alchemy

"the vocable alchemia (or some alternate form such as ars chemica) appears in the West form the twelfth century onward in reference tot he medieval quest for a means of transmuting base metals into gold, for a universal cure, and for the "elixir of immortality."... The alchemist's quest was not scientific but spiritual." Mircea Eliade "Alchemy" in Encyclopedia of Religion

"At times alchemy was an organic part of a comprehensive tradition...which in some manner embraced all aspects of human existence....The transmutatin of base metals into gold is certainly not the true goal of alchemy....Alchemy...treats the soul as a 'substance' which has to be purified, dissolved, and crytsallized anew." Titus Burckhardt "Alchemy"

Bibliography:

Eliade, "The Forge and the Crucible"

Jung, mysterium coniunctionis

Patai, The Jewish Alchemists

Schwarz, Kabbalah and Alchemy

Coudert, Alchemy: The Philosophers Stone

Greenberg, From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story

Preliminary Timeline:

Central Asian shamans into metal workers

Indian Alchemy

Egyptian (Hermes)

Jewish

Chinese Alchemy (Taoism)

Islamic

Baha'i