Alchemy.. Is the ancient art that has long been misunderstood. Partly due to their own secrecy. Their language was called the secret of the birds. Full of arcane symbols and mythological names. Out of this art we have the principles of chemistry, distillation, and psychology. Yes, Jung half way through his career realized he was reinventing the wheel. The archetypes and the process of psychological change, he had found out that they were well rooted in alchemy. So he started collecting ancient manuscripts on the lost art. For the Philosophers Stone, was indeed the Self. Or as Maslow calls it, self Actualization. This was their grail. To turn the base matter of the soul into gold. Gold is the color of the sun. The most ancient form of a God and Goddess was the sun and moon. To turn your soul into gold was to have your soul reborn as a God, Theosis. To have a new life on earth in the flesh , an ego death, was to turn your body into silver. The serpent represents this body rebirth, because the snake sheds its skin and lives. Much like a woman who bleeds for a week and does not die. These two represent the silvery moon. These two, the woman and the snake, was an ancient pairing until the Patriarchal Judeo-Christian got involved. Then we have the enmity in the garden. Also in Cambodia, they believe that a lunar eclipse is the snake trying to eat the moon. Also now in European Fairy Tales, the dragon is always seen capturing the princess.
Also symbolic of the sun and moon rebirth is the Eagle and the snake. The Mexican flag triumphs a misnomer that the soul conquers the body as the eagle is attacking its prey the snake. Another symbol is the the lion. This animal combined with the eagle makes the Griffin, which is the symbol of Christ and guardian of treasures.
The bringer of knowledge is the quicksilver, Mercury. Guardian of knowledge. The door keeper. The man who will tune your guitar on some dark night at the crossroads. If you use the knowledge wisely he is a benefactor. If you do not, or ignore his warning? He is one royal headache. He is the trickster that throws egg on your face, if you are lucky! Otherwise he is your devil. Your Shadow. He is the one who lights a fire under your behind. He is the kick in the ass. But for those who remove desire for aspiration, he is the kinetic to make you a God. For he will show you new constructs to reshape the world from. Born of a mortal and fathered by Zeus, he rewrote the rules of sacrifice to include himself as to be honored by a God. But only after stealing his brother Apollo's cattle for the sacrifice. He made a burnt offering to the gods and himself, but he only smelt the offering. He did not eat it. Says something for vegetarians? For you die by what you eat. As in live by the sword, die by the sword. Check your cholesterol lately?
By the way. Cattle raiding was a coming of age ritual for young youths from Greece to Scotland. They also both play the bagpipes. Imagine all those Scots on the prairie on the old west, getting strung up for just trying to become a man!
So in Alchemy, believe it or not, the symbol for the adult who has not passed the test of adulthood is........YHVH. The God of the old Testament. The father who kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden because of the apple of free will. The jealous God who destroyed the Tower of Babel because we threatened to become like him. The person who moans to Ezekial about the Jews who continually let him down. The God who floods everyone because he is powerless to change the world. The God who takes his ball and goes home!
Hermes, Coyote, Mercury, and Loki are the symbol to transference. Hermes is the healthy impetuous youth. Coyote is the simple trick played on us or unchecked appetites when we are selfishly acting. A polite wake up call. Mercury is the adult energy that leads to facing our faults and bringing change based on new knowledge. Loki is the demented self enjoyment of making your life a living hell until you smarten up and give up good for better. It is the side of you that laughs as you find yourself frozen face down to a storm grate. The personality that lavishes the twinkie as you run to the bathroom. He is the startling reality you face when you wake up in a stranger's bed in the shady side of town. Take my word. Loki might be fun, but seek out Mercury. For Loki is the killer of beauty that brings the end of the world. The hard way. Mercury is the one who casts out the anchor for a new world! The silver controls the throat, the fifth chakra. Then we have Mephistopheles who leads you down the garden path of what could be, much like the ghost of Christmas Future, and how bad it could become if we follow our desires.
Christ is the one you meet on the new shore. He is the questing beast or Unicorn that lures you into the journey within your own mind. He is the things known and unknown. As Mercury is the thing in between these doors. Christ is the way in and the way out. He is your guide. He is Merlin and Gwendalynn. The travel guide of the spirit and the one who shows you the way home. David Carradine played this role in Bruce Lee's movie, The Circle of Iron. He was the Boddhisattva. The man who has left this world and has come back. He will teach you how to surpass your own Theosis. If you do not, Like Bastian in The Neverending Story, you can get caught in your own megalomania that can bring the end of the world and hurt all you once cared about. It is Ulysses staying away from home to long. Rip VanWrinkle's sleep. For you must give up your self. To nail yourself on the cross, figuratively speaking. To give yourself up to something higher than your personal will. To be willing to give up everything for the kingdom of Christ. To give up your soul to the Holy Spirit. It is facing Kali Ma with her tongue licking blood and the necklace of skulls. She just gets rid of all your dead skin. She just throws away your favorite sneakers that have five holes and stinks to heaven. The knife and the skulls only are removing the personalities, moods, opinions, and behaviors that separate you from the whole. She returns you to your life as a true individual without fear of your world. You have gone from the seventh chakra of Sophia; higher wisdom of all for one, one for all ;to the fourth chakra. The sacred heart of Christ, the fourth chakra. To be at the center of the cross. To have received Christ consciousness. Now you are ready to teach others the way. As Christ was the ending or the goal, so shall you become. But you will be the large ferry boat to lead people across the water as Mercury casts out the anchor for them.
This is Bors way to the grail. It is Sam, Merry, and Pippin returning to free the shire of the bandits. It is the disciples walking the world. It is the master who wants you to succeed him in his trade. This is for every man and woman. This is your entitlement. We all shall be adults. Gods. And Hero's. But mostly just children playing in the sun and moon.
