This engraving was made by the Jesuit Ioanne David (1546─1613) and he developed it in the eighth chapter of his book entitled Dvodecim specvla Devm aliqvando videre desideranti concinnata.
“Specvlvm pvrgativm” (Mirror of Purification)
Dear readers, this engraving leads us to question our degrees of purity or purification during our journey through the three-dimensional world:
“Specvlvm pvrgativm”, Mirror of Purification
I am sending you the sixth drawing with which Theodor Galle illustrated the book ‘Twelve mirrors duly arranged for the person who wishes to see God one day’, written by the Jesuit Ioanne David.
The present engraving is entitled “Know thyself”.
“Specvlvm fallax” (The mirror that deceives)
I take the pen to send you some comments related to the profound importance of approaching the TECHNIQUE OF TRUE self-observation and our longings to live within reality and not within fantasies.
Considerationes de vulnere (Considerations regarding the pentalpha and the five wounds)
To begin trying to make a description of this very beautiful engraving, we have to remember, first of all, the man that Leonardo da Vinci drew in his time with his legs and arms open forming a Pentalpha to tell history that the REAL MAN is the Pentalpha-Man, in other words, the self-realized man.
Moral theatre of human life
This engraving, friends, is entitled at the top of it with these words: “STUDY IS THE CAUSE OF TRANQUILITY.”
However, Gnostically speaking, it would be better to entitle it “MEDITATION AND PRAYER ARE THE CAUSE OF TRANQUILITY.”
The weighing of the worlds
This beautiful engraving appears before our eyes to show us the balance of dimensions and worlds in interstellar space. That is why it is called the “Weighing of the Worlds.” That is, it shows how the Architect of the Universe considers that the energies of the Cosmos are distributed, and does so through a scale that designates where the superior energies are and where the inferior ones are.
“Horologium auxiliaris tutelaris angeli” (The Angel-Guardian’s Clock)
Unquestionably, all of us who try to live the Secret Path that Gnosis teaches us, must be very clear about the immediate need to know how to pray, to know how to live and to know how to die.
“Consideratio segunda” (SECOND CONSIDERATION. In which Nature represents eternity)
The present engraving, in addition to its beauty, reminds us of the archetypes linked to eternity that we find in the sacred scriptures of all times.
Allegory of chastity
I am glad to send you this oil painting by an artist named Lorenzo Lotto, from the time of 1505. This work is preserved in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
The title of this artistic work is Allegory of chastity or Allegory of the Vigilant Sleep of the Soul