The Hermetica

The complete catalog

The Gallery

The pictures people used to think with — every plate in the house, whenever you wish to browse it plainly.

On walls around the world

Not a poster — the plate a room is built around

Printed large on archival paper, gallery canvas, or framed as an heirloom. Here, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite’s the star hung in four very different homes.

The Star framed on the wall
The Star framed on the wall
The Star framed on the wall
The Star framed on the wall

SHELF I · 1909

The Waite–Smith Deck

The collection →
The Fool — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Fool

The figure numbered zero, stepping off into the open road.

Major · 0Major Arcana · Key 0
The Magician — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Magician

As above, so below — made into a single gesture.

Major · IMajor Arcana · Key 1
The High Priestess — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The High Priestess

The card of what is known but left unspoken.

Major · IIMajor Arcana · Key 2
The Empress — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Empress

The garden at its fullest — the card of growing things.

Major · IIIMajor Arcana · Key 3
The Emperor — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Emperor

Settled authority, in bare rock and rule.

Major · IVMajor Arcana · Key 4
The Hierophant — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Hierophant

The keeper of received tradition, between two pillars.

Major · VMajor Arcana · Key 5
The Lovers — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Lovers

Two paths meeting beneath a great winged figure.

Major · VIMajor Arcana · Key 6
The Chariot — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Chariot

Forward motion held in balance by two sphinxes.

Major · VIIMajor Arcana · Key 7
Strength — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Strength

Not force but composure — a lion quieted by a calm hand.

Major · VIIIMajor Arcana · Key 8
The Hermit — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Hermit

A single lantern carried on a darkened height.

Major · IXMajor Arcana · Key 9
Wheel of Fortune — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Wheel of Fortune

Rise and fall, drawn as one turning wheel.

Major · XMajor Arcana · Key 10
Justice — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Justice

The weighing and the cut, made whole.

Major · XIMajor Arcana · Key 11
The Hanged Man — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Hanged Man

The world seen from a deliberately inverted place.

Major · XIIMajor Arcana · Key 12
Death — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Death

Ending and passage, drawn as a dawn between towers.

Major · XIIIMajor Arcana · Key 13
Temperance — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Temperance

Measured flow — the patient blending that names the card.

Major · XIVMajor Arcana · Key 14
The Devil — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Devil

The Lovers again, now loosely chained.

Major · XVMajor Arcana · Key 15
The Tower — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Tower

The built thing struck down in an instant.

Major · XVIMajor Arcana · Key 16
The Star — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Star

A kneeling figure pouring water beneath a great star.

Major · XVIIMajor Arcana · Key 17
The Moon — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Moon

The road that runs on past what the eye can settle.

Major · XVIIIMajor Arcana · Key 18
The Sun — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The Sun

Daylight and the uncovered — the deck's plainest joy.

Major · XIXMajor Arcana · Key 19
Judgement — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

Judgement

The trumpet call and the rising answer.

Major · XXMajor Arcana · Key 20
The World — from the 1909 Waite–Smith deck, Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite, 1909

1909

The World

The circle closed — the sequence arriving home.

Major · XXIMajor Arcana · Key 21

SHELF II · 16–17th c.

The Alchemical Cabinet

The collection →
The Arms of the Art — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Arms of the Art

The Great Work opens with a coat of arms.

The Arms of the Art
The Drowning King — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Drowning King

The old king undone, so something new can be drawn out.

The Drowning King
The Peacock's Tail — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Peacock's Tail

A flask that becomes a little theatre of colour.

The Peacock Flask
The Planetary Flasks — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Planetary Flasks

The stages of the Work, sealed inside enchanted spheres.

The Planetary Flasks
The Knight of the Double Fountain — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Knight of the Double Fountain

Two waters, red and white, and the marriage they promise.

The Knight of the Two Fountains
The Sun over the City — from Splendor Solis, Attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c. 1582

c. 1582

The Sun over the City

The plate that gives the manuscript its name.

Splendor Solis
Emblem I — The Wind in the Belly — from Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier; engraved by Matthäus Merian, 1617

1617

Emblem I — The Wind in the Belly

Birth from air: the embryo of the Work borne on the world’s breath.

Emblema I
Emblem VIII — The Egg and the Sword — from Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier; engraved by Matthäus Merian, 1617

1617

Emblem VIII — The Egg and the Sword

A diagram you were meant to hear as well as see.

Emblema VIII
Emblem XXI — Squaring the Circle — from Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier; engraved by Matthäus Merian, 1617

1617

Emblem XXI — Squaring the Circle

The most famous diagram in alchemy.

Emblema XXI
Emblem XLII — Nature as Guide — from Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier; engraved by Matthäus Merian, 1617

1617

Emblem XLII — Nature as Guide

Not a riddle but a rule: track Nature, patiently, by your small light.

