Septem Portae

Nigredo · 1/7 refined

Nigredo · 1 of seven spheres refined

To stand at the ladder's foot is no disgrace; it means the raw material is all present — black is what every colour looks like while still buried. The work here is single: to see honestly what binds you. Decomposition is the beginning.

I

The seven spheres

BindingMoonThe force of growth and waning — the involuntary swelling and shrinking that follows every external tideOperation: Coagulation
RefinedMercuryStraightforwardness — letting speech and thought travel the same straight roadOperation: Distillation
BindingVenusIllusory desire — love that projects the infinite onto finite objectsOperation: Fermentation
BindingSunThe arrogance of rulership — mistaking one's central place for supremacyOperation: Conjunction
BindingMarsReckless audacity — headlong collision that mistakes impatience for courageOperation: Separation
BindingJupiterGreed for wealth — the insatiable hoarding of abundanceOperation: Dissolution
BindingSaturnThe falsehood that lies in wait — the lie crouched at the boundary, calling the prison wall the edge of the worldOperation: Calcination

Seven planetary spheres, one hundred twenty-eight states

II

All the doors

Every single-step transition available from where you stand.