Adamado – “the making of the diamond body.”
Iosis - “violetting” or “purpling”
Auredo - “golden-making” / “goldening”
5th Stage of Alchemy
The rubedo is already considered the culmination and the stage in which the “red gold” or “philosophical gold” is achieved. However, some alchemical authors—especially in later esoteric and psychological interpretations (e.g., 19th–20th century occultists and Jungian analysts)—have speculated about or explicitly proposed a fifth stage that transcends even the rubedo, representing the ultimate spiritualisation, indestructibility, or divine embodiment of the perfected matter. This hypothetical fifth stage is most commonly referred to as:
Iosis (from Greek ἴωσις, meaning “violetting” or “purpling”), or in Latinised form Iosis / Ios
In authoritative contemporary scholarship on alchemy (e.g., works by Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, Adam McLean, or Lyndy Abraham), when a fifth stage beyond rubedo is acknowledged, iosis remains the standard and historically attested designation for the transcendent “golden-violet” or “divine” phase.
Here are historically plausible and grammatically correct Latin (or Latinised) names that could serve as a fifth alchemical stage explicitly denoting the ultimate “golden” perfection, surpassing or crowning the rubedo. All of these follow the established pattern of the earlier stages (nigredo, albedo, citrinitas, rubedo), which are substantivised neuter nouns ending in -do or -tas formed from colour adjectives.
Proposed Latin name | Literal meaning | Explanation and precedent |
Auredo | “golden-making” / “goldening” | Direct parallel to nigredo, albedo, rubedo. From aureus (“golden”). The most obvious and widely used modern reconstruction when a fifth stage is wanted. |
Chrysodo | “gold-making” | From Greek χρυσός (chrysos = gold) + -do. Mirrors the Greek-derived citrinitas; occasionally seen in late alchemical Latin texts. |
Auritas | “goldenness” | Formed like citrinitas from aurum (“gold”). Grammatically perfect and attested in some 20th-century Hermetic writings. |
Chrysitas | “gold-ness” | Rare, but exactly parallel to citrinitas; used by a few modern alchemical authors. |
Flavedo | “yellowing” / “golden-yellowing” | From flavus (“golden-yellow”). Historically used for the ripening of gold in some Latin texts; occasionally pressed into service as a “higher citrinitas.” |
Solificatio | “sun-making” / “solarisation” | Slightly different formation, but appears in genuine 17th-century texts (e.g., Mutus Liber circle) for the final perfection of the work into solar/golden essence. |
Aureatio | “gilding” / “making golden” | Verbal noun from aureare (“to gild”). Used in medieval and Renaissance Latin alchemy when describing the final transmutation into gold. |
Aurificatio | “gold-producing” | From aurum + facere. Appears in actual alchemical Latin (e.g., 16th–17th century) for the act of perfecting the matter into true gold. |
Diamond or Crystalline
Below are historically plausible and linguistically correct Latin (or Latinised) names for a hypothetical fifth alchemical stage that transcends the rubedo by moving from red-gold to a perfectly transparent, indestructible, crystalline or “diamond” perfection. This idea is not purely modern: several genuine alchemical traditions already describe a final phase in which the red stone becomes “clear as crystal,” “transparent,” “adamantine,” or “like a diamond that has absorbed all colours and now radiates pure white light.”
Adamado – the single most intuitive and grammatically perfect name; instantly understood as “the making of the diamond body.”
Diamantatio – slightly more technical, but historically attested and used by practising alchemists.
Crystallitas or Crystallitio – emphasises the transparent, colourless, crystalline nature rather than hardness alone.