Alchemical Iconography

The Alchemical Opus (La Grande Opera dell’Arte Regia)

Alchemy reveals in the symbol of the Great Work, the process by which Man can arrive at Realization, that is to become conscious of his own true Spiritual Reality. In this work we will explain some allegories and symbols present in the alchemical texts, illustrating the teaching that they veil.

In the Middle Ages the Puritan West considered a heresy the only thought that human beings could rise to the knowledge of their own divine reality. For this the Initiates of that time had to veil their teachings in symbols and allegories. Today this necessity no longer exists, of course, and it is particularly interesting to understand the parallels that bind the Western Initiatory Teaching to those expressed in the East under all other forms, but with an identical substance.

The Initiatic Tradition from the earliest times handed down the Knowledge of the divine reality of man and does so in ways and ways that fit in the form to the different historical periods and to the characteristics of the society of the time. It is the duty of the Initiate to decode and “open” the ancient forms and the ancient symbols, thus bringing to his own conscience the unity of the Teachings through which he will be able himself to reach the goal to which it is destined: the Reintegration of the Self or, in other words, Realization.

He says an ancient motto that the Initiate is able to speak a thousand languages. This is not achieved, of course, by simply studying ancient and modern idioms, but rather by understanding those principles that are the only reality, beyond the veil of Illusion, and knowing how to recognize them in the “thousand languages” or the thousand ways in which they have been transmitted by Tradition. One of these ways is precisely Alchemy.

He who wants to enter the divine kingdom must first enter his mother’s body, and die there …” (Paracelsus)

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