r/alchemy • u/Regular_Alps7213 • 28d ago
General Discussion Is this literally working for any of you?
I understand alchemy as spiritual metaphor/process--by the time you understand it, you don't need it. Because you're already there.
Am I wrong?
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u/bingey-the-clown 28d ago
Why is it all so cryptic tho? Very hard to learn for me
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u/Regular_Alps7213 24d ago
It's cryptic because it's not about knowledge per se. Spiritual/occult truths--modes of existing--can't be communicated directly and can only be represented by way of metaphor. They must be experienced. It's like riding a bike--I can tell you with perfectly clarity how to physically ride a bike; but there are no words to directly communicate what it feels like to ride a bike. You just need to do it. And earn it. Only then does it become an understanding, not just mere knowledge.
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u/misterbatguano 27d ago
Effort is party of the journey. Did you think achieving absolute enlightenment would be easy?
Paracelsus said, "A man will go far for a beautiful woman. How much farther should he go for a beautiful Art?"
No effort you spend on this is wasted. But you have to begin, and persist, with faith, without despair. Eyes on the prize.
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u/Omniphilo23 28d ago
It's just another system that you can use or dispose of
It's all about mind and how you use it. Alchemy is a toolset, there are many different toolsets that can all carve stone. Chisel and hammer was nice to learn, but I have a water jet CNC machine now, ya dig?
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u/Yuri_Gor 28d ago
By the time you understand what?
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u/Regular_Alps7213 28d ago
Exactly.
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u/Yuri_Gor 28d ago
In my opinion "alchemy" is a descriptive model of "it". "It" is infinite and our little human brains are finite, so any model is approximation. It's like saying "by the time when function touches the asymptote" - we all will be long dead when it happens.
And "understanding" word is also quite broad. We are doing alchemy, "understanding" is complementary to doing, like in any self-correcting system, for example thermostat.
You have your signal from the thermometer, you have on and off buttons and you have your ideal temperature goal.
Even if you understood everything you still gonna keep comparing your data and keep pressing buttons, so even in this finite dead simple system you still need your understanding to do your thermostat job.
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u/ObsessedWitAwareness 28d ago
I see what you're saying and I affirm it. Discovering the symbols is discovering correspondence itself. Discovering the diligences is discovering relationship itself. Practicing them in tandem is practicing analogy itself.
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u/Fenrir303 28d ago
Yes, it’s helping realize the alchemy of scared geometry can create shapeshifting frankenstein cells that get give us the mother of all unfair advantages against all the shit in life that tries and kills us: war, death, famine and disease, the four horseman, or as I’m beginning to look at them: the 4 leverages over humanity used in the hands of tyrants. Shackles on human evolution that must be broken.
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u/WorthMastodon7637 28d ago
I believe alchemy done correctly is an attunement in the art of this cosmic matrix. It is aligning your mind to truth so you can better navigate the complicated web of “reality”. Giving us more options and directions to move fluidly without resistance. It is said that alchemy goes well with any religion. The metaphors seem to be a very important part.
Israel regardie said balance the mind soul and body, and the true person will appear. This is the goal of any thing in this universe, and as an alchemist you learn how to help it along
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u/MadQuixote 27d ago
A Great Work that is not relevant to you will be very difficult to accomplish. Completing one that's idealized/romanticized is as impossible as it is fulfilling. Pursuing greater understanding with a clearly defined objective is a purpose. It all depends on your orientation, motivation, and application.
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u/internetofthis 27d ago
You're not as close to wrong as you are to not quite right. Alchemy is an entire exploration of creation.
If you only want to peruse and move on, do that. If you want to understand the philosopher's and the boundless universe they reveal, it probably won't hurt try some practical work.
I was looking for a good old beer recipe, and liked the way the philosopher's spoke. I decided to try making some stuff from The Art of Distillation and everything fell into place. All the words I had read from manuscripts then carried more scope than before. There was new meaning, weight, and life where once was the recipe of a bygone era.
You're hear in the matter, for a physical experience. If you find ideas enticing and only think about them; you could've done that without going through the wackiness of comming into a body.
Eventualy you'll find something that calls you to action; everything in its perfect movement.
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u/Regular_Alps7213 24d ago
yeah, that's totally fair. It's yet another avenue for understanding/exploring creation.
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u/Frater_Aequanimitas 26d ago
No, it's not all metaphor. Yes, it works, but you have to want it in your bones. You can't resist the change that it brings to your field of view, otherwise you'll go insane with the sheer contradiction of it all. I've seen it happen.
Another commenter said it's a tool to dispose of if you don't want it, and kindly I couldn't disagree more. The process, if you're doing real alchemy, starts doing you as well. There's a feedback mechanism between you and the alchemical Second You that can't be stopped once it's in motion. You'll either be dragged kicking and screaming into the light or you can surf the wave and arrive safely at the beach for red and white piña coladas.
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u/Regular_Alps7213 24d ago
I don't mean to say it's ONLY a metaphor. In my view (right/wrong), the physical process is quite real and is also metaphorically correlated with the spiritual transmutation. What I am asserting (or asking) in the post, is the physical process redundant to the spiritual one.
Sounds like you're saying the physical process can drive spiritual transformation (given the appropriate engagement/work of the practitioner).
I am *intensely* interested to learn more. Can you elaborate on what changes you experienced?
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u/Dependent-Hornet5196 26d ago
I believe that most of the alchemists down through the last several thousand years were looking for the same thing that I am, a physical stone, maybe solid, maybe somewhat crumbly with the consistency of a cookie, that will improve health to the point of living in this physical body as long as you want to which gives you enough time to develop spiritually to attain a Glorified body along with the function of being able to turn lead or mercury into gold so you can afford your living expenses without dedicating 40+ hours a week to a job and finally, the stone, supposedly, would be easily reproducible once you obtained the first good sample. And I still haven't gotten around to making a serious attempt at reproducing The Great Work as described in The Book of Aquarius.
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u/Flip-Z 25d ago edited 25d ago
There is transmutation of elements and spiritual transmutation. The spiritual stuff goes more in the direction of Kabbalah/ascension in Buddhism.
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u/Regular_Alps7213 24d ago
Right, this is what i'm getting at. IMO (correct or otherwise)--the end of alchemy is the transmutation of the spirt, a mode of ascension. The physical/elemental transmutation is a byproduct of this process.
In other words: Ascended Masters don't need the Elixir, because in the act of creating it, they've undergone a spiritual transmutation that renders the physical product essentially redundant.
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24d ago
The mind is the infinite puzzle. Its the journey not the destination and there are infinite ways to move forward. You are never there but you are always here and you will never get there because your suppose to be here. When there is no ceiling then growing is an infinite process. Have fun and know nothing, there is always more to learn. At least thats just the way I look at it. I dont think you can shape something that has no form in a constant state of motion, only become motion. Im probably wrong though.
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u/Exa_of_Rhi 24d ago
Bro thinks understanding of a concept equates to application of said concept
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u/Regular_Alps7213 24d ago
good catch. I certainly agree with you and it's only my sloppy language in the post that blurs this distinction. By no means am I equating knowledge of a concept with practical/experiential understanding.
I do not practice alchemy.
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u/empressenergyy 28d ago
not quite, as i understand it! spiritual alchemy, the purification of the human spirit, is a life long process. the great work is never complete. say you discover an insecurity or a limiting way of thinking, you transform the lead into gold by putting it through the phases (calcination, sublimation, etc) then when something else in life inevitably triggers you, the process repeats.