The Philosopher’s Stone
The Great Work of Alchemy
The path to the philosopher’s stone is not the recipe for turning lead into gold. It is a representation of the process by which humans expereince self-transformation, and theoretically, achieve enlightmenemnt.
Step 1:
Calcination
Your burning passion and desire for growth devour the ‘prima materia’ kicking off the process of transformation.
Step 2:
Dissolution
The snake has poisoned the lion and it has died; you have grown overconfident in your new growth. The waters of self-reflection revive the lion and dissolve the false confidence.
Step 3:
Separation
Remove the undissolved refuse from your solutions. You need to separate your self-worth from the high expectations you have for yourself in order to create reconcilation with the process of self-transformation.
Step 4:
Conjuction
Finally, the opposing forces within you are in harmonious marriage. In the same way the rain and sun together creating a rainbow, known here as the peacock’s tail.
Step 5:
Fermentation
The opposing forces have eclipsed one another; the purified solution you’ve created has sat stagnant and putrified. One cycle of growth, complacency is not enough for enlightmentment.
Step 6:
Distillation
You put the ferment through a cycle of evaporation and condensation, repeatedly until completely purified. This is where you take the previously acknowledged steps and repeat until your lesson of self-transformation in question has been learned.
Step 7:
Coagulation.
The Philopher’s Stone
You reach enlightenment. The final step, where you’ve completely purified the prima materia and it coagulates (solidifies) into the Philosopher’s Stone.
The lion and snake have merged into one perfect being, gaining knoweldge of both the macrocosm (greater world and universe) and microcosm (world around us and inner self).
The stone is surrounded by the seven planetary signs that correlate with the seven steps, plus the eigth drop at the top dripping down to join the shinging stone.