![]() ![]() Charlatans, quacks and cheats took over and alchemy became, along with sorcery and witchcraft, infamous for fraud and extortion. Then in the centuries of medieval persecution and suppression every alchemist invented his own secret symbols. In the early days of alchemy, the astronomical signs of the planets were also used as alchemical symbols. Gold was the purest of all and silver followed closely. To the medieval alchemist's mind the different elements were but the same original substance in varying degrees of purity. Simplified, the aims of the alchemists were threefold: to find the Stone of Knowledge (The Philosophers' Stone), to discover the medium of Eternal Youth and Health, and to discover the transmutation of metals. Esoterically and hieroglyphically, the word refers to the dark mystery of the primordial or First Matter (the Khem). ![]() The Arabic root "kimia" comes from the Coptic "khem" that alluded to the fertile black soil of the Nile delta. The word is derived from the Arabian phrase "al-kimia," which refers to the preparation of the Stone or Elixir by the Egyptians. The art of alchemy was handed down through the centuries from Egypt and Arabia to Greece and Rome, and finally to western and central Europe. ![]()
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