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Keys to the Stone Some Common Symbols in Alchemical Texts and Images baths: cleansing; dissolving a solid in a liquid black cow: black or purifying matter black raven/blackbird: a black mixture bone of whale: a white mixture child: offspring of the king and queen, the result of their marriage or union; a naked child symbolizes the innocent soul; a child crowned or clothed in purple robes signifies salt or the Philosopher's Stone
eagle: volatilization and air egg: the sealed vessel of creation hermaphrodite (half man/half woman): conjunction; the union of two opposites king: man, solar consciousness, and gold; the red king is sophic sulfur (considered the seed of gold); the king united with the queen symbolizes conjunction (the joining of two opposite natures)
ouroboros (a serpent biting its tail): completion queen: woman, lunar consciousness, and silver; the white queen is sophic mercury (considered the quintessence of metals); the queen united with the king is the operation of conjunction (the joining of two opposite natures) stag: the soul trees: the process of transformation whale: water wolf, grey wolf: stibnite, an ore of antimony Metals Used by Alchemists antimony: wolf, grey wolf
silver: moon, queen, white rose, crescent, rain cup, Cancer the Crab, Monday iron: Mars, shield and spear, Scorpio the Scorpion and Aries the Ram, Tuesday mercury: Mercury or Hermes, caduceus (twined serpents on a staff), Virgo the Virgin and Gemini the Twins, Wednesday tin: Jupiter, lightning, Pisces the Fish and Sagittarius the Archer, Thursday copper: Venus, hand mirror, Taurus the Bull and Libra the Scales, Friday lead: Saturn, old man carrying a scythe or hourglass, Capricorn the Goat and Aquarius the Water Carrier, Saturday Properties of the Alchemical Principles sophic sulfur: symbolized by the red king or red rose sophic mercury: symbolized by the white queen or white rose sophic salt: symbolized by the ouroboros, the stone, and the astral body Alchemical Elements air: spirit into the manifested world; hot and wet; sanguine earth: manifestation, birth, and material creation; cold and dry; melancholy
water: cleansing and purification; cold and wet; phlegmatic |
crown: completion; perfection of a metal
dragon/serpent: fire; the dragon in flames is a symbol of fire
and calcination (breaking down a substance by heating or burning it); dragons
with wings represent the volatile principle (mercury); dragons without wings
represent the fixed principle (sulfur); a dragon biting its own tail is the
ouroboros
and signifies the fundamental unity of all things
lion: raw matter and acid; red lion is the red acetate of lead in
crystalline form; green lion is the green acetate of lead in liquid or crystal
form; black lion represents carbon; the winged lion is mercury or sophic
salt
gold: sun, king, perfect sphere, Leo the Lion, Sunday
fire: activity and transformation; hot and dry; choleric