Book of Shadows

A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery

I couldn't find any really easy guide to Hermetic symbolism, so I decided to make one, and here it is. I wanted to actually be able to make sense of all that cryptic symbolism in Hermetic artwork. Source: A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery by Lyndy Abraham

Abyss: Another name for Prima Materia, Chaos or the formless primordial matter from which the Stone is made.

Air: The androgynous, volatile, combined masculine and feminine principles. Its properties are hot and wet.

Alabaster: The White Stone, the material at the second stage of the work that can transmute metals into silver. It is purified and spiritual matter, body and soul (but not spirit yet).

Amber: Considered synonymous with gold, the product of the philisophical tree that represents the Philosopher's Stone.

Androgyne: Mercurius and the Philosopher's Stone, a union of male and female principles (i.e. Sun and Moon, sulfur and mercury, red and white), It is a synthesis of the hot, dry male aspect and the cold, wet female aspect. It represents the integration of male and female energies. It is therefore a union of opposites and a perfect being. It is sometimes represented by (red) roses and (white) lilies, which are symbols of the Red and White Tinctures. The symbol for Mercury (the planet) contains the symbols for both the sun and the moon, making it hermaphroditic. (Also called a rebis)

Angel: The volatile, spiritual, subtle matter of the Stone during sublimation.

Antimony: The substance of the Stone during the nigredo, black earth, the next stage up from lead.

Apollo: Represents the Red Tincture. The masculine principle, hot and dry, the rubedo stage.

Apple: The golden apple represents the fixing power of Sulphur on the elusive Mercury (represented by Atalanta).

Aqua ardens: "Burning water," the universal solvent that dissolves matter into prima materia. Represented by Mercury.

Aqua regia: "Royal water," a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid (sal ammoniac) that can dissolve gold and platinum. That makes it a form of the mercurial "burning water" that can reduce all metal to prima materia.

Aqua vitae: Ethanol, specifically distilled wine. It's also a name for Mercury and for Quintessence, the catalyst of the work that "washes" the matter of the Stone to purify and whiten it. It's the "water of life" that resurrects the dead matter, the essence of love and forgiveness.

Argent vive: Quicksilver, actual mercury (Hg), the feminine "seed" of metals that must be "married" to its masculine counterpart, sulfur.

Ash: The remains of the body when the subtle self (the soul) is removed during calcination. It is the white powder that the body becomes during the white stage, which is washed in mercurial water and tempered with fire. A phoenix rises from the ashes.

Autumn: The completion of the Great Work is symbolized by the philosophical tree bearing its gold and silver fruit. Trees bear fruit in autumn, making autumn the season of culmination.

Balm: A term for the Philosopher's Stone in the form of a panacea, a medicine that can purify anything and cure any disease (including spiritual ones)

Basilisk: Mercury in its negative aspect, it represents endless hunger and self-absorption. It is the mercurial water in its destructive aspect, which "kills" base metal, reducing it to prima materia.