NOTE: This webpage is best viewed on a desktop computer to see the fullness of the symbolism.
The Philosopher’s Stone is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as lead into gold. Also called the elixir of life, it was considered essential for rejuvenation and achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought after goal in alchemy as it was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher’s stone were known as the Magnum Opus (“Great Work”).
Within the Stone of the Philosopher is a wealth of symbolism. When understood, the symbolism creates a “Cypher of Creation.” A cypher on which correlations can be added that expand it meaning and significance. It is the most crucial symbol to be understood in Alchemy as it is the key to unlocking the mysteries.
It is through the symbolism of the Philosopher’s Stone that the Mind is given a framework on which to develop and correlate the complex context behind the ancient teachings. In this way, it is considered magical. It literally expands the ability of the Mind to grasp the concepts and correlate their meaning.
Through graphic representations we will demonstrate how the symbol of the Philosopher Stone is created and how it relates to the Hermetic Principles and the Genesis of the creation of the Physical Universe.
Being the ultimate goal of Alchemical Transmutation, understanding the symbolism of its creation can lead to establishing numerous correlations to other mystical traditions. Each correlation that is established adds to the story of each step of the Alchemical Process. It is through the symbolism that the “Context of Truth” can be experienced.
The Principle of Mentalism / Genesis Day One
[MONAD] POTENTIAL: One represents the notion of solitude, that which is single, without a second. The idea of unity and uniqueness follows. It shows that which emerges from nothingness and comes into existence, a beginning, a primer, a seed.
The Principle of Correspondence / Genesis Day Two
The Creative Polarities of Matter and Energy arose out of the Creative Potential. Alchemically, these are referred to Celestial Salt and Celestial Niter.
The first matter of creation was a passive, fixed and magnetic substance. It is represented by the circle.
The first energy was an active, volatile and electoral substance. It is represented by the square.
Within the heart of the Philosopher’s Stone the Square represents the Positive Force (+) and the Circle The Negative (-). The two set within each other symbolize the Creative Polarities.
The creation of the Universe was animated through the interaction of two great living energies Empedocles called Love and Strife (Eros and Eris). Love he associated with the goddess Aphrodite, and Strife with the god of war, Ares. This simple view explained nearly every aspect of the world of the Greeks. Love and Strife were primordial gods who predated the gods of Olympus. This idea is very much like the Eastern tradition Yin and Yang, with Yin being the passive feminine energy of Love and Yang being the aggressive masculine energy of Strife. Egyptian alchemists associated the feminine (Love) energy with the Moon and masculine (Strife) energy with the Sun, while European alchemists associated the feminine energy with the Queen and the masculine energy with the King.
EROS
ERIS
A.K.A. The Four Elements
The Principle of Vibration / Genesis Day Two
This chart depicts Celestial Salt and Celestial Niter combining to form the Four Creative Forces.
The Four Creative Forces of the alchemists are not our everyday ideas of earth, water, air, and fire, which are only the physical expressions of their respective archetypes.
“There are four common elements, and each has at its center in another deeper element [the archetype] which makes it what it is. These are the four pillars of the world. They were in the beginning evolved and molded out of chaos [First Matter] by the hand of the Creator; and it is their contrary action which keeps up the harmony and equilibrium of the mundane machinery of the universe; it is they, which through the virtue of celestial influences, produce all things above and beneath the earth.”
– Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius (1566-1636),
The Four Creative Elements are named for those fundamental archetypes within matter and are symbolic of their mystical qualities. As archetypes, the elements are beyond any rational explanation and must be experienced to be understood. French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) concluded that the Four Elements resulted from “material image-making” or “the materialization of imagery” within the One Mind of the universe. He looked at the interaction of the Forces from the point of view of what each sought.
“Earthly joy is riches and impediment,
aquatic joy is softness and repose;
fiery pleasure is desire and love;
airy delight is liberty and movement.”
