Well, NOTRE DAME has been re-established and in time for the Olympics. It is not fully open to the public, but it stands. But, there are some issues and some curiosities regarding the new Spire.
I don’t know how many of you were following the story of the Notre Dame Fire in 2019. I found it all just a little too suspicious from the beginning and it rapidly spiraled downward from there.
They sure wanted that SPIRE TO BURN COMPLETELY. Everything about the Fire, the fundraising and the reconstruction is all too fishy for me.
Now, they had to race to get the Dame ready for the Olympics. I think I have demonstrated why. I can’t help thinking though that there is something about the construction of the new Spire that has something to do with all the SURVEILLANCE both at the Olympics and going forward for the whole world.
If you have not seen my posts on the Fire check them out here.
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Originally Answered: Is pencil lead a good conductor of electricity?
It’s mostly carbon. Lots of electrical motors use that exact material to deliver power to a motor’s stator (the connector to the spinning part) because the carbon won’t be affected by the sparking, and with a thick enough piece of it, it conducts acceptably well.
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE FACT SHEET; PDF
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Preparing the Lead Work
Unlike the days of Viollet-le-Duc, when lead was shaped on site, the roofers prepared their work in the workshop. This allowed them to work in favorable conditions, with more space at their disposal and free from the vagaries of the weather.
The Intricacies of Lead Roofing
Shaping the roofing and molding the ornaments is a truly artistic task requiring highly specialized know-how, a rare and precious skill acquired by journeymen roofers and ornamentalists over a decade of practice. Ornaments are shaped or, more often, molded. As for the lead tables, they are pre-formed using 1:1 scale fir templates from the frameworks they cover.
Installation and Finishing Touches
After being molded and pre-fabricated in the workshop, the lead elements are carefully packaged for transport to the site, and then craned as close as possible to the framework. Before laying out the lead tables on the needle, the roofers first cover the framework with dry oak planks: the voliges. They then add a layer of waterproof paper, known as English paper, to separate the wood from the lead boards. The roofers lay the tables one on top of the other, starting from the bottom, with a slight overlap to insulate the framework, and fasten them to the battens. Finally, the molded lead ornaments, known as hooks, which decorate the needle are positioned on the metal supports. There are 192 in all.
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Although the sheer volume of lead that vaporized in the Notre Dame fire was unique, fire restoration practitioners need to be aware of the likelihood that lead may be present in any fire-damaged structure, especially those built after 1978. (Credit: Baidax/Wikicommons)
Construction continues to secure Notre Dame Cathedral after the massive April 15 fire that destroyed the structure’s roof (Image credit: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images)
The reason? Building practices reaching back thousands of years. The medieval structure and its later additions — including the famous spire — contained lead, which fell to the ground during the fire that broke out on April 15.
“Lead was used in roofing since antiquity,” said Richard Wittman, a historian of architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “It was really common in medieval buildings.” [In Photos: Gazing into a Medieval Church]
Lead and Notre Dame
Lead made for an appealing building material for a few reasons, Wittman told Live Science. First, it is malleable. That made it useful for domes or spires, which have complex shapes, Wittman said. Second, lead is durable. It doesn’t rust in the elements, making it a popular roofing material.
Notre Dame’s now-destroyed roof was made of virgin oak cut into timbers in 1160, overlaid with large, thin panels of lead. Media reports on the fire estimate the weight of that lead at 210 tons (182 metric tons). The spire, also made of wood and lead, dated back to a 20-year restoration project started in 1844 and led by architects Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus. Media reports put the weight of the 300-foot (91.4 meter) spire they designed at 750 tons (680 metric tons).
According to the Associated Press, much of that lead is now contaminating the Notre Dame site. Lead levels in the plaza and in areas closest to the cathedral were between 10 and 20 grams per kilogram, according to the AP — up to 65 times the recommended limit of 0.3 g per kg. Lead can accumulate in body tissues and cause damage to the nervous system.
Cleanup may not be as difficult as those numbers make it sound, because of lead’s nearly infinite malleability. If the lead isn’t too corrupted, it might even be possible to scrape up the remnants of the panels, melt them down again and recast them into new plates, Wittman said.
