"The Crab & the Crescent Moon" original poster!

With Steve Pank, one of the eyewitnesses to TEB's early years in the role of tour manager, it was always that way. His memories come up a little at a time, over the years I've gotten used to it.

A week ago, totally unexpected, he wrote me an email with a magnificent poster of the band attached, one of the best ever made (Carolyn thinks so too), and told me the anecdote that follows:

"There is a story with this. The Third Ear Band was doing a gig on the evening when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
I was staying in Richard flat, when we got back, we turned on the TV and watched live footage, of Neil Armstong walking on the moon. A short while later, later Glen said to me that he had had a dream the night before about the Crab and the Crescent Moon. 

I said, 'That would be a great title for a concert!' Dave Loxley agreed to do the poster, and this is the result."

Held on September 20, 1969 at Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), the evening was promoted by Blackhill Enterprises and also featured Bridget St John, Sam Hutt and DJ John Peel. 

About Sam Hutt, Steve writes that "he was a friend of Peter Jenner . He's a qualified doctor, who at time prescribed medical cannabis. Later he became a spoof country singer under the name of Hank Wankford."

 

International Time ad (April 1969)

 no©2022 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

New TEB book publication date: March 21th, 2020!

At last the TEB book will be available on March 21th, 2020... such a perfect TEB day! 

120 pages for £15 with a 10% discount for advance orders at the ReR web site.

Read the press release here:

http://www.rermegacorp.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=TEB+BOOK&Store_Code=RM 

 no©2020 Luca Chino Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

"The Scene". Rab Wilkie's memories from the past (part two)...

Here's the second part of Rab's memories about "The Scene", his meeting with Glen, Carolyn, Dave Tomlin, Barry Pilcher, the experience of "Albion" magazine and some little memories about the "MacBeth" recording sessions...
The part one is at http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2015/05/the-scene-rab-wilkies-memories-from.html.
Pictures of this second part are taken from the original issue # 1 of "Albion" magazine (May 1968). 

"'The scene' was all about - as it still is - where the most potent and transformative forces of Art come from; how these forces are accessed and let loose upon the world to work their magic.
This is a big subject: sources of inspiration. In the past (B.C., Before Computers & the Web), books and the printed word were key, but by the middle of the 20th century the media of vinyl records & radio had become more important - almost as important as discourse, conversation and banding together, e/g for alchemical experiments. And big cities are usually the magnet and social crucible for this.. especially during a crucial stage in history. When the vibrations are really intense and cover the whole spectrum, acoustically, visually, and mentally; when they easily become scalar or prophetic. A wish-path into the future is laid out for all to see and follow - if they have (third) ears to hear and (third) eyes to see.

What were the various sources of inspiration to the band back then, and how did they work for each of its members? For me it was a flood of influences, but some details stand out. 

Late summer 1967:
Glen had begun to use a tom-tom: for an AmerIndian beat.
Carolyn played cello: a touch of Western classical.
Clive had a sitar: India.
Barry, unbridled, was loud & chaotic on sax: "New Music".
Dave had played trumpet, but that was before I arrived; and the oboist had not shown up yet.
Some or all of them had played with Dave when his group
was known as the Sun Trolley. 

There were musicians everywhere, wandering the streets, dropping in, instruments in hand or tucked under-arm; ready for any jam or happening. (The poets made do with pad & pencil; artists preferred black india ink).

 
One day I dropped in on Steve and noticed a thick book lying by the window. Its author was Ramakrishna, written in India a few decades earlier. I opened it and read that the world would hit some kind of climactic enlightenment around Christmas 1967.
"Wow! That's only a few months from now," I remarked.
Steve had to turn the volume down on the latest Beatles record to hear me. ("Sergeant Pepper"). 

