The  Way  of  the  Gourd:  The  Alchemical  Iconography  of  Cucurbits  by  Frederick  R.  Dannaway  

 “How  water  walk  go  a  pumpkin  belly”  Jamaican  Proverb  

    The  history  of  gourds  (and  all  cucurbits)  is  the  history  of  humanity.    All  over  the  ancient  world  the  very  origins  of  life  are  connected  with  the  mysterious  gourd.  The  mysteries  of  its  cultivation,  of  the  selective  pressures  of  picking  ones  that  dried  well,  predated  the  domestication  of  any  other  plant  or  animal.  Its  usefulness,  above  its   edible   or  medicinal   properties,  was   in   holding  water.   The   simple   but   essential  hollow   interior   held   water,   the   world’s   most   precious   elixir,   allowing   travel   and  pilgrimage   in  wanderings   that  brought   the   calabash   from  Africa   and  Asia   into   the  Americas.  Theories  of  the  bottle  gourd’s  (Lagenaria  siceraria)  prehistoric  arrival  in  the   Americas   range   from   the   suggestion   that   gourds   naturally   drifted   across   the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  Africa,  as  the  thick  walls  can  protect  its  seeds  that  remain  viable  for  long  periods  in  saltwater.  More  recent  studies  suggest  that  the  gourds  found  in  the   Americas   are   related   more   to   the   Asian   variety   than   the   African.   But   now  evidence  may  be  proving  theories  that  the  first  Paleoindians  to  migrate  from  Siberia  to  North  America  carried  bottle  gourds,  propagating  them  along  the  way.  From  the  Underground  Railroad’s   passage   to   freedom   to   “follow   the   drinking   gourd”   to   the  Christian  wayfarers   of  Medieval   Europe   the   gourd   is   a   sign   of   hope,   of  magic   and  divine  providence.       Bottle  gourds  would  hold  the  traveler’s  essential  water  in  otherwise  dry  and  forbidding   regions,   allowing   greater   and   greater   distances   to   be   traveled.   Gourds  were   the   prototype   for   baskets   and   pottery,   and   the   first   examples   of   pottery  involved  smearing  gourds  with  clay  and  placing  them  into  a  fire.  The  shapes  of  the  earliest   vessels   and   containers   for  water,   food   and   brewing   took   on   the   shape   of  gourds  and  it’s  no  wonder  that  the  earliest  stills  for  distillation  resembled  gourds  as  well.   Gourds   are   everywhere   associated   with   magic,   with   mystery   and   with  powerful   forces.  These  associations  were  strengthened  by  the  gourd’s  early  use  to  boil   water   with   hot   rocks,   and   perhaps   ancient   distillation   by   catching   the  condensing  vapor  in  wool.  Gourds  were  also  used  to  pan  for  gold.  Everywhere  that  gourds  grow  they  are  potently  expressed  in  myth  and  folklore  from  the  Ayahausca  cups  in  Peru  to  their  deep  associations  with  magic  in  Africa  to  the  Caribbean,  and  to  all  native  peoples.    

   India’s  myths  of  creation,  as  well  as  of  surviving  the  great  flood,  often  center  

on   gourds.   From   the  Puranas   to   the  Vedas,   gourd  mythology   is   abundant   in   India  and  comes  to  also  be  associated  with  soma  and  amrita,  or  the  “elixir  of  immortality.”  The  Mahabharata  tells  of  the  conflagration  that  was  quenched  by  Indra’s  flood,  with  the  many  herbs  and  trees  resins  (rasa)  flowing  into  the  water  of  the  ocean,  mixing  with  “molten  gold”  and  milk  churned  from  the  raging  waters.  In  classical  alchemical  terminology,   the   sun   and   moon’s   energies   combine   and   birth   a   series   of   gods,  goddesses  and  divine  animals,   climaxing  with   the  “beautiful  God  Dhanvantari  who  carried   a   white   gourd   that   held   the   Elixir.”   Elsewhere   the   “beautiful   gold   water  gourd”  of   the   sacred  nag   is   “Drona   the  Teacher  himself”   and   the  Drona   cup   is   the  name  of  both  the  soma  cup  as  well  as  a  mountain  containing  sacred  ores  that  were  likely  used  in  making  the  sacred  alloy  of  soma.1  This  association  is  why  sadhus,  yogis,  gods   and   siddhas   all   carry   the   elixir   pot,   sometimes   containing   soma/amrita   or  Amanita  laced  urine  such  as  with  the  money  god  Hanuman.  It  is  also  the  bhumpa  of  Tantric  traditions  and  held  by  many  Mahayana  Buddhist  gods.    

