MERCURY – CYCLOPS ARGES
$251 —SOLD—
size: 8'x10" (10"x12" with frame)

THE ELDER KYKLOPES (or Cyclopes) were the three, orb-eyed, immortal giants who forged the lightning-bolts of Zeus. As soon as they were born, their father Ouranos (the Sky) locked them away inside the belly of Earth, along with their stormy brothers, the Hekatonkheires. When the Titanes overthrew him, they then drove the giants into the pit of Tartaros. Zeus and his brothers eventually released them and in return they provided the god with his thunderbolt, Poseidon with his storm-raising trident, and Haides with a helm of invisibility. Some say there were a total of seven forging Kyklopes. The additional four, sons of the first, were slain by Apollon to avenge the death of his son Asklepios, who was struck down by lightning.

The tribe of younger Kyklopes which Odysseus encountered on his travels were a different breed altogether, probably born from the blood of the castrated sky-god Ouranos.

MERCURY No alchemical symbol is so confusing as Mercury. Here are some explanations of this mysterious substance. As sulphur is the symbol for the active principle, mercury is the symbol of the passive principle. Mercury is a term used for almost everything. It is the highest divinity, but also a devil. It is used to symbolize certain aspects of the alchemical work, but at the same time it is them all. It is ambiguous with many names and functions. The alchemists often speak about mercury in the form of the god Mercury, whom we encounter in their engravings and paintings. As the god Mercury he is often seen as having qualities that belong both to mercury and to sulfur.