ALCHEMY - MUTUS LIBER, OR SILENT BOOK - PLATE 12. The twelfth plate in the series of fifteen reproduces in almost all symbolic detail the earlier plate 9. We shall recapitulate this symbolism, here, before examining the slight (though highly significant) differences between the plates. Once more we are shown the familiar world of creation, though benignly blasted with spiritual powers, visible only to the initiate. Below the two luminaries are their creatures, the Lamb of the Sun and the Bull of the Moon (Aries is a Fire sign, Taurus an Earth sign). Between them, arranged on the ground a
ALCHEMY - MUTUS LIBER, OR SILENT BOOK - PLATE 12. The twelfth plate in the series of fifteen reproduces in almost all symbolic detail the earlier plate 9. We shall recapitulate this symbolism, here, before examining the slight (though highly significant) differences between the plates. Once more we are shown the familiar world of creation, though benignly blasted with spiritual powers, visible only to the initiate. Below the two luminaries are their creatures, the Lamb of the Sun and the Bull of the Moon (Aries is a Fire sign, Taurus an Earth sign). Between them, arranged on the ground are six dishes, collecting the transformed dew. The arrangement is in the form of the Pythagorean figure, or Triangle, which is extended by a level in the register below, where the four heads complete the triangular descending sequence of the Pythagorean figure: . . . . . . . . . . This numerology carries into the tradition of the Cabbala, where we learn that the dew from the cosmic Man, the Adam Kadmon, created the lower worlds. It is significant that the dishes in this plate are no longer dark, or in shadow, suggesting that the four heads they complete on the lower level are also imbued with light. In the lower world of the bottom register, the gods (in the form of Mercury) still mingle with mankind. The imagery here is quite simple: the anima of the alchemist pours the collected dew into the receptacle her by her animus counterpart. She then hands the contents to Mercury. As we have seen, this plate is reproduced, in many symbolic details, by Plate 9: the most important symbolic change is in the numerology of the spiritual power, pouring down in the form of a truncated pyramid, from the skies.
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Photo credit: © Charles Walker Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 12., alchemy, archival, archive, art, artistic, artwork, book, colour, esoterica, historic, historical, history, illustration, image, liber, mutus, paranormal, plate, series, silent, twelfth
