Could you explain about the alchemical figures of the Solar King and Moon Queen and how they are used in fiction?
Hi! So they are often referred to as the "red man" and "white woman", the "red stone" and "white stone" as well. Essentially, they're the two main substances that are joined in a chemical wedding, which I've talked about here. Essentially, the two principles are as follows:
Red: sun, fire and air, sulfur, active, gold, hot and dry, heart or soul, male.
White: moon, water and earth, mercury, passive, silver, cool and damp, mind or spirit, female.
Red King/Solar King and White Queen/Lunar Queen are two figures that appear in alchemical art throughout history as personfications of these principles. Like here, the Solar King and Lunar Queen in Splendor Solis:
They don't have to be personfications, however. Sometimes you'll see a red rose and a white rose, a white lily and a red lily, red and white stones, etc.
The idea in alchemy is that these two principles are joined together (mixed, if you will). This joining is called a chemical wedding, and the result of this joining is the philosopher's stone (alchemy's end goal that transforms lead into gold and also creates an elixir of eternal life). If the alchemical art we're talking about is a story, then the principles are often presented as characters who must join together to achieve the objective of the story.
For example, ASOIAF's Jon and Daenerys fit almost perfectly into the red and white categories... with one notable difference: Jon is the lunar king while Daenerys is a solar king! I do need to finish that meta on the active/passive motif between them... Romeo and Juliet actually does the same thing too--Juliet is the active, gold, sun principle, while Romeo is passive and moon.
When personified as characters, the philosopher's stone can be personified as well as a child--the philosophical child:
For example, RWBY's Ruby Rose is the child of Summer Rose (associated with silver and earth (her name and the references to her burial)) and Taiyang Xiao Long (whose name means "little sun dragon" aka, an association with male/gold/fire/air (dragons fly)) . Hence, Ruby has characteristics of both principles:
Red is her assigned color, and her names are both associated with a red stone and a red flower
She has silver eyes
She's active and heart for sure
She's female
She's air (flies)
The reason alchemical partners are often romantic in stories is because, well, having sex is a way of literally joining together. The child would have all the best characteristics of both the white and red principles, which is why the other portrayal in fiction is of the characters adopting traits from one another.
@argentvive also has quite a few posts on this, so definitely check them out!
