The Venus Birth portrayed by Botticelli has close resemblances with the alchemical Primaterialistic Subject and its vegetative power.
The title “Birth of Venus” was the wrong one given by a curator of Galleria degli Uffizi museum, in the nineteenth century. While to be precise, the painting by Sandro Botticelli represents the Landing of Venus on Cyprus Island. According to many analysts, it would depict the spiritual beauty of the Soul.
The characters in the painted scene have been conceived to embody all different phases of the same leading role. Venus is all the same Zephirus, Aura, sea froth, shell, flowers, trees, woman handling red mantle and red mantle. Botticelli will use the same narrative method in “ The Springtime”.
Both the paintings, “Venus Birth” and “The Springtime” beautify a countryside villa owned by Cosimo the first, duke of Firenze. Both pictures have been assumed to conform to the piece of poetry “Stanze” by Agnolo Poliziano, a poet very close to the neo-Platonian culture prospering at De Medici court in the fifteenth century. Alessandro Filipepi aka Sandro Botticelli ( 1445-1510) was brought up in Firenze in the very years when the pseudo-Corpus Hermeticum has been said to be covertly offered by a monk miraculously escaped from the Byzantium siege in 1453. Since Poemander supposed translation, and during centuries, there had been more or less brilliant attempts to put Alchemy and Catholicism getting along.
But as early as 1438, Georgios Gemistos Plethon was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in Western Europe. In fact, together with other illustrious oriental philosophers, including Cardinal Bessarione, came to Italy following the Byzantine emperor John VIII, as his advisor, to participate in the Council of Basel, Ferrara, and Florence. From what Marsilio Ficino writes, it would appear that Cosimo de ‘Medici, listening to his speeches, became convinced of the need for a return to the ancient spiritual and political values of Platonic philosophy, and for this, he worked for the foundation of the Florentine Neoplatonic Academy. In Italy, Plethon gave orations on Plato and on the Chaldean Oracles, expressions of the ancient Babylonian mystery wisdom, which according to his opinion were attributable to the doctrine of Zoroaster (Zarathustra) who he believed to be an ancient theologian (“priscus theologus”) from whom they were derived the philosophies of Pythagoras and of Plato himself.
Another aspect too often neglected by art historians was the influence of the book Marriage of Philology and Mercury by Martianus Capella, which represented the unrecognized basis of so much mythological erudition of Italian Renaissance painting.
Let’s begin to analyze the painting from a philosophical point of view. According to Poliziano, Venus would represent the spiritual beauty of the soul and the red mantle is ready just to properly cover her nakedness. It is not so difficult to spot a naked person in an Italian renaissance painting. But, to be honest, it was much more common to find young boys portrayed without clothes. Feminine nudity, like in greek classic iconographies, was reserved for more sacred occasions rather than profane ones, even if they may seem so to a layperson.
The Greek Aphrodite was a much more complex goddess than the Roman Venus, of which she will take only some aspects. The oldest version of her birth wants her to have arisen entirely from the foam (aphros) fallen into the sea from the genitals mowed down by Chronos castrating his father Ouranos with a sickle. Both Chronos the-time-before-time and Ouranos the sky-before-the-sky were not considered gods but titans. Indeed Ouranos was so ancient that it can only be considered the ancestor of the Titans.
There are gods who send souls to bodies: Diana the huntress, Hera, and Demeter. While others withdraw the soul from the mortal remains, namely Apollo, Mercury, and Venus. And there is only one place where this happens, Hades. In this aspect, Venus can also be considered a chthonic deity. In addition to sometimes also having the epithet of Helios, or even having temples dedicated to her on seafaring cliffs. Let’s have a closer look at some details of the painting now:
Blowing Zephirus and Aura are getting Aphrodite’s shell ashore. The ancients saw the shells as the unique animal to transform water in the earth. Water element into earth element, so then everything that flows is transformed into everything that has a bodily consistency. In mythology, as well as in alchemy, the phrase “all that flows” can present a wide range of meanings, primarily atmospheric air with all the phenomena involved in it. Aura is a minor deity from Greek mythology. She is the daughter of an Oceanine and a titan, her name means “breeze” and derives from her movements, which are as fast as the wind. This minor deity in Botticelli’s painting is instead a key figure to get the specific Aphrodite’s role. The fast Aura moves around all bodies – indeed, all bodies have an aura – and indeed, he is preparing to promptly clothe Aphrodite with a flowery cloak. Can we define that red cloak as a Mumia or Evenstrum?
The fact that Venus plays so many roles in mythology also makes her the protagonist in Alchemy. Apart from the shell, the first detail an alchemist could focus on is the coat’s redness. Why Venus is being mantled with red? Strange enough, in Alchemy, does exist a white phase goes to redness, and this white phase is called Venus. Or vegetative power. Or extraction of our Primaterialistic Subject.
