Alchemy and the Quest for Spiritual Gold

by Gerry Taylor-Wood

Thousands of years ago a young man named Balinas quested for the truth. He asked the age old and timeless questions, who made me, why am I here, what am I to do.

His parents tired of his relentless questioning, take him to doctors and priests yet none can answer his profound enquiries. His father becomes infuriated thinking his son is insane. They argue and Balinas leaves home and goes to the village square. In the centre, there is a statue of Hermes and in total despair he slumps to the ground beneath the stoney effigy. Day turns to night and he falls into a deep sleep.

The next day the ardent young man leaves his village behind him and wanders the hills and woodlands always searching, searching for answers. Months pass, and then years. No one and nothing can tell him of the truth of his existence. Finally he returns to his village broken and disillusioned. He rests at the feet of the statue of Hermes. A hundred times he has seen the sign on the statue, ‘The Answer Lies Beneath My Feet’. In a flash he sees the light! Balinas has been sitting at the feet of Hermes, he must dig beneath his feet to find out what lies within.

Furiously ploughing down beneath the statue, a door is revealed and behind it a tunnel. But a wind is blowing so strong that the light is extinguished. An apparition appears and tells him to place the candle in a glass globe (credence is given to this being the first ever lantern). Returning to the tunnel he presses on deeper and deeper, illumined by the lamp and at last he enters an underground chamber. Before him is the mummified corpse of Hermes holding The Emerald Tablet. Beneath Hermes’ feet are many papyrus scrolls, thousands of years old.

The Emerald Tablet, is said to have been brought to earth by beings from an advanced planet. The scrolls contain wisdom from the beginning of time on alchemy, astrology, astronomy, science, mathematics, and philosophy. All of the answers to all of his questions are there.

Balinas leaves the cave an enlightened man. He promptly becomes a vegetarian and spends the rest of his life assisting others on their path to illumination.

The central teaching of The Emerald Tablet is,

‘As above so below, thus the miracle of oneness is accomplished’

This is the essence of the teachings of alchemy, astrology and indeed most philosophies. Alchemy and astrology was once the same subject until a split occurred - some say in the middle ages. From this time on, astrologers looked up to the heavens and read the stars, and the alchemists looked down into the earth and the metals.

Astrologer’s considered seven planets in their craft and alchemist’s seven metals, and these align to the seven chakras and form the basis for numerous wisdom teachings.

‘Our nature makes perfect what nature makes’, was the alchemists’ dictate.

Pre-Requisites for the Journey

When I came to Yoga and began my own journey in 1971, I thought it strange that my teacher suggested we needed the quality of courage to walk the yogic path. Now I understand that spiritual growth is a process and many times we may be lost or confused on the path; times when it becomes foggy or disappears altogether. The challenges to self-development are great, not least of all the lack of acceptance amongst family, friends and society who do not understand this powerful inner questing.

The alchemists had a formula for a piece of work they chose to undertake, calling it the Great Work or Opus. They intrinsically believed that our life lived out externally on the material plane is a reflection of our internal life - as above, so below, as within so without. This is the great and ongoing work we engage in on a spiritually evolving path.

An undertaking of this Opus reads like a recipe. Take one alembic - a glass rounded base receptacle or vessel - your body. Put into it that which you would seek to transform - your shadow qualities or ‘base metal’. Place fire beneath and a stopper in the top, now we are cooking!

The heat and passion is akin to when you fall in love and a new relationship begins. Will you make it some kind of lasting, loving relationship or will it explode in your face? Many alchemists were killed in the kitchen by exploding alembics. Relationships are a good catalyst for growth; you may have noticed that they burn out impurities. Take two people, two sets of chakras burning with love and desire. The two grow in love and the partnership blossoms, or it smashes and we are left shattered and broken.

The Opus or Great Work is lost if the heat is too high. For example, in your life when you are passionately engaged in a creative project, your career or a relationship, you can take on more than you can deal with and burn out - often resulting in illness.

The Alchemist in You

You may not consider that you are in an alchemical process, yet think on. The moment you decided that you were not perfect and could improve yourself, you tampered with nature and the alchemical process of transformation was born within you. Simply, if you have a headache and take an aspirin, you tamper with nature. If you practice a spiritual discipline, you tamper. In short, you are speeding up your own spiritual evolution. Some call this divine discontentment - the need, like Balinas to know the truth. Think of all the shifts and movements you have made in your life to date, questing for the goal of self-knowledge, it is a journey to behold.

Sometimes we travel slowly and sometimes with acceleration using all the myriad of modalities, practices, therapies, masters, and guides toward the final and promised goal of enlightenment. With all its ecstatic highs and inevitable lows the path is paved with knowledge and insights, and meaning is gained. We are all the richer for the journey and the final goal - Gold!

Gerry Taylor-Wood will take a group to Paris and Prague and South of France in May 2012,

check the website for details, prices and itinerary. www.grailhaven.com | 07 5545 0414

 

4 Feb 2012