Emerging from a flaming heart cauldron containing an egg, a phoenix rises into a new form, a truer self.

 

"...So separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with art. 
It ascends from the earth to the heavens, then descends again to the earth; and in it is the power of the highest and the lowest."                                    Excerpt from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes 

The "egg" (or it may be a philosopher's stone) appears within a kind of sun that itself lives within a twenty sided figure. If that form were 3-dimensional it would be an icosahedron, the most complex of the Platonic Solids, which corresponds to "water." It is interesting to note that the icosahedron is made up entirely of tetrahedrons (triangular forms) which correspond to "fire." Water made of Fire is that active cosmic soup from which life emerges. The cauldron or nest which contains this world is the pericardium or heart protector. There is an alchemical process going on here. At the base of the cauldron is a double triangle: strong fire. Between the bird's head and crown is triangle with something like an R attached: fire of reverberation. Directly above the head is the alchemical script for melting, flowing. 

The phoenix is an image common to the universal unconscious. It appeared to me, with all its specific detail, while exploring a segment of my emotional life that became frozen as a young child. The physical symptoms that ignited this exploration expressed themselves in considerable discomfort from the back of my neck down my right arm, all along the pericardium meridian, and ending in a frozen index finger. All of these symptoms dissipated by the completion of this illumination. It seems that our bodies possess a singular language that would birth us into integrity. 

It is an intense time and a ripe time to reignite into a more authentic self. 

Acid etched, engraved and flamed copper with openwork; oxides, translucent red acrylic and mahogany.

17.5” x 17.5”

$6000