Rebuilding Notre Dame’s roof out of lead would also be possible, Wittman said, though there are certain things builders have to know. For example, lead contracts and expands with temperature changes, Wittman said, so it can gradually start to shred over time. Even ancient architects learned to install lead roofs with a little extra space for this contraction and expansion, similar to the way that sidewalk panels have gaps between them, he said.
Restoration projects have also been tripped up in the past by lead’s quirks. In the 1800s, architects rebuilding Gothic cathedrals often didn’t realize that wood sap and lead together can create corrosive chemical reactions. They had to learn to start soaking their timbers to draw out the sap before construction, Wittman said. Medieval builders did this naturally, because they shipped most of their timbers by floating logs downriver, he said, but in the 1800s, most lumber moved by rail.
French authorities are recommending that homes and businesses near Notre Dame Cathedral use damp cloths to clean any possible lead dust from the fire from surfaces and floors. Children and pregnant women in the area should also wash their hands frequently, as children and fetuses are the most sensitive to lead’s neurological damage. Construction workers are also at risk of lead exposure, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which sets safety standards such as exposure time and protective (often disposable) clothing to limit the danger. France also sets limits for occupational lead exposure.
It’s unclear whether Notre Dame’s roof will be rebuilt with lead panels. Modern buildings typically use lighter, cheaper materials, Wittman said, but lead roofing is still used in historical restorations.
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French President Macron makes u-turn after first suggesting the 19th-century spire, which was destroyed in the fire last year, should be replaced by a contemporary design
Notre Dame’s 93-metre spire, which was destroyed in the April 2019 fire, will be reconstructed according to original plans© Sebastien
The 93-meter spire of Notre Dame cathedral will be rebuilt as it was before the April 2019 fire. The decision, confirmed on Friday by General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who is in charge of the reconstruction, follows months of controversy over the future appearance of the Paris landmark. It is also an abrupt u-turn for President Emmanuel Macron who suggested soon after the fire that the 19th-century spire, which collapsed in the flames, could be replaced by a modern “architectural gesture”.
The proposal triggered wide-ranging protests. Unesco’s former cultural head Francesco Bandarin argued that the principles of restoration set down by the Venice Charter must be respected. Some claimed that big sponsors of the restoration such as the founders of LVMH, L’Oréal or Kering companies, and many other anonymous donors, would not be willing to pay for a controversial glass tower. Tensions erupted publicly when the architect in charge of the site, Philippe de Villeneuve, who had expressed his opposition to Macron’s idea, was ordered to “shut his big mouth” by General Georgelin. The government stood firm and last April launched an international architectural competition for a new design.
President Macron’s about-face came one day after the National Heritage Commission recommended “the reestablishment of Viollet-le-Duc’s architecture, using the original materials”, after having examined a 300-page report by the architect in charge. According to a source close to the president, Macron is still not convinced. But he realises that a long architectural competition could threaten plans to reopen the cathedral in time for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. The Covid-19 crisis, bad weather and a series of technical incidents have already delayed works for several months. Last summer, the health and safety authority ordered a three-week halt to ensure workers’ protection against lead poisoning. The site is still not well guarded. Two drunk thieves were caught looting medieval stones from the cathedral, and last Thursday Greenpeace demonstrators were able to hang a banner calling for “climate action” off an 80m crane.
Two teams of five workers, working in rotation, hanging in the air roped to the crane, have just started to cut the 200 tons of charred and melted scaffolding, which encircled the spire. General Georgelin already admits that the construction will not be completed by 2024, but hopes that the cathedral could be partially open for services.
However, there are still several obstacles that could hinder the reconstruction. The next World Heritage Committee meeting (postponed to a date yet to be announced), which will examine France’s report, along with citizens’ groups and cultural associations, will scrutinise the impact of new plans for the front of the cathedral.
The choice of materials is also controversial. The conservative restoration means that timber and lead will be used for the framework and the roofing, foregoing the opportunity to use safer, more sophisticated modern materials. The use of lead is particularly sensitive because of its toxicity when it contaminates water or air.
