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Alchemy: The Philosopher’s Stone (Lapis Philosophorum) – Part 1

In Alchemy, the Philosopher’s Stone can grant immortality and heal all illnesses, but is probably best known for its legendary ability to transmute base metals, like lead, into gold.

Even if you’re not a student of Alchemy, you may have heard of the Philosopher’s Stone through popular culture. It makes appearances in Harry Potter, as the “Sorcerer’s Stone,” and is also mentioned in The Alchemist, a novel that is treasured by many. Those are just two examples, but you can easily find more if you look around and pay attention.

Creation of this “stone” is the Magnum Opus of the alchemist. Despite all the talk of what it can do… and despite the fact that it is the primary focus of many alchemical manuscripts, no one has ever published a reproducible recipe.

So what’s the deal? Is this a real thing? Let’s find out.

Translations and Terms

The Latin term for this concept is Lapis Philosophorum. And in Arabic, it’s called the ḥajar al-falāsifa. It’s interesting to note that both of these languages use a plural noun for “philosophers.” Thus, a better translation would be “Philosophers’ Stone” rather than “Philosopher’s Stone” — note the movement of the apostrophe to denote a plural possessive rather than a singular possessive… it makes a difference.

Or perhaps the best way to say it is “the stone of the philosophers.”

The Literal Side of Things

Before we can really try to figure out what the Philosopher’s Stone is, we probably need to decide if we’ll be defining it as a literal object or a symbolic one. There’s great debate in the field of Alchemy as to whether we’re dealing with a physical stone or a metaphor.

Depending on what book you’re reading, you’ll come across various descriptions. And just like many things in Alchemy, it goes by several mysterious names. Here’s a short sample:

• Adam
• Aer
• Animal
• Arcanum
• Cerberus
• Chaos
• Dominus Philosophorum
• Filius Ignis

• Divine Quintessence
• Draco Elixir
• Herbalis
• Lapis Occultus
• Pandora
• Phoenix
• Rex Regum
• Ventus Hermetis

The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771

But to put it in the simplest terms, the Philosopher’s Stone is some sort of substance that can transmute things. On the more mythic side of alchemical stories, that sometimes takes the form of an actual stone, usually one with a fiery, red color… but oftentimes it’s mentioned as a red powder. With just a few granules of this powder, you can change lesser metals into gold. Mix those same granules into a liquid and you’ve created the Elixir of Life, which will grant immortality to the drinker.

How exactly was that supposed to work? Do you just throw some powder on a chunk of lead… and… boom? Now it’s a chunk of gold?

The details on that are pretty sparse. In theory, the lesser metal would be involved in other alchemical processes of purification — this usually means breaking something down into its constituent components of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. At some point along the way, you’d add some of the stone as a catalyst or amplifier… and it would “enhance” the purified parts so that they could be reformed into gold.

Remember that in Alchemy, we have this concept of Prima Materia — an ancestor to all material things. On its own, the Prima Materia is raw and formless… and it stays that way until a form is imposed upon it. That could be the form of gold, for example, or it could be the form of lead. Since gold is of the highest purity, it contains the most Prima Materia… and since lead is of the lowest purity, it contains the least.

Think of it this way: the chemical formula for water is H20. If I break down that molecule into its constituent components, I’d have two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. I could “purify” those by burning away the hydrogen… and I’d be left with one lonely oxygen atom. And sure, I could do other things with that oxygen, but I would only ever have one of them. Nothing is coming along and suddenly multiplying that into 10,000 oxygens.

Unless, of course, you’ve got something with philosopher stone powers.

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According to Alchemical transmutation, you could do something similar with lead, breaking it down into the purest of substances, which you could then reform as gold. But lead is impure, so it would take a lot of lead to produce a little gold. And that’s where The Philosopher’s Stone comes in… it somehow enhances that reaction and increases the yield (some might say by a factor of at least 10,000).

Boy, I’m really sorry for getting so technical there. If you haven’t read up on other aspects of Alchemy, this whole process can easily get pretty confusing. Actually, even if you have read up on Alchemy… it’s still confusing.

Anyway, that’s the stone as a physical object, the creation of which is the literal interpretation of Alchemy’s Magnum Opus.

The Symbolic Side of Things

As a symbol, however, the Lapis Philosophorum is almost even more mysterious.

Behold… the squared circle!

…otherwise known as… a circle inside a rectangle that is inside a triangle that is inside another circle…

Apparently, there was this ancient geometry problem: construct a square with the exact same area as a given circle in a finite number of steps using only a compass and straightedge. It stumped people for years. And you know what? It’s actually impossible.

Here’s why is really tiny print:

The ratio of the circle’s area to its radius squared (π) is a transcendental number, meaning it cannot be the root of any polynomial equation. This makes it impossible to precisely construct a square with that exact area using a compass and straightedge.

I once saw a very similar concept explained with pizza. Yes, pizza and math.

If you cut a round pizza into four slices, then rearrange them… you’ll get an odd-looking wave. Cut them in half and rearrange them two or three more times… and you’ll actually see something that almost starts to resemble a rectangle. In fact, each time you repeat that process, you get closer and closer to the target shape.

Watch this full video on PBS if you’re curious:

Calculating the Area of a Circle Using Pizza Slices | Zero to Infinity from PBS

After infinity number of times, it’s conceivable to say that we’ve finally arrived at the shape of a rectangle. Unfortunately, you can never be at infinity. You can only ever approach infinity. And while the exercise is therefore impossible, it might at least make people hungry.

Don’t miss out. Here’s what’s coming up…

Well, I don’t know if squaring the circle made people hungry in the ancient world, but it wasn’t proven to be impossible until 1882. And although this particular idiom might be a little archaic, to “square the circle” meant to “attempt something impossible.”

Attempting something impossible is exactly what you’re doing in Alchemy. Thus, the “squared circle” has long been used as a symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone… and many writers throughout the years have given reference to it.

Take this example from the 1617 text, 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.

Hint: A quadrangle is another name for a square.

Image from Atalanta Fugiens

Who decided that there was going to be so much math in Alchemy?

Until Next Time…

This is a really deep topic and we’ve only just touched the surface. And as much as I hate to do this, I’m going to have to split this into multiple parts. After all, we still need to talk about the psychological side of things, the stages of the stone’s creation, connections to other world religions, legends of who may have actually created the stone, what other famous alchemists have to say about it, and… well, eventually we’re going to have to determine what it really is once and for all, right?

Until then… stay tuned for more!

#alchemy #gold #infinity #lapisPhilosophorum #magick #magnumOpus #mysticism #occult #philosopherSStone #philosophy #pizza #spirituality #squaredCircle #transmutation #witchcraft

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