Angelicall Stone

The term "Angelicall Stone" is a descriptive English phrase, not derived from a single ancient root. It signifies a substance or state associated with angelic purity and divine perfection, reflecting the alchemical pursuit of a transmutative agent capable of spiritual elevation, akin to the Philosopher's Stone.

The Angelicall Stone is a concept in alchemy. According to Elias Ashmole the stone was the goal above all goals for the alchemist. In his prologue to the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, he states: Lastly, as touching the Angellicall stone, it is so subtill, saith the aforesaid author, that it can be neither seene, felt, or weighed, but tasted only. The voyce of man (which bears some proportion to these subtill properties) comes short in comparison; nay the air itself is not so penetrable, and yet...

The phrase "Angelicall Stone," as presented by Elias Ashmole, offers a poignant glimpse into the alchemical quest, not merely for a material elixir, but for a profound spiritual transformation. It speaks to a substance so refined, so utterly divorced from the grossness of the physical, that it can only be apprehended through a faculty beyond sight, touch, or weight. This echoes Mircea Eliade's observations on the shamanic journey, where the initiate must transcend ordinary perception to access the spirit world. The stone, in this context, becomes a symbol of the perfected self, a consciousness so purified that it resonates with the divine, akin to the incorruptible nature attributed to angelic beings.

The alchemist, in seeking this stone, was not merely a proto-chemist but a spiritual aspirant. The process of transmutation, the heating, distilling, and refining of base metals, was a symbolic representation of the inner work required to purify the soul. Carl Jung recognized this dynamic in his studies of alchemy, viewing the alchemical symbols as projections of the unconscious psyche and the pursuit of the coniunctio, the union of opposites, as a path to individuation. The Angelicall Stone, therefore, is the culmination of this inner alchemy, the point where the material and the spiritual coalesce into a singular, ineffable truth.

Its description as something that can be "tasted only" suggests an experiential knowledge, a direct apprehension of reality that bypasses the analytical mind. This resonates with the teachings of mystics across traditions, from the gnosis of the early Christians to the direct experience of Brahman in Hinduism. It is the subtle flavor of enlightenment, the taste of ultimate reality that can only be known by becoming one with it. The air itself, Ashmole notes, is not as penetrable, highlighting the pervasive yet intangible nature of this ultimate attainment. The Angelicall Stone is the alchemical whisper of a reality that is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, a constant invitation to transcend the limitations of our perceived world.