The Septenary

The septenary is another way to split up the triangle. These seven correspond to the seven heavens and the seven metals known to antiquity.

The next modules will examine each of these seven and provide to Wikipedia articles on the correspondences.

Saturn	Jupiter	Mars	Sun	Venus	Mercury	Moon
Lead	Tin	Iron	Gold	Copper	Hg	Silver
Kronos	Zeus	Ares	Apollo	Aphrodite	Hermes	Artemis
Black	White	Red	Gold / Yellow	Green/ Bronze/ Yellow	Dark Silver	Silver
Decrepitude	Middle Age	Virility	Youth	Adolescence	Childhood	Infancy

Saturn

“They say, our Stone is made of a stinking menstruous thing: What think you, is not Saturn digged out of a stinking Earth? For divers are killed with the ill Scents and Vapours where Saturn is digged. And the Philosophers say, our Stone is of little value, being unprepared; they say, the poor have it as well as the rich, and they say true; for there are not poorer or more miserable people to be found than those which dig and work Saturn in the mine; and they say it is to be found in all Towns and places, wheresoever you come Saturn is there. They say it is a black thing: What think you, is it not black? They say, it is a dry water, if Gold and Luna are to be refined upon the test, must it not be done with Saturn? They must be washed and tried with it as a foul garment is made clean with Soap. They say, in our Stone are the four Elements, and they say true; for the four Elements must be separated out of Saturn. They say, our Stone consists of Soul, Spirit and Body, and these three become one. They say true; when it is made fixed for the white Mercury and Sulphur with its’ Earth, then these three are one.”

– A Work of Saturn – Johann Isaac Hollandus

Tin

With Tin we descend from lead, moving closer to the planetary spheres. In our metals he is Tin or sometimes Zinc. Just like in the Hermetic model, Jupiter’s orbit lies inside Saturn’s path around the sun. In religion he is Jupiter and Zeus.

“In that which is manifest (that is to say, the body of Jupiter) the other six corporeal metals are spiritually concealed, but one more deeply and more tenaciously than another. Jupiter has nothing of a Quintessence in his composition, but is of the nature of the four elementaries. On this account this liquefaction is brought about by the application of a moderate fire, and, inlike manner, he is coagulated by moderate cold. He has affinity with the liquefactions of all the other metals. For the more like he is to some other nature, the more easily he is united thereto by conjunction. For the operation of those nearly allied is easier and more natural than of those which are remote. The remote body does not press upon the other. At the same time, it is not feared, though it may be very powerful. Hence it happens that men do not aspire to the superior orders of creation, because they are far distant from them, and do not see their glory. In like manner, they do not much fear those of an inferior order, because they are remote, and none of the living knows their condition or has experienced the misery of their punishment. For this cause an infernal spirit is accounted as nothing. For more remote objects are on that account held more cheaply and occupy a lower place, since according to the propriety of its position each object turns out better, or is transmuted. This can be proved by various examples. The more remote, therefore, Jupiter is found to be from Mars and Venus, and the nearer Sol and Luna, the more “goldness” or “silveriness”, if I may so say, it contains in its body, and the greater, stronger, more visible, more tangible, more amiable, more acceptable, more distinguished, and more true it is found than in some remote body. Again, the more remote a thing is, of the less account is it esteemed in all the respects aforesaid, since what is present is always preferred before what is absent. In proportion as the nearer is clear the more remote is occult. This, therefore, is
a point which you, as an Alchemist, must seriou(S)ly debate with yourself,
how you can relegate Jupiter to a remote and abstruse place, which Sol
and Luna occupy, and how, in turn, you can summon Sol and Luna from remote
positions to a near place, where Jupiter is corporeally posited; so that, in the
same way, Sol and Luna also may really be present there corporeally before your
eyes.

For the transmutation of metals from imperfection to perfection there are
several practical receipts. Mix the one with the other. Then again separate the one pure from the other. This is nothing else but the process of permutation, set in order by perfect alchemical labour. Note that Jupiter has much gold and not a little silver. Let Saturn and Luna be imposed on him, and of the rest Luna will be augmented.”  — Attrib. Paracelsus. “Coelum Philosophorum”

Silver

In alchemy, Silver corresponds to nature, the moon, increase and decrease, all things white, and the bride in our alchemical wedding. Further comparisons can be made to lunar goddesses such as Artemis, Mondays and infancy.

Silver houses a special significance in the catalog of alchemical metals. Unlike gold, it can tarnish over time. It lacks the immortal aspect of gold. The moon is the nearest of the planetary spheres. In the ‘ages of man’ she aligns with infancy.

Some aspects of Valentinian gnosticism are a great aid in helping us understand Sol and Luna. According to Valentinus, man can be occupied in one of thee ways. The Hylic, is occupied with matter. This doesn’t mean that hylics are all shop-a-holics. It does however mean that they focus themselves on worldly things. As far as I’m concerned, that could be their body, their house, their knowledge of biology, their work as a welder, and so many other things that are focused on the material but not necessarily ignoble. This is our lead.

Luna mirrors Valentinus’ second category – The Psychic. This takes some explaining too. By “Psychic” we don’t mean crystal balls and premonitions and Sylvia Browne. Neither do we mean psychic to be ‘of the mind’, in the way we see it interpreted in words like ‘psychiatry’, and ‘psycho-somatic’.

Psyche, such as in the tale of Cupid & Psyche, is the personification of soul. ‘Psychic’ should be interpreted by us as ‘soulful’. In albification we make this change. Sol corresponds to the third category – The Pneumatic. Pneuma is breath and if you interpret the words soul and spirit in the same way I do, the pneumatic is the spiritual person. This is more than just meditating and going to church. The pneumatic is a rare breed (and I need to read more on this but we’re talking about transcending the physical here – on the level of messiahs, and gods). We make this change in citrinitas. Maybe this is why it’s not too tough to make silver, but significantly harder to make gold.