Hey dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that brought some interesting experiences into your life! Today I would like to talk a little about the importance of numbers in alchemy and hope you can expand your knowledge.
You can see here some pictures of minerals and already in ancient cultures the power of letters or numbers was of great importance and was also associated with origins of the cosmos and it was assumed that the origin of creation should consist on mathematical principles. Mathematical principles of creation were already of great importance in the philosophy of alchemy and were regarded as a message of the gods, which should lead to the general understanding of certain complex systems and provide answers about existence. Some numbers were also strongly associated with symbolism or mysticism and even when it came to transmitting encrypted messages, numbers were an important instrument and this was particularly important that not everyone should reveal the secrets of alchemy. From the understanding of numbers, different conclusions quickly developed and so people began to define mathematical relationships to which the division, multiplication, subtraction and so on belong and this knowledge was of great importance in alchemy and a basis for the various experiments or chemical reactions. Much of the alchemical symbolism is based on the principle of mathematics and some alchemists developed some sophisticated systems for calculating certain forms and so certain properties or elements were also defined and to come back to mysticism, the understanding of balances is also based on mathematics and so spiritual alchemy was also strongly shaped by numbers and this teaching developed in parallel in all cultures in which alchemy was practiced. Cosmology and alchemy are closely linked and here too numbers play an important role and to be able to decipher old texts, numbers played a major role and through understanding it was possible to decipher old mysterious writings. Due to more and more basic mathematical principles, alchemy developed into a new direction and changed from occult or religious principles and became more and more a science based on systems, but the occult side of alchemy never lost importance and numbers were also of great importance in mystery cults that arose around alchemy. Also for other topics such as astrology, physics, metallurgy and other things that are strongly associated with alchemy, mathematics was of great importance and everywhere you look you will quickly realize that knowledge about numbers was essential to be able to understand both the mystical, spiritual and practical side of alchemy.
Thanks a lot for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about alchemy! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.