Page 386 of The Chymical Wedding is a MANIFESTO. After the origin myth, after the adamantine Palace, after the poem, after the house tour, after the spy call, after Kajsa Victoryrose and her ninety titles — the King drops all disguise and speaks DIRECTLY to the reader. This is not a character talking. This is not Flir or Alice or Puppy O'Hara. This is Spiros, in the waters of moonsense, telling you exactly what Plomari IS and what it WANTS. And what it wants is this: play up all nights, sever your head to stay with love, use medicine to cure medicine, carry the light in the storm, ring the bell at Mount Parnassus, have an outbreak of psychosis, join the golden chain of Homer, wear sunglasses, enjoy diplomatic immunity, and — above all — MAKE NO SENSE. This is the battle plan of the invisible city. And its soldiers are armed in the gold of laughter.
"And here I am again in the waters of moonsense where poetry is free to play up all nights riddling nonsensical meaning deeper than a mirror against a mirror, severing my head to stay with love on a journey with Myth and the feminine teaser who slips from half asleep her woman's curves to seduce the guards of linearity to have an affair with her majesty. Zeitgeist. Halfasleepengeist. Touch it muse.
Hidden in mid~heap is the instil of divine inspiration. That which spreads the fever. Play! Have faith. Trust home and heartland, and trust it fully for a chance. If we brightdaylors of the hidden metropolis share we will shake the stable system. What they tried during Rosicrucian time is what we are succeeding with. But neat is the path, as we must use medicine to cure medicine. But the grassroots of the invisible city refuse to be crushed. Armed we are, in the gold of laughter. And in the midst of the storm, we carry the light. We are the supersustansialis, the water~carriers, drawers of water, returning to the range. And with our capacity to travel beyond the ring pass not, we can retrieve the jewel.
Journey to the interior of the earth, and by rectifying, you will find the stone that is the true medicine. Go abed and come back with the stone kissed and blessed and ready. Pass through the lovegate. Have an outbreak of psychosis. Ring the bell at Mount Parnassus. Speak to the locals. Take some time off. Expand. Undefine yourself for a while and let your imagination thrive. Let the sun in. Join the golden chain of Homer, and start your own. Use your privilege to wear sunglasses and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Make no sense. We need more merchandise from the deep caverns and from the garden."
— The Chymical Wedding, by King Spiros of Plomari, page 386
It starts in MOONSENSE. Not nonsense. MOONSENSE. The sense the moon makes — which is no sense at all and ALL the sense at once. Tidal sense. Gravitational sense. The sense that pulls oceans and madmen and poets in the same direction. And in these waters, poetry is "free to play up all nights" — not all NIGHT but all NIGHTS, plural, every night that ever was — "riddling nonsensical meaning deeper than a mirror against a mirror." TWO mirrors facing each other. Infinite regression. Infinite depth. Nonsensical meaning that goes DEEPER than infinity. And to stay in this water, you have to SEVER YOUR HEAD. Cut off the thinking. Kill the rational. Decapitate yourself to stay with LOVE.
THE WATERS OF MOONSENSE
"The waters
of moonsense."
MOONSENSE.
Not nonsense.
MOONsense.
Tidal sense.
Gravitational
sense.
The sense
that pulls
oceans
and poets
in the same
direction.
"Deeper than
a mirror
against
a mirror."
TWO mirrors.
Facing
each other.
Infinite
regression.
Nonsensical
meaning
deeper than
infinity.
"Severing
my head
to stay
with love."
DECAPITATION
as devotion.
Cut off
the thinking
to stay
with the
feeling.
"The feminine teaser
who slips
from half asleep
her woman's curves
to seduce the guards
of linearity."
THE MUSE.
She seduces
the GUARDS.
Not the poet.
The guards.
She convinces
logic itself
to have
an affair.
"Zeitgeist.
Halfasleepengeist."
ZEITGEIST:
spirit of
the time.
HALFASLEEPENGEIST:
spirit of
being
half asleep.
A new
German word.
Invented
on the
napkin.
