



This also relates to the cover art of the album, which is Tantric but also Hermetic. The ancient alchemical treatise, The Emerald Tablet, says: '...whatever is below is like that which is above, and whatever is above is like that which is below.... It's father is the sun and its mother is the moon...For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistos... Perfect is what I have said of the work of the sun.' In alchemy the Unio Mystica of Sun and Moon is symbolic of the mystical union of the qualities of inner male and inner female. In Tantric thought the state of inner balance, between the energies of Sun and Moon, parallels the words of the Emerald Tablet and Jung's concept of individuation: that in the unconscious a man includes an inner female image, in a woman the image of an inner male. The union of these (conscious with unconscious) is required for psychological balance and growth, which is reflected in the geometric proportioning of the cover art itself, with the sun and moon contained within the pentagram and multiples of it (25).





It is possible that listeners sense the concept of ritual invocation unconsciously when listening to the album. In other words, power is raised by strong musical, even magical elements through the harnessing of archetypal elements. The inclusion of powerful drumming intensifies this dimension. Drums have traditionally been associated with the spiritual and magical worlds such as rites of passage, exorcisms and the invocation of spirits and have always played a quintessential role in the music of King Crimson. Interestingly, the pentagram is itself a Golden Section form which is also included in the cover-art as multiples of five, meaning that geometric principles are active at every level of the work. The cover-art, perfectly proportioned, embodies the principle of cosmic order, reflecting the alchemical dictum, 'As above, so below'.











