Alchemy

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Alchemist's Laboratory (detail), illustration from Heinrich Khunrath: Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom), Hamburg 1595

Alchemy, also called the Royal Art by the alchemists, serves, where it remains true to its original meaning, the spiritual transformation of the world of substances, which at the same time should contribute to an inner spiritual transformation of the alchemist.

Origin of the word «alchemy»

Albertus Magnus (fresco (1352), Treviso, Italy) was an important alchemist and around 1250 first described the production of arsenic by reduction of arsenic (arsenic(III) oxide, As2O3) with coal.

Presumably, the word alchemy derives from the Arabic الخيمياء (al-ḫīmiyāʾ) or الكيمياء (al-kīmiyāʾ) or from the Greek: χυμεία (chymeia). The former is the name by which the ancient Egyptians themselves referred to their country, i.e. alchemy is understood here as the "art of the Egyptians", in the sense of the latter as the "science of casting". In fact, both expressions seem to have the same root. The ancient Egyptians called their land Kemet (Km.t), which means "Black Land" or "Black Earth" and refers to the fertile soils of the Nile valley - in contrast to the "Red Land" of the adjacent deserts, the Descheret (Dšr.t). In Coptic it became Kīmi or Kīmə and finally Kymeía in ancient Greek. This etymology points to the origins of alchemy in ancient Egypt and (Hellenistic) Greece. Karl Christoph Schmieder also reports: „When Plutarch asked for the meaning of this word, he was shown the black in the eye. It was a witty hieroglyph for "dark, hard to see into", i.e. mystery.“ (Schmieder, p. 52)

Alchemy and the Astral World

According to Rudolf Steiner, alchemy is the third of the so-called seven secrets of life and is guided by the law of elective affinity, which also determines, as it were, the sympathy and antipathy of substances to one another. The chemical affinity of substances is a physical reflection of these laws. This third secret of life already had its origin on the third planetary embodiment of our Earth, the so-called Old Moon. It was then that the astral body of man was formed.

„On the third planet a third thing developed in addition to the number: the law of elective affinity. It consists in the fact that people develop sympathy and antipathy for each other. This law is found in all realms, for example in chemistry, in the mineral kingdom. This also made it possible for a new kingdom to form. The animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral kingdom were formed. Man, as we see him today, did not exist at that time. He was then still a kind of animal, on the kamic stage. The spirit had not yet entered the body.“ (Lit.:GA 89, p. 144ff)

Sympathy and antipathy are the two basic forces of the astral world and the true background of all genuine alchemical endeavours is the transformation and purification of the astral forces that underlie the material world, accompanied by the simultaneous gradual transformation of the human astral body into the spirit self.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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