image credit: https://www.moleiro.com/vista/estaticos/formateadas/SS_5af95f45c939b_solispeq_6.jpg
The first plate is titled Arma Artis, Arms (Weapons) of the Art. The plate is divided into two parts… the image and a border. The border is quite elaborate. Some plants have buds, some are in full bloom, some have seed pods. The border also has several animals, mostly birds. Mythcrafts explains the birds by way of The Conference of Birds by Attar.
The image inside the border is reminiscent of a heraldic design, a coat of arms. Behind the helmet is a red tapestry emblazoned with the Sun. Twenty four rays emanate from the Sun (24 reduces to 6, which is associated with the Sun), with one ray stretching down towards the crescent above the crown on the helmet.
The helmet is topped with three upward pointing crescents, which indicate triumph over what is beneath it. Beneath the crescents are a crown, a symbol of Kether. Under the crown is a swirling field of blue with stars—the heavens, a symbol of Chokmah. Below the helmet is a cup-shaped shield, the cup indicating something that can hold water—the Great Sea, a symbol of Binah. On the shield is another Sun, with 15 rays (which again reduces to 6). The face of the Sun on the shield is made up of three more faces (two eyes and a mouth), a Unity and a Trinity.
(Typically, Kether-Chokmah-Binah are considered the Trinity. Why is the Trinity on the shield and also above the shield? Because the Trinity exists in different Worlds. The red tapestry of Fire and the blue swirl of Water represent Atziluth, the first emanation of the life principle. The Sun on the tapestry represents the Mind, the second emanation of the life principle. The Sun on the shield represents our Sun, the third emanation of the life principle. And the clockwise rays represent the Astral Light, the fourth emanation of the life principle.)
In the background, a man in red (and a little blue) is talking with a man in black. The phases of Alchemy are often described in colors—the Nigredo (black), the Albedo (white), the Citrinitas (yellow), and the Rubedo (red). The man in Nigredo represents an Initiate; the man in Rubedo represents an Adept. Neither the Adept nor the Initiate can see the coat of arms from where they stand. They would have to pass through an arch and across a terrace (composed of squares arranged in a four by seven pattern: four elements, seven planets) and over an Abyss before reaching the three stairs that lead up to the dais where the coat of arms is.
A common interpretation of this card is Initiation, the ray of Inspiration reaching down to the Initiate to start him on his journey. But is the ray really directed toward the Initiate, or is the ray the Divine Spark starting its journey – the Divine Spark who will become the Initiate (and eventually the Adept)? The Divine Spark becomes a star in the heavens, a Soul. (And the plates of Splendor Solis trace the alchemical involution and evolution of that Soul.)
Click here for thoughts on Plate 2.
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