tradition

Alchemy

Traditions · Rituals

A family of crafts and speculations about the transformation of materials, never one laboratory or one doctrine.

Meetings with this tradition

  • Moon is associated with Alchemy.

    The Emerald Tablet’s Latin sentences pair sun and moon as operative lights in the work. That is medieval alchemical diction, not Egyptian cult.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Salt is used in Alchemy.

    Later alchemy names salt as one of the principles of matter. That “salt” is a craft term, not only kitchen mineral.

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  • Circle is associated with Alchemy.

    Alchemical diagrams close a work into a circle. The figure is a craft diagram, not a proof of cosmic oneness.

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  • Transformation is used in Alchemy.

    Alchemy’s work is a claimed transformation of materials. The Emerald Tablet’s sentences are one short credo of that craft.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Knowledge is connected to Alchemy.

    Alchemy presents itself as a knowable craft. Hermeticism and alchemy share books and later readers; they are still not one laboratory.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Gold is used in Alchemy.

    Alchemy’s famous goal is gold. The metal is the craft’s boast, not every culture’s sun.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Cycle is associated with Alchemy.

    Alchemical writing treats a work that returns on itself. The cycle is a laboratory claim, not the moon’s phases.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Saturn is associated with Alchemy.

    Later laboratory idiom often marks lead with Saturn. The metal and the planet are made to stand for each other in that craft, not in every lead-using culture.

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  • Sulfur is used in Alchemy.

    Later alchemy names sulfur as a principle of combustible matter. Kitchen brimstone and the craft-term share a word, not always a substance.

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  • Copper is used in Alchemy.

    Laboratory idiom treats copper as a working metal, often under Venus. The job is the craft’s.

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  • Mercury (metal) is used in Alchemy.

    Quicksilver is a working substance in several alchemical crafts. Chinese cinnabar methods and Latin mercury are related as metallurgy, not as one laboratory.

    from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE; Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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Hermeticism

Chinese tradition

Meetings in this tradition's context

  • Sun is associated with Gold.

    Latin alchemy often marks gold with the sun. The metal and the star are made to stand for each other in a laboratory idiom, not in every gold-using culture.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Sun is associated with Fire.

    The Tablet’s work speaks of lights and of what the sun effects. Fire here is the alchemical operation’s heat, not Vedic Agni.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Serpent is associated with Rebirth.

    Later alchemy uses the circling serpent (ouroboros) as a picture of a work that returns on itself. That is a laboratory emblem, not Egyptian Apep and not Asklepios.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Serpent is associated with Transformation.

    Alchemical writing treats matter as something that can be cooked into another state. The serpent-circle is one picture of that claim, not a biological fact about snakes.

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  • Water is associated with Transformation.

    Alchemical work uses dissolution. Water here is a solvent in a craft, not Utnapishtim’s flood.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Fire is associated with Transformation.

    Alchemy cooks. The fire of the work is a controlled heat for changing materials, not Agni’s hymn.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Fire is associated with Gold.

    Alchemical fire is the means by which, in the craft’s own claim, base stuff is worked toward gold. The claim is the tradition’s, not a chemical proof.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

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  • Venus is associated with Copper.

    Later alchemy often pairs Venus with copper. The pairing is a laboratory convention, not a mining fact about the morning star.

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  • Sulfur is connected to Salt.

    Later alchemical schemes pair sulfur and salt among the principles of matter. The pair is a craft diagram.

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  • Silver is associated with Moon.

    Later alchemy and jewelry-speech pair silver with the moon. The pairing is a craft and market convention, not Thoth’s lunar office.

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  • Gold is connected to Silver.

    Sun-and-moon metal-speech in later alchemy pairs gold and silver. The pairing is a laboratory idiom.

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  • Mercury (metal) is historically related to Planet Mercury.

    Alchemists and astrologers used the same name for the liquid metal and the innermost wanderer. The metal is not the light in the sky.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents); Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE

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  • Mercury (metal) is associated with Transformation.

    Alchemical crafts claim to transform mercury. The metal’s liquidity invited that claim; it is not the planet’s orbit.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents); Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE

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  • Planet Mercury is historically related to Mercury (metal).

    The wanderer and the metal share a name in alchemy and astrology. Keep the sky-object and the flask distinct.

    from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

Late antiquity

sources