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 2. Imagery 3. Visual Symbolism
 * AGLA
 * Monas Hieroglyphica
 * Suns in alchemy
 * Undine (alchemy)
 * 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
more...
 * 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

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.