{{Short description|Concept in alchemy}} {{about|Concept in alchemy|the DC Comics character|Negative Man}} {{Contradicts others|Magnum opus (alchemy)|discuss=Talk:Magnum opus (alchemy)#Confusing|date=February 2025}} thumb|Rebis from the ''Viatorium Spagyricum'' (1625)<ref>https://www.e-rara.ch/cgj/doi/10.3931/e-rara-7106</ref>|alt=A wood carving of a human with two heads, one male and one female, standing on a dragon on top of the world. Above, astrological symbols for the classical planets hover.
The '''Rebis''' (from the Latin ''res bina'', meaning dual or double matter)<ref>{{harvnb|Long|2006}} ch. 4, endnote 44</ref> is variably identified as either the end product of the alchemical ''magnum opus'' (or great work)<ref name="pagel1974rebis">{{harvnb|Pagel|1974}} p. 94</ref><ref name="pagel1960rebis">{{harvnb|Pagel|1960}} p. 136</ref> or the initial state of matter.<ref>{{harvnb|Jung|1968}} p. 173</ref> It is heavily associated with the principle of hermaphroditism, or the combination of the male and female sexes into one being.<ref name="pagel1974rebis" />
The Rebis is sometimes associated with the primordial state of the world,<ref name="pagel1960rebis" /> or the prima materia. While described methods to create the Rebis vary in their specifics, a common theme is the putrefaction of a starting matter into the chaos of nigredo. This is followed by its separation into its parts, such as masculine or feminine. This phase is also called albedo.<ref name="jung1951child">{{harvnb|Jung|1968}}</ref> Finally, the parts are recombined into a whole, achieving the Rebis.<ref name="pagel1974rebis" /><ref name="pagel1960rebis" />
The Rebis is associated both with divinity and with hermaphroditism, so it is sometimes called the "divine hermaphrodite."<ref>{{harvnb|Long|2006}} Introduction</ref> Generally, the Rebis is a symbol of the coniunctio, or the conjunction of opposites, which formed a key role in alchemical philosophy.<ref name="jung1951child" /> Such opposites include male and female,<ref name="pagel1974rebis" /><ref name="pagel1960rebis" /><ref name="jung1951child" /><ref name="long2006ch4">{{harvnb|Long|2006}} ch. 4</ref> left and right,<ref name="pagel1974rebis" />, body and spirit,<ref>{{harvnb|Pagel|1974}} pp. 95-96</ref>, air and fire<ref name="pagel1960rebis" />, and sun and moon (where the sun corresponds to the male and the moon corresponds to the female).<ref name="long2006ch4" /> The Red King and White Queen are similarly associated.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}
The ''Rebis'' image appeared in the work ''Azoth of the Philosophers'' by Basil Valentine in 1613.
==See also== * Adam Kadmon * Hieros gamos * Unity of opposites * Androgyny
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Robert Allen Bartlett, ''Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy'', Hays (Nicolas) Ltd, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-8925-4150-8}} * Barbara DiBernard, ''Alchemy and Finnegans Wake'', Suny Press, 1980, p. 71, {{ISBN|978-0-87395-429-7}} * Heinrich Jamsthaler, ''Viatorum spagyricum'', Frankfurt a. M, Germany, 1625 * {{Citation | last = Jung | first = C.G. | author-link = Carl Jung | title = The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious | editor-last1 = Adler | editor-first1 = Gerhard | editor-link1 = Gerhard Adler | editor-last2 = Hull | editor-first2 = R.F.C. | editor-link2 = R.F.C. Hull | publisher = Princeton University Press | series = The Collected Works of C.G. Jung | volume = 9, part 1 | orig-date = 1951 | year = 1969 | edition = 2nd | chapter = The Psychology of the Child Archetype | pages = 173-176 | isbn = 978-0-691-01833-1 }} * {{cite book | last = Long | first = Kathleen P. | title = Hermaphrodites in Renaissance Europe | publisher = Routledge | date = 2006 | location = London | doi = 10.4324/9781315253367 | isbn = 9781315253367}} * Heinrich Nollius, ''Theoria philosophiae hermetica'', Hanau, 1617 * {{cite journal | last1= Pagel | first1= Walter | author-link1 = Walter Pagel | title = Paracelsus and the Neoplatonic and Gnostic Tradition | journal = Ambix | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = 125-166 | date = 1 October 1960 | issn = 0002-6980 | doi = 10.1179/amb.1960.8.3.125}} *{{cite journal | last1= Pagel | first1= Walter | author-link1 = Walter Pagel | last2= Winder | first2= Marianne | author-link2 = Marianne Winder | title= The Higher Elements and Prime Matter in Renaissance Naturalism and in Paracelsus | journal = Ambix | volume = 21 | issue = 2-3 | pages = 93-127 | date = 1 November 1974 | issn = 0002-6980 | doi = 10.1179/000269874790223623}} * Alexander Roob, ''Alchimie et mystique: le musée hermétique'', Taschen GmbH, 2006, p. 494, {{ISBN|978-3-8228-5037-4}} * Murray Stein, ''Transformation: Emergence of the Self'', Princeton University Press, 1989, p. 101 * Lazarus Zetzner, ''Theatrum Chemicum'', Strasbourg, 1661
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130401102722/http://www.alchemywebsite.com/bookshop/prints_series_val_azoth.html Basil Valentine 'Azoth' images] * [http://altreligion.about.com/od/beliefsandcreeds/a/The-Rebis.htm The Rebis image in Alchemy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709134504/http://altreligion.about.com/od/beliefsandcreeds/a/The-Rebis.htm |date=2013-07-09 }} {{Alchemy}}
Category:Alchemical substances Category:Personifications Category:Androgyny