r/alchemy

yes, I've been failing to post this two times, this is attempt number three. This time I properly attached the painting in fact.

It's been recreated on a wall with acryl paint and I decided to post it here since it is known alchemical symbolism. I quite enjoyed the original piece and decided to faithfully recreate it, with tiny variations. I'm not a very experienced artist, but enjoy painting.

You can read more about the original manuscript and painting here.

Edit: phrasing, more info, formatting.

He has made mercury into a literal stone through it which turns Golden in sunlight and also the red Stone

This is a completed version of a transmutation circle. This particular version is a sort of mega symbol that combines various symbols that represent transmutation and its associated concepts into a single unified latticework of both form and meaning. The meaning is known as the "squared-circle" and represents an ascension of form (Seal of Solomon post on my profile explains what that is).

All of it is based off three symbols (circle, triangle and square)

This symbol and every symbol that composes it all center around transmutation.

It starts (from the middle outward) with the Tetractys (blue dots in the middle), then the Seal of Solomon around it, then Metatrons Cube, which rests on the flower of life pattern, and jutting out from the flower of life are the branches (three lines that combine equal the nine realms of the world tree) of Yggdrasil also known as the mother rune, Beyond its branches the 8 pure trigrams of the I ching, surrounding all of it is the Oroborus or a circle. Leaving the entire image representing a squared (hexagon is the outline of a cube or 3-D square) circle.

Each one of the symbols used is meant to represent this in their own respective cosmologies and the esoteric teachings they originate from. The Philosopher's Stone from alchemy acts as a cipher to understand all these symbols. For those interested I can link explanation videos on it.

Solve et coagula.

We usually associate alchemy with metals, tinctures, transformation and the search for the prima materia. But there is another possibility that has fascinated me for years:

What if transformation can also happen through vibration?

That question led me deep into the strange intersection between ancient musicology, sacred texts, Pythagorean numerology, biblical hermeneutics and the philosophy of sound surrounding the Solfeggio frequencies.

The fascinating part isn't simply the claim that certain frequencies can “heal”

It's the much older idea underneath it:

If reality is fundamentally vibration, could changing the vibration be a form of transformation?

The six traditional Solfeggio frequencies

The original Solfeggio system is commonly associated with six frequencies:

396 Hz, DO
Associated with liberation from guilt and fear, transforming grief into joy and releasing negative emotional patterns.

417 Hz, RE
Associated with change, undoing difficult situations and disrupting crystallized emotional patterns.

528 Hz, MI
The central frequency of the system, often called the “miracle note.” Traditionally associated with transformation, miracles and DNA repair.

639 Hz, FA
Associated with relationships, harmony, mutual understanding and interconnectedness.

741 Hz, SOL
Associated with intuition, self-expression, cleansing and solving difficult problems.

852 Hz, LA
Associated with spiritual order, deep intuition and seeing beyond illusion.

I wouldn't present these effects as established scientific facts. What interests me is the symbolic and philosophical framework surrounding them, particularly the idea that dissonance can be transformed through resonance.

That sounds remarkably close to the language of alchemy.

The strange story behind the numbers...

My fascination with the Solfeggio system began with Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse by Leonard Horowitz and Joseph Puleo.

What caught my attention was Puleo's alleged rediscovery of the frequencies through a numerological reading of Numbers 7:12–83.

The method uses a form of Pythagorean numerology in which larger numbers are repeatedly reduced to their digital roots.

According to this interpretation, the verses describing the offerings of the twelve tribes of Israel contain a recurring numerical pattern involving:

3, 6, 9

When the numerical sequence is mapped onto the proposed frequencies, the six central tones emerge:

396, 417, 528, 639, 741, 852

This is where the Tesla connection becomes interesting.

Tesla famously spoke about the extraordinary significance of 3, 6 and 9, and Horowitz incorporated that numerical symbolism into his interpretation of the Solfeggio system as a kind of energetic architecture.

Whether that connection is historical fact, numerological interpretation or esoteric symbolism is another question.

But as an alchemical idea, it's fascinating.

Before Solfeggio, there was Nāda...

