The Magician
Archibald Cockren, author of "Alchemy Rediscoverd and Restored" [Link to full text] is "certificated" in 1904 at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy (London) for massage, remedial therapy and electrical treatments, according to the Foreward to the 1941 edition.
Alchemist's Laboratory. Heinrich Khunrath, Amphiteatrum Sapientiae aeternae, 1595.
The image sent by M.W. Nolden of Rabbit Meets Hat with the caption, "Your New Digs" because we'd been discussing Stephan Dedalus and Buck Mulligan living in the Martello Tower in Ulysses on 16th June 1904, and also my recent tour of artists' lairs at the Brewery art compound in East L.A., and the creative dilemma and the sometimes dubious desire of expression, artistic or otherwise ("Art is not cosy").
The Major Arcana of the Tarot, which includes the Tower and the Magician, is a series of cards with images which portray the various stages of a mythic journey.
Alchemy -- the transformation of base into precious, common into gold -- is a metaphor, obviously. Cagliostro, le Comte de St. Germain, even Casanova dabbled. Fascinating guys. Probably charlatans, but (I like to think anyway) fairly charismatic individuals who no doubt kept up a running banter alluding (while they conjured, distracted and seduced) to past conquests, past loves, past lives...
They could make a mess of things, though. Cagliostro wound up in the Bastille, Casanova was always having to get out of town without saying goodbye, none of them had an easy time.
Alchemy and Magic and the Process of Transformation are not without pitfalls. There are responsibilities attached. Not to mention the dangers and disappointments, especially if the raw material is Self and what you drag around with you in that untidy carpetbag of memory and desire. Talk about not being cosy. Talk about mess. Talk about Art.
Speaking of transformation of consciousness, I give you Sister Unity [Video Link here]. Sent to me by Rosetta Stone who once lived in San Francisco and who is therefore familiar with the subject of God, the Divine and Life on a deeply Truly Profound level. No, not Nancy's sister Unity, which would be something entirely different.
Or, in the broader scheme of things, perhaps not so different. The Major Arcana also includes The Empress, The Hanged Man, The Hermit, The Devil and The Fool. All stages, after all, on the same Journey.
Alchemist's Laboratory. Heinrich Khunrath, Amphiteatrum Sapientiae aeternae, 1595.
The image sent by M.W. Nolden of Rabbit Meets Hat with the caption, "Your New Digs" because we'd been discussing Stephan Dedalus and Buck Mulligan living in the Martello Tower in Ulysses on 16th June 1904, and also my recent tour of artists' lairs at the Brewery art compound in East L.A., and the creative dilemma and the sometimes dubious desire of expression, artistic or otherwise ("Art is not cosy").
The Major Arcana of the Tarot, which includes the Tower and the Magician, is a series of cards with images which portray the various stages of a mythic journey.
Alchemy -- the transformation of base into precious, common into gold -- is a metaphor, obviously. Cagliostro, le Comte de St. Germain, even Casanova dabbled. Fascinating guys. Probably charlatans, but (I like to think anyway) fairly charismatic individuals who no doubt kept up a running banter alluding (while they conjured, distracted and seduced) to past conquests, past loves, past lives...
They could make a mess of things, though. Cagliostro wound up in the Bastille, Casanova was always having to get out of town without saying goodbye, none of them had an easy time.
Alchemy and Magic and the Process of Transformation are not without pitfalls. There are responsibilities attached. Not to mention the dangers and disappointments, especially if the raw material is Self and what you drag around with you in that untidy carpetbag of memory and desire. Talk about not being cosy. Talk about mess. Talk about Art.
Speaking of transformation of consciousness, I give you Sister Unity [Video Link here]. Sent to me by Rosetta Stone who once lived in San Francisco and who is therefore familiar with the subject of God, the Divine and Life on a deeply Truly Profound level. No, not Nancy's sister Unity, which would be something entirely different.
Or, in the broader scheme of things, perhaps not so different. The Major Arcana also includes The Empress, The Hanged Man, The Hermit, The Devil and The Fool. All stages, after all, on the same Journey.
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