alchemy

The Hermetic science and art of causing change, both physically and spiritually. The term is also used to describe the spiritual practices of chemists from other ancient cultures, such as ancient Chinese "alchemists." In the old days, there was no division seen between spiritual and physical practices, but for the sake of modern obsession with duality, alchemy can be divided into two types.

Practical alchemy _is_ chemisty, studying and manipulating the properties of matter to get what you want out of the universe.

Spiritual alchemy is what is discussed when "turning base metals into gold" is described. It is a form of mysticism, spiritual self-improvement with analogies to chemical jargon. "Gold" is spiritual perfection, while the lesser "base" metals (such as lead) are impure states of the spirit, unenlightened and full of the problems of mortal life.

Knowledgable alchemists were never trying to make a potion for eternal life or a stone that would transform physical materials into gold.

I seek enlightenment through alchemy.

by Adrian August 29, 2005

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Alcyone SVX

Grand Touring car created by Subaru and designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Known for its "window in a window" this car was quite advanced for the day and featured a flat 6 engine, AWD, drag coefficient of .29 and top speed of 154 mph. Production of it and many other japanese HiPo cars ended in the late nineties. With only 25,000 made worldwide its also somewhat rare. SVX only had three real problems...crap transmissions, slushbox only and weight. If these problems were solved It could have rivaled some of the best of the time.

John: Nice car man but what is it?

Tony: It's a Subaru Alcyone SVX.

by SoupaSupra December 19, 2010

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alcosthesia

the state of being "under", either passed out, blacked out, or both, due to excessive consumption of the recreational beverage ethyl alcohol.

Jim had no clue which of us drew dicks on his face last night, as he was under alcosthesia.

by aquajerk/surly November 3, 2011

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alculate

To figure out the dollar value per unit of alcoholic beverage. Examples of one unit of alcoholic beverage include: 1.5 oz of 80 proof vodka, 12 oz of beer with 5% alcohol, 5 oz of wine with 12% alcohol.

For the same price, a 750ml bottle of 100 proof SoCo alculates much better than a 750ml bottle of 80 proof SoCo.

SoCo and lime shots alculate horribly as they are 50% SoCo, 50% non-alcoholic lime juice. For better alculation, you are better off asking for the shot of 100% SoCo and squeezing a lime into it.

Mike is a genious for coming up with the term alculate.

by BigPopaSrz January 29, 2008

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alchemist

Starting in Egypt, alchemists were the predecessor to the modern chemist. Though they are largely discredited by the scientific community due to the fact that many included religion and the occult to 'fill in the blanks', they made great strides in scientific research, sometimes by accident (i.e. discovery of gunpowder trying to find immortality). After egypt, the next earliest is probably in China, where gunpowder was discovered. Many famous physicists were alchemistds, such as Isaac Newton. Today there are still alchemists, though they practice (usually) practical alchemy. This is the practice of alchemy that actually has a purpose, and the study and reproducion o=f ancient alchemical experiments, usually involving finding out both how the experiments were beleived to work by ancient alchemists, and how they work in terms of current chemists, and whether there is any connection.

One practical alchemy experiment is the extraction of salt from rosemary (popular experiment by some alchemist on the web), while other alchemy experiments include the accidental discovery of gunpowder in China.

by _picatta_ December 26, 2005

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