Shamanic   and  Tantric   traditions   of   the  Himalayas   often  use   a   gourd   as   the  ritual   vessel,   and   like   for   the   Daoists,   it   symbolizes   the  world.   The   kalasha  bottle  gourd   represents   the   three  worlds:   the   smaller,   upper   belly   is   the  akash,   heaven,  which   also   is   divided   into   three   sections;   the   neck   is   the   human  world   of   plants,  animals,   the   five   elements   and   the   four   directions;   and   the   larger   lower   portion  represents  the  underworld.  Ratsch  describes  its  central  role  in  Kirati  shaman  altars  saying  it  holds  the  “primordial  amrita.”  

                                                                                                               1  See  Needham  for  discussion  of  Drona  and  Soma,  as  well  as  my  own  Forays  into  Alchemical  Pottery  Part  1  on  India  that  advances  the  metallurgical/alchemical  theory  of  soma  advanced  partially  by  various  Indian  scholars.  These  Indian  epics  also  connect  the  gourd  with  alcohol  and  lyre’s  as  gourds  always  made  the  best  amplification  chambers  for  instruments.  

       

   

The   origins   of   gourds   in   China   are   truly   archaic,   as   Girardot   has   written  extensively   in   his  masterpiece   on   early   Taoist  myths.   The   twining,   vining,   chaotic  growth   of   this   hermaphroditic   and   auto-­‐incestuous   (male   flowers   fertilize   the  female   flowers   of   same   plant)   tangle   ejaculates   explosive   growth   of,   as   Girardot  writes,   “swelling,   shaping,   and  coloring”  dumbbell-­‐shaped  gourds.  This   “cucurbitic  ontology”   finds  expression   in   the  Dao  of  uselessness  as   found   in  Zhuangzi  and  the  alchemical   labs   of   Daoists.   Man   and   the   universe   itself   are   gourd-­‐shaped   as   are  microcosmic  furnaces  inside  the  adept.  The  gourd  is  always  associated  with  healing  magic,  with  alchemy,  sacred  pilgrimages  for  herbs  or,  above  all,  medicine.  Williams,  from  Chinese  Symbolism  and  Art  Motifs,  writes:  "The  gourd-­‐shell,  or  a  painting  of  the  gourd  on  wood  or  paper,  or  a   small  wooden  gourd,  or  a  paper   cut   in   shape   like  a  perpendicular  section  of  the  gourd,  or  a  paper  lantern  made  in  the  shape  of  a  gourd,  is   in   frequent   use   as   a   charm   to   dissipate   or  ward   off   pernicious   influences."   The  drawings  of   the  earliest  Chinese  alchemical  apparatus  usually  were  gourd  shaped,  and  the  distillation  vessels   that  are  shaped   like  gourds  can  be   found  all  over   India  and  China  and  into  Arabian  and  European  designs.  

 Scholars   like   Rolf   Stein   and   Victor   Mair   and   Norman   Girardot   have  eloquently   demonstrated   the   vast   and   ancient   associations   in   Far   Eastern   culture  from  creation  myths,  floods,  microcosmic  gardens,  and  elixirs  to  hulu  gourd  charms  and   magic.   Adepts   disappear   into   expansive   worlds,   like   Fei   Changfang,   the  mysterious  herb  vendor  who  concealed  himself  in  his  magic  gourd  each  night,  tying  into  themes  of  the  gourd/womb/cave  of  retreat  and  rebirth.    The  gourd  adorned  the  staffs   of   immortals   and   adepts,   like   the   famous   Iron-­‐Crutch   Li,   whose   staff   could  transmute   base   metals   with   the   gourd   containing   the   drug   of   immortality.   Other  famous  Taoist   gourd   immortals,   among  many,   are   the  Gourd  Master  Huzi   and   the  Gourd   Immortal  Hugong.  Hulu  gourd  charms  and  talismans  continue  to  be  used   in  fengshui  and   as   symbols   of   longevity   all   over  Asia,  with   gourd   folklore   abounding  throughout  Japan  and  South  East  Asia.    

