page_title: George Ripley (alchemist)
section_title: The Wheel
hierarchical_section_title: George Ripley (alchemist) / The Wheel
caption_attribution_description: English: Ashmole, Elias. “Here Followeth the Figure Conteyning [Containing] All the Secrets of the Treatise Both Great &amp; Small.” An engraved diagram from George Ripley's The Compound of Alchymie. Known as Ripley's Wheel, the drawing depicts concentric planetary spheres along with his alchemical recipes. From Theatrum chemicum Britannicum&#160;: containing severall poeticall pieces of our famous English philosophers, who have written the hermetique mysteries in their owne ancient language. The first part / faithfully collected into one volume, with annotations thereon, by Elias Ashmole. London&#160;: Printed by J. Grismond for Nath: Brooke, at the angel in Cornhill, 1652.
context_page_description: Sir George Ripley was an English Augustinian canon, author, and alchemist.
context_section_description: Some scholars claim that the writings of The Compound of Alchemy were meant to be read in light of an alchemical drawing done by Ripley called the Wheel. This drawing is in essence an analogy of the planets of our solar system, of which at the time, earth was considered to be the centre. Ripley encoded his alchemical recipes into this drawing, depicting them as the planets which revolved around the earth, or, more specifically, the elements of his work. In alchemy, there is often an analogical connection made between heaven and earth, and this connection is symbolized by the use of the seven planetary symbols: Sol (Sun), Luna (Moon), Mercurius (Mercury), Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These planets correspond respectively to gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead.
caption: George Ripley's Wheel, by Elias Ashmole, 1652
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4940", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "6582"}