Confiteri: Alchemy in Ocarina of Time and Tales of Zestiria

The Incarnation of the Word of God, as one of the hymns for the Annunciation declares, is the revelation of the mystery before all the ages. But mankind, listening to the deceitful whispers of the evil one, has tried to find another mystery more to his liking that will resolve the problem of his limited, mortal nature.

Such a solution is the esoteric practice of alchemy, the purifying and transmuting of the elements into prime matter, the philosopher’s stone, the elixir of life, which is, according to its doctrines, able to grant man healing and immortality.

The un-Christian spirit of the age is pushing this false teaching and others through different channels in the hopes of corrupting as many as possible. We have examined some manifestations of it in pop culture in past essays. We will look at another two of them today – in Nintendo 64’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and PS3’s Tales of Zestiria.

In Ocarina of Time, the theme of alchemy appears mainly in the second half of the story, after the Master Sword has been attained and the quest to awaken the sages begins. The first four temples of this quest represent the four elements – earth, fire, water, and air – and also, roughly, the four stages of alchemy: death, purification, rebirth, final reintegration of the purified elements (source).

The fifth temple, the Spirit Temple, has a couple of different layers to it. There is clearly a feminine/goddess worship aspect to it, judging from the colossal statue of a woman on the outside of it:

https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Spirit_Temple?file=Spirit_Temple_Artwork.png

Given the desert location, this would suggest a goddess like Astarte, and the crescent moon (one of her symbols) on the mirror shield, which is found in this Temple, as well as the eight-pointed star (another of her symbols) on the same, lend some credence to the possibility:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte#Iconography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Ishtar

https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Mirror_Shield?file=Mirrorshield_old.jpg#Ocarina_of_Time

Looking further, the Spirit Temple includes another aspect of alchemy: the alchemical marriage, the union of opposites. There is a powerful image of this displayed in the Temple boss, Twinrova – two witches, one representing fire and the other water/ice, who fuse together as one as the battle progresses:

https://zelda-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Twinrova_(Ocarina_of_Time)

Tales of Zestiria follows a similar pattern. Sorey and his companions must pass the trials of four shrines and acquire the power of the element each bears – earth, water, wind, and fire. With the powers of these elements, Sorey is able to rid Maotelus, the leader of the elemental lords, of malevolence. Maotelus himself possesses a silver flame that is capable of purifying living beings of malevolence/corruption:

https://aselia.fandom.com/wiki/Maotelus

https://segmentnext.com/tales-of-zestiria-trials-guide-to-complete-fire-water-and-earth-trial/

Once again, the alchemical process of stages of purification is presented to the player as he makes his way through the game.

There is more to Maotelus, however. He represents prime matter itself, the silver flame being very much akin to alchemy’s mercury (quicksilver) that is present within all matter, awaiting only the purification of the crude outer layers to be liberated:

https://www.james-investigates.com/quicksilver

Mercury takes us back again to Astarte, for the symbol of mercury was once also the symbol of Carthage’s goddess Tanit, who is identical to Astarte. The crescent moon at the top of the mercury symbol is also reminiscent of Astarte’s own symbol:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tanit

http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1459

There is one other esoteric element in ToZ that is worth noting – monoliths. Finding them imparts skills for battle to the player:

https://segmentnext.com/tales-of-zestiria-monoliths-locations-how-to-get-friendly-link-guide/

This is their traditional function in esoteric lore, a mysterious means by which man can transcend his limited nature:

https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message

***

So much for the false way of divinization presented in pop culture.

But there is a real way of attaining immortality, a ‘true alchemy’. The Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church explain it as a three-step process: purification, illumination, and deification (or glorification).

Below are some word-sharings from Part I of Fr John Romanides’s multi-part work on this subject:

The basis of Orthodoxy is the same as the methodology used in the positive sciences, and this fact needs to be properly evaluated and accurately identified. It should become a focus of interest for Orthodox Christians, as it deserves to be.