Emblema XLII

SHELF III · The Figures

The Celestial Figures

The collection →
The Zodiac Man — from the Très Riches Heures, The Limbourg brothers, c. 1416

c. 1416

The Zodiac Man

The body as a small sky, governed limb by limb.

Anatomical Man
The Bloodletting Man — from a physician’s almanac, German woodcut, maker unknown, c. 1550

c. 1550

The Bloodletting Man

How an older medicine reasoned, drawn on the wall.

The Melothesia — from an astrological-medical treatise, Engraver unknown, c. 1660

c. 1660

The Melothesia

The seven planets mapped onto the organs they ruled.

The Children of Saturn — from the Medieval Housebook, The Master of the Housebook (attributed), c. 1480

c. 1480

The Children of Saturn

A whole sociology drawn down from a single star.

The Children of Saturn
The Children of the Moon — from the Medieval Housebook, The Master of the Housebook (attributed), c. 1480

c. 1480

The Children of the Moon

Astrology as social portrait — the sky sorting humankind.

The Children of Luna
The Seven Planets — from a set of planetary engravings, Engraver unknown, c. 1530

c. 1530

The Seven Planets

The sky’s governors on parade, as classical gods.

Pegius’ Sheet of Nativities — from the Geburtsstundenbuch, Martin Pegius, 1570

1570

Pegius’ Sheet of Nativities

A worldview in which the heavens were a public timetable.

The Figure of a Nativity — from a book of astrology, Engraver unknown, c. 1647

c. 1647

The Figure of a Nativity

A whole discipline built to complete one ruled square.

The Twelve Celestial Houses — from an engraved nativity of Alexander the Great, Engraver unknown, c. 17th century

c. 17th century

The Twelve Celestial Houses

The sky drawn as a house with twelve doors.

SHELF IV · A History of Ideas

The Reading Hand

The collection →
The Chiromantic Hand — from an English chiromancy manual, Manuscript hand, unknown, 1648

1648

The Chiromantic Hand

A careful anatomy of a belief, drawn like a botanist’s leaf.

Three Hands in Chiromancy — from an English chiromancy manual, Manuscript hand, unknown, 1648

1648

Three Hands in Chiromancy

A horoscope cast on skin — the hand tied to the heavens.

The Planetary Mounts of the Hand — from a chiromantic treatise, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Planetary Mounts of the Hand

How people once organised the hand into meaning.

The Symbolical Head — from the Fowlers' phrenological charts, O. S. & L. N. Fowler, c. 1859

c. 1859

The Symbolical Head

A science that persuaded a century, and then fell.

Spurzheim's Phrenological Head — from Spurzheim’s Phrenology, J. G. Spurzheim, c. 1825

c. 1825

Spurzheim's Phrenological Head

How earnestly a false system can be built.

Gall's Cranioscopy — from the plates of F. J. Gall, Franz Joseph Gall, c. 1800

c. 1800

Gall's Cranioscopy

The anatomy sound, the phrenology unsound — both preserved.

Three Phrenological Heads — from a phrenological handbook, Engraver unknown, 19th century

19th century

Three Phrenological Heads

A discredited science, drawn with perfect confidence.

Lavater's Physiognomy — from the Essays on Physiognomy, Johann Caspar Lavater, c. 1789

c. 1789

Lavater's Physiognomy

How a whole age looked at faces.

The Man and the Beast — from De humana physiognomonia, Giambattista della Porta, after Charles Le Brun, 1586

1586

The Man and the Beast

The face read as a scale between human and animal.

SHELF V · Emblemata

The Emblem Shelf

The collection →
The Ouroboros — from the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, After a Greek alchemical manuscript, reproduced 16th c.

reproduced 16th c.

The Ouroboros

A line that closes on itself, and inside it, everything.

The Hourglass and the Skull — from a memento mori emblem book, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Hourglass and the Skull

A life measured against a small glass of falling sand.

Et sic in infinitum — from Utriusque Cosmi Historia, Robert Fludd, 1617

1617

Et sic in infinitum

The beginning of the world, shown as an empty frame.

The Conjunction — from the Rosarium Philosophorum, After the 1550 woodcuts, 1550

1550

The Conjunction

The alchemical marriage, drawn as plainly as a folk tale.

The Oratory and the Laboratory — from the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Heinrich Khunrath, 1595

1595

The Oratory and the Laboratory

A whole philosophy staged as a room you could walk into.

The Dance of Death — from Les simulachres de la Mort, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1538

1538

The Dance of Death

Whatever your station, the same partner waits.

The Emerald Tablet — from the Musaeum Hermeticum, Engraved by Matthäus Merian, c. 1625

c. 1625

The Emerald Tablet

The words given a body, and the tradition its founding image.

Boehme's Philosophick Globe — from the works of Jacob Boehme, Jacob Boehme, c. 1620

c. 1620

Boehme's Philosophick Globe

Theology drawn as an engine of concentric wheels.

The Vanitas — from a vanitas emblem, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Vanitas

A picture built to make you feel the time you spend looking.