The nave and the spire were covered with 460 tons of lead. On Thursday, the American Geophysical Union published a study showing that the exposure to lead in the centre of Paris in the wake of the fire was seriously downplayed. According to its study, almost a ton of lead dust fell to the ground within 1 km of the site, and the concentration of the fallout in this area and downwind was over six times the amount announced by local authorities, which covered a 1-50 km radius, excluding the surrounding of the cathedral. The report also states that the administration should have acted “considerably sooner communicating the hazards”, collecting samples and testing the affected population. Only after seven weeks was it suggested that blood tests be take from the 6,000 children who had been exposed, and then only on a voluntary basis.
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Why exactly they had open vats of it is beyond me, but it was probably to keep the roof in repair. Almost twice the length of an American football field, the entire outer roof was constructed of lead plates.
it’s astounding how important lead was in the design of Notre Dame. When I learned that the spire alone contained 250 tons of lead, I was flabbergasted. What on earth did the builders have in mind? I had to ponder quite a while to work out what I believe is the reason… light weight. Yes, light. They could not build the spire of stone… it would be too heavy for the building, Imagine he weight of a 15-story height stone tower!!!! The original spire had been constructed mostly wood and after six centuries it was in dire straights, beaten by the weather and even leaning out of plumb.
Thus Violett-Le-Duc came up with a unique and logical solution, to build a spire which looks like stone but is something much lighter, a wood spire totally cloaked in lead sheeting so that it looks like stone!!! It was an incredible undertaking and a startling success. Oak totally protected by lead normally would have lasted for not just centuries, but even millenia. This was what the genius builder had in mind, but not even that ingenious design could resist the raging fire which came up from the attic below.
May I suggest you see the film on YouTube which shows every magic inch of the spire. Search for ‘assassins creed notre dame’ to see the recreation based on a digitalisation of the cathedral which took almost two years.
Caption: Image from the film by Assassin’s Creed. That stonework you see is actually lead.
Note the second statue from the left. It is St. Thomas, and he is the only saint who is looking at the spire instead of staring out at the world. The statue has a great resemblance to Violett-le-Dec himself… what a coincidence! And he’s the only saint to whom the builder awarded a nice pair of angel’s wings!
Caption: The builder of the spire.
Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.
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OAK
Sacred Tree Profile: Oak’s Medicine, Magic, Mythology, and Meanings
There is nothing quite as majestic as an oak, which is likely why ancient druids met in groves of them to perform their ceremonies.
All oaks have a very strong, hard wood with a close grain. Oak in past times was used for any situation where strength and durability were required: old barns, oak barrels, railroad ties, posts, ships, hardwood floors, and furniture, to name a few.
Like most other hardwood nut trees (hickory, walnut, butternut), oaks are relatively slow-growing and long-lived. Some white oaks can live 600 years or more. Oaks are considered a “climax” species, meaning that once mature oaks are present, the forest is considered mature and no additional ecological succession will take place. Oaks are a keystone species in many forests on the East coast and in the Appalachian mountains: the oaks provide understory, food, and habitat for many other species and drive the overall shape of the forest.
As druids know, the term “druid” is commonly translated “oak knowledge”, “oak-knower” or “oak-seer” referring to the fact that druids had knowledge of the oaks (and as oaks are a pinnacle species, therefore, druids had knowledge of the broader landscape) or perhaps, understood oaks on the inner and outer planes. In the druid tradition, oak is tied to that same ancient symbol of the druid possessing strength, knowledge, and wisdom. By taking on the term druid, we bring the power and strength of the oak int our lives and tradition. We don’t have a lot of surviving information about the Ancient Druids and their rituals, but one of the most famous was described by Pliny the Elder describes the druids as “magicians” who “hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is a hard-timbered oak….mistletoe is rare and when found it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on the sixth day of the moon.” The ritual is that two white bulls are brought, a white-clad priest climbs the oak tree and cuts the mistletoe with a golden sickle, and then they sacrifice the bulls and pray. This mistletoe, growing on the oak, was said to be the most powerful medicine, curing all poisons and allowing an infertile animal to reproduce. Pliny notes that druids performed all of their rites in sacred oak groves; when the druids were destroyed, the Romans cut all of their sacred oak groves down. You can imagine what those ancient groves must have been like when you encounter even a single ancient oak tree–majesty and presence.
In the Encyclopedia of Natural Magic, John Michael Greer notes that oak is a tree of power you can use it to direct and channel high levels of energy., particularly earth magic or weather magic. He suggests that the oak is the “most powerful of trees in Northern European tree magic.”
