learned alchemy. In essence it is designed to portray the relationships that subtend between the Higher and Lower worlds, between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The upper third of the picture is a double sunburst - an esoteric reference to the Sun behind the Sun. The area is peopled by four-winged angels, who represent the Cherubim, the highest servitors of God. The Lamb of God, which is Christ, is pictured to the right of the Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered Hebrew name of God, while the dove of the Holy Spirit is pictured to the left. This is the Three in One, who look down on the arc containing the twelve sigils for the zodiacal signs. Within the concentrics below this zodiac, are spheres of Mercury [yellow], Sulphur [orange] and Salt [blue], which are the lower Trinity, or the Three Principles in Nature and in Man. At the centre of he concentrics is the perfected Mercury of the alchemists, with the dot in the circle of the glyph, to show that it is penetrated with solar light. The five segments of flying creatures represent alchemical processes; the Raven symbolizes Nigredo (the Blackening process), the Swan, Albedo (the Whitening process), the Dragon itself (symbol of all Wisdom) represents the Art of Alchemy itself; the Pelican represents Mercury, while the Phoenix symbolizes Sulphur. In accordance with the hermetic teaching, which holds that the sublunar realm is totally dominated by opposites, or polarities, the Lower world is represented mainly in terms of such polarities - Man-Woman, Sun-Moon, the lunar, stag-headed devotee of Diana triformis, with the solar Lion, and so on.

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2847 x 2363 px | 19.2 MB

24.1 x 20.0 cm | 9.5 x 7.9 in (300 dpi)