The Alchemical Virgin Reims, France
17th Century
The Alchemical Virgin at Reims, France
In the church of Saint Maurice in Reims, France, there used to hang a remarkable painting, now called The Alchemical Virgin, made by an anonymous painter. A local canon, named Cerf, pointed to the esotericism in this work & it was removed from the sanctuary. It was then given to the Musée des BeauxArts de Reims. In 1907 Henri Jadart, curator of the museums in Reims, said it had been made by the Jesuits, who left the church in 1762. He dated the painting to the first half of the 17th century.
The Jesuits practiced an esoteric Christianity & there was a legitimate space in which they could do so [they could not write about it]. Some members of the clergy were also members of Masonic lodges & alchemical societies. Some Jesuits emerged as experts in the occult sciences. For example, in the 17th century there was Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit scholar, who devoted two volumes to Hermetic philosophy. About the same period, another Jesuit, Gaspar Schott, under the pseudonym Aspasius Caramvelius, also became known for his knowledge in this field. In any case, the Jesuits were sufficiently interested in alchemy to be accused of being too conciliatory with magicians, astrologers & other occultists when the order was abolished by the French Parliament on August 6, 1762.
The Alchemical Virgin is definitely a painting that was intended to incorporate various alchemical concepts in an esoteric Jesuit format. It was likely necessary to have an adept from the order, explain the symbols in the painting. Let's have a closer look at The Alchemical Virgin, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims, France:
The painting can be analyzed in function of a mystical & esoteric syncretism where alchemy dominates. At first glance, it represents the Blessed Virgin on a crescent moon. Around her head are eight stars. In one hand she holds a receptacle in the form of a cosmic sphere, from which two eagles' heads & the feathers of a peacock protrude. In the other hand she holds a small round temple. A rooster is at the top.
At the bottom of the painting is a Greek text: παρΗενος ονοα τεκον : τεκνον μι εχονοα τοκιας. It reads as Parthenos ousa tekon : teknon mè ekousa tokéas. As the semi-colon in Greek is used for a question mark, the text means: Do I have a child being a virgin? A child with no parents.
I was both written in and intended for those scholars who understood Greek. It is indeed a very strange title. The Virgin having a child is still within the teachings of the Catholic Church, yet a child with no parents is quite a different thing, alluding to being alchemically born again. The child who has no parents is our divine spirit, never born & eternal. When the soul, the Virgin, has been purified, one becomes aware of his divine self.
The Virgin, partly represented in the traditional Catholic way, is alchemically the Moon (Luna), or the mercurial water of the Philosophers, after she has been purified of the impurities of the earth/body. In other words, she is the purified soul of the alchemist. In this painting, Mary is depicted as the Apocalyptic Woman, as seen by the Catholic theologians. The Apocalyptic Woman is a figure described in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation. She gives birth to a male child who is threatened by a dragon, identified as the Devil & Satan, who intends to devour the child (identified as Christ) as soon as he is born. Her specific apocalyptic attributes includes a crown of twelve stars & a crescent moon at her feet, while an aura of sun-rays shines about her. These iconographic details have been constant features of the apocalyptic Mary down through the centuries & they have become standardized in Marian iconography. From this earliest iconographic type there developed a closely-related image of Mary as the Immaculate Conception.
The Virgin stands on the Dragon, a well-known alchemical symbol for the unbridled animal passions & lower emotions that need to be tamed.
The Virgin carries a chalice, the alchemical vessel, out of which the peacock's tail emerges with three flowers. The Peacock's Tail is the term used for the stage of the operation when all the colors of the rainbow appear. The three flowers together symbolize the union of the three energies: generative, vital & spirit, into their original undifferentiated state. The three eagles have a similar symbolism, as the eagle is usually the symbol for the sublimated, thus purified matter. The celestial globe is sometimes found in paintings of alchemist's study rooms. It signifies the working of celestial energies on the material work & thus also on the alchemical process.
The temple is the alchemical athanor, or oven. It is the body of the alchemist; the body taken in its widest sense, including the soul & spirit. The rooster on the roof is the fire in the athanor. The Hermetic Chymists compared their fire to the Rooster, because of its vigor, its activity & its ardor, and consequently gave the name of Rooster to their perfect sulfur in the red stage (Rubedo).
There is a plumb line hanging next to temple fastened to a pole that sticks out of one of the windows; a plumb line is necessary to get a straight upright wall when erecting a building. Symbolically, it means to judge one's actions to see if they 'straight'. It is a symbol of the best of conduct, unequivocal uprightness & constant integrity required to build a spiritual temple reflective of the best of one’s efforts.