Culpepper’s Herbal notes that the oak is governed by Jupiter and that the oak is known to help resist the poison of both “venomous creatures” and those of herbs and plants.
The Magic and Mystery of the Oak in North America
An incredibly consistent image of the oak seems present from the different kinds of literature, mythology, herbal, and magical traditions in both North America and Europe. Here are three core meanings for the oak:
- Strength: The oak is obviously a sign of strength, both the strength of its branches and wood, and its strengthening qualities as a medicine and magical tree. All cultures have revered the oak and sought such strengthening qualities, and that strength can be seen throughout the lore.
- Wisdom/Knowledge: Tied to the ancient term for “druid” as “oak knowledge” oak has long been associated with knowledge and wisdom. We can see this also in the Native American lore, where oak “makes space for councils”.
- Vitality/Life: The most ancient druid ritual we have, as well as new work by Dubuis and others, suggests oak’s vitalizing quality. Oak can heal poison, strengthen the sick, and certainly, bring vitality and energy through the blessing of the acorn, as a “tree of life.”
- Thunder/Weather: As we can see from both the IndoEuropean traditions, oak is also tied to weather/thunder and thunder deities.
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Oak mythology and folklore
Throughout the major cultures of Europe people have held the oak tree in high esteem. To the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Slavs and Teutonic tribes the oak was foremost amongst venerated trees. In each case associated with the supreme god in their pantheon, oak being sacred to Zeus, Jupiter, Dagda, Perun and Thor, respectively. Each of these gods also had dominion over rain, thunder and lightning. It is no coincidence that oak trees are more prone to lightning strikes than many other trees. This is because of the tree’s high water content and the fact that they are frequently the tallest living things in the landscape.
The Druids frequently worshipped and practised their rites in oak groves. The word Druid may derive from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree”. The Gaelic word for oak is darach and remains in place names such as Glac Daraich (oak hollow/small valley) in Glen Affric.
Mistletoe, probably the Druids’ most potent and magical plant, frequently grew on oak trees. Its presence was believed to indicate the hand of God having placed it there in a lightning strike.
Ancient kings presented themselves as the personifications of these gods. They took on the responsibility not only for success in battle but also the fertility of the land, which relied on rainfall. They wore crowns of oak leaves, as a symbol of the god they represented as kings on Earth. Similarly, successful Roman commanders were presented with crowns of oak leaves during their victory parades. Oak leaves have continued as decorative icons of military prowess to the present day. Oak leaves’ connection with rainfall also survived in more recent folklore. There are a variety of similar rhymes about which tree’s leaves appeared first, such as the Irish saying:
If the oak before the ash,
Then we’ll only have a splash.
If the ash before the oak,
Then we’ll surely have a soak!
The spiritual appreciation of oak did not cease with the advent of Christianity. However, early Christian churches supplanted many oak groves. St. Columba was said to have had a fondness and respect for oak trees and to have been reluctant to fell them. Even so, his early chapel on Iona was constructed of oak from the nearby Mull oakwoods. St. Brendan was divinely inspired to use oak boards instead of traditional hides to cover his coracle. Legend says this small vessel may have carried him to the New World some thousand years before Columbus. St. Columba was thoroughly a Druid.
The Ancient Mystery Religion – The MAGI(CIANS)
AMERICA
Oak was also favoured for its strength and durability. It was a core part of the distinctive Tudor timbered houses, and artists used its even-grained, honey-coloured beauty for carving and turning. The bark was valued by the leather tanning industry as it contains a lot of tannin. During the Industrial Revolution large amounts were sent from northwest Scotland to Glasgow for this purpose. The bark also yields a brown dye, and oak galls gave the strong black dye from which ink was made. A tonic derived from boiling the bark was used to treat harness sores on horses.
Perhaps because of the oak’s size and presence, much of its folklore concerns specific, individual oak trees. Many (Catholic) parishes used to contain what became known as the Gospel Oak. This was a prominent tree at which part of the Gospel was read out during the Beating of the Bounds ceremonies at Rogantide in spring. (AT THE WHAT??) In Somerset stand the two very ancient oaks of Gog and Magog. These were named after the last male and female giants to roam Britain. The trees are reputed to be the remnants of an oak-lined processional route up to the nearby Glastonbury Tor. The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported to be the tree where Robin Hood and his Merry Men hatched their plots. It is now a popular tourist attraction although this particular tree probably does not predate the 16th century.
