Alchemy & philosophy · The Language of Alchemy, part 1 of 8 · 27 September 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
The Language of Alchemy: An Introduction
For centuries, alchemists wrote in symbols. Learning to read them is a gentle way into the art of transformation.
Alchemy is often remembered as the attempt to turn lead into gold. For many of its practitioners, from the Greco-Egyptian writers of the early centuries CE to the scholars of Renaissance Europe, it was something larger: a philosophy of transformation, in which the purifying of metals mirrored the purifying of the soul.
Why symbols?
Alchemists wrote in symbols partly for secrecy and partly because symbols can hold more than words. A single sign might stand for a metal, a planet, a day of the week and a quality of the soul, all at once. That layering is the Principle of Correspondence in visual form: as above, so below.
The families of symbols
In this series we explore the main families: the three principles of sulphur, mercury and salt; the four elemental triangles; the seven planets and their metals; the processes of the work; and the great mystical images, the ouroboros, the philosopher’s stone, the rebis, the marriage of Sun and Moon, and the green lion.
Reading them today
We read these symbols as a language for inner change, not as chemistry. Modern science has long since taken over the laboratory. What remains alive is the poetry: the idea that every one of us carries something that can be refined, patiently, into gold.
A practice
As you read the series, notice which symbol you are drawn to first. Ask: “What might this image be saying about the change I am living through now?”