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Magnum Opus (alchemy)
The Great Work (Latin: ''Magnum opus'') is an alchemical term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a device in art and literature. The magnum opus has been carried forward in New Age and neo-Hermetic movements which sometimes attached new symbolism and significance to the processes. The original process philosophy has four stages: *''nigredo'', the blackening or melanosis *''albedo'', the whitening or leucosis *''citrinitas'', the yellowing or xanthosis *''rubedo'', the reddening, purpling, or iosis The origin of these four phases can be traced at least as far back as the first century. Zosimus of Panopolis wrote that it was known to Mary the Jewess. The development of black, white, yellow, and red can also be found in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Splendor Solis - Portion Of Plate 3
Splendor or splendour (see spelling differences) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Splendor (game), a card-based board game published in 2014 by Marc André * ''Splendour'' (play), a 2000 play by Abi Morgan * '' Splendor: A Luxe Novel'', a 2009 novel by Anna Godbersen Films * ''Splendor'' (1935 film), an American film * ''Splendor'' (1989 film), an Italian film by director Ettore Scola * ''Splendor'' (1999 film), a film by Gregg Araki * ''American Splendor'' (2003 film), an American biographical film by Harvey Pekar Music * Splender an alternative rock band from New York City Ships * ''Carnival Splendor'', a cruise ship * HMS ''Rosebay'' (K286), previously known as the USS ''Splendor'' * ''London Splendour'', two tanker ships of London & Overseas Freighters, the second of which is now the ''Front Splendour'' owned by Frontline Shipping Other uses * Splendour (apple), a cultivar developed in New Zealand * Splendor (cycling team), a professional cycling team active dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary The Jewess
Mary or Maria the Jewess ( la, Maria Hebraea), also known as Mary the Prophetess ( la, Maria Prophetissa) or Maria the Copt ( ar, مارية القبطية, Māriyya al-Qibṭiyya), was an early alchemist known from the works of Zosimos of Panopolis () and other authors in the Greek alchemical tradition. On the basis of Zosimos's comments, she lived between the first and third centuries A.D. in Alexandria. French, Taylor and Lippmann list her as one of the first alchemical writers, dating her works at no later than the first century. She is credited with the invention of several kinds of chemical apparatus and is considered to be the first true alchemist of the Western world.. Through Zosimos many of the beliefs of Mary the Jewess can be observed. Mary incorporated lifelike attributes into her descriptions of metal such as bodies, souls, and spirits. Mary believed that metals had two different genders and by joining these two genders together a new entity could be made. By joi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiplication (alchemy)
Multiplication is the process in Western alchemy used to increase the potency of the philosopher's stone, elixir or projection powder. It occurs near the end of the magnum opus in order to increase the gains in the subsequent projection. George Ripley gives the following definition of multiplication: :: :: :: :: :: Multiplication was also used to describe the facet of alchemy chiefly concerned with the reproduction of physical gold and silver. Such is the case in Henry IV's 1404 statute against the craft of multiplication. Henry VI began to issue patents for the practice of alchemy, but the parliamentary act against multipliers was not repealed until 1689. Method In his discussion of multiplication, Ripley goes on to compare the medicine or elixir to fire. He notes that the methods of multiplication are related to the processes of congelation, cibation, and fermentation. In doing so he also hints at multiplication's internal significance. Like Ripley, other sources descr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Putrefaction
Putrefaction is the fifth stage of death, following pallor mortis, algor mortis, rigor mortis, and livor mortis. This process references the breaking down of a body of an animal, such as a human, post-mortem. In broad terms, it can be viewed as the decomposition of proteins, and the eventual breakdown of the cohesiveness between tissues, and the liquefaction of most organs. This is caused by the decomposition of organic matter by bacterial or fungal digestion, which causes the release of gases that infiltrate the body's tissues, and leads to the deterioration of the tissues and organs. The approximate time it takes putrefaction to occur is dependent on various factors. Internal factors that affect the rate of putrefaction include the age at which death has occurred, the overall structure and condition of the body, the cause of death, and external injuries arising before or after death. External factors include environmental temperature, moisture and air exposure, clothing, bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fermentation (biochemistry)
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food production, it may more broadly refer to any process in which the activity of microorganisms brings about a desirable change to a foodstuff or beverage. The science of fermentation is known as zymology. In microorganisms, fermentation is the primary means of producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the degradation of organic nutrients anaerobically. Humans have used fermentation to produce foodstuffs and beverages since the Neolithic age. For example, fermentation is used for preservation in a process that produces lactic acid found in such sour foods as pickled cucumbers, kombucha, kimchi, and yogurt, as well as for producing alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer. Fermentation also occurs within the gastrointestinal tracts of all an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sublimation (phase Transition)
Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state, without passing through the liquid state. Sublimation is an endothermic process that occurs at temperatures and pressures below a substance's triple point in its phase diagram, which corresponds to the lowest pressure at which the substance can exist as a liquid. The reverse process of sublimation is deposition or desublimation, in which a substance passes directly from a gas to a solid phase. Sublimation has also been used as a generic term to describe a solid-to-gas transition (sublimation) followed by a gas-to-solid transition ( deposition). While vaporization from liquid to gas occurs as evaporation from the surface if it occurs below the boiling point of the liquid, and as boiling with formation of bubbles in the interior of the liquid if it occurs at the boiling point, there is no such distinction for the solid-to-gas transition which always occurs as sublimation from the surface. At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcination
Calcination refers to thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), generally for the purpose of removing impurities or volatile substances and/or to incur thermal decomposition. The root of the word calcination refers to its most prominent use, which is to remove carbon from limestone (calcium carbonate) through combustion to yield calcium oxide (quicklime). This calcination reaction is CaCO3(s) → CaO(s) + CO2(g). Calcium oxide is a crucial ingredient in modern cement, and is also used as a chemical flux in smelting. Industrial calcination generally emits carbon dioxide (), making it a major contributor to climate change. A calciner is a steel cylinder that rotates inside a heated furnace and performs indirect high-temperature processing (550–1150 °C, or 1000–2100 °F) within a controlled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Ripley (alchemist)
Sir George Ripley (–1490) was an English Augustinian canon, author, and alchemist. Biography George Ripley was one of England's most famous alchemists. His alchemical writings attracted attention not only when they were published in the fifteenth century, but also later in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His writings were studied by noted figures such as the alchemist John Dee, Robert Boyle (who is considered to be the first modern chemist), and even Isaac Newton. A great deal of myth has grown up around Ripley, such as that he studied in Italy for twenty years and became a favorite of Pope Innocent VIII. He did however spend a number of years on the continent, and after his return to England he wrote his work ''The Compound of Alchemy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone'' (''Liber Duodecim Portarum'') in 1471. The ''Cantilena Riplaei'' is one of the first poetic compositions on the subject of alchemy. Most of Ripley's work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Valentine
Basil Valentine is the Anglicised version of the name Basilius Valentinus, ostensibly a 15th-century alchemy, alchemist, possibly Canon (priest), Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Saint Peter in Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany but more likely a pseudonym used by one or several 16th-century German authors. According to John Maxson Stillman, who wrote on the history of chemistry, there is no evidence of such a name on the rolls in Germany or Rome and no mention of this name before 1600. His putative history, like his imaginary portrait, appears to be of later creation than the writings themselves. During the 18th century it was suggested that the author of the works attributed to Basil Valentine was Johann Thölde, a salt manufacturer in Germany who lived roughly 1565-1624. Modern scholarship now suggests that one author was Thölde, but that others were involved. Thölde published the first five books under Valentine's name. Whoever he was, Basil Valentine had considerable chemical kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutus Liber
The ''Mutus Liber'', or ''Mute Book'' (from la, Silent Book), is a Hermetic philosophical work published in La Rochelle in 1677. It ranks amongst the major books on alchemy in Early Modern literature, just as much as does ''Atalanta Fugiens'' by Michael Maier. It has been reprinted numerous times. Consisting mainly of illustrated plates, ''Mutus Liber'' arouses contradictory interpretations. Its meaning was pored over for a long time by authors such as Eugène Canseliet and Serge Hutin, who claimed to be initiated alchemists. More recent studies are striving to use its historical reality in order to reveal its meaning. Editions The first edition of ''Mutus Liber'' dates from 1677, published by Pierre Savouret in La Rochelle. No more than a few dozen copies can have been printed. Twelve original copies are conserved in main Western libraries. There may be more copies, however. As early as 1702 it was reprinted in Geneva, with new plates, and edited by Jean-Antoine Chouet and J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His theory that ''Hierophany, hierophanies'' form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into Sacred-profane dichotomy, sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential.Wendy Doniger, "Foreword to the 2004 Edition", Eliade, ''Shamanism'', p. xiii One of his most instrumental contributions to religious studies was his theory of Eternal Return (Eliade), ''eternal return'', which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but, at least in the minds of the religious, actually participate in them. His literary works belong to the fantastic and Autobiographical novel, autobiographical genres. The best known are the novels ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerard Of Cremona
Gerard of Cremona (Latin: ''Gerardus Cremonensis''; c. 1114 – 1187) was an Italian translator of scientific books from Arabic into Latin. He worked in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile and obtained the Arabic books in the libraries at Toledo. Some of the books had been originally written in Greek and, although well known in Byzantine Constantinople and Greece at the time, were unavailable in Greek or Latin in Western Europe. Gerard of Cremona is the most important translator among the Toledo School of Translators who invigorated Western medieval Europe in the twelfth century by transmitting the Arabs' and ancient Greeks' knowledge in astronomy, medicine and other sciences, by making the knowledge available in Latin. One of Gerard's most famous translations is of Ptolemy's ''Almagest'' from Arabic texts found in Toledo. Confusingly there appear to have been two translators of Arabic text into Latin known as ''Gerard of Cremona'', the one active in the 12th century who concentrated on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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