For centuries, alchemy has become synonymous with gaining wealth and immortality.
But this perception of alchemy is largely misguided: it stems from confusing the metaphors of original alchemy with reality. Alchemy, as a result, became a pseudo-science of transforming lead into gold.
These days, alchemy is thought of as something quaint, even a little occult; a relic of the dark ages.

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But there is tremendous wisdom to be found within this obscure, archaic philosophy.
Contrary to popular belief, alchemy is not about transmuting base metals into gold – instead, it’s the secret science of illumination, inner liberation, and awakening to your True Nature.
Table of contents
What is Spiritual Alchemy? (Definition)

Aurum Nostrum Non Est Aurum Vulgi: Our gold is not common gold.
– Alchemist saying
Whether you understand alchemy as a science or as a type of spiritual psychology, alchemy is ultimately concerned with transformation and change.
While physical alchemy is concerned with altering and transforming the properties within matter, spiritual alchemy is concerned with freeing your spiritual self, which is obscured within you by the unrefined parts of your ego (e.g., your fears, shadows, personal beliefs, self-loathing, etc.).
When it comes to physical alchemy versus spiritual alchemy, spiritual alchemy is vastly more multifaceted.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of spiritual alchemy is its objective: to free you from your core wounds, core beliefs, soul loss, and other self-destructive personality structures to help you live freely and joyfully.
Finding your “pure essence,” Higher Nature, or deeper Soul is the ultimate state of transformation: the gold of spiritual alchemy. This is a process that attempts to restructure your personality and the various levels of attachment, avoidance, and identification that you possess.

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These days, we can thank the famous 20th-century psychiatrist C. G. Jung for the deepening interest in alchemy. In fact, much of his theory is heavily steeped in the rich symbolism of alchemy, creating a colorful and sophisticated roadmap by which we can learn to get ourselves “out of our own way,” stop being our own enemies, and allow our fullest potential to unfold.
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Jung, Symbolism, and the Science of Transformation

As mentioned above, renowned Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung is commonly recognized as the main advocate and promoter of alchemy.
He pointed out that he would notice many of the symbols found in alchemy texts mysteriously showing up in the dreams of his patients – most of whom had no prior knowledge of alchemy.
Jung also concluded that alchemy was a superb way of expressing the universal symbols of life and was, therefore, a highly effective tool for psychological insight.
In his own words, he wrote,
Alchemy has performed for me the great and invaluable service of providing material in which my experience could find sufficient room, and thereby made it possible for me to describe the individuation process at least in its essential aspects.
Three Powerful Alchemical Symbols

Materia Prima, The Philosopher’s Stone, and Gold are the three most powerful and commonly known symbols relating to alchemy.
Materia Prima (or “first matter”) is an alchemical symbol that reflects the notion that all the universe originated from a primitive, formless base.
The idea of “Materia Prima” can be traced back to Aristotle, who understood that there’s a force that holds all other forms in existence together but is itself invisible – these days, we refer to it as “Spirit.”
Materia Prima, as the invisible womb or unseen force, is a field of pure potential that can only come into existence when it is embodied within a “form.”
In alchemy, the Materia Prima, or primal material, is that which is left over after we have reduced matter into its purest essence. This process is a powerful psychological symbol because it describes the internal experience of arriving at a “core realization,” or in other words, becoming aware of the root cause of a belief or trauma within us.
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By working with the Materia Prima of our inner selves, we can go on a journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone (spiritual liberation), which transforms any of our base qualities (selfishness, arrogance, vanity) into gold (kindness, tolerance, humility, etc.). We’ll explore these symbols more in the next section.
Why Learn About Spiritual Alchemy?

“What’s the point of learning about spiritual alchemy?” you might be wondering.
My answer is that in life we all need maps that can help us orient ourselves in our environments. In terms of the inner landscape and the journey of spiritual awakening, alchemy is one of the oldest practices and metaphors out there.
As such, we can use the various stages and symbols of alchemy to better understand where we are and where we’re going on a path that can otherwise feel quite disorienting and confusing.
Spiritual alchemy is ultimately a powerful tool for deep exploration, soul work, and inner healing.
The 7 Stages of Spiritual Alchemy

