Know Nature | Poster

Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, manuscript 1943 (M308)

Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica Collection

This image is based on a famous engraving from Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom by the alchemist Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605) entitled ‘Know Nature’. Knowledge of nature and its processes is indispensable for an alchemist. Here we see how nature of its own accord strives for perfection: from
the world of chaos at the bottom the elements of water, fire, air and earth are formed, the components
of the material world. The ‘rebis’, a two-headed figure, both male and female, symbolises the successful amalgamation of opposite forces. The various body parts of the composite bird (a raven’s head, a peacock’s tail) represent stages in the alchemical process.