Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3

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Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3.
Volume 2 No.3 May-June 2001
ARTICLES
Nagualism and Alchemy
Cannabis: The Philosopher's Stone Part 1
The Alchemy in Spiritual Progress Part 3
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EDITORIAL
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 Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3.
Nagualism and Alchemy
(by
Jeff Owrey
)
This essay explores the application of Nagualism as a tool for alchemical change. After an introduction
to the fundamental concepts of Nagualism, these concepts are used to examine the appearance of
alchemical principles in Chaos magic and Native American magic.
Concept of the Assemblage Point
A most useful concept for studying the epistemology of magic is the idea of
the
assemblage point.
This idea comes from a branch of combined Meso-
American shamanism and magic commonly known as
Nagualism
, and is
described by Carlos Castaneda in the numerous books in which he writes
about his encounters with the Mexican
brujero,
Don Juan. Nagualism
views the human being abstractly as a "luminous cocoon" of awareness
and defines the assemblage point as that location on this sphere where all
the fibers of the universe are focused by
intent
into our perception of the
universe. Furthermore, this location can be changed by the operation of
intent
. Notice that intent is the key, operative word of this definition.
Indeed, if it can ever be said that the brujero Nagual uttered a magic word, that word would have to be
"intent", for intent
is the quintessential, indefinable term in the language of Nagualism. Castaneda
describes the role of intent in the following passage from
Silent Knowledge
Sorcerers, by the force of their practices and goals, refute the power of the word. They
define themselves as
navigators in the sea of the unknown.
For them, navigation is a
practicality, and
navigation
means to move from world to world, without losing sobriety,
without losing strength; and, to accomplish this feat of navigation, there cannot be
procedures, or steps to be followed, but one single abstract act that defines it all: the act
of reinforcing our link with the force that permeates the universe, a force which sorcerers
call
intent
. Since we are alive and conscious, we are already intimately related to
intent
.
What we need, sorcerers say, is to make that link the realm of our conscious acts, and
that act of becoming conscious of our link with
intent
is another way of defining silent
knowledge.
Working together with the other three apprentices of Don Juan (Carol Tiggs, Florinda Donner-Grau,
and Tiasha Abelar), Castaneda combined all the separate aspects of Nagual magic into a single,
comprehensive discipline he has named
Tensegrity
. Central to this discipline is the idea that certain,
Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3.
specific practices, for strengthening and conditioning the practitioner's physical (and energy) body,
prepares the practitioner for moving the assemblage point by the operation of
intent.
Generally speaking, a movement of the assemblage point results in perceptual changes, the intensity
of which is proportional to the magnitude of that movement. Smaller movements of the assemblage
point result in alterations in the way we perceive the universe of everyday, consensual reality (and vice
versa). A sufficiently large movement of the assemblage point results in the perception, however brief,
of a wholly new universe - a universe in which one can "live and die". A movement that ends in a new,
stable location results in the experience of either a
re-manifestation
of the present universe or of the
manifestation
of a whole new universe, depending on the magnitude of the movement. The discipline
of Tensegrity is intended to prepare the practitioner to survive the rigors of the larger movement that
results in perception of a new universe. Furthermore, the discipline of Tensegrity is
abstract
because
the greater the movement, the more abstract the perceptual experience of the universe that manifests.
The following discussion, however, will focus on the smaller movements of the assemblage point that
may be brought about by single-minded focus on philosophical ideas, concepts and spatial
arraignments. It is these smaller movements that are so important in preparing the aspirant for the
larger shift that results in the manifestation of a whole new universe.
Elements in Chaos Magic
Air, Earth, Fire and Water most
commonly designate the four classical
elements of magic and philosophy.
Chaos magic adopts the tradition of the
four elements and adds a fifth,
postulated element, but changes the
nomenclature somewhat. Derived from
the physics of quantum mechanics, the
elements in Chaos magic, are Time,
Space, Mass and Energy. The fifth
element, Ether, is postulated to
represent the so-called
shadow time
dimension used to account for the
apparent paradoxes of quantum
mechanics. Figure 1 illustrates the
pentagram with these elements as
attributes of the four vertices and the
fifth element, Ether, as an attribute of
the ascendant point of the pentagram.
Peter Carroll describes this arraignment
of the five Elements more fully in the following passage from
Liber Kaos
Figure 1. Elements of Chaos Magic.
Matter can be conveniently divided for descriptive purposes into space, time, mass and
energy… However, the consensus description on this world at least is conveniently represented
by the tetrahedron… The four vertices represent space, time, mass and energy, which is the
description the ancients were trying to formulate with their air, water, earth and fire analogies.
Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3.
When ether (or spirit) is added, a pentagram is created… The pentagram is the simplest
possible map of the universe, even the Chaos from which it phenomenizes has been omitted.
