→VENEFICIUM
from heaven blooms the clarion
Saturnine putrefaction and Mercurial dissolution open twin gates of transfiguration. In plant-based traditions,¹ artemisia absinthium enacts judgement through bitterness while brugmansia intoxicates through trumpets of revelation. Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood)
A great star falls from heaven.² One-third of the earth's waters turn bitter, bringing death to those who drink.³ Within medieval humoral theory, wormwood aligned with Saturn: the aged father of black bile, earth, and melancholia.⁴ Its bitterness initiates nigredo: the black stage of putrefaction from which regeneration may arise.⁵ The name "Wormwood" appears in Revelation 8:11 as ἀψίνθιον (apsinthion),⁶ linking terrestrial plant to celestial star. Patristic commentaries interpret the bitterness not as mere poison, but as divine judgment enacted through the corruption of waters.⁷
Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet)
Where Wormwood delivers decay, the Angel's Trumpet offers revelation. Indigenous Andean rites employed brugmansia (borrachero) as a bridge between worlds by way of dissolving one's consciousness⁸ to facilitate communion with ancestors and otherworldly entities.⁹ The beautiful, trumpet-shaped flowers contain tropane alkaloids¹⁰ shown to induce prolonged dissociative states lasting up to several days.¹¹ In alchemical correspondence, brugmansia embodies mercury's volatile principle: the dissolution of fixed boundaries between life and death, self and other, astral and physical.¹²
Veneficium (The practice of poisoning)
In Roman law, veneficium defined both poison and sorcery. Born of venēficus ("poisonous" or "magical"), it may descend from the potions of Venus herself.¹³ The poisoner's art thus was simultaneously corporeal and spiritual. Through this ancient understanding, the fallen star and the false angel unite as complementary sacraments of botanical transfiguration.
Interactive cipher text. Use mouse to hover over sentences or use keyboard navigation. Arrow keys to navigate, Enter/Space to toggle, Escape to reset.