symbolism

Heavenly bodies are essential in alchemy, particularly the sun, moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. Symbols of these planets are common in alchemical art along with their Greek god counterparts, and the success of operations were sometimes tied to zodiacal time. Beyond times of the month, day and hour, these heavenly bodies also corresponded to metals, parts of the body, cardinal sins, and cardinal virtues. Images: Clavis artis, Zoroaster, 17th century and De naturae…historia, Robert Fludd, 1680

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Alchemical Art from “Cabala, speculum artis et naturae, in alchymia” by Stephan Michelspacher, 1616 The Mirror of Art and Nature Diagram of an Alchemist’s Furnace

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Ulrich Ruosch’s Alchemical Manual, 1680, is a pocket sized manuscript containing an overview of alchemy and the meaning of planets, numbers, letters, and elements. Alchemical implements, philosophy, and symbolism representing each stage of the process are also found inside.

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Emblems from German Alchemical Manuscript, 1794 Alchemical furnaces from The Key of Alchemy Title page of De Arte divina & sacra

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Emblems from Sammlung unterschiedlicher bewährter chymischer Schriften, Johannes Isaac Holladus & Michael Sendivogius, 1746, including The Hand of the Philosophers and a Globus cruciger. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind

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Emblems from Sammlung Alchymistischer Schriften, 18th Century Alchemical Diagrams from De Roode Leeuw, of het Sout der Philosophen Emblem 2 from Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

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The title plate from Michael Maier’s Arcana Arcanissima, 1614. Above are three figures from the Egyptian myth of the dismemberment of Osiris by his brother Typhon, and reassembling by his sister Isis. The Greek gods Hercules and Dionysus flank the sides and below are the Egyptian mythological creatures of Ibis, Apis, and Cynocephalus.

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Title page of De Arte divina & sacra Image from the title page of Aufschlüsse zur Magie by Karl Von Eckartshausen, 1791 Alchemical art of two fish from Alchemy: Ancient and Modern

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Tuberculosis, syphilis, breast cancer, and diphtheria from Richard Tennant Cooper’s series of symbolic paintings depicting death and disease, 1920s. A official war artist, Cooper painted these after returning from World War I before moving to commercial work.

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Surgeon demons in watercolor by R. Cooper, 1912 Art depicting the apocalypse from Raphael’s Almana The witches’ procession

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Pages from The Complaint, and the Consolation ; Or, Night Thoughts by Edward Young, 1797. Source: The John Rylands Library

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Demon costumes from the Nuremberg’s Schembart Carnival, 1590 Illustrations from Lusus naturae, Human and natural monstrosities, 18th Century Images from Geestelyke Natuurkunde

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Diagrams of Alchemical Processes from Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln, Anonymous, ca. 1700. From Manly P Hall’s Collection of Alchemical Manuscripts, Box 4.MS 19.Vol 2

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Alchemical Diagrams from De Roode Leeuw, of het Sout der Philosophen Drawings from F. de La Rose-croix, circa 1700 Title page of De Arte divina & sacra

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Tables showing occult correspondences of “seven rulers of the earth,” celestial spirits of the planets. The second chart shows how to recognize them in geomantic divination, and the correspondences to help with interpretation of the reading. From Theomagia, or, The Temple of Wisdome, John Heydon, 1663. Source: The Getty Alchemy Collection


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Geomantic Characters The Gold Wheel of Fortune The Prognosticon, or The Divining Disc of Pergamon

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Spread found in the book Les Plus Secrets Mystères des Hauts Grades de la Maçonnerie Dévoilés (The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Ranks of Masonry Revealed) by Karl Friedrich Koppen, 1768. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind

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Supreme Council 33 bookplate found in a book about Hermeticism Diagrams from declassified CIA document on The Gateway Process

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Alchemical emblem 2, Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier, 1618. Depicted on bottom: Romulus nursed by a wolf and Jupiter nursed by a goat. The “Child of the Philosophers”, referring to either the Philosopher’s Stone or alchemist themself, nurses from the Earth Mother. Colorized by Eve Harms, CC0. Source: archive.org


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Alchemical Diagrams from De Roode Leeuw, of het Sout der Philosophen An alchemist by their athanor Depiction of an alchemist’s lab

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Alchemical art from Alchemy: Ancient and Modern by H. Stanley Redgrove, 1911. The sea represents the body, and the two fish represent the Soul and Spirit. Colorized by Eve Harms. Licensed under CC0


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An alchemist by their athanor Alchemical furnaces from The Key of Alchemy Alchemical Diagrams from De Roode Leeuw, of het Sout der Philosophen

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Alchemical Diagrams from De Roode Leeuw, of het Sout der Philosophen (The Red Lion, or the Sout of the Philosophers) by Goossen van Vreeswyk, 1672. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind

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Figure 12 from Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon Green lion from Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon Alchemical Imagery from “Magia divina oder gründ”, 1745

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