Rubedo
Rubedo is a
Interpretation
The three alchemical stages preceding rubedo were nigredo (blackness), which represented putrefaction and spiritual death; albedo (whiteness), which represented purification; and citrinitas (yellowness), the solar dawn or awakening.[3] Some sources describe the alchemical process as three-phased with citrinitas serving as mere extension and takes place between albedo and rubedo.[4] The rubedo stage entails the attempt of the alchemist to integrate the psychospiritual outcomes of the process into a coherent sense of self before its re-entry to the world.[5] The stage can take some time or years to complete due to the required synthesis and substantiation of insights and experiences.[5]
The symbols used in alchemical writing and art to represent this red stage can include blood, a phoenix, a rose, a crowned king, or a figure wearing red clothes. Countless sources mention a reddening process; the seventeenth dictum of the 12th century Turba Philosophorum is one example:
O Turba of Philosophers and disciples, now hast thou spoken about making into white, but it yet remains to treat concerning the reddening! Know, all ye seekers after this Art, that unless ye whiten, ye cannot make red, because the two natures are nothing other than red and white. Whiten, therefore, the red, and redden the white![6]
Psychology
In the framework of psychological development (especially with followers of
The Self manifests itself in "wholeness," a point in which a person discovers their true nature. Another interpretation phrased it as "reunification" which entail the reunion of body, soul, and spirit, leading to a diminished inner conflict.[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 0813208416.
- ^ Shaeffer, Katherine H. Stages of Transmutation: The Visual Rhetoric of Alchemy in Sequential Art.University of Florida. 2009. p.21
- ^ M.-L. Von Franz, Alchemy (1980) p. 83
- ISBN 978-0-7914-8010-6.
- ^ ISBN 9781782200505.
- '^ Turba Philosophorum. A.E.Waite translation.
- ISBN 9781317654278.
- ^ Thea Euryhaessa, Running into Myself (2010) p. 278
- ISBN 9780415682039.
- ISBN 9781584205326.
- ISBN 9781317270959.
Further reading
- Jung, C. G. Psychology and Alchemy 2nd. ed. (Transl. by R. F. C. Hull)
External links