The Knight of Rods, whose element is fire, is associated with the sulphurous alchemical potential of the salamander (as are the Page and King of Rods). The energy that is released in the process of fiery transformation may be difficult to rein in (think of the knight on his bucking steed in the Rider Waite deck). Channel that energy, if possible, into something creative and you may achieve a breakthrough, just as the salamander, thriving in the heat of Vulcan’s fire parallels the Philosopher’s stone which, when the flames of passion are controlled and applied to it, glows and transmutes base matter into gold.
Ut Salamandra vivit igne sic lapis
The salamander thrives in fire’s heat,
Nor hearkens, Vulcan, to your threatenings.
Thus also does the Stone not shun the glow
of flames, for it was born in constant fire.
The salamander cools the flame and goes,
But the stone glows, helped by the other’s heat.
Michael Maier, Atlanta Fugiens, XXIX
