Symbols of Alchemy and Hermetic Arts

Without television or the internet, our distant ancestors had lots of time to observe the cycles of nature and the movement of the stars. The scientific method was created by these early natural scientists who looked at the world in great detail and systematically recorded their observations.

These were the great philosophers of the medieval period, healers and pioneers like Paracelsus, who was the model for the modern medical doctor. So, next to the herbs and glass beakers, the simmering tinctures and and medieval cookbooks, rests the symbols for contemplating the eternal mysteries. The human skull to remind us of the one inevitable truth of existence. A raven with outstretched wings can be a metaphor for many things (that's the beauty of symbols).

alchemy lab postcard

Mercury and caduceus

Clavis Artis postcard Merman

Confrontation between a unicorn and a deer stag in the forest.

These mythical beasts can symbolize the sharp focus of the intellect (the single horn of the unicorn) and instincts of wild animals. The task of the alchemist is to merge these two principals together to achieve balance in the great work of alchemy.

An inscription on the title page claims that the text was translated in 1236 BCE from the original Arabic language into German. Cryptic signatures on the page may also link the document to 'Rosa et Aurea Crucis, the Rosicrucians, a clandestine brotherhood presumably founded by Christian Rosenkreutz.

Alchemical Arts Notecard:
Disk of the sun and moon

Alchemy Lab greeting cards

Mercury - Hermes messenger of the gods Cards

An ancient sage contemplates mortality with the help of a human skull. He's seated in his laboratory, reading from an old manuscript, surrounded by signs and symbols to remind him of the only certainty in life.The original quote was inscribed on a Roman sundial "Vivere disce, cogita mori", translated as Learn to live; Remember death.

Mercury w/ caduceus

Luna front side Mercury back

Goddess Luna

Sun and Moon tee shirt

alchemy pictures tee

Key of the Arts toddler shirt

Key of the Arts Tee shirt

Key of the Arts royal shirt

Alchemy History t-shirt

The art of distillation is commonplace to us in the modern age. Without it how would we have beer and wine, medicine and petroleum products? In the middle ages of Europe, the processes to transform raw materials into a useful material was considered no less a miracle than the rising sun each morning.

Symbols for the planets, moons and the stars in the night sky were created by nearly every culture throughout recorded history. The Greeks called our nearest neighbor Selene and the Romans called her Luna. Once her brother Helios (Sol) was finished with his day job, Selene steps out of a cool bath in the ocean to shepherd the evening sky. Mercury is the messenger of the Gods, with a special place in alchemy as the personification of the Egyptian Thoth, called Hermes by the Romans, holding aloft the caduceus symbol and a bag of gold in the other hand.

Clavis Artis is translated as The Key of the Arts — the arts of alchemy and transmutation. Truly fantastic dragons and humans merge together in a symbolic progression through the sacred work, filled with emblems of the chemical processes. Only two copies of the illuminated manuscript exist, safeguarded by libraries in Rome and Trieste, Italy. The author is attributed as Zarathustra (Zoroaster), a magi from Persia — where the esoteric knowledge of the ancients was safeguarded while Europe was in the Dark Ages.

The ouroboros dragon that bites it's own tail, the basilisk or wyvern dragon with wings, cimera and other wild bests of the imagination in the mediaval bestiary.

Winged Dragon postcard

Dragon Parchment postcard

Golden eagle silver dragon

Entwined eagle dragon

Winged dragon postcard

hydra dragon postcards

dragon gifts - postcard

Basilisk Dragon Postcard

salamander fire

A wealthy money-lender is upset about the price he has to pay the skeleton who's making off with all his gold florins. The detailed woodcut is surrounded by an elaborate border.

Hard to imagine why he's making such a fuss. There are more bags of gold everywhere in the room - under the table, in big wooden treasure chests. The security is tight at this place, with two sets of bars on the window.