Palingenesis
- The macrocosmic palingeneses
- The microcosmic palingeneses
“The alchemical tradition works with palingenesis at the microcosmic as well as at the macrocosmic level. The word alludes both to the migration of the soul or metempsychosis and to the rebirth of entire worlds. The Stoics used the term for the perpetual rebirth of the universe after it was absorbed by the creator demiurge, while the Pythagoreans and Plato described a more classical migration of the soul. Based on the understanding that in both cases it refers to something permanent or immortal that undergoes purifications after the dissolution of the external form, we can see its fundamental importance to the hermetic art. Whether the alchemist works to prepare herbal elixirs, transmute metals or refine themself, it is a matter of releasing the essential force and transferring or transmuting it into a new form. The very foundation of the great work is to release the soul-spirt, upon the death of the physical body or the matter, into an immortal consciousness carried by an alchemically created body.” - Alchemy - the divine work