Splendor_Solis_19_Black_Sun

One of the most sumptuous and beautiful of all illuminated alchemical texts, Splendor Solis was published in various versions throughout the German states in the 16th Century. Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, a legendary figure who acquired the Philosopher’s Stone and was allegedly Paracelsus’s teacher, Splendor contains 22 (the same number as the Major Arcana of the Tarot)  gorgeous, mystifying images with elaborate decorative borders reminiscent of  medieval Book of Hours. As with all alchemical treatises the text is full of dense allegorical references to the Solar King and Lunar Queen, death and re-birth, the black and the inner suns, planets and tinctures.

Splendor_Solis_04_Solar_King_and_Lunar_Queen_Meet

Splendor_Solis_05_Miners_Excavating_Hill

Splendor_Solis_06_Philosophers_Beside_Tree

Splendor_Solis_07_Drowning_King

Splendor_Solis_09_Hermaphrodite_with_Egg

Splendor_Solis_10_Severing_the_Head_of_the_King

Splendor_Solis_12_Saturn_Dragon_and_Child

Splendor_Solis_16_Venus_Peacocks_Tail

Splendor_Solis_21_Women_Washing_Clothes

Splendor_Solis_22_Sun_Rising_Over_the_City