Album Notes

What Alchemy Means

The word alchemy is Arabic; one explanation is that it originally meant “the art of the land of Khem.” Khem was the name the Arabs gave to Egypt, and it was from Egyptian Mythology that the legend of the Goddess Isis seducing an angel from heaven for the secrets of alchemy. Another possibility is that the word derives from the Greek “chymia,” which means the art of melting metals.

Alchemy is based on the practical skills of early metalworkers and craftsmen, on Greek Philosophy, and Eastern mystic cults that sprang up in the first occult thought. It must be remembered that when alchemy flourished there was no dividing line between science and magic. Ideas such as the influence of the planets and the effect of certain numbers or letters on people’s lives might today be regarded as superstitions. At the time they were perfectly acceptable to those who were making the kind of accurate observations about the material world that paved the way for modern science.

The greatest alchemists were skilled in many fields and they were often among the leading scientific and religious thinkers of their time. The scope of knowledge in the early days of alchemy was small enough that a person might hope to master all there was to know about subjects as diverse as medicine and religion, philosophy and alchemy, logic and magic. The seeker of knowledge would see nothing incompatible in the different fields of study. Magic would not conflict with medicine, or philosophy with religion. Knowledge was thought of as a unity, and all the different branches were different aspects of this unity. They all led toward a greater understanding of the Universe.

Long before the beginning of alchemy, gold was regarded as the most valuable metal. Its possession indicated wealth and power, and it was prized for its beauty. Known as the most prefect metal, it soon acquired symbolic meaning. It came to stand for excellence, wisdom, light, and perfection. For serious alchemists gold had both a real and a symbolic significance, which at first seems confusing. The reason is that alchemists embarked on two different and difficult quests at the same time, and success in one meant success in the other. The first aim is the one that most people know about. The alchemist was attempting to find a way of transmuting, or changing, ordinary metals into the most perfect metal, gold. The second aim is less well known but far more important. The alchemist was trying to make the soul progress from its ordinary state to one of spiritual perfection. The band Alchemy’s quest is to achieve the second, please join us in this quest and visit our website www.alchemistshandbook.com or www.myspace.com/alchmemistshandbook