"Squaring the circle was a problem that greatly exercised medieval minds. It is a symbol of the opus alchymicum, since it breaks down the original chaotic unity into the four elements and then combines them again in a higher unity. Unity is represented by a circle and the four elements by a square. The production of one from four is the result of a process of distillation and sublimation which takes the so-called “circular” form: the distillate is subjected to sundry distillations so that the “soul” or “spirit” shall be extracted in its purest state. The product is generally called the “quintessence,” though this is by no means the only name for the ever-hoped-for and never-to-be-discovered “One.” It has, as the alchemists say, a “thousand names,” like the prima materia." — Carl Jung
"Our stone is composed of Spirit, Body, and Soul.
The Philosopher’s Stone is made of three things: the Sun, the Moon, and Mercury.
Make from the Masculine and Feminine a round circle,
From this, extract a square,
And from the square, a triangle,
And from the triangle, a round circle.
And you will have the Great Work.
If you wish to perfect metals beyond what Nature has made them in virtue,
You must receive their nature,
And see in them Male and Female,
Otherwise, you will accomplish nothing.
The wise have left behind the following threefold wisdom:
The stone of the wise, the supreme virtue, the miraculous light of the world.
The father of this stone is the Sun, its mother is the Moon,
The wind has carried it in its belly, and the Earth is its nurse.
This is the Philosopher’s Stone, born through the work of wisdom."
- Alchemical symbols, 17th century, by Heinrich Khunrath
