Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem XV

Atalanta Fugiens · 1618 · Emblem XV

Opus figuli, consistens in sicco et humido, te doceat.

Let the potter’s work, which consists of the dry and the wet, teach you.

Clay too wet collapses; too dry, it cracks. The craft is in the balance, and the potter learns it with the hands.

Is your work too dry or too wet right now?

Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens (Oppenheim, 1618). Engraving in the public domain. Motto transcribed from the 1618 edition; translation and reading by The Hermetic School. All the emblems.

The Inner Circle

A letter with each new episode: the sources behind it, a passage from the primary text, and the question to work with. Nothing else.