You can hardly find no mention of Venus in alchemic literature. Venus looks to be everywhere and, like in mythology, performs varied and sometimes contradictory functions. Dom Pernety makes her a leading role in his “Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques” edition 1786. In Alchemy Venus may be an excellent example of the rule of three (an allegory stands for at least three different concepts). Philalethes regards Venus as a major constituent of “Magisterium”. And Magisterium is close to the alchemical final goal. A rough translation for it may be “Master dominion”.
Venus is being born by Laton or Putrefaction, that’s to say she represents the whiteness towards redness in the Main Work (see an Opus Magnum scheme). So, if speaking of Planets or phases, she is the daughter of second Saturn, That’s to say she is situated in the metamorphosis between black Saturn and reddish-citrinus Mars towards purple Sun (see a Kamala Jnana introduction). Indeed she is white, but has “citrinus” or citrus color hair and going to be red mantle.
Some authors identify Venus with a greenish color between black and white. And after that, they affirm her vegetative power is an allegory standing for the green color. Merèlle, in her Alkymiens Mysterier 1990, states: “The copper salt is blue, and in solution, it has the same color as the Mediterranean ocean in the sunshine. Food for thought. Because from this area stems the myth of Venus (Aphrodite), the woman that was born in a seashell on the blue ocean. Already in the year, 3.000 B. C. copper was produced on the Mediterranean island of Cypern, which means “copper island”. Here they also had, as previously mentioned, the legend of Pygmalion, which had his statue animated with the help of Aphrodite. But who was she actually, for she was also called Venus, and was synonymous with copper in alchemy!” Ok. But what if one is not likely to use copper as Materia Tertia or raw matter? Alchemists were usually not so keen on forcing people to a strict “recipe”. Their allegories should cover universal concepts rather than definite chemical molecules. For they perfectly know that our Secret Fire does the job ( at least the most important one). Chemical proceedings are just the beginning. Alchemy without the belief in a strange and undetectable substance called Secret Fire would be unapproachable. Secret Fire causes a person skilled in the Art being able to employ quite all you can think of in the material. Copper is definitely not better than other metals. Perhaps easier to work, for a human being. But let’s return to our main topic.
Botticelli paints Venus as being born from the Philosophical Sea, Saturn’s Belly, or Primitive Mercurius at which Luna ( Moon) or Mercurius/Solvent is being returned. These are rather volatile substances, in fact, vessels are well stoppered during putrefaction. Volatile substances are feminine. But Venus, in spite of her good name, is less female than Luna or Moon. Venus is losing her indeterminate feminine nature and involving in a methamorphoseon. We are always talking about Mercurius and its density stairs, nevertheless, in Venus, we are well towards fixity or masculine property. Nothing to be sown inside, so vessels are open. Blowing Zephirus and Aura are getting her ashore. Zephirus, a god’s son, is an allegory for white Stone, White Sulphur. Aura represents Soul that is to be extracted from its prison. We can notice that Aura is wingless, and Zephirus is holding and lifting her up. As stated above, all characters are performing Venus attributes and metamorphosis phases.
Venus has been said to be born from sea froth. Some air is inside Mercurius. Kamala Jnana called Venus, or whiteness in Main Work is a Coagula process. We know that Coagula is opposite to Solve, and has a stimulating uplifting power, typically masculine. In fact, if seeing Kamala Jnana’s “the Great Work photographed” we may notice a white mass taking much more space than the previous black one and less than the next red. Venus’s vegetative power appears quite evident. Trees along the picture side put emphasis on this aspect. Flowers appear at her stepping. Flowers are a symbol of Coagula or Sublimation. Of course in Main Work, we have already finished alchemist labor or Labors of Hercules, in which sublimations have been performed by human craft. In Main Work Secret Fire, this strange undetectable substance has gone out and begun working by itself, on itself. Slightly sublimating itself, in an astonishing spectacle that may be observed by the alchemist. Of course, vegetative power is not just that. But an intrinsic factor. Venus was worshipped as the goddess of pregnancy. If Luna or Moon is the Spirit coming out of the body, Venus is the Soul extracted from Spirit. She is the Queen of Amor ( Love), playing countless unions. Remember Philaletes calling her a major constituent of “Magisterium”. In fact, Soul-Evestrum-Daemon-Sal Saturni-Proteus-Corpus Sideribus ( stellar body) is our Primaterialistic Subject. That’s to say, Soul is now definitely out of mass-body.
Botticelli was probably well funded by his patron because metallic gold is everywhere in the painting. It innervates Zephirus wings and tree leaves. As Metallic Gold or redness can be sown before Venus Phase. To extract its Soul.
See also: Kamala Jnana, from Black to White ; Archarion & the Opus Magnum Scheme ;