In Leicestershire the Topless Oaks in Bradgate Park were said to have been pollarded as a sign of mourning. This was due to the beheading, in 1554, of Lady Jane Grey who had lived nearby. After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II hid from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel. In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May as Royal Oak Day to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy.
Children would wear oak leaves (or better still, oak apples) as part of a custom which officially lasted until 1859. In fact the tradition continued well into the twentieth century. Once again the symbol of oak leaves had royal connections. And so it won’t be a surprise which plant was the clan badge of the Royal Clan Stewart.
Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was made 30 years ago with leadUSA Today
https://www.usatoday.com › celebrities › 2022/09/13 › q…
Sep 13, 2022 — The oak coffin for Queen Elizabeth II was made more than 30 years ago, long before the monarch’s funeral and carries with it a special history. The coffin is also lined with lead, Leverton & Sons said. The lead lining makes the coffin so heavy that eight military bearers will carry it on the day of the queen’s funeral. Andrew Leverton, a funeral director at Leverton & Sons, previously told British outlet the Times “It is made from English oak, which is very difficult to get hold of.” “I don’t think we could use English oak for a coffin now. It would be too expensive,” “Oak coffins are now made from American oak.”
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Lead, being more ignoble than the rest of the metals, signifies the evil which is lowest, such as is the evil of the exterior natural; but in the good sense it signifies good of the same degree, as in these passages:
They are all stubborn ones of stubborn ones, detractors, brass and iron; they are all destroyers. The bellows grew hot; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain fusing he hath fused; for the evil have not been pulled away. They shall call them rejected silver, because Jehovah hath rejected them (Jer. 6:28-30).
Son of man, the house of Israel is become scoria to Me; all of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they have become scoriae of silver (Ezek. 22:18).
Scoria – EtymologyBorrowed from Latin scōria, from Ancient Greek σκωρία (skōría), from σκῶρ (skôr, “dung”). scoria (countable and uncountable, plural scorias or scoriae) The slag or dross that remains after the smelting of metal from an ore. [from 14th c.] |
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Scoriae is a plural noun with multiple meanings that comes from the Latin word dross, which comes from the Greek word skōria. Skōria comes from the word skōr, which means “excrement”. The earliest known use of the noun scoria is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).
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AlchemyAlchemists called lead by its planetary name, “Saturn”, and attempted to transform it into gold or silver.
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Roman timesSome scholars believe that lead poisoning may have contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire, as the ancient Romans used lead in their water pipes. The Romans also named a form of lead intoxication “saturnine gout” after the demonic god Saturn, as they saw similarities between the disease’s symptoms and the god’s irritable nature.
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Esoteric Symbol Eleven: Saturn or Lead
Saturn or lead represents the first rupture of the prima materia, the initial expression of manifesting consciousness. This we can discern by looking at its esoteric symbol, a cross mounted atop a lunar crescent. In the pictorial representation the fourfold differentiation of elements latent in the prima materia are in a state of passive abasement and have not as yet succumbed to the influence of the lunar or feminine aesthetic and receptive force for the purging of psychic impurities. Moreover the insurmountable position of the four elements reveals that the formative force of Saturn or lead stands at the nethermost end of the ladder of consciousness. The metal lead, its passive expression, exhibits the qualities of heaviness, softness, toxicity and chaos whilst the planet Saturn, its active expression, is the farthest of the seven planets from the center of our solar system as well as the most ‘sluggish’ in terms of the time take to complete a revolution around the Sun (29.7 earth years). These exemplify an intrinsic condition both at odds and light years away from the ethereal qualities of incorruptibility, nobility, eternity and splendor embodied by the Sun and its golden metal.
