Arbor Raritatis
The Tree as the central motif, with the Heavens in a secondary part. From Monas Hieroglyphica.
What is happening
John Dee, 1564 “Arbor Raritatis.”
John Dee, 1564 “Mysteria: ex nostris hoc modo descripta Cosmopoliticis Theoriis.”
Symbolica, 2026 Dee's Latin, put into English here: The Tree of Rarity, and above it, Mysteries, described in this way from our Cosmopolitical Theories. The trunk is lettered Infantia, Pueritia, Adolescentia and Optio, the ages of a life up to the age of choice, where it forks into Terra and Aqua, earth and water, with the Greek words for the spiritual tyrant at the top. The figure is in the letter to the Emperor, before the theorems begin.
Key · 2 motifs
The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.
- 1The Treecentral motif as it reads here: Arbor Raritatis
- 2The Heavenssecondary motif
The picture
A tree drawn as a forked line and lettered, its trunk the ages of a life from infancy to choice, its two branches earth and water, the numbers of the rare set along them. By eye
Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.
Also carrying the Tree
12 works carry it. The closest 6 are here. The symbol.
Where the detail is the subject
This is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, one work that is about it.
In the same series
Record
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