Glass production is known before the Bronze Age. Early glassmakers in Egypt and the ancient Near East produce colored beads and later...

Women often find inspiration in alchemy. In the light of the Renaissance several female alchemists emerge. Women alchemists of the...

Plague, war, famine and pervading doom lurk beneath the genius and enlightenment of the western Renaissance. The Rosicrucian movement...

Edward Kelley (1555 - 1597) often wears a cap, because he has no ears. Cropping of the ears is a common punishment in Tudor England when...

Anna Maria Zieglerin (1550 - 1575) is a German alchemist accused of murder, attempted poisoning and intent to burglarize. At her trial,...

The concept of a human soul, as well as a world soul or Anima Mundi, is found in many cultures. In Greek philosophy ancient thinkers...

Aristotle (c. 350 BCE) develops the Platonic concept of souls present in living beings, categorizing them based on distinct functions....

John Dee (1527 - 1609), an influential figure in Elizabethan England, is a scholar in the cryptic and occult lore of his time. Recognized...

The tria prima are mercury, sulfur and salt. Based on medieval views of mercury and sulfur making up all metals, Swiss physician and...

During the late sixteenth century, the Roman Inquisition is influential in shaping perspectives on different forms of divination and...

Writing inside eggs is invented by Naples polymath Giambattista della Porta. In the 16th century he uses this method to smuggle messages...

Convents play a crucial role as centers of research and innovation during the alchemical Renaissance in Naples. The religious...

Roger Bacon (c. 1219 - 1292) is a Franciscan friar and fiery figure in medieval and later science and philosophy. He's known for his...

The theory of the four humors dominates medicine for two thousand years. Since the time of the ancient Greeks to the 19th century, humor...

Rosicrucianism is the study or following of a movement based in Renaissance thought, popular in the 17th century. Rosicrucians explore...

Yliaster or Iliaster is a concept attributed to Renaissance alchemist and physician Paracelsus. This term arises from alchemy, where it...

Robert Fludd (1574 - 1637) is an influential figure of the European Renaissance. He's known as a cosmologist, astrologer, mathematician...

Natural magic is a type of Renaissance magic, working directly with forces inherent in nature, as in physics, compared to ceremonial...

Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria) is a plant related to borage, also a popular medicinal herb. Alkanet is used in folk magic, alchemy, natural...

Catherine de' Medici is the Queen of France 1547 - 1563 AD. She's been characterized as a "sinister Queen" with notable interest in the...