Alchemical concepts

A homunculus ( , , ; "little person", : homunculi , , ) is a small artificial human or human-like being. Popularized in 16th-century alchemy and 19th-century fiction, it has historically been referred to as the creation of a miniature, fully formed human or humanoid being. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions.

concept associated with Aristotelian philosophy in which all forms of life on the planet exist in ranked order, from the most to the least important, in a "ladder of life"

thumb|Ouroboros (representation of a serpent eating its own tail) with the words , '' ("the all is one") from the Chrysopoeia of [[Cleopatra the Alchemist'' in the 3rd or 4th century]]

concept of an underlying unified reality from which everything emerges and to which everything returns, popularized by Carl Jung