The Sufi alchemist Rumi describes the elements as expressions of the love of the universal soul for the divine spirit:
“Last night I asked the moon about the Moon, my one question for the visible world, Where is God? The moon says, I am dust stirred up when he passed by. The sun: My face is pale yellow from just now seeing him. Water: I slide on my head and face, like a snake, from a spell he cast. Fire: His lightning – I want to be that restless. Wind: Why so light? I would burn too if I had a choice. Earth, quiet, impregnated: Inside me I have a garden and a bubbling spring.”
The ancient Greeks did a lot of philosophizing about the nature of the First Matter (which they called hyle), and from that thought the doctrine of the Four Creative Forces emerged. The first philosopher to formalize these principles was Empedocles, a Greek philosopher and healer who lived around 450 BC. In his Tetrasomia (“Doctrine of the Four Elements”), he stated that all matter is comprised of four roots (or elements): Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.
According to Empedocles, Fire and Air are “outwardly reaching” elements, reaching up and out, whereas Earth and Water turn inward and downward. In his view, and that of later alchemists, the elements are not only material substances but also spiritual essences. To show their archetypal power, Empedocles associated each element with a god. “Hera rules the fruitful earth,” he wrote. “Hades the central fire, Zeus the luminescent air, and Persephone the mollifying water.”
The symbol for Earth is the downward-pointing triangle of Water with a horizontal line through it. Earth is cold and dry and seeks to descend, but its dry component blocks the full descent of the Water principle, as indicated by the horizontal line in the triangle. Thus, Earth is suspended in time and space and is what the alchemists would call the least volatile or most fixed of the elements.
The symbol for Fire is an upward-pointing triangle, since Fire with its hot and dry qualities is the most volatile element and seeks to ascend.
The symbol for Air is the upward-pointing triangle of Fire with a horizontal line through it. Air is hot and moist and seeks to ascend, but its moist component blocks the full ascent of the Fire principle, as indicated by the horizontal line in the triangle. Thus Air is suspended in time and space, caught between the extremes of the Above and the Below.
The symbol for Water is a downward-pointing triangle, since Water with its cold and moist qualities seeks to descend or condense.
Set inside the polarities of Celestial Salt and Celestial Niter, in the heart of the Philosopher’s Stone, are the Four Creative Forces that were created from the four combinations of the Polarities of Creation. The Square represents the cardinal directions. The Circle quartered represents the Sun or Sol which is responsible the the seasons Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall.
“Squaring the circle was a problem that greatly exercised medieval minds. It is a symbol of the opus alchymicum, since it breaks down the original chaotic unity into the four elements and then combines them again in a higher unity. Unity is represented by a circle and the four elements by a square.
The production of one from four is the result of a process of distillation and sublimation which takes the so-called “circular” form: the distillate is subjected to sundry distillations so that the “soul” or “spirit” shall be extracted in its purest state.
The product is generally called the “quintessence,” though this is by no means the only name for the ever-hoped-for and never-to-be-discovered “One.” It has, as the alchemists say, a “thousand names,” like the prima materia.”
— Carl Jung
The circle quartered (the cross) is the most ancient of symbols representing the Sun or Sol and is the precursor to all other symbols that utilize the cross.
The square quartered gives rise to the concept of orientation and direction.
Creative Elements
The Principle of Polarity / Genesis Day Four
The interplay of the Four Creative Forces gives rise to two sets of Three Essentials. The two sets of three which make six are referred to as the Creative Elements, Philosophical Elements or the Tria Primas.
This chart to the left depicts the positive, active, volatile and electoral Creative Forces of Fire and Air (upward facing triangles) interacting with the negative, passive, fixed and magnetic Creative Forces of Water and Earth (downward facing triangles). The result being the Six Creative Elements. The pairing of the Elemental Forces can be ambiguous to determine how they differentiate between the Spiritual Creation and the Temporal Creation.
When paired in obedience to this chart, the Creative Elements align on two axes. The horizontal being the Spiritual Axis and the vertical the Temporal Axis. This is commonly used as the Sign of the Cross.
Using this information, we can place the Creative Elements onto the Tree of Life. This is further aided by pairing the Colors of Additive Light with the their temporal refection (Subtractive Color.)
Temporal Creation
Spiritual Creation
The Six Creative Elements are again divided into Spiritual Creation (positive) and a Temporal Creation (negative.)
