The Art of Spiritual Alchemy
Calling all Alchemists...
Are you a Spiritual Alchemist? Alchemy is far more than transforming metal into gold. It is the practice of inner transformation. We all have the potential to transform our lives, by aligning our thoughts, feelings, and actions with our highest and most authentic self. The ancient art of alchemy was the search for spirit in matter. In modern life, it is a way of deepening your own relationship with the sacred dimension of life. Alchemy’s greatest achievement is to create a relationship between our inner world and our outer world. While physical alchemy deals with altering and transforming the properties in the physical world, spiritual alchemy is connected with freeing your spiritual self from your fears, limiting beliefs systems, and lack of self-acceptance. Alchemy is the art of transformation, inner liberation, and change.
We are taught about achieving a state of enlightenment in our yoga practice. Existing in a state of enlightenment, or soulful awareness, is the ultimate state of transformation – the gold – of spiritual alchemy. Through introspection and self-meditation, one can free themselves from core wounds, limiting core beliefs, and other thought processes and behaviors that harm the soul.
7 Stages of Spiritual Alchemy
1. Calcination: Breaking down our egos, self-doubt, self-sabotaging behavior, and pride so that we may reconnect to our natural state of being.
2. Dissolution: Taking a step back and observing ourselves, both positive and negative qualities, and not allowing ourselves to base our sense of being on either.
3. Separation: Separating our authentic thoughts and emotions from thoughts and emotions we have been conditioned to think and feel. This allows us to see ourselves more clearly and delve deeper into our shadow work.
4. Conjunction: Allowing for our unconscious thoughts to come to the surface so that we may observe them with conscious awareness.
5. Fermentation: This is the first stage in the process of rebirth. It is both the death of our old thoughts, patterns, and beliefs, and the beginning stages of the birth of our highest self, through inner peace, stillness, and introspection.
6. Distillation: A deeper level of purification asks us to look for inner peace in the mundane of our daily lives. This stage is also known as the state of enlightenment.
7. Coagulation: In this state, the universe is no longer separate from the inner mind or spiritual reality, but rather a reflection of it. What we think, we create.
Bring a little alchemy into your wardrobe. What element calls most to you?
Gold
The celestial body represented by Gold is the Sun. This metal was highly valued by the ancient Egyptians, Irish, Romans, Asians, Africans, and Central Americans. It was believed to represent perfection and purity. Gold was often used as offerings for the gods and for ceremonial purposes. Around the world gold has been seen a symbol of wealth, prosperity, authority and charm. It can aid in healing, protection, growth, and knowledge.
Copper
Copper is ruled by the planet Venus. It is one of the oldest metals known to humanity and has been held sacred in different cultures, including Native American, Asian, European, South American and Middle Eastern. Copper embodies the nurturing aspect of women and their divine feminine energy. It is associated with love & lust and symbolizes charisma, beauty, artistic creativity, affection, kindness, and balance.
Silver
Silver is connected to the Moon. It is one of the most ancient and versatile metals. It is associated with philosophical traits of intuition, self-reflection, and inner wisdom. It is a feminine metal, a symbol of purity and is connected to the divine goddesses and feminine spirits. Its powerful healing energies include, protection, emotional healing, love and healing of the heart, ancient wisdom, lucid dreams, luck and wealth. It is also powerful for aiding in clarity, awareness, focus, persistence and internal knowing and strength.