Alchemy, answered

Plain answers to the questions people ask about alchemy: what spiritual alchemy is, the four colours and the twelve stages, the old texts and Basil Valentine’s Twelve Keys, the symbols, and shadow work, with the old masters quoted word for word. Every answer comes from Lead to Gold: Shadow Work, where the Great Work becomes ten quiet minutes a day.

Start here

• Spiritual alchemy for beginners: what is it? Spiritual alchemy reads the old alchemists’ goal, turning lead into gold, as a picture of inner change: the heavy, ordinary parts of your life, worked on patiently until something precious comes out.
• What are the stages of alchemy? The alchemists described their Great Work in two ways.
• Nigredo, albedo, citrinitas and rubedo: what do they mean? Nigredo, albedo, citrinitas and rubedo are the Latin names of the four colours the alchemists watched their matter pass through: blackening, whitening, yellowing and reddening.
• What is shadow work? Shadow work is the practice of looking honestly at the parts of yourself you usually hide, deny or judge, which Carl Jung called the shadow.
• Shadow work prompts: where do I start? Start with one question a day about what feels heavy.
• Why did Carl Jung study alchemy? Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, studied alchemy because he believed the old alchemists were describing changes in themselves as much as in their flasks.

The twelve stages of alchemy

• What is calcination in alchemy? Calcination is the first of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the black stage (nigredo).
• What is solution in alchemy? Solution is the second of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the black stage (nigredo).
• What is separation in alchemy? Separation is the third of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the black stage (nigredo).
• What is conjunction in alchemy? Conjunction is the fourth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the black stage (nigredo).
• What is putrefaction in alchemy? Putrefaction is the fifth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the black stage (nigredo).
• What is congelation in alchemy? Congelation is the sixth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the white stage (albedo).
• What is cibation in alchemy? Cibation is the seventh of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the white stage (albedo).
• What is sublimation in alchemy? Sublimation is the eighth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the white stage (albedo).
• What is fermentation in alchemy? Fermentation is the ninth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the yellow stage (citrinitas).
• What is exaltation in alchemy? Exaltation is the tenth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the yellow stage (citrinitas).
• What is multiplication in alchemy? Multiplication is the eleventh of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the red stage (rubedo).
• What is projection in alchemy? Projection is the twelfth of the twelve stages of alchemy, part of the red stage (rubedo).

The old texts

• What does the Emerald Tablet say? The Emerald Tablet is the shortest and most famous text in alchemy: fourteen lines said to have been carved on a green stone by Hermes Trismegistus.
• What does “as above, so below” mean? “As above, so below” is the short form of the second line of the Emerald Tablet, the most quoted line in alchemy.
• What are Basil Valentine’s Twelve Keys? The Twelve Keys are Basil Valentine’s guide to the Great Work, printed in 1599 with twelve engravings.
• What is the Golden Tractate of Hermes? The Golden Tractate is a short alchemical book written under the name of Hermes Trismegistus, as a father teaching his son.
• Who was Hermes Trismegistus? Hermes Trismegistus, ‘thrice-great Hermes’, is the legendary father of alchemy, the name under which the Emerald Tablet, the Golden Tractate and the Hermetic writings were handed down.

Basil Valentine’s Twelve Keys, key by key

• What does Basil Valentine’s First Key mean? The First Key is about purification: nothing impure is any use to the work.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Second Key mean? The Second Key is about the bath, the washing of the matter.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Third Key mean? The Third Key is about the dragon: fire overcome by water, and then rising again to win.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Fourth Key mean? The Fourth Key is about ashes: everything that comes from the earth must return to earth before it can rise again.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Fifth Key mean? The Fifth Key is about the magnet: like draws like.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Sixth Key mean? The Sixth Key is about marriage and measure.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Seventh Key mean? The Seventh Key is about warmth: a moderate heat keeps life going, and too much destroys it.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Eighth Key mean? The Eighth Key is about rotting and rising: nothing grows without first breaking down.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Ninth Key mean? The Ninth Key is about the colours.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Tenth Key mean? The Tenth Key is about patience.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Eleventh Key mean? The Eleventh Key is about multiplication, how the finished Stone grows.
• What does Basil Valentine’s Twelfth Key mean? The Twelfth Key is about projection, the use of the finished work.

Symbols, planets and the stone

• What is the philosopher’s stone? The philosopher’s stone was the legendary goal of alchemy: a substance that, the alchemists believed, could turn base metals such as lead into gold, and in many accounts serve as an elixir of long life.
• What do the alchemical symbols mean? Alchemical symbols are the shorthand the alchemists used in their books and notes: triangles for the four elements, the planets’ signs for the seven metals, and signs for salts, acids, vessels and operations.
• What does VITRIOL mean in alchemy? VITRIOL is both a real substance and an alchemical motto.
• What are planetary hours? Planetary hours are an old way of dividing time.
• Which planet rules the day you were born? In the old tradition each day of the week belongs to one of the seven classical planets, so the weekday you were born makes you a child of that planet: Sunday the Sun, Monday the Moon, Tuesday Mars, Wednesday Mercury, Thursday Jupiter, Friday Venus and Saturday Saturn.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Lead to Gold: Shadow Work, on Google Play

The alchemists’ Great Work, made into ten quiet minutes a day: twelve gates, a private journal, and a line of wisdom from the old masters. Free to download, for Android.

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