"Mandragora"

"Mandragora" by Marlene Seven Bremner

 oil on panel

2026

9"x12"

"Old and young, Mandragora takes a night walk through the forest of symbols, where she finds the ruby of truth. There is no darkness that could hide its light. A plant of magic, enchantment, and power, the mandrake symbolizes the Great Mother and is associated with fertility, conception, and wealth. In ancient Greece the mandrake was sacred to the sorceress Circe and in the Orphic Argonautica was described as growing in the sacred garden of Hekate. Folklore and myth tell of specific ritualistic ways that the mandrake must be dug out of the ground lest its screams should kill you, and the plant must be used with care on account of its poisonous and entheogenic properties." - Marlene Seven Bremner

Marlene Seven Bremner is a self-taught oil painter, working in a surrealist and allegorical style. Her work explores esoteric themes arising from her study and practice of Hermeticism, alchemy, magic, astrology, and mythology. She is the author of Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy: The Emerald Tablet, the Corpus Hermeticum, and the Journey Through the Seven Spheres (Inner Traditions, 2022), and The Hermetic Marriage of Art and Alchemy: Imagination, Creativity, and the Great Work (Inner Traditions, 2023).