Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[bi3mw]

You can be sure that they are not real trees. These are connected in mysterious ways. Any idea why?

Just a guess: In alchemy, there are seven planetary metals. Maybe that's what this is all about.

Metal     Body
---------------
Gold       Sun
Silver     Moon
Iron       Mars
Mercury Mercury
Tin        Jupiter
Copper   Venus
Lead      Saturn

[nablator]

Just a guess: In alchemy, there are seven planetary metals. Maybe that's what this is all about.

Yes but what do the unusual symbols and connections between tree trunks mean?
This is an example of originality in design, before the alchemical symbols and iconography were standardized and therefore easily recognizable.

[bi3mw]

I found the following illustration (unfortunately without reference):


edit:
Before Marco`s link to the antiquariat disappears, here again the illustration:
   

[MarcoP]

Googling the text, I was taken to "Rosarium novum olympicum et benedictum. Das ist: Ein newer Gebenedeyter Philosophischer Rosengart [...]".
Benedictus Figulus, Basel, 1608.

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[bi3mw]

Here is another example with concrete reference to the metals:

Senior instructs Adolphus at the foot of the Tree of Metals. At corners of lower triangle are symbols of the alchemical tria prima, Sulphur, Mercury and Salt.
   
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[R. Sale]

The crossing lines in Post #210 potentially indicate the combination of two metals (ingredients) in some kind of alchemical reaction. There's a lot of dialog about metals in the "Turba". Does the text match the illustration??

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[bi3mw]

Another approach to the tree: "Arbor Philosophicus"

...in such alchemistic imagery the symbolism is no longer that of the Resurrection but of the "highest mercury"; the quasi-mystical matter-transforming and life-renewing core of alchemy (related, of course to ancient Hermetism).

Gerhart B. Ladner

   

MS Vat.lat. 7286, folio 9r
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[R. Sale]

[font='Lucida Sans Unicode', メイリオ, sans-serif]    Vat.lat.7286  at the bottom of the column.  18th Century  (?)[/font]

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[nablator]

Vat.lat.7286  at the bottom of the column.  18th Century  (?)

Let's stick to the 15th century and earlier, please: the newer manuscripts are irrelevant.

[bi3mw]

Let's stick to the 15th century and earlier, please: the newer manuscripts are irrelevant.

Ok, we can do that. Although the newer works are often only images of much older thought ( see e.g. quote from Ladner about Hermetism ). I am quite sure that it is not different with the "Tree of Metals".