Symbols ana a

for this we can also call up all the varieties of navigational symbolism), and that of swimming upstream against the current. This last, according to the Corpus Hermedcum, is the means of reaching the state of "those who have attained Gnosis’’— oi ev yvcoatn dvreq— "where one is no longer inebriated,"¹⁵⁵ where inebriation signifies, obviously, symbolic sleep, forgetting, the power of the Lethean waters.¹⁵⁶
Sixteen
cbe sever),
cbe oreRAcioos,
apd cbe miRROR
■ V ow chat we have outlined the doctrine we can begin to
I M cut a path through the complex symbolism of the
™ f technical alchemical literature, which otherwise would be almost impenetrable. We shall accompany the reader through a part of this literary labyrinth in order to familiarize him with the secret language.
Ostanes¹ speaks of seven distillations necessary for obtaining from the serpents of Mount Olympus and other mountains^{157 158} the "Divine Water" that kills the living and revives the dead (the deep stages of consciousness buried in terrestrial form).¹⁵⁹
And Raymond Lully also speaks of the preparation of the water of life, which is the "solvent” to be used in the work: "This menstruum is rectified[ is replaced by I , which - resurrection}⁴ seven times, each time removing the residue.”'’ Hamel⁶ advises that in order to purify the "leprous head of the raven” it is necessary to enter the regenerating flow of the. Jordan seven times. And Pernety' speaks no differently of a bathing, adding that it is a question of passing through the seven planets, realized by means of seven successive, operations that conduct us through different stages of Mercury symbolized by the various alchemical metals, up to the stage of Gold (the plane, of "those-who'■are," beyond the spheres of change and becoming).
In the Great Book of Nature a dyke is mentioned that holds back the waters from flowing into a garden. The dyke is overcome. Upon the instruction of an infant guide, "not the son of man,” who commands: "Strip off your robes,” which is explained in the seven grades of "expiation” to be discussed later.⁸ And similarly, in the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz by J. V Anclreae, we see that the bridal candidates have to pass the test of the seven burdens, and then seven are the stories of the tower of the royal palace where the resurrection of the King and Queen ( 0 and C )⁹ takes place. According to Philalethes, seven are the times that the doves of Venus must circle because "all perfection resides in the number seven”; and elsewhere he mentions "the Mercury must be purified at least seven times. Only then is the 'Bath of the King’¹⁰ ready.” And with the image of the bath we return to the symbol of washing, to which is submitted the one who, being King by nature, must rule again.
In the Book ol HI Habir it is said: "Wash ye seven times the lime that is not yet exhausted” (symbolizing the thirsty "dryness” of Water)”; I direct you to work over the ashes [that which remains after the action of the purifying Fire] subjecting them to heat and irrigation seven times [here we are dealing with the the Mercury six times in order to transform the Copper into Gold. See P. Ray, Hisrory of Hindu Chemisrry (Lnndnn-Calcutta, 1902), 1, pref,, 46; 2, pref., 159-44.

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