Directed study
Saturday, February 12, 2005
The Rosarium, Explanation of Emblems 4-10
We have now reached the stage where the primal archetypal energies within the soul of the alchemist (the Animus - Anima) have been polarized then brought through his inner work into a kind of relationship necessary for the real task of the integration process to commence. We now see the beginning of the meeting and transmutation of these forces one into another. This takes place through two cycles of transformation involving seven stages (compare with 'The Crowning of Nature' and the 'Splendor Solis'). The first, pictured through illustrations 4 - 10 gives rise to the White Stone, the inner mastery of the lunar forces, while the second seen in illustrations 11 - 17, produces the inner mastery of the solar forces in the soul, in the preparation of the Red Stone.
Each of these processes has the same archetypal form, as is paralleled in the illustrations. These seven stages can be analyzed as follows : -
1 An entry into the vessel of transformation,
2 A conjunction of the two primal archetypal forces,
3 Their merging into an hermaphrodite in a death or nigredo stage,
4 The extraction or ascent of one facet of the soul into the Spiritual realm,
5 The descent of a spiritual dew or essence from above,
6 The return of the extracted soul forces,
7 The final formation of the Stone pictured as the resurrection of the hermaphrodite.
The opening two stages of each of these processes are preparations, and we see that there is a reversal of the order between that of the first cycle (illustration 4 being the descent into the vessel and 5 the Conjunction), and that of the second cycle (illustration 11 being the Conjunction and 12 the descent into the new rectangular vessel). The further five illustrations of each cycle pivot around the central experience of the descent of the spiritual dew from above (illustration 8 for the White Tincture, and 15 for the Red), and the other four illustrations in each cycle relate in form to each other as follows : -
Thus we have the skeleton framework of the process. Now we will look at each stage in some detail.
Each of these processes has the same archetypal form, as is paralleled in the illustrations. These seven stages can be analyzed as follows : -
1 An entry into the vessel of transformation,
2 A conjunction of the two primal archetypal forces,
3 Their merging into an hermaphrodite in a death or nigredo stage,
4 The extraction or ascent of one facet of the soul into the Spiritual realm,
5 The descent of a spiritual dew or essence from above,
6 The return of the extracted soul forces,
7 The final formation of the Stone pictured as the resurrection of the hermaphrodite.
The opening two stages of each of these processes are preparations, and we see that there is a reversal of the order between that of the first cycle (illustration 4 being the descent into the vessel and 5 the Conjunction), and that of the second cycle (illustration 11 being the Conjunction and 12 the descent into the new rectangular vessel). The further five illustrations of each cycle pivot around the central experience of the descent of the spiritual dew from above (illustration 8 for the White Tincture, and 15 for the Red), and the other four illustrations in each cycle relate in form to each other as follows : -
Thus we have the skeleton framework of the process. Now we will look at each stage in some detail.
