Because I believe the nymphs represent prima materia (the fertile, watery matter from which the universe was made), I don’t think it makes a difference whether there are breasts or not. Once in a while, the author seems to make a point of “maleness”, in this case I suspect to differentiate this particular atom of prima materia as quintessence/aqua vita/the stone/Christ/Mercury.
The natural philosophers at this time believed there was a difference between celestial and earthly prima materia.
The celestial contained the quintessence/water of life, synonymous in their view with Christ and life everlasting. This is what the undying stars are made of, and in the heavens, prima materia takes the shape of stars, as we see in the zodiac pages, where they are connected to stars by actually holding them.
We immediately transition from the zodiac to this page You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. , where, as Anton states, we see the canopy of heavn. It is cut out as if by cliffs, marking the transition from celestial to terrestrial.
The prima materia of earth is polluted and doesn’t naturally contain the quintessence, except what is received from the heavens through rain(notice the rain cloud/rainbow on left). That means, to the alchemist, it is present in most things, but must be tortured and refined through alchemical process to find it.
If you google “prima materia” there’s a great illustration by Michael Marier of prima materia in the form of cubes falling to the earth and found everywhere. I would include it but don’t know how. At any rate, that’s what I believe is happening on You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. . Substitute the nymphs for the cubes.
The prima materia of heaven joins the prima materia of earth, in this case, in a text that’s 50% herbal, in its green sap. From there, the alchemist takes over with his/her many processes to isolate the Christ figure, the aqua vitaof everlasting life. And that’s what I believe is happening in the remaining pages. That’s why there are so few Christian features, you have to find them buried amidst the distractions.
To the realists I can only say that these are not my symbols, nor my concepts, nor my beliefs. They spring entirely from the natural philosophy of the time period, in particular from Arnaud de Villanova and Rupescissa. But I’m good with symbols, and getting closer and closer to a very holistic explanation of the balneological section as well as the rosettes.
Usually because Koen makes an observation I hadn’t seen before. So thank you, Koen!
All this talk of the “spurtle” (love that name) reminds me of a joke I heard as a kid.
Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?
A: A stick.
- still makes me snigger
The point is the spurtle is just a stick unless you can place it into a medieval context and worldview,consider its placement, its associations, comparable internal and external evidence, its relationship to the text as a whole, who is holding it, their gestures, its immediate environment.
What’s its function or purpose?
It “looks like” is always a good starting point but that’s all it is.This stuff isn’t easy and requires research. I cannot enumerate all the first impressions I’ve had to discard, and continue to do so, when it comes to this manuscript.
Maybe one day the stick may become a boomerang, lol.