The Misunderstood History of Alchemy

I’ll be honest, when someone says alchemy, my brain goes straight to those mystical guys who are obsessed with turning lead into gold. Uh-huh, well, there is a bit of truth to that image. Right, but with what you sent over, the YouTube videos and that book Summa Perfectionis, I think we’re gonna get into it all. The history, the theories, and honestly, even how alchemy has affected the world today, it’s wild. Yeah, and what’s really cool is that alchemy isn’t just some thing of the past. It really built the foundation for chemistry as we know it, and it even impacted medicine and psychology. That’s awesome. But let’s start with defining it, it’s not just turning lead into gold. Well, that’s the first thing I think of, but I’m ready to go deeper. Okay, well, the book What Is Was Alchemy? in Act Hope Physica, Ponica, gives a definition. It says, “Alchemy is part of a restricted class of sciences, “and they weren’t invented by the Greeks “in the classical period.” Okay, restricted class of sciences. I’m intrigued, what does that even mean? So basically what it means is, unlike today’s chemistry, which tries to isolate things for experiments, alchemists believe that everything was connected. They saw the universe as one giant web where everything affects everything else. So they weren’t into breaking things down, but looking at the bigger picture, how everything interacts. Yeah, they didn’t just wanna manipulate stuff, but to understand the forces that ruled, well, everything. So that’s a very different approach to science than we have now. Huge difference. Okay, so we kinda get what alchemy is, but where’d it come from? I mean, it seems like it’s been in a lot of cultures. Well, trying to figure out the very beginning of alchemy is tricky. I mean, they weren’t really keeping super detailed records, but a lot of people think it started in Egypt around 300 BC, maybe when Greek and Egyptian ideas mixed. Alexander the Great had just conquered Egypt. It’s like that cultural fusion created the right environment for alchemy to be born. So like a combination of ancient wisdom, and Alexandria was a hub for knowledge back then, right? Yeah, you got it. And it’s not a coincidence that the oldest alchemy text we know of, Physica Chymistica, is from Alexandria too, around 300 AD. And this book describes how to create gold. So the idea of actually turning something into gold really started to take off them. I gotta be honest, the whole turning lead into gold has always seemed, I don’t know, a little crazy to me. I get it. But you gotta see it from their perspective. Imagine no modern chemistry. They’d see gold being taken from other metals, like when you pan for gold. If it happens naturally, why couldn’t they do it too? That’s a good point. It’s like, if we can pull precious metals from electronics, why couldn’t they figure out how to make gold? It’s all just manipulating matter, right? You got it. And this whole idea of unlocking the secrets of turning things into gold led to guys like Hermes Trismegistus. They say he wrote the Tabulus Marignina. That’s where we hear about the Philosopher’s Stone. Ah, the Philosopher’s Stone. I think even people who don’t know anything about alchemy have heard of that. Eternal life, turning things into gold, all that. Seems like a myth. It does. And to be honest, Hermes Trismegistus probably didn’t even exist. He’s more like a legend. But the impact of his book, the Tabulus Marignina and the idea of the Philosopher’s Stone, that was huge in alchemy. Okay, so we’re talking about real experiments, but also some big ideas, myths, like an early kind of science with some mythology thrown in. Yeah, exactly. And this mix of ideas continued as alchemy spread. It moved from Alexandria to the Islamic world. And Islamic scholars really took to it, especially around the 640s AD. What was it about the Islamic world? A few things. Some scholars believe that ideas in the Quran about reality kind of matched up with alchemy theory. Interesting. But there’s another big reason. It was the Islamic Golden Age. Between the eighth and 13th centuries, that’s when the Islamic world was leading in science. They translated Greek texts, discovered things in math and astronomy, and yeah, they pushed alchemy forward too. It sounds like they were open to learning from everyone. Totally. Speaking of learning, what about Jabir ibn Hayyan? I feel like his name comes up a lot with alchemy. Oh yeah, he’s a big deal. Jabir is the one who made alchemy seem like a secret society. Like all those symbols in coded language, that’s from him. Uh-huh. And he, he’s the one who came up with the sulfur-mercury theory of metals. Wait, didn’t we just talk about how they got pure mercury from Cinnabar? We did. Now you’re saying gold is made from