Alchemy & Hermeticism
Trinity of body, soul and spirit
Two fish swim in opposite directions beneath a harbour of sailing vessels in Redgrove's Plate 2, captioned as an emblem of body, soul and spirit. The adjacent discussion explains the alchemists' analogy between human beings and metals: each was understood to have an outward body, an individual soul and a universal spiritual principle. Redgrove uses the illustration to introduce this mystical framework before turning to physical alchemy, rather than as a natural-history picture of fish. The caption establishes the emblem's subject, but does not provide a reliable key assigning each fish or boat to a particular component of the trinity.
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Citation
"Trinity of body, soul and spirit" [editorial title]. In Alchemy: Ancient and Modern, H. Stanley Redgrove. Second and revised edition, 1922, William Rider & Son, Ltd.. Source scan leaf 41. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/alchemy-trinity
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Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
The alchemical model is reported as a historical belief. Individual pictorial symbols remain unidentified where the source does not explain them.
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Trinity of body, soul and spirit. Alchemy: Ancient and Modern. Scan leaf 41. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/alchemy-trinity