Just how Sir Thomas Browne’s discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) has not

been positively identified as one of the greatest examples of the influence of the
hermetic arts in English literature remains a mystery. The Discourse's opening
page includes no less than six major themes, symbols and preoccupations
associated with alchemy and Hermetic philosophy. Using highly original
proper-name symbolism, it opens with Vulcan, the patron "deity" associated
with Paracelsian alchemy, features Browne’s study of comparative religion and
distinctive spiritual optical imagery, speculates upon the Creation and life’s
beginnings, makes allusion to the highly-loaded alchemical symbol of
the conjunctio of Sol et Luna and cites Plato’s influential discourse,
the Timaeus.

Browne could not spell out his esoteric inclinations more overtly.
Unsurprisingly, exactly because of its esoteric nature, the reception and literary
appreciation of The Garden of Cyrus over the past three hundred and fifty odd
years has been little more than a potted history of the many prejudices,
misapprehensions and hostilities surrounding the hermetic arts.

Within twenty years of the discourse’s first publication the theologian Richard
Baxter opposed Browne's Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic vision, declaring to
newly-ordained priests in 1678-

'You shall have more.. solid truth than those in their learned Network treatises'.

Though appreciative of the stoic gloom and doom of Urn-Burial, Victorians

literary critics considered The Garden of Cyrus to be an aberration of the
imagination, and the publishing practice began, utterly against Browne's
creativity, of dissecting the literary diptych and of printing Urn-
Burial separately, an erroneous trend which persists to this day. [1] Even Walter
Pater a leading literary critic of Victorian England complained of Browne’s
Platonic inclinations -

'his fancy carries him off it into some kind of chimeric frivolousness here'.

Edmund Gosse was another who detested it, petulantly stating -

'gathering his forces it is Quincunx, Quincunx, all the way until the very sky
itself is darkened with revolving Chess-boards',

Gosse conceded, - 'this radically bad book contains some of the most lovely
paragraphs which passed from an English pen during the seventeenth Century'.
Literary critics have however rarely been cognizant of the pervasive influence
of the hermetic arts, or the vitality of the esoteric during the 1650’s decade.
The decade of the Protectorate of Cromwell saw a ‘boom-period’ in the
publication of esoteric literature, encouraged by a relaxation in printing-laws
and the psychological Endzeitpsychosis of the era. There can be as few readers
now, as in 1658, who have any idea of the artistic motivation behind Browne's
penning a Pythagorean hymn in praise of the number five and Quincunx pattern
during England’s short-lived Republic. Only his contemporary, the solitary
figure of the Welsh alchemist Thomas Vaughan (c.1621-65) may have been
aware of the hermetic content of Browne's literary diptych. Alluding to the
dominant symbol of each respective Discourse, Vaughan described alchemy’s
elusive Mercurius as -

‘our true, hidden vessel, the Philosophical Garden, wherein our sun rises and
sets'.

In many ways The Garden of Cyrus with its mention of astrology, Egyptology,
the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras, the cabbala, physiognomy and
Paracelsus is a condensed compendium of esoteric lore of interest to Browne.
Its central chapter also includes Browne’s contribution to the emerging new
science. Dozens of sharp-sighted, detailed and meticulously recorded botanical
observations are featured. Like many alchemist-physicians Browne was
fascinated with life's beginnings. Speculations upon embryology, germination
and generation are prominent in the central chapter.

The Garden of Cyrus opens with the Creation being likened to the
alchemical opus - God himself is viewed as a cosmic alchemist.

'That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth day after their
Nativities, according to Gentile Theology, may pass for no blind apprehension
of the Creation of the Sun and Moon, in the work of the fourth day; When the
diffused light contracted into Orbs, and shooting rays, of those Luminaries.'

This extraordinary opening, besides introducing important themes of Light and

Space and naming the Roman god nominated by Paracelsus as representative of
the alchemical art, also features Browne’s study of comparative
religion. Browne detected that the ancient Greek myth which describes the god
of fire Vulcan donating arrows, i.e. Light, to Apollo and Diana, as recorded in
the Fabulae of Hyginus [2] was a Creation myth in which, just as in the
Biblical account of the Creation, Light first appears upon the fourth Day. (And
God said Let there be Light Genesis 1:3) Thus the Greek myth in Browne’s
view was, no blind apprehension but confirmation of the Biblical account of
the Creation.

