Alchemical symbol

**Alchemic symbols** in Torbern Bergman's 1775 *Dissertation on Elective Affinities*.

Alchemic symbols, originally devised as part of the protoscience of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Note that while notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this page lists the most common.

Three Primes

According to Paracelsus, the Three Primes or Tria Prima are:

Sulfur (omnipresent spirit of life)
Mercury (fluid connection between the High and the Low)
Salt (base matter)

Four basic Elements

Seven Planetary Metals

File:Astrological Glyphs.svg

Planetary metals were "dominated" or "ruled" by one of the seven planets known by the ancients. Although they occasionally have a symbol of their own (denoted by also:), they were usually symbolized by the planet's symbol.

Gold dominated by Sol ☉ ☼ ( File:Sun symbol.svg )
Silver dominated by Luna ☽ ( File:Crescent.svg )
Copper dominated by Venus ♀ (also: File:Copper symbol.svg )
Iron dominated by Mars ♂ ( File:Mars symbol.svg )
Tin dominated by Jupiter ♃ ( File:Jupiter symbol.svg )
Mercury (Quicksilver) dominated by Mercury ☿ ( )
Lead dominated by Saturn ♄ ( File:Saturn symbol.svg )

The planets Uranus, Neptune, and the Dwarf Planet Pluto were discovered after the time Alchemy had been largely replaced by Chemistry, and are not part of traditional Alchemical symbols. Some modern alchemists consider the symbols for these planets to represent the radioactive metals Uranium, Neptunium and Plutonium, respectively.

Mundane Elements

File:Squaredcircle.svg

"Squaring the Circle": an alchemical glyph (17th c.) of the creation of the Philosopher's Stone.

Antimony ♁ File:Antimony-symbol.svg
Arsenic Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Bismuth File:Bismuth symbol.png
Boron
Magnesium ⊛
Phosphorus
Platinum ☾ ☉
Potassium
Stone File:Stone symbol.svg
Sulfur File:Sulfur symbol 1.svg File:Sulfur symbol 2.svg
Zinc

Alchemical Compounds

Sal ammoniac *
Aqua Fortis A.F.
Aqua Regia A.R.
Spirit of Wine S.V.
Amalgama
Cinnabar (Mercury sulfide) File:Cinnabar Symbol.svg
Vitriol

File:Alchemytable.jpg

A table of alchemical symbols from Basil Valentine’s The Last Will and Testament, 1670 ce.

12 Core Alchemical processes

The 12 Alchemical processes are considered to be the basis of modern Chemical processes. Each of these processes is "dominated" or "ruled" by one of the 12 Zodiac signs.