The Alchemy of “Golden Girls”

Some tongue-in-dentures fun.

By: Peter Parker

Okay I couldn’t resist, here’s Golden Girls as a metaphor for the alchemical magnum opus. A further sign I have way too much time on my hands.

In alchemy the magnum opus or great work was the production of the philosopher’s stone, a special mineral that could convert matter from an incomplete state to a perfected state. Led to gold, etc. To produce the stone, it was believed that the alchemist himself must first be a spiritually pure philosopher. There were several levels of chromatic transformation the stone would go through, nigredo (black), albedo (white) & rubedo (red). At the end of this a philosopher’s stone would be produced. So let’s begin with this silly waste of time.

1.)     The show’s title is the “Golden Girls” clearly a reference to the intended end product of the great work (gold).

2.)     The eldest & wisest golden girl is called Sophia, (Greek for Wisdom). Clearly it is she who must be sought by the adept wishing to perform the great work. Philosopher is, of course, from the Greek “Philo Sophia” (lover of wisdom).

3.)     Sophia’s daughter is Dorothy (Greek for Gift of the Gods), showing that the product of Wisdom is a divine gift (ie the stone.) Read more of this post