The Ripley Scroll

Hikaros

Joined August 2008

Topic Starter

Hikaros 2011-08-14T08:58:29+00:00

For the ones that haven't read it: http://www.levity.com/alchemy/rscroll.html

there is a segment that gets my attention:

"The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame."

Pretty sure some people will recognize that

but i was wondering... what does it mean? i don't think he said it just because. I read the ripley scroll but i didn't really understand anything of its meaning :/

the images are somewhat weird. do you think they have to do with ocultism?
any idea of the phrase in general and possible meanings?

Shellghost

543 posts

Joined March 2009

Shellghost 2011-08-14T10:06:18+00:00

This can be interpreted in several ways.

Hermes is the messenger of the gods and is considered to be a symbol of great freedom and inspiration as he is typically depicted with wings on his head and/or feet.

In the passage, the bird of hermes is "eating his wings variable, And maketh himself yet full stable " which can mean it is evening out the feathers in it's wings in order to be stable while it flies. An interpretation of this is that in order to maintain control of it's freedom, it must sacrifice a small part of it.

"When all his feathers be from him gone, He standeth still here as a stone"
The bird has eaten all of it's feathers (I'm not sure why, perhaps as feathers continued to grow it would cut them back further and further until they were gone.) and can no longer fly as it is immobile. It could be said that in it's frantic desire to have control over it's freedom it had gone too far and removed it's freedom entirely.

"Here is now both white and red, And all so the stone to quicken the dead"
This seems to have more to do with the philosopher's stone as does the rest of this passage (and all of the passages).

The line, "The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame." likely has much more to do with the stone and obtaining it or using it. Since I haven't read much of the rest of The Ripley Scroll I can't give you a sound interpretation.