SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY QUOTES FREE

In a sense, we see what still remains within us, which is of value, and then begin to combine these elements to form one’s authentic self. Stage Four: Conjunction Anima Mundi, from Utriusque Cosmi Historia by Robert Fludd, 1617-21, via Alchemy Website (part of The Ferguson Collection at The University of Glasgow)Ĭonjunction refers to the process of combining the elements from the previous three stages. After the emptiness and suffering in the first stage of calcination, and then the fearful stage of dissolution where hidden emotions emerge, the separation stage comes as a welcome relief as we experience the stillness of being separated from our inferior and inauthentic qualities. The separation stage is a kind of detachment from our old skin. Awareness of our own thoughts, feelings, and desires, but without identifying with them or becoming attached to them. The separation occurs when we no longer identify with the character we have been playing, but rather we become the awareness itself. We separate ourselves from our inauthentic selves and step closer to our essential or higher self. By doing so, we can become aware of our true feelings. It is a kind of liberation from negative emotions.

SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY QUOTES FREE

Separation is a very liberating stage where we can free ourselves of resentment towards ourselves and others. In a spiritual sense, it can be understood as separation from one’s habitual thought processes or emotional trigger responses in order to step back and distinguish our essence from our acquired personality.

As the first two stages were associated with fire and water, separation is related to the air element. In the separation stage, the pure essence is extracted from the rest of the mixture. Stage Three: Separation The Alchemist by Sir William Fettes Douglas, 1855, via Alchemy Website (part of The Ferguson Collection at The University of Glasgow) It can be a very cathartic step as we free ourselves of past painful experiences. The dissolution stage involves the outlet of repressed emotions from traumatic events that we have pushed down in our psyche. Since the dissolution stage takes water as its symbol, it is also associated with intense emotions, as water often symbolizes the reservoir of emotions we contain within. It can be understood in Jungian terms as the dissolution of the ego. In Chemistry, dissolution refers to the dissolving of solid material, such as salt dissolved in water. Dissolution can be understood as the stage in which we free ourselves from our inauthentic and acquired sense of identity. Water could be interpreted as a symbol for the unconscious, which contains the hidden parts of ourselves of which we are afraid and up until now have not been explored. The second stage of spiritual alchemy involves dissolving the ashes in water. Stage Two: Dissolution Perfect Nature of the Microcosm by Antonio Neri, from Tesoro Del Mondo, 1599, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York In this way, the transmutation of lead into gold functions as a metaphor for the process of self-actualization and spiritual rebirth. The personality contains the inauthentic part of the self, including one’s beliefs, concepts, opinions, wounds, fears, and phobias. It is used to achieve contentment, harmony, and awareness by liberating one’s essence from one’s acquired personality. Spiritual alchemy, then, is an ancient philosophy that uses the metaphor of transforming metals into gold for attaining spiritual enlightenment. Alchemy was practiced by people who wanted to attain material wealth and those who sought a universal elixir for immortality.

It began during the medieval period and sought to transmute base metals, such as lead, into gold. On the other hand, alchemy was an occult science and a forerunner to modern-day chemistry. Spiritual alchemy is an ancient practice with the goal of spiritual transformation, not material. The Alchemist by David Teniers the Younger, 1643-45, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Spiritual alchemy quotes