"The alchemical laboratory was the birthplace of modern science. Before their institutionalisation, chymical laboratories were mostly provisional and multifunctional in nature. The international symposium "Alchemical Laboratories: Texts, Practices, Material Legacies", which took place in Vienna and Oberstockstall in February 2020, dealt with alchemical show experiments at court, material legacies of chymical practice and everyday life in laboratories from an interdisciplinary perspective. The early modern alchemical laboratory is tangible through both textual and material legacies, which points to its central importance among practitioners, scholars and the nobility. For example, the laboratory of Oberstockstall (Lower Austria), together with aristocratic correspondence and alchemical medals from the coin collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, illuminates the cultural resonance of the chymical practices of that era. These relics reveal not only the technical aspects of alchemy, but also its role as an exclusive form of entertainment for social elites." (Machine Translation)
Andrew Bell was an eccentric Scottish engraver best known for co-founding the Encyclopædia Britannica with Colin Macfarquhar. Stories abound regarding this colourful gentleman and it’s said that, despite his small stature (4 feet 6 inches), he deliberately rode the tallest horse in Edinburgh - requiring a ladder to dismount.
"Rasāyana (the way of the rasas) is the overarching Sanskrit term employed in South Asian texts for “alchemy.” The classical alchemical scriptures date from no earlier than the 10th century CE; however, several centuries earlier, the term rasāyana was used in Āyurveda, classical Indian medicine, to denote “rejuvenation therapy,” with the plural, rasāyanas, being the elixirs employed in said therapy. In about the 8th century CE, the term rasa-rasāyana first appeared in Buddhist and Hindu tantric texts in reference to the supernatural power (siddhi) of obtaining a magical elixir."
"Antimony: Possibly from Greek ἀντί + μόνος (anti + monos), approximately meaning "opposed to solitude", as believed never to exist in pure form, or ἀντί + μοναχός (anti + monachos) for "monk-killer" (in French folk etymology, anti-moine "monk's bane"), because many early alchemists were monks, and antimony is poisonous. This may also be derived from the Pharaonic (ancient Egyptian), Antos Ammon (expression), which could be translated as "bloom of the god Ammo"."
"Nitrogen: Former name azote (French), from Greek ἄζωτος (azōtos) "lifeless" but possibly inspired by azoth, one of the alchemical names of mercury, from Andalusian Arabic al-zuq, the Classical Arabic name of that element."
"Lead was mentioned in the Book of Exodus. Alchemists believed that lead was the oldest metal and associated the element with Saturn."
"In the Book of Ostanes or “Book of the twelve chapters of Ostanes the Wise on the science of the renowned Stone,” the Persian Magus is the protagonist of a visionary experience in which he will obtain the secrets of the alchemical practice."
"Budzar appropriates these alchemical illustrations and applies her child-like style to it, creating a series of playful images where a central, often feminine presenting figure, is interacting with the natural world around them. Their expressions range from neutral to positive, but never negative. They seem to either be floating in an imaginary space or have their feet firmly planted in the flat landscape around them. One piece, The Phenomenon of Light, showcases yet again another feminine figure with long red hair and moons covering their private parts. In their outstretched hands are grapes and what appears to be a round mirror, which can be read as gluttony and vanity respectively. From the figure’s left breast, stars shoot out. A dynamic natural landscape plays out behind them, with curving waves and winding rainbows., “The characterization of science and magick turning the wheel of the natural world is probably like one of the freakiest things you can make art about,” Budzar wrote."
"This website is devoted to helping individuals understand and apply the principles of alchemy. Alchemy’s most basic tenet is that there are two ways of knowing reality. Learning to work with both of them is how the journey of transformation begins."
