Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.
The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's stone able to transmute base metals into gold, eventually developing into chemistry.
Witchcraft, magic, especially as a means of making decisions or predictions.