A 1550 woodcut in the Rosarium Philosophorum shows a naked figure with two heads — one male, one female — standing on a dragon. Its hands hold a compass and a square. That figure is the Rebis. The same book also describes a red powder that can turn lead into gold. That powder is the Philosopher’s Stone. They are not the same thing. One is an allegorical personification of the completed Great Work; the other is the transmuting substance itself.
The Short Answer: Rebis Is a Stage, the Stone Is a Product
The Rebis (Latin res bina, “two things”) is the hermaphroditic being produced when the masculine and feminine principles — Sol and Luna, sulfur and mercury, are united in the alchemical coniunctio. It represents the completed union of opposites, the goal of the opus before the final projection. The Philosopher’s Stone (the lapis philosophorum) is the material substance, a red powder or stone, that can perfect base metals by transmutation and, when consumed as an elixir, prolong human life.
The Rebis is a symbol of a state. The Stone is a substance that acts on matter. An alchemist who had achieved the Rebis still needed to work further, calcination, coagulation, projection, to produce the Stone. Confusing the two is like confusing the blueprint of a house with the house itself.
Where the Rebis and the Stone Come From
The earliest surviving images of the Rebis appear in printed alchemical emblem books of the 16th century. The Rosarium Philosophorum (1550) includes ten woodcuts that illustrate the stages of the Great Work. The sixth woodcut shows the royal couple (Sol and Luna) copulating; the seventh shows their death and burial; the eighth shows the soul ascending; the ninth shows the Rebis rising from the coffin. That sequence makes clear: the Rebis is the resurrected androgyne, not the raw materials or the finished powder.
Basil Valentine, the 15th‑century Benedictine monk whose The Twelve Keys (1599) circulated widely, describes the Stone as “a stone that is no stone,” a red, fusible substance that can be produced only after the conjunction of the two natures. He does not use the word “Rebis,” but his Key 10 shows a crowned hermaphrodite holding a rose, which later readers identified as the Rebis.
The concept predates the woodcuts. The term rebis appears in the Turba Philosophorum, a Latin compilation of Arabic alchemical dialogues (10th century), where the “two things” refer to sulfur and mercury. By the 14th century, alchemists like Petrus Bonus (in his Pretiosa Margarita Novella, 1330) spoke of the androgynous product of the union. The Rebis as a visual emblem solidified in the Renaissance when emblem books became the primary way alchemists encoded their knowledge.
The Philosopher’s Stone, by contrast, appears in the oldest alchemical texts. Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 CE) wrote of the “bath of the metals” that produces a “divine water.” The Chinese alchemist Wei Boyang (c. 142 CE) described a “Great Medicine” that turns cinnabar into gold. In Europe, the Stone became the explicit goal of the magnum opus by the 12th century, notably in the works of Al-chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber), whose Summa Perfectionis (c. 1300) systematized the preparation of the “elixir.”
Symbolism: What Each Represents
The Rebis embodies the coniunctio oppositorum, the marriage of all opposites. Its two heads (one male, one female) signify the union of sun and moon, king and queen, fire and water, volatile and fixed. The wings often seen in woodcuts indicate spiritual elevation; the dragon at its feet symbolizes the chaotic prima materia now mastered. The compass and square (in the Rosarium image) point to geometry and measure: the Work follows a precise, repeatable path. The Rebis is not itself the goal, it is the perfected human state, the homo maximus who can then produce the Stone.
The Philosopher’s Stone is far narrower in symbolism. It is the transmuting agent: a red powder (rarely a red stone) that can “fix” mercury into gold. Its color, red, the color of rubedo, the final stage, signifies heat, perfection, and the fixed sulfur. Alchemists described it as “the stone that is no stone,” both material and spiritual. It could cure the human body (as an elixir) and perfect metals because it itself was perfected matter. The Stone carried none of the androgynous, personal symbolism of the Rebis. It was a thing, not a person.
That difference in symbolic scope explains why the Rebis appears in psychological interpretations (Jung used the Rebis as a symbol of individuation) while the Stone is more often discussed in practical alchemical lab experiments. The Rebis is the who of the operation; the Stone is the what.