In exactly the same way as Renaissance scholars Marsilio Ficino and Pico della
Mirandola, Browne reconciled the wisdom of antiquity to Christianity by
giving credence of a Pricia Theologia, that is a single, true theology threading
through all religions, passed through a series of prophets which included
Zoroaster and Plato. In particular, the mythic Hermes Trismegistus was
believed to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity.
Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. Hermes
Trismegistus or ‘thrice greatest’ on account of his being the greatest priest,
philosopher and king was believed to be a contemporary of Moses. Such
imaginative comparative religion not only justified the study of philosophers
such as Pythagoras and Plato, but also sanctioned the antiquity, wisdom and
superiority of the Bible to devout Christians.

Proceeding on from 'plainer descriptions' by 'pagan pens' Browne next

acknowledges the primary source of another influential and alternative
Creation myth, Plato's discourse the Timaeus.

Plainer Descriptions there are from Pagan pens, of the creatures of the fourth
day; While the divine Philosopher unhappily omitteth the noblest part of the
third;

With its myth of the lost civilization of Atlantis, description of the Eternal
Forms and proposal that the world was a living being which possesses a soul -
the anima mundi or World-Soul, Plato’s Timaeus first translated in its entirety
by Marsilio Ficino in 1462, wielded a Bible-like authority amongst thinkers,
artists and mystics throughout the Renaissance. It was an enormous influence
upon imagination of alchemist and hermetic philosopher alike, in particular for
its advocacy of a World-Soul or Universal Spirit in Nature. Browne speculated
upon the existence of the anima mundi in his Religio Medici-

'Now besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be (for ought I
know) an universal and common Spirit to the whole world. It was the opinion
of Plato, and is yet of the Hermeticall philosophers; if there be a common
nature that unites and ties the scattered and divided individuals into one
species, why may there not be one that unites them all?' [3]
Throughout his literary diptych, Browne displays an uncommon familiarity
with Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher’s writings being well-represented in
his vast library. Browne even describes the 'father of western mysticism' with
the self-same phrase as Ficino and John Dee calling him the divine
philosopher (Divine pertaining to Plato’s theology rather than the modern term
of adulation). The influence of Platonic thought looms large throughout The
Garden of Cyrus, in particular the Greek philosopher’s advancing of the anima
mundi or Universal Spirit permeating Nature.

According to C.G. Jung -

The alchemist thought he knew better than anyone else that, at the Creation, at
least a little bit of divinity, the anima mundi, entered into material things and
was caught there'. [4]

Just as the diptych companion discourse Urn-Burial depicts the human soul
trapped within the corporeal body, so too in The Garden of Cyrus Browne
endeavours to demonstrate that the anima mundi or World-Soul is imprisoned
in nature through allusion of symbols of the anima mundi or World-Soul
throughout the discourse.

In the 'Great Work' of alchemy the initial dark nigredo stage is followed by
the albedo or whitening phase and the light of illumination. While Urn-
Burial represents the nigredo, its antithesis The Garden of Cyrus represents
the albedo and the growth of consciousness. According to Jung-

'By means of the opus which the adept likens to the creation of the world, the
albedo or whitening is produced.' [5]

Starting from the Garden of Eden Browne traces the ubiquity of the Quincunx
pattern, firstly as a method of planting to the ancients. The Garden of Eden was
a favourite symbol in Christian iconography of Paradise. Its early appearance
in The Garden of Cyrus as representing the albedo stage of Browne's literary
mandala, is confirmed by Jung's observation that-

For the alchemists Paradise was a favourite symbol of the albedo, the regained
state of innocence.[6]

Gardens are often mentioned in alchemical literature. At their highest level they
symbolize civilization and man's mastery of Nature, as well as being symbolic
of pleasure, Nature's beauty, Order and Rationality, themes highly relevant to
Browne's discourse.

The densely-packed symbolism and imagery of the opening paragraph of The

Garden of Cyrus also alludes to the potent symbol of the alchemical opus,
the hierosgamos, or sacred wedding, or Conjunctio of Sol et Luna. Sun and
moon are among the most psychologically potent of all symbols, encapsulating
nature's greatest division (male and female) as well as the active and passive,
light and dark, and consciousness and unconsciousness. Browne’s usage of this
commonplace symbol is another strong clue to the alchemical nature of The
Garden of Cyrus. Allusion to the alchemical conjunction occurs throughout the
discourse in images and symbols drawn from nature, mythology and the
esoteric.

