Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā, الكیمیاء) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. [1]
Prima materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the philosopher's stone. The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, "the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all ...
The most influential names in the history of alchemy include: Hermes Trismegistus – by tradition, the founder of Western alchemy; many alchemical works were attributed to him. Wei Boyang – authored the earliest known book on theoretical alchemy in China. Pseudo-Democritus – anonymous author of the oldest extant works of Greco-Egyptian ...
It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality).
In Islamic alchemy, takwin (Arabic: تكوين) was a goal of certain Muslim alchemists, and is frequently found in writings of the Jabirian corpus. In the alchemical context, takwin refers to the artificial creation of life, spanning the full range of the chain of being, from minerals to prophets, imitating the function of the demiurge.
By refining bases into gold and ingesting the "fake" or synthetic gold as a prepared pill, or jindan (金丹), alchemists believed that immortal life would be delivered. . The idea that fake gold was superior to real gold arose because the alchemists believed the combination of a variety of substances (and the transformation of these substances through roasting or burning) gave the final ...
In alchemy and philosophy, prima materia, materia prima or first matter (for a philosophical exposition refer to: Prime Matter), is the ubiquitous starting material required for the alchemical magnum opus and the creation of the philosopher's stone. It is the primitive formless base of all matter similar to chaos, the quintessence or aether.
Rubedo is a Latin word meaning "redness" that was adopted by alchemists to define the fourth and final major stage in their magnum opus. [1] Both gold and the philosopher's stone were associated with the color red, as rubedo signaled alchemical success, and the end of the great work. [2] Rubedo is also known by the Greek word iosis.