The Pythagorean Triangle

To a Hermetic philosopher, this triangle is a summary of the Great Work. Thus, Thomas Vaughan, in Coelum Terrae, says of the alchemical First Matter: "Some few (but such as know her very well) have written that she is not only one and three, but withal four and five, and this truth is essential." The Pythagorean Triangle is the only symbol (with the exception of one other, also Egyptian) that corresponds exactly to. this description. That other symbol is the Great Pyramid, a single solid, having triangular faces (3), a square base (4), and five corners, including the apex (if the uppermost part, now unfinished, is completed to make the perfect triangular form). The Pyramid also represents 5 by the number of its faces -- four triangles and one square.

The Pythagorean Triangle is related to alchemy for other reasons. Both Osiris the Father and Horus the Son were solar deities, and Isis the Mother was a moon goddess. Thus, the triangle represents the Great Work, declared to be an operation of the sun and moon.

from Part One: The Rosicrucian Allegory, by Paul Foster Case *** ? page 48

caption:
Super-man
Man
Animal
Vegetable
Mineral

Horus
Isis
Osiris