What is alchemy? (2024)

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What is the alchemy answer? ›

Alchemy is a type of speculative thought in ancient times that aimed to change basic metals like lead or copper into silver or gold, as well as discover a cure for disease and a method of extending life.​ “Alchemy” is a Greek word which means “art of transmuting metals”.​

1. : a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life.

Alchemy is the practice of using spirituality or science to transform one type of matter into another. Alchemy is the historical precursor to chemistry. The most famous example of this is the quest to turn lead into gold.

As a philosophical and protoscientific tradition, alchemy does not contain any intrinsic evil. The legendary philosopher's stone, a means to turn ordinary metals into precious ones, and a panacea for all ailments were the lauded ends of alchemy.

Alchemy is now increasingly recognized as a fundamental part of the heritage of chemistry, of continuing human attempts to explore, control, and make use of the natural world. Alchemists developed practical knowledge about matter as well as sophisticated theories about its hidden nature and transformations.

While physical alchemy deals with altering and transforming the properties in the physical world, spiritual alchemy is connected with freeing your spiritual self from your fears, limiting beliefs systems, and lack of self-acceptance. Alchemy is the art of transformation, inner liberation, and change.

Simplified, the aims of the alchemists were threefold: to find the Stone of Knowledge (The Philosophers' Stone), to discover the medium of Eternal Youth and Health, and to discover the transmutation of metals.

Since lead and other metals are not composed of fire, air, earth, and water, it's not possible to adjust the percentages of those elements and turn them into gold. Though alchemy never succeeded, that didn't stop people from claiming to have solved the ancient riddle.

Alchemy is an ancient practice aimed at recreating precious substances using recipes and transformative materials such as the philosopher's stone. Alchemists believed that materials like gold, silver, gems, and purple dye could be recreated if the right combination of ingredients and transformative methods were found.

Indian alchemists and Chinese alchemists made contributions to Eastern varieties of the art. Alchemy is still practiced today by a few, and alchemist characters still appear in recent fictional works and video games. Many alchemists are known from the thousands of surviving alchemical manuscripts and books.

Why is alchemy illegal? ›

On January 13, 1404, King Henry IV of England signed a law making it a felony to create gold and silver out of thin air. The Act Against Multiplication, as it was formally titled, outlawed something called “multiplication,” which in alchemy meant taking some of a material, like gold, and somehow creating more of it.

The connection between alchemy and eschatology appears to have been particularly powerful: alchemy not only confirmed biblical and other prophecies about the operations of nature and the unfolding of earthly time, but also offered true Christians tools with which to engage the imminent Last Days, either by withstanding ...

As this is a science of healthy proportions, Ibn ʿArabī credits Jesus with the knowledge of alchemy due to the impeccable balance he maintained between his human and spiritual natures. This article results from reading his immense work, approached from both theological and religious science methodologies.

Introduction: Alchemy is best described as a form of 'proto-science' rather than a distinct science in its own right. This is because, although many observations and theories made by alchemists were based on scientific fact, they often explained these in terms of 'magic' or divine intervention.

Alchemy is defined as a "divine secret" that is inherited from "our father Adam, who passed it on to his sons the wizards and the philosophers of Islam, through the honorable awliya' (saints) and the great prophets." The work goes on to divide alchemy into two sciences: the elixir, which deals with the "fixing of the ...

The Riddle of Alchemy is a dense and lavish text that elucidates a storied natural philosophy and protoscience, showing its creative influence on modern psychology. Paul Kiritsis's intricate text The Riddle of Alchemy surveys an esoteric field and enduring fascination with it.

That said, the core principle of alchemy revolves around the Law of Equivalent Exchange. While it may seem complicated, the simple concept is absolute: something cannot be made from nothing. In order to create something, another thing of equal value must be exchanged and is then lost.