>>7144
alchemical magnum opus
The Great Work (Latin: Magnum opus) is an alchemical term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a device in art and literature. The magnum opus has been carried forward in New Age and neo-Hermetic movements which sometimes attached new symbolism and significance to the processes. It originally had four stages:[1][2]
nigredo, a blackening or melanosis
albedo, a whitening or leucosis
citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis
rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis
The origin of these four phases can be traced at least as far back as the first century. Zosimus of Panopolis wrote that it was known to Mary the Jewess.[3] After the 15th century, many writers tended to compress citrinitas into rubedo and consider only three stages.[4] Other color stages are sometimes mentioned, most notably the cauda pavonis (peacock's tail) in which an array of colors appear.
The magnum opus had a variety of alchemical symbols attached to it. Birds like the raven, swan, and phoenix could be used to represent the progression through the colors. Similar color changes could be seen in the laboratory, where for example, the blackness of rotting, burnt, or fermenting matter would be associated with nigredo.
Lateralus"
Black then white are all I see
In my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be,
Reaching out to me,
Lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond,
I imagine drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over-thinking, over-analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
Black then white are all I see
In my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be,
Reaching out to me.
Lets me see
There is so much more
And beckons me
To look through to these
Infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond,
I imagine drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over-thinking, over-analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, leaving opportunities behind.
Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.
I embrace my desire to
I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected
Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired, to fathom the power,
To witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
To swing on the spiral, to swing on the spiral,
To swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human.
With my feet upon the ground
I lose myself between the sounds
And open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me.
Whatever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind
We may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end
And may just go where no one's been.
Spiral out. Keep going. [4x]
I never knew what the red and yellow meant.
I now do.
There are no coincidences ~Q
Keep being and doing.