Below  are  pictured  examples  of  alchemical  gourd-­‐shaped  devices  in  Chinese  and  Indian  laboratories.    The  uses  and  construction  of  these  gourd-­‐like  devices  can  be   found   in   the   Forays   into   Alchemical   Pottery   series   as   found   at  www.ChymicalPhilosophers.org.   Some   examples   of   gourd-­‐inspired   Greek  distillation  vessels  are  also  depicted  below,  followed  by  Arabian  examples.    

 

   

   

     

 

 

The  gourd  pot  as  the  holy  water,  elixir  vessel  can  be  found  in  Arab  alchemical  texts   as   well,   in   the   hands   of   various   Islamic   mystics,   dervishes   and   holy   men.  Persian  Sufi  Iqbal,  speaking  of  a  visionary  elixir,  and  my  “world-­‐beholding  glass,  all  its   radiance   surpass…Let   the   bitter   potion   poured,   By   the   heavens   in  my   gourd.”2  Patai’s  The  Jewish  Alchemists   documents   the  use   of   cucurbits,  ququrbita   and  other  gourd-­‐shaped   devices   that   are   mentioned   in   many   Arab   and   Jewish   alchemical  manuscripts.   As   Harran   in   Syria   was   well   known   in   the   ancient   world   for   its  glasswares,   it’s   likely   in  this  context   that   the  earthenware  or   iron  gourd  vessels  of  Chinese  and  Indian  mystics  transmuted  into  glass.  Alchemists  like  Al-­‐Razi  describe  their  gourd  shaped  devices  as  having  arms  to  allow  vapors  to  cool  and  be  collected  and  in  manuscripts  it  is  described  as  a  “cucurbit  and  still  with  evacuation  tube  (qarʿ  aw  anbīq  dhū-­‐khatm).”  Below  Sufi  dervishes  have  gourd  pots   like  Daoist,  Buddhist,  Saddhu  and  Christian  spiritual  pilgrims.    

 

      Islam  and  Judaism  spring  from  the  same  well,  and  the  Old  Testament  story  of  Jonah  and  the  gourd  contextualize  cucurbits  as  a  symbol  of  divine  providence.  "And  the  Lord  God  prepared  a  gourd,  and  made  it  to  come  up  over  Jonah,  that  it  might  be  a  shadow  over  his  head,  to  deliver  him  from  his  grief.  So  Jonah  was  exceeding  glad  of  the   gourd.  But  God  prepared  a  worm  when   the  morning   rose   the  next  day,   and   it  smote  the  gourd  that  it  withered.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  sun  did  arise,  that  God  prepared  a  vehement  east  wind;  and  the  sun  beat  upon  the  head  of  Jonah,  that  he  fainted,  and  wished  in  himself  to  die,  and  said,   It   is  better  for  me  to  die  than  to                                                                                                                  2  Gourds  had  many  visionary  uses  such  as  for  the  mentioned  uses  for  instruments  but  also  for  making  pipes,  and  as  the    Fuqqaa,  or  a  Gourd  for  ‘Beer’  

live"   (Jonah  4:6-­‐8).  The  gourd   is  a   reprieve   from  God   in   Jonah’s   trials,   and   “It  was  sent  to  him  when  he  was  in  a  very  wrong  spirit.”  Jonah  is  being  spiritually  initiated  as  “God   is  preparing   thee   to  be  a   comforter   to  others”  and   his  worm-­‐destroyed   gourd  was  but  a  brief  botanical  theophany  on  Jonah’s  path  and  trials.  The  gourd  remained  a  sign  of  Divine  comfort  in  Christian  art  such  as  is  depicted  below  with  St.  Jerome  in  his  study.  From  the  Koran,  “And  We  caused  to  grow  over  him  a  gourd  vine.  (Sura  As-­‐Saffat  (Those  who  set  the  Ranks)‚  verse  146)    

