Turba Philosophorum ALCHEMICAL
cited in 12 emblems
The Turba Philosophorum (Assembly of Philosophers) is a Latin translation of an Arabic alchemical compilation dating to approximately the ninth century, presenting alchemical doctrine as a series of speeches by ancient sages. De Jong (1969) identifies it as the single most prolific source for Atalanta Fugiens, attributing nine emblem mottos directly to the Turba's teachings on dissolution, washing, and the union of opposites. Its influence is most prominent in Emblem III (the washing woman), Emblem XXXIII (the hermaphrodite needing fire), and Emblem L (the dragon and woman in mutual destruction), where Theophilus's speech provides the concluding image of the entire work.
Cited in
Emblem III ALBEDO
Go to the woman who washes the sheets
Go to the woman who washes the sheets and do as she does.
Emblem VIII NIGREDO
Emblem VIII
Take the egg and pierce it with a fiery sword.
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 X CITRINITAS
Emblem X
Give fire to fire, Mercury to Mercury, and that is enough for you.
Emblem XIX NIGREDO
Emblem XIX
If you kill one of the four, every body will be dead immediately.
Emblem XXII ALBEDO
Emblem XXII
When you have obtained the white lead, then do woman's work, that is to say: cook.
Emblem XXXII RUBEDO
Emblem XXXII
As coral grows under water and, exposed to the air, gets hard, 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 XXXVIII RUBEDO
Standing hermaphrodite
The Hermaphrodite, born of two mountains, of Mercury and Venus.
Emblem XXXIX ALBEDO
Emblem XXXIX
Oedipus, having conquered the Sphinx and having killed his father Laius, married his mother Jocasta.
Emblem L NIGREDO
The Dragon kills the woman
The Dragon kills the woman, and she kills it, and together they bathe in blood.