The pentagram is also a symbol of magic, for it shows ether and matter interacting…
In Chaos magic operations, the Elements may be seen as alternating in position around the pentagram
depending on whether they are dominant or subordinate in a particular working. In some operations,
space and time might be dominant, in others matter and energy. It is my hypothesis that applying
alchemical principles to the quantum mechanical manifestation of the Elements forces a change in
perceptual habits of how the Elements interrelate, and that this change results in a beneficial shift in
the assemblage point. In turn, this beneficial shift of the assemblage point re-manifests as novel
perceptions of the magical universe.
Parallels in Native American Lore
As a prelude to discussing alchemical principles in Native American magic, it is appropriate to
introduce a few correspondences to the Elements in Chaos magic. These correspondences,
summarized in table 1 below, are taken from various schools of thought inspired by a single, unifying
alchemical principle in Native American magic. Unlike systems of correspondences that appear in
other branches of magic, the correspondences in table 1 should not in any way be considered as set in
stone. The reader should note that different Native American tribal groups often have their own
preferred arraignments for these correspondences, especially for Color and Spirit Animal. In fact, one
of the concepts found in Native American parallels to Chaos magic is the
Spinning Medicine Wheel
. As
an aid in understanding this concept, the entries in the rows of table 1 may be visualized as written
ninety degrees apart on concentric rings which may be "spun" independently of each other, as if on a
pinwheel. Spinning the rings thus provides a way of randomly deriving new permutations of the entries
in the table. One may ask what purpose is served by permuting the elements of table 1, other than
total confusion. The answer would be that "spinning the medicine wheel" constitutes a method for
forcing a change in perception, and hence is a method for shifting in the assemblage point.
Figure 2 illustrates the unifying alchemical
principle mentioned above, the
Medicine
Wheel
. The Native American magicians
generally considered achieving inner and outer
harmony by balancing all aspects of one’s
being an ultimate, life goal. The Medicine
Wheel is a symbolic representation of this
balance and harmony in all aspects of one's
being. Implicit in the symbolism of the Medicine
Wheel is the idea that each individual aspect
within the totality of one's being is itself an
infinity of aspects that must be balanced before
the whole can be brought into balance. In figure
2 the smaller circle symbolizes the idea that
each point on the Medicine Wheel
(representing the totality of one's being) is itself
a Medicine Wheel (a totality contained with a
Figure 2. The Native American Medicine Wheel.
Alchemy Journal Vol.2 No.3.
totality). As P.D. Ouspensky points out, the whole being is made up of an indefinite number of
individual selves, or "I"s as he calls them. The Medicine Wheel abstracts from all these individual
selves a whole made up of only four, archetypal selves: the illuminated self, the introspective self, the
innocent self, and the wise (or knowledgeable) self. Although the whole being is made up of a
multiplicity of selves, in Native American traditions these four, archetypal selves are thought to be the
most important to re-manifest in order to bring the whole into balance and harmony. The Native
American author, Hyemeyohsts Storm, describes this concept in the following passage from
Seven
Arrows
At birth, each of us is given a particular Beginning Place within these Four Great Directions on
the Medicine Wheel. This Starting Place gives us our first way of perceiving things, which will
then be our easiest and most natural way throughout our lives. But any person who perceives
from only one of these Four Great Directions will remain just a partial man. For example, a man
who possesses only the Gift of the North will be wise. But he will be a cold man, a man without
feeling. And the man who lives only in the East will have the clear, far sighted vision of the
Eagle, but he will never be close to things. This man will feel separated, high above life, and will
never understand or believe that he can be touched by anything. A man or woman who
perceives only from the West will go over the same thought again and again in their mind, and
will always be undecided. And if a person has only the Gift of the South, he will see everything
with the eyes of a Mouse. He will be too close to the ground and too near sighted to see
anything except whatever is right in front of him, touching his whiskers.
In order to bring oneself into greater balance and harmony using the Medicine Wheel, one must shift
one's perception of oneself. For example, if you are naturally an innocent person of the South, then
you must learn to see yourself from the point of view of a wise person of the North. Alchemically this
shift of perception results in a movement of the assemblage point. In this case the movement of the
assemblage point is very beneficial because it results in a stable, balanced person, much better
anchored, within him or herself, than the average person who does not know about or practice the
teachings of the Medicine Wheel.
In Conclusion
We have seen how
Nagualism
can be viewed as an alchemical tool for self-development and personal
change. These changes are the result of shifts in perception - of the world outside, and of all the selves
clamoring within. These shifts of perception in turn result in a gentle movement of the assemblage
point that not only prepares the individual for the
crossing of the phylum
implied by much greater
movements, but also, in the process, produce a much better anchored and more stable person. Since
the beginning of time, there have been an uncountable number of methods devised for moving the
assemblage point. Yet to move the assemblage point without anchoring the individual is to cast him or
her adrift on an infinite sea. The practices of Tensegrity, the use of alchemical principles in magic, and
the teachings of the Medicine Wheel are but a few ways to accomplish this re-manifestation without
leaving the individual hopelessly mired in an infinite universe. These few ways are not the only ways,
of course, but they are among the most superlative of ways.
Medicine Wheel Correspondences
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