Symbolica
Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it

Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it

The Heavens as the central motif, with the Sun and the Moon in a secondary part. From Monas Hieroglyphica.

John Dee, 1564, this printing 1591. Woodcut.

Public domain, 1591 printing · Web copy 1113 by 938 px · Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 53

What is happening

John Dee, 1564 “Totius astronomiae inferioris anatomia Monadica principalis.” Monas Hieroglyphica, Theorem XIII, the label set beside the grid.

John Dee, 1564 “Ex Sole et Luna, totum hoc pendere Magisterium iam clare confirmatum est. Huius, etiam Termaximus ille Hermes, nos olim admonuit: eius Patrem Solem esse, asserens: Lunam autem, Matrem: nutriri vero scimus in Terra Lemnia.” Monas Hieroglyphica, Theorem XIIII, its opening.

Symbolica, 2026 Dee's Latin, put into English here: The principal Monadic anatomy of the whole of inferior astronomy. And: That this whole Mastery hangs from the Sun and the Moon is now clearly confirmed. Of this, thrice-greatest Hermes long ago warned us, asserting that its Father is the Sun and its Mother the Moon, and we know it is nursed in Lemnian earth. Inferior astronomy is Dee's name for alchemy, and the grid shows every planet's sign as a piece of the one glyph.

Key · 2 motifs

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

  1. 1The Heavenscentral motif as it reads here: Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it
  2. 2The Sun and the Moonsecondary motif

The picture

A grid of the signs of the planets, each shown as a part of the monad, with the monad itself in the middle square, and a label down the side calling it the principal anatomy of all inferior astronomy. 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 Heavens

36 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.

Where the detail is the subject

the Sun and the Moon

This is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, one work that is about it.

In the same series

Monas Hieroglyphica, 1564

Record

Source
Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 53
Rights
Public domain, 1591 printing
Restoration
None. A 1113 by 938 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.
Series
Monas Hieroglyphica, 1564
Artist
John Dee, mathematician, astrologer and adviser to Elizabeth I, 1527 to 1608 or 1609, who designed the hieroglyphic monad and wrote the theorems that explain it
Titled here
Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it. Internet Archive catalogues it as: Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it, from Monas Hieroglyphica, Frankfurt 1591
Checked
the Internet Archive item metadata, 4 September 2026: Dee as author, Frankfurt, Wechel and Fischer, 1591, in the Getty Research Institute's alchemy collection. The figures are small woodcuts set in the text and are kept at the size of the scan; nothing is enlarged. The quotations were read off the page images. Not seen in the hand.
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Cite
Symbolica, “Theorem XIV: the anatomy of the monad, the planets drawn out of it”, John Dee, 1564, this printing 1591. thesymbolica.com/work/theorem-xiv-the-anatomy-of-the-monad-the-planets-drawn-out-of-it/