Albedo (Whitening)

Albedo is the second stage of the Magnum Opus — the whitening or purification that follows the blackness of nigredo. Through repeated ablution (washing) the dead matter is cleansed, and the white stone or luna appears in the vessel. The Rosarium Philosophorum depicts this as the soul's return to the purified body. Gerhard Dorn called it the unio mentalis: the separation of spirit from the darkness of the body, yielding a state of reflective clarity before the colors of citrinitas can dawn.