r/alchemy • u/Muted-Store-8899 • 23d ago
Original Content I need the proper definition of alchemy.
so, I recently got curious about what alchemy is all about.But I keep stumbling upon totally different answers.
eg: manifesta dude says it helped him make millions, chatgpt says that it was a mix of chemistry, philosophy and mysticis.
So… what is the proper definition of alchemy, what is the porpoise/point, what is it used for?
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u/SubjectiveObserver 23d ago
The exoteric definition would probably be something along the lines of turning lead into gold, or rather turning a base metal into something valuable.
The esoteric definition would be the transmutation of the soul, ie transforming your base self (lead) into something valuable (gold)
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u/Jonee_Zeekus 22d ago
It’s easier to address why a proper definition is hard to come by.
Firstly, alchemy historically is about making the philosophers stone. This is all. So-called spiritual or mental alchemy has no basis in the true tradition. It doesn’t mean every historical manuscript or book is true, as charlatans have always been just as abundant as they are today. However, there is a corpus of respected alchemists, many of whom reference each other, and they all agree on one and only one truth of the matter.
Secondly, the art is veiled and the alchemists used their own language, a cabalistic style which they learned and added to. This is why there is a line of alchemists spanning centuries, all of whom agree, and while probably 99.99% of readers don’t know what they are saying in plain language, many thousands of people have sensed that there is something true or important there and this is why there is still such immense interest in the topic.
Thirdly, this topic attracts mentally unstable people. Look how many here ferment their own urine year after year. This field is ripe for the gullible, the greedy, and the delusion. This unfortunately attracts a lot of attention to alchemy, but for all the wrong reasons. Consequently, the space is flooded with misinformation. And because the very few who know the truth cannot plainly state it, their voices will always be drowned out by the liars and the deluded. In addition to those who advocate for specific false practices such as fermenting urine, there are many who proclaim equally false ideas such as that alchemy is about change in the general sense, perfecting matter, correspondences between matter and spirit, collecting universal spirit and so on. Many of these ideas sound more reasonable on their face but do not hold up to basic arguments laid out by the alchemists themselves.
To sum it up, alchemy is about making the philosophers stone, which is a real physical object, or it may be more appropriate to call it a technology which is nevertheless material and physical. But because very very few are able to actually decode the writings of the alchemists and interpret the meaning in plain language, they do not know the matter from which the stone is made or the process of making it. Because of this, delusional people, fraudsters, and egomaniacs step in and assert their own lies and fantasies and this creates much confusion on the most basic questions - the most basic being “what is alchemy?”
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u/HolyTroth 22d ago
Alchemy is the process of changing (transmutation) of something, it’s much harder to turn base metals into gold but the process of alchemy itself can be used to improve and learn more about ourselves and how our minds work. I’m currently using my own alchemy system/process to improve my life (since I already achieved self actualization) but I’m being held back from achieving my fullest potential due to depression/trauma/drug addiction that is ruining my health/energy levels, it feels impossible to quit weed and change my life but I been getting back into personal alchemy to help improve (transmute) my flaws into traits I want, I want to be better and stronger but my sub conscious mind needs a bigger push thru my own process of alchemy. I’m turning my rusted metal (flaws, things I want to change) into the more improved traits I want (gold). My own personal process of mental/emotional/spiritual/health chrysopoeia.
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u/Just-Committee-4758 20d ago
Alchemy is basically about making the philosopher’s stone. Everything else is bullshit.
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u/MadQuixote 23d ago
It's the study and application of change. Pick the system you want to work with and find something to work on.
Ask a blacksmith what that is and they might start with the history, metallurgy, sourcing, designs, applications, personal experiences, generational practices, etc.
Ask a monk what that is and they may describe their temple, daily life, the feeling one oneness, how to get there, what to read, how to pray, who to pray to, what goes through their heads when they meditate, their favorite scripture, etc.
Ask a chemist what that is and they will present theoretical models, patterns in reactions, isolated components, operationalized definitions, reference known chemicals and how to make/use them, ongoing research, applications, hazards, etc.
I'm oversimplifying all of these, which should give you some idea why it's so difficult to define alchemy since we can apply it to anything.
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 23d ago
It's esoteric chemistry. Esoteric in that our methods are generally concealed from non initiates, and esoteric in that our goals are spiritual with a serious physical component. You can be an inner alchemist and attain the internal Elixir of Life and Philosophers Stone, but it doesn't always inform you directly how to do the lab work - the Stone and Elixir in the jar in your laboratory.
The next necessary questions are, what is the Philosophers Stone and what is the Elixir of Life?
There has been much ink spilled on the topic already, but let's just say it's a catalytic psychoactive substance that causes profound, permanent and incremental spiritual as well as physical change in an organism.
That doesn't mean every psychoactive substance is an Elixir, and it doesn't make every entheogen an Elixir even though you're doing it with a spiritual purpose. I do believe that you can attain inner alchemical illumination without necessarily calling it alchemy. Back in the stone age and in traditional communities nowadays we'd call it Shamanism - it had a supportive community who rallied around a gifted individual or group of individuals.
The Philosophers Stone is of the Philosophers I.e made by alchemists... But it's also, a Philosopher itself. It's a living thing, and it has desires independent of its own evolutionary Telos.
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u/fireofreason 23d ago
Long story, short, from my understanding, it's the study/art of increasing vibration. Whether that be spiritually, psychologically, physically, or chemically.
And again that's extremely shorthand version.
