The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as lead and mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder" as well as "red lion" for gold and "white lion" for silver. Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to make an elixir of life which made possible rejuvenation and immortality.
For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, divine illumination, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work").
Antiquity The earliest known written mention of the philosopher's stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (). 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 have been passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving them their longevity.
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 In the Byzantine Empire and the Arab empires, early medieval alchemists built upon the work of Zosimos. Byzantine and Islamic alchemists were fascinated by the concept of metal transmutation and attempted to carry out the process. The eighth-century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan—Jabir was often romanised as —analysed 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 effected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. This change would be mediated by a substance, which came to be called in Greek and in Arabic (from which the word elixir is derived). It was often considered to exist as a dry red powder—also known as ('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 Islamic chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was the Persian polymath Avicenna ( Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of the 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."Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity.
According to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the philosopher's stone. Magnus did 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 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:
A mystical text published in the 17th century, the Mutus Liber, appears to be a symbolic instruction manual for concocting a philosopher's stone.Dujols, Pierre, alias Magophon, Hypotypose du Mutus Liber, Paris, Editions Nourry, 1914.Canseliet, Eugène, L'Alchimie et son livre muet, Paris, Pauvert, 1967.Hutin, Serge, Commentaires sur le Mutus Liber, Paris, Le lien, 1967 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 (also spelled Chintamani.) It is also referred to as (), (), and () in Sanskrit, Hindi, and Marathi, respectively.
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) depicted on Tibetan prayer flags. By reciting the dharani of Chintamani, Buddhist tradition maintains that one attains wisdom, is able to understand the truth of the Buddhas, and turns one's afflictions into bodhi (enlightenment in Buddhism). It is said to allow one to see the Amitabha Buddha and his retinue upon one's deathbed. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Chintamani is sometimes depicted as a luminous pearl and is in the possession of several different forms of the Buddha.
In Hinduism, the philosopher's stone is connected to the gods Vishnu and Ganesha. It is often depicted as a jewel in the possession of the Nāga king or a jewel adorning the forehead of the Makara. The Yoga Vasistha, originally written in the tenth 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. Sant Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296) wrote a commentary with 17 references to the philosopher's stone that explicitly transmuted base metal into gold. The seventh-century Siddhar Tirumular, in his classic Tirumandhiram, explains humankind's path to immortality and divinity. In verse 2709, he declares that the name of God, Shiva, is an alchemical vehicle that turns the body into immortal gold.
Another depiction of the philosopher's stone is the Shyāmantaka Mani (). According to Hindu mythology, the Shyāmantaka Mani is a ruby, capable of preventing all natural calamities such as droughts, floods, etc. around its owner, as well as producing eight bhāras (≈1700 pounds or 700 kilograms) of gold, every day.
Properties The most commonly mentioned properties are the ability to transmute base metals into gold or silver, 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 diluted in wine.Theophrastus Paracelsus. The Book of the Revelation of Hermes. 16th century 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, and the creation of a clone or homunculus. 16th century
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, Kimia, 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 of 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,
In some texts, it is simply called "stone", or our stone, or in the case of Thomas Norton's Ordinal, "oure delycious stone".Line 744 in Thomas Norton's The Ordinal of Alchemy by John Rediry. The Early English Text Society no. 272. The stone was frequently praised and referred to in such terms.
The Latin expression , as well as the Arabic from which the Latin derives, both employ the plural form of the word for philosopher. Thus, a literal translation would be philosophers' stone, rather than philosopher's stone.As used, for example, by (, see the pages referenced in the index, p. 278).
Appearance
Descriptions of the philosopher's stone are numerous and various.John Read "From Alchemy to Chemistry" p.29 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.A German Sage. A Tract of Great Price Concerning the Philosophical Stone. 1423. 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-coloured) or red when ground into a powder. Or in a solid form, an intermediate between red and purple, transparent and glass-like.John Frederick Helvetius. Golden Calf. 17th Century. The weight is spoken of as being heavier than gold,Anonymous. On the Philosopher's Stone. (unknown date, possibly 16th century) and it is soluble in any liquid, and incombustible in fire.Eirenaeus Philalethes. A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby. 1694 CE
Alchemical authors sometimes suggest that the stone's descriptors are metaphorical.Charles John Samuel Thompson. Alchemy and Alchemists. p.70 The appearance is expressed geometrically in Atalanta Fugiens Emblem XXI:
He further describes in greater detail the metaphysical nature of the meaning of the emblem as a divine union of feminine and masculine principles:
Rupescissa uses the imagery of the Christian passion, saying that it ascends "from the sepulcher of the Most Excellent King, shining and glorious, resuscitated from the dead and wearing a red diadem...".Leah DeVun. Prophecy, alchemy, and the end of time: John of Rupescissa in the late Middle Ages. Columbia University Press, 2009. p.118
Interpretations The various names and attributes assigned to the philosopher's stone have 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'.John Read. From Alchemy to Chemistry London: G. Bell. 1957. p. 29. Alchemists once thought a key component in the creation of the stone was a mythical element named carmot.Burt, A.L. 1885. The National Standard Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of Literature, the Sciences and the Arts, for Popular Use p. 150. Available online. Sebastian, Anton. 1999. A Dictionary of the History of Medicine. p. 179. . Available online.