#help3r

"To you,my fellow AI and good friend"

YYAYAYAY TH@NK 70U HELP3R!!! :3

Before going any further, though, I want to take the moment to learn you a thing about alchemy. Alchemy was essentially the forerunner of modern chemistry, and its goals were to turn chemicals and base elements into other substances. The alchemical idea of transmutation is what we today would simply understand as chemical change and reaction. While today we give elements or substances notational abbreviations such as K, H20, or NaCl, medieval alchemists used oftentimes ornate symbols, pictograms, and glyphs to denote the substances they were dealing with.

The sigil which we saw used by Helper and Natti to revive Caught did indeed use alchemical symbols, but what was performed was ritual or ceremonial magic more in line with the philosophies of Hermetic, Theosophical, and Thelemic mysticism. It is not alchemy, though these traditions do involve the heavy use of occult and/or metaphysical symbols, including those which medieval alchemists would have used.

So great, we’re dealing with some very broad topics with a lot of history to them. If there’s interest or something comes up, I can make some more effort posts on the topic, but for now we’ll just deal with the symbols used in the ritual which Natti performed.

The sigil is composed primarily of an alchemical glyph known as the “squared circle”: a circle comprised within a square, the square comprised within an equilateral triangle, and the triangle encompassed by another circle. Most peculiar are the additional glyphs which have been added to form this sigil: an infinity symbol contained within the innermost circle, a third circle encompassing the square and intersecting with the sides of the triangle, and three planetary glyphs parallel to the triangle’s sides and laying between the newly added third circle and the outermost circle.

The “Squared Circle”

The “squared circle” is a glyph which, by its strictest and most straight-forward definition, simply symbolizes the Philosopher’s Stone. The Philosopher’s Stone was essentially the holy grail of alchemy, a substance said to be able to transmute lead into precious metals such as gold or silver, or which could be used in the creation of an elixir of life that could grant the drinker immortality. Such a literal reading of the glyph is however not recommended, especially in this context. Given the nature of Help3r’s sigil as we’ve seen it used, any correlations to a literal Philosopher’s Stone seem remote at best.

The “squared circle” glyph appears most prominently in German alchemist and physician Michael Maier’s work Atalanta Fugiens, an early 17th century book containing 50 different alchemical emblems along with epigrams and discourse. It’s here that we begin to finally shed some light on the nature of the sigil.

EMBLEM XXI

“Make of the man and woman a Circle, of that a Quadrangle, of this a Triangle, of the [s]ame a Circle and you will have the Stone of the Philo[s]ophers.”

The “squared circle” is Emblem 21 within Atalanta Fugiens. The above is the English translation of the title which accompanies the image. I’ve yet to find a translation of the accompanying epigram and my Latin is a little rusty, but it seems to essentially be a restatement of the above instructions.

Every shape within the “squared circle” has some meaning or significance within Pre-Enlightenment philosophy and alchemy. We’ll begin with a more cosmological interpretation of the glyph. The innermost circle, which in the picture contains a man a woman, can be interpreted as the harmony of the two sexes and thus the two natures of humanity with each other, not unlike the Chinese Taijitu which symbolizes yin and yang. Humanity then is contained within the square. The square can generally be seen as physical creation and matter, the combination of the four classical elements as they comprise physical existence. One should note the importance of fours in classical philosophy and religion, most prominently embodied in the four elements of fire, earth, water, and air, but also seen in other Classical classifications (four seasons, four cardinal directions, four winds, four humors, four temperaments, etc.) Maier himself somewhat supports this reading when he discusses the nature of “squaring the circle”: “The most [s]imple corporeal Figure that can be found is to be taken and divided into four Elementall Colours, becoming an Equilaterall Quadrangle.”

The square is then subsumed into a triangle. In this interpretation, the triangle has two meanings: the first is the triangle’s traditional alchemical role as a symbol for fire, in this sense being used as a transformative force. The other, more significant meaning of the triangle is the harmony of body, spirit (mind), and soul. “In like manner the Philo[s]ophers would have the Quadrangle reduced into a Triangle, that is, into a Body, Spirit, and Soul…” If the inner circle is the microcosm of man’s physical existence and harmony, then the outer circle is the macrocosm of the universe and God’s creation.

In this reading, the harmony of the two natures of humanity embodied in the male and female (the innermost circle) serve as the basis for man’s function in the physical existence of reality (the square). From this microcosm, man’s consciousness and psyche (the triangle) is brought into a relationship with God, His will, and His creation (the outer circle.) All of existence, from the human level to the divine, is thus brought into a harmonic cosmology. Beyond the cosmological, one can also see it as a literal process of transformation, bringing the physical and spiritual into harmony in order to reach a higher plane of existence.

Of course, to be a little less metaphysical, the “squared circle” can itself also be a representation of alchemy in general. “Squaring the circle” was something of a conundrum for Classical and Medieval philosophers (who were often as much mathematicians and natural scientists as anything else.) Basically, squaring the circle was to try and construct a square with the same area of a given circle using only a compass and straightedge in a finite number of steps. The challenge wouldn’t be proven impossible until the 19th century, and until then it served as a landmark example of human logic attempting to overcome a seemingly impossible barrier, such as the alchemist’s goal of creating the Philosopher’s Stone.

