The Philosopher's Stone

Lapis philosophorum, Stone of Philosophers

The philosopher's stone, in Latin lapis philosophi, is a legendary substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals such as lead into gold (chrysopoeia in the Greek language) and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger, thus delaying death. It was a longtime "holy grail" of Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, making the philosopher's stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work.

Alchemy itself is mostly an original concept and science practiced in the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and India. However the concepts of more easily transmutating one metal into a more precious one (silver or gold) and ensuring youthful health apparently originated in China and from the theories of the 8th century Arab alchemist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, Latinized as `Geber'. He analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of the four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. He further 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 presumably be mediated by a substance, which came to be called al-iksir in Arabic (from which the Western term "elixir" is derived). It is often considered to exist as a dry red powder made from a legendary stone - the "philosopher's stone".

16th-century Swiss alchemist Philippus Paracelsus believed in the existence of alkahest which he believed to be an undiscovered element from which all other elements (earth, fire, water, air) were simply derivative forms. He believed that this element alkahest was, in fact, the philosopher's stone.

Jabir's theory and the concept of knowledge that metals like gold and silver could be hidden in alloys and ores, from which they could be recovered by the appropriate chemical treatment. Jabir himself is believed to be the inventor of aqua regia, a mixture of muriatic (hydrochloric) and nitric acids, one of the few substances that can dissolve gold (and which is still often used for gold recovery and purification).

Gold was particularly valued as a metal that would not rust, tarnish, corrode or otherwise grow corrupt. Since the philosopher's stone would turn a corruptible base metal to incorruptible gold, naturally it would similarly transform human beings from mortal (corruptible) to immortal (incorruptible).

Essentially one of the many theories was that gold was a superior form of metal, and that the philosopher's stone was even purer and superior to gold, so much so that if combined with lesser metals would turn them into superior gold.

A mystical text published in the 17th century called the Mutus Liber proported to be a sort of symbolic instruction manual towards concocting a philosopher's stone. Called the 'wordless book', this was a collection of 15 illustrations.

The Latin American spiritual teacher Samael Aun Weor stated that the Philosopher's Stone is synonymous with the symbol of the stone found in many other spiritual and religious traditions, such as the stone Jacob rests his head upon, the cubic stone of Freemasonry, and the rock upon which Christ lays the foundation of the temple.