Atalanta Fugiens · 1618 · Emblem V
Appone mulieri super mammas bufonem, ut ablactet eum, et moriatur mulier, sitque bufo grossus de lacte.
Put a toad to the woman’s breast, so that she nurses it until she dies, and the toad grows fat on the milk.
One of the book’s darkest images. Something heavy and earthly is fed by what is refined until it has taken all of it. The work includes this exchange, and it is not pleasant.
What in your life is feeding on your best attention?
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.