I came to the conclusion that alchemical texts can be reinterpreted through the lens of phosphene experiences we have elaborated upon, especially if you consider the inner light phenomena in alchemy not merely symbolic, but phenomenological. Here are a few ideas and sources why I think that reinterpretation is possible:

1. The Aurora Consurgens (13th century)

This text, attributed to Thomas Aquinas or Pseudo-Aquinas, speaks repeatedly about the “inner light” rising in the darkness: lux lucens in tenebris. If you read this with the phosphene experience in mind, especially the post-candle closed-eye visions, the metaphor takes on a literal resonance. The imagery of awakening, seeing, and merging with the divine light can be mapped to visual neurophenomena experienced in meditation.

2. Paracelsus

Paracelsus emphasized that illumination was both physical and spiritual. He wrote about the “light of nature” (lumen naturae), which could be awakened internally. His view was that every human had an inner spark (vis imaginativa) capable of seeing subtle truths. Phosphenes, as light arising from within, could be understood as the manifestation of this subtle visionary capacity.

3. The Splendor Solis

This richly illustrated alchemical manuscript shows suns, stars, light beams emerging from heads, and various light beings, all of which could be seen as symbolizing the phosphene-like light seen during meditative or trance states. Many of these illustrations resemble inner light experiences and can be viewed as visual metaphors for the same.

4. The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

While short and highly symbolic, the line “As above, so below” and “the Sun is its father, the Moon its mother” can be interpreted as references to the duality of inner and outer light, the seen and the seen-through (phosphene light). When the tablet says, “Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross”, it could refer to internal meditative processes that distinguish outer perception from subtle inner vision.

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How to Reinterpret these Texts?

By linking:

• “the divine spark”, “inner sun”, or “albedo stage” in alchemy with
• phosphenes and inner luminous forms arising from meditative stillness,

you can view alchemy as a proto-phenomenology of altered consciousness, using symbolic language to describe literal visionary states accessible to anyone with the right training, including focusing on afterimages and light phenomena with closed eyes.