![]() "Saturn" for lead, "Mars" for iron compounds of tin, iron, and silver continued to be called "jovial", "martial", and "lunar" or "of Jupiter", "of Mars", and "of the moon", through the 17th century. Alchemists would typically call the metals by their planetary names, e.g. They started breaking down with the discovery of antimony, bismuth, and zinc in the 16th century. The associations below are attested from the 7th century and had stabilized by the 15th. The exact correlation varied over time, and in early centuries bronze or electrum were sometimes found instead of mercury, or copper for Mars instead of iron however, gold, silver, and lead had always been associated with the Sun, Moon, and Saturn. The seven metals known since Classical times in Europe were associated with the seven classical planets this figured heavily in alchemical symbolism. Main article: Classical planets in Western alchemy The shield in the coat of arms of the Royal Society of Chemistry, with the seven planetary-metal symbols Salt or body, the principle of non-combustibility and non-volatility: □ ( ).Mercury or spirit, the principle of fusibility and volatility: ☿ ( ).Sulfur or soul, the principle of combustibility: □ ( ).This page therefore lists only the most common symbols.Īccording to Paracelsus (1493–1541), the three primes or tria prima – of which material substances are immediately composed – are: Lüdy-Tenger published an inventory of 3,695 symbols and variants, and that was not exhaustive, omitting for example many of the symbols used by Isaac Newton. Although notation was partly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists. A table of alchemical symbols from Basil Valentine's The Last Will and Testament, 1670Īlchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of alchemical symbols. This rare element does not react chemically as a metal, spiritually it symbolizes wild nature like that of an animal found in each of us which is waiting to be unleashed.This article contains Unicode alchemical symbols. It’s a lustrous, silvery gray metal and a poor conductor of heat and electricity. This element is from the metalloid group of elements, the name is derived from the Greek words anti and monos which means a metal not found alone. Given below are the popular elements used in the craft. Zinc was used to make Philosopher’s wool or also known as nix alba (white snow) by burning zinc in air. Tin was considered to represent the planet Jupiter and was associated with breathing in alchemy. Platinum has rust-resistant, malleable and ductile properties, it’s considered as an endurable alchemy element. Phosphorus was considered as colorless and transparent and has rapid ignition properties, this element symbolized spiritual enlightenment. This element was mainly considered to symbolize eternity, eternal flame, and ascension. Some elements like Magnesium were considered as slow ignitors and extinguishers. There are numerous elements used in the craft of alchemy to create the base element gold, these elements had both physical and philosophical representation for the alchemists. In the modern world, it is used by stage magicians as a magical incantation. During the Gnostic period, a sect called Basilides used this word to conjure helpful spirits to protect against diseases and misfortune. He had prescribed the word as a healing for malaria which was written on a parchment and to be worn by the patient around his neck in a triangular form, it was believed that the word imbibed healing qualities and diminished the spirit of illness from attacking the patient further. The first ever mention of the Hebrew word Abracadabra is in the book called Liber Medicinalis (also known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima) by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla in the 2nd century CE. Given below are some of the important ancient symbols used in the craft. Hence the need to encrypt the hidden meanings and inventions through various mystic symbolism was created. In 1403, Henry IV of England banned the practice of using multiple metals to create the base metal gold as it had proved to be an unfruitful discovery. The church popularized it as heresy and an offense punishable through death sentence. The need to give symbolism in alchemy was that it was considered as a forbidden craft, practicing which could land the alchemist in a death trap.
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