Woad ( Isatis tinctoria ) is a plant yielding a blue pigment used in dyes, paint and medicine. A member of the mustard family, it's also...

Cinnamon birds appear in folklore of Eurasia shortly after Arab merchants begin trading with ancient lands to the north. Cinnamon enjoys...

Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum ) is the oldest known spice in the world. The fragrant bark comes into popular use by c. 2000 BCE, when Egyptians...

Lucifer is Latin for bringer of light, or the morning star, symbolic of the return of light each day. In Greco-Roman myth Aurora, Goddess...

Early prehistoric use of gold is for religious purposes, ornament or decor. In 1500 BCE, Thutmose of Egypt decrees gold to be used for...

Spiritual alchemy uses the power of nature, psychology and metaphysical processes of alchemy to transcend the limitations of the mortal...

The Philosopher's Stone (Latin: lapis philosophorum ) conjures elements of primal lore and eternal powers. In history and legend, the...

Spiritual alchemy is a set of methods using mental processes, colors, phases, archetypes, integration, practical application and...

Silver is a precious and magical metal. In common culture silver appears before 5000 BCE. One of the seven metals of antiquity , silver...

Cleopatra the Alchemist is an intriguing figure in the hazy history of science and magic. She works and writes in the 3rd or 4th...

Alchemy rises from inquiring minds . Golden Ages of alchemy appear in Greco-Roman Alexandria , medieval Islam and the Renaissance ....

Mercury is the only metal to be liquid at room temperature, giving it magic and mystical properties, and the name quicksilver. This...

Brunhilde is the Queen of Isenland in German mythology. Her tale is written in the Middle Ages and centers on her tragic deception by...

A mythical serpent or dragon, ouroboros appears in literature and illustration from ancient Greece. Tales of ouroboros spread east, and...

The Metals of Antiquity are the seven metals identified and used by humans in Europe and the Middle East in prehistoric times. They are...

House spirits such as Kobolds , domestic elves , gnomes and the earth hen are popular figures in Germanic myth and folklore. They have...

From the southern Germanic lands, past the Swiss border come tales of der Türst, the dreadful huntsman who rides like a demon through...

Kriemhild marries Germanic hero Siegfried of Xanten . A princess of Burgundy, she grows up in the halls of royal plots and suspicious...

Wolpertinger (Wolperdinger, Woiperdinger) lives in the dark alpine forests and rolling hills of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in southern...

Amanita muscaria , fly agaric or fly amanita is the most widely recognized of the psychoactive plants and fungi. The use, folklore and...