Le Mystere des Cathedrales (Colour Plates)

ARCHER said:

Please note that I am definitely not Jacques d'Ares

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Henry said:

The colours of the plate in my copy of Le Mystère (1979) of Plate XXXI. Symbolic Coat of Arms , Sainte Chapelle, Paris, by Julien Champagne are very different from the plate reproduced at the link given by CarpeDiem.
According to Patrick Riviere, the green colour of the frame is very important in practical alchemical work, so it is strange -- or maybe not -- that it has become brown in the link given above.... in fact, that is why that green was chosen as the colour of the English edition of Patrick's book Fulcanelli published by Red Pill Press.

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Henry said:

Plate XXXI. Symbolic Coat of Arms , Sainte Chapelle, Paris

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The Sainte-Chapelle ("Holy Chapel"), located within the Palais de Justice complex on the Ile de la Cité in the center of Paris, is a diminutive yet perfect example of the Rayonnant Style of Gothic architecture. It was erected by Louis IX, king of France, to house the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, precious relics of the Passion. Louis had purchased these in 1239 from the Byzantine emperor Baldwin II, for the exorbitant sum of 135,000 livres (the chapel "only" cost 40,000 livres to build). Two years later, more relics were brought from Byzantium.

While these were temporarily stored in the Saint-Nicolas chapel of the royal palace, Louis set about finding a more suitable space, and commissioned the Sainte-Chapelle to serve as a reliquary casket, albeit enlarged to an architectural scale. In the flamboyant thinking of the 13th century, the idea was to elevate the Kingdom of France to be the leader of Western Christianity.

The original plan of the chapel dates from 1241, and is generally attributed to Pierre de Montreuil, who had also rebuilt the apse of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis and completed the south façade of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. After breaking ground in January of 1246, the Sainte-Chapelle was rapidly constructed, and completed April 25, 1248. On the following day, the upper chapel — serving as both a royal chapel and the place where the relics were to be exhibited — was consecrated by the Pope's legate, Eudes of Châteauroux. The lower chapel — the palace's parish — was dedicated to the Virgin Mary by Pierre Berruyer, Archbishop of Bourges.

The structure is 36 m (118 ft) long, 17 m (56 ft) wide, and 42.5 m (139 ft) high. Fronted by a two-story porch, the Sainte-Chapelle has the emphatically vertical proportions of Gothic architecture, which had been perfected during the 12th century. The architectural model is that of a building with a single nave, culminating in a chevet with seven panels. Outside, the design concentrates on the essentials — a sober base and heavy buttresses contrasting with the soaring lightness of the upper parts. The slate roof is dominated by the spire made of cedar, 33 meters (108 ft) high, a masterpiece of finesse, made in the 19th century, but an exact replica of the 15th century spire. [...]

The holy relics purchased by Saint Louis were kept in a large, richly decorated reliquary, placed at the summit of the open tribune, at the back of the apse. They were exhibited to the faithful each year on Good Friday. In addition to the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross, the Sainte-Chapelle's collection of relics included a number of other key pieces mentioned in both Testaments of the Bible. [...]

Stained Glass

Sainte-Chapelle is renowned for its richly hued stained-glass windows, comprising 600 square meters (6,456 sq ft) in area. Two-thirds of the pieces are original works, representing the finest examples of 12th century craftsmanship. Reds and blues are the dominant colors, in contrast with the 15th century western rose window. In these panes the full biblical story of humanity is recounted, from the Creation to redemption through Christ; Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, Isaiah, the Tree of Jesse, Saint John the Baptist, Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Tobias, Judith and Job, Esther, the Book of Kings, and the History of the Relics follow one to the next. Each window, divided into arches, reads from left to right and from top to bottom.

Following a period of disaffection for the Sainte-Chapelle in 1803, its stained-glass windows were stored in a two-meter space, in order to use the building as a repository for the state's archives. They were admirably restored in the 19th century, then carefully removed during World War II in anticipation of the German invasion of Paris. Following the war, every piece was meticulously replaced.
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Cathedrals/Paris/Sainte-Chapelle.shtml

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Our great cathedrals, built by medieval Freemasons in order to
ensure the transmission of hermetic symbols and doctrine, have
from the time of their appearance exercised a marked influence on
numerous more modest examples of civil or religious architecture.

