The Sun Needs the Moon

The sun needs the moon as the cock needs the hen.
Illustration from an alchemical manuscript by Michael Maier (c.1618).

 

 

Alchemical White Queen

  Italian Alchemical painting from an unknown treatise (c.1500),
depicting the White Queen, representing Mercury.
 

Mermaids in Alchemy

 German watercolour illustration (circa. 17th - 18th century) of two mermaids inside a flask, representing the union of earth and water, from the alchemical manuscript Clavis Artis by Zoroaster (Zarathustra).