Alchemical Meditation

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//-->I originally worked on this series of Hermetic/alchemical meditation exercises about 20 years ago and they wereoriginally published in the early issues of the Hermetic Journal 1978-81. They were the foundation for a elaboratesystem of meditative exercises, based on alchemical and hermetic ideas, which I was working on at that time. -Adam McLean1. The Philosophic Egg or Retort2. Separatio and Coniunctio3. Solve et Coagula4. The Ouroboros5. The Hermaphrodite6. Mercurius or the Caduceus7. Sol and Luna8. The Heart Centre9. The Soul Bird10. The processes of Nature - four elements11. The processes of Nature - growth12. The processes of Nature - fruiting processHermetic/alchemical meditation1. The Philosophic Egg or RetortIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.Back to alchemical meditation page.The Philosophic Egg or RetortIn the first part of the meditation begin to explore the way in which one's inward being connects with the outwardworld. Follow out in consciousness, say, one's hearing of a slight sound, feel one's consciousness raying out towardsthe source of the sound, then return inwards. Allow oneself to become aware of one's body posture, a smalldiscomfort perhaps, feel through one's sense of touch how one connects with the physical world, and then allowone's consciousness to withdraw and follow this back inwards. Continue this with all the senses using the impulsesthat come to one through the sense organs in a natural way; do not try to force or repress these realities, but followthese outward and allow oneself to return inward. One will begin to feel an awareness growing of the relationshipbetween one's inner being and one's perception, and when this arises naturally in the meditation, begin to inwardlyform a picture of this awareness, as an egg or flask-retort. Picture one's being as a flask. The outside world can onlyenter through the walls of the flask, the shell of the egg. Let one's consciousness look outwards through the walls ofthe flask into the sense world, and be able to return inward to one's soul egg.As the meditation continues, one will find arising quite naturally, sudden images, jumbled thoughts, daily worries. Inthis exercise, do not try to repress these or avert one's consciousness from them, but allow each of them in turn todevelop, grow to fruition, and then watch them dissolve and their energy dissipate. These images, emotionalimpulses, arise out of our unconscious, the raw energy of our inner life, the background of our being. Picture this inthe meditation as the most inward content of the flask or egg, a deep interior darkness out of which these impulsesunconsciously stir. Allow one's being to sink inwards, to immerse oneself in the inner contents of the flask, thenreturn to the surface.One must now begin to bring these two parts of the exercise together, picturing one's being as the egg or retort, adynamic boundary between the multiplicity of outer perception, and inward streaming unconscious activity. In thismeditative exercise, one's soul touches upon the two seas in which one's being has no firm foundation, and throughthis inner touching, begins to contact that solid ground of the soul, which lies between those two realms. Thus onebegins to grow a space within, a space in which one can work surely with the soul.This is a very simple meditation, and to the intellect it may seem trivial, but exercises such as this are essential indeveloping a contact with the ground space of the soul, the Retort, or Philosophic Egg in which inner developmentcan occur. If one will persevere with it, one can use this exercise as a method of opening and closing a moreextended meditative working.2. Separation and ConjunctionIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.Back to alchemical meditation page.Separation and ConjunctionPerform the Philosophic Egg until one is inwardly centred, and one feels one's being to be within the space of theretort. Now, become conscious of one's soul forces, begin to picture this as a kind of bubbling, seething, water at thebottom of the fask, full of life and ever changing raw energy. Allow this picture to form itself clearly, take on adefinite structure, then quite deliberately separate oneself from it, feel one's inward being detaching from thisseething water. It will help to picture one's being rising upwards in the flask away from the realm of the boilingliving waters of the soul.Let this separation continue until one stands quite apart, high above, focussed to a point, sharp and withdrawn, butstill aware of the bubbling seething below. A point will come quite naturally in this exercise when one feels the needto return downwards. Let this descent happen, and with this feel one's being spreading, opening out to meet thebubbling energy of the waters. Picture one's being dissolve in the seething liquid soul substance at the bottom of theretort. Then again separate and ascend on high, looking down on the process below, then descend and dissolve oncemore in the waters.Repeat this a few times following one's own inner judgment as to how often but always finishing on the coniunctiophase. Then close the meditation by following the Retort exercise backwards, leading from the inner space back intothe outward consciousness.This separatio and coniunctio meditation inwardly prepares the soul for later exercises, when it will be important tohave conscious control over one's immersion in or separation from an inward process. Performing the retortmeditation regularly builds up an ability to step into the inner space consciously and at will. One has control over theinner/outer dimension of the soul. This second exercise helps to develop the inner flexibility needed to work withalchemical symbols in meditation. These are fundamental exercises and though seemingly simplistic, mastery ofthese is important for later work.Those who have worked with