Ouroborus of Dama Heroub digital art by @janiceduke

This glyph is described by the alchemist and magician, Dr John Dee, in his treatise 'Monas Hieroglyphica', depicts a symbol, the monas hieroglyph, an egg surrounding a stylised sigil closely resembling the symbol for Mercury.

Dee describes the egg as representing the cosmic egg, and includes a diagram showing the seven classical planets in a strange egg-like orbit. In addition, he also describes the inner glyph as containing all the planetary symbols. The disk and crescent at the top are the interlocked symbols for the Sun and the Moon. Include the cross below the disc and you have the symbol for the planet Mercury, or without the crescent the symbol for Venus. With the stylised arrow instead of the cross, a downwards pointing symbol of Mars. The stylised arrowhead at the bottom is made from two crescents. Considered separately with the cross, you can see the symbols for Jupiter and Saturn.

This implies the existence of a perfected whole within the perfected whole, a perfect microcosm of the macrocosm, and recalls the scarab or the hen to pan in the Ouroboros. This also recalls to mind the Egyptian 'Papyrus of Dama Heroub' with its depiction of the child Horus inside an Ouroboros zodiac or the second line of the Emerald Tablet, which may be read as 'As above, so below. As below, so above. Working the wonders of One the All.'

The Monas Hieroglyph

In the book Dee also describes the symbol as representing the cross as a symbol of a transition from the 'Age of Aries' to the 'Age of Taurus', and indeed the arrow head at the bottom of the symbol does resemble the astrological symbol for Aries, and the circle and crescent above the cross do resemble the symbol for Taurus. The age of Aries, ruled by Mars, and also named after the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Mars, both being gods of war, Dee proposed represented an age of war and conflict. Taurus on the other hand, being ruled by Venus, he said was to be an age of Love, Harmony and peace.

One way to interpret this, involves comparing it to the alchemical maxim solve et coagula, which means divide and unify. Aries then would represent the dividing, whereas Taurus would represent uniting.

I also interpret the symbol in my own personal ways not described by Dee. One such way sees the central part of the glyph as a figure in a seated or meditative pose. This suggests to me the figure of the magician, or alchemist, as the microcosm in harmony with the macrocosm. This idea relates to the concept of the point and the circumference.

D. A. Freher, a follower of Böhme's and member of his Philadelphia Society, drew a series of images on the theme of the point and circumference in his book, 'Paradoxical Emblems'. The concepts can also be seen in 'The Book of the Law', channelled by Crowley in 1904, after being directed to by another spirit channelled by his wife Rose Kelly. This occurred over three days, each day being dictated by a different entity. The first Nuit, the Egyptian goddess of the night sky, calls herself, 'Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof', whilst in the second, Hadit says of himself in relation to Nuit, 'In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found'.

Hadit also says, 'therein am I as a babe in an egg'. He also describes himself as both a snake and a serpent. Furthermore, in the 'Stele of Revealing', Hadit is depicted as a winged Solar disk flanked by two small serpents.

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Contents

Introduction

Serpents

• Caduceus
• Asklepian
• Ouroboros

Eggs and the Androgynous Child

• The Philosophers Egg and The Cosmic Egg
• The Monas Hieroglyph
• The Androgyne
• Baphomet
• N'Aton and Sophia

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Sections not yet published on steem

Trinity

The Elements

Macrocosm and Microcosm

The World Dragon Tree

Illumination

Appendix A: Asides

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Commentary on artwork

• Title illustration and cover art.
• Hen to Pan.

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Chemical Serpents: Symbols of Illumination

published by WhIP (When Illuminated Press)

Permission of publisher to share this book on the steem blockchain. Half of the rewards for this post will be transferred to the illustrator, @janiceduke, using the chainbb beneficiaries options. Follow the hashtag #chemicalserpents for more.

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