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. Black was the breaking down, white the cleansing, yellow the dawning light, and red the finished work, the gold.

Nigredo, the black

The matter rots and turns black as a crow: the dark before new life. In spiritual alchemy it is shadow work, endings and grief. Eirenaeus Philalethes wrote: ‘When the Lion dies the Crow is born.’ In Lead to Gold it covers gates 1 to 5, Calcination to Putrefaction.

Albedo, the white

After the black comes the white: washing, clearing and the White Stone. The Hermetic Arcanum says ‘The white colour succeedeth the black.’ In you, it is the week-by-week work of letting a steadier self set. Gates 6 to 8: Congelation, Cibation and Sublimation.

Citrinitas, the yellow

The yellowing is the first sunlight after the moonlike white. Some later writers dropped it and counted three stages. In Lead to Gold it is New light: inspiration, joy and your best self, in Fermentation and Exaltation.

Rubedo, the red

The reddening is the end of the work: the red stone, the gold, the king restored. In you, what has grown inside starts to reach other people and your ordinary days, in Multiplication and Projection.

In the old masters’ words

“The substance will first turn a much deeper black, and then a completer white and red.” Eirenaeus Philalethes, An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King, 1645

In Lead to Gold

The Path in Lead to Gold is coloured the same way: Shadow work, Clearing, New light and Your gold, twelve gates in all, one week each.

Last updated October 24, 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.

Get it on Google Play

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