Michael Maier and the Atalanta Fugiens (Emblem 11): The White Woman and the Red Man
In the 17th century, the German physician and alchemist Michael Maier articulated a vision of the alchemical process so profound and "Highly Systematic" that it remains the definitive record of the Chemical Marriage : his Atalanta Fugiens . Within the eleventh emblem— "Alba mulier cum rubeo viro concumbens" (The white woman lies with the red man)—Maier establishes the fundamental Syntax of Conjunction ( Conjunctio )—the ability of the purified spirit to anchor the absolute light of the Divine Mind through the absolute union of the Lunar Principle (the white woman) and the Solar Principle (the red man). This represents the state of Henosis (union) where the "subject" and the "Real" are fused into a singular, radiant unity. To understand the eleventh emblem is to confront the law of Atmospheric Reciprocity . Maier teaches that the human being is a "Composite Being" currently in a state of "Atmospheric Fragmentation" due ...