From the first time we saw the bizarre physiognomy of the alchemical hermaphrodite we fell in love with the idea – So strange and attractive at the same time. The sense of balance the figure send to us was so inspiring that we needed to share with you all.
Our very personal version of the hermetic Rebis (“Double-Being”) transpose the coitus of the Sun and the Moon into the organic realm.
The alchemical production of the Rebis or Hermaphrodite is the expression of equilibrium in human understanding. It is no coincidence if we find the astrological Libra as similar representation. We also find in the taoist Yin- Yang a very good equivalent.
Despite some contradictions, the union usually represents the marriage of the Red King (Sulphur, the Soul) and the White Queen (Salt, the Body) and from their copulation the Mercury (Spirit) is born.
“By the philosophers I am named Mercurius; my spouse is the gold; I am the old dragon, found everywhere in the globe of the Earth, father and mother, young and old, very strong and very weak, death and resurrection, visible and invisible, hard and soft; I descend into the earth and ascend to the heavens, I am the highest and the lowest, the lightest and the heaviest ; often the order of the nature is reversed in me, as regards colour, number, weight and measure; I contain the light of nature; I am dark and light (…) I am the carbuncle of the sun, the most noble purified earth, through which you may change copper, iron, tin and lead into gold.”
In this case we feel comfortable to adapt the Soul as the Sun and the Body as the Earth. The combination of both result into a fertile ground, favourable to the development of new Life.
The crow at the right side represents the older phase, Nigredo, the dark moment of introspection or the “winter”. The snake is a symbol of dynamic change and the Cup represents the phase of preparation, the Coagula – giving the abnormal mass of the body a spiritual purity.
Verdant Rebis also aware us for the struggling of Nature to keep its balance through the seasons and it seems to be more difficult cycle after cycle.
Maybe we need to assume some culpability in this topic, don’t you think?
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