mercury and sulfur. I know, right? It sounds confusing. But here’s the thing, Jabir and the other alchemists, they weren’t talking about those as the elements like we know today from the periodic table. They were more like philosophical ideas, qualities. So not the actual element, but what it represents? Right, mercury was all about change and transformation. Sulfur was about fire and combining with other things, they were like forces in the universe. So even though their science was different, they were still trying to make sense of the world. Exactly, and they did real experiments and came up with theories, even if we know now that those theories weren’t quite right. So alchemy goes from Egypt to the Islamic world, then it comes to Europe, right? When was that? It started coming back around the 12th century. Travelers brought the knowledge back from the Islamic world. Oh, cool. Yeah, it was like a treasure trove of alchemy. And that really kicked off a new interest in alchemy in Europe. I wonder, what did the church think? I mean, they were pretty powerful then, and weren’t they against anything that seemed like magic? Well, it was complicated. They were sometimes cool with alchemy, and sometimes they were super suspicious, and sometimes they straight up called it witchcraft. Sounds like they couldn’t make up their minds. Ha ha, you could say that. But remember, gold is powerful. Even kings and queens were interested in getting more of it. Yeah, I can’t imagine anyone turning down more gold. Alchemy must have seemed like a, I don’t know, a cheat code or something. And that’s where someone like Robert of Chester comes in, this guy in the 12th century. He translated Arabic alchemy texts into Latin, so everyone in Europe could read them. Oh wow, so it was like an alchemy revival then. Totally, and as European alchemists started reading these texts, they got new ideas. They started connecting metals to planets, like gold to the sun and silver to the moon, and they brought in the three principles, mercury, sulfur, and salt, and the four elements, earth, air, fire, water. They combined Greek philosophy, Christianity, and those alchemy experiments. So it was getting pretty complex. Yeah, it was. They even started using Augustine’s idea of seeds. He believed that everything was created by God, but some things stayed as seeds and could transform. In the alchemists, they applied this idea to how matter changes, like lead had the seed of gold inside it. So they were basically trying to make that gold seed grow. Right, and to track how things were changing, they focused on four colors, black, white, yellow, and red. Each color meant a different stage in alchemy, with red being the final step, creating the philosopher’s stone. But the philosopher’s stone wasn’t just about actual gold. It also represented a spiritual change, like becoming a better person. So it had both a physical side and a spiritual side. You got it. But with everyone talking about the philosopher’s stone, wasn’t anyone skeptical? That’s a good question. Well, there were. During the Middle Ages, people argued about whether alchemy was real. Someone like the Persian scientist Al-Razi, he didn’t believe you could really turn lead into gold. He thought alchemists could make something that looked like gold, but wasn’t really gold. Gotcha, so he thought they were basically faking it. Pretty much. But then you have someone like Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar. He was all about alchemy. Yeah, he saw it as supporting Christian ideas. He even thought it could be used to fight the Antichrist. Fighting the Antichrist with alchemy, that’s an image. Ha ha, right. And get this, to defend themselves, a lot of alchemists said that alchemy was like a gift from God, a way to find ancient knowledge that was lost. That’s why they were so secretive and used codes, which honestly just made it seem more mysterious and occult-like. So even with all the mystery and debate, did anyone ever say they made the philosopher’s stone? That is the big question, isn’t it? And to answer that, we gotta talk about Paracelsus. He was an alchemist in the 16th century who didn’t care about making gold. He was all about using alchemy for medicine. Oh, wow, so Paracelsus wanted to heal, not get rich. Exactly. And his ideas were revolutionary. They led to something called iachrochemistry, which combined alchemy with making new medicines. That’s what led to pharmacology, which is all about drugs and how they work in your body. So even if no one ever made the philosopher’s stone, alchemists like Paracelsus still changed the world. They totally did. They might not have found the secret to living forever or made gold from lead, but what they did led to modern chemistry, medicine, and how we even think about our minds.

