Thanks for the clarifications. And Cotgrove looks like an excellent translation resource, one I will try to remember to use.
At the end of my post on the Sun card, I said I couldn't find a 15th-17th century alchemical equivalent for the twin boys, one being sadly comforted by the other, on the Sun card. However I have been investigating further.
For the woman comforting the man on the Noblet, I speculated that she was the Virgin sad for the fate of her son--the man on the left--which she could foresee. In that interpretation, the man on the left would be Jesus accepting his coming fate, of giving his life for the sake of humanity. In alchemy, that interpretation fits in with Ripley's
Cantilena, in which the the Stone is the "ruddy son" who ascends to heaven with his Queen mother-bride.
Then the problem is what to make of the Chosson, Dodal, and Conver, who replace the woman with a male? Well, I found an alchemical version that might apply, in de Rola's comments on Maier's
Atalanta Fugiens . Emblem X shows an alchemist at his fire with two Mercuries, doubles of each other, looking at each other.
Here we have twins, perhaps. Admittedly, there are no clearly sad expressions, although the one on the left looks to me aggressive and determined, and the other passive and sweet. The association to Jesus's self-sacrifice comes mainly from de Rola's comments. The part I want to emphasize I have put in bold print.
Emblema X. De ignem igni Mercurium Mercurio & sufficit tibi. Give fire to fire, Mercury to Mercury, and it suffices thee.' This is based upon the alchemical axionm attributed to Democritus (see Berthelot, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, 1, 43). Natuer rejoices in nature, but, Maier warns, the Philosophers consider several Fires and several Mercuries. The external Fire (kindled by any combustible substance) must be applied in the proper degree to excite the inner (or secret) Fire hidden within the Subject. Similarly, Mercury (the primordial Principle of the Work) transmits its own vitality to Sulphur, giving its own life in the process. Philosophick Sulphur is then united, in the correct proportions, to the same living Mercury; and the product of that operation is Philosphick Mercury. (Golden Game p. 98)
So de Rola has one Mercury as the "primordial" Mercury, which sacrifices its life to give life to others, and another (perhaps a third, besides the two pictured, as de Rola says there are "several" Mercuries) is "Philosophick" Mercury, which is reborn from the uniting of "Philosophick Sulphur" with the "living Mercury," whatever that may mean.
The process in part is an analogue to an ancient way of of smelting gold. First, mercury forms an amalgam with gold. Then with the application of heat, the mercury becomes a gas and the gold is left. This is analogous to the separation of Jesus's soul from his earthly body. But the mercury, now a poisonous gas, is in a sealed retort. As the gas cools, it collects on the side and in a second retort connected with the first. This is the rebirth in a spiritual body. The metal mercury is analogous to alchemical "primordial Mercury," which is analogous to the god Mercury, conveyor of souls to the afterlife, who is analogous to Christ.
This part of the process is exhibited in Emblem XXIV, below.
De Rola explains:
Emblema XXIV. Regem lupus & vitae crematus reddidit. 'The wolf devoured the King and, cremated, restored him to life.' The Wolf is the Dissolvent ('Mercury') which devours the 'inanimate' King (i.e. the Gold of hte Philosophers) which is useless to the Work until it is reincrudated. The Wolf yields his own life in the Solution (see Emblema XIX), communicating his own vitality to the hitherto latent potentiality of the King, and the latter, having absorbed the life of his assailant, steps from the fire with 'restored heatlh, youth and beauty'. In short, the emblem is another illustration of the hermetick axiom: 'Kill the live to revive the dead.' (The Golden Gme p. 100
I had thought that the wolf represented antimony rather than Mercury; but Mercury is just as good. The wolf's sacrifice is what purifies the King, analagous to the salvific effect of the crucifixion. The Emblema XIX to which de Rola refers shows the alchemist attacking the four elements with a club (
http://membres.multimania.fr/jaumotte111/maier221.jpg). The accompanying epigram is, "If thou killest one of four, all at once will die." Maier advises, "Kill therefore the live, but so as to resuscitate the dead." De Rola comments that "The goal of this operation is the acquisition of Sulphur and its revivification through the death of the initial Mercury" (p. 99). It is the same process as Emblema XXIV. So also the rebirth of the believer is accomplished by the atoning death of Christ.