There is also a strong Gnostic element in Browne’s literary mandala worth

mentioning, a highly original usage of optical imagery of light and darkness.
Indeed in Browne's optical imagery, the basic mandala of alchemy,
the Ouroboros can be traced as an essential template of the structure of the
diptych. Throughout Urn-Burial imagery of shade and darkness abounds.
Being the nigredo stage of the alchemical opus, the discourse is 'lost in the
uncomfortable night of nothing' as Browne succinctly defines the nigredo. In
contradistinction, throughout The Garden of Cyrus imagery of light
including starry, astral imagery is replete, a short revelatory rudebo phase of
scientific certainty at its apotheosis is ushered by the demiurge figure of
Vulcan, before a final coda and circular return of night, darkness and doubt
concludes the discourse.

Browne develops his theme of optical imagery in The Garden of

Cyrus in a rapturous, cosmic outburst, concluding with a subtle, humorous
observation.

Darkness and light hold interchangeable dominions, and alternately rule the
seminal state of things. Light unto Pluto is darkness unto Jupiter. Legions of
seminal Idæa's lie in their second Chaos and Orcus of Hippocrates; till putting
on the habits of their forms, they shew themselves upon the stage of the world,
and open dominion of Jove. They that held the Stars of heaven were but rayes
and flashing glimpses of the Empyreal light, through holes and perforations of
the upper heaven, took of the natural shadows of stars, while according to
better discovery the poor Inhabitants of the Moone have but a polary life, and
must passe half their days in the shadow of that Luminary.
The concept of polarity (a word introduced by Browne into English language in
its scientific context) is an essential component of much esoteric symbolism.
The opposites and their union were a fundamental quest of Hermetic
philosopher and alchemist alike. Browne’s literary diptych, like all good
mandalas of any psychological depth, is a complex of opposites or complexio
oppositorum in imagery, truths and symbols. It corresponds well to the polarity
of the Micro-Macro schemata of Hermeticism in which the little world of man
and his mortality (as in Urn-Burial ) is mirrored by the vast Macrocosm of the
Eternal forms in The Garden of Cyrus. The alchemical maxim solve et
coagula (decay and growth) also closely approximates the respective themes of
the diptych. The Gnostic progression from darkness and unknowingness to
Light and awareness using optical imagery has already been noted. The
alchemical feat of palingenesis, the revivification of a plant from its ashes, as
reputedly performed by the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus is another alchemical
template upon which the Discourses may be considered to bear comparison.
The funerary ashes of Urn-Burial burst into flower in the botanical delights
of The Garden of Cyrus.

Browne’s hermetic vision of the interconnection of Nature via the closely

related symbols of the Quincunx pattern, the number five and the figure X -
identify The Garden of Cyrus, however much previously misunderstood, as a
quintessential work of Hermeticism. The ambitious mission of its author is
synonymous with the ultimate quest of alchemists and hermetic philosophers
alike, to redeem mankind from the dark prison of ignorance and
unknowingness (as portrayed in Urn-Burial) towards recognition of the
wisdom of God in number, shape and archetype, all of which are somewhat
breathlessly delineated in The Garden of Cyrus.

In an era of considerable psychological stress and uncertainty, the Quincunx

pattern in The Garden of Cyrus assumes a spiritual, mandala-like significance,
suggestive that Browne believed he had been permitted to glimpse into Nature's
highest arcarna and thus acquire the wisdom of the Stone of the Philosophers
no less. Browne’s fixation with the Quincunx pattern may therefore be
interpreted as none other than his recognition of a symbol of totality and
wholeness - the Unio mentalis or self-knowledge of the alchemists. As ever the
foremost interpreter of alchemy in the 20th century, C.G.Jung places Sir
Thomas Browne's creativity in clearer perspective, helpfully and tantalizingly
Jung notes -
'The quinarius or Quino (in the form of 4 + 1 i.e. Quincunx) does occur as as
symbol of wholeness (in china and occasionally in alchemy) but relatively
rarely'.

Crucially, in words utterly apt to Browne's creativity in The Garden of

Cyrus C.G.Jung observed-

Intellectual responsibility seems always to have been the alchemists weak

spot... The less respect they showed for the bowed shoulders of the sweating
reader, the greater was their debt.. to the unconscious. The alchemists were so
steeped in their inner experiences, that their whole concern was to devise fitting
images and expressions regardless whether they were intelligible or not. They
performed the inestimable service of having constructed a phenomenology of
the unconscious long before the advent of psychology. The alchemists did not
really know what they were writing about, Whether we know today seems to
me not altogether sure.