A spotters guide to alchemical symbols

These are some of the most common symbols in Alchemy and consequently the ones you’ll most likely encounter, if you keep your eyes open. In my experience they come up, not only in explicitly magickal contexts, but also in movies, gaming, music videos, and other expressions of pop culture. It is worth noting that the symbols for the planets & metals are all actually composites of sun (gold), moon (silver) and earth (elemental) symbolism. This gives you a hint as to their hidden meanings within the Alchemical tradition and of their relationship to the transformative process of crafting the philosopher’s stone. And it’s worth noting that in Alchemy’s heyday Christians frequently associated the philosopher’s stone and alchemical gold with the risen Christ and silver with the soul.