Lead is the coarsest amidst the traditional seven metals of Western Alchemy.
Its color is grey, and it conveys la pesanteur, a grey heaviness of the soul.
Its planet Old Saturn, bestower of dark melancholy.
Lead sings its dumb song in a baritone key.
Yet, it is written that thou shalt seek the Spirit of Metals under the Seal Of Saturn.
You will let lead transpire, till its precious sap comes out of its grayish grave.
But how?
Similia similibus solvantur.
Thou shalt meet lead with utmost kindness, wash it with amorous tears, till it sweats drops of love.
2 comments:
When I was a child, I asked my parents to paint my room gray (which they did). Gray has always been my favorite color.
I knew this color preference of yours through a common friend.
Following the thread of private (and revealing) confessions, I shall tell you that I always referred to the common world as "The Gray World".
Such is the inherent ambiguity of Lead: the vilest of metals, but also the root of the Practical Work.
PS While I was writing the above, it occurred to me to ponder over a truism: Gray is the mix of White and Black. It is thus a mix of two non-colors, the very first duality.
In a very deep sense, gray is a color that is an absence of color. But perhaps color is not absent there: color intensity slumbers in gray.
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