The Black Sun in Alchemy In alchemic and Hermetic traditions, suns are employed to symbolize a variety of concepts, much like the sun in astrology. Suns can correspond to gold, citrinitas, generative masculine principles, imagery of the king or Apollo, the fiery spirit or sulfur, the divine spark in man, nobility, or incorruptibility. Recurring images of specific solar motifs can be found in the form of a Dark or Black Sun, or a green lion devouring a sun. Sol niger (black sun) can refer to the first stage of the alchemical magnum opus, the nigredo (blackening). In a text ascribed to Marsilio Ficino three suns are described: black, white, and red, corresponding to the three most used alchemical color stages. The black sun is used to illuminate the dissolution of the body, a blackening of matter, or putrefaction in Splendor Solis, and Johann Daniel MyliusÕs Philosophia Reformata. The Two Suns in the Hermetic Tradition There is a persistent belief in alchemaic and hermetic tradition in the existence of two suns: a hidden one of pure philosophical gold, consisting of the essential Fire conjoined with aether, and the apparent one of profane material gold. The dark, consuming fire of the material sun leads it to be called the Dark or Black Sun.According to the Book of the Holy Trinity, after Adams fall, tainted by Original Sin, man is made from the black suns fire. Heraclitus (6th century B.C.) refers to the holy fire of the former as artistic fire. Its invisible effect supposedly distinguishes the Work of alchemists from that of profane chemists. It is possible that these teachings influenced Philolaus in the development of his groundbreaking theory of the Central Fire. This is supported by the fact that the various teachings regarding multiple alchemaic suns are sometimes attributed to Empedocles, who was a contemporary of Philolaus, and his senior. However, this connection may be coincidence, as it is likely that the attribution of these ideas to Empedocles may stem from an imperfect understanding of his cosmology in regard to the reflective nature of the Sun. Sol niger (black sun) is also the name of the result of the first stage of the Opus Magnum in alchemy, the blackening (nigredo). The complete Opus magnum (Great Work) ends with the production of gold. The Opus magnum can also be understood in a mystic way: see Alchemy - The Opus magnum Contemporary usage of the term Black Sun can be found in the works of esoteric musicians like COIL and Boyd Rice and occult groups such as Black Sun Rising a Pylon of the Temple of Set.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 09:08:28 +0000
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