“Ah! If all day I felt as good as when I got out of the bath”
The name of this card is called “le bain” in French. It can be translated as “the bath” in English. If you notice any translation errors in this article, please let us know for our entire community. You can leave your comment at the bottom of this page.
The bath is a card that animates our interiority. If this has told us since our earliest childhood thatthe bath is a moment of physical and especially psychological relaxation, the bath also acts in ourdeep interiority. Besides, don’t we say dive into the bath?Washing your skin is getting anew skin! We understand that a few things happened, that go beyond simply diving into water and soaping up.
The body and mind are dirty, and entering the bath cleanses the body and mind. Wefeel well-being. And to be well is to be yourself. It is to clean what clutters us , what is on our hearts. From the dirty appearance , we dissolve dirt, we activate our circulation for the big cleaning. The alchemical bath is an ancestral practice which consists of immersing materials in a liquid to transform and purify them. When we talk about the white work, we often refer to the first stage of alchemy, that of purification. Bathing the white work can be seen as a ritual of purification of the soul and body. When we enter the bath, we leave behind all the impurities and dirt of daily life. The liquid in which we immerse ourselves is frequently composed of pure water, salt and other ingredients carefully chosen for their healing and purifying properties. When you enter the bath, you let yourself be enveloped by this magical solution which cleanses your mind and body. Over time, impurities and toxins are eliminated, to give way to new energy and new vitality. The white work is then accomplished and the purification is complete.
In alchemy, this operation that we can find in the “Splendor Solis” of Salomon Trismosin, called white work, corresponds to the stage following the black work, which is the putrefaction of emotions negative in us. This profusion of ideas that we have in us and which render us in a state of sadness must be resolved by the white work. We often find this purification in many rituals, particularly in religions with baptism or even with ablutions. Wash with clean water.Our body contains approximately 65% water. That is to say, we mix 2 waters to dilute the dirt.It is accepting what we are, washing our wounds, and stripping ourselves of everything. Being naked, without artifice, a new being appears.If we talk a lot about bathing, we should talk about the adjuvant that allows this cleaning. To clean ourselves properly, we use a solution adapted to our body. This solution acts as a remedy. We must ensure that this remedy is not poison, and that this moment of relaxation does not turn into an unattractive change, bringing out all our faults, shocks and buried disturbances. This solution is aptly named, because this solution brings the solution within us. Esotericists and alchemists speak of “solve & coagula” present notably in the tarot of Oswald Wirth. Magic formula that would dissolve the bad and coagulate the good, the solution to radiate and purify the material of the work. The bath is the great cleansing of the body and the mind, it allows you to move on to the next stage, the red work.
From a more materialistic point of view, we can talk about sullying someone or shifting the blame onto someone. Just as we can be cleared of the situation, implying that we no longer have anything to reproach us for and that justice has been done, this avoids a bath of tears. We can also talk about this adage ” throw out the baby with the bathwater”, that is to say to throw away everything that is bad without taking into consideration what is good.The semantics of bathing gave rise to the term “bain Marie”, that is to say heating graduallyrather than over the fire. It’s going smoothly into a situation. Finally bathe in happiness or in light, allegory of well-being.
Gentleness
Welfare
Release the pressure
Be progressive
Take her time
Relaxation
Be without consideration
Cleaning
Purification
New vitality
Negative emotions
Correction
Be naked
Without artifice
Poison
