I n t r o d u c t i o n

This site has been created to house my artwork and small verses on alchemical themes. I call it meditations because I'm consciously inspired by the notion of alchemy as being about inner psychological processes, as more fully described by Carl Jung.
nigredo1

nigredo2
Two connected series of four small pictures. The alchemical nigredo is like a "dark night of the soul" and might resemble a time of depression, feeling lost or bewildered, rejected, betrayed, etc. It is the place where the alchemical treasure must be sought.
albedo1

albedo2
The albedo or "whitening" was seen by many alchemists as the climax of their work. As Jung put it: "From the darkness of the unconscious comes the light of illumination, the albedo." It is a time of cleansing, purifying, sifting and sorting; a bit like wiping away the muck that prevents clear-sightedness.
rubedo1 The rubedo or "reddening" was the next stage of the alchemical opus and suggests that things are hotting up. As Jung put it: "The growing redness (rubedo) which now follows denotes an increase of warmth and light coming from the sun, consciousness." It is a time of strong emotional reactions and of passionate conflicts.
florida There is no traditional alchemical state called florida: this is my own invention. The Latin meaning of the word is "blossoming, flowery" and this is clearly a more cheerful theme, to contrast with the first.

created 03dec02 | updated 26apr05 | copyright © Zade 2002

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