I can find no picture of the resuscitated Mercury, which should follow the resuscitated Sulphur in the sequence. The nearest I can find is XLIX, which shows the three gods Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune with the skin of a heifer (
http://membres.multimania.fr/jaumotte111/maier221.jpg). The myth is that the three urinated on the skin, buried it, and nine months later Orion was born, who is therefore the child of three divine fathers. "Orion" might be another name for the Dissolvent, chosen because in the laboratory the chemicals used at the end looked or smelled like urine. In other series, such as the
Rosarium Philosophorum (
http://www.esonet.it/img_art/img_rs/Dodici_porte3.jpg) or Mylius's
Philosophia Reformata (
http://www.frimureri.com/grad.jpg-for-web-large.jpg), what occurs at the end is the resurrected Christ, which is one symbol, Christ, replacing its alchemical equivalent, Mercury.
So the Sun card, on this interpretation, represents the self-sacrifice of the left-hand figure as a result of the fire represented by the Sun and, on earth, the right-hand figure (the external fire, or simply an opposing fire, as in how forest fires are put out, one fire opposing another). The Judgment card then represents the same Mercury reborn, when the fire has done its work. The wall behind them is then the glass or other material (e,g. plaster of paris) sealing the retort.
Another 17th century reference to the death of Mercury is in the "Glory of the World," Part III, in its version of the Emerald Tablet. Here is the relevant portion, with the most important part in bold
...Then the Stone ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends from heaven to earth, and receives the choicest influences of both heaven and earth. If you can perform this you have the glory of the world, and are able to put to flight all diseases, and to transmute all metals. It
overcomes Mercury, which is subtle, and penetrates all hard and solid bodies...(
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/glory3.html)
The Emerald Tablet as usually presented was different. Newton's translation follows,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet):
...It ascends from the earth to the heaven again, it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. By this means ye shall have the glory of the whole world, thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing...
To be sure, "overcoming" Mercury is not the same language as Maier and de Rola's "killing." But I think the same sort of thing is meant.
In the 18th century, the second Mercury was replaced by the alchemist himself, in the so-called "Egyptian rite" of Cagliostro, which I cannot imagine comes purely out of his imagination. In the Apprentice degree, the rite reads:
When this rough ashlar or mercurial part has been thoroughly purified, it becomes cubical; it is then, with this primary matter or this dagger in your hand, that you must assassinate this Master -- this rough ashlar which has become cubical; or this Father and this Mother of all the metals....
Q. But you have not told me about Adoniram who, according to ordinary Masonry, was assassinated and what is the symbol of hte black cordon and the dagger which is awarded in the degree of Elect?
A. Masonry has caused you to err on this point. It was not Adoniram who was assassinated, but rather the liquid part which it is necessary to slay with this dagger. It is also as I have just taught you the volatile, lively and mercurial part which is absolutely indispensable to solidify... (Faulks and Cooper, The Masonic Magician: The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and his Egypti8an Rite, p. 214.)
"Adoniram" appears to be Cagliostro's equivalent of the "Hiram Abiff" of Freemasonry, whose initiations he required all his initiates to participate in first. In 1786 there was even a series of illustrations, by the then-famous Alsatian artist and Cagliostro disciple Philippe Jacques de Louthenbourg. At left below, in the 5th of 7 paintings, the alchemist/magician clips the wings of Time, with a new Phoenix stretching its wings above. In the next picture, he slays Mercury, identifiable by the caduceus at his feet and what the accompanying text describes as his "winged heels" (McCalman,
The Last Alchemist p. 166f). With Mercury as a corpse (at right), the soul can reach the inner sanctum of truth.
But Cagliostro has interpreted the "killing" of Mercury as its "solidifying"--becoming solid, not becoming a gas. This last is indeed the well-known goal of fixing the volatile. But it seems to me that since it is fire and not the dagger of "primary matter" that is the instrument of death, at least in Maier, he has left out a step. Also, death is not the same as fixation.
Admittedly, my connecting the Sun card with the two Mercuries is rather speculative. I don't even know the basis for de Rola's interpretation of Maier. When I look at Maier's text for Emblema X (
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/atl6-10.html), I don't see any explicit reference to "Philosophick Mercury" as the product of revivified Sulphur and the death of "primordial Mercury." Perhaps someone can enlighten me further.