sol niger

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness ... Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding.-Lao-Tzu

"tragic art ... deals with the fact that a man is born to die."

How can we understand a death that means new life or a darkness that shines?

The black sun is a paradox. It is blacker than black, but it also shines with a dark luminescence that opens the way to some of the most numinous aspects of psychic life.

The mortificatio process was often thought of as tortuous and as the "most negative operation in alchemy."" "It has to do with darkness, defeat, torture, mutilation, death and rotting. The process of rotting is called putrefactio, the decomposition that breaks down organic bodies""

Janet Towbin, who did a series of black paintings influenced by alchemists, writes:is the beginning of consciousness-you cannot have light without darkness or darkness without light. The dyad of black and white sets up a diurnal rhythm and the contrast is essential to consciousness. This is the symbol of Tao, the yin and yang.In alchemy, the color

When you see your matter going black, rejoice, for this is the beginning of the work.-Rosarium