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Alchemy and Art by Jacky Art has a few more uses than filling up the blank spot on the wall behind the couch you know.  It can be used to promote propaganda, incite a revolution, convey a philosophical/spiritual message, sew discord or dissonance or more prosaically just inhabit the bottom of the cat box. What I really want to discuss here however is Alchemy in art.  Alchemy as you may know was a true protoscience, the forerunner of chemistry and medicine in that ancient practitioners believed that certain compounds when mixed with other certain compounds and base metals could produce such wonders as gold from lead and health from disease. You may say "Well, what has this got to do with art?" Well the answer is much because artists and prominent scientists have always had an interest in the occult.  Sir Isaac Newton the great mathematician and physicist, for example, was an alchemist.  In fact, it was said that he was much more interested in alchemy than he was in Physics.  For him, Physics was a sideline hobby and Alchemy was his true calling. Many artists of the Italian Renaissance period, Leonardo da Vinci in particular, took great delight in embedding strange symbols and hieroglyphics into their art works that were only decipherable by fellow alchemists and those in the know,  and Dan Brown.    There is little doubt that Leonardo's "Vitruvian Man", which was heavily featured in the "Da Vinci Code", does contain arcane symbolism that was quite intentionally put there.  The naked man who stands in the centre demonstrates not only the golden mean of perfect proportion that so interested the ancient Greeks but is placed within a circle which in turn is placed within a square.  This mathematical impossibility was one of three problems that occupied a lot of ancient Greek thought i.e. squaring the circle, doubling the cube and trisecting an angle.  One of the first mathematicians to tackle the problem of squaring the circle was another ancient Greek, Anaxagoras, who was also a philosopher and an alchemist.    Another example of alchemical symbolism deliberately embedded in art is in the 'Adam and Eve' by Albrecht Durer [1504] which upon close scrutiny clearly depicts the four humours i.e. black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood - fire, water, earth and air - which in turn correspond to the four temperaments: melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic and choleric - and the four elements: fire, earth, air and water; A veritable stew, so to speak, of alchemical delights.  Ancient medical philosophy was founded on the belief that the human condition is irretrievably entwined with the four humours and that it was an imbalance of these within the human body that caused disease.  The physician's role therefore was to maintain this stasis, or balance.  If this balance could be maintained then a state of perfect health would ensue.  It did not therefore take much of a leap to postulate that immortality could also be attained if all was in equilibrium.  Therefore alchemists - and artists - were very much interested not only in all of the above but in transmutation, or in simple terms the process of turning a base into something else i.e. base metals into gold.  This involved the never-ending search for the Philosopher's Stone, a sort of universal catalyst that could transmute anything into something else given a stir of the old crucible.  At its basic level alchemy was an entirely practical pursuit involving fire and flasks, stills and oddly fashioned kettles.  On the other, and some would argue more importantly, it was a philosophical and spiritual pursuit.  In the case of Adam and Eve or Jesus and Mary Magdalene for example the vessel was suggested to be Eve/Mary herself and the transmutation was achieved through the comingling of the male and female essences in the presence of a catalyst [the 'water of life' - the aqua vitae - or the sperm?], to produce the final product - the gold of the bloodline.  This is an interesting thesis indeed.  Dan Brown was not the only author to see and wonder about the symbolism contained in the works of prominent artists of the time.  Since alchemy was considered one of the occult arts it was engaged in primarily in secret - hence the 'hidden' symbolism contained in works of art.  Only the initiated could be expected to 'read' the message contained therein.   There are many other fascinating examples to study next time you're at the museum or digging through the art books in your local bookstore.  Search out 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'  by Hieronymus Bosch, or even Leonardo's  "The Last Supper"; in fact just about any of the late Italian Renaissance works.  There is a great deal going on under the surface that you might otherwise miss.  Good hunting!     About Jacky   A Librarian by trade who made Canada home 45 years ago, an animal lover, vegetarian, animal activeness and amateur Paraspychologist.  An open-minded skeptic always willing and indeed eager to be convinced of other worlds and other realities, but don't bear fools and charlatans lightly.   ** Editor's note:  The views expressed are solely that of the author of the article.  What do you think ?  Post your comments on the forum

Back To Salt Marshes by Maki   In a recent chat at work, my boss recalled his childhood days of hiking in the forest and adjacent marshes. Over a few years, he saw his backyard marsh dwindle as people cleared the land for urban development. The marshes were drained of enough water to create a pool of water that built a natural ice hockey rink. The land was then re-filled to redevelop the seemingly ideal open, flat land.   Over the last few centuries, lots of salt marshes were lost to urban development. In Canadas Pacific, 70% of salt marshes were destroyed by pollution or turned into agricultural land, roads, and residential areas, according to Capital Regional District. If you have ever been to Victoria, imagine that there used to be a marsh in the vicinity of the Empress hotel, or near Point Hope Shipyards.   Why does that matter? The article Salt marshes are great Carbon sinks covers a few key reasons that having salt marshes around are beneficial for us. First, since salt marshes lie on the coastline between the sea and land, they can help mitigate flooding. The layers of sediment in salt marshes slow down tidal waves that could potentially bring catastrophic damage to homes and infrastructure. Second, salt marshes house a great diversity of plants, animals, and other wildlife. Birds, fish, insects, snails, and many other organisms depend on marshes for feeding and nurturing their young. The City of Toronto recounts the Don River and the nearby salt marshes that used to be a major fishing, hunting, and gathering site for the First Nations, and now are sources of some commercially important species.   Third, salt marshes can potentially slow down climate change. They have the capacity to soak up carbon dioxide (CO2) and hold it in the soil instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.       The feature of this news article was a novel study on efforts to turn farmland back into salt marshes. The intriguing part about their study was that they compared the carbon absorbing properties of a natural, long-living salt marsh with a 15 year old salt marsh recreated from flooding a piece of agricultural land (instead of maintaining a coastline, they allow the sea to flood the adjacent land, which can eventually create a marsh habitat). Lead author Annette Burden and colleagues found that the restored salt marsh was much less effective of a carbon sink and less biologically diverse than the natural salt marsh. They estimate another 100 years before a recreated salt marsh can attain the properties of a natural salt marsh.   Even 15 years after restoring the salt marsh, the marsh did not have the same chemical powers and life forms found in a natural salt marsh. This suggests that the impact of habitat loss and urban development is not easily reversible. However in the long term, Annette Burdens research suggests hope that salt marshes can be an effective CO2 absorbent for a healthier environment.     About Maki   Hopes to explore the important role we play in the environment, drawing from her personal experiences and current research. Works at a natural history museum where shares with people the wonders of animals, plants, and many other life forms.     ** Editor's note:  The views expressed are solely that of the author of the article.  What do you think ?  Post your comments on the forum