Alchemy is the ancient art of transforming base metal into gold; it is an act of taking a lower substance and transforming it into a higher substance. The alchemist was also attempting to make his soul transform from an ordinary nature to one of spiritual wholeness. It was symbolically seen as the transformation of the personality. It was an inner change of an individual which led to peace, meaning and the integration of the entire personality.

The opus, or work, was considered to be of a sacred nature, the goal of the work was to create the Philosopher’s Stone. During this period of time it was a widely held belief that a spirit linked everything together.

Alchemists thought that this spirit could somehow be reproduced into a magical substance, which they named the Philosopher’s Stone. This stone was to be created from a prima materia, a base substance. This base substance was often viewed as something that no one wanted or valued, something that was often overlooked.

The stone was taken through a chemical process which included being immersed in fire, water, earth and air. If the Philosopher’s Stone was produced, they believed that taking this stone and applying it to any metal would extract the gold from the ordinary metal. Gold was viewed as the world’s most precious metal. It symbolized, among other things, wealth, power, wisdom, divine illumination and immortality.