Outline of 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.
Branches
- Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
- Chinese Alchemy
- *Neidan
- *Processing (Chinese materia medica)
- Iatrochemistry
- *Spagyric
- New Age
- Psychoanalysis
- *Analytical psychology
- **Individuation
- *Metacognition
- Rasayana
Influences
Influences upon alchemy - alchemy developed dependent on a number of influences and experienced regional and period-specific variations:- Aristotelianism
- Esotericism
- *Western Esotericism
- **Esoteric Christianity
- Gnosticism
- Hermeticism
- Humorism
- Metallurgy
- *History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent
- Platonism
- *Neoplatonism
- Pseudoscience
- Pythagoreanism
- Taoism
- Stoicism
Related fields
Concepts
- 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
- * Salt • mercury • sulfur
- * Body • soul • spirit
- Unity of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum
- *Hieros Gamos
- *Rebis
Processes
Magnum opus - great work of alchemy consisting of:Alchemists also engaged in practical and symbolic processes including:
- Calcination
- Ceration
- Cohobation
- Congelation
- Digestion
- Distillation
- Fermentation
- Filtration
- Fixation
- Multiplication
- Projection
- Solution
- Sublimation
Symbolism
Alchemical symbol -1. Glyphs
2. Imagery
3. Visual Symbolism
Scientific connections
- Biological transmutation
- Chemistry
- Historicism
- Nuclear transmutation
- Obsolete scientific theories
- Physics
- Scientific method
- Synthesis of noble metals
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
StillsVessels
Heating devices
Alchemy organizations
- Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
- European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
- Freemasonry
- Rosicrucianism
Alchemical texts
- Axiom of Maria
- Alchemical Studies
- 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
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, the theory of artificial generation, 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.