Woman, child and seven-headed dragon

Use in the book

On 84r, scan 197, a chaste spouse becomes pregnant independently of intercourse and bears a pure child without pain. The writer presents the fourth figure as an especially expressive account of the blessed Virgin’s mystery. Nature and Hermes’ art are said to illuminate what lies beneath the Apocalypse’s veil. The claim establishes the sacred application before the detailed material explanation.

On 84v, scan 198, the principles are no longer raw but prepared according to art and formed into Mercury or white sulfur. Mercury is the horrible seven-headed dragon emerging unharmed from flame. A fable of Perseus rescuing Hesione precedes this explanation, preserving the witness’s conflation of classical narratives. Preparation and the source’s transmitted names remain part of the evidence.²⁵⁹

On 85r, scan 199, the seven heads signify metals contained in mercurial water. Seven horns express dissolving power; golden horns express making gold and silver. The tail signifies the celestial powers drawn down by that water, and wings indicate volatility. The source’s horn-count differs from Revelation’s dragon. Its own reading and explanation are retained rather than silently replaced with the biblical count.²⁶⁰

On 85v, scan 200, the pregnant Virgin with eagle wings, solar surrounding, lunar footing, and crown of stars signifies nature’s precious white sulfur. Pure, uncorrupted earth of mercurial water is impregnated with the Sun’s germinative spirit, identified as gold. The river vomited by the monster is glorious water capable of attracting the King and his daughter. The figure therefore gathers attraction and impregnation alongside combat.

On 86r, scan 203, the subject rises to the alembic’s top as a volatile, highly spiritual earth. White eagle feathers explain its appearance. Though white, it tinctures gold because of the solar spirit it carries; the remaining water is lunar, mercurial, and silvery. A crown of twelve stars is interpreted through the spirits of the six other stars and metals. The lexicon preserves the relation as the writer states it, without inventing an unprovided numerical rule.

On 86v, scan 204, the serpent poised to devour the child becomes the remaining mercurial water. The sulfur must be dissolved, corrupted, drunk through repeated imbibitions, and multiplied within it. The apparent devouring thus expresses the continuation of the work. The child is named philosophers’ sulfur or stone. Birth does not end the operation; it introduces another condition in which the product is further worked.²⁶¹

The exposition then changes from the chaste figure to an impure woman and explains male sulfur’s union with Venus as spouse and sister. On 87r, scan 205, illicit marriage-language is expressly confined to its physical sense. Later, scans 207–208, pure mercurial spirit and the mutual conversion of gold and mercury provide further comparisons with the Mother of God. Those developments show why the local role of mother, spouse, male, female, and child must be traced through the sentence rather than assigned permanently to one material name.

Places to read

1. Manuscript 84r · Scan 197The chaste spouse and child introduce the Virgin’s mystery.
2. Manuscript 84v · Scan 198Prepared Mercury or white sulfur is represented through the dragon.
3. Manuscript 85r · Scan 199Heads, horns, tail, and wings receive material meanings.
4. Manuscript 85v · Scan 200The pregnant Virgin is interpreted as pure white sulfur or mercurial earth.
5. Manuscript 86r · Scan 203White eagle form, solar tincture, lunar residue, and the crown follow sublimation.
6. Manuscript 86v · Scan 204The devouring serpent represents further resolution, imbibition, and multiplication.
7. Manuscript 87r · Scan 205The changing marriage-language receives an explicit physical limit.
8. Manuscript 88v · Scan 208The Mother of God comparison proceeds through gold and mercurial spirit.

Translation

Virgin and child follow Vierge and enfant. Seven-headed dragon translates the actual phrase and the seven horns remain the source’s count. White sulfur, mercurial water, pure earth, remaining water, and philosophers’ stone retain their qualifications.

The English preserves the change of role when white sulfur acts as male and Venus as spouse and sister. It also retains the apparent devouring while translating the operation that explains it. The note apparatus identifies biblical and classical differences without rewriting the manuscript’s figure.

Vierge

Attested: H001-S197; H001-S200. The sacred figure is associated with unstained birth and white sulfur.

enfant

Attested: H001-S204. The child is apparently devoured and named sulfur or stone.

dragon à sept têtes

Attested: H001-S198. Mercury is represented through the seven-headed dragon.

sept cornes

Attested: H001-S199. The source’s seven horns signify dissolving power.