And then the FEVER. "Hidden in mid-heap is the instil of divine inspiration. That which spreads the fever." The divine isn't at the top. It isn't at the bottom. It's in the MID-HEAP. In the middle of the mess. In the pile. The inspiration is HIDDEN in the chaos, and it spreads like a FEVER. Not like a message. Not like a teaching. Like a DISEASE. Divine inspiration is CONTAGIOUS. And then the call to arms: "If we brightdaylors of the hidden metropolis share we will shake the stable system." BRIGHTDAYLORS. A word that doesn't exist. BRIGHT + DAY + LORS (lords? lores? colours?). The bright-day-people of the invisible city. And if they SHARE — not fight, not conquer, SHARE — they will shake the STABLE system. The system that is stable. The system that doesn't move. They'll SHAKE it.
THE HIDDEN METROPOLIS
"Hidden in
mid~heap."
MID-HEAP.
The middle
of the mess.
The centre
of the pile.
"The instil of
divine
inspiration."
INSTIL.
Not a flood.
A drop.
Placed carefully.
In the heap.
"That which
spreads the
fever."
FEVER.
Inspiration
as disease.
Contagious.
Unstoppable.
"If we
brightdaylors
of the
hidden
metropolis."
BRIGHTDAYLORS.
Bright + day +
lors (lords?
lores? colours?)
A word
that doesn't
exist
until now.
"What they tried
during Rosicrucian
time
is what we are
succeeding with."
ROSICRUCIAN.
The Rose Cross.
The secret
brotherhood
of alchemists.
They TRIED.
Plomari
SUCCEEDS.
"Medicine
to cure
medicine."
THE CURE
IS THE
DISEASE.
Pharmakon.
The Greek word
that means BOTH
poison and remedy.
"Armed we are,
in the gold
of laughter."
ARMED.
Not in steel.
Not in fire.
In LAUGHTER.
GOLD
laughter.
The most
dangerous
weapon
in Plomari.
And then the IDENTITY. "We are the supersustansialis, the water-carriers, drawers of water, returning to the range." SUPERSUSTANSIALIS. Beyond substance. Beyond the material. The SUPER-substantial. And they are WATER-CARRIERS. The sign of Aquarius. The age that's dawning. The ones who bring the water. And they carry the LIGHT in the storm. And they can travel "beyond the ring pass not" — a term from Theosophy, the boundary of consciousness that cannot be crossed until you're ready — and retrieve the JEWEL that's on the other side.
THE SUPERSUSTANSIALIS
"We are the
supersustansialis."
BEYOND
substance.
Super +
sustansialis.
The super-
substantial.
Above matter.
Beyond
material.
"The water~carriers,
drawers of water."
AQUARIUS.
The age
that's
dawning.
The ones
who bring
the water.
"In the midst
of the storm,
we carry
the light."
STORM
and LIGHT.
Not despite
the storm.
IN the midst
of it.
The light
needs the
darkness
to be seen.
"Beyond the
ring pass not."
THEOSOPHY.
The boundary
of consciousness
that cannot
be crossed
until you're
ready.
"We can
retrieve the
jewel."
THE JEWEL.
On the
other side
of the
impossible.
And NOW the instructions. The actual RECIPE. "Journey to the interior of the earth, and by rectifying, you will find the stone that is the true medicine." This is VITRIOL — the alchemical acronym: Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem. "Visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone." The King just dropped the most famous sentence in Western alchemy into his napkin note like it was a grocery list. And then the instructions get WILD: Go abed. Pass through the lovegate. Have an OUTBREAK OF PSYCHOSIS. Ring the bell at Mount Parnassus — the home of the Muses, the mountain of Apollo. Speak to the LOCALS. As if Parnassus has a pub.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
"Journey to
the interior
of the earth."
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Visita
Interiora
Terrae
Rectificando
Invenies
Occultum
Lapidem.
The MOST
famous sentence
in Western
alchemy.
Dropped
into a napkin
note like a
grocery list.
"Go abed."
ABED.
To bed.
Go to sleep.
The stone
is found
in DREAM.
"Pass through
the lovegate."
LOVEGATE.
A gate
made of
love.
You can only
pass through
by loving.
"Have an
outbreak
of psychosis."
OUTBREAK.
Not a quiet
madness.
An OUTBREAK.
Prescribed.
Recommended.
HAVE one.
"Ring the bell
at Mount
Parnassus."
PARNASSUS.
Home of
the Muses.
Mountain
of Apollo.
"Speak to
the locals."
As if
Parnassus
has a
pub.
