Adam Mclean's Study Course on Alchemical Sequences

Adam McLean's Study Course on alchemical sequences

Lesson 5 : The Rosarium series

We have now looked at a number of early alchemical sequences, some of which involved processes shown taking place in flasks, paralleling a physical laboratory process with an allegorical one. The Rosary of the philosophers is the second earliest alchemical sequences (1550) to be depicted in a printed book and it was consequently very influential on later alchemy. (The first in print was the Petrus Bonus series examined in an earlier lesson.) It was not merely because the Rosary was a forerunner to the explosion of alchemical publishing in the late 16th and 17th centuries, but also because its sequence involved some very powerful images which had a strong coherence and archetypal power. This is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of alchemical symbolism.

The sequence consists of 20 images (woodcuts in the 1550 edition). Even a very superficial examination of the sequence shows that it has two seemingly repeated subsequences at its heart. This leads us to the following pattern.

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20

One of these images, 18, the green lion devouring the sun, is extremely well known. Two of the images, 10 and 17, depicting hermaphrodites are obviously copied or re-used from an early 15th century German manuscript Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (the Book of the Holy Trinity). The book in which the Rosary images appear is in Latin and consists of a vague outline of an alchemical process with many quotations from early authorities to support and amplify the ideas being pursued. The images seem to have been taken from an earlier German manuscript source as they have verses in German associated with them. These verses seem to cast more light on the images than the Latin text. Although they illustrate to some extent the Latin text, it is safe enough for us to examine the emblems in themselves. I leave exploring the verses which accompany them to the exercises. As with the Splendor solis series we have here similar substructures to the sequence. It will be found most useful to view the imagery within their subsequences.

The first emblem presents us with a triple fountain. This image is entirely analysable using the methods I outlined in the first course. We have here the Four, the Three and the Two arranged in different patterns and polarities. You should now try to identify all the symbolic components of this figure and their geometrical interrelationships.

______Sequences - Lesson 5 Page 2 - This lesson is Copyright © Adam McLean 2001 This is followed by a pair of emblems, each showing a meeting of the Sun King and the Moon Queen, under the dove. At first glance they appear very similar, but it is important to recognise the differences as they will reveal something significant.

We should note here the change in the ways in which the king and queen hold the branches out to one another, especially the alteration in the active and passive uses of the left and right hands. Try now and see how this moves and changes from the first to the second image of this pair. In a sense this pair presents, at the outset of this series, a resolution of the polarities which we will see developed through the next parts of the sequence. Try and see how this pair subtly integrate the polarities.

We now find two cycles of transformation each through seven stages. Both of these are seeming very similar, but if you have recognised and appreciated the differences found in the pair (2 - 3) then you should be able to easily see the subtleties which are being explored in these two cycles.

The first cycle of transformation 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

The king and queen descend into a bath. Then these two fuse in a coitus becoming a hermaphrodite placed in a sepulchre. We immediately recall the images from the Petrus Bonus series, though these sequences are in essence dissimilar and seem to be dealing with different processes and polarities. The hermaphrodite then undergoes a sequence of changes. A 'soul' in the form of a male child, rises up from the dead hermaphrodite into the clouds. A rain falls, then the 'soul' form returns again to join its body. In the last

______Sequences - Lesson 5 Page 3 - This lesson is Copyright © Adam McLean 2001 image of this sub-sequence the hermaphrodite rises reborn, standing on a moon and holding out various symbols for us to contemplate. This last emblem 10 is very similar to some of the images in Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, the 15th century German manuscript mentioned above. You can explore some of these parallels in the supplementary material for this lesson.

It is important now for you to examine this subsequence in detail. Every single facet will be found to be significant. These images are paired down to their absolute essentials and there is no superfluous decorative detail. Read them carefully, closely and in order. The male appears on top in the coniunctio and, when in the form of the hermaphrodite, the male head is uppermost (or on the left side of the body). We note that an error may have been made by the wood engraver in emblem 6 (which shows the female head uppermost, distinguished by the long hair), though in many of the manuscript versions this is corrected to show the female below [for example Ms Lat. 7171 in the Bibliotheque National in Paris].

In 7 - 8 - 9 (and later in 14 - 15 - 16) we seem to have the core of the transmutation. In these three emblems we see the process taking place in two domains, in the hermaphrodite in its watery grave, but also in the clouds above into which the soul form rises, is in some way transformed, a part dropping as rain, and then the renewed or transmuted soul form returning to join its body below. The body below thus undergoes a separation from its soul, a washing with the rain, and a reintegration with its renewed soul form. Here we have something which can be so clearly seen as both a physical work with substances in a flask and as inner allegorical event in the soul of the alchemist. This is truly alchemy, neither solely chemistry nor entirely mysticism but an interweaving of

______Sequences - Lesson 5 Page 4 - This lesson is Copyright © Adam McLean 2001 these aspects. The 'sublimation' of emblem 9 is simultaneously a physical process where a substance rises up and is purified high in the neck of the flask, and also that joyful rapture of feeling sublime and close to the spirit.

It might assist us to know that emblems 5 to 9 bear text labels,

4. 5. The Conjunction or Coitus. 6. The Conception or Putrefaction. 7. The Extraction of the soul or Impregnation. 8. The Ablution or Mundification. 9. The Joyful cry, Rising or Sublimation of the soul. 10.

The second cycle of transformation 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17

Now the creator of this series of emblems really challenges us by presenting a similar subsequence, so similar that some commentators saw them as being merely a repetition. But now we can set ourselves a real test of our abilities to read emblems, by trying to identify all the points of difference, and we will should find these are all a matter of the reversal of polarities.

