#alchemi

[alcheemi]

Don't let him decieve you he used to murder people with a fancy axe :/

#lilia vanrouge #twisted wonderland #twst #twst spoilers #myart #diasomnia #grandpa bat #alchemi

[en-wheelz-me]

#dodge #durango #srt #hellcat #car #cars #fast car #fast cars #durango srt #srt hellcat #suv #fast suv #super suv #special-edition #srt 392 #alchemi #luxurycars #luxury #supercars #supercar

[krank-crabs]

Jotun

#illustration #digital art #artists on tumblr #red #alchemi

[cy-lindric]

An angel. Alchemy treaty Aurora Consurgens, 1420-1450

#medieval redraw #alchemy #angel #manuscript illumination #My interpretation of the general iconography is probably very off so take it purely as an aesthetic pursuit lol #all of this is alchemical allegory #i recommend looking up the other weirdo miniatures from this manuscript it slaps

[cryptotheism]

I hope this doesn't come off as disrespectful, because I'm genuinely curious, but like...is alchemy "real"? Because the way you speak about it is how I wish I could, myself, appreciate it and you're the closest I've ever found to a real world wizard which excites me a great deal. I totally respect if for you it's actually just an interesting academic study without intention, I'm just curious for how you view it in that lens.

No that's a good question!

Short answer: Yes, as in alchemists were real people who could actually do cool shit sometimes, but they weren't actually transmuting lead into gold, you need a particle accelerator for that.

In the 4th century, you weren't a scientist, that word hadn't been invented yet. You were a Natural Philosopher. You studied everything from the stars, to mathematics, to medicine, to the nature of herbs and stones.

In the medieval era, you weren't an astronomer, you were an astrologer. Telling people's horoscopes involved a lot of astronomical math. There wasn't really a difference between astronomy and astrology.

In the renaissance era, you weren't a chemist. The term chemist didn't exist yet. You were an alchemist. You tried to make gold sometimes, but you also manufactured dyes, glass vessels, cosmetics, paints, and medicines. You were kind of a whitesmith, and a glass-blower, and a doctor, and sometimes just a con-man.

Alchemy and chemistry have a relationship similar to Astrology and Astronomy. But, don't think of alchemy as just "Chemistry with magic." Alchemy is the father of modern chemistry. It is the cocoon that chemistry sprouted out of.

The thing is, alchemy is more "real" than astrology is. You know what a common use of astrology was in the medieval era? Diagnosing diseases. You'd check someone's horoscope to determine what medicine to give them. This didn't work. A medieval astrology textbook isn't going to be useful for diagnosing why your stomach hurts.

But!

Medieval alchemy texts are actually useful sometimes. If you want to dye some copper so it looked more like gold, there are alchemy texts that can tell you how to do that. If you want to distill the mercury out of some cinnabar, alchemists could do that. They didn't really know how or why that worked, but they could do it! If you want a potion that could make you immortal, the alchemists could make a philter of mercury and lead that would definitely 100% kill you and it would hurt the whole time you were dying. You can't win em all.

Im writing about the history of alchemy on my patreon if you wanna support me!

#alchemy

[semolinaart]

Happy Appreciate a Dragon day!

#appreciate a dragon day #dragon #dragons #dragons of alchemy #oc #art #knucker

[divesslow]

sacred cat hand mirror 🌟🪞

#aesthetic #whimsigoth #goth #witch #90s #hand mirror #tumblr #source alchemy gothic

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

#witch #Alchemy #books #astrology #witchcraft #black magic #disguise #comics #comic #cartoon #cartoons #witches

[hyolks]

dance with a devil

#fma #fmab #full metal alchemis brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist #roy mustang #fma lust #lust girl i love u. the damage u did to jean havoc is unforgivable #u can skewer roy all u want tho :)

[goddess-of-alchemy]

#alchemy #authencity #witchyvibes #pagan witch #stabtheair #moonswoon

[anonblubb]

You wake up after a nap in the forest and see these 3- what do you do?

