Transforming matter from one state to another using pressure and temperature is not as constant of a process as modern science claims it to be. It depends on the mood of the person who does the transformation. Emotions play a crucial role especially when you’re not trying to systematize the process to consistently achieve the same results but rather looking for revelation.
That’s alchemy – doing your routine over and over again leaving space for a miracle.
Sometimes transformation is only visible for you, but sometimes it changes the world.
It is not a thing that you can master by learning secret symbols and reading old manuscripts, but by finding your own path, even if it goes against or across the conventional current.
Nothing is constant, everything changes.
The transformation is going to happen even without your attention, but you can be a part of it, a conscious part. That way you are transforming yourself along with the matter.