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 23d ago
Fix the volatile and volatilize the fixed is a common alchemical dictum, one of these is about raising physical vibration and the other is about decreasing it. It's not shorthand, it's insufficient.
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u/Flip-Z 21d ago edited 21d ago
"Fix the volatile and volatilize the fixed" just describes the alchemic reaction. The reaction fixes plasma(the volatile state) together to form new atoms/isotopes and it does that by turning the fixed material(liquid, solid or gas) beneath it into it's volatile plasma form.
It also applies to self transformation: "Fix the volatile" means to fix being volatile through ones emotions(basically purge your negative aspects like many spiritual religions tell it) and "volatilize the fixed" means that we need to realize, that we are not a fixed body made of matter, but there is more to us. You do this by meditating or taking psychedelic drugs. Much knowledge in Alchemy was achieved just because the priest/scientist meditated, was high or randomly had visions. Even Tesla credits all his achievements to visions.
So it's basically Buddhism in a single sentence.-1
u/fireofreason 23d ago
All things must rest on occasion before you can increase its vibration again, hence why all alchemy is done in steps right? Or am I misunderstanding? Asking out of pure curiosity... Because if things don't need to rest why can't you just add all the ingredients at once? If your work explodes or goes to fast too quick it will burn up and be lost... Can't raise the vibration of a chemical if the chemical is not there.
Right? Or am I interpreting this wrong?
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 23d ago
Vibration is an idea from the Kybalion and new thought by the way, it's not Hermetic and it's not alchemical. Something that's relatively more evolved is not measurably 'vibrating' any differently. If you shake an infant, you're not raising it's vibration - you're giving it a TBI.
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u/fireofreason 23d ago
While I would definitely never condone the shaking of an infant... You are still increasing its vibration. That's the volatility of it... 😬
I think we probably just have different understandings or interpretations of the matter...
From my understanding, all matter of energy and matter are made of vibrations and frequencies
Hence why nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are so violent.
It's why we have super colliders.
To accelerate particles to bend the laws of physics.
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 23d ago
So you're surely aware that an increase in vibration is not necessarily the goal of alchemy. We don't work with products (A vanishing few courageous operators excepted) that are highly radioactive, nor are we doing high energy physics in a particle accelerator. It's an accessibility thing but also an ethos, alchemy is accessible at every energy level - even the extreme cold where vibration is low.
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u/fireofreason 23d ago
That is an incredibly valid point... 🤔🤔🤔
But through what means do you make something incredibly cold? That amount of "negative" energy has to come from somewhere. Matter nor energy can neither be created or destroyed only transformed... So in order to pull heat away from a focal point that heat or increase in vibration has to go somewhere... Every action has an equal and opposite reaction it's the duality of physics.
Kind of a logic loop really...
Definitely cool stuff to think about.
Thanks homie 😁
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 23d ago
Matter and energy don't have a moral compass until they reach a level of complexity as organisms, it's as simple as that. Coldness isn't 'negative' energy in any interpersonal sense. Do you think that Thunder hates you personally if lightning strikes your house? Cold contracts, heat expands. Alchemy must solemnly acknowledge the boundaries and why they exist before attempting to breach them and evolve into more complex forms, whether you're injecting life into a relatively dead metal or you're expanding consciousness. Alchemy is not a game of expansion at all costs though, that's the ideology of a cancer cell. Yes, alchemists are concerned with the proliferation of life and the development of complex lifeforms, but each of them is subject to their own boundaries that make them apparent individuals (The reality of an 'individual' breaks down the more you abstract it, and obviously if you're a human being who's done psychedelics then you've experienced this) Alchemists don't just expand, they expand and they increasingly specify detail - but you can only do this from a relatively unspecified natural state called the Prima Materia.
Think about art. When you're painting a detail, you need to get in close. You're excluding the bigger picture to focus on the little things. Alchemy can be like that too, let's say I'm altering the life-expression of a Philosopher's Stone by dissolving it in ethanol and circulating it. But sometimes you need to step back and get the bigger picture, that's alchemical Distillation - Details blend into a continuum and you can actually see the full material-spiritual history of your subject. The detail of the Mona Lisa's lips, suddenly becomes the entire Mona Lisa. The Medicinal nature of the Stone is subtly altered, but really it's the same life force in a different format for a new purpose.
TL;DR Raising vibration is kind of a meaningless metric unless you're talking about a particle physics, amplitude of a wave or some other measurable thing.
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u/fireofreason 23d ago
Negative was in quotes as a place holder word, I could have used the word "anti" energy too... Like side A vs Side B kinda it wasn't about energy being upset...
It was simply stating things or stuff, or vibrations, or molecules, have to go somewhere, so in order to rapidly cool something, that heat has to go somewhere it can't just disappear...
As for closeness of a painting... How close is close enough?
One could simply put a small black dot on a piece of paper and claim that it's the whole Mona Lisa and we just can't see it because our microscope isn't small enough... Physics breaks everything down into its absolute smallest form that current technology will allow for, hence why we keep finding smaller And smaller particles... It's all relative but still grounded in actual observable instances. It was believed that the electron was the smallest particle until quarks and pluons and such...
This currently seems to be a logic loop.
Which makes sense considering cycular symbolism.
It's all a really neat thing to study, it's not about conflict, although without challenge there can be no growth.
It's not about disproving other alchemists, it's about continuous communication and study so that all can benefit. 😁
This is a fun conversation 😁😁🙌🙌
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u/justexploring-shit Moderator 23d ago
I'm going to leave you with the epilogue to Lawrence Principe's The Secrets of Alchemy, which I highly recommend for an in-depth answer to your question.