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Mercurius:
The Marriage of Heaven and Earth (Paperback)
by Patrick
Harpur (Author)
The
Great Work Told In A Masterpiece,
[NOTE: If you haven't
seen The 9th Gate & plan to, you might want to read this review later. I
give away the ending here & don't want to spoil your 9th Gate experience.]
It's not often I can again be like a child who has found a bright, shinny
treasure, who is so excited with the find, by the act of its discovery, that he
wants to run about, proudly showing the treasure to everybody crying,
"Look at this, look at this, look at this!"
The shinny treasure is, of course, MERCURIUS The Marriage of Heaven & Earth
by Patrick Harpur. I first became acquainted with Harpur's work while reviewing
his book DAIMONIC REALITY, a sort of light hearted examination of the inner
psychic forces giving birth to such wonders as UFO's, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness
Monster, pixies, fairies and Visions of the Virgin Mary. MERCURIUS is very
different. It's a metaphysical novel, a serious work, but still very acessible.
It crosses borders & surmonts barriers. It fuses time & cultures as a
revelation of inner histories.
MERCURIUS is magnificent.
On one level it is a novel that intertwines the lives & different times of
Smith, a 1950's Church of England cleric (who when off duty dabbles in the
pursuit of alchemy and the Great Work) and Eileen who discovers Smith's secret
when she moves into his house at a later time.
On another level the novel is a sort of modern treatise on alchemy and the
Great Work.
So what's the Great work?
Well, if you're totally unfamiliar with the metaphysical implications of the
term, MERCURIUS will let you learn all about it within the framework of an
enjoyable reading experience. If, like me, you thought you pretty much knew all
about The Work--you may also discover that there may be a lot more to it. The
really amazing thing about this book is how the text effortlessly weaves
alchemical facts into a "great work" modern fiction.
For people who saw THE NINTH GATE, the Great Work is also at the core of that
drama, but while it's close--it's not exactly the same thing.
Pursuing the Great Work is a solitary devotion, it has been known to drive
people mad. The great Swedish playwright August Strindberg (1849-1912) is said
to have severely burned his hands attempting the Work. In THE NINTH GATE the
antagonist who has stolen & killed for the sake of the Work immolates
himself while trying to perform it. Johnny Depp, however, discovers the secret
& disappears into the dawning light--after also having sex with Lucifer in
the form of a beautiful woman.
Patrick Harpur provides notes on each chapter at the end of the book, and the
notes themselves are highly informative, based on extensive scholarly investigation.
In fact, they're so good that I would find myself looking up a single item, but
then another fascinating note would catch my eye & I found myself just
reading all the notes for the chapter first.
An alchemical process heads each chapter: Calcination, Solution, Separation,
Conjunction, Congelation, Sublimation & Projection. Each chapter also
displays its own great alchemical woodcut. These images are very much like
those featured in the Ritual Book of THE NINTH GATE--a work apparently devised
by Lucifer himself.)
Returning attention to the purely fictional aspects of MERCURIUS, you may think
that the metaphysical element might give an over all mystical feel to the book,
but actually it makes the physical more vivid, even more real. The literal
& psychological/daimonic meet in a creative expression of unified
awareness. It took me about 20 pages to "get it" and from that point
on I could relax & enjoy the trip--or I could just read the notes & get
pleasantly educated, not only on the history of alchemy, but also the author's
views on Carl Jung & other philosophical interests. Harpur's
interpretations of Jung are particularly insightful & helpful.
A chapter later, I felt that I reached yet "another level" of
understanding based on the storyline & text. This process--dare I say
"initiation"--continued throughout. This may have been intentional on
the author's part, maybe not. You can't completely pin Harpur down, he does not
intrude in his own story. I'll say this: MERCURIUS is no lightweight, New Age,
fantasy fluff. It is a serious, mature work demonstrating the skill of a
brilliant writer & metaphysical investigator.
The reader who hasn't explored previous works by Harpur, might benefit by
reading DAIMONIC REALITY: A Field Guide to the Otherworld, and definitely check
out PHILOSOPHERS' SECRET FIRE: A History of the Imagination.
NOTE: I plan to post more on The Great Work, and in my research
"discovered" the remarkable film Pi (listed on the list below.) This
is a MUST SEE for people working on The Work. Pi is an absolutely fantastic
movie operating on many levels--including Kaballah, atsro-physics, numerology,
theory of everything, unified field theory,etc.
Daimonic
Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld
The
Ninth Gate
The
Book of Secrets
Plays
By August Strindberg: The Dream Play - The Link - The Dance Of Death
Man
and His Symbols
Modern
Man in Search of a Soul (Harvest Book)
Mysterium
conjunctionis, tome 2
Pi
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 03/09