Outline of alchemy
{{Short description|1=Overview of and topical guide to alchemy}}
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to alchemy:
Alchemy – A philosophical tradition recognized as protoscience, that includes the application of Hermetic principles, and practices related to mythology, religion, and spirituality.
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Branches
=Influences=
Influences upon alchemy – alchemy developed dependent on a number of influences and experienced regional and period-specific variations:
=Related fields=
Concepts
File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg
- Alchemical elements – Primarily the four Classical elements of:
- Fire (classical element)
- Water (classical element)
- Earth (classical element)
- Air (classical element)
- For variations see: Wu Xing • Mahābhūta • Five elements (Japanese philosophy)
- Alchemy in art and entertainment
- Alkahest
- Anima mundi
- Chrysopoeia
- Filius philosophorum
- Takwin
- Homunculus
- Philosopher's stone
- Cintamani
- Elixir of life
- Panacea
- Prima materia
- Yliaster
- Septenary of the seven metals and Classical planets in Western alchemy
- Lead • tin • copper • iron • mercury • silver • gold
- Saturn • Jupiter • Venus • Mars • Mercury • Moon • Sun
- Tria Prima (three primes)
- Salt • mercury • sulfur
- Body • soul • spirit
- Unity of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum
- Hieros Gamos
- Rebis
Processes
Magnum opus – great work of alchemy consisting of:
- Nigredo
- Albedo
- Citrinitas (sometimes excluded)
- Rubedo
Alchemists also engaged in practical and symbolic processes including:
Symbolism
Scientific connections
= Substances of the alchemists =
- phosphorus • sulfur (sulphur) • arsenic • antimony
- vitriol • quartz • cinnabar • pyrites • orpiment • galena
- magnesia • lime • potash • natron • saltpetre • kohl
- ammonia • ammonium chloride • alcohol • camphor
- sulfuric acid (sulphuric acid) • hydrochloric acid • nitric acid • acetic acid • formic acid • citric acid • tartaric acid
- aqua regia • gunpowder
- blue vitriol • green vitriol • vinegar • salt
=Apparatus=
Stills
Vessels
Heating devices
Alchemy organizations
Alchemical texts
- Axiom of Maria
- Alchemical Studies (Carl Jung)
- Aurora consurgens
- Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
- Cantong qi
- Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
- Hermetica
- Emerald Tablet
- Sirr al-khalīqa ("The Secret of Creation")
- The Hermetical Triumph
- Fasciculus Chemicus
- Musaeum Hermeticum
- Mutus Liber
- Rosary of the Philosophers
- Splendor Solis
- Theatrum Chemicum
- Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- The Mirror of Alchimy
- Turba Philosophorum
=Journals=
Alchemists
File:Trismegistos.jpg and legendary founder of Western alchemy. (Maier, 1617)]]
{{Main|List of alchemists}}
The most influential names in the history of alchemy include:
- Hermes Trismegistus – by tradition, the founder of Western alchemy; many alchemical works were attributed to him.
- Wei Boyang – authored the earliest known book on theoretical alchemy in China.
- Pseudo-Democritus – anonymous author of the oldest extant works of Greco-Egyptian alchemy.
- Zosimos of Panopolis – influential Greco-Egyptian alchemist.
- Khālid ibn Yazīd – credited with introducing alchemy to the Islamic world.
- Pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana – earliest known source of the sulfur-mercury theory of metals and the Emerald Tablet.
- Jābir ibn Hayyān – notable for the theory of the balance (ʿilm al-mīzān), the theory of artificial generation (ʿilm al-takwīn), and a general emphasis on experimental science.
- Pseudo-Geber – later Latin alchemist who wrote the influential Summa perfectionis.
- Roger Bacon – staunch proponent of the use of alchemy.
- Paracelsus – developer of iatrochemistry.
- Robert Boyle – alchemist critical of Paracelsus, credited as the father of modern chemistry.
- Mary Anne Atwood – key figure in the occult revival of alchemy.
- Carl Jung – merged alchemy and psychoanalytic thought.
See also
External links
{{Sister project links|Alchemy}}
- [http://www.ambix.org/ SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry]
- [https://www.esswe.org/ ESSWE: European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism]
- [https://aseweb.org/ Association for the Study of Esotericism]
- [https://www.alchemywebsite.com/ The Alchemy Website.] – Adam McLean's online collections and academic discussion.
- [http://www.innergarden.org Inner Garden Alchemy Research Group: a non-profit foundation that aims to transmit the alchemical tradition.]
- {{In Our Time|Alchemy|p003k9bn|Alchemy (Peter Forshaw, Lauren Kassell and Stephen Pumfrey)}}
- [http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=DicHist/uvaBook/tei/DicHist1.xml;chunk.id=dv1-04 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Alchemy
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321022329/http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/alchemy.html Book of Secrets: Alchemy and the European Imagination, 1500-2000] – A digital exhibition from the [http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/ Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University]
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