fathomthepower
12-24-2003, 06:43 AM
or as we know it: black, white, red, yellow
i found the following information in a book called "Alchemy: an Introduction to the Symbolism and Psychology" by Marie-Louise von Franz. She is a famous follower of Carl Jung. I highly reccomend this book to anybody wishing to understand some of the alchemical references throughout the Laturalus album. I recently found something that references the line in the song Lateralus "black then white are all i see, in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be"
the "Aurora consurgens" is a 15th Century alchemical text discovered by Carl Jung when he was delving into the topic of alchemy. It is believed that the text(considered to be blasphemy by the Catholic church) was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas. The author of the book(von Franz) contends that there is skepticism about the actual author being Saint Thomas(in those days people would tack on a famous name to a written work), but there is evidence that points to him actually being the author. The work itself comes across as being the rantings of a person gripped by a schizophenic episode, and the main concern of the work is explaining the "Wisdom of God."
The title itself, "Aurora consurgens" translates to the Rising Dawn. In one chapter the author explains the significance of the title saying that "the dawn is between day and night and has two colors, namely yellow and red, and thus our science, or alchemy, produces the yellow and the red colors, which are between black and white."
That is classical alchemical knowledge about the "nigredo-albedo-rubedo-citrinas", the four stages of color, and the dawn would be the coming up of the yellow-red color, the "fulfillment of the alchemical work."
any thoughts??
i found the following information in a book called "Alchemy: an Introduction to the Symbolism and Psychology" by Marie-Louise von Franz. She is a famous follower of Carl Jung. I highly reccomend this book to anybody wishing to understand some of the alchemical references throughout the Laturalus album. I recently found something that references the line in the song Lateralus "black then white are all i see, in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be"
the "Aurora consurgens" is a 15th Century alchemical text discovered by Carl Jung when he was delving into the topic of alchemy. It is believed that the text(considered to be blasphemy by the Catholic church) was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas. The author of the book(von Franz) contends that there is skepticism about the actual author being Saint Thomas(in those days people would tack on a famous name to a written work), but there is evidence that points to him actually being the author. The work itself comes across as being the rantings of a person gripped by a schizophenic episode, and the main concern of the work is explaining the "Wisdom of God."
The title itself, "Aurora consurgens" translates to the Rising Dawn. In one chapter the author explains the significance of the title saying that "the dawn is between day and night and has two colors, namely yellow and red, and thus our science, or alchemy, produces the yellow and the red colors, which are between black and white."
That is classical alchemical knowledge about the "nigredo-albedo-rubedo-citrinas", the four stages of color, and the dawn would be the coming up of the yellow-red color, the "fulfillment of the alchemical work."
any thoughts??