Happy Valentine’s Day!
“The sun needs the moon, like the cock needs the hen.” This is the perfect Valentine to give to your sweetie if you don’t care to be too subtle about what it is you desire.
From the Atalanta Fugiens, 1618. By Michael Maier. In alchemical imagery Sol and Luna are the male and female aspects of matter, they are a step of a series of ‘chemical weddings’ in order to produce the philosopher’s stone. Suitably, in the book this is Emblema XXX.
It has been roughly five years since we initially shared this post on Othmeralia. The time is definitely right for a reblog. For your viewing pleasure, we present Emblema XXX from Atalanta Fugiens.
Bonus: you can now check out this image up close in our Digital Collections!