Flamel took pleasure in covering the many buildings, which he
erected, with hieroglyphs and emblems. The Abbe Villain tells us
that the little portal of St. Jacques-la-Boucherie, which the Adept
commissioned in 1389, was covered in figures. 'On the west post of
the portal,' he says 'a little sculptured angel is seen, holding a circle
of stone in his hands; Flamel had a circular piece of black marble
incorporated in it, with a thread of fine gold in the form of a
cross... .[53] The poor had his generosity to thank also for two houses,
which he had built in the Rue du Cimitiere-de-St. Nicolas-des-Champs,
the first in 1407 and the other in 1410. 'These buildings
showed,' Salmon informs us, 'a quantity of figures engraved on the
stones, with a gothic "N" and "F" on either side'. The chapel of the
Hopital St. Gervais, rebuilt at his expense, was in no way inferior to
the other foundations. 'The facade and the portal of the new chapel:
writes Albert poisson, [54] 'were covered with figures and legends in
Flamel's usual manner.' The portal of St. Genevieve-des-Ardents",
situated in the Rue de la Tixanderie, preserved its interesting
symbolism until the middle of the eighteenth century, at which time
the church was converted into a house and the ornaments on the
facade were destroyed. Flamel also erected two decorative arcades

[53] Abbe Villain, Histoire critique de Nicolas Flame!. Paris, Dcsprl'I
1761.
[54] Albert poisson, Histoire de l'Alchimie. Nicolas Flamel. Pili I
Chacornac,1893.

In the Charnier des Innocents, one in 1389 and the second in 1407.
Poisson tells us that the first showed, among other hieroglyphic
plaques, a coat of arms, which the Adept 'seems to have copied from
another one, attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas'. The celebrated
occultist adds that it appears at the end of Lagneau's Harmonie
Chymique. At any rate, this is the description which he gives of it:
'The coat of arms is divided into four by a cross. The latter has
in the middle a crown of thorns, enclosing in its centre a bleeding
heart, from which rises a reed. In one of the quarters one sees
IEVE, written in Hebrew characters, in the midst of a host of luminous
rays and below a black cloud. In the second quarter there is a
crown. In the third, the earth bears a rich harvest and the fourth is
occupied by the spheres of fire.'

This account, which is in accordance with Lagneau's engraving.
allows us to conclude that the latter had his picture copied from
the arcade of the cemetery. There is nothing impossible in this, since
three of the four plaques still remained at the time of Gohorry,
i.e. about 1572-and the Harmonie Chymique was brought out by
Claude Morel in 1601. However, it would have been preferable to
refer to the original coat of arms, which was rather different from
Flamel's and much less obscure. It was still extant at the time of the
Revolution, on a stained glass window, lighting the chapel of St.
Thomas Aquinas at the Convent of the Jacobins. This church of the
Dominicans-who lived there and had established themselves about
the year l2l7-owed its foundation to Louis IX. It was situated in
the Rue St. Jacques and dedicated to St. James the Great. The
Curiositez de Paris, which was published in 1716 by Saugrain the
elder, adds that the schools of the Angelic Doctor were situated
beside the church.

This coat of arms, said to be that of St. Thomas Aquinas, was
drawn and painted very accurately in 1787 from the window itself
hy a hermeticist named Chaudet. It is this drawing which enables
me to give a description of it (pI.XXXI).

The quartered French shield is surmounted by a rounded segment.
This supplementary piece shows a reversed matrass [55] or, surrounded


[55] Translator's note: a matrass is a round glass vesselwith a neck, used
for distilling

by a crown of thorns vert on a field sable. A cross or bears three
roundels azure at base and arms dexter and sinister and has a heart
gules at the centre with a branch vert. Tears argent, falling from the
matrass, are collected and fixed on this heart. The dexter chief
quarter, halved or three stars purpure and azure seven rays or, is
opposite sinister base a ground sable with ears of corn or on a field
tenne. In the sinister chief quarter a cloud violet on a field argent
and three arrows of the same, feathered or, pointing towards th
abyss. Dexter base three serpents argent on a field vert.

This fine emblem has all the more importance for us, because it
unveils the secrets relating to the extraction of mercury and its con·
junction with sulphur. These are obscure points in the practice, on
which all the authors have preferred to maintain a religious silence.

Pierre de Montereau's masterpiece, the Sainte Chapelle, that mar·
vellous stone shrine, erected between 1245 and 1248 to house the
relics of the Passion, also presented a most remarkable a1chemicaI
ensemble. Even today, although we may strongly regret the restora-
tion of the original portal, where the Parisians of 1830 could, with
Victor Hugo, admire 'two angels, one with his hand in a vase and the
other in a cloud', we still have the joy of possessing intact the south
ern stained glass windows of this splendid building. It would be
difficult to firrd anywhere a more considerable collection based on
esoteric principles than that of the Sainte Chapelle. It would be too
enormous a task, and one which could provide the subject matter of
many volumes, to undertake, leaf by leaf, the description of such a
veritable forest of glass. I will, therefore, limit myself to giving a
specimen extract from the first mullion of the fifth bay, which refer
to the Massacre of the Innocents, the meaning of which I have
already given. I cannot too highly recommend to lovers of our ancient
science, as well as to those desirous of learning about the occult,
the study of the symbolic windows of the high chapel. They will
find an enormous amount of information to be gleaned there, as
well as in the great rose window, that incomparable creation of
colour and harmony.