So now that we’ve covered all that, are you interested in the nitty gritty details of making the philosopher’s stone? Absolutely, history, philosophy, impact. Now I wanna know the how-to of this whole great work. What were the steps? Did anyone even come close? Well, just remember, there wasn’t really a single set of instructions that everyone agreed on. And well, their science was totally different from what we know today. But we can look at what the Summa Perfectiene says. It goes into a lot of detail about the practical side of alchemy. Okay, so no easy recipe for the philosopher’s stone, but we can at least try to understand what they were doing. Let’s dive in. All right, the first step was preparation.

This is where they got all the ingredients they needed for the great work, gold, silver, sulfur, and mercury, like gathering all the pieces of a big puzzle. So they weren’t just using any random mercury they found lying around. It sounds like they were really meticulous about getting the purest ingredients. You got it. The Summa Perfectiene actually goes into detail about how to get each of these substances pure. Roasting, distillation, sublimation, they used a ton of techniques to refine stuff. It’s amazing that even though their science wasn’t the same as ours, they still understood that purity and precision were so important. That’s like a core part of chemistry today, right? Yeah, absolutely. It shows how much they cared about what they were doing, that they really believed it meant something big. They weren’t just messing around. They were convinced these purified substances held the key to like unlocking the secrets of the universe. And it wasn’t just the physical stuff that mattered either, right? The ingredients had a symbolic meaning too. Exactly. Each substance represented something in their system. Like gold was perfection, silver was purity, sulfur was the active principle, and mercury.

Mercury was the primordial substance, the basis of all matter. So they’re mixing practical chemistry with all this philosophy and spiritual symbolism. It’s like creating a whole new language that connects the physical world to, I don’t know, something bigger. You got it. And once they had those pure elements, they moved on to philosophical purification. This is where they transformed the elements into their esophic forms, basically making them ready for the great work. I’m still not quite clear on what esophic means. Can you like explain that a bit more? Think of it as taking something pure and making it even stronger. Like they dissolve gold in aqua regia, that’s a super strong acid. And then they evaporate the liquid and crush the gold that’s left. They called that esophic sulfur. They thought it was super potent, like really important for the great work. So it’s still gold, but they changed it on a, I don’t know, a deeper level. Right. They believe these esophic forms had a hidden power that regular gold or silver didn’t have. Like they were activating something special inside the substance. Okay, I think I get it. So we have this esophic gold and silver. What about mercury? You said earlier that it was the foundation of everything. What’s its role in the philosopher’s stone? Mercury was like the VIP ingredient, the menstrom, or the place where the transformation would happen. They saw it as the most basic element, the one that could create all the other metals. So kind of like a blank canvas for their alchemical masterpiece. That’s a perfect way to put it. Once they had their esophic elements in the mercury all purified, the next step was to mix them together in a specific way and then seal them up in that special container, the hermetic egg.

The hermetic egg. We’re finally getting to the good stuff. And it sounds like more than just a container, right? Like it had some symbolic meaning too. Oh, definitely. The hermetic egg represented a womb. It was the alchemical vessel where the philosopher’s stone would like be born. It was usually made of thick glass so it could handle the heat and pressure they would create during the process. So it’s like they were creating a little mini universe, right? Everything happening inside the sealed container. But how did they even control the heat back then? I can’t even boil water without messing it up. They were seriously skilled. No modern thermometers or anything. But they were masters of controlling heat. Different furnaces, fuels, techniques. They even had special names for different heat levels. The heat of a nesting hen, Egyptian fire, celestial heat. Wow, those names are so cool. It’s like they’re describing some kind of, I don’t know, bands between fire and matter, almost poetic. It is. And they believed that getting the heat just right was super important. Too low and nothing happens. Too high and boom, everything’s ruined. Like a delicate souffle, a little too much heat and the whole thing collapses. Okay, so the ingredients are sealed in the hermetic egg. The heat is just right. What’s next? This is where things get really wild. They had a bunch of different processes that they do to the stuff inside the hermetic egg. Processes they thought would lead to the philosopher’s stone. And they were watching for specific colors like they were clues. Color changes, what kinds of colors were they looking for? They believed that the stuff inside would turn different colors in a specific order. It would start black, they go to white, then yellow, and finally, a deep red. That meant the philosopher’s stone was made. An alchemical rainbow. Ah-ha, that’s a great way to put it. And each color had a deeper meaning.

