I have been reading about alchemy recently. It has its own vocabulary and here are ten words it uitlises1. Adept. A highly experienced alchemist, often specifically one who has successfully prepared grand arcana like the philosophers' stone.
2. Alembic. An alembic (from Arabic: al-inbīq becoming ambix in Greek and Latin, 'cup, beaker') is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distillation of liquids.
3. Alkahest. A solvent described by Van Helmont that is supposedly able to divide all substances into their component ingredients and then reduce these further into their primordial water.
4. The philosopher's stone. More properly the philosophers' stone (Arabic: ḥajar al-falāsifa, Latin: lapis philosophorum). A mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. It was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolising perfection at its finest, enlightenment and heavenly bliss.
5. Chysopoeia (from Greek khrusopoiia, "gold-making") refers to the artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead. A related term is argyropoeia (arguropoiia, "silver-making"), referring to the artificial production of silver, often by transmuting copper. Although alchemists pursued many different goals, the making of gold and silver remained one of the defining ambitions of alchemy throughout its history.
6. Charlatan. A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame or other advantages through pretence or deception. Synonyms for charlatan include shyster, quack or faker. Quack is a reference to quackery or the practice of dubious medicine, including the sale of snake oil, or a person who does not have medical training who purports to provide medical services. In connection with alchemy, it would be anyone who claims succcess in the things alchemy aims at.
7. Magnum Opus - The Great Work (Latin) is an alchemical term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical colour changes, used as a model for the individuation process and as a device in art and literature.
8. Puffer. A Puffer is a nickname for an alchemist who is preoccupied with transmuting base metals into gold or silver and who ignores the spiritual or philosophical side of Alchemy. Puffers earned their nickname from their penchant for the use of bellows and forges. They were scorned by “true” alchemists; however, their experiments sometimes led to discoveries in chemistry.
9. Distillation. Distillation is a process used to separate mixtures and purify liquids that was used by alchemists and natural philosophers to experiment in hopes of making gold, the Elixir of Life and a range of medical cures. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some elite households had stills for making medical waters, which were used to combat indigestion and low spirits.
10. Panacea. In Greek mythology, a goddess of universal remedy, the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. She and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: Panacea (goddess of universal health) Hygieia (goddess/personification of health, cleanliness and sanitation) Iaso (goddess of recuperation from illness) Aceso (goddess of the healing process) Aglæa/Ægle (goddess of beauty, splendour, glory, magnificence and adornment). Panacea also had four brothers: Podaleirus, one of two kings of Tricca and skilled in diagnostics; Machaon, the other king, who was a master surgeon (they fought in the Trojan War until Machaon was killed by Amazon queen Penthesilea); Telesphoros, who devoted his life to serving Asclepius Aratus, Panacea's half-brother, a Greek hero and the patron/liberator of Sicyon. However, portrayals of the family were not always consistent; Panacea and her sisters each at times appear as Asclepius' wife instead. Panacea may have been an independent goddess before being absorbed into the Asclepius myth. Panacea traditionally had a poultice or potion with which she healed. This brought about the concept of the panacea in medicine, a substance with the alleged property of curing all diseases. The term "panacea" is also used in the figurative sense, something used to solve all problems. A panacea was sought by alchemists in connection with the elixir of life.
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