| Moderated by: alchemyd | ||
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Alan Pritchard Guest
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I don't think this one has been noted before. Kvinterna Medieval inspiration. Arta See http://www.arta.cz/index.php?p=f10095en&site=en or http://www.kvinterna.cz/en/3c.htm They sound an interesting group. Very lengthy annotation which starts: Alchemy is the hermetic art, teaching about the spiritual life of matter, its development, and transformation. It is philosophy and mysticism. From the beginning it was called Music. It demonstrates that matter, from its inception, through the Spirit, by necessity heads towards perfection. The first creative principle of the existence of matter in creation, according to the medieval alchemists, is the 'Black Madonna'. The first substance, prima materia, of the symbolic colour black, is the primitive matter created by God, and is called Chaos. All matter arose from this through the interaction of the four elements and three principles. The first differentiation of primitive matter led to two contrary alchemistical principles - symbolic Quicksilver and Sulphur. In alchemy, transformation into the first spiritual state is called the stage of Quicksilver and takes places symbolically as dissolution. It is understood as the feminine principle and its colour is white. The concluding part, namely, mystic death, is a necessary condition of the initiation of the Spirit on the path to the preparation of the Great Work. The alchemistical stage of Sulphur represents the masculine principle and the synthesis of matter. Its colour, red, represents the element of fire, symbolizing power, the apostleship, the supremacy of Spirit over matter. Medieval Christian alchemy links it with the blood of the crucified Christ and with the apocalyptic stage of Christianity. The final apocalyptic transformation was the gate that had to be passed through to enter the final stage of the Great Work, namely, the preparation of the Philosophers' Stone. Both principles - Quicksilver and Sulphur - are connected or divided by a third principle - the harmonizing energy of the salt of the Stone |
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