Alchemy Lesson, Alchemy for guys like me. Options

Hey guys. Now, before anyone yells at me, lol, I used the search button, and I typed in alchemy, and the only thing that came up was Alchemy 101. The whole thread quickly got changed to the white powder stuff, and it said that alchemy belonged here and not sorcery. But, my question is, what is alchemy? What do you do when you preform alchemy? I heard and thought it was kind of like an occult chemistry, but I heard a bunch of stuff. Now, can you guys please give info. on the subject, because I am really interested in alchemy. So my basic question is this: what is alchemy?
Thanks in advance.
Chaos_mage4

There are usually two basic types of alchemy.
One is often called "spiritual" or "mental" alchemy in which ancient and modern texts are interpreted to be allegorical or metaphorical in nature.
The other is sometimes called practical alchemy which is basically a branch of chemistry or just chemistry. I know the group you are talking about and they are discussing actuall physical preparation of materials to be ingested in order to prolong life. I would classify this as practical alchemy. Some people even combine both and the practice of practical alchemy is also involved in works of a spiritual nature. Before i get picked on for using the terms spiritual, mental, or practical understand that these are issues of a semantic nature and I am sure there are better terms. Personally I usually approach alchemy from all angles and I think that both a physical and spiritual approach is most effective. Both types of alchemy are usually in pursuit of The Philosopher's Stone whether in physical or spiritual essence. It will usually aid in length of life, may grant other "powers". and in the both areas will turn any base metal to gold.