Alchemy varies widely.  The steps vary in systems from the single step system through to the fifteen step process.  The steps may also have different orders according to the system followed.  It is also interesting that Zosimos of Panopolis descended and ascended fifteen steps.  In my dreams I descended and ascended three.  What does remain similar throughout the alchemy systems is that alchemists believe their own state of consciousness affects the final outcome of the experiments. The purity of their own souls is a factor in perfecting the metals.  This is why they work as much on themselves as they do with their metal and chemical projects.  There are two laboratories, the one with the test tubes and chemicals, and the one within the self.

A lot of allegory and symbolism are used in alchemy.  For that reason, and the additional information this may add for the individual student, the pictures and interpretations are shared here.  The twelve steps presented here are based on the English alchemist George Ripley’s work.  The Keys and the illustrations are from Basil Valentine’s woodcuts  published in Ein kurtz summarischer Tractat, von dem grossen Stein der Uralten..., Eisleben, 1599.  Intrepretations of the woodcuts are from a Latin translation of this text, under the editorship of Michael Maier was published by Lucas Jennis, under the title Tripus aureus, Frankfurt, 1618.