Lumen de Lumine: or a New Magical Light

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original: "PHILOSOPHIA"

The central image is a hand-painted or printed oval emblem of the "pelican in its piety." In Christian and alchemical tradition, the pelican was believed to wound its own breast to feed its starving young with its blood, symbolizing sacrifice and the "Great Work" of transformation. Here, the bird sits in a nest atop a blue square pedestal decorated with four golden roses—a clear reference to Rosicrucianism, a secret philosophical society focused on spiritual alchemy. The entire scene is encircled by the title of the work.

original: "HERMETICA." Together, "Philosophia Hermetica" refers to the secret wisdom and alchemy attributed to the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus.