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  Radiofreeeuropa9 months, 1 week ago

  It seems to me that modern chemistry owes much to alchemy. There may indeed be more than greets eye to alchemists and their philosophical/metaphysical approach to manipulating the natural universe. It's certainly more intellectually palpable than the misrepresented premises of the major religions (which so many are willing to embrace).

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    gamahuche9 months, 1 week ago

    Religion and knowledge have always had an uneasy and inconsistent relationship with each other.

    In regard to Alchemy that is equally true. The Western study of Alchemy started in the monasteries yet in the Inquisition alchemists were treated as heretics and also Rome tried to prevail on Emperor Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor who had his Court in Prague and was the biggest sponsor of Alchemy in Western culture, to send certain individuals for a "friendly chat"..

    When Giordano Bruno went, some years later he was rapidly turned into ashes.

    Another kind of transmutation..

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  engineer9 months, 1 week ago

  That's some list of ultrabrilliant men. We do owe a lot!

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  gamahuche9 months, 1 week ago

  Oh dear, oh dear..

  Well there is SOME accurate information here but a terrible lot of misinformation.

  Unfortunately I can't deal with it in 5 minutes and will have to come back to it later.

  Isaac Newton is not necessarily my #1 but he's very important and of course his passion for Alchemy brings attention to the subject.

  Meanwhile the single best source of info, about Alchemy on the web is www.levity.com/alchemy

  and may blessings abound on Dan Levy for sponsoring the space and Adam McLean for devoting his life to his study of alchemy and generously making such huge amounts of information available and accessible.

  When I get back there'll be a test, so study hard!

  1st question - who was "the Samaritan" - several possible answers but there is almost certainly a correct one!

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    Radiofreeeuropa9 months, 1 week ago

    I'm checking out your link. My that's a lot of great info!

    Amazing site! Of course I've barely scratched the surface of only a few of the articles at this point but if I read Freher's Process correctly the Samaritan is Jesus of Nazareth himself.

    (I hadn't realized how much Christianity and alchemy were intertwined before reading this).

    Or is he excluded from being a keeper of the fire because he is "super human"?

    Or would it be Plato since he predates Jesus?

    Inquiring minds do want to know!

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      gamahuche9 months, 1 week ago

      Sorry RFE - I was in such a rush to meet a train I miswrote! Sarmatian was the word I wanted!!

      He was in fact Michael Sendivogius, variously Polish or Moravian and therefore his name is written differently by different authors but Sarmatia was an old name for Poland.

      Amongst other outstanding facts about him he discovered oxygen some 150 years before Priestley and used it to keep people alive during a quite long submarine trip in the Thames.

      Later he showed up at the Court of Emperor Rudolph in Prague, where he set up a transmutation in front of a large crowd of the best and the brightest and had Rudolph himself add the last ingredient - the so-called "powder of projection" which created an instant transmutation.

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        gamahuche9 months, 1 week ago

        Rudolph, who was of a highly excitable disposition was jumping up and down with excitement and ordered that a plaque should be made immediately and hung on the wall with an inscription to the effect that what Sendivogius did may others do also!

        Presumably Rudolph expected a good rake-off to pay for all the things that Emperors need to pay for..

        This event is documented by a number of contemporary witnesses.

        I'll come back in the morning and comment some more. Its already bedtime here..

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  idov9 months, 1 week ago

  I think Maria the Jewess deserves a place in the top 10. She apparently lived in Alexandria 2,500 years ago although the Wikipedia article in her name has her 450 years forward. I don't think that's right. Sometime after Bolos, says Jack Lindsay, who published a book on the subject of alchemy.

  Still apparatus she invented was used by alchemists right until the time the chemists took over. Her protege Kleopatra apparently wrote a book on cosmetics and also poison, I suppose with an eye on the female audience.

  Interestingly her saying, "One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth" was still being cited by Jung.

  Give the girl a break.

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    Radiofreeeuropa9 months, 1 week ago

    Jung himself was a psychological alchemist.

    What strikes me is the beauty of the texts. Remarkable.

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  markmawn29 months, 1 week ago

  Ever see The Holy Mountain (1973)?

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Mountain_...

  The story surrounds a thief who looks an awful lot like the Christ. He confronts an alchemist, and starts his transformation by defecating into a container. The alchemist changes it to gold and proclaims: "You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold."

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    Radiofreeeuropa9 months, 1 week ago

    Isn't that the beauty of it. The philosophy itself is lovely.

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  Ratskii9 months, 1 week ago

  One of Isaac Newton's latter comments on the issue of transmutation of lead into gold was: "While this is conceivably possible, it should not be attempted, as the energies that would be released would be dangerous to the experimenter." (From Morning of the Magicians). One has to wonder if he didn't have an intuitive insight into what later became atomic physics.

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  agentX9 months, 1 week ago

  They forgot one Alchemist, Edward Elric, the FULL METAL ALCHEMIST!

  He defeated 3 homunculi (including his own mother, twice), died twice and still came back!

  Forgot those other saps! Who amongst them can you see on Adult Swim.

  Werd...

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