Senior Zadith (Muhammad ibn Umail), Tabula Chimica ALCHEMICAL
cited in 12 emblems
The Tabula Chimica is a Latin translation of an alchemical work by the tenth-century Arabic author Muhammad ibn Umail, known in the Latin West as Senior Zadith, whose visionary imagery profoundly influenced medieval and early modern alchemical symbolism. De Jong (1969) traces the winged and wingless bird motif of Emblem VII directly to Senior's text, where the two birds represent the volatile (Mercury) and fixed (Sulphur) principles that must be bonded despite their contrasting natures. Emblem VII's depiction of the young bird flying from the nest and falling back encodes this teaching in Maier's characteristic fusion of natural observation and alchemical allegory.
Cited in
Emblem VI ALBEDO
Sow your gold in the white foliated earth
Sow your gold in the white foliated earth.
Emblem VII CITRINITAS
Young bird flying from nest and falling back
A young bird flies up from the nest and falls back into the nest again.
Emblem IX NIGREDO
Emblem IX
Fix the old man to the tree in the garden of the dew, and the old man becomes young again.
Emblem XIV NIGREDO
Emblem XIV
This is the dragon that devours its own tail.
Emblem XVI CITRINITAS
Winged and wingless lion
The feathers one lion has not, the other has.
Emblem XVII CITRINITAS
Fourfold fire-ball
A fourfold fire-ball controls this work.
Emblem XVIII CITRINITAS
Emblem XVIII
Fire likes making things fiery, but not, like gold, making gold.
Emblem XXIX CITRINITAS
Emblem XXIX
Just as the Salamander lives in the fire, so also the Stone.
Emblem XXXIII NIGREDO
Hermaphrodite lying in darkness needs fire
The Hermaphrodite, lying in darkness like a dead man, needs fire.
Emblem XXXIV RUBEDO
Celestial conception / hierogamy
He is conceived in the bath and born in the air, but having become red he walks upon the waters.
Emblem XXXIX ALBEDO
Emblem XXXIX
Oedipus, having conquered the Sphinx and having killed his father Laius, married his mother Jocasta.
Emblem XLVII NIGREDO
Emblem XLVII
The wolf coming from the East, and the Dog coming from the West, have bitten each other.