The concept becomes even more interesting when placed beside Nāda Brahma in Indian philosophy.

नाद ब्रह्म Nāda Brahma

“The universe is sound”

Within Vedic traditions, existence can be understood as vibration, with Om representing the primordial sound of creation.

There is also Spanda, the primordial pulse or vibration of consciousness.

From this perspective, reality isn't fundamentally a collection of isolated objects.

It is a continuous vibratory field.

Matter can be understood as energy condensed through the creative power of Vāc, sacred speech, while every manifestation possesses its own resonance or Nāma, its “natural name”

Even the idea of disease can therefore be interpreted metaphorically as dissonance: a disruption in the rhythm of Prāṇa or a loss of synchronization with Śabda Brahman, absolute sound.

I'll probably write separately about the Hindu philosophical side of this because the implications of treating vibration as the fabric of reality go far beyond Solfeggio.

Then Western sacred music enters the story...

In the 11th century, the Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo developed a method for teaching singers to remember musical notes through the hymn Ut queant laxis:

Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum
Solve polluti
Labii reatum
Sancte Ioannes

The initial syllables became:

Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La

The seventh note, Si, was added centuries later, derived from Sancte Ioannes.

Then, in the 16th century, Giovanni Battista Doni changed Ut to Do, producing the system we recognize today:

Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si

It's a strange historical bridge:

sacred text → voice → musical notation → numerical relationships → vibration.

The nine-frequency expansion:

Horowitz later expanded the six frequencies into what he described as a “perfect circle of sound”

The additional three are:

174 Hz grounding, stability and security; associated with bringing spirit into matter.

285 Hz associated with regeneration and restoration.

963 Hz associated with unity, spirit, divine consciousness and a return to an original state of perfection.

That gives the complete nine-frequency set:

174 / 285 / 396 / 417 / 528 / 639 / 741 / 852 / 963 Hz

And this is actually where the project became practical for me.

Rather than simply reading about these frequencies, I wanted to hear them as carefully produced sound.

The recordings...

I put together all nine frequencies as extended listening pieces!

The idea is simple: enough uninterrupted time for meditation, contemplation, ritual work or simply sitting with a single tone.

But there's also a technical difference that I think is worth mentioning for anyone here who works with sound.

The recordings are provided as high-quality WAV files without lossy compression, and the production incorporates left-to-right stereo panning so the sound moves bilaterally across the headphones rather than remaining as a static center image.

If you've mostly encountered Solfeggio frequencies through YouTube or Spotify, there's a good chance you've been listening to compressed versions, and many of those recordings don't use this kind of bilateral stereo movement.

I wanted the recordings themselves to be part of the experiment rather than just another background tone.

You can listen to all nine frequencies here!

The page also contains the traditional association of each frequency, so you can choose one according to the emotional or contemplative state you're exploring.

And through the web version, the individual tracks can be downloaded as WAV files for continued personal practice.

How I've been approaching them:

The traditional recommendation is actually quite restrained:

Low volume.

Almost imperceptible.

Rather than overpowering yourself with sound, let the frequency become something you gradually notice.

Choose one frequency.

Set an intention.

Listen.

And if you're comfortable vocalizing, try intoning the note yourself.

That part is particularly interesting to me because the body becomes both the resonating chamber and the emitter.

You're no longer simply listening to a frequency coming from an external device.

You become part of the instrument.

That feels much closer to an alchemical practice than simply playing a “healing frequency” in the background.

The goal isn't necessarily to believe that 528 Hz will magically repair something.

The more interesting experiment is to ask:

Can sound change our relationship with matter, attention, emotion and consciousness?

The future of bioacoustic alchemy?

This is where things get speculative.

Cymatics, acoustics, biophysics, mitochondrial research, ancient chant traditions and biblical numerology are obviously not equivalent forms of evidence.

But they all circle around an intriguing question:

Does sound possess a structuring power over living systems that we still don't fully understand?

Maybe the ancient traditions were describing something real.

Maybe some of their interpretations are symbolic rather than literal.

Maybe the modern claims have gone much further than the evidence allows.

I'm comfortable leaving that question open.

