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Alchemy the everlasting search for gold or the maximum state of purity that be carried to. Nowadays the concept of “What is alchemy?” has been clearly changed from what it was in its early beginnings. It’s thought that alchemy is just the physical change of any metal into gold, clearly if you study alchemy you would realize it’s not. Alchemy is something that requires much time, reading, and understanding. There are three main points that I believe are the essence of alchemy: the understanding of the true concept of alchemy, a lot of time reading and studying, the meaning of their knowledge, and the work.
The true concept of alchemy is the search for true purity of anything it is used on and most importantly the alchemist himself. The idea that we have now of alchemy being the change of a metal to gold by use of magic is totally outrageous if you compare it to the true meaning. The main reason is that we interpret gold as the metal, when gold really stands for the purest state of something, and lead, the most commonly used in the contemporary concept, is the lowest state of purity something can be in. So it is not a physical change what an alchemist is looking for, it is a spiritual change. For that to happen, you need to put a lot of work and time into the study of alchemy.
Time is an important factor combined with patience and discipline. Why patience? You might ask. Simply because these books and texts are difficult to understand, and were written even before the 14th century. Therefore there are many word games inside the texts, because the authors considered this knowledge as sacred and some even holy. They considered that what they have accomplished during their lifetime was something only knowledgeable people of alchemy should acquire by reading a lot then analyze, and then reread and reanalyze. As an ancient anonymous writer once said, “Pray, read, read, read, reread, and finally work”. Simply analyzed what he tries to say is that in order to start working you first need to read several times a considerable amount of texts, reread them, then pray, and finally start working.
What does an alchemist thinks about his workplace, and the work he does? Is not a common question, but is an essential topic in alchemist's studies. For an alchemist the lab, the workplace, is a sacred place. It’s a place where almost no one can enter, because for them in a way it’s their sacred ground. The things that they study, the texts they have, and the knowledge they have acquired from decades of studying are sacred. This can’t be a possession for anyone, sometimes they don’t even write them down. There are few alchemists who have written something about their knowledge and different alchemists have different views on a similar subject, so you can’t always trust what you read or just take all what you read in consideration.
What are they looking for, how do they find it? Is a question everybody wants to answer, both the modern alchemists and those who doesn’t study alchemy. They are looking for purity. Purity in everything they work with, but most importantly is the purity of the alchemist himself. The common idea of the search for gold is confused by the terminology used by early alchemists where gold (Gould) was considered the purest state of anything, and lead is the impure state of something. The other metals such as copper and silver are transition states that come before the “gold”. The second question is something that no one can really answer; only the alchemist knows when he gets to that state, which is also referred to as the “philosopher’s stone”. As someone once said, “No one really knows what they are looking for, until they find it”.
In conclusion the concept that most of the contemporary people have concerning alchemy has drifted away from the true concept true alchemists both recent and ancient will always have of this sacred, ancient science. A science that still lives among us with those few alchemists that will continue to pass on the knowledge they believe should be passed but not all, because by doing so part of the tradition of alchemist's studies would be lost, this being the studying part of alchemy by which the young and even the old alchemist gains the knowledge they seek and therefore want. As you finish reading this article you can observe that the true concept differs from the modern one, the amount of studying and time alchemy requires, the meaning of the knowledge they gather, and the importance of the work they even consider sacred.
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