Solve et coagula: Dissolve and coagulate.
– Alchemist saying
The Latin expression “solve et coagula” is derived from “solve,” meaning to break down and separate, while “coagula” describes the process of bringing elements back together (coagulating) into a new, higher form.
Interestingly, “solve et coagula” is a brilliant psychological metaphor. By pursuing Gold (or listening to our intuitive “higher calling”), we “break down” limiting parts within us that are in the way of our transformation (Philosopher’s Stone) into a free and whole being (coagulation and coniunctio).
This journey of death, rebirth, and transformation has often been summarized into the four levels of alchemy:
- Nigredo (or “blackening” – symbolic of the death of old ways of being)
- Albedo (or “whitening” – symbolic of the process of spiritual illumination)
- Citrinitas (or “yellowing” – symbolic of the development of spiritual maturation)
- Rubedo (or “reddening” – symbolic of the attainment of spiritual integration and liberation)
These four alchemical levels are often broken down into seven stages (which we base on the work of psychiatrist and Jungian analyst Edward F. Edinger).
Here are the seven stages of alchemy summarized:
- Calcination (Calcinatio, the fire) – Burning away the illusions.
- Dissolution (Solutio, the water) – Dissolving blocks. Processing emotions.
- Coagulation (Coagulatio, the earth) – Getting grounded. Setting boundaries.
- Sublimation (Sublimatio, the air) – Taking a higher perspective.
- Mortification (Mortificatio, the shadow) – Facing the shadow and letting go.
- Separation (Separatio, the sword) – Discerning the truth. Cutting through the fog.
- Conjunction (Coniunctio, the gold) – Integrating wisdom and embodying a transformed self.
Below, I’ll explore each of these seven alchemical stages further:
1. Calcination (Calcinatio)

Calcination is the process of heating and decomposing raw matter – or in other words, breaking down parts of ourselves that are in the way of our happiness. Often, we’d rather be right or fulfill an idea of “perfection” than be truly happy, so we continue neglecting the exploration of ourselves.
Calcination represents the stage in our lives where we begin breaking down our egos and the self-doubt, stubbornness, self-sabotaging behavior, pride, and arrogance that they possess, putting them aside so we can find out what’s underneath.
2. Dissolution (Solutio)

Once we’ve broken down all of our personality characteristics that were in the way of our evolution, we’re left with the process of Dissolution, which is the beginning of feeling less identification with our illusory sense of self and false patterns.
Once we’re free from the strong grip of the egocentric self, we can take one step back and truly observe our positive and negative qualities.

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In this stage, our many shadows, repressed traumas, and other inner tensions bubble to the surface, causing us to become aware of how our behavior might be affecting others and our own lives.
Often, this stage of transformation is brought about by sudden illnesses, mental health crises, or misfortunes in our lives that cause us to pay close attention to what we’re doing, shocking us out of our avoidance patterns (such as workaholism, addictions to certain relationships, drugs, unhealthy habits, etc.).
3. Coagulation (Coagulatio)

After we’ve come face-to-face with our inner blockages, shadows, and unhealthy patterns and have begun the work of dissolving these issues, we arrive at the stage of coagulation.
When a substance ‘coagulates,’ it begins to thicken, solidify, and harden. Symbolically, this is seen as the process of learning to get grounded, embodied, and focused on implementing practical solutions to our internal discoveries.
After the previous stage of Dissolution (Solutio), we need to come back together again; otherwise, we remain stuck in a state of chaotic disintegration. In other words, we need to come back down to earth and apply our knowledge to make real-world changes.
This practical application may look like setting new goals, revising our dreams, examining our relationships, establishing new habits, or learning how to set clear boundaries.
Coagulation is a highly pragmatic alchemical stage that is ruled by the element of earth, as opposed to the water energy of Dissolution, or the fiery energy of Calcination.
4. Sublimation (Sublimatio)

Once we have started to coagulate and set in place revised goals, habits, and boundaries, we enter the refined stage of Sublimation.
Sublimation is the stage of spiritual alchemy that helps us to rise above our issues and blockages to see them from a higher perspective.
Meditation, mindfulness, contemplation, psychological reframing, and other practices are particularly helpful during this stage of inner transformation.
In psychology, sublimation is an inner mechanism where an ‘unacceptable’ urge (like aggression or sexual frustration) is transformed into a more constructive or productive form (like art, sport, or work).
In spiritual alchemy, Sublimation takes a raw energy like anxiety or sadness and sees it from a greater perspective. It helps us to explore questions such as, “What is this anxiety teaching me?” and “What is the greater purpose buried within this sadness?” therefore helping us to untangle and disidentify from our thoughts and beliefs.
5. Mortification (Mortificatio)

