Alchemy goes through cycles of prevalence for hundreds of years. In the Renaissance, a time of exploration and discovery, alchemy enjoys a revival through physician Paracelsus, the Secrets of Lady Isabella, the Medici family and notorious alchemist Dippel.
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The first Golden Age of Alchemy centers on Greco-Egyptian Alexandria between the late centuries of the first millennium to early centuries AD. One of the greatest writers and thinkers of this time is Zosimos of Panopolis in Upper Egypt.
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Arabian alchemists include Jabir ibn Hayyan (d. c. 816 BCE). His c. 215 surviving works deal with alchemy, chemistry, magic and Shi'ite religion. His original scope of work covers cosmology, astronomy medicine, pharmacology, zoology, botany, metaphysics and logic.
In 1317 AD, the Pope bans the falsification of gold and other precious metals. The Papal seat is in Avignon, France, which also happens to be a major center of counterfeit coins. He also emphasizes the abundant deliberate falsification of gold by debtors to fool creditors.
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In England, during the reign of Henry VI (1422 - 1461) alchemists receive special licenses to go around the law, as Henry has wars to fund. The act against alchemy is completely repealed in 1688, during the late Renaissance and concurrent Protestant Reformation.
This results in an explosion of public alchemical insights previously only known to the limited circle of the practitioner. Alchemy writings tend to be cryptic and use codes and metaphors. For instance there are almost 60 names for the prima materia or First Matter.
During the Renaissance, Hermetics develop a prisca theologia or "ancient theology". The prisca theologia envisions a single, true theology given by God to some early humans. Concepts of these teachings are said to be in ancient systems of Greek and other thought.
In Europe, this Golden Age builds on finds of pre-classical writings and their experiments. During the Alexandrian heights of alchemy, people such as Mary the Jewess and Cleopatra the Alchemist are well known (though Cleo may be a group of writers) and recorded.
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A Neoplatonist thinker of antiquity is Hypatia, brutally murdered by a Christian mob in 415 AD. She's called an alchemist. Upper class women such as Caterina Sforza (1463 - 1509 AD) and Isabella Cortese (mid 1500s) appear in medieval times and the Renaissance.
A strong-minded political and militant woman, Caterina Sforza makes her mark through battles, strategies and schemes. In her later years she experiments with alchemy. Her manuscripts contain 454 recipes.
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About 66 are cosmetic related, 358 medicinal, and 38 alchemical. Her experimental activities place her at the beginning of Medici alchemical interests going into the 17th century. Of a powerful family herself, she marries into the Medici through her third husband.
A key focus in all categories of her Experiments is talc. Talc or talcum is a naturally occurring mineral. A versatile ingredient, it's used in a wide range of applications, from cosmetics and medicine to alchemy.
Through her experiments, she explains the transformative potential of talc. She highlights its ability to enhance beauty, counteract poisons, and even transmute gold into silver, a reversal on the usual chrysopoeia.
The link between the Medici family and alchemy comes from patriarch Cosimo il Vecchio, who brings 15th century alchemy to Florence from the East. As Medici power grows, so does a proliferation of studies designed to rediscover ancient pagan wisdom.
With Medici patronage, alchemical studies center around Florence. This city remains among the most important sites of alchemical culture in Europe.
Isabella Cortese is an influential woman c 1560. An Italian alchemist and writer, she's known largely from her book on alchemy, The Secrets of Lady Isabella Cortese. She also helps develop a range of facial cosmetic products and makes other contributions to science.
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In the 16th century, literacy grows among women. Lady Isabella's book of secrets, written for a general audience, becomes popular in upper and lower class cultures. Her publication is imitated by others, producing many more books of secrets.
By manipulating nature anyone can acquire these secrets for cosmetics, alchemical transformations and medical remedies. In early modern contexts, the words "secret" and "experiment" are equated.
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In the early to mid-16th century, renegade physician and alchemist Paracelsus makes new inroads when he introduces chemistry to medicine. Known as the father of toxicology he's also credited with the invention of 'Gnomic elements' or gnomes.
Paracelsus defines the tria prima or three primes of alchemy:
Sulfur - fluid connecting the high and the low. Sulfur represents the expansive force, evaporation and dissolution.
Mercury - the omnipresent spirit of life. Mercury transcends liquid and solid states and is thought to transcend life and death or heaven and earth.
Salt - Base matter. Salt represents the contractive force, condensation, and crystallization.
In the late 1600s, alchemist Johann Dippel of Castle Frankenstein fame tries to forge a future from animal oil. He attempts to buy the castle with it, claiming his oil is the Elixir of Life. No deal. He also helps a pigment maker accidentally invent Prussian blue.
Polymath Sir Isaac Newton (25 Dec 1642 - 20 Mar 1726) devotes much time to alchemy and natural philosophy. He invents calculus and discovers gravity. A believer of empirical observation he sticks a bodkin or blunt needle in his eye to "see" what happens (it hurts).
Drawing on ideas of the 1600s, alchemy continues to evolve. In 1781 James Price claims to have a powder which turns mercury to silver or gold. Asked to do the conversion again in front of witnesses, he instead drinks prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide), and dies by suicide.
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Another 18th century alchemist, Catharina Elisabeth Heinecken, is the mother of a child prodigy who dies at the age of four. He reads the Old and New Testaments in Latin at age two, and at three recites his own work, History of Denmark, while visiting the Danish King.
Though she spends her fortune on experiments, she's not well documented. By the 19th century many chemists are embarrassed by the historical link to alchemy. Alchemy is woven into the occult arts, arousing the hostility of contemporary scientific thinkers.