Alchemy symbols12/19/2023 Jung compared the nigredo with our realisation and understanding of consciousness and unconsciousness. The House of the White Lion – Prague, Czechia Psychology This mirrors the raw nature of the ingredients alchemists start with. Crows and toads, because of their colour, are also used. Bears portray the nigredo because of their colour and their raw nature. There is also imagery associated with Nigredo it is all about shadows and obscurity. ![]() The symbol for water, and for this step, is a downwards-pointing triangle 1. Water and acids were common, so the tools needed here include kettles and cauldrons 1. Alchemists immersed the powder into a liquid. Salamanders, lions and dragons are also used. The symbol for fire, and for calcination, is an upwards-pointing triangle 1. The main idea is to reduce the substance into base ingredients 1. Tools needed are obvious: furnaces and mortars. Here you reduce substances to ashes by heating, drying or crushing them. The first step in Nigredo is calcination. Alchemists cleansed the ingredients by cooking them to a uniform black matter 3. The first stage in alchemy is Nigredo, or a blackening. (Links in this article take you to other articles I wrote explaining some of the Prague symbols in more detail.) 1 – Nigredo It’s a sign your journey is about to begin. This winged messenger holds a staff which can convert things from one state to another. As you reach the first junction, look out for the statue of Mercury 5 on top of the entrance to number 29. Head through the tower and along Celetna street to begin your journey. The Powder Tower is also symbolic of a threshold into the city. They built the Municipal House 4 you see today at the end of the nineteenth century. Charles IV chose this as the starting point for his Royal route because he lived in the building next door. Start the walk at Prague’s Powder Tower, at the entrance to the Old Town. Use it whilst walking the streets of Prague to discover the grand pattern behind the symbols. This guide explains each stage, maps the stage to the Royal route in Prague and explains the process of self-realisation. ![]() Prague’s alchemical symbolsĪlchemy has four distinct stages, each of which having several steps 3. ![]() In his view, as we grow into adults we change from base material (a baby) into a fully functioning adult. He saw a parallel between this and the alchemists’ path of transformation. Much later, alchemy influenced Swiss psychologist Carl Jung 2. ![]() He chose a route from the eastern part of the city towards the castle in the west, following the sun. He saw this as part of a transformation too – from a base material (man) into something precious (a king) This is a concept from alchemy, but Coelho uses it as a metaphor for life, and in this context it claims that the love between Fatima and Santiago will not spoil with time-if that love is pure.Prague, as seen from the top of the Lesser Town Bridge Tower – Prague, Czechia Using alchemyīohemia’s King Charles IV wanted to create a royal procession for his coronation. The alchemist explains Santiago’s connection with Fatima in terms of alchemy, saying that a pure material cannot be tarnished or changed. Later the alchemist describes many aspects of alchemy-like the origins of the Emerald Tablet-which are also applicable to human life. From this, Santiago realizes that one may pursue “an alchemy of life,” in which self-development results from study of the world and from application of the other principles of alchemy to everyday practices. Self-development goes hand-in-hand with development of the Master Work. The Englishman explains that the pursuit of the Master Work, in which alchemists spend years carefully studying and purifying metals, actually purifies the alchemists themselves. Both the Englishman and the alchemist describe the practices of alchemy to Santiago, and in both cases, the specifics of alchemy symbolize larger life lessons.
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