7.1  What Is Alchemy?

Alchemy is a philosophical tradition whose aim is to purify and balance physical and psychical elements, via the creation of elixir of immortality. It includes chrysopoeia, the transmutation of base elements into Gold and other noble metals, in addition to the perfection of the human body and soul in order to achieve divine wisdom.

After the translation of various Islamic books, during the European Renaissance in 12th century, as we described in chapter II, alchemists played a significant role in early modern science, particularly chemistry and medicine. The works of many prominent Muslim alchemists were translated into Latin, but the origins of both the exoteric practical applications of Alchemy, and its esoteric spiritual aspects, are connected with the Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek philosophies, which were translated and studied by Muslim scholars starting from the 7th century.

The central figure in the mythology of Alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus, the Thrice-Great Hermes, to whom are attributed the “forty-two books of Hermes”, covering all fields of knowledge. The works of all later Islamic and European alchemists were guided by Hermetic principles and mythology, and they mostly guarded their work in secrecy by including cyphers and cryptic symbolism.

All the various Pythagorean, Platonic, Stoicism and Gnosticism are mixed together in the Greek roots of Alchemy. As Aristotle showed, all things in the Universe are formed from the four elements of Nature: earth, air, water, and fire, where each element had a sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed. Therefore, these four elements are not corporeal substances like the modern chemical atoms, but they are qualitative aspects through which the chemical elements reveal their differentiated properties.

Alchemists suggested that by manipulating the ratios of these classical elements and balancing their proportions in some metals, it is possible to transmute them into Gold and produce all kinds of other mystical aspects, as mentioned above. By the middle of the 7th century, Alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline, but Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan al-Sufi (721-815 AD), known in the West as Geber, developed the basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today.

Alchemy was also described in the Indian Vedas which makes a connection between eternal life and Gold, while certain Buddhist texts mentions the transmutation of base metals. A prominent Muslim astronomer and physicist we mentioned in chapter II when we talked about the speed of light in section 19, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, who visited Gujarat in the 11th century, reported that they have a science similar to Alchemy, an art of obtaining and manipulating Rasa, which is a kind of nectar or juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many of which have Mercury as their core element. Its principles is to restore the health of those who were ill beyond hope and give back youth to fading elders. The goals of Alchemy in India included the creation of a divine body and immortality while still embodied.

The Chinese Alchemy, on the other hand, was more connected with medicine, but it seems that the Chinese alchemists invented gunpowder while trying to find elixir for eternal life. Chinese Alchemy is also closely connected to martial arts such as Kung Fu. Some followers of Taoist ideas would ingest Mercuric Sulfide, which led many to suicide, thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to the Taoist heavens.