Having traveled to Egypt many times and been captivated by its people, as well as its history and the ancient temples among which alchemy as we know it was birthed, I cannot be gone long from an information fix on what’s happening there now.
The seven steps of alchemical transformation paint a large palette of the steps that are taking place today and what’s to come. In traditional terms of alchemical belief and practice, Egypt has already gone through the initial birthing process of calcination when the fires of its Arab Spring burned brightly. The initial soothing bath of realizing what had been accomplished was evident in the second stage of dissolution. As always, the task of choosing among all the possibilities that were unleashed in the phase of separation presented the Egyptian people with an opportunity believed beyond reach in an unbelievably short time before. Now, possibility and opportunity wrestle with one another in the phase of conjunction – the marriage of the Sun and Moon. We’ve all been here in our personal transformation. And the question: “What will be the outcome” – and the reply – “What we want” hangs in the air for the Egyptian people as it did for us. The inspiration of the fermentation stage and the working out the details of distillation remain before the Stone of their future is revealed.
Alchemical transformation is all around us but the process in Egypt shows us what is possible on cultural and social scale.
Thank you my Egyptian friends.
Strength is the message of the Alchemical Tarot today. Our world, our immediate environment and ourselves are all in flux. It’s as if we’ve fallen overboard from the Ship of our Life and are being tossed around in the waves of chaos and change. Giving in to our feelings of panic seems natural. We could call out for help and wait. Now, however, is the time to rely on our inner strength. Much of our experience is one of dissolution. Everything around us seems to be falling apart. We are afraid we are “going to pieces” as well. What we are feeling is actually a release, a liberation from parts of ourselves that are no longer needed. If we rely on our strength during this time and center ourselves, it will become immediately clear what pieces to let go of now. Calling on our strength will open the door to a calm, peaceful place from which we can make the choices necessary to allow us to float and make our way back to our Ship.
What Nature herself has begun, that is brought to perfection by the Art.
Rosarium Philosophorum Page 28
During the last six months, I’ve been immersed in a powerful period of Fermentation. It’s lasted longer than other periods of time, been much more intense than before, affected nearly all areas of my life and consumed my waking and sleeping moments. It’s even affected time, at least as I experience it. Emerging from this alchemical phase, it feels as if it lasted weeks instead of months.
Embracing the core parts of me is the most important step I can take now and communicating with others is one of them. So resuming this blog feels like a natural thing to do. I’ll pick up the threads of my posts from the spring of this year in each category, especially the Azoth and Igniting Transformation. First, though, I want to share my experiences during Fermentation because it is a straightforward way to talk about this phase of alchemy and personal examples often bring clarity to a complex topic.
I’ll do this in the next handful of posts. The first will explore Fermentation and the elements of this fifth phase of the alchemical process. The next several will include my most significant experiences of this period. The final one will be about embracing – the signature behavior of this phase.
As Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining claimed: “I’mmm backkkkk.”