Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Barbrey]

I don’t remember, R. Sale, and the free copy of the article I found has been taken down. It’s $40 on Brill (which my small college’s library does not have access to). Btw, I have read bits and pieces of your own analysis of this f79v and don’t discount it. You could well be right, and there are synergies between the two interpretations anyway. What I find fascinating is that alchemy seems to have entangled itself with all the more classical medieval interpretations, especially religion, but also heraldry and myth/legend. Whenever someone interprets images one way, I seem to find an alternative alchemical explanation without even expecting one.

I think in this case, though, this analysis does help explain the similarities between You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .  With the way the narratives seem to work, the human Melusine could possibly even be travelling up to become a Christian soul, as Hermaphroditus travels down to become the hermaphrodite. There might be a comment here about the nature of prima materia too, which can be found in almost anything. In f79r, the green pool contains a tree trunk. In f79v, the green pool contains animals in the water and out of it. So they might be emphasizing that prima materia can be found in both vegetative and animal sources.