Steve's inspiration was William Blake, hence the name of his magazine: Albion. The cover art says it all, updating the vision and rolling it out into the future. Steve was exulted, David Loxley, an artist with Hapshash & the Coloured Coat, had completed his work for the cover. I'm not sure how much of it was Steve's own ideas, but Albion is shown in the throes of impending revelations &/or devastation. A leering Dragon bends toward a naked young female -- the White Goddess or every-maiden - lying supine and apparently asleep in a rose bush with two flying saucers hovering in the sky above them. And here and there, at the edges and within bushes, are sigils and symbols as clues for further study: Tolkien runes, the Glastonbury Zodiac, a magical seal, pentacle, and what seems to be a diagram of a human iris, used  diagnostically in iridology. The Holy Grail is central, above the main figures and below the banner title, ALBION.

The back cover is simpler: a Tarot card in the centre with one of four figures at each corner: the Four Living Beasts of Ezekiel's vision. Except that the traditonal Bull has become a rampant Unicorn. The central figure is the sky-dancer of The World, the last card in the Major Arcanum, signifying completion of the Work and cosmic conciousness.
The Angel, upper left, is the source of music. S/he is blowing a trumpet; a lyre nearby. Perhaps this is Gabriel, divine herald of realisations.
(Steve might have played a horn at one time (?) but philosophy, social action, and literature were his stronger suits, I suspect). 

These are timeless elements. The revelation and the music are still unfolding, evolving. Disclosure keeps happening, and every 'happening' is a revelation - in the 1960s sense of an unplanned, free, and spontaneous event. A jam. Beyond the Matrix. And at the best of times, Transcendental.
The way up, however, might begin with - or sometimes loop downward into - e/g "MacBeth". The movie in which a band of anonymous musicians in the balcony, a pair of legs dangling down into space, strums & drums forth a trance comment on skullduggery unfolding below.
I didn't see the movie until some years after I'd visited the band at the recording studio as they were recording the soundtrack for "MacBeth" (May 1971). I was en route to India via Spain and stopped in London for just a few days. They were busy and immersed in the process, so I didn't stay long, perhaps an hour or so. Scenes from the movie were shown on screen, and they were going through a couple of scenes, recording and re-recording each scene until they were satisfied with the take. It was a bit eery with an occasional chuckle. Dim inside and a bright day outside. Glen summoned up a Polanskyish version of Scottish ghosts. He had a darkly wry sense of humour.
 

The only on-stage moment I recall with the band, when I was present, was at the Covent Garden market. Other sessions were jams at somebody's flat, usually Glen's & Carolyn's. And just before meeting Glen, at Clive's place in Earl's Court. He had recently acquired a sitar. But earlier still, in Toronto, I'd played a bit of sax with Barry and listened to his jams with local musicians.

I haven't been in touch with anyone for a long time. Clive and I exchanged some emails about 15 years ago. But if anyone's interested, here I am - in Ontario. It'd be great to hear from them. The only stuff I have from that period can be found on the internet, like "Albion" (an original copy was for sale on E-Bay recently, for something like $350!)".

no©2015 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)    

Brand new 180 gram audiophile vinyl edition of "Alchemy" out now.

Just at the end of past December a new 500 copy limited edition of TEB's "Alchemy" (on 180 gram audiophile vinyl format) is available in the shops at 25-30 euros.

As you can see below, the main trait of it - published by Timeless Record (as TIME 732) - seems to be the laminated original cover here treated as a negative of a photograph.
As we know it was designed by David Loxley, taken from an old engrave published on "Atalanta Fugiens" by Michael Meier in 1617 (read here at http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2009/12/origins-and-meanings-of-alchemy-cover.html).

 

Timeless Records is a label specialized in reissues of old underground records: they have reissued artists as Pete Brown & Piblokto, Edgar Broughton Band, East of Eden, Bonzo Dog Band, Nucleus...
It's really wonderful that this record is still in catalogue after all these years and it does exist in so many different formats (original 1969 LP, remastered CDs, limited vinyl edition...)...

 
no©2014 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)    

The (Chief Druid) DAVID LOXLEY interview!

We have here a very exclusive precious interview with DAVID LOXLEY, Chief Druid of the Ancient Order of Druids (London) and designer/writer involved with the London underground and the TEB in the '60's-'70's. Loxley assembled the "Alchemy" cover and designed lot of posters and flyers for gigs and festivals, drawing graphics for magazines as "Albion" directed by Steve Pank. 
In this short interview he reveals the origins and meanings of the TEB's first album cover and the connection between the band and the Druids...

