Alchemy defines an occult art, a mix of science, mystical philosophy and a hint of magic, with the intended purpose of finding ways to extend lifespan and cure illnesses by discovering the elixir of life. During this search, alchemists focused on obtaining silver and gold (the perfect metals, since they were always shining and never rusted) from less precious metals. Eventually, they failed, but their equipment, findings and techniques were the precursors of modern inorganic chemistry.

 

Practiced for at least 2 and a half millennia until the 20th century AD in most civilizations, like Mesopotamia, Persia, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, India, China, Japan, Korea, in Muslim civilizations, and even in Europe, alchemy implied more than just shapeshifting metals and hoping for longer lives.

 

The wide and complicated web of schools taught the various aspects of alchemy, involving the philosophy of its Magnum Opus (The Great Work) that consisted of: “nigredo” (or putrefactio), the blackening (or putrefaction) – referring to individuation, purification, burning impurity; “albedo”, whitening – meaning enlightenment or becoming spiritual, and “rubedo”, the reddening – namely the unity of man with god, merging of the limited into the unlimited.

 

Alchemists believed matter, in all its forms, was merely a variation of one shapeless substance that eventually dissolved into fire, air, water and earth by means of heat and cold, or dry and wet. They believed that altering the elemental balance through their transmutation process could reverse and reshape the building of matter, aided by the philosopher's stone, a magical catalyst that they were also searching for. They believed that the gold and silver they would obtain would be alive, unlike the one we find in everyday life.

 

They thought that, if they had been able to discover the process that would allow them to transmute lesser materials into gold, then there would have been a small step until this could be applied to humans in order to extend their life. They embraced astrology as a critically related science, since they used to associate planets with metals (Sun - gold, Moon - silver, Mercury - mercury or quicksilver, Venus - copper, Mars - iron, Jupiter - tin, Saturn - lead), believing that their astronomical positioning would influence the results of the alchemical work.