#speculum veritatis

[argentvive]

Stages of Alchemy

In an earlier post I outlined the main way alchemists organized the Opus Alchymicum, in 4, 7, 12, or 14 stages.  

https://www.tumblr.com/edit/argentvive/643426690373173248

As I noted, for writers of poems, drama, and novels, the principal guides are the black/white/red color stages and/or the twelve process stages (”gates”) of George Ripley.  

But of course nothing is so simple.  

To give you an idea of the diversity and complexity of alchemy and its stages. consider this example  from the manuscript Speculum veritatis [The Mirror of Truth], 17th century, Vatican library.  Stanislaus Klossowski di Rola (the son of the artist Balthus) is a massive alchemy enthusiast and like his inspiration, Carl Jung, started rummaging around the monastic and church archives of Europe looking for unknown and unpublished alchemy manuscripts.  He found this one in the Vatican library and published it in 1973 (Alchemy: The Secret Art). 

This illustration shows the alchemical process as a wheel, the opus circulatorium, the “circular work of the elements,” in Lyndy Abraham’s definition in her dictionary.  I wrote about this a little with respect to Daenerys Targaryen’s promise to “break the wheel” in GOT.  I speculated that when Daenerys completed the Great Work, completed all the stages of the wheel, she would achieve the Philosopher’s Stone and break the cycle of oppression and slavery.  That certainly didn’t happen on the show; we’ll see (hopefully!) if it happens in the books.   

On the right is a representation of Sulphur (he holds the symbol for Sulphur in his left hand).  In a post from a couple of years ago I explain why I believe that Daenerys is Sulphur (and thus by definition Sun, fire and air, Red).  In this image, Sulphur is stopping (“fixing”) the wheel with a nail in the stage labeled “Ciner.”, the abbreviation for cineres (ashes), and thus gray.  All the labels are in Latin and abbreviated, but most are easy to figure out.  

To make it even easier, Adam McLean prepared a colored version of the entire image, including the seated guy on the right.  Here’s what I think the 8 stages are. 

1.  Ciner. = Cineres, Ashes, gray

2. Nig. - Niger, black

3. Colores Vary. - Mixed colors (note also the symbol for Mercury)

4. Unlabeled - McLean has colored it orange, not sure why

5. Citrin. / Purpu Obscuri - Citrinus, yellow / purpureus obscurus, “hidden purple”

6. Flau. Obscu / Cauda Pavon. -  Flavus Obscurus, “hidden yellow”  /   cauda pavonis, peacock’s tail

7. Vir. Cerul. /Rub. Palid -  viridis ceruleus, green-blue / ruber pallidus, pale red,  McLean just ignores the “pale red” label and makes the whole section green.  

8. Album - White. Note the crescent moon. 

You can see how the words for the color stages derived from the color words: niger becomes nigredo, the black stage; album becomes albedo, the white stage; citrinus becomes citrinitas, the yellow stage, and ruber becomes rubedo, the red stage.

I would love to find a novel that has all these stages.  Presumably it would be a book published after 1973.  

Green does show up quite a bit in literature, Jaime Lannister as the “green lion,” for example.  And we get living, breathing peacocks from time to time--Norman and Barry in HDM, or the albino peacocks at Malfoy Manor in HP.  A rainbow is a common symbol for peacock; GRRM throws in a rainbow at particularly transformative moments in ASOIAF, as when Jon takes his vows to the Night Watch, for example.  

[argentvive]

Clavis artis, Rome manuscript. 17th century.  (Attributed to Zoroaster)

In the center is the serpent version of Mercurius (the symbol for Mercury rests on her head).  She unites the Male Principle of the Work (King Sol, with the sun above his head), and the Female Principle of the Work (Queen Luna, with the moon over her head).  

This may be the origin of Mary Malone’s role as the serpent in HDM, as she brings Lyra and Will together.  

Mercurius is a bi-gendered figure and is often depicted as male.  As I’ve posted before, in Romeo and Juliet,  Mercutio plays the role of Mercurius.  

Here Mercurius is on the left, identifiable by his winged helmet and his staff.  Speculum veritatis.  

[argentvive]

“Kill the Boy”: Aemon’s Final Instruction to Jon Snow

Before I read any of the books and had only watched the show, there were THREE scenes that leapt out as being straight from an alchemy book.

