as catro eidades
Si yiwan
Les Quatre eons
na keithre aois
Yenion Cantea. (couldn't help myself...Jp, Gal, Ch, Fr, Gael, Quenya)
Tetrahedron des quatre Metaux
In the first age, the creda yuga, when virtue is firmly established. Randa culea, The age of red-gold whose alchemical symbol is the Circle and dot.
Then the 2nd age when wisdom is challenged, but there is still the remnant of wisdom, and the age of silver and the moon, whose alchemical symbol is the crescent.
Then the age of brass, the impure koupros mixed with tin, the false gold, when indifference sets in. And madness and no one can bear the stench (or the food). Amusignly, the symbol of copper is that of Venus.
Lastly the age of gray iron, who's alchemical symbol is the circle with outstretched blade, the fourth age, founded in instability, depravity. When only strength will suffice for anything, and all pretense of virtue is lost. It is the age of 49, 7x7, the seventh step, the point of completion of the work when the world must be transformed. It has no other sign but death.
"and when the birds fall dead from the sky, then will the rainbow warriors appear..."
The schema of the four ages is to be found in various places, and in various guises. The most well known is from India. But it also turns up in odd places, such as among the Lakota and others where the it is the mother buffalo that stands on four legs, etc. I would also be remiss not to point out the dream of Nebuchadnezzar of the statue, with a head of gold, arms of silver, legs of iron and feet of clay mixed with iron. Scholars will of course contest this last example as referring to other times and kingdoms different than the other examples.
Now it is true that some clueless people hearing it called the "creda yuga" have allowed sloppy semantic creep to get the impression that this somehow implies "credulity", gullibility and naivete'. This is of course absurd. Creda, as in faith, is neither, but it is merely the certainty of truth, when virtue is firmly established, because it is obvious. It is only later when wisdom has faded that what ought to be obvious becomes "doubtful." So it is that your little hero never doubts his virtue, even when it gets him a swift punch to the face, or is ridiculed by those he calls friends.
Those attentive persons will have already grasped the associations to our characters. They may however not have appreciated that Kiba is of the age of silver. It is so, your great hero must be challenged, just as the little hero is challenged, and never wavers, but for all that can never understand why the others are so devoid of any virtue: faith, compassion, mercy, etc. It is so: the little one is of the age of red gold, randa calaea. As he says in episode 19, "why cant we all get along?" because for him it seems inconceivable that it should not be so.
More attentive persons will have noted, that it is these two orphans who were raised by "humans". While the two of the age of brass and iron were not. It is also a sign, for the motif dear to the heart of Nicholas Flamel - but also in that part of the world, it was tradition that orphans were often named "innocente". Like the "creda yuga" this also has been misunderstood.
But here I must touch upon one of the greatest of questions. Why are there four ages at all? Not why, 4, but why is there decay? You cannot hope to conquer without danger for that would be a triumph without victory. And so it is, that to have strength of conviction it is not enough to have "urges" and "voices inside". Gold is refined in the fire, it dies and is re-born, purified and stronger. But with each stage it is not as before accquiring new abilities and attributes and becomming more and more like those that made them. You cannot go from kindergarten to grad school all at one go.
Therefore do not despair that you have come to this fourth age when all is madness, depravity and death, nor dwell too long on what was in the noontide of our history. Can you not hear his voice calling to you, saying "my friends, it has been our distinct honor to live in this last 4th age of the cow when all works of false wisdom will at last fail in chaos, destruction, instability and death- for we who have stood the test, persevered in truth, charity and compassion and love till the end are crowned with a victory! One beyond the imagination of those of the earlier ages, one of which the stars will declare, "behold they have come at last"
"I thought you were going to talk about alchemy?" - Ell.
"I did." - ML
"I was thinking more of an introduction."
"The moon is too new for that."
