The philosopher's stone, more properly philosophers' stone or stone of the philosophers (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, "gold", and ποιεῖν poiēin, "to make") or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone 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").
History
Antiquity
The earliest known written mention of the philosopher's stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 AD). Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam
who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This
knowledge was said to be passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving
them their longevity. The legend of the stone was also compared to the
biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118.
The theoretical roots outlining the stone’s creation can be traced to Greek philosophy. Alchemists later used the classical elements, the concept of anima mundi, and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato's Timaeus as analogies for their process. According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or prima materia (first matter), associated with chaos. Prima materia
is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the
creation of the philosopher's stone. The importance of this
philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy.
In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, "the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things".
Middle Ages
Early medieval alchemists built upon the work of Zosimos in the Byzantine Empire and the Arab empires. Byzantine and Arab alchemists were fascinated by the concept of metal transmutation and attempted to carry out the process. The 8th-century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber)
analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities.
Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and
air hot and moist. He theorized that every metal was a combination of
these four principles, two of them interior and two exterior. From this
premise, it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into
another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities.
This change would be mediated by a substance, which came to be called xerion in Greek and al-iksir in Arabic (from which the word elixir is derived). It was often considered to exist as a dry red powder (also known as al-kibrit al-ahmar, red sulfur) made from a legendary stone—the philosopher's stone. The elixir powder came to be regarded as a crucial component of transmutation by later Arab alchemists.
In the 11th century, there was a debate among Muslim world chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was the Persian polymath Avicenna
(Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances,
stating, "Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be
effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce
the appearance of such change."
According to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus
is said to have discovered the philosopher's stone. Magnus does not
confirm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did record that
he witnessed the creation of gold by "transmutation".
Renaissance to early modern period
The Squared Circle: an alchemical symbol (17th century) illustrating the interplay of the four elements of matter symbolising the philosopher's stone
The 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) believed in the existence of alkahest,
which he thought to be an undiscovered element from which all other
elements (earth, fire, water, air) were simply derivative forms.
Paracelsus believed that this element was, in fact, the philosopher's
stone.
The English philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his spiritual testament Religio Medici (1643) identified the religious aspect of the quest for the philosopher's Stone when declaring:
The smattering I have of the Philosophers stone, (which is something more than the perfect exaltation of gold) hath taught me a great deale of Divinity.— (R.M.Part 1:38)
A mystical text published in the 17th century called the Mutus Liber
appears to be a symbolic instruction manual for concocting a
philosopher's stone. Called the "wordless book", it was a collection of
15 illustrations.
In Buddhism and Hinduism
The equivalent of the philosopher's stone in Buddhism and Hinduism is the Cintamani. It is also referred to as Paras/Parasmani (Hindi: पारस/पारसमणि) or Paris (Marathi: परिस).
In Mahayana Buddhism, Chintamani is held by the bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Ksitigarbha. It is also seen carried upon the back of the Lung ta (wind horse) which is depicted on Tibetan prayer flags. By reciting the Dharani
of Chintamani, Buddhist tradition maintains that one attains the Wisdom
of Buddhas, is able to understand the truth of the Buddhas, and turns
afflictions into Bodhi. It is said to allow one to see the Holy Retinue of Amitabha
and his assembly upon one's deathbed. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition the
Chintamani is sometimes depicted as a luminous pearl and is in the
possession of several of different forms of the Buddha.
Within Hinduism it is connected with the gods Vishnu and Ganesha. In Hindu tradition it is often depicted as a fabulous jewel in the possession of the Nāga king or as on the forehead of the Makara. The Yoga Vasistha, originally written in the 10th century AD, contains a story about the philosopher's stone.
A great Hindu sage wrote about the spiritual accomplishment of Gnosis using the metaphor of the philosopher's stone. Saint Jnaneshwar
(1275–1296) wrote a commentary with 17 references to the philosopher's
stone that explicitly transmutes base metal into gold. The seventh
century Siddhar Thirumoolar in his classic Tirumandhiram explains man's path to immortal divinity. In verse 2709 he declares that the name of God, Shiva is an alchemical vehicle that turns the body into immortal gold.
Properties
The
most commonly mentioned properties are the ability to transmute base
metals into gold or silver, and the ability to heal all forms of illness
and prolong the life of any person who consumes a small part of the
philosopher's stone. Other mentioned properties include: creation of perpetually burning lamps, transmutation of common crystals into precious stones and diamonds, reviving of dead plants, creation of flexible or malleable glass, or the creation of a clone or homunculus.