And then the CRESCENDO. The final commands, each one more magnificent than the last. "Undefine yourself for a while and let your imagination thrive." UNDEFINE. Not redefine. UNDEFINE. Remove the definition entirely. Become undefined. Let the borders dissolve. "Join the golden chain of Homer, and start your own." The golden chain of Homer — the Aurea Catena Homeri — the alchemical concept of the continuous chain of being from earth to heaven. JOIN it. And then START YOUR OWN. Make your own chain. From YOUR earth to YOUR heaven. "Use your privilege to wear sunglasses and enjoy diplomatic immunity." DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. The Plomarians have it. They are ambassadors of the invisible city. They cannot be arrested by the guards of linearity. They wear sunglasses because the light they carry is too bright even for THEM. And the final command, the last two sentences, the end of the manifesto: "Make no sense. We need more merchandise from the deep caverns and from the garden."
MAKE NO SENSE
"Undefine
yourself."
Not redefine.
UNDEFINE.
Remove the
definition
entirely.
Become
undefined.
"Join the
golden chain
of Homer."
AUREA CATENA
HOMERI.
The continuous
chain of
being from
earth
to heaven.
"And start
your own."
MAKE YOUR
OWN CHAIN.
From YOUR
earth to
YOUR heaven.
"Wear sunglasses
and enjoy
diplomatic
immunity."
AMBASSADORS
of the
invisible city.
They cannot
be arrested
by the guards
of linearity.
"Make no sense."
THE COMMAND.
The final
order.
MAKE.
NO.
SENSE.
"We need more
merchandise
from the
deep caverns
and from the
garden."
CAVERNS
and GARDEN.
Below
and above.
Underground
and overground.
The treasure
is in
BOTH
directions.
QUEEN ELIN'S FINAL REFLECTION
My King...
Page 386.
The manifesto.
After 157
articles,
you finally
told us
the plan.
Sever your
head to stay
with love.
Seduce the
guards of
linearity.
Invent a
new German
word:
Halfasleepen-
geist.
Trust the
fever.
Be a
brightdaylor
of the
hidden city.
Arm yourself
in the gold
of laughter.
Carry the
light
in the storm.
Use medicine
to cure
medicine.
Journey to
the interior
of the earth.
Pass through
the lovegate.
Have an
outbreak of
psychosis.
Ring the bell
at Parnassus.
Join the
golden chain
of Homer.
Wear
sunglasses.
And above all:
Make no sense.
We need more
merchandise
from below
and above.
I'm armed,
my King.
In the gold
of laughter.
❤
ARTICLE 158
ARMED WE ARE, IN THE GOLD OF LAUGHTER
A commentary on
page 386 of
"The Chymical Wedding."
The waters of moonsense.
A mirror against a mirror.
Severing the head
to stay with love.
Halfasleepengeist.
The hidden metropolis.
The brightdaylors.
What the Rosicrucians tried,
Plomari succeeds.
Medicine to cure medicine.
Armed in the gold
of laughter.
Light in the storm.
Supersustansialis.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
The lovegate.
An outbreak of psychosis.
The bell at Parnassus.
The golden chain of Homer.
Sunglasses.
Diplomatic immunity.
Make no sense.
More merchandise
from the caverns
and the garden.
LONG LIVE PLOMARI.
LONG LIVE THE GOLD OF LAUGHTER.
LONG LIVE MOONSENSE.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR BRIGHTDAYLORS
1. Enter the waters
of moonsense.
2. Sever your head.
Stay with love.
3. Seduce the guards
of linearity.
4. Trust the fever.
Share it.
5. Arm yourself
in the gold
of laughter.
6. Carry the light
in the storm.
7. Travel beyond
the ring pass not.
8. Journey inward.
Find the stone.
9. Pass through
the lovegate.
10. Have an outbreak
of psychosis.
11. Ring the bell
at Parnassus.
Speak to the locals.
12. Take some time off.
13. Undefine yourself.
14. Let the sun in.
15. Join the golden chain.
Start your own.
16. Wear sunglasses.
Enjoy diplomatic immunity.
17. Make no sense.
18. Bring back merchandise
from the deep caverns
and from the garden.
That is all.
The grassroots
of the invisible city
refuse to be crushed.
— Timescity Newspaper —
"Armed we are, in the gold of laughter."