Black or Negredo was about destroying the old and purifying. White or Albedo was like a fresh start. Yellow or Citronitas meant enlightenment.

And finally, red or Rubido was the end goal. The philosopher’s stone and becoming perfect. So it’s not just about the chemicals changing, it’s about spiritual change too. Exactly. A lot of alchemists believed that the experiments they were doing were a reflection of their own spiritual journey. It was all connected, the physical and the spiritual. Okay, so we’ve got colors, but what were they actually doing inside the Hermetic egg to create the philosopher’s stone? It sounds complicated. It was, they had a whole bunch of technical names for the processes they used. Calcination, conjunctions, solution, digestion, distillation, sublimation, separation, putrefaction. Each one involved doing something specific to the stuff inside the egg using heat, pressure, and all sorts of alchemical techniques. Wow, that is a lot of words. Can you explain a few of those? Like what’s calcination? Calcination was heating something up really hot to get rid of moisture and turn it into a powder. So using heat to purify and break stuff down, that makes sense. What about some of the other ones, like conjunction? Okay, conjunction was all about combining stuff. Remember those special sauerk forms of gold and silver? Well, conjunction was where they’d mix those with the purified mercury. They thought bringing together these opposites, these different qualities was super important for creating the philosopher’s stone. So they were very precise about how they combine things. Totally, and then there’s solution, which is basically dissolving something solid in a liquid. Think about dissolving salt in water. The salt disappears, but it’s still there, right? Yeah. The alchemists believe that solution allowed them to really mix the different substances inside the hermetic egg. So they’re blending everything together so the different elements can like interact and transform on a deeper level. They’re using heat, combining stuff, dissolving things. It’s like a carefully planned dance. You got it. And they were convinced that each of these steps, if you did them just right, would eventually lead to the philosopher’s stone. They were creating a little universe inside that egg and they could watch it all happen. That’s incredible. They saw this connection between what they were doing in the lab and what was happening in the universe as a whole. Exactly, and remember, it wasn’t just about transforming the physical stuff, it was about their own spherical transformation too, like a process of self-improvement. They believe that working with these substances, watching them change, was also purifying their souls. Okay, so we’ve got color changes, specific processes. But did they ever really make the philosopher’s stone? Well, that depends on what you mean by make. Oh, now I’m really curious. Well, we know today that you can’t actually turn lead into gold, but for the alchemists, it wasn’t just about getting rich. They wanted to understand the universe and our place in it. And even though their journey ended up differently than they thought, it was still really important. They made a lot of discoveries, came up with new techniques, and their work laid the groundwork for a lot of science that we use today. It’s amazing how much they contributed, even if they never reached their ultimate goal. They wanted to learn and explore, and their curiosity, even if some of their ideas were wrong, helped us understand the world in a whole new way. That’s the cool thing about science. Sometimes even when we’re wrong, when things seem impossible, just trying to figure things out can lead to amazing discoveries. So we’ve talked about the processes, all the symbolic transformations, but what did the philosopher’s stone actually look like? What did they think it would be? Well, there are a few different descriptions, depending on which alchemy book or tradition you’re looking at. Some people said it would be like wax, others said it would be a red gem, but most of the time they said it would be a red powder. And they said it had an amazing smell. A red powder, I definitely wasn’t picturing that. Right, not the most exciting image. But remember, they believed that this powder had incredible powers. It could turn lead into gold, heal people, even make you live longer. One alchemist, Pseudo-Caber, he said that if he had just a tiny bit of the philosopher’s stone, he could turn the whole ocean into gold. If only the ocean was made of mercury, that is. Turn the whole ocean into gold. Talk about setting high goals. Aha, exactly. And of course we know that’s not possible, but it shows you just how much they believed in the power of the philosopher’s stone. It’s amazing how their passion and dedication led them to make so many discoveries, even if their theories weren’t always right. And you know, we haven’t even talked about all the other powers they thought the philosopher’s stone had. What else do they believe it could do? They thought it could cure any disease, make you young again, turn rocks into precious gems, even help crops grow better. Some even said it could let you talk to animals and even angels. Wow, it’s like they believed it was the ultimate answer to all of humanity’s problems, like a cure for everything, a way to achieve perfection and understand the mysteries of the universe. Yeah, that’s a great way to put it. The philosopher’s stone wasn’t just some object, it was a symbol of all these hopes and dreams. This desire for something more, something beyond the limits of our physical world. And that’s what makes alchemy so fascinating, isn’t it? It’s not just about the science, it’s about how it connects to philosophy, spirituality, and that basic human need to understand the universe and our place in it. Exactly, and even though nobody ever really made the philosopher’s stone, its legacy is still with us. It reminds us that humans are curious and that our minds have so much potential. It keeps that mystery of the unknown alive. Okay, so we’ve talked about the history, the philosophy, all those alchemical processes, the symbolism of the philosopher’s stone, but I’m still curious, how did the idea of the philosopher’s stone change over time? Did it always have this double meaning, the physical and the spiritual? And what about how it’s shown up in art, literature, pop culture? I feel like we’ve only just scratched the surface. You’re right, there’s so much more to explore, and that’s what makes these deep dives so cool. This is just the beginning of our journey into this world of mystery, symbolism, and that constant search for knowledge and transformation. I’m ready for the next part. Let’s go. We’ll look at how the idea of the philosopher’s stone changed, how it influenced art and culture, and how its legacy is still with us today. So we’ve talked about how the philosopher’s stone wasn’t just about making gold, right? It was this big symbol of transformation, both material and spiritual. But how did that idea change over time? Was it always both things? Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s like trying to trace how a myth changes as it gets passed down. In the beginning, alchemy was really focused on physically changing matter. The idea was if you could figure out how to perfect something, like make the most pure substance ever, then you could use that knowledge to turn lead into gold. So the early alchemists were like, I don’t know, the first chemists trying to figure out how matter worked. Exactly. But as alchemy started mixing with philosophy and spirituality, the philosopher’s stone became more than just a thing. It was about reaching spiritual perfection, like becoming one with the universe or something. So it became this metaphor for the human journey, trying to improve ourselves and become enlightened. You got it. And you can see this change in the alchemy books. Early ones like that, Physica Chymistica we talked about, they’re all about techniques and formulas.