As every TEB fan knows you designed the beautiful “Alchemy” album cover. I’ve discovered the picture was taken from an old book about alchemy titled "Atalanta Fugiens", edited by German Michael Meier in 1617. Can you tell us the genesis of it, the reasons behind it, the real meanings?
"I didn’t really design the cover, it kind of happened with parts of it coming from different people. I put all the ingredients together. The main drawing is from a book written and illustrated in 1617. I think this originated from Glen or Steve Pank. I thought this was a bit too medieval.

One evening in my flat a girl from California drew a doodle of some snakes, and left them there as a gift. I redrew them and put them in the corners of the medieval image to make it look more celtic looking.
The image itself I have never interpreted for anyone before, but it has a very deep meaning, which could be the subject of a book and not just an answer, so here goes with an answer with a book hidden in it. 

The picture has a courtyard with a tunnel entrance with a man in the middle about to crack an egg on a table. This is a totally symbolic image. On a material level the courtyard is a womb, if it was the Great Pyramid in Egypt it would be the chamber of transformation. The tunnel is the entrance to the womb, it has an egg in it waiting for a sperm to fertilise it. 
 

The original 1617 engrave

The image was meant to be interpreted on the mental level according to the upper room or womb. The brain is a courtyard with an egg in it called the Pineal gland. On an abstract level this gland has the same function as the egg in the physical womb. The tunnel is the Pituitary gland or the entrance for light to enter into the courtyard or brain and fertilise the Pineal gland. Both of these eggs, abstract and material are functionaries of the moon. The Great Pyramid at Giza has two entrances, one for the physical seeds to enter (mummies) and one for the light to enter, the physical body is the same.

Detail of the egg from the original cover

The egg is the sleeping Beauty which will only wake up for the light. In the same way that the physical sperm has to give up everything or die into the egg in order to be resurrected into a new world as a baby, then the Pineal gland will only operate as an entrance to another world if the Pituitary gland which is ruled by Mercury gives up all of its light to the Pineal.

The Sword held by the man is not a weapon, but a symbol for something which cleaves the air. Light or electrons cut through space like a sword or a word and represent light and the present tense. The Moon will only give itself up to the Sunlight and than reflect it onto the land. To be enlightened the man must give up everything, judgements, what he thinks he knows and become nothing in order to be accepted by the egg, in return for this death he will be resurrected by the present tense which is the womb with an egg in it.

I think I have gone on long enough, so lets just finish by saying that the cover represents the real mysteries of Sex or creativity in the present tense".

Which meanings have the snakes around the border of the cover? In an old interview the same Glen Sweeney stated that they are there to protect the band and its music...
"The serpents at the corners of the cover had no real meaning intentionally. Originally they would have been used to protect the four corners of the world, north south east and west. The serpents lift the slightly flat image of the main picture and provide some contrast to project the cover a bit more".

 

Do you remember when/where/how did you meet Glen and the other guys of the band? 

"I cannot guarantee my memory for some of these questions but I think I first saw Glen at a club called the UFO club in Tottenham Court Road in London in 1967 or thereabouts. At the time this was the place to be, but it was still quite a small scene with enormous potential for the future of social change. Glen was playing in a band whose name I cannot remember, It was a sort of free form spontaneous jazz group, I think [maybe the Hydrogen Jukebox?]".

What was you doing at the time? Which was your role in the London underground?

"At the time I was very young and did not see myself as having a particular role other than helping out where I could. I had just dropped out so to speak, a concept which would sound alien today. I was into having a good time. My flat was raided by the police but rather than arrest me for something they just said we will be back in 30 minutes and if I was you I would not be here, so me and my brother ended up 30 minutes later walking down the road to somewhere or nowhere. We asked in a bar if anyone knew of anywhere to stay, and we were sent to Steve Pank's flat, who kindly put us up for about a week. That is how I met Steve Pank who I have known for forty something years. At the time if it was happening anywhere it was in Portobello Road, Steve had a magazine called "Albion" which I did some drawings for and
later on I helped him run a club in a church hall, for which I did the posters and handouts and any other menial tasks. This club never advertised who was playing because most of the people who came to jam did not tell their managers or record companies, even Steve did not know sometimes if anybody was coming to play or not. Some of the musicians and acts were very well known, and people just turned up to see whatever happened. The council eventually closed us down for making to much noise, or that was the reason given. One of the bands who played regulary was the Third Ear Band who Steve introduced me to them".

