Читать книгу Modern Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone - Wilfried B. Holzapfel - Страница 15

“Very good!” the professor said approvingly. “In the symbolic language of the ancient Greeks, equilateral triangles had a very special meaning. The upright triangle was a symbol for male and for fire, the inverted triangle was used to represent the female "Triangle of Venus" and as a symbol of water. Both triangles superimposed result in the six-pointed star as a perfect union of these contrasting elements. This star was also viewed as a symbol of the original heavenly matter, the “Prima Materia.” If this symmetrical star enters our world, it breaks down into its earthly fragments, into the two pairs of opposites; into fire and water on the one hand and into air and earth on the other. The last two elements are shown here as triangles traversed by a horizontal line.

“These symbols appear again and again in the world of alchemists. Other characters appear frequently that reveal much about the state of physical science at that time. A somewhat more complete view of this state appears as the frontispiece to a summary of scientific knowledge attributed to a 15th century German alchemist with the Latin name Basilius Valentinus. The work itself appears to have been a translation into German of an old Latin chemical treatise by Trithemii de Sponheim from the year 1482.”

“I think that I may have downloaded that figure!” exclaimed Marie as she stroked the face of her smart phone. “Is this it?” (Figure 5)