time for me to actually contribute to this thread with something that isn't a shitpost lol
It almost looks like the symbol of Saturn combined with Black Sulfur.
that's exactly what it is
(for those unfamiliar):
and this can have several potential connotations/speculations
saturn, within classical astrology and western alchemy, was associated with and was the ruling planetary body for the elemental mundane of lead; lead is the lowest rung on the ladder of the base metals, and carried the properties of being the "default"
by this, it was believed that all metals greater than lead would, eventually, decay back into lead -- which introduces the prospect of time to lead's value (this also relates to the planetary body as saturn = cronos/kronos = chronos = time)
because of this, lead had the disctinct value to alchemists as being the metal of transformation, rejuvenation, and redemption
this doubles over as saturn, as a cosmic body, has long-developed associations with the placement of limits and restrictions on power and/or the act or ability to control a given thing, due to saturn (within the context of alchemy and its symbolism as obviously this isn't the case in the actual solar system) being the farthest planet from the sun in the classical writings
so we have a cosmic body (associated with the limits of power)being the ruling planet over the alchemic metal lead (associated with transformation and redemption, and contextually-depending the overcoming of boundaries by that transformation), and the two have common ties relating to the idea of time in one form or another
now, depending on whether or not they went balls-to-the-wall with the alchemy research, paracelsus and other practitioners of the qabalah of hermeticism held beliefs that planetary bodies had ties to vital organs (saturn was the spleen most commonly, but the organ doesn't matter for this as much as the
relationship to specific organs -- but if we wanna get into it saturn also has occasional relationships with the bones, at least in ptolemy's writings as far as i know)
now moving to astrology, saturn (in western astrology anyway) dominates capricorn and aquarius, which have their own relationships to alchemic processes -- in specific the
magnum opus:
-capricorn represents the process of fermentation (sometimes referred to as putrefaction depending on the source)
-aquarius represents multiplication
i think you can already see where this half of the sigil can possibly go
now we have sulfur
sulfur is representative of the soul -- specifically, it was interchangeable to the point of being synonymous with the
human soul, but this can be interpreted as human-specific or generalized at one's leisure, the old writings support both
there's a bunch of stuff about the leviathan cross symbol for sulfur being representative of satanism and the devil, but that has zero historical commonality outside of a specific assclown and fuck lavey for starting that shit -- BUT, depending on whether the writers were aware of this or not can significantly alter how this can be interpreted
with all the involvement of catholicism and actual hell in the netflix series, let's just for argument's sake assume the writers intended this connotation regardless of whether or not they know the history
sulfur in western alchemy has strong masculine traits -- it's hot, and dry, and powerful
but, sulfur was very frequently seen as a base element for a very long time, mostly due to jabir the arab writing of this (sulfur as a base element was already common in the arabic world at this time) in the 700s or so and european scholar-types just kinda rolled with it from that point
and sulfur as a base element was very important when paired with mercury, which carried female archetypal traits -- opposing those of sulfur, so cold/cool and wet
the two together worked by sulfur being a major driver of change and transformation being an active "male" element but requiring a catalyst to actually shape anything and thus was made whole by the pairing of mercury as a passive "female" element -- the joining of two things combining the male and female into a singular union being a major theme in alchemy and specifically the great work and all that
this pairing also was frequented by the company of salt, which was seen as a purely physical thing but of the earth and impure and needing to be purified through transmutation in order to become perfect -- was usually seen as the body when in reference to humans
so you have all three of these:
-sulfur representing the soul (specifically, the personal essence of a living thing)
-mercury representing the spirit (different from the soul, and more as a sort of medium or "connection" of the soul to something else altogether)
-salt representing the body (seen as impure and imperfect, and in need of transformation in order to become enlightened and the perfect thing)
but note that mercury and salt are entirely absent from this symbol on the floor in ANY representation or respect, which i think is important
so the way i interpret it this can likely be one of two things:
-a sigil designed to embody the transformation/redemption/rejuvenation/perfection of something impure and divided within itself, in this particular conjecture the soul of dracula being transformed and rejuvenated into something more singular and "perfect" than before (possibly "correcting" the division within him previously of wanting to murder-hobo the human race and his humanity wanting to grieve and mourn his wife -- y'know, just the usual internal conflict of the guy in SotN which the series seems to draw the most heavily from where dracula is concerned), so in this "theory" it could be taken that the symbol on the floor is part of a process or ritual or ceremony which establishes the resurrection cycle and/or curse of dracula
-a sigil designed to basically act like a giant minecraft redstone to constantly feed demonic souls straight from hell into humans or their bodies amassed by whoever the group/cult is (since it seems night-creatures can, in addition to being summoned, be created from humans and human corpses), as the absence of salt and mercury could indicate a lack of need for a physical impurity/body and/or a tethered connection as in this conjecture they're simply forcefully stuffing demonic souls straight out of hell into human bodies like a massive assembly line and thus don't have to be concerned about connections that strong as the purpose herein is about quantity rather than quality
i feel like either could be compelling enough for the existing narrative as it currently stands, though given the specific mentions of things like "emptying hell" of its denizens in the trailer and the fact that the room the sigil's in has a shitload of demons and a portal/gateway of some kind, i have waaaaaay more inclination toward something resembling the latter
however, what's clear to me either way is whatever the final usage of alchemy is in this season, one thing is abundantly clear to me from all my years researching the topic and hermetic writings of all kinds:
these motherfuckers lookin' to make a Stone
now what
kind of stone and at what specific point in the process they stop at is up in the air and i'll probably devote more time into research connections and theorizing based on what we know (or not, with only a few days before it drops there's probably no point in that)
but everything about that sigil on the floor has strong connections to extremely crucial and critical elements of the processes involved in the
magnum opus