"Alchemy is an ancient science purported to transmute base metals into gold by freeing them from their impurities through the various stages of the alchemical process. Alchemy is also often understood metaphorically as a spiritual process, whereby the self undergoes a series of purifying stages, until a transmutation to a higher form of consciousness is reached. Some of the earliest writings on alchemical philosophy came from Aristotle, who proposed that the basis of the material world was a prima materia, or prime, chaotic matter, out of which form arose in the shape of four elements: fire, air, water and earth. The Creator, by blending these in certain proportions, brought forth the limitless varieties of life. To transform one substance to another, the alchemist believed he could change its elemental proportions âthrough the processes of burning, calcination, solution, evaporation, distillation, sublimation and crystallizationâ (p. 8)."
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Johannes Fabricius, Alchemy: The Medieval Alchemists and their Royal Art. London: Diamond 1989.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone
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Philosopher's stone
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