The conception of the philosophical child, allegorized as the conception of Orion by three fathers.

The filius philosophorum (Latin for "the philosophers' child", i.e. made by the true students of philosophy) is a symbol in alchemy. In some texts it is equated with the philosopher's stone (lapis philosophorum), but in others it assumes its own symbolic meanings. Other terms for the filius philosophorum include filius sapientiae ("child of wisdom"), infans noster ("our child") and infans solaris ("sun child"). For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Philosophers stone (disambiguation). ...

There are several images that have been used to represent the filius philosophorum. Among these are the transformed hermaphroditic Hermes, the child of the Red King and the White Queen (the Sun and Moon), the child of the egg, and the three-fathered Orion Hermes Trismegistus (Greek: , thrice-great Hermes; Latin: Mercurius ter Maximus) is the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. ... An engraving of Orion from Johann Bayers Uranometria, 1603 (US Naval Observatory Library) In Greek mythology, Orion was traditionally a great huntsman, who was set amongst the stars as the constellation called Orion. ...

The filius philosophorum was also one of the Jungian archetypes analyzed by the Swiss psychologist. According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and his school of analytical psychology, archetypes are innate universal pre-conscious psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. ...