What is Alchemy
The jury’s out about where, exactly, the world alchemy came from. But what we do know is that alchemy was a huge and fundamental part of our scientific tradition. Chemistry, as a word and as a concept, wouldn’t exist without alchemy.
Alchemy, at its core, is a way of thinking philosophically about the origin of things by changing them. Alchemists believe that all things were created from one source, and they called the matter of that source ‘prima materia,’ meaning ‘the first matter’ – the source of everything, the source of life.
The source of life expresses itself as three things:
Sulfur, the soul
Mercury, the spirit
Salt, the body
If this kind of trinity “framework” sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve observed it in other belief systems such as Christianity (father, son, holy spirit), Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) or Ayurveda (pitta, kapha, vata).
The great spirits were all onto something. Stay tuned for our next post, when we dive into the complex spiritual worldview of the great alchemists.
Alchemy, at its core, is a way of thinking philosophically about the origin of things by changing them. Alchemists believe that all things were created from one source, and they called the matter of that source ‘prima materia,’ meaning ‘the first matter’ – the source of everything, the source of life.
The source of life expresses itself as three things:
Sulfur, the soul
Mercury, the spirit
Salt, the body
If this kind of trinity “framework” sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve observed it in other belief systems such as Christianity (father, son, holy spirit), Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) or Ayurveda (pitta, kapha, vata).
The great spirits were all onto something. Stay tuned for our next post, when we dive into the complex spiritual worldview of the great alchemists.