The Seventh Parable
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And hence in the marvelous conjunctions of it and admirable effects,
since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about.
The Emerald Tablet
Malkuth (Kingdom)
Ovid, in Metamorphoses, relays the story of Medea and Pelias.
Pelias was Aeson’s step-brother. Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcus from Aeson and locked Aeson in a dungeon. While in the dungeon, Aeson fathered Jason. Aeson sent Jason away, to keep Jason safe from Pelias.
Years later, Jason returned to Iolcus. Pelias agreed to give up the throne of Iolcus to Jason in exchange for the Golden Fleece, but when Jason returned with the Golden Fleece, Pelias refused. Medea, Jason’s wife, had previously restored Aeson’s youth through magic. Pelias’ daughters wanted Medea to restore their father’s youth and Medea pretended to cooperate. She demonstrated her magic by cutting the throat of an old ram and placing the ram into a cauldron of boiling water and magic herbs. The old ram became a young lamb. (In some accounts, the ram was cut into pieces and the pieces reunited in the cauldron.)
Medea instructed Pelias’ daughters to cut him, to drain his blood. Either by accident (by not looking when they cut him) or on purpose (by being instructed to cut him to pieces), the daughters cut him severely. Medea put him in a cauldron of boiling water (without magic herbs) and Pelias died.
On Plate 11, two figures are carved in the stone above the columns. The carving on the left is a man holding a caduceus (Hermes); the carving on the right is a man holding a thunderbolt (Zeus). Zeus gestures to a carving at the base of the column in the foreground, which shows Hephaestus, the God of Fire, at his forge. Hermes gestures to a man seated in a heated bath, with a partially golden dove seated on his head. In front of the bath is a flask of gold fluid, reminiscent of the flask carried by the Magician in Plate 2.
The pieces of the dismembered Initiate from Plate 10, decocted in the heated bath, have been reunited (conjunction) and renewed. The Solar Path (the Dry Path) indicated by the carving of Zeus and Hephaestus completes; the Lunar Path (the Humid Path) indicated by the carving of Hermes begins.
Zeus fathered Ares and Hebe with Hera. Ares is associated with Strength; Hebe is associated with Mercy. Hebe is the Cupbearer of the Gods. In her cup, she carries Ambrosia, the Divine Exhalation of the Earth, the Elixir of Life that confers immortality. After his apotheosis (becoming a god), Herakles (who is also associated with Strength) marries Hebe. Herakles represents Soul; Hebe represents Spirit. This is the coagula of the Solar Path. Herakles has traveled the path from Malkuth to Hod (Tarot Trump XX, Judgment) and from Hod to Yesod (Tarot Trump XIX, The Sun).