To the Stoics and Pythagoreans the term “palingenesis” was equivalent to metempsychosis or reincarnation. By reconstructing plants from their own ashes the alchemists sought to prove not only that consciousness and intelligence survive the annihilation of the psychical structure, but that they retain the individuality they formerly possessed and remain as organized forces. The term palingeness was also used to indicate the rebirth of the universe from its periodic sleep or the replenishment of the earth after a cataclysm, such as the Flood. The ancient philosophers, considering the planet as a living organism, attributed to it those various phases of life through which all forms seemingly pass: birth, growth, and decay. In India the alternating periods of cosmic activity and inertia are referred to as the Days and Nights of Brahma. Schopenhauer used the term palingenesis to signify the survival of the will and its manifestation in new personalities. Some students of Hermetic philosophy affirm that by means of palingenesis it would be possible to resurrect the human body even at a long interval after death. Those attempting this experiment attacked their problem without a proper understanding of the issues involved, for no Hermetic formula should be taken literally. Palingenesis is actually the resurrection of the spiritual soul from the irrational material organism. The human body is the Hermetic bottle. The Tree if the Soul is burned by human degeneracy; by palingenesis, however, it is proved that no matter how low man may descend in vice and degradation the spiritual elements are not lost, but can be reassembled by alchemical art, and the Tree of Life caused to grow again within the human nature.