Names
Numerous synonyms were used to make oblique reference to the stone, such as "white stone" (calculus albus, identified with the calculus candidus of Revelation 2:17 which was taken as a symbol of the glory of heaven), vitriol (as expressed in the backronym Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem), also lapis noster, lapis occultus, in water at the box, and numerous oblique, mystical or mythological references such as Adam, Aer, Animal, Alkahest, Antidotus, Antimonium, Aqua benedicta, Aqua volans per aeram, Arcanum, Atramentum, Autumnus, Basilicus, Brutorum cor, Bufo, Capillus, Capistrum auri, Carbones, Cerberus, Chaos, Cinis cineris, Crocus,
Dominus philosophorum, Divine quintessence, Draco elixir, Filius ignis,
Fimus, Folium, Frater, Granum, Granum frumenti, Haematites, Hepar,
Herba, Herbalis, Lac, Melancholia, Ovum philosophorum, Panacea
salutifera, Pandora, Phoenix,
Philosophic mercury, Pyrites, Radices arboris solares, Regina, Rex
regum, Sal metallorum, Salvator terrenus, Talcum, Thesaurus, Ventus
hermetis. Many of the medieval allegories for a Christ were adopted for the lapis, and the Christ and the Stone were indeed taken as identical in a mystical sense. The name of "Stone" or lapis itself is informed by early Christian allegory, such as Priscillian (4th century), who stated Unicornis est Deus, nobis petra Christus, nobis lapis angularis Jesus, nobis hominum homo Christus. In some texts it is simply called 'stone', or our stone, or in the case of Thomas Norton's Ordinal, "oure delycious stone". The stone was frequently praised and referred to in such terms.
It needs to be noted that philosophorum does not mean "of
the philosopher" or "the philosopher's" in the sense of a single
philosopher. It means "of the philosophers" in the sense of a plurality
of philosophers.
Appearance
Philosopher's stone as pictured in Atalanta Fugiens Emblem 21
The first key of Basil Valentine, emblem associated with the 'Great Work' of obtaining the Philosopher's stone (Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine).
Descriptions of the Philosopher's Stone are numerous and various.
According to alchemical texts, the stone of the philosophers came in
two varieties, prepared by an almost identical method: white (for the
purpose of making silver), and red (for the purpose of making gold), the
white stone being a less matured version of the red stone.
Some ancient and medieval alchemical texts leave clues to the physical
appearance of the stone of the philosophers, specifically the red stone.
It is often said to be orange (saffron colored) or red when ground to
powder. Or in a solid form, an intermediate between red and purple,
transparent and glass-like. The weight is spoken of as being heavier than gold, and it is soluble in any liquid, yet incombustible in fire.
Alchemical authors sometimes suggest that the stone's descriptors are metaphorical. The appearance is expressed geometrically in Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens.
"Make of a man and woman a circle; then a quadrangle; out of this a
triangle; make again a circle, and you will have the Stone of the Wise.
Thus is made the stone, which thou canst not discover, unless you,
through diligence, learn to understand this geometrical teaching." Rupescissa
uses the imagery of the Christian passion, telling us it ascends "from
the sepulcher of the Most Excellent King, shining and glorious,
resuscitated from the dead and wearing a red diadem...".
Interpretations
The
various names and attributes assigned to the philosopher's stone has
led to long-standing speculation on its composition and source. Exoteric candidates have been found in metals, plants, rocks, chemical compounds, and bodily products such as hair, urine, and eggs. Justus von Liebig states that 'it was indispensable that every substance accessible... should be observed and examined'. Alchemists once thought a key component in the creation of the stone was a mythical element named carmot.
Esoteric hermetic alchemists may reject work on exoteric substances, instead directing their search for the philosopher's stone inward.
Though esoteric and exoteric approaches are sometimes mixed, it is
clear that some authors "are not concerned with material substances but
are employing the language of exoteric alchemy for the sole purpose of
expressing theological, philosophical, or mystical beliefs and
aspirations". New interpretations continue to be developed around spagyric, chemical, and esoteric schools of thought.
The transmutation mediated by the stone has also been interpreted as a psychological process. Idries Shah devotes a chapter of his book The Sufis
to providing a detailed analysis of the symbolic significance of
alchemical work with the philosopher's stone. His analysis is based in
part on a linguistic interpretation through Arabic equivalents of one of
the terms for the stone (Azoth) as well as for sulfur, salt and mercury.
Creation
The philosopher's stone is created by the alchemical method known as
The Magnum Opus or The Great Work. Often expressed as a series of color
changes or chemical processes, the instructions for creating the
philosopher's stone are varied. When expressed in colors, the work may
pass through phases of nigredo, albedo, citrinitas, and rubedo. When expressed as a series of chemical processes it often includes seven or twelve stages concluding in multiplication, and projection.
Art and entertainment
The philosopher's stone has been an inspiration, plot feature, or subject of innumerable artistic works: animations, comics, films, musical compositions, novels, and video games.
