Spiritual Alchemy
Do you know how to TRANSMUTE?
Sacred objects for a cacao ceremony
I was in Peru, in a semi-finished adobe and screen window structure that was temple, meeting hall, and cafeteria all in one. The floor was blankets on packed dirt. Scorpions hid in the walls. In the dark, tarantula eyes reflected blue and green brilliance back to my headlamp from the rafters.
I was struggling. I was facing my shit and I wanted it gone. Like, now. No, like, yesterday already. Just get me out of this quagmire of poo!
I knew I could compost it. I am an excellent emotional composter. To make compost, you take shit and add time, some stirring, the right environment, and in the end you have some useful material to support growth. Nothing wrong with compost.
But I was intrigued by alchemy. The notion that I could - maybe - transmute that shit rather than compost it. Alchemy is the magical science of turning nonvaluable material into pure gold. Transmutation does not happen slowly over time as a natural process; it is instant reorganization at the atomic level. Gold is not mere nutrition for growth, it’s a highly sought valuable metal that sparks wonder and awe, the highest form of decoration, light captured in solid form, a superb energy conductor.
Alchemical teachings make you feel like gold.
Could I transmute my shit to gold?
In that rough hewn temple, I wallowed in it. I was surrounded by people preaching Light and Love, but I only felt isolated and irritated. I felt very trapped, ready to get out of the cage, but everything I tried reinforced the bars. Just more shit.
Plant medicines can be alchemical, but so much depends on the sacred container
What I know now is, I couldn’t make gold because I didn’t know what gold was!! I was so focused on getting out from the poo but I had no idea what was on the other side. I couldn’t transmute because I had never seen a reality made of gold (the real Light and Love).
Take a look at the teachers around you, the memes, the FB profiles, the messaging. How much of it is focused on the poo? Versus how much is focused on the gold? Look carefully - there is a lot of fool’s gold on the market.
One spiritual alchemist’s test is to notice how it makes you feel. Do you feel more frustrated, guilty, or motivated to change only because you “should”? Or do you feel
revived,
delighted,
reminded that you are already on your path, already capable of deepest love and highest heights?
If it doesn’t make you feel like gold, it ain’t alchemy.