But later texts like the Summa Perfectionis and Paracelsus’ writings, they’re more focused on the spiritual side of alchemy. So the philosopher’s stone goes from something real to something symbolic. It’s the ultimate goal, human potential and spiritual growth. Exactly. And that idea starts showing up in art, literature, pop culture, everywhere.

Think about those old paintings of alchemists with all those weird tools and glowing stuff or books that use alchemy to talk about change, finding yourself, the meaning of life. Yeah, like Faust or the Alchemist, right. Exactly. And even now we’re still fascinated by the philosopher’s stone. It’s in movies, games, comic books. Like in Harry Potter, the philosopher’s stone is super important. It represents living forever and the danger of wanting too much power. It’s crazy how something from ancient alchemy is still so relevant. It’s like it speaks to something deep in us. It makes you wonder, is there a modern day version of the philosopher’s stone, something we’re all chasing after? That’s a really interesting thought. Maybe it’s artificial intelligence, you know. It could give us so much knowledge and power, but it could also be dangerous if we’re not careful. True. Or maybe it’s like finding a way to stop aging, the modern day fountain of youth. Yeah, that’s a good one. Or even finding like the perfect algorithm, something that could unlock all the secrets of the internet and how it works. It seems like that search for the philosopher’s stone in all its forms is something we’re still doing today. Totally. It’s like a reminder that even though alchemy isn’t really a science anymore, it’s ideas, that desire to learn and grow, that’s still part of who we are. Well, I have to say this deep dive has been amazing. We learned about the history, the theories, the symbolism, and how alchemy still affects us today. I’m gonna be seeing things differently now, like noticing alchemy everywhere. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Remember, alchemy is all about exploring, not just finding answers, but asking questions and being open to the mysteries of the universe. You said it. And who knows, maybe we’ll all find our own philosopher’s stone one day, unlock something inside ourselves and change how we see the world. So until next time, keep exploring, keep asking those big questions, and never stop looking for that hidden knowledge out there.