I am contemplating the Azoth of the Philosophers which is an alchemical drawing that reflects well on spiritual alchemy.
VITRIOL = Visita – Interiora – Terra – Rectificando – Invenies – Occultum – Lapidem
Visita – To visit or start a journey
Interiora – to the interior or inner most parts
Terra – of the earth
Rectificando – setting things right
Invenies – you will discover
Occultum – secret or hidden
Lapidem – the stone
“Visit the inner most part of the earth and by setting things right you will find the hidden philosopher’s stone.”
VITRIOL is a natural form of sulfuric acid and to the alchemist it was the liquid fire – the fundamental agent of change in most alchemical experiments and also symbolic of the Secret Fire that drives the spiritual perfection of the alchemist.
My latest art project was inspired by my study of the Most Holy Trinosophia and relates well to the theme of my pondering on VITRIOL.
The lines of the golden ration is not on the original painting but it does show how the golden ration overlaps on the painting to highlight the meaning of the painting itself.
In the Most Holy Trinosophia the author starts by explaining that he is writing from a dungeon. He writes: “It is in the retreat of criminals in the dungeon of the Inquisition that your friend writes these lines which are to serve for your instruction…it gives me pleasure to think while surrounded by guards and encumbered by chains, a slave may still be able to raise his friend above the mighty, the monarchs who rule this place.”
This is for me such an inspirational text. For a true mystic it does not matter how dire a situation is, there is always the opportunity of uplifting another. A mystic’s life is not free from calamity but a mystic spirit is not bound by the chains and constraints of life itself. The mystic sees beyond the chains and the dungeons for true knowledge can not be contained by material means. I have met many people who, despite personal problems, continue to be a blessing to the people around them. This painting is in a sense to honor all those who in the depth of despair still see the light and never loose hope.
As I painted this picture I remembered the story of Plato’s cave which he wrote in Book 7 of “Republic”. The story goes roughly like this according to Ben Dupré: “Imagine you have been imprisoned all your life in a dark cave. your hands and feet are shackled and your head restrained so that you can only look at the wall straight in front of you. Behind you is a blazing fire, and between you and the fire a walkway on which your captors carry statues and all sorts of objects. The shadows cast on the wall by these objects are the only things you and your fellow prisoners have ever seen, all you have ever thought and talked about. Now suppose that your are released from your shackles and free to walk around the cave. Dazzled at first by the fire, you will gradually come to see the situation of the cave properly and to understand the origin of the shadows that you previously took to be real. And finally you are allowed out of the cave and into the sunlit world outside where you see the fullness of reality illuminated by the brightest object in the skies, the Sun.” This story aptly depicts the mystic’s unfolding of insight. First that which seems real must be seen as not the reality for the full picture can only be seen in the true light of truth. This painting speaks to that aspects where man starts his search in the interior that is dark and through which light slowly begins to illuminate the soul so that truth can be seen.
Following the golden ratio it tells a story of the senses, sight and hearing of objective consciousness through which we access our immediate experience of the world. The hand depict that man begins to act in the objective world observing it. Through observation knowledge is gained and through knowledge gained the possibility of creativity unfolds. The candle is the light of the inner soul that starts to give meaning to the objective consciousness and reveals a subjective consciousness. The light within is what the mystic sees as the inner knowledge of wisdom, yet it is not the full source of knowledge for the full source of knowledge is the greater light, represented here by the sun coming through the window. We see the greater light or Divine Light only in part and we learn from it by looking at the shadows it throws on the cobble stone floor that surrounds us. Unless we escape the cave like in Plato’s story we will remain in the darkness of the cave. The enneagram scratched onto wall contains the promise of progress and transformation. Gurdjieff said the enneagram is the philosopher’s stone because it represents perpetual revitalization. The promise is made that it is possible to break free from the prison of this world that prevents us from living as we were truly meant to live with personal self-mastery.
Although the painting might be at first sight dark and depressing, it talks about hope and the confidence that our spirit can never be arrested by the material woes and limitations. The author of the Most Holy Trinosophia writes to his friend that despite him being captured he will meet him soon in person: “My torturers upon entering my cell will find it empty and, soon purified by the four elements, pure as the genius of fire, I shall resume the glorious station to which Divine goodness has raised me….. At the first mysterious assembly you will see your friend again.”
zeal4living