Saturn, the scythe and lead · Lexicon

From the book

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Attributed to Abraham the Jew · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordSaturn is the old, threatening figure of time and the more fixed, thicker part of the matter. His scythe also signifies mercury’s dissolving and corrosive power. In the celestial-metallic correspondences he is associated with lead.
In the manuscriptHourglass, blue garment, devouring serpent, swallowed children and the scythe supply different explanations. Later good Saturnian spirits and harmful leaden spirits are explicitly distinguished.
TranslationThe translation keeps these local senses. Saturn does not automatically mean a harmful substance, nor does every appearance of lead designate the same preparation.
A place to readManuscript 9v, scan 34: Saturn’s clothing, hourglass, sand and scythe are explained through fixed and thick matter.

Meaning

Saturn joins duration with material resistance. The first old man tries to cut the young man's legs and devour him; his hourglass and advanced age announce time. At 9v, scan 34, the figure distinguishes the thick, fixed portion from a rawer, more watery and volatile one. The old man's clothing and red sand express the material's changing appearances and preparations, so age is tied to an account of process.

The scythe can then carry a different emphasis. At 40v it is the dissolving, corrosive, striking spirit of mercury. A sharp curved instrument cuts; this visible action places it with other heroic weapons as an image of physical power. The source therefore does not limit Saturn to inert weight. Fixed matter and an active cutting instrument are separate features selected from one figure.

Saturn's connection with lead is explicit in the later hierarchy, but the moral valence is divided. Good Saturnian spirits contribute to generation, while impure spirits called Saturnian or leaden act like infernal examiners and destroy metals apart from the sun and moon. The difference concerns the described spirit and action, not a blanket judgment on every celestial or metallic occurrence.

Use in the book

At 7r, scan 27, the old man is described before the ensuing exposition names Saturn. He is blue-clad, winged at the shoulders, bears an hourglass on his head, and threatens the winged youth. At 8v the source adds Saturn because water is both beginning and final matter: compounds return to moisture through corruption and begin from it again. His self-devouring serpent links the two ends of this cycle.

At 9v the thicker material is represented by blue clothing, the half-full hourglass with red sand and the scythe. Its inward color changes with preparation. The exposed lower part and lack of wings help explain a material that becomes heavy and sticky. Some source phrases are awkward or uncertain, but the explicit distinction between fixed and volatile matter is secure.²¹⁰

The swallowing of children at 28v, scan 78, explains the colors of metals that ought to appear during corruption. Saturn's wife gives a stone in Jupiter's place; if the colors fail to appear, the metals are said to have devoured their children. The image concerns generation becoming visible or being withheld. It is related to the self-devouring serpent without being the same narrated event.

At 39v, scan 104, Saturn's cutting of his father's generative parts and the resulting sea-foam introduce Venus's birth. The parts mean prolific power; foam means aphronitre, through which generative virtue is communicated to niter. At 40v the sickle is directly glossed as mercury's dissolving spirit, while the foam becomes salt or niter rising from the corruption of the gods. The passage gives a productive consequence to an act of separation.

At 56v, scan 140, Saturn's sphere, the third angelic order and lead occupy corresponding positions. At 60r the impure Saturnian spirits examine metals like crimes and reduce others to ashes, recognizing the sun and moon's sovereign property. The following page describes resistance to germinative spirits, harmful coldness and a scythe marking extermination. Scan 149 then gives Saturn a serpent that devours and regenerates itself. These later passages sustain both the destructive and cyclical aspects of the figure, while retaining the distinction between good and adverse spirits.²¹¹

Places to read

Manuscript 7r, 8v · Scans 27, 322The old figure and devouring serpent introduce time, return and beginning.
Manuscript 9v, 10r · Scans 34, 352Clothing, sand and exposed body distinguish thick matter and altered preparation.
Manuscript 28v · Scan 78Saturn’s swallowed children and substitute stone explain the appearance of metallic colors.
Manuscript 39v, 40v · Scans 104, 1062The cutting and sea-foam are interpreted through generative power, niter and dissolution.
Manuscript 56v · Scan 140The sphere, angelic order and lead are explicitly correlated.
Manuscript 60r, 60v, 61r · Scans 147, 148, 1492 3Good and harmful spirits, the scythe and self-renewing serpent distinguish their actions.

Translation

Saturn renders Saturne, and Saturnian renders Saturniaux. The edition uses scythe or sickle for faux according to the described instrument; the difference does not create two separate principles. Lead is plomb, while philosophers' lead at scan 35 belongs to a list of prepared appearances and must be read there in its own setting.

At scan 34 the apparent phrase soleil étoilé is retained as 'starry sun', with a local note. The entry does not rest an additional cosmology on that anomalous phrase. The clear account of weight, thickness and preparation provides the more secure basis for defining the image.

Saturne

Attested: H001-S032; H001-S034; H001-S104; H001-S140. The old figure, cutting father-figure and planetary correspondence.

faux de Saturne

Attested: H001-S106. The explicitly dissolving, corrosive and striking mercurial spirit.

Saturniaux

Attested: H001-S147. Leaden spirits in the account of harmful material impurities.

serpent qui se dévore lui-même et qui se régénère

Attested: H001-S149. A devouring and self-renewing figure held by Saturn.

Source note

Scan 34 has an uncertain phrase about the old man’s image and the unusual apparent wording soleil étoilé. Both are disclosed in the edition. The direct fixed/thick versus volatile/watery distinction is independently explicit in that same unit.

Scans 147–148 mention Saturn’s good spirits as well as harmful Saturnian impurities. The entry preserves that opposition instead of attributing every destructive property to the planet or metal without qualification.