Day 3 of the Chymical Wedding

"And you have received more than others, see that you also make a larger return.”

Oct 28, 2024

Welcome back, dear reader, I hope the last week has found you well. In our last discourse we discussed the journey of Christian Rosenkreutz (C.R.C.) from his home on the high hill to the castle where the wedding will take place. Today, we will be continuing our study where we left off, C.R.C., believing he is not worthy of attending the wedding, decided to spend the night in the dining hall, bound to his chair. The third day begins when C.R.C. is awoken when the sun is risen, and all the men return from the rooms they had been led to the night before.

Upon waking, the attendants that had been taken to their rooms came into the dining hall slowly and many of them picked up where they left off the night before, making fun of the nine who had stayed behind. Once everyone was assembled together, the virgin came back in on her throne, this time dressed in red and white, in a reverse style of C.R.C. Some consider his clothing to be an image of Christ and the virgin’s clothing could possibly be similar due to her seeming understanding of C.R.C.’s status as a “Brother of the Red-Rosey Cross[3][8][9].” The virgin tells those who stayed in the dining hall overnight that her Lord is pleased that some of the guests were aware of their unworthy condition and tells C.R.C. directly that she is surprised that he did not position himself in a more comfortable position. She then directs those nine to be tied together and placed where they can see the scales more easily.

The golden scales were hung in the middle of the room and a table with seven weights was set up next to it. The seven weights were set as follows; first is a large weight, four small weights, and then two very large weights that seemed to be more dense than you can imagine. The virgin directed the troops that had come in with her throne into seven groups, each group being responsible for their own weight. She then informed everyone in the hall that just like someone who walks into an artist’s room without any knowledge of art and begins talking as if they have some authority will be laughed at, so will everyone who came to the wedding without being invited and who do not outweigh the seven weights. So, all those in the hall were made to line up according to their status and prepare to be loaded onto the scales.

The first person in line, an emperor, is loaded onto the scales and the captain of each of the weights adds his, in turn, to the scale. He is able to outweigh the first six of the weights but not the last, so he was removed from the scale and given to the troops of the sixth weight where he was brutally mocked. Next came another emperor who had hidden a large book in his coat and yet he was unable to outweigh even the fourth weight and was given to the third group of troops to be mocked as well. The meaning of each of these weights has been debated since the publishing of the Chymical Wedding. Some equate them to the seven deadly sins or seven virtues, partially because of their number but also because C.R.C. notes later that pride is against the fourth weight[3][14]. I do agree that at the very least the seven weights relate to virtues that we should be able to embody, but I find it interesting that it is never clarified also that they are all different sizes, with pride being one of the smaller weights. Of these men with high status, only a few made it past the scales and were allowed to sit on the steps of the virgin’s throne.

The group slowly progressed forward, through the elites, the educated and so on till they were left with just the charlatans and the nine guests who had slept in the hall. The charlatans were loaded up on the scales roughly and quickly failed and sent to their lines in such a way that everyone could not help but laugh at them. Those who had stayed in the hall were allowed to be weighed without any punishment as one of the guards had requested, since they knew they did not deserve to be there. Most of the group failed the test and were set aside, not ridiculed or given to the troops, all but the fifth man who outlasted the weights and was applauded by everyone in the room. C.R.C. was the eighth man in the group and was loaded onto the scales. He was able to outlast the seven weights, but the virgin told the troops to pull down on the scales to try to lift C.R.C. by force, which he also was able to hold out against. Upon seeing this one of the troops yelled “that’s he!” and he was removed from the scales and allowed to grant one of the prisoners his freedom. C.R.C. chose the first man who had stepped on the scales, the emperor who outlasted six of the weights. While the final man was failing the scales, the virgin asked C.R.C. for the roses that he had placed on his head, and he happily gave them to her. In my opinion this is another hint that the virgin is aware of C.R.C.’s status as a “Brother of the Rosy-Red Cross” and that possibly there was some sort of mystical direction for him to wear the roses on his head to be better seen and easily identified.

After this ceremony was over the captains of the weights, the men who had passed, and the virgin convened to discuss what should happen to the prisoners who had failed the scales. There were several ideas of how to deal with them, beginning with putting each of them to death more brutally than the last or keeping them prisoner forever but the virgin did not like these ideas. The proposal by C.R.C., his companion, and the emperor that he had saved was the one that was decided on, it was as follows; those who are due to some respect because of their status should be led out of the castle, some more or less respectful. Some would be chased out naked, chased with sticks or by dogs, each one depending on their actions and what they deserved. The ones who had stayed in the hall overnight and still failed should be allowed to leave without any blame, since they accepted that they should not have been there in the first place. As for the ones who had acted so unseemly at the dinner the night before, claiming impossibilities and telling lies should be punished “in body and life according to each man’s demerit[2].”

