Thanks again everyone - I am very grateful. I’m going to test with one image, from You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. , because it’s a perfect example of the “peacock” or, in older texts, the “rainbow” sub- stage of the Nigredo. If it works, I’ll write a synopsis of the symbolism.
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I think it’s working! I’m writing this on my phone so this is just quick, but I welcome comments and criticism all the same.
I think you are all aware of the Red King/White Queen symbolism in alchemical texts? These aren’t people, of course, they represent sulphur and mercury. Red is male, sulphur, white is female, mercury. And there might be something representing salt, which I believe, as my prior post says, to be the mermaid’s tail, playing on the idea of sea salt (for symbolic purpose to represent salt in general only - I’m not sure the specific type of salt is needed).
The “rainbow stage” is almost the last stage of Nigredo at the end of the putrefaction process. The substance that was left to rot for 40 days develops a greasy black texture. It stinks! And there it is, a stinking black mass at the very bottom. It is dark blue but as the colours have faded I bet it was very dark when first painted.
The stage is called the rainbow stage because if you’ve done everything right, rainbows of colours show up on the greasy black surface. And there’s the rainbow above, giving a name to the whole process.
My understanding is that the mass is boiled, and mercury vaporizes and condenses, to separate from the rest of the mass. This is our white queen, mercury, at the top of a long pipe. She is very white!
The remainder is treated as well. It is sulphur. Our red king. Symbolized by the colour red of its container, and connected to a stinking mermaid tail (we all know what sulphur smells like), to symbolize either body or salt.
All in all, I can’t think of a better representation of this alchemical sub-stage, harkening the end of Nigredo, putrefaction, and the beginning of albido, when the substances are “resurrrected” and separated, only to be brought together again later in the Rubedo stage.
But here is where I need help. I am perfectly confident in this interpretation for the most part, but when the sulphur is left behind,, I’m not sure what form it takes. It would help if I knew because it would help make sense of the mermaid tail. Is it symbolizing crystallization, just that sulphur is the remainder of the body, or that the salt(which goes through its own process) is re-attached.
I’ve gathered this info about the rainbow or peacock stage from a number of sources, but it’s frustrating that I haven’t found a text that explains what form sulphur takes after mercury is separated out. They just say “sulphur”.