______Sequences - Lesson 5 Page 5 - This lesson is Copyright © Adam McLean 2001 One point that may just confuse us is emblem 15. In the printed book the printer seems to have thought that the designs for woodcuts 8 and 15 were so similar that there was little point in going to the bother of cutting a separate block for 15 and so he used block 8 to print this page. (One can see this clearly if one examines the original book as all the little flaws, slips of the engraving tool are exactly the same.) In manuscript copies these are depicted with the difference that the female head of the hermaphrodite appears uppermost throughout the sequence. The labels shown here are:

11. The Fermentation. 12. The Illumination. 13. The Nourishing. 14. The Fixation. 15. The Multiplication. 16. The Reviving. 17. The Showing of Perfection.

These labels vary in some of the manuscript versions, the version in MS Lat 7171 in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris gives the idea of whitening to the first subsequence and that of reddening to the conclusion of the second subsequence. In this manuscript, we note that figure 10 is labelled "Mercurius Philosophorum". To truly discover all the facets of this remarkable series it may be necessary to examine a number of the early manuscripts of this series. Some examples of these manuscripts are presented in the supplementary material.

The final three 18 - 19 - 20

Emblem 18, the well known 'Green lion devouring the Sun', is perhaps a fitting conclusion to this work as it mirrors the fountain image of the first emblem. The next two images introduce a sudden shift in the iconography, by placing this whole process into a Christian context. The Holy Trinity image of emblem 19 finds its precedent in Der Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, while the 'Christ resurrecting' image of 20 recalls the penultimate image from the Petrus Bonus series.

This sequence seems to present to us, in the opening group of emblems, a problem of polarities. The aspects emblematised in these images stand so far apart yet have so many symmetries and cross associations that they can be brought into a new relationship. The alchemists are initially to make themselves aware of these polarities in the substances of nature and within themselves. This awareness is not enough, and these polarities must be lead and integrated together through the alchemical process. This process is not straightforward, indeed it has to proceed through two sub-processes depicted in the two sets of seven emblems. Here the twofold polarized entities are lead through a conjunction into a hermaphroditic form lying in a watery grave, until a process of separating first the male soul form occurs, followed by the separation of the female. Each of these stages culminates in the resurrection of a hermaphrodite form uniting the polarities in a new being. The series ends with the Green lion devouring the Sun with drops of blood descending onto the Earth and the whole alchemical work being paralleled with the death and resurrection of Christ.

There is much for you do now. I have merely sketched in the bare essentials of the process. The beauty of this sequence is only revealed when you investigate the details. These exercises will primarily be in the form a series of questions. In trying to answer these questions you should be lead into an encounter with the key facets of the symbolic sequence. As with the Splendor Solis we looked at in the last lesson, there are no simple answers but merely a process for exploration.

The supplementary material for this lesson can be accessed through the resource file seq05.exe

1. Look at the first three emblems. Explore all the symbolism in detail, particularly the ways in which polarities are depicted, how the figures reach out to one another, also the colours. (In the version shown here I have used the colours from an original book, rather than use my own colouring scheme, so these are not merely my imposition on the symbolism but are to some extent a part of the original conception of the work.)

2. Examine the two sequences separately, each as standing alone. Just look at 4 to 10 in isolation, then repeat this with 11 to 17. You will find this easier if you can print out the images and cut them out into the form of cards which you can move around on a table or place on your wall. Once you feel entirely familiar with each sequence then try to view them together or in parallel. Here you need not think of the second subsequence following the first in time, but perhaps of the two going on simultaneously. Focus especially on the two hermaphrodites 10 and 17. Examine the ways in which they differ. 17 contains more symbols. Do they link with other emblems ? Remember that the pelican in its piety can be an image of Christ.

3. Where do the polarities lie that are being explored in this sequence? Could they be substances as we found possibly in the Donum Dei, or the Cabala mineralis series, or are they more allegorical in nature?

4. How does the parallel with the process with Christ's death and resurrection fit into this series? Is it essential, or could the series be seen without this element, say like the Petrus Bonus series ?

5. There are obvious parallels in the imagery to the Petrus Bonus series. But how does the Rosarium series differ ? What is being transformed and reintegrated in the Petrus Bonus series, that differs from the Rosary? How do their starting points, or the prime elements placed initially into the transformation, differ ?

6. Each of the emblems has a short German verse attached to it. These appear to be part of the original conception of the imagery and directly comment upon it. If you wish you can look at a translation of the verses in the supplementary material.

______Sequences - Lesson 5 Page 8 - This lesson is Copyright © Adam McLean 2001 7. Finally, if you have the time and the will, you can examine my earlier commentary on the Rosary series which I wrote and published in 1980. My perspective on the work has changed over the last twenty years or so, and I am no longer happy with importing Jungian and theosophical/anthroposophical ideas, or supposed parallels with Indian Tantric imagery. My commentary, however, does explore in detail the structure of this sequence and it might be worth looking at in this light. As you have taken my first course in which I cautioned against importing ideas from outside into alchemy, it may be instructive for you to read my earlier commentary as a lesson in how not to explore this emblematic imagery. It has taken many years for me to see the errors of that approach and to find ways of investigating alchemical symbolism from inside alchemy, so you have an opportunity now of learning from my mistakes and not having to go through the phase I had embarked on, of basing my views of the alchemical work on a somewhat erroneous and rather shaky foundation. http://www.levity.com/alchemy/roscom.html