Alchemical Outlets: The New Business of an Old Science

It occurred to me recently, having seen yet another notice come across my desktop that I had yet to write anything about a specific aspect of Alchemy that is extremely current - that of the Alchemical business.

I have known a few people who dabble in Alchemy and even admit that I fall into that most famous condition, the source of urban legend - knowing someone who knows someone who does it. Thanks to the internet of course, you can encounter everything, even those things which do not really exist. In this case however, I assure, they really do exist.

A new generation has taken it upon themselves to create businesses around their experiments in alchemy. Today, without passing judgement on any of them - for the simple reason that I have not purchased any of their products - I will present a brief notice of several such businesses. I find them all of sufficient interest to be worth sharing with you all. I do hope that some will find them interesting enough to try out their products. They certainly all are interesting and while they are quite different, they all offer captivating presentations of their products.

Without doubt, one of the most interesting of these purveyors of Alchemical substances is a business calling itself Kymia Arts. Of its origins it says, it is

Plant Stone of Artemisia tridentata

"a foundation for alchemical studies and practices. It provides a platform that educates the public on matters of alchemy, truth, consciousness, and nature. The laboratory work of Kymia Arts focuses mainly on metallic alchemy and animal alchemy, but also incorporates small amounts of mineral and herbal alchemy. Kymia Arts was established in 2013 by Avery Hopkins after a decade’s worth of travel, study, and practice in the alchemical arts. Avery makes his intimately crafted alchemical works available to the world through his writings, Laboratory preparations, and personal mentorships."

One of the most interesting items they have posted about on their Facebook page is a plant stone made from Artemisia tridentata.  According to Avery, plant stones have the ability of extracting all three principles of an herb - sulfur, Mercury, and salt - free of heat in just a few minutes. This serves as part of their working shop, but their products include a range of oils and spagyrics, including oils of mercury, silver, and gold as well as a fearsome sounding Coyote Spagyric,  I urge you to visit their site and learn about all their products.


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab describe themselves as Purveyors of fine esoteric goods, perfumes and potions, and state that their


"scents are unique to Black Phoenix, are all created in-house by Elizabeth Barrial or Brian Constantine, and every single one is hand-blended. We have over fifteen years of experience in the field, and specialize in integrating mythology, archetypes, folklore, poetry, and visual artwork with scent."

Their oils bear names such as Palmyra, Diable en Bôite, and my favorite, Krampus. All are
followed by lengthy quotes from appropriate literary sources and much briefer, but more useful descriptions which assist in determining what they actually consist of and how they smell. Krampus, for example, is described as smelling like "Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches."

Alchemy Lab Supply does not perhaps cloak its website in quite as much art as the previous two, but it is after all, primarily a lab supply company. Of course, it's equipment is geared toward alchemists rather than the average medical of chemistry lab. Still, there is plenty to entertain the imagination to be had in simply looking at the photographs of their products.  I will have to follow up now pretty soon with some information on recent books on the same theme.