Alchemy: A traditional chemical philosophy having as its asserted aims the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of the panacea, and the preparation of the elixir of longevity. Process of transmuting: “The remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection.”– James Baldwin

Most alchemy is theo-alchemy: “It is about questions of eternal life, soul and spirit, resurrection, and incarnation. Alchemists knew they were rehearsing, and often speeding up, processes that the earth does naturally by brewing metals underground. That work was God’s, and it was the ongoing perfection of the world. The advantage of alchemy over theology, Jungian psychology, or art criticism for exploring spiritual meaning in art is that it is a sister discipline. Alchemy is shy, and it also keeps to substances and lets them silently fill with meaning rather than blurting out what is most precious.”–From “What Painting Is” by James Elkins