Acrylic on canvas
17 x 17 in / 43 x 43 cm
2012
The Alchemists wrote of combining base elements in a complicated series of steps with the aim of producing gold. Although some certainly did try this, for many then, and still, Alchemy is a spiritual practice and this painstaking process is a metaphor for finding the "pure gold" of enlightenment that lays in potenia within us all. Within this Alchemical retort (or cauldron) simmers traditional Alchemical and mystical symbols: Mercury, Sulphur & Salt; the Sun & Moon; the dragon and the serpent's egg. From Qabbalistic philosophy, the hand, the eye, the sword, the anchor and the key. And of course, a skull to represent the death of one phase of existence. Eventually, all the superfluous, leaden and toxic elements boil away and we are left with an elixir of our own unique pure gold. Written around the top three edges of the canvas in gold, are the following words: "Vista Interioraterrae Rectifiando Invenies Occultum Lapidem... Visit the Interior Parts of the Earth: by Rectification thou shalt find the hidden stone."