SYMBOLS - ALCHEMY - ERGON - PARERGON - WISDOM Plate from Theophilus Schweighart, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum, 1618. The word Ergon at the top is from the Greek, meaning 'work' - the Work is the alchemical Work, the secret Work of the initiates - the inner work. This probably explains the symbolism of the man, praying in the tent, on which is written the four-letter name of God, in Hebrew. This is the Way of Prayer, which is with God (Cum Deo). The word Parergon, above the wings of the central figure is also from the Greek, meaning something like, 'beyond Work'. This is the Second
SYMBOLS - ALCHEMY - ERGON - PARERGON - WISDOM Plate from Theophilus Schweighart, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum, 1618. The word Ergon at the top is from the Greek, meaning 'work' - the Work is the alchemical Work, the secret Work of the initiates - the inner work. This probably explains the symbolism of the man, praying in the tent, on which is written the four-letter name of God, in Hebrew. This is the Way of Prayer, which is with God (Cum Deo). The word Parergon, above the wings of the central figure is also from the Greek, meaning something like, 'beyond Work'. This is the Second Way, the way of inner Work involved with reconciling the inner Sun (the animus) and the inner Moon (the anima). So much is explicit in this central symbolism, for the images of the Sun and Moon are joinged by a line to the embryonic small man in the vial held by the figure, as though to her womb. This is the Way of the Wise Man - hence the Latin a adage on the pillar supporting the figure: Hinc Sapientia, this is Wisdom. The hill or mountain is pierced by a tunnel and by a cavern. In the left of these, open to the sunlight, he alchemist studies Nature directly, striving to discover its hidden secrets. This takes place on the solar side of Wisdom - regarding all things in the light of the Sun as a suitable object of inquiry. In the cave, where natural darkness reigns, the alchemist studies the Nature (Arte Natura) by the more artificial means of what was then called 'experiment' - by alchemical processes. This takes place on the lunar side of Wisdom.
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Photo credit: © Charles Walker Collection / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: -, alchemy, archival, archive, art, artistic, artwork, colour, ergon, esoterica, historic, historical, history, illustration, image, paranormal, parergon, plate, schweighart, speculum, symbols, theophilus, wisdom
