STANISLAS KLOSSOWSKI DE ROLA

 
THE
GOLDEN
GAME

 
Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century

 
14  The title-page, crowned with the Tetragrammaton or Name of God, is flanked by Hippocrates and Galen (for medicine), Hermes Trismegistus and Aristotle (for alchemy). The operations depicted in the lower part of the page include hints as to the nature of one of the twin components of the Secret Fire: a winepress and an outhouse.

 
15  The four-headed winged Hydra is the Dragon or Subject of the wise. Above the recumbent Lion, which stands for the Earth, are the triple-headed Eagle, for the Air; the Lion on the Moon, for Fire and Sulphur; the naked Lady with the lily, for Water, Lac Virgins or Mercury. Above the black Moon of Putrefaction, the half Moon and the Raven correspond to the second and third cycles of Dissolution, which is why Ouroboros eats his tail. The swooping Birds on the left signify Fixation; those soaring on the right, with water flowing from the rock, signify Solution. The Swan with outspread wings is the Philosophick Mercury; above, the King and the Queen show the union of the opposing Principles, culminating in the Multiplication or Phoenix, which is an emblem of the Philosopher's Stone

 
16  Libavius ascribes this diagram to a manuscript of 1421, by Heinrich Kuhdorfer, drawn in turn from "an ancient book of the year 1028". Unable to draw the image in every detail, he supplies a lettered key to the items left blank - which, he says, the reader may complete as he thinks fit. as for the interpretation: "What each and every one of these may mean, is not easy to say, as the applications are diverse, and there is diversity in the Work itself." His key is summarized below.

A. Fire of the Philosophers, Motor of the Work.
B. Dragon or Subject of the Wise.
C. Mercurial Eagle or Volatility
D. Raven or Putrefaction.
E. Red Rose in silver field: Sulphur.
F. White Rose in red field: Mercury.
G. Lady: Mercury.
H. Lion: Sulphur.

 
The King and Queen are the Principles united at their base; notice how their feet make them one.

 
17  A second diagramm of the Philosophick work. here it may be useful to summarize the whole of Libavius' key.
A. Plinth: the Earth upon which the Work is founded
B. Atlantes: the twin Mountains supporting the Work.
C. Dragon, Subject of the Art, breathing the four Fires.
D. Mercury the mediator or salt of Harmony.
E. Green Lion: the Dissolvent.
F. Voltatile Dragon: the Subject to be dissolved.
G. Tricephalic Eagle: Triple Solution.
H. Sea of the Philosophers.
I.  Celestial Influx or Wind.
K. Blood of the red lion or Fixation.
M. Mountain: first Solution, Coagulation and second Solution.
N.N.  Darkness: the Artist must cut off the Raven's Head by washing with Fire.
O.  Ablution, Silver Rain. Washing of Latona and second Solution.
P.  Clouds.
Q.  Second Coagulation: Ouroboros.
RR. Darkness in the Second and Third Works.
S.  Pure Silver sea: the Philosophick Mercury.
T.  Swan: Whiteness.
V.  Eclipse of the Sun.
XX. sunrise and solar Eclipse. Rainbow or Peacock;s Tail.
YYY.  Eclipse of the moon. Rainbow and preparation of the White Stone.
Z.  Moon sinking into the Sea.
b.  White Queen: first stage of the Volatile.
a.  King, in purple robe and golden crown, with the Lion of perfect fixity.
c.  Phoenix: Multiplication.

 
18  A. the bicorporate Lion, from whose mouth proceeds a liquid that the Spiritus Mundi colours green, is the first Dissolvent. This Green Lion is the result of the first work, which consists in the union of our Subject (symbol) with our Mars (symbol); and so he has two bodies but one head.
The Lions flanking the seven steps are the results of alternating Solve et Coagula operations. the steps cooespond to the days of Creation, since alchemy is a microcosmic re-Creation.
C.D. Sun and Moon, Sulphur and Mercury.
E. From the alchemical Bath, in which recline the king (F) and the queen (G), emerges the Single Unity of the Tree of Life, bearing the golden apples of the Hesperides, a symbol of the Philosopher's Stone.
G. The six Stars are the Multiplication.

 

Alchymia  51
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T.A.05198 Johannes Angerbauer
"The Golden Game" , 1988 Thames and Hudson Ltd, London

 

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