1. Jaime and Brienne in the communal bath in Harrenhal.  (See my post “Jaime and Brienne as Captives”) 

2.  The Dragonstone throne room scene where Jon stands in the middle of a circle on the floor–the Targaryen sigell–and Dany comes down from the throne to join him there. 

3. Aemon Targaryen telling Jon, “Kill the boy and let the man be born.”  

I finally reached Jon II in ADWD so it’s well past time I write up #3.  

Here’s the scene on the show (Episode 5.05).  Aemon’s line to Jon was so important the whole episode was named for it.

On the show Aemon tells Jon to “kill the boy” twice:  “With luck you will find the strength to do what needs to be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us.  Kill the boy and let the man be born.”

In the book (ADWD, Jon II), the line is repeated no less than 8 times!  The first two times Jon repeats it in his mind as he forces Gilly to agree to take Mance Rayder’s infant son to Oldtown to protect him from Melisandre’s mania for royal blood.

Kill the boy, thought Jon. “You will. Else I promise you, the day that they burn Dalla’s boy, yours will die as well.”

He repeats the line to himself again as he overcomes Sam’s resistance to his command that Sam go to the Citadel and become a Maester.

Kill the boy, he thought. The boy in you, and the one in him.  Kill the both of them, you bloody bastard. “You have no father. Only brothers. Only us. Your life belongs to the Night’s Watch....”

After Sam leaves we get a flashback of where the “kill the boy” line comes from, as Jon recalls his last conversation with Maester Aemon.  Aemon uses the phrase 4 times:

“,,,Egg [Aemon’s brother Aegon] had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved.  Kill the boy within you, I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born....I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us, Kill the boy and let the man be born.”

Why this choice of words?  Aemon could have said you need to grow up, be a man, take charge, be a leader, be tough, be strong, show resolve--any number of things.  Aemon is one of Jon’s alchemists, as I’ve written before.  Here he uses the most direct alchemical language of anyone in the entire series.  To create the Philosopher’s Stone, the alchemist had to “kill” the prima materia (the base matter).  When I heard those words from Aemon, it confirmed to me that GRRM was using alchemy consciously, deliberately, in ASOIAF.  

In this case Aemon just wants Jon to “kill” his tender feelings, his “innocence” and “sweetness.”  He is not speaking about a literal death.  As we know, however, Jon gets that later too, in a scene similar to this illustration from Speculum veritatis (17th century).

With Aemon’s injunction in mind, Jon is able to overcome Gilly and Sam’s objections to his plans relatively easily.  But Gilly and Sam are pretty pliable, obedient people.  A much sterner test would come with Janos Slynt.

To improve the Wall’s defences against the Others, Jon has decided to send garrisons to the abandoned forts of Icemark and Greyguard.  Bedwyck agrees  to lead a contingent to Icemark, but Janos Slynt refuses to go to Greyguard: “Do you hear me, boy? I will not have it!”

Jon thinks to himself, 

He still sees me as a boy...a green boy, to be cowed by angry words.

Jon takes no action then but gives Slynt the night to think it over.  Jon recognizes what the problem is and knows that he must take action to prove that he is no longer a boy, despite his young age.  When Slynt still refuses Jon’s command the next day, Jon orders him to be hanged.  At the last minute, he changes his mind and beheads him himself.  There’s no resurrection for Slynt, but Jon has now “killed” any boyish innocence that he still retained.  As a commander of men, Jon will be an “Aegon,” not an “Egg.”  

[argentvive]

Will Daenerys “Break the Wheel?”

In Episode 5.8 (”Hardhome”) of Game of Thrones, Daenerys makes this pledge:

<“Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell, they’re all just spokes on a wheel.  This one’s on top and that one’s on top and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground. We’re not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.”>

This is a major statement of Daenery’s goal and mission:  she doesn’t just want to conquer Westeros; she wants to transform it.  Right now her words are only show canon, but I’m confident they have GRRM’s endorsement and will show up in the books.  In fact, the wheel and its significance have already showed up in book canon--in a different context (see below)--so I think it’s reasonable to analyze Daenerys’ words alchemically. 

The wheel is a common symbol for the alchemical process as a whole.  There are several names for the alchemical process:  the Great Work, Magnum Opus, Opus alchymicum, Opus circulatorium.  The last term focuses on “the circular work of the elements” and is often depicted as  a wheel.

