Outline of alchemy


The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to alchemy:
Alchemy - A philosophical tradition recognized as protoscience, that includes the application of Hermetic principles, and practices related to mythology, religion, and spirituality.

Branches

  • Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
  • Chinese Alchemy
  • *Neidan
  • *Processing
  • Iatrochemistry
  • *Spagyric
  • New Age
  • Psychoanalysis
  • *Analytical psychology
  • **Individuation
  • *Metacognition
  • Rasayana

    Influences

Influences upon alchemy - alchemy developed dependent on a number of influences and experienced regional and period-specific variations:
Magnum opus - great work of alchemy consisting of:
  • Nigredo
  • Albedo
  • Citrinitas
  • Rubedo
Alchemists also engaged in practical and symbolic processes including:
  • Calcination
  • Ceration
  • Cohobation
  • Congelation
  • Digestion
  • Distillation
  • Fermentation
  • Filtration
  • Fixation
  • Multiplication
  • Projection
  • Solution
  • Sublimation

    Symbolism

-
1. Glyphs
  • AGLA
  • Monas Hieroglyphica
2. Imagery
  • Suns in alchemy
  • Undine
3. Visual Symbolism
more...

Apparatus

Stills
  • Alembic
  • Retort
  • *Retort stand
Vessels
  • Aludel
  • Crucible
  • *Hessian crucible
  • Cupels
  • Mortar and pestle
Heating devices
  • Athanor
  • Bain-marie
  • Sand bath

    Alchemy organizations

  • Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
  • European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
  • Freemasonry
  • Rosicrucianism

    Alchemical texts

  • Axiom of Maria
  • Alchemical Studies
  • Aurora consurgens
  • Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
  • Cantong qi
  • Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
  • Hermetica
  • *Emerald Tablet
  • *Sirr al-khalīqa
  • The Hermetical Triumph
  • Fasciculus Chemicus
  • Musaeum Hermeticum
  • Mutus Liber
  • Rosary of the Philosophers
  • Splendor Solis
  • Theatrum Chemicum
  • Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
  • The Mirror of Alchimy
  • ''Turba Philosophorum''

    Journals

  • Ambix
  • Aries
  • Early Science and Medicine
  • ''Isis''

    Alchemists

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 alchemy.
  • Zosimos of Panopolis - influential Greco-Egyptian alchemist.
  • Khālid ibn Yazīd - credited with introducing alchemy to the Islamic world.
  • Pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana - earliest known source of the sulfur-mercury theory of metals and the Emerald Tablet.
  • Jābir ibn Hayyān - notable for the theory of the balance, the theory of artificial generation, and a general emphasis on experimental science.
  • *Pseudo-Geber - later Latin alchemist who wrote the influential Summa perfectionis.
  • Roger Bacon - staunch proponent of the use of alchemy.
  • Paracelsus - developer of iatrochemistry.
  • Robert Boyle - alchemist critical of Paracelsus, credited as the father of modern chemistry.
  • Mary Anne Atwood - key figure in the occult revival of alchemy.
  • Carl Jung - merged alchemy and psychoanalytic thought.