U n i V e r s a L i s

"Around the man and woman draw a ring, From which an equal-sided square springs forth. From this derive a triangle, which should touch The sphere on every side: and then the Stone
Will have arisen. If this is not clear, Then learn Geometry, and know it all."
(Godwin, Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens, p. 147.)

The master in the emblem points his compass from circle to circle, or as it has been interpreted, from square to circle, demonstrating the squaring of the circle, the quintessential symbol of the marriage of heaven and earth. This puzzle was originally posed by the Delphic Oracle, to construct a square with a perimeter equal to the circumference of a circle.

The reconciliation of opposites through their mutual attraction brings man and woman together symbolizing the One thing, the dot or circle. Although they are one, they are also two, equaling by addition three they become the triangle and their multiplicity produces four, the square. From this progression from dot to line to triangle and square, they return again to one, the larger circle, from the union of corporeal love to all-encompassing spiritual Love. Spheres within spheres, a Jacob’s ladder, a golden chain. As the One thing, the man and woman alchemically join as "our fruitful hermaphrodite," the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, to produce the philosopher’s stone in new life. The joining creates the tetractys: two heads, four arms and four legs. To perfect a body in the animal, plant, or mineral realms, the alchemist must separate the one into the four elements of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth. These elements are again separated and refined by fours. Air is divided into the "Air of Air," "Water of Air," "Fire of Air," and "Earth of Air." Divide the 4 by 4 four times to get the three: 4x4x4=48: 4+8=12:1+2=3. Once these separations are completed, they are recombined into one again to be separated by three principals, sulphur, mercury, and salt. The three principals, once separated, are recombined and subjected to a maximum of seven slow distillations (the one becomes four+three= seven: the circle articulated as square and triangle). Finally, the three purified principals are joined together as One in the form of the universal medicine, the philosopher’s stone, the Miracle of the One Thing, the large circle surrounding all of the work of the one, four, and three in the emblem.

http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Eberly/AtalantaCommentary.html