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=                       Magnum opus (alchemy)                        =
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                             Introduction                             
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In alchemy, the Magnum Opus or Great Work is a term for the process of
working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It
has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the
Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical
color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a
device in art and literature. The magnum opus has been carried forward
in New Age and neo-Hermetic movements which sometimes attached new
symbolism and significance to the processes. The original process
philosophy has four stages:

*'nigredo', the blackening or melanosis
*'albedo', the whitening or leucosis
*'citrinitas', the yellowing or xanthosis
*'rubedo', the reddening, purpling, or iosis

The origin of these four phases can be traced at least as far back as
the first century. Zosimus of Panopolis wrote  that it was known to
Mary the Jewess. The development of black, white, yellow, and red can
also be found in the Physika kai Mystika of Pseudo-Democritus, which
is often considered to be one of the oldest books on alchemy. After
the 15th century, many writers tended to compress 'citrinitas' into
'rubedo' and consider only three stages. Other color stages are
sometimes mentioned, most notably the 'cauda pavonis' (peacock's tail)
in which an array of colors appear.

The magnum opus had a variety of alchemical symbols attached to it.
Birds like the raven, swan, and phoenix could be used to represent the
progression through the colors. Similar color changes could be seen in
the laboratory, where for example, the blackness of rotting, burnt, or
fermenting matter would be associated with nigredo.


                     Expansion on the four stages                     
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Alchemical authors sometimes elaborated on the three or four color
model by enumerating a variety of chemical steps to be performed.
Though these were often arranged in groups of seven or twelve stages,
there is little consistency in the names of these processes, their
number, their order, or their description.

Various alchemical documents were directly or indirectly used to
justify these stages. The 'Tabula Smaragdina' is the oldest document
said to provide a "recipe". Others include the 'Mutus Liber', the
twelve keys of Basil Valentine, the emblems of Steffan Michelspacher,
and the twelve gates of George Ripley.   Ripley's steps are given as:

width="250px" | 1. Calcination 	 width="250px" | 7. Cibation
2. Solution (or Dissolution) 	 8. Sublimation
3. Separation 	 9. Fermentation
4. Conjunction	 10. Exaltation
5. Putrefaction 	 11. Multiplication
6. Congelation 	 12. Projection

In another example from the sixteenth century, Samuel Norton gives the
following fourteen stages:

width="250px" | 1. Purgation 	 width="250px"| 8. Conjunction
2. Sublimation 	 9. Putrefaction in sulphur
3. Calcination 	 10. Solution of bodily sulphur
4. Exuberation	 11. Solution of sulphur of white light
5. Fixation 	 12. Fermentation in elixir
6. Solution  	 13. Multiplication in virtue
7. Separation 	 14. Multiplication in quantity

Some alchemists also circulated steps for the creation of practical
medicines and substances, that have little to do with the magnum opus.
The cryptic and often symbolic language used to describe both adds to
the confusion, but it's clear that there is no single standard
step-by-step recipe given for the creation of the philosopher's stone.


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus_(alchemy)


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