Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem 47: The Wolf and the Dog
Two fierce animals rear up and clutch each other on a hillside. On the left is a shaggy wolf with a long, thick tail. On the right is a lean dog with a plume of fur on its tail. Their jaws are locked at the neck, and their forepaws grip each other's chests.
Behind them, the sun rises in the upper left corner over a wide landscape with a river, a boat and a ruined castle. This is the forty-seventh emblem of Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens, and its motto says: a wolf coming from the east and a dog from the west bit each other.
The book was printed in 1617 at Oppenheim. It has fifty emblems, and each one joins an engraving, a Latin verse, a prose discourse and a fugue for three voices. The engravings are attributed to the workshop of Matthäus Merian. Maier, a physician at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, liked to place opposites face to face.
The Motto
The Latin line gives a scene with a compass. One animal comes from the east, where the sun rises. The other comes from the west, where it sets. They meet in the middle and fight.
The emblem is about direction and meeting. The two animals have crossed the whole world to reach each other.
The Wolf and the Dog
The two animals are cousins. A dog is a tamed wolf, and a wolf is a wild dog. In the picture they look almost alike, but one is shaggy and gray and the other is smooth and sleek.
The match carries a meaning. The wild and the tamed, the free and the trained, are close relatives. When they meet, they fight, but the fight is a form of recognition.
East and West
The old writers placed the beginning of the day in the east and its end in the west. To come from the east is to belong to the morning, the rising, the young. To come from the west is to belong to the evening, the setting, the old.
In the picture, the sun is on the left, in the east, behind the wolf. The dog has the dim side. The animals stand for two halves of a single day.
An Old Alchemical Saying
The tradition has a related saying. A famous passage in the old books speaks of the dog of Khorasan and the bitch of Armenia, which are joined and produce a pup of a heavenly color. The text uses the animals as names for two substances that unite.
The saying is cryptic, and the tradition does not agree on how to read it. Maier's emblem stands in the same family. Two opposites come from far places, clash, and the clash is the start of a joining.
Biting as Joining
The motto says that the animals bit each other, using the word momorderunt. A bite is both an attack and a mark. In the old language of the Work, the union of opposites often looked like a fight.
The tradition said that the first meeting of two principles is violent. They bite and tear until they have changed one another. A quiet embrace comes only after.
A Reading for Today
Most people have an inner wolf and an inner dog. One is wild and the other is trained, and they often wrestle. The emblem does not tell us to kill either. It describes a meeting, and a meeting can be the start of something new.
The Engraving
The animals fill the center of the picture and nearly touch the edges. The wolf has thick hair on its flanks, and its head is lowered. The dog is leaner, with a narrow face and a bushy tail that curls like a flame.
Between their heads there is a gap, as if a third thing were just about to appear. The land behind them recedes gently. A small boat floats on the river, trees stand on the hill, and the ruined castle sits against the sky.
The Fugue
Each emblem has its own fugue for three voices, and each voice follows the one before it. The name of the book recalls Atalanta, the swift huntress of Greek myth who stopped to pick up golden apples. Recordings of the fugues are available, and they pair well with this picture.
Contemplating the Emblem
For those who wish to work with this image:
- Look at the two animals and decide which one you resemble.
- Ask what the other one has that you lack.
- Think of an inner conflict that might be a meeting in disguise.
- Imagine what could appear in the space between their heads.
A Word of Care
The picture shows a violent fight, and the emblem does not advise anyone to fight. Real conflicts, especially between people, deserve care and help. The tradition's claims about the union of opposites cannot be confirmed.
Closing
A wolf from the east, a dog from the west, a sunrise behind them. Maier turned a clash into a meeting. For the seeker, the teaching is frank: opposites bite before they join, and the bite is the beginning.
Related Esoteric Inquiries
- Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem 46: The Two Eagles of East and West
- Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem 40: The Union of the Two Waters
- Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem 38: The Rebis and the Absolute Union
Lux Esoterica.
2026.
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