The Hexagram or Six pointed star also know as the Star Of David symbolizes this principle of Spiritual and Temporal Creation manifesting the Physical Universe.
That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
And as all things have been and arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
– A translation by Isaac Newton is found among his alchemical papers that are currently housed in King’s College Library, Cambridge University.
Solar Lunar
Most are familiar with the symbolism of the Sun and the Moon in contrast to each other. This is referred to as Solar/Lunar.
This is again a positive negative correlation. The Sun is not greater than the moon but are in balance with each other.
A symbol being a 1000 words, here again we can see the Spiritual/Temporal Creation. The Spiritual being composed of Salt, Sulfur and Mercury. The Temporal being composed of Metal, Atmosphere, and Wood.
Temporal Creation
Spiritual Creation
Color Symbolism
The Symbolism of Color can be seen here also in the form of Additive Light and Subtractive Color.
The Triangle within the circle is symbolic of the Spiritual Creation. It is the trinity aspect of Spirit, Mind/Soul and Physical Body. This can also be correlated to three Great Spiritual Planes.
The outer circle is symbolic of the Temporal Creation. It is the integration if the three kingdom of the Physical Earth: Mineral, Plant and Animal Kingdoms. This can also be correlated to three Great Spiritual Planes.
The symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone represents the creation of the three Primary Essentials that were formed from the Spiritual Creation of the Universe. Placing them within the temporal vehicle unifies this creation into one potential for its manifestation on the Physical Universe.
It is within the symbolism of the Philosopher’s Stone that the Three Primary Essentials of Sulfur, Mercury and Salt combined to create the Quintessence or Prima Materia, also know as Elixir of Immortality.
The image of Leonardo da Vinci’s (circa. 1490) Vitruvian Man superimposed on the Philosopher’s Stone might demonstrates how a Human is spiritually composed of the Three Primary Essentials of Salt, Mercury and Sulfur. And through this understanding can man become immortal by reaching outside of the physical universe.
It is through the Principle of Correspondence that the mysterious links between the visible world and the invisible world, or the inner self and the outer world can be explored and understood.
The Fifth Element
The Quintessence of the alchemists is often described as the Fifth Element, not because it was considered one of the elements but because it was beyond the elements in both form and function. It was seen as something new and wonderful in creation that transcended the limitations imposed by the Four Creative Forces.
The Quintessence is a thing,” wrote Isaac Newton, “that is spiritual, penetrating, tingeing, and incorruptible, which emerges anew from the Four Elements when they are bound together.”
The Alchemical Quintessence is the Philosophers Stone. It has been described as luminous but invisible to ordinary sight. In medieval alchemy, the term Quintessence was synonymous with the elixir and was thought to contain the same magical ingredient. Like Pythagoras before him, Paracelsus believed the Quintessence is what the stars are made of and that within every living thing there exists a hidden star that was that thing’s Quintessence. Indeed, one of the symbols for the Quintessence is the star. Another symbol is a pentagram inscribed in a circle, dividing it into five equal sections. The pentagram symbol is thought to represent the body of man. Alchemist Benedictus Figulus describes the Quintessence further in his book The Golden Casket:
For the elements and their compounds, in addition to crass matter, are composed of a subtle substance or intrinsic radical humidity, diffused through their elemental parts, simple and wholly incorruptible, long preserving the things themselves in vigor. Called the Spirit of the World, it proceeds from the Soul of the World [First Matter]. This is the one certain Life filling and fathoming all things, so that from the emanations of sentient beings, there is formed the One Living Machine of the Whole World. This spirit by its virtue fecundates [fertilizes or brings to life] all subjects natural and artificial, pouring into them those hidden properties that we call the Fifth Essence or Quintessence. But this Fifth Essence is created by the Almighty for the preservation of the Four Elements of the human body, even as Heaven is for the preservation of the Universe. Therefore is this Fifth Essence a Spiritual Medicine, which is of Nature and the Heart of Heaven and never of a mortal and corrupt quality that makes all life possible. It is the Fount of Medicine, the preservation of life, the restoration of health, and in this may be the cherished renewal of lost youth and serene health be found.
