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What is alchemy? -

For thousands of years, alchemy was a respected branch of science that was closely intertwined with a unique spiritual view of the world.

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What is alchemy? -

While the field of alchemy covered a wide range of subjects and aspirations, the lion's share of research was done in the pursuit of successfully transforming base metals, such as iron and lead, into precious metals like gold; unlocking the secret to eternal life; and the creation of panaceas, or cure-all ailments

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Origins of alchemy -

Alchemy as a field seems to have developed independently in different places across Europe and Asia, including Greece, India, and China. According to the earliest sources on alchemy, it was first practiced in its most basic form in Egypt and Babylon, nearly 4,000 years ago.

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Zosimus of Panopolis -

The earliest confirmed author of alchemical treatises was a Greco-Egyptian philosopher known as Zosimus of Panopolis. It was Zosimus who indicated that alchemy was first practiced in Egypt, and involved a relationship between ancient Egyptian priests and their gods. After he published his works around the end of the 2nd century CE, known collectively as the 'Cheirokmeta,' in which he detailed the shadowy history of alchemy and recounted vivid spectral travels from his dreams and visits from supernatural priests of alchemy, the practice came to be perceived just as much a part of the occult as a part of the secular sciences.

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Mary the Jewess -

One of the early masters of alchemy mentioned in the works of Zosimus was Mary the Jewess, or Mary the Prophetess, a woman thought to live in Alexandria, Egypt, around the 1st or 2nd century CE. She is credited with the invention of numerous tools still used in chemistry today to boil down, distill, and combine substances. Most historians also agree that the bain-marie, a boiling pot still used in kitchens today, is one of her inventions.

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Hermes Trismegistus -

While alchemy was deeply spiritual, it was far from being an organized religion. That being said, there was one legendary figure who was central to the practice and revered with a certain amount of dogmatism: Hermes Trismegistus. Considered to be a combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, Hermes Trismegistus represented both communication and wisdom, and was the purported author of books covering every field of knowledge.

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The 'Corpus Hermeticum' -

The most wide-reaching work of Hermes Trismegistus, known as the 'Corpus Hermeticum,' was a work that covered everything from early pharmacology to medicine-making, alchemy, and magic. The wisdom held within, known as the Hermetic philosophy, came to form the basis of all alchemical thought and experiment.

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Jabir ibn Hayyan -

The primary figure of alchemy in the Islamic world, Jabir ibn Hayyan, known in the West as simply Geber, was active around the early 9th century CE. Thought to be just as prolific as Hermes Trismegistus, there are over 600 works attributed to ibn Hayyan.

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Tawkin -

While he was instrumental in pushing forward the fields of zoology and chemistry, among others, ibn Hayyan was also deeply invested in alchemy, particularly the principle he termed tawkin, which was concerned with the creation of life from elemental materials. Ibn Hayann's greatest goal was to create human life, but he was unsuccessful in his lifetime.

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The blending of science and spirituality -

Since the legendary times of Hermes Trismegistus, alchemy has gone hand-in-hand with spirituality. The core tenets of alchemy are built upon the belief that there was a life force that permeated through everything in existence, in different forms and in varying states of corruption, and that this force could somehow be harnessed and manipulated.

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Alchemy and the occult -

Naturally, the practice of alchemy wasn't incredibly popular in the circles of more organized and centralized religions, and it quickly became seen as part of the occult. The pursuit of harnessing the powers conventionally reserved for the gods was fairly universally seen as sacrilegious.

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The four elements -

Another of the most essential beliefs at the heart of alchemy is that everything in the material world can be divided into different combinations of the four elements: fire, air, earth, and water.

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Alchemy in China -

The Chinese practice of alchemy is closely linked with Taoism, and is thought to have appeared around the same time, around the 4th century BCE. Less concerned with transmutation of metals than their Western counterparts, alchemists in China were more focused on creating panaceas, or cures for illnesses.

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Alchemy in India -

By the 2nd millennium BCE, there was already a perceived connection between gold and holiness in Indian Vedic texts. Many alchemists were concerned with creating a "divine body," transmuting base metals into gold, and unlocking the secret to eternal life.

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Alchemy in Europe -

The story of alchemy in the West travels from ancient Egypt into Persia during the Islamic Golden Age, and finally back West once more during the Middle Ages when Islamic alchemical texts started to be translated into Latin. While alchemy was already largely discredited in most areas by the 12th century, it endured for several more centuries in Western Europe, mostly due to the prospect of creating gold.

