Figure.

page 183

A rectangular framed engraving depicts an alchemical Rebis, a figure with two heads, one female on the left and one male on the right, sharing a single body. The figure has large, feathered wings and wears a dark, pleated doublet and hose. In the right hand, which is on the viewer's left, the figure holds a circular disk with concentric rings and a dark central point, resembling an eye or a celestial orb. In the left hand, on the viewer's right, they hold an egg, a symbol of the philosopher's stone. The figure stands in a rugged, hilly landscape with a few small trees under a sky with light clouds. The text "pag. 183" is printed in the upper right corner inside the frame.

Senior original: "Senior"; refers to the 10th-century Arab alchemist Zadith ben Hamuel, whose "Tabula Chimica" was a major influence on this text speaks of this thus: the spirit dissolves the body, and in this dissolution, it draws out the soul of the body, and turns the body into the soul, and the soul is transformed into the spirit, and the spirit shall again be joined to the body. For then the spirit is stable within the body and, conversely, the body becomes spiritual through the power of the spirit. The Philosophers The "Philosophers" here refers to the lineage of alchemical masters who sought the Philosopher's Stone give this to be understood in such a manner: I saw—

A man who became black as a Moor original: "Mor"; the "blackness" or "Nigredo" stage of alchemy, representing the initial death and decay of the matter; he was stuck in a mire, or a black, unclean, foul-smelling slime. To his aid came a young woman, beautiful of face and even more beautiful of body, most exquisitely adorned with clothes of many colors. She was adorned with white wings upon her back; the feathers were like those of the most beautiful white peacock The "Peacock's Tail" ("Cauda Pavonis") is an alchemical stage where the matter displays a rainbow of colors before turning white, and she had golden wings, and the feather quills were adorned with beautiful pearls. She had a crown of pure gold upon her head, and upon the crown a silver star. Around her neck she wore a necklace of fine gold, in which was set the most noble ruby The ruby signifies the "Rubedo" or red stage, the final perfection of the alchemical work.

The