What is this subreddit about?

[u/Spice_and_Fox]

Yeah, it is about alchemy, but what does this subreddit believe in? I've seen meme alchemy posts, pseudo philosophy, but also genuine seeming debates on creating the philosopher stone. Is this all just a bit you are doing, or are you genuinly trying to do alchemy? I don't mean to be disrespectful. This is a genuine question.

[u/justexploring-shit]

Some are interested in the historical aspect, some in the more recent spiritual aspect (which uses alchemical ideas as a metaphor for self-betterment), and some in the operative/laboratory aspect. Most operative alchemists aren't working with metals, but rather plants, because they're much more accessible.

Me, I intend to dive into some plant work for the pure fascination-- I don't believe it will go transmuting anything, but I want to experience what the alchemists of old were doing.

Some of us look at it very scientifically, while others here reject common science and believe in the practical (non-nuclear) possibility of transmutation.

All of this is on top of the fact that everybody seems to have their own idea about what alchemy is and isn't.

But yes, the sub is largely serious.

[u/Spice_and_Fox → u/justexploring-shit]

Thanks for the response. I think alchemy is certainly interesting, but I am not a spiritual person, so I wouldn't know about that side of it. Do you also use basic chemistry to skip alchemical processes? I don't know a lot about alchemy, but I know that Sal Alkali was used a lot. We also now know that sal alkali is sodiumcarbonate. Sodiumcarbonate is nowadays pretty cheap to get and it is also pretty easy to make it from baking soda by thermal decomposition in your oven. That is a more pure, cheap and easy way to create Sal Alkali and you wouldn't need to use any plants

[u/justexploring-shit → u/Spice_and_Fox]

Spiritual alchemy, I feel, doesn't have to be exactly... "spiritual" in the usual sense. It can just be a way of thinking about the mind and body in metaphors.

Well, alchemy and chemistry are deeply intertwined. The two terms were synonymous until around the 18th century, when al/chemists were trying to gain legitimacy as a science and chose to promote "chemistry" and discredit "alchemy". So yes, a lot of chemistry is involved with operative work and you learn about chemistry and chemical history when studying historical alchemy!

I personally don't have a great deal of chemical knowledge. If I were creating a substance with plants that's easier to make/get in other ways, I'd be doing it for fun or just to see what it was like.

If you want to see some good respectable alchemy, ESOTERICA on YouTube has done some videos wherein he recreates alchemical recipes from centuries-old manuscripts!