Divine Alchemy: What Is It? (Mary Angelon Young)

The Latin phrase “magnum opus” means great work. Our early ancestors had an intuitive relationship with nature and received knowledge directly from it. In alchemy, great work refers to awakening consciousness, the primary metaphor being the transformation of lead into gold. It is about transformation, working with the primordial material we are given in incarnation, which is consciousness. But that is not separate from the body, which goes through transformation also. Tarot can lead us on a journey deeper into ourselves. Alchemical language is symbolic and is called twilight language in the eastern tradition. This talk focuses on alchemy in the western tradition, and twelve stages of alchemy are discussed as well as CG Jung’s four stages. Alchemical process is not linear or a one-time deal; it cycles as other parts of ourselves come forward. There is no top end, no settled final state. Everything dissolves, then comes back together. At the next level we’re a total beginner again. Grief is profoundly alchemical. What we are working for is already here, but we have to work to discover it. Alchemy cannot happen without the feeling heart. Any time we’re working with emptiness, the unknown, it’s scary for ego, for more superficial aspects of our being. Emptiness is a great mystery. Disappointment is the beginning of the spiritual path. There’s gold in the shadow. We can bring awareness to our process that begins to free up knots that don’t allow the free flow of graceful energy. The sage is always turning us to the sage within. So much of alchemy is about letting go. Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved’s Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), The Art of Contemplation, and other books.