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"The second stage refers to the work of the human organism when a
man creates a conscious volitional 'shock' at the point do 48. In the first
place this volitional 'shock' is transmitted to the second octave which
develops as far as sol 12, or even further up to la 6 and so on, if the work
of the organism is sufficiently intense. The same 'shock' also enables the
third octave to develop, that is, the octave of impressions which in this
event reaches mi 12.. Thus in the second stage of the work of the human
organism, we see the full development of the second octave and three
notes of the third octave. The first octave has stopped at the note si 12,
the third at the note mi 12. Neither of these octaves can proceed any
further without a fresh 'shock.' The nature of this second 'shock' cannot
be so easily described as the nature of the first volitional 'shock' at do
48. In order to understand the nature of this 'shock' it is necessary to
understand the meaning of si 12 and mi 12.

"The effort which creates this 'shock' must consist in work on the emotions,
in the transformation and transmutation of the emotions. This
transmutation of the emotions will then help the transmutation of si 12
in the human organism. No serious growth, that is, no growth of higherbodies within the organism, is possible without this transmutation. The
idea of this transmutation was known to many ancient teachings as well
as to some comparatively recent ones, such as the alchemy of the Middle
Ages. But the alchemists spoke of this transmutation in the allegorical
forms of the transformation of base metals into precious ones. In reality,
however, they meant the transformation of coarse 'hydrogens' into finer
ones in the human organism, chiefly of the transformation of mi .12. If this
transformation is attained, a man can be said to have achieved what he
was striving for, and it can also be said that, until this transformation is
obtained, all results attained by a man can be lost because they are not
fixed in him in any way; moreover, they are attained only in the spheres
of thought and emotion. Real, objective results can be obtained only after
the transmutation of mi 12 has begun.

"Alchemists who spoke of this transmutation began directly with it.
They knew nothing, or at least they said nothing, about the nature of
the first volitional 'shock.' It is upon this, however, that the whole thing
depends. The second volitional 'shock' and transmutation become physically
possible only after long practice on the first volitional 'shock,' which
consists in self-remembering, and in observing the impressions received.
On the way of the monk and on the way of the fakir work on the second
'shock' begins before work on the first 'shock,' but as mi 12 is created
only as a result of the first 'shock,' work, in the absence of other material,
has of necessity to be concentrated on si 12, and it very often gives quite
wrong results. Right development on the fourth way must begin with
the first volitional 'shock' and then pass on to the second 'shock' at mi 12.

"The third stage in the work of the human organism begins when man
creates in himself a conscious second volitional 'shock' at the point mi 12,
when the transformation or transmutation of these 'hydrogens' into higher
'hydrogens' begins in him. The second stage and the beginning of the third
stage refer to the life and functions of man number four. A fairly considerable
period of transmutation and crystallization is needed for the transition
of man number four to the level of man number five.

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hkoehli said:

-produces a branch that grows towards the "crown" of thorns (higher intellect?).

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hkoehli said:

Perhaps the snakes represent programs, at which the arrows are pointed (the "abyss" or predator?). Also, the snakes are opposite the wheat which can be B influences separated from A influences (wheat from tares as Dant put it). Not sure about the seven rays/three stars, or the colors...

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Fulcanelli said:

This coat of arms, said to be that of St. Thomas Aquinas, was
drawn and painted very accurately in 1787 from the window itself
hy a hermeticist named Chaudet. It is this drawing which enables
me to give a description of it (pI.XXXI).

The quartered French shield is surmounted by a rounded segment.
This supplementary piece shows a reversed matrass [55] or, surrounded


[55] Translator's note: a matrass is a round glass vesselwith a neck, used
for distilling

by a crown of thorns vert on a field sable. A cross or bears three
roundels azure at base and arms dexter and sinister and has a heart
gules at the centre with a branch vert. Tears argent, falling from the
matrass, are collected and fixed on this heart. The dexter chief
quarter, halved or three stars purpure and azure seven rays or, is
opposite sinister base a ground sable with ears of corn or on a field
tenne. In the sinister chief quarter a cloud violet on a field argent
and three arrows of the same, feathered or, pointing towards th
abyss. Dexter base three serpents argent on a field vert.

This fine emblem has all the more importance for us, because it
unveils the secrets relating to the extraction of mercury and its con·
junction with sulphur. These are obscure points in the practice, on
which all the authors have preferred to maintain a religious silence.

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hkoeli said:

-the energy from the sexual center is "poured" onto the heart, or higher emotional center
-the three circles can represent the magnetic center, or three centers in harmony
-produces a branch that grows towards the "crown" of thorns (higher intellect?)

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