The Illuminati Diamond
TV listing for March 6, 2009:
Family Channel, 7:30 PM --

"Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone"

In other entertainment news--
Scheduled to open May 15, 2009:

Illuminati Diamond in Angels and Demons, publ. by Simon and Schuster in 2000

 "Only gradually did I discover
what the mandala really is:
'Formation, Transformation,
Eternal Mind's eternal recreation'"
(Faust, Part Two)

-- Carl Gustav Jung  

Related material:

"For just about half a century, E.J. Holmyard's concisely-titled Alchemy has served as a literate, well-informed, and charming introduction to the history and literature of Western alchemy." --Ian Myles Slater

Diamond figure showing the four elements and four qualities of Aristotle
For more about this
"prime matter" (prima materia)
see The Diamond Archetype

The Diamond Cross

 
The diamond may be seen
as symbolizing
possibility within modal logic
 as well as the potentiality of
 Aristotle's prima materia.
 
The four elements figure
prominently in the thought of
St. Thomas Aquinas and other
Church writers as well as in
the work of the alchemists:
 
Prima materia in Science in the Middle Ages, by David C. Lindberg
Background:

Holmyard --
Alchemy, by Holmyard, back cover
-- and Aristotle's
On Generation and Corruption.
  
 Further background:
 
One or Two Ideas

From James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

The dean returned to the hearth and began to stroke his chin.

--When may we expect to have something from you on the esthetic question? he asked.

--From me! said Stephen in astonishment. I stumble on an idea once a fortnight if I am lucky.

--These questions are very profound, Mr Dedalus, said the dean. It is like looking down from the cliffs of Moher into the depths. Many go down into the depths and never come up. Only the trained diver can go down into those depths and explore them and come to the surface again.

--If you mean speculation, sir, said Stephen, I also am sure that there is no such thing as free thinking inasmuch as all thinking must be bound by its own laws.

--Ha!

--For my purpose I can work on at present by the light of one or two ideas of Aristotle and Aquinas.

--I see. I quite see your point.

This page was created on March 7, 2009, the dies natalis (in the birth-into-heaven sense) of St. Thomas Aquinas and, for those who believe that worthy pre-Christians also enter heaven, possibly of Aristotle.

Pope Benedict XVI explained the dies natalis concept on Dec. 26, 2006:

"For believers the day of death, and even more the day of martyrdom, is not the end of all; rather, it is the 'transit' towards immortal life. It is the day of definitive birth, in Latin, dies natalis."

The Pope's remarks on that date were in St. Peter's Square-- a site that plays a prominent role in Angels and Demons.