Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici, also known as Cosimo the Elder, is a leading figure in the rise of Florence as the Italian Renaissance...

The Raven, Swan, Dove, Pelican, Peacock and Phoenix are among the symbolic birds of alchemy . Raven may be interchangeable with Crow,...

During the Western Renaissance, new exciting artists' pigments appear in brilliant colors, vibrant scarlet red, deep rich blue,...

Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician, has a deep interest in the occult. He writes of chronology, biblical interpretation...

Alchemy has origins in ancient medicine, metallurgy and gemology. As metallurgy evolves to coloring metals the goal is to make base...

Rosaceum or rosaceum oil is used in alchemical recipes for coloring gold or gems, and also has medicinal properties found in texts such...

Vitriols are among the most important alchemical ingredients. Green vitriol is the archaic term for all vitriols and now means ferrous...

Christian Rosenkreuz is the legendary founder of the Rosicrucians (Order of the Rose Cross). Three writings attributed to him appear in...

Argyropoeia is the process of making silver from another metal, such as copper. Although gold-making or chrysopoeia is better known,...

Seven hermetic principles, or foundational modes of thought, are written in the 1908 Kybalion, a book of occult and philosophic works....

Claudius Ptolemy ( c.  100 - 170 AD) is a Greco-Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer and music theorist in...

Celandine (Chelidonium majus) is a popular medicinal plant in the ancient world, also appearing in gold-making recipes of alchemists. Use...

Want to write in letters of gold? These ten alchemy recipes are from the Leyden Papyrus c. 250 AD. None are recommended unless there's a...

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,...

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...