Can you tell me which was the real connections of TEB with the Druids?
"The real connection between TEB and druidism was or is, well I am not sure. I was interested in druidism so I joined a group, Steve Pank was also interested so he joined also. TEB music like a lot of freeform jazz at the time was about being in the present tense, opening up the door to another state of being. Some freeform jazz branched out into various kinds of indian or oriental music and created fusion music. Some of this music had spiritual connotations and meditation was also becoming popular. The TEB was a fusion between freeform jazz, indian music, meditation and folk music played on classical instruments. It was probably the first band of its kind but it was still about getting into the present tense or another state of being. The Druid Order is about the same thing in another context, linking up with another state of being or going beyond time and space searching for reality. So I guess although some of the connections are physical the real connection is abstract".

What do you think about TEB experience? Some people asks me if TEB music was devoted to the black magic... What can you tell about it?
"My previous answer answers most of this question as well. TEB has nothing to do with black magic. If black magic is superstition then no they were not. Black magic is just going against the light, every habit and resentment which we are stuck in is black magic, every desire to get revenge or hurt those whom we thought or did hurt us is black magic, war is black magic if it is based on an illusion and personal pride. Primitive people need a devil to blame otherwise they would have to take responsibility for their own actions. The devil is needed by immature people. If the devil existed he or she would be your best friend, supporting you to be in the past tense and stuck with the fantasy that you can have it all now and take it with you. It is if we are large enough a great honour to take the blame for the negative thoughts of others who cannot face the reality of their own failure to support the light. I think I will stop there as i am starting to sound like a born again preacher!" 

What are you doing now? I know you’re still a Chief Druid…

"At the moment, I am still a Chief Druid which takes up some time, I have semi retired, I still do some design work, some writing, some physical work, making things etc. It is my second dropping out and I am looking at ways to earn some money without having to work all the time. So that ends my answers on a very practical note". 

Loxley at the Spring equinox Druid ceremony on London Tower  Hill in 2010. Note Carolyn Looker at the core of the picture (photo: Steve Pank).

REFERENCES TO DAVID LOXLEY IN THIS ARCHIVE

about the "Alchemy" cover

http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2009/12/origins-and-meanings-of-alchemy-cover.html

about TEB alchemical iconography 
http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2011/12/origins-and-meanings-of-teb-alchemical.html 
about "Albion" magazine  
http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2010/07/first-teb-ad-on-magazine.html 
about the connections with Druids 
http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2009/12/trird-ear-druidic-band.html

WRITINGS BY DAVID LOXLEY IN THE NET
about the Ancient Order of Druids 
http://www.stonehengecampaign.org.uk/scdruids.htm#aod

Loxley wrote also an introduction for a Graham Howe's book titled "The Mind of the Druid" (Skoob Esoterica, UK 1990).

no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)   

At last a proper interview with CAROLYN LOOKER, Glen Sweeney missus and TEB former!!!

I know Carolyn from the half of the Eighties and I've tried to interview her many times but with scarce results.

She's a very kind woman and she cooperated very well to my book on the band in 1995-1996, writing a two-pages of memories for a projected but never realised tribute CD and helping me to clear some obscure  things (the original name of the band, the cultural sources...) for this archive... but I couldn't ever have a proper interview with her.

In the Summer 2010 at her home in London Hammersmith I recorded around one hour of questions & answers, but when I went back to Italy I discovered the tape couldn't work, thus no interview...

So, because she has no computers/e-mails, some months ago I've sent her some questions by letter and now we've got her answers through our common friend Steve Pank. 

