Il Giardino delle Esperidi

The allegory of the woman-tree, widespread in Hermeticism since the 12th century, personifies Nature, which, nourishing itself from the “Earth,” culminates with the “calathus” (floral headdress), personifying abundance. The hidden fruits in the Forbidden Garden are 7, just like the Vortices or Churches (“chakras”) found in the human body. It’s a sacred number composed by the combination of natural-earthly manifestation with the sacred-spiritual. There are 3 different trees in the scene, just as there were 3 Nymphs, the Hesperides, who inhabited the Garden and were transformed into trees by Orpheus. Their names—Egle, Arethusa, and Esperethusa—and their attributes reflect the various alchemical phases. The butterflies allude to the Natural Matter, which in alchemy is also called “volatile,” escaping control (the Serpent-Dragon of a “mercurial” nature guarding the Garden), contrasted with the red arrow that “fixes” (“coagulates”) it in the Great Work (alchemical realization).