Hermetic Library
Magnum Opus — the central work of alchemy
Alchemy is a historical discipline that sought the transmutation of base metals, alongside aims in medicine, longevity, and the preparation of potent remedies.
The Great Work, or Magnum Opus, is the ordered labor upon prima materia toward the philosopher’s stone, the substance believed to perfect metals and yield an elixir of life.
The blackening initiates the work. Matter is broken down, impurities are separated, and the fixed is brought to a state of dissolution.
It is a disciplined descent into the raw, where form is loosened so that it can be re-formed.
Keynotes: Blackening · Putrefaction · Dissolution · Separation
The whitening follows with cleansing and clarification. The mixture is purified, and the volatile is refined into a clearer substance.
This stage steadies the work and prepares the material for a higher union.
Keynotes: Purification · Clarification · Washing · White
The yellowing signals dawning maturity. The work gains warmth and coherence as the substance moves toward a solar clarity.
It is the stage of illumination, where the matter is made ready for completion.
Keynotes: Yellowing · Illumination · Maturity · Solar
The reddening is the culmination. The work reaches its fixed, unified form and the elements are reconciled.
It marks completion, when the substance is fully integrated and stabilized.
Keynotes: Reddening · Completion · Integration · Fixation
The undifferentiated first matter of alchemy, treated as the starting substance from which all transformation proceeds.
The legendary substance sought by alchemists, believed to transmute base metals into precious ones and to yield an elixir of life.
“Dissolve and coagulate” — the alternating operations of breaking down and re-forming matter in a disciplined cycle.
The union of opposites in alchemical work, a joining of complementary principles into a single, balanced substance.
A preparation associated with the Great Work, imagined as a universal remedy and an extension of life.