substances and physical alchemical apparatus performing physical alchemy, will findthis an invaluable source for inner pictures to build these meditations of soul alchemy.3. Solve et coagulaIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.Back to alchemical meditation page.Solve et coagulaPerform as an opening the Retort meditation until one stands within the inner space of one's being. For this Solve etCoagula technique, one takes any symbol, to start with simple forms, (though this meditation can be applied toworking with any symbol), for example the triangle of Salt-Sulphur-Mercury, the Three Principles.One begins at the Coagula phase, constructing the symbol in a hardened, coagulated manner. One might, forexample, picture the triangle being made out of wood, say, with the three symbols for Salt, Sulphur and Mercury,carved or painted at the vertices, or better still, with a pile of ashy salt, liquid mercury and glowing sulphur at thesepoints. Allow one's inward imagination to construct the symbol as you will, but pictured in a hardened, solid form,rather than in an abstract way. One will find that ones ability to concentrate on constructing and perpetuating thisimage in imagination is limited, but as one feels this concentration relaxing, one begins the Solve phase.This consists of raising the imagined solid symbol into a more abstract form, letting one's consciousness naturallyflow towards the experience of the symbol in high abstraction. One could, for example, picture a series of trianglesradiating out from the hardened solid original image, into the depths of cosmic space, carrying one's consciousnesswith them, until one stands in a threefoldness, within the triple space of the archetypal nature of the three principles.This Solve state cannot be held for long and one must descend from this world of pure form into the reconstructionof the symbol in solidity - coagulated. Allow one's being to repeat and recycle this process as often as one's innerresources permit, one can end on either phase but the after resonances in the soul will be very distinctive of thisclosing phase.These two phases of the experience of a symbol in the inner world, begin to play into one another through the courseof such meditative exercises, and one begins to build a bridge between form and substance in the creation of asymbol. The Solve phase extracts the essence, the inner life of the symbol, the Coagula phase provided a foundationfor the form, keeping it true. This is a most important meditative technique and we shall use it often in futureexercises where we shall use it to explore the nature of various alchemical symbols.4. The OuroborosIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.Back to alchemical meditation page.The OuroborosPlace oneself into one's own inner space by performing the retort exercise. Centre one's being to a point - one canvisualise this either spatially in terrns of the centre of the retort, or emotionally as a place of calmness. One can onlyhold this for a short time, so allow the natural forces of the soul, to play into the experience.Soon polarities will express themselves, and picture this inwardly as the point becoming a line. Try to keep one'sconsciousness as long as possible at the centre of this line of polarities. One will feel raying away from this centreon either side the polar forces of positive - negative, above - below, active - passive, etc. Let one's being run throughas many possibilities as one feels comfortable with.Then bring the picture into a definite focus, using the Solve et Coagula technique if necessary, and inwardlyexperience the line as a snake, with its head towards one's own head, tail at the base of the spine. Feel the polaritiesof this symbol, allow it's full form and forces to develop. This picture reflects the natural structure of one's innerbeing.Now one must build the Ouroboros by uniting the two polarities. Picture the head and tail of the snake twistingaround until the head grasps the tail forming the Ouroboros symbol, which one should centre around one's heart.Using Solve et Coagula one can allow this symbol to rise into the higher part of one's interior being. As the snakegrasps its own tail, so on the higher level one's own soul takes hold of itself, and begins to work upon its ownsubstance, uniting the polarities, uniting conscious with unconscious, positive and negative, spirit and body, etc.One can use this exercise in a general way, or in order to work through particular polarities one has encountered inone's study, or through the experiences of life.One must not reverse the process in the case of the Ouroboros exercise. Once one has formed the symbol inwardly,do not take it to pieces, but finish at this point, letting the unity renain in one's being.5. The HermaphroditeIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.In the last exercise we experienced something of the vertical polarity of our being, in the head and tail of theOuroboros which were united. In this meditation we shall work with the horizontal polarity of our beings.Back to alchemical meditation page.The HermaphroditeBy performing the Retort meditation bring one's consciousness into the inner space. Allow this consciousness tobecome centred in a plane running down the mid line of one's body, and begin to explore the polarities of one'sbeing that are expressed in the left and right. We must try in this exercise to experience the qualitative differences inour feeling of right and left. The comfortable way one's consciousness rests in the right side, the left whereasseeming more strange and unfamiliar (left handed people will have to reverse these directions).Let one's consciousness stream into the right side of one's being - one can picture this perhaps quite physically asrays flowing out of the right side of the body particularly the right hand. Experience how the conscious will lives inthis side of one's being. Centre again in consciousness, then