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[Alexandr Korol]

“Alternative History” novel, that article I’ve just been quoting explains everything as a whole. There it is — the world of wonders — and its walls are not made of gold.

Another curious thing is that, at this point, two themes still keep pulling at my attention. First, to once again read and gather everything I can find online about what exactly the world of heaven is. And second, the symbolism — what stands for luck. I just can’t shake the feeling that I absolutely must make a golden coin. And when I began searching online for ancient golden coins, I was shocked to see that my own sketches — the way I had envisioned such a coin — were almost identical to those found on the ancient ones. Imagine how strongly that confirms that I’ve been walking the right path. Think about it: I suddenly thought, I need to make a coin, it must be golden. A coin always has two sides. So, what should be depicted on it? I realized that one side must certainly carry the sun. Of course, it could be expressed through an alchemical symbol, or a geometric one, or perhaps the face with radiant sunbeams — the solar god, Sol, the sun deity. And on the other side? I understood it must show the Wheel of Fortune. Or perhaps just a square cross, the one that represents the four Gospels, the four angels. Then I start thinking further: if you look at the icons, there is God and the Son of God. God Himself is shown with a halo like the sun — the eight-pointed star, two squares set one over the other at an angle. And the Son of God, the one striving toward Him, has a halo in the form of the orb — or more precisely, the three worlds. And I thought: this could be exactly how I should depict it — on one side the sun, and on the other the three worlds, or rather even four worlds. Perhaps three, in the sense of the orb, or four in the sense of the four seasons, the four ages, the four realms. I began considering how best to design it. One version could be: a coin with the sun on one side, and on the other side the symbol of the three (or four) worlds. And imagine, I then came across actual coins, and — I won’t be lazy now, I’ll open one up just to describe it for you. I come across this coin — the English gold penny of King Henry III. On one side he is shown holding the orb, the symbol that he has gone beyond the bounds of this world, that he rules over it.