Iconology - The Philosophers Stone

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“The Philosopher’s Stone is the ancient symbol of perfected and regenerated man. As the rough diamond is dull and lifeless when first removed from the black carbon, so the spiritual nature in its “fallen” state reveals little, if any, of its inherent luminosity. Just as in the hands of a skilled lapidary the shapeless stone is transformed into a scintillating gem, so upon the lathe of the Divine Lapidary the soul of man is ground and polished until it reflects the glory of the creator from every atom. The perfecting of the Diamond Soul through a philosophical –alchemical art was the concealed object of the Alchemist.

The Philosophers Stone represents the realization and accomplishment of the ideal. To find the Absolute in the Infinite, in the Indefinite, and the Finite this is the Magnum Opus, the Great Work of the Sages, which Hermes Called the work of the Sun.” He who possesses the Stone possesses Truth, the greatest treasure and he is healed of Ignorance. To the mystic, the Philosophers Stone is perfect love, which transmutes all that is base and “raises” all that is dead.

Manly Hall
The Secret Teachings of all Ages 1928

• Left Panel
  
  Image of Saturn with astrological attributions

  Traditionally Saturn is the principle of limitation, restriction, and discipline. Saturn rules time, and death (the grim reaper). Saturn, often called “The Lord of Karma”, is said by astrologers to represent the major karmic problem in an individual’s life.

  Image - Words Aion and Karma –
  

  Aion
  In Jung’s work “Aion” he refers to the Christ as a Symbol of the self. In his discussion he associates the Luciferian development of science and technology with coming of the Anti-Christ, the adversary. This lies within the traditional meaning of Saturn. He goes own to make the psychological position of the Christ quite clear. And that is, Christ exemplifies the archetype of the self. (See “Great Work – Transformation”)
  
  Karma
  For the Tibetan Buddhist, because karma affects everything, there are no chance occurrences. It is no accident, for example, that you are reading this. As you read, all your actions, present thoughts, as well as your intentions for the future, have brought you to this moment of NOW.
  Linguistically karma means action: specifically it refers to willed actions of body, speech, and mind. All such actions producing subtle seeds that over time result in further consequences.
  Closely linked with Karma is rebirth in which there is a causal connection between one life and another.
  

  Middle Panel
  
  Image - Map of Europe
  Image - Peter and the Holy Grail – The stone vessel

  In Parzival the Grail is described, not as a cup, but as a stone of the purest kind. This stone was a jewel, an emerald that fell from the crown of Lucifer during the war between God and Satan. This has been a linked to the pearl in Shiva’s forehead and the Third Eye with which one may see inner knowledge and perfection. As the myth goes, without the emerald Lucifer is doomed to inhabit the earth as a manifestation of evil; while the stone itself becomes the “fallen image” which we must raise by the grail quest or the Great Work of alchemy. The Great Work is concerned primarily with transformation – of base elements, earth, water, air and fire into higher states. The part played by the stone was that of catalyst, and its creation was the first major step along the path towards realizing the highest aims of the Great Work – the spiritual perfection of the alchemist and his joining with God.

  Image – Emerald - the Philosophers Stone
  

  “ The relationship between the highest and ordinary state of consciousness was compared by certain schools of alchemy to that between the diamond and an ordinary piece of coal. One cannot imagine a greater contrast, and yet both consist of the same chemical substance, namely carbon. This teaches symbolically the fundamental unity of all substances and their inherent faculty of transformation.
  “To the alchemist who was convinced of the parallelism between the material and immaterial world, and of the uniformity of natural and spiritual laws, this faculty of transformation had universal meaning.” Lama Govinda
  Water, H20, at certain temperatures transforms from one state into another; instantaneously; water to steam or water to ice. This is unlike carbon, which transforms very slowly and with great pressure. I suggest that older metaphor (carbon) limits our understanding of the action of transformation, which operates as natural phenomena and is instantaneous. You have to allow it to happen rather than make it happen.

  Right Panel – Saturn (the stone)
  
  The Right panel includes a blue triangle shape in the upper left hand corner. Triangles alchemically relate to the water element. The moon rules water. Saturn (V) is represented by a symbol composed of a cross (_) over the moon (_). In astrology the cross represents physical reality and is most closely associated with Saturn. The moon’s process is protection and nourishment, its function is the life provider, and its purpose is growth. Saturn is the planet of limitation whose function it is to focus, whose process it is to differentiate, and whose purpose it is to individualize. Saturn’s meaning is through form as definition, personal identity and security. Saturn traditionally is associated with fear, death, restriction and discipline. It is the great “malefic”.
  Saturn’s meaning can be interpreted by suggesting that the instincts, the sense of feeling alive by being in the moment are suppressed by the weight of physical reality.

Connection: “The Threshold is Now”,