From a spiritual and psychological perspective, Saturn or lead denotes the conscious dependence upon and identification with the detritus and dross of material existence. In the alchemical opus, the Saturnine formative force is rendered potent during the lesser circulation or creation of the ‘white stone’ and mediates necrosis or nigredo, a primary stage in which the base substance in the alchemist’s retort or alembic blackens and putrefies. On a psychological and spiritual level, this state of physical corruption denotes the inversion and turning inward of the senses. The seventh woodcut emblem from Basil Valentine’s Azoth series offers a pictorial depiction of this phase as an elderly man in an entombed state of decomposition. Perched atop his hands is a raven, a bird frequently used to symbolize necrosis or nigredo (The others are the skull and grave). Two winged entities, the man’s soul and spirit, are vividly portrayed in the act of absconding with his last breath.
The metal lead has been known to humanity since the sixth millennium bce. This we known from metal beads unearthed at the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük in modern-day Turkey which date to about c.6400bce. Millennia afterwards, the ancient Egyptians explored the metal’s properties and their artificers designated minium, otherwise known as lead oxide, and litharge, the protoxide, suitable for use as pigments. They also worked with white lead or lead carbonate which was extracted by subjecting metal sheets to the evaporating fumes of vinegar. The classical Greeks, who obtained much of their lead from the smelting of silver ores, associated the metal to the Titan Cronus, or Father Time, the youngest of the children born to the preeminent deity of the sky, Uranus, and the Earth Mother, Gaea. To this Graeco-Roman god of the harvest we owe the contemporary conception of death as a grim reaper that razes lives with his scythe. Use of the metal became widespread during Roman times, when many of the emperors had it worked into pipes, coins and the system of aqueducts that nourished Rome with water for drinking, bathing and flushing sewerage. It is alleged that the first century Roman Emperor Titus had some fifty thousand or so men delivered to the Spain lead mines for the sake of laboring until they dropped dead from exhaustion.
Popularity of the metal doesn’t seem to have waned at all. During the Middle Ages its practicality was all too apparent in the construction of roofs, water tanks and in the synthesis of pewter. Seventeenth century alchemists and physicians were acutely aware of its use as a curative agent too. Many of them prepared a solution of lead acetate and potassium carbonate from which a metallic preparation known as the Magistery of Saturn was engendered. This became the basis for an alchemical precipitate called the Powder of Saturn which was supposed to relieve respiratory ailments like asthma and tuberculosis of the lungs. Nowadays, the physiognomy of highly insoluble and stable lead compounds makes the metal a perfect candidate for the sheathing of electrical wires, acid tanks, cable hangers, as well as the primary composition for the weights and cable coatings on marine vessels. Despite its established toxicity to the human nervous system and lethal nature, the metal is still used in batteries, glassware, automotive tire balancing, the coloring of ceramics, and for the manufacture of weights used by recreational divers.
Chemical element
Cristian Baitg / Image Bank / Getty ImagesStudy Paganism and magical practice for any length of time, and at some point, you’re going to hear about correspondences. Often we discuss correspondences, which are tangible things associated with non-tangible aspects, in terms of herbs, crystals, even planets. Oddly, there’s occasionally a tendency to overlook one of the most useful sets of magical correspondences: metals.
The use of metals as magical correspondences is hardly a new concept. Delve into any of the older occult books, and you might encounter references to the seven noble metals of the ancients or seven metals of antiquity. Until the discovery of arsenic in the thirteenth century, humankind, as a whole, had discovered and was utilizing seven metals: gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, lead, and mercury. Alchemists assigned planetary correspondences to each of the metals they used.
John Cancalosi / Photolibrary / Getty Images
Early alchemists recognized lead as the heaviest of the base metals. It was associated with the planet Saturn, and the god of the same name. It’s not especially pretty, tends to block out light and sound, and is a poor conductor of energy and electricity. Lead is not only heavy, it’s also durable and hard to change. Lead items found in archaeological excavations are usually still unbroken after thousands of years, and many European cities are still using some of the lead piping that was installed by the ancient Romans.
For centuries, alchemists were convinced they could turn lead into gold. It’s associated with fire, and melts easily over an open flame. Once burned down, the lead is replaced by a fine yellowish ashy powder, which is why alchemists believed that lead and gold were so intricately connected. Lead is the metal of transformation and resurrection.
Magical uses of lead include rituals that focus on connection with your deepest unconscious self, meditation, and stability and grounding. You can also incorporate it into workings to control negative behaviors and thoughts, break your bad habits, and overcome addictions. Finally, if you’re doing any work that involves communication with the underworld, lead is the perfect metal to use.
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