Another chance to know some old facts on the Thirds...

Carolyn Looker, London 2010.

When/where you met Glen for the first time?

"Both Glen and I was working at Liberty's in Regent Street. Glen was doing modern furniture display. He had his drumkit in the storeroom where he would hide and practice his drumming (!) which at the time was modern jazz...".

Where Glen was from?

"Glen's family lived in Croydon, about ten miles south of the Thames".

Which was your interests at that time?

"Sartre, Kerouack and the Beat Generation, Zen Buddhism, Jazz, Occult".

Had you involved in the cultural scene of those days?

"Yes, I was reading beat poetry to avantgarde jazz to a very small audience in pub gigs".

Have you some memories of the beginning with the Giant Sun Trolley?

"Many happenings at UFO with Sun Trolley! A dog howling to Dave's sax. Total 15 minutes of silence from the two, then a spaced out kid tried to bang on Glen's drum. Glen hit him with D stick - said it was Zen - kid remained  far from that".

How Glen met Dave?

"Dave was advertising for drummer. Glen (auditioned) in Free School that was a cellar where Dave was squatting with a poet called Macavity. Glen was told to take the drum sound from here to there. Dave said making directions. Glen being good with fantasy managed to do so and got the gig!".

Which was the mood at UFO?

"Memories but not clear. It was all like a scene from a Fellini movie".

And what's about the music Sun Trolley played?

"Very avantgarde: used happenings on stage, i.e. electric scissors cutting clothes off a dancer (at the 14th Technicolor Dream)...".

How TEB started to play at the Drury Lane's Arts Lab? 

"Jim Haynes loved TEB, said they gave him orgasms. They play Arts Lab on a regular basis. A room painted black, incense burning and audience on floor cushions".

What's about the legendary levitation of St. Pancras' station? Is it all true?

"Yes, us and John Peel sat outside ohming... Hard work but it lifted a few inches (we were on acid)...".

What kind of music the first electric TEB line-up played? Do you remember some particular tunes played?

"I remember Clive [Kingsley]'s "Ronson Riff", a marvelous thing he did sliding his ciggy lighter along his guitar".

Do you remember something about the instruments stolen after a concert that induced the new TEB acoustic line-up?

"Instruments were left in van overnight, gone in the morning. Never found out who took them. Of course they weren't insured!".

Carolyn with her cat Leonardo (London 2010).

How John Peel was involved at the "Alchemy"'s recording sessions?

"A friend of Glen's took us around to Peel's flat. I remember us all discussing the existence of fairies".

Can you tell me something about that wonderful album cover?

"Glen was very much into Alchemy, the illustration was in a book he had".

Any memories on the second album recording sessions?

"Sorry, we were all stoned. Glen would suggest a feel or a vision for each track and the guys played it".

Is it true EMI engineers left the studio during the sessions?

"I don't think the engineers liked or understood the music, so mixing they weren't into".

And what do you think about EMI? Why they gave up the band?

"EMI were fine. I think the contract ran out".

Do you remember the gig TEB played with Bernard Parmegiani in London? Can you tell me something about it?

"Parmegiani concert was at Festival Hall. It didn't work too well in my opinion. TEB's music was organic, the French were music concrete, it didn't got".

How did it go with Polanski?

"Lots of memories of Polanski. He and Glen were the same height, so got on really well. Recordings were made improvising the pieces of the film which were projected in the recording studio".

Which is your opinion about Blackhill? Do you think the agency was really involved into the TEB music?

"Blackhill never really understood the music, if they had been more supportive made more of film music. I.e. Polanski and Kubrick admiring TEB and involved them more in the arts as in Pink Floyd. Steered the right way the band could have been big".

One of the most obscure period of your (Glen and you) life is when you lived on a boat in a river during the Seventies...

"We had an idyllic Summer on the boat. Glen was writing poetry, I was painting. Hard work because the mooring wasn't residential we had to collect our water and calor gas about 1/2 mile away. We retired to a friend's flat in the Winter as the river flooded all the time. Infact one huge flood, the Ark, our boat, flooded over into the field and settled there when the floods ended. We lived that way chocked up in the middle of a field for an year. The council complained and at great expense we hired a crane to put us back in the water".

