I begin to get a better appreciation of why the spiritually inclined started writing and speaking in allegories when the flow of information came under suppression. (The word “allegory” comes from the Latin “allegoria,” meaning speaking to imply something else.)
In the eyes of a variety of spiritual practitioners, alchemy is primarily spiritual. In this interpretation, transmutation of lead into gold is presented as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection.