Page 565
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:10 pm
However, from the Alexandrian period, many Hermetic texts have also survived, which attempted a philosophical and mystical explanation of the transformation of substances — among them the famous Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus.”
Here’s an interesting separate section from Wikipedia: “Philosophy of Alchemy.”
“The goal of alchemists in all cultures is to bring about qualitative transformation within an animate or inanimate object — its “rebirth” and transition to a “new level.” Alchemy focused on producing gold, preparing elixirs and remedies, pills of immortality, and studying the deep (occult) nature of substances and chemical reactions is called “external alchemy,” while the transmutation of the spirit and the achievement of perfect health or even immortality through specific practices is referred to as “internal alchemy.”
In the context of internal alchemy, a person — or their various material and immaterial components (consciousness, spirit, soul, individual energies, etc.) — are regarded as substances possessing specific chemical and physical properties that can undergo operations described in the language of chemical transformations. Alongside the primary chemical metaphor, other symbolic systems often develop — European alchemy is particularly rich in this regard. For example, the Philosopher’s Stone was also called the “Red Lion,” the “Great Elixir,” the “Philosophical Egg,” the “Red Tincture,” the “Panacea,” or the “Elixir of Life.””
Here’s an interesting separate section from Wikipedia: “Philosophy of Alchemy.”
“The goal of alchemists in all cultures is to bring about qualitative transformation within an animate or inanimate object — its “rebirth” and transition to a “new level.” Alchemy focused on producing gold, preparing elixirs and remedies, pills of immortality, and studying the deep (occult) nature of substances and chemical reactions is called “external alchemy,” while the transmutation of the spirit and the achievement of perfect health or even immortality through specific practices is referred to as “internal alchemy.”
In the context of internal alchemy, a person — or their various material and immaterial components (consciousness, spirit, soul, individual energies, etc.) — are regarded as substances possessing specific chemical and physical properties that can undergo operations described in the language of chemical transformations. Alongside the primary chemical metaphor, other symbolic systems often develop — European alchemy is particularly rich in this regard. For example, the Philosopher’s Stone was also called the “Red Lion,” the “Great Elixir,” the “Philosophical Egg,” the “Red Tincture,” the “Panacea,” or the “Elixir of Life.””