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Four Holy Beasts of Taiwan: Dragon, Phoenix, Tortoise & Unicorn
The Four Holy Beasts (四聖獸), Dragon, Phoenix, Tortoise, and Unicorn, are integral to Taiwanese culture. Each beast represents unique...
Sylvia Rose
Mar 174 min read
8 views


Compost: Teeming Metropolis of Life & Death
Compost is a complex network of life, such as insects and generations of unseen microorganisms. In this earthy metropolis they busily...
Sylvia Rose
Feb 263 min read
14 views


Self-Healing Silicone Technology in Robotics
Self-healing silicone is a regenerative polymer network valued in robotics, where durability and longevity are vital. It revolutionizes...
Sylvia Rose
Feb 263 min read
31 views


Predators of the Microworld: Vampirovibrio & Lysobacter
Vampirovibrio and Lysobacter are types of bacteria known to attack, kill and eat other bacteria. Hunting tactics are similar to the...
Sylvia Rose
Dec 9, 20245 min read
18 views


Silicon (Si): Fueling the Robot Apocalypse
Silicon (Si) is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, a ductile metal important to industry and natural processes. Silicon is used...
Sylvia Rose
Dec 1, 20245 min read
22 views


Nickel (Ni): Metallurgy Facts & Folklore
Nickel (Ni), a silvery-white metal with a lustrous sheen, is a transition element essential to industry and commerce, and known in...
Sylvia Rose
Nov 29, 20246 min read
29 views


Cobalt (Co): The Little Goblin Who Could
Cobalt is a silvery grey metal used across various fields, including science, medicine, and industry. It receives its name from the...
Sylvia Rose
Nov 28, 20246 min read
19 views


Alchemy: Circulation & the Pelican Phantasy
Circulation is one of many processes of alchemy. The purification of a substance is achieved through circular distillation in a pelican...
Sylvia Rose
Oct 21, 20243 min read
32 views


Roman Inquisition: Power, Prayer & Politics
The Italian or Roman Inquisition is established 1542 by Pope Paul III, largely as a response to the Protestant Reformation. Reformers...
Sylvia Rose
Oct 9, 20245 min read
9 views


Catholic Inquisitions: Chronology & Overview
The Catholic Inquisition is an institution in Christianity from the 12th to 19th century. Its purpose is to identify and eliminate heresy...
Sylvia Rose
Oct 9, 20246 min read
10 views


Michael Sendivogius: Adventures in Alchemy
Michael Sendivogius (1566 - 1636) is a Polish savant of alchemy, medicine and chemistry. He designs mines and furnaces, travels widely...
Sylvia Rose
Oct 5, 20244 min read
10 views


Carbuncle: Red Stone of Magic & Medicine
Carbuncle has many meanings. Today it most often describes a deep red almandine garnet gemstone cut with a smooth, convex face or...
Sylvia Rose
Sep 30, 20245 min read
11 views


Angel of Violet Light: Magnum Opus Alchemy
The Angel of Violet Light appears in the tomes of alchemy from the European medieval period onward. For many centuries the Angel drifts...
Sylvia Rose
Sep 26, 20244 min read
9 views


Living Metals & Genders in Ancient Alchemy
The Alexandrian alchemists, as philosophers of nature steeped in Greco-Egyptian thinking, define the properties of metals as living...
Sylvia Rose
Sep 12, 20245 min read
18 views


Baphomet, the Goat of Mendes in History
Baphomet is a unity of opposites. The mysterious figure emerges from the mythology, esotericism, and dramatic history of medieval Europe....
Sylvia Rose
Sep 5, 20244 min read
12 views


Aqua Regia: The Green Lyon of Alchemy
Aqua regia, Latin for “royal water,” is a powerful acidic solution known to dissolve noble metals like gold and platinum. It's used in...
Sylvia Rose
Aug 29, 20243 min read
34 views


Medieval Alchemy: Jean de Roquetaillade
Jean de Roquetaillade (1310 - 1370 AD) or John of Rupescissa is a prominent figure in medieval France. A fiery Franciscan friar,...
Sylvia Rose
Aug 23, 20245 min read
13 views


Tellurium: Bright Gold & Dark Matter
Tellurium is the Latin word for earth. A brittle, non-malleable silvery white metalloid, tellurium (Te) is a rare element having both...
Sylvia Rose
Aug 21, 20244 min read
6 views


Alchemy: Metallurgy, Myths & Magic
Alchemy has a lifelong relationship with the magic of metals and their multiple manifestations. Metal workers and later blacksmiths...
Sylvia Rose
Aug 20, 20245 min read
13 views


Birds and Bird Symbolism in Alchemy
The Raven, Swan, Dove, Pelican, Peacock and Phoenix are among the symbolic birds of alchemy . Raven may be interchangeable with Crow,...
Sylvia Rose
Aug 15, 20246 min read
45 views
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