Eventually, after we’ve gone through the initial process of inner breakdown and breakthrough, we come to the stage of Mortification.
As the most intense and challenging stage of spiritual alchemy, Mortification involves going deeper into our shadows (the dark or wounded parts of ourselves) and learning to let go of what’s ready to die within us.
Symbols such as skulls, black suns, and ravens are all associated with Mortification, and it’s a period of life when many old beliefs, habits, and ways of life are stripped away from us.
Some people experience a Dark Night of the Soul, a health struggle, or an existential or identity crisis during the process of Mortification. It’s like entering an inner winter, where life feels cold, dreary, and dark.
But as the old saying goes, the night is darkest before the dawn. Mortification is the death we need to experience before we undergo a rebirth.
6. Separation (Separatio)

The alchemical stage of Separation is the light that emerges on the horizon after the darkness of Mortification.
As we emerge from the ashes of our former selves, we rise into a new way of being, like a phoenix. Often, what we discover after this “rebirth” experience is that there’s a lot of pruning, clearing, and cleaning that needs to be done. This is where Separation comes into the picture.
Separation is the stage where we learn to distinguish the true from the false, the necessary from the unnecessary, and the light from the darkness.
This is an alchemical process that helps us to also make our thoughts and emotions more defined by practicing introspection, self-awareness, and self-analysis.
By learning how to be discerning and see with clarity, we can make decisions that align with our Soul’s deepest needs and live with more authenticity, power, and direction.
7. Conjunction (Coniunctio)

Finally, we come to the last stage of spiritual alchemy, which is Conjunction, or in Latin Coniunctio, which means “joining” or “union.”
Once we have gone through an inner process of burning, dissolving, reforming, ascending, descending, and cutting away the old, we begin to experience the mystical process of Self-integration – or uniting with our True Nature.
Conjunction is a process of becoming more whole, of integrating lost parts of ourselves, learning how to embody the wisdom we’ve gained, and living our lives from a more Soul-centered place.
In many spiritual traditions, Conjunction is seen as the process of Self-realization or Illumination. It’s the moment when we’ve “broken open the head,” or in other words, we have become free from the mind, and our consciousness or Soul unites with the Materia Prima: the Spirit.
On a more down-to-earth level, Conjunction is the experience of success, joy, and fulfillment in life. It’s the harmonious meeting point between the opposites within us – the spiritual Self and human self, ego and Soul, and inner and outer worlds.
Symbolically, Conjunction is when we have gained the Elixir of Life, also known in alchemy as The Philosopher’s Stone, which represents our heart and Soul’s true desire to be whole and complete.
How to Explore Spiritual Alchemy More Deeply