Images are from the Munich manuscript of the Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (Book of the Holy Trinity), c. 1410.

The Philosopher’s Stone-to-be goes through many many cycles of purification and torture–solve et coagula–until he or she finally attains the Red Stone.   This image shows 3 different ways the Stone is tortured–hanging, on the wheel, and beheading.

Finally, this later image from Speculum veritatis (beginning of the 17th century) labels each segment of the wheel with a stage of the alchemical work.

Mercurius himself stands on the right, turning the wheel. 

In the books, the first explanation of the meaning of the wheel comes in A Feast for Crows, in the “Kraken’s Daughter” chapter  Lord Rodrik tells Asha (Yara on the show) about Haereg’s History of the Ironborn.

<”Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging.  What has happened before will perforce happen again, he said….”>

So, according to Rigney, Westeros is stuck in an endless loop of misery and destruction.  Daenerys echoes this when she says that the endless spinning of the wheel “crushes those on the ground.”  She understands if there is to be any progress, justice, and freedom for the slaves, she must “break the wheel.”  She will try to end the cycle of civil wars and oppression and usher in a golden age of liberty, peace and harmony.  

Alchemically, she is saying that once she achieves the Red Stone, the Philosopher’s Stone, at the Exaltation stage, she will bring that boon to all of Essos and Westeros, through the Multiplication of the Stone and its Projection to all the world. Multiplication and Projection are the last two stages of the Great Work.  

The proper ending of the alchemical process–and of a textbook alchemy story–is unalloyed happiness and joy.  Tolkien even coined a term for it–the “Eucatastrophe,” or Joyous Turn.  You see this clearly at the end of Shakespeare’ s fantasy/alchemy plays: Cymbeline, Pericles, The Tempest, and The Winter’s Tale.  And at the end of The Return of the King:

...Not only was there wonderful sunshine and delicious rain, in due times and perfect measure, but there seemed something more: an air of richness and growth, and a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth. All the children born or begotten in that year, and there were many, were fair to see and strong, and most of them had a rich golden hair that before had been rare among hobbits.  The fruit was so plentiful that young hobbits very nearly bathed in strawberries and cream...And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those that had to mow the grass.

But Tolkien didn’t abide totally by his own rules.  Yes, at the end of Return of the King, everyone is happy and prosperous, there are record numbers of weddings, and extraordinary numbers of children born (Samwise and Rose have 13!). But Frodo never recovers from his ordeal and finally sails off to the  Undying  Lands. 

Daenerys has already conjoined with Jon in the ultimate, permanent Chemical Wedding.  Together they will save Westeros from the Night King--and from itself, its baleful history.  I strongly suspect that neither will take the Iron Throne, that the Throne will be destroyed.  Thinking optimistically, perhaps some kind of loose confederation of the Seven Kingdoms will take shape, and Jon and Dany will be able to withdraw to a peaceful life together.  The door Dany dreams of in Braavos is Red, after all.  Red, the color of the Philosopher’s Stone.  

But yes, to answer the question, I think Daenerys WILL break the wheel--Daenerys and Jon together.

[argentvive]

74 Ways Characters Die in Shakespeare’s Plays Shown in a Handy Infographic: From Snakebites to Lack of Sleep

In the graduate department where I once taught freshmen and sophomores the rudiments of college English, it became common practice to include Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus on many an Intro to Lit syllabus, along with a viewing of Julie Taymor’s flamboyant film adaptation.

Stabbings--of course.  Like here.  

[el-gato-y-la-luna-blog]

"Speculum Veritatis" (Espejo de la verdad)

Trabajo atribuído a Eugenius Philalethes, este simple símbolo de un triángulo de Fuego con 3 flechas radiantes abajo, representan el "Rey Rojo Perfecto", el sulfuro de los filósofos. En Alquimia, el Sulfuro representa al Sol, el ardiente elemento masculino (la contraparte de la Luna, Mercurio, el elemento femenino), del casamiento celestial (conjunción). Químicamente, el sulfuro rojo es una mezcla de Mercurio (espíritu), y sulfuro (alma), el casamiento de los cuales también representa el fin último del trabajo alquímico. Este emblema aparece en Constantine, la Adaptación de la serie de comics HellBlazer, como un tatuaje usado como un dispositivo de protección por el personaje principal, usado para invocar al ángel Gabriel.