Got Alchemy?

“Crucible” came to mind last week when covid-19's wave was starting to really hit my area. Not Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" so much, although its test and trial aspects are certainly apt. More thinking back to my experience as a goldsmith, I did a lot of lost-wax casting during that time and a crucible is a crucial part of the process.

What happens in a crucible? It's where metal is melted and held until ready to inject into the mold. Certainly there is blending of components if you're doing an alloy mixture but it's also intensely transformative.  Alchemically, the metal goes from one state to another, solid to liquid. We don't speak of the alchemical-like changes of water, so easily moving from solid to liquid to gas (and back again), as those states are more common, less magical somehow. Transformative, nevertheless.
Another very important event in a crucible is purification, not because it's hot and impurities are burnt off. Because flux has been added to attract impurities much the way egg whites can clean consomme. Flux also eases the molten flow into the mold, ensuring a complete cast. We are definitely in times of flux! 
So spend time in your crucible, you'll come out transformed but the same basic material! In fine mettle we might say.