Editing Alchemy (section)

=== Esoteric interpretations of historical texts ===
In the eyes of a variety of modern [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] and [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|Neo-Hermetic]] practitioners, alchemy is primarily spiritual. In this interpretation, transmutation of [[lead]] into [[gold]] is presented as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection.<ref name="Antoine Faivre 1995. p.96">Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff. ''Western esotericism and the science of religion.'' 1995. p. 96</ref>

According to this view, early alchemists such as [[Zosimos of Panopolis]] ({{circa|300 AD}}) highlighted the spiritual nature of the alchemical quest, symbolic of a religious regeneration of the human soul.<ref>[[Allen G. Debus]]. ''Alchemy and early modern chemistry.'' The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. p.34.</ref> This approach is held to have continued in the Middle Ages, as metaphysical aspects, substances, physical states, and material processes are supposed to have been used as metaphors for spiritual entities, spiritual states, and, ultimately, transformation. In this sense, the literal meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' hid a [[spiritual philosophy]]. In the [[Hermeticism|Neo-Hermeticist]] interpretation, both the transmutation of common metals into gold and the universal [[panacea]] are held to symbolize evolution from an imperfect, diseased, corruptible, and ephemeral state toward a perfect, healthy, incorruptible, and everlasting state, so the [[philosopher's stone]] then represented a mystic key that would make this evolution possible. Applied to the alchemist, the twin goal symbolized their evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, and the stone represented a hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that are believed to have been written according to this view, the cryptic [[alchemical symbol]]s, diagrams, and textual imagery of late alchemical works are supposed to contain multiple layers of meanings, allegories, and references to other equally cryptic works; which must be laboriously decoded to discover their true meaning.

In his 1766 ''Alchemical Catechism'', [[Théodore Henri de Tschudi]] suggested that the usage of the metals was symbolic:

{{blockquote|<poem>Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver?
A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life.<ref>Théodore Henri de Tschudi. Hermetic Catechism in his ''L'Etoile Flamboyant ou la Société des Franc-Maçons considerée sous tous les aspects.'' 1766. (A.E. Waite translation as found in ''The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.'')</ref></poem>}}