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mercury) existing in four worlds, as shown in the table, sum up to the sacred number 12.
As these 12 are the foundations of the Great Work, they are called in Revelation the
twelve foundation stones of the sacred city. In line with the same idea Pythagoras
asserted that the dodecahedron, or twelve-faced symmetrical geometric solid, was the
foundation of the universe. May there not be a relation also between this mysterious 3
times 4 and the four parties of three which in the legend of the third degree of
Freemasonry go forth to the four angles of the cherubim, the composite creature of four
parts?

Click to enlarge
A TABLE OF MEDIÆVAL ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLS.

From Valentine's The Last Will and Testament.

Hermetists used the curious symbols shown in this rare table to represent various chemical elements and
alchemical processes. The full meaning of these strange characters has never been revealed, the characters
concealing effectually within their own forms the occult secrets regarding the spiritual nature of the metals
and elements which they represent.

In their allegories the alchemists also wed human, animal, and plant emblems; sometimes weird composite
figures, such as the dragon, the winged serpent, the unicorn, and the phœnix. In almost every case they
symbolized gold as a king with a crown on his head and often with a scepter in his hand. Sometimes they
depicted him with the ace of the solar disc surrounded by rays. Silver was personified as a woman who they
called the queen. She wore no crown but often stood upon a lunar crescent: much after the fashion of the
Madonna. Mercury was typified as a youth with wings, often with two heads, carrying serpents or
sometimes the caduceus. Lead they symbolized by an old man with a scythe in his hand; iron by a soldier
dressed in armor. To aqua fortis was given the curious name "the ostrich's stomach," and to the attainment
of the "Great Work" they assigned the symbol of the phœnix sitting upon a nest of fire. The union of
elements they symbolized by a marriage, the Process of putrefaction by a skull, antimony by a dragon.

p. 156

The following table shows the angles to which the parties of three (salt, sulphur, and
mercury) go in search of CHiram:

The Four "Corners" of East South West North
Creation
The Fixed Signs of the Aquarius Leo Scorpio Taurus
Zodiac
The Parts of the Cherubim Man Lion Eagle Bull