At the foot of the Virgin, we see a scene of a winged globe, a woman holding a flaming heart & a putto with bow & arrow. The putto is Cupido, who is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction & affection. Desire to purify oneself is a first requirement. The woman is the soul & the flaming heart is the necessary burning love for performing the Great Work. The globe is the physical, be it the physical body or the ordinary personality (dark in color = Nigredo). It becomes winged after the alchemical process has been completed & the physical matter has been purified or spiritualized.
To the left of the Virgin are two people. The man is holding a caduceus, a rod, a signet ring & a knife against a closed book. The signet ring symbolizes secrecy; it is used to seal a letter, so only the intended addressee can read it. The book is the symbol of book knowledge; it is closest because after book knowledge can only lead you so far, then one has to experience. The caduceus is the symbol for Mercury, so the man likely represents Hermes Trismegistus and/or the alchemist
himself. The woman can be seen as Nature, as the alchemists say that one should follow Nature, Nature lights the way (with the torch she is holding).
Behind this couple, at the entrance of a temple, stands a woman with a harp & an open book with the number 9 on it. Gold coins fall at her feet. We are dealing here with the temple of Apollo (the lyre is the musical instrument of Apollo). The woman is the Cumae Sybil, the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. In the temple she would give oracles. In Virgil's Aeneid is written: "With such words from the shrine the Sybil of
Cumae chants her awful riddles & roars from the cave." The Sibyl also acted as a bridge between the worlds of the living & the dead. She guided Aeneas to the underworld.
The temple & woman are painted in a dark color, suggestive of the first stage of the Work, Nigredo or Blackness, further enhanced by the Sybil as a guide to the underworld. Also, the number 9 on the book is the number of Saturn (the nine squares of the magic square of Saturn). Saturn, also a symbol of Nigredo, is also represented by the scythe sticking out of the window above the door.
Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, the Cumaean Sibyl was considered a prophet of the birth of Christ, because the fourth of Virgil's Eclogues appears to contain a Messianic prophecy by the Sibyl. In it, she foretells the coming of a savior, whom Christians identified as Jesus. So, the whole setup is an entrance into the dark underworld (of one's subconscious) & the rebirth of the divine self (Apollo or Christ).
It is also a reference to the old pagan ways, which, albeit forbidden by the Church, were still held on to and practiced by certain esoteric groups. In this sense, the book the Sybil is holding is the old pagan knowledge.
At the feet of the Sybil are golden coins. Gold the symbol for the end product of the alchemical work.
The scythe is not only the symbol for Saturn, but it also signifies the death of the old, so the new can be reborn, what is heralded above it on the rooftop of the temple:
On the roof of the temple are two mermen, or tritons, blowing their horns. In mythology, tritons showed up when Venus was born from the foam of the sea, indicating here a rebirth. Here they are announcing the birth of Christ, who is present in the direction they are facing, that is, at the left side of the painting.
The Christ figure is represented as a royal child, seated on the stern of a vessel (the alchemical ship). Christ is holding the rudder & thus steering the ship in the right direction. Christ is depicted here as a child, because he is the reborn Spirit of man. Christ sits on a heart that radiates; it is the divine radiance of God.
The Christ child is looking to the figure all the way to the left of the ship. He has a lion skin as headdress, and thus he is Hercules. He is situated above all the other crew members, & looking at them while steering the ship. He might represent the Jesuits, guiding the ship of their order. In an esoteric way, the ship is going on a voyage, that is, an initiation (the alchemical process). Hercules performing his twelve labors is an initiatory voyage. The upside down Y below him could be the Greek letter Lambda, and might convey some secret meaning.
Hercules is pointing to an old man in a red robe:
The old man has a red robe (suggestive of the third & last alchemical phase Rubedo, or Redness) & he carries an open book. He is the Wise Philosopher. He is pointing to the warrior:
The soldier represents the fighting spirit necessary for the spiritual voyage. He holds a statue of Athena. Athena is the goddess of warfare & also of wisdom; so the warrior is not the brute soldier; he uses wisdom to fight. He is looking towards another old man with an outstretched arm, holding a treebranch with flowers in his other arm.
Behind this man is a King:
The old man & the king are both looking at the Virgin. The old man, holding the tree branch is the Pilgrim.
As the king is standing behind Christ, he is likely a symbol for the end of the Great Work, the rebirth of the new King. His robe, along with the two numbers 1137 & 1266 clearly hint to a coded message & they are mentioned again under the winged globe.
ACyclops (the man has only one eye in the middle of his forehead) is falling into the sea. He likely represents the primordial chaotic realm, or the original primitive personality of the alchemist that has now been thrown overboard & has given way to knowledge & wisdom.
In the mast is Mercury with another figure. He is the divine Spirit of man, high up, having a clear view of the sea, as well as where the ship is going. What other information might we decipher from this work? ~JJ
[Compiled from information at www.soul-guidance.com/alchemy/virgin.html]