oracoli
Alchemy
Alchemy is the philosophical and proto-scientific practice widespread between the Hellenistic world (3rd-4th century AD), medieval Arab, Latin European and Chinese, which aimed to transform "base" metals into gold, to obtain the philosophers stone and the elixir of long life. It is considered the ancestor of modern chemistry and has left a rich symbolic legacy.
Operative and spiritual alchemy
Alchemy has two classical levels. Operative: the laboratory practice (distillation, calcination, dissolution, etc.) to transform materials. Spiritual: the inner transformation of the alchemist, where "lead" and "gold" become symbols of psychic states. Carl Gustav Jung in the 1930s reread alchemy as a symbolic anticipation of the psychological individuation process.
Legacy
Terms such as "elixir", "spirit", "essence", "tincture" come from the alchemical lexicon. Many laboratory techniques (alembic, sublimation) passed from alchemical practice to scientific chemistry. Alchemical symbolism (sun-moon, king-queen, dragon, ouroboros) has inspired painters, writers and Jungian analysts.
FAQ
Is it science?
Not in the modern sense. It is a proto-science that contributed to the birth of chemistry, but with a symbolic theoretical framework now superseded.
Did it really transform lead into gold?
No, it is chemically impossible under earthly conditions. Transmutation remains a metaphor for the process of inner transformation.
What is the "Great Work"?
The alchemical term for the complete transformation process, divided into three or four phases: nigredo (black), albedo (white), citrinitas (yellow), rubedo (red).