page_title: Magnum opus (alchemy)
hierarchical_section_title: Magnum opus (alchemy)
caption_attribution_description: English: Third plate of Splendor Solis, cropped to show central figure.
context_page_description: The Great Work is an alchemical 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. 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 in which an array of colors appear.
  The magnum opus had a variety of alchemical symbols attached to it.
context_section_description: The Great Work (Latin: Magnum opus) is an alchemical 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. 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.
caption: Colors of the magnum opus seen on the breastplate of a figure from Splendor Solis
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