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
A Latin Dictionary Although classicists still consult Lewis and Short, they tend to prefer the "OLD". On the other hand, Lewis and Short remains a standard reference work for medievalists, renaissance specialists, and early modernists, as the dictionary covers Late and Medieval Latin, if somewhat inconsistently. The "OLD", when used on its own, rarely meets their needs, since it was decided early in the "OLD"'s planning that the work would not encompass works written later than AD 200. A few exceptions were made for especially important texts from the late classical period, such as Augustine's "De Civitate Dei", but for periods later than