Great Work Great Work The term Great Work (magnum opus) is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema. The Great Work signifies the spiritual path towards self-transcendence in its entirety. This is the process of bringing unconscious complexes into the conscious awareness, in order to integrate them back into oneself. Accomplishing the Great Work, symbolized as the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, represents the culmination of the spiritual path, the attainment of enlightenment, or the rescue of the human soul from the unconscious forces which bind it. Eliphas Levi (1810–1875), one of the first
Great Work nature is called the Great Ultimate, which signifies a complete totality which lacks nothing and contains everything. In western alchemy, the Great Ultimate is symbolized by the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail. This symbol shows the infinite nature of the divine, which has no beginning or end and is in constant change but never loses or gains anything. The path to attainment of the Great Work, or union with the Great Ultimate is described through alchemical metaphor. The physical techniques of transmuting metals, dyes, and alloys in alchemical texts serve as an allegory for internal, psychological processes. The