The Third Parable
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If he is turned into the earth,
The Emerald Tablet
Tiphareth (Beauty)
The text describes the King of the Earth as wearing three crowns: one of Iron, one of Silver, and one of Gold. Iron is associated with Mars, Ares, and Strength. The Iron Crown represents the Body; the Silver Crown represents the Spirit; the Gold Crown represents the Soul. In the background, the “old” King is in the river, drowning (dissolution, Solve). In the foreground, the “new” King holds a scepter (surrounded by seven stars “which give a Golden Splendor”, Splendor being a Glory, an Aura, the Astral Body) and a Golden Apple. Seated on the Golden Apple is a dove (representative of the Soul), with wings part silver and part gold (indicating the Soul and the Spirit together).
The Golden Apple of the Hesperides represents Initiation, which Herakles retrieved (well, which Herakles convinced Atlas to retrieve) during one of his Labors. (Some consider the apple tree of the Hesperides to be the Tree of Knowledge.)
The text quotes Aristotle, saying “The Destruction of one thing is the birth of another” and then instructs the alchemist to “Deprive the thing of its Destructive Moisture.” Moisture is deprived by heat, or calcination. This relates to the Shirt (or Tunic) of Nessus, given to Herakles by his wife Deianeira. Deianeira believed the shirt would keep Herakles in love with her. The shirt, though, actually contained blood from Nessus, a centaur Herakles had killed with an arrow tipped with the blood of the Lernean Hydra. The shirt began to cook Herakles alive; Herakles could not remove the shirt.
In the next plate, the Initiate not wearing a shirt, but is receiving a shirt from the Queen.