Rebis

## Rebis Rebis

**The Rebis** (from Latin *res bina*, "double thing") is the hermaphroditic figure that appears in alchemical emblems, combining masculine and feminine characteristics in a single body. The Rebis typically appears with a male half and a female half, or with both male and female sexual characteristics, often crowned and holding symbols of sun and moon, sulfur and mercury, or other paired opposites. The Rebis represents the product of the chemical marriage, the philosophical child that combines the natures of both parents (the Red King and White Queen), and the perfected Stone that unites all opposites in harmonious balance.

The Rebis embodies the alchemical principle of the coincidentia oppositorum, the union of opposites. The hermaphroditic figure combines masculine and feminine, solar and lunar, sulfur and mercury, fixed and volatile, hot and cold, dry and moist. This union is not a mere mixture but a true conjunction where the opposites are perfectly balanced and integrated, creating a new being that transcends both while containing both. The Rebis often appears with two heads (male and female) on a single body, or with a single head but dual sexual characteristics. The figure typically holds or is associated with symbols representing the united opposites: sun and moon, compass and square, eagle and lion.

In alchemical philosophy, the Rebis represents the perfected Stone that has achieved the union of all contraries. The hermaphroditic nature symbolizes that the Stone is complete in itself, containing both active and passive principles, both generative and receptive powers. The Rebis is the philosophical child born from the chemical marriage, the fruit of the conjunction of purified sulfur and mercury. The figure represents the goal of the Great Work: not the dominance of one principle over another, but the perfect balance and integration of opposites. The Rebis thus symbolizes the perfected Stone that contains all virtues, the philosophical hermaphrodite that is both one and two, the completion of the work through the union of opposites.

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