The Rejected Stone The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. Psalm 118: 22 From Memories, Dreams, Reflections The story of how this stone came to me is a curious one. I needed stones for building the enclosing wall for the so-called garden, and ordered them from the quarry near Bollingen….
“It is required that the vessel be not only round but egg-shaped.” From Psychology and Alchemy: “For the alchemists the vessel is something truly marvellous: a vas mirabile. Maria Prophetissa says that the whole secret lies in knowing about the Hermetic vessel. “Unum est vas” (the vessel is one) is emphasized…
Carl Jung: The Diamond as a Symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone From Psychology and Alchemy: “The diamond is an excellent symbol because it is hard, fiery, and translucent. Orthelius tells us that the Philosophers have never found a better medicament than that which they called the noble and blessed Stone of the Philosophers, on…
The Alcyhmist, in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, by Joseph Wright of Darby (1771) The Philosophers’ Stone From: Atalanta fugiens (1618): Music-Image-Text In keeping with the intellectual pursuits of many of his contemporaries, Maier strove to produce the philosophers’ stone. But what exactly did this mean? The early modern alchemist understood himself as being a…
The Race between Atalanta and Hippomenes, by Nicolas Colombel (1644-1717) Information and Links about the Myth of Atalanta From Theoi ATALANTA was a great Arkadian huntress and a favourite of the goddess Artemis. She was exposed by her father in the wilderness at birth, but was suckled by a she-bear and afterwards found…
Published on May 28, 2013, Courtesy of Adam McLean Atalanta fugiens by Michael Maier was first published in 1617 at Frankfurt at the press of Johann Theodor de Bry. This alchemical emblem book included 50 engraved emblems with an associated ‘fugue’ or musical canon. In a sense this book with its integration of image, text…
Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem XXI. Make of the man and woman a Circle, of that a Quadrangle, of this a Triangle, of the same a Circle and you will have the Stone of the Philosophers. The Discourse: Plato that most Excellent Philosopher was of the Opinion that those notions or Ideas which are the…
About the Splendor Solis, from The Alchemy Website The Splendor Solis is one of the most beautiful of illuminated alchemical manuscripts. The earliest version, considered to be that now in the Kupferstichkabinett in the Prussian State Museum in Berlin, is dated 1532-35, and was made in the form of a medieval manuscript and illuminated…
“Now, one of the concepts that plays the greatest role in alchemy is that of the prima materia, the prime or basic matter, the one stuff from which everything else is made. People felt that if they could find out about that and it is still a topic in modern physics they could find…