# 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 (Chinese materia medica)
* 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:
* Aristotelianism
* Esotericism
** Western Esotericism
*** Esoteric Christianity
* Gnosticism
* Hermeticism
* Humorism
* Metallurgy
** History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent
* Platonism
** Neoplatonism
* Pseudoscience
* Pythagoreanism
* Taoism
* Stoicism

### Related fields

* Anthroposophy
* Astrology
* Ayurveda
* Homeopathy
* Kayaku-Jutsu
* Magic, magick
* Moxibustion
* Tay al-Ard
* Yoga Nidra

## Concepts

* Alchemical elements – Primarily the four Classical elements of:
** Fire (classical element)
** Water (classical element)
** Earth (classical element)
** Air (classical element)
** For variations see: Wu Xing • Mahābhūta • Five elements (Japanese philosophy)
* Alchemy in art and entertainment
* Alkahest
* Anima mundi
* Chrysopoeia
* Filius philosophorum
* Takwin
** Homunculus
* Philosopher's stone
** Cintamani
** Elixir of life
** Panacea
* Prima materia
** Yliaster
* Septenary of the seven metals and Classical planets in Western alchemy
** Lead • tin • copper • iron • mercury • silver • gold
** Saturn • Jupiter • Venus • Mars • Mercury • Moon • Sun
* Tria Prima (three primes)
** Salt • mercury • sulfur
** Body • soul • spirit
* Unity of opposites or coincidentia oppositorum
** Hieros Gamos
** Rebis

## Processes

Magnum opus – great work of alchemy consisting of:
* Nigredo
* Albedo
* Citrinitas (sometimes excluded)
* Rubedo
Alchemists also engaged in practical and symbolic processes including:
* Calcination
* Ceration
* Cohobation
* Congelation
* Digestion
* Distillation
* Fermentation
* Filtration
* Fixation
* Multiplication
* Projection
* Solution
* Sublimation

## Symbolism

Alchemical symbol –
1. Glyphs
* AGLA
* Monas Hieroglyphica
2. Imagery
* Suns in alchemy
* Undine (alchemy)
3. Visual Symbolism
* Porta Alchemica
* Serpent (symbolism)
** Caduceus
** Ouroboros
** Nehushtan

## Scientific connections

* Biological transmutation
* Chemistry
* Historicism
* Nuclear transmutation
* Obsolete scientific theories
* Physics
* Scientific method
* Synthesis of noble metals

### Substances of the alchemists

* phosphorus • sulfur (sulphur) • arsenic • antimony
* vitriol • quartz • cinnabar • pyrites • orpiment • galena
* magnesia • lime • potash • natron • saltpetre • kohl
* ammonia • ammonium chloride • alcohol • camphor
* sulfuric acid (sulphuric acid) • hydrochloric acid • nitric acid • acetic acid • formic acid • citric acid • tartaric acid
* aqua regia • gunpowder
* blue vitriol • green vitriol • vinegar • salt
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 (Carl Jung)
* Aurora consurgens
* Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
* Cantong qi
* Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
* Hermetica
** Emerald Tablet
** Sirr al-khalīqa ("The Secret of Creation")
* 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 (ʿilm al-mīzān), the theory of artificial generation (ʿilm al-takwīn), 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.