Part of the Casswiki article series Esoterica
Alchemical literature hints that the philosopher’s stone is a mysterious ultimate accomplishment of the alchemist. Among other things, It may symbolize hidden knowledge, the formation of higher bodies, and the crystallization of a [permanent self](Real I).
P. D. Ouspensky, in his book A New Model of The Universe, defined the philosopher’s stone of the alchemists as symbolizing hidden knowledge:
The idea of hidden knowledge and the possibility of finding it after a long and arduous search is the content of the legend of the Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail, or the cup from which Christ drank (or the platter from which Christ ate) at the Last Supper and in which Joseph of Arimathea collected Christ’s blood, was according to a medieval legend brought to England. To those who saw it the Grail gave immortality and eternal youth. But it had to be guarded only by people perfectly pure in heart. If anyone approached it who was not pure enough, the Grail disappeared. On this followed the legend of the quest of the Holy Grail by chaste knights. Only the three knights of King Arthur succeeded in seeing the Grail.
Many tales and myths, those of the Golden Fleece, the Fire-Bird (of Russian folklore), Aladdin’s lamp, and about secret riches and treasures guarded by dragons and other monsters serve to express the relation of man to hidden knowledge.
The “philosophers stone” of the alchemists also symbolized hidden knowledge.
We believe that there is an overall parallel between the terms of alchemy and those of other traditions but exactly how these relate cannot be explained by a simple table of correspondences.
The philosopher’s stone is linked to greatly enhanced lifespan and to transforming lead into gold. To take a wild guess, we could speculate that the lifespan is not so much linked to prolonging physical life as it is to building higher bodies that may operate independently of the physical vehicle and incarnate as may be appropriate. The transformation of “lead to gold” may relate to transforming lower emotions into higher ones, activating or contacting the higher emotional center. These explanations are in themselves not complete, since there are reports of actual transmutation of physical matter also. The choice of the word stone in itself may refer to crystallization of a permanent self, but also maybe to the mythical Merkaba or mother stone, or other prehistoric ‘metaphysical’ use of stones.
We do not know the full scope of the meaning of this term.