Which was the feelings of Glen about music just before I met him in your Sheperd's Bush flat? Why at the beginning he was so suspicious of me?

"Before meeting you I think Glen had decided to retire from the music scene.  I was envolved in managing a prop hire company and we figured it Glen's turn to take a rest. Glen suspicious of you? I think he was suspicious of most people's intentions till proved otherwise!".

Some TEB fans are interested to know if Glen was involved in black magic...

"Glen was very interested in esoteric, also in black magic, but did not practice it".

And what's about TEB's relation with Druids?

"Steve Pank can tell you more about the Druid meetings and the Glastonbury Tor concert. As he is now a fully fledged Druid and Dave Loxley the Head Druid who created the celtic border of "Alchemy"".

no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first) 

Origins and meanings of TEB alchemical iconography.

As we know, at the beginning of its story, TEB used to have posters/flyers/covers  with  right references of the alchemical tradition adopting old obscure engraves as iconography. This is a brief look at the known TEB's alchemical references with some notes about origins and meanings...

One of the first TEB posters designed by Glen Sweeney in 1968-69 using the original engrave taken from "Cabala" by S. Michelspacher (1616). Glen wrote the motto Time travel is the alchemic Third Ear Band.  About the meanings of it: the main character on front right is the alchemist who is wandering (blindfolded) until the rabbit (just as in "Alice in Wonderland"!) shows him the right way to the Opus Magnum: a palace at the top of seven stairs, indicating the seven steps of alchemic process.
At the corners of the engrave, the fourth elements written in Latin. At the top of palace's roof (with sun and moon on it) a phoenix symbolizing the "philosophic mercury". All around signs of the zodiac indicate the alchemic work will start on May (under the Taurus).

"Cabala" by S. Michelspacher (1616)

On this sketch of flyer probably designed by Sweeney note inside the tondo (a turned up egg) a picture reproducing an engrave taken from "Viatorum spagyricum" by Heinrich Jamsthaler (1625). The old engrave represents the alchemic First Materia with an hermarodite character (sun on left, moon on right) - with the Latin word "Rebis" (thing-two), the union of two principles, man & female, gold and silver - and a dragon, for Michael Meier  "the fixed and volatile mercury" ("Atalanta Fugiens", 1617). In the alchemic tradition just the hermafrodite can defeat the beast. Infact sun and moon, together, can beat the "mercurial dragon": to kill him, in the alchemic practice, the alchemist have to extract the sulphur and lunar umidity ("Aurora consurgens", XVI century).

"Viatorum spagyricum" by Heinrich Jamsthaler (1625)

                                        

About the origins and meanings of the "Alchemy" cover, designed by David Loxley, you can read an old file in this archive at 
http://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2009/12/origins-and-meanings-of-alchemy-cover.html

Apart the main picture, taken from "Atalanta fugiens" edited by Michael Meier in 1617, an important role in the picture is held by the four snakes at the corners, just around the border of front and back cover. As Sweeney told during an old interview to I.T. magazine (issue 63, August 29th, 1969), “those serpents on the cover are completely magic – they are in a protected circle, they protect the whole album and the music on it”.  

Infact, in some ancient traditions the snake "are represented as potent guardians of temples and other sacred spaces. This connection may be grounded in the observation that when threatened, some snakes (such as rattlesnakes or cobras) frequently hold and defend their ground, first resorting to threatening display and then fighting, rather than retreat. Thus, they are natural guardians of treasures or sacred sites which cannot easily be moved out of harm's way. At Angkor in Cambodia, numerous stone sculptures present hooded multi-headed nagas as guardians of temples or other premises. A favorite motif of Angkorean sculptors from approximately the 12th century A.D. onward was that of the Buddha, sitting in the position of meditation, his weight supported by the coils of a multi-headed naga that also uses its flared hood to shield him from above. This motif recalls the story of the Buddha and the serpent king Mucalinda: as the Buddha sat beneath a tree engrossed in meditation, Mucalinda came up from the roots of the tree to shield the Buddha from a tempest that was just beginning to arise." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29).

