The Rebis or Double-Thing

The Rebis — sometimes called the “double-thing” — is one of the most evocative symbols in alchemy. Depicted as a figure combining both male and female aspects, it represents the union of opposites, the integration of duality into a higher, unified state of being.

At the beginning of the alchemical process, opposites appear as irreconcilable: light and dark, spirit and matter, masculine and feminine, conscious and unconscious. The work of alchemy involves bringing these polarities into conscious relationship, not by eliminating one or merging them into bland sameness, but by transcending the opposition altogether.

The Rebis symbolises the culmination of this process. It embodies the principle that wholeness arises not from the suppression of difference, but from their balanced integration. In Jungian terms, it reflects the reconciliation of the conscious ego with the unconscious shadow, anima and animus, leading toward individuation.

On a deeper level, the Rebis also points to the non-dual nature of reality itself — the recognition that all distinctions are ultimately provisional, arising within a single, indivisible field of awareness. The dualities we experience are reflections of the mind’s structuring tendencies, not absolute features of reality.

The Rebis is not a final object to be acquired but a mirror of the alchemist’s own transformation. As the inner union deepens, the need for external symbols dissolves, leaving only the silent fullness of integrated being.

“Two are one, and one is none.”
— Alchemical Axiom