The Stone
Lapis philosophorum
What endures: the philosophers’ stone.
The Stone: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The stone is what lasts, and for the alchemists the goal of the work was a stone, the lapis philosophorum, won from the base prima materia. Jung read it as a symbol of the Self, something permanent and whole.
As a boy he sat on a stone in his garden and wondered whether he was the one sitting on it or the stone on which he sat. As an old man he carved a stone at his tower in Bollingen with inscriptions from the alchemists.
The Stone: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Jacob’s stone at Bethel, the omphalos at Delphi, the black stone of the Kaaba, the stone the builders rejected, and the eagle-stone and bezoar of the old pharmacies.
From the Sources
In the passage from Eirenaeus Philalethes quoted by Redgrove, the Philosopher's Stone is so called not because it is like a stone, but because its fixed nature resists fire as well as any stone.
“…it is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but only because, by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone.”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of Thought, Chapter IX, 'The Quest of the Philosopher's Stone' (quoting Eirenaeus Philalethes). Project Gutenberg eBook #1271. The text, read in part
Redgrove quotes Thomas Vaughan on the mystical illumination as the Christian Philosopher's Stone, so often inculcated in Scripture, the Rock in the wilderness, in great obscurity, whose right way few know.
““This, reader,” he says, speaking of the mystical illumination, “is the Christian Philosopher’s Stone, a Stone so often inculcated in Scripture. This is the Rock in the wildernesse, because in great obscurity, and few there are that know the right way unto it.”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Alchemy: Ancient and Modern, Chapter IV, § 59 (Thomas Vaughan). Second and revised edition; London: William Rider & Son, Ltd., 1922 (first published 1911) (Project Gutenberg eBook #43240). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12, “Religious Ideas in Alchemy”
- Alchemical Studies, CW 13
- Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: philosophers’ stone, Prima materia.
Also among The Elements
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Stone.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/stone.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Squaring the Circle (Quadratura circuli) · Gold (Aurum) · Vitriol (V.I.T.R.I.O.L.) · Lead (Saturn) · The Prima Materia (The first matter) · The Dragon (Draco) · The Toad
Nearby in the alphabet: The Stag: The fleeing spirit of the wild, crowned with antlers. The Star: A light in the dark: guidance and destiny. Sublimatio: What was heavy rises, and becomes spirit. Sulphur: The burning principle: desire and will.