Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon VIII

Translated by Mike Brenner. Copyright Mike Brenner 1997. Permission given to freely copy this, as long as this copyright remains attached.
Back to Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 8

The figures in this book organize the stages of the work, like the
links in a chain, loud and clear. Meditation on these figures
teaches everything ever published about Alchemy, with no need to
even read the accompanying words.

So far, the figures portrayed the life cycle of the One
Substance: Its origin, birthplace, purification, separation,
hermetic sealing, pollution, congealing, sublimation, and
union in strict succession. These processes led to the
consummation of the alchemical wedding between the red
groom and the white bride.

Figure 8, next in this mystical life cycle, contains a
miniature copy of itself inside it. There is a cross on top
of an outer circle, containing an inner solar system.

The shaded area inside is the dead Winter Earth, the old-Adam,
who experiences a force field emanating from the circle within.
That force enlivens him, calcinates him, and transforms his
hidden Salt into thickly flowing, solid white, Mercury, which
is the new Spring Earth, where Hermes said to sow our Gold.

Sun and Moon hang in perfect balance with each other,
witnessing this alkinization.

The placement of the 4 elements is significant. Fire is on
top by the cross because the Fire for the process must be
sought from Above.

Earth is directly under Fire, because the fire calcinates the
Earth and makes is fire-proof. Fire, Air, and Water then
transform similarly, and the Stone is produced.

The Sun, a golden pebble, floating between Fire and Air,
represents solid Red Sulphur which consists of Fire and Air and
which is the masculine aspect of the Moon.
The liquid Mercury, floating between Fire and Water,
consists of Fire and Water and is the feminine aspect of the Moon.

The Mercurial Moon hanging from the underside of the
transforming Earth repesents all this joining, circulating,
and one-time concentrating into solid Earth.

PARAGRAPH 8

When Sun and Moon with Mercury
Are Joined together,
Indivisible and fireproof,
An eternal splendor occurs.
But, you must know and understand
Figure 8.
All work will be in vain
In this mysterious art,
If mundane Moon and Mercury
Entice you from the Path.
Mystical Moon and Mercury
Is another name for one's nature:
Mystical Fire is the Fiery Water,
In which the Mystical Moon and Sun are cremated.

EXPLANATION OF PARAGRAPH 8

To join the Sun and Moon with Mercury, use solid Fire. The
Mercurial Moon is made of Fire and Water, here called Fiery
Water. To really learn something from the beautiful
Paragraph 8, meditate on the dual state of this Fiery
Water that the Sun and Moon cook in.

The feminine aspect of this dual Mercury consists of
Fire and Water. It dissolves, penetrates, and makes things
turn green and blossom. Its Humid Primigenium or Radical
maintains and nurtures the inner heat of the Sulphur and
the dry heat of the Salt.

The masculine aspect appears as a viscous Oil when extracted
from Sulphur and Salt. The mystically implanted Fire-Nature
is the first to bind and to coagulate.

When you can repeat this dissolution and coagulation in a
controlled manner, then you can claim to truly understand
Paragraph 8.

CANON 8

Dissolve me gently,
With no water or powder.
Place me in a moist coffin.
I turn white and red,
Then bubble forth a spring,
Fair as the Moon, bright as the Sun.

EXPLANATION OF CANON 8

Without using acid, dissolve a stone into liquid, so gently
you would say it dissolved itself voluntarily, the way
a black agate is polished into a diamond without cutting
any faces. Physically this cannot be done, and even more so
more so, because the Canonist says to do it with no water
or polishing powder, which prohibits forcing the transformation
with physical strength (Aqua Forte), economic power (Aqua Regis),
or any other compulsive powers (corrosive powders).

The next verse describes how to do it mystically, by placing
it in the moist coffin. That means, submerge the newly wedded
couple, our Gold and Silver, into the liquid mercury. They are
raised to the spiritual plane as they become one with each other
in the fiery Water. This united Spirit, Soul, and Body bursts
forth like bubbles in a bright shining spring. And the horns of
the moon hide at the boundaries where these bubbles meet.

If you have problems understanding these alchemical texts, Adam McLean now provides a study course entitled How to read alchemical texts : a guide for the perplexed.