How Alchemists Worked Toward Each
The alchemical stages, nigredo (blackening), albedo (whitening), citrinitas (yellowing), and rubedo (reddening), were steps toward both the Rebis and the Stone, but they culminated differently.
In the opus, after the mortification of the king and queen (the death in the sealed vessel), the soul ascends and returns, producing the Rebis. This is the stage of conjunction (the coniunctio). The matter is now a single, stable, androgynous mass. The alchemist then subjects the Rebis to further heating, often a gentle, prolonged calcination to drive off remaining moisture. This yields the Stone.
The Rebis, in other words, is the perfected compound of Sulfur and Mercury in the second degree. To produce the Stone, that compound must be “fixed” and colored red. The Rosarium says: “The Stone is born from the fixed body and the volatile spirit, and the Rebis is their child.”
Practically, the Rebis was described as a dark red or purple mass in the vessel, sometimes subliming as a crystalline salt. The Stone was a powder, so red it appeared blackish, that could be projected onto molten lead. An alchemist who had the Rebis could, in principle, still fail to make the Stone if the final operations were bungled.
Rebis versus the Androgyne, the Azoth, and the Homunculus
The Rebis is often grouped with three other alchemical concepts. Knowing their differences prevents confusion.
Androgyne vs. Rebis: The androgyne is a generic hermaphrodite figure in Western mythology (Plato’s Symposium, Ovid). Alchemists used “Rebis” for the specific product of the coniunctio at a precise stage of the Great Work. Not every androgyne is a Rebis, but every Rebis is an androgyne.
Azoth vs. Rebis: Azoth is the universal solvent or the hermetic water, a mercury-based reagent. The Rebis is a fixed body, not a volatile liquid. Some texts say the Azoth is the agent that produces the Rebis, not the Rebis itself.
Homunculus vs. Rebis: The homunculus is a miniature human grown in a flask from semen and blood, a product of biological alchemy (Paracelsus, De Natura Rerum, 1537). The Rebis is the union of two metals (Sulfur and Mercury) inside the vessel, not a separate living being. Alchemical art sometimes conflates them, but the original stage sequences keep them distinct.
Common Misconceptions
“The Rebis is the Philosopher’s Stone.” This is the most frequent error. The Rebis is the parent of the Stone, not the Stone itself. The Turba tells the alchemist to “nourish the child until it becomes strong”, that child is the Rebis, and its full maturity is the Stone.
“The Rebis is the final product.” No. The final product is the red elixir or the white elixir. The Rebis is the penultimate stage, appearing after the conjunction but before the multiplication.
“The Rebis is a mythical creature.” Alchemists treated it as a real product obtained in the vessel. Descriptions note its appearance: a fused, amorphous mass with a silver-white surface (the female) and a red interior (the male). The two-headed figure was a teaching emblem, not a literal being.
“The Philosopher’s Stone is a stone.” It was usually a powder. The term “stone” is metaphorical, referring to its fixity and permanence.
FAQ
Is the Rebis the Philosopher’s Stone? No. The Rebis is the androgynous product of the alchemical conjunction, a stage of the Work. The Philosopher’s Stone is the red transmuting powder obtained after further operations on the Rebis.
What does the Rebis symbolize in alchemy? The Rebis symbolizes the complete union of opposites, masculine and feminine, volatile and fixed, sun and moon, achieved in the coniunctio. It represents the perfected human state from which the Stone can be made.
Which alchemical texts depict the Rebis? The most famous depiction is the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), with ten woodcuts. Later sources include Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1617) and Johann Daniel Mylius’s Philosophia Reformata (1622).
Can an alchemist produce the Rebis without making the Stone? Yes. The Rebis is a stable but imperfect stage. If the final fixation and reddening fail, the alchemist has a Rebis but no Stone. Many texts warn that the Rebis must be “coagulated” further to reach the rubedo.
Related Guides
The Rebis and the Philosopher’s Stone belong to the larger framework of the alchemical Great Work. For a complete picture of the stages that produce both, see our guide to the Great Work stages. To explore other alchemical symbols like the Green Lion, the Ouroboros, and the Azoth, browse the glossary of alchemical symbols. And for the full history of Western alchemy from Zosimos to Newton, start at the alchemy vertical hub.