#twisted wonderland #twst grim #chenya #twst fanart #disney twisted wonderland #alchemi alchemivich pinka #ramshackle dorm #royal sword academy #twst wonderland #twst art #disney twst #this is a redraw of fanart I made back in 2020 #that is why gidel is not with the cat crew but maybe I will make a piece where he is included #who is yalls fav twst cat

[c4tsc4pe]

this one deserves its own post

#homestuck #dirk strider #sprite edit #homestuck alchemy

[rlyehtaxidermist]

incidentally i would get the alchemists to respect me because I know how to synthesise mauveine. and they would absolutely not care that i am a quadruple scorpio who disrespects the great work and has stolen their secrets because oh three dicked elf jesus we will all be so fucking rich if the local equivalent of the byzantine aristocracy doesn't have us all executed for purple crimes

#[kicking open the door of the alchemy guild] bad news guys the philosopher's stone is named fast neutrons and will kill all of us. #[slams flask on the table] the good news is that i have coal tar.

[cryptotheism]

The "potion-crafter" archetype of alchemist used in fantasy is often, like, an independent chemist that works off commission or sales to create fireball elixirs or exorcism salves. Is there a grain of truth, there? Did alchemists in any period you studied make a living by synthesizing magical items (like panaceas or DIY-chrysopoeia-kits or somesuch) and selling them on to any willing customer, or was that not really in their domain?

Ha! You know sometimes it can be a bit annoying answering asks like this, because most fantasy media isn t terribly interested in authentically representing history, BUT THIS TIME I can give y'all a specific and direct answer!

The archetype of the potion-crafter you're talking about almost definitely has its roots in an actual pre-paracelcian european medical profession; the Apothecary.

There were three types of doctors in the 1500s. There were diagnosticians, the people who went to school to learn about anatomy, and were allowed to call themselves "doctor." There were surgeons, the low-skilled workers who were in charge of hacking off limbs and draining bedpans. And there were apothecaries, basically the medieval equivalent of a pharmacist.

If you were a wealthy merchant, and you went to a doctor for your runny nose, he would look you over, and give you a prescription that you were supposed to take down to your local apothecary, so you could buy a potion from them.

But these prescriptions weren't exactly strict. A doctor might prescribe you an exact list of ingredients with the amounts, or he might just prescribe you "a healing ungent of cooling and drying herbs." So the apothecaries occasionally had some wiggle room based on supplies and expertise.

The important thing to remember, is that apothecaries were NOT considered magicians or alchemists.

That is, until Paracelsus came along.

See, good ol' Paracelsus was a radical innovator. He was one of the first physicians in history to be all three types of doctor at once. He was a diagnostician, a surgeon, and an apothecary. He argued that all doctors should have knowledge of their entire profession, and that no doctor was above suturing their patients wounds, and mixing their patients medicines.

He was also, crucially, an alchemist and a magician.

Alchemy was the cutting edge of technology for the time, a practice regarded with equal parts awe and suspicion, but it was more the realm of glassblowers and metallurgists than doctors or botanists. Paracelsus disagreed. He argued that if it's part of God's creation, it should be used to heal the human body.

This extended to magic. Paracelsus figured that you had to factor in things like "the movement of the planets and their influence on the earth." And he was known for prescribing patients things like "astral talismans to be worn about the neck." A practice that, even for his time, was often seen as backwards and superstitious. (Although given how harmful medieval medicine was, the astral talismans might have been your best option sometimes.)

Paracelsus was a radical. People fucking hated him, especially when he was alive. But his ideas were extremely influential, and exploded in popularity after his death in 1541. I can confidently say that the fantasy archetype of the Potion Brewer is based on Paracelcian physicians, the doctor/alchemist/apothecary/magicians who followed his theories.

Here I'll link my Patreon if y'all wanna support my research! I have a whole section on Paracelsus.

#occult #alchemy #paracelsus

[thebeloathed]

They all could be switched around and it'd still be true

#I love them sm #they live rent free in my head #alphonse elric #edward elric #ling yao #fmab #fma #fanart #digital art #first ever time drawing Alphonse #he looks so polite but Ed knows he's just as much of a little shit as he is #no one just believes him when he says that #fullmetal alchemis brotherhood

[prokopetz]

Starting a business with two separate bathrooms, except one of them has the symbol for alchemical antimony on the door, and the other, the symbol for alchemical phosphorus. If you ask the staff about it, they claim to understand your confusion, then lead you to a third, previously undisclosed bathroom with the alchemical symbol for potassium carbonate.

#gender #alchemy #magic #occultism #memes