Because experimentation is arguably more interesting than certainty.

The alchemist doesn't merely ask “Is this true?”

The alchemist asks:

“What happens if I put it into practice?”

So if you're curious, try one of the nine tones.

Don't take my word for it.

Don't take Horowitz's word for it.

Listen... And see what happens when you give a single frequency your undivided attention!

[effacé]

I'm working on my undergraduate honors thesis right now about fire and its products and what chemistry can be made with charcoal and ash (hint: fireworks) for some labs we'll be dropping in to my university's chem 118 class. As I was making the teaching materials I decided it'd be cool to have my own alchemy circle to visualize what I'm talking about. I took Mustang's alchemy circle as the base and built it out with historically accurate alchemy symbols for the biproducts of fire: (in clockwise order) Water, Ash, and Charcoal. The script around the outside is a prayer I wrote to fire itself, it reads:

"Ignis, o ignis, donum Promethei, noctis tenebras exstingue et a saevis gelus faucibus nos protege! Nobis metallurgiae fictiliorumque donum tribue. Ignis, o ignis, creas et deles; nam universa unum sunt et unum est universum in orbe existentiae."

translated to English from Latin:

"Fire, oh fire, gift from Prometheus, extinguish the gloom of night and protect us from the wicked jaws of frost! Bestow upon us the gift of metallurgy and ceramics. Fire, oh fire, you create and you destroy; for all is one and one is all in the cycle of existence."

made in inkscape

A few years ago, I saw this symbol during meditation and came across it again. I hadn't been able to figure out what it meant before, but today I found an identical one online, but there's no information about its origins or meaning.

If anyone knows, I'd be grateful for your help.

I'm making a game around alchemy and its a bit inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist in that characters can alter substances at will (to an extent). That is only reserved for the very experienced, but I still want to emphasize a more grounded/ realistic idea of alchemy with the use of labs, philosophy and so on.

story context:
I made up an element that's very dangerous but also very promising called "silver water"/ "heaven silver" (not sure of the name yet). The protagonist is experimenting with it secretly but the experiments go wrong and his body is turned into a twisted mix of a silver like skin fused to his clothes and an organic interior. The game revolves around him trying to find a cure as the silvery exterior consumes his health.

Gameplay Implications:
I eventually thought of a dual health system where the player needs to heal the silver shell when cracked but also heal the organic interior to try to prevent the silver from expanding inwards.
For the exterior, I thought of using lapis infernalis (silver nitrate) which the protagonist would solidify and match the rest of the skin through his powers to fill in the cracks, but for the interior, I'm not sure.. I think aqua fortis (nitric acid) is the best thing to dissolve silver, and it supposedly even leaves silver nitrate behind which could add to the gameplay, but its highly toxic of course, and even with his powers, it seemed a bit silly that he could somehow get it only in the right places without affecting his vitals, but I have no experience with these substances so, maybe it could be worth doing and suffering some minor damage in such extreme circumstances? I have no clue of the damage it would actually cause.

The Question:
I was wondering if there's a substance, or substance combo, that most makes sense (with the protag.'s advanced abilities in mind) that I could use, while referencing some real alchemical knowledge, myths or historical ideas/ uses. Maybe there's something he could incase the aqua fortis with to protect himself from harm, heal his vitals, and only release the aqua fortis where needed, sort of like some pills we have today that only release the active substance at a specific point.

Any suggestions are welcome, but I want it to feel like it could be possible with his powers or that it makes sense on a surface level while tying it to alchemy. Thank you!

during one of the biggest spiritual awakenings I went through last year… this sign kept following me around for months. is this alchemy? if so, for what?

I’m not going to give you my interpretation, I’d probably spoil it, and there are more letters. Dr. Brent L. Kendrick has spent years researching these essays, verifying transcripts against original copies, you should go and look into what he theorized, after you have fun reading the article. The essays appeared from November 26, 1753, through April 1754.

https://archive.org/details/per\_south-carolina-state-gazette-and-timothys-dail\_the-south-carolina-gazette\_1753-12-10\_1017/mode/1up?

