Alchemy & philosophy · The Language of Alchemy, part 5 of 8 · 1 October 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
The Alchemical Processes: Solve et Coagula
Burn, dissolve, unite, refine, rise, transform and solidify: the stages of the work, read as stages of inner change.
Alchemical writers described their work as a series of operations, and different authors counted and named them differently. A common thread runs through them all, summed up in the Latin motto solve et coagula: dissolve, then bind together anew.
Calcination and dissolution
Calcination is burning to ash: the breaking down of pride and old certainties. Dissolution is dissolving in water: letting rigid structures soften and loosen.
Conjunction
Conjunction is the union of what has been separated, often of opposites, drawn as the two triangles joined in a star.
Distillation and sublimation
Distillation refines by repeated rising and falling, separating the pure from the impure. Sublimation lifts a substance directly upwards, an image of the spirit rising.
Fermentation and coagulation
Fermentation brings new life, the awakening of something living within. Coagulation fixes the result: what has been transformed becomes stable and real in daily life.
A practice
Ask: “Am I in a season of dissolving, or of binding together?” Both are part of the work. Name one thing to let go of, and one thing to build.