Alchemy & philosophy · The Language of Alchemy, part 8 of 8 · 4 October 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
The Green Lion
A lion devouring the Sun: the raw, untamed energy at the start of the work.
One of alchemy’s most striking images is the green lion devouring the Sun. It appears in the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), where a green lion bites into a sun, its blood pouring out.
What it meant
Alchemists used the green lion for a powerful, raw substance at the beginning of the work, probably a strong acid or vitriol able to dissolve even gold. Green signified its unripe, untamed vigour.
Read inwardly
Inwardly, the green lion can stand for our raw energy and appetite: the force that, untamed, can consume everything, and that, tamed and directed, becomes the strength to transform.
Strength and the lion
There is a lovely echo in the tarot’s Strength card, where a woman gently closes a lion’s jaws. In both images, the lion is not destroyed but befriended. Power, met with gentleness, becomes a gift.
Closing the series
From sulphur, mercury and salt to the green lion, the alchemists left us a language for change. Its message is simple: what is raw can be refined, what is heavy can become light, and the gold we seek is waiting within.
A practice
Name one strong energy in you, perhaps ambition, desire or anger. Ask: “How could I direct this with gentleness, rather than let it run wild?”