Classical planets in western alchemy
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Alchemy in the Western World and other locations where it was widely practiced was (and in many cases still is) closely allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search for hidden knowledge. Traditionally, each of the seven planets in the solar system as known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and ruled a certain metal.
The list of rulership is as follows:
- The Sun rules Gold (
) - The Moon, Silver (
) - Mercury, Quicksilver/Mercury (
) - Venus, Copper (
) - Mars, Iron (
) - Jupiter, Tin (
) - Saturn, Lead (
)
Some modern alchemists/astrologers obviously associate:
As these planets were not discovered until relatively recently, there is no classical or traditional basis for these associations as there is for the ancient planets and metals.
As Isaac Newton was indisputably a well known alchemist of his time period, and astrology and alchemy were (and in some cases still are) so closely linked, it is very plausible that Newton had a very good working knowledge of astrology, or at the very least a basic understanding of astrological methodology as it was related to alchemy. Logically then, one would certainly have to know a good bit about astrology in order to use alchemy effectively, and Newton along with other prominent alchemists definitely knew this. For more information see Isaac Newton's occult studies.