Here you go:

The South Carolina Gazette
Monday, December 10, 1753

The HUMORIST

A CHAP. Wherein the author takes great pains to say more of himself than of the subject.

I PROMISED in my last paper, to give you a copy of my countenance; but as it is impossible to procure it in any reasonable time, if the painter may be allowed to shew his skill or do justice to my person, I shall therefore beg my readers patience, and present them with a true sketch of my figure in print.

My body is small, my soul capacious, and my stature low; but what of that, a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than in a giant himself: I have extraordinary eyes, for they are ever best employed in discerning each other. These are the only singularities of my person.

I am possessed of an excellent perspective, that multiplies the species, and presents to my sight the actions of every man; for distinction's sake, I term it the Otacousticon: By the help of this amazing machine, I can observe cuckold's horns, the philosopher's stone, and new projections; I can discover windmills in one man's head, and hornet's nests in another. This will amply suffice as an emblem of that power with which I am invested.

As to my private character, that falls more immediately within the sphere of the historian than the painter.
The curiosity of mankind may possibly extend so far as an impatience, to know what my inducements are for embracing such notional and vague sentiments; ambition is the answer: I ever had a soaring mind. A man may grovel like a reptile upon earth, from his entrance upon the stage of life to his exit, unnoticed, unobserved.
If a man wants to be talk'd of, he must surprise; there is nothing equal to a great action: Longinus might bless his stars, when he wrote his treatise upon the sublime; observe what eulogiums Eunapius bestowed upon him, he styles him, light of nature! giant of wit! eagle in the clouds! lamp of the world! These are the blest rewards of soaring minds!

I say with my good friend Horace, feriam sidera; I am for driving my head against the stars, snuffing the moon! and as Heinsius expresses himself, and that like a man of the first magnitude too, in specie positus, omnia saecula, praeterita, praesentia videns, unus veluti interius.
If cold white mortals censure these great deeds,
Warn them; they judge not of superior beings,
Souls made of fire, and children of the sun. YOUNG.
But to resume the thread of my discourse, and argue in a more serious way. Aerial Architecture is of great antiquity; the tower of Babel is one notable instance; this evidently shews that the ancients supposed a possibility of building castles in the air: To dwell long upon a case so much in point, would argue a kind of suspicion in me to produce any other instances; have we not essays on the non-existence of matter, on the non-existence of religion, and quires of paper fruitlessly scribbled over, upon the possibility of the longitude?

What immense pains have been taken, and to no purpose, to find out the quadratures of a circle, and the crooks and sounds of the north east and north west passages? Are not these so many more instances of castle-building; so many ideas, so many whims and imaginary conceptions, tending to justify that boldness which prima facie appears in this undertaking?

All this, and more, is literally true: Search the records of old time, and look into the annals of the present, to authenticate what I assert. They were most certainly unsuccessful in their endeavours; but, as good often arises out of evil, and as the vulgar proverb says, 'tis a bad wind that blows benefit to no one, I am the better for it: I have collected such materials from their ruins, as will shortly convince mankind of the reasonableness of these fabrics, and the great and innumerable advantages arising therefrom.

I still pursue my design; it is indeed my duty to do so: Quintilian properly says, perseverantia est, quia cupimus.

ADVERTISEMENTS

TO BE SOLD very reasonable, many considerable lots, and as estates of great value, a wide expanse! in Nubilonia only.

WANTED immediately, a professor of the occult sciences, an adept in palmistry and physiognomy, and a gentleman of a liberal education, who can serve in the capacity of an itinerant thro' the twelve signs in the zodiac.

WANTED, several artificers, mechanics, etc. etc. etc. to assist the author in fitting up his aerial habitation: 'Tis hoped the prices will not be extravagant, as the workmen will live more reasonably than when employed in their terrene occupations, and as their diet will capacitate them to dispatch more business and in a shorter time, having nothing to subsist on but air.

Any recommendations on how to seal the upper and bottom part together of this kind of alembic during destillassions higly appreciated. Need an airtight seal during low temp operations that do not contanimate the content. Anyone knows any "lute of wisdom" from household items that work?

Thanks