“Alchemy is known as “the Royal Art” (Ars regia). The root of the word is the Arabic al-kimiya, “the black earth,” a literal reference to the alluvial m ud deposited by the Nile to form the soil of Egypt and a symbolic reference to the dark First Matter of the Work. Alternatively, the word Alchemy may derive from the Greek chyma, “smelting” or “casting.”

Alchemy is the precursor of chemistry as well as the repository of the metallurical wisdomm of the ancient world. It encompasses a physical practice, an artisan’s craft in which exquisite alloys of metal, dyes, colored glass, and composite materials are developed. In spiritual terms, Alchemy is the utlimate symbolic description of the transformations from the dark leaden physicality of earthbound conscioussness to the refined gold of the spiritually illuminated being, strictly concerned with inner dynamics resulting in the purification of the body, mind, and soul.

The goal of Alchemy is called the Great Work. It is the purification of the lesser and gross and its elevation to the greater and more refined, whether in metals or in conscioussness. The FIrst Matter, Materia Prima, is the reduced and original substance and condition of each object of the alchemist’s attention. Dark, passive, unformed, virgin, it is the universal field for the imprinting of all forms. Through numerous, time-consuming, and sometimes dangerous processes, the FIrst Matter is transformed into the Philosopher’s Stone. This accomplishment is most commonly symbolized by the transformation of lead into gold: Incarnated Light; the most glittering, luminous, valuable metal; symbol of the Sun and thereby of spiritual conscioussness and attainment.

Alchemical writers were unanimous in preaching and promising the spiritual rewards of the art. Gold as the final goal of the metallic kingdom is a symbol of spiritual illumination, the final goal of human life. In the mineral kingdom, gold represents the perfectly formed offspring of the union of positive and negative, male and female. Gold...is considered an implicit component of all metals in greater or lesser degree, based on their density, much as the illuminated spiritual reality is considered implicit in the soul of each incarnate human, no matter how overlaid with vice and ignorance.

ANother facet of alchemy is the search for the elixer of life, or Vegatable Stone. Known as the Universal Medicine, its properties include the power the heal the sick, improve health, and prolong life. The search for this panacea ultimately resulted in the discovery of several ingredients now included in the modern pharmacopeia.