Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Barbrey]

Why the green water?  In many alchemical emblems of the hermaphrodite, s/he is standing upon a green dragon.  The VMS green pool is not dragon-shaped, but nevertheless probably identifies for us the same thing: prima materia.  The rebis, hermaphrodite, arises from prima materia.  This is possibly thematic of the whole balneological section, blue water is heavenly, green is earthly prima materia from which the heavenly water must be distilled.

Hi Barbrey,

About the green water... The hermaphrodite/rebis is standing upon a dragon in the Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, but the dragon is not green. Its back is covered with something green. Is it a weird wing or a leaf? A typical illustration: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

I suppose it could be identified/confounded with the green lion in Morienus' Liber de compositione Alchemiae (that calls it a glass), illustrated in the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550):



The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (17th century) is certainly green but there is no hermaphrodite standing on it. Confusing imagery, as always. Is it the Water or Mercury of the Philosophers and also the prima materia? Maybe.

From the Rosarium Philosophorum You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.: "Of Our Mercury which is the Green Lion Devouring the Sun". I have not looked for the source for this part yet - the Rosarium, as its name indicates, is a hodgepodge of various texts, quoted without attribution.

In the first of the sequence, the fountain pours forth the three substances that supposedly flow from the centre of the soul. These are 'Lac Virginis' (the Virgin's milk), 'Acetum fontis' (the spring of vinegar) and 'Aqua Vitae' (the water of life). The latter represents the force within man, that which originally exists. The other two represent, once again, a contribution from both the feminine, receptive, lunar forces, and those of the penetrating, sharp, solar male. These mingle and mix in the lower part of the soul - the fountain's basin - and the substance created is known as the water of Mercury. The latter stages of the alchemical process take place in these waters.

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Hi nablator!  You have to remember that the Book of the Holy Trinity seems to have about 20 different versions - I try if I can to use the earliest, the Munich version, which Barbara Obrist dated to 1420. In the version you have here, that’s not the earliest and not the standard hermaphrodite illustration, the Buch has a few illustrating different principles. Adam McLean calls this one the Luciferic hermaphrodite and it has different properties, and that’s indeed a green wing. Nevertheless, in the Munich version, the dragon is green, as are most subsequent dragons going forward. 

Generally, if a dragon is not eating its tail, green or not, it symbolizes prima materia. I say generally because you are right, consistency in alchemical symbolism is not a strong point among 15th century alchemists, especially at this early date. As bi3mw mentions, and I concur, the VMS was likely written at a time before alchemical manuscripts were becoming illustrated aside from a few pieces of alchemical equipment and the ouroborous as in Zosimus (Obrist again). That leaves the VMS authors somewhat free to make up their own images within the constraints of the alchemical processes themselves. For instance, the hermaphrodite in alchemical emblems was almost always two-headed, but in sculpture the hermaphrodite was usually portrayed as a female or youth with both genitals. I find this really interesting because it suggests the VMS authors were unaware of, or writing before, the alchemical two-headed hermaphrodite emblem became foundational for alchemical illustrations, starting with the Buch and Aurora Consurgens. But they are all working with the same ideas.