15 Facts About Alchemy

Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe.

Alchemy encompasses several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents.

Alchemy's name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes.

Alchemy's book, Rasendramangalam, is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine.

Alchemy analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness.

Related searches

Alchemy noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time.

Alchemy's work spends a great deal of time describing the processes and reactions, but never actually gives the formula for carrying out the transmutations.

Alchemy took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them.

Alchemy's writing portrayed alchemy as a sort of terrestrial astronomy in line with the Hermetic axiom As above so below.

Alchemy assumed nothing in his experiments and compiled every piece of relevant data.

Journals which publish regularly on the topic of Alchemy include 'Ambix', published by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and 'Isis', published by The History of Science Society.

Great Work of Alchemy is often described as a series of four stages represented by colors.

Alchemy observed these alchemical images occurring during the psychic process of transformation, a process that Jung called "individuation.

Alchemy's writings are influential in general psychology but especially to those who have an interest in understanding the importance of dreams, symbols, and the unconscious archetypal forces that comprise all psychic life.

Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, seen both in alchemical texts and in mainstream entertainment.