Original EMI advert for the album (1969)

The original engrave from Meier's "Atalanta fugiens" (1617)

Also the back cover was designed by David Loxley from a book edited in 1718 by J. C. Barchusen titled "Elementa chemicae": Sun (sulphur) and Moon (mercury) - male and female - are two basic elements of the alchemic process (read also at http://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-religious-art/sun-moon-at-the-turn-of-the-first-millennium/). In his ancient alchemic manual Barchusen described the sequence to get the Philosophic Stone through two different ways: one short, so-called "dry"; the other long, so-called "damp".

 

Original "Alchemy" back cover (1969)

"Alchemically speaking, the moon represents Silver, the Lesser Work, or Mercury. It conjoins with the sun, or Gold in the Greater Work. In more practical terms, the moon represents fertility, resurrection, occult power, immortality and intuition. The moon is a feminine property and alchemists would incorporate it with the sun (gold) to assure balance" (from http://www.whats-your-sign.com/ancient-alchemy-symbols.html).

About the sun, it is considered "the ancient alchemy symbol of gold. Worshipped in many cultures, specifically Egypt where Amon-Ra was personified by the evening sun setting at the end of the creative process. Alchemists understood the process of creation, and utilized the symbol of the sun to focus on creating desired effects in their practice – both physically and philosophically".

The original engrave from "Elementa chemicae" (1718)

On this 1969 poster the picture above on  it was drawned probably by Sweeney from the engrave below, taken from "Viridarium chymicum" by D. Stolcius (Frankfurt 1624).

The four women represent the four elements: from left - earth, water, air and fire - and to the four steps of the Great Opera (the alchemic opera): under their foot the four grades of fire.

Note the reference to the "Alchemical exhalations" on the top, maybe alluding to the Aristotle's "Meteorology" - where the "dry" and "moist" exhalations of Aristotle become the (alchemical) sulphur and mercury of the eighth-century Islamic alchemists - and the clear reference to the classic dualism sun-moon... Note also the women breasts wryly designed by Sweeney just covered on the original engrave.

Viridarium chymicum" by D. Stolcius (Frankfurt 1624)

About the engrave below (made by Hans Weiditz c. 1520), it shows the classic room of the alchemist at work with all his tools.

"An Alchemist" by Hans Weiditz (c. 1520) 

When I edited the live tape recorded on January 11th, 1989 in Sarzana (Italy), titled "New forecasts from the Third Ear Almanac", I proposed to Glen to use a little work made in 1986 by Italian artist Mario Balestrieri: a simple, evocative reference to the sun-moon alchemic tradition...

Regarding the last TEB records published by Voiceprint in '80's and 90's, manteining the alchemic iconography tradition better than the records produced by Materiali Sonori, they was designed by Carolyn Looker, Sweeney's missus.  

"Raga live" (Turning Point 2002)

She used the Aegypto-Greek iconography of the snake eating itself (Ouroborus) symbolizing the cyclic time, the One in All, the Eternal Return, cyclic nature of things… 
"It is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way, as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. The Ancient Egyptians associated it with Wadjet, one of their oldest deities as well as another aspect, Hathor. In Norse mythology the World Serpent (or Midgard serpent) known as Jormungandr encircled the world in the ocean's abyss biting its own tail" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29).

Here and below, Carolyn put inside the snake also pyramids, Sphynx and a flying U.F.O.... 

"Live" (Voiceprint 1996)

On the cover below we have a variation of the snake's theme, also very common into alchemic iconography, with sun and moon with a snake. Note the design of them, just in the old alchemic tradition...

"Radio Session" (Voiceprint 1994)

From "Elementa chemicae" by J. C. Barchusen (1718)

Bibliographic note

A wonderful visual book about alchemic and hermetic symbols and iconography, partially used for this article, is "Alchemy & Mystic" by Alexander Roob (Taschen Verlag 1997, Italian edition 2011). 
http://www.taschen.com

no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)