The Aquarian Age web will tell you that before chemistry there was chymistry and before chymistry there was alchemy and that alchemy was the medieval chemical science which sought the transmutation of base metals into gold.
It will tell you that an alchemist is someone who transforms things for the better and that alchemists believed that lead could be ‘perfected’ into gold; that diseases could be cured; and that life could be prolonged through transmutation, or making a change, of some basic element into a superior form. They sought the philosopher’s stone and the coveted elixir of life.
The material alchemist is most often pictured as an elderly gentleman working in his laboratory with a furnace, chemicals (salt, mercury and sulfur), crucibles and test tubes attempting to turn base metals into gold; but the work of the lesser-known spiritual alchemist was focused on the transmutation of his real-life experiences into spiritual gold and his laboratory was his own soul.
Alchemy is in fact an ancient Hermetic art which was developed by the first astrologers, when astrology was a religion, to wisely hasten their spiritual development.
There are five branches of alchemy: mental alchemy, personal alchemy, organic alchemy, spiritual alchemy and cosmic alchemy and the ancient beliefs and practices handed down from the remote past have all been scientized for the Aquarian Age by CC Zain aka Elbert Benjamine.
In spiritual alchemy CC Zain explains that the chief ends sought by alchemists were 1. To perform transmutation; 2. Obtain the philosopher’s stone; 3. Find the elixir of life; and 4. Accomplish the great work. And that the actual practice of alchemy requires a clear understanding of your birth chart and the alchemic nature of each of the planets.
Transmutation refers to the changing of your thoughts and feelings into a higher, more elevated mode of expression.
The philosopher’s stone is the truth that sets you free: the knowledge of your relationship to God, to the universe and to all other life forms and this knowledge or self-revelation is depicted in your birth chart. Truth is correct knowledge and your birth chart is your only source of personal truth.
The elixir of life is the love of Deity and all God’s works.
And the accomplishment of the great work is the building of an immortal spiritual body which survives the destruction of the material and astral worlds and ensures self-conscious immortality in the eternal spiritual world.
Information about alchemy on the internet has little practical usefulness and those with access to the scientized knowledge only have a superficial understanding of what it all means. So, if the practice of alchemy interests you there are no trained educators who are qualified to teach you.
That said there are two key requisites: knowledge of the alchemic influence of the planets in astrology and knowledge of your own birth chart.
Let’s make an easy start
To understand the alchemic nature of any planet in its relation to human life, is to learn something about its hidden properties, which include the influence of its associated thoughts and experiences in character building, and the part that character plays in attracting certain conditions and events into your life.
Your birth chart is a map of your character aka astral body and it’s composed of thought-cells which are organized states of consciousness: the psychological legacy of the various experiences contacted by your soul during its cyclic journey up the scale of evolutionary life.
Such thoughts, through the law of affinity, are grouped together according to their special qualities into dynamic thought-structures, or families of thoughts, which correspond to one of the ten planets. So, your character is composed of ten distinct and well-organized groups of thoughts.
These thought-centers in your astral body are radio-like receiving and transmitting sets, for picking up planetary energies and other vibrations. The center dialed to the frequencies of Mars, for instance, will only pick up and transmit the type of energy radiated by Mars. And the center dialed to the frequencies of the Sun will only pick up and transmit its particular type of energy etc.
Your astral body’s thought-cell structure is accurately mapped by your almost accurately timed birth chart; and the kind of energy received by each dynamic thought-center is indicated by the planet which maps it in your chart.
The harmony or discord of the energy picked up – a very important bit of self-information – is shown by the associations the dynamic thought-cell groups have with each other as mapped by the harmonious and discordant aspects formed by the planets in your birth chart.
These thought-groups within your astral body, and the way they are organized, indicate your natural abilities; and because thought-cell activity has an attractive and repellent power, they indicate the kind of fortunate and unfortunate events which will be attracted into your life unless you make some effort to change the thought combinations in your astral body.
Knowledge of birth chart discord – see your chart’s planet power summary – encourages effort to correct and mend the offending thoughts and desires in the interest of a better mental, emotional and spiritual life outcome.
Take home messages
Your birth chart is a map of actual vibratory currents operating at the time of your birth. It maps the thought structure of your astral body and is not a drawing of abstract symbols.
Your astral body or unconscious mind is nourished and sustained by the thoughts and feelings you experience which are converted into cells of consciousness. The sum total of these comprises your character.
The planets in your birth chart correspond to thought-cell groups in your astral body and those with discord scores are inclined to express in a manner that attracts mishap and misfortune.
Their house positions associate a specified type of thought-cell activity with life-matters, activities and social relationships and real-life experience will reveal how the discordant thought-cell activity is manifesting.
Most of your actions are habitual feeling reactions not premeditated.
The trend of your conduct is a combination of your previous conditioning by experience and the stimulation to thought-cells by progressed aspects impinging on your astral body.
Each thought and each new experience add something to your astral body and such knowledge encourages the cultivation of desires and thoughts that lead to the greatest amount of harmony, and your greatest success.
The changing or transmuting of discordant thought-cell activity is the practice of mental and spiritual alchemy.
Lenora Conwell’s words are scattered throughout this article.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
