Touching on Alchemy for MANIAMANIA

Alchemy is the marriage of magic and science, however at it’s core is the fascination and the exploration of change and transmutation. Today we use the word, transmutation to describe when we shift radically from one way to another. I see this as the metamorphosis of caterpillar becoming a butterfly – emerging from chrysalis. The change is obvious and irreversible, the butterfly can never be the chrysalis or the caterpillar ever again. We too can experience a transmutation within our Spiritual journey as we realize that our world view has been masked by our fears and doubts and with our wakening we discover an almost eagle like vantage point. We now see our lives from freedom and clarity, we will never be the same again we have experienced a transmutation. We have discovered Spirit and conscious within us as if it was the golden truth waiting to be discovered.

For many the concept of turning base metals into gold and the philosophers stone is all we know about the art of Alchemy. It does have a far more extraordinary history. Globally it was practiced in ancient India, Egypt and China simultaneously but the roots are most certainly Babylonian, Hellenic or Egyptian. To say it it old is rather ridiculous as even the ancients considered it an ancient practice, therefore the roots of this art are possibly timeless.

His unique characteristics would allow him to decipher symbols, dreams and perhaps even know the frequency of gems, crystals, metals and the earth.

An Alchemist was said to be chosen by God and of the highest regard . He would not just have a knowledge of Alchemical science but perhaps even a knowing within him that allowed him to sensate energy and spirit. These men may have created first through visualization using sensation, feelings, words and tools to manifest their desired outcome. His unique characteristics would allow him to decipher symbols, dreams and perhaps even know the frequency of gems, crystals, metals and the earth. He was no doubt more attune to the spirit world then the average Joe and had a willingness to explore this unseen realm. Cherry Gilchrist (author of Alchemy, the Great Work) suggests that the alchemist functioned privately or hermetically up to a point, thus not diluting the energy of the process and the outcome.

Many recognised that with each person, there is an energy and a possibility of changing and shifting the outcome because of the influence that person could purposefully or unintentionally inject on to each and every experiment or concept. Therefore personal introspection and a cloistered environment was vital, not dissimilar to when we are involved in a personal journey of self discovery; we must delve deeply into our hidden shadow work and personally find our own philosophers stone or holy grail to begin to experience your own transmutation. This may require silence and meditation during the deepening and widening into Spirit Consciousness.

In all cases he was a learned man who believed that essence was in all things and was precious. Hence the idea that gold was able to be extracted from all base metals. This occurred because there was a belief that gold was at the core of all metals not dissimilar to the concept that consciousness, or our BE-ingness, is at the core of all BEings, this too may be gold of a different kind.

True Alchemy is described as a proto science or the beginnings of what we now know as science, most specifically chemistry. However modern chemistry does not recognise the energy, thoughts and spirit of the chemist as influencing the outcome of the experiment, though alchemy does.

Some alchemist were known as Spiritual Alchemists while others spent their lives trying to find the gold at the end of the rainbow. Whether they were actually successful remains to be seen.

Regardless, alchemy has at its core, a unifying understanding of life force, spirit and matter. This is why it fits perfectly into a spiritual framework and may still offer us deeper understandings in many areas of our lives. The word Alchemy today is our queue to see the multi dimensional layers that exist in our common world. We may find transformation and transmutation in our daily lives and somehow this gives us just the magic we need to shift our consciousness into an expanded space.