"The Composition of the Waters"

"The Composition of the Waters" by Marlene Seven Bremner

 oil on panel

2016

30"x40"

"This painting was my first use of the surrealist process of automatic painting, which brought me on an eight-month journey of psycho-spiritual alchemy in which the boundaries between worlds dissolved and I perceived a greater unifying truth behind the veil. Above and Below, Within and Without were felt and experienced in their unity. The title was inspired by the visions of the Gnostic alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis, in which he describes 'the composition of the waters,' and the 'liquids in the art of the metals.' It was through these visions that Zosimos was able to understand that “through the harmonies of separating and combining...all things bring forth nature. For nature applied to nature transforms nature. Such is the order of natural law throughout the whole cosmos, and thus all things hang together." - 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).