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Transmutation -

Transmutation is the desired goal at the heart of all alchemical experiments. Transmutation broadly means the transformation of any one thing into any one other thing. Since Hermetic philosophy taught that everything is made up of the same elemental components, only in different combinations and amounts, alchemists believed it was only a matter of de- and reconstructing these elements in order to turn, say, coal into gold, or create human life out of minerals and liquids.

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Chrysopoeia -

The particular type of transmutation that most alchemists focused on was called chrysopoeia, and concerned the transmutation of base materials like lead into gold. The ouroboros (pictured) was commonly used to symbolize the universal structure of matter and the possibility of chrysopoeia.

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The Magnum Opus -

While alchemists throughout the centuries had many goals in mind, there was one holy grail of the trade that all alchemists strived for: the discovery of the philosopher's stone. All work that was done towards this end was considered to be a part of the massive and collective Magnum Opus, or the "Great Work."

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The philosopher's stone -

Once the Great Work was completed, alchemists would know the truth and power of the philosopher's stone. This theoretical substance was said to be the key of all other alchemical projects, including chrysopoeia, eternal life, and spiritual enlightenment.

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Prima materia -

But how to create the philosopher's stone? That was the question every alchemist aspired to answer. What they all agreed on is that it was first required to harness the prima materia, or the "first matter." The prima materia was the omnipresent and formless substance that permeated everywhere inside of, outside of, and in between, everything in the universe.

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The Rebis -

The final, ultimate product of the Magnum Opus, which could only be created with the philosopher's stone, was the Rebis. The Rebis was said to be the perfect unification of everything in the universe, possessing every quality and its opposite; Sun and Moon qualities, and feminine and masculine qualities were the ones most referenced, and the Rebis was also sometimes described as the "divine hermaphrodite."

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Eternal youth -

The philosopher's stone was also considered to be the secret ingredient needed to create an elixir of eternal life. Unfortunately, for centuries, mercury was also considered a main component to the elixir, and its consumption caused early deaths for countless people hoping for quite the opposite.

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The homunculus -

The homunculus was the first step towards creating full-fledged human beings through the powers of alchemy. It was said that if the right materials were incubated in the right conditions, which involved a horse's womb and human blood, among other things, after 40 days a tiny, ethereal figure of a human would appear. If properly fed, the figure would gain a physical form and maybe even develop supernatural powers. An alchemist from the 18th century is said to have created 10 homunculi who could see into the future.

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Alchemy and the Church -

When the first books on alchemy started to be translated into Latin during the early Middle Ages, there seemed to be no friction between this new science and the Church. However, by the 14th century, the practice began to be seen as sacrilegious, considered the work of charlatans and heathens. Even still, many prominent scientists and theorists continued the Great Work in secret.

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Alchemy during the Renaissance -

By the time the Italian Renaissance came around, alchemy was experiencing a cultural comeback. The 'Corpus Hermeticum' was translated for the first time, giving Europeans a clear look at the origins of the protoscience for the first time. Alchemy, while still considered taboo, became practiced more and more within humanist circles.

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Roger Bacon -

Roger Bacon was a Franciscan friar during the 13th century, and one of the leading figures in early medieval alchemy. Considered a wizard by his contemporaries, Bacon is famous for allegedly creating an animated, mechanical, all-knowing bronze head that could answer any question asked.

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John Dee -

John Dee, who was designated as the court astronomer of Elizabeth I during the early 17th century, was an avid alchemist with the unique goal in mind of communicating with angels. During his time, he was considered successful in this endeavor, although no proof of his conversations exist.

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Isaac Newton -

Even Isaac Newton, considered to be one of the most famous scientists of all time, would have likely considered himself an alchemist first and foremost. More of his surviving texts are dedicated to alchemy than to any other field of research, including physics.

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The fall of alchemy -

By the 18th century, modern chemistry had entered development and quickly proved to be more scientifically sound than alchemy in almost every respect, and consequently more popular during a time when the old arts and ancient traditions had fallen from grace in favor of innovation and modernity. While alchemy was still occasionally practiced in hopes of completing chrysopoeia, it came to be widely considered a fool's art, and as science progressed the chances of another alchemical renaissance only grew slimmer and slimmer.

Sources: (ThoughtCo) (Factinate) (Live Science)

See also: Grimoires: The famous magic spell books

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