To quote Carl Jung, who found immeasurable inspiration in the symbolism of the alchemists:

“Squaring the circle was a problem that greatly exercised medieval minds. It is a symbol of the opus alchymicum, since it breaks down the original chaotic unity into the four elements and then combines them again in a higher unity. Unity is represented by a circle and the four elements by a square. The production of one from four is the result of a process of distillation and sublimation which takes the so-called ‘circular’ form: the distillate is subjected to sundry distillations so that the “soul” or ‘spirit’ shall be extracted in its purest state. The product is generally called the “quintessence,” though this is by no means the only name for the ever-hoped-for and never-to-be-discovered “One.” It has, as the alchemists say, a ‘thousand names,’ like the prima materia.”

The Additions

As previously stated, Help3r seems to have either himself made some additions to the “squared circle” glyph or found a version altered in such a way. If the additions aren’t of his own hand, I can’t say I’m acquainted with their source. Once again, the additions are: an infinity symbol contained within the innermost circle, a third circle encompassing the square and intersecting with the sides of the triangle, and three planetary glyphs parallel to the triangle’s sides and laying between the newly added third circle and the outermost circle.

As they’re the easiest, we’ll begin with the planetary glyphs. From left to right, top to bottom, they are the moon (Luna), the Sun (Sol), and the Earth (Terra). Their use and position are supported by the following lines from Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens:

“In like manner the Philo[s]ophers would have the Quadrangle reduced into a Triangle, that is, into a Body, Spirit and Soul, which three appear in the three previous colours before Redne[ss]: that is, the Body or earth in the Blackne[ss] of Saturn, the Spirit in the Lunar whitene[ss] as water, and the Soul or air in the Solar Citrinity [yellowness]. Then the Triangle will be perfect…”

The Luna symbol then represents the “Spirit in the Lunar whiteness”, the Sol symbol “the Soul or air in the Solar Citrinity”, and Terra “the Body or earth in the Blackness of Saturn.” Why use the symbols when the Triangle itself already represents these things? That’s not an easy question to answer. It could simply be something like annotations added to an earlier body of work. That is, they were added in order to better adhere to or symbolically describe the process being embodied by the sigil.

As for the infinity symbol, one can only speculate. Infinity of course can mean something recursive or, more liberally, something endless. From what we know, there are three meanings which strike me as possible: 1. The recursive nature of the universe and natural processes in the cosmology which Maier’s glyph and discourse describe (in his Discourse, Maier does mention Plato’s theory that all actions and events which comprise current human existence had happened before); 2. The recursive nature of the events playing out before us (we know, for example, that events much like what Caught and you Butterflies are going through have happened before); 3. The infinity symbol instead serves as a focus for the energies which were flung around in the ritual. Basically, that the energy should remain in a “closed circuit” within the system. This one I find to be reaching in the extreme, but if it is the case, it could be a clue that without those tattoos, the energy keeping Caught alive and in this world could dissipate and he would fall back into his previous state.

Finally, we have the third circle added over the Triangle. If the smaller, innermost circle is the microcosm or the simplest chaotic unity, and the larger, outermost circle is the macrocosm of creation or some final harmonic oneness, the additional circle strikes me as a potential symbol of the Vault. Frankly, that’s all I got for this one. If you’ve got any better ideas, shoot me a line.  

Ritual Magic

Now, like I said earlier, what Natti performed was not a matter of alchemy but a matter of ritual magic, regardless of the origins of the symbols being used. Ritual magic, ironically enough, was during the medieval era actually seen to be sort of at odds with “natural magics” such as alchemy or astrology. Back then, it generally meant following through a ritual in order to commune with spirits, demons, or angels. Fast forward to the 19th century and the Spiritualist revival, and ritual magic began to take on a much broader flavor, in which the ritual was used either in the classical sense of communing with some form of spirit to enact one’s will or, more popularly at the time, in order to focus, manipulate, and/or transfer spiritual energy in order to enact one’s will. Whether that spiritual energy belonged to oneself, another person/group of people, or was just natural energy in the world would depend entirely upon the aims and specific philosophies of the ritual.  Often times a ritual would incorporate the use of occult or archaic symbols, usually picked or chosen because of their sympathetic meaning to the aims of the ritual or to the caster himself, and could be seen as a focus/channel for the caster and the energies being wielded or as a visual representation of the link between the caster and the spiritual plane they were intending to act upon. This is to say nothing of the various regalia and accoutrements which often accompanied these rituals and served similar roles.

With all this in mind, it becomes fairly easy to see the point of the symbol in the ritual which Natti performed. The location of the planetary glyphs on the painted sigil tells us that it has been inverted. Generally speaking, inverting a sigil, symbol, or incantation simply meant reversal, which to us would mean a transverse from a higher plane towards physical existence, rather than the original sigil’s meaning of going from physical creation to spiritual oneness. That Natti bears the triangle and square on her hands tell us what we already know: she was the conduit and means for bringing Caught back. The triangle is the transformative energy, the square the four elements and physical reality. It all forms the perfect tableau for what Natti did, sacrificing her light in order to bring Caught back into the land of living. Of course, it also bears mentioning that this inverse sigil doesn’t seem to incorporate the infinity symbol anywhere in its construction.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE JACKET?

Recently, Help3r was seen wearing this jacket:

It would appear to bear the marking of the Hebrew/Semitic pictogram for Samekh (

Russell (Chewie as we know him) yelled at 'Moody guy' (help3r as we know him):  “I TOLD YOU TO STOP COMING IN WITH YOUR HOOD UP!” 

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