If we were to play a word association game starting with the words Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter would undoubtedly be the next utterance for most of us. However, when the Philosopher's Stone made a grand appearance on A Discovery of Witches, it inspired us to dig into the immense labyrinth of its foggy history. On that dig, we found pure factual and fictional gold. Here's some of what we found, starting with the basics.

The Basics

The Philosopher's Stone is to some a myth, and to some reality. At its core, it has the ability to transform basic metals. Like wine, the Philosopher's Stone comes in white and red, and if you're lucky, orange. The white stone is less mature and thus less powerful than the red. The white stone creates silver, and the red creates gold—and who doesn’t love gold? It's the medicine for the soul. Turns out, the Philosopher's Stone is also considered the medicine for rejuvenation on a massive scale.

In the world of alchemy, it gets the highest honor with its ability to create heavenly bliss and perfection. The Philosopher's Stone may have reached mainstream fame via Harry Potter, but its first fictional appearance was in the 1799 novel "St Leon" by William Godwin... where it all got a bit gothic.

Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone

Alchemists have always been on a quest to find the Philosopher's stone. The quest itself is called the Magnum Opus. The Philosopher's Stone was considered by some alchemists to be an elixir, which is a magical or medicinal potion. The Philosopher's Stone is considered magical. It can also be defined as an elixir of life, that comes with the very major gift of immortality. This obviously makes it a very big deal.

While some have labeled alchemy a pseudoscience and others have said it's simply chemistry, alchemy does seem to have a fog of mystery and secrecy around it. In fantasy, myth, and fiction, it refers to the ability to transform and better the most basic of objects into magic. So add the Philosopher's Stone to that equation, and it makes the Stone an attractive substance for alchemists.

Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone in A Discovery of Witches

Pumping through the veins of A Discovery of Witches, is the alchemist manuscript hidden in the Oxford Library where Diana Bishop works. Her amazing witch skills allow her to unearth it after 500 years. This is where Deborah Harkness, the creator of A Discovery of Witches, and Diana Bishop, her protagonist, have something in common. Deborah Harkness was a professor, and actually wrote her thesis on magic and science. We believe this is why alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone feature so prominently in A Discovery of Witches—because Deborah knows her stuff.

You may remember Diana’s lecture from one of the very first scenes of Season 1. What was that lecture on? It was on ‘Visualizing Alchemy,’ where she deciphers the metaphors of alchemy and brings them to life. Diana isn't the only one doing the interpreting of course. The writers have effortlessly sewn the Philosopher's Stone and alchemy into A Discovery of Witches, with its allegorical symbol of transformation, a theme that propels its amazing characters, and makes them so very watchable.