Alchemisten haben unter anderem das Porzellan und das Schwarzpulver entdeckt. Auch der erste Phosphoreszenz Farbstoff ist der Alchemie zuzuschreiben.

Alchemie ist eine sehr alte Naturwissenschaft, die erst im 17./18. Jahrhundert, durch die moderne Chemie und Pharmakologie, in der Wissenschaft abgelöst wurde.

Die Basis der europäisch-arabischen Alchemie bildet die Tabula Smaragdina, die auch in der Hermetik Anwendung findet. Grob wiedergegeben beinhaltet sie, dass Stoffe per Transmutation in andere Stoffe umgewandelt werden kann.

Es geht in der Alchemie nicht nur um die Erschaffung von Gold oder dem Stein der Weisen wie fälschlicherweise oft behauptet, sondern auch um Heilmittel, Lösemittel und neue Werkstoffe. Ausserdem ist der Philosophische Aspekt der Menschlichen Transmutation zu berücksichtigen.

In der Alchemie besteht Materie aus Eigenschaften und Prinzipien (Aristotelischer Hylemorphismus). Diese können entfernt und/oder zugefügt werden, wodurch ein Stoff in einen anderen umgewandelt wird.

Opus Magnum, das große Werk befasst sich mit der vollständigen Transmutation. Dabei ist die Umwandlung von Blei in Gold oder die Schaffung des Steins der Weisen Metaphorisch für die Umwandlung des Unwissenden Menschen in den Wissenden zu sehen. Abgebildet wird der Prozess in der Hermetik.

Der Prozess der Transmutation folgte zuerst der Element Lehre, später wird aus den vier Stufen eine Trinität, als Nachbildung der göttlichen Teilung in Vater Sohn und Heiliger Geist. Im Laufe der Zeit wurde die Philosophie komplexer und Verband Elemente und Trinität zu einem sieben stufigen Prozess.

Paracelsus plädierte für die Herstellung von Arzneimitteln anstelle der Suche nach Gold. Er nennt diesen Bereich der Alchemie Spagyrik und begründet damit die Anfänge der Arzeneimil

Die chinesische Alchemie befasst sich, im Gegensatz zur europäisch-arabischen, in erster Linie mit der Suche nach der Unsterblichkeit. Das Alchemische Experiment und Ritual ist dabei ein Teil des Ganzen, unterstützt wird sie durch asketische Übungen, Körperbeherrschung und Meditation.

Die Bedeutung der Alchemie für uns liegt zum einen in der Vorläuferrolle moderner Naturwissenschaften aber der Philosophie. Besonders Deutlich wird das im Bereich der Chinesischen Medizin, in der wir heute noch Ideen und Verfahren der Spagyrik finden.

Heute wird die Alchemie nur noch in Form der Hermetik in diversen esoterischen und Okkulten Kreisen hoch gehalten. Wobei auch immer wieder Einflüsse der Tabula Smaragdina in Lebenshilfe und Psychologie zu finden sind.

If there's a pregnancy rumor, people will find out it's not true when you wind up not being pregnant, like nine months from now, and if there's a house rumor, they'll find out it's not true when you are actively not ever spotted at that house.

Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.

A movie like 'The Apartment' is beautifully directed, but you can't put your finger on why it's such a good movie. It just is, because of all these things that Billy Wilder is subtly doing. That level of filmmaking is something I aspire to.

Our pop scene is among the best in the world because there are 300 languages spoken on the streets of London, compared with 200 in New York. Our diversity is our strength.

It doesn't pay to say too much when you are mad enough to choke. For the word that stings the deepest is the word that is never spoke, Let the other fellow wrangle till the storm has blown away, then he'll do a heap of thinking about the things you didn't say.

When I was a teacher, teachers would come into my classroom and admire my desk on which lay nothing whatever, whereas theirs were heaped with papers and books.

If the Pope spoke out with moral authority against violent Islam, I would be there cheering him on.

Environmental problems are really social problems anyway. They begin with people as the cause and end with people as the victims.

If you found that one person who is really worth the sacrifices, pain, and hardships then your efforts will not go to waste.

My family is a part of my life and everything is all a mixture of enjoyment.

It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.

Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day one should meditate on being carried away by surging waves, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease.

As long as all four of my limbs keep moving and I can still sit up straight and play hard rock and roll for 2 and a half to 3 hours, I'm gonna keep doing it, and I'm gonna do it the way I do it.

I'd be happy to be taken as a woman - and that's what I was initially trying to do when I started throwing on dresses and stuff. But that wasn't going to happen because everyone kept calling me sir. So I thought I'd change the method and just start wearing what I wanted to wear.

I like pin-up girls. I'm more of a boy than a girl. I'm not a lesbian, though - not before a sambuca anyway.

As cheesy as it sounds, nothing beats a smile and a bit of confidence! As long as you feel good on the inside, you can still look beautiful without any makeup at all.

We're trying to create people that are going to change the world.

There's been a vacuum with movies that people can relate to. There's been a paucity of dramas that people can relate to. I think audiences are clamoring to connect - particularly after 9/11 - with things that are genuine and real and I think documentaries are filling that need.

Youve got to follow your passion. Youve got to figure out what it is you love who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams.

A life lived with integrity – even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shining star in whose light others may follow in the years to come.

It just felt like the right thing to do to give back to a state school and public school. I'm a really big fan of public education.

Being in the dark, there's a real weight to it. It's heavy.

If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others it is always despicable to lie to oneself.

We were so fundamental that almost everything had been stripped away from the place of worship. Think of the role words can play, when all other enticements and sensual attractions are gone.