Vessel of Knowledge

This alchemical vessel is embedded with magical symbols. By moving a light source above the vessel or moving the vessel itself, different symbols are highlighted. Look for the spot of light on the front of the vessel.

For the alchemist, the vessel was a kind of matrix, or uterus, from which the miraculous stone or "divine" child is born. The Paracelsian concept of "light of nature" running through all visible and invisible levels of nature is connected to the gnostic idea of the inner light or the divine spark, which is enclosed with the darkness of matter, illuminating it from the center.