Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[bi3mw]

.....
In her "Alchemical Traditions" essay in the recent You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Jennifer Rampling discusses alchemy in the specific context of the so-called biological/balneological section. She observes that the predominance of female figures is not compatible with known alchemical cycles, because a central concept of alchemy was the "conjunctio" (conjunction) of male and female and the male element represented gold, the ultimate objective of the alchemical process.
.....

Unfortunately I don't have access to the recent Facsimile. However, there is a basic question: What should the viewer see, an alchemical process with known symbolism or bathing nymphs? This is also what I meant with "consideration in relation to the entire manuscript ". It could be interesting to think about how a "colleague" could recognize the individual steps ( without "double heads" or males at all ). The predominance of female figures certainly offers sufficient possibilities.

By the way, the production of gold was only one of many goals of practical alchemy. A less spectacular result could be desired here.