Discover Top Posts Tagged with #atalanta fugiens

Illustration from Atalanta fugiens by Michael Maier, first published in 1618 in Oppenheim, one of the most renowned emblem books of the hermetic-alchemical tradition. Combining fifty engravings with epigrams, fugues, and discourses, it was designed as a meditation on transformation. This emblem depicts the element of Air, “in whose breath the philosopher’s stone is conceived”, a reminder that in alchemy, creation begins not in matter, but in the unseen.

#atalanta fugiens #michael maier #hermetic tradition #emblemata #alchemical emblem #philosophers stone #air as element #arcane symbolism #alchemical meditation #esoteric art #alchemy and transformation #renaissance alchemy #hermetism #illustration #u

Terra (Mother Earth), 1618.

🌍 As the song “Happy Birthday to You” has been firmly established to be in the public domain, it can be sung to wish people a happy Earth Day without incurring any copyright infringement.

(If she is the Earth, on what is she standing?)

☞ “Nutrix ejus terra eſt,” emblem by Matthias Merian illustrating epigram no. 2, Atalanta Fugiens …, by Michaele Majero (Michael Maier), 1618. (In the public domain.)

#Earth Day #Happy Birthday to You #public domain #Terra #Mother Earth #Matthäus Merian the Elder #Michael Maier #Michaele Majero #1618 #Matthias Merian #Atalanta Fugiens

Taylor Swift's "The Alchemy"

When the setlist came out and "The Alchemy" was on it, I posted that I wondered if the song might actually be literary alchemy. Now that the new album is out and I've seen the lyrics, I have to say I don't think it is. I have a few thoughts, though. Here are the lyrics.

This happens once every few lifetimes These chemicals hit me like white wine What if I told you I'm back? The hospital was a drag Worst sleep that I ever had I circled you on a map I haven't come around in so long But I'm coming back so strong

[Verse 2] Hey, you, what if I told you we'rе cool? That child's play back in school Is forgiven under my rule I haven't come around in so long But I'm making a comeback to where I belong

[Chorus] So when I touch down Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team Ditch the clowns, get the crown Baby, I'm the one to beat 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy? These blokes warm the benches We've been on a winning streak He jokes that it's heroin, but this time with an "E" 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

[Bridge] Shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads Beer stickin' to the floor, cheers chanted 'cause they said "There was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league" Where's the trophy? He just comes runnin' over to me

[Chorus] Touchdown Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team Ditch the clowns, get the crown Baby, I'm the one to beat 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy? These blokes warm the benches We've been on a winning streak He jokes that it's heroin, but this time with an "E" 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

[Outro] This happens once every few lifetimes These chemicals hit me like white wine

The words "the alchemy" appear several times, but always in the same phrase, "who are we to fight the alchemy?" Why use that somewhat esoteric word rather than just "chemistry" or "destiny," both also three syllables? The short answer is that I think she wants to be more indirect, mysterious, but that her intended meaning is pretty close to "destiny."

What Is Alchemy?

There have been some pretty wild takes on this in the TTPD discourse--and maybe some of them even align with what Swift thinks. But if you want to go back to the original meaning of alchemy in the Western tradition, Michael Maier's diagram on the creation of the Philosopher's Stone is a good place to start (Atalanta fugiens, Emblem 21).

The alchemist (on the left) joins together the Male Principle of the Work, who corresponds to fire and air, sun, red king, heart, etc., and the Female Principle of the Work, who corresponds to earth and water, moon, white queen, mind, etc. The Male and Female are opposites. Their reconciliation and joining creates the Philosopher's Stone, a red or red-purple stone. The alchemist then projects that Stone onto base metals to convert them to gold.

(The popular idea of alchemy is that the alchemist bends over and boils a chunk of lead in his cauldron and converts it directly to gold, omitting the creation of the Philosopher's Stone entirely.)

In any case, the key idea is that the alchemist is in charge; the Male and Female Principles are passive in the process. It seems that that idea survives in Swift's line "Who are we to fight the alchemy?" In other words, she and her partner are destined to be together by forces beyond their control.

She could have simply said ""fight destiny"--or "fight our destiny," to keep the same number of syllables. But she didn't. What else does she get from using the word "alchemy"? Most fundamentally, alchemy is transformation. If she knows that, then the song is suggesting that the lovers coming together is transforming them, elevating them to gold.

I'm sure this is a coincidence, but in the two lines before "Who are we to fight the alchemy," Swift's lover is marked as heart.

Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me

As noted above, "heart" is a defining characteristic of the Male Principle of the Work. She doesn't define herself as "mind," though, at least not in this song. (You could read her reference to knowing Aristotle, in "So High School," that way.)

Another coincidental alchemy reference is in the line "ditch the clowns, get the crown." The Male Principle is often called the Red King (and the Female Principle the White Queen). You could read this line as her telling her partner to get the crown of the Red King. Or, you could just say it's a reference to the Super Bowl.

Trismosin, Splendor Solis.

If you believe that the song is about Travis Kelce, then the Kansas City Chiefs' colours being red and gold work wonderfully well with alchemy: red, the colour of the Philosopher's Stone, and gold, the objective of the alchemical process.

#alchemy #taylor swift #the tortured poets department #the alchemy #atalanta fugiens #splendor solis #philosopher's stone #travis kelce #tayvis

Secretioris naturae secretorum scrutinium chymicum, c. 1687

by Maier, Michael

#Book illustration #Atalanta Fugiens