Gold Of A Thousand Mornings
Written by Armand Barbault in 1969, translated from the French by Robin Campbell in 1975, published by Neville Spearman Limited.
I do alchemical bibliomancy, and have by now learned that the quotes I seem to randomly pick wind up far too relevant to seem entirely random. Here is the entire passage which turned up for my Imbolc "dip into the alchemical wellspring" and from which I drew the shorter quote used for the title and reference in my alchemical blog this week. I've highlighted that bit in bold. But the rest of the material is too rich not to share.
Whether you are doing inner or laboratory work, this is a good way of looking at the metaphor of the Air of Earth.
II. Aquarius, the Water Carner (January 2Ist-February 19th) The winter Air sign. This sign is certainly theleast known and most enigmatic of all. It occurs right in the heart of winter, at the coldest time of year. Its opposite, Leo, is the warmest Fire sign. Because it is so enigmatic an attempt will now be made to explain as fully as possible in what sense it acts as an inspiration to the alchemist. The symbol is a woman pouring out the contents of an urn. This might seem an unlikely symbol for an air sign. The explanation is this: the contents of the um represent irradiation, the etheric forces of nature which are fully active underground. We know that the first Air sign, Gemini, presides over the time in spring when all vegetation is breathing at maximum intensity. The second, Libra, marks the time in autumn when these respiratory functions are on the wane and plant life is dying. Aquarius, the third Air sign, corresponds to the fullest manifestation of air in the interior of the earth. By irradiation it imparts new life to roots, induces internal breathing and generally awakens that which was sleeping. Compare this with the activity under the opposite sign, Leo, where the fruit is ripened by the sun. The time of Aquarius is, for the alchemist, the moment to acquire his First Matter, while it still possesses etheric forces. Once the Matter has been isolated from the ground, it can be brought to life again by impregnation with vegetable substances and dew whenever the circumstances are appropriate.
