The CyberSybils Unroll Scroll Eighteen ~ Quincunx

QUINCUNX

Capturing the essence of the physical world, that rare treasure alchymists defined as the Philosopher's Stone or quinta essentia, had been the goal of all occult metalurgists since the ancient art had been perfected by those priests of Egyptian goddess Isis, guarded from prying eyes, detailed in all its splendour in the precious book of that Queen of Heaven, The Liber Rosa.

Nicolas Flamel knew the impossible task that lay before him in 1357 when he had found the strange work entitled The Book of Abraham the Jew laying rejected atop a bookseller's table on the Rue St. Antoine in Paris.

Carefully painted upon thin sheets of bark, his scribe's sharp regard had discerned seven wonderful and potent images: Mercury bearing a caduceus, petitioning an armed deity in the sky; a mountain possessing seven caverns guarded by seven black and yellow serpents whose summit was topped by a long bough bearing red and white flowers tossed by the north wind; the Garden of the Hesperides, graced by an oak and rose bush, both hemmed-in with hedges; King Herod ordering the massacre of the Innocents; a caduceus formed by the shapes of two serpents twined 'round a rod of gold; another serpent twisted about the length and breadth of a Cross; a desert terrain populated by four snakes and graced with four fountains.

The Liber Rosa had been found!

But what meaning was back the book's mysterious hieroglyphs, he wondered once the text had been purchased and transported with care to Flamel's tiny shop here he spent hours copying books for wealthy patrons such as the Duc du Berri. Whatever was the message to be deciphered, the Secret to be learned, the process by which an ordinary man such as himself might turn the basest metal to pure and glittering gold?

The questions concerning The Liber Rosa tormented Nicolas to the point of distraction until his wise wife, Perenelle, suggested to her husband that he journey to Léon, in the Kingdom of Spain, and seek out the sage Hebrew Kabalist, a renowned philosopher named Maistre Alejandro Canches, personal physician to that country's king.

Flamel made the necessary arrangements and traveled many miles until he reached the city at the foot of the Cantabrian mountains. He made the proper inquiries, he rapped on the wrong doors and finally, finally he located the master, the teacher, the elated high priest who fell down on his knees in reverence upon being shown the treasure of the Parisian bookseller's stall.

The following days sped by in a rapid succession as Nicolas studied the alchymist's art. Canches explained to him many of the sublime characters of The Liber Rosa and together they discerned that the seven illustrations, once decoded, could be translated in their proper order as: Maceration, Sublimation, Revivification of the Submissive, Preparation of the Fixate by the Volatilizate, Melding of the Properties, Coagulation, Transmutation.

"But what of the serpents?" Flamel had inquired. "What of the proliferation of snakes in the scenes, Maistre Alejandro?"

"The serpent signifies Wisdom," the learned Canches replied. "But other than that, dear Flamel, I know not another meaning," he sighed, "I know not another."

Deciding France a better place to perform much-needed experimentation concerning the revelations, Flamel and Canches quit Léon happy men. Yet misfortune nipped at the heels of the elderly physician and by the time the pair reached Orléans, the Maistre succumbed to apoplexy and was dead.

Deprived of his sole guide, a dejected and bitter Flamel returned to Paris with naught but what he was beginning to consider a cursed Liber Rosa and an heavy heart, despairing at the loss of the friend and teacher whom might have led him to the manufacture of the holy quinta essentia.

The dutiful Perenelle, however, encouraged her returning husband's alchymical pursuits, personally lending a hand until Nicolas' former study was made into a laboratory: distilling appliances, retorts, alembics and the Aludel, that premier alchymic Egg or Vase.

Flamel toiled for twenty-two years, studying the works of Canches' teacher, Villanova, reading whatever books he might find concerning the knowledge of Isis, she who had raised Ra, the Sun, from death. He concentrated and he toiled until one Monday, at noon, on the day January 17th of 1382, Nicolas made a projection on Mercury with a red powder he had developed, the resulting substance taking on a silvery hue, puffs of smoke rising up into the atmosphere of the workroom, assuming a shape, then becoming as flesh of a fully-formed female of a most pleasing countenance.

"I am Quincunx," the developing woman decreed, "the Quinta Essentia. Bring to me The Liber Rosa."

Too shocked to move, Flamel gawked at the female Philosopher's Stone decked out in royal purple robes edged in ermine, a crescent crown banded across her forehead, a beauteous argent sceptre festooned with two coiling bands grasped by one long-fingered hand.

"Now," Quincunx intoned. "My Lord Pythagoras was never this slow."

At the mention of the Sage of Crotona's name, the alchymist did not tarry, falling down on all fours, crawling to the shrine where The Liber Rosa was housed in a corner of the laboratory.

"Yes, bring it to me here," she ordered with an air of supreme hauteur. "Here, this instant."

The book was duly delivered and with the appropriate haste. Quincunx smiled as she viewed the brittle, ancient pages. "I have waited so long," she murmured, "so long for this day. Worthy slaves are difficult to find, Flamel; the ancient priests of Egypt were initiated for twenty-two years as well, did you know?"

"No," the terrified, albeit pleased, man whimpered, just daring to inch closer to the unearthly form.

"Stop and listen. The Mystery is about to be revealed."

When Quincunx reigned in Egypt land,
The Pyramid was her emblem grand.
For Triple Goddess is she still:
Beginning, Prime and End ~ her will
Is found at center, Four on either side,
Earth, Fire, Water, Air her pride;
But all of these need senses Five,
The Quincunx - wood - to be alive.
Thus see me as your living Soul
Take breath from beating and be whole.

"Ether, You are blessed Ether," Flamel cried with joy, droplets forming a pool at Quincunx's lovely, booted feet. "Thou art more subtle and pure than Fire, the goddess of orbicular motion who arose at Creation to form the basis of the stars!"

"Yes, I am the Serpent of Wisdom, the motion of the galaxies, alchymist. Observe the night sky and see my eternal trail. Men will someday name me the Lamda, but verily, you have called me truly: Quincunx, the Fifth Essence, Center of the Four Elements: Caduceus, Boot, Flail and Spur. From this day forth, your fellows will know you by this signet, the Rod and Double Snake, and many will be those who seek me out. Come forward, then, Nicolas Flamel and receive your reward, your brain stone, your enlightenment. In gratitude to me, you will found the Society of the Ros Crux, for the four instruments of the Cross produce that blood which turn my white roses red."

Caduceus met the back of the supplicant and Flamel cried out the names of the seven beatitudes: Maceration, Sublimation, Revivification, Preparation, Melding, Coagulation and Blessed Transmutation.

The Liber Rosa shut and the brand of Quincunx's red cross was visible through the torn fabric of Nicolas Flamel's smock.