The Crow ‘Neath the Sphinx: Julien Champagne’s Illustration for Fulcanelli

**Julien Champagne’s 1910 illustration for the frontispiece of the 1926 work *Mystère des cathédrales (The Mysteries of the Cathedrals),* the masterwork of enigmatic French alchemist Fulcanelli.**

Lege, Lege, Relege, Labora et Invenies

— “Read, Read, Read, Labor and You Shall Find.”

Apt words as this first featured writing in our new Curio section is offered up. The phrase can be seen upon the pages of an open book depicted within the image above.

The depiction is a Julien Champagne illustration from 1910. The image serves as the frontispiece for the 1926 Mystère des cathédrales (The Mysteries of the Cathedrals), the masterwork of enigmatic French alchemist Fulcanelli.

The work of the mysterious Fulcanelli expounds on the hermetic secrets which are encoded in the construction of Gothic Cathedrals. The text is illustrated, and goes into great detail on the Hermetic and alchemical symbolism contained in these structures.

The illustration itself serves to set a tone for Fulcanelli’s work, and it contains numerous symbolic elements. With this in mind, turn your gaze towards the bottom of the image.

The Latin along bottom border of the work reads:

Omnia ab uno et in unum omnia.

“Everything comes from one and is (exists) in one”

The phrase resonates with the Hermetic and mystical axioms that underpin the heart of their pursuits. The microcosmic reflections of this One are imbued with the Divine Spark of creation.

As we move our gaze upwards upon the image, we find a book over which a crow stands. It shows a title page reading Mutus Liber, or “Silent Book.”

**The illustration’s depiction of the *Mutus Liber*, or “Silent Book.”**

The Silent Book is a work of Hermetic philosophy published in La Rochelle, France in 1677. It contains a number of illustrations. Authorship is often disputed. The luminous Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung notably owned a 1677 copy of Mutus Liber. Jung used its illustrations in his 1944 work Psychology and Alchemy.

On the right side of the book’s pages, a passage from within the original Mutus Liber ring across centuries with their tutelary advice: Stemming from plate 14 of the actual text, they read:

Lege, Lege, Relege, Labora et Invenies

“Read, Read, Read Labor and You Shall Find.”

This is a shortened version of the phrase:

Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et invenies.

This version includes the word Ora, which means “Pray.”

The sentiment of the phrase is one of encouragement and prescription for undertaking the mystical work:

The seeker ought to first pray and make initiatic contact with the divine cosmos — the One which is described above — whose presence is the source of the mysteries. This is not simply enough, as effort must also be placed into the opus through acts of toil, study, and repetition. Do this, the text instructs, and one will uncover the secrets of the sacred art.

Champagne’s illustration is backgrounded by many alchemical vessels and instruments: Sets of laboratory glassware, an athanor oven, heating devices, and more.

At the foreground of this alchemical array, a lone crow stands upon a skull. These symbols echo the Nigredo stage of the alchemical work. The Nigredo is the blackening, or putrefaction, phase in which alchemical starting material is cooked to a black char in order to commence it for further work such as purification, refinement, and rarefaction.

Often, the Nigredo is referred to by the term Caput Corvi — “Crow’s Head” in English. It is symbolized by the namesake avian species seen in the illustration. The inclusion of this glyph in the illustration adds a sense of commencement into the mysteries.

Above all of this imagery, one finds a towering image of the Great Sphinx. A caption below the image, which is not shown here, reads:

“The Sphinx protects and controls science.”

Indeed the Sphinx hails from Egypt, the historical cradle of alchemical pursuit. During late antiquity, the city of Alexandria stood at the crossroads of the Asian, Hellenistic, and African worlds. Many of their respective spiritual and alchemical practices commingled here.

Upon the top of the image, and in each corner of the border, small glyphs can be found:

**Top portion of the illustration showing alchemical glyphs.**

Across the top, on each, two initial glyphs are formed. On the left, an alchemical symbol — which appears as a “B” with a small slash mark through its base — falls just below a crescent moon symbol (☽).

This symbol is fairly unfamiliar in common depictions.

However, its corollary (♁) on the right — sat below a symbol for the sun (☉) —always represents Antimony.

We also find two symbols inlaid between criss-crossing pathways, and adjacent to a middle glyph representing Mercury.

Their triune connection with the Mercurial glyph forms the alchemical Tria Prima:

Salt (🜔) — Mercury (☿) — Sulfur (🜍)

Spanning the entire banner, the rest of the traditional symbols for alchemical planetary metals are seen. From left to right, they are:

Moon/Silver/☽
Saturn/Lead/♄
Jupiter/Tin/🜩
Mercury/Quicksilver/☿
Mars/Iron/♂
Sun/Gold/☉
Venus/Copper/♀

These forms represent classical material components of alchemy, and their physical forms are mirrored by numerous symbolic and spiritual aspects.

Finally, on each corner in the border of the illustration, symbols for the four elements which constitute the whole of nature are shown:

From the top left moving clockwise, these are:

Fire (🜂)
Air (🜁)
Water (🜄)
Earth (🜃)

And so the image is detailed — beautifully composed, and masterfully encapsulated. It distills the overarching components and symbolic elements of alchemy.

When we begin to understand that Champagne was a colleague and friend of Fulcanelli, it is easy to see how the French illustrator would have gained such alchemical literacy.

In fact, Fulcanelli — whose identity and life still remain shrouded — is alleged to have transmuted lead into gold with his protégé Eugène Canseliet: all in the company of both Julien Champagne and a man named Gaston Sauvage.

The chemical history & science database ChemEurope notes that Canseliet:

“[…] performed a successful transmutation of 100 grams of lead into gold in a laboratory of the gas works of Sarcelles at the Georgi company with the use of a small quantity of the "Projection Powder" given to him by his teacher, in the presence of Julien Champagne and Gaston Sauvage.”

The citations for this passage point to a 2005 work by Geneviève Dubois entitled Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival. The Man Behind the Mystery of the Cathedrals.

The second instance of Fulcanelli partaking in transmutation is the 1937 event at Château de Léré. During this transmutation, Fulcanelli is also said to have transmuted Silver into Uranium.

Yet, after this final display at Château de Léré, Fulcanlli vanished — leaving behind more than 80 years of debate, speculation, and enigma.

But what of Champagne himself? It is compelling, if unclear, to note Champagne’s inclusion in the Frères d'Heliopolis (Brothers of Heliopolis). The Frères were a society of alchemical figures who orbited around Fulcanelli.

Fascinatingly, some have noted strong overlaps between the dedication writings of both Champagne and Fulcanelli.

While the instances and details surrounding Fulcanelli and Champagne are far too detailed to continue here, the elements of the image are clear for those wishing to explore a bit.

Hopefully, this piece will prompt the reader to search more deeply into the entire French alchemical milieu of Fulcanelli, and the Frères d'Heliopolis.

Image via Wikimedia Commons (Frontispice dy Mystère des Cathédrales de Fulcanelli (1926). Illustration de Julien Champagne). Work is in the public domain.