Alchemy is one of the most ancient and mysterious sciences, which in the modern world is considered the lot of charlatans and swindlers. The language of secret symbols has always hidden alchemy from the curiosity of the uninitiated. We still do not understand its true essence: for some it is the making of gold, for others - finding the elixir of immortality, for others - the transformation of a person …
Royal art
Alchemy is the mother of chemistry. It was in alchemical laboratories that sulfuric, nitric and hydrochloric acids, saltpeter and gunpowder, "aqua regia" and many medicinal substances were first obtained.
Medieval alchemists set themselves quite specific tasks. One of the founders of European alchemy, Roger Bacon (XIII century) writes the following:
"Alchemy is the science of how to prepare a certain composition, or elixir, which, if added to base metals, will transform them into perfect metals."
Despite the fact that in Medieval Europe, alchemy was actually outlawed, many church and secular rulers patronized it, counting on the benefits that promised the receipt of "despicable metal". And they not only patronized, but also practiced themselves. Alchemy has become truly "Royal Art".
Promotional video:
The Elector of Saxony August the Strong (1670-1733), whose claims to the Polish crown demanded significant financial expenses, turned Dresden into a real capital of alchemy. To replenish the treasury with gold, he enlisted the talented alchemist Friedrich Boettger. How successful Böttger succeeded in the gold field is not mentioned in history.
There were many alchemists in Europe, but only a few became adepts - those to whom the secret of the philosopher's stone was revealed.
In the language of symbols
The origins of alchemy go back to hermeticism - a teaching that absorbed the traditions of ancient Greek natural philosophy, Chaldean astrology and Persian magic. Hence the mysterious and ambiguous language of alchemical treatises.
For the alchemist, metals are not just substances, but the embodiment of the cosmic order. Thus, gold in alchemical manuscripts turns into the Sun, silver - into the Moon, mercury - into Mercury, lead - into Saturn, tin - into Jupiter, iron - into Mars, copper - into Venus.
The choice of seven celestial bodies is also not accidental. Seven is a sign of completeness and perfection, the highest degree of striving for knowledge and wisdom, evidence of magical power and the keeper of secrets.
The recipe written in hermetic treatises also looks mysterious. The English alchemist George Ripley (15th century), in order to prepare the elixir of the sages, suggests heating philosophical mercury until it turns first into a green and then into a red lion. He advises collecting the resulting liquids, resulting in "tasteless phlegm, alcohol and red drops."
Further - even more vague:
“Cimmerian shadows will cover the retort with their dull veil. It will light up and, soon assuming a gorgeous lemon color, will again reproduce the green lion. Make it gobble up its tail and distill the product again. Finally, my son, rectify thoroughly, and you will see the appearance of combustible water and human blood."
How to turn a symbolic alchemical word into a living, practical reality?
Some have tried, taking it literally. For example, Joan of Arc's associate, the celebrated Marshal Gilles de Rais, went as far as killing babies for the young blood, which was believed to be necessary for the success of the Great Work.
To descendants who want to open the veil of secrets of alchemical texts, the philosopher Artefy writes: “Unhappy fool! How can you be so naive and believe that we will begin to teach you so openly and clearly the greatest and most important of our secrets? Hermetic symbolism was supposed to hide the secrets of the adepts from the uninitiated forever.
Scientists of the 19th century managed to unravel the allegory of the alchemists. What is the "lion devouring the sun"? This is the process of gold dissolution by mercury. Ripley's recipe is also deciphered, which describes the procedure for obtaining acetone.
However, the chemist Nicola Lemery notes that he did this experiment many times, but never got red drops - a substance that, according to the adepts, had the property of a philosopher's stone. The chemical extract was recovered, but the alchemical miracle never happened.
Alchemical symbolism is more than a reflection of a chemical process. For example, one of the main alchemical symbols is a dragon that swallows its own tail - the personification of multiple births and deaths.
The symbolic language of sacred texts is addressed not only to technology, but also to all structures of being, the balance between which can lead to success in alchemical transformations.
Philosopher's Stone
The central element of alchemical teaching is the philosopher's stone or elixir, capable of transforming base metals into noble ones. It was presented not only in the form of a stone, it could be a powder or a liquid. Some adepts have left us a recipe for the preparation of their "Great Magisterium".
For example, Albertus Magnus proposes to use mercury, arsenic, silver scale and ammonia as components of the philosopher's stone. All this, having gone through the stages of purification, mixing, heating, distillation, should turn into a "white substance, solid and clear, close in shape to a crystal."
The property of the philosopher's stone was not only the transmutation of metals. The alchemists of the Middle Ages and Renaissance recognized the elixir's ability to grow precious stones, enhance the fruitfulness of plants, heal all diseases, prolong life, and even grant eternal youth.
The 14th century French alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, is one of those masters who managed to obtain the Philosopher's Stone. Having become acquainted with the treatise of Abraham the Jew, he spent his whole life deciphering the "key to the Work" left there. And, in the end, he found him, having acquired, according to legend, immortality.
The spread of the legend was facilitated by repeated eyewitness accounts who allegedly met Flamel many years after his official death. The opening of the alchemist's grave only strengthened the myth - Flamel was not in it.
However, the Philosopher's Stone should not be viewed exclusively as a material substance. For many adepts, the search for the "Great Magisterium" was akin to finding the truth that could solve the highest task of hermeticism - the deliverance of mankind from original sin.
Is alchemy a science?
The Church considered alchemy to be a source of superstition and obscurantism. For the poet Dante Alighieri, alchemy is "a completely fraudulent science and good for nothing else." Even Avicena took a negative view of the hermetic sacraments, arguing that "alchemists can only make the most excellent imitations by painting red metal white - then it becomes like silver, or by painting it yellow - and then it becomes like gold."
Back in the 4th century BC. e. Aristotle wrote that gold-yellow alloys are formed from copper when combined with zinc or tin. Often an alchemical experiment was considered successful when a simple metal only acquired a noble color.
However, there is indirect evidence that in their laboratories alchemists were able to produce gold, which is in no way inferior in quality to natural metal.
In one of the museums in Vienna, there is a gold medal, the weight of which corresponds to 16.5 ducats. On one side of the medal is engraved the inscription "Golden descendant of a lead parent", on the other - "The chemical transformation of Saturn into the Sun (lead into gold) was carried out in Innsbruck on December 31, 1716, under the patronage of His Excellency the Count Palatine Karl Philip".
Of course, the testimony of a noble person can in no way guarantee that real gold was not used in the smelting of the medal. However, there are other arguments as well.
In the XIV century, King Edward II of England ordered the Spanish alchemist Raymond Lull to smelt 60 thousand pounds of gold, providing him with mercury, tin and lead. It is not known whether Llull was able to cope with the task, but historical documents indicate that when concluding large trade transactions, the British began to use gold coins in quantities that significantly exceeded the country's gold reserves.
Nobody knows where 8.5 tons of gold bars appeared in the inheritance of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612). It was later found that Rudolf II's gold was practically free of impurities, in contrast to the natural ingots used for minting coins.
Bringing its secrets from time immemorial, alchemical art still jealously preserves them, probably forever depriving descendants of the opportunity to penetrate the secrets of the Great Work.