Muy queridos/as lectores/as:
I send you the twenty-fifth emblem of the book Nucleus emblematum selectissimorum, ‘The Nucleus of the Most Select Emblems'.
The title of the engraving appears around it…
…NON QVAM CREBRO, SED QVAM BENE
─‘Not how often, but how well’─
The sentence below:
NON TU QVAM CREBRO jaculeris, QVAM BENE refert contingat metam, missa sagitta, suam.
Translation: ‘It does not matter how often you shoot, but how well the sent arrow reaches its target.'
Text in French:
Il n'importe de rien, si ta flèche acérée,
est peu ou plusieurs fois devers le but tirée;
mais sur toutes choses, il te conuient tâscher,
de ne faillir le but, mais certain le toucher.
Translation: ‘It does not matter if your sharp arrow is shot a few times or many times toward the target; but above all things, you must strive not to miss the target, but to be sure of reaching it.'
What does all this mean, dear friends?
First and foremost, we must observe very well that the central figure of this engraving is made up of an archer who, with his crossbow, points to a circle that we see in the center of a wall. Obviously, this circle is figurative, serving as a target that can vary depending on what one wishes to hit.
It is interesting to see that such a circle is on the wall that is a continuation of a church. What has been shown in this image is nothing other than the need we have to continuously strive in our continuity of purposes to achieve our spiritual goals. The church represents the spiritual life and all that it entails.
Beyond the railing that appears behind the archer we see a crossroad, or, in other words, two paths that make a cross.
A sun up high illuminates both paths, indicating that the divine light always tries to illuminate the way for us.
This engraving insists that we be persistent in our prayers, in our practices, in our disciplines…
Below the first railing we see people contemplating the archer and what he tries to reach with his arrows. That is humanity that simply dedicates itself to watching or observing, but is not capable of acting. It is the world of opinions and charlatanism.
The archer and his crossbow remind us of the symbol of the constellation of Sagittarius, which shows us a centaur in the attitude of shooting his arrows toward the SUN. The V.M. Samael tells us that we must imitate the centaur of Sagittarius, who shoots the arrows of his longings toward the highest point, that is, toward the SUN. This, in turn, reminds us of what a sentence from Hermeticism tells us: “To reach the kingdom of the heavens it is necessary to be pertinacious. Heaven is taken by assault and only the brave have taken it.”
To conclude, I add a few sentences for your reflection:
“The reward is given after the work.”
Quevedo
“The reward should not be given according to time, but according to the fruit.”
Santa Teresa
“Good deed never lacks a reward”.
Cervantes
“We can expect from one what we have done to another.”
Laberio
“Men are not moved by the merit of a good deed if it does not come with a reward.”
Ovid
FINIS CORONAT OPUS.
─'The end crowns the work'─.
KWEN KHAN KHU