After coming to this discission the virgin and her troops left the hall and the men who had survived the scales were allowed to be seated at the highest table while they awaited their next meal. Each of the men who had failed were sat at the tables below them in the order they had failed in. The men at the head table informed those below them that they would need to be much better behaved at this meal than they were at the one the night before, but they seemed to all have been embarrassed into submission[14]. At the meal the men who had passed the scales were able to see the invisible waiters from the night before, while those who failed were still unable. The meal went much better than the night before, the men who failed only really speaking to ask about their fates, which those who had passed decided not to reveal to them.

During the meal the pages came into the head table to give each member a golden fleece with a flying lion and told them they were now members of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This is a real order, with many notable figures including Queen Elizabeth II, that was formed in the 1400s [14]. It is not clear if this is a reference to that order or if it is a coincidence, but it does add a small bit of evidence that the virgin may know C.R.C. through his Brotherhood as she is also a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. However, when asked, the virgin told the men that she would not reveal the true name of the order until the issue with the prisoners was taken care of.

The first group that was to be dealt with was those who had knowingly printed false books, who told others how to move toward divinity knowing that they were peddling lies. These men were so convinced in their falsehoods that they continued it all the way up till the scales themselves. So many people in our field will tell you exactly what you want to hear, as we said last week, they will tell you they can create gold, live forever, control the laws of nature, create fame and glory for those who will listen to them, yet they cannot show an ounce of proof of their works! If we are alchemists and Hermetics then we should be aware of Socrates and how no one is wiser than Socrates, because he knows he knows nothing. Nothing in our work is ever spelled out so simply, put into words every man can understand, or placed in a book that you can buy for any amount of money. Our work is hidden, written into more works than anyone knows, under layers that, once peeled back, only reveal more layers to ensure that we never forget just how little we can grasp the mind of the universe.

After telling the men what their punishments would be everyone is taken outside, the prisoners led by their guards and the members of the Order, on the throne of the virgin. The punishments were broken down as follows; for those who failed the first, third, and fourth weights were stripped naked and sent out, those who failed the second and fifth were stripped naked and branded in accordance with their failures, and those who failed the sixth and seventh were sent away with more grace but each one was punished on a case by case basis. The cheaters we mentioned before, the charlatans, were punished in body and life “with the sword, halter, water, and rods” so that everyone who saw them would be aware[2].

The men who had survived the scales were then led by the virgin away from the garden, where she assigned each of them their own page who could lead them around the castle wherever they might want to go, with some exceptions. C.R.C. asked his page to lead him and his companion around the castle, they saw many different rooms including the royal sepulcher and the library. This was apparently something that the page was not supposed to show anyone, so he told both men to never tell anyone what they had seen.

Upon rejoining the group, the virgin decided to ask the men a question, there is an eagle in the room with her and her sister and they want to find out who the eagle likes more. So, they go to the eagle together, the virgin with a laurel branch and the sister without. The eagle goes to the sister and hands her it’s branch and takes the virgins. What could it mean? Everyone turns to C.R.C. to get an answer and he responds with a question as well. He loved two women, and they decided to race to him, the first one to get to him would win. One woman was slower and hung back to cry about losing while the other ran to C.R.C. who had no idea of the contest. Once he was informed of the contest he was confused and didn’t know what to do with this information. In response to this more men began asking riddles each stranger then the last but all having a general theme when I read them. In each of the riddles it seems like everyone is asking for a sign to know if what they did was correct, something many of us do when we are in difficult situations or have to make a hard choice but it seems like asking for the clarification is almost meaningless. The last riddle was one from the virgin regarding her name, we do not know what this name is because we don’t know any of the numbers needed to do the math, but I do believe that inside the story we can find her name with enough work.

After this a group of women entered the room followed by a woman that the men thought was the bride, but it was not. This woman, the Dutchess, welcomes the men and tells them to look to god and “acknowledge his omnipotency” then turns to C.R.C. and tells him he has “received more than others, see that you also make a larger return[2].” This ends the discussion and the weights from before are removed from the table by the women who had come before the Dutchess and they were all led through several rooms where the weights were put away and the Dutchess prayed that the wedding would glorify god and be a benefit to each of the people there before leaving them for the night. The virgin stayed with them slightly longer but they all quickly left to go to their rooms for the night, and thus ended the third day.

I truly hope that this discourse has awoken an aspect of your mind that can be nourished by it. The symbols and topics inside the Chymical Wedding have the same goal as the Dutchess prayed the wedding would, to bring glory to god (or the universe) and to benefit the evolution of humanity. This should be our goal too as alchemists, Hermetics, or mystics in general, and while it may be easier or harder for each of us to do, it should be our goal. I know we have left out certain symbolic pieces of the third day for simplicities purposes, but if you would like to discuss something that I left out or you have another interpretation you would like to share, I am happy to read them. May the lessons of the third day of the Chymical Wedding stick with you over the next week and help you pass the test of the scales.

An Emerald Tablet

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