### 5.1 Convergences
**Transformation is real, but the transformed object differs.** Historical alchemy transformed substances and practitioner-world relations; AI transforms representations, choices, and experimental search. The overlap is structural and historical-metaphorical, not proof of a shared hidden force. **Language and form.** Alchemical codes, ritual formulas, prompts, and therapeutic framing all demonstrate that sequence, authority, expectation, and context can organize action and interpretation. **Cross-cultural concepts:** “Spirit,” “self,” “agency,” “possession,” “prayer,” and “ritual” do not map cleanly across languages or traditions. Research needs community-grounded definitions rather than importing one clinical or Western metaphysical scheme.
