Episode Details

On this month's episode of Magic and Medicines, Eleanor is guiding us through the history of Alchemy, from turning base metals into gold to the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone to much more besides!

We start off talking about how several traditions we might recognise as 'Alchemy' grew up in isolation in the ancient world, including in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and across the Middle East.

From the supposed works of Hermes Trismigestus via Zosimus of Panopolis (who may actually be a hippopotamus in disguise) and other influential forefathers of Alchemy, including Mary The Copt - whose inventions are still being used today - we dig into the core principles of Alchemy: using Materialist magic to reshape reality.

Through the Renaissance, via John Dee, Cornelius Agrippa, and absolutely not Nicolas Flamel, it is not until the Enlightenment that the entire tradition hits the skids.

But why?

And how did 'Chemistry' split off from 'Alchemy,' forcing its forebear into obscurity?

Then, what about those people who still advocated for Alchemy through the 20th century and into the modern day? Could they possibly be believing in scientific processes that are only now being proved possibly principally correct?

It's a fascinating topic, and one of the 'Big Ones' in the story of magic, so let's reorder some elemental nodes together, bring the humours into alliance, and see if we can't maybe all get filthy stinking rich with the knowledge theoretically gifted to us by our ancestors' angel husbands...

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

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