Alchemy has a lifelong relationship with the magic of metals and their multiple manifestations. Metal workers and later blacksmiths receive respect and even fear in many societies due to chthonic connections and powers of creation. This mystic past belongs to the alchemists.
Metals & Smiths
In some societies, smiths and metalworkers are blacklisted. Blacksmiths are scorned as low-caste in Hamitic and steppe cultures. Yet, they are ever more necessary for the demands of changing lifestyles. They know the names and sacred secrets of the metals.
Prior to mining, iron comes almost exclusively from meteorites. It's soft enough to be hammered into shape with stone tools. Before smelting, sulfide ores are roasted to obtain copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), or lead (Pb).
Smelting ores signifies a pivotal moment in the history of mankind. Although production of copper and bronze is also important, the development of iron metallurgy rapidly transforms into an industrialized activity.
Iron rises to prominence after development of furnaces and refinement of the technique for hardening metal at high temperatures. Before this iron is considered too soft for regular use. Advancements in metallurgy of terrestrial iron soon make it suitable for weapons and utensils.
By taking responsibility for altering the natural world or replacing processes of development and growth in nature. Humans control the passage of time. The craftsman learns to accelerate a process believed to take thousands of years underground.
The process of growing, shaping and changing metals can now be more quickly achieved by using a furnace instead of the earth's depths to nurture the metal. This viewpoint endures among alchemists for thousands of years.
Two interconnected theories define the presence of metals within the earth. In medieval Islamic theory, promoted by Jabir ibn Hayyan, mercury and sulfur vapors phase through the earth. Where they mingle, they produce metal. The ratio of mercury and sulfur decrees the metal.
Secondly, metals develop at a slow pace deep within their earthen womb. It's believed baser metals like lead and zinc, formed by the sulfur-mercury vapors, age deep in the earth to become copper, silver and gold.
Blacksmiths appear as distinct tradespeople c. 1500 BCE. In early Greece, specific mythical groups such as the Telchines, Cabiri, Curetes, and Dactyls are formed. These covert guilds hold secredinitiation rites, commune with occult and engage in elemental metalworking.
The early metallurgist would use a small portable furnace and increase temperature by blowing air into it from above, aided by a hollow tube. It's important to maintain constant heat. The oldest crucible smelting dates back to c. 5000 BCE in Anatolia and Iran.
Smelting involves application of heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to separate a desired base metal product. Known as extractive metallurgy, this process is used to extract metals like iron, copper, silver, tin, lead, and zinc. Metals are pivotal elements in alchemy.
Belief in natural evolution and transformation of metals has ancient roots in China, as well as in Vietnamese Annam, India, and the Malay archipelago. For instance, people in Vietnamese Tonkin have a saying: "Black bronze is the mother of gold."
It's said gold is naturally produced from bronze, but only after the bronze has spent a lengthy period of time underground. Thus at one time bronze would be found in the same places gold is now discovered. Similar beliefs persist in Europe as late as the 18th century.
Hindu Brahmanas also emphasize the idea "Gold is immortality." Across various cultures, the pursuit of the elixir capable of transforming metals into alchemical gold is seen as a quest for eternal life.
The art of creating tools is considered superhuman, with roots in ancient mythologies of the Stone Age. Stone tools and hand axes were imbued with mystical powers, reminiscent of thunderbolts, which were then amplified in metal instruments.
The hammer, succeeding the Stone Age ax, symbolizes the might of storm gods, who are often associated with smithing and fertility deities. In many mythologies, such as that of Greek Hephaestus, divine smiths forge the weapons of the gods.
The smith is the architect and artisan of the gods. He has connections with music and song, just as in a number of societies the smiths and braziers are also musicians, poets, healers, and magicians.
In the Canaanite legend, Koshar-wa-Hasis (meaning "adroit-and-clever") crafts two clubs for Baal to use in defeating Yamm, ruler of Chaos and the Sea. Similarly, in Egyptian lore, god of Creators and craftsmanship Ptah makes tools to help god Horus overcome Set (Seth).
In Egyptian astronomy the Big Dipper is Kepesh (Thigh), or the Iron of Set. This powerful element was part of Set himself but taken from him by Horus during their conflict over the throne of civilization.
The Iron of Khepesh enables Set to slay Osiris, God of Fertility and Death. It's returned to Set when he proves himself civilized enough to live among the other gods. Set now uses Khepesh to defend Ra from the Chaos Serpent Apep, who also forms part of the Big Dipper.
Likewise, in the Vedas, godly craftsman Tvaṣṭṛ creates weapons for Indra in conflict with Vṛtra. Hephaestus crafts the thunderbolt enabling Zeus to defeat Typhon, a monstrous serpent, one of the most vicious creatures in Greek mythology.
Collaboration between the divine smith and the heavenly deities goes beyond forging weaponry for the ultimate battle. He also creates deific furniture, artistic works and marvelous architecture.
Among ancient Scandinavians, the Turco-Tatars and Mongols the smith is linked with horses, singers, and poets. Tzigane nomads are, even today, a combination of smith, tinker, musician, healer, and fortune-teller.
On many levels of culture exists a connection between work of the smith, occult techniques such as healing, magic and shamanism, and arts such as dance, poetry and song. Ideas and beliefs have enriched the mythology of homo faber, "Man the Maker" of the Stone Age.
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