picture the left side as a realm of one's being penetratedby forces outside one's consciousness. Experience the left side of the body as a kind of receptive organ for theunconscious forces that work into our beings. Centre again and alternate focussing one's consciousness in right andleft.Part of this exercise might concentrate on the fact that the physical organs asymmetrically disposed in the body -liver, heart, guts etc., are organs we can never consciously control. Many of the symmetrically disposed organs -brain, lungs, limbs, etc., can come into the realm of conscious will. Explore images such as this.There should eventually arise a moment in the meditation, when quite naturally a kind of synthesis begins to comeabout. We picture the left side as female/receptive/intuitive, the right side as male/active/conscious, begin to cometogether in a synthesis, to meet in the hermaphrodite. Picture inner being quite definitely as this hermaphrodite, thetwo essential facets of conscious/unconscious, active/receptive, male/female, etc., united, fusing together. Do notattempt to reverse this process. Once this figure has formed inwardly, do not take it to pieces, but finish at this point,letting the unity remain in one's being.(As a physical manifestation of the hermaphrodite, we need only note that the left hemisphere of the brain isconnected with the right side of the body and vice versa.) This meditation is only one small part of what isspiritually contained in the hermaphrodite symbol.6. Mercurius or the CaduceusIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.Back to alchemical meditation page.Mercurius or the CaduceusWhen one is within the inner space of the retort exercise, begin to build a picture of the Caduceus within one'sbeing. As in the Hermaphrodite exercise (Number 5), experience the left-right polarities of one's inner nature.Picture one's being in the pentagam gesture, and allow one's feelings of the left and right polarities to focus in thearms and hands and form an inner picture of the horns of the Caduceus.Then begin to work with the other polarity experienced in the Ouroboros meditation (Number 4), the head-body-limbs. Form inwardly the rounded solar part of the Mercurius symbol, and superimpose it upon the trunk of one'sbody experienced inwardly.One should then begin to experience a kind of current flowing into the left hand, (the passive side of our being) fromthe Cosmos-outside, and round the circle of the Caduceus to the right side of the body, then round up the left sideand across to the right hand, from which one should experience the flow of energy leaving. (Some purely left handedpeople may need to reverse these directions.) Do not allow this inner experience of flowing energy too develop toopowerfully, and dominate the meditation It should be just a gentle flow. We are not here concerned with dynamicsbut with the balancing of energies within one's interior space.At the lowest point of the solar facet of the Caduceus, one should form the image of a cross, and this cross is theearthing point of the symbol. If one finds the energetics of the Lunar-Solar flow becoming too strong, one needsonly withdraw into the cross form, and allow the upper open lemniscate of the Caduceus to fade.In performing this Mercurius exercise one aims to balance the various forces and facets of the symbol. The Lunarcrescent or open part of the lemniscate - against the closed Solar part. The whole upper part -against the lower crossform. The left passive side - against the right active side. In the upper lunar pert one opens one's being to theSpiritual-cosmic forces, the closed Solar part allows one to experience the enclosed forces of the soul, while thecross is the solid part of incarnation, experienced through the feet in the contact with the earth realm.The three meditative exercises of the Ouroboros, Hermaphrodite and the Caduceus form an inter-related group, andthey can and should be practised together as an organic whole, integrating the various polarities of our beings.7. Sol and LunaIn this series of elementary meditative exercises, no special postures are required but that in which one is mostcomfortable, nor are any special breathing rhythms used. Meditation should be undertaken when one is not too tired,and the best situation is probably lying down in a quiet, nearly dark, room, and it is essential to have privacy and nopossibility of being disturbed.All these exercises begin with the Philosophic Egg or retort meditation, described in the first issue, which leads oneinto an inner meditative space. Within that space, we shall perform short exercises, and then close the meditationwith the retort exercise reversed, that is leading one out of the inner space back to normal consciousness.Back to alchemical meditation page.Sol and LunaFor this meditation we shall be doing an exercise which although simple touches upon archetypal realms. Truesuccess with this meditation will only be found if the form of the exercise is used on various levels of one's being -physical, etheric, astral, spiritual.The basic meditative forms we use are the archetypes of the Sun and Moon. One must try to inwardly experiencethese archetypes, to find in one's own being the Solar and Lunar forces in their various manifestations.One can initially picture the Sun archetype as an expansive, warm, outpouring, a radiation from centre to periphery,a dissolving of matter into energy, of formal pattern into dynamic forces. At the beginning of the exercise one canrelate this to the physical level of ones being, through the outbreath or the outward pulsing of the blood from theheart out to the periphery of one's body.The Lunar archetype can be experienced as a contractive, cold, inflowing, a movement towards the centre, a fixingor hardening of energies into form. One relates this initially to the retentive inbreathing, and the formed organs in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]