XIV – Art / Alchemy
“coalition of opposites”
symbol: inner transformation and conjunction
zodiac: Sagittarius
ritual: transformation, advancement
path of Samekh: Yesod – Tiphareth
In the rootage of the tree, which ranges from the bottom to the middle of the card, the symbol of „salt“ occupies the initial position of the alchemical process. In the trunk, we can find the four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, which function as the catalysts to the components above.
The symbols of opposite ideas can be found multiple times. The hermetic planets are placed within the treetop, arranged into a semicircle. They symbolize the ingredients, which must be merged in the “Great Work”.
On the left we start with the alchemical Sun, represented by corresponding plants like wheat, and acorns. Followed by Venus and roses, Jupiter and olives, Mercury and the mug, Saturn and fir needles, Mars and thistles and finally the Moon with poppies and mushrooms. Between the planets, the latin formula of „solve et coagula“ is written, translated into „dissolve and reinforce“ which is the task at hand.
During the process of alchemical work, the observative mind represents the jar or mug, the idea it is evolving in. The symbol of mercury in the middle refers to the analytic and scientific approach, which is necessary to avoid failure through chaos.
In the upper part, we are now meeting the two animals again, which we already know from the card of “VI – The Lovers.” Lion and eagle are now floating (not sitting any more) above the shoulders of this archetype. Between them we can read the formula of V.I.T.R.I.O.L. which corresponds to the mystery of the „lapis philosophorum“. It summarizes the process of transmutation below.
The two supporting animals are the alchemical representatives for the opposite elements of duality. (fire-water, male-female, positive-negative, …). In the upper part of the card, the aura and the face of the figure are peaceful and seem almost perfectly balanced. The inner opposites do no longer combat themselves, but complement each other like matching parts.
It is important to mention that alchemy is not mainly characterized by creating a work or mixing components to fabricate an outcome. It rather describes a process within oneself, which may later manifest itself physically as well.
The result of the work is not merely the merging of different mediums and ideas, but rather the path towards balance and the knowledge about oneself.
The goal is, to get to know the various aspects, within first. The more an alchemist knows his baseline, the better the outcome of the process will be. Often the buried and forgotten aspects of our inner self turn out to be unbelievably valuable and useful. We should not just investigate the obvious and dominant characteristics for obvious reasons. Getting to know and merging aspects is never easy and rarely do we succeed in such an experiment at the first try, but it is worth the trouble. After such a successful process we can react quicker and wiser, when life changes. We learn with every try to balance the scales accordingly and to a better outcome.
