|
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. It originally had four stages:〔(The-Four-Stages-of-Alchemical-Work )〕〔Joseph Needham. ''Science & Civilisation in China: Chemistry and chemical technology. Spagyrical discovery and invention : magisteries of gold and immortality.'' Cambridge. 1974. p.23〕 *''nigredo'', a blackening or melanosis *''albedo'', a whitening or leucosis *''citrinitas'', a yellowing or xanthosis *''rubedo'', a 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 Maria the Jewess.〔Henrik Bogdan. ''Western esotericism and rituals of initiation.'' State University of New York Press, Albany. p.197〕 After the 15th century, many writers tended to compress ''citrinitas'' into ''rubedo'' and consider only three stages.〔(Meyrink und das theomorphische Menschenbild )〕 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== 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.〔Stanton J. Linden. ''The alchemy reader: from Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton.'' p.17〕 Various alchemical documents were directly or indirectly used to justify these stages. The ''Tabula Smaragdina'' is the oldest document〔it is unclear if the text originates in the Middle Ages or in Late Antiquity, but it is generally assumed to predate 1150, when Gerard of Cremona translated it from the Arabic (Mircea Eliade, ''History of Religious Ideas'', vol. 3/1)〕 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.〔From George Ripley's ''Compound of Alchymy.'' (1471)〕 Ripley's steps are given as:〔Stanton J. Linden. ''The alchemy reader: from Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton.'' p.17〕 In another example from the sixteenth century, Samuel Norton gives the following fourteen stages:〔Mark Haeffner. ''Dictionary of Alchemy: From Maria Prophetessa to Isaac Newton.'' p.238〕 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.〔Mark Haeffner. ''Dictionary of Alchemy: From Maria Prophetessa to Isaac Newton.'' p.237〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Magnum opus (alchemy)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|