THE SEVEN STAGES OF SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY
Alchemy, or the ancient study of creating gold, corresponds to a spiritual process. Both the alchemical process and the spiritual alchemical process have seven steps, to either create gold from other materials, or to reach a higher level of being. For this project, I wanted to see if I could create seemingly sacred objects. I embarked on a journey to create an object that physically represented each stage of the spiritual alchemical process.
STAGE ONE: CALCINATION
Calcination refers to the beginning of the alchemical process. In spiritual alchemy it stands for the black stage, the color black stands for chaos, the unconscious as well as the Materia Prima, or the idea that all universal matter came from one primitive base. Calcination refers to burning the Materia Prima until it’s ash, in this process we break our worldly attachments.
Dissolution refers to dissolving the ashes of the Materia Prima in water. Water can be interpreted as the matter of the unconscious, Dissolution becomes the stage in which we free ourselves from our acquired, inauthentic sense of identity. This stage can also be an extremely emotional one, as we free ourselves from this identity we release emotion tied to repressed trauma.
STAGE TWO: DISSOLUTION
STAGE THREE: SEPARATION
Separation refers to the air element, in this stage the pure essence is extracted from the mixture. In spiritual alchemy it can be understood as the separation from ones habitual thought process and emotions in order to separate and distinguish our pure essence from our acquired inauthentic personality.
Conjunction refers to the combination of the previous three stages. The fire, water, and air elements are brought together under the earth element. In spiritual alchemy it refers to taking stock of the valuable attributes and beginning to merge them into our actualized, materialized being. It also refers to a joining of the masculine and feminine elements, as we begin to unify the body and soul.
STAGE FOUR: CONJUNCTION
Fermentation refers to the decay of ones old self and the birth of ones true self. This stage allows us to refine the pieces we have gathered in the past four stages. Some describe this stage as a Phoenix rising from its own ashes.
STAGE FIVE: FERMENTATION
Distillation refers to the stage when all the impurities are removed, leaving only essence. In chemistry Distillation refers to boiling a material evaporation occurs. This process marks the point in which our essence becomes spiritualized. In this stage, the ego stops dominating our conscious and the voice of our soul can be heard.
STAGE SIX: DISTILLATION
Coagulation refers to the final solidification of ones true self, where we become whole. Coagulation in science can be understood as the process of blood solidifying into a scab. Similarly in spiritual alchemy once our true self is solidified we feel ourselves to be independent and complete. In this stage we also achieve a higher level of being, ones true perfect self emerges, and can be compared to gold solidifying.
STAGE SEVEN: COAGULATION
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