Alchemy in the Middle Ages

Plato and the Philosopher's Stone

Oct 19, 2009

In the dark ages, alchemists were known for trying to transform lead into gold. What people didn't know is that they were also great thinkers hiding from inquisition

When the Catholic Church declared a silent war to every person that studied science, philosophy and spiritualism, the great alchemists adopted a disguise to protect themselves from the inquisition. They made society believe that they were studying ways to make wealth – which wasn’t considered a sin at all – but inside their labs, they were doing much more than just this, they were searching for the philosopher’s stone, an elixir of life that would bring rejuvenation and immortality for men.

Plato and the Philosopher’s Stone

Consider the phrase, "That which is Below is like that which is Above." According to Plato’s philosophy, everything that exists in the physical world, from a simple object to a person, is an inferior copy from the ideal form that exists in the real world.

Therefore, alchemists believed that if everything carries a shadow of its ideal form, it would be possible to bring the perfect form to the physical world through processes of purification, because everything in nature evolves through continuous purification until it reaches its perfection, when the physical form is finally identical to the ideal form – the philosopher’s stone. It was believed that the philosopher’s stone would be capable of transforming everything into pure gold.

The process of purification of metals originally consisted of four stages in the Hermetic Tradition but some stages were added to it later on, making the total of twelve stages.

If every substance hides its ideal form, then it was just a matter of time until it reached perfection, according to the alchemy guides. Alchemy was the art of accelerating the natural process of purification of substances.

Alchemy of the Spirit

Sometimes substances would spend over forty days burning in the furnace until the impurities were completely burned away. There’s a excerpt from medieval alchemy guides which says, “While there are still granules in the substance, the Great Alchemist must heat the furnace.”

This, according to the alchemists, is a law of nature that applies to everything including humans as all of the man's evolution happens through the process of burning out the imperfections until a pure man can be born, and there may be many rough times (symbolized as the fire that heats up the furnace) until the pure man finally comes to life, free of the granules of the passions that made him imperfect.

Alchemists believed that the philosopher’s stone would be the great elixir of life that would make men immortal. Since everything it touched would turn into gold, men would turn into their ideal form, and, therefore, become immortal, once the philosopher's stone was found. Legend says that philosopher and scientist Albertus Magnus discovered the philosopher's stone and passed it to his pupil Thomas Aquinas just before his death in 1280.

Mutus Liber – The Silent Book of Alchemy

Mutus Liber is a book of alchemy that consists of fifteen illustrations regarding alchemical methods. Edited for the first time in 1676, the only words in the book are: "Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et inviene” which means “Pray, read, read, read, re read, work and you’ll find.” It means that at first sight, laymen might think that it was just a book of pretty drawings of angels and heavens, but those who were familiar with alchemy would be able to understand the meaning behind those illustrations. The author of the book remained anonymous, probably to escape from the inquisition.

In all the fifteen boards, the drawings illustrate the whole process of transmutation through purification processes that obey to the laws of nature. In the last board, the philosopher's stone, finally achieved, is symbolized by an unclothed Hercules rising to the heavens after finishing the twelve works (the twelve stages of transmutation.)

Isaac Newton and Alchemy

In the twentieth century some papers signed by Sir Isaac Newton about Alchemy were rediscovered. It’s estimated that he had written over one million words about this subject. It’s possible that his theory of gravity as well as the laws of light derive from his alchemical experiments and although there’s no evidence that he found the philosopher’s stone, also called "Great Work," some people advocate that the letters that he exchanged with another alchemist, Robert Boyle, indicate that he had found something very important as he says in the letters that it was necessary not to talk publicly about the principles of alchemy because of the danger some of those truths could bring to the world.

The copyright of the article Alchemy in the Middle Ages in Western Philosophy is owned by Thais Campos. Permission to republish Alchemy in the Middle Ages in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.