      The  gourd   in  Christian  art   is   a   symbol  of  Resurrection,   contrasted  with   the  apple  that  fooled  our  first  parents  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Resurrection  of  the  spirit  and   the   body   partake   of   the   truly   ancient   searches   of   immortality   by   all   ancient  cultures,  as  first  recorded  in  the  Epic  of  Gilgamesh.  The  spontaneous  transmutation  of  the  sinner,  the  Godly  alchemy  of  eternal  life  and  Grace  are  all  found  in  the  gourd.    Gourd  and   related  plants  are   found   in   such  evocative  paintings   lke  Madonna  della  Candeletta   by   Carlo   Crivelli   in   1490.   Crivelli   often   juxtaposed   the   apple   and   the  gourd,  with  the  infant  Christ  apparently  resting  at  times  on  a  gourd-­‐shaped  pillow.    

 

       

   Spain’s  gourd   imagery  abounds,  perhaps  born  of   the  mingling  of  alchemical  

cultures,   and   it   was   a   threshold   between   Europe   and   the   Moorish   influences.  Pilgrims  on  the  way  to  fight  in  Crusades  or  for  spiritual  penance  followed  a  specific  route.   One   particularly   famous   route   follows   the   Milky   Way   (Via   Lactea)   to   the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  was  the  Way  of  St.  James,  or  El  Camino  de  Santiago,  who  was  the  patron  saint  of  alchemists  and  physicians.  The  Legenda  aurea,  relates  that  St.  James  defeated  the  sorcerer  “Hermogenes”  or  “Hermes  Trismegistus”  of  the  Pharisees,  and  thus  the  bearer  of  his  secret  knowledge.  Hermogenes  converted  after  witnessing  the  might  of  St.  James’  spiritual  powers  from  God  and  gave  up  his  devil  worships  and  rid  himself  of  his  conjuring  books  when  he  accepted  the  staff  of  St.  James.  The  Way  of  St.  Iago  is  the  way  of  alchemists  and  the  saint  was  often  called  upon,  such  as  by  Nicolas  Flamel,   to  aid   them  in   the  Great  Work.  Roob’s  Alchemy  and  Mysticism  quotes  older  texts   that   explain,   “In   secret   symbolism,   the   ‘Compostela   scallop’   (conquille   St.  Jacques)…  represents  the  principle  of  Mercury,  which  is  still  called  the  ‘traveler’  or  the  ‘pilgrim’.  In  the  mystical  sense  it  is  worn  by  all  those  who  want  to  obtain  the  star  (Lat.   Compos,   possessing,   stella,   star).”   Fulcanelli,   the   modern   “adept”   of   France3,  writes,  “That  is  the  point  at  which  all  the  alchemists  must  begin.  With  their  pilgrim’s  staff  as  a  guide  and  the  scallop  as  a  sign,  they  must  undertake  this   long  dangerous  journey,  half  on  water,  half  on  land.  First  as  pilgrims,  then  as  pilots.”  Of  course  Spain  was  the  major  source  of  mercury  for  much  of  the  ancient  and  medieval  world  from  the  mines  of  Almaden,  gifted  to  the  Order  of  Calatrava  in  the  early  12th  century.4                                                                                                                  3  Fulcanelli  seems  increasingly  to  appear  to  be  a  fabrication  by  a  fraternal  order  with  sinister  agendas,  as  our  contacts  in  France  have  sent  us  intriguing  documentation.  An  alchemical  Taxil  hoax.    4  Pilgrims  carried  the  jacinto  de  Compostela,  a  red  quartz,  as  a  talisman  which  may  be  the  exoteric  red  mineral,  while  cinnabar  was  for  the  alchemist.  Neither  is  found  in  the  immediate  region,  but  both  are  common  elsewhere  in  Spain.    

  The   staff   and  gourd   iconography  can  be   found   in  much  of   the  Christian  art  and   representations   of   the   saints.   St.   Ignatius   Loyola,   whose   devotion   and   piety  sprang   from   his   pilgrimage   to   the   alchemical   Black   Virgin   of  Montserrat,   is   often  shown  in  pilgrimage  with  gourd  and  staff.  Also  significant   is   the  tradition  of  Santo  Nino   De   Atocha,   the   Christ   child,   popular   in   Spain   and   Hispanic   countries,   who  magically  appeared  in  times  of  Moorish  conquest  and  rallied  people  to  ever  higher  spiritual   heights.   Also   of   interest,   the   skullcap   worn   by   Roman   Catholic   (and  Anglicans  and  Orthodox)  clerics  is  called  the  zucchetto,  Italian  for  small  gourd,  and  it  resembles  a  section  of  gourd  with  a  protruding  stem.      

