What does the Black Crow represent in Alchemy?

Answer from the V.M. Samael Aun Weor.

In the cathedral of Notre Dame Paris, a crow appeared and stares towards the corner of the temple, towards that place where the cornerstone is found, the Master stone, the stone of truth, such a stone has a shape, yes, terrible, with horrifying horns. The Devil, terror of many pseudo-occultists and pseudo-esoterics, the medieval alchemists say; "Burns your books and whitens the brass."

Why does the black crow look towards the devil? because we must die within ourselves, it is necessary that we disintegrate the inhuman elements that we carry inside, it is urgent that we reduce ourselves to ashes, to cosmic dust, that is how we will be able to whiten brass, that brass or copper represented in the morning star…

Samael Aun Weor. Conference: Questions of Gnostic Ladies.

Answer from the Magazine "The Wisdom of the Being".

Now, what does the crow represent in this veiled alchemical knowledge?

The crow of putrefaction is death, indicating that we need to eliminate psychological defects, to whiten the devil that is on the stone, when hearing the word devil we should not leave with the belief that they are demons that try to attack us; the devil in this case represents the shadow of our Being, of that internal part that has been blackened by psychological defects that we have to whiten.

This elimination of defects is not something that is done overnight, it takes a lot of will, tenacity, patience, because each of our defects has infinite ramifications, it is as if each of those defects were a tree, which has never been pruned, we cannot say that we already eliminate it from the root from one day to the next, it is required that we start from leaf to leaf, until finally we get to at least see the branches, for later see the trunk and be able to remove that thick trunk to be able to reach the root, so how can we realize that it is not that easy, but it is possible.

That is why the phrase of the alchemists that says: "burn your books and whiten the brass", brass is already known to be composed of copper and copper is related to Venus, the morning star, that is to say that eliminating the root those defects then we can remove that blackened shadow through working internally with love, with selflessness.

The Wisdom of Being Magazine 93, Chapter: "The Crow."