Staying on the level of the intellect when exploring spiritual alchemy is fine. But what’s more powerful and transformative is to put it into practice to solve an issue in your life.
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Alchemy’s greatest achievement is to mirror the interrelationship between mind and matter, ego and soul, self and world. It embodies and points to the union of opposites, the transcendence of division, and the Oneness of all beings.
I hope this article has helped to explain this mysterious topic more in-depth, provided you with an alchemical roadmap to understand your spiritual progress, and illuminated your understanding.
What are your thoughts about spiritual alchemy? I’d love to hear below!
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Thank you for all the insight, cheers for the true knowledge!
What are the images source? I’ve been really interested about the alchemical circles, it would be wonderful to know more about them. These ones are truly the representation of the processes? I’d love to know the explanation in detail of the composition of the circle.
Blessings!
im new to this, well im new to being aware of what this is and honestly it can be really hard knowing who you can trust, but when you really believe in yourself you can become strong enough to find the answers for yourself.
and that is what i find so amazing.
we already are everything we need and we already have it, we just need to realise it!
thank you so much for this post, this is something i will read often!
thank you again !
Thank you Siana, I couldn’t agree more with this:
I look forward to seeing you around here :)
Fantastic breakdown!
This article was truly fascinating. It allowed me to think of ways I could use spiritual alchemy to help others be more willing to receive Reiki. To help them release blockages they have but may not realize they have. I am going to read up on it further to truly understand its role in what I do.
Hi, I totally love this article for it’s allowing me to learn and understand so much.
So i learned that I’m going through the process of Fermentation.
I recently passed the stage of Putrefaction ( decomposition of my former self) I experienced as it described, the troublesome of mental states like anxiety and depression. Right now I’m going through Spiritization stage for I’m starting to look at the world in a new light. I let go of my past traumas that was blocking me from seeing the real meaning of living. I am tasting the great moment of inner Peace and Stillness.
So now that I’ve learned that I am beginning my Spiritization I’m going to continue to integrate all of the Spiritual realizations into my life in order to allow them to become permanent so I can pass to the next stage. Distillation.
Thank you so much for sharing this article and your experiences to all of us who needs to understand ourselves on a different levels that we couldn’t find nowhere else. Blessings.
Can’t thank you enough.
~PEACE~
I’m so happy this article is serving so well for you :), thank you Sabed, it’s my pleasure to give as much as I can and keep up the great work on your path!
I believe that the idea that there is some ‘uncarved block’ version of us that we should work towards is a fantasy that has been peddled for millenia. And being unattainable it leaves us with the impression that it is us that are at fault in our attempts to achieve it and we should therefore devote ourselves to ever more bizarre rituals with ever more bizarre gurus who are nothing more than illusionists with charisma and therefore quite false in what they ultimately promise.
Everything that matters happens in the real world inhabited by everyone. Apart from fate the only things that differentiate the junkie from the genius are our manifest qualities such as intelligence and drive and our spiritual sensibilities which inspire those qualities. Of themselves our spiritual sensibilities cannot exist on their own any more than our shadow can. So to pursue an ever-finer sensibility for its own sake – our materia prima or whatever you want to call it – is pointless and illusory. It is the very essence of life itself but to us it is always unknowable.
But to pursue it so as to improve it as a source of inspiration it is everything as we strive to realise our full potential in the real world of politics, engineering, child-rearing etc. That, for me, is the real transmutation rather than what happens at some exotic level of awareness.
Consciousness is simple really; it’s only self-serving charismats that want us to believe it’s complicated.
Hi Mateo Sol! Thanks for this great insight, I think these are the stages mentioned by the wise king Solomon in Proverbs Chapter 9 a very good example of grapes turning in to wine through fermentation, thank you for sharing this wisdom.
Thank you for a good piece – the insights should come in handy, although a simpler and more pungent term than alchemy would provide far reaching cues. I agree with the stages, and there are obvious limitations on how far the article can go with respect to various stages. INSIGHT is key, it is sadly diverted by relativism, evanescent -medico-religious- and pecuniary motives. Change and Soul Communictions happen at levels that are far deeper, purer and away from the “world”, even as it aim for the healing of the souls and the world. Take – Dark Night of The Soul – a parody in a sense, but it is the multi-generational and earhtly clamour that are “dark”, and hidden, but only exposed in the dark nights. “Separation is the stage where we make our thoughts and emotions more defined by isolating them from other thoughts and emotions. A simple example is our attempt to free our heart from resentment while healing”. Over time and in the process the persons are said to be more intuitive – deep or far reaching, but only because they had swtiched on, cleansed of affective sin and the ability to relate around the simple makes them effective carrier and mediums of healing and restoration.
Very good summary. Thank you, will save. I’ve been using the term for a long time, as it does indeed apply to a wide range of practices. As a Taoist, I must agree that the elixirs and magic pills were either metaphors or used to appease royalty who just wanted some glamorous medicine. Taoism is all about specific transmutations of emotions as held by the organs. I failed the quiz I gave myself as i read your piece – by now I should have known every one of those stages before they came up, but no. Let’s pray my meditations are bowing to mystical energies and not intellect!
I am still dealing with daily aspects of staying positive in mind and emotion via “I am” meditation.
But this Alchemy is off again as another dimensional concept. This is certainly not changing base metals into gold, which is what I read Alchemy was about. Practised back in the times of Atlantis or Lemuria by the ancient ones, half Gods and half human slaves to early Alien visitors. So I may need time for the Spiritual Wolf dust to settle for a while. Blessings from us Both ! John and Marcia.
This is incredible. As a researcher of the hero’s journey and embodiment I have never seen the process described quite like this. I liken my own sudden and earth shattering spiritual awakening the past two years to a death and dissolution, followed by entry into a cocoon of the bloody raw self, into the sticky, mucous filled but protective uncomfortable centre, waiting to emerge into a butterfly of a more authentic self able to integrate spirit with matter and find inner balance. This really hits the mark on how I’ve felt. The messy, painful and sublime process of transformation and transmutation. Of course it’s alchemical… thank you Mateo for all your work shedding light in the dark.
Thank you Olivia, it really is quite the transmutive ordeal much like your connection to Campbells Hero’s Journey…it’s very appropriate to describe it. He did with mythology what the ancients did with primitive chemistry in finding archetypal stages to describe this process of inner transformation :).