reposting this thread on how Snow White is about the initiatic journey (which was hugely underrated back in the day) [1/9]

Now Snow White famously has "skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony", these already pointing to the three phases of the 'great work', namely 'blackening', 'whitening' and 'reddening'.

The story starts when Snow White has fled the 'evil stepmother' (the 'world') into the 'dark forest', which amounts to an initiatic 'descent into the underworld' (visita interiora terrae...)

She then enters into the 'house' and eats of the 7 plates of the 7 dwarfs, these being the 7 traditional planets or metals. This is the 'solutio', Chronos devouring his children, or: the Sun descending in the 'House of Saturn' (corresponding to lead, the lowest metal).

After this she falls into sleep, the 'leaden darkness', beginning the 'nox profunda' of purification.

We are now entering the last phases of the 'blackening' or 'putrefactio', the purification in which the 'stone' is cleansed from all initial impurities.

And thus the 'death of the old man' is accomplished, from which blossoms forth the 'white rose' (rosa alba); the 'stone' is now restored to the 'primordial state', the virginal receptivity of materia prima, or 'mercury'

After the 'solve' comes the 'coagula'; thus Sulfur now begins working on the virginal Mercury, recongealing or 'crystalizing' it until finally ...

... the 'mysterical marriage', hieros gamos, is achieved, in which 'the two are made one', and from the marriage of the 'White Queen' and the 'Red King' will proceed the Lapis, the 'Great Work' as their 'golden' child, 'filius philosophorum'.