Why do we have our liturgical tradition? The liturgical tradition is an expression of none other than the tradition of purification, illumination and glorification. Take all the services: Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, the services of Baptism and Chrismation, the service for blessing of the Chrism performed by the bishops on Holy Thursday, monastic profession, marriage - all are about purification, illumination and glorification.

There is an instrument that is used in Orthodox theology and constitutes an indispensable element of it. Without it Orthodox theology cannot exist. It is an instrument called the noetic faculty. Although it is an instrument, it is not part of science. This is the only instrument needed for divine vision.

We construct telescopes, microscopes, balances and all the instruments used in other sciences, but in Orthodox theology we do not construct any instruments. We have the instrument ready-made. It is part of the human personality. We do not make it; all we do is put it to work. We undertake purification; we provoke illumination and glorification. God brings about illumination and glorification. Illumination and glorification are gifts of God. Purification, however, is the work of man with God's help.

When all is said and done, for the nous to be purified (by expelling all thoughts) it is not even necessary to be a Christian. The Hindu monk does the same. It is an exercise that he does. One does not need to be a Christian to perform this exercise. However, the purification of the nous (by driving away thoughts) is one thing and purification of the passions is something else. It is purification not only of the nous but of the passions that brings about divine grace.

When the patristic understanding of purification, illumination and glorification disappeared - although our liturgical services are full of purification and illumination - look at any service - we pray continuously for purification, illumination and glorification. It is in all the hymns. The services of Baptism, Chrismation, the Paraklesis, Compline, the troparia and the Psalms are full of this teaching. But when the patristic interpretation of these things was dismissed, purification was reduced to abstention from sins, usually either sexual sins or moralistic ones, such as lies, stealing and so on. It ended up being merely ethical teaching that did not cure man's personality.

So instead of being concerned with treating the core of his personality, as a psychiatrist would be, man was concerned about external acts and had a very hypocritical disposition. He pretended that he had no temptations, whereas in fact he did. And he thought he could surmount them, but afterwards he saw that he couldn't. He therefore thought that no one else had temptations, and felt guilty. Young people are shocked at the temptations they have.

In the patristic tradition, by contrast, these problems are solved by noetic prayer. Teaching someone how he should behave is not the same as teaching him how to find strength to behave in this way. As he cannot manage to do it, he pretends that he has managed. These are very funny things. There is a lot of hypocrisy, particularly among Christians, and the more pious they are, the more hypocritical they are these days. That's how things stand. There's nothing we can do about it.

Theology has only one aim: purification, illumination and glorification. Theology has no other purpose. Do you understand? Theology has no other aim other than purification, illumination and glorification.

What is Orthodoxy without purification, illumination and glorification? I don't know if you can draw this conclusion, because the Church did not reach this conclusion. Why not? Because there were monasteries. Purification, illumination and glorification, as they used to take place in the traditional way, gradually became the task of monasticism. The bishop, so to speak, would sit and act as an administrator and would say: "I have five monasteries. If you want to lead that sort of life, go to a monastery. We are engaged in administration."

Purification for the pious became a release from moral failings, from an ethical standpoint. It seems that the Greek mentality had a greater problem with sex than with anything else. The problem of sex became an obsession for the modern Greeks. So purification for the pious means not having sexual temptations.

Illumination became Sunday School: learning Holy Scripture, Church history, the lives of a few saints; in other words, filling the rational faculty. Although purification is the illumination of a person's nous, they tried to illuminate his reason. Instead of the nous being illuminated, nowadays the rational faculty is illuminated.

Without purification, illumination and glorification there is no salvation. This is salvation: purification and illumination.

. . . The rest is at https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/11/purification-illumination-and.html.

The devil will try to divert people from salvation any way he can. Dressing up alchemy and other esoteric practices in video games is one of his newer (and very understated, subtle) methods. Yet the All-Holy Trinity through His Orthodox Church will give us the right orientation, that we, like so many of our Christian forebears, might also ascend the Divine Ladder and reach our heavenly homeland, if we are willing.