#hermetic

• Abstruse — Difficult to understand, obscure, recondite, or hidden due to excessive complexity, lack of clarity in expression, or an exaggerated level of formal theorization. It applies especially to texts, writing styles, theories, or discourses that use a hermetic language accessible only to initiates.
• Alchemical — Pertaining to or characteristic of alchemy; specific to medieval and hermetic practices, doctrines, or texts that aimed at the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of the elixir of life, or the Philosopher's Stone. In a figurative sense, the term describes a mysterious, secret, fascinating process or a profound spiritual transformation achieved through hidden or hard-to-understand methods.
• Alchemy — A mystical and hermetic science and doctrine that preceded modern chemistry, widely practiced in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, with the primary objectives of transmuting base metals into gold or silver, discovering a universal panacea, and obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. In a metaphorical sense, it denotes a profound, mysterious transformation or a perfect fusion between abstract elements, feelings, or ideas.
• Alchemist — A person who practiced alchemy in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, engaging in secret laboratory experiments to transmute metals and discover the elixir of life; a precursor to the modern chemist. As an adjective, it describes a person or action reminiscent of the occult techniques or mysterious transformations specific to these scholars.
• Female alchemist — A woman who practiced alchemy in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, performing laboratory experiments for the transmutation of metals, obtaining the Philosopher's Stone, or discovering the universal panacea. Although historiography has recorded fewer names, figures such as Mary the Jewess are recognized as founding personalities of early distillation techniques and laboratory apparatus.