   

 

   

 The  gourd’s  perfect  shape  and  symbolism  continued  to  exert  its  influence  on  

alchemy   and   distillation.   The   cucurbit   is   familiar   to   all   Islamic   and   European  alchemical  adepts  from  Jabir  to  Paracelsus  to  Solazaref.  Copper  stills  of  fine  quality  are   still   being   produced,   mostly   in   Portugal,   for   distilling   fine   spirits.   Modern  alchemists   still   use   glass   cucurbits   like   countless   other   alchemists   from  Ripley   to  Starkey.     The   modern   “master”   alchemist   Fulcanelli’s   Demeures   Philosophales  includes  a  woodcut  of  a  majestic  little  pilgrim  from  the  15th  century  hermetic  abode,  one  of  the  most  endearing  images  ever  conceived  of  by  the  adepts  of  the  Great  Work    

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Prayer  dear  to  St.  Ignatius:                                                                                                                          St.  Roch  The  Anima  Christi    Soul  of  Christ,  sanctify  me.  Body  of  Christ,  save  me.  Blood  of  Christ,  inebriate  me.  Water  from  the  side  of  Christ,    wash  me.  Passion  of  Christ,  strengthen  me.  0  good  Jesus,  hear  me.  Within  Your  wounds  hide  me.    Permit  me  not  to  be  separated  from  You.  From  the  wicked  foe  defend  me.  At  the  hour  of  my  death  call  me    And  bid  me  come  to  You    That  with  Your  saints  I  may  praise  You  Forever  and  ever.    Amen  

 

   

 

     References  and  Further  Reading:  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Calabash  nebula  

Dannaway,  Frederick  R.  2012.  Forays  into  Alchemical  Pottery  Part  2A  China.  http://www.chymicalphilosophers.org/forays-­‐into-­‐alchemical-­‐pottery-­‐2a/    Ellis,   F.S.   (ed.)   retrieved   2012.   The   Golden   Legend   or   Lives   of   the   Saints.  http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend/jamesGreater.PDF    Fulcanelli.  1964.  Le  Mystere  des  Cathedrales.  Paris.      Girardot,   N.J.   1983.   Myth   and   Meaning   in   Early   Taoism.   Berkeley:   University   of  California  Press.    

Mair,  Victor.  Retrieved  2012.  Southern  Bottle-­‐Gourd  Myths  in  China  and  Their  Appropriation  By  Taoism.    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=28&ved=0CE8QFjAHOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fccsdb.ncl.edu.tw%2Fccs%2Fimage%2F001523314_0185.pdf&ei=QbYgUPyLAYbG6wHDs4GQBw&usg=AFQjCNEAU0G8wf-­‐g5HH_68j3aneHQ_j8Fw    Needham,   J.   1983.   Science   and   Civilization   in   China,   Vol.   5,   pt.   5.   Cambridge:  Cambridge  University  Press.    Needham,   J.   1980.   Science   and   Civilization   in   China,   Vol.   5,   pt.   4.   Cambridge:  Cambridge  University  Press.    Needham,   J.   1976.   Science   and   Civilization   in   China,   Vol.   5,   pt.   3.   Cambridge:  Cambridge  University  Press.    Needham,   J.1974.   Science   and   Civilization   in   China,   Vol.   5,   pt.   2.   Cambridge:  Cambridge  University  Press.    Ratsch,  C.  2002.  Shamanism  and  Tantra  in  the  Himalayas.  Thames  and  Hudson.      Stein,   Rolf.   1990.   The  World   in  Miniature:   Container   Gardens   and  Dwellings   in   Far  Eastern  Religious  Thought.  Stanford  University  Press.      Williams,  C.  2006.  Chinese  Symbolism  and  Art  Motifs.  Tuttle.  

                                                                         

   

 

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